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Medtronic Clinical Trial Evaluating The Newest Radiofrequency Ablation Tools For Atrial Fibrillation Completes Enrollment
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) announced completion of enrollment in the TTOP-AF (Tailored Treatment of Permanent Atrial Fibrillation) clinical trial. The study is evaluating the use of the latest radiofrequency (RF) ablation technology, the Medtronic Ablation Frontiers Cardiac Ablation System, for the treatment of continuous atrial fibrillation (AF). A leading advancement from currently available RF ablation tools, the system is comprised of a RF generator (or energy ) and three anatomically shaped mapping and ablation catheters that target three areas of the heart for AF treatment. The system is approved for use in Europe and is under investigational use in the United States.
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New Research Into Treatment Availability For People With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, UK
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News of the day
Clinton Embarks On 7 Nation African Tour
"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads this week on a seven-nation tour of Africa aiming to prove U.S. commitment to the continent after the administration"s early focus elsewhere," AFP/ABS-CBN News reports. According to the news service, "Clinton will seek to build ties with three African powers -- Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa -- and visit three nations recovering from conflict -- Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] and Liberia. She will end with a stop in small U.S. ally Cape Verde" (8/3). "Her visit is the earliest in any U.S. administration that both the President and the Secretary of State have visited Africa," VOA News reports (Clottey, 8/2).
Diagnostics

In Vitro Antibody Production Enables HIV Infection Detection In Window Period -- Key To Safer Blood

Researchers in Israel and Kenya have shown that the contribution of variable degrees of immune suppression, either due to existing chronic infections such as parasitemias and/or nutrition, in different populations may influence and prolong the serological-diagnostic window period of HIV. However, the immunosuppression can be overcome, by in-vitro enhancement of antibody production (termed- Stimmunology). The results, which appear in the August 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, show that pre-treating the whole blood sample in the SMARTube™ containing immune potentiating agents promoted the synthesis and release of antibodies against HIV-1 prior to their detection in corresponding plasma samples in a group of donors who would otherwise be classified as HIV-1 seronegative blood donors. The identification of techniques that can lead to detection of HIV infection during this window period is of obvious public health importance especially in re poor settings highlighting the importance of these findings. Overcoming the suppression, in-vitro, led to the production of detectable levels of anti-HIV antibodies in the whole blood sample and to the detection of potentially infectious blood units which were missed by regular HIV serology. Interestingly, the ratio of missed infections among the total HIV infected blood donors was higher among the younger (high-school) donors versus adult donors. The research team, Dr. Jasper Mumo, immunologist from the Department of Human Pathology, University of Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Ami Vansover, head of the Virology Laboratory, Public Health Laboratories, Ministry of Health, Israel, and Dr. Tamar Jehuda-Cohen, an immunologist, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, ran the same HIV antibody tests using both regular plasma and SMART-plasma (plasma after the Stimmunology step) from blood donors in Kenyata hospital. Dr. Jehuda-Cohen noted that "this study, offers one of the keys to making the blood supply safer, by overcoming the problem of this protracted window period perhaps unique to certain field study sites with a high incidence/prevalence of HIV-1. This is true not only for HIV but also for other infections such as HCV, which has even a longer window period than HIV" In summary, in-vitro enhancement of antibody production, made simple by the SMARTube™, has been shown to enable the earlier detection of HIV infection. This is critical for saving lives not only via a safer blood supply but also by detection of HIV infection among pregnant women who seem to have a very long window period. "A pregnant women testing false negative for HIV will not be offered ART which could have saved her baby" said Dr. Jehuda-Cohen (a mother of seven). Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said "The article by Mumo and colleagues may lead to a change in testing paradigms and algorithms in HIV and other infections with a diagnostic window period." Tamar Jehuda Cohen Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine


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