Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
December 2003
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Accusations of bias prompt NIH review of ethical guidelines
The US National Institutes of Health is to reassess its ethics rules following allegations that consulting fees paid to some of its top scientists have biased decisions in clinical research.
Nature (17 December 2003)
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'Reverse genetics' could offer forward-thinking flu vaccine
Health authorities are under renewed pressure to modernize influenza-vaccine production after an early surge in flu has highlighted shortfalls in the current jab.
Nature (17 December 2003)
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Koreans rustle up madness-resistant cows
Cloned cattle that are said to be resistant to mad cow disease have been born in Korea.
Nature (17 December 2003)
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EMBO chief threatens to quit over funding crisis
A freeze on funding for the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has prompted its executive director, Frank Gannon, to threaten resignation unless prospects improve.
Nature (17 December 2003)
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Elsevier waves goodbye to BioMedNet web portal
The popular life-sciences website BioMedNet is to close down for good. Observers say that the decision by scientific publisher Elsevier, which owns it, heralds a move away from general scientific websites, towards more specialized services.
Nature (17 December 2003)
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Plague trial verdict leaves biologists split on biodefence
A jury in Texas split the difference in its verdict on the celebrated case of plague researcher Thomas Butler. The jury cleared Butler of serious crimes relating to his handling of samples of plague bacteria, but convicted him of defrauding his university through contracts with drug companies.
Nature (10 December 2003)
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National Science Foundation facing budget let-down
Science advocates in the United States are disappointed at a new spending bill that will give the National Science Foundation far less cash than was recommended in a law passed just a year ago.
Nature (10 December 2003)
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Europe dithers over regulations for stem-cell research
Europe's debate on research using embryonic stem cells has ended for now in stalemate, leaving cell biologists uncertain as to where they stand.
Nature (10 December 2003)
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Shortcomings halt study of Swiss cancer vaccine
A Swiss clinical trial of a vaccine against skin cancer has been scrapped after a government-backed investigation found "serious shortcomings" in its conduct.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Iraqis draw up blueprint for revitalized science academy
A dozen Iraqi scientists and engineers met with officials of the Royal Society in London last week and agreed to set up an Iraqi academy of sciences. They said that the academy would help to develop a research strategy for the country.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Budget cuts force Hong Kong to reduce salaries
The National Institutes of Health is preparing a research plan for autism, and hopes to cut the condition's prevalence in the United States by a quarter by 2013.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Scientists go to jail to crack substance abuse
The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is embarking on a programme to study the treatment of drug abuse among prisoners in the United States – and to educate judges about the neurobiology of addiction.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Rapid drug trial offers hope to CJD patients
Britain's Medical Research Council is set to embark on a rigorous clinical trial of a treatment for Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). The trial will initially assess the effects of only one drug – a compound that few experts expect to be effective.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Europe eyes merit-based agency
The European Union (EU) last week edged closer to setting up a new research agency that would be run by scientists and would give out grants purely on the basis of scientific merit.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Erythropoietin may impair, not improve, cancer survival
Erythropoietin (EPO), a drug commonly given to cancer patients to alleviate fatigue, may shorten survival in cancer patients and might in fact fuel tumor growth, a growing body of evidence suggests.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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Sprawling Biopolis jazzes up Singapore's science scene
The first phase of Biopolis, Singapore's US $288 million complex of research laboratories, opened on 29 October to the strains of a jazz quintet led by Edison Liu, executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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European Parliament set to ban cloning for transplantation
Just two days before the United Nations deferred for two years its vote to ban human cloning, the European Parliament moved to enact just such a ban in the European Union (EU).
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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SARS spreads new outlook on quarantine models
When governments in Asia and Canada imposed quarantine measures at the height of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, most experts–particularly in the US–decried the tactics as outdated and ineffective.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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Report calls for overhaul of UK clinical trials
The working group of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences in October issued a report calling for vast changes to the clinical research system, and criticized the UK National Health Service (NHS), one of the country's main sources of support for clinical trials.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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Strain of unknown prions weighs heavily on Japan, Italy
Japanese and Italian health officials have each announced the discovery of potentially new forms of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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NIH privatization push compromising science, critics warn
Grants technical assistants (GTAs) are the unseen shepherds of grant applications at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). But soon their numbers will drop to less than 700, and they will answer not to grants managers at individual institutes, but to the NIH director's office.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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IBM accused of ignoring employee 'cancer cluster'
Two former IBM employees who developed cancer are suing the electronics giant, alleging it knowingly exposed them to carcinogenic chemicals in its 'clean rooms'.
Nature Medicine (December 2003)
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US bioethics committee weighs in
Although issues concerning biotechnology have been off the radar during much of President Bush's nearly three years in office, two major federal reports–one on bioethics, the other on commercial developments and opportunities–were made public in October.
Nature Biotechnology (December 2003)
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EU wrangles internally over safety of donated tissues and cells
The EU's three legislative bodies are struggling to agree on a directive on safety of donated human tissues and cells for medicinal use.
Nature Biotechnology (December 2003)
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News in brief
Chimp genome hints at little differences that make us human
| Italy takes hard line on embryo research
| Britain launches inquiry into cost of science journals
| Standing room only as German protest lectures go on and on
| Cancer centre finally finds its head
| Korea strategy aims to give good scientists a job for life
| Europe launches attack on bacterial resistance
| Clinton brokers AIDS deal
| Serono's patent revoked
| Journal policies create uneven playing field
| Central Funding for Europe
| Europeans favor cloning
| Pharmacogenomics at FDA
News Features
Boom, or bust?
Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into US biodefence research. You might expect scientists working on infectious diseases to be unequivocally delighted. But things aren't that simple.
Nature (10 December 2003)
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Developmental reprogramming: Take a cell, any cell...
Can an adult human cell be turned back to an embryonic state without the need for cloning? If so, ethical objections to personalized regenerative medicine would be swept away. Carina Dennis reports.
Nature (04 December 2003)
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Ultrafast DNA sequencing
Single-molecule sequencing may be the wave of the future, but don't count out microfluidics yet. Jim Kling reports.
Nature Biotechnology (December 2003)
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