Cigarettes and sunlight leave their mark on cancer genomes
Details of the first ever cancer genome sequences are released in two papers published online by the journal Nature. The studies reveal that the genetic sequence of the lung cancer cell line bears all the hallmarks of DNA damage caused by tobacco smoke, while many of the mutations in the melanoma tumour are characteristic of the kind of damage inflicted on DNA by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.
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EUR-2-million grant for biofilm research
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an Advanced Investigator Grant to a scientist at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, to fund a new project studying bacterial biofilms. The project was selected for funding from 1,584 proposals and 513 projects in the life sciences field.
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Message on the occasion of World AIDS Day
On this World AIDS Day we are filled with both hope and concern.
Hope because significant progress has been made towards universal access. New HIV infections have dropped. Fewer children are born with HIV. And more than 4 million people are on treatment.
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High salt intake means more strokes and heart disease
A high salt intake is linked with a significantly increased risk of both strokes and cardiovascular disease, according to a new EU-funded study published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The collaborative research was carried out by teams at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy and the University of Warwick in the UK.
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85% of Online Europeans Use the Internet for Health Information
In 2009, 85% of online Europeans in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain turn to the Internet and other technologies for health and prescription drug information, according to the latest Cybercitizen Health® Europe v9.0 study from healthcare and pharmaceutical market research company Manhattan Research. The collaboratively-edited Wikipedia again proves to be a top online health resource for consumers in all of the countries surveyed.
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First DataBank partners with unique medication management provider
Protomed, the world's first provider of a total medication management platform catering for both liquid and solid medications, has signed an agreement with drug knowledge base and clinical decision support provider First DataBank (FDB). Protomed and FDB have signed a contract in which FDB will provide its Multilex Drug Data File (Multilex DDF) to enable safer and easier identification of medications within Protomed’s Biodose™ Total Medication Management System (ToMM®).
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British Innovation Shines at the iawards
The iawards ceremony at the Science Museum saw the teams behind this year's best British innovations. Topping the honours list was Horizon Discovery Ltd, a technology start-up company which scooped the iaward of the Year for its hi-tech, 'X-MAN Model Cancer Patient'; a product that identifies patients most likely to respond to particular cancer treatments.
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