INDUSTRY NEWS 009
COMPREHENSIVE LITE SOLUTION FOR VITAL SIGNS TESTING KITS FROM RIGEL MEDICAL
THE NEW RIGEL Medical Med-eKit Lite is a comprehensive vital signs testing kit in one easy-to-carry and convenient solution. Protected and transported from site-to-site within a new lightweight and water-repellent sling-style carry case, the vital signs kit features the 288 electrical safety analyser and the UNISIM vital sign simulator. Med-eKit Lite is the most compact solutions available for testing the electrical safety and performance of vital signs monitors. Ease of portability allows the user to transport biomedical test equipment to any test location where all the test data can be downloaded into Med- eBase software for full traceability and data recording.
The new Rigel Medical Med-eKit Lite is a comprehensive vital signs testing kit in one easy-to-carry and convenient solution
STUDY FINDS 1% OF HUMAN GENES SWITCHED OFF
SCIENTISTS STUDYING THE human genome have found that each of us is carrying around 20 genes that have been completely inactivated, suggesting that not all switched-off genes are harmful to health. A team at Britain’s Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute is developing a new catalogue of so-called ‘loss- of-function’ (LoF) gene variants to help identify new disease-causing mutations, and say their work will help scientists better understand the normal function of human genes. The team developed a series of filters to identify common errors in the human genome and looked at nearly 3,000 possible LoF variants in the genomes of
185 people from Europe, East Asia and West Africa. Loss of function variants are genetic changes that are predicted to severely disrupt the function of genes. Some are known to cause severe human diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. In this study, the filters revealed that 56% of the 3,000 possible LoFs analyzed were unlikely to seriously affect gene function. “This shows that at least one percent of human genes can be shut down without causing serious disease,” said Dr. Mark Gerstein, a professor of biomedical informatics from Yale University in the United States, who also worked on the study.
AUTOANTIBODY BIOMARKER PANELS FOR IMPROVED DISEASE DIAGNOSIS
OXFORD GENE TECHNOLOGY (OGT), provider of innovative clinical genetics and diagnostic solutions to advance molecular medicine, has released a new whitepaper entitled ‘Autoantibody biomarker panels for improved disease diagnosis’. The free-to-download document explores the need for biomarkers as indicators of disease, and discusses the vast potential of autoantibodies as markers of early disease development. Autoantibodies are produced by the host immune system and as such are often detectable during the early stages of disease onset. In addition, they are stable, abundant, highly specific and easily purified from serum, making them ideal candidates for use in disease detection. The issues surrounding the use of autoantibodies as biomarkers are discussed in detail in the whitepaper, including their relative advantages, selection of the most appropriate discovery technology and choosing between strategies for in-house or outsourced discovery. Visit the new website for more
details on the company’s solutions:
www.ogt.co.uk
Image © Rigel
60 SECOND DOSE
Endomannosidase structure revealed A team from the University of York used state-of-the-art synchrotron technology to reveal the three-dimensional structure of bacterial endomannosidase, which they used as a model for the human enzyme. This structure revealed how viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C play biological piggy- back, using our cellular machinery to replicate and cause disease.
Boost for successful IVF A team from Cardiff University has developed a technique to identify embryos destined for a successful pregnancy – a finding which could boost IVF rates and reduce multiple births. They used advanced imaging techniques to analyse donated eggs injected with an egg-activating sperm-specific protein – PLC-zeta. Over several hours, researchers imaged the cytoplasm to track discrete and distinct rhythmic patterns that occur during stimulation at fertilisation.
New hope for blood disorders Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have revealed new details about how cell signalling is controlled in the immune system, identifying in the process potential new therapeutic targets for treating severe blood disorders. The study published in the journal Immunity, report on how the proteins JAK2 and SOCS3 interact. They hope the discovery will lead to new strategies for treating myeloproliferative diseases.
Iron levels linked to blood clots Treating patients with inherited blood vessel disease of their iron deficiency might prevent blood clots. The link between iron levels and blood clots appears to be dependent on coagulation factor VIII. The gene encoding factor VIII has sites where iron-binding proteins can bind, making it plausible that iron levels could regulate the factor VIII gene, and that this might be the mechanism for the link.
Blood test helps identify depression A blood test helps diagnose major depressive disorder and could become a useful clinical tool. The test accurately distinguished patients diagnosed with depression from control participants. Developed by Ridge Diagnostics the test measures biomarkers associated with factors such as inflammation, the development and maintenance of neurons, and the interaction between brain structures involved with stress response and other key functions.
www.lifesciencesmagazines.com
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