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FDA Warns Consumers Not to Use Home-Use Diagnostic Kits Marketed by Globus Media

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to use unapproved home-use diagnostic test kits that have been marketed nationwide via the Internet by Globus Media, Montreal, Canada. The use of these products could result in false results that could lead to significant adverse health consequences. The illegal kits are labeled as: Rapid HIV Test Kit. * Rapid Syphilis Te...

FDA Announces Series of Changes to the Class of Marketed Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced a series of important changes pertaining to the marketing of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory class of drugs, including COX-2 selective and prescription and non-prescription (over-the-counter (OTC)) non-selective NSAID medications. A list of these products is available on the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/cox2/default.h...

Biomarkers isolated from saliva successfully predict oral and breast cancer

Screening for breast cancer and the early detection of other tumors one day may be as simple as spitting into a collection tube or cup, according to recent studies by UCLA researchers. In one early study based on a risk model, presented here at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the UCLA scientists reported that genetic "biomarkers" isolated in saliva...

UCLA cancer researchers shake loose hidden biomarker

Using a common chemotherapy agent, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine found a way to move an important biomarker expressed in prostate cancer, shaking it loose from one location in a cell ?where it could not be accessed by blood ?to another, easier to target area. The discovery, outlined in the cover article of May 11 editio...

Measurement Challenges In Detecting Cancer Biomarkers

Effective control of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) requires treatment of the sexual partners of infected patients. A new study shows that providing infected men with antibiotics to give their partners is more effective than traditional means of contacting and treating the partners, according to an article in the Sept. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Men with...

New markers of climate change

A new way to monitor the effects of climate change on rainforests is being investigated at Cambridge University. Researchers are using biomarkers in the shape of epiphytes ('air-plants' which grow on other plants) to find out how their photosynthesis and water evaporation have been affected by climate change over the last 50 years. Using types of epiphytes known as bromeliads, Monica Mejia...

WCS says avian flu prevention should focus on farms, markets

Wildlife health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warn that efforts to control the spread of avian flu across Asia and beyond must focus on better management practices on farms and in markets. WCS is currently working with Mongolian agencies on the ground in Mongolia's Kovsgol province, collecting samples from wild birds that have recently contracted the...

U-M scientists discover identifying markers for primitive blood-forming stem cells

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered the biological equivalent of a grocery store bar code on the surface of primitive, blood-forming stem cells in mice. Called hematopoietic stem cells, they give rise to all the different types of specialized cells found in blood. By reading the bar code, scientists can separate stem cells from their more advanced descen...

Markers of gene, protein, or micro-RNA activity predict outcome in prostate and colorectal cancers

Cancer researchers are working toward a future in which each patient's tumor will act like a crystal ball, revealing how oncologists should treat the cancer to obtain the best outcome. Currently, physicians cannot predict which patients with prostate cancer should receive extra therapy after surgery - or whether some of these patients have an indolent disease that does not even require su...

Biomarkers may hone anti-aging therapies

Lotions and potions that promise to remove wrinkles and other effects of aging crowd cosmetics aisle shelves, but do these treatments really work? Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have identified new molecular indicators -- or "biomarkers" -- of aging in the skin that could be used to evaluate anti-aging therapies. Their findings are reported in the February issue of the...

Making a face: A new and earlier marker of neural crest development

The fate of cells that go on to form the face, skull and nerve centers of the head and neck in vertebrates is determined much earlier in development than previously thought, and is independent of interaction with other forming tissues, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature. The collaborators at Yale and Caltech demonstrate with three different technologies -- immunos...

Major cancer study aims to identify protein markers for early-stage disease

A team led by Bay Area scientists is one of five nationwide to receive a major grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to refine and standardize the technologies for identifying biomarkers in the blood -- specific proteins, and the patterns they make -- for the early detection of cancer. The grants, which signal the NCI's strategic shift toward studies aimed at early detection of c...

Plant-cell-produced technologies-cutting edge approach to bringing solutions to the market

Four months after the world's first vaccine made in plant cells has received regulatory approval in the US, Dow AgroSciences is organising a Science Conference in Brussels on 7 June 2006 in order to share this knowledge with European researchers, scientists, decision-makers and industry representatives. The pioneering vaccine developed by Dow AgroSciences works against the Newcastle diseas...

Inflammation markers identify fatigue in breast cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have defined conditions associated with disabling fatigue that persists for years in almost a third of breast cancer survivors, according to a study in the May 1 issue of "These studies identify a biological basis for...

Viral marker of human migration suspect

A benign virus previously used as a marker in tracing human migration may be unreliable, according to researchers at Penn State. Results of this study also suggest that some viruses might be undergoing much higher rates of evolution than previously thought. "The most genetically divergent human populations are in Africa," said Laura Shackelton, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State's Cen...

Abnormal overexpression of p53 is a predictive molecular biomarker

A common laboratory test that predicted poor outcome from traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment for head and neck cancers now has been found to predict a good prognosis with treatment of p53 tumor suppressor gene therapy - making it potentially the first predictive biomarker test for a gene-based drug. Researchers at Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., in Austin, Texas, found that pati...

First biomarker for human sleepiness identified in fruit flies

Scientists have identified the first biochemical marker linked to sleep loss, an enzyme in saliva known as amylase, which increases in activity when sleep deprivation is prolonged. Researchers hope to make amylase the first of a panel of biomarkers that will aid diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders and may one day help assess the risk of falling asleep at the wheel of a car or in oth...

Newly identified biomarker detects and regulates spread of brain tumors

Researchers at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute have identified a novel biomarker for brain tumors and have uncovered a potential role the marker may play when the tumor spreads or comes back after treatment. The study, ÒAttractin is elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with malignant astrocytoma and mediates glioma cell migration," is published in the November issue of Cli...

Molecular 'marker' on stem cells aids research, perhaps therapies

A sugar molecule present on embryonic stem cells also has been found on the surface of a type of adult stem cell, a discovery that may help researchers isolate and purify adult stem cells for use in therapies aimed at bone healing, tendon repair and cartilage regeneration, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report. The molecule, called SSEA-4, was found on the surface of certain...

Scientists create dual-modality microbeads to improve identification of disease biomarkers

Analyzing human blood for a very low virus concentration or a sample of water for a bioterrorism agent has always been a time-consuming and difficult process. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have developed an easier and faster method to detect these types of target molecules in liquid samples using highly porous, micron-sized, silica beads. The res...

Selective marker found to indicate aggressive form of breast cancer

Researchers have linked a structural protein called nestin to a particularly deadly form of breast cancer, identifying a new biomarker that could lead to earlier detection and better treatment. In the January 15 issue of Cancer Research, researchers from Dartmouth Medical School demonstrate that nestin could represent a selective biological marker for basal epithelial breast tumors, a hig...

Genes and biomarkers that allow doctors to choose the right therapy for the right patient

Genetic and epigenetic variations ensure that no two people are exactly alike, and the same holds true for any two cancers. Now, researchers have the tools and the knowledge to help predict how individuals will respond to cancer therapies, enabling them to create more effective therapies for individual cancers ?personalized medicine. At the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Can...

Researchers identify ovarian cancer biomarkers

Researchers have identified markers unique to the cells of blood vessels running through ovarian tumors. The finding, while preliminary, could one day improve screening, diagnosis and treatment for this disease. The team of researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and universities in Greece and Italy, used a laser technique to isolate blood vessel cells from...

Researchers develop marker that identifies energy-producing centers in nerve cells

A protein that causes coral to glow is helping researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to light up brain cells that are critical for the proper functioning of the central nervous system. This fluorescent marker protein may shed light on brain cell defects believed to play a role in various neurological diseases. The researchers describe how this marker works in mice in the De...