Nutrition
Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at the Boston University School of Medicine who has revolutionized the understanding of vitamin D and its role in disease prevention, has received the $50,000 Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research.
Nearly two-thirds (63
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Wednesday sent a letter to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor requesting additional background information to supplement a committee questionnaire, CQ Today reports. The Republicans said that Democrats are rushing the nomination process by scheduling Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing to begin July 13 and that they need more information on the nominee. According to CQ Today, Democrats are unlikely to budge from their determination to confirm Sotomayor before the Aug. 7 recess, although Republicans might convince Leahy to postpone the hearing for a week in exchange for a GOP pledge not to delay a committee vote on Sotomayor for a week, as allowed under the panel"s rules (Perine, CQ Today, 6/10). Among their requests, Republicans asked that Sotomayor provide copies of the Yale Law Journal, for which she served as an editor, and that she elaborate upon her role with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt said that the Obama administration has made clear that it plans to provide additional information but that it has presented most of the information quickly to allow the Senate to begin its review (Herszenhorn, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/10). Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that the information requested is not "little itty-bitty matters" but "important" components of Sotomayor"s background. He added, "If we"re going to move forward in a record-breaking time frame, the least we can expect is complete and full answers to these questions." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member on the committee, said there is "a lot of irritation and discomfort" among Republicans "about the way it"s being handled." He added that he does not think Republicans want to filibuster the nomination but implied that they might use procedural tools to slow the process (CQ Today, 6/10).
"In recent years, conservative political strategists have painted African Americans as being more opposed to abortion than the white population," but experts believe that there actually "is a declining black support for conservative social policies like abortion," Tracie Powell, a former congressional fellow with the American Political Science Association, writes in a CQ Politics opinion piece. According to Powell, a recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey found that 49% of black U.S. residents -- who generally are considered more religious than the entire U.S. population -- are in favor of keeping abortion legal in most or all cases.Powell continues that experts vary in their explanations of the declining opposition to abortion rights among blacks. She writes that Christopher Metzler, an associate dean at Georgetown University, said that economic concerns, such as the high unemployment rate for black workers, have become more important than abortion for the group. According to Powell, Metzler said that black U.S. residents also have started questioning the antiabortion-rights agenda because they received little support from conservatives in return.Powell writes that some experts believe the feelings of black U.S. residents regarding abortion might go "deeper than current economic and social realities." Powell adds that Salamishah Tillet, founder of the organization A Long Walk Home, said that reproductive injustice for black women dates to times of slavery, when they had no reproductive rights. According to Tillet, black women face reproductive injustice in modern times through underfunding of family planning programs, lack of access to contraception and legislation like the Hyde Amendment, which restricts access to abortion for low-income women, who are disproportionately black and Hispanic.Powell writes, "I doubt most Americans, including those who are black, consider abortion a civil rights issue, and I"m not arguing that it should be." However, "I do know that while black Americans remain one of the most religious demographics in the country, this isn"t the 1960s and African Americans no longer march lock-step behind the church," she writes (Powell, CQ Politics, 6/10).
The Hawai"i State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed 83 additional cases of novel H1N1 Influenza A of swine origin this week. Two of the individuals live on the island of Kaua"i, one individual lives on the island of Maui, two individuals live on the island of Hawai"i, and 78 are O"ahu residents. It is important to note that all of the individuals have recovered or are recovering at home with no complications. The next weekly update will be posted at http://www.hawaii.gov/health on Wednesday, June 17 at 11:00 a.m.
A few minutes might not seem like a long time, but there are circumstances when it can mean the difference between life and death. As temperatures begin to heat up, children are at a serious risk for heat stroke when left alone even for a few minutes in a closed vehicle.Last year, at least 42 children across the United States died from heatstroke caused by being left or trapped in a vehicle.
Recovering stroke patients and others who find it hard to swallow when they eat and drink are now at a lower risk of developing pneumonia or chest infections, thanks to new technology which will help assess and treat their swallowing difficulties. Many patients suffering from stroke, head injury or major trauma often have swallowing difficulties when food and drink can go down the wrong way - patients can later develop nasty chest infections and pneumonias.
Researchers at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona have discovered a reason why smoking increases the risk of heart disease and strokes.
New research published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons reveals that in counties with the highest levels of segregation, an increase in the African-American or Hispanic population was associated with a decrease in the availability and use of surgical services and an increase in the number of emergency room visits. This research supports prior studies that have shown that minority groups in the United States have comparatively poorer access to a range of health care services, often resulting in late diagnosis of illness and delayed treatment.
The evidence is in. Estrogen does not halt aging or protect women from heart disease and dementia, nor is it the safest or best treatment for the hot flashes, night sweats and the insomnia that are associated with menopause and perimenopause. Quite simply - estrogen is not a good and magical hormone - as Susan Baxter, PhD., and Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior, painstakingly prove in their book, The Estrogen Errors; Why Progesterone is Better for Women"s Health.
By as early as 7 years of age, being obese may raise a child"s future risk of heart disease and stroke, even without the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, a new study found. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society"s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Simple weight-loss advice from a physician and regular follow-up helped obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome lose a substantial amount of weight, a new study found. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society"s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
A recent study by Kessler Foundation Research Center published in Brain Injury, the official journal of the International Brain Injury Association, uncovered the possible cause of cognitive fatigue in patients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Cognitive fatigue has been shown to be one of the most challenging symptoms following TBI, greatly affecting everyday life activities such as work and school. The study also addressed the difficult task of measuring cognitive fatigue through the use of functional MRI (fMRI), an advanced imaging technology. In addition to civilians with TBI, methodology from the study could potentially be used in VA Hospitals to improve the lives of the estimated 300,000 U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who suffer from brain injury. Cognitive fatigue is a highly prevalent condition, with 73 percent of TBI patients reporting significant levels of fatigue even five years post-injury.
VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAP), a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic disease, announced today that an end of Phase 2a meeting for the Company"s lead drug, VIA-2291 (atreleuton), was recently held with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Company reviewed safety and biologic activity data from the VIA-2291 Phase 2 CEA and ACS trials with the FDA and received guidance including suggestions from the Agency on the Company"s Phase 3 trial design.
New data from Phase 3 European clinical trials reinforce that Wyeth"s (NYSE: WYE) investigational pneumococcal vaccine, Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine, 13-valent [Adsorbed]), has the potential to provide coverage against the 13 most prevalent serotypes associated with pneumococcal disease (PD), the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in children younger than five worldwide.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a three-year, $3-million grant to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University to establish a research center to study the neurological complications that afflict people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health are conducting a study to determine if collaborative virtual environments improve public health preparedness and response planning.
An endoscopy involves examining the inside of a person"s body using an endoscope. An endoscope is a medical device consisting of a long, thin, flexible (or rigid) tube which has a light and a video camera. Images of the inside of the patient"s body can be seen on a screen. The whole endoscopy is recorded so that doctors can check it again. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive diagnostic medical procedure. It is used to examine the interior surfaces of an organ or tissue.
Mylan Inc."s (NASDAQ: MYL) Chief Operating Officer Heather Bresch today testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy concerning patent litigation settlements between branded pharmaceutical companies and generic pharmaceutical companies. During her testimony, Bresch conveyed Mylan"s position that the launch of an authorized generic by brand companies during a generic company"s 180-day exclusivity period undermines competition and delays timely access to high quality, affordable generic medications for patients, taxpayers, the government and businesses.
The California Medical Association supports the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to finally set standards for cigarettes and regulate chemicals. In 1963, CMA was the first among state medical societies to create policy to inform people about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking.
An embolism - from the Greek ē©mbolos meaning "stopper" or "plug" - is the term that describes a condition where an object called an embolus is created in one part of the body, circulates throughout the body, and then blocks blood flowing through a vessel in another part of the body. Emboli (plural of embolus) are not to be confused with thrombi (plural of thrombus), which are clots that are formed and remain in one area of the body without being carried throughout the bloodstream.
Pathfinders, a program designed to care for the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- has been found to help women with terminal cancer cope and has improved their quality of life, according to a study led by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Alzheimer"s disease patients show a relentless decline in memory over the course of the disease, which is accompanied by both brain atrophy and by characteristic deposits in the brain tissue called amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied a large database, collected in the US, of patients with Alzheimer"s or memory complaints who had MRI scans and had spinal taps to collect cerebrospinal fluid, which is in the brain and spinal chord. By examining the CFS they could measure the amounts of the substances that make p plaques and tangles, and related this to brain atrophy. They found that the amount of plaque and tangle-producing chemicals in the cerebrospinal fluid correlated with brain tissue loss in selective regions of the brain which are typically affected in Alzheimer"s disease. The brains in these regions had thinned out suggesting that brain cells had died. These regions are important for memory and are typically active when the brain is at rest. Using these techniques may ultimately help identify early markers of disease in Alzheimer"s, potentially indicating who is likely to develop Alzheimer"s before memory loss is critical.
The US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, which is a founding member of the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease, has decided to go forward strongly and improve its plan to target chronic diseases in developing countries by collaborating with a leading health and wellbeing corporation. Together, they plan to build numerous centers of excellence (COEs) across the world. The details of this partnership have been published in a comment Online First and in this week"s edition of The Lancet.
For modern implants and the growth of artificial tissue and organs, it is important to generate materials with characteristics that closely emulate nature. However, the tissue in our bodies has a combination of traits that are very hard to recreate in synthetic materials: It is both soft and very tough. A team of Australian and Korean researchers led by Geoffrey M. Spinks and Seon Jeong Kim has now developed a novel, highly porous, sponge-like material whose mechanical properties closely resemble those of biological soft tissues. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, it consists of a robust network of DNA strands and carbon nanotubes.
The labour force in the health services is shrinking, there are more and more old people, and a very high proportion of them are plagued by deteriorating short- and long-term memory. All this has created a need for computer-based solutions that will enable elderly people to live safely in their own homes, but at the same time, the technology needed to take special care of them is expensive. On top of this, different standards for home sensors create problems.
UroToday.com - Nephron-sparing surgery has become the well-accepted method for treating patients with localized tumor disease of the kidney. Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) has evolved such that it is considered equivalent to open partial nephrectomy for tumors 4 cm. They had 110 patients with Stage T1b-T3N0M0 renal cell carcinoma treated with LRN (N=75) or LPN (N=35). As expected the LRN group had larger tumors and more T3a tumors with clear cell pathologic features. The median follow up was 57 months in the LRN group and 44 months in the LPN group. There was no difference between the two treatment groups with regards to overall mortality, cancer-specific mortality, or recurrence rates. However, the LPN group had significantly less reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate compared to the LRN group. None of the LPN group patients developed second stage chronic kidney disease compared to 12% in the LRN group.
On Monday June 15th 2009, it"s the Department of Health"s National Bug Busting Day. It"s the day for families everywhere to check their hair for traces of head lice and nits. In support of this Department of Health incentive, The Hairforce are setting up a Head Lice Check & Clear Hotline (0844 848 5948) for people to call-in and listen to advice about checking and clearing hair.
Prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom - study estimates now 100,000 people with MS in UK.
An expert group has been set up to review pharmacy services across Wales as part of the Welsh Assembly Government"s commitment to develop community pharmacy services and pharmacy-based drop-in centres.
Mental Health America announced Sharon Jenkins Tucker of Decatur, Georgia, as its 2009 recipient of the Clifford W. Beers Award.
What is sure to be a staggering price tag for health reform has Senate Democrats talking about changing the chamber"s normal accounting procedures, The Hill reports.
The U.S. Senate joined the House in passing landmark legislation to regulate tobacco by a vote of 79-17.
Genzyme Corporation (Nasdaq: GENZ) announced that the European Commission has approved Renvela(R) (sevelamer carbonate) for the control of serum phosphorus in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The approval includes patients not on dialysis with serum phosphorus levels greater than or equal to 1.78 mmol/L (5.5 mg/dL), and covers both the tablet and powder formulations.
The Oregon state legislature cleared two reform bills that passed its House of Representatives earlier this week, the Portland Oregonian reports. One bill will tax insurers and hospitals up to $500 million over two years to provide "health coverage for 80,000 uninsured children and an additional 35,000 uninsured low-income adults and put the state on a path toward covering all of its more than 600,000 uninsured residents." The state will leverage as much as $1 billion in federal matching funds. "Some of the federal money will be used to pay hospitals what they pay in taxes. Insurers also will get a portion of their tax money back," the Oregonian reports.
At the 2009 HIV Implementers" Meeting in Namibia Thursday, Paul DeLay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said the global economic crisis will impact countries who receive international aid for HIV/AIDS programs, so recipients of such aid should identify priorities for their programs, the China Post reports (China Post, 6/12).
The Wall Street Journal examines a $1.5 billion program supported by Italy, the U.K., Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that hopes "to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor countries," which is expected to be announced Friday "on the sidelines of a meeting of top finance officials from the Group of Eight major industrial powers."
A new study using advanced cardiac imaging technology indicates that cardiac abnormalities experienced by some marathon runners following competition are temporary, and do not result in damage to the heart muscle. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba, marked the first use of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, or CMR, in a post-marathon setting.
The following summarizes news coverage on women"s health-related legislation in Arizona and North Carolina. ~ Arizona: The Arizona Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Wednesday voted 4-3 to approve a bill (S.B. 1206) that would place several restrictions on abortion rights and allow pharmacists or other health care providers to refuse to distribute emergency contraception based on religious or moral objections, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The state House passed an identical bill in March. The measure would impose a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortion procedures and mandate that doctors inform women about risks and alternatives. It also would toughen an exisiting parental consent requirement for minors seeking abortion. The bill requires an in-person consultation before the 24-hour waiting period, which would increase costs for women who are forced to travel to a clinic twice, according to Planned Parenthood of Arizona President Bryan Howard. The Legislature approved bills with similar restrictions in recent years, but the measures were vetoed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). Current Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has said she supports mandatory disclosures and a 24-hour waiting period (Billeaud, AP/Arizona Daily Star, 6/10).~ North Carolina: The North Carolina Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee this week approved a bill (S. 221) that would require all public school systems to offer information on the use of contraceptives to students in grades seven through nine, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports. The information would be presented as part of a larger reproductive health education program that would maintain the abstinence-only education curricula currently taught at nearly all of the state"s 115 school districts. Parents would be permitted to prevent children from participating in the classes with contraceptive information. The measure is a revised version of state House-approved legislation (H.B. 88) that would have required schools to teach two separate abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education tracks. If the full state Senate passes the new bill, the two chambers will meet to negotiate a compromise (Robertson, AP/Raleigh News & Observer, 6/11).
The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds the efforts of lawmakers to bring primary care services offered through registered nurses to Medicare beneficiaries in their homes by reintroducing the "Independence at Home Act of 2009" (H.R. 2560/S. 1131). ANA supports this legislation because it provides patients with care options that enhance individual independence and can lead to a better quality of life. This legislation also smartly recognizes the integral role nurses and nurse practitioners play in the delivery of primary care and helps bring the focus of our health care system back where it belongs- on the patient and the community.
Biopharma company UCB and PatientsLikeMe, the leading online community for people with life-changing conditions, today announced a strategic partnership to create an online, open epilepsy community that captures real-world experiences of people living with epilepsy in the U.S.
LSU"s WAVCIS, or Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana, has a few new tricks up its sleeve in preparation for the 2009 hurricane season.
Warwickshire, Solihull & Coventry Breast Screening Service (WSCBSS), which installed its first Sectra MicroDose system in 2005, has now invested in another two systems. With the new units, WSCBSS will become one of the first publicly operated breast screening services in the UK to provide a fully direct digital mammography screening service.
Since August 2008, Meda (STO:MEDAA) and BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI) have worked in close collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to complete the final requirement of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program for Onsolis (fentanyl - treatment of breakthrough cancer pain).
The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the Gamida Cell - Teva Joint Venture announced today that the Institute has joined an elite group of cancer centers in Europe, the United States and Israel that are now enrolling patients to participate in the ExCell research study.
Transdel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TDLP) a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing non-invasive, topically administered products, announced that they anticipate reporting top-line results from their current Phase 3 study of Ketotransdel(R) during the third quarter of 2009.
If hip resurfacing is an option, the surgeon will simply reshape the damaged surface of the femoral ball and then cover it with a round metal cap. The limitation here is that the procedure only works for bone that is not too damaged by arthritis. Generally speaking, surface replacements are not performed on patients with serious arthritic conditions, because if the bone is not strong enough, there is a small but real risk of fracturing. Therefore the average age of resurfacing patients may be 50 years or younger. Statistically, the resurfacing operation is an option for about 7 out of a 100 patients.
The California Medical Association called on President Obama today to fix the flaws with Medi-Cal and Medicare, the government"s two biggest health care programs, as part of efforts to reform health care and extend coverage to those who are uninsured.
Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced that it has initiated Phase I clinical development of its integrin receptor antagonist (IRA), GLPG0187. This is the second small molecule therapeutic from Galapagos" internal drug discovery program to enter the clinic in 2009. Candidate drug GLPG0187 could offer a promising new therapeutic approach for treating cancer patients. Initial development will focus on bone metastases from prostate and breast cancer.
Physicians are still waiting for clear cut rules for how they must use health information technology in order to be eligible for economic stimulus-funded incentives, American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association, reports. The publication notes that (the $2 billion) "incentive money will directly address the use of EMRs, not the purchase of the systems." The sole, ambiguous requirement - that doctors must make "meaningful use" of the technology - will be defined by year"s end. But, industry consultants say doctors can and should get a head start on the governments expectation that they"ll be able to adopt the technology by 2011. Practices can expect requirements to include e-prescribing, certification through a government-approved certifying body, quality reporting, and the ability of one system to exchange information with others (Dolan, 6/15).
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is conducting a three-week tour featuring a mobile testing unit named for former National Basketball Association player Earvin "Magic" Johnson that provides free HIV testing to local residents, WDSU.com reports. During the tour, which recently stopped in New Orleans, AHF will present $5,000 grants to local HIV/AIDS organizations (WDSU.com, 6/14). In related news, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) sponsored a health awareness festival in Pensacola, Fla. that sought to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among the black community as part of its annual state convention. According to Art Rocker, head of the local SCLC chapter, since 2007, there has been an increase in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Escambia County, Fla., which prompted the organization to focus its event on HIV/AIDS (Dugas, Pensacola News Journal, 6/14).
Action Duchenne, the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Charity, has launched its new website which combines the best in Web 2.0 technologies including social networking, wikipedia, blogging and micro-blogging. The new site Action Duchenne also enables the charity to take donations from registered members and the general public. Users may also create their own sponsorable events with donations going directly to Action Duchenne.
The North Carolina legislature has proposed to eliminate the HIV Medicaid Case Management program, which "provides crucial support to people living with HIV, helping them access medical care, medications and the support services needed to live healthier lives," Jacquelyn Clymore of the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina and Beth Stringfield, member of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network, write in a Durham News opinion piece, adding, "We need to call legislators and let them know how important this program is to those living with HIV and ask them to return the program and its funding to the budget." They continue, "It is likely that additional budget cuts to HIV programs will be proposed, and we must speak out in support of state HIV prevention funding" (Clymore/Stringfield, Durham News, 6/13).
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today outlines the scope of its review of the provision and commissioning of out-of-hours GP services run by Take Care Now.
One main reason why viruses such as HIV or hepatitis C persist despite a vigorous initial immune response is exhaustion. The T cells, or white blood cells, fighting a chronic infection eventually wear out.
The capital"s 11-15 year olds now drink the equivalent of 180,000 bottles of lager every week - and the amount they drink is on the rise, a new report from the London Assembly today warns.
When Jason Martin gives a talk about his research, he begins with the dramatic story of Mariana Bridi da Costa: The young Brazilian supermodel died from severe sepsis in January after amputation of both her hands and feet failed to stop its spread.
Ads that feature positive emotions, like happiness, are not always the best way to reach consumers, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a cognitive shortcut, or heuristic, they call "Unit Bias," which causes people to ignore vital, obvious information in their decision-making process, points to a fundamental flaw in the modern, evolved mind and may also play a role in the American population"s 30 years of weight gain.
ExonHit Therapeutics (Paris:ALEHT) announced that clinical testing of EHT 0202, its lead therapeutic compound in Alzheimer"s disease, is progressing well. Final patient dosing for the Phase IIa proof-of-concept clinical trial assessing EHT 0202 in patients with Alzheimer"s disease is completed.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) announced the preliminary results of a phase II, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, three-arm study of apremilast - a novel, orally available small molecule that exhibits anti- inflammatory activities through the suppression of multiple pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines - in adult patients with psoriatic arthritis (CC-10004-PSA-001). The study met its primary objective of assessment of ACR20 at 12 weeks. ACR20 is defined as the percentage of patients achieving a 20% or better improvement according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. ACR20 is the primary assessment utilized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for assessment of efficacy in psoriatic arthritis, as well as rheumatoid arthritis.
The immune system"s T-cells react to foreign protein fragments and therefore are crucial to combating viruses and bacteria. Errant cells that attack the body"s own material are in most cases driven to cell death. Some of these autoreactive T-cells, however, undergo a kind of reeducation to become "regulatory T-cells" that keep other autoreactive T-cells under control. A group led by immunologist Professor Ludger Klein of LMU Munich has now shown that the developmental stage of an autoreactive T-cell is decisive to its ultimate destiny. Young autoreactive T-cells are very readily reeducated into regulatory T-cells. Under identical conditions, however, older T-cells become fully activated and can cause damage - they are in a way resistant to reeducation. "We now intend to study at the molecular level what makes a T-cell accessible for reeducation," said Klein, "because then it may be possible to convert even normal adult T-cells, which can be obtained easily and in great numbers from blood. Possibly, they could then be used as regulatory T-cells in therapies for autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis: these are diseases that are triggered by uncontrolled autoreactive T-cells." (PNAS, 10 June 2009)
A multi-ethnic study in the June 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine reports that there is a statistically significant relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) episodes occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and type 2 diabetes.
More pre-cancerous polyps were found in colonoscopies performed with deep sedation primarily using Propofol than with milder sedation in which patients remained conscious, according to a recent study conducted by Katherine Hoda, M.D. of Oregon Health and Science University. This improvement in cancer detection will save lives and reduce the number of patients requiring surgery and chemotherapy.
Boston University Biomedical Engineer Joyce Wong will work to create engineered blood vessels aimed at correcting pediatric heart defects under a major grant from The Hartwell Foundation. Wong is one of just 12 researchers nationwide to win the foundation"s prestigious Individual Biomedical Research Award.
Paul Kubes and colleagues, at the University of Calgary, Canada, have provided evidence in mice to refute the paradigm that the initial phase of the immune response to infection with Gram-negative bacteria (the recruitment of immune cells known as neutrophils to the site of infection) is triggered following immune sentinel-cell recognition of the bacterial molecule LPS via the protein TLR4. Rather, the researchers found that LPS recognition by TLR4 on the cells that line blood vessels (endothelial cells) is the crucial event that initiates neutrophil recruitment and bacterial clearance in mice.
Molecules known as type I IFNs are a central component of the protective immune response following infection with a virus. In contrast, these molecules are not normally linked to the protective immune response following infection with the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which is becoming a major health problem due to the emergence of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains. However, Alice Prince and colleagues have now determined that Staphylococcus aureus induce the production of type I IFNs by mouse and human airway cells, but these molecules are not part of a protective immune response in mice, rather they markedly enhance the severity of the pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus infection.
Cambridge Consultants will be showcasing its proprietary design and development process for Dry Power Inhalers (DPIs) at the Respiratory Drug Delivery (RDD) Europe 2009 conference in Lisbon later this month.÷ The company will demonstrate its ability to move inhaler design quickly through all stages of development from concept through manufacture to final product, getting it right first time, accelerating the creation of new inhalable drug delivery devices, and offering pharmaceutical companies a quick route to market, saving up to six months in development.
Stalled microtubules might be responsible for some cases of the neurological disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, Tanabe and Takei report in the June 15, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. A mutant protein makes the microtubules too stable to perform their jobs, the researchers find.
Science fact surpasses science fiction at the Canadian Light (CLS) synchrotron"s 12th Annual Users" Meeting Thursday, June 18 at the Radisson Hotel in Saskatoon. Conference participants will hear about some of the newest biomedical results from the CLS, as well as ways that synchrotron techniques are lighting the way to advances in environmental clean up and nanotechnology.
MacroGenics, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced that the PROTEGE trial achieved its targeted patient enrollment. The trial is a pivotal Phase 2/3 clinical study evaluating teplizumab, an investigational compound under development for the treatment of individuals with recent-onset type 1 diabetes.
The 2009 monsoon season will soon arrive in the Asian territories and culicine mosquito populations are expected to increase. "These mosquitoes may carry the virus that causes Japanese Encephalitis (JE), which kills 10-15,000 people each year," warned Fran Lessans, CEO of Passport Health, the largest provider of travel medical services in the U.S. A new vaccine called Ixiaro(R) has been approved by the FDA, and is ready for distribution in the United States. Some Passport Health"s offices will have both JE-VAX(R) and Ixiaro(R) until JE-VAX(R) is phased out. "The new vaccine is good for adults over 18 so we still have to use JE-VAX(R) for the younger population," concluded Lessans. Both vaccines protect against JE.
Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Inc. (CRi) announced that Oosight(TM), a non-invasive optical imaging system manufactured by CRi and widely used by embryologists as an aid in the field of in vitro fertilization (IVF), has been used in a groundbreaking study that investigated ways to select eggs most likely to produce a pregnancy.
URAC, the leading health care accreditation and education organization, and CARF International, a premier, global, independent accreditor of health and human services, announced a new tool for case management professionals. The uSPEQ(R)/URAC Participant Experience Survey for Case Management (uSPEQ-CM) will help evaluate and improve the quality of health care programs and services offered to consumers.
Summer is the peak season for lightning-related injuries. When planning outdoor activities, know what shelter is available and where to go if you hear thunder.
A German study published in The Journal of Pain showed that an external suction technique mainly used outside the U.S., called cupping, is effective for providing temporary relief of pain from carpal tunnel syndrome (CPS).
When: 8 July 2009 6:00pm - 8:00pm
MEDICAL experts have cautioned against indiscriminate use of new classes of medication for Britain"s increasing number of people with diabetes - saying the drug advances needed "careful adoption" to meet their full treatment potential.
The battle over health care reform will happen in the Senate, even though President Obama keeps getting all the attention, The Washington Post"s The Fix reports.
The Kaiser Family Foundation will hold a briefing on June 17 to examine the U.S. government"s role in addressing malaria, including its strategic options for reducing the impact of the disease and the current status of the development of the comprehensive malaria strategy. The discussion will touch on issues such as: What will the U.S. malaria response look like over the next five years? What strategies are most likely to prove effective? How will the U.S. efforts fit into the broader global response to malaria?
A poll commissioned by comedy channel Gold and to be revealed shows that we Britons are the angriest people in Europe, losing our cool on average four times a day and topping even the Italians and French. And what do we believe makes us most angry? Queue jumpers.
Taking popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, such as Lipitor® (atorvastatin), does not lower the risk of pneumonia. That"s the new finding from a study of more than 3,000 Group Health patients published online on June 16 in advance of the British Medical Journal"s June 20 print issue.
Our tendency to see people and faces as individuals may explain why we are such experts at recognizing them, new research indicates. This approach can be learned and applied to other objects as well.
The ways we deal with death are finding a new life online, according to research being published by a Kansas State University journalism professor and her colleague.
Advanced Practice Strategies (APS), a leading provider of education solutions for risk management and patient safety, announced a new interactive course to help clinicians recognize and treat one of the most dangerous post-delivery occurrences-postpartum hemorrhage.
The General Optical Council (GOC) has launched an open consultation on its five-year strategy. Registrants, patients and the public, and partner organisations are encouraged to have their say on the GOC"s role and work priorities for 2010-2015.
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET, to examine the current Social Security benefit structure, and how to strengthen and reform the program for future beneficiaries. The committee will hear from witnesses on reform ideas and how to meet our retiree and disabled citizens" needs. Today, one-third of Americans 65 years and older depend on Social Security benefits to supply 90 percent of their total income.
American Career College has gained approval to offer a Respiratory Therapy (RT) program at its Ontario campus, where the program"s initial class will commence on July 20, 2009. Currently, American Career College offers an RT program at its Orange County campus in Anaheim.
According to a report published recently, we must all share responsibility for preventing the spread of diseases such as swine flu, SARS, avian influenza, diarrhoeal and skin diseases, and even the common cold.
PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:PYTO) (FWB:ET6), announced the advancement of their anti-cancer compound research and development. The culmination of a series of favorable test results conducted over several months have allowed the company to justifiably expand their cancer research efforts which includes the designing of an IV formulation of their key compound.
A life-saving program that speeds up the matching of donated organs to would-be transplant patients has been named a finalist in the international Computerworld Honours Program 2009.
ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CXS) (NASDAQ:CXSP) announced that updated clinical data from the registration-directed clinical trial of omacetaxine will be presented as an oral presentation at the forthcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 45th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Scientists at Harvard University have shown, for the first time, that intelligence varies among individual monkeys within a species - in this case, the cotton-top tamarin.
The lack of awareness in schools is having a serious impact on the education of children with Sickle Cell, according to research published in the British Education Research Journal this month.
The Lancet has partnered with over 40 Elsevier-published journals and 11 learned societies to launch a new H1N1 Flu Re Centre for healthcare professionals at TheLancet.com. Developed byThe Lancet editors, this new online information clearinghouse aggregates infectious disease and public health information from across Elsevier"s spectrum of content.
Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENZN) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Cimzia®, for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Cimzia® (certolizumab pegol), is a PEGylated anti-TNFa (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha). The product is currently being developed by UCB. Cimzia is one of several products which utilize Enzon"s PEGylation technology, including PEG-INTRON®, Macugen®, and Pegasys®.
A research team led by Professor Einar Hallberg at the Department of Life Sciences at Sē¶dertē¶rn University in Sweden has discovered a new protein in the inner membrane of the cell nucleus. This protein may play an important role in cell division and now provides a new piece of the puzzle to study in cancer research.
Targeting children may be an effective use of limited supplies of flu vaccine, according to research at the University of Warwick funded by the Wellcome Trust and the EU. The study suggests that, used to support other control measures, this could help control the spread of pandemics such as the current swine flu.
Data published in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer"s Disease demonstrated that minimally-invasive biospectroscopy was able to identify changes in oxidative stress (OS) levels in blood plasma, which may prove to be a useful biomarker in the early detection of Alzheimer"s disease. There is currently no accepted laboratory test for diagnosing Alzheimer"s disease.
A group of Australian researchers investigated in medical disorders the effects of comorbid dysthymic disorder as compared to major depressive disorder (MDD) on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) and disability days in the general population. In a population-based study 4,181 individuals were assessed for the presence of dysthymic disorder and depression, utilizing the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Each participant received a thorough medical examination to assess the presence of comorbid somatic conditions. HR-QoL was evaluated using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short-Form 36 (SF-36) and disability days were provided by self-report.
Researchers working with Dr Marcus Schmidt in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Medical Center Mainz have unlocked the key to the immune system"s significance in cases of breast cancer, thus identifying its long-neglected role in the prognosis of the disease. Their research results, published in the renowned Cancer Research journal, show that patients with certain breast tumors have a better prognosis when more immune cells are present in the tumor. These results permitted the scientists to extend the "coordinate system" in case of breast tumors to include the immune system as the third important reference point for the prognosis of this disease, in addition to the long-established prognostic factors of estrogen receptor expression and proliferative activity (Cancer Research, 1 July 2008; Cancer Research, 1 April 2009).
The immune system"s T-cells react to foreign protein fragments and therefore are crucial to combating viruses and bacteria. Errant cells that attack the body"s own material are in most cases driven to cell death. Some of these autoreactive T-cells, however, undergo a kind of reeducation to become "regulatory T-cells" that keep other autoreactive T-cells under control. A group led by immunologist Professor Ludger Klein of LMU Munich has now shown that the developmental stage of an autoreactive T-cell is decisive to its ultimate destiny. Young autoreactive T cells are very readily reeducated into regulatory T-cells. Under identical conditions, however, older T cells become fully activated and can cause damage they are in a way resistant to reeducation. "We now intend to study at the molecular level what makes a T-cell accessible for reeducation," said Klein, "because then it may be possible to convert even normal adult T-cells, which can be obtained easily and in great numbers from blood. Possibly, they could then be used as regulatory T-cells in therapies for autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis: these are diseases that are triggered by uncontrolled autoreactive T-cells." (PNAS, 10 June 2009)
BioElectronics Corp. (PINKSHEETS: BIEL), the maker of inexpensive, disposable drug-free anti-inflammatory devices, announced its sponsorship of a groundbreaking clinical study on musculoskeletal disorders. The randomized, double blinded and placebo-controlled study will be supervised by a primary investigator, Sheena Kong, MD of San Francisco, California in conjunction with several other leading physicians.
Parents of babies and young children are being urged to stop using the "First Steps" medicine feeder range manufactured by RSW International Ltd after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) uncovered potential safety and quality concerns.
The up to $1.6 trillion price tag for one version of health care reform has left Democrats scrambling to find a way to rein in costs while not sacrificing the basic tenets of a plan they favor, The Washington Post reports.
The Ozone Man, Inc. (OTCBB: OZOM), dba TOMI Environmental Solutions, or TOMIES, announced today the completion of a deep cleaning treatment of Xaverian High School with a student body of 1400 located in Brooklyn, New York. The Ozone Man"s treatment eliminated contaminants including Swine Flu "H1N1" along with inactivating viruses. The Ozone Man"s treatment also eliminates odor, mold spores and kills bacteria in the treated areas. Its proprietary Ultraviolet Ozone Generators produce the cleanest ozone south of the stratosphere, helping to ensure the health, safety and well being of the building and its inhabitants.
"A New York State law that takes effect on July 14 has physicians who perform office-based surgery scrambling to upgrade their offices or find new space altogether," The New York Times reports. The Patient Protection Bill, "signed into law by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in July 2007, is intended to ensure high safety standards in offices when surgery and other invasive procedures are conducted with more than minimal sedation" and is "the first time that New York State will regulate office-based surgeries." Doctors may need to modify their office space with "larger elevators, improved ventilation, backup power equipment with the ability to run for a longer period and other mechanical accommodations." But "since some medical offices cannot be physically adapted to meet accreditation requirements, especially in Manhattan, many physicians have been seeking new office space." This can be difficult in the city, where there is "a dearth of recently built medical office space." Claire Pospisil, "a spokeswoman with the New York State Department of Health, said the state did not know how many medical offices were conducting operations; this was one reason for the new law." She estimates that "70 or 75 percent of medical offices in New York City and Long Island do these surgeries."
Opponents and proponents of health care reform are using "rationing" as the word to drive opinion regarding health care reform in the United States, The New York Times reports.
Rising health care costs, driven by an increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, threaten the country"s place as an economic leader, Tracey Moorhead, president and CEO of DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance, says in the 2009 Almanac of Chronic Disease.
Health and religion have always been intertwined, most obviously through prayer on behalf of the sick. Does intercessory prayer for sick people actually help heal them? For thousands of years some people have believed so. But new Brandeis University research in the Journal of Religion this month shows that over the last four decades, medical studies of intercessory prayer - the prayer of strangers at a distance - actually say more about the scientists conducting the studies than about the power of prayer to heal.
In the decade since the Implicit Association Test was introduced, its most surprising and controversial finding is its indication that about 70 percent of those who took a version of the test that measures racial attitudes have an unconscious, or implicit, preference for white people compared to blacks. This contrasts with figures generally under 20 percent for self report, or survey, measures of race bias.
Our ability to withstand stress-related, inflammatory diseases may be associated, not just with our race and sex, but with our personality as well, according to a study published in the July issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Especially in aging women, low levels of the personality trait extraversion may signal that blood levels of a key inflammatory molecule have crossed over a threshold linked to a doubling of risk of death within five years.
Diagnostic display monitors have experienced slow growth in 2007 due to picture archiving and communication system (PACS) installations across radiology departments of European hospitals having reached saturation. However, favourable regulations mandating the sales of 5MP displays for digital mammography have ensured high-volume sales in several European countries. The increasing demand for clinical review display monitors from private practitioners has also ensured very high growth rates for medical imaging display monitors.
Antisense Therapeutics Ltd. (ASX: ANP) is pleased to report further positive results from its collaborative preclinical research studies on the therapeutic potential of ATL1101 in prostate cancer. In experimental models, ATL1101 treatment significantly enhanced the tumor-suppressive effect of the cancer drug Paclitaxel. Paclitaxel is one of a class of drugs known as taxanes. Along with androgen (a male hormone) blockade, taxane chemotherapy is an important treatment option in the most dangerous form of the disease, castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), the Intelligence Community (IC), and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS), has released the first installment of a three-year effort to build a unified information security framework for the entire federal government. Historically, information systems at civilian agencies have operated under different security controls than military and intelligence information systems. This installment is titled NIST Special Publication 800-53, Revision 3, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations.
A new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assay using a "glow or no glow" technique may soon help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defend the nation against a spectrum of biological weapons that could be used in a terrorist attack. One very dangerous toxin on the list is ricin, a protein derived from castor beans that is lethal in doses as small as 500 micrograms - about the size of a grain of salt.