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Bioinformatics

Within only three months after deciding to create an electronic database, Roche is launching a public clinical trial registry and results database using an independent host, CenterWatch. On www.roche-trials.com information on Roche’s clinical trials can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, with no password restrictions. This site is designed to give patients and healthcare providers ready access to information they need, in terms they can understand.

Health & Medicine

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 predicted oral squamous cell carcinoma in about nine out of 10 cases.

Biology

Thirty to fifty percent of the global conversion of nutrients to nitrogen gas occurs in these areas. In 'The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States (PNAS)' of Tuesday 19 April, researchers from Bremen and Nijmegen state that this conversion is not carried out by denitrifying bacteria, as was believed for decades, but by anammox bacteria. Nitrogen compounds act as fertilizers and are the ecological basis for any lifeform on earth as these compounds limit the overall growth rate.

Health & Medicine

As part of an agency-wide initiative to speed development of new medical products through the science of pharmacogenomics, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a final guidance titled "Pharmacogenomic Data Submissions."

Biotechnology

To most, the mere mention of the word "virus" stirs up memories of pain, fever and varying levels of suffering. But in recent years, scientists have been trying to turn these long-time medical foes into allies in the fight against cancer.

Biotechnology

A novel delivery system that transports gene silencing nanoparticles into tumor cells has been shown to inhibit Ewing's sarcoma in an animal model of the disease.

In this classic "Trojan horse" approach, a protein called transferrin that normally delivers iron into cells is modified to also smuggle into tumor cells siRNA (short interfering RNA) encased in nano-sized sugar polymers. The siRNA was designed to target a specific growth-promoting gene called EWS-FLI1 that's active only in Ewing's sarcoma tumors.

Bioinformatics

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Proteome Systems, a leading international proteomics company, today announced they have signed a marketing agreement to collaborate on an integrated solution for the analysis of glycoproteins, molecules that are important in the study of many diseases, including cancer, influenza and arthritis. Under the agreement, Proteome Systems will make its GlycomIQ software, a comprehensive platform for the mass spectrometric analysis of protein-associated glycans (polysaccharides), compatible with the Agilent XCT, XCT Plus and XCT Ultra ion trap mass spectrometers.

Biotechnology

Novel anti-cancer compounds called Enigmols suppress the growth of human cell lines representing cancers of the prostate, breast, colon, ovary, pancreas, brain and blood, and reduce tumors in three animal studies, new research shows.

Biology

The rapid growth of the earliest cities in northern China starting as far back as 2400 to 2000 BC is the result of successful rice farming combined with other crops, says University of Toronto anthropologist Gary Crawford.

Microarray

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that it has for the first time released the chip design, probe sequence and annotation information for all of its microarrays. The release of this information is expected to improve cross-laboratory experimental research and cross-platform data comparison.