The federal government has a nice neat web page where you can find out about the safety of various medical devices, drugs, tests and so on. Recent stories feature items like angioplasty balloons that failed to deflate, clinical tests that yielded false positives and led to unnecessary medical procedures, and FDA demands for warnings about possible increased suicidal feelings with certain well-known antidepressant drugs.

Whether you’re a physician, an investigator or a consumer of medical services, this is a good site to check out before you undertake a new experiment, evaluate a new device to use in your work, or start taking a new prescription drug. It’s also the place to go if you have an issue to report. I’ve added this as a permanent link in this site’s Resources section.

Two bioscience companies together (Ambion and Cenix Bioscience) have just released a new RNA interference (RNAi) library based on the Drosophila genome. Laboratories that buy this library get more than 13,000 double-stranded RNA molecules (dsRNAs) that are ready for immediate use in experiments without having to do any other preparation.

RNAi is described in this press release as one of the “best new functional genomics screening tool to identify and validate new therapeutic drug targets.”

If you don’t happen to be a biologist, you may remember your high school biology class in which you learned that the Drosophila fly (the fruit fly and varieties) reproduces at an amazing rate. It’s not surprising then that it’s so useful for researching the behavior of genes. And how fascinating that they can now produce “libaries” of synthetic genetic material–they don’t have to grow huge colonies of flies and manually extract the stuff. No wonder science is making such huge advances so much faster nowadays.

A system that can be used to zap airborne agents such as anthrax with ultraviolet light that works by destroying their DNA or making them unable to multiply? Yes, its being tested now by Bio-Defense Research Group, a startup in Columbai, MD. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the company’s CEO said “the product has achieved a 100 percent neutralization rate for anthrax spores in tests using a government-approved bacterial stand-in for anthrax.”

A lot of places where people are packed close together may be interested in this system (to be on sale by the end of this year) including hospitals, hotels, sports arenas, cruise ships, schools and more. The Defense department is a favorite target for sales efforts.

It will be interesting to see how much our fear of danger from outside inadvertently contributes to the advancement of bioscience–perhaps even faster than could have been hoped.

The federal government’s new combination of laws called Bioshield looks like a classic case of the guy who’s all gungho. He tells you “Oh, yes, I really want what you’re offering. That’s exactly what I’m looking for…but I’m not ready to buy it yet. Why don’t you keep working on that. And by the way, here are the other features I’d like you to put in there… Money for development? No, don’t be silly that’s your job. Be your partner in taking the risks on this? No, no. That might cost me serious money or damage my reputation. You just go ahead and get that thing ready and we’ll let you know when we’re ready to move.”

That’s a quick and dirty impression gleaned from last week’s Washington Post on this new legislation that for ten years authorizes the use of federal money for drugs and vaccines to counteract a range of pathogens. Health officials can sign a contract to buy drugs under development, but don’t have to actually buy anything until tests prove the treatments work. The catch-22 is that no proof can be given that a certain drug effectively prevents or cures damage to human beings from any agent–because you can’t use unproven drugs on real people.

But the Food and Drug Administration is allowed to use unapproved products in emergencies and the National Institutes of Health can speed up biodefense research.

But apparently the drug companies who develop the agents will be the ones to bear the brunt of any lawsuits filed in case the agents don’t work. Talk about getting it both ways.

Neurology

Researchers have found compelling evidence that certain neurodegenerative diseases such as “mad cow” disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s may be significantly caused by a simple physical change in a normal protein called prion that’s found in all mammals so far examined. The newfound ability to make synthetic varieties of the prion protein allowed experimenters to see that “misfolding” a certain part of the protein causes it to turn into the infectious variety of itself.

The Science Daily article does a good job of explaining this breakthrough research. It goes on to say that they believe this misfolding occurs in everyone, but normally the misshapen proteins are cleared away in the brain. Next question: why doesn’t the clearing happen in some brains?

Harvard Bioscience’s CEO is presenting at a conference this Thursday August 5. He’ll talk about

the company’s plans to grow by acquiring, by partnering and my innovating. If you don’t plan to attend the R. W. Baird conference in New York, you can still listen to the presentation through the HBIO website at http://www.harvardbioscience.com/ or at http://www.wsw.com/webcast.rwbaird7/hbio

Cardiology

White blood cell counts after catheterization and other heart procedures may be a predictor of long-term survival rates, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Cardiology. Such procedures, including angioplasty and stenting, are traumatic to the body, and the body’s natural response to trauma is to increase white blood cell production.

If you’re like me, your first reaction to this might be, oh, brother, you’ve traumatized me big-time and now you’re going to tell me I’m not going to live much longer anyway…

But long-term this discovery could mean that doctors would know much more about how to tailor treatment after heart procedures in order to keep people optimally healthy.

Two of England’s respected scientific societies feel there are too many unknowns and the toxic potential is great enough to warrant approving the sale of cosmetics laced with nanoparticles. The the U.S. FDA has a less restrictive policy.

“Preliminary experiments in animals have found nanoparticles capable of moving into and damaging the lungs, brain and other organs. And while some nanomaterials may be able to neutralize poisons in soil or groundwater, others appear environmentally toxic themselves.”

The joint report expresses enthusiasm about the possibilities of nanotechnology but cautions strongly that both sides of the story must be investigated thoroughly before moving ahead with individual applications.

Neurology

A new application for ultrasound. Compared to digital subtraction angiography, results were good just using 3D color-coded duplex sonography to see where the vertebral artery originates. To assess hardening of the vertebral artery (stenosis) , investigators recommend combining with circulation tests, reports the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. The test saves time and doesn’t require injecting the patient with iodinated contrast agents.

Channel News Asia reports what’s being called an epidemic of high cholesterol in Singapore. Current anti-cholesterol treatment calls for at least two separate doses of medications that contain statins which block production in the liver and keep the intestine from absorbing it. Unfortunately, statins can give people aches and it doesn’t help their livers much. The new drug Vytorin is a single pill combination that doesn’t have those side effects, and it hasn’t yet been approved in the U.S.

This plying people with too much good food is probably not going away anytime soon. Bioscience will be the salvation for so many of our self-inflicted ills.