Beckman Coulter has announced that it is a gold sponsor of the 2nd World Sepsis Congress, a free-of-charge online conference, hosted by the Global Sepsis Alliance, that will be held Sept. 5 and 6, 2018. Over the course of 17 sessions, more than 100 speakers from approximately 30 countries will discuss the wide-ranging implications of sepsis and how to raise public awareness of this often-fatal condition.
Sepsis affects 26 million people worldwide each year, and is increasing at a rate of 1.5 percent annually. In the United States alone, about 1.6 million people are diagnosed with the disease. Additionally, it is the third leading cause of death, claiming more than 258,000 lives in the U.S. each year.
“Sepsis is one of the world’s deadliest diseases that often goes undiagnosed,” said Peter Soltani, Ph.D., senior vice president and general manager of Beckman Coulter’s hematology business. “As many as 80 percent of sepsis deaths could be prevented with rapid diagnosis and treatment.”
“We are proud to be a sponsor of the 2nd World Sepsis Congress,” said Soltani, “since its goals align perfectly with our commitment to empowering healthcare professionals with the tools and resources that enable them to detect sepsis as early as possible during patient care.”
Delayed treatment of sepsis can cause cardiovascular collapse, tissue damage, organ failure and ultimately death. Even patients with less severe sepsis can progress to the more severe condition, septic shock, within 72 hours, and up to half of those patients will die as a result. Timely and accurate detection solutions, in an acute-care setting where treatment can be initiated, are key components to stopping the progression of the disease. In fact, when antibiotics are administered early to patients with septic shock, the likelihood of death decreases by 7.6 percent per hour.
In answer to the urgent need for a fast and an accurate detection solution, in June 2018, Beckman Coulter filed a submission for 510(k) clearance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Early Sepsis Indicator, a hematology-based solution designed to alert emergency room clinicians to any patient who might possibly be at risk for developing sepsis. It recently achieved European CE Mark, and is commercially available in select countries for use with the company’s DxH 900 hematology analyzer, which was released in May 2018.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is divided into three subtypes, one of which is particularly aggressive. Researchers from the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital have now managed to discover a mechanism that contributes to this aggressive behaviour: the tumour cells of this subtype are able to assume special characteristics that promote migration and therefore spread of the cancer. This is possible because the cells receive the requisite signals for this spread from certain messenger substances, namely the two growth factors FGF2 and EGF. By blockading these signals, it might be possible to develop new approaches for treating this subtype of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Many mechanisms that cause cancer were originally processes that a healthy body needs to function normally. However, the tumour cells "exploit" these processes to promote tumour growth.
For example, in some instances, such as embryonic development or wound healing, it is essential for cells that are anchored in one spot to be able to migrate. To allow this to happen, a complex modification process is initiated within the cell. This is known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). As a result of EMT, the cells change their properties and their appearance. Cells that were once epithelial cells with high cell-cell adhesion and therefore immovable, transform into mesenchymal cells. These are cells with no fixed cell junctions that are therefore able to migrate and spread.  
Michael Grusch, molecular biologist at the Institute of Cancer Research and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital and one of the two principal investigators explains: "EMT plays a key role in the development of metastases and in local spread. Especially in the aggressive forms of malignant pleural mesothelioma, we could see that the tumour cells are very similar in appearance to mesenchymal cells. In a petri dish, we have now investigated which biological signals cause the cancer cells to take on the characteristics of these mesenchymal cells."
The researchers found that, in aggressive malignant pleural mesothelioma, EMT is triggered by defined signals. These are, in fact, a group of so-called fibroblast growth factors (FGF2) and epidermal growth factors (EGF). These signaling substances bind to receptors on the surface of the tumour cells and forward the signal to modify into the cell interior.  
Says Karin Schelch, Institute of Cancer Research of MedUni Vienna, member of the CCC and lead author of the study: "If FGF2 and EGF are in play, the tumour subtype becomes more aggressive."  
In a further step, the researchers showed that tumour cells lost their aggressive characteristics again as soon as they encountered substances that blockade the effect of FGF2 and EGF. Says Mir Ali Reza Hoda, Department of Surgery of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of the two institutions and second lead author: "Our results help to provide a better understanding of the disease. Blockading these signals could therefore offer new approaches for treating certain aggressive forms of mesothelioma.
With around 90 new cases per year in Austria, malignant pleural mesothelioma is one of the rarer forms of cancer. However, it is on the increase. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a very aggressive form of cancer that is associated with asbestos and is routinely treated with a combination of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. Since this particular type of tumour often develops resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the prognosis is very poor. Around 15% of all cases involve the particularly aggressive form of pleural mesothelioma, which was the subject of the research project.  

The Messe Düsseldorf Group is re-focusing their activities on the health market in Brazil and will organize the first MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL from May 5 – 8, 2020 at  the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo. It will be an annual event. MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL is supported by and staged in cooperation with the Brazilian medical technology manufacturers association ABIMO. Messe Düsseldorf’s foreign representation in Brazil is responsible for organizing the event.
 “With Messe Düsseldorf and ABIMO, two strong partners are working on the mutual goal of establishing MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL as Brazil’s leading event platform. Using our global network of 75 foreign representations and 12 affiliated companies or subsidiaries, we promote the event in over 130 countries and contribute our valuable experience in organizing medical trade fairs,” explained Wolfram Diener, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf. 
The Messe Düsseldorf Group has been organizing successful healthcare events around the globe for many years. In 2017, these healthcare events were grouped under the new umbrella brand “MEDICAlliance” in order to be marketed as a unit worldwide. In addition to the world-leading trade fair MEDICA and the internationally leading supplier trade fair COMPAMED (held concurrently in Düsseldorf, Germany) , the alliance includes MEDICAL FAIR INDIA (Mumbai/New Delhi), MEDICAL FAIR ASIA (Singapore), MEDICAL FAIR THAILAND (Bangkok) and MEDICAL FAIR CHINA (Suzhou).  
For the South American market, MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL is now being added as a further member of MEDICAlliance. Meditech in Colombia (Bogota) already successfully represents MEDICAlliance in South America. 
 “We know the market and are already well connected in the industry in Brazil thanks to our previous commitments. For us, it is strategically important to have a strong presence on this market with MEDICAlliance. Positive growth prospects and Brazilian business partners, who in our experience are reliable and sincere, are the ideal foundation on which to build a top business,” said Horst Giesen, Global Portfolio Director Health & Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf. The Brazilian market’s volume for medical technology is approximately $ 5.7 billion (source: gtai) and the healthcare industry is among the industries with the highest growth rates in the country.
Paulo Fraccaro, Superintendent at ABIMO, is also looking forward to the cooperation for MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL: “The cooperation between ABIMO and Messe Düsseldorf will bring forth a strong alliance. Together, we are creating the ideal platform for companies to present their innovations and meet relevant decision-makers – both those active in health care as well as manufacturers and distributors in other countries.”
Key exhibit categories at MEDICAL FAIR BRASIL are: Medical technology / medical products, laboratory technology and diagnostics, health IT, physiotherapy and orthopedic technology as well as medical services. The trade fair primarily addresses physicians, medical professionals and managers of health institutions as well as health industry service suppliers and experts in the fields of science, politics, trade and industry.
http://www.medicalfair-brasil.com
www.mdna.com

A multidisciplinary team at NUS BIGHEART has developed enVision – a portable, easy-to-use and inexpensive device for quick and accurate screening of diseases.
enVision takes between 30 minutes to one hour to detect the presence of diseases, which is two to four times faster than existing infection diagnostics methods. In addition, each test kit costs under S$1 – 100 times lower than the current cost of conducting similar tests.
“The enVision platform is extremely sensitive, accurate, fast, and low-cost. It works at room temperature and does not require heaters or special pumps, making it very portable. With this invention, tests can be done at the point-of-care, for instance in community clinics or hospital wards, so that disease monitoring or treatment can be administered in a timely manner to achieve better health outcomes,” said team leader Assistant Professor Shao Huilin from the Biomedical Institute for Global Health Research and Technology (BIGHEART) and Department of Biomedical Engineering at NUS. Asst Prof Shao is also an investigator with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
The research team used the human papillomavirus (HPV), the key cause of cervical cancer, as a clinical model to validate the performance of enVision. In comparison to clinical gold standard, this novel technology has demonstrated superior sensitivity and specificity.
“enVision is not only able to accurately detect different subtypes of the same disease, it is also able to spot differences within a specific subtype of a given disease to identify previously undetectable infections," Asst Prof Shao added.
In addition, test results are easily visible – the assay turns from colourless to brown if a disease is present – and could also be further analysed using a smartphone for quantitative assessment of the amount of pathogen present. This makes enVision an ideal solution for personal healthcare and telemedicine.
“Conventional technologies – such as tests that rely on polymerase chain reaction to amplify and detect specific DNA molecules – require bulky and expensive equipment, as well as trained personnel to operate these machines. With enVision, we are essentially bringing the clinical laboratory to the patient. Minimal training is needed to administer the ,test and interpret the results, so more patients can have access to effective, lab-quality diagnostics that will substantially improve the quality of care and treatment,” said Dr Nicholas Ho, a researcher from NUS BIGHEART and A*STAR’s IMCB, and co-first author of the study.

National University of Singapore
news.nus.edu.sg/press-releases/envision-device-for-disease-screening