Trivector Scientific

Prolonged Sitting Linked to Breast and Colon Cancers

2011-11-09T22:52:00.001-08:00

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=prolonged-sitting-linked&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_HLTH_20111108

A slight change from the usual- A must read for everyone

2011-11-09T01:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.aftermarket.org/Magazine/InsiderArchives/Toolbox/DifficultCoWorkers.aspx

Check out how BT-37 incubator is better than Cook K-MINC 1000

2011-11-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

'Fatty apron' fuels ovary cancer

2011-10-31T21:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15494373

Bill Gates India scheme 'spared 100,000 from HIV'

2011-10-14T05:07:00.001-07:00

About 100,000 people in India may have escaped HIV infection over five years because of a scheme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a study by the Lancet suggests.

The Avahan project was launched in 2003 in six states which had the highest rate of HIV in India at the time.

The aim was to invest in HIV prevention by targeting high-risk groups such as sex workers and truck drivers.

The Lancet study said it showed such an investment can reduce HIV prevalence.

Safe-sex counselling

The initial findings of the study had some data limitations, AFP reports, but the study's authors make it clear that investing in prevention can have a positive impact.

"The results of our analysis suggest that Avahan had a beneficial effect in reducing HIV prevalence at the population level over five years of programme implementation in some of the states," the assessment said.

It said that the findings supported investment in well-managed HIV prevention programmes in low and middle-income countries.

The $258m (£164m) Avahan project was based in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland.

It targeted high-risk groups such as sex workers, injecting drug users and truck drivers with tactics such as safe-sex counselling, free condoms, exchanging used needles for sterilised ones and through campaigning and advocacy.

It found that the campaign was most effective in the districts that got the most resources but it also had a greater impact in the highly-populated southern Indian states.

Indian authorities say the number of annual new HIV infections has declined by more than 50% during the past decade.

India also runs government Aids control schemes, many done in partnership with international donors.

There was some criticism of the Avahan project when it was launched for being poor value for money, AFP reports, but the study disputes this assertion.

The authors of the study were funded by the Gates Foundation, but as a peer-reviewed journal material for publication is examined by outside experts.

CORRECTING and REPLACING PerkinElmer’s ViaCord® Cord Blood Banking Business to Expand Stem Cell Harvesting Capabilities

2011-10-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Subhead of release should read: ViaCord is entering into an exclusive licensing agreement with Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics to launch a research initiative and expand its existing offerings of stem cell harvesting capabilities (sted: Leader in umbilical cord blood storage enters into exclusive licensing agreement with Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics to increase cord blood stem cell yields, and initiate research into potential anti-inflammatory therapies).

The corrected release reads:

PERKINELMER’S VIACORD® CORD BLOOD BANKING BUSINESS TO EXPAND STEM CELL HARVESTING CAPABILITIES

ViaCord is entering into an exclusive licensing agreement with Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics to launch a research initiative and expand its existing offerings of stem cell harvesting capabilities

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment, announced today that its family cord blood banking business, ViaCord®, will now offer families the ability to extract stem cells from the tissue surrounding the umbilical cord vessels, a very rich source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

This new capability is exclusive to ViaCord, the only cord blood banking service with patent rights to expand MSCs from cord tissue as well as extract and expand MSCs from the tissue around the cord vessels. This proprietary service will be offered, as part of the current cord tissue stem cell service offering, to expectant parents through an exclusive licensing agreement with Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics (TRT).

“The agreement between ViaCord and TRT provides our customers with access to a very rich source of MSCs from umbilical cord tissue, increasing their chances of potential success and benefit from possible therapeutic applications. In addition, the agreement will further distinguish ViaCord’s portfolio of offerings in the area of cord tissue banking,” said Morey Kraus, chief scientific officer for ViaCord. “ViaCord will also collaborate with TRT on a research initiative investigating the therapeutic benefits and anti-inflammatory properties of this rich source of MSCs. This research is intended to achieve results that may guide clinical studies of stem cell applications for joint diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, as well as autoinflammatory diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.”

“ViaCord has established a lead position in the study and identification of new uses for stem cell treatments within the clinical setting, and is an ideal complement to the robust scientific foundation that we, at TRT, have built in the MSC field,” said John E. Davies, president and chief executive officer of Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics. “We are delighted that ViaCord customers will benefit from this exclusive licensing agreement and our collaborative research to advance therapeutic uses of MSCs.”

The extraction is enabled through TRT’s human umbilical cord perivascular cell (HUCPVC) technology, allowing ViaCord to extract the stem cells found around the umbilical cord vessels. This process creates access to perivascular MSCs, a highly potent type of stem cell, which offers a potentially significant medical advantage. ViaCord’s added ability to expand the stem cells can also increase the available supply by tenfold or greater, providing more stem cells for more potential treatments. Banking newborn cord tissue stem cells in addition to cord blood stem cells provides a greater number and variety of cells, increasing chances of potential success and benefit from possible therapeutic applications.

The partnership with TRT augments the proprietary position that was initiated by the agreement between ViaCord and AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc., which was entered into in March 2011. The combined agreements provide ViaCord customers with exclusive access to both MSC extraction and expansion technologies.

ViaCord family cord blood banking services currently offers expectant families the opportunity to preserve their baby’s umbilical cord blood for potential medical use by the child or a related family member. To date, ViaCord has preserved the umbilical cord blood of more than 250,000 newborns. Twenty years ago, cord blood stem cells were used to treat just one disease, Fanconi’s anemia. Today there are nearly 80 diseases treatable with cord blood stem cells, including cancers, certain blood disorders and immunodeficiencies.

About Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics (TRT)

TRT is a progressive biotechnology Canadian Controlled Private Corporation (CCPC) with a focus on the commercial development of their patented Human Umbilical Cord PeriVascular Cell (HUCPVC) platform technology, which represents the world’s richest source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). TRT is the first company in the world to have issued and allowed patents in both the USA and Europe for extraction of these unique cells from umbilical cord tissue. TRT provides license opportunities to collaborating partner companies in the regenerative therapeutics industry, including Family Banking. In June 2006, TRT exclusively licensed rights for the Canadian market to CReATe Cord Blood Bank in Toronto, who market HUCPVCs as Peristem^TM, making both TRT and CreATe leaders in the worldwide stem cell community. TRT's preclinical and clinical development programs are designed to develop therapies that address important health care issues of today. Additional information is available at www.verypowerfulbiology.com.

About PerkinElmer, Inc.

PerkinElmer, Inc. is a global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment. The Company reported revenue of approximately $1.7 billion in 2010, has about 6,200 employees serving customers in more than 150 countries, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index. Additional information is available through 1‐877‐PKINYSE, or at www.perkinelmer.com.

Women Should Eat More Chocolate ! An afternoon pick me up for Trivector Women Staff

2011-10-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235781.php

Steve Jobs again

2011-10-10T02:56:00.001-07:00

http://allthingsd.com/20111005/steve-jobs-in-his-own-words/

9 things you didn’t know about the life of Steve Jobs

2011-10-10T01:05:00.001-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/8-things-didn-t-know-life-steve-jobs-172130955.html

Happy Birthday to Mrs Sangeeta Patil, the backbone of Trivector

2011-10-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

May your dreams come true and may you achieve success in every endeavor you undertake.

Best Wishes

Staff of Trivector

Comic Book on 'How to have Babies' by our very own Indian Fertility Specialists

2011-10-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

How to Have a Baby: The Comic Book for Infertile Couples
By Dr Aniruddha Malpani and Dr Anjali Malpani
Published by the Malpani Infertility Clinic
Available for free online via Scribd

This 744-page comic book covers the causes of infertility, imaging techniques, assisted reproductive techniques, surrogacy, donorgametes and adoption.
The comic is written by Drs Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani who run a Bombay-based fertility clinic offering 'treatment to infertile couples from all over the world'. The couple have impressive careers. Both studied medicine at Harvard and John Hopkins University and claim to have established India's first sperm bank and achieved India's first pregnancy after PGD.
Their breadth of experience and knowledge is evident in the comic, which goes into impressive detail about modern fertility techniques. But - in many ways - this is also the comic's downfall. This format is not suitable for communicating large volumes of detailed information.
Although there is a table of contents, none of the text is searchable, meaning it's difficult to find the information you want. I think people without basic scientific knowledge would find the book difficult to understand because the level of detail leads to jargon at times.
Although the amount of information provided is impressive, it concerns me that some people may suffer from information overload. They could be left lying awake at night, unnecessarily worrying that they might need surgical sperm retrieval or ovarian drilling during their treatment.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the comic seems pro-fertility tourism with all the patients portrayed as Caucasian couples and the fertility doctors as caricatures of the Malpanis. The book also mentions controversial procedures like cloning as options that may be available to patients in the future.
The comic is extremely frank at times, describing in detail how ectopic pregnancy is treated by injecting potassium chloride directly into the baby's heart - killing it and preventing it from growing. It is also refreshingly honest, with no attempt to hide the low success rates of many procedures and the need for patience during treatment.
In summary, this comic provides a comprehensive - although somewhat biased - guide to modern-day fertility procedures. What it does not provide is a subjective view of those procedures and – for this reason - I would caution any prospective patients reading it.
My biggest criticism is the comic seems to use scare stories to discredit the procedures used by other clinics, particularly those in the USA. This reflects the commercial interest of the authors and can only be an attempt to convince patients of the superiority of treatment at the Malpani Fertility Clinic.

Daughters Of Women Given Diethylstilbestrol During Pregnancy At Greater Risk Of Fertility Problems And Cancer

2011-10-07T04:10:00.001-07:00

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/235584.php

Research Indicates That Adult Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells May Be Viable Treatment For Spinal Cord Injury Repair

2011-10-07T02:13:00.001-07:00

Research from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, published online ahead of print in Stem Cells and Development, shows that adult human mesenchymal stem cells may have an important role in the treatment and repair of spinal cord injuries. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found mainly in the bone marrow and are the focus of many clinical trials that investigate potential methods of neurological repair and other regenerative applications.

"Although mesenchymal stem cells are widely known to be used in replacing damaged tissue, these stem cells may also recruit endogenous cells (those made within the body) to help accelerate the repair process," said Hatem E. Sabaawy, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a senior author of the study. "The immune suppressive properties of mesenchymal stem cells suppress the inflammatory process during injury repair."

For the first time, researchers at UMDNJ examined the use of human MSCs to prompt repair of spinal cord injuries in transgenic (genetically engineered or altered) zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish are especially valuable to researchers due to invertebrate characteristics that are similar to those of humans, the transparency of their bodies and their ability to initiate regeneration of damaged tissue. The study demonstrates that human MSCs affix to the injury site and influence spinal cord cells to accelerate the repair process.

"Our results indicate that MSC therapy not only augments recovery after spinal cord injury, but also accelerates the recovery time," said Pranela Rameshwar, PhD, a senior author and professor of medicine at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

As published in MNT: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/235546.php

Patient-Specific Stem Cells: Major Step Toward Cell-Based Therapies for Life-Threatening Diseases

2011-10-07T01:35:00.001-07:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111006090029.htm

Trivector @ The Symposium and Workshop December 20-22, 2011

2011-10-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Symposium and Workshop December 20-22, 2011

December20-22, 2011

Organized by

National Institute for Research in ReproductiveHealth (NIRRH), Mumbai

IndianCouncil of Medical Research

IndianSociety for the Study of Reproduction & Fertility (ISSRF)

ICMR Centenary Celebrations (1911- 2011)

Symposium on Fertility Preservation Options: 20^th December 2011
Cryopreservation Workshop: 21^st December, 2011
PGD Workshop: 21- 22^nd December, 2011

Fertility Preservation Options

One DaySymposium

20^th December 2011

Organizing Secretary: DrDeepa Bhartiya, Scientist E, Stem Cell Biology Dept, NIRRH

Overview: Recent advances in cancer treatment have resulted in increased number ofyoung cancer survivors who have not yet completed their family. Azoospermia in men and premature ovarianfailure in women are common side effects of cancer therapy which subsequentlylead to infertility. The Symposium isaimed at spreading awareness and update the participants with the currentscientific, clinical, technological developments in fertilitypreservation. This will help improve thequality of life of cancer survivors as they may be assured of biologicalparenthood rather than depending on donor gametes or adoption.

TargetAudience: The Symposium will be useful to reproductiveendocrinologists, hematology-oncologists, gynecologic oncologists,psychologists, basic scientists, clinical researchers, oncology nurses, socialworkers and others interested in the area of fertility preservation.

Objectives: Theaim of the Symposium is to educate medical professionals to facilitatereferrals for fertility preservation, define ethical and legal issues formaking a gonadal tissue bank, highlight the impact of cancer treatment onfertility and reproduction, update on the current status of gamete cryopreservation,and also provide a critical assessment of the strategies during ovariantransplantation.

Cryopreservation

OneDay Workshop

21^st December 2011

Organizing Secretary: Dr Deepa Bhartiya, Scientist E, StemCell Biology Dept, NIRRH

Dr Rajvi Mehta, Advisor, Trivector Embryologists Support Academy, Mumbai

This Workshop will be limited to 40participants who will be trained in basic biology of cryopreservation ofgametes, embryos and reproductive tissues with a focus on vitrification.

Pre-implantationGenetic Diagnosis

TwoDay Workshop

21^st and 22^ndDecember 2011

OrganizingSecretary: Dr Parag M Tamhankar, Scientist C, Genetic Research Centre, NIRRH

This Training Course, limited to 10participants, will demonstrate various techniques like single cell biopsy,single cell FISH and PCR etc.

Co-ordinator

Dr Sanjiva D Kholkute
Director
National Institute for Research in ReproductiveHealth
(Indian Council of Medical Research)
J. M. Street, Parel, Mumbai 400 012

INDIA

Tel No. 91-22-24192002, 24192000
Fax No. 91-22-24139412

in collaboration with

Professor Anil K Dubey Dr Santiago Munne

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Reprogenetics

George Washington University Livingston

Washington, D.C. 20037, USA New Jersey, USA

Professor Alan SPenzias Dr Lars Johnsson

Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Biology Consultant Embryologist

Harvard Medical School Origio

Waltham,MA 02451, USA Denmark

Registration Fees

	Registration Fees (Rs)
Symposium on Fertility Preservation	1000
Cryopreservation Workshop	1000
PGD Workshop	1500
Symposium on Fertility Preservation+ Cryopreservation Workshop	1800
Symposium on Fertility Preservation+ PGD Workshop	2250

Pleaseapply directly for the Symposium at cryopgd@gmail.com. In case you also wish to participatein the workshops – please submit brief Biodata along with one page write up(forwarded by your HOD) on how you will be benefited by participating in theworkshop.

Noaccommodation will be provided. However, we shall help the delegates findsuitable accommodation if requested in advance.

Lastdate for application is 30^th October 2011.

Decision on participation in workshopswill be communicated by 5^th November 2011.

Money as DDpayable in name of Director, NIRRH to be sent at the following address

Director

NationalInstitute for Research in Reproductive health

Parel, Mumbai400012

Ph No. 2 4192002

dir@nirrh.res.in

For further queriesplease contact on e-mail cryopgd@gmail.com

Genetic variants linked to asthmatics' response to inhalers

2011-10-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

03 October 2011
By Luciana Strait
Appeared in BioNews 627
Inheriting two copies of a genetic variant has been associated with reduced response to steroid inhalers in people with asthma. The finding could explain why around 40 percent of people with asthma do not benefit from inhaled steroids, the most commonly prescribed medication for the condition.
'The study illustrates the importance of research examining the relationship between genetic makeup and response to therapy for asthma, and underscores the need for personalised treatment for those who have it', said Susan Shurin, acting director of the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one of the funding bodies of the research.
Researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the USA carried out a genome-wide associationstudy using data from 1,000 people (including children and their parents), and identified a gene called glucocorticoid-induced transcript 1 gene (GLCCI1). The team, led by Dr Kelan Tantisira, found that treatment with an inhaler produced only one-third of the level of lung improvement in asthma patients with two copies of a variant of the gene compared to those with regular copies of the gene.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, are 'appreciable but not overwhelming' according the journal's editor Dr Jeffery Drazen, who also noted that the research would be a step towards being able to identify which patients are most likely to respond to inhaled steroids.
'The next step must be to mount clinical trials in which patients are stratified according to their biological signature to determine whether knowledge of this information leads to better clinical outcomes', said Dr Drazen.

Trivector's New Office

2011-10-05T03:50:00.000-07:00

We are very proud to announce we have moved into our new office.

We also have a state-of-the-art training laboratory with updated ART instruments to provide a more well rounded training program to all those interested. More images to come......

Trivector's First Blog

2011-10-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

Trivector Scientific has its very own in-house Training school by the name of Trivector Embryology Support Academy (TESA). TESA provides those interested in establishing, running and working at Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) centers with knowledge,skill, information, wisdom and encourages them to use our collective experience to improve the success rates of the ART procedure.

We are conducting our regular training session which involves theoretical and hands on training in ART on November from 1st to the 5th, 2011, at Trivector Headquarters, Mumbai.
We will also be having our first exclusive ICSI training schedule on November 7th, 8th and 9th, 2011, at Trivector Headquarters, Mumbai.

For all queries on the above please contact us on trivector@vsnl.com