Sexual Health
Once placed into a patient"s body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced it will begin enrolling patients this month in two separate but identical Phase III clinical trials of solanezumab(i), previously referred to as LY2062430, an anti-amyloid beta monoclonal antibody being investigated as a potential treatment to delay the progression of mild to moderate Alzheimer"s disease. The trials, called EXPEDITION and EXPEDITION 2, will each include a treatment period that lasts 18 months and are expected to enroll a total of 2,000 patients age 55 and over from 16 countries.
A simple genetic test can determine a kidney transplant patient"s tolerance for a potent anti-rejection medication, according to an upcoming study in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The test could allow doctors to individualize each patient"s dose, optimizing the drug"s benefits and minimizing its side effects.
In light of interest in the ongoing H1N1 influenza outbreak, several scientific papers are being published online ahead of schedule. A special supplement to the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) on influenza preparedness, in which these and other papers appear, will be published as scheduled later this year.
Invatec, a comprehensive innovator of interventional products, today announced the availability of its newly CE marked coronary balloon, the IN.PACT™ Falcon paclitaxel-eluting PTCA balloon catheter at the EuroPCR Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. This is one of the first drug-eluting balloons designed specifically to treat atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries and underscores Invatec"s commitment to robust scientific research into the reduction of re-intervention rates in the treatment of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).
Stromal Caveolin-1 Predicts Breast Cancer Prognosis
"The Supreme Court keeps finding ways to deny women equal pay and benefits," a New York Times editorial states in response to the court"s 7-2 ruling on Monday that employers are not required to award women credit toward pension benefits for pregnancy leave taken before Congress passed the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. According to the Times, the ruling reflects reasoning similar to the court"s 2007 decision in which it denied former Goodyear employee Lilly Ledbetter"s "claim for equal pay because it thought she waited too long to file it." In Monday"s decision, the majority "reasoned mainly that the pregnancy leaves predated the 1978 law, and since the law was not retroactive, the discrepancy in benefits was the product of "past completed events that were entirely lawful at the time they occurred,"" the editorial states. It notes that the majority included "two generally reliable votes for equality, Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter." The editorial continues, "This may sound logical, but it is not just." The editorial says that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in writing the dissent, "quite correctly" recognized a company"s "ongoing denial of equal benefits not as past discriminatory behavior that started and ended decades ago, but as a current violation of the act." In a similar way, "Goodyear discriminated against Lilly Ledbetter by maintaining her unequal pay for years, not merely the first time the company underpaid her." The Times calls on Congress to "write corrective legislation" on pregnancy leave (New York Times, 5/21).
Private Healthcare UK - the UK"s leading web portal for information on private treatment and private healthcare services and providers is now available on NetDoctor.co.uk.
The fitness mantra - Activity, Belief, Confidence, Diet and Exercise.
As employers increasingly offer no-cost preventive care as a means of controlling health costs, some people under such plans are being charged for services not deemed preventive by the insurer, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 72% of large employers in 2009 cover 100% of preventive care -- such as physicals, colonoscopies or mammograms -- for employees, an increase from 55% of large companies in 2008. The Journal reports that the charges often result from billing errors or from a physician"s office being unaware of an insurer"s procedures. Charges that are the result of billing errors often can be reversed. However, others -- such as a test or treatment not being defined by the insurer as preventive -- force some patients to "wage a protracted battle" to get the charges reversed, according to the Journal. When unexpected charges appear on patients" bills, physicians and employers often receive complaints but they have little control over how insurers classify treatments. The Journal reports that patients can prevent being charged for preventive services by checking with their insurer before seeking care; asking for specific, covered screenings and treatments at physicians" offices; reviewing explanation of benefits forms supplied by insurers; asking supervisors at insurers to review disputed claims; and seeking help from employees in company human re departments (Wilde Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 5/21).
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has asked HHS to give the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology authorization to determine which electronic health records systems can receive funding from the economic stimulus package, the Washington Post reports. In a letter dated April 27 to HHS officials, HIMSS officials wrote, "To ensure continuity, recognize CCHIT as the certifying body" of EHRs.Some health care industry officials have raised issue with giving CCHIT the responsibility of certifying EHR products because of the commission"s associations with various IT and health care companies, the Post reports. CCHIT has ties with HIMSS, which played a role in its inception in 2004 and is now managed by Mark Leavitt, the former chief medical officer of HIMSS. In 2005, the commission received a three-year, $7.5 million contract from HHS.According the Post, Internal Revenue Service tax documents show that HIMSS technically paid Leavitt"s salary through 2008, which was reimbursed by CCHIT. However, Leavitt said he is accountable only to CCHIT"s board members and he "was not supervised by HIMSS." He said he expects CCHIT will be "the body or one of several certifying bodies that are recognized" by HHS in part because it already is tasked with certifying health IT products. According to Leavitt, some of the commission"s critics are IT vendors who have failed to meet CCHIT"s standards. The Post reports that the provision in the stimulus package that requires health care providers to demonstrate "meaningful use" of health IT has become an issue because federal officials, IT systems vendors, and physicians and patient advocates have not been able to reach a consensus on the definition of meaningful use. Under the provision, providers must demonstrate meaningful use of health IT in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for adopting the technology (O"Harrow, Washington Post, 5/21). Blumenthal
"The Experts vs. The Public on Health Reform," Kaiser Family Foundation: In the column, Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman explores the "wide gulf on basic beliefs about what is behind the problems in the health care system and key elements of reform, especially delivery reform" between the public and experts. According to Altman, the differences "matter because key elements of health reform which elected officials expect to resonate with the public could get a decidedly less enthusiastic reception than expected if more is not done to close the gap in basic premises and beliefs between experts and the public." The column is the latest installment of a Foundation series, titled "Pulling It Together ... from Drew Altman" (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 5/19).
Scientists have uncovered how and why limbs are targeted by thalidomide - the drug that caused serious defects in babies whose mothers had taken it to relieve their morning sickness.
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that bipolar disorder (BPD) is a more costly chronic condition than diabetes, depression, asthma and coronary artery disease (CAD), based on a review of health care claim costs. Specialty care costs (the costs of seeing any specialist and all tests ordered) were especially higher for bipolar patients. Results of this review were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Francisco.
Women"s reproductive and lifestyle characteristics can be linked to different invasive breast cancer subtypes. Data on 2544 breast cancer cases, presented in the open access journal Breast Cancer Research, suggests that traditional risk factors for development of the condition are associated with different kinds of tumor.
Genta Incorporated (OTCBB:GNTA.OB) announced that the independent Data Monitoring Board (DMB) for AGENDA, a randomized Phase 3 trial of Genasense® in patients with advanced melanoma, has informed the Company that the study has passed its final futility analysis for progression-free survival (PFS). Accordingly, the Board has recommended that the study should continue to completion.
Lyrica is Pfizer"s trade name for a drug called pregabalin. Pregabalin is an anticonvulsant (anti-seizure) drug that is often used to treat neuropathic pain as well as partial seizures that are common in temporal lobe epilepsy. In Europe, pregabalin is also approved to treat generalized anxiety disorder.
First results from a large tissue survey in Britain of the agent that causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are unable so far to establish that the prevalence is lower than that given by previous estimates, concludes a study published on bmj.com today.
A scientific study has found further evidence that high blood pressure in adulthood is pre-programmed in the womb.
Three quarters (75%) of women with BV (Bacterial Vaginosis) admit the condition has prevented them from getting intimate with their partner, according to a new survey by Balance ActivTM Vaginal Gel.1 Sufferers reveal BV affects their personal relationships more than any other aspect of their lives, with one in ten sufferers resorting to ending relationships as a result of the embarrassing symptoms.1
Genomic Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GHDX) announced positive results from the landmark QUASAR validation study, which demonstrated that the Oncotype DX(R) colon cancer test can independently predict individual recurrence risk in stage II colon cancer patients following surgery. Importantly, the Oncotype DX colon cancer Recurrence Score(R) provided additional independent clinical value beyond standard measures. The study showed that the colon cancer Recurrence Score maintained significance (p=0.008), independent of mismatch repair (MMR), also known as MSI (Microsatellite Instability), T-stage, nodes examined, grade and lymphovascular invasion.
New research from the US suggests that people who drink from bottles made of polycarbonate plastic, such as that used to make hard-plastic
Type-2 diabetes patients who lose at least 5% of their body weight score significantly higher on health-related quality of life measures than those who gain 5%, according to a new Consumer Health Sciences (CHS) study presented today at the 14th Annual ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomic and Outcomes Research) Conference in Orlando, Florida. The benefits of weight loss are particularly dramatic for obese patients, who experience a sharp increase in quality of life scores with just a 5% weight reduction.
Workers in one of the largest PCT"s in the UK have been benefiting from a scheme that is part of the "improving working lives in the workplace" initiative. Since January 2009, training company, Ethos (Education, Training, Health and Online Service Ltd) have been working with staff across all disciplines within the trust including clinical and non-clinical staff on a programme of taster complementary therapy sessions.
UK charity the Blood Pressure Association has responded to the BMJ research paper "Use of blood pressure lowering drugs in the prevention of cardiovascular disease":
Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo, New York, are strongly advocating a national discussion about the need to vaccinate both young men and women against HPV 16 to prevent head & neck cancers. The call comes amid growing evidence that certain cancers of the head and neck are strongly linked to HPV 16, a specific strain of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. It is estimated that approximately 70% of Americans, both men and women, will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced it has been selected to help Ling Tung University build a smarter healthcare system to monitor the health of senior citizens in Taiwan anywhere, at anytime. The project is part of the university"s "Health-4U" program, which has been launched as response to the Senior U-Care Flagship Program initiated by the Department of Industrial Technology under Taiwan"s Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Alzheimer imaging aficionados thronged to back-to-back meetings held recently in Seattle for a preview of the latest data from the Alzheimer"s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Launched in the fall of 2004 and set to conclude next year, the $64-million ADNI is comparing imaging methods and fluid biomarkers in the same set of people to determine which measures can best predict and track Alzheimer-disease clinical changes over time. The project is approaching the homestretch of data collection. By the fall of 2010, ADNI scientists will have collected three years of longitudinal data from more than 800 participants (about 200 normal, 400 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 200 with Alzheimer disease) at 59 U.S. and Canadian sites. The Seattle meetings featured preliminary analysis of the one-year data.
Metabolic Solutions Development Company (MSDC) announced that its lead compound, MSDC-0160, can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood glucose levels in humans without the side effects of current therapies when taken over a 28-day period, according to preliminary data derived from the company"s Phase IIa clinical trial.
Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces and editorials regarding President Obama"s commencement address at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday. Summaries appear below.~ Austin Hill, U.S. News and World Report: A "careful look" at the controversy surrounding Notre Dame"s invitation to Obama "suggests that ... the Catholic Church in America is neither communicating very clearly to the broader American society, nor is it communicating very clearly among its own members," columnist Hill writes. Hill asks, "[I]f Catholics need to criticize a political figure even when he is "right" on the abortion issue, can they, or should they, praise a political figure even when he is "wrong" on the abortion issue" but "right" on other moral issues? He adds, "The bishops need to answer this question, in no uncertain terms, and they need to do so with clarity" (Hill, U.S. News and World Report, 5/20).~ William Saletan, Slate: Abortion is "the classic multidimensional issue," and "Obama"s acknowledgment of the issue"s complexity is important for two reasons," author and Slate correspondent Saletan writes. The first reason is that Obama is "dropping the pretense of a conclusive answer," and the second is that "even strategic symbolic dialogue can bring unforeseen consequences," Saletan writes (Saletan, Slate, 5/20).~ Julia Duin, Washington Times: A number of things "did not seem right" about Obama"s speech,"[e]specially about "common ground" on an issue that has none" -- abortion rights, columnist Duin writes. Duin asks, "Does this "common ground" idea really work? On peripheral issues, yes. On life-and-death issues, no." According to Duin, "It seems that one side of the debate is always told it needs to move to the center on a given issue, while the other side is told it needs to stand firm." She adds that Obama"s speech highlighted "a huge disconnect," possibly "that some issues don"t have a common ground" (Duin, Washington Times, 5/21).~ Marybeth Hicks, Washington Times: In his speech, Obama "shared a world view that people of all strongly held beliefs must consider: While we will never agree on certain matters of principle, we should still find ways to lift up mankind through cooperation and service and love," columnist Hicks writes. Hicks says that she would like "Obama to send a copy of that speech to Harry Knox" -- director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign and a member of Obama"s White House Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships -- because Knox "must learn to respect the right of Catholics and of our church to hold principled beliefs of our own" (Hicks, Washington Times, 5/20).~ Dallas Morning News: Obama "[o]nce again ... displayed his gift for making his most strident opponents marginalize themselves" by "com[ing] across as the kind of politician who genuinely sees those who disagree with him as opponents, not enemies," a Morning News editorial says. "When a strong abortion-rights supporter like Obama is not only honored at the nation"s most important Catholic university (in terms of cultural symbolism), but enthusiastically embraced, times are changing," it adds (Dallas Morning News, 5/18).~ Kansas City Star: Most Americans "have more in common with the 12,000 graduates, families and friends who were inside the Notre Dame arena than with the demonstrators outside" and "are willing to listen to different views and ... seek a middle ground that would lessen the [abortion] issue"s grip on political discourse," a Star editorial states. It continues, "Instead of ostracizing those of different views, Americans would do better to follow the path suggested by Obama: Reduce unintended pregnancies, make adoption more available and provide "care and support for women who do carry their children to term"" (Kansas City Star, 5/18).~ Baltimore Sun: Obama "met the challenge head-on" of speaking at Notre Dame amid the protests through "his faith in the ability of reasonable people to disagree and still find common gro
Implementing proposed reductions in the number of hours medical residents work could cost as much as $2.5 billion annually, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Baltimore Sun reports. The study follows an Institute of Medicine report that proposed reducing the maximum hours that residents can work without sleep from 30 to 16, increasing the number of days they must take off and improving their supervision (Desmon, Baltimore Sun, 5/21). In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education reduced the number of hours residents at teaching hospitals could work weekly from more than 100 hours to 80 hours. In the recent study, which was partially funded by IOM, researchers examined post-2003 literature on resident work hours and patient harm and evaluated it against additional labor costs. The authors concluded that the IOM recommendations "would be costly, and their effectiveness is unknown" (Shishkin, Wall Street Journal, 5/21). Teryl Nuckols, the lead author of the study, said that teaching hospitals would most likely need to hire more residents and experienced physicians to take care of patients, which would likely cost each teaching hospital $3.2 million annually (Baltimore Sun, 5/21). The study was accompanied by an NEJM editorial in which the authors "strongly disagree" with the IOM recommendations, claiming that reducing resident work hours "leads to an increase in the number of handoffs in care, and this increase outweighs the potential benefits of reducing residents" fatigue." The accreditation council said that more research is needed before it decides whether to adopt the IOM recommendations. The council"s decision will be announced in February 2010 (Wall Street Journal, 5/21).
Maryland Gov. Martin O"Malley (D) on Tuesday signed a bill making the state the first to require private insurance companies to offer physicians financial incentives for adopting electronic health records, the Baltimore Sun reports. Starting in 2011, insurers will have to provide physicians who adopt EHRs with increased reimbursements, a single sum payment or in-kind services that have monetary value. According to the Sun, physicians who do not adopt EHR systems by 2015 could face penalties. The bill also requires Maryland to establish a health information exchange that eventually will link all the state"s physicians, hospitals, medical laboratories and pharmacies. Last summer, the Maryland Health Care Commission asked two state physician groups to develop and launch pilot health information exchange programs in an effort to see how a state system should work. Groups wanting to design the statewide system have until June 12 to submit applications to the commission, which will award the contract in August. The seed money for the system will come in part from stimulus funds and from hospitals fees. According to state Health Secretary John Colmers, the network is likely to be gradually phased in with the first elements coming online as early as fall. Colmers said that he expects "fairly rapid adoption" of the information exchange system, adding that "with the incentives in the stimulus package and in this bill beginning to go into effect in 2011, it will be important for it to be certainly ramped up and ready to operate by then." O"Malley said, "This is where government and private health care providers can come together to really improve not only the quality of care but also, hopefully, create some cost savings as well." Colmers said, "The goal here in Maryland was to assure that all of the payers pull their oars in the same direction," adding that the promise of EHRs "comes when it"s done in a coordinated fashion, across all payers" (Brown/Brewington, Baltimore Sun, 5/19).
Two-thirds of HIV-positive pregnant women in the developing world do not have access to treatment to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, which could lead to 370,000 new HIV cases annually among infants, according to a study released Thursday by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, Bloomberg reports (Chase, Bloomberg, 5/21). Of the 1.5 million HIV-positive pregnant women each year in the developing world, about one-third receive any kind of drug therapy at all, the report said, adding that most of the treatment is inadequate and fails to prevent MTCT. According to the report, eight years after world governments pledged to cut the number HIV cases among infants in half by 2010, only about 8% of pregnant women in developing countries are receiving the complete triple-dose combination therapy widely used in wealthy nations (York, Globe and Mail, 5/22). The report cited poor government and donor coordination, as well as funding gaps, as the main reasons many women do not obtain the treatment, Stephen Lewis, founder of AIDS-Free World and a co-author of the report, said (Bloomberg, 5/21). According to the report, there is a "shocking lack of consistency and coordination" between governments and agencies, and about 18% of pregnant women worldwide were offered HIV tests in 2007. In addition, there is an acute shortage of prevention and counseling services for women, the report said. It added that one of the largest issues is a lack of counseling on infant feeding, as most women are not properly counseled and advice sometimes can lead to a bias toward using formula over breastfeeding. Lewis also criticized United Nations health agencies for claims that an increasing number of pregnant women in developing countries are gaining treatment access. He added that the large majority of such women do not have access to the complete triple-dose treatment. "It makes the access a simple mockery," Lewis said.The report found that in 61 countries -- such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, India and Nigeria -- more than three-quarters of HIV-positive pregnant women do not receive any drug treatment for PMTCT. It said that the world is tolerating a "shameful example of double standards" because MTCT has been virtually eliminated in wealthy nations, where most HIV-positive pregnant women have access to the complete drug regimen (Globe and Mail, 5/22).According to Bloomberg, most HIV-positive pregnant women who do have access to prevention services in developing countries receive nevirapine for PMTCT, which is 40% effective at reducing transmission. Nevirapine can so lead to drug-resistant strains of HIV from developing, Bloomberg reports. Boehringer Ingelheim, which manufactures nevirapine, provides the drug at no-cost to pregnant HIV-positive women in developing countries, according to Bloomberg. According to CDC, the availability of PMTCT services in the U.S. has reduced the number of HIV cases in infants by more than 90%.Officials from UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and 20 international groups are expected to meet this week in Nairobi, Kenya, to launch a campaign aimed at improving access to PMTCT services, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said. Gregg Gonsalves, head of ITPC, said, "For millions of women, maternal and child health is about HIV/AIDS and we have failed them" (Bloomberg, 5/21). He added, "Our failure to prevent HIV transmission to babies is truly a failure to prevent disease progression in women living with HIV. If we treat mothers properly, if we treat women properly for their own health, we would have few or no HIV infections in babies" (VOA News, 5/21). Sidibe said, "There has been some progress" in PMTCT services, but added, "Overall coverage is still very low for this proven, inexpensive and effective intervention." Sidibe said that UNAIDS "agree[s] with the report that the combination of stigma, fragmented health services, inadequate knowledge within the community and insufficient political leadership are root causes of low coverage" (Bloomberg, 5/21). UNAIDS also has called for the
Boxer Evander Holyfield will fight Sammy Retta on July 26 in Ethiopia in an effort to raise money for HIV/AIDS organizations, Reuters India reports. Event organizers hope to raise between $5 million and $10 million from the fight. "I continue to strive to be the very best, but what got me to come here is" HIV/AIDS, Holyfield said, adding, "If we don"t find a cure to this, we"ll be extinct." According to Everton Boland -- CEO of Golden Globe, which is promoting the fight -- a significant portion of money raised will go directly to organizations addressing HIV/AIDS. Organizers said that a group established by African first ladies is the only recipient selected to date but they are considering others (Malone, Reuters India, 5/20).
Colorectal cancer is thought to result from a combination of environmental factors: diet, lifestyle, chronic inflammation and accumulation of specific genetic alterations. The pathogenesis and development of colorectal cancer involves multi-genes and multi-steps. TSPAN1 (GenBank Accession No. AF065388) is a new member of TM4SF located at chromosome 1 p34.1. It encodes a 241 amino acid protein. TSPAN1 was reported as a tumor-related gene recently.
Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CADX) announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational product candidate, Acetavance(TM) (intravenous acetaminophen), for the treatment of acute pain and fever in adults and children. If approved, Acetavance would become the first new intravenous analgesic approved in the United States in more than 20 years and the only approved intravenous agent for the treatment of fever in the United States.
Americans trying to eat healthier are looking to nutrition labels to help make better choices at the grocery store. But consumers who take those labels at face value may find they"re not eating as healthy as they think.
Commenting in response to the Public Accounts Select Committee report into financial management in the NHS, which highlighted the service had a ÷£1.7 billion surplus at the end of 2007/8, The King"s Fund"s Chief Executive Niall Dickson said:
Two leading HIV charities have today launched a guide for people living with HIV in England and Wales explaining criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission.
As the nation debates health reform options, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) is launching Transforming Care for Dual Eligibles , a state initiative to test innovative care models for people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid ("dual eligibles"). Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont will implement strategies to improve care and control costs for dual eligibles, a high-need population with health care costs nearly five times those of other Medicare beneficiaries. The program is made possible through support from The Commonwealth Fund.
Since 2000, nearly 1,000 "retail clinics" -- offering routine care like sports physicals and immunizations and treatment for minor illnesses like strep throat -- have opened their doors inside pharmacies and grocery stores across the United States. Retail chain operators proposed that the new clinics would improve access to medical care among uninsured or underserved populations. However, these clinics have been opened more often in higher-income areas that are less likely to be classified as medically underserved, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine published in the May 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
UroToday.com - "Urgency" is the cornerstone of the diagnosis of overactive bladder (OAB) as well as a common complaint of patients with BPS/IC. What the term actually refers to when used by patients remains problematic and the subject of some controversy. The International Continence Society defines it as a "sudden compelling desire to void that is difficult to defer". The word sudden is designed to differentiate the sensation from the "urgency" that patients with BPS/IC complain of, but the distinction is quite vague in practice. Many believe that it is the reason for the urgency (fear of incontinence vs. pain) that should make the distinction.
UroToday.com - Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Cigarette smoke contains a variety of carcinogenic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, heterocyclic aromatic amines and N-nitrosamines. Among the N-nitrosamines present in cigarette smoke, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) is the most abundant and the most potent in terms of carcinogenicity.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, has written to the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, to request that he intervenes to ensure that the UK does not lose further doctors as a result of recent changes to the immigration system. The changes restrict international medical students, who are studying in the UK, from continuing with their medical training beyond the two-year postgraduate Foundation Programme.
Primary care physicians in Ontario, Canada who volunteered to adopt the new capitation model for payment, compared with those who opted for an enhanced fee-for-service model, had fewer sick patients, less after-hours billing, more patients who visited the emergency department and fewer new patients, found a new study in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pgE72.pdf (http://www.cmaj.ca).
Children of parents who refuse vaccines are 23 times more likely to get whooping cough compared to fully immunized children, according to a new study led by a vaccine research team at Kaiser Permanente Colorado"s Institute for Health Research.
In a new study published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, scientists use the zebrafish to gain insight into the influence of known cancer genes on the development and progression of melanoma, an aggressive form of human skin cancer with limited treatment options.
Thank parasites for making some of our immune proteins into the inflammatory defenders they are today, according to a population genetics study that will appear in the June 8 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online May 25). The study, conducted by a team of researchers in Italy, also suggests that you might blame parasites for sculpting some of those genes into risk factors for intestinal disorders.
Although teen depression poses a widespread problem for which proven treatments exist, few depressed teens receive any care.
At the 50th Annual Trumpet Awards Luncheon at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Sandra R. Gordon received one of the most coveted public relations awards from the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC). As the director of public relations at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Sandra was the lead visionary and creative force for their organization"s multi-faceted special event "Seventy-five Years of Orthopaedic Surgery".
U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) commended the Departments of Justice (DoJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) for their decision to focus on detecting, preventing, and prosecuting Medicare fraud cases.
ReachMD, which provides medical news and information to healthcare practitioners, is raising its profile with the Continuing Medical Education, or CME, application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. This is the first CME application that lets users listen to all ReachMD Continuing Medical Education content, get regular updates on new Continuing Medical Education content and take Continuing Medical Education tests for credit, all from their iPhone or iPod touch.
Amid emerging concerns that blood platelets donated for transfusion by individuals with Type 2 diabetes may be unsafe, scientists are reporting the first detailed identification and analysis of a group of abnormal proteins in platelets from diabetic donors. The study could lead to screening tests to detect and monitor these so-called "high risk platelets," the researchers say. Their study is scheduled for the June 5 issue of ACS" Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication. About 18 million people in the United States have Type 2 diabetes, and the disease is spreading with the epidemic of obesity.
American climber Lori Schneider of the US State of Wisconsin has become what is believed to be the first person with diagnosed multiple sclerosis to get to the top of Mt Everest. Lori Schneider, aged 52, reached the top of the world in the early hours of Saturday morning London time, carrying with her a banner celebrating the upcoming World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day on Wednesday 27 May (http://www.worldmsday.org). The banner reads: "Join the Global Movement. End MS!" (Note to picture editors: photo will be available as soon as Lori Schneider descends).
AltheaDx, a world leader in the development of companion diagnostics and biopharma services, announced that they have successfully passed the State of California survey for CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certification. AltheaDx is offering high-quality patient and biopharma molecular testing services from their state-of-the-art, GMP, GLP, and now CLIA compliant facility located in the Sorrento Valley, San Diego.
Medicines Australia chief executive Ian Chalmers said tonight he was disappointed by
Accumetrics, Inc. announces that it has enrolled its 1,000th patient
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, together with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), announced that its landmark study comparing the safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents and bare-metal stents was published in the May 7 New England Journal of Medicine. The study, HORIZONS-AMI (Harmonizing Outcomes with RevascularIZatiON and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction), showed that in heart attack patients undergoing angioplasty, the use of paclitaxel-eluting stents reduces rates of target lesion revascularization (TLR) and binary angiographic restenosis when compared to the use of bare-metal stents after one year.
It is estimated that up to 30 percent of all people who have surgery experience gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea and vomiting. The use of opioid pain medicines during and after surgery is a leading risk factor for experiencing these side effects. Nausea and vomiting are uncomfortable and bothersome and can have an impact on a patient"s recovery.
Surgeons told Donald Bickford, 71, that due to the weakened condition of his lungs, ordinary surgery was not an option for removing his lung tumor. To treat the tumor, Arul Mahadevan, MD, radiation oncologist at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital here, prescribed a type of non-invasive radiosurgery using the Novalis Tx(TM) platform from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) and BrainLAB.
Mayo Clinic researchers are reporting positive results in early leukemia clinical trials using the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an active ingredient in green tea. The trial determined that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can tolerate the chemical fairly well when high doses are administered in capsule form and that lymphocyte count was reduced in one-third of participants. The findings appear today online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Philadelphia"s Wistar Institute has been issued U.S. patent No. 7,527,798 for a synthetic vaccine technology with the potential to be developed into a universal flu vaccine that could eliminate annual flu shots and protect against pandemics. Wistar is seeking a corporate partner to license and develop the vaccine, which has been tested in animals and currently is in prototype form. The patent pertains to technology developed by Walter Gerhard, professor emeritus and former professor of immunology at Wistar, and Laszlo Otvos, formerly an associate professor of immunology at Wistar. The vaccine prototype contains an engineered peptide that mimics a viral coat protein called M2 that remains largely constant from year to year.
An innovative hand dryer aimed at cutting the risk of healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) has been launched for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations by NHS Supply Chain.
Victorian stem cell scientists from the Australian Stem Cell Centre, Monash University and the Florey Neuroscience Institutes are the first recipients of collaborative grants under the Victoria-California Stem Cell Alliance.
Specialty clinics that provide family planning services in Texas have seen a significant decrease in state funding over the past four years because lawmakers have redirected millions of dollars to expand family planning at community health centers, the Dallas Morning News reports. The funding changes began in 2005, when lawmakers said they were shifting funding to community health centers because they offered more comprehensive health care to low-income patients. Advocates for the family planning clinics argue that the policy is an attempt by antiabortion-rights advocates to shut the clinics down. Although clinics that receive state funding are prohibited from offering abortion services, some conservative lawmakers believe that limiting the funding will hurt groups like Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion services at other locations, according to some family planning advocates. The Morning News reports that state lawmakers might return some of the funding to the specialty clinics during the current legislative session; however, the funding only would equal any money left unused by the community health centers.The most significant funding change occurred in 2005, when almost 25% of the state"s $45 million annual family planning budget was set aside for "federally qualified health centers" -- community health centers that offer services to uninsured and underserved people. Advocates for family planning clinics say that the number of patients receiving state-funded reproductive services declined by nearly 22%, from 326,000 patients in 2005 to 255,000 in the last fiscal year. They also note that the community health centers have an unused surplus of more than $11.5 million since 2005, which they say the family planning clinics could have used.According to the Morning News, many public health experts believe that specialty clinics that have family planning services offer more efficient and effective reproductive care than community health centers. David Warner, a health care finance and policy expert at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said the specialty clinics are "very targeted" and "don"t have a lot of overhead," whereas the community clinics have "limited enrollment and can be a lot less accessible." He added, "Continuing to starve those clinics means that you"re not going to be reaching the number of people you could be reaching with family planning services." Family planning clinics in Texas offer more than a dozen services ranging from birth control prescriptions to breast and cervical cancer screening and sexually transmitted infection testing. However, reproductive health advocates say many people often associate the clinics with abortion services, which gives antiabortion-rights lawmakers an incentive to shut down the clinics by withholding funding. Fran Hagerty, CEO of the Women"s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, said, "Some lawmakers believe if they can prevent Planned Parenthood from participating in the state"s family planning program, then they"ve accomplished their goal."Supporters of community health centers say that billing issues and other administrative problems have distorted their data on how many reproductive health patients they are treating. Many women receive care at the community centers for family planning services along with treatment of other health problems, so they often are not recorded as reproductive health patients, according to the centers (Ramshaw, Dallas Morning News, 5/22).
Physicians can now provide potentially safer and more accurate diagnostic procedures with the first and only high-definition endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) needle technology. Cook Medical, the only full-line supplier of endoscopic medical devices, has designed a complete line of high-definition EUS biopsy needles that are up to three-times brighter than others on the market. With the addition of the 19 and 25 gage EchoTip® Ultra with High Definition Fine Needle Aspiration (HDFNA™) needles, the EchoTip Ultra HDFNA represents the next level of precision in EUS, an essential diagnostic tool that yields more accurate images of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract than traditional ultrasound and provides minimally invasive access to areas that are traditionally difficult to reach.
Most retail health clinics are located in more affluent areas of the U.S., rather than in low-income, medically underserved neighborhoods, according to a study published on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the AP/Washington Times reports. For the study, researchers mapped 930 retail clinics operating in 2008 and used U.S. census data to evaluate the overall income and racial characteristics of the neighborhoods where clinics were located. In counties with at least one retail health clinic, researchers compared census areas with and without retail clinics. According to the study, 123 clinics were in communities classified by the federal government as medically underserved. Communities with clinics had lower percentages of black and Hispanic residents, lower poverty rates, higher homeownership rates and higher median incomes, according to the study.Ateev Mehrotra of the University of Pittsburgh said, "Many people have promoted retail clinics as a cure for access to care for the underserved," adding, "These findings show that"s unlikely to happen." Lead study author Craig Pollack of the University of Pennsylvania said the study"s results suggest financial incentives might be needed to bring clinics to low-income communities (Johnson, AP/Washington Times, 5/26).
Children"s behavior is determined, in part, by their genes and by the settings in which they develop. A new longitudinal study describes how a family-based prevention program helped rural African American teens avoid engaging in risky behaviors, even if some of them may have had a genetic risk to do so.
A study published in the June issue of Anesthesiology has shown that a drug metabolite of the opioid morphine may be a key factor in the paradoxical increased sensitivity to pain caused by chronic morphine use. For the first time, this metabolite (called morphine-6 glucuronide, or M6G) was shown to act independently of the pain receptors typically targeted during morphine administration.
CircuLite®, Inc. will be participating at the 2009 American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) conference in conjunction with the 5th International Conference on Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support Systems & Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Perfusion (PEDS) held May 28 - 30, 2009 in Dallas, with a booth display featuring it"s Synergy® Pocket Circulatory Assist Device. Synergy is the first micro-pump designed for long-term, partial circulatory support to improve the quality of life for a broad range of chronic heart failure patients.
Anaphylaxis Canada is responding to the growing public health challenge of keeping teens and young adults with potentially life-threatening food allergies safe by creating a number of interactive tools including a groundbreaking new website, http://www.whyriskit.ca, an online "Reaction Registry" and radio podcasts. These tools are part of a comprehensive new strategy to help allergic youth manage risky situations by reaching out to them in forums in which they are comfortable.
President Obama on Wednesday said he would review potential Supreme Court nominees to replace retiring Justice David Souter over the weekend, prompting those involved with the process to believe he will make an announcement within days, the Washington Post reports. Obama was speaking to a group of senators that included Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the committee"s ranking Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). According to White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs, Obama told the senators that he "would choose a nominee who respects the Constitution and judicial precedent and also has the good judgment and common sense to reach fair decisions" (Murray, Washington Post, 5/14). Although a list of six to eight potential names has been circulating in public, a White House official said an official pick is not likely to be announced before Memorial Day (Weisman, Wall Street Journal, 5/14).During the meeting, the president also urged senators to act quickly during the confirmation hearing so the new justice is confirmed prior to the court"s next session, which begins in October. Obama told Reid that the goal was to hold the confirmation vote before the Senate leaves for its summer recess, for which the official adjournment date is Aug. 7 (Washington Post, 5/14). However, Republican members at the meeting "poured cold water on that idea," the Journal reports. According to McConnell, 60 days usually passes between the naming of a nominee and the first confirmation hearing in the Judiciary Committee. According to the Journal, Obama is aiming to avoid partisan controversy over the summer and "ease his choice onto the court." Obama "got a lift" from Sessions during the meeting when the senator indicated that a filibuster attempt is not in the works, the Journal reports (Weisman, Wall Street Journal, 5/14).Court Watchers Say Next Pick Likely To Be a WomanWhile there has been much speculation on who will be nominated, court watchers have said Souter"s successor likely will be a woman, as the "lack of women [on the court] is widely perceived as the gap that most needs to be addressed," the Journal reports. Advocates for a female nominee argue that the need for a woman on the court is not only a matter of perception. Hannah Brenner, executive director of the University of Texas Center for Women in Law, said that the U.S. and the court benefit from justices with differing experiences and viewpoints. She added that "there is no one who can argue there is not (an) overwhelming number of qualified women who could be nominated to the court" (Forsyth, Wall Street Journal, 5/14).NPR"s "All Things Considered" reports that a list of potential nominees circulating in the public includes the following names: Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals judge in New York; Diane Wood of Chicago"s federal appeals court; Elena Kagan, the new solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean; Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D); and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Merrick Garland of the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court is the only male included on the list. The "triumvirate mentioned most often" is Sotomayor, Wood and Kagan, "All Things Considered" reports (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 5/13).However, some critics -- namely conservatives -- say that there is danger in using gender or race as the primary criteria for selecting a nominee, arguing that such an approach could cause justices to believe they need to reflect the views of a particular group instead of act as a neutral figure. Stephen Presser, a legal historian at Northwestern University, said, "You have to be very careful of having the court be a representative body and thinking about it in political terms, because that weakens the rule of law." Deborah Rhode, director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University, said that studies show a justice"s legal ideology to be a greater predictor of decisions than his or
Almost 40% of U.S. births in 2007 occurred among unmarried women, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"s National Center for Health Statistics, the Washington Post reports. About 1.7 million infants were born to unmarried women in 2007, representing a 26% increase over the 1.4 million in 2002 and more than double the number in 1980. Unmarried women accounted for 39.7% of all U.S. births in 2007, up from 34% in 2002 and more than double the percentage in 1980, according to the report, which studied birth certificates nationwide.Women in their 20s and 30s are the biggest drivers of the trend, with out-of-wedlock births in this age group increasing from a rate of 13% to 34% between 2002 and 2006, according to the report (Stein/St. George, Washington Post, 5/14). For example, the birthrate for unmarried women ages 30 to 34 rose by 34% in 2007 compared with 2002 (Harris, New York Times, 5/14). Sixty percent of births to women ages 20 to 24 were to unmarried women, compared to 52% in 2002. In addition, 32% of births to women 25 to 29 were to unmarried women, compared to 25% in 2002, the report shows (Jayson, USA Today, 5/14). Overall, women in their 20s made up 60% of U.S. unmarried births in 2007, while teens accounted for 23% and women ages 30 and older accounted for 17% (New York Times, 5/13). Unmarried Hispanic women gave birth at a rate of 106 births per 1,000 unmarried women. The rate was 72 per 1,000 for blacks, 32 per 1,000 for whites and 26 per 1,000 for Asians. The rates for blacks and Hispanics rose the fastest, according to the report (Washington Post, 5/14). Compared with other countries, the U.S. rate of unmarried births was near the middle of the 14 countries included in the report (USA Today, 5/14).Although researchers did research the reasons for the trend, they cited several factors that in combination likely affected the rate, including a decrease in the social stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births, an increasing number of couples putting off or forgoing marriage, and growing numbers of financially independent, older or single women who choose to have children on their own (Washington Post, 5/14). Researchers noted that most of the increase in these births was among parents who live together but are not married (New York Times, 5/13)."I think this is the tipping point," Rosanna Hertz of Wellesley College said, adding, "This is becoming increasingly the norm. The old adage that "first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage" just no longer holds true." Hertz added, "Women can have children on their own, and it"s not going to destroy your employment, and it"s not going to mean that you"ll be made a pariah by the community. It"s much more socially acceptable." Sarah Brown of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said, "I look at this and say, maybe this trend is what young adults want or stumble into, but it"s not in the best interest of children" (Washington Post, 5/14).
Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN) today announced it has received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the Company"s Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for BOTOX® (Botulinum Toxin Type A) to treat upper limb spasticity in post-stroke adults. Allergan submitted its sBLA for this indication in the third quarter of 2008.
Affymax, Inc. (Nasdaq:AFFY) today announced data from a post hoc analysis of 120 patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial of Hematide™ in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. The data suggest that there is no major impact of baseline renal function as measured by Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) on the monthly Hematide dose required to increase and maintain hemoglobin (Hgb) values within target range in non-dialysis CKD patients. The data were presented by Iain C. Macdougall, M.D. at the World Congress of Nephrology meeting being held in Milan, Italy.
A group of cancer patients, genetic researchers and professional pathologist organizations has filed a lawsuit against Myriad Genetics and the U.S. Patent Office over the patent of two genes associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the government more than 10 years ago granted Myriad the patent on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, as well as the company"s genetic test that measures a patient"s risk for the cancers.The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and is believed to be the first of its kind, the Times reports. The lawsuit challenges the decision to grant patents on genes to Myriad and companies like it. The plaintiffs say that patents on genes restrict medical and research efforts, while companies like Myriad have said that the patent system supports innovation by giving them a temporary monopoly after they make a discovery, thereby rewarding prior investment in research and development.Wendy Chung, the director of clinical genetics at Columbia University and a plaintiff in the case, said, "With a sole provider, there"s mediocrity." The plaintiffs say that BRCA testing would improve with market competition. Furthermore, some plaintiffs argue that certain natural materials cannot be patented. Jan Nowak, president of the Association for Molecular Pathology and a plaintiff in the case, said, "You can"t patent my DNA, any more than you can patent my right arm, or patent my blood."To date, two government panels, including the National Research Council, found no evidence that gene patents result in significant impediments to research or medical care (Schwartz, New York Times, 5/13).
Roche Diagnostics announced the launch of a new tuberculosis test for South Africa. Worldwide, South Africa is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of tuberculosis. The new kit detects different species of Mycobacterium from human sputum samples using the LightCycler® 2.0 Instrument.
Ceregene, Inc. reported additional clinical data from a double-blind, controlled Phase 2 trial of CERE-120 in 58 patients with advanced Parkinson"s disease. CERE-120 uses AAV-based gene therapy to deliver the neurotrophic factor, neurturin, to Parkinson"s disease patients in order to restore the function and protect degenerating nigrostriatal neurons. The company previously announced that the Phase 2 trial did not meet its primary endpoint of improvement in the Unified Parkinson"s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor off score at 12 months of follow-up, although several secondary endpoints suggested a modest clinical benefit.
PAREXEL International Corporation (Nasdaq: PRXL), a leading global biopharmaceutical services provider, announced it has reached a milestone in managing oncology-based clinical trials over the last five years, which have involved over 175,000 patients in hundreds of programs across 80 countries. PAREXEL will be marking this milestone during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held May 29 - June 2, 2009 in Orlando, Florida. PAREXEL"s hematology and oncology experts will be available during the ASCO meeting at Booth #1980 to discuss their capabilities to support the successful development of novel cancer treatments.
Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced the results of a national Harris Interactive, Inc. survey indicating that the vast majority of oncologists and infectious disease (ID) specialists are highly concerned about the negative impact infection may have on treatment outcomes in chemotherapy patients, as well as emerging antibiotic resistance. Nearly all oncologists surveyed (92 percent) believe it is important for cancer patients to prevent infections to achieve successful treatment outcomes. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern among the majority of physicians surveyed, with 96 percent of ID specialists and 79 percent of oncologists reporting an increase in antibiotic-resistant infections in cancer patients over the past five years. Both groups of physicians report methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections as the most commonly observed in chemotherapy patients.
A pain condition common in people with migraines also has a high prevalence in patients with cluster headache, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Jefferson Headache Center at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience.
President Obama on Tuesday in his official announcement of his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court emphasized what he called her "extraordinary journey" from a modest background to the top of the judiciary, launching a "confirmation battle that he hopes to wage over biography more than ideology," the New York Times reports. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court, as well as the sixth of the court"s current members with a Roman Catholic background, the Times reports (Baker/Zeleny, New York Times, 5/27). Sotomayor would replace retiring Justice David Souter, who typically is a liberal vote on social issues, the Wall Street Journal reports. Therefore, the addition of Sotomayor would not likely change the ideological balance of the court (Bravin/Koppel, Wall Street Journal, 5/27). The Washington Post reports Obama in his remarks cast Sotomayor "as the embodiment of the qualities he seeks in a judge," including superior intelligence, an understanding of the limited role of the judiciary and what he called "an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live" (Barnes/Fletcher, Washington Post, 5/27). The president said he wants Sotomayor to be confirmed before the Senate leaves in August for its summer recess, so she can join the court in time for its September review of potential cases. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the Senate has "ample time" to complete the confirmation process, as the average time span is 72 days and there are 74 until the recess (Koffler, Roll Call, 5/26). Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) praised Obama"s decision, calling Sotomayor"s record "exemplary" and her nomination "historic." Leahy noted that both former President George H.W. Bush and former President Clinton nominated Sotomayor to federal judgeships, adding, "She has been nominated by both Democratic and Republican presidents, and she was twice confirmed by the Senate with strong, bipartisan support" (Stanton, Roll Call, 5/26).Rulings on Abortion Rights Throughout her career as a federal judge, Sotomayor has not issued what are considered major decisions regarding abortion rights, although her record on cases involving civil and social rights issues appear "more liberal than not," according to the New York Times (Liptak, New York Times, 5/27). Politico reports that Sotomayor has ruled in favor of antiabortion-rights groups in two cases. The first case occurred in 2002 when she sided with the Bush administration in its efforts to implement the "global gag rule," which banned federal funding for international family planning groups that offer abortion services or information with their own funds. Sotomayor ruled that the government had the right to decide how to spend its funding. In 2004, Sotomayor ruled in favor of antiabortion-rights protesters who alleged that they were brutalized while being arrested in West Hartford, Conn. (Gerstein/Javers, Politico, 5/26). Gibbs said that Obama did not ask Sotomayor about issues related to abortion during her vetting and there was "no litmus test" on abortion-rights issues (Koffler, Roll Call, 5/26).Obama"s announcement was well-received by many groups that support abortion rights. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan said the group is anticipating more information about Sotomayor"s views on abortion rights and the right to privacy. She added that the group is "encouraged by the strong support she receives from her peers and other legal scholars and the fact that the Senate has twice confirmed her for federal judgeships" (Posner, Congress Daily, 5/26). Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women, said that Sotomayor "brings a lifelong commitment to equality, justice and opportunity, as well as the respect of her peers, unassailable integrity and a keen intellect informed by experience." Gandy added that Obama "said he wanted a justice with "towering intellect" and a "common to
Nearly 1,200 community health centers nationwide have received a boost of funding from the federal economic stimulus package, which is helping some of the facilities that were on the verge of closing remain open and continue treating low-income and uninsured patients, PBS" "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" reports. More people are seeking care at such facilities as they lose their jobs and employer-sponsored health insurance as a result of the economic recession. At the same time, funding for the centers has dropped because of cutbacks in state and local funding and lower not-for-profit donations and grants. The stimulus package provides a total of $20 billion for clinics to maintain and increase services. "NewsHour" profiles community health centers in Lorain, Ohio, which likely would have closed without the additional funds from the economic stimulus package (Bowser, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 5/26).
The California Medical Association praised state lawmakers for ordering an audit of Medi-Cal"s costly Treatment Authorization Request (TAR) process today and said the state should streamline the program and use the savings to pay for health care for children.
A Canadian researcher working in the U.K. says doctors, authors and educators are doing hyperactive children a disservice by claiming that hyperactivity as we understand it today has always existed.
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are reminding Canadians that fresh fiddleheads should be properly cooked before being consumed.
A report released by the consumer health organization Families USA spotlights a growing crisis among insured families, as rising health care costs devour a growing portion of their pre-tax income.
A new instrument for improving patient understanding and acceptance of long-acting injectable antipsychotic therapy (LAT) has been published in the April edition of Psychiatry 2009.1 This novel, psychosocial approach encompasses Goal setting, Action planning, Initiating treatment, and Nurturing motivation (GAIN) through the use of a clinical discussion tool.
Immunology researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how two biochemical signals play unique roles in promoting the development of a group of immune cells employed as tactical assassins.