Cardiovascular
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) announced they have released the 2009 updated Interventional Pain Management (IPM) guidelines.
A new study from Thomson Reuters found that patients with bipolar disorder were at greater risk for a wide range of medical conditions than a control group of patients with no mental health diagnoses.
Healthcare Advocates Will Present Congressmembers with "Happy Birthday Medicare" Cakes-And a Plea to Improve and Expand the Beloved Program
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Mainstream Media Reinforces Unexamined Arguments Against Public Funding for Abortion," Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check: It "seems that mainstream media s ... believe that abortion is an effective cudgel to beat health care reform to death," Marcotte writes. According to Marcotte, the "unvarnished truth" is that there is "no way that any kind of public health care plan will have elective abortion coverage. Nor is there any real chance of abortion becoming mandated coverage." However, "you wouldn"t know it to read the media coverage of this issue," she writes, continuing that "we"ve got the toxic mixture of pants-on-fire lying anti-choicers and cowardly media outlets that give the opponents of health care reform an opportunity to lie about the potential for taxpayer-funded abortions." Those who defend health care reform are "so busy trying to shut down the misinformation about abortion coverage that we"re not having the more interesting discussion about whether or not abortion should be covered," Marcotte says. She adds, "And by not having that discussion, we"re allowing the belief that some people"s moral objections to abortion should dictate federal policy lay unchallenged," she continues. She writes that she "suspect[s] that anti-choicers latched onto taxpayer-funded abortions because they can count on a lot of the public to imagine the government funding female licentiousness." Marcotte concludes that the "good news is that this contempt for female sexuality has receded enough that the media debate hasn"t -- yet -- turned to whether or not health care reform should cover contraception" (Marcotte, RH Reality Check, 7/28).~ "Privileging Opposition to Abortion," Jamison Foser, Media Matters for America: Some reporters "have skewed their reports in favor of those who oppose" coverage of abortion in federally subsidized insurance plans, according to Foser. For example, Foser writes that on a recent episode of MSNBC"s "Hardball," host Chris Matthews asked Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) "leading questions that encouraged them to state their opposition to insurance coverage of abortion" but never asked them "one simple question: Why shouldn"t abortion be covered, given that the procedure is legal?" Foser adds, "Nor has he asked if there are any other legal procedures that shouldn"t be covered." The "premise that taxpayers who oppose abortion shouldn"t have to pay for them with their tax money carries obvious implications the media ignores," Foser writes. He adds that the "idea that taxpayers shouldn"t pay for insurance that covers medical services they don"t support is fundamentally incompatible with the very concept of insurance." He continues, "If every interest group wields veto power over the medical care insurance can cover, insurance simply can"t work." However, this is not the "only logical inconsistency on the part of abortion foes that the media fail to examine" in their coverage of abortion issues in the health reform debate, he writes. "Many of those who are most adamant that the government not allow abortion to be paid for by health insurance plans are the same conservatives who argue against health care reform by warning of the prospect of a government bureaucrat getting between you and your doctor," according to Foser. He continues that the "same people who want a government ban on insurance coverage for a legal medical procedure turn around and demagogue about government bureaucrats making medical decisions," which is "a pretty obvious inconsistency, the kind any reporter should be able to spot easily." However, the "tension between those two positions has gone unexplored in news reports about the abortion controversy," Foser concludes (Foser, Media Matters for America, 7/24).~ "Obama Abortion Backtrack Shows He"s All Rhetoric, No Fight," Bonnie Erbe, U.S. News & World Report"s "Thomas Jefferson Street": "[O]ne thing we know will not be incl
A health care reform proposal that would allow employers and insurers to give large discounts to employees who lose weight or lower their cholesterol is facing push back from several groups worried about premium disparities, Kaiser Health News reports.
On the second annual World Hepatitis Day, the World Hepatitis Alliance today called on governments not to forget the plight of 500 million people living with hepatitis B and C, as the World Health Assembly postpones discussion of a World Health Organization (WHO) resolution on viral hepatitis - one of the biggest threats to global health.
Cannabis Science Inc. (OTCBB: CBIS), an emerging pharmaceutical cannabis company, is pleased to report that the FDA has provided the Company with documentation to assist the Company to review and plan its initial applications to get its first drug into formal testing.
A new urine test developed with funding from the Wellcome Trust will allow doctors to diagnose Chlamydia infection in men within the hour, improving the ability to successfully treat the infection on the spot and prevent re-transmission.
Teenagers whose mothers have mental health impairments are likely to suffer behavioural problems, UQ research has found.
Scientists from the Universitē© de Montrē©al and McGill University have re-engineered a human enzyme, a protein that accelerates chemical reactions within the human body, to become highly resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy, according to a new study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Biotech firm Replikins Ltd. released its analysis of the June and July genomic data that predicts the rates of infectivity and lethality of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus. The quantitative analysis shows continued elevated levels in the Replikin Counts* of both Infectivity and Lethality genes, which indicate that the end of the current outbreak is not yet in sight.
During 2008, 10% of people who were implanted with the SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart received the device because they were suffering from rejection of their donor heart transplant.
Corner shops nationwide will get help from Change4Life to sell fruit and veg - this will mean more people will get their 5 a day and shops will see an increase in profits, Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham said today.
A simple urine test for diagnosing chlamydia in men could help reduce the risks of persistent infection and transmission to sexual partners, finds a study published on bmj.com.
A study conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that approximately 16 percent of public health care workers will not report for work in a pandemic flu emergency, regardless of the severity.
A coalition of Hispanic organizations on Tuesday urged parents of Hispanic teenagers to talk with their children about sex to curb the high teenage birth rate among the group, the McClatchy/Miami Herald reports. Hispanics are predicted to make up 25% of the teenage population nationwide by 2025 and efforts to curb their teen pregnancy rate is key to reducing unwanted pregnancies among all teenagers, according to the McClatchy/Herald. More than half of Hispanic teenage girls will become pregnant before age 20 -- nearly twice the national average and the highest of any ethnic or racial group in the U.S., according to coalition, which includes MANA, a national Hispanic women"s organization. Ana Sol Gutierrez, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and a participant in the coalition, said the higher pregnancy rates among Hispanic teenagers can be attributed in part to a "different mind-set" among the group that embraces motherhood even at a young age. She said the key to reducing unplanned teenage pregnancies among Hispanics is to educate them about choosing "when and how" to become parents, while still embracing maternity. The National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy surveyed more than 1,600 Hispanic teenagers and adults nationwide and found that 76% of teens said their parents most influenced their decisions about sex but that most parents said they did not know how to have such a conversation with their children. The finding was particularly evident among parents who only speak Spanish. Ruthie Flores, a co-author of the study, said the solution is culturally appropriate education (Chung, McClatchy/Miami Herald, 5/19).
"Although the number of mentally ill immigration detainees" at the La Mesa, Calif.-based private psychiatric hospital Alvarado Parkway Institute "at any one time seems to range from as few as two to only five or so, their situation needs to be addressed quickly," a San Diego Tribune editorial states (San Diego Tribune, 5/19). Some disability rights lawyers and advocates for the mentally ill say that conditions at many of the private facilities, including API, violate state and federal laws governing treatment of mentally ill people. Ann Menasche, a lawyer with the legal advocacy group Disability Rights California, last month sent a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement claiming that after visiting API and interviewing detainees, she found that the conditions are "excessive, unjustifiable and punitive" (Kaiser Health Disparities Report, 5/18).According to the Tribune, "California"s strict patients" rights laws specify that psychiatric patients can have daily visitors, use the telephone, exercise, socialize and be free from restraint unless the chief of the facility determines that a specific individual is a threat to himself or others," but, according to Menasche, patients at API are being denied those rights. The editorial adds that the conditions Menasche describes "may sound appalling, but it is unclear whether they are proper for the circumstances," and an "independent probe by the state Department of Public Health ... is needed to determine whether the detainees are being treated properly" (San Diego Tribune, 5/19).
Trusted health care s and continuity of care may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer deaths in African-American men, according to a study published in the current issue of the journal Cancer. James Mohler, MD, Chair of the Department of Urology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), and William R. Carpenter, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina, are lead investigators.
The 1,450 registered nurses of Good Samaritan Hospital and San Jose Regional Medical Center voted overwhelming last night to ratify their new contract with the facility-and in so doing set new standards for patient safety at HCA, the nation"s largest hospital chain, announces the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today.
"You can think of Congress"s efforts to pay for health reform as being a little bit like a battle to slay a many-headed Hydra," writes the New York Times" economic columnist, David Leonhardt. Congress has floated idea after idea for paying for comprehensive health reform, but their proposals have failed to make ends meet because they "do not raise revenue as quickly as health costs rise." Most new taxes - such as a surtax on the rich proposed in the House - increase only as quickly as the economy, while health costs have inflated much more quickly over the last decade.
A Colorado health system offers a national example of how to set up incentives for pay and provide cost-effective health services.
Sex differences in how the brain processes visual information could be a legacy of our hunter-gather past. This is the conclusion of a paper published online today, 30th July 2009, in the British Journal of Psychology.
"Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis - the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children"s Hospital" - have entered into a partnership, known as the Global Harvest Alliance (GHA), which aims to "create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world"s hungry and undernourished," the AP/Google.com reports. Alliance researchers will focus on several of the most successful approaches used to combat malnutrition and attempt to further enrich foods already used to fight it. "In addition, the alliance aims to help testing and distribution of crops genetically modified to boost nutritional content. They hope to provide the crops cheaply to farmers to produce more nutritious foods," writes the AP/Google.com (Taylor, 7/29).
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that they can engineer mouse and human cells to produce brown fat, a natural energy-burning type of fat that counteracts obesity. If such a strategy can be developed for use in people, the scientists say, it could open a novel approach to treating obesity and diabetes.
Elsevier announced that the Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery (JFAS), the Official Journal of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (http://www.acfas.org), has been accepted for coverage by multiple Thomson Reuters abstracting and indexing services, including Journal Citation Reports®.
A new article in the journal Risk Analysis assessed various ways in which aerosol transmission of the flu, a central mode of diffusion which involves breathing droplets in the air, can be reduced. Results show that face protection is a key infection control measure for influenza and can thus affect how people should try to protect themselves from the swine flu.
A novel anticancer agent, consisting of a monoclonal antibody linked to a chemotherapy drug, showed substantial antitumor activity in ovarian cancer cell lines and in mice, according to a study published online July 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Older people with a history of cancer are more likely to have disabilities and be frail and vulnerable than older adults who have not had cancer, according to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published online July 29.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a dynamic process with variable biochemical, virological and histological profiles at different stages of the infection, depending on host and viral factors. Furthermore, this profile may change at a variable pace over time. The correlation between detection of T-cell response and HBV load in chronic HBV infection remains unknown. In each of the clinical stages of chronic HBV infection, whether the composition of T-cell subpopulations is different and relates to viral load. Thus characterization of T-cell profile is relevant to improved understanding of chronic HBV infection and the design of antiviral therapy.
A research article in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. This research led by Professor Kim and his colleagues in Pusan National University, South Korea. They evaluated the EUS features of gastric GISTs in comparison with gastric leiomyomas, and tried to determine the EUS features that could predict the malignant potential of gastric GISTs according to the histological risk classification.
John Spence, a physicist at Arizona State University, is a longtime user of the Advanced Light at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has contributed to major advances in lensless imaging. It"s a particularly apt propensity for someone who works with x-rays, since they can"t be focused with ordinary lenses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week held an inaugural conference on obesity prevention and control. The CDC"s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity convened in Washington, D.C. to chart ways to improve access to healthy places, discuss opportunities for obesity prevention, and plan physical education standards in schools through federal policy.
An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease. The therapy has been shown to restore lost vision in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Their work is being funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research in Saudi Arabia, where the recessive gene mutation that leads to the eye disease RP has been found in children from several families.
Informa Healthcare - one of the world"s leading medical and scientific publishers- has announced that the new interactive http://www.informahealthcare.com site is now live and delivers online content from more than 180 peer-reviewed journals.
[Efficacy and safety of comfrey root extract ointment in the treatment of acute upper or lower back pain: results of a double blind randomised placebo controlled multicentre trial Online First Br J Sports Med 2009; doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2009.058677]
Psychotherapists who treat mothers suffering from postpartum depression and other mood disorders with their infants have developed a proven process that contributes to a greater positive experience with immediate insights for the mothers to develop healthy connections between their maternal experiences and their infants" behaviors.
A new analysis finds that women in New Jersey who take the breast cancer drug tamoxifen in conjunction with certain popular antidepressants may be at a higher risk for a breast cancer recurrence.
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANDS) announced finalization of the protocol for the Company"s Phase II trial of ANA598 in combination with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin in hepatitis C patients. Allowance of the protocol has been received from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and patient dosing is expected to commence within the next several weeks.
Bronnie McNabb, 57, considers himself lucky. When his aggressive brain cancer returned after chemotherapy and radiation last winter, his UCLA doctor prescribed the off-label use of Avastin, a drug shown to quell cancers in the breast, colon and lung.
In research that could lead to new asthma drugs, scientists at Yale School of Medicine, Hydra Biosciences of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that a protein may be a trigger of allergy-induced asthma in mice. They also demonstrated how a drug known to reduce inflammatory and neuropathic pain may also inhibit asthma symptoms in mice. Their paper is published in the May 18-22 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A new education programme has been developed to provide enhanced training in genetic technologies and clinical applications for healthcare scientists working in laboratory genetics, Health Minister Ann Keen announced.
Tiny particles carrying a killer gene can effectively suppress ovarian tumor growth in mice, according to a team of researchers from MIT and the Lankenau Institute.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF), International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and World Heart Federation (WHF) issued a joint statement that calls on the international community to address urgently the epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), responsible for 35 million deaths a year. The statement demands a substantial increase in funding for NCDs and greater availability of essential medicines, among other urgent responses, in a way to accelerate achievement of the health Millennium Development Goals.
Chinese state media on Thursday reported that women in the country have about 13 million abortions annually, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. According to the China Daily newspaper, the actual number likely is much higher because the 13 million includes abortions performed in hospitals but not unreported procedures performed in rural clinics. Most of the abortions were among single young women who experts say know little about contraception. The paper also said that about 10 million pills for medical abortion are sold annually in the country. China imposed strict population controls in the 1970s that prohibit most couples from having more than one child. For married women, sterilization and the use of intrauterine devices are widely promoted and subsidized. However, Chinese policies typically do not address the needs of unmarried women, even as national attitudes have become more accepting of sex outside of marriage, the AP/Chronicle reports. According to the newspaper, about 62% of the abortions were among unmarried women ages 20 to 29. The Chinese report called the number of abortions "an unfortunate situation" but did not indicate whether the procedures are increasing or decreasing from year to year. National Population and Family Planning Commission official Wu Shangchun is quoted in the report as saying that almost half of the women seeking abortion had used no form of contraception. Wu also said that reducing abortions is a national challenge that requires significant effort. Peking University professor Li Ying said that sex education in China must be improved at the university level and that Chinese parents must do more to teach children about sex (AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/30).
A new study investigated the effectiveness of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) in the prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or primary liver cancer. SAMe, a widely available nutritional supplement, with little known side effects, was found to be effective in preventing the formation of HCC in rats. However, high enough levels of SAMe were not attainable to successfully treat established HCC. The findings are available in the August issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
House Democrats on Wednesday made a deal with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on a health reform bill that "would reduce the overall cost of the package and ensure more funding for rural hospitals, concessions that could allow the Energy and Commerce Committee to finish its consideration of the legislation," The Washington Post reports. The deal will be considered on the House floor no earlier than September, according to several lawmakers. House lawmakers plan to conclude their markup of the legislation in the Energy Committee Thursday.
Columnist Sees "Dawn Of A Global Movement Against Maternal Mortality"
Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, today announced that it has requested re-examination of the negative opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), for the use of Erbitux® (cetuximab) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for the 1st-line treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Taking the opinion seriously Merck Serono will work closely with the CHMP to unravel the value of Erbitux for patients benefit most.
Doctors are being reminded to contact the GMC with their licensing decision through an advertising campaign launched yesterday, 1 August. Adverts will appear in the medical trade press throughout the first half of August as a final push to encourage doctors to respond to the GMC.
As the single largest group of health care providers in the United States, medical-surgical nurses need ongoing education to care for the country"s adults. One of their primary s is the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses" (AMSN) Annual Convention, slated this year for September 9-14, 2009, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.
Short-term complications and death rates were low following bariatric surgery to limit the amount of food that can enter the stomach, decrease absorption of food or both, according to the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-1). The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. Results are reported in the July 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Hopkins experts in applied physics, computer engineering, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, microbiology, pathology and surgery have unveiled a 7-foot-tall, $10,000 shower-cubicle-shaped device that automatically sanitizes in 30 minutes all sorts of hard-to-clean equipment in the highly trafficked hospital emergency department. The novel device can sanitize and disinfect equipment of all shapes and sizes, from intravenous line poles and blood pressure cuffs, to pulse oximeter wires and electrocardiogram (EKG) wires, to computer keyboards and cellphones.
A new chemical imaging technique could one day help in the fight against atherosclerosis, suggests research published in the August 2009 edition of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: KG) announced additional information regarding the resubmission plan for the REMOXY® New Drug Application (NDA). The Company is not required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct clinical trials in order to provide additional safety or efficacy data in patients with moderate to severe chronic pain. However, as part of the resubmission plan, and in order to strengthen the NDA, King plans to conduct a likeability study and a pharmacokinetic trial in volunteers. The Company continues to anticipate the resubmission could occur mid-year 2010.
Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN) announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ACUVAIL(TM) (ketorolac tromethamine ophthalmic solution) 0.45%, an advanced, preservative-free formulation of ketorolac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indicated for the treatment of pain and inflammation following cataract surgery. Cataracts are a leading cause of blindness among older adults and cataract surgery is the most frequently performed surgical procedure in the United States, with more than 3 million procedures performed each year.1
Merck is committed to putting patients first and providing accurate information regarding the efficacy, safety and tolerability of our medicines. Merck offers the following statement concerning the osteoporosis medication FOSAMAX® (alendronate sodium) and reports of jaw problems associated with delayed healing and infection of the jaw often following tooth extraction. The condition is known as osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ).
Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) announced the initiation of a Phase 3 trial of the investigational drug dimebon (latrepirdine) in patients with Huntington disease. The international safety and efficacy trial, known as HORIZON, is designed to evaluate the potential benefits of dimebon on cognition (thinking and memory) in patients with Huntington disease. The companies also announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to dimebon for the treatment of Huntington disease.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced preliminary top-line results from a Phase III study of ofatumumab administered intravenously for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients who had an inadequate response to methotrexate. The study met the primary endpoint, ACR20 at 24 weeks, which indicates a 20 percent or greater improvement in the number of swollen and tender joints, as well as improvements in other disease-activity measures.
The world"s top lung cancer specialists, medical professionals and researchers are convening this week in San Francisco, CA for the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), organized by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). According to a series of studies presented today at the WCLC, targeted therapies, as first-line treatment, have the potential to slow cancer growth and improve patient outcomes. Unlike traditional chemotherapy-based treatments, which destroy cancerous and non-cancerous cells alike, targeted therapies are designed to inhibit only cancer cell replication and tumor growth and are generally well tolerated by patients.
Kaiser Health News reports that an agreement by House Democrats with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats has a cadre of detractors, including "state officials worried about increased Medicaid costs and liberal lawmakers upset about a proposed reduction in subsidies for low-income families to buy insurance."
As lawmakers disagree over which taxes to raise to pay for health care reform, they "also face another problem: They"re confronting the fear that"s made it hard to raise taxes for more than 30 years. Republicans and moderate Democrats think that any tax increase is political poison back home," McClatchy Newspapers reports. "Republicans are pouncing on Democrats, charging that the party is eager to add a new tax burden to already-strapped constituents in the midst of a recession. ņ¦ The current House Democratic plan would raise an estimated $543.9 billion over 10 years by imposing what it calls a "graduated surcharge" on higher-income earners." One criticism of the proposal is that "small businesses will be hurt. Surcharge backers cite data from Congress" Joint Committee on Taxation that indicate that 96 percent of small businesses wouldn"t be affected."
"While Americans may complain about the high cost of health care, they"re still willing to shell out roughly $34 billion a year out-of-pocket on alternative therapies that aren"t covered by insurance, a new study shows," USA Today reports. Spending on the complementary and alternative therapies has increased by 25 percent in the last decade, according to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health (Szabo, 7/30).
Health Affairs: Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity: Payer- and Service-Specific Estimates -- Using data from 1998 and 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS) - "a nationally representative survey of the civilian noninstitutionalized population that quantifies a person"s total annual medical spending by type of service and of payment" - the authors estimate the health cost of obesity in the U.S. is $147 billion. "Across all payers, per capita medical spending for the obese is $1,429 higher per year, or roughly 42 percent higher, than for someone of normal weight. In aggregate, the annual medical burden of obesity has increased from 6.5 percent to 9.1 percent of annual medical spending and could be as high as $147 billion per year (in 2008 dollars) based on the NHEA [National Health Expenditure Accounts] estimate," according to the study. In conclusion, the authors write, "The take-home message is that without a strong and sustained reduction in obesity prevalence, obesity will continue to impose major costs on the health system for the foreseeable future. And although health reform may be necessary to address health inequities and rein in rising health spending, real savings are more likely to be achieved through reforms that reduce the prevalence of obesity and related risk factors, including poor diet and inactivity" (7/27).
A Lancet world report examines the growing threat of visceral leishmaniasis on populations in eastern Africa. Each year, the parasitic disease affects around 500,000 people worldwide, killing roughly 50,000. Though "[t]wo-thirds of [leishmaniasis] patients are in southeast Asia ņ¦ the second largest foci is east Africa: perhaps as many as 40,000 cases every year, and incidence is on the rise," according to the article. The report explores the difficulty monitoring visceral leishmaniasis due to poor diagnostics and data surveillance, a surge in leishmania/HIV coinfection in Ethiopia and the Sudan, the shortcomings of the therapies available to treat visceral leishmaniasis, as well as future efforts to control the spread of the disease.
The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors and the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report that "provides the first, comprehensive inventory of HIV prevention efforts at the state and local levels" and is based on a survey of 65 state health departments, including all state and territorial jurisdictions and six U.S. cities. The report "is intended to offer a baseline picture of how HIV prevention is delivered across the country. ... " ("The National HIV Prevention Inventory: The State of HIV Prevention Across the U.S.," July 2009).
A protein that helps regulate expression of androgen receptors could prove a new focal point for staging and treating testosterone-fueled prostate cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
The intake of added sugars in the United States is excessive, estimated by the US Department of Agriculture in 1999-2002 as 17% of calories a day. Consuming foods with added sugars displaces nutrient-dense foods in the diet. Reducing or limiting intake of added sugars is an important objective in providing overall dietary guidance. In a study of nearly 30,000 Americans published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers report that race/ethnicity, family income and educational status are independently associated with intake of added sugars. Groups with low income and education are particularly vulnerable to eating diets with high added sugars.
ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted anticancer therapeutics using its Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology, today announced the presentation of encouraging initial efficacy, safety and tolerability clinical data with its IMGN901 product candidate in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). In two early-stage clinical trials that enrolled patients whose SCLC had recurred following treatment with standard chemotherapies, IMGN901 administration achieved notable tumor shrinkage and/or sustained stable disease. The compound also demonstrated encouraging activity against other CD56-expressing (CD56+) solid tumors. These clinical data are being presented at the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer taking place in San Francisco, CA, from July 31 to Aug. 4, 2009.
New research suggests that 7 out of 10 children in the US have low levels of vitamin, nudging millions of them toward higher risk of bone disease, high
To meet the needs of its diverse clinician and patient constituency, EmblemHealth announced on Friday publication of what is believed to be the first comprehensive guide to help physicians and medical professionals address the needs of patients whose health care decisions are influenced by their religious and cultural beliefs. The Medical Manual for Religio-Cultural Competency is sponsored by EmblemHealth and created by the Tanenbaum Center For Interreligious Understanding, a global leader in training health care providers to offer religiously and culturally competent care for patients of all ages and backgrounds.
Medigus Ltd. (TASE: MDGS) a leading developer of endoscopic and visualization medical devices, and Tower Semiconductor, Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM, TASE: TASE: TSEM), a leading global specialty foundry, today announced successful sampling of a new CMOS imager that will serve in Medigus" line of disposable miniature cameras and its new medical devices camera; the smallest of its kind in the world, designated to be incorporated into disposable endoscopes or used in various diagnostic and surgical medical applications. First product samples have been shipped to end customers and mass production of the camera is expected to commence in mid-2010. The camera sensor will be manufactured in Tower"s Fab2 using its 0.18-micron CMOS image sensor process and will be integrated into the camera which will be produced in Medigus" manufacturing facilities.
A new study published in the August 2009 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) finds that two years after anterior cervical neck operations, patients who have arthroplasty (disc replacement) or arthodesis (spine fusion) can be expected to have significant improvement in their headache symptoms.
InfoLogix, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFLG), a leading technology provider of enterprise mobility solutions for the healthcare and commercial industries, announced the introduction of a new mobility offering for healthcare providers, the InfoLogix M24 mobile clinical assistant: a powerful mobile computing solution that enables medical professionals to access critical patient information at the point-of-care.
Seven out of ten U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease, according to a study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The striking findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency could place millions of children at risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.
The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) has published the first in a series of four papers on a variety of cervical cancer issues and topics that were the focus of its Forum "The Future Strategies for Cervical Cancer Prevention: What Do We Need to Do Now to Prepare," held last September in Chicago, Illinois. The paper, entitled "The Impact of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination on Cervical Cancer Prevention Efforts," is featured in the August, 2009 issue of Gynecologic Oncology. It includes data relevant to HPV natural history as well as excerpts from Forum discussions regarding the limits of current screening, the impact that eliminating HPV 16/18 through vaccination may have on rates of cervical precancer and cervical cancer screening, strategies to measure vaccine uptake and obstacles surrounding separate screening for vaccinated women.
A carbon nanosensor "electronic nose" first developed by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers to detect cancer from breath samples has been modified to identify chronic renal failure (CRF). The findings, reported in the May 26, 2009 issue of ACS Nano, could lead to a non-invasive and fairly inexpensive way to detect kidney diseases in their earliest and most treatable stages.
Scientists in Sydney and Boston believe they may have identified a gene that controls abnormal production of sugar in the liver, a very troublesome problem for people with diabetes.
"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads this week on a seven-nation tour of Africa aiming to prove U.S. commitment to the continent after the administration"s early focus elsewhere," AFP/ABS-CBN News reports. According to the news service, "Clinton will seek to build ties with three African powers -- Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa -- and visit three nations recovering from conflict -- Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] and Liberia. She will end with a stop in small U.S. ally Cape Verde" (8/3). "Her visit is the earliest in any U.S. administration that both the President and the Secretary of State have visited Africa," VOA News reports (Clottey, 8/2).
Daytime temperature fluctuations greatly alter the incubation period of malaria parasites in mosquitoes and alter transmission rates of the disease. Consideration of these fluctuations reveals a more accurate picture of climate change"s impact on malaria.
"Money can"t buy me love" the Beattles famously sang. And now a new paper by University of Notre Dame economist Kasey Buckles and colleagues suggests "money" or more precisely the price of marriage, can significantly affect the decision to marry.
Men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a number of treatments to choose from, but it"s a daunting task to figure out the right mix of therapies for an individual patient. Trends among medical professionals have tipped the scales in favor of some treatments for younger men diagnosed with prostate cancer, but a new study by scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and North Shore-LIJ Health System have found that age doesn"t make a difference in the long-term therapeutic outcome.
An international team of researchers has identified a new method for selectively killing metastatic melanoma cells, which may lead to new areas for drug development in melanoma - a cancer that is highly resistant to current treatment strategies.
Responding to the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee (IUSS) report on "Students and Universities" Professor Paul Wellings, Chair of the 1994 Group of leading research intensive universities and Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University said:
Children"s after-school activities often consist of sedentary behavior such as watching television, but after-school programs that offer physical activity and healthy snacks could be the best place for children"s health.
A new class of antibody drugs may provide a powerful new tool for the treatment of eye diseases in children, but specialists need to be alert for the possibility of serious side effects, according to an editorial in the August Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus), published by Elsevier.
Biomolecular computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, only exist today in a few specialized labs, remote from the regular computer user. Nonetheless, Tom Ran and Shai Kaplan, research students in the lab of Prof. Ehud Shapiro of the Weizmann Institute"s Biological Chemistry, and Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Departments have found a way to make these microscopic computing devices "user friendly," even while performing complex computations and answering complicated queries.
Infectious-disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have demonstrated that a cannibalistic process in cells plays a key role in limiting Salmonella infection.
Physical education (PE) in schools is one of the main tools used to increase physical activity and to prevent childhood obesity, and PE-related injuries are on the rise. Although increasing physical activity may reduce obesity, it may also increase the risk of injury. While recognizing that PE classes and physical activity are important components in combating obesity, parents and school administrators should remain vigilant for injuries. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children"s Hospital, found that the number of PE-related injuries to elementary, middle and high school students in the United States increased 150 percent between 1997 and 2007.
Boehringer Ingelheim announced today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer"s 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), San Francisco, CA, the initiation of a Phase III clinical study of BIBW 2992 as first-line treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. BIBW 2992 (planned brand name Tovok™) is the first orally-administered, irreversible dual inhibitor of EGFR and HER2,1 to reach Phase III development in NSCLC.2
Sirtuin proteins have been shown to promote longevity in many organisms, and increased expression of one sirtuin protein, SIRT3, has been linked to increased human lifespan. New data, generated in mice, by Mahesh Gupta and colleagues, at the University of Chicago, Chicago, has revealed that Sirt3 helps protect the mouse heart.
A new study, published in the journal Menopause, found postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms-which include hot flashes and night sweats-had lower bone mineral density in the spine and hip.
Two common anti-influenza drugs - Relenza and Tamiflu - appear equally effective at preventing common flu symptoms when given before infection, say researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine. However, data is lacking on the effectiveness and safety of the two drugs in vulnerable groups such as the very young and people with compromised immune systems.
Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, 50 percent are under 17. It is estimated that by 2010, human trafficking will be the No. 1 crime worldwide.
Feelings of depression could be one reason patients fail to follow their doctors" orders on exercising and eventually become less physically active, a new research review finds.
Covidien (NYSE: COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, has announced a key milestone in the continued growth and use of the OxiNet™ III remote respiratory monitoring system in U.S. hospitals. With the recent system installation at the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville, FL, the Nellcor™ OxiNet III system currently monitors 10,000 beds and is integrated into more than 450 U.S. hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, MN, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX), St. Anthony Central Hospital (Denver, CO) and Sumner Regional Medical Center (Gallatin, TN). The OxiNet III remote monitoring system enhances the safety of patients throughout the hospital, enabling continuous monitoring of patients" oxygen saturation levels via the trusted Nellcor OxiMax™ product platform, even when the clinician is not at the bedside.
A compound initially isolated from a soft coral (Capnella imbricata) collected at Green Island off Taiwan, could lead scientists to develop a new set of treatments for neuropathic pain - chronic pain that sometimes follows damage to the nervous system. Currently this form of pain is very poorly controlled by the usual analgesics (aspirin like drugs (NSAIDS) or even opioids like morphine) and novel treatments are urgently required. The conclusion of a paper published in the British Journal of Pharmacology is that this new compound could be a candidate.
"Senate Democrats may decide to pass a U.S. health-care overhaul without Republican support if some opposition lawmakers don"t agree to a plan by mid-September," Senator Charles Schumer[ D-N.Y.] said" according to Bloomberg. Schumer said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., set a self-imposed deadline of Sept. 15 to lead a negotiating team, composed of three Republicans and three Democrats within his Finance Committee, to a bipartisan compromise.
Kaiser A small, rural hospital in Missouri is "rolling the dice" on electronic medical records, its CEO tells the Associated Press. The 47-bed hospitals borrowed nearly $1 million to implement an electronic records system, and that"s on top of a $370,000 operating deficit and staff layoffs. The executives are banking on a government bailout in the form of a "$3 million windfall" of stimulus-funded incentives for hospitals to switch to electronic record-keeping.
The Boston Public Health Commission has allocated $100,000 to a new campaign that uses social networking sites and other media outlets to raise sexual health awareness among teenagers, the Boston Globe reports. The city is facing increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases among those age 15 to 19, according to the Globe. The new campaign will include educational videos featuring teenagers that will air on the MTV, FX and BET television networks; radio and mass transit advertisements; and theater performances. Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites also will be used to reach teenagers with safer sex messages. Officials hope to address teenagers" "casual attitudes" toward sexually transmitted diseases, the Globe reports. Lydia Shrier, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children"s Hospital Boston, said teenagers might say ""Hey, I may get HIV, but it"s treatable and I"m going to live." It"s not a death sentence to them" (Smith, 8/4).
The Shreveport Times profiled the 20-year-old Shreveport, La.-based Philadelphia Center, an agency that provides HIV/AIDS services to "an average of nearly 600 people each year in northwest Louisiana" and provides "about 1,400 free HIV tests each year." The organization also has a residential program called the Mercy Center, "a haven for homeless people with HIV or those fighting addiction and other challenges," according to the Times. The center in large part is supported by an annual auction from which proceeds "help the agency operate support groups, coordinate medical, dental and housing services for clients, provide food and medicine to people and offer free, on-the-spot HIV testing," the article states. The center recently opened a satellite office in a nearby town in response to an increase in HIV infections in the area (Brumble 8/2).
The 8th International Conference of Food Science and Technology will bring together more than 100 scientists from China and the United States to present a wealth of information on food quality and safety. Conference sessions will take place in Freeborn Hall on Wednesday and Wellman Hall on Thursday. Both venues are on the UC Davis campus.
The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) has announced $300,000 in awards from its inaugural winter commercialization grant competition to support commercial translation of health-related technologies by two Washington state-based research teams. Commercialization grants are designed to facilitate the transition of promising ideas or technologies from Washington"s non-profit research sector into marketable products and services that can improve health, foster economic growth, and promote life sciences competitiveness in the state. The grants support proof-of-concept experiments and prototype development activities that are expected to lower the risk of commercialization and help new technologies cross the "valley of death" - that stage of the commercialization pathway where development funding is particularly scarce.
The University of Illinois at Chicago has been awarded a $7.2 million federal grant to establish the UIC Center of Excellence in Eliminating Health Disparities.
New experiments by scientists at the University of Oxford revealed that
Children have certainly mastered the art of selecting, negotiating and even refusing the chores their parents assign to them. This growth in personal autonomy at home over the last few decades could be the result of shrinking opportunities to participate in activities outside the home, without Mom and Dad looking over their shoulder, according to Dr. Markella Rutherford from Wellesley College in the US. Her analysis1 of back issues of the popular US magazine, Parents, maps how the portrayal of parental authority and children"s autonomy has changed over the last century. Her findings are published online in Springer"s journal Qualitative Sociology.
Professor Declan Murphy and colleagues Dr Michael Craig and Dr Marco Catani from the Institute of Psychiatry at King"s College London have found differences in the brain which may provide a biological explanation for psychopathy. The results of their study are outlined in the paper "Altered connections on the road to psychopathy", published in Molecular Psychiatry.
The active ingredient in many insect repellents, deet, has been found to be toxic to the central nervous system. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology say that more investigations are urgently needed to confirm or dismiss any potential neurotoxicity to humans, especially when deet-based repellents are used in combination with other neurotoxic insecticides.
Cooling unconscious cardiac arrest survivors can increase survival and has a cost effectiveness comparable to other widely accepted treatments in modern health care, researchers report in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
A widely publicized analysis of social network size, which reported dramatically increasing social isolation when it was published in 2006, has sparked an academic debate in the August issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR), the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association.
Data presented on Sunday at the The International Society of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in San Francisco highlight the screening of over 3,000 patients for MAGRIT (MAGE-A3 as Adjuvant Non-Small Cell LunG CanceR ImmunoTherapy)1, the largest-ever treatment trial in lung cancer. The rapid screening of patients into the MAGRIT trial is unprecedented given so few eligible lung cancer patients (less than 1% in the U.S.2) traditionally enter clinical trials and benefit from the potential hope of novel treatments.
Emergency physicians should trust their judgment when evaluating patients who report with chest pain symptoms, said a group of researchers led by Abhinav Chandra, M.D., at Duke University Medical Center.
Over 100 certified breastfeeding peer counselors, lactation consultants, nurses, physicians, dietitians and community health workers are expected to gather at Rush University Medical Center on Thursday, August 6 from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. in Room 500 at 1725 W. Harrison Street, Chicago, to attend the Griffin Inaugural Conference on Breastfeeding: The Primary Foundation for Health.
Celera Corporation (NASDAQ:CRA) announced yesterday the presentation of data replicating its novel mass spectrometry-based approach to identify and validate circulating protein biomarkers that detect non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in an independent cohort of individuals with lung cancer. This study was performed in collaboration with scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center, NY. A key outcome of the study was the validation of a 9 biomarker immunoassay on a cohort of samples that is enriched for stage I disease, important for screening of early stage disease. The assay detected lung cancer with 92% sensitivity at 93% specificity. The panel also accurately distinguished malignant cases from benign lung disease. The data is being presented at the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer as part of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in San Francisco, CA.
Due to workforce shortages, doctors are struggling to maintain their involvement in teaching and in research activities, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Further, the demands for doctors to teach medical students and doctors-in-training are increasing, with even more medical students now enrolled.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have isolated a unique protein that appears to have a dual function and could lead to a "boon in medicine." The findings are published in the August issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.
A new study raises the possibility that flies and other insects that encounter nanomaterial "hot spots," or spills, near manufacturing facilities in the future could pick up and transport nanoparticles on their bodies, transferring the particles to other flies or habitats in the environment. The study on carbon nanoparticles - barely 1/5,000th the width of a human hair - is scheduled for the Aug. 15 issue of ACS" Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Massachusetts officials are proud of their low rate of uninsured people, but the state also hosts the highest health care costs in the country, a problem that jeopardizes their achievement in expanding coverage, NPR"s Morning Edition reports. A commission charged with overseeing the insurance plan for 310,000 government workers recently voted - unanimously - that doing away with the current, fee-for-service model for paying doctors was the first step to controlling those costs. "Massachusetts policymakers want to replace fee-for-service with "global payment" - paying groups of health providers a flat yearly fee for each patient they cover," NPR reports (Knox, 8/5).
"India has asked UNICEF to stop distributing millions of dollars worth of nutrition aid to children, saying it had been done without permission and at the expense of local food to fight hunger," Reuters reports. Since August 2008, UNICEF has invested about $2.4 million importing "a high energy relief treatment known as "Ready to Use Therapeutic Food" (RUTF)" for children with severe acute malnutrition in the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, according to the news service (Williams, 8/4).
A team of researchers from CIC bioGUNE from the Cellular Biology and Stem Cell Unit, alongside a team from Paris" Cardiovascular Research Centre (INSERM U970) have developed a new area of research which looks extremely promising as regards the development of new therapeutic responses to ischemic pathologies and cardiovascular diseases in general. The results of this research project, which was initiated in 2005 and is supported by Bizkaia:Xede and the Basque Government"s Etortek programme, were published in the prestigious scientific journal Circulation.
"You"ll feel better after a good night"s sleep." We"ve all heard those words, but have we ever stopped to wonder about the mental health of people who just aren"t able to sleep well? Rachel Manber has, and the Stanford University School of Medicine researcher is trying to identify the best way to treat patients suffering from both depression and insomnia.
People living with HIV will benefit from a new test developed by Victoria, Australia scientists that offers a simpler and cheaper way of monitoring the disease in sufferers, Victorian Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings said today.