Mental Health
Biophysicists long for an ideal material - something more structured and less sticky than a standard glass surface - to anchor and position individual biomolecules. Gold is an alluring possibility, with its simple chemistry and the ease with which it can be patterned. Unfortunately, gold also tends to be sticky and can be melted by lasers. Now, biophysicists at JILA have made gold more precious than ever - at least as a research tool - by creating nonstick gold surfaces and laser-safe gold nanoposts, a potential boon to laser trapping of biomolecules.
Biologists are investigating how to control when plants flower - to help farmers reap a bumper harvest.
The University of Queensland"s Healthy Communities Research Centre , in collaboration with Australian Dirt Bike Adventures, is currently administering the first phase of a research project into the health benefits of trail bike riding based in Queensland.
AARP announced its endorsement of the
Gastroenteritis means irritation and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, which includes the stomach and small and large intestines. The condition is usually due to bacteria, food poisoning, parasites, or viruses, and it often results in diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Gastroenteritis is commonly called gastric flu or stomach flu although it has no relation to the influenza virus.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Ilaris(R) (canakinumab) for the treatment of children and adults with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS), which includes a number of rare, but life-long, auto-inflammatory disorders with debilitating symptoms and limited treatment options. The FDA granted priority review to Ilaris based on its potential to meet an important clinical need for patients with CAPS.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Midwestern Regional Medical Center, a leading provider of innovative cancer care for patients living with complex and advanced-stage disease, is the only hospital in Illinois and Wisconsin to take part in new clinical research involving a treatment designed to target ovarian cancer cells otherwise resistant to standard chemotherapy.
Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC BB: PVCT), a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company has completed patient accrual and initial PV-10 treatment in its Phase 2 trial of PV-10 for metastatic melanoma. The study involved treatment of 80 subjects with Stage III or Stage IV metastatic melanoma.
Osmetech (LSE:OMH) announced that it has submitted a request to the US FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its Respiratory Pathogen Test Panel test to be used to screen for the swine flu virus.
Suffering a stroke can have a profound effect on relationships and lead to significant changes in how couples relate to each other on a physical, psychological, social and emotional level, according a study in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Queen"s University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF today called on governments to strengthen risk reduction measures in four key areas so that health and education systems are able to cope with disasters, including the risks from climate change. These are:
Senators delayed work Wednesday on one health care reform bill and hit partisan roadblocks on another as key lawmakers insisted they are still on track to have a bill on the floor by the middle of summer, The Washington Post reports.
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China Aoxing Pharmaceutical Company, Inc. (OTCBB: CAXG) ("China Aoxing"), a pharmaceutical company specializing in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of narcotic and pain-management products, announced that it has completed the registration trial with Codeine Phosphate, a compound oral solution for the treatment of acute moderate to severe cough. Top-line results from this trial are expected to be announced by the end of the third quarter of 2009.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena and their colleagues from the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague have developed a new method to quickly and reliably detect metabolites, such as sugars, fatty acids, amino acids and other organic substances from plant or animal tissue samples. One drop of blood -- less than one micro liter -- is sufficient to identify certain blood related metabolites.
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 letter to the editor by Rhode Island Hospital infectious diseases specialist Leonard Mermel, DO, identifies characteristics of the outbreak of H1N1 in 1977 and speculates its impact on this pandemic. His letter is published in the June 20 edition of the journal the Lancet 2009 (vol 373 p2108-09).
Money spiders infected with Rickettsia bacteria are less likely to "balloon" - that is, to use their silk as sails to catch gusts of wind and travel long distances. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology suggest that it may be in the bacteria"s interests to ground the spiders and that this reduction in dispersal could reduce gene flow and impact on reproductive isolation within the meta-population.
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.
Allergy testing and treatment may offer a new therapeutic option for many patients with interstitial cystitis (IC). IC is a severely painful bladder condition affecting as many as 8 million women and 1.5 million men in the United States. Patients and the providers who treat them have long noticed a correlation between allergies and IC. Recently, a urologist and allergist in Louisville, Kentucky, began to explore the link between these two chronic ailments to provide patients with more effective treatment. The story of their discoveries is featured in the ICA Update, the quarterly magazine of the Interstitial Cystitis Association (ICA).
Like a mechanic popping the hood of a car to get at a faulty engine, a tumor-suppressing protein allows cellular repair mechanisms to pounce on damaged DNA by overcoming a barrier to DNA access.
The physical and mental health needs of juvenile offenders should be treated as a priority if offenders held in detention have any real hope of rehabilitation, according to new research from the University of Adelaide, Australia.
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 - Men undergoing surgical interventions for BPH are still at risk for subsequent development of prostate cancer (CaP) due to residual tissue. It is suggested that PSA decreases approximately 0.1-0.3ng/ml for every 1g of prostate tissue removed. In the online edition of Urology, Dr. Brian Helfand and associates determined the PSA values and PSAV in patients who had undergone TURP, holmium laser resection of the prostate (HoLRP), or open prostatectomy (OP) for treatment of BPH and compare these values in patients with histologic BPH only with the values in those with incidentally found CaP.
The European Medicines Agency is inviting comments on its draft
School Nutrition Association president Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS announced new data today on the widespread availability of vegetarian school lunch options. Almost two thirds of school nutrition programs now offer a vegetarian school lunch on a consistent basis, up from 22% in 2003, according to the Association"s soon to be released 2009 School Nutrition Operations Report. The availability of vegetarian school lunches in a majority of districts is consistent with the overall trend in the past five years towards more nutritious school lunches emphasizing whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and low-fat dairy. The vegetarian choices also come in spite of federal school lunch reimbursements that have not kept pace with increased food and labor costs. Dr. Wilson presented the research findings at the National Conference on Childhood Obesity in Washington, DC today.
A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center project called "open notes"" will make doctor"s notes available to as many as 35,000 patients online along with the rest of their medical records for a year, the Boston Globe reports.
Outpatient clinics in District General Hospitals operating on a weekly basis are not able to reach minimum standards for treating patients who have suffered a stroke, according to a new audit published by the Royal College of Physicians. The study, published in Clinical Medicine journal, assessed the timeliness with which an urgent access neurovascular clinic was able to evaluate possible stroke victims between 2000 and 2006. Data showed that the clinic was not able to reach the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke"s recommendation that patients who may have suffered a minor stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) receive urgent evaluation within one week.
Bartering for health care is on the rise as the recession drags on.
The Houston Chronicle reports on a medical philosophy that focuses on providing coordinated care and personal care to older patients, mostly indigent seniors. The paper examines Select Senior Clinic, a Texas facility that ascribes to the medical home concept.
A federal grand jury yesterday indicted Pamela Arrey, age 48, of
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society"s campaign to change the unjust law which automatically criminalises any dispensing error has reached a significant milestone after the Department of Health announced plans to amend the Medicines Act 1968 at the earliest opportunity.
American Lung Association Calls Upon President Obama to Protect Entire Federal Workforce
As part of an effort to encourage Staten Island, N.Y., residents to be tested for HIV, the CARE Network, the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and the City Council"s Communities of Color Faith Initiative, have partnered to launch the "Staten Island HIV Status Check Campaign," the Staten Island Advance reports. "Status Check" postcards that include information on free local HIV testing locations, HIV educational literature and condoms will be distributed by local organizations and businesses as part of the initiative. The goal is to reach the 56 percent of local residents who have never been tested for HIV, Karina Ryan, CARE Network coordinator, said (Slepian, Staten Island Advance, 6/18).
Clinical Data, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA) announced today that the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has approved the generic name vilazodone hydrochloride. Vilazodone, if approved, would represent a first-in-class drug for the treatment of depression, due to its novel dual mechanism of action as both a potent and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and a partial agonist of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 1a (5-HT1A) receptor. Thus, vilazodone combines first-line therapy for depression with 5-HT1A partial agonism, an accepted adjunctive treatment for depression and a first-line therapy for anxiety disorders. Clinical Data has recently completed the second of two positive Phase III registration studies. Results of these studies will form the basis of a new drug application (NDA) that the Company intends to submit with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2009.
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).
Self perceived memory impairment is an indicator of pending Alzheimer dementia but not of vascular dementia, according to results of the LADIS (Leukoaraiosis and Disability) study which explores the impact of brain white matter changes on the functioning of independent elderly individuals over a 3 year period. The study is being presented at the current meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS), a major meeting in European neurology that is gathering more than 2,900 experts from all over the world in Milan.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Dr. Howard Koh as the next Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS.
As President Obama prepares to sign a bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of the tobacco industry, a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers shows that tobacco manufacturers have continually changed the ingredients and the design of their cigarettes over time, even if those changes have exceeded acceptable product variance guidelines. The result, say the researchers, is that consumers who buy the same brand of product are not made aware of how that product has been altered and what effect those alterations might have on their levels of addiction or harm.
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.
A London surgeon is pioneering a new way to remove abdominal organs through the belly button using an approach called single incision
A new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) shows that patients admitted to a hospital with coronary artery disease are twice as likely to quit smoking after receiving intensive smoking cessation support than those receiving minimal support.
As the weather gets warmer, people often get motivated to spend more time outdoors. Whether it"s working on projects around the house, playing with the grandkids at the park or out exercising, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) stresses important that baby boomers remember their bodies are not as young as they used to be and not overdo it.
Cancer the word resonates in people"s nightmares and strikes fear in the hearts of millions. Can there be a positive side amidst the panic, anxiety and hopeless feelings that often accompany the word? The answer is yes according to Dr. Patricia Mumby, associate professor Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Department and director of Loyola Cardinal Bernadine Cancer Center Psychosocial Oncology Service.
Shingles is caused by the herpes varicella-zoster (or simply zoster) virus. This virus also causes chickenpox. Most of us get chickenpox during childhood, but after we recover the virus remains inactive (dormant) in our nervous system. Our immune system stops the virus from becoming active. However, later in life it may become reactivated, causing shingles. Shingles is an infection of a nerve and the area of skin around it.
A call for research on the emerging influenza pandemic is being launched by the NIHR as the World Health Organization (WHO) announces the move to pandemic phase 6. The research will provide evidence to influence ongoing health policy and practice.
The New York Times reports that a "rogue cancer unit" at a veteran"s hospital in Philadelphia "operated with virtually no outside scrutiny and botched 92 of 116 [prostate] cancer treatments over a span of more than six years - and then kept quiet about it, according to interviews with investigators, government officials and public records." Dr. Gary D. Kao-- was responsible for almost all of the errors, which occurred during a "common surgical procedure" in which a doctor "implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the prostate cancer. "The team continued implants for a year even though the equipment that measured whether patients received the proper radiation dose was broken. The radiation safety committee at the Veterans Affairs hospital knew of this problem but took no action, records show." The cancer unit lacked peer review, and "the VA"s radiation safety program; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates the use of all nuclear materials; and the Joint Commission, a group that accredited the hospital, all failed to intervene; either their inspections had been limited or they had not acted decisively upon finding problems."
A jean-wearing, blogging pediatrician who works out of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, loft claims "disruptive technology" is a better treatment for America"s health care woes than universal health insurance, the Boston Globe reports. He hopes products like "Hello Health, a national franchise of clinics he is building where patients can e-mail, text, or videochat with doctors over a secure Web site," will jolt the health system into dramatic reforms.
THT is calling for people to join its support group "Telling it straight". The group is aimed at heterosexual men and women living with HIV in Sussex. The group meets every fourth Tuesday of each month in the evening. The next group session will take place on Tuesday 23rd at 6-8pm at THT"s centre in Brighton.
The National Organization for Women on Saturday during its annual conference elected Terry O"Neill as the group"s new president, the Indianapolis Star reports. O"Neill succeeds Kim Gandy, who has served two four-year terms as NOW president. The group has grown to include about 500,000 advocate members since its founding in 1966.During the conference, participants discussed a number of women"s rights issues, including same-sex marriage, equal pay and health insurance affordability. O"Neill raised the issue of "conscience" clauses, which allow health care workers to refuse to provide information or services on moral or religious grounds. O"Neill said, "Conscience clauses, where pharmacists refuse birth control sales because it"s against their conscience, must go. Guess what? Women have a constitutional right to birth control," adding, "There is no constitutional right to be a pharmacist" (Jacobs, Indianapolis Star, 6/21).O"Neill served as NOW"s vice president for membership from 2001 to 2005. She most recently served as chief of staff for a county council member in Montgomery County, Md. O"Neill in a prepared statement said that she is "honored and eager" to lead NOW (AP/Google.com, 6/21).
Two studies recently published in the journal Nature Genetics report identifying new genes and gene regions that contribute to making people susceptible to developing MS. The findings, by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium and the Australia/New Zealand MS Genetics Consortium, add to a growing list of gene variations linked to MS susceptibility. Identifying all MS genes will likely lead to the development of more effective ways to treat the disease, and open the door to uncovering the cause of MS, which may lead to its prevention.
After the murder last month of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, "there is a very real danger" that the availability of abortion later in pregnancy "will end in this country -- not after public deliberation, legislative debate and majority vote, but because antiabortion absolutists on the fringe have intimidated and blacklisted doctors and successfully threatened violence against them," Jim Buie, author of the blog The Buie Knife, writes in a Newsweek.com opinion piece. Buie writes that his parents in the early 1950s chose to institutionalize his three-year-old-brother, who was born with severe Down syndrome, after their attempts to care for him left them with "severe emotional distress" and unable "to meet the needs of their healthy children."Buie continues that he "cannot say that the option of a late-term abortion would have been the right one for my parents." However, "some of the arguments advanced by pro-life forces disturb me," he says, especially a "tendency to romanticize, sentimentalize and idealize life with a cute, forever-young Down-syndrome "angel child."" Buie adds, "It"s an argument I find off-putting, especially when it"s espoused by people who have never been through the wringer trying to care for a child whose disability level is on the most severe end of the scale." He continues, "At the same time, it is very disturbing that until recently, the majority of Down-syndrome fetuses were aborted without expectant mothers receiving proper information or support."Because of Tiller"s murder, it is "possible there won"t be any doctors in the country willing to perform" abortion later in pregnancy, "even if prenatal tests indicate severe retardation," according to Buie, who adds that this would mean that "domestic terrorism could win." He concludes, "It would mean that parents like my own would no longer have a choice, and would instead be forced to endure the same harsh realities that were present in the 1950s" (Buie, Newsweek.com, 6/17).
Diabetes UK would like to say a huge "thank you" to everyone who helped to make this year"s Diabetes Week such a great success - we could not have done it without you.
A quarter of us will experience at least one mental health problem in any one year, and yet stigma and prejudice are still widespread.
Schizophrenia, a chronic and debilitating disorder marked in part by auditory hallucinations and paranoia, can strike in late adolescence or early adulthood at a time when people are ready to stand on their own two feet as fully independent adults.
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.
With millions of people in the United States eagerly awaiting those July 4 fireworks displays - and our Canadian neighbors doing likewise for their July 1 Canada Day celebrations - here"s a prospect for those light shows of the future likely to ignite a smile on Mother Nature"s face: A new generation of "green" fireworks is quietly making its way toward the sky.
In the fruit fly"s developing brain, stem cells called neuroblasts normally divide to create one self-renewing neuroblast and one cell that has a different fate. But neuroblast growth can sometimes spin out of control and become a brain tumor.
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.
SAS, the leader in business analytics, announced that Shire, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, has selected SAS® Drug Development as the platform for its clinical trials data.
A survey of 140 independent imaging centers across the United States reveals that diagnostic radiology specialty networks play a critical role in channeling patients to imaging centers for both workers" compensation and health insurance patients.
U-Systems, the leader in dedicated breast ultrasound systems, together with Medical Director Jessica A. Guingrich, MD of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Susan G. Komen Breast Center and Centers for Breast Health announced that they have initiated the SOMOò€¢INSIGHT Clinical Study. The first participants have been enrolled and the first pathologically confirmed cancer has been detected in a mammographically-negative screening patient. The clinical study is examining whether Digital Mammography along with the somoò€¢v™ Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) is more sensitive to detecting breast lesions when compared to Mammography alone in women with dense breasts.
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.
A new study at the University of Leicester is using advanced single molecule methods to explore processes that lie at the very core of DNA variation in humans.
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.
Health workers fail to understand the importance of sex for Tanzanian children
Medical scientists at the University of Leicester are investigating how a species of fish from the Pacific Ocean could help provide answers to tackling chronic conditions such as hereditary high blood pressure and kidney disease.
The Magnetic Resonance Center of the University Children"s Hospital Zurich has achieved a world first break through in MR-guided, non-invasive neurosurgery. Ten patients have been successfully treated by means of transcranial high-intensity focused ultrasound. This fully non-invasive procedure opens new horizons for neurosurgery and the treatment of different neurological brain disorders.
Jhpiego, an international non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, is pleased to announce that Dr. Harshad Sanghvi, Vice President and Medical Director of Jhpiego, has been awarded the 2009 Award for Best Practices in Global Health from the Global Health Council.
Biovista Inc. announced that BVA-601, its small-molecule drug targeting epilepsy, has shown positive results in the Kainic acid murine model of temporal lobe epilepsy. BVA-601, an existing drug that Biovista repositioned in epilepsy, exhibits both anti-epileptic and neuroprotective activity. In this pre-clinical trial, BVA-601 induced a statistically significant decrease of epileptic activity in mice pre-treated with Kainic acid.
Who suffers from low back pain; my brother, my boss"s brother, my neighbor, a friend on the golf course and recently the media reports Regis Philbin and Jeff Gordon suffer from low back pain.
The American Pain Society (APS) has issued a new clinical practice guideline for low back pain that emphasizes the use of noninvasive treatments over interventional procedures, as well as shared decision making between provider and patient. The findings are published in the current (May 1, 2009) issue of the journal Spine.
The Center for Vision Restoration of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh today announced a $3 million gift from Louis J. Fox, a Pennsylvania native and Pitt graduate. UPMC has pledged to match Mr. Fox"s donation to the Center.
Alabama"s summer climate with its extreme temperatures and high humidity can lead to heatrelated
The Department of Public Health (DPH) announced that it is implementing a plan to limit the spread of novel H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, in youth camps.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) reports 22 new cases of H1N1 swine flu for last week, bringing the state"s total number of cases to 105. The new cases last week were in Lamar (6), Rankin (4), Covington (2), Madison (2), Chickasaw (1), Forrest (1), Harrison (1), Jackson (1), Lafayette (1), Monroe (1), Warren (1) and Winston (1) counties.
The Washington Post reports many oral health professionals worry that dental issues have "a tenuous place at best in the national debate" regarding an overhaul of the health care system. Still, they emphasize that dental health is an integral part of health care and note the special burden untreated dental issues have on poor children. The paper also notes that "closing the gap between the worlds of dental care and medical care, with their separate histories and cultures, and their separate finance and delivery systems would be a formidable task."
The National Right to Life Committee last week held its national convention in Charlotte, N.C., attracting as many as 1,300 antiabortion-rights advocates from around the U.S., according to event organizers, the Charlotte Observer reports. According to the Observer, a large part of the convention focused on President Obama"s appeal for "common ground" in the abortion-rights debate, with many participants arguing there is not much in common to be found between abortion-rights supporters and opponents.NRLC Political Director Karen Cross said that Obama is "the most pro-abortion president" in U.S. history, telling convention delegates, "Look at the devastation brought by the first 100 days" of his administration. Cross was referring to Obama"s decisions to ease restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, lift the "global gag" rule and his intentions to repeal the Bush administration"s provider "conscience" rule.Although Obama has sought to achieve common ground on abortion by promoting adoption and methods of preventing unintended pregnancies, his "view of common ground is not common ground at all" for "people with very strong pro-life positions," John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said. Green said that the "positive news is abortion is not a priority for many Americans." Green said that results from a recent a Pew Research Center poll could indicate that "pro-life constituencies are becoming more vocal and more strident precisely because there"s a president with more pro-choice sympathies." Similarly, a May Gallup poll found that 51% of U.S. residents consider themselves "pro-life," compared with 42% who call themselves "pro-choice." The poll was the first time Gallup found that more people identified themselves as "pro-life."Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said that the Gallup poll "doesn"t square" with the election of Obama and abortion-rights majorities in both chambers of Congress. She said, "Americans want a change in the tone of the debate and that begins with common ground on birth control and sex education." She added, "As long as right-to-life refuses to support better access to contraception, they will continue to be outside the mainstream values of this country" (Morrill, Charlotte Observer, 6/20).
Weak eye-witnesses pick the most criminal looking faces in identity parades. This is one of the findings of Heather Flowe and colleagues from the University of Leicester who will present their research at the British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference today, Wednesday 24th June 2009. The conference is being held the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
Acute hepatic radiation injury could lead to necrosis of hepatocytes, fatty degeneration and hepatic fibrosis. At the present, the gold standard test is liver biopsy. However, this procedure is invasive, uncomfortable for the patients and sometimes results in serious complications. 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has been used to study liver metabolism in vivo for several years. A research team led by Jian-Shan Mao from Zhejiang University investigated whether changes of 31P MRS in the liver with early acute radiation injury were related to the liver damage score (LDS) and pathologic changes. They also determined the value of 31P MRS in detecting early acute hepatic radiation injury, and identified the most valuable phosphorylated metabolite for detecting acute hepatic injury. Their study was published on June 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
A lack of serotonin, commonly known as the "happiness hormone", in the brain slows the growth of mice after birth and is responsible for impaired maternal behavior later in life. This was the result of research conducted by Dr. Natalia Alenina, Dana Kikic, and Professor Michael Bader of the Max DelbrÃøck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany. At the same time, the researchers discovered that the presence of serotonin in the brain is not crucial for the survival of the animals. Furthermore, they were able to confirm that there are two strictly separate pathways of serotonin production: One gene is responsible for the formation of serotonin in the brain, another gene for the production of the hormone in the body (PNAS, June 23, 2009, Vol. 106, No. 25, pp 10332-10337)*.
Seasonal influenza in health care workers is a personal health threat, but also poses a significant risk to the patients in their care. In an effort to help health care organizations improve the rate of health care worker influenza vaccinations, The Joint Commission is releasing a monograph "Providing a Safer Environment for Health Care Personnel and Patients Through Influenza Vaccination: Strategies from Research and Practice."
Congressional leaders and leading pharmaceutical companies have come up with a plan to reduce medication costs for millions of senior citizens enrolled in the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program. In combination with other discount programs and rebates, the savings to the U.S. government could represent $80 billion. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is leading the charge to specifically close the coverage gap for patients whose medications costs fall into the "doughnut hole."
St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) commends the efforts of investigators in the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial with Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (MADIT-CRT). The early results of the trial indicate that early intervention with CRT-D therapy can slow a patient"s progression from early stage heart failure (NYHA Class I-II) to late stage heart failure (NYHA Class III-IV).
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.
Scientists in the US have discovered that cancer tumors that don"t spread to other parts of the body secrete a protein called prosaposin and that
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN) announced that CGEN-25007, a novel peptide antagonist of gp96 with potent anti-inflammatory activity, has shown positive therapeutic effects in an animal model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a commonly used term covering ulcerative colitis and Crohn"s disease.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School jointly announce the successful implant of the AbioCor® Total Replacement Heart, the world"s first completely self-contained, fully implantable artificial heart, as well as the first internal artificial organ. The surgery was led by Mark Anderson, MD, associate professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chief of the section of cardiac surgery at both the medical school and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and assisted by Juan Plate, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and an attending surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is one of only three centers nationwide approved to perform the surgery and the only one in the New York and Philadelphia areas. Dr. Anderson is one of a handful of physicians nationwide trained to perform this procedure. This is the first time the AbioCor has been implanted in a patient since the completion of clinical trials and approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
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."
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.
IRIN examines a recent comment piece in the journal Lancet that argues PEPFAR can do more to prevent the spread of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Africa (IRIN, 6/24). Although PEPFAR has helped to provide "antiretroviral therapy to 2.1 million people with HIV, almost all of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, and has spent more than $18 billion on the continent," it has failed to reach "thousands of injecting drug users in PEPFAR countries in Africa, many of whom have HIV," according to the authors of the Lancet article (Kaiser Global Health Policy Report, 6/19).
President Richard Nixon, who was in office when the Supreme Court issued its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, in secret recordings from January and February of that year discussed his views on abortion with an aide, the New York Times reports. The comments were among more than 150 hours of tape and 30,000 pages of documents made public Tuesday by the National Archives" Nixon Presidential Library. The tapes were recorded by secret microphones in the White House"s Oval Office. Nixon in the tapes expressed ambivalence over the decision, as well as concern that increased access to abortion leads to "permissiveness" and that "it breaks the family." Nixon also said that he believed there was a need for abortion in some cases, including interracial pregnancies and rape. He said, "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that." He added, "When you have a black and a white. Or a rape" (Savage, New York Times, 6/24).Broadcast CoverageNPR"s "All Things Considered" on Tuesday reported on Nixon"s abortion comments and political reaction to Roe at the time of the decision (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 6/23).
Transferring heart attack patients to specialized hospitals to undergo angioplasty within six hours after receiving clot-busting drugs reduces the risk of life-threatening complications including repeat heart attacks, according to a new study from St. Michael"s Hospital and Southlake Regional Hospital.
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.
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.
New imaging research in the June 24 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience helps explain why sleep deprivation affects some people more than others. After staying awake all night, those who are genetically vulnerable to sleep loss showed reduced brain activity, while those who are genetically resilient showed expanded brain activity, the study found. The findings help explain individual differences in the ability to compensate for lack of sleep.
With action heating up in Washington for enactment of comprehensive healthcare reform, the nation"s largest RN union and professional association joined with progressive Democratic Party activists today in calling for the most "robust" reform of all to repair the nation"s healthcare crisis, by enacting a single-payer system in the form of an expanded and updated Medicare for all.
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.
Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School, the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan have carried out the first international comparison of cognitive function in nationally representative samples of older adults in the US and England and discovered that US seniors performed significantly better that their English counterparts.
Joel B. Nelson, M.D., chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center"s (UPMC) Department of Urology, performed his 2,000th radical prostatectomy at UPMC Shadyside, a milestone achieved by only a handful of surgeons worldwide. Radical prostatectomy, or removal of the entire prostate gland, is the most common treatment for patients with localized prostate cancer. Studies show that recovery from prostate cancer is significantly associated with a surgeon"s lifetime experience performing this operation.
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 protein called STAT3 has been found to play a fundamental role in converting normal cells to cancerous cells, according to a new study led by David E. Levy, Ph.D., professor of pathology and microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center. The study, published in the June 26th issue of the journal Science, found that STAT3, in addition to its role in the cell nucleus regulating gene expression, is also present in mitochondria and regulates the activity of the electron transport chain in tumors cells. Mitochondria are the basic energy-producing organelles of the cell and are known to be critical for tumor cell metabolism.
Retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, could lead researchers to a new set of drug targets for treating breast cancer, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the June 25, 2009, issue of the journal Cell.
Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have discovered that specific microRNAs (non-coding RNAs that interfere with gene expression) reduce HIV replication and infectivity in human T-cells. In particular, miR29 plays a key role in controlling the HIV life cycle. The study suggests that HIV may have co-opted this cellular defense mechanism to help the virus hide from the immune system and antiviral drugs. The research was published today in the journal Molecular Cell.