Computer Glitch at the Calgary Lab Services The Biotech Weblog

I wouldn't want to have been one of the 2,051 patients in calgary who had lab tests, such as blood or urine, done between May 1 and July 5. Dr. Chris Eagle, chief medical officer with the region, says a problem with a database used by Calgary Lab Services caused some test results to be attributed to the wrong patient. This is the same Internet database that doctors use to [...] Read More


Medical Genomics Laboratory in Berlin The Biotech Weblog

The Center for Medical Genome Research in Berlin was officially opened last week. A joint project between the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Leibniz-Institut fuer Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), the €19 million research center focuses on the identification of origins of disease and search for novel therapeutics using genome research. Located within the building is the Gene Mapping Center and the "Protein Structure Factory", both part [...] Read More


Novartis Bids for NeuTec, Expands Into Hospital Anti-Infectives The Biotech Weblog

Novartis is hoping to strengthen its biopharmaceutical portfolio by offering to acquire British firm NeuTec Pharma plc for $570 million, a 109% premium to the current share price. NeuTec's portfolio specializes in hospital anti-infectives, its late stage candidates including recombinant antibody fragments that binds to cellular proteins and increases the efficacy of antibiotics in resistant strains particularly those involved in hospital infections. Mycograb is targeted to help treat invasive candidiasis, [...] Read More


United Computer Glitch Strands Travelers The Aviation Weblog

In a nightmare for passengers, an United Airlines' computer glitch in Chicago caused a backlog of flights, stranding and frustrating travelers. The airline is expected to return to normal on Thursday. The computer which failed in Chicago was in charge of dispatching flights from one airport to another, among other crucial details. "That's what tells how much fuel should be onboard, where the pilot should fly, how they should fly and [...] Read More


Lodi Memorial Hospital Selects Broadlane For Purchasing Management Services Supplychainer

Broadlane announced that Lodi Memorial Hospital in Lodi, California, has selected the company to provide an array of supply chain services under an exclusive agreement. Under the agreement, Broadlane will provide Lodi Memorial Hospital with access to its "high-powered" national GPO portfolio for consumable supplies, capital equipment, pharmaceuticals and purchased services. Additionally, Lodi Memorial Hospital will utilize Broadlane's proprietary technology to help them manage their supply spend. Lodi Memorial Hospital's [...] Read More

Published in the latest issue of American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is the first first evidence from human research that blueberries, one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other so-called phytochemicals, improve memory.

In the study, one group of volunteers in their 70s with early memory decline drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day for two months. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice. The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say.

The findings of this preliminary study suggest that moderate-term blueberry supplementation can confer neurocognitive benefit and establish a basis for more comprehensive human trials to study preventive potential and neuronal mechanisms.

According to a report published recently in the Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, a diagnostic blood test for schizophrenia might be available by this year.

[The authors] have identified schizophrenia biomarkers in serum, and working with the company Rules-Based Medicine, located in Austin, Texas, and Lake Placid, N.Y., she expects that a serum-based test to aid in the diagnosis of schizophrenia will be launched sometime this year.

"We've identified a signature of numerous protein biomarkers, which give a very high sensitivity and specificity," Bahn says. "We've looked at hundreds of samples from patients and controls and other disorders that are related to schizophrenia."

Source

Genome Canada, Genome BC, US Departments of Energy and Agriculture, and France's INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) has undertaken a US$10.5 million research project that will create a reference genome for the sunflower family - currently the world's largest plant family, containing 24,000 species of plants, including many crops, medicinal plants, horticulture plants and noxious weeds.

Th project, titled Genomics of Sunflower, will use next-generation genotyping and sequencing technologies to sequence, assemble and annotate the sunflower genome and to locate the genes that are responsible for agriculturally important traits such as seed-oil content, flowering, seed-dormancy, and wood producing-capacity.

One of the potential applications of this research includes a hybrid variety of sunflower, grown as a dual-use crop. The wild Silverleaf species of sunflower, known for its tall, woody stalks that grow 10 to 15 feet tall and up to 4 inches in diameter in a single season, could be crossbred with the commercially valuable sunflower plant that produces high quality seeds, capitalizing on the desirable traits of both species.

"The seeds would be harvested for food and oil, while the stalks would be utilized for wood or converted to ethanol. As a dual-use crop it wouldn't be in competition with food crops for land," says project leader, Dr. Loren Rieseberg (University of British Columbia).

In addition, this fast growing annual crop will be highly drought resistant, thanks to desirable traits from the Silverleaf variety, and would therefore be suitable for use in subsistence agriculture in places like Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in much of North America.

More details of the project here (pdf file).

A multigene test (21 gene-test) is having an impact to both doctors and patients alike. The test predicts whether a patient will benefit from chemotherapy or not, thereby avoiding chemotherapy altogether in some patients.

The said test is called Oncotype DX®.

The multigene test, Oncotype DX®, is made by Genomic Health Inc. The test examines 21 genes from a tumor sample to determine how active they are. A test score between 0 and 100 predicts how likely the cancer is to recur. For women with low scores, chemotherapy is not recommended.

Since becoming commercially available in 2004, more than 120,000 breast cancer patients have undergone the test. The test is intended for patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes.

Read the full story on Science Daily.