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New Mass Spectrometric Method Allows Fast And Comprehensive Analysis Of Metabolites
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena and their colleagues from the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague have developed a new method to quickly and reliably detect metabolites, such as sugars, fatty acids, amino acids and other organic substances from plant or animal tissue samples. One drop of blood -- less than one micro liter -- is sufficient to identify certain blood related metabolites.

Requirements For Using E-Health Begin To Emerge; Public Input Needed, Experts Say
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. The Stimulus) set aside billions of dollars for hospitals to acquire electronic medical record systems, but one requirement for hospitals hoping to receive the money will be to share patient records with other facilities, the Dallas Morning News reports. "North Texas hospitals have talked for years about ways to share these records but have been unable to agree. Some participants in the discussions have said that"s because of concerns they might lose patients to competing hospitals" (Landers, 6/24).
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New Biological Therapy Ilaris(R) Approved In US To Treat Children And Adults With CAPS, A Serious Life-Long Auto-Inflammatory Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Ilaris(R) (canakinumab) for the treatment of children and adults with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS), which includes a number of rare, but life-long, auto-inflammatory disorders with debilitating symptoms and limited treatment options. The FDA granted priority review to Ilaris based on its potential to meet an important clinical need for patients with CAPS.
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Association For Molecular Pathology Comments To The SACGHS

In public comments given before the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS), the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) addressed three areas: Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER), evidence for coverage of genetic and genomic tests, and gene patents. AMP first summarized the organization"s recent extensive comment letter to the Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research: * AMP encourages the development of a comprehensive infrastructure for CER and laboratory tests, which should include a panel of expert stakeholders with molecular diagnostics experience. * AMP urges that funding for large, carefully designed comparative effectiveness trials for molecular tests be coupled with funding for comparative effectiveness studies that complement randomized controlled trials by including patients who do not necessarily meet the inclusion criteria for prospective trials. * AMP calls for funding to develop new reference materials and innovative testing methods to advance laboratory quality measures. AMP next addressed the closely related issue of reimbursement, summarizing the organization"s comments to the CMS MEDCAC. AMP maintains that the evidence required for coverage of most genetic and genomic tests should not differ from the requirements for other diagnostic tests. Last, AMP referred to their extensive comments to the SACGHS draft report on gene patents and licensing practices. AMP believes that while the Draft Report raises many key questions, it misses an opportunity to more definitively explore the negative impact on public health that derives from exclusive and restrictive licensing practices, such as with the case of the genes associated with SMA and the Connexin-26, and Connexin-30 genes. AMP encouraged the Secretary"s Advisory Committee to consider additional case studies that demonstrate this point. A copy of AMP"s comments to the SACGHS as well as the full comments to the Federal Coordinating Council and MEDCAC can be found here. Mary Steele Williams Association for Molecular Pathology


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