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Access Pharmaceuticals Provides Update On ProLindac(TM) Phase 2 Ovarian Cancer Trial And Clinical Development Plan
ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.(OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP), provided an update on the progress in the Company"s clinical development plan for ProLindac, a novel DACH platinum drug that has shown to be active in many solid tumor types in human clinical studies. Access recently announced positive safety and efficacy results from its Phase 2 monotherapy clinical study of ProLindac(TM) in late-stage, heavily pretreated ovarian cancer patients. In this study, 66% of patients who received the highest dose achieved clinically meaningful disease stabilization according to RECIST criteria. No patient in any dose group exhibited any signs of acute neurotoxicity, which is a major adverse side-effect of the approved DACH platinum, Eloxatin, and ProLindac was well tolerated overall. The Company has scaled up manufacturing in order to begin the next phase of clinical development. Access plans to conduct several combination trials in different solid tumor types both as Company-sponsored trials and in conjunction with its two previously announced co-development partners.
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Hospital Room Design Can Have Effect On Patient Care, Outcomes, Studies Show
Hospital room design can help reduce medical errors, infections and falls, as well as patient stress, according to results emerging from more than 1,500 studies, the New York Times reports. For instance, a study at Bronson Methodist Hospital found that hospital-acquired infection rates dropped by 11% when more single-patient rooms were added, with well-located sinks and better air-flow designs. In addition, research from the Pebble Project -- an effort by the Center for Health Design -- found that lowering noise levels around patients improved self-reported sleep quality by nearly 50%, from 4.9 on a scale of 10 to 7.3. Other studies have suggested that natural light can help with patient depression and that nature scenes can help lower reported pain levels, the Times reports. Anjali Joseph, director of research at the Center for Health Design, said that many new hospitals also are replacing centralized nurses" stations with smaller ones located near patients. Insurance companies want some assurance that upgrades and new features will do more than just attract patients, the Times reports. Susan Pisano, a spokesperson for America"s Health Insurance Plans, said, "When a hospital makes a change -- buys a new machine, builds a new building -- they need to be prepared to discuss those changes with the people purchasing their services," adding, "They have to make the case that these changes will improve quality and safety and efficiency" (Campbell, New York Times, 5/19).
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A Compound Found In The Sea Provides Promising New Treatment For Neuropathic Pain
A paper just published in the British Journal of Pharmacology reports that a compound originally isolated from a soft coral (Capnella imbricate) could lead scientists to develop a new variety of treatments for neuropathic pain. This composite is collected at Green Island off Taiwan and could be a new option for treatment. Neuropathic pain is chronic and occasionally follows damage to the nervous system. Presently this type of pain is very poorly controlled by the usual analgesics: aspirin like drugs (NSAIDS) or even opioids like morphine. New treatments are urgently required.
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Study Finds Autistics Better At Problem-solving

Autistics are up to 40 percent faster at problem-solving than non-autistics, according to a new Universitçİ de Montrçİal and Harvard University study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping. As part of the investigation, participants were asked to complete patterns in the Raven"s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) - a test that measures hypothesis-testing, problem-solving and learning skills. "While both groups performed RSPM test with equal accuracy, the autistic group responded more quickly and appeared to use perceptual regions of the brain to accelerate problem-solving," says lead author Isabelle Souliç¨res, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University who completed the experiment at the Universitçİ de Montrçİal. "Some critics agued that autistics would be unable to complete the RSPM because of its complexity, yet our study shows autistics complete it as efficiently and have a more highly developed perception than non-autistics." Fifteen autistics and 18 non-autistics were recruited for the study. Participants were 14 to 36 years old and matched according to their preliminary results on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging to explore their neural activity during RSPM problem-solving. While autism is a common neurodevelopmental disability characterized by profound differences in information processing and analysis, this study showed that autistics have efficient reasoning abilities that build on their perceptual strengths. "This study bolsters our previous findings and should help educators capitalize on the intellectual abilities of autistics," says senior researcher Laurent Mottron, the new Marcel & Rolande Gosselin Research Chair in Autism Cognitive Neuroscience of the Universitçİ de Montrçİal and psychiatry professor. "The limits of autistics should constantly be pushed and their educational materials should never be simplified." Adds Dr. Souliç¨res: "The Raven"s Standard Progressive Matrices are among the most complex tests to provide insight on how a person understands and formulates rules, manages goal hierarchies and performs high-level abstractions. Our wager was that autistics could complete such a test and they surpassed our expectations." About the study The study, "Enhanced Visual Processing Contributes to Matrix Reasoning in Autism, published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, was authored by Isabelle Souliç¨res, Gary E. Strangman, Cherif Sahyoun and Thomas A. Zeffiro of the Harvard University and Laurent Mottron, Michelle Dawson, Fabienne Samson and Elise B. Barbeau of the Universitçİ de Montrçİal. Partners in research: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Autism Speaks. Universitçİ de Montrçİal


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