CML HealthCare Inc. to Install North America’s First and World’s Largest Fully Automated BD Kiestra™ Microbiology …

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MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --CML HealthCare Inc. (CLC.TO) (the "Company" or "CML"), a leading community-based provider of laboratory and medical imaging services in Ontario and British Columbia, and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced an agreement for CML to install two BD Kiestra Total Laboratory Automation ("TLA") systems. This fully automated microbiology system will be installed at CML's central laboratory by the third quarter of 2013. The BD Kiestra TLA system is designed to significantly increase overall microbiology lab productivity, streamline workflow, and shorten the time to results.

"We are very excited to be the first laboratory services provider in North America to be installing the BD Kiestra TLA system. With our central laboratory processing approximately three million microbiology tests annually, this installation will be the largest in the world for the BD Kiestra TLA system," said Thomas Wellner, President and CEO of CML. "The implementation of the BD Kiestra TLA system will allow CML to increase our capacity, reduce result turnaround times, and contribute to the growth of our core laboratory business. It will provide us with a significant competitive advantage and support a key pillar of our growth strategy which is to establish innovative hospital and other partnerships."

BD Kiestra TLA system automates the manual processes associated with inoculating and incubating microbiology specimens, and uses digital imaging of the inoculated specimens to shorten the time to detect bacterial growth. The increased efficiency, and quality improvements associated with automation allow for faster delivery of more accurate results to provide optimal patient care. In addition, laboratory staff is able to devote more time to analytical and value-added tasks.

"BD is proud to be working with CML HealthCare Inc., one of Canada's largest and most forward-looking laboratory services providers," said Tom Polen, President, BD Diagnostics - Diagnostic Systems. "Rapid diagnosis and treatment of infections is critical; however, many of the traditional testing protocols take two or three days to generate an actionable result.Using the BD Kiestra TLA system, integrated with other rapid diagnostic technologies, CMLwill be a pioneer in implementing technology that can often reduce those times significantly. We expect this to enable clinicians to provide patients with the most effective treatment earlier thus improving the standard of care and avoiding unnecessary healthcare costs."

The BD Kiestra TLA system currently has an installation base of instruments at public hospitals, universities, and privately owned laboratories in more than eleven countries worldwide since its introduction in 2006.

About CML HealthCare Inc.

Based in Mississauga, Ontario, CML HealthCare Inc. is a leading community-based, medical diagnostic services provider in Canada operating 114 Client C.A.R.E. Centres in Ontario, 84 imaging centres in Ontario and British Columbia, and a reference laboratory in Ontario focused on specialized coagulation testing and equipment calibration for international customers. CML is publicly-traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CLC" and has approximately 89.8 million common shares outstanding. For more information, please visit http://www.cmlhealthcare.com or follow CML on Twitter @cmlhealthcare.

About BD

BD is a leading global medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. The Company is dedicated to improving people's health throughout the world. BD is focused on improving drug delivery, enhancing the quality and speed of diagnosing infectious diseases and cancers, and advancing research, discovery and production of new drugs and vaccines. BD's capabilities are instrumental in combating many of the world's most pressing diseases. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs nearly 30,000 associates in more than 50 countries throughout the world. The Company serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. For more information, please visit http://www.bd.com.

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CML HealthCare Inc. to Install North America's First and World's Largest Fully Automated BD Kiestra™ Microbiology ...

Turtle genome offers clues to longevity, surviving without oxygen

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Scientists have for the first time decoded the genome of a turtle, unlocking clues to their longevity and ability to survive without oxygen, an attribute that could someday be used to help humans.

The research team included scientists from Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University as well as the University of California at Los Angeles. Their analysis is available online in the journal Genome Biology.

In science, turtles are a bit of an enigma. Their distinctive body design with a sharp beak instead of teeth and protective hard shell has changed very little over the past 210 million years. They can live up to four months with no oxygen while hibernating in ice-covered ponds. And while most small animals have short lifespans, a box turtle roaming your backyard can live more than 100 years.

They may be slowly evolving, but turtles have developed an array of enviable features, said senior author Richard Wilson, director of Washington Universitys Genome Institute. They resist growing old, can reproduce even at advanced ages, and their bodies can freeze solid, thaw and survive without damaging delicate organs and tissues. We can learn a lot from them.

Researchers sequenced the genome of the western painted turtle, which lives in freshwater ponds and streams and is the most widespread turtle in North America. What they found was that the creatures unique physiological adaptations are not from novel genes; but from activating genes common to most vertebrates, including humans.

This is a back-door route for turtles to evolve, said co-author Patrick Minx at he genome institute. Rather than evolve new genes, they adapted existing genes for new uses.

The scientists identified 19 genes in the brain and 23 in the heart that are activated in low-oxygen conditions, including one gene that increased nearly 130-fold. These genes are also present in humans and could be important in treatments to protect the heart and brain from oxygen deprivation during a heart attack or stroke.

Their study also showed just how slowly turtles evolve about one-third the rate of humans and one-fifth the rate of the fast-evolving python. The sequencing also puts to rest the argument over where turtles fall in the tree of life. Scientists found they are most closely related to crocodiles and birds, and not lizards and snakes.

Scientists will next try to better understand how the genes work together to protect organs during oxygen deprivation. They can also use the genome information to study other traits such as longevity.

How can their tissue and their cells survive so much longer? said co-author Wesley Warren, also at the genome institute. Thats why this genome is important, for scientists to have access to the entire sequence, so we can start understanding these mechanisms.

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Turtle genome offers clues to longevity, surviving without oxygen

3 area students advance to international science fair

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Three area high school students earned top spots in the Delaware Valley Science Fairs.

Lijia Xie, 17, of Lansdale, a senior at North Penn High School, was a silver medalist for his biochemistry project. He developed a urine test to detect liver cancer.

Devin Cody, 18, of Doylestown, a senior at Germantown Academy, won the bronze medal. His chemistry project, called Capturing the Spectrum, increased the efficiencies of dye-sensitized solar cells.

Kerri Diamond, 14, a freshman at Souderton Area High School, was a gold medalist for her computer project exploring which insects food-finding methods are most effective.

The students were among more than 1,000 competing in the regional science fair. Because they are among the top three winners from ninth to 12th grades, they will compete next month in the 64th annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix.

The students get an all-expense-paid trip, worth about $1,500 per person, to the international science fair.

Several other high school students from the region placed in the Delaware Valley Science Fairs, though they will not be advancing to the international competition.

Mounika Kanneganti, a senior at Central Bucks West, earned first place in biochemistry.

Ryan Shaprio, a senior at Central Bucks West, earned an honorable mention in chemistry.

Matthew Kolosick, a senior at Central Bucks East, earned third place in computer science.

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3 area students advance to international science fair

News briefs for April 11

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Area resident receives alumni award

BLACKSBURG, Va., January Haile, of Danville, has been awarded the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award for the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Haile is an assistant professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology at Centre College. Haile earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2009.

Every year, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences honors one alumnus from each department who has graduated more than 10 years ago for his or her achievements since graduation.

Book discussion to focus on race in the criminal justice system

Kentucky Public Advocate Ed Monahan will be among the guests at a discussion of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Danville Police Chief Tony Gray, Commonwealth Attorney Richard Bottoms, Assistant Public Defender Stacy Coontz and Judge Bruce Petrie also will be part of the discussion at the Boyle County Public Library.

In the book, Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio State University, argues the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a system of racial control. The book raises the following questions: Is the War on Drugs racially biased? Is the U.S. prison system a contemporary form of slavery that creates profit at the expense of the poor and people of color? Are we living in a color-blind society or is racism alive in the U.S.?

Copies of the book were made available to interested community members to read before the discussion, but everyone is invited to join this community conversation sponsored by Citizens Concerned for Human Relations of Danville.

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News briefs for April 11

LSUHSC research discovers new drug target for metastatic breast cancer

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Public release date: 11-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Leslie Capo lcapo@lsuhsc.edu 504-568-4806 Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

New Orleans, LA Research led by Dr. Suresh Alahari, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the first to report that two specific tumor suppressor genes work in concert to inhibit the growth and spread of breast tumor cells to the lungs. The research is published this week online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Working in a mouse model, the LSUHSC research team studied LKB1, an enzyme that functions as a tumor suppressor in the small intestine, and Nischarin, a novel protein that regulates breast cancer cell migration and movement discovered by Dr. Alahari in 2000. Thirty percent of lung adenocarcinomas have an LKB1 gene mutation, and high levels of the LKB1 protein in breast cancer cells have been shown to significantly inhibit tumor growth. The LKB1-interacting protein is also structurally similar to Nischarin. The researchers suspected that the two suppressors might relate to each other, and they did in fact discover a functional and biochemical link between them.

The researchers demonstrated that Nischarin and LKB1 regulate breast cancer cell migration, anchorage-independent growth, tumor growth, and metastasis. They also identified a new pathway by which LKB1 suppresses tumor cell movement.

Metastasis, a complex process involving cell growth, tumor cell migration, and invasion is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Therefore, it is important to identify the molecular targets that can prevent cancer metastasis.

"The molecular mechanisms of tumor suppressor genes are not clearly understood, and each discovery moves us another step closer to a treatment advance or cure," notes Dr. Alahari.

Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer among American women this year, and 2,240 among men in the US, with 39,620 deaths in women and 410 deaths in men.

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The LSUHSC team also included Prachi Jain, Somesh Baranwal, Shengli Dong, Amanda Struckhoff, and Rebecca Worthylake from the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Oral Biology.

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FAMILY DAY: Connecting kids, science

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What: Art and Science Family Day

When: 10 a.m. Saturday

Where: San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, 1 Love St.

Cost: Free

Contact: 325-653-3333

SAN ANGELO, Texas Senior biochemistry major Alexis Mobley likes to think she has good chemistry with children.

On Saturday, Mobley and her Angelo State University American Chemistry Society counterparts will get a chance to test that theory as they help a slew of kids with science experiments.

The chemistry students are combining art with science at this months San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Family Day.

A demonstration in the museum meeting room will show how to detect art forgery using different dyes and fluorescent lighting. Another table is focused on the chemicals in ceramics and how to fire clay.

This Family Day we are fusing something important to the curriculum to combine new experiments with chemistry and art, said Bekah Coleman, assistant museum educator.

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FAMILY DAY: Connecting kids, science

Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Inclusive Body Myopathy by Dr Alok Sharma, Mumbai, India. Part 2 – Video

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Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Inclusive Body Myopathy by Dr Alok Sharma, Mumbai, India. Part 2
Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Inclusive Body Myopathy by Dr Alok Sharma, Mumbai, India. After Stem Cell Therapy 1) Muscle girth has increased at bilateral ...

By: neurogenbsi

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2014 Budget: No major cuts for Marshall Space Flight Center

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala (WAAY) - President Obama's FY2014 proposed budget will not force any program cuts at Marshall Space Flight Center that according to Director Patrick Scheuermann.

The President's budget allocates $17.7 billion for NASA, that number is about 3% lower than the 2012 budget. Marshall Space Flight Center will receive $2.18 billion. Scheuermann says that is enough to continue Marshall programs such as the Space Launch System and Orion as well as a new program to identify, capture, and relocate an asteroid, a program which will require the SLS system.

From a human standpoint the only way to get the humans to the asteroid no matter where it comes to will be on the SLS which means great news for Marshall Space Flight Center," said Director Scheuermann.

He also says considering the lean financial times the country is facing he views this budget as a strong one.

This budget enables Marshall to continue to play a major role in NASA's top priorities, the development of the SLS and Orion, operating the International Space Station to 2020 and beyond, and testing the James Webb Space Telescope," Scheuermann said. It really gives us the stability that we need in order to be able to execute the mission that we have been entrusted with.

The budget also keeps NASA on track to send humans to an asteroid in 2025 and onto Mars in 2030.

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2014 Budget: No major cuts for Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA's 2014 Budget: Space Exploration Experts React

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President Barack Obama unveiled a proposed federal budget for 2014 today (April 10), which includes $17.7 billion in funding for NASA in the next fiscal year. The budget request also includes $105 million dedicated to support an audacious new mission to capture and asteroid and park it near the moon so that astronauts can explore it by 2025.

In addition to the asteroid capture mission, NASA's 2014 budget request also includes about $200 million in cuts to planetary science, which has upset some scientists and space exploration groups. It does, however, increase funding for Earth science missions and fully fund the agency's private space taxi program and new human spaceflight projects, such as the Space Launch System mega-rocket and Orion space capsule.

See the initial reactions to NASA's 2014 Budget Request below:

Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator

This budget focuses on an ambitious new mission to expand Americas capabilities in space, steady progress on new space and aeronautic technologies, continued success with commercial space partnerships, and far-reaching science programs to help us understand Earth and the universe in which we live. It keeps us competitive, opens the door to new destinations and vastly increases our knowledge. [NASA's Asteroid-Capture Mission in Photos]

(This is only part of Bolden's statement on the NASA budget. Read the full statement here.)

Bill Nye (the Science Guy), CEO, The Planetary Society

The Administration just released its proposed budget for 2014 and it contains some very bad news for NASA's planetary exploration program.

Our initial review shows a cut of over $200 million this year a cut that will strangle future missions and reverse a decade's worth of investment building the world's premier exploration program.

(The Planetary Society will hold a webcast at 6 p.m. PDT/9 p.m. EDT tonight to discuss NASA's 2014 budget proposal. Watch it Live Here.)

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NASA's 2014 Budget: Space Exploration Experts React

NASA touts plan to grab asteroid as 'unprecedented technological feat'

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Watch a series of animations from NASA showing how the asteroid retrieval mission might unfold.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

NASA says it will begin work on an ambitious mission to capture a near-Earth asteroid and bring it to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system as part of the agency's overall $17.7 billion agenda for the coming year.

The budget request for fiscal year 2014, unveiled on Wednesday, also aims to get U.S. astronauts back to flying on U.S.-based spaceships by 2017, launch the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope by 2018 and send another rover to Mars by 2020.

The proposed budget is about $50 million less than the amount sought a year ago, but about $1 billion more than the agency's current spending plan. Billions of dollars would be set aside to continue operations on the International Space Station, keep up the work on interplanetary missions, expand the nation's network of Earth-observing satellites and upgrade aerospace technologies. However, the headline-grabber in the budget is the asteroid retrieval mission, which is budgeted for $105 million in spending during the fiscal year beginning in September.

"This mission represents an unprecedented technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities and help protect our home planet," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement accompanying the budget request.

Planning documents suggest that the space agency would launch a probe powered by a next-generation solar electric propulsion system sometime around 2017, to rendezvous with a 7- to 10-meter-wide (25- to 33-foot-wide) asteroid around 2019. A collapsible shroud would be wrapped around the asteroid, and then the probe would pull the space rock to a stable point in high lunar orbit or at a gravitational balance point beyond the far side of the moon.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials familiar with the plan told NBC News that NASA was already beginning the work to identify a candidate asteroid. The 2014 budget includes $78 million for planning the mission, and $27 million to accelerate NASA's efforts to detect and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids. NASA's chief financial officer, Elizabeth Robinson, indicated that this spending would come in addition to the $20 million that the space agency currently spends annually on asteroid detection.

The plan for the mission was formally unveiled less than two months after an asteroid streaked through the atmosphere and broke up over Russia. The breakup sparked a meteor blast that shattered windows and injured more than 1,000 people.

That asteroid was thought to have been about 17 meters (55 feet) wide. The type of asteroid targeted for the future NASA mission, in contrast, would be too small to pose a threat to Earth even if it were to break loose somehow and plunge through the atmosphere.

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NASA touts plan to grab asteroid as 'unprecedented technological feat'

NASA unveils plan to catch asteroid as step to Mars flight

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By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama wants NASA to start work on finding a small asteroid that could be shifted into an orbit near the moon and used by astronauts as a stepping-stone for an eventual mission to Mars, agency officials said on Wednesday.

The project, which envisions that astronauts could visit such an asteroid as early as 2021, is included in Obama's $17.7 billion spending plan for the U.S. space agency for the 2014 fiscal year.

It is intended as an expansion of existing initiatives to find asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth, and preparations for a human expedition to Mars in the 2030s.

"This mission allows us to better develop our technology and systems to explore farther than we've ever been before - to an asteroid and to Mars - places that humanity has dreamed about but has had no hope of ever attaining," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told reporters during a conference call.

"We're on the threshold of being able to tell my kids and my grandkids that we're almost there."

In 2010, Obama proposed that NASA follow the International Space Station program with a human mission to an asteroid by 2025. The agency has been developing a heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule capable of carrying astronauts beyond the station's 250-mile (400-km) high orbit.

The system would be capable of traveling to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars, the long-term goal of the U.S. human space program.

"I think the asteroid-retrieval mission lays out a place for us to go," Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana told reporters in a separate conference call.

"It does everything that needs to be done as far as developing the technologies and the skills that we need for exploration beyond planet Earth."

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NASA unveils plan to catch asteroid as step to Mars flight

Obama Seeks $17.7 Billion for NASA to Lasso Asteroid, Explore Space

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NASA unveiled a $17.7 billion spending plan for 2014 today (April 10) that continues major ongoing space exploration projects, while including funds to kick-start an audacious new mission to capture a small asteroid and park it near the moon so astronauts can explore it by 2025.

The proposed NASA budget is part of President Barack Obama's 2014 federal budget request and would restore the U.S. space agency's funding back near its 2013 levels. The request is about $50 million less than NASA's 2013 budget but would restore deep cuts from sequestration, leaving the agency with a roughly $1 billion increase from the $16.6 billion budget actually received for 2013.

NASA's plan to send a robotic spacecraft to lasso an asteroid and tow it to the moon is a stand-out item in the 2014 budget request. The goal is to capture an asteroid and bring it closer to Earth so that a manned mission can explore the space rock by 2025 a major U.S. spaceflight goal set by Obama in 2010. [NASA's 2014 Budget Explained in Photos]

"We are developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate and asteroid," NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a statement. "This mission represents an unprecedented technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities and help protect our home planet. This asteroid initiative brings together the best of NASAs science, technology and human exploration efforts to achieve the presidents goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025."

How to catch an asteroid

NASA's 2014 budget sets aside a $78 million down payment for the asteroid-capture mission, as well as additional funds to search for the candidate space rock for the initial rendezvous and capture, bringing the total funding for the project to about $105 million in 2014.

In all, NASA could spend up to $2.6 billion on the asteroid-capture mission through 2025, according to a study conducted by scientists with Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies in Pasadena last year. That study reviewed the feasibility of robotically capturing a 500-ton asteroid about 23 feet (7 meters) wide and placing it in orbit near the moon by 2025.

Bolden said NASA's new mega-rocket, the Space Launch System, and its Orion deep-space capsulewould be used for the manned portions of the asteroid capture mission. The agency will also "develop new technologies like solar electric propulsion and laser communications -- all critical components of deep space exploration."

The Space Launch System and Orion capsule are part of NASA's Exploration Systems division, which is funded at $2.7 billion in 2014 in the new budget, down from $3 billion last year.

In addition to the asteroid mission, NASA's 2014 budget includes continued funding for the International Space Station, as well as increased support for private space taxis, which the space agency plans to rely on to launch American astronauts to the space station now that its shuttle fleet is retired. Commercial spaceflight funding in 2014 is pegged at $821.4 million, just over twice the amount received in the 2013 request.

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Obama Seeks $17.7 Billion for NASA to Lasso Asteroid, Explore Space

NASA to Unveil 2014 Budget Request, Asteroid Lasso Plan Today

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NASA's funding outlook for the next year will be revealed today (April 10), when President Barack Obama releases his 2014 federal budget request.

A boost over the $17.7 billion allocated to the space agency in last year's request would be a surprise in these tough fiscal times. But NASA is expected to receive $100 million to jump-start a bold asteroid-capture mission, which would drag a 500-ton space rock near the moon for research and exploration purposes.

"NASA is in the planning stages of an innovative mission to accomplish the president's challenge of sending humans to visit an asteroid by 2025 in a more cost-effective and potentially quicker time frame than under other scenarios," a senior administration official told SPACE.com.

"This mission would combine the best of NASA's asteroid identification, technology development and human exploration efforts to capture and redirect a small asteroid to just beyond the moon to set up a human mission using existing resources and equipment, including the heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule that have been under development for several years," the official added, referring to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. [NASA's Asteroid-Capture Plan (Video)]

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said last week that the proposed mission aims to get astronauts to the captured space rock by 2021, which is also the year that SLS and Orion are scheduled to begin carrying crews.

The overall cost of the robotic asteroid-retrieval mission not including the astronaut visit is estimated at about $2.6 billion, according to a feasibility study led by Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies that was published last year.

The 2014 budget request follows closely on the heels of sequestration, which on March 1 imposed a broad 5-percent cut on many federal agencies, including NASA. Sequestration and several other small cuts have reduced the space agency's actual 2013 budget to around $16.6 billion, so NASA is now looking for ways to trim costs.

NASA chief Charles Bolden has said that SLS, the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope and the commercial crew program are top agency priorities, so they may not be affected much by the cuts. NASA's planetary science program, on the other hand, may have to cough up a relativately large share.

Planetary science also suffered in last year's federal budget request, which cut the robotic exploration program by about 20 percent while keeping NASA's overall top line pretty much flat.

Bolden will discuss NASA's 2014 budget during a White House press conference today at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) and a NASA teleconference today at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).

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NASA to Unveil 2014 Budget Request, Asteroid Lasso Plan Today