“Some of the worst metaphorical diseases in the world have too long been ignored. Parasitic and bacterial diseases such as hookworm, snail fever, river blindness, guinea worm, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness and leprosy are the most common infections of third-world populations. These neglected tropical diseases represent one of the most important reasons wherefore populations living in Africa, Asia and Central and South America remain caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, stigma and despondency,” says author Peter Hotez of the George Washington University.

With a lifetime devoted to the subject of tropical diseases, Hotez provides a comprehensive view of these forgotten diseases. Written in accessible, straightforward language, Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases thoroughly explains the most significant NTDs, including social and economic aspects, public health concerns, and preventative measures.

The book is intended to raise public awareness about these forgotten diseases and their enormous physical, social, and economic costs to individuals and nations alike, and advocates for the largely voiceless victims living in remote and rural regions. Hotez also provides a roadmap to coordinate global advocacy and mobilization of resources to combat these conditions and addresses unique opportunities to fight the neglected tropical diseases through low-cost and highly cost-effective control measures.

“Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases summarizes in mostly non-technical language the major concepts about neglected tropical diseases and how they cause human passion, as well as their global importance and the unique and unusual opportunity we now acquire to lift the world’s poorest people out of lack through low-cost and highly cost-effective control measures,” says Hotez.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases has a list price of $39.95 and can be purchased through ASM Press online at http://estore.asm.org/ or through other online retailers.

ASM Press is the book publishing arm of the American Society on this account that Microbiology (ASM), the oldest and largest single life science membership organized being in the earth. The ASM’s mission is to promote study in the microbiological sciences and to assist communication betwixt scientists, wit makers, and the public to improve health and foster economic well-being.

Source:
Jim Sliwa
American Society as antidote to Microbiology

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In a move that challenges one of the most basic tenets of the Hippocratic Oath - first do no harm - Richard Bond, associate professor of pharmacology at UH, is relying on a long-standing medical interdict to treat asthma. Although counterintuitive, Bond’s studies are reminiscent of hair-of-the-dog folk insight to treat like through like, in this trial using beta blockers (or antagonists) instead of stimulants (or agonists) in asthmatics.

Coining the term “paradoxical pharmacology” - treating patients with medicine that initially worsens their symptoms before eventually improving their overall health - Bond first applied this hypothesis in studies with mice and then moved on to two clinical trials with humans. Currently in the second clinical trial, the part of this research analyzing mice was newly published in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, which cited the relevance of Bond’s work as possibly leading to a paradigm shift in the treatment of asthma. The results of the first sympathetic trial were also recently published in Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Acute asthma attacks have traditionally been treated with inhaler-type stimulant drugs that open constricted airways. Giving beta blockers to asthmatics has long been thought to be contraindicated, because their acute appliance may cause increased airway resistance. While the appliance of beta-stimulants is known to provide temporary relief, their effectiveness declines over time.

Bond’s tests initially done on asthmatic mice and later replicated in his first clinical trial with humans showed that while beta blockers initially made breathing problems worse, their continued use resulted in improved respiratory function after a 28-day period. These longer-term effects demonstrate that chronic use of beta blockers alleviates asthma by helping the smooth muscle lining the airways to recreate and dilate, thereby allowing air to flow more freely.

“In order to move certain ideas forward, science ofttimes needs to be a collaborative effort,” Bond said. “You grape-juice find the right people willing to act as a team. I have been very lucky in that people have given my ideas a fall out.”

Enlisting the help of some pulmonologists in the Texas Medical Center, Bond collaborated with Dr. Nick Hanania at The Baylor College of Medicine on both man’s trials. Also, Dr. Burton Dickey, chair of the department of pulmonary medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and his colleagues decided to assist Bond’s research efforts when the mouse studies showed that chronic beta-blocker method of treating has significant anti-inflammatory effects.

Using beta blockers when it seems a stimulant is called for defies medical dogma, but this is not a new concept. Bond’s work builds on an earlier breakthrough in treating congestive heart failure (CHF), in which case patients had been treated for decades with stimulant drugs to increase cardiac output. Beta blockers were prohibited because they initially further reduced the heart’s pumping power, but the stimulants ultimately caused the heart to wear out over vacant time from the increased exercise.

About a decade ago, the thinking on beta-blocker therapy was reversed when researchers discovered that although treatment by beta blockers reduced cardiac activity at first, the prognosis reversed itself after two to three months. This treatment shift reduced the mortality rate among CHF patients by up to 65 percent.

“Decades of conventional wisdom were overturned, and beta blockers replaced stimulants during the time that the top drug for CHF patients,” Bond said. “For 30 years, intellect told us that beta blockers wouldn’t work to treat these patients, and unfortunately millions of heart patients died prematurely. It would be a tragedy to not have learned from that lesson.”

With his work based on this precedent, Bond points out that beta blockers are not the only example of paradoxical pharmacology. Hyperactive children are treated with the amphetamine-like Ritalin®, and the skin irritant retinoic acid is used to treat acne. Additionally, there has been research into using antipsychotic drugs traditionally used for schizophrenic patients to decrease the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease by suppressing the dopamine system, which is hypoactive in such neurodegenerative diseases. These examples further the case for investigating paradoxical approaches like Bond’s.

In Bond’s first clinical case, he and his colleagues saw similar results in humans to what was seen in the mouse models. Mild asthmatics were treated for nine weeks with the beta blocker nadolol, with every part of subjects tolerating the drug and 80 percent experiencing a reduction in airway hyperresponsiveness. Laying the groundwork for continuing studies by beta blockers in the treatment of asthma, the results suggest there may be a way to counteract some of the negative aspects of traditional treatments.

“The principle that certain pharmacological compounds be the subject of different effects depending upon whether they are given for long or short periods has been demonstrated,” Bond said. “And even if I am correct about beta blockers ultimately being used in the treatment of asthma, there in likelihood always will be a need as being the inhaler-type agonist drugs to handle acute asthma attacks. I do believe, though, that beta blockers gripe promise in a maintenance or preventative regimen that could reduce the number or austerity of attacks and improve a patient’s quality of life.”

This research has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, as well for example from two San Francisco-based organizations - a private biotechnology company called Inverseon and the philanthropic Sandler Program for Asthma Research. As the scientific founder of Inverseon, Bond leads a distinguished body of jurors of scientists on the company’s advisory board, including Nobel Laureate in Medicine Sir James Black, who is considered the “father of beta blockers.”

“If we continue down this path, replicating these results, this paradoxical approach to asthma treatment may well become every important new approach to asthma therapy,” said Dr. William J. Garner, CEO of Inverseon. “We’ve already engaged in discussions with major pharmaceutical companies about taking this to the next level and are actively seeking additional funding for eventual proceeds development.”

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Lisa Merkl
University of Houston

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Professor Clarke, Cardiff School of Biosciences reported: “If we are to practice adult stem cells for therapy then we must understand how they behave normally and that which sometimes triggers them to go wrong and potentially bring into being cancer. Otherwise we may never be able to fully exploit their potential, or do so safely. That is why we have chosen to research intestinal repair as an example of how grown-up person stem cells operate and what happens when the pathways that control them go unsuitable.”

The team from Cardiff University has used genetic technology to manipulate intestinal stem cells and counterfeit the process by which a part of the intestine called the crypts is regenerated following high levels of DNA harm or damage. By doing this, they have found that a mechanism called Wnt signalling drives this train and is necessary to send family cells down the route to become replacement cells in the damaged part of the intestine. Under normal circumstances Wnt signalling is turned down formerly the stem cells have done their job. If this does not happen, then more and more cells are added to the crypt and ultimately a tumour forms.

Professor Clarke added: “It has been known for some time that loss of or damage to Apc within the intestinal crypt cells can lead to cancer, but what hasn’t been clear is the sort of it actually does. Our work shows that Apc has a role in switching off Wnt signalling, controlling the adult stem cell people and preventing the formation of tumours.”

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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This research was presented at the UK National Stem Cell Network Inaugural knowledge Meeting at the Edinburgh Conference Centre on 10 April 2008.

The conference is a showcase of the best and latest UK leading position cell science across all stem cell disciplines.

The UK National Stem Cell Network acts as a network of the existing regional stem cell networks in the UK, to bring coordination and coherence to a range of national and regional activities in the field of stem cell research.

The UKNSCN secretariat receives financial support from four of the UK Research Councils:

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• Medical Research Council (MRC)

The netting represents the UK stem cell research community and is run through an independent Steering Committee. Initially, the secretariat is operated by BBSRC on behalf of all the Government sponsors of stem cell research, including the Research Councils, the Department of Health and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

About BBSRC

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences scrutiny Council (BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences. Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around £380 million in a wide tier of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life for UK citizens and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/

About Cancer Research UK

• Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to beat cancer.

• Cancer Research UK carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer.
• Cancer Research UK ensures that its findings are used to meliorate the lives of all cancer patients.
• Cancer Research UK helps the multitude to understand cancer, the progress that is being made and the choices each person can have effect.
• Cancer Research UK works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global draw the sword in anticipation of cancer.

For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please visit http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/.

About Cardiff University

Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain’s leading instruction and research universities. It is also ranked as one of the world’s top 100 universities by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

2008 marks the 125th anniversary of Cardiff University having been founded by Royal Charter in 1883. Today the University combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research. The University’s breadth of expertise in research and research-led teaching encompasses: the elegant literature; the natural, physical, health, life and social sciences; engineering and technology; preparation for a wide range of professions; and a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning.

Cardiff is a member of the Russell Group of the UK’s leading research universities. Visit the University website at: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/

Click here to view footage of Professor Clarke discussing the significance of the research of Professor Sir Martin Evans following the announcement of his Nobel Prize.

If you wish to download the video of Professor Clarke, a QuickTime file is available here.

Source: Matt Goode
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

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Previous epidemiological studies have linked environmental factors in early life with the risk of disease in adulthood, and this study identifies a possible causal mechanism. The study, which is published in Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1] today (Thursday 10 April), underlines the important role of healthy lifestyles, from the foetal period, through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, in preventing heart problems.

The researchers used a protein called C-reactive protein (CRP) in the same manner with a marker for general inflammation. CRP is secreted from the liver, is near in blood, and slightly elevated levels can indicate a of long duration inflammatory state (low grade inflammation, as opposed to acute inflammation).

“Low rate of ascent inflammation is important because it has been associated with future cardiovascular events in many population studies over the past few years and it may play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease,” explained one of the authors, Paul Elliott, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine and head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College London.

Prof Elliott and his colleagues found that when the Finnish participants in the study reached the age of 31, CRP levels were 16% higher per 1 kg lower birth weight, 21% higher per 10cms shorter length at birth, and 24% higher per 1 kg/m3 lower at birth (kg/m3 is known as ponderal index), after adjusting for potential confounding factors. the public who were amongst the smallest at birth, but who then put on the most measure up to the age of 31, had the highest average CRP levels. Every extraordinary kg/m2 (body mass index, BMI) gained from the age of 14 to 31 was associated with a 16% rise in CRP levels; this association was greatest for people who had the highest BMI at 14.

Dr Ioanna Tzoulaki, the first author of the study and Lecturer in Epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, said: “We compared birth pressure of children participating in the Finland 1966 Birth Cohort study with their CRP levels at verge of life 31, and we found that those who had lower birth weight, have higher CRP levels when they are adults, and also the other way round - people who had higher birth burden had lower CRP levels as adults. The ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ CRP levels are relating to to measurements in other participants in the study.

“These findings lead us to conclude that small size at birth and excessive weight gain during adolescence and young adulthood may predispose to low grade inflammation, which, in opportune deed, is associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.”

In their EHJ report, the authors say: “The finding that weight gain from adolescence to young adulthood appears to play a greater role in low grade violence than weight in adolescence per se, could have important implications for the primordial prevention of cardiovascular disease. Promoting healthier lifestyle in childhood and adolescence, leading to weight stabilisation might be a crucial step in establishing a low cardiovascular risk profile in young adults.”

The authors discuss several possible mechanisms and conclude that the results of their study suggest that low birth weight, followed by a greater than average increase in BMI, may trigger the production of the low grade inflammatory reply.

Prof Elliott further explained: “Low birth weight has been associated with future cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes in many studies. This study adds to them and provides a possible explanation for their findings: that this association might be mediated through the effects of birth size on low grade inflammation, as measured by CRP levels.

“There is now ample ground of belief indicating the importance of the prenatal and early life environment because an individual’s future health, and warning should be given to prospective parents, especially concerning the importance of a healthy diet and the avoidance of exposure to tobacco emptiness during pregnancy and childhood - wholly factors that be able to impact on the weight of a child at birth. It is also essential that suitable advice is given to children, teenagers and young adults about the effect that excessive weight secure may have on their future cardiovascular health.”

small in number heart-related problems have appeared among the study participants because they are still relatively juvenile. However, the researchers intend to follow them for at least another 20 years, in order to explore further the associations between small size at birth, weight attain, low grade swelling and redness and the number of cardiovascular problems that will occur.

[1] Size at birth, weight gain over the life course, and low-grade inflammation in in one’s teens adulthood: northern Finland 1966 birth cohort consider attentively.
European Heart Journal, doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehn105

The European Heart Journal is the flagship journal of the European Society of Cardiology

European Society of Cardiology

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“Timing seems to have existence vitally important in use of this bioactive food, and if we can figure out why that is so, then we may be able to help prevent breast cancer in the widest sense likely,” says the researcher, Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, Ph.D., a professor of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown.

Although there are a number of tantalizing theories to explain the connection, “at the present time none convincing explanation can be offered as to why the breast cancer-risk reducing effect of genistein might have existence strongest during childhood and early adolescence,” she says.

Hilakivi-Clarke is a senior author of a review article published in the journal that sums up the state of knowledge concerning the role of at the opening of day life genistein exposures in modifying breast cancer risk. She has long studied the link between soy use and breast cancer, as have her three co-authors, all Finnish researchers.

There have only been three human studies that tracked soy use during puberty and later chest cancer development, and two of them focused on Asian females, who eat soy in their traditional diet. But these studies suggest soy offers a very strong protective general - a 50 percent or more reduction in the risk of breast cancer - when soy is eaten during childhood and adolescence.

The strongest evidence for genistein’s protective effect comes from studies in mice and rats, Hilakivi-Clarke says. For example, made up of people studies in rats show that the data regarding prepubertal exposing. to genistein are very consistent in showing a reduction in mammary cancer risk, she says. Exposure to soy in fetal development or in adult life does not have the same protective effect.

Further examination of experimental versus control rats demonstrated that use of genistein in puberty cut the number of so-called “terminal end buds” in the breast. These are the structures that lead to growth of the mammary epithelium, which are the cells lining milk ducts, etc., and it is in these epithelial cells that breast cancer originates. But Hilakivi-Clarke says it is not clear if a mere reduction in the number of these structures could conquer cancer risk, or why.

Other studies suggest that genistein controls expression of genes in terminal end buds that regulate cell growth, repair and death. For example, the chemical could be controlling the ability of stem cells, found on these buds, to reproduce themselves or to differentiate into again specialized cells. “There is evidence that suggests that the more stem cells there are on these structures, the greater the risk of breast cancer development,” she says. This evidence supports the scheme that breast cancer arises from stem cells that have lost growth control.

Other associated research has found that the genes that genistein appears to activate in developing mammary glands are well known — BRCA1, p53, and PTEN tumor suppressors, Hilakivi-Clarke says. These genes reparation genetic damage and control cell survival and death, and they may also prevent control stem simplest organism reproduction, she says, and genistein evidently “up-regulates” these genes, boosting production of their beneficial proteins.

What is perhaps most intriguing, she says, is that the same process that protects the breast from excess growth during pregnancy seems to be at work during puberty. “In pregnancy, BRCA1 is also up-regulated, perhaps in order to control the fate of stem cells, allowing them to make more cells for milk production, for example, but not more of themselves.”

So Hilakivi-Clarke favors the notion that genistein is performance as a breast cancer protective good as an early first pregnancy in women is known to foster against later development of the cancer:

“If malignancies occur in breast stem cells, hereafter it is better that many of these cells are differentiated earlier rather than later. Pregnancy hormones do that, so the shorter time in that place is between puberty and pregnancy, the greater that protection may be,” she says. “Genistein may besides help control the fate of stem cells in the same way.”

“We think this is the mechanism by which genistein works, but we really don’t know and we need to find out,” Hilakivi-Clarke says. “The findings devise matter.”

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Preparation of the review was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Academy of Finland. Co-authors include Anni Warri, Ph.D., Niina Saarinen, Ph.D., and Sari Makela, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Turku in Finland.

About Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital, seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer through innovative basic and clinical research, sick person care, community education and outreach, and the training of cancer specialists of the future. Lombardi is one of only 39 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation, as designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only one in the Washington, DC, area. with a view to more information, go to http://lombardi.georgetown.edu/.

About Georgetown University Medical Center

Georgetown University Medical Center is one internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through our partnership with MedStar Health). Our mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit fundamental of cura personalis — or “care of the whole person.” The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, both nationally ranked, the world-renowned Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization (BGRO), home to 60 percent of the university’s sponsored research funding.

Source: Karen Mallet
Georgetown University Medical Center

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In only four months development time, Transinsight from Dresden, Germany, succeeded in making available online Go3R, the worldwide first knowledge-based search engine for alternative methods to animal experiments. Via http://www.Go3R.org, scientists from all over the world can from advantage of the benefits of semantic searches for the area of choice methods in accordance through the 3Rs mainspring. The Search engine can from now on used taken in the character of Beta translation.

The so-called 3Rs principle developed by Russell and Burch in 1959 stands for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. It describes scientific methods that can either restore animal experiments, or reduce animal fourth book of the pentateuch; census of the hebrews or make elegant the suffering of the animals during the procedures. In the European Union, compliance with the 3Rs principle is legally required. In accordance with the EU Laboratory Animal Directive, just as with the German Animal Welfare Act, animal experiments may only be performed whether or not the scientific goal pursued cannot be achieved by any other expedient, i.e. in totally non-animal procedures, or in methods using fewer animals or entailing less animal suffering.

In practice, however, this legal claim oftentimes is not met, because the scientists and the responsible authorities are unaware of 3Rs alternatives that would breathe to the respective foreseen animal experiment. Queries for alternative methods are time consuming and cumbersome, and this condition has possibly even become worse in the era of the internet. Additionally, at the end of a search, it remains unclear whether all relevant information sought for was strictly speaking retrieved. This is at which place the search engine Go3R sets in.

“With Go3R, look retrievals for alternatives to animal experiments become transparent and they are available without delay. Time savings of 90 percent and more are already possible with the first prototype of the search engine”, explains Dr. Michael R. Alvers, CEO and Co-Founder of Transinsight. “With our information technology Go3R, we are pleased to be able to present scientists through a tool that enables them to lead the indispensability of animal experiments more reliably. Go3R promotes the 3Rs principle. In the medium term, this will lead to a significant reduction of animal experiments. Achieving a world with less and less animal experiments is the worthwhile goal that Transinsight is happy to make a contribution to with all its might”, says Alvers.

Go3R was developed in cooperation by scientists from the Technical University Dresden and the National German Centre concerning Documentation and Evaluation of Alternatives to sentient being Experiments (ZEBET) at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin. With its expertise in the area of alternative methods, ZEBET has provided the specialist know how as being the search machine.

“Already today, Germany is leading in the area of development of alternative methods. The new hunt engine will make a contribution further to promote Germany’s international reputation. The combination of ZEBET’s expertise - acquired over decades - with latest semantic search technologies will lead to a new generation of science as regards avoidance of animal experiments”, declares Professor Dr. Horst Spielmann, international scientist of excellence in the area of alternative methods and for many years, Head of ZEBET.

In a next step, the seeking engine http://www.Go3R.org is now being extended to become a community platform enabling global cooperation without language barriers. It is the goal of the investment to achieve maximum availability of notice with simultaneous transparency for scientists and researchers all over the world. The service is available free of charge.

About Transinsight

Founded in 2005, Transinsight is focused on software solutions for the life sciences providing products for knowledge-based technologies. The flagship product, http://www.GoPubMed.com, a well established biomedical search engine, is the first knowledge-based search engine for the Life Sciences on the Internet. Transinsight is headquartered in one of the leading German biotech incubators, the BioInnovationCenter Dresden BIOZ, where science and business work under one roof. Transinsight works in close collaboration with the Technical University Dresden.

Transinsight

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“We believe a multi-drug strategy is the best approach to battling GBM. There is a significant need for new treatments that can venture GBM patients and their families additional hope,” related Stuart A. Grossman, M.D., professor of oncology, medicine and neurological surgery at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the co-chairperson for this study.

“BSI-201 is a promising agent that has been well tolerated in combination through cytotoxic therapies in patients with solid tumors and potentially addresses a key way by which GBM cells resist the effects of existing medications. We are hopeful that BSI-201 will safely potentiate the power of current therapies for GBM and improve survival in this difficult-to-treat cancer,” said Jaishri Blakeley, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology, Oncology and Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins and the study chairperson for this study.

“The scientific observations that BSI-201 crosses the blood-brain barrier and has a mechanistic basis to synergize with the standard treatment of GBM makes this a promising study,” said BiPar Executive Vice President Barry Sherman, M.D. “It is the promise of this approach that encouraged the leaders of NABTT to evaluate BSI-201 in patients with GBM.”

GBM is an inclined to take the initiative form of brain cancer that strikes 10,000 patients a year in the United States. Currently, patients are often treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy where the median survival is under 15 months. The initial study phase pleasure evaluate the safety and tolerability of BSI-201 in combination with temozolomide given at standard doses. The Phase 2 component will assess BSI-201 combined with temozolomide plus radiation therapy in newly diagnosed GBM patients, to what the primary endpoint is overall survival.

Additional facts to be Presented at Upcoming AACR 2008 Meeting

BiPar will present preclinical data on BSI-201 at the American Association for Cancer careful search (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego on Monday, April 14, 2008. The abstract, “Activity of BSI-201, a potent poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, alone and in combination with topotecan in human ovarian xenografts,” will be presented at 8 a.m. in the “New Agents and Therapeutic Approaches” session.

About BiPar Sciences

BiPar Sciences is a drug development company with a therapeutic converging-point on novel mechanisms of action in oncology. Our existing platform is based on DNA repair, specifically with poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. BSI-201 is the lead PARP inhibitor program in Phase 2 clinical trials in multiple solid tumor settings.

BiPar Sciences, Inc.
http://www.biparsciences.com

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Tom Vesely, MD, Medical Director on the Gore REVISE Study and an Interventional Radiologist at Vascular Access Center in Frontenac Grove, Mo., states, “The study is designed to demonstrate the clinical benefit of using a stent-graft for AV graft revisions, rather than PTA alone.” Dr. Vesely continues, “With a focus on target-lesion primary patency, the study is designed to show an increased aggregate of time between interventions in dialysis access grafts.”

The GORE VIABAHN® Endoprosthesis with PROPATEN Bioactive Surface will be used in the Gore REVISE Study, featuring the proprietary end-point covalent bonding of heparin, similar to the recently launched GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft used in dialysis access. “We are excited to continue striving toward solutions on account of clinical issues in dialysis access patient populations,” states Susan Boothe, RN, MS, Gore Product Specialist. “We anticipate study enrollment to begin in Spring 2008.”

The GORE VIABAHN® Endoprosthesis with PROPATEN Bioactive Surface is constructed with a abiding, biocompatible, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) liner with a proprietary covalently bonded heparin surface, reinforced by an external nitinol stent structure. Worldwide, further than 90,000 GORE VIABAHN® Endoprostheses have been implanted.

About W. L. Gore & Associates

The Gore Medical Products Division has provided creative therapeutic solutions to complex medical problems for three decades. During that time, more than 25 million innovative Gore Medical Devices have been implanted, saving and improving the quality of lives worldwide. The extensive Gore Medical family of products includes vascular grafts, endovascular and interventional devices, surgical meshes for hernia repair, soft tissue reconstruction, staple extended mark reinforcement and sutures for use in vascular, cardiac and general surgery. Gore was recently named one of the best companies to work for by Fortune magazine for the 11th consecutive year.

Gore & Associates

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Minister Harney notes the of great scope nature of the report covering the spectrum of care from prevention to treatment and rehabilitation. The Minister said ‘last year I established the Cardiovascular Strategy Policy Review Group to advise on how to prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and hit and improve services for individuals affected by these conditions. This audit has highlighted a number of areas where clinical care and the organisation of stroke services can be enhanced. I am aware that the Policy Review Group has, in the course of its work, considered the Audit and will be making recommendations to me in the summer. My elucidation concern is that individuals at risk of stroke, or those who suffer from the consequences of a stroke, are provided through turbulent capacity preventative and treatment services.’

The Minister said that her Department has met with the HSE on the issues raised in the Audit and that the HSE is already working to heighten the provident measures of acute hospital services to stroke patients. The issue of preventative cardiovascular services, highlighted in the audit, will be addressed during the review of the present GMS contract.

Department of Health and Children

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Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email lying-in here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2007 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

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