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Health Visitors Reject Call For MMR To Be Made Compulsory
Health visitors are opposed to a proposal to make the MMR immunisation mandatory for young children.
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Glaucoma Vision Loss Linked To Blocked Blood Vessels; Inflammation Thwarts Corneal Transplants In Herpes Patients
Two studies that may influence clinical treatment of serious eye conditions are reported in the July issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. One correlates the incidence of silent cerebral infarcts (SCI) and visual field loss in patients with normal-tension glaucoma ; the other investigates inflammation biomarkers in relation to corneal transplant rejection in herpes simplex patients.
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Merck's Gardasil Effective At Preventing HPV, Cervical Disease In Older Women, Study Finds
Merck"s human papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, was 90% effective in preventing infection with the virus and cervical disease in women ages 24 to 45, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal Lancet, Reuters reports (Fox, Reuters, 6/1). In the U.S., the vaccine currently is FDA-approved for girls and women ages nine to 26. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend routine three-dose vaccination of girls ages 11 and 12 and for girls and women ages 13 to 26 who have not yet been vaccinated (CDC fact sheet, June 2008). It is designed to protect against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause about 70% of all cervical cancer cases, and HPV types 6 and 11, which cause genital warts.The new study, led by Nubia Munoz of the National Institute of Cancer in Bogota, Colombia, and funded by Merck, involved women ages 24 to 45 with no history of cervical disease or genital warts who either received the vaccine or a placebo injection. The study found that women who received the vaccine were significantly less likely to be infected with certain strains of HPV than those who received placebo shots. According to the researchers, four women out of 1,900 who received the vaccine developed HPV or cervical disease after two years, compared with 41 women out of 1,900 in the placebo group.Reuters reports that the results of the study could help Merck as it seeks approval for marketing Gardasil for use in older women. The researchers said in the study that older women might be at risk for HPV infection as "[c]hanges in sexual behavior during the past 30 years ... have led to more widespread premarital sexual intercourse and acquisition of new sexual partners around middle age." They added, "As the potential for HPV infection and disease exists in women in their third, fourth and fifth decades of life, these women could benefit from prophylactic HPV vaccination." According to Reuters, a mathematical model published in October 2005 showed that vaccinating older women could cut rates of cervical cancer in women through age 45 by half. Merck also has released data showing the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing genital lesions in men.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide, and about 20 million U.S. residents are infected with it. The virus is the leading cause of cervical cancer, which causes about 3,870 deaths in the U.S. and 300,000 deaths globally every year, and it also can cause anal, penile, mouth and neck cancer (Reuters, 6/1).
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NIST Researchers 'All Aglow' Over New Test Of Toxin Strength

A new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assay using a "glow or no glow" technique may soon help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defend the nation against a spectrum of biological weapons that could be used in a terrorist attack. One very dangerous toxin on the list is ricin, a protein derived from castor beans that is lethal in doses as small as 500 micrograms - about the size of a grain of salt. As part of its efforts to address the threat, DHS is working with NIST to create a standardized ricin sample with a known potency. Such a standard is needed both to check the accuracy of detection equipment, and, should an attack occur, to confirm the success of decontamination procedures. A major step toward this goal - the development of a rapid, reliable and precise assay of the potency of a ricin sample - has now been achieved by NIST scientists. As detailed in an article posted online this week in Assay and Drug Development Technologies,* the new NIST assay uses a commercially available cell line genetically engineered to produce large amounts of green fluorescent protein (GFP). Ricin shuts down ribosomes - the protein manufacturing factories of a cell. Assay cells exposed to the toxin will quickly stop synthesizing GFP. This, in turn, will result in a measurable decrease in fluorescence - a drop that correlates directly to the strength of the ricin present. The NIST assay yields many advantages over traditional cytotoxicity measuring systems, including: a highly sensitive response to ricin (as little as 1 nanogram per milliliter) within six rather than 24 hours; detection of the toxin long before significant cell death has occurred; results that are highly reproducible; no need for the addition of any reagents; and the flexibility to measure the potency of other ribosome inhibitors, even nanoparticles, with the same precision as ricin. Notes: Partial support for this work was provided by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. * M. Halter, J.L. Almeida, A. Tona, K.D. Cole, A.L. Plant and J.T. Elliott. A mechanistically relevant cytotoxicity assay based on the detection of cellular green fluorescent protein. Assay and Drug Development Technologies, Vol. 7, No. 4 (August 2009; posted online the week of June 15, 2009). Michael E. Newman National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)


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