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The Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine has received renewal of a multi-million dollar grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to continue the development of new approaches to treat hypertension and vascular disease. The program is in its 16th year of existence at the School of Medicine.
Several statistical and biological issues need to be addressed in order to improve biomarker identification for early detection of cancer, according to a commentary published online July 2 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Certain mutations in the DNA of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) are associated with the development of liver cancer and may help predict which patients with HBV infections are at increased risk of the disease, according to a large meta-analysis in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published online July 2.
The owners of a Brechin rendering plant have been convicted of failing to ensure proper health and safety standards were in place, after two workers were overcome by fumes produced by rotting animal waste.
Imagine donating a sample of your DNA to help researchers study the genetics of diabetes. The disease is common among your friends and family, and you"re proud of your role in finding out why. Now, imagine that some time later, you learn that your DNA has been used for other studies on topics you never expected - schizophrenia, human migration, inbreeding. Although your name isn"t attached to the sample anymore, scientists are using your DNA to draw conclusions about your community and your ancestors. Some of these studies violate your cultural beliefs.
A comprehensive overview that explores the prospects and progress of synthetic inhibitors to target cell cycle kinases in cancer forecasts that "novel compounds with increased potency, improved kinase specificity and favorable drug like properties will soon be available for clinical evaluation."
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a natural compound to stop one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. The research appears online this month in the journal Diabetes, a publication of the American Diabetes Association.
Since the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) announced that a Butler County male in his 40s, who was infected with H1N1 influenza, died June 29. This is the first Ohio death linked to the pandemic strain of influenza. The patient had underlying health problems that may have contributed to his death.
- A $10 million project funded by the European Community to improve Iraq"s water and sanitation services is underway. Implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works and the Ministry of Municipalities in Kurdistan, the project will increase the government"s provision of services as well as strengthen their capacity to manage and develop Iraq"s water and sanitation sector.
Government"s announcement that the UK is moving to a new phase in the response to the current pandemic flu virus means there will be a change to the surveillance information that the Health Protection Agency will be able to provide to the media in future.
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) announced data results from the CHAMPIONS (Controlled High-Risk AVONEX® (interferon beta-1a) Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Prevention Study In Ongoing Neurologic Surveillance) study, an open label follow-up to CHAMPS (Controlled High Risk Subjects AVONEX MS Prevention Study). Based on the CHAMPS study, AVONEX was granted approval for use in patients who experienced their first clinical MS episode with MRI findings. The CHAMPIONS ten-year follow up showed that patients treated immediately after their first episode had significantly less chance of experiencing a second attack versus those patients with delayed treatment. These results at ten years also indicate that 80 percent of patients taking AVONEX were below an expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score of three. These data were presented as a poster at the Annual American Academy of Neurology (AAN) meeting.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced that their marketing authorization application for ONGLYZA™ (saxagliptin) received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults as add-on therapy with metformin, a thiazolidinedione or a sulphonylurea.
Catalysts assist in chemical reactions without undergoing any alteration of their own. In the cells of living organisms, proteins perform this important function. They carry out the metabolism fundamental to all living processes. Proteins are instrumental in cellular respiration, they for instance reduce oxygen to water and oxidize food into carbon dioxide. This releases the energy that makes life possible at all.
Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) have discovered a key switch that makes stem cells turn into the type of muscle cells that reside in the wall of blood vessels. The same switch might be used in the future to limit growth of vascular muscle cells that cause narrowing of arteries leading to heart attacks and strokes, limit formation of blood vessels that feed cancers, or make new blood vessels for organs that are not getting enough blood flow.
Puberty is the period in children"s lives when they experience physical changes by which their bodies eventually become adult bodies that are capable of reproducing. Puberty is triggered by hormone signals from the brain to the ovaries and testes (gonads). The ovaries (in girls) and testes (in boys) respond to hormone signals from the brain by producing a range of hormones that stimulate the growth, function and change in various parts of the body, including the reproductive organs, breasts, skin, muscles, bones, hair and the brain.
A survey of UK adults found that nearly two thirds are risking their health by not doing enough exercise and putting themselves at greater risk of
Age Concern and Help the Aged Charity Director Michelle Mitchell said:
In a bid to reduce levels of undiagnosed HIV in Cardiff, HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is encouraging people who may have been at risk to attend a local service offering one-hour HIV testing. One in four people who have HIV in the UK are undiagnosed, and there are now more people living with the condition than ever before.
Media coverage of skin cancer advice and sun awareness campaigns may have generated a 47 percent increase in diagnoses of melanoma in just one year, according to research due to be released at the British Association of Dermatologists" Annual Conference next week.
Senator Christopher Dodd, who is presiding over the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the absence of Committee Chair Edward Kennedy, today released the remaining portions of the health care reform bill that the Committee will consider when the July 4th recess ends. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the bill:
The hospital industry is close to agreeing to cut $150 billion to $170 billion over the next decade as part of a deal with the White House and congressional democrats to help pay for health care reform. While not final, the deal could be announced within days.
As the temperatures rise, so do trips to pediatric emergency rooms. Severe cuts, broken bones and head injuries are the most common causes for trips to the emergency room during the summer, says Tony Scalzo, M.D., professor of pediatric emergency medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
HELP Is On The Way New York Times
From his jail cell, Scott Roeder, the man charged in the murder of abortion provider George Tiller, has been sending inflammatory pamphlets calling such killings justifiable and corresponding with radical antiabortion-rights groups, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The pamphlets call Paul Hill, who was convicted of murdering abortion provider John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard in 1994, an "American hero" and quotes some of Hill"s writing about how murdering abortion providers is acceptable. Roeder obtained the pamphlets from the antiabortion-rights group Army of God. Roeder also has been corresponding with the Rev. Donald Spitz, founder of Army of God, and antiabortion-rights advocate Linda Wolfe, who has been jailed about 50 times for antiabortion activities and is a close friend of the woman convicted of shooting Tiller in the arms in 1993. The AP/Globe reports that the FBI and Department of Justice declined to comment on whether they are concerned about Roeder"s mailings. Last month, Roeder in an interview said that there are "many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal." Roeder has not been accused of breaking any laws because of the correspondence (AP/Boston Globe, 7/4).
BioNews publishes a controversial editorial by Dr Gedis Grudzinskas, Director of Fertility Focus Professional Services. If the same standards were applied to ivf centres as cardiac surgery, one in five ivf centres in the uk would be closed immediately.
Despite growing evidence that cancer is becoming more prevalent amongst ethnic minority groups, news figures out today at the start of Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week show that cancer awareness levels are critically low amongst this cohort.
A new treatment for Type 2 diabetes has hit the headlines today. Liraglutide (Victoza), a once-daily injectable treatment for Type 2 diabetes, is pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk"s latest brain child.
Downing between eight and 14 units of alcohol a week boosts the total number of days spent in hospital, finds research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The final analysis of the PATRICIA study shows that the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine (GlaxoSmithKline) has high efficacy against the precancerous cervical lesions that can eventually lead to cervical cancer. The vaccine also shows cross-protective efficacy against other oncogenic (cancer-causing) HPV types closely related to HPV-16/18. Furthermore, it also shows efficacy in the cohorts relevant to universal mass vaccination and catch-up programmes. The findings are reported in an Article Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Dr Jorma Paavonen, University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues.
Chronic seizures caused by traumatic head injuries may result from chemicals released by the brain"s immune system attempting to repair the injured site, according to a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
A new prostate cancer "homing device" could improve detection and allow for the first targeted treatment of the disease.
Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have collaborated to uncover important new insights into the neurological basis of autism. Their new study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, examined patterns of movement as children with autism and typically developing children learned to control a novel tool. The findings suggest that children with autism appear to learn new actions differently than do typically developing children. As compared to their typically developing peers, children with autism relied much more on their own internal sense of body position (proprioception), rather than visual information coming from the external world to learn new patterns of movement. Furthermore, researchers found that the greater the reliance on proprioception, the greater the child"s impairment in social skills, motor skills and imitation.
Cancerous tumors sometimes form at the site of chronic wounds or injury, but the reason why is not entirely clear. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have engineered mice with a persistent wound-like skin condition, and the mice are helping them understand the tumor-promoting effects of long-standing wounds and injuries.
Long-term survival for patients undergoing surgical repair of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms has improved in recent decades, according to a Swedish study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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The number of prescriptions in Canada for cardiovascular medications has been increasing over the past decade, with a 200% increase in costs, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). In 2006, total costs of cardiovascular medications exceeded $5 billion, with statins accounting for almost 40% of the expenditure.
Celgene International Sç rl (NASDAQ:CELG) announced it has filed a New Drug Application (NDA) with the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) for REVLIMID (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. Approximately 11,000 people in Japan suffer from multiple myeloma and around 4,000 patients are diagnosed each year.
In response to a study published online in the BMJ, comparing the performance of two cardiovascular risk assessment tools, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Medical Director, Professor Peter Weissberg, said:
Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced that a pivotal, Phase 3, head-to-head trial evaluating denosumab versus Zometa(R) (zoledronic acid) in the treatment of bone metastases in 2,049 patients with advanced breast cancer met its primary and secondary endpoints and demonstrated superior efficacy compared to Zometa. Superiority was demonstrated for both delaying the time to the first on-study Skeletal Related Events (SREs)(fracture, radiation to bone, surgery to bone, or spinal cord compression) (hazard ratio 0.82, 95 percent CI: 0.71, 0.95), and delaying the time to the first-and-subsequent SREs (hazard ratio 0.77, 95 percent CI: 0.66, 0.89). Both results were statistically significant.
The Canadian authorities have announced that a new strain of influenza A virus has been found in two pig farm workers in the Province of Saskatchewan
Dozens of the nation"s leading organizations in health care, science, medicine and public health are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week with one goal in mind: to develop a national physical activity plan that will make America healthier. Congressional leaders and members of the public both agree that emphasizing disease prevention measures, such as increasing physical activity, is essential to combating chronic diseases, which account for 70 percent of all deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Washington Times recently included a two-part series examining President Obama"s proposed reallocation of abstinence-only sex education funding in his 2010 budget plan. The proposal would redirect funding toward a new Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative that uses comprehensive sex education curriculums. Summaries of the series appear below.~ Part 1: Obama"s budget proposal states that funds for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative should go to programs that are proven to help delay first sex, increase contraceptive use or reduce teen pregnancy, though a few advocates of comprehensive sex education say such goals are laudable but too narrow, the Times reports. William Smith -- vice president for public policy for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States -- and James Wagoner -- president of Advocates for Youth -- wrote in a June 17 blog entry that preventing unintended pregnancy among teens is "incredibly important" but that it is "not the only sexual and reproductive health issue facing our nation"s youth." They continued that it would be more beneficial to "expand the scope" of the initiative so it can serve "all young people in all communities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, whose needs fall wholly outside of the narrow teen-pregnancy-prevention framework." According to the Times, Smith said in an interview that money allotted for the initiative would be best used if it went to programs focused on "good outcomes" for youth, "not these disaster-aversion silos that don"t serve us well." Wagoner said that advocates have been "very clear in giving the president credit for shifting tracks here in a big way" by ending funding for abstinence-only sex education. However, he added that it is "our job to press for the right destination" and to see the changes implemented into law (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 6/28).~ Part 2: Some supporters of Obama"s proposal argue that it is "exactly the right idea, at the right time," as the U.S. teen birth rate has increased in the last two years after 14 years of decline, the Times reports. Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said that Obama"s proposal is the "first really focused expenditure on effective teen pregnancy prevention programs." Brown noted that the U.S. has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth in the industrialized world. She said that the best programs will address one or more of the three goals of the initiative -- delaying first sex, increasing contraceptive use or reducing teen pregnancy. Last month, about 175 organizations sent a letter to Obama and members of Congress calling for an expanded initiative that would include subjects such as sexually transmitted infections and abusive relationships. However, Brown said that many teen pregnancy prevention programs include discussion of STIs and other areas, "[s]o we really don"t see much tension here" (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 7/5).
The G8 summit is scheduled to open Wednesday in L"Aquila, Italy. The World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday issued a statement praising the G8 leaders" focus on food security and calling for support of its efforts to combat hunger among the world"s poorest people, Xinhua reports. In the statement, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran recommended leaders take a "twin-track" approach to food security, which includes supporting long-term agricultural production along with immediate hunger assistance.
Survey results released by The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) revealed the effects of publicity around Michael Jackson"s alleged prescription drug misuse. More than 200 pharmacists who work in home, ambulatory, and chronic care practices responded to the survey conducted on July 1, 2009.
New data demonstrate that maintenance therapy with RISPERDAL(R) CONSTA(R) (risperidone) Long-Acting Treatment (RLAT) significantly delayed the time to relapse compared to placebo in patients with Bipolar I Disorder. Results of the study were presented this week at a major medical meeting.
Researchers at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington, New Zealand have found that abnormally proliferating human T-cells, rapidly dividing cancer cells such as primary myeloid and lymphoid leukemic blast cells undergo programmed cell death when exposed briefly to the investigational anti-tumor drug phenoxodiol.
Trinity Biotech plc (NASDAQ: TRIB), a leading developer and manufacturer of diagnostic products for the point-of-care and clinical laboratory markets, announced the FDA approval and US launch of its high throughput haemostasis analyzer, the Destiny Max.
Atrium Medical is pleased to announce that is has received CE Mark for a new generation Cobalt Chromium Coronary Stent System called Cinatra™. Cinatra™ is indicated for the treatment of coronary artery occlusive disease.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced positive outcomes from a substudy of patients with left main coronary disease who were treated with the TAXUS(R) Express2(R) Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System. SYNTAX-LE MANS is a substudy of the landmark SYNTAX trial, the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to compare percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using the TAXUS Stent to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in patients with left main disease and/or significant narrowing of all three coronary arteries (three-vessel disease). The substudy data were presented by A. Pieter Kappetein, M.D., Ph.D., at the annual EuroPCR Scientific Program in Barcelona.
Reducing children"s exposure to a variety of allergens, rather than targeting a single "trigger," might be a better way to avoid asthma, according to a new review of studies.
Antimicrobial treatments for bacterial vaginosis (BV) are effective, but taking lactobacillus tablets alongside metronidazole antibiotic therapy increases effectiveness over taking this antibiotic alone, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers also concluded that intravaginal lactobacillus was as effective as oral metronidazole, although they did note unexplained drop-outs from the trials.
Parental acupuncture, clown doctors, hypnotherapy, low sensory stimulation and hand-held video games are promising non-drug interventions that are likely to help reduce children"s anxiety during the onset of their anaesthetic, is the main conclusion of a new Cochrane Systematic Review.
Aiming for lower than standard blood pressure targets offers no known clinical benefit, according to a Cochrane Review. In a systematic review of the evidence, researchers found that using antihypertensive drugs to reduce blood pressure below the 140/90 mm Hg standard was not associated with any reduction in death rates or serious morbidity.
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, have come a step closer to understanding how cholesterol levels are regulated. In a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the researchers identified 20 genes that are involved in this process. Besides giving scientists a better idea of where to look to uncover the mechanisms that ensure cholesterol balance is maintained, the discovery could lead to new treatments for cholesterol-related diseases.
Many of the diseases that we develop as adults likely began in our mothers" wombs. This provocative idea and others-including the causes of infertility, the impact of the environment on maternal and fetal health, and new approaches to unraveling the molecular pathways that guide reproduction-will be among the topics discussed at the 42nd annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR), which runs from July 18 to 22 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown Pittsburgh.
Catastrophic epilepsy - characterized by severe muscle spasms, persistent seizures, mental retardation and sometimes autism - results from a mutation in a single gene, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Terumo Heart Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Terumo Corporation, announced reaching a critical milestone in the worldwide expansion of its DuraHeart(TM) Left-Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) as the 100th patient was treated by Latif Arusoglu, MD and Michiel Morshuis, MD, cardiothoracic surgeons at the Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University of Bochum in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: AMLN), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Alkermes, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKS) announced that the New Drug Application (NDA) for exenatide once weekly has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A Purdue University scientist has discovered a key process in cell growth that can lead to the formation of tumors.
Infants who weigh less than five and a half pounds at birth often enter the world with a host of medical complications, including respiratory problems. New research shows that these respiratory problems may persist well beyond their infancy and childhood and into adulthood.
The Narconon drug rehab program has noticed a trend of many drug addicts being involved with drug related charges due to their addiction. "You can have the everyday functioning addict who is battling a drug addiction, and just one day gets caught by police for possession of a small amount," comments Nick Hayes, a representative of Narconon Trois-Rivieres. "This is an all too common situation for many people who are involved in a drug addiction." More people are using illicit drugs in Canada, in fact Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, where the Narconon drug rehab program is located, is one of the leading cities in Canada for drug crimes. "There are so many youth in Trois-Rivieres who are addicted to different drugs like speed, ecstasy, marijuana, and even cocaine. These teens get caught up with the law and start heading down the wrong path at a very young age," says Nick.
Today the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced its latest prevention and treatment numbers, noting in particular that Global Fund-financed programs have put 2.3 million people on treatment for HIV/AIDS, 5.4 million people have been treated for tuberculosis, and 88 million insecticide-treated nets have been distributed to prevent malaria infection. In addition, more than 500,000 HIV-positive pregnant women have been treated to prevent their babies from being born with HIV. Over the past year, the number of people accessing ARVs through Global Fund-financed programs has increased by 31%, the number given tuberculosis drugs has increased by 38% and the number of nets distributed has increased by 49%.
People who have superior language skills early in life may be less likely to develop Alzheimer"s disease decades later, despite having the hallmark signs of the disease, according to research published in the July 9, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement on the agreement reached by the hospital community, the Obama administration, and the Senate Finance Committee in support of health care reform:
AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement today on President Obama"s nomination of Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., to be the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
In a bid to reduce levels of undiagnosed HIV in Brighton & Hove, HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is encouraging gay and bisexual men who may have been at risk to attend a local service offering one-hour HIV testing. One in four people who have HIV in the UK are undiagnosed, and there are now more people living with the condition than ever before.
"White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reassured House Democrats on Tuesday night that President Barack Obama strongly backs a government-run health insurance plan, seeking to quell a firestorm among liberals upset at Emanuel"s comments in the Wall Street Journal that suggested such a plan could be delayed," Roll Call reports. "Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) warned Emanuel that he would lose the caucus" votes if the White House compromised on the issue and included a "trigger" that could delay a public insurance plan indefinitely" (Dennis, 7/7).
The American Lung Association and The CHEST Foundation are partnering to further clinical research to benefit the estimated 22.9 million of Americans living with asthma.
President Barack Obama joined world leaders in Italy on Wednesday for "three days of intense talks on threats to global security and stability" at a G8 summit "where climate change, the continuing global economy crisis and world hunger got top billing," AP/Google.com reports (Babington, 7/8).
Noncommunicable diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, cancers, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and common injuries account for the vast majority of all global deaths, but because they are not yet included as priorities in the global development agenda, donors and international organizations have yet to pledge support to help developing countries address these leading health problems.
Technology is the way of the future, or at least the way of the American future, which is why dentists throughout the United States have increased their use of digital technology. And as making a better use of patients" two most useful res: time and money becomes increasingly important in the practice of dentistry, technology becomes the key to success. Dennis J. Fasbinder, DDS, MAGD, ABGD will help dentists decrease the amount of time that patients" spend in the office by leading a discussion and providing information about using computer-assisted design and computer-assisted machining (CAD/CAM) technology at the Academy of General Dentistry"s (AGD) 57th Annual Meeting, which is taking place in Baltimore, Md., July 8 - 12, 2009.
Recently, the World Health Organization raised the pandemic alert to level 6, which officially declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a pandemic. New York Life Insurance Company, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States, announced that the company is well prepared to meet its commitments to policyholders in a pandemic, even one as severe as the highly lethal 1918 flu pandemic.
The giant monoliths of Easter Island are worn, but they have endured for centuries. New research suggests that a compound first discovered in the soil of the South Pacific island might help us stand the test of time, too.
The Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation recently awarded 13 grants totaling more than $191,000 to encourage the development of interventional radiology research. Grant proposals were reviewed during SIR"s 34th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego.
An aneurysm occurs when part of a blood vessel (artery) or cardiac chamber swells, - either the blood vessel is damaged or there is a weakness in the wall of the blood vessel. As blood pressure builds up it balloons out at its weakest point. The swelling can be quite small or very large - when large it tends to extend along the blood vessel. As the aneurysm grows there is a greater risk of rupture - this can lead to severe hemorrhage, and other complications, including sudden death.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Parkinson"s Disease has released a shocking new report that documents severe inequalities in access to Parkinson"s services in the UK.
Hospital doctors must learn the basics of NHS finance to help drive greater efficiency and better outcomes for patients, according to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Audit Commission.
For the past half-century or more, conservation goals
Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc (NYSE: JWa), (NYSE: JWb), has announced that the inaugural issue of its new journal, Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, is now live online.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY) announced that Alnylam will contribute more than 1500 issued or pending patents on its RNA interference (RNAi) technology patent estate to the patent pool established by GSK earlier this year.
Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that Schering-Plough K.K., the company"s country operation in Japan, has received marketing approval for REMERON(R) /Reflex(R) (mirtazapine)15 mg Tablets for the treatment of major depressive disorder.(1) The product was developed jointly with Meiji Seika Kabushiki Kaisha, Ltd. Schering-Plough and Meiji Seika will market the product under the trade names, REMERON(R) and Reflex(R), respectively. REMERON is currently available in more than 90 countries worldwide.
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an autosomal dominant disease affecting approximately 10,000 people in the United States. HAE causes recurrent attacks of intense localized edema involving the skin, airway, and visceral organs. While chronic therapy with attenuated androgens or plasmin inhibitors has been the mainstay of HAE therapy, many new therapies for prophylaxis and acute treatment are on the horizon. It is important for physicians to understand the signs and symptoms of patients who present with HAE and to be familiar with the conventional and emerging therapies available to treat them.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announces that it filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health (DPH), calling for an urgent investigation into the ongoing use of dozens of narcotic infusion pumps at the University of California Irvine Medical Center that have a history of failure, thereby exposing patients to a dangerous overdose of narcotics.
Researchers working in Cambridge and San Francisco have discovered clues about how stem cells promote myelin repair.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Tuesday signed into law a bill (HB 517) that expands health care provider "conscience" protections beyond abortion to also include refusals to provide emergency contraception or participate in certain other procedures, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The law provides job protection and legal immunity to "any person" who refuses to provide abortion services, distribute "abortifacient drugs," work on research involving embryonic stem cells or cloning, or participate in physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. According to the Times-Picayune, the provision that refers to abortifacient drugs is intended to include EC but not other forms of birth control.Jindal"s administration said the law is necessary to protect the individual rights of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers whose personal beliefs might conflict with their professional duties. Opponents of the law, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that it will restrict patient access to accurate information and timely services (Barrow/Anderson, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 7/8).
BioElectronics Corp. (PINKSHEETS: BIEL), the maker of inexpensive, disposable drug-free anti-inflammatory devices, announced the Company is currently preparing an application for 510(k) premarket notification for submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for general surgical recovery. The filing will request an indication for the adjunct of use in palliative treatment of postoperative edema and pain in superficial soft tissue.
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is urging elderly adults who use canes and walkers as walking aids to be properly assessed and fitted by a physical therapist to avoid fall-related injuries. This advice comes in response to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (June 2009), which found that 47,000 senior citizens end up in emergency rooms each year due to falls from improper use and fit of walkers and canes.
Giovanni Parmigiani, PhD, a noted leader in applying bioinformatics tools to cancer studies and medical decision-making, has been appointed professor of biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and as chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
WHO Launches International Network To Take On Noncommunicable Disease
The Obama Administration sent a strong message to the nation today that it is time to start planning and preparing for the fall flu season and the ongoing H1N1 flu outbreak and that the federal government is prepared to commit res, training, and new tools to help state and local governments and America"s families get ready.
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.
Heavy drinking, being 45 to 49 years old, type 1 diabetes or having a preceding infection are associated with more than twice the risk of death in stroke patients 15 to 49 years old, according to a Finnish study.
The majority of post-menopausal women are uncomfortable talking about vaginal dryness and pain and are reluctant to seek medical help, according to results from a new international survey presented today at the European Congress on Menopause in London. Results from the survey show that over a third (39 percent) of post-menopausal women experience these symptoms of vaginal atrophy and 40 percent of women who have recently experienced vaginal dryness and pain said it interferes with their sex life, yet seven out of ten would not discuss the problem with their physician (only 30 percent of women would consider talking to a gynaecologist, and only 29 percent would consider talking to a GP).
Athletic injuries can derail any player"s ability to compete, but for a baseball pitcher his shoulder strength and control is critical. A new study to be presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine"s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, suggests that testing a pitcher"s shoulder strength through a series of exercises during the preseason may help create a focused strength training program to prevent serious injury during the season.
Strasbourg University and North Carolina State University, both leading academic institutions in the field of bioproduction, have entered into an agreement to collaborate on a unique set of training capabilities for industry. The Alsace Biovalley cluster has played and will continue to play a key role in the program by bringing together industry players in support of the project, ensuring that training programs meet industry needs, structuring the financial engineering required and securing funding for the infrastructures.
EpiCept Corporation (Nasdaq and OMX Nordic Exchange: EPCT) today announced the start of a post-approval clinical study with Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride) following Ethics Committee and Competent Authority approvals in Sweden, Belgium, and France. This study will fulfill the post approval commitments requested by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) in granting marketing authorization. Ceplene® is indicated for remission maintenance in adult patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in first remission. Ceplene®is to be administered in conjunction with low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2).
Sciele Pharma, Inc., a Shionogi Company, announced the availability of Ulesfia (Benzyl Alcohol Lotion 5%), the first and only prescription medication that kills head lice by asphyxiation without potential neurotoxic side effects. Approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Ulesfia is indicated for the topical treatment of head lice infestation in patients 6 months of age and older. Ulesfia is available now by prescription nationwide in time for peak head lice season.
The strain of influenza, A/H1N1, that is currently pandemic in humans has been shown to be infectious to pigs and to spread rapidly in a trial pig population.
Foresight Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced data from a pre-clinical study designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the topical administration of FST-100 in a highly regarded Ad5 NZW rabbit model of adenoviral conjunctivitis. FST-100 demonstrated a clinically and statistically significant reduction in signs of adenoviral conjunctivitis versus all other groups including the current experimental "gold standard", topical cidofovir. The study was conducted at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Science Center, LSU Eye Center in New Orleans, Louisiana by Professor James M. Hill and colleagues, in the Departments of Pharmacology, Microbiology, Ophthalmology and Neuroscience.
Scientists studying a strain of Ebola virus found in domestic pigs in the Philippines last year suggest that although the particular strain is not one
Students from Michigan Technological University have designed and developed a breakthrough in medical care that could save lives in a heartbeat.
New York state"s decision last month to allow state-funded embryonic stem cell researchers to pay women for donating their eggs had drawn support from many scientists and doctors but fueled debate among some ethicists, Long Island Newsday reports. The state"s Empire State Stem Cell Board said that researchers can pay women up to $10,000 as compensation for their time and the invasive nature of the procedure.Scientists and research advocates say the decision could boost important research into cures of serious diseases while attracting investments and new jobs to the state. Opponents raise ethical concerns about using taxpayer money for research that some people find morally objectionable. Some also contend that payment might exploit low-income women, according to Newsday. The National Academy of Sciences and NIH do not permit payments to research participants beyond reimbursement.Thomas Berg -- director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person and a Roman Catholic priest opposed to embryonic stem cell research -- cast the sole dissenting vote in the stem cell board"s decision. Berg said the board ignored his suggestions to open the discussion to the public. However, Samuel Packer -- a member of the board and chair emeritus at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System"s Department of Ophthalmology -- said the decision was made during a public meeting following a "long, lively debate." Packer said, "At some point the dissenting voice can"t stop the progress of science or anything else in society." He added, "There is a direct link between having better eggs and doing better research" (Ochs, Long Island Newsday, 7/9).
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "World Population Day 2009 -- Time To Finally Make Maternal Health a Priority," Sharon Camp, Huffington Post blogs: World Population Day on Saturday "serves as an urgent reminder that ... governments around the world must boost investments in global health," especially maternal health, despite the global economic recession, Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes. Efforts "have fallen short" to date as the "financial res and political will needed to promote maternal health have been lagging," Camp writes. She notes that the nations are "hardly any closer" to achieving the United Nations" Millennium Development Goals of reducing maternal deaths by 75% and achieving universal access to reproductive health services by 2015. A "critical shortcoming" of recent efforts to achieve the MDGs has been the "reluctance of some governments and advocates to accept that better maternal health cannot be achieved without acknowledging, committing and fully funding sexual and reproductive health services," Camp writes. In particular, "this includes contraceptive services to help women time and space pregnancies as well as treatment of septic or incomplete abortions," and "providing safe abortion services consistent with individual country law," according to Camp. However, there is "some good news," she writes, noting that "[n]ew momentum behind worldwide advocacy efforts may yield the res and political commitment needed to make a difference." Camp concludes, "It is precisely because res are scarce that they must be used wisely and efficiently in a way that serves both humanitarian and economic development goals. Investing in saving women"s lives fits this bill" (Camp, Huffington Post blogs, 7/9).~ "Proposed Amendments Would Deny Health Care to Women," Lois Uttley, RH Reality Check: In a blog post addressed to "Gentlemen of the Congress," Uttley asks if they have "forgotten about the women" in their lives as they work on crafting health care reform legislation. Uttley writes,"[S]ome of you are wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars proposing amendments that would deny health care" to several groups of people, including women. She writes that Republican Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) this week submitted amendments to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that would ban coverage for abortion services; protect health care providers and insurers from ""discrimination" for refusing to provide health care requested by their patients," including abortion and emergency contraception; allow federally qualified health centers to "not provide abortions and still get government grants"; and require that "[a]ny independent medical board appointed to determine the benefits that would be included in national health reform coverage would have to include "professional ethicists ... with specialty in rights of the life of the unborn."" Meanwhile, Democrats "are spending far too much time trying to win over colleagues who are never going to vote for health reform, no matter if you offer them abortion exclusions or new provider "conscience" laws or other provisions that would hobble health reform," Uttley writes. She continues, "Don"t forget that women are among the strongest supporters of moving quickly on health reform this year" because they are "grassroots experts on what is broken in the current health system," such as insurers" labeling of pregnancy as a "pre-existing condition," using "gender rating" in individual policies and excluding contraception coverage. She asks, "So what do women want?" Uttley provides a "list we"ve been compiling at Raising Women"s Voices for the Health Care We Need." Among the priorities, the list stresses that lawmakers should keep "moral values" out of the debate and that health insurance must be affordable, more simple to understand, fair, portable and universal (Uttley, RH Reality Check, 7/9).~ "Reports
Fiscally conservative Democrats in the House are delaying a health care reform bill by withholding their support from it until certain concerns are addressed, the Associated Press reports.
Kaiser Health News reports on health insurance exchanges, a concept now being considered in the context of Congress"s health overhaul proposals. "The seemingly simple idea behind exchanges - one-stop shopping for insurance - masks the cornerstone role they may play in a national overhaul of the health system. President Obama supports the idea, and exchanges are included in most of the health care proposals now before Congress. Done right, proponents say, exchanges could transform how insurance is sold, giving individuals and small businesses improved purchasing power, increasing price competition among insurers and creating standardized benefits. Done poorly, analysts and critics say, exchanges could drive up insurance costs and encourage employers to drop coverage, unraveling the system that insures most working Americans. While it"s still unclear what Congress will do, Senate Democrats have looked closely at Massachusetts. Here"s how it works there: The state established its exchange, called the Health Connector, mainly for the benefit of individuals who aren"t insured by employers. They include the self-employed and the unemployed, two categories of people who traditionally have the most difficulty obtaining policies. Although not required to buy through the exchange, doing so gives them group-purchasing power. Lower-income people are eligible for state subsidies."
Reuters reports that the National Retail Federation has come out against mandated employer coverage for health care for their employees, a stance that Wal-Mart, the world"s largest retailer, supports. "The National Retail Federation "cannot support an employer mandate of any type," said NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations Steve Pfister in a statement. He said the retail industry is a labor-heavy one that operates on a thin profit margin. ò€¦ Last week, Wal-Mart, which is not a member of the NRF, said it supports the push to require large employers to offer health insurance to workers" (Maestri, 7/9).
The Obama administration on Thursday said a nationwide vaccination program could begin as early as mid-October to protect Americans from the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and pledged $350 million to help prepare communities across the country for this effort, the Washington Times reports (Ward, 7/9).
"HIV/AIDS has literally become a state of emergency in the [b]lack community and our leaders, organizations and institutions can no longer afford to remain silent," Lisa Fager Bediako, project coordinator for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation"s ACT! Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, writes in the Florida Courier. She continues, "Over the past three years that I have been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy, one thing has become apparent: the crucial need for expanded dialogue about HIV/AIDS within the [b]lack community." Bediako writes, "In order to reach a larger audience, we need to have hard conversations, creative outreach and committed support from leadership organizations and media outlets," concluding, "We cannot afford to ebb and flow our conversations of HIV/AIDS while this preventable disease continues to devastate our community" (Bediako, 7/10).
They are a group of drugs which millions of people rely on to keep pain at bay but they can have unwanted side-effects which are sometimes more serious than the original health problem. Now scientists at The University of Nottingham are taking part in the largest-ever study on the safety of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) that has ever been performed.
Marking a unique milestone in prostate cancer surgery, the director of urologic oncology at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) has completed his 500th robotic prostatectomy at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), the Flagship Hospital of CINJ, which is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Infections of wounds, pneumonia, etc. in hospitals in particular are often caused by bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Once they reach a certain density, colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce virulence factors and can enter into a slimy state, a biofilm, which prevents antibiotics from penetrating. The process of quorum sensing, which cells use to "sense" cell density, is triggered when the concentration of certain signaling compounds generated by the bacteria reaches a threshold level. A team working with Rustem F. Ismagilov at the University of Chicago has now demonstrated that the absolute number of cells is irrelevant; only the number of bacteria in a given volume plays a role. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they were even able to trigger quorum-sensing processes in single cells when these were confined in extremely small volumes.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that a compound called NIC5-15, might be a safe and effective treatment to stabilize cognitive performance in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer"s disease. The two investigators, Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D. , and Hillel Grossman, M.D., presented Phase IIA preliminary clinical findings at the Alzheimer"s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD) in Vienna on Sunday, July 12.
Telomeres, the repetitive sequences of DNA at the ends of linear chromosomes, have an important function: They protect vulnerable chromosome ends from molecular attack. Researchers at Rockefeller University now show that telomeres have their own weakness. They resemble unstable parts of the genome called fragile sites where DNA replication can stall and go awry. But what keeps our fragile telomeres from falling apart is a protein that ensures the smooth progression of DNA replication to the end of a chromosome.
Taller men are able to earn more money than their shorter counterparts simply because taller people are perceived to be more intelligent and powerful, this according to a study published in The Economic Record by Wiley-Blackwell.