Mental Health
The University of San Pablo CEU, a major academic and research institution in Madrid, Spain, yesterday presented Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the American Association for Cancer Research, with an honorary doctorate in medicine that recognizes her exceptional contributions to cancer research and leadership of the AACR, which have done so much to help those suffering from cancer.
Living in an area with more fast food outlets and convenience stores than supermarkets and grocers has been associated with obesity in a Canadian study. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have shown that your local food environment can affect your weight.
A polyomavirus known as MCPyV is associated with clinical outcomes, including fewer metastases and better survival, in patients with a rare form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma, according to a new study published online June 17 in the JNCI.
Researchers have identified a new candidate tumor suppressor gene in colorectal cancer and examined its use as a potential biomarker in stool samples, according to a new study published online June 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Following the recent adulteration of infant formula and other milk products with the industrial chemical melamine, the U. S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention is holding an international workshop this week to explore better ways to detect deliberately falsified protein content in food ingredients. The presence of false protein can lead to illness and death, as with thousands of Chinese children in the tragic melamine adulteration of infant formula this year and with pets in the United States in 2007. Vulnerabilities in global supply chains for food and drug ingredients allow such adulteration to affect people worldwide, which is what happened in similar instances where toxic diethylene glycol was substituted for the sweetener glycerin in toothpaste and cough syrup. USP is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets official standards for the identity, quality, purity, and strength of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. USP also sets widely recognized standards for the quality and purity of food ingredients and dietary supplements.
Researchers have identified a new candidate tumor suppressor gene in colorectal cancer and examined its use as a potential biomarker in stool samples, according to a new study published online June 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
There has been a recent questioning of the role of the limbal stem cell in corneal maintenance and the recent Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in Fort Lauderdale May 3 -7, 2009 saw some fairly hot debate son this topic. Professor Colin Green, University of Auckland, New Zealand reviews an interesting series of sessions for The Society for Clinical Ophthalmology.
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) held a Capitol Hill briefing to discuss comprehensive state health care reform efforts, why some succeeded and others failed, and why focusing on reducing the burden of chronic disease should be at the center of our national effort to reform health care.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for the Company"s Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Ursodiol Tablets USP, 250 mg and 500 mg. Teva"s Ursodiol Tablets are the AB-rated generic equivalents of Axcan"s Urso 250® and Urso Forte®, which are indicated for treatment of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. Shipment of this product has commenced.
Doctors in the Netherlands have developed new ways to perform radiosurgery on benign acoustic tumors using fast and precise RapidArc(TM) radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). This is among the findings in several papers published by the team at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.
Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon may protect against progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but the benefits appear to depend on the stage of disease and whether certain supplements are taken, report researchers at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research (LNVR), Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University.
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:
The new application syngo iFlow from Siemens Healthcare makes it possible for the first time to
US consumer watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has informed Bayer Healthcare that it will sue them and file a complaint
Poor egg handling practices in restaurants and takeaways could be putting UK consumers at risk, reveals a new report from the Health Protection Agency and LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services).
Ambulance Trusts across the country have significantly reduced the time taken to reach patients, according to data published today by the NHS Information Centre. 74.3% of the most urgent calls (Category A) were responded to in less than 8 minutes from a call being received.
Three weeks after President Obama named Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court, 53% of U.S. adults say they do not know enough about her to determine whether they would support her confirmation, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Wednesday, the New York Times reports. The question was one of many in the national telephone poll of 895 adults, which explored a broad range of issues related to Obama"s first five months as president. According to the poll, 48% of participants said that Sotomayor"s opinions on issues like abortion and affirmative action are important information that should be known ahead of her confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin July 13. The poll found that 74% of participants believe it is very or somewhat important for the Supreme Court to reflect the nation"s diversity. The Times reports that although Sotomayor"s nomination and the recent murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller have "injected a fresh dynamic into the national abortion debate," the new poll shows that there has been little change in public opinion on abortion rights in the past 20 years. Thirty-six percent of participants said that abortion should be generally available, 41% said it should be available but with increased restrictions and 21% said it should be prohibited. Among Democratic voters, 71% said that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, while Republican voters were "closely divided," the Times reports. The poll was conducted from June 12 to June 16 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points (Zeleny/Sussman, New York Times, 6/18).
Well-heeled donors, private corporations and average citizens sending money to their favorite charities are changing the landscape of global health funding, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
The ability to learn and to establish new memories is essential to our daily existence and identity; enabling us to navigate through the world. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), McGill University and University of California, Los Angeles has captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation. The finding provides the first visual evidence that when a new memory is formed new proteins are made locally at the synapse - the connection between nerve cells - increasing the strength of the synaptic connection and reinforcing the memory. The study published in Science, is important for understanding how memory traces are created and the ability to monitor it in real time will allow a detailed understanding of how memories are formed.
Folic acid, or vitamin B9, may help treat allergic reactions and allergy symptoms, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children"s Center.
The Medical Defence Union (MDU) is reminding its GP members about the steps they can take to avoid medication errors when treating children and the importance of learning from errors. The advice follows the publication of the National Patient Safety Agency"s (NPSA) first review of patient safety incidents involving the under 18s reported under the national reporting and learning system (RLS).
Some parents may be unnecessarily switching infant milk formulas for their healthy infants. A study published in BioMed Central"s open access Nutrition Journal, found that many parents misinterpret common baby behaviors as milk intolerance and needlessly switch formulas without consulting a health professional.
Synthetic fertilizers have dramatically increased food production worldwide. But the unintended costs to the environment and human health have been substantial. Nitrogen runoff from farms has contaminated surface and groundwater and helped create massive "dead zones" in coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico. And ammonia from fertilized cropland has become a major of air pollution, while emissions of nitrous oxide form a potent greenhouse gas.
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.
A study carried out by researchers in the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, USA, found that men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds found in green tea had considerable reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression. The study has been published in Cancer Prevention Research, an American Association for Cancer Research journal.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA, in its latest update, dated Friday evening, 19th June, 2009, reports a total of 21,449 confirmed human cases of swine flu A(H1N1) infection, including 87 deaths. Authorities say the novel A(H1N1) influenza virus has not mutated and is not more virulent (aggressive) than most normal seasonal human flu viruses. However, health services are bracing themselves for a busy flu season this winter as the swine flu virus will have been circulating for several months, but will still be a relatively novel one.
On June 12, the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, performed the 800th implant of the SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart. The 60-year-old patient, who was suffering from biventricular failure, was listed in stable condition post-implant.
A shocking four out of every ten people who suffer from a skin disease in the UK have been bullied as a result of their condition, a new snapshot survey reveals.
World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1 020 million people going hungry every day, according to new estimates published by FAO today.
An estimated 675,000 Americans died from the A/H1N1 pandemic influenza in the United States in 1918-1919. Many of these deaths were from ensueing bacterial pneumonia rather than directly from the viral infection. The United States Public Health Service conducted surveys in twelve cities and rural areas of the country in late 1918 to early 1919 to determine the case-fatality rate in each city or area. Case-fatality rates varied from 0.78 deaths/100 cases in San Antonio, Texas to 3.14 deaths/100 cases in New London, Connecticut. The strong variation with location suggested that solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance, through production of vitamin D, reduced the risk of death following infection by this pandemic influenza.
Junior trainee doctors are being warned about the medicolegal implications surrounding the administration of anti-wrinkle treatments such as Botox.
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.
US researchers found that men with prostate cancer who consumed a mix of polyphenols found in green tea experienced a significant reduction in
"Global health funding boosted by private donors has quadrupled since 1990, but the extra money has not always gone to the right countries and diseases, according to a pair of studies released Friday," in the journal Lancet, AFP/Google.com reports (Hood, AFP/Google.com, 6/18).
Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday circulated talking points stating that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has a "mainstream record of judicial modesty," the AP/Miami Herald reports. The document includes a quote from Sotomayor expressing her belief in basing judicial decisions on the Constitution rather than on politics.Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) also wrote to the president of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educational Fund, requesting the quick disclosure of documents Sotomayor has requested in relation to her work with the group (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Miami Herald, 6/19). Sotomayor worked with the group from 1980 to 1992, assisting in a number of legal briefs and helping the group develop stances on public policy matters (Stanton, Roll Call, 6/18). According to the AP/Herald, interest groups and members of both political parties are "competing to define" Sotomayor ahead of her confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin July 13. Conservative groups have focused on labeling her an "activist" and singled out her involvement with PRLDEF as evidence of her support for abortion rights. The group sided with abortion-rights supporters in several major Supreme Court cases during Sotomayor"s time on its board (AP/Miami Herald, 6/19).
Eli Lilly and Company presented data on the short- and long-term efficacy and safety of olanzapine long-acting injection (LAI) in the treatment of adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Olanzapine LAI is an investigational formulation that combines the atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa(R) (olanzapine) with pamoic acid, allowing for the sustained delivery of olanzapine for up to four weeks.
Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. (ABI) (OTCBB: AMAR) announced that the screening of volunteers for inclusion in a Phase 2 clinical study of the company"s oral interferon product at the University of Western Australia is now complete. The investigators met their target of screening at least 200 healthy adults for participation in the trial. A total of 215 volunteers were evaluated and 134 of them have been enrolled into the study to date. About 90% of the screened subjects have been found to qualify for the study, so additional enrollments are expected over the next 2 weeks to bring the total number of study participants up to or above the targeted 160 subjects.
With rising taxes and increasing restrictions on smoking and tobacco, smokers looking for temporary relief from cravings and withdrawal symptoms during periods when they couldn"t smoke, or chose not to, were out of luck. But a new breed of short-term cessation treatment -- based on age-old homeopathic practices -- promises to help smokers manage cravings on-the-spot, when lighting up isn"t an option.
As part of its efforts to improve the quality of medicines and food ingredients worldwide, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention this week reached three new cooperative agreements with Chinese drug control authorities. Because Chinese manufacturers supply so much of the world"s drug and food ingredients, these agreements-coupled with three previous agreements between USP and other government organizations in China-mark a significant commitment to ensure that concerns about quality are addressed. USP is a scientific, nonprofit organization that sets standards for the quality of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that are enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. USP also sets standards for the quality of food ingredients and dietary supplements; these and USP"s drug standards are used in more than 130 countries.
The Ministry of Health in Iran has reported the country"s first confirmed case of H1N1 swine flu, in a 16 year-old Iranian boy who lives in the US
A concerned Rotherham nurse has forced manufacturers of an infant medicine feeder to withdraw its product following a safety scare. Nurse Karen Ray, a clinical procurement specialist at Rotherham Hospital, took her concerns to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after a six-month-old baby was admitted to Rotherham Hospital following a liquid paracetamol overdose.
Last week the FDA knocked the wind out of asthmatics by requesting the manufacturers of Singulair, a popular leukotriene blocking asthma and allergy drug, to upgrade their warning against psychotic side effects. Further respiratory distress was imposed on Zicam users when the FDA also last week announced warnings that the drug may cause a loss of smell.
Scientists are focusing on a new concept in fighting airborne pathogens by manipulating what is called the "switching time," the point at which a highly regulated immune response gives way to powerful cells that specialize in fighting a specific invading bug.
ArcelorMittal and the American Red Cross are launching a new national partnership, Creating Safer Communities, designed to bring important safety training and res to people who live and work in communities where ArcelorMittal operates. ArcelorMittal, the world"s leading steel company, provided a grant of $152,500 to be distributed in multiple communities across the US. The program will provide health and safety education to more than 1,800 community members in addition to thousands of ArcelorMittal employees and their families.
A coalition of union and liberal groups began running television ads designed to get "the attention of one particular television viewer: Sen. Kay Hagan," The Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record reports.
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.
The Senate on Friday confirmed President Obama"s U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator nominee Eric Goosby, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Goosby - who "served previously in the Clinton administration as director of HIV/AIDS policy in the Department of Health and Human Services and as chief adviser to the president on HIV-related issues" - will now "head the U.S. strategy for addressing HIV around the world, and oversee the implementation of the President"s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief" (PEPFAR), the newspaper writes. Goosby "has more than 25 years of experience treating HIV/AIDS," and most recently served as chief executive officer and chief medical officer of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, which is affiliated with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/20).
To mark World Refugee Day on June 20, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the "international community to do more to protect and care for refugees around the world," VOA News reports (Schlein, VOA News, 6/20).
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Friday resigned from an all-women group in an effort to avoid claims that she belonged to a discriminatory organization, according to a letter she wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the Wall Street Journal reports. The group, the Belizean Grove, calls itself a "constellation of influential women" formed in response to the all-male Bohemian Club. Sotomayor wrote, "I believe the Belizean Grove does not practice invidious discrimination, and my membership did not violate the Judicial Code of Ethics, but I do not want questions about this to distract anyone from my qualifications and record." A Senate Republican aide said that GOP members did not plan to object to Sotomayor"s involvement in the group but aimed to compare their position with Democratic objections to previous judicial nominees who were members of all-male groups (Bravin, Wall Street Journal, 6/20).Sotomayor also sent Leahy and Sessions a list of events taken from her own handwritten calendar between 1992 and 1995, which included several entries about events where she spoke. Sessions had told Leahy that he would delay the confirmation proceedings if she did not provide missing information on about 50 speeches she had given. Sotomayor told the senators that she was unable to find drafts or recording of the speeches, noting that her calendar notes did not include details from the speeches (Swanson, The Hill, 6/19).In related news, the New York Times on Saturday examined how "it is far from clear that [Sotomayor"s] judicial record supports the accusation that she is an activist," who, as some critics have claimed, "legislates from the bench." According to the Times, "[s]everal empirical studies have concluded that she is not particularly prone to overriding policy decisions by elected branches." Her decisions that have "attracted the most criticism from conservatives" are "instances in which she deferred to policy decisions by elected branches that conservatives hoped judges would strike down," according to the Times (Savage, New York Times, 6/20).
Teenage girls with a history of delinquency who were placed in individualized foster care programs were less likely than their peers to become pregnant, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, HealthDay/Forbes reports. Teen girls in foster care have an elevated risk for pregnancy, according to HealthDay/Forbes. For example, an earlier survey of teens in three states found that nearly half of girls in the foster care system reported a pregnancy by age 19, according to David Kerr, an assistant professor of psychology at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study.For the study, researchers followed 166 girls ages 13 to 17 with court orders to receive treatment for criminal behavior in either specialized foster care or a group-care facility. The specialized programs, known as Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, were created in the 1980s. Under the programs, foster parents who are trained in behavioral management provide one-on-one care to severely delinquent youths, and the parents receive consultation, support and crisis intervention services from program supervisors. One of the most important aspects of the program is that, unlike group care, the teens are isolated from other troubled youths. There are 51 such programs in the U.S.After two years, 26% of the girls in MTFC became pregnant, compared with almost 47% of those in group care, according to the study. The MTFC group also showed lower levels of criminal activity and arrests, and increased school engagement. Kerr said, "One of the most interesting aspects of this research is that the MTFC program was created to reduce crime, not pregnancy." He added, "It specifically targeted changing the girl"s environment: her home, her peers and her school experience. The focus was on giving her lots of supervision, support for responsible behavior, and consistent, non-harsh consequences for negative behavior" (HealthDay/Forbes, 6/17).
The colon is the longest part of the large intestine and the lowest part of the digestive system. Inside the colon, water and salt from solid wastes are extracted before the waste moves through the rectum and exits the body through the anus.
Now there"s a new reason for the weight-conscious to drink fat free milk at breakfast time, suggests a new study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers in Australia found that drinking fat free milk in the morning helped increase satiety, or a feeling of fullness, and led to decreased calorie intake at the next meal, as compared with a fruit drink. The milk drinkers ate about 50 fewer calories (or nearly 9% less food) at lunch.
Women may be more susceptible to the lung damaging effects of smoking than men, according to new research by Inga-Cecilie Soerheim, M.D., and her colleagues from Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women"s Hospital and University of Bergen, Norway.
Only 37, Janie Lee had endured excruciating back pain for 20 years. She couldn"t stay in one position for more than five minutes, and walking hunched over was the only way she could get around. Her search for help took her to several doctors and an emergency room, but it wasn"t until she found Hyun Bae, M.D., a renowned spine specialist at Saint John"s Health Center in Santa Monica that she received the diagnosis and care that would return her life to her.
Regenerx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex:RGN) (the "Company" or "RegeneRx") announced today that it is collaborating with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) and Dr. Gabriel Sosne, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Wayne State University, to evaluate Tí²4"s (RGN-259 eye drops) ability to prevent or reduce damage to the eye caused by exposure to chemical agents. The ability to prevent or reduce such damage is the focus of substantial efforts by both the military and homeland security. The project will consist of a series of research experiments over the next twelve months with Tí²4, which is being commercially developed by RegeneRx and is in Phase II clinical trials.
Facial fractures from motor vehicle crashes appear to be decreasing, most likely due to design improvements in newer vehicles, according to a report in the May/June issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Micronics, Inc. announced that it has been issued a letters patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a system and method for performing rapid thermocycling on a microfluidic device. The new patent has broad utility across the life sciences sector with particular application in point of care molecular diagnostics.
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law welcomes President Obama"s announcement today of his commitment to the promise of the landmark Supreme Court case, Olmstead v. L.C., on its 10th anniversary. In a statement released by the White House today the President launched a "Year of Community Living" and tasked the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify initiatives that will develop and improve services and supports to assist people with disabilities who wish to live in the most integrated settings possible.
Among older adults, less frequent participation in social activity is associated with a more rapid rate of motor function decline, according to a report in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Children who live in Afghanistan are particularly affected every day by a multitude of war time stressors which increase the likelihood of developing PTSD: trauma, child labor, and family and military violence. On a daily basis they are first-hand witnesses to the bombings, abuse, and the general upheaval of their home life and society as a result of war, including the effects of long-term poverty and familial turmoil.
A good partner relationship can act as a buffer for those exposed to work-related stress.
We humans prefer to be addressed in our right ear and are more likely to perform a task when we receive the request in our right ear rather than our left. In a series of three studies, looking at ear preference in communication between humans, Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University "Gabriele d"Annunzio" in Chieti, Italy, show that a natural side bias, depending on hemispheric asymmetry in the brain, manifests itself in everyday human behavior. Their findings were just published online in Springer"s journal Naturwissenschaften.
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.
In this trial, a sample of alcohol-dependent patients received naltrexone, acamprosate or placebo for 12 weeks. While there were no differences in outcomes between treatment groups, those who believed they had been taking active medication consumed fewer alcoholic drinks and reported less alcohol dependence and cravings. That is, irrespective of actual treatment, perceived medication allocation predicted health outcomes.
With today"s announcement that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has offered to voluntarily grant some $80 billion in discounts to Medicare beneficiaries over the next decade in an effort to reduce overall healthcare costs, the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council (HCPC) noted that far greater savings can be achieved if immediate steps are taken to help people take their prescription drugs properly.
The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new study which shows that the widely employed estimate of 47 million uninsured Americans is a misleading representation of the problem. The study, authored by Drs. June and David O"Neill of Baruch College and City University of New York, shows that more than 43 percent, or 18 million, of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 could likely afford health coverage and are actually "voluntarily uninsured." June O"Neill served as Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 1995-1999.
An article published Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet discusses the management of a rare condition called placental-site trophoblastic tumors (PSTTs). They are malignant tumors usually presenting months to years after pregnancy. The chances of surviving those tumors are linked to how much time elapsed since the related pregnancy took place. The article is written by Dr Peter Schmid and Professor Michael J Seckl, of the Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London, UK, and colleagues. This paper is a milestone and the first study in thirty years to inform on a complete national experience of the disease. It represents the world"s largest series.
A study that attempted to replicate the "seminal" study that laid the
The New Mexico Department of Health announced today that a 65-year-old man from San Miguel County is hospitalized in critical condition at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque with the state"s second case of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome this year. The Department of Health confirmed the case of Hantavirus on Wednesday and is conducting an environmental investigation to look for places where the man may have been exposed to the virus.
Major population centers such as those in New York and California have the highest numbers of HIV cases, however, many of the areas that have the highest rates of people with HIV are in the South, according to data from an online mapping tool launched by the National Minority Quality Forum yesterday, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The map, which is the first tool of its kind to look at HIV and AIDS cases on a county level, is based on 2006 data collected from states and cross-checked with CDC data. According to the mapping tool, of the 48 counties with the highest HIV prevalence rates, 25 are in Georgia. In addition, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia have the highest prevalence rates for HIV cases that have progressed to AIDS (Stobbe, AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6/22). In Virginia, Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk were among the nation"s urban areas hardest hit by HIV/AIDS (Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/23). Three metro counties in Kansas City, Mo., have HIV and AIDS rates that are higher than about 80 percent of counties nationwide, according to the data, NBC Action News reports (Ptacek, NBC Action News, 6/22).
PAHO"s board this week is set to discuss "a long-standing system that makes vaccines affordable to middle-income Latin American countries" because of growing concerns that the policy "deters manufacturers from offering deeper discounts on such products to the world"s least developed countries," the Financial Times reports.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor has not become the "political lightning rod" Republican senators hoped for, leaving doubt among some members of the GOP that the nomination process will be controversial enough to help them or hurt Democrats in the 2010 elections, Politico reports. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that "at least so far" Sotomayor "doesn"t have the punch put there in terms of fundraising and recruiting." Thune said that one reason the GOP response to Sotomayor has been relatively quiet is that she is nominated to replace retiring Justice David Souter, rather than a more conservative justice. "When one of the conservatives leaves the court, then I think you"ll have a huge fight, and I think that will be very galvanizing," Thune said. Similarly, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he does not foresee Sotomayor"s nomination becoming a major issue in the 2010 campaigns. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said that the GOP would use witnesses at Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing to present some opposition arguments (Raju, Politico, 6/22). Sessions and other Senate Republicans are preparing a series of speeches to highlight their concerns about Sotomayor, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to a Senate Republican aide, the focus of Sessions" speech will be Sotomayor"s role in the group LatinoJustice PRLDEF, for which she served as a board member from 1980 to 1992. Unless new information surfaces, there are few doubts that Sotomayor will be confirmed, the Journal reports (Bravin, Wall Street Journal, 6/22).
"Just because something is legal -- and should be legal -- does not mean it is always ethical," Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Choice, writes in a Salon opinion piece, adding that "sometimes the right thing to say to a woman [seeking abortion] is "I am so sorry, I cannot do what you ask."" According to Kissling, there has "always been a fear in the choice movement that if we deal with "morality," we are going to lose." However, "tough issues come up more frequently than they did in the first years after" Roe v. Wade, and such issues "should make us pause and think hard," Kissling writes, adding, "The thought of putting every woman through the indignity of meeting with an ethics committee, or getting a doctor to sign off on her reasons for abortion, has forced most of us to stick with the principle that women must be allowed to make their own private ethical decisions, without the state getting involved." However, Kissling comments that "we express moral views about every other issue under the sun." She continues, "Expressing our views about controversial issues is how society develops norms and shared values."Kissling adds that if abortion-rights supporters "follow the example of those opposed to abortion and present only one value -- a woman"s right to make this decision -- as the only ethical consideration worth discussing in difficult cases, do we not become as extremist as we say they are?" She continues, "Is there not, in an ethical sense, an important weighing of women"s rights and needs against a respect for life, even the life of nonpersons? Is there a point in pregnancy when our respect for life might outweigh a woman"s right to make this choice?" Kissling asks, "[I]s the fact that we have avoided it part of the reason that polls show that more people are willing to call themselves pro-life than ever before?"According to Kissling she has "come to believe that women"s autonomy does not require that all efforts be made to protect women from pain or from hearing the word "no."" Kissling writes, "I still have a twinge of doubt when I write these words," adding, "For most of my years as an advocate of a woman"s right to decide, I stepped back from this conclusion" and "could not bring myself to say that there are circumstances in which I would force a woman to continue a pregnancy." The piece continues, "What changed for me? ... Mostly, I feared that single value ethics about abortion, on either side of the debate, would result in a coarsening of our respect for both women and for life" (Kissling, Salon, 6/21).
"Smart Pod", ideas for the ambulance of the future - was unveiled to the NHS and the healthcare industry at the NHS Innovation Expo in London.
Two years ago more than one in four newborns screened for metabolic and other inherited
Leaders of the major faith groups have put their support behind the Wall of Life, an interactive campaign launched today by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). The campaign - at http://www.walloflife.org.uk - aims to promote awareness of and support for organ donation to boost the number of people joining the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).
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)*.
New research indicates that a finding on a routine electrocardiogram that signals a disorder of the electrical conducting system in one part of the heart and previously believed to be benign is associated with an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, the implantation of a pacemaker or death, according to a study in the June 24 issue of JAMA.
Differences in growth factor (GF) signaling may cause the poor prognosis in some breast cancer cases. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Medical Genomics, suggests that some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers respond poorly to tamoxifen because of increased GF signaling.
The Children"s Heart Federation (CHF) launches Let"s Get Moving for Heart Children"s Health: a call to action to include children with congenital heart disease in PE at school and to increase their access to sport in the community, at its House of Common"s reception today (14 May) in the presence of Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport and one hundred delegates, including representatives of nine leading sports development organisations. The event, which takes place during Children"s Heart Week (9-17 May), is designed to highlight the right of children and young people with congenital heart disease (CoHD) to sporting opportunities, in order to tackle the exclusion of pupils with CoHD from PE.
The effect of anxiety on academic performance is not always obvious but new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that there may be hidden costs. The research found that anxious individuals find it harder to avoid distractions and take more time to turn their attention from one task to the next than their less anxious peers.
A US doctor who diagnosed and treated herself for breast cancer while stationed in the South Pole during the winter of 1999, was then rescued
Genital warts are also called venereal warts or condylomata acuminate. Genital warts are one of the most common kinds of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) or STIs (sexually transmitted infections). According to Medilexicon"s medical dictionary, a genital wart is "a contagious projecting warty growth on the external genitals or at the anus, consisting of fibrous overgrowths covered by thickened epithelium showing koilocytosis, due to sexual contact with infection by human papillomavirus; it is usually benign, although malignant change has been reported, associated with particular types of the virus."
Narcolepsy - from the French narcolepsie, which was derived from the Greek narke meaning numbness and lepsis meaning attack or seizure - is a chronic sleep disorder where the brain is unable to regulate the body"s sleep-wake cycles. People with narcolepsy may feel an overwhelming urge to sleep at various points in the day, and they will often fall asleep spontaneously for a few seconds to a few minutes. In extreme cases, narcoleptics (people with narcolepsy) will remain asleep for over an hour.
CEL-SCI CORPORATION (NYSE AMEX: CVM) announced that it has filed a provisional U.S. patent application covering its L.E.A.P.S.(TM) immune therapy drugs (vaccines) for the prevention/treatment of H1N1, swine, bird flu, Influenza A and/or evolving mutants or variants of these viruses. Some experts believe that by the next flu season the swine flu virus will have evolved and/or combined with other viruses to create a much more lethal new virus. That is what happened in the case of the Spanish flu pandemic. CEL-SCI"s efforts to fight this virus are focused on using conserved epitopes from essential proteins to be found in the A influenza virus for H1N1, H1N5, swine, bird flu and Spanish influenza to create an effective vaccine/treatment that could potentially fight such a mutant virus.
Indianapolis 500 spectators, participants and crews expect nonstop excitement and outstanding racing at the world"s largest sporting event. They will find that and more at this year"s Indy 500.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists" discovery of a cancer-causing gene the first in its family to be linked to cancer demonstrates how the panoramic view of genomics and the close-up perspective of molecular biology are needed to determine which genes are involved in cancer and which are mere bystanders. The findings are reported in the June 25 issue of the journal Nature.
Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leading resolvin therapeutics company, today announced that it has initiated the first human clinical trial evaluating an oral resolvin therapeutic, RX-10001, in a Phase I clinical trial in healthy volunteers. RX-10001 is a synthetic form of RvE1, a naturally occurring resolvin, which in animal studies has been shown to activate the body"s own off-switch mechanisms for inflammation and to promote healing for normal tissue function. In preclinical testing, RX-10001 and analogs have shown high potency across a range of inflammatory disease models, including asthma, colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis.
There will be a new drive to ensure GPs spot cervical cancer symptoms earlier in young women and refer patients correctly, Health Minister Ann Keen announced today.
"President Obama made a detailed case on Tuesday for a new government-administered health insurance plan, but he did not rule out signing a bill that lacks such an option if he cannot win enough support from Democrats in Congress," The New York Times reports. "In a White House news conference, Mr. Obama dismissed as "not logical" the suggestion that a public plan, which is intended to create more competition and therefore act as a brake on the rise of health insurance costs, would undermine the private insurance market. He argued that a government-run plan competing with private insurers would be an "important tool to discipline insurance companies" and scoffed at complaints that it could drive some out of business."
The method of building a rabbit rectal VX2 carcinoma model by injecting the cell suspension of VX2 cells into the wall of the rectum guided by X-ray fluoroscopy is feasible. The advantages of the model are ease of establishment, short growth period, and high stability. The rectal VX2 carcinoma established in this rabbit model is similar to human rectal carcinoma in aspects of pathological representation, tumor development, and metastasis. It offers an ideal major animal model for the study of rectal carcinoma, and especially profits the study of the staging of rectal carcinoma in imaging.
Medicaid providers in California won a legal challenge over program cuts in the case "Maxwell-Jolly v. Independent Living Center of Southern California." McKnight"s Long Term Care News reports that "The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand a federal appeals court ruling that says California"s Medicaid providers have a right to challenge state cuts to Medi-Cal provider fees. Victor Norma Jean Vescovo, the executive director of the Independent Living Center of Southern California, says the ruling will make it easier to ensure state Medicaid (known in the state as Medi-Cal) cuts will be made for needs-based reasons, not just economic reasons, the Bureau of National Affairs reported.
Almost half of kidney transplant candidates older than 60 who are put on the waiting list for a deceased-donor organ will die before getting a transplant, according to new findings from the University of Florida, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.
National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) expressed its support for postponing the removal of the Universal Product Code (UPC-A) barcode system - scheduled for January 1, 2010. NACDS compliments and supports the Grocery Manufacturers Association"s (GMA) recommendation that the GS1 DataBar system implementation be delayed until January 1, 2011.
The NPA has launched an exciting new service enabling members to offer seasonal flu vaccinations to customers under a private Patient Group Direction (PGD) that the NPA is facilitating for its members, in line with our objective to provide additional business opportunities. Currently regulators require registration with the Health Care Commission and the involvement of a medical agency before a private PGD service can be set up. Members can now set up new services under private PGD without having to undertake this bureaucratic burden themselves.
A math-based game that has taken the world by storm with its ability to delight and puzzle may now be poised to revolutionize the fast-changing world of genome sequencing and the field of medical genetics, suggests a new report by a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). The report will be published as the cover story in the July 1st issue of the journal Genome Research.
The Washington Post on Saturday examined the role of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in lobbying for the national adoption of health information technology as part of health reform efforts. According to the Post, HIMSS has collaborated with various allies, including technology vendors and research groups, "in a sophisticated, decade-long campaign to shape public opinion and win over Washington"s political machinery."HIMSS in the early part of this decade forged a "strategic alliance" with the Center for Information Technology Leadership, a not-for-profit health IT research group in Massachusetts, to develop and distribute data reports on the cost efficiency and benefits of health IT, the Post reports. CITL also had sponsorship ties with several health and technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Kaiser Permanente and Siemens Medical Solutions. In 2004, CITL issued a report that concluded in part that a national health IT system could reduce spending by as much as $77.8 billion by limiting drug prescribing errors and notifying providers of more cost-effective drug alternatives.According to the Post, the findings of the report were used by the Obama administration in developing the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package, which included billions in new spending for the creation and adoption of health IT systems. Although a Congressional Budget Office report found that the assumptions of CITL report were "overly optimistic" -- a follow-up CBO analysis projected that electronic health records would reduce health care spending by $17 billion over 10 years -- the health IT measures in the stimulus package "represented a triumph" for HIMSS, "whose members now stand to gain billions in taxpayer dollars," the Post reports. The Post notes that HIMSS" "sudden success shows how the economic crisis created a remarkable opening for a political and financial windfall: the enactment of a sweeping new policy with no bureaucratic delays and virtually no public debate about an initiative aimed at transforming a sector that accounts for more than a sixth of the American economy" (O"Harrow, Washington Post, 5/16).Please note: The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.
Furthering its mission to improve the quality of medicines worldwide, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention has signed a cooperative agreement with nine countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In a drive to strengthen capacities and certification status of national drug quality control laboratories, officials from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand had formed an ASEAN Reference Materials Working Group (ARMWG) to focus on modern, international measurement standards for medicines in the region. The agreement with USP is the culmination of discussions that started in 2008 with the aim of improving the production, precision and quality of ASEAN Reference Substances (ARS).
Two NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have received $1,560,000 in grant support for their first year of studies focused on microbiome and psoriasis and on microbiome and esophageal cancer from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The studies being conducted at NYU Langone Medical Center are two of several projects being conducted through the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research as part of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) taking place at institutions across the country.
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced that the company has been able to increase the supply of its Hib-containing vaccines to enable the return to a full series of vaccinations for U.S. children. Based on the increased supply, on July 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will reinstate its recommendation that children receive a booster dose of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine after 12 months of age. The CDC also provided guidance on a phased approach to immunize children whose booster dose was previously deferred at their next regularly scheduled medical visit. The CDC had recommended a temporary deferral of the booster dose of Hib vaccine in 2007 due to supply constraints caused by another manufacturer"s withdrawal of Hib vaccine from the market. Since that time, Sanofi Pasteur has been, and continues to be, the sole supplier of Hib vaccine to the U.S. market.
A variation in a gene that is active in the central nervous system is associated with increased risk for obesity, according to an international study in which Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University played a major role. The research adds to evidence that genes influence appetite and that the brain plays a key role in obesity.
Stroke patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who undergo treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) following their stroke may substantially reduce their risk of death, according to Spanish research to be published in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has released its 26th annual all sports report.
Higher selenium levels in the blood may worsen prostate cancer in some men who already have the disease, according to a study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of California, San Francisco.