The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) is kicking off the year with its new CDP LinkedIn group, a platform for emergency responders and training officers to find the latest news on new CDP courses and trainings as well as an opportunity to network with other emergency responders and trainers.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) recently released a breakdown of the numbers of DOD personnel involved in the battle to stop the spread of Ebola. Their role in the fight is to provide logistical support and training for healthcare workers, to test medical samples, and to construct Ebola treatment units.
Foodborne illnesses kill roughly 3,000, and sicken about 1 in 6, Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, in collaboration with the startup DNATrek, have developed a cost-effective and highly efficient method to accurately trace contaminated food back to its source.
Johnson & Johnson recently announced the start of a Phase 1, first-in-human clinical trial of a preventive Ebola vaccine in development at its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies. Recruitment in the trial is underway, and the first volunteers have received their initial vaccine dose. Enrollment is expected to be complete by the end of January.
The importance of calibration for handheld gas and vapor detectors cannot be underemphasized because many gas sensors fail to an unsafe state. The only way to ensure that many sensors are working correctly is to apply a gas to them to "calibrate" them.
For years, pathogens' resistance to antibiotics has put them one step ahead of researchers, which is causing a public health crisis, according to University Distinguished Professor Kim Lewis. But in new research, Lewis and his colleagues present a newly discovered antibiotic that eliminates pathogens without encountering any detectable resistance.
The Senates recent bipartisan vote of 93-4 extends for six years the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), a significant policy tool against the potential economic fallout of terrorism that helps protect businesses nationwide from ongoing threats, provides certainty to commercial real estate markets, and allows transactions to move forward without significant interruption, according to The Real Estate Roundtable.
Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted the first waiver to allow a nucleic acid-based test, the Alere i Influenza A & B test, to be used in a greater variety of healthcare settings. The test previously was only available for use in certain laboratories.
CNA Corporation has announced that Timothy L. Beres, formerly vice president and director of its Safety and Security division, will become the president of its Institute for Public Research (IPR), effective January 5, 2015. He is replacing VADM (USN, Ret.) Lee F. Gunn, who is retiring from CNA Corp. after 14 years of service.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced recently that it has acquired from Evolva Holding SA the EV-035 series of molecules, which offers the potential for commercialization of broad-spectrum antibiotics to protect against multi-drug resistant strains of bacterial infections, said Adam Havey, executive vice president and president, biodefense division of Emergent BioSolutions.
