Endocrinology
Simplexo Enterprise, an enterprise search tool, has been selected by Nottingham University to enable the retrieval of information across a five-year clinical trial by its Division of Stroke Medicine into the causes and effects of strokes. The trial team is gathering and analysing information from more than 500 patients and several governing bodies in over 20 countries, including the UK, the United States, China, India and Australia.
Hives are also known as urticaria, welts, wheals, or nettle rash. It is a red, raised, itchy skin rash that is sometimes triggered by something that produces an allergic reaction - an allergen. When there is an allergic reaction the body releases a protein called histamine. When histamine is released our capillaries (tiny blood vessels) leak fluid. The fluid accumulates in the skin and causes a rash.
Dr Elaine Vickers, Research Relations Manager at Asthma UK, says: "This is an important piece of research which helps to explain why the majority of children with severe eczema go on to develop asthma in later childhood, as a result of their genetic make-up.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday released a 41-page document outlining policy options for financing health care reform, The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 5/18). The paper is the third and final to be released before the senators draft health reform legislation. The document says Baucus and Grassley do not support all the proposals included in the paper, but does not indicate which are backed by the senators (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/18). The options, which will be discussed at a closed-door committee meeting on Wednesday, include a number of proposed spending cuts and new or revised taxes (Drucker, Roll Call, 5/18). The report outlines several ways to gain revenue by re-evaluating the tax exemption for employer-sponsored health care benefits, which cost the government $194.2 billion in revenue in 2008, according to the report. The options include:
UQ"s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) will host a workshop tomorrow Tuesday July 14 for clinicians and scientists seeking to better understand the syndromes associated with a brain development condition made famous in the movie Rain Man.
The Union-managed initiative TREAT TB (Technology, Research, Education and Technical Assistance for TB) is now on the web offering direct access to the work of this five-year, USAID-funded project.
More and more children are participating and getting hurt playing sports each year. A
Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE Amex:INO), a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that the company"s SynCon™ H1N1 influenza DNA vaccines achieved protective antibody responses against H1N1 swine influenza virus (A/Swine/Iowa/35233/1999) in 100% of pigs immunized with a two-dose vaccine regimen.
More than 5,600 Louisiana tobacco users received free medication last month to help overcome their addiction to tobacco. The initiative was part of a statewide promotion to assist with tobacco cessation by providing a month"s supply of nicotine replacement therapy patches to residents trying to quit tobacco products.
The Senate on Monday by voice vote confirmed Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, CQ HealthBeat reports (CQ HealthBeat, 5/18). As commissioner, Hamburg is expected to immediately begin working on the agency"s response to the H1N1 flu virus. She also has said she wants to overhaul the agency"s food safety efforts. According to CongressDaily, Hamburg hopes to restore confidence in the agency, which has experienced controversy surrounding drug and food safety issues in recent years (CongressDaily, 5/19). Hamburg is the 21st FDA commissioner and the second woman to hold the position in FDA"s 100-year history (AP/Washington Post, 5/19).
El Salvador and Benin have marked World Asthma Day by placing orders with the Asthma Drug Facility (ADF). Through the ADF these and other low- and middle-income countries will be able to obtain quality-assured essential asthma medicines at affordable prices for the first time.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) announced that patient enrollment has been completed for the Phase I/II clinical trial for BMN-110 or N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfatase (GALNS), intended for the treatment of the lysosomal storage disorder Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IVA (MPS IVA), or Morquio A Syndrome. The company expects to report initial results in the first half of 2010.
A landmark study conducted by Children"s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to reveal a new syndrome in children that presents with a combination of allergy, apraxia and malabsorption. Autism spectrum disorders were variably present. Verbal apraxia has until now been understood to be a neurologically based speech disorder, although hints of other neurological soft signs have been described. The new study, led by Children"s Hospital & Research Center Oakland scientist and pediatric emergency medicine physician, Claudia Morris, MD, and Marilyn C. Agin, MD, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at Saint Vincent Medical Center in New York, however, suggests that the symptoms of verbal apraxia are, at least for a sub-group of children, part of a larger, multifactorial, neurologic syndrome involving food allergies/gluten-sensitivity and nutritional malabsorption.
The receding economy has dragged down Michigan"s health care system, "offering a preview of how a lingering recession could corrode Americans" hospitals, savings and health," the Wall Street Journal reports.
Alejandro Gutierrez, MD, is the third recipient of the ASH-AMFDP grant, an award designed to help increase the number of underrepresented minority scholars in the field of hematology, and will begin his research into the pathogenesis of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) this month. The award, the result of a partnership between the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides four years of support, including an annual stipend of up to $75,000 and an annual grant of more than $29,000 for research activities.
Propublica/The Los Angeles Times found that "the board charged with overseeing California"s 350,000 registered nurses often takes years to act on complaints of egregious misconduct, leaving nurses accused of wrongdoing free to practice without restrictions ... It"s a high-stakes gamble that no one will be hurt as nurses with histories of drug abuse, negligence, violence and incompetence continue to provide care across the state. While the inquiries drag on, many nurses maintain spotless records. New employers and patients have no way of knowing the risks."
The AMSA National Leadership Development Seminar will be held from the 7th to the 9th of September 2009.
Wall Street Journal: A recent decision by CMS to end Medicare coverage of virtual colonoscopies is "a preview of how health care will be rationed when Democrats" create "a new "universal" health insurance entitlement for the middle class," a Journal editorial states. According to the editorial, the prospects of such a health system are "playing out in miniature in Medicare" where CMS has decided that offering an alternative to the traditional colonoscopy is "too pricey." The editorial states that the situation features "precisely the sort of complexity that the Democrats would prefer to ignore as they try to restructure health care" and use comparative effectiveness research to determine what works best for the majority of patients. According to the editorial, "The problem is that what "works best" isn"t the same for everyone." It continues that CMS "made the hard-and-fast choice that it was cheaper to cut [virtual colonoscopies] ... for all beneficiaries. If some patients are worse off, well, too bad." The editorial concludes that the situation is "merely a preview of the life-and-death decisions that will be determined by politics" if Democrats enact their ideal system (Wall Street Journal, 5/19).
Condom use is associated with a reduced risk of contracting herpes simplex virus 2, according to a report based on pooled analysis of data from previous studies in the July 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"I am stopping TB and controlling HIV" was the theme of an event marking World TB Day (24 March) in Uganda"s Masindi district. The Union Uganda Office participated in this event, which attracted representatives from both government and a wide variety of NGOs, as well as the public.
Plans to improve access to occupational health services in Wales to help tackle absenteeism and ill-health in the workplace will be announced today [Tuesday, 14 July] by Health Minister Edwina Hart.
Sticker campaign builds awareness for smoke-free Mumbai
For the first time in more than 10 years, the universally accepted lung cancer staging system has been revised to more accurately reflect the prognosis for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
NovImmune, an immunology-focused biotech company
The number of people with Alzheimer"s and dementia - both new cases and
Accera, Inc., a biotechnology company delivering breakthrough therapies in central nervous system diseases, today announced further evidence for genetic interactions impacting the efficacy of the ketogenic compound AC-1202 (Axona(TM)) in Alzheimer"s disease. New data from the company"s previously completed double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer"s disease demonstrates an interaction between two genetic markers that strongly influence the therapeutic response in patients. Dr. Samuel Henderson, Executive Director of Research, will present these results at the 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD) sponsored by the Alzheimer"s Association.
Quantum Immunologics, Inc. (QI), a Tampa, Florida company focusing on the research and development of cancer immunotherapies, announces that the first patient in its breast cancer trial has begun to receive its dendritic cell therapy.
Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have identified a protein relationship that may be an ideal treatment target for ER+ breast cancer. The study was reported in the July 15 issue of Cancer Research.
A new review of existing research says there is little evidence to support mandatory hearing-loss prevention programs at the workplace.
Black women ages 20 to 29 are more prone to pack on unhealthy abdominal and visceral fat than Hispanic women the same age, and as compared to their elders, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.
While only two-thirds of Texas doctors treat Medicaid patients, a Texas government agency is using tactics that might turn more doctors away from the program, according to the Texas Medical Association (TMA).
The financial crisis and lack of trust in public services mean that the NHS and the government face tough political and economic challenges ahead. In this climate, improvements in health services will only be possible if primary care takes the lead and political leaders sharpen up their vision.
"An unprecedented effort to computerize the nation"s hospitals and physician offices could be the key to reducing crippling health care costs - or a giveaway to technology vendors whose sales will be subsidized by taxpayers," the Dallas Morning News reports. The $45 billion, stimulus-funded effort in question could help reduce costs by cutting into the country"s $37.6 billion in medical errors each year, for instance. But, if requirements for providers seeking stimulus funding are too strict, the program could turn into "a bonanza for software vendors."
"The heavy lifting" for garnering Congressional support for eliminating the federal ban on funding for needle exchange programs "was left to David Obey, the Democrat from Wisconsin who chairs both the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Education, Health and Human Services," Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson writes in response to the introduction of legislation by the House Appropriations Committee last week that would lift the ban. Jackson also notes that while President Obama addressed needle exchange during the campaign, his FY 2010 budget continued the ban and that a "White House spokesmen said [President] Obama need[ed] time to "build support" with Congress and the public to get rid of the ban." In discussing the history behind the ban and the science supporting the use of needle exchange programs, Jackson says, "It is time, with the House having taken the lead, for [President] Obama to get out front and say once and for all that science takes the front seat to ideology," concluding, "Some issues are too critical to the very lives of Americans to wait to "build support"" (7/14).
To mark World Population Day on July 11, U.N. officials are calling for investment in women and girls during the global financial crisis as a way to promote economic recovery and tackle poverty and inequality, afrol News reports. "There is no smarter investment in troubled times," Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, said. According to Obaid, even before the financial downturn, women and girls were the majority of the world"s poor. "Now, they are falling deeper into poverty and face increased health risks, especially if they are pregnant," she said, adding that the "health gap" will get bigger "unless we increase social investments, maintain health gains and expand efforts to save more women"s lives."
According a Toronto Star column, it is an "enormous challenge" for India"s government to try to get all of its citizens immunized against polio. "It has used everything from elephants and camels to rickety boats and bikes to ferry the vaccine to remote regions where temperatures have topped 40C the past three months. The polio serum needs to be kept at a temperature below 8C. Its efforts have not all been in vain: the number of new cases in the country last year was 559, down from 200,000 in the early 1980s," writes columnist Rick Westhead.
NICE today welcomed the Office for Life Sciences new Blueprint to support the life sciences industry, which will also improve patient access to innovative new drugs.
Counsellors from around the world will meet to discuss their role in helping people deal with social, cultural, economic and natural challenges at the 2009 International Association for Counselling (IAC) Counference organised by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
International agency Oxfam fears that companies producing affordable generic medicines could be subject to criminal prosecutions and have their medicines seized on orders from big drug companies under plans being drawn up by a closed group of mainly rich countries.
Chronic exposure to tobacco smoke in childhood may contribute to early emphysema later in life, according to new research. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is known to be associated with a variety of serious health problems, but it had not previously been associated with the development of emphysema over the life course. The data was presented on Tuesday, May 19, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.
The NPHS influenza surveillance scheme, which records reports of diagnoses of flufrom more than 300 GP practices across Wales, shows low but increasing levels of influenza activity in all parts of Wales.
Patients who have a heart defect known as patent foramen ovale incidentally discovered and repaired during surgery for a different condition may have an increased odds of postoperative stroke, along with no clear benefit on short-term outcomes or long-term survival, according to a study in the July 15 issue of JAMA.
Results of a survey published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons show that a large subset of surgical residents consider duty hour regulations (DHR) a significant barrier to their surgical education and express a desire for flexibility to work longer hours than current restrictions allow.
In the July 15th cover story of G and D, a research team led by Dr. Eric Olson at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas reports that the class I histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) enzyme regulates gene expression in the developing vertebrate skull.
A significantly more accurate* way of calculating the dosimetry of cancer treatments will be introduced by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) at the GEC-ESTRO exhibition in Porto, Portgual, on May 14-16. BrachyVision™ Acuros™ enables clinicians to rapidly calculate patient doses for brachytherapy treatments (a form of radiotherapy) with an extremely high level of accuracy.
As summer vacations begin, experts at Lighthouse International urge everyone to take eye safety seriously and prevent damage from the sun that could be permanent. Lighthouse International, based in New York City, is the 104 year old non-profit leader in vision health.
Smith & Nephew"s Advanced Wound Management division (NYSE:SNN) announced that the UK Court of Appeal has ruled as invalid all claims asserted against Smith and Nephew of the patent EP 0 626 720 that is licensed to Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI). As a result, the preliminary injunction against Smith & Nephew"s RENASYS(TM)-F NPWT system has been lifted.
A sub-analysis of a Phase IIb multinational study(1) with edoxaban(2) - an investigational oral Factor Xa inhibitor - provides insights into why patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) receiving edoxaban once daily (QD) experienced fewer bleeding events than patients given edoxaban twice a day (BID). The analysis finds that bleeding associated with edoxaban is most closely correlated with minimum concentration levels of the drug in the blood, and that these trough levels may best predict bleeding events, rather than total exposure or maximum concentration levels.
Animas Corporation announced the approval of its OneTouch((R)) Ping(TM) Glucose Management System by Health Canada. OneTouch Ping is the first full-feature insulin pump that wirelessly communicates with a blood glucose meter-remote. Using the OneTouch Ping meter-remote, a person can calculate insulin doses and opt to wirelessly instruct the pump to deliver them without touching the pump at all, giving patients more freedom and flexibility in using their insulin pump.
Health reform may succeed in creating better coverage and access for Americans, but until we reduce the barriers to proper medication adherence, many patients will not experience improved health, according to experts meeting today to discuss the challenges of adherence.
A new Alabama law effective July 1 provides free treatment options for women diagnosed with
Many people who discover that they have inherited a higher risk of developing Alzheimer"s can cope with the news, especially if they receive the
The Washington Post on Wednesday profiled Randall Terry, the founder and former head of the antiabortion-rights group Operation Rescue. According to the Post, Terry is known as a "shock jock of the antiabortion movement" with a "theatrical bent." The Post reports that Terry was arrested dozens of times in the late 1980s and 1990s during his protests. For a short period, his "tactics transformed the antiabortion movement," earning him praise from conservative Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. However, after a 1994 federal law made blocking clinics a federal crime, Terry"s group "started to unravel" after he struggled to pay fines for violating the law. He lost in several lawsuits filed by Planned Parenthood -- resulting in him owing $1.6 million to the group -- and he filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Although Terry left as the leader of Operation Rescue in 1991, he now has moved to the Washington, D.C., area to "try to reclaim the prominence he once enjoyed within the antiabortion movement," an effort he is making "much to the consternation of people on both sides of the abortion debate," according to the Post. Most recently, he has been leading protests outside the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. The Post reports that leaders in the antiabortion-rights movement "are cringing at Terry"s sudden return," saying that "his incendiary rhetoric and showy tactics turn off ordinary Americans and reflect Terry"s struggle to regain his glory years." He also is focused on starting a new organization, Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex, a Latin term translated to mean "insurrection against death" (Salmon, Washington Post, 7/15). The Post also included a timeline of Terry"s personal life and history with the antiabortion-rights movement (Washington Post, 7/15).
The UK"s life sciences trade associations - the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and the British In Vitro Diagnostic Association (BIVDA) - believe the package of measures announced today by the Office for Life Sciences in its "Life Sciences Blueprint" provide an excellent basis for firmly securing the future of the life sciences sector and re-establishing the UK"s global competitive position.
USA Today asks what the additional $1 trillion cost of a health care overhaul (over 10 years) will actually buy. "Although the eye-popping price tag would help boost insurance coverage to 95% or more of the public, it"s not enough to do everything advocates initially want. The proposals being shaped in Congress - including the $1.042 trillion bill unveiled by House Democratic leaders Tuesday - offer subsidies to fewer moderate-income families than originally intended, bar most workers from choosing to leave their employer-provided plans and likely drive up Medicaid costs for states." The Congressional Budget Office estimates that "at the end of a decade, 15 million to 20 million would remain uninsured."
"President Barack Obama may rely only on Democrats to push health-care legislation through the U.S. Congress if Republican resistance doesn"t eventually give way, two of the president"s top advisers said," Bloomberg reports.
Kaiser Veterans Affairs hospitals and outpatient clinics under review are not always complying fully with federal privacy requirements, often exposing women when they bathe or receive exams, according to government auditors, The Associated Press reports.
A new UK study found that swearing appeared to lessen the effects of pain, perhaps because it invokes a similar response as that which occurs in
Individuals with heart disease are twice as likely to suffer from depression as the general population, an association the medical community has largely been unable to explain. Now, a new study by researchers at The Miriam Hospital, in conjunction with The Montrçİal Heart Institute, University of Montrçİal and McGill University, reveals there may be genetic variations that contribute to depression in heart disease patients.
Over 80% of rural and remote doctors recently surveyed by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) believe adding a significant rural and remote loading on Medicare items would assist in recruiting and retaining doctors in their communities.
A 9-1-1 For Health Care Reform: Send Leadership Now Washington Post
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Tuesday announced plans to invest $97 million over 10 years "to improve research, development and access to AIDS drugs in Africa," Reuters reports. GSK also put forth "a new free voluntary licensing agreement for AIDS drug abacavir, or Ziagen with South African generic drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare." According to Reuters, Aspen will be able to "manufacture a cheaper generic version of the drug."
A team of researchers has mapped patterns of illicit drug use across the state of Oregon using a method of sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated.
In a feat of trickery, Dartmouth Medical School immunologists have devised a Trojan horse to help overcome ovarian cancer, unleashing a surprise killer in the surroundings of a hard-to-treat tumor.
An osteoporosis drug proven to save lives after hip fractures may do so by strengthening the body"s immune system, according to geriatrics researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy on "Biologics and Biosimilars: Balancing Incentives for Innovation."
When we are feeling blue we are told to count our blessings, but according to a study recently published in Psychological Science, counting our money might be a more useful activity. Psychologists Xinyue Zhou, Sun Yat-Sen University, Kathleen D. Vohs, University of Minnesota, and Roy F. Baumeister, Florida State University, investigated the psychological, physical and social impact of money.
What is going on in teenagers" brains as their drive for peer approval begins to eclipse their family affiliations? Brain scans of teens sizing each other up reveal an emotion circuit activating more in girls as they grow older, but not in boys. The study by Daniel Pine, M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of National Institutes of Health, and colleagues, shows how emotion circuitry diverges in the male and female brain during a developmental stage in which girls are at increased risk for developing mood and anxiety disorders.
AGA Medical Corporation has received European CE Mark approval for its AMPLATZER® vascular plug, AVP 4. The device, which is indicated for arterial and venous embolizations in the peripheral vasculature, uses AMPLATZER"s proven mesh-braided Nitinol technology and may eliminate the need for catheter exchange, giving physicians a more efficient procedure. AGA Medical will begin marketing the AVP 4 in Europe immediately.
New England Cord Blood Bank, Inc. (NECBB), a global cord blood processing and storage facility, announced today that it will be implementing an automated blood processing system at the company"s Newton facility. The AutoXpress™ System (AXP), developed by ThermoGenesis Corp. and distributed by GE Healthcare, is a state-of-the-art, fully closed and sterile system that will provide automated cell separation and processing for cord blood samples, ensuring quality and consistency in cord blood processing while maximizing the yield of valuable stem cells from the cord blood.
Springer Science+Business Media is offering all journal articles which deal with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, free of charge on its online information platform http://www.springerlink.com. The articles can be found by using the search term "H1N1." A total of 318 scientific articles will be available to print out or download from now until 31 December 2009.
The NPHS influenza surveillance scheme, which records reports of diagnoses of flufrom more than 300 GP practices across Wales, shows low but increasing levels of influenza activity in all parts of Wales.
Approximately two-thirds of the 1.5 million Americans living with lupus will develop some type of skin disease. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system is unbalanced causing it to become destructive to any organ and tissue in the body. Skin disease in lupus can cause rashes or sores (lesions), most of which will appear on sun-exposed areas, such as a person"s face, ears, neck, arms, and legs. In addition, 40-70 percent of people with systemic lupus will find that their disease is made worse by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight or artificial light. For this and other reasons, people with lupus are advised to take steps to protect themselves from exposure to UV light.
Neurofeedback - also called EEG Biofeedback - is a method used to train brain activity in order to normalize Brain function and treat psychiatric disorders. This treatment method has gained interest over the last 10 years, however the question whether this treatment should be regarded as an Evidence-Based treatment was unanswered until now. Tomorrow a study will be published in the scientific journal "EEG and Clinical Neuroscience" demonstrating that Neurofeedback can indeed be regarded as an evidence-based treatment for Attention Deficit- / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
With entries for the 2009 Wellness Run closing on Sunday 17 May, families and individuals wanting to take part in the popular fitness run are being urged to register now.
The California Nurses Association concurred on the need for improved enforcement to protect patients affected by the handful of nurses alleged to have found to have committed egregious misconduct that put patients in jeopardy.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Onsolis, medication intended for certain patients with cancer to help manage breakthrough pain - severe flares of pain that break through regular pain medication.
"President Obama and leading Democrats have stressed that people who like their employer-sponsored insurance would be able to keep it, under a health care overhaul. But they haven"t emphasized the flip side: That people who don"t like their coverage might have to keep it," Kaiser Health News reports. "Under the main health bills being debated in Congress, many people with job-based insurance could find it difficult to impossible to switch to health plans on a new insurance exchange, even if the plans there were cheaper or offered better coverage. The restrictions extend to any government-run plan, which would be offered on the exchange." But "there are a few exceptions: Workers would be allowed to buy insurance through the exchange if their job-based coverage gobbled up too much of their incomes or was too skimpy. Also, under the House proposal, people could get insurance through the exchange if they paid their entire premiums - a cost that would be prohibitive for many workers."
The cost of health care reform has emerged as a key battle in overhaul efforts. Attention is being paid to how costs will affect specific groups including the middle class and businesses.
Georgetown Policy Report: Long-Term Care in Health Care Reform: Policy Options to Improve Both - Policy - Long-term care reform belongs in health care reform -- "The well-being and financial security of families depend not only on access to affordable medical services, but also on access to affordable, reliable long-term care - the daily assistance and supports that many individuals need because of serious medical conditions or disabilities." This policy brief presents four policy options that merit serious consideration in the current health care reform discussion. ... The first two options would improve long-term care for people with low incomes and limited financial res. These options would modernize Medicaid in important ways, tailoring services better to individual needs and using res more effectively. The third and fourth options aim to strengthen long-term care protections for the broader population; one with better coordination of medical and long-term care for Medicare enrollees; the other by establishing insurance protection for people of all ages and incomes" (Komisar, Tumlinson, Feder, Burke, 7/16). (Note: KHN"s coverage of aging and long term care issues is supported by a grant from The SCAN Foundation.)
Researchers have sequenced the genomes of two parasites that cause bilharzia or schistosomiasis - a disease transmitted by water-borne snails that affects more than 200 million people worldwide - "revealing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by drug developers," Nature reports (Smith, 7/15).
The Daily Trust/allAfrica.com examines food security in Nigeria. Despite its agricultural potential, the "food crisis" in Nigeria "poses a big question as to what is responsible for the insecurity in food production, preservation and storage," according to the newspaper. A government committee recently toured the country in an effort to address some of the problems involved with agricultural production and food insecurity.
Boston-based Fenway Health and the Multicultural AIDS Coalition "have launched the recruitment phase of a new study aimed at learning more about the sexual health of black gay and bi[sexual] men and finding effective strategies for HIV prevention within the black gay community," Bay Windows reports. The study, called Project Saving Ourselves (SOS), is seeking to recruit up to 400 participants in Boston, and also is collecting data on black gay and bisexual men in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ben Perkins, Project SOS director at the Fenway Institute of Fenway Health"s research division, said, "This is pretty new. In terms of the scale, there hasn"t been anything quite like it." Perkins said there are several questions researchers hope to answer about black gay and bisexual male health and HIV prevention, but the goal is to determine what factors put them at risk for HIV and help promote better health and safe behavior (Jacobs, 7/15).
Fewer births in states such as California may be delaying the annual onset of a common intestinal virus in the southwest, according to epidemiologists. The timing of infectious outbreaks in other locations such as the northeast remains more or less unchanged.
More than 43,000 children are injured in bathtubs and showers every year, mostly from slips and falls, according to the study, "Injuries Associated With Bathtubs and Showers Among Children in the United States." While bathtub injuries associated with tap water burns and submersions have generated much research, this is the first study using nationally representative data to look at injuries from slips and falls, which are responsible for the majority of bathtub injuries. Using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from 1990 to 2007, researchers evaluated an estimated 791,200 bathtub- and shower-related injuries during the 18-year study period among children 18 years old and younger who were treated in U.S. emergency departments.
Insurgent groups like the Taliban can only be effectively engaged with timely and accurate military intelligence, and even good intelligence may only succeed in containing the insurgency, not defeating it, according to a new study in the current issue of Operations Research, a flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).
This statement updates Members on the Influenza A (H1N1v) swine flu outbreak and the latest developments in Wales and across the UK.
It can take just hours after the symptoms appear for someone to die from bacterial meningitis. Now, after years of research, experts at The University of Nottingham have finally discovered how the deadly meningococcal bacteria is able to break through the body"s natural defence mechanism and attack the brain.
FD, a common non-organic disease in the world, greatly affects a patient"s quality of life. However, treatment of FD is still controversial and no single therapy is uniformly effective, due, in part, to absence of a reliable evaluation instrument. The Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI), measuring both symptom scores and impairment of the dyspepsia-specific health-related quality of life in FD patients, has been designed to diagnose FD and has been translated into several languages. Moreover, its utility has been proved to be validated by researches in western countries. However, DI has not been translated and validated in China.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Onsolis (fentanyl buccal soluble film). This new and patented product is indicated for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients who are already receiving and who are tolerant to opioid therapy for their underlying persistent cancer pain. Onsolis uses a unique delivery system designed to give rapid and reliable delivery of fentanyl. The product consists of a small dissolvable disc for application of fentanyl to the buccal (inner lining of cheek) membranes. The product is unique and offers an important step to a better pain treatment of cancer patients.
A team led by researchers from the National Institutes of Health reports
The Royal College of Nursing welcomed the signing of a joint agreement by European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers Association (HOSPEEM). This is an EU-wide agreement which the RCN has played a key role in bringing about to prevent one million medical sharps injuries per year. Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
Argenta Discovery Limited, the respiratory drug discovery and development company, announces a major milestone in its joint programme with AstraZeneca aimed at identifying improved inhaled bronchodilators to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Nearly 90 per cent of people in the UK back proposals to stop under 18s from using sunbeds according to a new survey by Cancer Research UK.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) announced positive results from two Phase 3 studies of intravenous (i.v.) peramivir in patients with seasonal influenza. The studies were sponsored by BioCryst"s partner Shionogi & Co., Ltd. of Osaka, Japan and conducted during the 2008-2009 influenza season. Shionogi and Green Cross Corporation, the license holder of peramivir in Korea, co-conducted the portion of the studies in Korea.
Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved revisions to the U.S. prescribing information for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) class of antibodies, including Vectibix((R)) (panitumumab). This decision follows the FDA"s December 2008 Oncologics Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) meeting where the clinical utility of the KRAS gene as a predictive biomarker in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with anti-EGFr antibody was discussed.
At a technical breakfast, Romain Quidant presented his research into the detection and treatment of cancer using gold nanoparticles illuminated with laser light. Quidant, who was recently awarded the Fresnel Prize 2009 that recognizes the highest level of excellence amongst emerging researchers in the field of photonics, is an ICREA researcher at the UPC"s Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) and a fellow of the Cellex Foundation Barcelona.
"There was a scandal this week" involving Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg"s comments on abortion rights during an interview with the New York Times Magazine, according to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. In response to a question on access to abortion and restrictions on Medicaid coverage of the procedure, Ginsburg said, "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe [v. Wade] was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don"t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion." According to Gerson, the "context surrounding this passage is a simplistic, pro-choice rant." He adds, "Abortion, in Ginsburg"s view, is an essential part of sexual equality, thus ending all ethical debate." Ginsburg in the interview also said, "There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to be so obvious." She added, "So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don"t know why this hasn"t been said more often."Gerson writes, "Given this context, can it be argued that Ginsburg -- referring to "populations that we don"t want to have too many of" -- was merely summarizing the views of others and describing the attitudes of the country when Roe v. Wade was decided?" He continues, "It can be argued -- but it is not bloody likely. Who, in Ginsburg"s statement, is the "we"? And who, in 1973, was arguing for the eugenic purposes of abortion?" According to Gerson, "It is more likely that Ginsburg is describing the attitude of some of her own social class -- that abortion is economically important to a "woman of means" and useful in reducing the number of social undesirables."Gerson writes, "The entire Ginsburg interview is a reminder of the risks of lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court." He continues, "Immune from criticism, surrounded by plump cushions of deference, the temperament of a justice can become exaggerated over time." He adds that her statements "would have been disqualifying" had they been made during her own confirmation hearing. "Now she doesn"t give a damn," Gerson says.He continues that Ginsburg"s "timing ... is instructive" because she made the remarks as Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is "emphasizing her low-income and minority roots." According to Gerson, "It is estimated that the Hyde Amendment limiting Medicaid abortions has saved one million lives since its passage in 1976 -- some, no doubt, became criminals and some, perhaps, lawyers and judges." He concludes, "It is a defining question for modern liberalism: Are these men and women "populations that we don"t want to have too many of," or are they citizens worthy of justice and capable of contribution?" (Gerson, Washington Post, 7/17).
One Maryland county"s tiny new health care programs for the uninsured could be a model for providing care nationwide, National Public Radio says in an ongoing series. The program is cheap, effective and heavy on preventive care, Howard County"s health commissioner, Dr. Peter Beilenson says. The program, called Healthy Howard, provides care for families of four earning up to $66,000 a year, and patients are required to pay $50 to $85 a month. But some of the enrollees are running into trouble.
The Boston Globe: "A state commission recommended yesterday that Massachusetts dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. The 10-member commission, which includes key legislators and members of Governor Deval Patrick"s administration, voted unanimously to largely scrap the current system, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit. That arrangement is widely seen as leading to unneeded tests and procedures. Instead, the group wants private insurers and the state and federal Medicaid program to pay providers a set payment for each patient that covers all that person"s care for an entire year and to make the radical shift within five years" (Kowalczyk, 7/17).
As a result of the scientific advances and medical innovations made in the twentieth century, the United States today occupies an established and unchallenged leading role in the field of surgery. Renowned surgeon Seymour I. Schwartz, MD, gives a sweeping history of American surgical practice in "Gifted Hands: America"s Most Significant Contributions To Surgery" (Prometheus Books). He describes how surgery in the United States has advanced from the comparatively crude practices of pioneering physicians in the pre-Columbian and colonial eras to its current level of preeminence in scientific surgery today.
You can tell without looking whether you"ve been stuck by a pin or burnt by a match. But how? In research that overturns conventional wisdom, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), have shown that this sensory discrimination begins in the skin at the very earliest stages of neuronal information processing, with different populations of sensory neurons--called nociceptors--responding to different kinds of painful stimuli.
Experts estimate that over 24 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, and many of these people live in low- and middle-income countries. Recently, there has been growing interest in whether dietary factors, particularly oily fish and meat, might influence the onset and/or severity of dementia. Oily fish are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which some studies suggest are positively related to cognitive function in later life. Conversely, there is a suggestion from some studies that increased meat consumption may be related to cognitive decline. To examine this, a group of international researchers studied older people in 7 middle- to low-income countries. You can read the results of their study in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Luv N" Care Ltd. of Monroe, La., is initiating a nationwide recall of gel-filled teethers with the brand names "Nuby," "Cottontails" and "Playschool," because the liquid inside the gel-filled teethers has been found to contain Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus circulans bacteria in the gel.
A study which found up to one third of GPs are planning to retire early highlights the need for governments to boost support for general practice, AMA Federal President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today.
To improve access to highly specialized care and to further its commitment to patients suffering from spine-related disorders, Alvarado Hospital has opened the Advanced Spine Institute & Minimally Invasive Spine Center, a multi-specialty "one-stop" center dedicated to providing world-class care to patients with back, neck and complex spinal problems.
Researchers from the Coriell Institute for Medical Research and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) have announced the discovery of five sites of variation in the genome that are associated with blood pressure in African Americans.
American Medical Association sent a letter to House leaders supporting H.R. 3200, "America"s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."
Studies have estimated that five to
US Oncology, Inc. today announced that US Oncology Research will participate in the BiPar Sciences" Phase III, Multi-center, Open-Label, Randomized Trial of Gemcitabine/Carboplatin (G/C), with or without BSI-201, in patients with Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR), and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
Scientists have worked for 20 years to perfect gene therapy for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, which causes the body to produce dehydrated, thicker-than-normal mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life threatening infections.
In June 2009, newspapers reported that archaeologists in Germany had discovered a 35,000-year-old flute made of bird bone. It represented, one paper said, "the earliest known flowering of music-making in Stone Age culture." And we have been tapping our toes, humming along, singing and dancing ever since.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it has approved a vaccine for 2009-2010 seasonal influenza in the United
It is estimated that 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty, on less than $2 a day. In 2000, 189 nations declared that they would "free all men, women, and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty". These nations signed up to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to combat poverty by 2015. To help meet these complex challenges and "make poverty history" more knowledge and evidence is needed. A launch event Wednesday 22nd July 2009 at the Department for International Development (DFID) marks a new phase of research collaboration between the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and DFID which will provide more robust social science research to address poverty alleviation amongst the poorest countries and peoples of the world.
HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is pleased to announce the launch of Mambo Online (http://www.mambo.org.uk), a major website dedicated to raising awareness of HIV and sexual health specifically among African communities. The service will go live on 20 July.