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Biogen Idec und Orphan Biovitrum aus Schweden beschließen Weiterentwicklung von langwirkendem Hämophilie-A-Medikament in einer Zulassungsstudie

July 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

WESTON, Massachusetts, USA und STOCKHOLM, Schweden–(Business Wire)–
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) und Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (STO: SOBI) gaben heute
ihren Plan bekannt, die Entwicklung ihres vollständig rekombinanten
langwirkenden Faktor-VIII-FC-Fusionsproteins (rFVIIIFc) mit einer
Zulassungsstudie an Hämophilie-A-Patienten fortzusetzen. Die Entscheidung für
die Weiterführung des Programms stützte sich auf die vielversprechenden Daten
einer offenen, multizentrischen Crossover-Dosierungsfindungsstudie der Phase
1/2a, bei der die Sicherheit und Pharmakokinetik von intravenös verabreichtem
rFVIIIFc an 16 vorbehandelten Patienten mit schwerer Hämophilie A untersucht
wurde. Bei der Studie erwies sich rFVIIIFc als gut verträglich und zeigte eine
verlängerte Halbwertzeit im Vergleich zu Advate (rekombinanter
Antihämophiliefaktor, plasma-/albuminfreie Methode, rFVIII), die für die
Weiterentwicklung des Programms spricht.

Das primäre Ziel der Phase-1/2a-Studie war die Beurteilung der Sicherheit von
rFVIIIFc in unterschiedlichen Dosierungen, das sekundäre Ziel bestand in der
Schätzung der pharmakokinetischen Parameter von rFVIIIFc in Dosierungen zwischen
25 bis 65 IU/kg. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die verlängerte
Halbwertzeit von rFVIIIFc gegenüber Advate konsistent bei allen Patienten und
Dosierungen auftrat und andere pharmakokinetische Werte wie die mittlere
Verweilzeit und Fläche unterhalb der Kurve ebenfalls erhöht waren. In der
Einzeldosis-Studie wurden weder Reaktionen an der Einstichstelle noch eine
Bildung von Inhibitoren und Antikörpern gegen den rFVIIIFc-Wirkstoff
festgestellt. Auch sonst wurden keine ernsten unerwünschten Ereignisse
beobachtet, die mit dem Wirkstoff zusammenhingen.

Die Behandlung der schweren Hämophilie A erfordert häufige Injektionen, die für
die Betroffenen eine erhebliche Belastung darstellen. Die Zulassungsstudie wird
beurteilen, inwieweit das auf der neuartigen monomeren Fc-Fusionstechnologie von
Biogen Idec basierende rFVIIIFc in der Lage ist, den Blutungsschutz zu
verlängern und die Anzahl der für die Behandlung notwendigen Injektionen
verringern. Die globale Studie wird beginnen, sobald die Diskussionen mit den
Aufsichtsbehörden abgeschlossen sind. Sie ist darauf ausgelegt, die Sicherheit,
Pharmakokinetik und Wirksamkeit von rFVIIIFc zur Vorbeugung und Behandlung von
Blutungen bei Hämophilie-A-Patienten zu untersuchen.

„Durch die Entwicklung eines Portfolios von Therapien mit lang anhaltender
Wirksamkeit setzt sich Biogen Idec für die Verbesserung der Lebensqualität von
Patienten mit Hämophilie ein”, sagte Dr. med. Glenn Pierce, Vice President und
Chief Medical Officer der Sparte Hämophiliemedikamente von Biogen Idec. „Wir
geben das Fortschreiten von rFVIIIFc in eine Zulassungsstudie mit Freude
bekannt. Wie bereits unser Programm zur Entwicklung einer langwirkenden
Hämophilie-B-Therapie, deren Zulassungsstudie früher in diesem Jahr begonnen
hat, besitzt rFVIIIFc das Potenzial, die Lebensqualität von Hämophilie-Patienten
entscheidend zu verbessern.”

„Die Ergebnisse der Phase-1/2a-Studie stimmen uns sehr zuversichtlich und die
Entscheidung, ein zweites Zulassungsprogramm für einen Hämophiliewirkstoff in
die Wege zu leiten, verdeutlicht, dass unsere Anstrengungen zum Wohle der
Hämophiliepatienten bedeutende Fortschritte machen”, so Peter Edman, Ph.D.,
Chief Scientific Officer von Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. „Darüber hinaus ist dies
ein wichtiger Meilenstein für die fortgesetzte Entwicklung von Swedish Orphan
Biovitrum.”

Im Juni hat der Ausschuss für Arzneimittel für seltene Krankheiten der
Europäischen Arzneimittelagentur den Antrag auf Anerkennung von rFVIIIFc als
Ophan-Medikament positiv beurteilt. Eine endgültige Entscheidung wird in den
kommenden Wochen erwartet.

Über Hämophilie A

Hämophilie A ist eine seltene Erbkrankheit, bei der die Blutgerinnung
beeinträchtigt ist. Hämophilie A tritt bei einem von 5.000 männlichen Säuglingen
auf und wird von einem erheblich reduzierten oder fehlenden Faktor-VIII-Protein
hervorgerufen, das für eine normale Blutgerinnung erforderlich ist. Patienten
mit Hämophilie A sind daher auf eine regelmäßige Injektion des Faktors VIII
angewiesen, um den Blutgerinnungsprozess zu ermöglichen und häufige Blutungen zu
verhindern, die zu Schmerzen, bleibenden Gelenkschäden und lebensbedrohlichen
Hämorrhagien führen können. Prophylaktische Behandlungen mit drei Infusion pro
Woche oder jeden zweiten Tag, die eine ausreichende Konzentration des
Blutgerinnungsfaktors gewährleisten, werden zunehmend angewandt. Langzeitstudien
belegen, dass eine solche Behandlung die Lebenserwartung des Patienten erhöhen
und die fortschreitende Gelenkschädigung erheblich reduzieren oder sogar
beseitigen kann.

Über Biogen Idec

Biogen Idec setzt neue Maßstäbe in Bereichen mit erheblichen medizinischen
Versorgungslücken. Das 1978 gegründete Unternehmen ist bei der Erforschung,
Entwicklung, Herstellung und Vermarktung innovativer Therapien weltweit führend.
Weltweit profitieren Patienten von hochwirksamen Biogen Idec-Produkten zur
Behandlung von Lymphknotenerkrankungen, multipler Sklerose und rheumatoider
Arthritis. Produktinformationen, Pressemitteilungen und weitergehende
Informationen über das Unternehmen finden Sie im Internet auf
www.biogenidec.com.

Über Swedish Orphan Biovitrum

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum ist ein in Schweden ansässiges
Spezialpharmazeutik-Unternehmen mit internationaler Marktpräsenz. Der
Schwerpunkt des Unternehmens liegt in der Bereitstellung und Entwicklung von
Spezialpharmaka für Patienten mit seltenen Erkrankungen und einem dringenden
medizinischen Bedarf. Das Portfolio umfasst rund 60 vermarktete Produkte sowie
eine wachsende Pipeline mit Produkten zur Behandlung von seltenen Erkrankungen,
die sich in einer späten Phase der klinischen Entwicklung befinden. Unsere
Schwerpunkte sind: Hämophilie, Autoimmunerkrankungen, Stoffwechselerkrankungen
und Begleittherapien für Krebspatienten. Swedish Orphan Biovitrum erzielte bis
Ende 2009 einen Pro-Forma-Umsatzerlös von rund 2 Mrd. Schwedische Kronen und
beschäftigt etwa 500 Mitarbeiter. Das Unternehmen mit Hauptsitz in Schweden ist
an der Stockholmer Börse NASDAQ OMX notiert (STO: BVT). Weitere Informationen
sind verfügbar auf www.sobi.com.

Safe-Harbor-Erklärung

Diese Pressemitteilung enthält zukunftsbezogene Aussagen zur Entwicklung von
Hämophilietherapien mit Langzeitwirkung, die beispielsweise an Wörtern wie
„glauben”, „erwarten”, „können”, „planen” oder „werden” erkennbar sind. Diese
Aussagen beruhen auf den gegenwärtigen Annahmen und Erwartungen der Unternehmen.
Die Entwicklung und Vermarktung von Arzneimitteln ist mit hohen Risiken
verbunden. Zu den Faktoren, die erhebliche Abweichungen der tatsächlichen
Ergebnisse von derzeitigen Erwartungen bewirken können, gehört das Risiko, dass
für unsere geplanten klinischen Studien keine ausreichende Zahl von Patienten
zur Verfügung steht, unerwartete Bedenken aufgrund von neuen Daten oder Analysen
auftreten, Aufsichtsbehörden zusätzliche Daten und Studien anfordern oder die
Zulassung des Wirkstoffs ablehnen sowie dass die Unternehmen auf andere
unerwartete Hürden stoßen. Nähere Informationen über Risiken und Unwägbarkeiten,
die mit den Aktivitäten von Biogen Idec in der Arzneimittelentwicklung und
anderen Bereichen verbunden sind, finden Sie in den regelmäßig erstellten
Berichten, die Biogen Idec bei der US-amerikanischen Börsenaufsicht SEC
einreicht. Diese zukunftsbezogenen Aussagen gelten nur für das Datum der
vorliegenden Pressemitteilung. Wir sind nicht dazu verpflichtet,
zukunftsbezogene Aussagen zu aktualisieren, sei es aufgrund von neuen
Informationen, zukünftigen Ereignisse oder anderen Gründen.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum ist laut schwedischer Kapitalmarktgesetzgebung zur
Vorlage dieser Informationen verpflichtet. Die Pressemitteilung wurde am 9. Juli
2010 um 15.30 Uhr MESZ zur Veröffentlichung herausgegeben.

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offizielle und autorisierte Version. Übersetzungen werden zur besseren
Verständigung mitgeliefert. Nur die Sprachversion, die im Original
veröffentlicht wurde, ist rechtsgültig. Gleichen Sie deshalb Übersetzungen mit
der originalen Sprachversion der Veröffentlichung ab.

Biogen Idec Pressekontakt:
Tracy Vineis, 781-464-3260
Senior Manager, Public Affairs
oder
Biogen Idec Investorenkontakt:
Kia Khaleghpour, 781-464-2442
Associate Director, Investor Relations
oder
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum:
Peter Edman, +46 8 629 21 77
CSO
peter.edman@sobi.com
oder
Erik Kinnman, +46 73 422 15 40
VP Investor Relations & Public Affairs
erik.kinnman@sobi.com
oder
Martin Nicklasson, +46 8 697 20 00
CEO

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Woods” former swing coach dismisses PED intake reports

May 14, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

New York, May 14 (ANI): Tiger Woods” former swing coach Hank Haney has dismissed reports that claim the golfer’s successful career can be credited to performance-enhancing drugs.

Haney insisted that Woods has never used PED.

“I truly believe those (rumors) are 100 percent false. People that say otherwise are just starting rumors. It”s based on no facts at all,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

A recent Sports Illustrated poll found that 24 percent of PGA Tour players surveyed believed Woods had taken PEDs.

Haney said: “There”s a lot of jealousy out there and people will say things but I will just tell you that I spent 110 days a year with Tiger for six years. I spent probably 40 to 50 nights a year at his house. I”ve never seen him do anything. He”s never talked about anything.”

He further added that he was present for four of the five times that controversial Dr. Anthony Galea, who is under a federal investigation for PEDs, treated Woods with a legal blood spinning technique.

He said: “I was there and watched the whole procedure. There was never anything that went into Tiger Woods” body that didn”t come out of his body. They take blood out, they spin it, they inject the plasma back in. I totally believe that Tiger Woods has never taken any performance-enhancing drugs.”

Haney coached Woods for six-years before resigning earlier this week. (ANI)

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Invading black holes cause ‘cosmic flashes’

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 19 (ANI): Mathematicians at the University of Leeds, UK, have determined that cosmic flashes, known as gamma ray bursts, are produced by jets of plasma that originate from invading black holes.

Gamma ray bursts are beams of high-energy radiation that are similar to the radiation emitted by explosions of nuclear weapons.

The orthodox model for this cosmic jet engine involves plasma being heated by neutrinos in a disk of matter that forms around a black hole, which is created when a star collapses.

But, mathematicians at the University of Leeds, have come up with a different explanation: the jets come directly from black holes, which can dive into nearby massive stars and devour them.

Their theory is based on recent observations by the Swift satellite, which indicates that the central jet engine operates for up to 10,000 seconds – much longer than the neutrino model can explain.

Mathematicians believe that this is evidence for an electromagnetic origin of the jets, that is, that the jets come directly from a rotating black hole, and that it is the magnetic stresses caused by the rotation that focus and accelerate the jet’s flow.

For the mechanism to operate, the collapsing star has to be rotating extremely rapidly.

This increases the duration of the star’s collapse as the gravity is opposed by strong centrifugal forces.

One particularly peculiar way of creating the right conditions involves not a collapsing star, but a star invaded by its black hole companion in a binary system.

The black hole acts like a parasite, diving into the normal star, spinning it with gravitational forces on its way to the star’s centre, and finally eating it from the inside.

“The neutrino model cannot explain very long gamma ray bursts and the Swift observations, as the rate at which the black hole swallows the star becomes rather low quite quickly, rendering the neutrino mechanism inefficient, but the magnetic mechanism can,” said Professor Komissarov from the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds.

“Our knowledge of the amount of the matter that collects around the black hole and the rotation speed of the star allow us to calculate how long these long flashes will be – and the results correlate very well with observations from satellites,” he added. (ANI)

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Scientists using laser light to generate underwater sound

September 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 6 (ANI): The United States Naval Research Laboratory is working on a new technology that uses flashes of laser light to remotely create underwater sound.

Researchers behind the project say that the new technology has the potential to expand and improve both Naval and commercial underwater acoustic applications, including undersea communications, navigation, and acoustic imaging.

Dr. Ted Jones, a physicist in the Plasma Physics Division, is leading a team of researchers from the Plasma Physics, Acoustics, and Marine Geosciences Divisions in developing this acoustic source.

The researchers used a 532 nm laser pulse for their study at the Salt Water Tank Facility.

They also used air bubblers and controlled water and air temperatures to create ocean-like conditions in the laboratory.

The research team could efficiently convert light into sound by concentrating the light sufficiently to ionize a small amount of water, which then absorbed laser energy and superheats.

They said that the result was a small explosion of steam that could generate a 220 decibel pulse of sound.

Given that the driving laser pulse has the ability to travel through both air and water, the researchers say that a compact laser on either an underwater or airborne platform can be used for remote acoustic generation.

They believe that their method would be a significant addition to traditional direct backscattering acoustic data. (ANI)

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Scientists establish new link between pre-eclampsia and diet

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 26 (ANI): A new study has shown that pregnant women with pre-eclampsia have unusually high levels of a chemical compound called ‘ergothioneine’, which is found in unpasteurised food, in the red blood cells.

The finding made by scientists at the University of Leeds attains significance because they suggest that ergothioneine is an indicator of pre-eclampsia, and may help scientists to understand the cause of the condition, which is currently unknown.

The researchers took blood samples from a group of 37 pregnant women, and compared the red blood cells from women with pre-eclampsia with those from women with no symptoms.

Writing about their findings in the journal Reproductive Sciences, the researchers said that they found a significantly higher concentration of the ergothioneine – a compound made by fungi – in the red blood cells of the women with pre-eclampsia.

Ergothioneine is already well known to be made by micro-organisms that are commonly found in foods like unpasteurised dairy products. Since humans cannot synthesise it, the compound finds its way into human cells exclusively through our diet.

Pregnant women are not advised against eating fungi or foods such as unpasteurised dairy products which contain ergothioneine producing fungi. In fact, scientific studies on animals highlight the benefit of ergothioneine.

“These results suggest that a higher level of ergothioneine is an indicator of pre-eclampsia,” says lead researcher Dr. Julie Fisher, a chemist at the University of Leeds.

“I would not recommend that pregnant women stop eating fungi. However, the high concentration of ergothioneine in the red blood cells of women with pre-eclampsia is a very interesting finding – the more we know about the chemicals involved in the disease the closer we get to understanding what causes it,” says Professor James Walker, Professor of Obstetrics at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine (LIMM), and a co-author of the research.

The symptoms of pre-eclampsia include high blood pressure, protein in urine and fluid retention and affects almost 10 per cent of pregnancies after 20 weeks. If left untreated, the condition can cause a range of problems, such as growth restriction in babies and even foetal and maternal mortality. There is no known cause of the condition.

“Ergothioneine is known as an antioxidant and antioxidants have been proposed to be helpful in reducing the risk of preeclampsia. It is therefore very interesting that we have found it to be in excess for women with the condition,” says Dr. Fisher.

The researchers used a technique that is based on the same science as MRI scans, but which operates on fluids taken from the body, to identify chemicals in the red blood cells of pregnant women.

They say that the amount of these chemicals was found to depend on whether the women were healthy or whether they were suffering from pre-eclampsia.

They previously found that chemical markers for pre-eclampsia also exist in blood plasma. (ANI)

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Lucknow police raid more places to uncover illegal blood racket

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lucknow, Aug 25 (ANI): Lucknow police has raided a private hospital here and recovered a few packets of illegal blood.

“We have found two-three packets of blood. We have also recovered equipments used to collect blood. Nobody is present here for interrogation at present,” said Sunil Pal, Inspector, Sarojni Nagar, Lucknow.

On August 22, six persons allegedly involved in running a blood racket were arrested from the city.

At least 70 pouches containing blood along with plasma, empty pouches, syringes and fake stamps, stickers and authority letters of the Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University were recovered from the possession of the accused on August 22.

Police is probing over a dozen private-run nursing homes and pathology labs involved in trafficking illegal blood.

Trading in blood or organs is illegal in India. While organs can be obtained only by donation, blood can be voluntarily bartered or bought from registered blood banks. Blood banks are regulated by the government as many unscrupulous dealers fleece poor people, buying blood and paying them only a paltry sum. (ANI)

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Enzyme key to ageing identified

July 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 11 (ANI): Scientists from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified an enzyme that plays a crucial role in the process of aging.

Lead researcher Dr. Abbe de Vallejo, associate professor of Paediatrics and Immunology, has found that eliminating pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPPA) enzyme increases the lifespan of study mice.

The researcher revealed that PAPPA enzyme has the ability to promote a robust immune system into old age, by maintaining the function of the thymus throughout life.

Thymus is the organ that produces T cells to fight disease and infection. It degenerates with age.

The study showed that PAPPA-knockout mice live at least 30 percent longer, and have significantly lower occurrence of spontaneous tumours than typical mice.

PAPPA controls the availability in tissues of a hormone known as insulin-like growth factor (IGF) that is a promoter of cell division. Hence, IGF is required for normal embryonic and postnatal growth.

IGF is associated with tumour growth, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease in adults.

By deleting PAPPA, the researchers were able to control the availability of IGF in tissues and dampen its many ill effects.

In the thymus, deletion of PAPPA maintained just enough IGF to sustain production of T cells without consuming precursor cells, thereby preventing the degeneration of the thymus.

“Controlling the availability of IGF in the thymus by targeted manipulation of PAPPA could be a way to maintain immune protection throughout life,” de Vallejo said.

“This study has profound implications for the future study of healthy aging and longevity,” de Vallejo added.

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)

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Antibodies in blood may help prevent Alzheimer’s

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 7 (ANI): Stanford University Medical Centre scientists have identified certain antibodies in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy people that may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

They say that the levels of the antibodies found in healthy people decline with age and, in Alzheimer’s patients, with increasing progression of the disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the build-up of amyloid plaques in the brain.

These are large aggregations of a protein breakdown product, or peptide, called A-beta. Many experiments have shown that immunization with A-beta can reduce the formation of amyloid plaques.

It is believed that more than the plaques themselves (which are also found in the brains of people with no Alzheimer’s symptoms), it is smaller aggregations of a few A-beta molecules, called oligomers, which are most toxic to neurons.

During the study, the researchers found that the antibodies target many forms and aggregation-states of A-beta in both healthy and diseased subjects’ blood, with antibodies to oligomers showing the most immunoreactivity.

A follow-on experiment showed that the same antibodies, whether isolated from plasma of either Alzheimer’s patients or healthy controls, were able to protect freshly cultured mouse neurons in a dish from destruction by A-beta, which is typically highly toxic to these neurons.

Previous studies conducted on vervet monkeys showed that immunizing with A-beta substantially cleared their plaques.

In this new study, the Stanford team obtained blood samples extracted from those monkeys before and after immunization, and compared levels and diversity of relevant antibodies in pre- and post-inoculation samples

They observed several such antibodies in the pre-immunized samples, as well as significant post-immunization increases in levels of several different antibodies.

“Other studies have found antibodies against A-beta, but nobody has ever done a large-scale analysis using hundreds of different samples and almost a hundred different peptides to look for what’s already in people’s bodies,” said the paper’s first author, Markus Britschgi, PhD, an instructor working as a researcher in the laboratory of Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD.

The study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)

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‘Laser dazzler’ to stop careless drivers without blinding them

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 2 (ANI): Reports indicate that the Pentagon is developing a laser dazzler that will force drivers to stop without harming their eyes.

When a vehicle approaches a checkpoint at speed, ignoring warning signs to slow down, troops do not know whether the driver is simply careless or a suicide bomber.

This makes it necessary for troops to have a clear and harmless way of forcing drivers to stop.

Green laser dazzlers designed to temporarily blind drivers were sent to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for just this purpose.

But at short range they can damage the eye, and a number of US troops and civilians have ended up in hospital with eye injuries after “friendly fire” incidents.

US troops and civilians have been sent to hospital with eye injuries after ‘friendly fire’ incidents.

Now, according to a report in New Scientist, the US Department of Defense’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia is developing a pulsed laser designed to prevent eye damage.

Its wavelength means a portion of the light is absorbed by the vehicle windscreen, vaporising the outer layer of the glass and producing a plasma.

This absorbs the rest of the pulse and re-emits the energy as a brilliant white light that is dazzling but harmless.

Because the light is emitted from the windscreen, the effect on the driver’s eyes should be the same regardless of the vehicle’s distance from the laser.

According to Scott Griffiths of the JNLWD, a working prototype could be ready by next year. (ANI)

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New plasma torch may improve root canal treatment, reduce infection rates

June 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, June 24 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have come up with the world’s smallest plasma torch that may one day make root canal treatment faster and less painful, besides reducing the chance of infection after the procedure.

“Our goal is to guarantee that you won’t have to see a doctor for a follow-up visit,” ABC Science quoted says Professor Chunqi Jiang Jiang, who has reported this work in the online edition of the journal Plasma Processes and Polymers, as saying.

“One problem is that between 8 per cent and 10 per cent of patients have an infection post-operation. This is intended to eliminate the chance of an infection,” the researcher added.

Plasma, or ionized gas, is one of the four basic states of matter, the other three being solid, liquid and gas.

The researchers reveal that the trick to creating plasma at room temperature is to pulse it. They say that a continuous stream of plasma very quickly heats up the surrounding air.

According to them, pulsing the plasma allows the tiny electrons in it to heat up and move around, while keeping the much larger and heavier atom nucleus from heating up.

“If you have a piece of paper with bacteria on it and you apply cold plasma to it, the paper won’t burn but the bacteria will die,” says Professor Mounir Laroussi, of Old Dominion University in Virginia, who has studied the effect of cold plasmas for years.

“Cold plasma can kill bacteria on a variety of surfaces such as teeth or skin,” Laroussi adds.

The researchers say that upon being used in the mouth, the free electrons of plasma create single atoms of pure oxygen, ozone and other reactive forms of oxygen, all of which search for other atoms to bind with in the organic biofilms inside decayed teeth.

Biofilms are basically walled colonies of bacteria. In the human body, they can trigger the onset of an infection, and even protect the harmful bacteria from the most powerful antibiotics.

The researchers have revealed that cool, pulsed and purple plasma takes about five to ten minutes to clear an infected tooth of biofilms as compared to bleach, the conventional method for cleaning an infected tooth, which takes 30 minutes.

While about 10 per cent of patients treated with bleach are still infected, tests using the plasma torch on a few dozen human teeth have shown no signs of infection.

The plasma torch is also not as expensive as laser systems that are used as high-tech solutions to biofilms.

While laser systems costing up to 25,000 dollars, the plasma torch could retail for as little as 1,000 dollars, provided it passes official clinical trials.

Laroussi, who used to test cold plasmas effect on teeth, skin and wound healing, says that the trick to regulatory acceptance and commercialisation is ensuring that only harmful cells are killed.

“We can kill bacteria on teeth and on wounds. But we have to ensure that we are not creating a worse problem in nearby healthy cells as well,” says Laroussi.

Initial tests have shown that surrounding healthy tissue remains intact, although more testing is needed to definitively prove this.

Meanwhile, the USC researchers are concentrating on getting the funding necessary to continue with their research. (ANI)

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Virtual model of sunspots may unlock Sun’s mysteries

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 19 (ANI): Scientists have created the first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots, a breakthrough that will help scientists unlock mysteries of the sun and its impacts on Earth.

Sunspots are associated with massive ejections of charged plasma that can cause geomagnetic storms and disrupt communications and navigational systems.

They are also linked to variations in solar output that can affect weather on Earth and exert a subtle influence on climate patterns.

“Understanding complexities in the solar magnetic field is key to ‘space weather’ forecasting,” said Richard Behnke of NSF’s (National Science Foundation’s) Division of Atmospheric Sciences.

“If we can model sunspots, we may be able to predict them and be better prepared for the potential serious consequences here on Earth of these violent storms on the sun,” he added.

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., collaborated with colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, building on a computer code that had been created at the University of Chicago.

“If you want to understand all the drivers of Earth’s atmospheric system, you have to understand how sunspots emerge and evolve. Our simulations will advance research into the inner workings of the sun as well as connections between solar output and Earth’s atmosphere,” said lead paper author Matthias Rempel.

Sunspots accompany intense magnetic activity that is associated with solar flares and massive ejections of plasma that can buffet Earth’s atmosphere.

The resulting damage to power grids, satellites and other sensitive technological systems takes an economic toll on a rising number of industries.

The new computer models capture pairs of sunspots with opposite polarity.

In striking detail, they reveal the dark central region, or umbra, with brighter umbral dots, as well as webs of elongated narrow filaments with flows of mass streaming away from the spots in the outer penumbral regions.

They also capture the convective flow and movement of energy that underlie the sunspots, and which are not directly detectable by instruments.

The models suggest that the magnetic fields within sunspots need to be inclined in certain directions in order to create such complex structures.

The researchers conclude that there is a unified physical explanation for the structure of sunspots in umbra and penumbra that’s the consequence of convection in a magnetic field with varying properties.

The simulations can help scientists decipher the mysterious, subsurface forces in the sun that cause sunspots.

Such work may lead to an improved understanding of variations in solar output and their impacts on Earth. (ANI)

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Detecting sulphur in just one hair could help nab a terrorist

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 28 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have come up with a method that could be used to nab terrorists, by detecting how proportions of isotopes in a chemical like sulphur vary throughout the length of a single hair.

The mid-term objective is to be able to use these methods to track the geographical movements of people, including international crime suspects and victims.

In order to carry out this study, the scientists focused on the most abundant sulphur isotopes in hair keratin – sulphur-32 (32S), which accounts for about 95 percent, and sulphur-34 (34S), which makes up around 4 percent.

This proportion can change slightly in response to people’s diets and if they travel from one country to another, and the technique is able to detect these small variations.

The scientists use a laser that makes contact with the selected fraction of the hair, generating an aerosol, which later ionizes within plasma, with the spectrometer providing the exact proportions of the sulphur isotopes.

“The advantage of this method compared with others is the high resolution resulting from use of the laser,” said Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez of LGC, lead author of the study.

This advance has enabled the scientists to confirm that the sulphur variations in hair can be linked to peoples’ geographical movements.

The researchers collected hair samples of more than 4cm in length donated by three volunteers.

Two were permanent residents in the United Kingdom, while the third – dubbed “the traveler” – had spent the past six months in Croatia, Austria, the United Kingdom and Australia.

“We are what we eat, and the small variations in the 34S/32S relationship reflect changes to our diet, which can in turn be related to movements from one country to another,” said Justo Giner, another of the study’s authors.

The results of the experiment revealed that the traveller’s hair showed significant variations in the sulphur isotopes, while changes in the hairs of the two people living in the United Kingdom were minimal, and similar in both samples.

The scientists are confident they will be able to create databases that will one day make it possible to link the relationship between a specific isotope in hair keratin and a country or region, which would be of great help to the police in tracking down international criminals.

“Although we still cannot say that a certain isotopic variation in a person’s hair shows that he or she has been in a particular country, the method can help to break down the alibis of some terrorists who claim not to have moved over recent months,” said Santamaria-Fernandez. (ANI)

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Why flu may affect some more severely than others

May 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 5 (ANI): With the swine flu turning into a global pandemic, scientists have now discovered important clues about why influenza is more severe in some people than it is in others.

Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have shown that the influenza virus can actually paralyse the immune systems of otherwise healthy individuals, which could lead to severe secondary bacterial infections, such as pneumonia.

Also, this immunological paralysis could be long-lived, which is important to know while developing treatment strategies to combat the virus.

“We have a very limited understanding of why some people who get influenza simply have a bad cold and other people become very sick and even die. The results of this study give us a much better sense of the mechanisms underlying bacterial infections arising on top of the viral infection,” said Dr. Kathleen Sullivan.

For the study, the researchers enrolled paediatric patients with severe influenza, and examined the level of cytokines, which serve as the first line initiators of immune response, in the blood plasma.

Although the researchers found elevated levels of cytokines, they also found a decreased response of toll-like receptors, which activate immune cell responses as a result of invading microbes.

Their findings suggested that the diminished response of those receptors could lead to the paralysis of the immune system, and ultimately cause secondary bacterial infections.

The influenza patients were compared with patients with moderate influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and a control group of healthy individuals.

It was found that the immune paralysis could have specifically resulted from influenza infection and was not seen in patients with respiratory syncytial virus.

The researchers say that their work might explain why one quarter of children who die from influenza, die from a bacterial infection occurring on top of the virus.

The study has been published online in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. (ANI)

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Novel view of HIV entry could lead to newly designed drugs

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 01 (ANI): It looks like scientists will have to rethink the design of drugs which are meant for blocking HIV from infecting human cells, for a new research has shown HIV doesn’t enter cells in the way that experts had generally assumed it did.

The new research has shown that rather than fusing directly with the plasma membrane at cells’ outer surfaces to release its contents, HIV fusion primarily occurs via smaller, membrane-bound compartments inside of cells known as endosomes.

The discovery suggests that anti-HIV drugs known as fusion inhibitors might be more effective in blocking HIV if they too can do their work inside of cells, where fusion takes place.

“We show that HIV fusion occurs virtually exclusively from endosomes. It appears that it is this path to entry that leads to infection,” said Gregory Melikian of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“In order to efficiently block intracellular fusion events, the next generation of HIV entry inhibitors must be able to permeate the cell membrane,” he added.

In the new study, Melikian and his colleagues relied on a series of imaging studies to literally watch as HIV-1, the virus that normally infects humans, enters cells.

Those experiments showed that complete viral fusion occurs not on the cell surface, but in endosomes. While HIV’s envelope sometimes did mix with the cell’s plasma membrane, in those cases delivery of the viral contents did not occur.

“Time-resolved imaging of single viruses and differential blocking of fusion by site-specific and universal inhibitors revealed that HIV-1 co-opts the endocytic machinery to enter into and fuse with target cells,” the researchers said.

“By contrast, fusion with the plasma membrane did not progress beyond the lipid mixing step, suggesting that endosomal entry is the pathway that leads to productive infection,” they added.

The study appears in the May 1st issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. (ANI)

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Research and Markets: Fast Track: Gas Plasma Treatments for Water Repellent Technology

April 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

DUBLIN–(Business Wire)–
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b2f944/fast_track_gas_pl) has
announced the addition of Textiles Intelligence’s new report “Fast Track: Gas
Plasma Treatments for Water Repellent Technology” to their offering.

Gas plasma technology can be used to change the surface properties of certain
types of materials, including ceramics, fabrics, leather, metals, paper and
polymers.

The technology involves the exposure of the material to a plasma at low
pressure, usually in a purpose built chamber. A plasma is a partially ionised
gas in which a certain proportion of negatively charged electrons are able to
flow freely rather than being bound to an atom or molecule. This makes the
plasma electrically conductive and highly responsive to electromagnetic fields.

Recently, gas plasma technology has been successfully applied to performance
footwear as an alternative to water repellent coatings.

The technology offers a number of benefits compared with traditional chemical
treatments. In particular, the treatment is said to be more thorough as it
covers the surface of every fibre and the voids in between the fibres.

Key Topics Covered:

INTRODUCTION: WHAT ARE GAS PLASMA TREATMENTS?

ION-MASK: A WATER REPELLENT GAS PLASMA TREATMENT

* Environmental factors
* Applications and markets

EUROPLASMA: A MANUFACTURER OF EQUIPMENT FOR GAS PLASMA

TREATMENTS

* Environmental benefits
* Applications

OUTLOOK

Companies Mentioned:

* Europlasma
* Ion-Mask

For more information visit

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b2f944/fast_track_gas_pl

Research and Markets
Laura Wood
Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
Fax from USA: 646-607-1907
Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716

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Soon, microwaves that could defuse bombs

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Apr 17 (ANI): US researchers are designing a laser-guided microwave blaster to destroy explosives.

The weapon, called the Multimode Directed Energy Armament System, could destroy the electronic fuse of an explosive device or missile, such as a roadside bomb, or immobilise a vehicle by disabling its ignition system, reports New Scientist.

It works by creating a plasma channel that acts as a waveguide for the stream of microwaves, and uses a high-power laser to ionise the air.

The project is the brainchild of the US army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre (ARDEC).

The weapon’s range will depend on the laser-generated channel.

“The concept is solid and the only issues are with engineering – the physics works,” says Carlo Kopp, who researches electromagnetic pulse weapons at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

The army expects to have a prototype weapon working outside the lab by 2011. (ANI)

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NASA spacecraft provides scientists with 3D view of powerful solar explosions

April 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 15 (ANI): Twin NASA spacecraft have provided scientists with their first view of the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of powerful explosions from the sun known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.

This new capability will dramatically enhance scientists’ ability to predict if and how these solar tsunamis could affect Earth.

When directed toward our planet, these ejections can be breathtakingly beautiful and yet potentially cause damaging effects worldwide.

The brightly colored phenomena known as auroras – more commonly called Northern or Southern Lights – are examples of Earth’s upper atmosphere harmlessly being disturbed by a CME.

However, ejections can produce a form of solar cosmic rays that can be hazardous to spacecraft, astronauts and technology on Earth.

Space weather produces disturbances in electromagnetic fields on Earth that can induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines and causing wide-spread blackouts.

These sun storms can interfere with communications between ground controllers and satellites and with airplane pilots flying near Earth’s poles.

These ejections carry billions of tons of plasma into space at thousands of miles per hour.

This plasma, which carries with it some of the magnetic field from the corona, can create a large, moving disturbance in space that produces a shock wave.

NASA’s twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, spacecraft are providing the unique scientific tool to study these ejections as never before.

Launched in October 2006, STEREO’s nearly identical observatories can make simultaneous observations of these ejections of plasma and magnetic energy that originate from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

The spacecraft are stationed at different vantage points. One leads Earth in its orbit around the sun, while the other trails the planet.

Using three-dimensional observations, solar physicists can examine a CME’s structure, velocity, mass, and direction in the corona while tracking it through interplanetary space.

These measurements can help determine when a CME will reach Earth and predict how much energy it will deliver to our magnetosphere, which is Earth’s protective magnetic shield.

“Before this unique mission, measurements and the subsequent data of a CME observed near the sun had to wait until the ejections arrived at Earth three to seven days later,” said Angelos Vourlidas, a solar physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.

“Now, we can see a CME from the time it leaves the solar surface until it reaches Earth, and we can reconstruct the event in 3D directly from the images,” he added. (ANI)

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Curving laser “light bullets” may help scientists monitor air pollution

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 10 (ANI): A new study has determined that laser “light bullets” that can curve through the air might someday help scientists monitor air pollution.

The bullets are created by extremely short-duration, high-intensity laser pulses, lead study author Pavel Polynkin, a physicist at the University of Arizona, US, told the National Geographic News.

The pulses are so rapid that the beam is broader than it is wide-creating what Polynkin calls “pancakes” of light.

But, the use of complex lasers that produce wave patterns called airy beams causes the brightest part of the beam to bend as the pancake of light speeds away.

The super-brightness of the laser can also cause the pancake to change shape as it moves through air, according to Polynkin.

“If the intensity exceeds a threshold, then the beam tends to self-focus-the pancake wants to become a very short needle,” he said.

Within that needle, the light intensity gets so high that the air around it becomes electrically charged, briefly creating a conductive path of plasma.

Previous work suggested that such light bullets could be used to create human-induced lightning, which has implications for lightning control around sensitive structures such as tall buildings and airplanes.

When combined with the Airy beams, these plasma-producing lasers can also create curving “needle” bullets that might have other uses, Polynkin’s study has suggested.

According to Polynkin, the light pulses leave behind curving plasma trails that emit their own light, providing a way to monitor air pollution in the upper atmosphere without the need for airplanes or weather balloons.

Shot into the sky, these light trails would illuminate the chemical signatures of atmospheric pollutants, which can then be recorded remotely. (ANI)

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Replacing nature with technology may spawn major psychological problems

April 2, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Washington, April 2 (ANI): University of Washington experts have warned that the way modern technology has been breaking people’s connections with the natural world may give rise to a major psychological problem.

“We are a technological species, but we also need a deep connection with nature in our lives,” said Peter Kahn, a UW developmental psychologist.

Kahn and two of his UW graduate students, Rachel Severson and Jolina Ruckert, explored how humans connect with nature and technological nature.

Writing in the current issue of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, the researchere revealed that they looked at the psychological effects of interacting with various forms of technological nature and explore humanity’s growing estrangement from nature.

They even cited an earlier experiment that showed that people recovered better from low-level stress by looking at an actual view of nature rather than seeing the same real-time high-definition television scene displayed on a plasma window.

“What do we compare technology to? If we compare it to no nature, technological nature works pretty well. But if we compare it to actual nature, it doesn’t seem to provide as many psychological benefits,” Kahn said.

They have also talked about a study that showed that compared to interacting with a real dog, children’s interactions with robots were not as social or deep.

“Robot and virtual pets are beginning to replace children’s interactions with biologically live pets. The larger concern is that technological nature will shift the baseline of what people perceive as the full human experience of nature, and that it will contribute to what we call environmental generational amnesia,” Ruckert said.

Kahn added: “Poor air quality is a good example of physical degradation. We can choke on the air, and some people suffer asthma, but we tend to think that’s a pretty normal part of the human condition.

He likened the situation to the effort to convince people that climate change is a serious challenge.

“People might think that if technological nature is partly good that that’s good enough. But it’s not. Because across generations what will happen is that the good enough will become the good. If we don’t change course, it will impoverish us as a species,” he said. (ANI)

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Australian firm to install device that turns off appliances and ration electricity

March 29, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Sydney, March 29 (ANI): An electricity company in Australia is planning to install a new electronic control box in homes, which would allow it to switch off individual appliances, such as air conditioners and plasma TVs, to ration power use.
According to a report carried out in news.com.au, the new device, made by Australian firm ETSA, would go in the meter box and remotely read meters, turn power on and off, report outages – and, if the customer agreed, ration power to an individual home.

It is controlled by an FM radio signal and on a house-by-house basis.

ETSA chief executive Lew Owens said that the new device, now being trialled, could prevent the kind of load-shedding blackouts across entire suburbs that Adelaide experienced in January, by reducing demand across the city.

ETSA wants to introduce the system some time after 2010 and could eventually roll it out into all homes in Adelaide.

It follows the successful trial by ETSA of a less sophisticated “peak breaker” box attached to air conditioners in Mawson Lakes and Glenelg, which was used to turn off refrigerated air conditioner compressors in periods of peak demand during heat waves.

“We can turn off the compressors and leave the fan circulating the air,” said Owens. “We turn it off 15 minutes in every hour by an FM radio signal and the customer doesn’t know it’s happened,” he added.

The trials found that peak electricity demand during heatwaves could be reduced dramatically by the control boxes, with Mawson Lakes homes’ power consumption cut by about a third, and Glenelg’s by about 20 per cent.

Owens emphasised that while ETSA planned to put the new boxes in all homes, customers would choose whether to allow it to be used to ration power.

However, he added that people who did not take this option might find they would lose all power when power demand was running at peak levels.

According to ETSA, the box is sophisticated enough to control specific equipment in the home. (ANI)

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