Narrow Results

Herpes Virus Linked to Preterm Birth and High Blood Pressure during Pregnancy.

Trigger Gene for Muscle Development Discovered.

AUSTRALIA – Immune System Boost Cures HIV-like Infections.

AUSTRALIA – Scientists Shed New Light on How Heart Works.

AUSTRALIA – IVF Breakthrough will Increase Chance of Pregnancy.

AUSTRALIA – Study Reveals Possible Secret to Long Life.

AUSTRALIA – Australian Scientists Make Important Discovery for Safer Drugs.

INDIA – Over 40,000 Childhood Cancer Cases in India Every Year.

INDIA – Biotech Sector Set for Booster Dose.

NEW ZEALAND – Laser to Help Predict Foot Ulcers in Diabetics.

PHILIPPINES – Turning School Yards into Vegetable Gardens.

TAIWAN – Key Enterovirus Breakthrough Unveiled.

OTHER REGIONS — New Heart Therapy More Effective in Women.

INDONESIA – Quintiles expands patient access for clinical trials to Indonesia.

JAPAN – Legacy Healthcare announces breakthrough clinical results in hair re-growth.

SINGAPORE – iNova Pharmaceuticals relocates Regional HQ to Singapore as part of Asia-centric reorganization.

AUSTRALIA – Silencing the bird flu gene: scientists prep live hen trials.

AUSTRALIA – Helsinn grants Specialised Therapeutics Australia (STA) rights to Anamorelin, treat cachexia-anorexia.

NORTH AMERICA – To survive, genes pick up new skills.

NORTH AMERICA – Phase III study evaluates two investigational hormone-releasing IUDs for prevention of pregnancy for up to three years.

NORTH AMERICA – Agilent Technologies introduces SureDesign.

NORTH AMERICA – Progress made towards production of biosimilar products in tobacco plants.

NORTH AMERICA – FDA approves Aerospan for asthma.

EUROPE – New technology offers improved chances for couples undergoing IVF.

EUROPE – Phase IIa Laquinimod trial results show positive data for potential use in active Crohn's Disease.

EUROPE – Pfizer donates vials of Factor IX to the World Federation of Hemophilia.

EUROPE – nViso gets research grant to study 3D facial imaging technology for healthcare applications.

EUROPE – New evidence-based 3D cell culture web portal launched by Reinnervate Ltd.

EUROPE – The social side of vaccine effectiveness.

INDIA – Lack of access to technology ‘hampers detection of substandard drugs’.

JAPAN – Daiichi Sankyo announces development of nucleic acid treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy utilizing proprietary technology.

SINGAPORE – IBN creates unlimited source of human kidney cells.

SINGAPORE – Dyesol and Singapore's NTU sign agreement.

THE PHILIPPINES – Global biotech/GM crop plantings increase 100-fold from 1996.

AUSTRALIA – Phosphagenics further expands pain portfolio.

AUSTRALIA – Primary Health Care signs Australia distribution agreement for iGeneScreen™ prenatal test.

AUSTRALIA – Folic acid in pregnancy linked with reduced autism risk.

AUSTRALIA – Phylogica and Bio-Link collaborate to commercialize anti-inflammatory Phylomers.

AUSTRALIA – ABRAXANE^® plus gemcitabine improves survival in Phase III study of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

CANADA – Verisante Technology, Inc. announces first sales of aura, a revolutionary medical device for the detection of skin cancer.

EUROPE – Project eyes robust medical technology for poor countries.

UNITED KINGDOM – Asthma sufferers have more lung fungi.

UNITED KINGDOM – Pioneering drug discovery gets major funding to move to next stage.

UNITED STATES – Gilead's sofosbuvir for hepatitis C meets primary endpoint in fourth pivotal Phase III study.

UNITED STATES – Eleven Biotherapeutics publishes data on EBI-005, a novel IL-1 inhibitor protein for topical treatment of dry eye disease.

UNITED STATES – Phase I/II trial of ADXS-HPV in anal cancer conducted by Brown University Oncology Group.

UNITED STATES – Scopolamine: An old drug with new psychiatric applications.

UNITED STATES – New bioengineered ears look and act like the real thing.

UNITED STATES – To trap a rainbow, slow down light.

UNITED STATES – AB SCIEX responds to milk contamination concerns with new method to detect dicyandiamide.

SINGAPORE – NUS Researchers Uncover Potent Parasite-killing Mechanism of Nobel Prize-Winning Anti-Malarial Drug.

SINGAPORE – Robotic Glove Invented by NUS Researchers Helps Patients Restore Hand Movements.

UNITED STATES – Study Reveals Environment, Behavior Contribute to Some 80 Percent of Cancers.

UNITED STATES – Probing the Mystery of How Cancer Cells Die.

UNITED STATES – Liver Hormone Works Through Brain's Reward Pathway to Reduce Preference for Sweets & Alcohol.

UNITED STATES – How Three Genes You've Never Heard of May Influence Human Fertility.

UNITED STATES – Researchers Find Link between Processed Foods and Autoimmune Diseases.

UNITED KINGDOM – Is Evolution More Intelligent Than We Thought?

UNITED KINGDOM – Unravelling the Genetics of Pregnancy and Heart Failure.

SWITZERLAND – New Global Framework to Eliminate Rabies.

CANADA – Droughts Hit Cereal Crops Harder Since 1980s.

TAIWAN – Discovery of Key Autophagy Terminator that Contributes to Cell Survival and Muscle Homeostasis.

ASIA-PACIFIC – Six plants native to Southeast Asia are promising cancer warriors.

ASIA-PACIFIC – Possible link between autism and antidepressants use during pregnancy.

ASIA-PACIFIC – Novel nanoparticle vaccine to fight against MERS-CoV.

ASIA-PACIFIC – World’s first molecular swing.

ASIA-PACIFIC – Cancer cells are addicted to methionine.

ASIA-PACIFIC – New treatment for fatty liver disease.

REST OF THE WORLD – New post-doctoral programme to accelerate dementia research.

REST OF THE WORLD – A genomic test can help predict outcomes in men with prostate cancer.

Prenatal depression is a common disease, and it is an important risk factor for depression of postpartum and the diseases of newborn. However, this diagnosis of disease was deeply dependent on questionnaires evaluation by psychologists. The methods of evaluating and monitoring depression in the clinical laboratory are very limited. We dynamically determined serum cytokines (GM-CSF, Il-1$\beta$, Il-2, Il-3, Il-4, Il-5, Il-6, Il-10, Il-12, Il-17, TNF-$\alpha$ and IFN-$\gamma$) and catecholamine (CA) hormone (adrenaline (AD) noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine (DA)) to screen valuable markers evaluating depression in pregnancy. A higher rate of anxiety in pregnant women was 73.58% (78/106) during early pregnancy, compared with it in middle pregnancy. A higher rate of depression in pregnant women was 31.73% (33/104) compared with it during early pregnancy. During early pregnancy, there were no significant differences in cytokine, AD and DA between healthy pregnant women, anxious and depressed pregnant women. But the severely depressed pregnant women had a high level of NA ($168.49\pm 11.22$pg/mL versus $340.85\pm 26.78$pg/mL, $P<0.05$) during early pregnancy. The depressed pregnant women with vaginal bleeding were at a high-level NA. During middle pregnancy, IL-1$\beta$ ($P<0.05$), IL-6 ($P<0.05$) and IL-10 levels ($P<0.05$) were significantly higher in depressed women than in healthy women. There was no significant difference in CA hormones between healthy women and depressed women. Our study showed that levels of cytokines and CA hormones kept shifting during the pregnancy process. A continuous high level of NA in serum might be related to depression during early pregnancy and might have a possibility of inducing vaginal bleeding.

Cancer is diagnosed in about 1 in 1000 pregnant women. The incidence is predicted to rise, as women increasingly delay their pregnancies until later in life. The most frequent cancers diagnosed in pregnancy are cervical, breast, leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, malignant melanoma and thyroid. The optimal management of cancer in pregnancy requires a multidisciplinary team approach, with involvement of the medical oncologist, obstetrician, neonatologist, surgeon, radiation oncologist, allied health staff, general practitioner, nursing staff, pathologist, radiologist and pharmacist. Treatment should be carefully tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. The health and welfare of both the mother and the foetus must be considered, but these parties may have conflicting interests, particularly regarding the use of chemotherapy. Depending on the type of cancer and the stage at diagnosis, delaying chemotherapy until after delivery is not always an option and chemotherapy is often delivered during pregnancy. There is a paucity of prospective studies regarding diagnosis and treatment of cancer in pregnancy; however, there are numerous reports of the safe use of chemotherapy during the second and third trimesters. This chapter focuses on managing breast cancer and lymphoma during pregnancy.

The clinical fi nding that the rodent antifertility agent nonsteroidal antiestrogen clomiphene (a mixture of geometric isomers) was actually a profertility agent in subfertile women created the first practical method for enhancing fertility in women. A related compound, ICI 46,474, the pure trans isomer of a substituted triphenylethylene, was also a product of an industry fertility control program in the 1960s and it too was tested and then marketed in the United Kingdom as an inducer of ovulation in subfertile women, at the same time as an orphan drug for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Clomiphene has, however, remained the clinical gold standard for the induction of ovulation worldwide for 40 years. However, the fact that tamoxifen is a potent inducer of ovulation in premenopausal women remains an important consideration in breast cancer patients made infertile by combination cytotoxic chemotherapy. This chapter will trace the genesis of agents for the induction of ovulation and the current potential applications of tamoxifen for women with breast cancer who choose to preserve fertility.

Electronic Health Records (EHR) contain detailed information about a patient’s medical history and can be helpful in understanding clinical outcomes among populations generally underrepresented in research, including pregnant individuals. A cesarean delivery is a clinical outcome often considered in studies as an adverse pregnancy outcome, when in reality there are circumstances in which a cesarean delivery is considered the safest or best choice given the patient’s medical history, situation, and comfort. Rather than consider all cesarean deliveries to be negative outcomes, it is important to examine other risk factors that may contribute to a cesarean delivery being an adverse event. Looking at emergency admissions can be a useful way to ascertain whether or not a cesarean delivery is part of an adverse event. This study utilizes EHR data from Penn Medicine to assess patient characteristics and pregnancy-related conditions as risk factors for an emergency admission at the time of delivery. After adjusting for pregnancy number and cesarean number for each patient, preterm birth increased risk of an emergency admission, and patients younger than 25, or identifying as Black/African American, Asian, or Other/Mixed, had an increased risk. Later pregnancies and repeat cesareans decreased the risk of an emergency delivery, and White, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander patients were at decreased risk. The same risk factors and trends were found among cesarean deliveries, except that Asian patients did not have an increased risk, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander patients did not have a reduced risk in this group.

Electronic Health Records (EHR) contain extensive information on various health outcomes and risk factors, and therefore have been broadly used in healthcare research. Integrating EHR data from multiple clinical sites can accelerate knowledge discovery and risk prediction by providing a larger sample size in a more general population which potentially reduces clinical bias and improves estimation and prediction accuracy. To overcome the barrier of patient-level data sharing, distributed algorithms are developed to conduct statistical analyses across multiple sites through sharing only aggregated information. The current distributed algorithm often requires iterative information evaluation and transferring across sites, which can potentially lead to a high communication cost in practical settings. In this study, we propose a privacy-preserving and communication-efficient distributed algorithm for logistic regression without requiring iterative communications across sites. Our simulation study showed our algorithm reached comparative accuracy comparing to the oracle estimator where data are pooled together. We applied our algorithm to an EHR data from the University of Pennsylvania health system to evaluate the risks of fetal loss due to various medication exposures.