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Training Program To Prevent Groundwater Poisoning In India
A team of scientists at Queen"s University has been chosen to lead a top research and training programme to prevent groundwater poisoning in India.
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ImmunoGen Announces Encouraging New Clinical Data With The Company's IMGN901 Compound In The Treatment Of Small-Cell Lung Cancer
ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted anticancer therapeutics using its Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology, today announced the presentation of encouraging initial efficacy, safety and tolerability clinical data with its IMGN901 product candidate in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). In two early-stage clinical trials that enrolled patients whose SCLC had recurred following treatment with standard chemotherapies, IMGN901 administration achieved notable tumor shrinkage and/or sustained stable disease. The compound also demonstrated encouraging activity against other CD56-expressing (CD56+) solid tumors. These clinical data are being presented at the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer taking place in San Francisco, CA, from July 31 to Aug. 4, 2009.
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Study Provides Greater Understanding Of Lyme Disease-Causing Bacteria
Lyme disease in the U.S. is caused by the tick-borne bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and usually begins with a skin lesion, after which the bacteria spread throughout the body to the nervous system, heart or joints. About 60 percent of untreated individuals develop arthritis, which affects the knees in particular. Lyme disease usually responds well to antibiotic therapy, but in rare cases arthritis can persist for months or years after treatment, a rare condition known as antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis. Joint fluid usually tests negative for B burgdorferi after treatment, indicating that joint inflammation may persist even after the bacteria has been eradicated.
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New Tests For The Investigation Of Patients With Painful Metal-on-metal Resurfacing Arthroplasties

This paper investigates 26 patients with painful metal-on-metal resurfacing arthroplasties and describes three tests for the investigation of the phenomenon. The tests are metal artefact-reduction MRI, 3-D CT measurement of the position of the component and inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Current techniques for assessing patients with painful MOM hips are the same as for painful non-MOM hips, however, this research demonstrates that hip resurfacing appears to have specific modes of failure which are not detectable using these methods. Therefore, the authors investigated the use of metal artefact-reduction MRI, 3-D CT measurement of the position on the component and inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of cobalt and chromium levels in the whole blood. As an aseptic lymphocyte-dominated vasculitis-lesion can be a possible cause of unexplained pain in a MOM hip the 26 patients were tested with MRI and 16 hips showed periprosthetic lesions, with 14 collections of fluid and two soft tissue masses. The diagnosis of aseptic lymphocyte-dominated vasculitis-lesion can only be made from tissue samples, usually collected during revision. Therefore, because the lesions were seen in both men and women and in symptomatic and asymptomatic hips the significance of this finding is unclear. It has also been suggested that unexplained hip pain is associated with high levels of metal ions in the blood so the levels of cobalt and chromium may be biomarkers of early failure. In the patients tested, the levels of blood metal ions tended to be higher in painful compared to well-functioning metal-on-metal hips. Specifically the level of cobalt were significantly greater, suggesting that painful hip resurfacings have greater wear rates. However, the levels of chromium were barely raised in patients with unilateral MOM hips and therefore analysis of blood metals ions as a screening test for painful MOM is likely to be sensitive but not specific. The 3-D CT scans showed that the median inclination of the acetabular component was 55° and its positioning was outside the Lewinnk safe zone in 13 of 16 cases. The position of the component may influence the risk of failure of a MOM hip because suboptimal acetabular version may cause impingement, and inclination angles of greater than 50° may cause high rates of wear. The authors protocol for the painful MOM hip demonstrated a high probability of periprosthetic masses on metal artefact reduction sequences, a higher blood metal level than in the well-functioning MOM hip and a position of the component outside the Lewinnek safe zone. Taken together, these observations may help to determine causes of failure, indicate the most appropriate treatment and aid the choice of prosthesis if replacing the contralateral hip. Read the full text article. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery


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