TopNews

After MEI Pharma announced that its cancer drug Pracinostat has not derived good results in a phase-two clinical trial, the company's shares lost more than two-thirds of their value on Monday.

Experts shared that the San Diego biotech's shares closed at $1.93, down $4.37, or 69%. On Friday, the company's shares closed at $6.30.

The company said that the drug was not able to provide complete remission in combination with another cancer drug in comparison to other cancer drug alone. Pracinostat was tested along with azacitidine on a blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome.

A novel study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics has found that using chefs in schools led to better results as children ate more fruits and vegetables. Researchers from Harvard University's T. H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a study in which they assessed the eating habit of more than 2,600 children. These children were studying in classes from third to eighth and were from two low-income urban school districts.

Majority of the students were Hispanic and their average age was 11-and-a-half-years. The researchers said that trained chefs were assigned to some schools in order to spice up fruits, vegetables and new dishes having low-fat, low-salt recipes.

A vaccine is being targeted for development by the US government in order to ensure protection of poultry from new strains of avian flu that have recently caused the demise of birds from Arkansas to Washington state.

The vaccine will be tested on chicken within two months by scientists at a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) research lab in Georgia. The test will help researchers determine the efficacy of the vaccine to prevent chickens from contracting illness and succumbing to the virus.

Amy's Kitchen, manufacturer of organic and non-GMO convenience and frozen foods, has recalled over 74,000 meals on account of a potentially deadly bacteria. The decision was taken by the manufacturer when it was warned by one of spinach suppliers that Listeria has been found in their products.

According to the spinach supplier, Listeria can lead to serious and even fatal infections in young children, weak or elderly people. And those who have weak immune systems could also get affected by the bacteria.

According to multiple reports a couple of weeks ago, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R), a longtime climate denier, had effectively muzzled the state officials whenever it came to global warming.

Officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have claimed that they are not allowed to use the terms "climate change" or "global warming" in any official communications.

Following the reports, Scott and his press office have insisted that the reports were wrong and nobody was ever given any such order, curtailing DEP officials' word choice.

A new paper published in Science Advances has stated that the world's forests are fragmented and deteriorating. The authors analyzed the satellite imagery and compiled the data from long-term fragmentation studies, and came to a conclusion that 70% of the remaining forest land exists within 1 km of an edge, which has negative impacts on their fauna, flora and ecosystem services.

Nick Hadded, corresponding author of Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth's ecosystems, said, "Nearly 20% of the world's remaining forest is the distance of a football field-or about 100 meters-away from a forest edge".

Hadded added that 70% of the forest lands are within a half-mile of a forest edge due to which almost no forest can really be considered wilderness.