JAMA Drug Pricing Issue: Pharma’s Outsized Profits and Lobbying Spend

In a presidential election year where the high cost of prescription drugs has been a major campaign issue, JAMA joined the fray with a special issue on drug pricing. Source MEDPAGETODAY Four studies — three in JAMA and one in JAMA Internal Medicine — along with a handful of editorials dig deeper into key questions about the U.S. pharmaceutical industry: Is

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A Fundamental Discovery About How Gene Activity Is Regulated

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered a fundamental mechanism that regulates gene activity in cells. The newly discovered mechanism targets RNA, or ribonucleic acid, a close cousin of DNA that plays an important role in cellular activity. The discovery, detailed in a paper published February 3 in the journal Molecular Cell, is a

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R&D plans are the stars in new EU industrial strategy and “Wholly Inclusive” European Research Area

A draft plan, for adoption in Brussels on 4 March, highlights the importance of research and innovation in making EU industry more competitive Source Science Business The new European Commission is putting research and innovation at the heart of its ambitious new industrial strategy. A draft memo on the strategy, dated 14 January, for a

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Elsevier puts together free resource on coronavirus

Elsevier has set up an Information Centre on the newly emerged coronavirus featuring in the current outbreak in China, with free information in English and Mandarin. The resource is intended to help healthcare professionals, medical researchers and the public, bringing together content from Elsevier’s medical journals, textbooks and clinical experts, alongside resources from other information providers and

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A validated composite model to predict risk of curve progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

A newly published study on @EClinicalMed by @CUHKofficial aims to formulate a composite model composed of clinical parameters and circulating markers in the prediction of curve progression. In adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), the continuous search for effective prognostication of significant curve progression at the initial clinical consultation to inform decision for timely treatment and to

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Special delivery: McMaster physicists design ‘super-human’ red blood cells to deliver drugs to specific targets within the body

A team of physicists from McMaster University has developed a process to modify red blood cells so they can be used to distribute drugs throughout the body, which could specifically target infections or treat catastrophic diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer’s. The modified red blood cells are designed to circulate in the body for several

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New Microscopy Technique Shows Cells’ 3-D Ultrastructure in New Detail

The method melds the best of super-resolution fluorescence and electron microscopy to show how proteins relate to cells’ fine structure. Inside a cell, tentacled vesicles shuttle cargo for sorting. Neighboring neurons cling to one another through a web-like interface. DNA rearranges in the nucleus as stem cells differentiate into neurons. And a new microscopy technique

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