Mental Health
A radically different approach to choosing the best treatment options for early breast cancer has been proposed by an international panel of experts in a report from the 11th St Gallen conference.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is calling on health practitioners and staff across England and Wales to follow recommendations, issued recently, to improve patient safety for children and young people.
AARP announced its endorsement of the
The following statement can be attributed to Steven G. Hentges, Ph.D. of the American Chemistry Council"s (ACC) Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group. Dr. Hentges" comments are in regard to a study from researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The study, "Neonatal bisphenol A exposure alters rat reproductive development and ovarian morphology without impairing activation of gonadotropin releasing hormone neurons," was funded by NIEHS and published online June 17 by the journal Biology of Reproduction. The study was co-authored by Heather B. Patisaul and Heather B. Adewale of NCSU and Wendy N. Jefferson and Retha R. Newbold of NIEHS.
A more effective way to build plastic scaffolds on which new tissues and even whole organs might be grown in the laboratory is being developed by an international collaboration between teams in Portugal and the UK.
Poor egg handling practices in restaurants and takeaways could be putting UK consumers at risk, reveals a new report from the Health Protection Agency and LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services).
The American Cancer Society - the nation"s leading voluntary health organization and largest non-governmental funder of cancer research and discovery - will present its Corporate Impact Awards June 19 during the Society-hosted Corporate Impact Conference in Chicago. The awards will recognize companies" engagement in targeted efforts to significantly impact cancer"s effect on the workplace, where disease-related expenditures and lost productivity costs annually surpass $228 billion; in contributing funds to the American Cancer Society to fight the disease; and in addressing responsible community involvement.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday declared its first-ever "public health emergency," asbestos contamination near Libby and Troy, Mont., northwestern mining towns, the Associated Press reports. "Asbestos contamination from a now-closed vermiculite mine has been cited in the deaths of more than 200 people and illnesses of thousands more. Before the vermiculite mine was closed in 1990, miners carried asbestos home on their clothes. Vermiculite once covered school running tracks in Libby and some residents used vermiculite as mulch in their home gardens."
"California will not be saving money," in its proposal to cut funding from HIV/AIDS programs, including the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program, Ken Owens, member of the Inland Empire HIV Planning Council and former member of the Desert AIDS Client Committee, writes in a Desert Sun opinion piece. He adds, "Instead, it will have more people looking for places to live and needing more state services because they are sick, need welfare funds and state healthcare." Owens continues, "Their plan of balancing the budget will surely cost lives if HIV/AIDS funding is cut" (Owens, Desert Sun, 6/18).
The Ugandan ministry of health said that everyone in the country will receive free insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to prevent malaria beginning in September, James Kakooza, the state minister for primary health care, said, New Vision/allAfrica.com reports. Kakooza said children and mothers will be the priority, but that the goal is to make the 17.4 million imported ITNs available to everyone. The ITNs will supplement 6 million ITNs that were distributed over the last three years, Richard Ndyomugyenyi, the malaria control program officer, said.
"Decibels for Life", the new campaign from Siemens Hearing Instruments, has been launched to maintain awareness of hearing loss. It will also champion hearing innovations that help overcome impairments leading to an improved quality of life.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham has congratulated NHS staff for their success in meeting the Government"s target to reduce Clostridium. difficile (C. difficile) infections by 30 per cent two years ahead of schedule.
The NHS is taking a step closer to ending regional variation in the provision of IVF to couples who are unable to conceive naturally, Public Health Minister Gillian Merron announced today.
The General Dental Council (GDC) is welcoming a change in the law that regulates who can and who can"t request an emergency supply of a prescription-only medicine in the UK.
Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) has reached critical levels in modern-day warfare. The current issue of Journal of Neurotrauma focuses on the intensive efforts to develop effective treatment strategies and model systems for studying the cause and effects of explosive blast TBI. This special issue of Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is free online.
Natural Standard Research Collaboration invites researchers to submit articles to Journal of Dietary Supplements (JDS) - an international peer-reviewed forum for original research and review articles that focus on vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances that make up the multi-billion dollar dietary supplement industry. The journal addresses important issues that meet a broad range of interests - not only in integrative healthcare, but also in academic, regulatory and industrial sectors.
A small study has shown that people tend to believe that bottled water is somehow healthier than water from the tap. However, the research, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, also shows that people are unsure exactly what these benefits might be and that they are rarely the main reason for choosing bottled.
Light touch - the sense that lets musicians find the right notes on a keyboard, a seamstress revel in the feel of cool silk, the artisan feel a curve in material and the blind read Braille - truly depends on the activity of Merkel cells usually found in crescent-shaped clusters in the skin, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said recently that for the fourth time in 18 months, one of its biotech partners has signed a collaboration agreement with a large pharmaceutical company to move research on type 1 diabetes into the final phases of trials.
Keeping your teeth brushed and flossed can cut down on gum disease, drastically reducing risk of heart attack and stroke, dentists have warned for years. Now researchers at West Virginia University have found a clean mouth may also help preserve memory.
Teamsters General President Hoffa called on the American Red Cross to support its frontline blood drive workers whose efforts help safeguard America"s blood supply. The Red Cross is currently pursuing a campaign against its frontline workers that would worsen working conditions, push down living standards, undermine workers" rights to representation, threaten safety standards and create a disposable work force.
Studies performed in three animal models confirmed the safety and intensive immunogenicity of a new type of intranasal H5N1 influenza vaccine, according to the latest preclinical study data announced today by the Vienna based firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology. The study data was just published in PloS One, the Public Library of Science.
TranSenda International, LLC announced today that it is developing a new solution, Cortex, designed to improve an organization"s ability to manage a clinical trial"s performance. Based upon patent-pending ClinBUS® data interchange technology already in use in TranSenda"s Office-Smart solutions, Cortex will enable organizations to leverage the power of access to centralized operational data from all applications used across all clinical studies. For years the industry has struggled with an increasingly fragmented environment of disconnected clinical applications, sites and partners. TranSenda"s Cortex, with its proven ClinBUS technology, represents a breakthrough in managing and controlling studies within a common environment-independent of study data formats and clinical trial applications.
Researchers have determined that individuals with mild to severe symptoms of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome (MetS), a collection of cardiovascular risk factors thought to be linked by insulin resistance). LUTS encompass voiding (incomplete emptying, weak stream, intermittency, straining) and storage (frequency, urgency, nocturia) difficulties.
The Actuarial Profession has published, for consultation, a prototype model to project future mortality rates. The model has been developed in response to the continuation of significant increases in life expectancy since projections were last published by the Profession in 2002.
The Dairy Council said on Friday that regulators need to raise their game and take a "common sense" approach to health and nutrition messages to the public. The plea comes in a week that has seen the European Food Safety Authority promise greater clarity in its procedures for assessing the science used to evaluate health claims and for better communications with applicants.
UroToday.com - Gluttony is becoming an ever-increasing problem in our pediatric patients, and this is directly correlated to an increase risk of stone disease.
UroToday.com - In the online issue of the World Journal of Urology, a group headed by Professor Markus Hohenfellner compared the outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) in men younger and older than age 70 years. They suggest that in well-selected men over age 70 years, the outcomes are comparable.
World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1 020 million people going hungry every day, according to new estimates published by FAO today.
Statement from Texas Medical Association President William H. Fleming III, MD, in response to today"s veto of House Bill 3485 by Gov. Rick Perry.
"Don"t expect the private insurance industry to go away under any kind of health-care reform initiative. That"s because most key health-reform measures gaining momentum in Washington not only leave private health plans intact but also may give them a greater role," The Chicago Tribune reports. Insurers also "got to ride the coattails" of the America Medical Association"s support for the private insurance system as President Barack Obama "sought the physicians" support" of his public insurance option. Health plans were "happy that the AMA stripped the words "public option" from a resolution."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, spoke to The New York Times about the state of health care reform on Capitol Hill during a 15-minute interview.
Evalve, Inc., the leader in the development of devices for the
The Slow, Slow Pulse Of The Deliberative Body The Washington Post
A federal grand jury yesterday indicted Pamela Arrey, age 48, of
AIDS Community Services of Western New York (ACS), a Buffalo-based agency that provides medical treatment and social services for individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS, has lost a $288,500 grant from the Junior League of Buffalo that was to be used to expand a primary care center, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. The Junior League of Buffalo cited a contract agreement that said construction was to be completed by Dec. 31, 2008 as the reason for the decision; construction has yet to begin. ACS President Ronald Silverio said the agency will move forward with its expansion plans, although they will be further delayed, and anticipates that they will receive other funding to replace the loss. Since the ACS began planning this project, they have also experienced cuts in state funding, according to the Journal (Drury, Charlotte Business Journal, 6/19).
"Global health funding boosted by private donors has quadrupled since 1990, but the extra money has not always gone to the right countries and diseases, according to a pair of studies released Friday," in the journal Lancet, AFP/Google.com reports (Hood, AFP/Google.com, 6/18).
The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a "landmark resolution" acknowledging that "preventable maternal mortality and morbidity" is a human rights issue and that national and international efforts to protect women worldwide should be scaled up, the Hudson Valley Press Online reports. More than 70 U.N. member states cosponsored the resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand (Hudson Valley Press Online, 6/18). Pakistan was one of the member states that signed on to the resolution, the International News reports (International News, 6/19).
Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday circulated talking points stating that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has a "mainstream record of judicial modesty," the AP/Miami Herald reports. The document includes a quote from Sotomayor expressing her belief in basing judicial decisions on the Constitution rather than on politics.Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) also wrote to the president of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educational Fund, requesting the quick disclosure of documents Sotomayor has requested in relation to her work with the group (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Miami Herald, 6/19). Sotomayor worked with the group from 1980 to 1992, assisting in a number of legal briefs and helping the group develop stances on public policy matters (Stanton, Roll Call, 6/18). According to the AP/Herald, interest groups and members of both political parties are "competing to define" Sotomayor ahead of her confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin July 13. Conservative groups have focused on labeling her an "activist" and singled out her involvement with PRLDEF as evidence of her support for abortion rights. The group sided with abortion-rights supporters in several major Supreme Court cases during Sotomayor"s time on its board (AP/Miami Herald, 6/19).
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "A Radical Notion: Women"s Health Care as Mainstream," Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: "To hammer ... home" the message that "Planned Parenthood and other essential community providers are the affordable, local access to basic preventive care that saves lives," the Planned Parenthood Action Center has introduced advertisements "educating the policy folks involved in fixing our health care system" about "why women"s health care needs to be taken care of in this mega-reform effort," Richards writes. She writes, "From cancer screenings to contraception to immunizations, the majority of women who go to women"s health care centers consider them their primary health care provider," adding, "In fact, more than 90% of what Planned Parenthood health centers do is preventive and primary care." According to Richards, "Essential community providers, including those who provide women"s health care, need to be part of any newly established health care system." She adds that "the three million patients who came to Planned Parenthood health centers last year can testify to it." Richards writes that "[f]amily planning and reproductive health care are unfortunately still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98% of women use contraception at some point in their lives -- there"s nothing more universal!" The "fact that women reproduce and, therefore, have different types of health care needs makes some folks on Capitol Hill go pale and start to sweat," Richards writes. She concludes, "Maybe one day we won"t need a special campaign to support women"s health," but "until then, Planned Parenthood is here to make sure women aren"t worse off after health care reform than before" (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 6/18).~ "The Role of Medical Education in Preserving Abortion Access," Our Bodies, Our Blog: In response to a recent Salon opinion piece that examined whether there will be a next generation of abortion providers, the blog post discusses a few organizations that are "working to increase access to (accurate) abortion-related training." The blog includes links to Medical Students for Choice -- a group that "does student organizing and advocacy to influence medical school curricula, workshops ... and lectures on abortion techniques" -- and The Ryan Program -- which offers "funding, technical expertise, curriculum, workshops and other res to support training opportunities in abortion and contraception for ob-gyn residents." The blog entry also highlights the work of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, which partners with members of the American Medical Student Association "to provide "project in a box" materials for medical students wanting to access and influence their schools" curricula on sexual and reproductive health" (Our Bodies, Our Blog, 6/18). ~ "Regulating Abortion May Be OK But Not To Avoid Sex-Selection," Marianne Mollmann, Huffington Post blogs: "Sex-selective abortion raises a multitude of overlapping ethical concerns regarding eugenics, population control and provider privilege or knowledge," according to Mollmann, advocacy director for the Human Rights Watch"s Women"s Rights Division. Mollmann writes that recent media reports indicating that sex-selective abortion occurs among some ethnic communities in the U.S. "has generated new discussion about what to do -- indeed what to think -- about the practice here." She continues that the "effect of abortion regulations depends on the context and motivation," adding that "[f]rom a human rights perspective, the regulation of medical procedures and interventions is legitimate and indeed often necessary so long as they are based on full respect for the full range of human rights." It is "perhaps tempting to hope that banning sex-selective abortions would safeguard the gender balance of future generations," but the "criminalization of abortion for whatever reason has in the past led only to underground and unsafe prac
Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. (ABI) (OTCBB: AMAR) announced that the screening of volunteers for inclusion in a Phase 2 clinical study of the company"s oral interferon product at the University of Western Australia is now complete. The investigators met their target of screening at least 200 healthy adults for participation in the trial. A total of 215 volunteers were evaluated and 134 of them have been enrolled into the study to date. About 90% of the screened subjects have been found to qualify for the study, so additional enrollments are expected over the next 2 weeks to bring the total number of study participants up to or above the targeted 160 subjects.
When treating the diabetes patient, doctors discussed how a "one size fits all" approach to testing is not enough to reveal an individual"s risk for cardiovascular disease Saturday at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 18th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress.
Eliminating the potential for catastrophic medical, energy and transportation disasters due to software failure is the aim of a new $21-million global research centre to be located at McMaster University. It will be one of the first such centres in the world.
As part of its efforts to improve the quality of medicines and food ingredients worldwide, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention this week reached three new cooperative agreements with Chinese drug control authorities. Because Chinese manufacturers supply so much of the world"s drug and food ingredients, these agreements-coupled with three previous agreements between USP and other government organizations in China-mark a significant commitment to ensure that concerns about quality are addressed. USP is a scientific, nonprofit organization that sets standards for the quality of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that are enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. USP also sets standards for the quality of food ingredients and dietary supplements; these and USP"s drug standards are used in more than 130 countries.
Bio-Imaging Technologies, Inc., (NASDAQ: BITI) d/b/a BioClinica, a global provider of clinical trial services with more than two decades of experience and a thorough understanding of standards, is challenging the industry to increase standards implementation for clinical trials at the Drug Information Association (DIA) 45th Annual Meeting on June 21-25 in San Diego (booth #315). Standards support has quickly become a key focus for the life science industry to streamline the clinical trial process and reduce costs. However, the complexity of the task and the re requirements put implementing standards on the "someday list" for many companies.
The Ministry of Health in Iran has reported the country"s first confirmed case of H1N1 swine flu, in a 16 year-old Iranian boy who lives in the US
"Latest research raises important ethical issues concerning our care for patients with chronic consciousness disorders," said Professor Gustave Moonen (Liege, Belgium), past president of the European Neurological Society (ENS), at a press conference at the current ENS Congress. This major meeting in European neurology is gathering more than 2,900 experts from all over the world in Milan. "This is all the more important as studies have shown that more than a third of patients given an initial diagnosis of vegetative state or persistent vegetative state show minimal signs of consciousness under more detailed examination."
A concerned Rotherham nurse has forced manufacturers of an infant medicine feeder to withdraw its product following a safety scare. Nurse Karen Ray, a clinical procurement specialist at Rotherham Hospital, took her concerns to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after a six-month-old baby was admitted to Rotherham Hospital following a liquid paracetamol overdose.
Patricia A. Furlong, Founding President and CEO of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), the largest non-profit organization in the United States focused on finding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne), announced that PPMD will be honoring United States Senator Johnny Isakson and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) with "Change It Champion" awards at the 2009 Connect Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, June 27. Other award recipients include Darius Weems and Logan Smalley from the acclaimed documentary "Darius Goes West."
Oncothyreon Inc. (Nasdaq: ONTY) (TSX:ONY) (the "Company") announced that Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, has initiated a global Phase 3 trial of Stimuvax(R) (BLP25 liposome vaccine, L-BLP25) in patients with hormone receptor-positive, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Stimuvax is an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine being developed by Merck KGaA under a license agreement with Oncothyreon.
It is no coincidence that the stroke theme is being given wide exposure at the ENS Congress. Stroke has become a major challenge for health policy and for medicine in general. It is now the second most common cause of death globally and the major cause of adult disability in the industrialized countries.
Scrubbing In: Good Health Care Doesn"t Come Cheap The Philadelphia Inquirer
Australia"s leading nutrition organisation, the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), has
On Wednesday, a national HIV testing campaign called "Don"t?Guess?Test!" is making a "controversial move" by distributing free HIV testing kits that have not been approved by FDA in the lead up to National HIV Testing Day on June 27, the Washington Business Journal reports. The kits have been clinically tested and are available in Africa, Asia and Europe, according to the Business Journal. Due to the sensitive nature of the non-FDA-approved kits, campaign officials are not disclosing how many tests will be distributed or the location of distribution at this time (Plumb, Washington Business Journal, 6/22).
To mark World Refugee Day on June 20, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the "international community to do more to protect and care for refugees around the world," VOA News reports (Schlein, VOA News, 6/20).
Instead of responding to natural disasters after they happen, aid should be dedicated to helping countries prepare for future disasters, John Holmes, the U.N."s emergency relief coordinator, said Friday, Reuters reports. "You can"t stop the disasters happening but you can make an enormous difference to whether they kill people and, to some extent at least, have their livelihoods destroyed," Holmes said during a press conference in Geneva that came at the end of a week-long meeting that tackled ideas on how to best prepare poorer countries for natural disasters.
The muscle relaxer Botox has now been shown to positively affect the skin as well.
45th DIA Annual Meeting -- Booth # 1501 -- WorldCare Clinical, LLC (WCC), a leading imaging CRO for clinical trials in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, announced that it is offering version 1.0 of the Metrics Champion Consortium (MCC) Imaging Performance Metrics to all sponsors" imaging trials beginning July 1, 2009, through its WorldPro™ technology solution.
Now there"s a new reason for the weight-conscious to drink fat free milk at breakfast time, suggests a new study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers in Australia found that drinking fat free milk in the morning helped increase satiety, or a feeling of fullness, and led to decreased calorie intake at the next meal, as compared with a fruit drink. The milk drinkers ate about 50 fewer calories (or nearly 9% less food) at lunch.
When a dad changes diapers and makes pediatrician"s appointments, he"s more likely to stay interested and involved when his child makes the transition to school, said a new University of Illinois study that explores the role of parent involvement on student achievement.
The overall aim of National Falls Awareness Day, held on the 23rd June 2009 is to raise awareness of the increased risk of falling as people age. Many of the products in Mountway"s current extensive portfolio of independent living solutions can be used to aid with falls prevention.
A global healthcare senior executive has called the latest infection threat to confront the NHS "a national epidemic". Whilst Government statements imply that hospital acquired infections are in decline Jim Taylor, a former Smith & Nephew President and now CEO of infection prevention specialist Saniguard International, says that Norovirus is now an increasing threat to our NHS wards. His company is launching PatientGuard this month - an anti-infection kit created specifically for the UK public, designed to help halt the spread of viruses (including Norovirus & H1N1) & bacteria (including MRSA).
Zannos Grekos, MD, Associate Clinical Professor at Nova Southeastern University, has announced six month follow-up results for a patient treated with adult stem cells in a clinical study of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. The clinical study is a collaborative effort among physicians at Regenocyte Therapeutic, an American stem cell therapy clinic; researchers and scientists from Theravitae, a biotechnology company from Israel; and physicians from the American Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dominican Republic.
ISPE, a global not-for-profit association of 25,000 pharmaceutical science and manufacturing professionals, announced that it is accepting proposals from pharmaceutical professionals for content that can be included in a variety of its educational res.
The best ways of managing patients with H5N1 infection (avian influenza)
Total knee replacement (arthroplasty) appears to be a cost-effective procedure for older adults with advanced osteoarthritis, according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The procedure appears to be cost-effective across all patient risk groups, and appeared more costly and less effective in low-volume centers than in high-volume centers.
Poorer countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are far from ready to deal with an H1N1 pandemic, and will need help to develop stockpiles
Light strongly influences human physiology and notably sleep regulation. An international team of scientists, including Patrice Bourgin from CNRS "Institut des neurosciences cellulaires et intçİgratives" in Strasbourg, has just published a detailed study in PlosBiology on the role of melanopsin, a molecule involved in mediating the effects of light on sleep. These scientists also revealed evidence of new interactions between the different mechanisms acting on the duration and quality of sleep and alertness.
Pediatric researchers have identified hundreds of gene variations that occur more frequently in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than in children without ADHD. Many of those genes were already known to be important for learning, behavior, brain function and neurodevelopment, but had not been previously associated with ADHD.
The number of polio cases in Nigeria has gone down from 799 in 2008 to 353 this year, according to the country"s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Africa Science News Service reports. The number of children who have never had a polio vaccine has been reduced from 16 percent in 2008 to 8 percent in 2009, NPHCDA Executive Director Mohammed Ali Pate said.
The H1N1 (swine flu) virus has now infected more than 52,000 people, leaving 231 dead, the WHO said Monday, AFP/Washington Post reports. "Swine flu has now been reported in 100 countries and territories, and figures yet to be incorporated into the U.N. health agency"s official figures indicate an even higher toll," AFP/Washington Post writes, adding, "The WHO said, however, that its figures could not be considered reliable because some countries were no longer keeping total figures while other poor countries did not have the means to reliably detect cases." Since Friday, the number of cases has grown by more than 7,873 cases and 51 deaths, "highlighting the steady spread of the virus," the newspaper writes (AFP/Washington Post, 6/23).
Missouri Judge Patricia Joyce last week dismissed conspiracy allegations against three state officials and approved the summary and cost estimate for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban public funding for abortions and certain types of embryonic stem cell research, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.The Missouri Roundtable for Life proposed the ballot measure earlier this year. Supporters of the measure subsequently argued that a summary written by Missouri"s secretary of state was biased. At the same time, opponents of the measure argued that the original petition was improperly drafted and should not have been allowed to proceed.Joyce dismissed the challenges to the summary and cost estimate, which was prepared by the state auditor. She also rejected the Roundtable"s claims that three state officials -- Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Attorney General Chris Koster and State Auditor Susan Montee -- conspired to violate sponsors" constitutional rights. Joyce ruled that the allegations "are without merit and rise to the level of being frivolous."Steve Clark, an attorney representing the Roundtable, said his clients have not yet decided whether they will appeal. If they appeal and the summary is changed, new signatures will be required to support the new language. Supporters hope to place the measure on the 2010 ballot (Blank, AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/20).
Elizabeth Letts, an author and certified nurse-midwife, in the New York Times" "Cases" column on Tuesday reports on her first experience assisting in the delivery of a stillborn infant. Letts describes how witnessing a more experienced midwife comfort the pregnant woman and perform the delivery helped her to stop "believ[ing] that providing support meant sitting in a corner pretending that death could be covered up with small talk." The experience reminded Letts that "birth and death are right around the corner from each other, and that as a midwife I may be charged with bringing either one into the world" (Letts, "Cases," New York Times, 6/23).
RNs Protest Cuts to Public Health, Pediatrics, TB Clinic, and Other Outpatient Services at San Joaquin County
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) has endorsed bipartisan legislation that would create a regulatory pathway for the approval of follow-on biologics and allow competition on brand-name biologics after five years of marketing exclusivity instead of the pharmaceutical industry"s preferred 14-year window.
Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., has launched an online reference website offering free access to top quality research articles and publications relating to Influenza A H1N1. The complimentary content includes articles from the Cochrane Library, The Hospitalist, and From Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, among other books and journals.
University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have discovered an important new insight into how a commonly prescribed drug may work to treat those infected by a parasitic flatworm.
The AOAC Research Institute, the approval body for all U.S. food safety tests, has certified Vacci-Test"s FoodChekTM-E.Coli as a Performance Tested(SM) method for detecting E.coli O157 in raw ground beef. This extremely rapid and accurate new test is seen as a technological breakthrough for meat-processors. This approval clears the way for FoodChekTM-E.Coli to be sold as a certified food safety test in the United States and internationally.
An NHS substance misuse nurse who worked illegally in Chelmsford prison has been sentenced to a total of one year"s imprisonment (13 May Chelmsford Crown Court) following an investigation by NHS Counter Fraud and the UK Border Agency.
Young adults who are overweight or obese have an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and being obese at an older age is associated with a lower overall survival rate for patients with pancreatic cancer, according to a study in the June 24 issue of JAMA.
Lansoprazole is a proton pump inhibitor which powerfully suppresses gastric acid production and is widely prescribed for chronic use in gastroesophageal reflux disease. Lansoprazole uncommonly causes chronic watery diarrhea unresponsive to conventional medication as a symptom of collagenous colitis. This association has recently been reported and is not widely known. Correct diagnosis and treatment without this knowledge is impossible. Discontinuation of lansoprazole results in the prompt resolution of diarrhea.
Research presented by Bernard Casey of the University of Warwick"s Institute for Employment Research shows that work-related stress today damages national output even more than the loss to national output due to strikes at the peak of industrial unrest in the 1970s.
The classic symptoms of Parkinson"s disease involve tremor, stiffness and slow movements. Over the last decade, neurologists have been paying greater attention to non-motor symptoms, such as digestive and sleep problems, loss of sense of smell and depression.
A common electrocardiogram (ECG) finding that has largely been considered insignificant may actually signal an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (a chronic heart rhythm disturbance), the future need for a permanent pacemaker and an increased risk for premature death. In their report in the June 24 Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Boston University School of Medicine describe results of the first large-scale study looking at the significance of a prolonged PR interval in a general population.
The Children"s Heart Federation (CHF) launches Let"s Get Moving for Heart Children"s Health: a call to action to include children with congenital heart disease in PE at school and to increase their access to sport in the community, at its House of Common"s reception today (14 May) in the presence of Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport and one hundred delegates, including representatives of nine leading sports development organisations. The event, which takes place during Children"s Heart Week (9-17 May), is designed to highlight the right of children and young people with congenital heart disease (CoHD) to sporting opportunities, in order to tackle the exclusion of pupils with CoHD from PE.
Dr. Janet D. Latner, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawai"i at Manoa, has co-authored an article in the July 2009 edition of the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy on "Weight Stigma in Existing Relationships."
The global economic crisis has had a devastating impact on the world"s hungry. In the past year, approximately 100 million people have been added to the ranks of the roughly 1 billion people worldwide considered by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization to be undernourished, according to its report issued June 19, 2009.
The world has suddenly discovered that the so-called "Nordic diet" is comparable in terms of nutrition and healthiness with the well-known sun-ripened Mediterranean diet. Scientists are constantly on the lookout for answers to how food affects our health and how to give people guidelines on a balanced diet that will both keep us healthy and at a normal weight.
A UCLA study has discovered that chronic exposure during pregnancy to miniscule levels of carbon monoxide damages the cells of the fetal brain, resulting in permanent impairment. The journal BMC (BioMed Central) Neuroscience published the findings June 22 in its online edition.
Women who have migraines with aura may be more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than women who don"t have the condition, and the association varies by migraine frequency, according to research published in the June 24, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. An aura is a visual or other sensory disturbance that occurs before the migraine starts, such as seeing bright lights.
Carl Zeiss has developed a unique series of solutions addressing the different methods for brain mapping and soft tissue imaging. "Scientists are right now attacking one of the last secrets of mankind: imaging and reconstruction of the brain," Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, Member of the Board at Carl Zeiss SMT explains. "We specifically enable the acquisition and analysis of cell images at ultra-high resolution. For that purpose we have developed an extensive range of solutions, based on the sophisticated use of advanced electron and ion-beam microscopes," Stenkamp adds.
The Northern California Melanoma Center (NCMC)"s research showed patients who received GM-CSF (Sargramostim, trade name Leukine) may experience prolonged survival. The study appears in next month"s Journal of Immunotherapy (July/August issue) and will appear online today.
Almost 60 mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) specialists from around the world gathered in Atlanta, GA for the Lymphoma Research Foundation"s (LRF) Sixth Annual Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) Scientific Workshop. Attendees heard presentations addressing several key issues including the biology of MCL, prognostic indicators, new molecular targets, chemoimmunotherapy, transplantation and novel therapeutic approaches.
AARP President Jennie Chin Hansen is
Rural utility co-ops in Colorado could provide an example of how a co-op would work nationally for health care, The Denver Post reports.
Eight defendants were indicted in a massive Florida Medicare fraud case. The Associated Press reports: "It may be the center for Medicare fraud, but even Miami officials said Tuesday they were surprised by the breadth of a ring they say spanned five states, used 29 fake storefronts and attempted to steal $100 million from Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Eight defendants were charged in the elaborate scam authorities say billed Medicare for bogus HIV and cancer infusion drugs using dozens of storefronts in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana, authorities said. Two of the defendants and about $30 million are still missing." The AP notes: "It shows Miami"s stepped up health care fraud task force is working. They"ve prosecuted $1.5 billion in health care fraud cases in the past three years. Miami alone has had 146 convictions since 2007 in these cases. The fact that the suspects had to move to other states and other avenues of Medicare - in this case, Medicare Advantage - signals an understanding on the streets that officials are on to their old tricks."
The method of building a rabbit rectal VX2 carcinoma model by injecting the cell suspension of VX2 cells into the wall of the rectum guided by X-ray fluoroscopy is feasible. The advantages of the model are ease of establishment, short growth period, and high stability. The rectal VX2 carcinoma established in this rabbit model is similar to human rectal carcinoma in aspects of pathological representation, tumor development, and metastasis. It offers an ideal major animal model for the study of rectal carcinoma, and especially profits the study of the staging of rectal carcinoma in imaging.
Figures from the British Institute for Anger Management reveal that the UK already has the worst road rage figures of any European nation, with 80% of drivers saying they"ve been involved in an incident and 1 in 4 admitting to committing an act of road rage themselves. Men are three times more likely to commit an act of aggression than women and over 60% of drivers say they have been intimidated by aggressive tailgating.
Local campaigners met with MPs and senior primary care trust staff at a parliamentary event today to raise awareness of HIV and discuss ways to increase HIV testing.
In response to recent news reports from Reuters, the Associated Press and other media outlets tying the recession to an increase in demand for abortion, the antiabortion-rights community is arguing that women are "choosing their own material comfort over the life of their unborn children" -- an interpretation that is "wrong on several accounts" -- Double X contributor Anna Murphy Paul writes in an opinion piece."No one wants her most intimate decisions to be driven by money," but, at the same time, "opting not to have a child you can"t afford to raise can be a realistic and responsible -- if painful -- choice, one often based on taking good care of the kids you already have" Murphy Paul says. She continues, "Nor is the intrusion of economic concerns on childbearing a phenomenon of this recession, or even the loosening of sexual mores over the past half-century; historically, financial hardship has been an ever-present motivation for ending a pregnancy."Murphy Paul cites the results of a 2005 Guttmacher Institute survey that found that nearly three-fourths of respondents said that the reason they decided to have an abortion was that they "could not afford a baby right now," which was the second-most common reason. The report found that the top reason for having an abortion was that children would interfere with women"s education, work or ability to care for dependents, all "concerns that are also largely economic in nature," Murphy Paul writes. She notes that at the time the study was published, "the Dow was still riding high, and the housing bubble seemed it would never pop." Murphy Paul adds that a 1987 Guttmacher survey on the same subject produced results "almost identical" to the 2005 survey.However, "to hear the pro-life activists tell it, women aren"t really struggling with difficult choices -- they just don"t want to give up the luxuries to which they"ve become accustomed," Murphy Paul writes. Abortion-rights opponents promote offers of counseling and no-cost infant supplies provided through "pregnancy re centers" to support women who choose not to have an abortion, but such centers often provide misleading information or offer little assistance beyond the first few months after birth, she says."Pro-life activists are surely right about one thing: It"s tremendously sad when a woman decides that she can"t bring into the world a child whom under better circumstances she would have welcomed," Murphy Paul continues. However, the "harsh rhetoric about selfishness and irresponsibility help far less than an acknowledgement of -- and lasting aid with -- the true costs of raising a child," she writes. According to Murphy Paul, in "the absence of such help, the most responsible act is to face economic reality head-on. For some women, that may mean abortion" (Murphy Paul, Double X, 5/15).
The Family Building Act of 2009 (H.R. 697, S. 1258) "takes an important first step toward improving the way insurers view infertility," but it is "not a silver bullet for improving the way [in vitro fertilization] treatments are conducted and covered," John Zhang, founder and director of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City, writes in an opinion piece in The Hill. The bill, introduced by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) in the House and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in the Senate, would require health insurance companies that cover obstetrical services to cover non-experimental treatment of infertility, including IVF.Zhang writes that one of the "most significant issues is that multiple-embryo transfers have become common practice," which increase the risk for premature delivery, contribute to infant mortality rates and add to costs. According to Zhang, the lack of federal guidelines, "coupled with failure by the insurance industry to cover IVF treatment in the U.S., has encouraged patients to insist on multiple embryo transfer to get the most out of the enormous out-of-pocket fees they incur per cycle." In addition, "because doctors are rewarded for better success rates, the emphasis moves from quality to quantity so that clinics may boost their success rates despite potentially dangerous and expensive health complications," Zhang writes.Zhang continues that if IVF "were more accessible and reimbursed by health insurers, and if embryo transfers were regulated, there would be consequences for clinics and physicians who practice irresponsibly," and it "would be nearly impossible for IVF to lead to high-order multiples with their attendant risks." Although the Family Building Act "addresses this problem from an insurance perspective, it does not incorporate all the critical pieces that would encourage more responsible IVF practices among patients and physicians," according to Zhang.Zhang suggests that lawmakers "set age limitations on insurance coverage to encourage responsible spending" and that regulators "revise the outdated IVF reporting system and start providing incentives that encourage responsible medical practices." He concludes that it is "crucial that legislators and doctors work together to create a regulated and safe environment for IVF patients that upholds the integrity of our country"s medical profession" (Zhang, The Hill, 6/22).
Effective drugs for treating a chemotherapy-resistant form of lymphoma might already be on the market according to a study that has pieced together a chemical pathway involved in the disease.
Governments and health professionals across Australia need to give full and detailed
Investigators at Children"s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California found a way to obtain large numbers of hematopoietic stem cell from human term placenta. The results, which appear in the July 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, describe detailed report on quantification, characterization, engraftment capacity, and most importantly, practical way to obtain hematopoietic stem cells from placenta in numbers that are several-fold higher than could be obtained from cord blood.
A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Katholeike Universiteit Leuven, and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, among other institutions, has created a genetically modified fruit fly that mimics key features of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a common neurodegenerative disorder that strikes about one out of every 2,500 people in the United States.
Psychopaths are more likely to use violence in a cold blooded, calculated way than non-psychopathic violent offenders.
The National Pharmacy Association is organising a Health Inequalities Summit in the Toynbee Hall lecture theatre, Tower Hamlets on Monday 29 June, 10.00am-4.00pm.
The six industry groups that pledged to reduce health care spending growth by $2 trillion over 10 years on Friday issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to work toward the goal, Roll Call reports (Murray, Roll Call, 5/15). The industry groups in a letter sent to President Obama on May 10 wrote, "We will do our part to achieve your administration"s goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate. ... This represents more than a 20% reduction in the projected rate of growth." The letter -- which was signed by the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, America"s Health Insurance Plans and the Service Employees International Union -- did not elaborate on what specific measures the groups would take to achieve such reductions (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/12). Obama in a May 11 public announcement of the groups" pledge said the coalition"s goal was to cut the growth rate by 1.5 percentage points "each year," which would total $2 trillion over 10 years (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 5/15).However, industry leaders who attended the meeting with Obama said that they did not promise specific year-by-year savings, but instead agreed to a more incremental approach (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/15). Richard Umbdenstock, president of AHA, said, "There"s been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members." AHA sent its members a bulletin stating that "the groups did not support reducing the rate of health spending by 1.5 percentage points annually," and that the pledge was to eventually reduce the growth rate by 1.5 percentage points (CQ HealthBeat, 5/15).In response to media reports that said they were backing away from their pledge, the groups on Friday in a joint statement reiterated their vow. They wrote, "Our organizations are currently engaged in an intensive process to develop proposals to reduce the rate of increase in future health care costs" (Young, The Hill, 5/15). The statement also said, "We are committed to working together to bend the health care cost curve" and "to doing our part to make reform sustainable and to make the system more affordable and effective for patients and purchasers" (Budoff Brown, Politico, 5/18). It continued that "to be successful, we must take action in public-private partnership. We look forward to offering cost-savings recommendations in the weeks ahead." The Obama administration has requested specifics on the coalition"s cost-cutting plans by June 1. White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag on Friday in a blog post wrote that it is "understandable" that the groups need to "ramp up" to the 1.5 percentage point reduction in spending. According to Orszag, "The groups have committed to significant reductions in the growth rate, thereby recognizing that substantial efficiencies can be captured in the health system. Some ramp-up time also does not materially affect the long-term impact from reducing the growth rate, on either national health expenditures or the federal budget" (CQ HealthBeat, 5/15). Orszag"s blog posting is available online.
Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells. Underneath their smooth surface they harbor an elaborately folded inner membrane. It holds a multitude of bottleneck like invaginations, which expand into elongated cavities (cristae). The narrow shape of the entrance or pore to the cristae ("crista junction") allows separation of the intracristal space and storage of molecules. Cytochrome c, for example, an important signaling protein in programmed cell death (apoptosis), is stored in this compartment. When apoptosis is triggered, the pores enlarge and cytochrome c is released into the cytosol. Thus, understanding of how the pore diameter and the shape of the inner membrane are regulated on a molecular basis is of great relevance to a better understanding of mitochondrial function in general. Recently, in cooperation with other research teams, the group of Prof. Andreas Reichert, who has been appointed as professor for Mitochondrial Biology to the Goethe University within the Cluster of Excellence Macromolecular Complexes in 2007, has identified two proteins linked in an antagonistic manner that are relevant for governing inner membrane structure.
There is minimal data evaluating the prevalence of GERD complications in any United States general population, other than non-Hispanic whites. Presently, it is thought that such complications occur less frequently in African-Americans than in non-Hispanic whites. A research group in Jacksonville, FL investigated the prevalence of reflux esophagitis between non-Hispanic whites and African-Americans. The distribution of esophagitis severity and its complications were equivalent between groups, except for Barrett"s esophagus.
Researchers led by Drs. James F. George and Anupam Agarwal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found that carbon monoxide (CO) can protect against arterial clotting. They report their data in the July 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Dr. Jennifer C Palmer and colleagues at the University of Bristol have discovered that endothelin converting enzyme-2 (ECE-2) may cause the decrease in cerebral blood flow seen in Alzheimer"s disease. These results are presented in the July 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Furthering its mission to improve the quality of medicines worldwide, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention has signed a cooperative agreement with nine countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In a drive to strengthen capacities and certification status of national drug quality control laboratories, officials from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand had formed an ASEAN Reference Materials Working Group (ARMWG) to focus on modern, international measurement standards for medicines in the region. The agreement with USP is the culmination of discussions that started in 2008 with the aim of improving the production, precision and quality of ASEAN Reference Substances (ARS).
UA scientists looking at the link between BMI over a lifetime and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer found that overweight and obese young
Doctors are extremely concerned about the impact of the independent sector on healthcare, a snapshot BMA News survey has indicated. More than nine out of ten (94 per cent) of the 124 respondents to a poll for BMA News - the weekly magazine for BMA members - said they were worried about the future of their local health services if they were left to market forces. And 86 per cent of the respondents did not think the provision of NHS services by commercial companies was a good idea.
Research conducted for Clearblue, the UK"s leading brand in home pregnancy and fertility testing, has revealed that two in three UK women don"t know there is only a small window of opportunity (two "peak" fertile days) in which they can conceive each month . Instead, many women wrongly believe that they can fall pregnant at any point in the month.
Scientists have discovered that abnormalities in a gene important for learning and memory are a cause of autism. The University of Aberdeen finding could hold the key to the future development of new treatments for autism - a brain development disorder which affects how a person communicates and relates to others. In a study published today in the Journal of Medical Genetics the researchers explain how their investigations into the gene EIF4E began with the study of one child with severe autism.
Insmed Inc. (Nasdaq: INSM), a biopharmaceutical company, announced results from its exploratory U.S. Phase II clinical trial evaluating IPLEX(TM) (mecasermin rinfabate) in patients with myotonic muscular dystrophy ("MMD"). The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II trial conducted in 13 centers across the U.S. enrolled 69 patients with MMD, for a six-month period. As this was an exploratory trial, a primary endpoint was not pre-defined. The trial explored measures of endurance, using the six-minute walk test, muscle function and strength, cognitive function, gastrointestinal function, pain, quality of life, insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism, and safety and tolerability of IPLEX(TM).
Kidney injury that can arise after undergoing certain medical imaging procedures increases a patient"s risk of having a stroke or heart attack over the next year or two, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that seemingly minor and reversible kidney damage from these common clinical procedures is a serious health threat.
Like many diseases, causes for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can be categorized as either "nature" or "nurture". Researchers think these factors, when used in the proper model, can be strong predictors of the disease.
A new three-dimensional computer protein map is helping researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) unravel the biological pathways that control brain-cell death after a stroke.