Diagnostics
The next two weeks of a health reform fight may prove pivotal for President Barack Obama"s image and his ability to use his popularity to get things done, The Washington Post reports.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced an innovative and wide-ranging programme for the Health Protection 2009 conference, which is taking place at Warwick University from 14th to 16th September.
More than 1,000 global experts will gather in Dubai from 8-9 November 2009 to review the latest developments and trends in anti-aging medicine at the second Dubai Congress on Anti-Aging & Aesthetic Medicine (DCAAAM).
A study to be published in the August 2009 edition of Applied Cognitive Psychology sheds new light on how Cogmed Working Memory Training and stimulant medication address working memory impairments in children with ADHD. Working memory, acknowledged as one of the core deficits in ADHD, represents the brain"s ability to hold and process critical information related to the present moment. This study represents the latest findings from a team of independent UK researchers whose ongoing work examines the impact of Cogmed"s software-based training program on individuals with disorders of memory and attention.
NPR reports that California"s $26.3 billion budget deficit is marginalizing seniors who rely on California state-provided health care and service to help them manage their lives.
Eurand N.V. (NASDAQ: EURX), a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary pharmaceutical technologies, announced that the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board (MEB) informed the Company that the Decentralized Procedure (DCP) for registration of Paracetamol 250 and 500 mg Orodispersible Tablets (ODT) in several EU countries has been successfully completed.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan announced (date) that almost ÷£30 million of funding has been secured for phase two of the Institute of Life Science at Swansea University, with the promise of up to 650 jobs.
In response to Food Standards Agency"s new guidelines on voluntary salt reduction targets, Alex Callaghan, Policy Officer at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said:
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL), a specialty biopharmaceutical company, announced that new data from the two-part HYHYHI Study (Hypogonadal Hypotestosteronism in HIV-Seropositive Men) were presented as a poster today at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. This retrospective chart review, supported by the Company, evaluated the challenges associated with diagnosing low testosterone in men with HIV/AIDS. The study also compared the difference in testosterone levels achieved after 12 months of treatment with either Testim® 1% (testosterone gel) or AndroGel®, two commonly used FDA-approved testosterone replacement products.
Prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can adversely affect a child"s intelligence quotient or IQ, according to new research by the the Columbia Center for Children"s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. PAHs are chemicals released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco. In urban areas motor vehicles are a major of PAHs. The study findings are published in the August 2009 issue of Pediatrics.
For decades, scientists assumed that the ovary alone produced steroid hormones during pregnancy. In a new study in mice, however, researchers demonstrate that once an embryo attaches to the uterine wall, the uterus itself actually synthesizes the estrogen needed to sustain the pregnancy.
UK bioscience has received a major boost following the announcement of 16 new fellowships by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) including the first ever Diamond Fellowship, so named because the post will be based at the new Research Complex at Harwell, adjacent to the Diamond Light in Oxfordshire - the UK national synchrotron facility.
Ardea Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:RDEA) today announced that it has initiated a Phase 2b clinical trial of RDEA594, its lead product candidate in development for the management of hyperuricemia and gout. The Company also announced the selection of RDEA684, a next-generation URAT1 inhibitor, as a development candidate for the same indication.
CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR), a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in the development of high-value human therapeutics, announced that treatment with its cancer drug candidate INNO-206 resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the average primary tumor size in an animal model of pancreatic cancer, outperforming the broadly used chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, as well as the current standard of care in pancreatic cancer treatment, gemcitabine.
Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. (COTI)(TSX VENTURE:COT), announced that the Company has undertaken the discovery and optimization of novel lead compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer"s Disease (AD). "Based on partnering interest expressed by multiple global pharmaceutical organizations we have decided to establish a drug discovery program to help combat this devastating disease", said Mr. Michael Cloutier, Chief Executive Officer of COTI.
The NPA is asking for the RPSGB retention fee to be held at the present level, given the financial pressures on pharmacy businesses, many of which pay retention fees for their staff.
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the VITROS((R)) Anti-HCV assay for use on the VITROS 5600((R)) Integrated and 3600((R)) Immunodiagnostic Systems. This approval marks a major milestone in the successful launches of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics" clinical laboratory testing platforms, and enables the consolidation of hepatitis C testing with routine assays on the VITROS((R)) 5600 Integrated System.
Say a deadly campus shooting occurs. It might seem sensible to offer everyone on campus psychological support to prevent psychological repercussions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Across the state of Maryland, there are now doctors and nurses, freshly trained in pediatric dental health care, who can help stem an alarming number of 3-year-old children who arrive for their first dentist visit with teeth "just melting away."
An international team of researchers led by scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found what they believe is the first mutated gene linked to restless legs syndrome, a common neurologic disorder.
In the past decade the popularity of rock climbing has dramatically increased. It has been estimated that rock climbing is now enjoyed by more than 9 million people in the U.S. each year. A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at the Nationwide Children"s Hospital found that as the popularity of the sport has escalated, so have the number of injuries. Study findings revealed a 63 percent increase in the number of patients that were treated in U.S. emergency departments for rock climbing-related injuries between 1990 and 2007.
The Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women has formed its own political action committee to replace ProKanDo, a PAC founded in 2002 by abortion provider George Tiller that was closed after his murder in May, the AP/Hays Daily News reports. ProKanDo spent more than $1 million over the last four years to advocate for abortion rights, assist candidates who support abortion rights and oppose antiabortion-rights candidates. The organization had more than 6,400 contributors but received between one-third and one-half of its annual funding from Tiller, according to former Director Julie Burkhart.NOW has scheduled a conference in Wichita on July 25 to discuss legislative strategy and Kansas elections. Marla Patrick, coordinator of NOW"s Kansas chapter,÷ said that although the new PAC will not have the same financial support from Tiller that ProKanDo received, his death has invigorated grassroots support. She added, "I think that can be every bit as effective, if not more so, especially in light of all the recent events" (Hegeman, AP/Hays Daily News, 7/18).
"President Obama is becoming more personally invested in rallying the public and Congress behind a healthcare overhaul, even as some Republicans raise the stakes in the debate by claiming that defeating his plan would undermine his presidency," the Los Angeles Times reports. Obama will defend his push for health reform in a series of public events this week, as he and senior aides press Democratic lawmakers to support the versions of pending legislation still circulating in congressional committees (Parsons and Levey, 7/21).
"Until the nation"s governors staged a public revolt last weekend, few people were paying attention to one of the most far-reaching proposals being considered as part of overhauling the health care system: a dramatic expansion and redefinition of the Medicaid program," Time reports. "Redefining who is eligible for Medicaid would be one of the major means by which lawmakers hope to achieve universal health coverage - which is one of the reasons that Governors, whose budgets already are straining under the program"s growing costs, are so wary of the idea."
Sufferers of eating disorders have problems with certain mental tasks; this is the finding of a comprehensive overview of studies examining the link between cognitive deficits and eating disorders, published online in the Journal of Neuropsychology today, 22nd July 2009.
The Washington Post reports on efforts by hospitals to tally their avoidable mistakes and describes "hundreds of incidents of death or serious medical harm disclosed in the past year by hospitals in the Washington region, preventable errors that until recently have not required public reporting. Under laws that took effect last year in Virginia and a few years earlier in the District and Maryland, hospitals must report to health regulators many serious injuries that patients suffer in the course of treatment. The laws are different in each jurisdiction. For example, Virginia"s public records identify the hospitals by name, while Maryland"s and the District"s do not. But they all allow the public to glimpse the breadth of mistakes that health experts dub "never events" (because they should never happen): sponges left inside patients after surgery, operations on the wrong limb, medication errors, falls that lead to needless deaths (as well as other events). At least 20 states require hospitals to report every incidence of hospital-acquired infection. Patients, insurers and regulators are beginning to use this information to prod health-care providers to ensure that such events really never happen."
Executive vice president is pharmaceutical industry veteran Arthur Simon, Ph.D.
In addition to acting as life-saving therapy to people living with HIV/AIDS, WHO researchers say antiretrovirals (ARVs) may also be able to prevent the spread of HIV, Health-e/allAfrica.com reports. Reuben Granich, of the WHO, used a model to estimate the use of ARVs for the prevention of HIV transmission, and presented his findings to delegates gathered at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa (Thom, 7/20).
A pilot needle exchange program in Camden, N.J., - one of four in the state - "was off to a slow start" when it began 18 months ago, but "now, 976 drug users have registered with the program - more people than those at the other pilot sites in Atlantic City, Newark or Paterson," the Cherry Hill Courier-Post reports. "In Camden, 854 people are living with HIV/AIDS, the eighth-highest number among New Jersey municipalities, according to the latest data from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. About a third of them were infected by dirty needles," the Courier-Post reports. Bob Baxter, who oversees Newark"s program, said needle exchanges provide "the most immediate benefit at the cheapest cost," in reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases. "While there"s no way to count the number of people who are no longer sharing needles because of the program, organizers say they hope to see their success correlate to lowered communicable disease rates," the article states (Hirsch, 7/20).
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are proving that a camera phone can capture far more than photos of people or pets at play. They have now developed a cell phone microscope, or CellScope, that not only takes color images of malaria parasites, but of tuberculosis bacteria labeled with fluorescent markers.
Discoveries by Scripps Research Institute scientists have led to a promising new drug candidate - the first in its class - for patients with a genetic protein-misfolding disease. In results announced by the biopharmaceutical firm FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the new drug tafamidis significantly halts disease progression for patients with a disease called Transthyretin (TTR) amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN).
Commenting on the final biennial report from the Mental Health Act Commission released by the Care Quality Commission, Mental Health Network director Steve Shrubb said:
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) today issued its recommendation for the use of MabThera® (rituximab) in the UK"s most common form of leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).1,2,3 NICE"s final guidance recommends rituximab in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) chemotherapy as an option for previously untreated patients with CLL.4 The addition of rituximab to FC chemotherapy has been proven to halt progression of the disease by 10.5 months longer than chemotherapy alone, and more than doubles the number of CLL patients achieving complete remission, compared to chemotherapy.5,6 More than 20,000 people in the UK are living with CLL and there are an estimated 3,700 new cases every year.7,8 Professor John Gribben, Consultant Haematologist and Medical Oncologist, Barts and The London NHS Trust, commented:
A pioneering University of Wolverhampton lecturer has won a ÷£25,000 grant to research the healing effect of sugar on cuts and wounds.
A sixteen-month study of consensus-based diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness has shown that 41% of cases of minimally conscious state (MCS) were misdiagnosed as vegetative state (VS), a condition associated with a much lower chance of recovery. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neurology have demonstrated that standardized neurobehavioral assessment is more sensitive than diagnoses determined by clinical consensus.
A team of researchers from the Yale University (United States) and a Spanish company have developed a system to detect the vapours emitted by human skin in real time. The scientists think that these substances, essentially made up of fatty acids, are what attract mosquitoes and enable dogs to identify their owners.
In the July issue of Biomaterials, published by Elsevier, researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) report on the first lab-grown motor nerves that are insulated and organized just like they are in the human body. The model system will drastically improve understanding of the causes of myelin-related conditions, such as diabetic neuropathy and later, possibly multiple sclerosis (MS). In addition, the model system will enable the discovery and testing of new drug therapies for these conditions.
Research conducted in New York City found that children exposed to urban air pollution before birth were more likely to have a lower IQ than
The New York State Senate has passed the
European travellers are still putting their health at risk says the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), with one third experiencing travel-related illness when visiting abroad. On a typical two-week trip, travellers lose an average of three days due to illness - almost 20 percent of them remain ill after their return home, and another 10 percent need medical care.
R-Tech Ueno, Ltd. announced on July 17 that as a phase 1 clinical study on the new compound RK-023 that is being developed by our company as a therapeutic drug of androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness; see the note below) has been completed.
The California Medical Association today praised the state Department of Insurance (DOI) for conducting a public hearing this week on its proposed regulations to prevent private insurers from unjustly canceling health coverage for patients after they get sick and file an expensive claim. The DOI released the proposed regulations last month.
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and our landmark 2007 AICR/WCRF expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, have been drawn into a controversy over the link between processed meat and cancer risk.
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) will publish this month the sixth edition of Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients and the corresponding single-user CD ROM, titled Pharmaceutical Excipients 6.
UK Advocates (UKA), a new charitable campaign group dedicated to helping the still suffering alcoholic achieve lasting sobriety, has welcomed the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Alcohol Misuse report published which calls for urgent action to address serious shortcomings in the treatment of alcohol dependents in England.
Commenting on the tragic death of 22-year-old Gary Reinbach, who died as a result of binge drinking since the age of 13, Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
Results show percutaneous mitral repair using the MitraClip(R) system in symptomatic high-risk surgical patients with either functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) or degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR) improves patient clinical status. The results from the 78 patient EVEREST II High Risk Registry demonstrated improvement in left ventricular function and reduced hospitalization for congestive heart failure for both MR groups at twelve months. Additionally, a reduction in mortality compared to the predicted mortality risk of surgery was reported for the registry. The results of the High-Risk Registry were presented at the third annual meeting of EuroPCR, the official congress of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).
OCHA Report Warns Of Possible, New Cholera Outbreak In Zimbabwe
Giving daily antiretroviral syrup to breastfeeding infants or treating their HIV-infected mothers with highly active antiretroviral drugs is safe and effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast milk, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill investigators has found.
Fecal incontinence (FI) is a normal part of aging, or the perception that no treatment is available. Doctors may fail to comprehend patient hints about diarrhea and FI or may be reluctant to ask about fecal leakage, perhaps because of their own embarrassment or the perception that FI is a trivial concern.
Cancer stem-like cells have been implicated in the genesis of a variety of malignant cancers. Research scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center"s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have isolated stem-like cells in benign (pituitary) tumors and used these "mother" cells to generate new tumors in laboratory mice. Targeting the cells of origin is seen as a possible strategy in the fight against malignant and benign tumors.
Micrus Endovascular Corporation (NASDAQ:MEND) announced that study results presented recently at the 10th Congress of the World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (WFITN) demonstrated that the DeltaPaq™ microcoil"s proprietary design appears to improve the uniformity of coil distribution within a cerebral aneurysm and the degree of microcoil packing in the aneurysm dome and neck, which may reduce the risk of aneurysm recurrence. Bernard R. Bendok, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology, Department of Neurological Surgery of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Matthew Gounis, Ph.D., Director of the New England Center for Stroke Research at the University of Massachusetts, served as principal investigators for the Micrus-sponsored in vitro study.
Dr. Donald Palmisano, former president of the American Medical Association and current spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Patients" Rights (Coalition) and over forty doctors from across the country today urged Members of Congress to slow down health system reform and do it right. The Coalition held a press conference at the National Press Club to urge legislators to put patients first when developing a system overhaul.
Medicaid health plans are producing cost savings for states, increasing access to services for individuals covered by Medicaid, improving quality of care, and earning high satisfaction ratings from enrollees, according to a Lewin Group report released today by America"s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Twenty-four existing studies were analyzed by the Lewin Group to determine the savings achieved when states have implemented private Medicaid health plans.
Stephania Cormier, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has shown for the first time that early exposure to environmentally persistent free radicals (present in airborne ultrafine particulate matter) affects long-term lung function. She recently presented her latest research data at the 11th International Congress on Combustion By-Products and Their Health Effects at the Environmental Protection Agency Conference Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Topical Treatment Improves Wound Healing
Current research suggests that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids may help prevent one of the leading causes of legal blindness among the elderly. The related report by Tuo et al, "A high omega-3 fatty acid diet reduces retinal lesions in a murine model of macular degeneration," appears in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
New research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of bone anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) for people who are bilaterally deaf (deaf in both ears). Hearing impairment is the most common sensory deficit and it is estimated that there are approximately 688,000 severely to profoundly deaf adults in the UK. According to evidence given to the House of Commons Health Committee, the NHS tariff puts the cost per person of conventional hearing aid provision from appointment and clinic time to use of equipment at about ÷£270. The price of a working BAHA per patient is estimated to be at least ÷£4500.
Vets are not being adequately trained to deal with the increasing "customer care" expectations of dog-owners, reveals a small study published in this week"s Veterinary Record.
Experiencing chronic stress day after day can produce wear and tear on the body physically and mentally, and can have a detrimental effect on learning and emotion. However, acute stress -- a short stressful incident -- may enhance learning and memory.
The risk of developing deep vein thrombosis during a long flight is often overestimated. According to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), this condition is very unlikely in healthy travellers. When people wear a cast or splint after a sports accident, on the other hand, many are not aware that they have an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis in their leg and pelvic area. This is emphasised in information published on IQWiG"s website Informed Health Online.
As healthcare reform becomes an increasing national priority, the American Psychological Association (APA) and YMCA of the USA announced a partnership that provides strategies to help families improve their overall well-being and physical health, and advocates for a comprehensive healthcare system that has a strong approach to chronic disease prevention. The partnership will specifically address the impact individual behaviors such as eating healthy and increasing physical activity can have in reducing risk factors for chronic diseases.
The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) welcomes the Federal Government"s announcement of funding to upgrade the skills of workers in aged care.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, removes himself from Sen. Max Baucus"s bipartisan health reform talks in the Senate Finance Committee, leaving six centrist senators in what used to be called "the coalition of the willing." And, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says President Barack Obama"s August deadline is unworkable.
A new survey suggests that "most Americans support an overhaul of the health system, but the percentage who believe they (and their family) will be worse off from the change" has gone from 11 percent to 21 percent in the past five months, Kaiser Health News reports. "The survey, conducted July 7 to July 14 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found 56 percent of Americans say now is the time for the country to overhaul the health system. That"s down from 61 percent in June." (note: KHN is a program of Kaiser Family Foundation).
Employers around the country are split on supporting or opposing health reform "reducing the force of an opposition push," just as business lobbying heats up in the fight, The Washington Post reports.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) asked state drug licensing authorities to avoid authorizing new licenses for single drug formulations of artemisinin and withdraw existing licences for these types of drugs by the end of this month, livemint.com reports. To prevent drug resistance, the WHO has advised against the use of drugs that only contain artemisinin to treat malaria and recommends using artemsinin in combination with other drugs. "India"s drug advisory body, the drug consultative committee, had in December approved the phasing out of the [artemisinin only] drug[s] from the market," livemint.com writes.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine if painful bladder syndrome may be caused by abnormalities in the autonomic nervous system rather than in the bladder itself.
The U.S. Department of Energy"s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Hybridyne Imaging Technologies, Inc., of Toronto, Canada, have won a 2009 R&D 100 Award for developing a compact gamma camera for high-resolution imaging of prostate cancer. The camera system, called ProxiScan, is a nuclear medical instrument that can localize cancer tissue in the prostate gland in detail at an early stage, which is important for the successful diagnosis and early treatment of the potentially deadly disease.
Two papers published on bmj.com today raise serious concerns over the methods used to put a value on the benefits of different treatments in order to set healthcare priorities.
Dog breeds selected to work in visual contact with humans, such as sheep dogs and gun dogs, are better able to comprehend a pointing gesture than those breeds that usually work without direct supervision. A series of tests, described in BioMed Central"s open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions, should caution researchers against making simple generalizations about the effects of domestication and on dog-wolf differences in the utilization of human visual signals.
With many British families packing for their annual summer holiday, basking Britons could face a cloud on the horizon this summer with many unaware of how to check for skin cancer, research from Friends Provident reveals.
New data collected at Columbia University Medical Center and by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine are helping researchers understand the extent to which a certain protein - NGAL - can play a significant role in marking chronic kidney disease resulting from HIV while at the same time distinguishing nephropathy from more common causes such as diabetes and hypertension.
A study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reveals how late-stage, hormone-independent prostate tumors gain the ability to grow without need of hormones.
As part of its continuing engagement in global health issues, Yale University"s Global Health Leadership Institute is partnering with Tsinghua University to launch a four-year leadership development program in healthcare management for women in China. The effort is part of the 10,000 Women initiative, a program launched by Goldman Sachs to provide business and management education to women around the world. The program is based on research from Goldman Sachs, the World Bank, and others which found that investments in women can lead to significant economic and social returns.
Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that its investigational agent SAPHRIS(R) (asenapine) met the primary endpoint over one year of treatment in an extension study in patients with predominant, persistent negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
Michael (Mike) Jones has become the world"s first recipient of adult cardiac stem cells to treat congestive heart failure. Jones" infusion on July 17 marks the world"s first phase-one FDA-approved clinical trial using adult cardiac stem cells to treat heart disease. The clinical trial is being conducted by a team of University of Louisville physicians at Jewish Hospital.
A large attack on a major metropolitan area with airborne anthrax could affect more than a million people, necessitating their treatment with powerful antibiotics. A new study finds that in order for a response to be effective, quick detection and treatment are essential, and any delay beyond three days would overwhelm hospitals with critically ill people.
Bayer HealthCare AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that their first cooperative group-sponsored randomized Phase II trial in advanced metastatic breast cancer met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival. The study evaluated Nexavar® (sorafenib) tablets in combination with the oral chemotherapeutic, capecitabine, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER-2 negative breast cancer. Study findings demonstrated that the median progression-free survival was extended in patients treated with Nexavar and capecitabine compared to patients receiving capecitabine and placebo. These results were statistically significant (p-value = 0.0006). In this trial, the safety and tolerability of the combination was as expected and did not show any new or unexpected toxicities. A complete data analysis from this study is expected to be presented at an upcoming scientific meeting.
Type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic childhood disease. The management of this serious medical condition includes regular fingerstick glucose measurements, multiple daily injections of insulin, and frequent insulin dose adjustments. Because children spend a great deal of their time in school, school nurses often supervise medical decisions and diabetes care. Some researchers believe that the use of telecommunication technology may make diabetes care easier for some children. A new study soon to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics explores the effectiveness of telemedicine in helping school nurses and children manage diabetes care.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Thursday said the Senate will be unable to pass health care reform before it leaves for its August recess, which will likely result in changes to the shape of the final bill, The Washington Post reports.
A Web-based system allowing general practitioners to confer with specialists regarding patients with skin conditions may reduce referrals to dermatologists by approximately 20 percent, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The Brook Community Newspapers/Connecticut Post profiled New York researcher Jeffrey Laurence, who "helped at the outset to fully identify" HIV along with French virologist Luc Antoine Montagnier and others. Laurence, now of the Weill Cornell Medical College Laboratory for AIDS Virus Research at the New York Blood Center, in 1984, "published a paper with Montagnier in the New England Journal of Medicine that brought the news that their virus was the cause of AIDS," the article states. Since the discovery Laurence has continued his research seeking to develop a cure or vaccine for the virus, which now includes investigating the role of stem cells. He said, "The technology is too young to try to say we can cure someone of AIDS or of cancer. We need money to know how to engineer, to refine stem cells to be resistant to infection." The article states, "Laurence is pleased however, that President Barack Obama is "kinder on stem cells and is releasing some of the restrictions,"" on stem cell research (Semmes, 7/24).
A new drug that targets a master disease-causing gene can dramatically reduce heart muscle damage after a heart attack and may lead to significantly improved patient outcomes, UNSW researchers have shown.
The air in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics was cleaner than the previous year"s, due to aggressive efforts by the Chinese government to curtail traffic, increase emissions standards and halt construction in preparation for the games, according to a Cornell study.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has announced that Energy Department-funded researchers have won 46 of the 100 awards given out this year by R&D Magazine for the most outstanding technology developments with promising commercial potential. The coveted awards are presented annually in recognition of exceptional new products, processes, materials or software developed throughout the world and introduced into the market the previous year.
Prostate cancer is a disease which only affects men. Cancer begins to grow in the prostate - a gland in the male reproductive system. The word "prostate" comes from Medieval Latin prostate and Medieval French prostate. The ancient Greek word prostates means "one standing in front", from proistanai meaning "set before". The prostate is so called because of its position - it is at the base of the bladder.
Merck Serono announced that it is seeking a European license for cladribine, its oral therapy that is in late-stage clinical trials for relapsing remitting MS.
Concussion is also known as mild brain injury, mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), mild head injury and minor head trauma. Some experts define concussion as a head injury with temporary loss of brain function, which can cause cognitive, physical and emotional symptoms. Concussion may also be defined as an injury to the brain generally caused by a jolt or blow to the head - in the majority of cases the individual does not lose consciousness.
The Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, Ged Kearney and the Assistant Federal Secretary, Lee Thomas will be available for comment on the Prime Minister"s address on the challenges of Health Reform and the release of the NHHRC report.
In recent years, oncologists have debated whether patients with a certain type of advanced lung cancer would benefit from surgery.
The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission has wasted a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to fix
MEDEC - Canada"s Medical Technology Companies - applauds the Ontario Government for its recent decision to add Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Technology to the services covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) thereby ensuring that Ontarians have access to PET technology.
CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR), a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in the development of high-value human therapeutics, announced that its lead drug candidate tamibarotene has received official notification from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) that a positive opinion was made regarding the application for orphan medicinal product for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The positive opinion of the COMP has now been forwarded to the EU commission for final approval and publication in the community register. This favorable opinion for tamibarotene in the European Union (EU) is in addition to the Orphan Drug Designation for APL and Fast Track Designation for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory APL following treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2007.
Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD) received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending expanded marketing authorisation for ISENTRESS® (raltegravir) in combination with other antiretroviral (ARV) medicinal products for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in all appropriate adult patients, including patients starting HIV therapy for the first time (treatment-naç¯ve), as well as treatment-experienced patients. The positive opinion will be reviewed by the European Commission, which grants marketing authorisation to the 27 countries that are members of the European Union (EU), as well as Iceland and Norway.
Staff working in UK veterinary practices lack access to good occupational health advice warns a new study published in the scientific journal, Occupational Medicine. The research, the first published benchmark of occupational health risk management by vet practices in the UK, showed that despite veterinary surgeons and nurses being exposed to many occupational hazards less than a third of practices had trained staff in health and safety and only 14% sought advice from occupational health professionals.
An Article published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet concludes that radiotherapy plus chemotherapy, with or without surgery, are both treatment options for patients with stage IIIA (N2) non-small-cell lung cancer. The Article is written by Dr Kathy Albain, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Maywood, IL, USA, and colleagues.
AARP Executive Vice President John Rother issued the following statement in response to recent commentary by Betsy McCaughey in various media outlets on health care reform measures passed or currently being considered by Congress.
House GOP members on Tuesday sent a letter to President Obama praising him for saying that he wants to "honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion" during his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame last weekend, The Hill reports. The Republican lawmakers -- Reps. James Sensenbrenner (Wis.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and John Fleming (La.) -- said Obama"s speech indicated to them that he would reinstate the HHS provider "conscience" rule, which expanded the ability of health workers to refuse to provide services or information they objected to on moral or religious grounds and prohibited federal funding for health entities that do not comply.In March, Obama began the process for rescinding the Bush-era rule, and it is currently undergoing a White House review. In the letter, the representatives said that they "agree with [Obama] that pro-life health care providers should have the right to refuse to participate in procedures that they find morally reprehensible." Smith said he has "renewed hope, hopefully not false" that Obama will "completely forgo the rescinding of this rule" after his remarks during Sunday"s speech (Hooper, The Hill, 5/19).
BrainCells Inc., a company leading the scientific research of neurogenesis using its proprietary platform technology to identify novel pathways for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced results from the first clinical proof-of-concept study of BCI-952, a combination of low dose buspirone and melatonin, for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). The data were presented at NCDEU 2009, a meeting co-sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. Neurogenesis is the process by which pre-existing stem cells in the hippocampus of the adult brain produce new brain cells, including neurons.
A major feature of the annual Pharmacy Australia Congress is the Poster Session which
Hope is fading in the House on voting on reform before the August recess as Democrats bicker over details, Roll Call reports: "Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Friday that Democratic leaders may push off the health care bill until September if they can"t get it finished within the next two weeks."
A study published in today"s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine provides further reinforcement that tight control of blood glucose as soon as possible after a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes yields long-term benefits with regard to lowering the rates of eye, kidney and heart complications associated with diabetes. These findings stem from the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and its follow-up study, the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC), both funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal Disease Prevention (ASAP) is calling for the pneumonia vaccine to become an official part of India"s required list of immunizations, the Times of India reports. According to the newspaper, Nithin Shah, chairman of ASAP India chapter, said there is an "immediate need to take steps to control and prevent pneumonia morbidity and mortality," which is the leading cause of death among children younger than age five in India, according to international child health experts (7/26).
The House on Friday passed a $730.5 billion bill (HR 3293) "to fund health, education and labor programs in fiscal 2010 after narrowly defeating an attempt to strip language that would lift the ban on federal needle exchange programs," in the U.S., CQ Today reports (Wolfe, 7/24). Lawmakers voted 211-218 to reject an amendment by Mark Souder (R-Ind.) that sought to keep the ban in place, the AP/Lewiston Sun Journal reports (Taylor, 7/25). The bill that passed includes a restriction against using federal funds for needle exchanges within 1,000 feet of day care centers, schools, parks, playgrounds, pools and youth centers, the Washington Post reports.
In Chicago, 17.4 percent of gay men are estimated to be HIV-positive, compared with 1.2 percent of the general male population, according to a new report by the Chicago Public Health Department, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The report is based on data collected from 570 Chicago men through the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system, and found that half of the men with HIV were unaware they were infected (Thomas, 7/25). "Health officials said Friday, information in the report on HIV infection mark the first time Chicago health officials have used blood-testing to determine infection rates among men," the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. In the past, estimates have relied on interviews with gay and bisexual men, according to Christopher Brown, the Public Health Department assistant commissioner. The report also found that "black men who have sex with other men have double the HIV infection rates of white and Hispanic men," the AP/Tribune reports (7/24).
The Washington Post on Sunday featured Washington D.C.,-based Inner Light Ministries, a 16-year-old black community church with about 100 members, where many go "to share their experience of being black and gay, living and loving in a city where HIV and AIDS lurk in epidemic proportions. ò€¦" Some members of the congregation, as well as four of its leaders including Bishop Rainey Cheeks are HIV-positive. Cheeks teaches safe sex as a part of his sermons and the church provides condoms to its members. The article also discusses the stigma associated with HIV among gay black men. "Some men are reluctant to reveal their health status to possible partners for fear of being rejected," according to the Post. "That attitude, Cheeks said, is part of why gay black men in the District are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. And why he has to keep preaching the message of safe sex," the article states (Fears, 7/26).
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) - long at the forefront of quality initiatives - is taking a leading role in health care reform. In partnership with patients, lawmakers and payers, the ACC is setting a new standard for health care delivery, one that centers on increasing the quality of care and ensuring greater patient access and value.
Canadian scientists at the University of Alberta"s Cross Cancer Institute are developing a new technology that integrates two existing medical devices -- medical linear accelerators, or "linacs," which produce powerful X-rays for treating cancer, and magnetic resonance imagers (MRIs), which are widely used to image tumors in the human body.
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) will write to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week to invite him to participate in a national "fact finding" tour of rural hospitals, rural practices, health centres and Aboriginal Medical Services.
Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), July 28 - August 1, 2009, the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that after a 6-month behavioral weight loss program, depressed patients not only lost 8% of their initial weight but also reported significant improvements in their symptoms of depression, as well as reductions in triglycerides, which are a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The results of this study highlight the need for further research into the effects of weight loss in individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders.
A new report, "The Intelligent Board 2009: Commissioning to reduce inequalities", produced by an independent reference group of experts, encourages Primary Care Trust (PCT) Boards to review their understanding of health inequalities in their communities so that they can be addressed.
By a wide margin, health care leaders believe that individuals should have a choice of public and private health plans, and strongly support other central components of health reform such as innovative provider payment reform and a national insurance health exchange with strong standard-setting authority. In addition, two-thirds (68%) of opinion leaders feel it is urgent to enact comprehensive health care reform this year, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the world.
An Italian research team, publishing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (18:4), which is now available on-line without charge at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct, has found that stem cells derived from human placenta may ultimately play a role in the treatment of lung diseases, such as pulmonary fibrosis and fibrotic diseases caused by tuberculosis, chemical exposure, radiation or pathogens. These diseases can ultimately lead to loss of normal lung tissue and organ failure. No known therapy effectively reverses or stops the fibrotic process.
For physiotherapist Associate Professor Michele Sterling, treating whiplash is all about thinking outside of the box.
A person"s absolute risk of fracture over the next 5 or 10 years can be predicted with reasonable accuracy according to their age, sex, bone density and history of fractures and falls.
Doctors are being reminded that assisting a suicide is illegal in England and Wales and that they should not give advice to patients to help them travel abroad to take their own lives.
AccuVein LLC, maker of the AV300, the world"s first hand-held, non-contact vein illumination device, announced that its quality system has received an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13485 Certification. This certifies to customers around the globe AccuVein"s commitment to the quality and safety of its medical device design, development, production, installation and delivery procedures.
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. reported that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for its Abbreviated New Drug Application ("ANDA") for cetirizine hydrochloride tablets (OTC), 5 mg and 10 mg ("Cetirizine Tablets"). The product will be marketed by Taro"s U.S. affiliate, Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARIA) announced preliminary clinical data from an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of its investigational, multi-targeted kinase inhibitor, AP24534, in patients with advanced hematological cancers. The study results provide initial clinical evidence of hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular anti-cancer activity of AP24534 in heavily pretreated patients with resistant and refractory chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), including those with the T315I mutant variant of the target protein, Bcr-Abl. An abstract describing these data is being submitted for presentation at a major hematology meeting to be held later this year.