Green light for start clinical trials of innovative and promising tuberculosis vaccine
European scientists are one step closer to delivering a new, safe and more effective vaccine against tuberculosis. Swiss-medic, the Swiss regulatory authority for medicine has given permission to start assessing the new TB vaccine in healthy adult volunteers. The vaccine, called MTBVAC, is the first vaccine of its kind to start clinical evaluation.
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A novel oncogenic network specific to liver cancer initiation
Researchers headed by Erwin Wagner, the Director of the BBVA Foundation-CNIO Cancer Cell Biology Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), have deciphered how a stress-inducible gene regulator, AP-1, controls the survival of liver tumor-initiating cells. These results, published in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology, could provide new preventive strategies and identify potentially targetable molecules to prevent liver cancer.
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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.
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A simple blood test could be used to detect breast cancer
A simple blood test could one day be a more accurate way to test for the early signs of breast cancer than using mammograms to spot a lump say researchers, as Breast Cancer Awareness Month gets underway. They also hope the blood test could improve treatment by detecting whether breast cancer patients are likely to relapse and what drugs their particular type of tumour will respond to.
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Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of heart disease
New research from the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital shows that low levels of vitamin D are associated with a markedly higher risk of heart attack and early death. The study involved more than 10,000 Danes and has been published in the American journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. Vitamin D deficiency has traditionally been linked with poor bone health. However, the results from several population studies indicate that a low level of this important vitamin may also be linked to a higher risk of ischemic heart disease, a designation that covers heart attack, coronary arteriosclerosis and angina.
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British pharmaceutical supplier focuses on emerging markets
Leading British pharmaceutical and medical supplier Philip Chapper & Co Ltd has identified emerging international markets as the next stage of its growing export portfolio. The company has been successfully providing both branded and generic pharmaceuticals, over the counter medicines, hospital supplies and equipment to clients across the world for over 35 years. The company has a total of three pharmacists and can source virtually any pharmaceutical product, with any expiry date and in most counties, with extremely quick response rates. This is augmented by a team that is internationally diverse, with multilingual executives managing orders across the globe.
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'Spin' in media reports of scientific articles
Press releases and news stories reporting the results of randomized controlled trials often contain "spin" - specific reporting strategies (intentional or unintentional) emphasizing the beneficial effect of the experimental treatment - but such "spin" frequently comes from the abstract (summary) of the actual study published in a scientific journal, rather than being related to misinterpretation by the media, according to French researchers writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.
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