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By Category: Public Health

Boston subways to see bioterror test

(UPI) A series of tests in Boston’s subways will measure the performance of new bioterrorism sensors developed to detect biological agents, U.S. officials said. The “Detect-to-Protect” Bio Detection project will assess several sensors developed by U.S. companies and designed to alert authorities to the presence of biological material, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science Read More »

August 27, 2012
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Antibiotics may cause microbes to tip the balance

(Nature) Bacteria living naturally within the gut provide a gateway to flab, according to a few reports this week. These bacteria may explain how antibiotics fatten farm animals and perhaps people too, and how certain genes predispose organisms to obesity. In a study published 22 August in Nature, researchers mimicked what farmers have been doing Read More »

August 27, 2012
| Filed under North America, Public Health, and Research
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Russia Says One Dead After Anthrax Outbreak in Siberia

(BloombergBusinessWeek) An anthrax outbreak in a Siberian village left one person dead and 10 others hospitalized as the Russian government declared a state of emergency in the area in a bid to prevent an epidemic. There were at least two other confirmed cases of anthrax infection in the village of Druzhba in the Altai region, Read More »

August 27, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, and Public Health
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Biowatch: Chinese firm taps Rockville biotech for vaccine technology

(Gazette) Rockville biotech Fina Biosolutions is licensing its conjugate vaccine technology to a Chinese company that plans to develop and manufacture pneumonia vaccines. Fina will receive from Chengdu Institute of Biological Products up to $850,000 in upfront and milestone payments, plus sales royalties if the vaccine is commercialized, according to Viqar Aslam, a Fina spokesman. Read More »

August 24, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, International, Public Health, and Research
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Japan resumes beef exports to US after 2-yr halt

(Reuters) Japan is set to resume from Friday beef exports to the United States suspended since April 2010 after foot-and-mouth disease was found in Japanese cows, a farm ministry official said, paving the way for wagyu beef to reach U.S. gourmets. Washington has given the green light for Japanese cattle slaughtered on Aug. 18 or Read More »