Testing in Biological News

E-Noses: Testing their mettle against fly noses

Scientists from CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship have made a breakthrough in efforts to extend the sensory range of 'electronic noses' (e-noses) by developing a system for comparing their performance against the much-superior nose of the common house fly. "Although e-noses already have many uses s...

University of Houston diesel testing center teams with state transportation agency to cut emissions

The Texas Diesel Testing and Research Center at the University of Houston, in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation, has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to test a system designed to reduce emissions produced by construction vehicles. "Imp...

Microtest Labs Adds Dissolution Testing to its Suite of Analytical and Stability Testing Services

AGAWAM, Mass., May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Microtest Laboratories , a leading single source provider of contract analytical solutions, is adding dissolution testing to its current suite of analytical testing and stability testing services. "The addition of dissolution testing is the...

Comprehensive cardiogenetic testing for families of sudden unexplained death victims can save lives

Vienna, Austria: Relatives of a young person who dies suddenly should always be referred for cardiological and genetic examination in order to identify if they too are at risk of sudden death, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Tuesday 26 May)....

Genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk may be greatly underutilized

Although a test for gene mutations known to significantly increase the risk of hereditary breast or ovarian cancer has been available for more than a decade, a new study finds that few women with family histories of these cancers are even discussing genetic testing with their physicians or other h...

Countries unite to reduce animal use in product toxicity testing worldwide

Representatives from four international agencies, including the director of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP), today signed a memorandum of cooperation that could reduce the number of animals required for consumer product safety testing worldwide. The agreement between the United States, ...

Cystic fibrosis testing -- next steps

San Juan Capistrano, CA and Chantilly, VA Three reports describing advances in cystic fibrosis genetic testing appear in the May 2009 issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics . Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease that affects mucus secretions in the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intes...

Fetal alcohol syndrome testing expands

Kingston, ON Improved technology, partnerships and collaboration across two provinces have allowed Queen's University scientists to dramatically expand the use of eye-movement tests that help identify and assess children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). "Our initial study was carri...

New reference material can improve testing of multivitamin tablets

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a new certified reference material that can be an important quality assurance tool for measuring the amounts of vitamins, carotenoids, and trace elements in dietary supplements. The new Standard Reference Material (SRM) 3280 f...

Genetic testing not cost-effective in guiding initial dosing of common blood thinner

CINCINNATINew analyses led by the University of Cincinnati (UC) show that genetic testing used to guide initial dosing of the blood-thinner warfarin may not be cost-effective for typical patients with atrial fibrillation but may be for patients at higher risk for major bleeding. This study is b...

DNA testing may unlock secrets of medieval manuscripts

Thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe still exist today, but scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of these works originated. Now a researcher from North Carolina State University is using modern advances in genetics to dev...

VCU survey: US public supports genetic research, testing and government spending on research

RICHMOND, Va. (Dec. 17, 2008) The 2008 Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences survey shows that eight in 10 adults nationwide favor making genetic testing easily available to all who want it, and 54 percent say that the benefits of conducting genetic research outweigh the risks. Public...

M.I.N.D. Institute researchers call for fragile X testing throughout the lifespan

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Writing in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association , UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute researchers urge physicians to test for mutations of the fragile X gene in patients of all ages. That's because, after decades of research, it is clear that mutations in this gen...

American College of Medical Genetics makes genetic testing recommendations in new policy statement

Consumers are increasingly being marketed a broad range of genetic tests. Paternity tests at the drugstore.Personal genome mappingGene tests to predict future baldness. With ongoing genetic discoveries and technology improvements, more genetic tests are available than ever before and along with g...

Texas A&M testing oral contraceptives for animals

COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 19, 2008 If youre a land owner and animals such as coyotes or wild pigs are driving you hog wild, help may soon be on the way to control their numbers in a humane way in the form of a birth control pill for animals being developed at Texas A&M Universitys College of Veterin...

Genetic Alliance names Genetic Testing as its official journal

New Rochelle, NY, January 17, 2008 Genetic Alliance, an organization devoted to accelerating the translation and integration of genetic research into genetic services to advance healthcare, has named Genetic Testing as its official journal. Genetic Testing is a peer-reviewed journal published by ...

Should children be permitted to get genetic testing for BRCA 1/2 mutations?

PHILADELPHIA -- Its an ethical dilemma with serious implications. Should children be tested for gene mutations that predispose them to developing breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer later in life" New research suggests the next generation of parents may support testing minors even when any step...

Market testing of dietary supplements and drugs underscores value of USP's public health programs

Rockville, Md., November 12, 2007 On September 10, 2007, ConsumerLab.com issued a report stating that several multivitamin supplements did not contain label amounts of folic acid. One of these products, B-50 Tablets, manufactured by IVC, Industries, Inc., is part of U. S. Pharmacopeias (USP) Di...

ACT Ensures Integrity of Testing Process Through Deployment of BIO-key's(R) Biometric ID Technology

Testing Organization Deploying Fingerprint Biometrics To Validate Identities, Eliminate ID Theft WALL, N.J., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BKYI) a leader in finger-based biometric identification and wireless public saf...

Genetic ancestral testing cannot deliver on its promise, study warns

Berkeley -- For many Americans, the potential to track one's DNA to a specific country, region or tribe with a take-home kit is highly alluring. But while the popularity of genetic ancestry testing is rising - particularly among African Americans - the technology is flawed and could spawn unwelcom...

Safe water: simpler method for analyzing radium in water samples cuts testing time

A simpler technique for testing public drinking water samples for the presence of the radioactive element radium can dramatically reduce the amount of time required to conduct the sampling required by federal regulations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved use of the new ...

First results from hospital trials testing

NEW YORK, NY (October 28, 2008) The first stage of the U.S. Department of Defense-funded clinical trials exploring the role of hospital touch surfaces in the transmission of infectious pathogens has been completed and the researchers reported their findings in a poster session at the Interscience...

Advance offers revolution in food safety testing

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Microbiologists at Oregon State University have developed a new technology to detect illness-causing bacteria an advance that could revolutionize the food industry, improving the actual protection to consumers while avoiding the costly waste and massive recalls of products that...

Taking a cue from breath fresheners, researcher develops new method for taste testing

Using the same concept behind commercial breath-freshening strips, a Temple University researcher has developed a new, easier method for clinical taste testing. Greg Smutzer, director of the Laboratory of Gustatory Psychophysics in the Biology Department of Temple's College of Science and Tech...

NOAA invests $3 million for unmanned aircraft system testing

Unmanned aircraft bearing automated sensors may soon help NOAA scientists better predict a hurricanes intensity and track, how fast Arctic summer ice will melt, and whether soggy Pacific storms will flood West Coast cities. All three efforts are part of NOAAs Unmanned Aircraft Systems program. NO...

New chimeric mouse model for human liver diseases, drug testing

La Jolla, CA Cells cultured in the lab are like a fish out of water. Often, their behavior does not reflect their biological function within an entire organ or organism, which, for example, turns studying human liver cells into a big challenge. One way to get around the altered properties of ...

UW launches study testing adult stem cells for heart damage repair

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is among the first medical centers in the country taking part in a novel clinical trial investigating if a subject's own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease. The trial, just underway at UW Hospital and Clin...

Professors to develop hand-held pathogen testing device

Testing for deadly food, air and water pathogens may get a lot easier and cheaper thanks to the work of a Michigan State University researcher and his team. Syed Hashsham, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Center for Microbial Ecology, is dev...

Federal testing for mad cow disease a failure, law review editor says

The U.S. Agriculture Department's mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agency's refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes. Eating meat from cattle infected with bovine spongiform en...

Faster immune system testing set to improve poultry quality

The Eureka E! 2692 Molecular Tests project has developed a simple, fast and easy-to-apply test to assess the robustness of the immune system in poultry. The test can be performed in two days on blood samples from poultry houses, using equipment already available in poultry diagnostic laboratories. ...

Genetic testing still smart choice, despite uncertainties

Screening embryos for genetic diseases during in vitro fertilization offers couples the best chance for a healthy child, but a genetic glitch could potentially cause doctors to misdiagnose a small fraction of them, University of Florida researchers say. Citing concerns about the accuracy of prei...

Researchers develop new testing methods for potential monkeypox or smallpox outbreak

Researchers at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) at Oregon Health & Science University have developed new diagnostic methods to better detect future monkeypox or smallpox outbreaks. The research also sheds new light on the 2003 monkeypox outbreak in the Midwest -- monkeypox is close...

Drug resistance testing in treatment-naive HIV patients is cost-effective

Testing for drug resistance in HIV-infected patients at the time of HIV diagnosis is cost-effective and may increase patients' life expectancy, according to an article in the Nov. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Resistance to antiretroviral therapy, even in patient...

Marine microbes creating green waves in industry

...n treat the microbes under conditions where they produce the key enzymes in higher yield, which we finally purify. The enzymes then undergo systematic testing to evaluate their activity, which enables us to pinpoint candidates that exhibit the best performance." We are now identifying microbes with a type...

NIH stimulus funding supports Emory biomedical scientists

... possibly delay its progression. Certain chemicals produced as part of the brain's metabolism could signal the presence of the disease. Scientists are testing magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a way to spot these chemicals in the brain. Impact of video viewing on infant learning TV programs and video...

First human gets new antibody aimed at hepatitis C virus

...dies, researchers at MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) today announced the beginning of a Phase 1 clinical trial, testing the safety and activity of a human monoclonal antibody they developed that can neutralize the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The first volunteer receive...

Women often opt to surgically remove their breasts, ovaries to reduce cancer risk

... about adoption of risk reduction strategies in high-risk women who have participated in a very comprehensive and well thought-out genetic counseling, testing and management program," said Claudine Isaacs, M.D., an associate professor of medicine and co-director of the Fisher Center for Familial Cancer Resea...

Plankton Power and RTDC announce proposed algae-to-biofuels pilot facility on Cape Cod

...s, supported by the Massachusetts National Guard pending legal and regulatory reviews. The pilot facility will provide the required infrastructure for testing commercial scale-up of a breakthrough algae-growth technology resulting from 20 years of cold saltwater species research and production. The biodiesel...

La Jolla Institute discovers novel tumor suppressor

... and have very high levels of STAT5 activity, which is similar to our findings in myeloproliferative disease," he said. "We also have done human cell testing in some other lymphomas and leukemias -- including myeloid leukemia -- indicating that these diseases also use this mechanism (low expression of PLC-b...

Scientists open doors to diagnosis of emphysema

...in Nature Chemical Biology . The researchers present a new strategy for testing the activity of MMP12, an enzyme known to be involved in the development of...ity of Heidelberg. The EMBL and University researchers hope that the new testing strategy can be extended to other enzymes involved in lung inflammation and...