China Hongx No Hammer Confirmation

No confirmation candlestick formation for hammer as price continues to move lower to Aug 2007 trough. Monitor price action in new support zone formed by Mar 2007 low and Aug 2007 low.

Biosensor - Heart Attack if gap gets filled

10 days to climb from 90 cents to $1.10 but only takes one day to drop back to 90 cents.

Prepare for heart failure if mid gap support at 80 cents does not hold.

Next support is gap support at 75 - 74 cents.

HIV's Dependence on Human Genes May Be Weakness, Scientists Say

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, depends on more than 250 human genes to grow, a finding that reveals the lethal virus's weakness and may lead to new ways to attack it, scientists said.
By blocking genes in infected cells, scientists tied the virus's survival to processes of protein transport, entry to the nucleus, and cellular self-destruction, Harvard University scientists said in a study released today by the journal Science.

With just nine genes that make 15 proteins, HIV must assume control of the protein-making machinery of infected cells to reproduce itself. Drugs that stop cells from cooperating with the lethal virus might be valuable alternatives to those that attack the ever-changing virus directly, said David Baltimore, a California Institute of Technology biologist and HIV researcher.
``This provides a very important class of leads for the synthesis of new drugs that can prevent HIV growth,'' said Baltimore, who wasn't involved in the study, in a telephone interview Jan. 9. ``The nice thing is that these cellular targets mutate at a much slower rate than viral targets, so resistance is less likely to arise.''

HIV attaches itself to proteins on the surfaces of immune cells, enters them, and hijacks their protein-making machinery to produce more viruses. In the process, it destroys the body's defenses, leaving patients vulnerable to infections, such a tuberculosis and cancer.

To be successful, it must commandeer the services of a wide variety of cellular genes, said Stephen Elledge, a Harvard Medical School geneticist who helped write the study.

``It's as if a small terrorist group attacks a town with a tank, and then converts the town into a tank factory,'' Elledge said in a telephone interview. ``They would have to take over the existing infrastructure to get these things replicated.''

Gene-Blockers

He and Abraham Brass, another Harvard geneticist, used gene- blocking technology called RNA interference to see which cellular functions are most important in the viral attack. After screening about 21,000 genes this way, the researchers found clues as to how the virus takes over transport within the cell and gains entry to the DNA stronghold in the nucleus.
The virus also requires the services of genes that make a variety of proteins on the cell surface that weren't known to be involved in infection, Elledge said. Genes involved in a cellular self-disposal process, called autophagy, were also used by HIV. Blocking or inhibiting any of these may offer better ways to treat the disease.

While some of these genes and proteins may be too important to cell survival to be blocked or altered, others may be targets for drugs, researchers said.

``It's an open book,'' said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, in a telephone interview. ``We need to methodically go down each and every one of them and track down how they're involved.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aH66mQtkA1B0

Biotechnology Companies Raise Record Venture Capital in 2007

Venture capitalists pumped a record $9.1 billion into privately held U.S. biotechnology and medical device companies last year, in hopes of making discoveries they can sell to larger drugmakers.

Biotechnology and medical device companies raised 20 percent more cash in the U.S. last year than in 2006, according to a report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. More than 4,000 biotechnology companies manipulate genes and cells to develop drugs for diseases including cancer, and arthritis.

Older drugmakers that have long relied on chemistry to develop products have paid for alliances with biotechnology companies, aiming to develop drugs to replace products with expiring patents. New York-based Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, is bracing to lose $13 billion in annual sales when generic copies of its top-selling cholesterol pill, Lipitor, enter the market as early as 2010.

``A grim prognosis for Big Pharma is actually music to our ears,'' said Sherrill Neff, founding partner of Quaker Bioventures, a Philadelphia-based venture fund with $600 million under management. ``We are in the early stages of a deepening symbiosis between venture-backed biotechnology companies and large pharma.''

Venture capitalists invested a total of $29.4 billion in 3,813 companies across all industries, the most since 2001, according to the report.

About 31 percent of the cash went to biotechnology and medical devices, a record share of venture investment, according to the report. Software investment rose 2.7 percent to $5.3 billion, while Internet companies raised $4.6 billion, a 12 percent increase, according to the report.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aPfPR4XSrg1k

Wilmar 5 mins chart Trading Zone

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