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Ankylosing Spondylitis :: Enbrel provides sustained clinical improvements for ankylosing spondylitis for up to 3 years

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced patients with ankylosing spondylitis who received treatment with Enbrel (R) (etanercept) experienced sustained improvement in signs and symptoms, spinal mobility and physical function over 148 to 160 weeks of therapy, according to data from an ongoing open-label, multinational, phase 4 extension study presented at the American College of Rheumatology scientific meeting. These results are consistent with an ENBREL phase 3 clinical trial at 24 weeks.

Rheumatoid Arthritis :: Enbrel first biologic with up to 9 years rheumatoid arthritis safety

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced Enbrel (R) (etanercept) is the first biologic with published data to show sustained improvements in multiple efficacy measures in rheumatoid arthritis patients completing up to nine years of therapy. Current data suggest Enbrel is both effective and safe in long-term RA use, and the new data, presented at the American College of Rheumatology scientific meeting, provide a degree of reassurance that unexpected safety concerns do not appear to develop after nine years of use.

Fatigue in women is reduced in stress-related cortisol study

A study of healthy women has harvested results involving fatigue and vigor that eventually may help researchers fine tune efforts to treat a multitude of illnesses and syndromes linked to low levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Why do insects like to eat some plants more than others?

Plant-insect ecologists typically attribute the differences to variation in the nutritional quality or defective chemistry of plant tissues. However, the researchers found that cactus-feeding insects chose host plants based on how the plants allocated resources between growth and reproduction.

Scientists design simple dipstick test for cocaine, other drugs

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple “dipstick” test for detecting cocaine and other drugs in saliva, urine or blood serum. The test is based upon DNA-gold nanoparticle technology, and can be packaged in user-friendly kits similar to those used for home pregnancy tests.

Climate change creates dramatic decline in red-winged black bird population

Global warming strikes again. A University of Illinois researcher reports that a red-winged black bird population in Ontario, Canada has decreased by 50 percent since 1972. The decrease is related to a positive shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation which has resulted in warmer, wetter winters in the southeastern United States.

Some animals won’t adapt to climate change

In a fascinating study appearing in the November issue of the American Naturalist, biologists investigated the response of small animals to climate change on a remote sub-Antarctic Island. From an evolutionary standpoint, acclimatizing to a change in circumstances seems to make evolutionary sense. However, Steven Chown and Jacques Deere (both of Stellenbosch University) found that terrestrial animals don’t adapt. Why not?

A company’s reputation is what gets fried when its books get cooked

A University of Washington professor contends that penalties imposed upon public companies that falsify accounting records are miniscule compared with the costs incurred when news of a company’s misdeeds spreads and its reputation spoils.

Opposites do not attract

A study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, found that a female budgerigar prefers to mate with a male that sounds like her. Biologists Marin Moravec, Professor Nancy Burley and Professor Georg Striedter conducted the study, which was published in Ethology in early November. The study also found that males that paired with more similar-sounding females gave more help to the females when they were nesting.

A key antibody, IgG, links cells’ capture and disposal of germs

Scientists have found a new task managed by the antibody that’s the workhorse of the human immune system: Inside cells, Immunoglobulin G (IgG) helps bring together the phagosomes that corral invading pathogens and the potent lysosomes that eventually kill off the germs.