Nature Medicine | Spoonful of Medicine

The Daily Dose – Putting the screws to pacemakers

<img alt=“Pacemaker.jpg” src=“https://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/Pacemaker.jpg” width=“250” height=“227” align=“right” border=0 hspace="10px">— Japanese researchers will ring in the new year with a science budget that looks a lot like the last years — but for them, more of the same is a reason to celebrate. Rather than implementing much-anticipated and much-maligned cuts to funding for science and technology, the new government announced that its budget will include about the same level of support for S&T as the previous government’s budget, although funding priorities will likely shift between projects. (ScienceInsider)

— As more and more big drug makers move into China, one company is heading in the opposite direction. Ranbaxy Laboratories, the large Indian generics firm, has sold its entire stake in a joint venture with a state-owned Chinese comglomerate. The Delhi-based company plans to implement a ‘buy Indian’ strategy by importing drugs from closer to home. (Financial Times)

— New Year’s resolutions at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could put the pressure on the makers of medical devices. In light of two studies that found shortcomings in the quality of clinical trials submitted by cardiovascular device-makers, Jeffrey Shuren, acting director of the FDA’s device division, announced that the agency will set stricter standards for devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators. (NY Times)

— Greater racial diversity is needed among human embryonic stem cell stocks, scientists say. Using data from the HapMap project, two research groups developed simple techniques for discerning the ethnic origin of stem cells. Reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Methods, the two teams found that most cell lines originate from people of Caucasian descent, with Africans largely left out of the mix. (AFP; EurekAlert)

Image: Lucien Monfils / Wikimedia Commons

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