Health, Medicine & Diseases
Feeds updated every 4 hoursIntegrated public and investor relations healthcare and life sciences practice launched
Feintuch Communications, Inc. (www.feintuchcommunications.com) has created an integrated public and investor relations healthcare and life sciences practice, naming Jules Abraham as vice president of the firm and managing director of the new group.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:46 am
Combating DVT and PE: Critical recommendations
Three critical recommendations from a national workshop have been released to address deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), a growing public health problem estimated to affect nearly 1 million Americans each year.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:42 am
INPC expands beyond central Indiana to serve patients from southwestern Indiana, southeastern Illinois
The Indiana Network for Patient Care, one of the highest volume health information exchanges in the United States, is expanding beyond central Indiana to serve patients from southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:36 am
Young women with heart attacks at higher risk of dying in hospital than men
Geisinger Health System and Yale School of Medicine investigators are researching how young people recover from heart attacks through VIRGO (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes in Young AMI Patients), a research project funded by the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:33 am
Imaging tools may help address challenging clinical dilemma of prostate cancer care: Study
New preliminary data from a pilot study in the Netherlands indicates that imaging tools may help address the most challenging clinical dilemma of prostate cancer care as identified by the hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and its expert witnesses last week: to treat or not treat, AdMeTech Foundation's President and CEO Dr. Faina Shtern said today.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:32 am
CRR leveraging InteleOne to interconnect Intelerad Medical Systems' facilities
Intelerad Medical Systems, a recognized leader in medical imaging PACS and workflow solutions, today announced that Carolina Regional Radiology PA will be leveraging InteleOne to interconnect its facilities. CRR is a full-service radiology practice serving a ten-county region in southeastern North Carolina.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:26 am
First use of prenatal MRI to detect often-misdiagnosed CCD
In a case believed to be a United States first, the radiology team at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has used prenatal magnetic resonance imaging to detect an often-misdiagnosed genetic disease.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:18 am
Cellzome, GSK form second major alliance to develop new anti-inflammatory drugs
Cellzome today announced that it has formed a second strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). This new collaboration gives GSK exclusive access to Cellzome's proprietary Episphere(TM) technology in the emerging field of epigenetics as applied to immunoinflammatory disease. Epigenetic mechanisms play a key role in controlling immune cell differentiation and inflammatory gene expression during an excessive inflammatory response.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:14 am
Team Lung Love: New endurance sports training program focused on raising awareness for lung cancer
Lung Cancer Alliance announced the launch of Team Lung Love (TLL), an endurance sports training program focused exclusively on raising awareness and support for lung cancer.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:13 am
Visitors to Rockefeller Center to get unexpected lesson on Alzheimer’s disease throughout March
Throughout the month of March, visitors to Rockefeller Center in the heart of midtown Manhattan will get an unexpected lesson on Alzheimer’s disease.Source: THE MEDICAL NEWS | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:06 am
After a fight with a partner, brain activity predicts emotional resiliency
(Harvard University) Neural activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex can predict whether an individual will still be upset on the day after a conflict with his or her partner, according to new research from a psychologist at Harvard University. The findings point to the brain region's role in emotion regulation, and suggest that greater activity in this area might lead to improvement in day-to-day mood.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Positive prevention toolkit aims to assist global training of HIV/AIDS caregivers
(University of California - San Francisco) The toolkit, developed by the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, includes proven prevention interventions for HIV-positive individuals. Toolkit materials are developing country focused and can be adapted for use in African settings. Available on the web, on CD-ROM and in English and Portuguese, the toolkit is being implemented in Mozambique on a national level.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
2010 recipient of Minority Scholar Award will conduct clinical research on leukemia
(American Society of Hematology) Alison Walker, MD, has been selected to receive the ASH-AMFDP Award, and will begin her research in acute myeloid leukemia in July of this year.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
NIAD media availability: Vaccinating children against flu helps protect wider community
(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Results of a clinical trial conducted in a largely self-contained religious community during the 2008-09 influenza season show that immunizing children against seasonal influenza can significantly protect unvaccinated community members against influenza as well. The study was conducted to determine if immunized children could act as a barrier to limit the spread of influenza to the wider, unvaccinated community, a concept known as herd immunity.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
NIAD media availability: Vaccinating children against flu helps protect wider community
(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Results of a clinical trial conducted in a largely self-contained religious community during the 2008-09 influenza season show that immunizing children against seasonal influenza can significantly protect unvaccinated community members against influenza as well. The study was conducted to determine if immunized children could act as a barrier to limit the spread of influenza to the wider, unvaccinated community, a concept known as herd immunity.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
New study questions benefits of elective removal of ovaries during hysterectomy
(Elsevier Health Sciences) Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55 percent of all US women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year. An article in the March/April issue of the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology suggests that this procedure may do more harm than good.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
K-State professor finds link between low oxygen levels in body and cancer-aiding protein
(Kansas State University) Dolores Takemoto, a K-State professor of biochemistry who was researching protein kinase C gamma in the lens of the human eye, found her work taking a fascinating turn when she discovered a correlation between the protein Coonexin46 and hypoxia -- a deficiency of oxygen which kills normal tissue cells. Takemoto believes the findings will lead to serious advancements in treating retinoblastoma, a cancer that forms in the tissue of the retina.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Springer enters into partnership with the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine
(Springer) Beginning in 2010 Springer is adding Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging to its journals publishing program. The journal will be published quarterly on behalf of the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine, which has been the publisher of the journal since 1967.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Researcher presents risk-free treatment for low female sexual desire
(University of Missouri-Columbia) Researchers are currently testing a new drug, flibanserin, which was developed as an antidepressant and affects neurotransmitters in the brain, to treat women with low sexual desire. However, experts are concerned about the side effects of this possible treatment. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found evidence that a low-cost, risk-free psychological treatment is effective and may be a better alternative to drugs that have adverse side effects.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
ARS study provides a better understanding of how mosquitoes find a host
(United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) The potentially deadly yellow-fever-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito detects the specific chemical structure of a compound called octenol as one way to find a mammalian host for a blood meal.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Vaccinating children for flu may help prevent transmission, protect those who are not vaccinated
(JAMA and Archives Journals) Immunizing children and adolescents with inactivated influenza vaccine resulted in reduced rates of influenza in their community compared to a similar community in which children did not receive the vaccine, suggesting that vaccinating children may help prevent transmission of the virus and offer protection for unimmunized community residents, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Sonic hedgehog gene found in an unexpected place during limb development
(University of Florida) Sonic hedgehog is at work in mice limb buds in what is known as the ectoderm, the cell layer that gives rise to skin, researchers discovered. Finding Sonic hedgehog here is akin to discovering that yeast has crept from the batter to the frosting, where it has the surprising effect of limiting how much the cake rises. In this case, instead of causing appendages to grow in mice, Sonic hedgehog prevents digits from developing.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Reovirus may be a novel approach to prostate cancer treatment
(American Association for Cancer Research) Researchers in Canada have detected a novel oncolytic viral therapy against prostate cancer with use of a virus called the reovirus, according to study results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome not more likely to develop polyps, colon cancer
(University of Michigan Health System) Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are at no greater risk of having polyps, colon cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases than healthy people undergoing colonoscopies.Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Beyond torture: the future of interrogation
Coercive techniques like waterboarding can inflict as much psychological harm as crude physical torture. But do they work?Source: New Scientist - Health | 8 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am
Infectious virus hidden in chromosomes during latency can be passed from parents to children
(University of South Florida Health) In some individuals the common herpes virus HHV-6 can integrate into structures at the end of chromosomes and be reactivated to an infectious form. The findings are reported online, March 8, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Heat therapy shown effective in treating cutaneous leishmaniasis among US soldiers in Iraq
(Public Library of Science) A single session of heat therapy using the ThermoMed device appears to be as effective as a 10-day intravenous course of sodium stibogluconate for the treatment of Leishmania major skin lesions, according to a new study. Results from the randomized treatment trial, which involved 56 military personnel who contracted L. major while serving in Iraq, are reported March 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Inadequate surgical provision in African district general hospitals
(Public Library of Science) Two papers published this week in PLoS Medicine by Margaret Kruk and colleagues investigate surgical provision in eight district hospitals in three sub-Saharan African countries.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
New ways to disarm deadly South American hemorrhagic fever viruses
(Howard Hughes Medical Institute) Researchers have discovered how one New World hemorrhagic fever virus latches onto and infects human cells, offering a much-needed lead toward new treatments.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
University of Michigan scientists discover bone marrow can harbor HIV-infected cells
(University of Michigan Health System) Antiviral drugs have reduced AIDS to more of chronic disease rather than a death sentence, but why is the disease so hard to cure? A study published online March 7 in Nature Medicine shows bone marrow, previously thought to be resistant to the virus, can contain latent forms of the infection. Targeting these reservoirs of latent cells may open the door to new treatments, according to scientists at the University of Michigan Health System.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Sleep wrong and you'll feel the bad fat
Too much or too little sleep piles on pounds – and it's the worst kind of fatSource: New Scientist - Health | 7 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am
Snake venom charms science world
(Research Australia) The king cobra continues to weave its charm with researchers identifying a protein in its venom with the potential for new drug discovery and to advance understanding of disease mechanisms. The novel protein named haditoxin has been described in the prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry.Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases | 6 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm
Adding oxygen to booze speeds sobriety
It sounds like a drinker's dream, but could end up being their downfall if it encourages heavy drinkers to consume even moreSource: New Scientist - Health | 6 Mar 2010 | 5:00 am
Journal editor: Tobacco-funded studies are bad for us
Several journals will no longer publish research supported by the tobacco industry. Ginny Barbour, the chief editor of one of them, explains whySource: New Scientist - Health | 5 Mar 2010 | 6:56 am
Bugging bugs: Learning to speak microbe
Far from being silent loners, bacteria are little chatterboxes – when they're not snooping on us. Perhaps we should brush up our conversational skillsSource: New Scientist - Health | 5 Mar 2010 | 6:36 am
Organic pesticide doubles up as worm killer
The protein could drag hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, if cash can be found for human trialsSource: New Scientist - Health | 4 Mar 2010 | 4:09 am
The brain scanner that feels your pain
A new technique for determining pain intensity has reignited debate over whether it can be measured objectivelySource: New Scientist - Health | 3 Mar 2010 | 11:00 am
Mind-controlled prosthetics without brain surgery
Intricate, three-dimensional hand motions have been "read" from the brain using nothing but scalp electrodesSource: New Scientist - Health | 2 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm
Brain scans now catch chemicals too
A way to visualise chemicals washing through the brain could vastly extend the power of fMRI, a workhorse of neuroscienceSource: New Scientist - Health | 2 Mar 2010 | 10:09 am
Star and flower-shaped moulds tell stem cells what to be
The shape makes a cell become fat or bone, which could lead to new ways of coaxing stem cells into specific tissues for transplant into peopleSource: New Scientist - Health | 2 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am
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