ProspectIP Has Agreed Licensing Deals For Two Inventors And Products, A Device That Aims To Prevent (DVT) And A Safety Opener For Glass Vials, UK

A University initiative to commercialise novel business ideas and inventions has secured its first two licensing agreements and attracted a further £400,000 in funding.

De Montfort University (DMU), Leicester, set up ProspectIP following a £2 million pilot funding award from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2006. The project has already resulted in the launch of new products under direct contracts with entrepreneurs.

Coalition For Quality & Patient Safety Of Chicagoland PSO Taps ECRI Institute PSO For Support

ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is pleased to announce an agreement with the Coalition for Quality & Patient Safety (CQPS) of Chicagoland PSO to provide patient safety data collection, reporting, and analysis. The Chicagoland PSO focuses on local experience, patterns, trends, and patient safety initiatives specific to Chicago and the surrounding counties. CQPS will coordinate its PSO and other patient safety efforts with other Illinois-based hospital and primary care associations, the Illinois Department of Public Health, consumers and consumer advocates, other patient safety and quality improvement stakeholders, and existing patient safety collaboratives across the state.

Economic Cost Of Poor Health And Safety , UK

Statistics released recently by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal that poor health and safety practices could be placing extra strain on the economy during these harsh financial times.

Official statistics show that during the period 2007/08 a total of 229 workers were killed at work and 299,000 sustained reportable injuries. The HSE also report that an astonishing 34 million working days were lost through injury and ill health, which equates to 1.4 days per worker.

Clinical Trial Demonstrates Safety Of Pre-Transplant Expansion Of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

Taking blood stem cells collected from an umbilical cord into the lab and expanding their number before transplanting them to replace a patient’s blood supply is as safe as a standard cord blood transplant, researchers reported at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

In a first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are addressing the critical challenge to successful “standard” cord blood transplants for adult patients – low doses of stem cells that lead to longer recovery times, leaving patients more vulnerable to bleeding, infection and transplant failure.

Final Rule Issued For Patient Safety Organization, US Department Of Health

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule for Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs). The rule becomes effective on Jan. 19, 2009. It provides final requirements and procedures for PSOs, new entities, with which clinicians and health care providers can work to collect, aggregate and analyze data – within a legally secure environment of privilege and confidentiality protections – to identify and reduce patient care risks and hazards.

Pluristem Successfully Concludes Final Pre-Clinical Safety Studies With PLX-PAD In Preparation For Human Trials For Critical Limb Ischemia Treatment

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (NasdaqCM: PSTI; DAX: PJT), a bio-therapeutics company dedicated to the commercialization of non- personalized (allogeneic) cell therapy products for a variety of degenerative, ischemic and autoimmune indications, announced today the successful conclusion of its pre-clinical studies utilizing PLX-PAD prior to the initiation of human clinical trials. PLX-PAD is Pluristem’s cellular product for the treatment of critical limb ischemia (CLI), the end phase of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).

New IPCC Report Confirms Police Cells Are Not Places Of Safety For Mental Health Patients, UK

Human rights campaigns group, Black Mental Health UK, has condemned the use of police cells as places of safety for vulnerable people needing mental health care.

The comments come as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report, published today examines the role of the police in relation to the use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

This new report has brought to light that large numbers of vulnerable people are ending up in police cells, as temporary places of safety for people, after they have been arrested and are in need of health care.

FDA Posts Names Of Prescription Drugs Being Investigated For Potential Safety Problems

FDA officials on Friday said the agency will begin publishing quarterly a list of drugs being investigated for potential safety risks, the Washington Post reports. The list, available on the FDA Web site, names the drug and the nature of the related “adverse event” but does not address the severity or the number of such events reported. Appearing on the list does not mean a drug has been found to be unsafe, according to the Post. The new policy is required under legislation passed last year.

Serious Injury In Children Prevented By Both Child Safety Seats And Lap-And-Shoulder Seat Belts

For young children, all states currently require the use of child safety seats, and the minimum age and weight requirements to graduate to seat belts has been increasing over time. A new study in the journal Economic Inquiry reveals that lap-and-shoulder seat belts perform as well as child safety seats in preventing serious injury. However, safety seats tend to be better at reducing less serious injuries.

Steven D. Levitt of the University of Chicago and author of the book Freakonomics and Joseph J. Doyle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology analyzed three large representative samples of crashes reported to the police, as well as linked hospital data, among motor vehicle passengers aged 2-6 years of age. Researchers used the data to compare seat belts and child safety seats in preventing injury.

Skeleton Summer Staff May Lead To Businesses Falling Foul Of Health And Safety Guidelines, UK

The British Red Cross is warning that low staffing levels over the summer period may lead to businesses falling foul of health and safety guidelines.

Many businesses operate on almost skeleton staffing levels over the summer period as employees’ annual leave reaches its peak season. During this time, many businesses leave themselves at risk through lack of preparation and lack of awareness of health and safety regulations stating that somebody responsible for first aid arrangements must be on site at all times.