The National Cancer Institute has mounted a search for people who are dramatic outliers in their response to cancer therapies in an effort to improve treatments for common malignancies.

Almost 50 percent of devices and 40 percent of medications administered in the U.S. are produced outside its borders. Around 80 percent of the producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients are internationally based and the speed of global research and commerce is swiftly changing. Clearly, the regulatory framework needs to keep up. With that in mind, the FDA is setting new priorities for the coming years. An official document has been drawn up by the FDA to that effect.

Yet another risk factor for neurodegenerative disease has cropped up in recent studies: Worry among older women. Research conducted at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden provided a score on the scale of neuroticism for 800 women in mid-life and evaluated any potential links to Alzheimer's. Those who peaked on the anxiety scale were two times as likely to develop the disease.

An analysis of genetic biomarkers from Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology explains the differences between predictive and prognostic characteristics and provides a perspective on the current landscape of research and development for a number of key assays.

Lasers that can flip cells off and on and brain scanners that can be worn are just two projects receiving federal grants as a part of the $100 million BRAIN Initiative aimed to learn more about the inner-workings of the brain.

BioClinica, Inc., a leading provider of outsourced clinical trial services and eClinical Solutions, today announced that its Compass technology, a risk-based monitoring solution that improves overall quality in clinical trials, has won the inaugural Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM) NextGen Technology Innovation (TIA) Award.

Following World Alzheimer's Day, a list of recent Alzheimer's studies, including brain PET research, was recently published by Examiner.com.

Altruistic people, such as those who would be willing to donate an organ to a stranger, show a stronger response to fearful faces in the form of a spike of activity in the amygdala when scanned using fMRI, according to a feature in the Discover D-Brief Blog.