• GP Groups Call For Proposed Practice Nurse Funding Models To Be Adjusted, Australia
  United General Practice Australia (UGPA) – the coalition of the peak groups representing Australia ’s general practitioners – commends the Government on its investment and focus on general practice nurses, but is calling on the Government to ensure that the Budget proposal does not disadvantage practices that already employ nurses, and to consult with GP representatives over implementation. UGPA members welcomed the Federal Government’s 2010-11 Budget initiative to improve access for patients to general practice nurses across Australia through the provision of an additional $390…

  
  

  

• GOP Sens. Request Assurances From HHS That High-Risk Pools Won’t Include Abortion Coverage
  In a letter sent on Wednesday, 13 Republican senators asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for assurances that the new high-risk insurance pools will not provide coverage for abortion services, CQ HealthBeat reports. The insurance pools set up under the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) aim to provide coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. The issue of abortion coverage in the program emerged earlier this month after reports that some states’ proposals to run the pools could allow abortions to be covered…

  
  

  

• HHS Announces Availability Of $51 Million In Resources For States To Build New Competitive Health Insurance Marketplace
  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced two key steps in the process of partnering with states and other stakeholders to begin establishing health insurance Exchanges. HHS announced the availability of up to $1 million in grants per state to help states begin work to establish Exchanges and published a request for comment calling for public input as HHS develops standards for the Exchanges…

  
  

  

• Snowe Becomes Fourth GOP Sen. To Announce Support For Kagan
  Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) on Wednesday became the fourth Republican senator to announce her support for Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the New York Times’ “The Caucus” reports. Snowe said Kagan met the standard she uses for evaluating judicial nominations by displaying “strong intellect, respect for the rule of law and [an] understanding of the important but limited role of the Supreme Court that I believe is required of any justice” (Becker, “The Caucus,” New York Times, 7/28)…

  
  

  

• Swimmers Make A Splash For A Good Cause
  More than 200 swimmers took to the shores of Lake Michigan for the annual Swim Across America (SAA) fundraiser earlier this month. The event raised money for cancer research, prevention and treatment at Loyola University Health System’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center (CBCC). “Participants challenged themselves in the water and on dry land, as they raised funds for a worthy cause,” said Swim Across America Event Director Sue Hopkinson. “This event brought the total funds raised for Loyola through Swim Across America events to approximately 1 million dollars…

  
  

  

• Group Opposing Alaska Parental Notification Initiative Reports More Money Than Group Supporting It
  The group Alaskans Against Government Mandates — which opposes a ballot initiative that would require parental notification for state minors seeking abortions — has reported collecting five times the money disclosed by Alaskans for Parental Rights, which supports the initiative, the AP/Anchorage Daily News reports. The proposed initiative would provide only limited exceptions to the parental notification rule, such as cases in which a girl has been abused by a parent. It also would make it a felony for physicians to “knowingly violate” the rule, according to ballot language…

  
  

  

• Thirty Million Women To Benefit From Health Reform Law, Including Up To 15 Million Who Will Gain New Subsidized Coverage
  Thirty million women will benefit from the new health reform law over the next decade, either through new or strengthened insurance coverage, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund. In the first analysis of its kind, the authors report that the law will stabilize and reverse the growing exposure to health costs that women now experience by subsidizing health insurance for up to 15 million currently uninsured women, and strengthening existing coverage for 14…

  
  

  

• Society Of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography Announces Recipients Of Fourth Annual Young Investigator Award
  The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), the leading international professional society dedicated to research, education and clinical excellence in cardiovascular computed tomography (CT), has named Dr. Raman Dusaj and Dr. Thomas Smith the recipients of the fourth annual Young Investigator Award. The Young Investigator Award was announced at SCCT’s 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting in Las Vegas…

  
  

  

• Also In Global Health News: Child Marriages; USAID In Afghanistan; Respiratory Diseases In El Salvador; Food Security Improving In Zimbabwe
  Epoch Times Examines Child Marriage Hearing An Epoch Times article discusses a recent congressional hearing held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on child marriage. The piece includes comments by representatives from the Department of State, UNICEF, CARE and the International Center for Research on Women who “described the cycle of poverty, violence, maternal and child mortality, and health risks associated with child marriages, and some successful programs in eliminating the practice…

  
  

  

• Portable Ultrasound System To Provide Vital Obstetric Scanning Support In Southern Sudan
  An ACUSON P10™ handheld ultrasound system from Siemens Healthcare has been selected to perform obstetric scanning in a newly renovated healthcare facility in the town of Yei in Southern Sudan. The P10 will be used in The Martha Primary Healthcare Centre, which currently sees 900 antenatal patients each month. The system was selected by representatives from Winchester based charity The Brickworks who are running several health initiatives in the region…

  
  

  

• Minister Moloney Announces 2.6m Euros In Innovation Grants For Disability And Mental Health, Ireland
  John Moloney T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health announced the first round of grants, totalling over 2.6m euros, awarded by the Genio Trust to support transition from institutional to personalised models of care in disability and mental health services…

  
  

  

• Government Of Canada Welcomes Sodium Reduction Report
  The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, today welcomed the release of the Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada by the Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Sodium Reduction, and thanked the group for its hard work. The report, which the Minister received today, is the culmination of over two years of work by the Sodium Working Group (SWG). The SWG was established in late 2007 to develop a strategy for reducing sodium intake among Canadians…

  
  

  

• Polio Cases In India Lowest In A Decade; Vaccination Effort Begins In Afghanistan
  This year “India has reported the lowest number of polio cases in [the] January-June period … in a decade,” PTI/ZeeTV reports. Twenty-four cases were detected between January and June this year, compared to 151 in the corresponding 2009 period, and 317 in January-June 2008 (7/29). According to LiveMint.com, for the first time in “the history of India’s fight against polio,” the two states that had 97% of polio cases in 2009 – Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP) – have not diagnosed any new cases of Type 1 polio in nearly eight months, according to the article…

  
  

  

• Today’s Opinions: Haiti’s Lesson For The U.S.; Ending ‘Pay For Delay;’ Getting The CLASS Act Off The Ground
  In Haiti, A Lesson For U.S. Health Care The New York Times In February, a month after Haiti’s earthquake, I went down to Port-au-Prince as part of a team that was helping to reactivate cardiac care in the city’s public hospital. For several months since, I have observed how the earthquake and its aftermath profoundly changed Haiti’s health care system. Over that time, I have come to the unorthodox conclusion that Haiti’s tragic experience may show us a way to improve health care in the United States (James Wilentz, 7/28)…

  
  

  

• Dudley Improves Renal Patient Management Via Long-term MES Partnership
  Russells Hall Hospital, part of The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is benefiting from greater efficiency in renal patient management with the installation of new specialist software. The eMEDRenal application from Mediqal H.I. was installed as part of Dudley’s 15-year IT services Managed Equipment Service (MES) agreement with Siemens Healthcare. Siemens Healthcare and Mediqal H.I. worked in partnership to ensure the smooth implementation of the software, which is a clinical patient database for renal specialities…

  
  

  

• Horn Of Africa Once Again Polio-Free, UNICEF And Polio Partners Announce
  The Horn of Africa is again polio-free, with Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda having reported no wild poliovirus cases for more than a year. Today marks a step towards the achievement of a major objective of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s new strategy – stopping polio in Africa. The outbreak began in 2008, following the reappearance of wild poliovirus type 1 in the border area of southern Sudan and Ethiopia, and spread in early 2009 to the northern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, and to Kenya and Uganda…

  
  

  

• Insurers Change Kids Coverage Stance After HHS Clarifies New Rules
  Health insurers have started to back down “on their decision to pull out of the child-only coverage market after the Obama administration addressed their concerns about the potential damage to their bottom lines,” The Hill reports. “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday clarified regulations mandating that insurance plans agree to cover sick children. HHS made it clear that plans are free to set up specific enrollment periods for their insurance plans if allowed under state laws. …

  
  

  

• Statement By Medicare Rights Center President Joe Baker On The 45th Anniversary Of The Establishment Of Medicare
  On July 30, 2010, we celebrate 45 years of the Medicare program. In 1964, a year before Medicare was established, almost half of older Americans did not have health insurance, and only a quarter were estimated to have adequate hospital insurance coverage. Now, in 2010, Medicare provides health coverage to over 47 million older Americans and people with disabilities…

  
  

  

• CVS-Aetna Deal Boosts The Drug Store Chain
  Forbes: CVS Caremark, the drug retailer and pharmacy benefit management firm, announced a new agreement with Aetna to help constrain drug costs. “The deal encompasses approximately $9.5 billion in annual drug spending relating to approximately 9.7 million lives. CVS expects significant long-term financial benefits from this strategic relationship” (7/28). The Street: The 12-year deal helped mask a weak performance in second quarter earnings for CVS. “CVS Caremark … missed second-quarter expectations, lowering its outlook. But a massive deal with health insurer Aetna…

  
  

  

• NHS Confederation Comments On CQC Follow-up Report On Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
  NHS Confederation acting chief executive Nigel Edwards comments on the follow up report by the Care Quality Commission on Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. “The circumstances at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust revealed last year were shocking and some of the most fundamental elements of care were neglected. It is encouraging to see that today’s report from the Care Quality Commission shows significant progress has been made in the past year…

  
  

  

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• What Are Proteins? What Is A Protein? How Much Protein Do I Need?
  Proteins are large molecules consisting of amino acids which our bodies and the cells in our bodies need to function properly. Our body structures, functions, the regulation of the body’s cells, tissues and organs cannot exist without proteins. Our muscles, skin, bones and many other parts of the body contain significant amounts of protein. Protein accounts for 20% of total body weight. Enzymes, hormones and antibodies are proteins. Proteins also work as neurotransmitters and carriers of oxygen in the blood (hemoglobin)…

  
  

  

• ACT Files Documentation With FDA For Clinical Trials Using ES Cells To Treat Eye Disease
  Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (”ACT”; OTCBB:ACTC) announced that it has submitted documentation and a complete response to substantively address the issues raised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in connection with the Company’s plans to initiate a Phase I/II multicenter study using embryonic stem (ES) cell derived retinal cells to treat patients with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD). In November 2009, ACT filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) Application to commence treating patients…

  
  

  

• HemoBioTech Announces New Patent For Treating Acute Blood Loss
  HemoBioTech (Pink Sheets:HMBT) announced the issuance of a new patent US 7,759,306 B2, “Methods of Treating Acute Blood Loss.” HemoBioTech has an exclusive worldwide license from Texas Tech University to commercialize the technology. The new patent continues to May 16, 2026. The new patent involves HemoTech which induces the production of new red blood cells in the body. Uses for HemoTech could involve the treatment of acute blood loss and anemia in trauma, surgery, cancer, kidney disease and heart disease. The market for treatment of acute anemia is over $2 billion…

  
  

  

• Limerick BioPharma Announces Positive Phase 1b Data For LIM-0705 In Preventing Toxicities Associated With The Transplant Drug, Tacrolimus
  Limerick BioPharma, Inc., a developer of innovative therapies that help cells pump out unwanted or toxic substances, will announce new results from human trials of its lead compound, LIM-0705, at the 23rd International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Vancouver, Canada, in an oral presentation on August 19, 2010. The results will be presented by Dr. Daniel C. Brennan, Professor of Medicine and Director of Transplant Nephrology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. LIM-0705 is a small molecule that stimulates lipid transport…

  
  

  

• What Is Infection? What Causes Infections?
  A human with an infection has another organism inside them which gets its sustenance (nourishment) from that person, it colonizes that person and reproduces inside them. The human with that organism (germ) inside is called the host, while the germ or pathogen is referred to as a parasitic organism. Another name for an organism that causes infection is an infectious agent. It is only an infection if the colonization harms the host. It uses the host to feed on and multiply at the expense of the host to such an extent that his/her health is affected…

  
  

  

• REM Sleep Disorder Could Be Early Warning Of Parkinson’s, Dementia That Develops Decades Later
  American neurologists and sleep experts suggest in a recent study that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder could be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease or dementia that develops up to 50 years later. You can read how neurologist and sleep specialist Dr Bradley F. Boeve and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota arrived at their findings in an online before print issue of a paper published in the journal Neurology on 28 July…

  
  

  

• Do You Know What To Do In A Dental Emergency?
  Having to deal with a dental emergency is not something people think about. However, being prepared can make the difference between saving or losing a tooth. And in the case of a toothache, if it involves a bacterial infection, it can be a life-threatening situation. Here are a couple of common dental emergency situations and what to do about them. A tooth is knocked out This is a very common sports injury. First, call your emergency dentist if you have one. It is imperative that you get to the dentist in thirty minutes. Always handle the tooth by the crown and not the root…

  
  

  

• Etubics Enters Phase I Cancer Clinical Trials Focused On Colorectal Cancer
  Etubics Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company developing “next generation” vector vaccines, has entered into Phase I trials at Duke University with its ETBX-011, a therapeutic vaccine candidate that is intended to treat Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA)-expressing cancers such as colorectal cancer. Etubics dosed its first patient yesterday. Etubics was recently granted clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin studying ETBX-011 in humans. Michael Morse, M.D…

  
  

  

• PCMA: Increased Focus On Combating Fraud Integral To Medicare Program Integrity
  Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO Mark Merritt issued the following statement today on a provision in the U.S. Senate’s small business legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work with outside companies to target fraud, waste, and abuse in states across the country: “Following the passage of health reform, an increased emphasis on overall program integrity and safeguarding taxpayer money is more important than ever. Focusing on preventing fraud, waste, and abuse is integral to these efforts…

  
  

  

• Advaxis Phase I Survival Update
  Advaxis, Inc., (OTCBB: ADXS), the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) immunotherapy company, has updated the survival information from its phase 1 trial of ADXS11-001 which assessed the safety of this agent in advanced, metastatic, progressive cervix cancer in women whose disease progressed subsequent to treatment with cytotoxic therapy. The principal investigator for this study has reported that the two (2) patients who were alive in March of 2010 are still alive at 3.9 and 3.5 years post dosing…

  
  

  

• Insurers Post Strong Earnings, But May Hold Back On Bragging Rights
  Two leading insurers reported second-quarter earnings with rising profits this week. First, on Tuesday night, Aetna said its second-quarter profits rose 42 percent, with a net income of $491 million, compared with $346.6 million for the same quarter last year, The Associated Press reports. “Aetna credited its earnings increase on a higher commercial underwriting margin from favorable prior-quarter reserve development and improved performance…

  
  

  

• Ortho Kinematics Launches Multi-Site Clinical Study Of KineGraph VMA™
  Ortho Kinematics, a privately held spine diagnostics company focused on revolutionizing spine motion analysis, announced today that it has begun a multi-site clinical study of the KineGraph VMA™, and that the initial 23 patients have been enrolled. The study will help determine which types of patients are best evaluated with KineGraph VMA testing. The KineGraph VMA is designed to provide functional diagnostic information to spine surgeons to be used in conjunction with MRI and plain X-rays…

  
  

  

• NRC, UOttawa Scientists First To Watch A Chemical Bond Break Using Molecule’s Electrons
  Scientists at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) enjoyed a bird’s eye view of a chemical bond as it breaks. The making and breaking of chemical bonds underlie the biochemical processes of life itself. A greater understanding of the quantum processes that lead to chemical reactions may lead to new strategies in the design and control of molecules – ultimately leading to scientific breakthroughs in health care and diagnostic medicine, quantum computing, nanotechnology, environmental science and energy. The NRC-uOttawa team, led by Dr…

  
  

  

• 2 Potent New Predictors Of Suicide Risk Developed By Psychologists
  Two powerful new tests developed by psychologists at Harvard University show great promise in predicting patients’ risk of attempting suicide. The work may help clinicians overcome their reliance on self-reporting by at-risk individuals, information that often proves misleading when suicidal patients wish to hide their intentions. Both new tests are easily administered within minutes on a computer, giving quick insight into how patients are thinking about suicide, as well as their propensity to attempt suicide in the near future…

  
  

  

• FAO Launches Initiative To Curb Animal Diseases
  In an effort to prevent and control outbreaks of animal diseases and the associated costs, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday announced a new five-year initiative “to improve global response to disease outbreaks, implement effective prevention and containment strategies and manage risks,” PANA/Afrique en ligne reports (7/28)…

  
  

  

• Treating Multiple Sclerosis With Antihypertensive Drug
  Researchers in Heidelberg and Stanford have discovered a new signalling pathway of brain cells that explains how widely used antihypertensive drugs could keep inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) in check. The peptide angiotensin not only raises blood pressure but also activates the immunological messenger substance TGF beta on a previously unknown communication pathway in the brain. The study was conducted by Professor Lawrence Steinman at Stanford University in California together with the group of Professor Platten and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation…

  
  

  

• Minister Announces Appointment Of Dr Frank Dolphin As Next Chairman Of Health Service Executive, Ireland
  The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, T.D. has announced the appointment of Dr Frank Dolphin as the next Chairman of the Health Service Executive to succeed Mr Liam Downey who has completed two terms as Chairman. The Minister said, “The creation of the Health Service Executive was probably the largest single governance and change management challenge in our country’s history. “The value of a unified health service has already been demonstrated in many areas and further benefits for patients will continue to be realised in the coming years…

  
  

  

• Company Health Plans May Increasingly Demand Proof Family Is Family
  CNNMoney: “Think your whole family is covered by your company health plan? Get ready to prove they’re actually your kin.” Under the new health overhaul law, starting next year “employers will have to provide coverage for dependents of employees [until] age 26. That will further inflate coverage costs for companies at a time when employers are already bracing for a 9% jump in their health care plan expenditures in 2011…

  
  

  

• Hospitals Focus On Forming ACOs, Resolving Insurer Disputes
  News outlets report on hospital issues, including forming accountable care organizations and disputes with insurers. Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx “is pioneering a new model of healthcare delivery, endorsed by the architects of health reform, that promises to radically change the current fragmented system in which the family doctor may have no idea what happens during a hospital stay,” U.S. News & World Report writes. “As an ‘accountable care organization,’ or ACO, Montefiore, along with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif…

  
  

  

• Biology, Computer Science Combine Efforts To Fight Cancer
  The University of Houston (UH) received a $2.4 million grant to fund the most promising young cancer researchers who are working at the cutting-edge of a new multidisciplinary approach to fighting cancer. The award is part of the latest round of grant disbursements from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), which oversees the state’s new billion-dollar war on cancer. It is UH’s second CPRIT grant, and the first in the science and engineering fields…

  
  

  

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• UK In Bottom Third Of Countries For Dementia Drug Usage
  The UK ranks 11th out of 14 countries for dementia drug use rates according to a report published by the Department of Health. The paper ‘Extent and causes of international variations in drug usage’ by Professor Sir Mike Richards looked at the rates of drug usage per capita for a range of diseases and drug categories in 14 countries across the world. The UK’s overall ranking was eighth. Alzheimer’s Society comment: ‘This report provides a scathing indictment of the huge problems surrounding access to dementia drugs in this country…

  
  

  

• Smog From Moscow Peat Fires Likely To Kill Hundreds Of People
  Smog from peat fires around the city of Moscow has reached ten times above safe levels and is likely to kill hundreds of people, according to news reports issued earlier on Wednesday. Shrouding the spires of the Kremlin and onion domes of churches, and smelling sharply of cinder, the smog cloud has crept through doors and windows into Moscow’s homes, restaurants and offices…

  
  

  

• Hospira Begins Phase I U.S. Clinical Trial Of Biosimilar Erythropoietin In Renal Patients
  Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, announced the start of a U.S. Phase I clinical trial of its biosimilar erythropoietin (EPO) in patients with renal (kidney) dysfunction who have anemia, an important step on the road toward introducing a biosimilar product in the United States. Erythropoietin is a treatment for anemia associated with chronic renal failure and chemotherapy…

  
  

  

• Abbott’s Enhanced ARCHITECTPLUS Systems Helps Labs Manage Surging Testing Demand Due To Aging Population
  As hospital and clinical laboratories endure increasingly intense pressures to do more with less, they now face another challenge – rising demand for medical tests driven by an aging U.S. population that is expected to swell to more than 70 million in the next 20 years, an increase of more than 80 percent from today…

  
  

  

• Transporting Patients Directly To PCI-Capable Hospitals Best Strategy For Treating Deadliest Heart Attack
  To improve emergency care for heart attack patients, new research suggests that expanding percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capacity at hospitals is less effective than using emergency medical services (EMS) to transport patients directly to existing PCI centers…

  
  

  

• Preventing Mother-To-Child Transmission Of HIV Is Critical To Achieving Millennium Development Goals In Africa
  Investing in the health of women and children was the focus of the high-level Summit of the African Union held 25-27 July in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting, attended by more than 35 Heads of State and politicians, highlighted progress and challenges in advancing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which call for reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. With only 11% of the world’s population, Africa accounts for more than half of all maternal and child deaths…

  
  

  

• What Are Side Effects (Adverse Effects)? What Causes Side Effects?
  A side effect, also known as an adverse effect, adverse event, or undesirable secondary effect is when a treatment goes beyond the desired effect and causes a problem; the treatment, which may be a medication, surgical procedure or some kind of therapy has an undesirable secondary effect which occurs in addition to the desired therapeutic effect. Experts say that side effects vary for each patient, and depend largely on their general health, the state of their disease, age, weight, and gender…

  
  

  

• Advanced Biofuel Trade Associations Express Support For Tax Policy On Second-Generation Biofuels
  As Congress takes action on critical tax incentive packages, the leading advanced biofuel trade associations reemphasized the importance of advanced biofuels as promising opportunities for the United States to reduce its reliance on oil and create green jobs. Sustained and diverse federal programs, including tax incentives, can help producers secure financing for construction of projects. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Advanced BioFuels Association (ABFA) and Algal Biomass Organization today thanked Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich…

  
  

  

• Rite Aid Agrees To Pay $1 Million To Settle HIPAA Privacy Case
  Rite Aid Corporation and its 40 affiliated entities (RAC) have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today. In a coordinated action, RAC also signed a consent order with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle potential violations of the FTC Act…

  
  

  

• Accountant Who Underwent Double Lung Transplant Wins Gold At European Heart And Lung Transplant Games
  A chartered accountant who just 28 months ago underwent a double lung transplant has won six medals at the European Heart and Lung Transplant Games in Vaxjo, Sweden representing Great Britain. Nick Condon, a cystic fibrosis sufferer from Northamptonshire who works for Macintyre Hudson LLP, won gold medals in the 100m and 4km races and tennis, in addition to silver in the 4×100m relay and bronze in both 20km cycling and golf…

  
  

  

• Supporters Of Colo. ‘Personhood’ Initiative Unveil Strategy To Gather Support
  Supporters of a proposed Colorado constitutional amendment tha would grant human rights to a fetus have undertaken a grassroots campaign to gain support for the measure, the Boston Globe reports. The so-called “personhood” amendment — Amendment 62 — is the only state ballot initiative on the topic for the 2010 elections. The measure would redefine the term “person” and grant rights in the state Constitution “to apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being…

  
  

  

• Opinions: Improving Malaria Control, Treatment; Faith Organizations In Fight Against TB; Vaccines For All Children; Eradicating Polio
  To Improve Malaria Control, Remove Taxes On Medicines In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, and Yoweri Museveni, president of the Republic of Uganda, both of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, write about ways to overcome barriers to malaria control and treatment…

  
  

  

• Abortion Coverage Concerns Prompt West Virginia To Decide Against Running High-Risk Pool
  West Virginia last week announced that it would not administer its own high-risk insurance pool because GOP members of the state’s House of Delegates said the program might fund abortion care, the Charleston Gazette reports (Knezevich, Charleston Gazette, 7/22). The pools — created under the new health reform law (PL 111-148) — are intended to provide insurance coverage to residents with pre-existing conditions. They will expire in 2014 when provisions take effect to prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions (Lillis [1], “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 7/23)…

  
  

  

• Innovations In Health Care Experience And Delivery: Collaborative Symposium Sponsored By Mayo Clinic Center For Innovation
  The Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation will host Transform 2010-Thinking Differently about Health Care, its third collaborative symposium aimed at changing the way health care is experienced and delivered, on Sept. 12-14 in Rochester, Minn. Transform 2010 will feature nationally-recognized speakers on topics focused on innovation and design thinking as well as innovations in health care delivery models around themes that include Health for All, Emerging Communities, Making Good Decisions, Designing Health; New World-New Technologies, and Designing Transformative Business for Health…

  
  

  

• Today’s OpEds: Medical Liability And Health Reform, And What About The ‘New’ Public Option?
  Medical Liability Bill Key To Health Reform Roll Call Repealing ObamaCare and reforming our health care system in a responsible manner continues to be our primary goal – a goal that our constituents sent us here to achieve. Thus, we remain committed to passing comprehensive medical liability reform as part of the solution. With a savings of at least $200 billion annually in defensive medicine costs, we can see no reason not to act – immediately (Rep. Phil Gingrey and Rep. John Fleming, 7/27)…

  
  

  

• Symposium To Explore Broadening Partnerships To Spur Medical Advances For War Injuries
  The USU-HJF Military Medicine Symposium will gather prominent civilian and military researchers and clinicians from across the United States to discuss current research and identify opportunities to collaborate and share information that could speed treatments to wounded warriors. The symposium also will bring together a broad spectrum of participants from military health leadership, federal agencies and private research institutions to philanthropists and charitable foundations, representatives of industry, and policymakers…

  
  

  

• Abortion Rights Becoming A Factor In Several State Elections
  Abortion politics are influencing state races in Georgia, Massachusetts and South Dakota. Summaries appear below. ~ Georgia: Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and former Rep. Nathan Deal, candidates in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary, are facing criticism for past votes that some observers say benefited abortion-rights groups, the AP/Macon Telegraph reports…

  
  

  

• Maryland Sees Savings In Federal Health Law, For A While At Least
  Maryland could spend $829 million less than expected on health care between next year and 2020 because of the federal health overhaul law, according to an analysis by a state-convened committee, The Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “The savings, however, last only until the end of the decade, when the federal law shifts a greater share of financial responsibility for Medicaid expansion to the states.” The analysis was produced by the state’s Health Care Reform Coordinating Council, a panel created by Gov. Martin O’Malley in March (Witte, 7/26)…

  
  

  

• California’s Anthem Blue Cross Names New President
  Anthem Blue Cross of California has named former Aetna executive Pam Kehaly to head the insurer after its president resigned a week ago, Los Angeles Times reports. “Kehaly will take the helm Aug. 30. Anthem, a unit of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., is California’s largest for-profit health insurance company.” Anthem came under intense scrutiny earlier this year over a planned rate hike of up to 39 percent for many of its individual insurance plan holders…

  
  

  

• Additional Research Funds To TGen From The Marilyn B. Gula Mountains Of Hope Foundation To Support Advanced Breast Cancer Research And Treatment
  The Marilyn B. Gula Mountains of Hope Foundation continues its fight against advanced breast cancer with a $50,000 donation to the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), for a total contribution over two years of $300,000. In addition, the Mountains of Hope Foundation recently gave an additional $60,000 to Ohio’s University Hospitals (UH) Ireland Cancer Center, bringing the total donated during the past year to $110,000…

  
  

  

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• BMA Comment On ‘Commissioning For Patients’, UK
  Commenting on the launch of the consultation ‘Commissioning for patients’, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, said: “This document provides more detail about the government’s plans for GP commissioning, but there are still many questions that need answering. The proposals contain both opportunities and threats and we will be actively engaging with the consultation process to explore this in great detail and to ensure our members’ views are taken on board. We will also be publishing our own proposals for how GP commissioning could be made to work…

  
  

  

• Sequoia Technology Spearheads Novel Communications System To Greatly Improve The Quality Of Mozambique’s Early Infant Diagnosis Program – The ERS
  From 2007 to 2009, Mozambique saw a rapid expansion of the National Early Infant Diagnosis program for diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in newborn children to include over 235 health centers across the country. However, transportation of samples and results between remote districts and two central laboratories often takes many weeks. To accelerate the return of results, Sequoia Technology devised an innovative system, in conjunction with The Clinton Foundation, to allow laboratories to send and print test results directly in any health centre with GPRS network coverage…

  
  

  

• Proposed Lowering Of PSA Threshold For Biopsy Could Result In Increased Overdiagnosis And Overtreatment Of Prostate Cancer, Study
  New research from the US suggests that most American men diagnosed with prostate cancer receive aggressive treatment, even if their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level is below the current recommended 4.0 nanograms per milliliter threshold for biopsy and their diagnosis indicates low-risk disease; the researchers argue against lowering the threshold, suggesting there is no evidence that waiting for PSA to reach the current threshold before doing a biopsy leads to significant increases in non-curable cases, whereas lowering it is likely to lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment…

  
  

  

• More Than Half Of Irish Women Would Split Their Maternity Leave With Their Partner If They Could, According To New Research
  Three in five younger women (61%) would be happy to split their maternity leave with their partner if the option was available, according to a new nationwide survey of 1000 women commissioned by QUINN-healthcare. 49% of mothers over 35 years would also like this opportunity. Mothers in Dublin were among the least willing to split their maternity leave (49%) but more than half of mothers in Ulster, Connaught, and Munster felt it was a good option…

  
  

  

• Wellcome Trust Grant To King’s College London To Combat Counterfeit Drugs, UK
  The Wellcome Trust has awarded £473,000 to a team of King’s researchers, to be led by Dr Kaspar Althoefer, Reader in Sensing and Embedded Systems, for the creation of a system that can identify counterfeit and substandard drugs. Working in collaboration with scientists at Lund University, Sweden, the team will use the Translation Award as a springboard to commercialisation, with the aim of producing an inexpensive and rugged instrument for the developing world, where the problem of drugs counterfeiting is particularly acute…

  
  

  

• What Is Blood? What Does Blood Do?
  Blood is a combination of plasma (watery liquid) and cells that float in it. It is a specialized bodily fluid that supplies essentials substances and nutrients, such as sugar, oxygen, and hormones to our cells, and carries waste away from those cells, this waste is eventually flushed out of the body in urine, feces, sweat, and lungs (carbon dioxide). Blood also contains clotting agents. Plasma constitutes 55% of blood fluid in humans and other vertebrates (animals with a backbone, spinal column)…

  
  

  

• Canadian Researchers Testing Unique Vaccines For Prion Diseases And Common Cancers
  Several Canadian researchers have come together to help control the relentless spread of a prion disease, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk, through vaccines. At the same time they aim to generate safe and effective therapies for common cancers. This simultaneous research is possible thanks to a unique connection they have discovered between the two unrelated diseases. The project builds on links between prion proteins present in certain prion diseases like CWD in animals and common cancers in people like melanoma and lymphoma…

  
  

  

• RCGP Announces Departure Of Chief Executive Hilary De Lyon, England
  Hilary De Lyon, Chief Executive of the Royal College of General Practitioners will shortly be leaving the College. She has been selected for Ordination as a minister in the Church of England. RCGP Chairman Professor Steve Field said: “Hilary has been our Chief Executive for over seven years, having joined the College in November 2002. She has led the College, working closely with my predecessors and me, over a period of great change…

  
  

  

• Britain Plans To Decentralize NHS, Tranfer Budget To General Practitioners
  British officials are proposing a plan to decentralize the National Health Service, news outlets report. “The new organization, which the government says will focus on patients, will transfer the bulk of Britain’s $160 billion health care budget to general practitioners,” The Fiscal Times reports. “In return, regional groups of GPs will be responsible for buying hospital and medical services, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals – presumably at negotiated prices. They become, in effect, overnight medical general contractors, implementing health services to their communities…

  
  

  

• EEOC Finds Probable Gender Discrimination In Case Brought By New York State Nurses Association
  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in New York City has notified the New York State Nurses Association that it has issued a determination, finding that there is reason to believe that the City of New York’s refusal to designate the jobs of nurses and midwives as physically taxing constitutes illegal discrimination against women on the basis of gender in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act…

  
  

  

• IntegraMed(R) Adds Austin Fertility Institute To Its Attain Fertility Centers Network
  IntegraMed America, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMD), the leader in developing, marketing and managing specialty healthcare facilities in the fertility and vein care markets, announced it had entered into an agreement with Austin Fertility Institute to begin offering IntegraMed’s Attain® IVF Programs to Austin Fertility Institute’s patients…

  
  

  

• Sen. Collins Announces Support For Kagan; Sen. Alexander To Vote Against Nominee
  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Friday became the third Republican senator to announce her support for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, the AP/MSNBC reports. In a statement, Collins praised Kagan’s “intellect, experience, temperament and integrity” and said Kagan deserves confirmation based on her record, her promise to stick to legal precedents and her character (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/MSNBC, 7/23). Collins is one of nine Senate Republicans who last year voted in favor of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee. Of those nine, Sens. Richard Lugar (Ind…

  
  

  

• State Of Iowa Launches New Medication Therapy Management Program
  Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care® (Outcomes®) has been selected by the State of Iowa Department of Administrative Services to administer a Medication Therapy Management (MTM) program for the state employee health plan. Under the program, State of Iowa employees and dependents will be eligible to receive MTM services to help them achieve safe and effective results from their medications. It is anticipated over 64,000 patients will be enrolled across Iowa…

  
  

  

• Disparities Remain A Challenge In Health Care Says American College Of Physicians
  Racial and ethnic disparities remain a challenge for patients in the U.S. health care system, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in an updated paper released today. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Updated 2010, an update to a policy paper that was originally released in 2003, outlines recommendations on how to close the gap between racial and ethnic minority patients and their white counterparts. “Closing the health care disparities gap will be a difficult, multifaceted, and important task,” said J. Fred Ralston, Jr., MD, FACP, president of ACP…

  
  

  

• American Academy Of Ophthalmology Names Medical Director For Governmental Affairs
  The American Academy of Ophthalmology has named Michael X. Repka, MD, to the newly created position of Medical Director for Governmental Affairs. The position was created to provide Washington-based physician leadership on Academy issues and critical health care topics being debated on Capitol Hill and before government regulators. “Dr. Repka, with his extensive regulatory and policy experience, adds a unique perspective and set of talents to our initiatives in the nation’s capitol,” said David W. Parke II, MD, Academy CEO. “The addition of Mike Repka to the Academy’s D.C…

  
  

  

• The Methodist Hospital Opens Country’s Most Advanced Robotic Operating Room
  The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center opened the country’s most advanced hybrid, robotic operating room. The new suite integrates advanced robotics, imaging and navigation with surgery to offer patients the least invasive and safest surgical and interventional treatments for cardiovascular disease. “The new suite is perfectly designed for advanced procedures like the percutaneous valve, in which we will replace a patient’s diseased cardiac valve through a tiny puncture hole in the groin,” said Dr. Alan Lumsden, chair of cardiovascular surgery at Methodist…

  
  

  

• CMS Announces $2.25 Billion In Grants To Extend Money Follows The Person Rebalancing Demonstration
  Americans with disabilities will have more help to live independently and remain in their homes and communities instead of in institutional long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, through the availability of $2.25 billion in grants to states. The new grant solicitation issued today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages states not yet part of the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing (MFP) Demonstration to apply for grant funds…

  
  

  

• Cerenis Therapeutics And Novasep Awarded 10.7M Euros Funding From The French Government For The Development CER-001, An HDL Mimetic
  Cerenis Therapeutics SA (Cerenis), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel high-density lipoprotein (HDL) therapies to treat cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, and Groupe Novasep (Novasep), a leading supplier of manufacturing solutions to the life sciences industries, announce today that they have received French Government funding through OSEO to finance the development of CER-001, a Cerenis HDL mimetic…

  
  

  

• Support Mums Or Face Future Health Burden: Study, Australia
  Historical barriers to breastfeeding in Australia may have contributed to the country’s chronic disease burden, according to research from The Australian National University. The research, by Dr Julie Smith and Dr Peta Harvey of the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health at ANU, looked at the public health impact of infants being prematurely weaned during the past five decades in Australia…

  
  

  

• The Endocrine Society Appoints Patricia S. Green Director Of The Hormone Foundation
  The Endocrine Society has named Patricia S. Green the director of its public education affiliate, The Hormone Foundation. Green leads the Foundation in its mission to serve as a key informational resource for the public in the prevention, treatment and cure of hormone-related conditions. Green is an experienced health association leader, having worked more than 20 years on a broad range of issues of importance to physicians, patients, researchers, medical schools and teaching hospitals…

  
  

  

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• What Are Vitamins? What Vitamins Do I Need?
  Vitamins are organic compounds which are needed in small quantities to sustain life. We get vitamins from food, because the human body either does not produce enough of them, or none at all. An organic compound contains carbon. When an organism (living thing) cannot produce enough of an organic chemical compound that it needs in tiny amounts, and has to get it from food, it is called a vitamin. Sometimes the compound is a vitamin for a human but not for some other animals…

  
  

  

• Cells That Retain Their Waste Disposal Proteins Appear To Live Longer
  US researchers studying yeast cells found that ageing cells able to retain a group of proteins that ferry compounds across cellular membranes and get rid of toxic waste have a longer lifespan in that they can produce more copies of themselves compared with cells that lose their waste disposal proteins; they also hope their finding may help us better understand stem cells and cancer cells…

  
  

  

• What Is Sleep? How Much Sleep Do I Need?
  Sleep is a state when our senses and motor activity are relatively suspended; there is total or partial unconsciousness, and all voluntary muscles are inactive. Sleep is more reversible than hibernation or coma, but responds less to stimuli than quiet wakefulness. Sleep is the body’s rest cycle. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state – a period when our bodies are producing new bone, muscular and nervous tissue; a period when growth and repairs occur. Most animals sleep, including mammals (humans are mammals), birds, a significant number of reptiles, amphibians, and fish…

  
  

  

• HPA Response To Arm’s-Length Bodies Review, UK
  Health Protection Agency response to the announcement by the Secretary of State for Health that HPA’s Functions are to be transferred to him. Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State that the Health Protection Agency’s functions will be transferred to him as part of the creation of a new national public health service is consistent with the Conservative Party’s green paper on public health published earlier this year. It reflects the importance of HPA’s work, particularly in responding to significant incidents…

  
  

  

• Cellceutix Corporation Selects Destum Partners To Partner Psoriasis Compound
  Cellceutix Corporation (OTCBB: CTIX) is pleased to announce that it has selected Destum Partners to assist in finding a development partner for its psoriasis compound, KM-133. Cellceutix management has carefully evaluated which direction to take in the development of KM-133 and has concluded that this is the best way to create shareholder value. In a human xenograft animal model of psoriasis, KM-133 reduced psoriasis significantly more than controls…

  
  

  

• Politico Spotlights Abortion Issues In Midterm Campaigns
  Politico recently examined how California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s (R) abortion-rights opposition could affect her chances at election. The publication also highlighted a campaign by Catholics United to help vulnerable Democratic incumbents who supported health reform. Summaries appear below. ~ Fiorina: Fiorina’s opposition to abortion rights is “a potential obstacle” for her in the race against incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), an abortion-rights supporter, Politico reports…

  
  

  

• Advancing Technology Innovation Through Discovery: A New Partnership Between The Canadian Institutes Of Health Research And Genome Canada
  Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are pleased to announce a partnered program called “Advancing Technology Innovation through Discovery”. This program will link next generation sequencing technologies within Genome Canada-funded Science & Technology (S&T) Innovation Centres with gene discovery projects to help speed the translation to clinical medicine and to advance the adoption of new technologies…

  
  

  

• Abortion Debates Expected To Continue Through Health Reform Implementation
  Arguments over abortion coverage under the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) likely will persist as implementation of the overhaul continues, prompting some lawmakers to consider legislative approaches to the issue, CongressDaily reports. The most recent controversy involves an Obama administration decision to bar most abortion coverage in state high-risk health insurance pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions, even if the coverage is paid for privately…

  
  

  

• AAP Applauds Appointment Of Dr. Alan Guttmacher To Lead The National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development
  By: Judith S. Palfrey, MD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) congratulates pediatrician and medical geneticist Alan Guttmacher, MD, FAAP, on his appointment to serve as the new director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the many institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “As director of NICHD, Dr…

  
  

  

• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Recognized For High Standards In Protecting The Welfare Of Research Participants
  Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has received its third consecutive full accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP), whose goal is to ensure that research institutions meet the highest standards in respecting and protecting individuals who participate in research…

  
  

  

• European Medicines Agency Concludes Review Of Modified-Release Oral Opioids Of The WHO Level III Scale For The Management Of Pain
  The European Medicines Agency has finalised a review of modified-release oral opioids of the WHO level III scale for the management of pain. The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) concluded that the benefits of most of these medicines continue to outweigh their risks, but that the existing warnings on the interaction of these medicines with alcohol should be made consistent across the class…

  
  

  

• New Edition Of Guidelines For Involving Communities In HIV Prevention Research Released At International AIDS Conference
  The draft second edition of The Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials were released at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna by AVAC. The GPP Guidelines aim to provide trial funders, sponsors, and implementers with systematic guidance on how to effectively work with a range of stakeholders as they design and conduct biomedical HIV prevention trials…

  
  

  

• Cardinal Health Introduces New Features To Tool That Has Recovered Nearly $20 Million In Prescription Reimbursements For Retail Pharmacies
  Since launching its Reconciliation service in 2006 years, Cardinal Health has helped independent pharmacies recover nearly $20 million in pharmaceutical reimbursements. With new service features announced this week at the company’s annual Retail Business Conference in Denver, Reconciliation 2.0 is easier to use than ever before, and is now able to reconcile claims from all insurance companies. Even when prescription claims are properly submitted to insurance companies and other payors, many can be underpaid – or worse – they can go completely unpaid…

  
  

  

• Labor’s Emergency Specialists Measure Will Miss The Mark In The Bush, Australia
  The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) says today’s announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to deliver more emergency medicine specialists to outer metropolitan and regional hospitals will do little to improve access to emergency care further out in rural and remote Australia. Instead, RDAA has urged the major parties to introduce real measures to entice more doctors to the bush in the first place…

  
  

  

• Reliable Information And Better Communication Needed To Guide U.S. Response To Climate Change
  A comprehensive national response to climate change should be informed by reliable data coordinated through climate services and a greenhouse gas monitoring and management system to provide timely information tailored to decision makers at all levels, says a report by the National Research Council. The report recommends several mechanisms for improving communication about climate science and responses and calls for a systematic framework for making and evaluating decisions about how to effectively manage the risks posed by climate change…

  
  

  

• Insurers, Advocates Fight Over Upcoming Spending Rules
  Reuters: Insurance companies are banding together to weaken a key health law rule that requires them to spend as much as 85 percent of their revenues on medical care, according to the advocacy group Health Care for America Now. At issue is the definition of ‘medical loss ratio,’ the percentage of money spent by insurers on medical care, “rather than salaries, overhead and other administrative expenses…

  
  

  

• Blogs Comment On Abortion Coverage, Female Condoms, Other Topics
  The following summarizes selected women’s health-related blog entries. ~ “The Obama Administration Takes a Page From Stupak’s Playbook,” Allie Bohm, ACLU’s Blog of Rights: On July 14, “the Obama administration inexplicably announced that it is bringing back Stupak in the high-risk pools required by the law,” Bohm writes. There is “nothing in the new health reform law (PL 111-148) that requires this restriction, and it is deeply disturbing that a pro-choice administration would voluntarily impose such an anti-choice measure,” she continues…

  
  

  

• It’s Back: House Democrats Argue Anew For Public Option
  House Democrats are arguing again for the passage of a public option to compete with private health plans and reduce the deficit, news outlets report. “Armed with a new score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showing their public plan saves $68 billion between 2014 and 2020, liberal Democrats vowed Thursday to fight for their proposal’s passage next year,” The Hill reports. “The CBO also says premiums in the public plan would be 5 percent to 7 percent lower than the premiums offered by private plans in the state health insurance exchanges that are due to begin operating in 2014…

  
  

  

• New Funding Is A Win For Emergency Nurses And Their Patients, Australia
  Lee Thomas, federal secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, said new funding for emergency nurses will provide a more highly skilled workforce in emergency departments. “It is imperative that we encourage more people into nursing and then continue to develop their skills throughout their working life so patients receive the best possible care…

  
  

  

• AIDS 2010: Obama, Clinton Vow U.S. Support To Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS
  During the closing ceremonies of the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, President Barack Obama “on Friday pledged to redouble efforts to fight HIV and AIDS through his Global Health Initiative, despite dealing with economic hard times in the wake of a global recession,” Reuters reports. According to the news service, “Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said their focus was on a broad, sustainable and effective approach to the global epidemic” (Kelland, 7/23)…

  
  

  

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• What Are Vitamins? What Vitamins Do I Need?
  Vitamins are organic compounds which are needed in small quantities to sustain life. We get vitamins from food, because the human body either does not produce enough of them, or none at all. An organic compound contains carbon. When an organism (living thing) cannot produce enough of an organic chemical compound that it needs in tiny amounts, and has to get it from food, it is called a vitamin. Sometimes the compound is a vitamin for a human but not for some other animals…

  
  

  

• Cells That Retain Their Waste Disposal Proteins Appear To Live Longer
  US researchers studying yeast cells found that ageing cells able to retain a group of proteins that ferry compounds across cellular membranes and get rid of toxic waste have a longer lifespan in that they can produce more copies of themselves compared with cells that lose their waste disposal proteins; they also hope their finding may help us better understand stem cells and cancer cells…

  
  

  

• What Is Sleep? How Much Sleep Do I Need?
  Sleep is a state when our senses and motor activity are relatively suspended; there is total or partial unconsciousness, and all voluntary muscles are inactive. Sleep is more reversible than hibernation or coma, but responds less to stimuli than quiet wakefulness. Sleep is the body’s rest cycle. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state – a period when our bodies are producing new bone, muscular and nervous tissue; a period when growth and repairs occur. Most animals sleep, including mammals (humans are mammals), birds, a significant number of reptiles, amphibians, and fish…

  
  

  

• HPA Response To Arm’s-Length Bodies Review, UK
  Health Protection Agency response to the announcement by the Secretary of State for Health that HPA’s Functions are to be transferred to him. Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State that the Health Protection Agency’s functions will be transferred to him as part of the creation of a new national public health service is consistent with the Conservative Party’s green paper on public health published earlier this year. It reflects the importance of HPA’s work, particularly in responding to significant incidents…

  
  

  

• Cellceutix Corporation Selects Destum Partners To Partner Psoriasis Compound
  Cellceutix Corporation (OTCBB: CTIX) is pleased to announce that it has selected Destum Partners to assist in finding a development partner for its psoriasis compound, KM-133. Cellceutix management has carefully evaluated which direction to take in the development of KM-133 and has concluded that this is the best way to create shareholder value. In a human xenograft animal model of psoriasis, KM-133 reduced psoriasis significantly more than controls…

  
  

  

• Politico Spotlights Abortion Issues In Midterm Campaigns
  Politico recently examined how California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s (R) abortion-rights opposition could affect her chances at election. The publication also highlighted a campaign by Catholics United to help vulnerable Democratic incumbents who supported health reform. Summaries appear below. ~ Fiorina: Fiorina’s opposition to abortion rights is “a potential obstacle” for her in the race against incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), an abortion-rights supporter, Politico reports…

  
  

  

• Advancing Technology Innovation Through Discovery: A New Partnership Between The Canadian Institutes Of Health Research And Genome Canada
  Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are pleased to announce a partnered program called “Advancing Technology Innovation through Discovery”. This program will link next generation sequencing technologies within Genome Canada-funded Science & Technology (S&T) Innovation Centres with gene discovery projects to help speed the translation to clinical medicine and to advance the adoption of new technologies…

  
  

  

• Abortion Debates Expected To Continue Through Health Reform Implementation
  Arguments over abortion coverage under the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) likely will persist as implementation of the overhaul continues, prompting some lawmakers to consider legislative approaches to the issue, CongressDaily reports. The most recent controversy involves an Obama administration decision to bar most abortion coverage in state high-risk health insurance pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions, even if the coverage is paid for privately…

  
  

  

• AAP Applauds Appointment Of Dr. Alan Guttmacher To Lead The National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development
  By: Judith S. Palfrey, MD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) congratulates pediatrician and medical geneticist Alan Guttmacher, MD, FAAP, on his appointment to serve as the new director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the many institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “As director of NICHD, Dr…

  
  

  

• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Recognized For High Standards In Protecting The Welfare Of Research Participants
  Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has received its third consecutive full accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP), whose goal is to ensure that research institutions meet the highest standards in respecting and protecting individuals who participate in research…

  
  

  

• European Medicines Agency Concludes Review Of Modified-Release Oral Opioids Of The WHO Level III Scale For The Management Of Pain
  The European Medicines Agency has finalised a review of modified-release oral opioids of the WHO level III scale for the management of pain. The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) concluded that the benefits of most of these medicines continue to outweigh their risks, but that the existing warnings on the interaction of these medicines with alcohol should be made consistent across the class…

  
  

  

• New Edition Of Guidelines For Involving Communities In HIV Prevention Research Released At International AIDS Conference
  The draft second edition of The Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials were released at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna by AVAC. The GPP Guidelines aim to provide trial funders, sponsors, and implementers with systematic guidance on how to effectively work with a range of stakeholders as they design and conduct biomedical HIV prevention trials…

  
  

  

• Cardinal Health Introduces New Features To Tool That Has Recovered Nearly $20 Million In Prescription Reimbursements For Retail Pharmacies
  Since launching its Reconciliation service in 2006 years, Cardinal Health has helped independent pharmacies recover nearly $20 million in pharmaceutical reimbursements. With new service features announced this week at the company’s annual Retail Business Conference in Denver, Reconciliation 2.0 is easier to use than ever before, and is now able to reconcile claims from all insurance companies. Even when prescription claims are properly submitted to insurance companies and other payors, many can be underpaid – or worse – they can go completely unpaid…

  
  

  

• Labor’s Emergency Specialists Measure Will Miss The Mark In The Bush, Australia
  The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) says today’s announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to deliver more emergency medicine specialists to outer metropolitan and regional hospitals will do little to improve access to emergency care further out in rural and remote Australia. Instead, RDAA has urged the major parties to introduce real measures to entice more doctors to the bush in the first place…

  
  

  

• Reliable Information And Better Communication Needed To Guide U.S. Response To Climate Change
  A comprehensive national response to climate change should be informed by reliable data coordinated through climate services and a greenhouse gas monitoring and management system to provide timely information tailored to decision makers at all levels, says a report by the National Research Council. The report recommends several mechanisms for improving communication about climate science and responses and calls for a systematic framework for making and evaluating decisions about how to effectively manage the risks posed by climate change…

  
  

  

• Insurers, Advocates Fight Over Upcoming Spending Rules
  Reuters: Insurance companies are banding together to weaken a key health law rule that requires them to spend as much as 85 percent of their revenues on medical care, according to the advocacy group Health Care for America Now. At issue is the definition of ‘medical loss ratio,’ the percentage of money spent by insurers on medical care, “rather than salaries, overhead and other administrative expenses…

  
  

  

• Blogs Comment On Abortion Coverage, Female Condoms, Other Topics
  The following summarizes selected women’s health-related blog entries. ~ “The Obama Administration Takes a Page From Stupak’s Playbook,” Allie Bohm, ACLU’s Blog of Rights: On July 14, “the Obama administration inexplicably announced that it is bringing back Stupak in the high-risk pools required by the law,” Bohm writes. There is “nothing in the new health reform law (PL 111-148) that requires this restriction, and it is deeply disturbing that a pro-choice administration would voluntarily impose such an anti-choice measure,” she continues…

  
  

  

• It’s Back: House Democrats Argue Anew For Public Option
  House Democrats are arguing again for the passage of a public option to compete with private health plans and reduce the deficit, news outlets report. “Armed with a new score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showing their public plan saves $68 billion between 2014 and 2020, liberal Democrats vowed Thursday to fight for their proposal’s passage next year,” The Hill reports. “The CBO also says premiums in the public plan would be 5 percent to 7 percent lower than the premiums offered by private plans in the state health insurance exchanges that are due to begin operating in 2014…

  
  

  

• New Funding Is A Win For Emergency Nurses And Their Patients, Australia
  Lee Thomas, federal secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, said new funding for emergency nurses will provide a more highly skilled workforce in emergency departments. “It is imperative that we encourage more people into nursing and then continue to develop their skills throughout their working life so patients receive the best possible care…

  
  

  

• AIDS 2010: Obama, Clinton Vow U.S. Support To Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS
  During the closing ceremonies of the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, President Barack Obama “on Friday pledged to redouble efforts to fight HIV and AIDS through his Global Health Initiative, despite dealing with economic hard times in the wake of a global recession,” Reuters reports. According to the news service, “Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said their focus was on a broad, sustainable and effective approach to the global epidemic” (Kelland, 7/23)…

  
  

  

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• Panel Turns Down FDA Proposal To Control Prescription Narcotic Painkillers
  An FDA (Food and Drug Administration), USA Advisory Committee voted 25 to 10 against a proposal to reduce the abuse and misuse of long-acting narcotic painkillers, such as OxyContin or Vicodin. Although the Advisory Committee’s recommendations are not binding the FDA usually follows them when making a regulatory decision. The Committee’s main reason for turning the proposal down, they say, was because it did not insist that doctors undergo training in the proper use of long-acting narcotics…

  
  

  

• New Parents Have 6 Months Sleep Deficit During First 24 Months Of Baby’s Life
  A survey reveals that parents lose an average of six months’ sleep during the first 24 months of their child’s life. Approximately 10% of parents manage to get just two-and-a-half hours continuous sleep each night, the Silentnight survey found. Over 60% of parents with babies aged less than 24 months get no more than three-and-a-quarter hours sleep each night. Silentnight sleep expert, Iftikhar Mirza, said: An hour here and there doesn’t negate sleep debt. Mirza advises parents to “take regular, gentle exercise to release endorphins, which should lower the risk of mood swings…

  
  

  

• UnitedHealth Ups Ante On Health IT With Purchase Of Picis, Expecting Stimulus Windfall
  Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal: UnitedHealth Group’s technology consulting subsidiary Ingenix, of Eden Prairie, Minn., has purchased Massachusetts tech firm Picis, a maker of emergency room and intensive care software. “Both companies are deeply involved in the area where health care and information technology meet. Ingenix, which had revenue of $1.8 billion last year, provides consulting and outsourcing to almost 6,000 hospitals. Picis, which has its headquarters in Wakefield, Mass…

  
  

  

• Good News, Light And Moderate Physical Activity Reduces The Risk Of Early Death
  A new study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Cambridge University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that even light or moderate intensity physical activity, such as walking or cycling, can substantially reduced the risk of early death. The study, which was published this week by the International Journal of Epidemiology, combined the results from the largest studies around the world on the health impact of light and moderate intensity physical activity…

  
  

  

• Ten Steps To A Safe School Year For Kids With Allergies And Asthma
  For millions of children with allergies and asthma, heading back-to-school with high levels of fall pollens and molds in the air and exposure to potential allergens and viruses in class can really take a toll. In fact, asthma, which can be triggered by allergies and respiratory illnesses, causes a 46 percent increase in emergency room visits among children during the season, and is the number one reason why students chronically miss school…

  
  

  

• RCOG Release: Royal College Appoints New Chief Executive
  The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is delighted to announce the appointment of its new Chief Executive Mr Ian Wylie. Ian worked in the NHS and local government before moving to the King’s Fund, where he was director of corporate affairs for six years. From 2001-05 he was Chief Executive of the British Dental Association, and in 2006 became Chief Executive of the TreeHouse Trust. For the past year he has been living and working in Hong Kong, where he is currently responsible for service planning and development for the Hong Kong Hospital Authority…

  
  

  

• Tips For Adult Students, Sleepy Teens And Bullied Children
  Going back to school as an adult not only means learning your course work but also learning to juggle the demands of everyday life. However, according to Anita Hammond, the Workforce Development Coordinator at LifeBridge Health in Baltimore, Maryland, instead of being overwhelming, the experience can be rewarding and exciting… with some planning. There are a variety of reasons that adults decide to go back to school…

  
  

  

• Hughston Clinic Orthopaedic Surgeon Wins Two National Awards
  Hughston Clinic orthopaedic surgeon, Champ L. Baker Jr., M.D., FACS, received two prestigious national awards last weekend at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM). Dr. Baker was honored with the Robert E. Leach, M.D,, “Mr. Sports Medicine” Award for his significant contributions to the world of sports medicine. He was also awarded the George D. Rovere, M.D., Award for his contributions to sports medicine education…

  
  

  

• Huntington’s Disease Greatly Underestimated In The UK
  The prevalence of Huntington’s disease (HD) is substantially underestimated in the UK, with significant implications for those affected, the healthcare system, and research. New estimates of prevalence, and their implications, are discussed in a comment published in an upcoming Lancet, written by Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, who is the Chairman of the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), but writes in his capacity as an Honorary Professor of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK…

  
  

  

• Could A Diagnostic Blood Test Be Created For Depression?
  Psychiatry, unlike many other areas of medicine, lacks diagnostic blood tests. Blood tests have been extremely useful in helping doctors make medical diagnoses and aiding them in treatment options for conditions and diseases in most medical fields. An article in Biological Psychiatry reports that Dutch researchers may eventually generate blood tests for psychiatric conditions, such as depression…

  
  

  

• Parents Of Students With Asthma And Allergies, How Do You Know When Your Child Is Ready To Self-Medicate At School?
  Students with asthma and allergies will pack more than just a lunchbox and bookbag when they start school this year: They’ll be devising ways to keep their life-saving medications close at hand should they need them. No longer do they have to be locked up in the nurse’s cabinet or the office. Laws passed in all 50 states now ensure students have the right to carry and use their asthma medications at school…

  
  

  

• Surgeons Train On The First FDA-Approved Total Artificial Heart For Transplant Patients
  A 13-member surgical team from the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center completed the first phase of training to implant a new total artificial heart designed to completely replace the heart’s function while the patient waits for a heart transplant. Methodist will be the first hospital in Texas to offer this total heart replacement. The SynCardia total artificial heart is the only FDA-approved total artificial heart and has the highest bridge-to-transplant rate of any approved heart assist device in the world…

  
  

  

• Hospital School Program Helps Demystify Cancer For Classmates Of Young Patients
  In an elementary school classroom, students are seated on the floor in a circle to create a cozy atmosphere that encourages sharing and talking openly. One of the students has important information to share with his classmates. With the help of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital staff, he explains why he has missed so much school and why he sometimes has to cover his nose and mouth with a mask. Treatment for cancer and other catastrophic disease can last months or years and often makes it impossible for young patients to keep up with their local school curriculum. Teachers in the St…

  
  

  

• Einstein Receives $4 Million To Test HPV Microbicide
  The National Cancer Institute has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University $4.1 million to test the microbicide Carraguard® against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. The research will evaluate the efficacy of Carraguard®, a clear gel made from the seaweed derivative carrageenan in preventing new HPV infections in women. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 440 million males and females are infected with HPV worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control estimates at least 20 million Americans have HPV…

  
  

  

• Starve A Cancer
  Researchers at Boston College, MA, have found that reducing calorie intake can restrict the growth and spread of brain cancer. Writing in ASN NEURO, Laura Shelton and colleagues report success with mice suffering from glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and invasive form of primary human brain cancer. Restricting calorific intake lowers blood glucose levels and reduces the carbohydrate energy available to the tumour cells, which rely heavily on glycolysis. Normal brain cells can use ketone bodies acetone, acetoacetic acid and β-hydroxybutyric acid for energy…

  
  

  

• Pediatric Nutritionist Offers Tips To Help Kids Eat Healthy At School
  According to the Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. This astronomical rise has led many advocates to focus their energies on improving nutritional conditions in schools, including reforming cafeteria lunches and eliminating junk food in vending machines…

  
  

  

• No Firm Conclusions About HDL Cholesterol Can Be Drawn From JUPITER Sub-analysis
  No firm conclusions about HDL cholesterol can be drawn from JUPITER sub-analysis Sophia Antipolis, 23 July 2010: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is concerned that interpretations of a paper about cholesterol, published in the Lancet (1), could act to deter ongoing research efforts into developing new therapeutic strategies to increase high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Caution, the ESC experts advise, should be displayed in the interpretation of the results…

  
  

  

• Why Did In Vitro Fertilization Occur Without Any Public Funding?
  On 25th July, 1978 Louise Brown, the first in vitro fertilization baby was born thanks to privately funded research carried out by the Cambridge (UK) physiologist Robert Edwards and the Oldham (UK) gynecologist Patrick Steptoe. The whole thing was privately funded because the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK turned down a request for long-term financial support in 1971. Today, an interesting article published in the European peer-reviewed medical journal Human Reproduction reveals for the first time why the MRC refused to help; a much-criticized decision…

  
  

  

• The Neurons That Tell You To Quit
  The basal ganglia is a series of highly connected brain areas localised deep in the cerebral cortex that recently has attracted interest of neuroscientists when it was linked to learning, and discovered to be affected in a number of disorders of the addictive and obsessive spectrum, but also in Parkinson’s disease (PD). And now researchers think they have understood why as they found that neurons in this area signal the beginning and the end of voluntary actions…

  
  

  

• UB Researchers Propose A Novel Therapeutic Target For The Treatment Of Huntington’s Disease
  An article published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry presents a novel pharmacological target that, in combination with a neurotrophic factor, could be used to improve the survival of striatal neurons, the principal nerve cells affected by the neurodegeneration observed in Huntington’s disease. The study was conducted by the researchers Silvia Ginés, a lecturer in the University of Barcelona; and Paola Paoletti, a doctoral student and Jordi Alberch professor with the Department of Cell Biology, Immunology and Neurosciences in the Faculty of Medicine in the UB…

  
  

  

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• Most Patients With Heart Conditions Can Fly Safely
  According to a new guideline issued by the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS), called Fitness to Fly, there are very few heart conditions that mean patients cannot fly safely. The report is the result of the working group formed by BCS in 2008, in response to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. Dr. David Smith, a Consultant Cardiologist, Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, led the working group, which included representation from Airlines, Aviation authorities, and cardiology experts…

  
  

  

• Patient Rolls Off Operating Table And Dies, Minnesota, USA
  Max DeVries, 61, was scheduled for a lumbar drain replacement at St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota, following a stroke. While under sedation the patient rolled off the operating table, hit his head on the floor, and suffered acute and significant bleeding. The head blow was at the same spot where doctors had earlier removed part of his skull to alleviate inflammation of the brain. The patient was taken to have a computed tomography (CT) scan of his brain and then placed in an intensive care unit. DeVries eventually died from a massive stroke on April 13th…

  
  

  

• FDA Approves First Generic Blood Thinner Enoxaparin Sodium Injection (Lovenox)
  The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) announced it has approved the 1st generic version of enoxaparin sodium injection (Lovenox), an anti-coagulant (blood thinner) used for the prevention of DVT (deep vein thrombosis), as well as some other therapies. Lovenox is made from heparin and was approved for use in the USA in 1993. It is a blood-thinning medication whose active ingredient is a naturally-derived complex mixture of sugar molecules. For the FDA to approve a generic drug, the manufacturer needs to show that it contains the same active ingredient as the brand-name product…

  
  

  

• Mandatory Warnings Placed On Food And Drink Colorings Linked To Childhood Hyperactivity, Europe
  The European Union announced that now a health warning must be placed on any drink or food that still contains colorings linked to hyperactivity in some children. The Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK, said that this ruling follows the Southampton Study which suggested a possible link between six colors and childhood hyperactivity. The six colors include: Tartrazine (E102) Quinoline Yellow (E104) Sunset Yellow (E110) Carmoisine (E122) Ponceau 4R (E124) Allura Red (E129) All foods and drinks which contain any of the six colors, with the exception of drinks with over 1…

  
  

  

• Decreased Meat Intake May Help Weight Loss And Maintain Healthy Bodyweight
  A team of European researchers have found that reducing meat consumption may be a key factor in losing weight and maintaining an healthy body weight. The researchers wrote in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that meat intake, because of its high energy and fat content might be linked to weight gain. According to some previous observational studies, the researchers wrote, meat consumption is positively linked to weight gain. However, intervention studies had not revealed a clear picture…

  
  

  

• Radiotherapy During Childhood Increases Risk Of Stillbirths And Baby Death For Offspring Later On
  The risk of stillbirth or neonatal death among the offspring of women who had survived childhood cancer and had received radiation therapy (radiotherapy) when they were children, is higher compared to other women, says a report published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancer. Thanks to medical advances, a significant number of children and teenagers who had cancer years ago are now surviving into adulthood and wishing to start families…

  
  

  

• British Poor Twice As Likely To Die Prematurely Compared To Affluent People
  In parts of the UK today, the gap in premature mortality is nearly exceeding the inequalities that existed just before the economic crash 0f 1929 and the depression of the 1930s, according to an article published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). These inequalities have continued to increase progressively throughout the first decade of this century, researchers revealed. There is evidence that things could get even worse. Mortality inequalities in the UK have risen persistently, despite some government efforts to reverse the trend…

  
  

  

• Family Chats Can Help Students Learn
  Taking the time to talk to your children about current events like the Gulf Oil spill – and using mathematical terms to do so – can help students develop better reasoning and math skills and perform better in school, according to a study by a University at Buffalo professor. “When families chat about societal issues, they often create simple mathematical models of the events,” says Ming Ming Chiu, a professor of learning and instruction at UB’s Graduate School of Education with extensive experience studying how children from different cultures and countries learn…

  
  

  

• Harder-To-Treat ‘Triple Negative’ Breast Cancer More Common In African, African-Americans
  A new study finds that African ancestry is linked to triple-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive type of cancer that has fewer treatment options. Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that, among women with breast cancer, 82 percent of African women were triple negative, 26 percent of African-Americans were and 16 percent of white Americans were. Triple negative breast cancer is negative for three specific markers that are used to determine treatment: the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor and HER-2/neu…

  
  

  

• Extended Funding For Long-Standing Investigation Into Regulation Of Gastrointestinal Eosinophils
  Marc E. Rothenberg, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Cincinnati Children’s, has received an NIH MERIT Award to extend funding of his long-standing investigation into “Regulation of Gastrointestinal Eosinophils.” Dr. Rothenberg received the award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) due to his “stellar record of research accomplishment.” Eosinophilic disorders occur when the body’s immune system mistakenly treats nutritious food as a dangerous foreign invader…

  
  

  

• Diagnostic "Guidelines" A Barrier To Prompt Relief For Some Back Pain
  Slavishly following long-held guidelines for diagnosing the cause of arthritis-related back pain is resulting in excessive tests, delays in pain relief and wasteful spending of as much as $10,000 per patient, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. Arthritis is a common cause of back pain, though difficult to precisely diagnose, experts say, because of the poor correlation between a finding of arthritis on an X-ray or MRI and the degree of a patient’s back pain…

  
  

  

• Link Discovered Between Childhood Physical Abuse And Adult Heart Disease
  Childhood physical abuse is associated with significantly elevated rates of heart disease in adulthood, according to new findings by University of Toronto researchers, published in this month’s issue of the journal Child Abuse & Neglect…

  
  

  

• How Deadly Fungal Microbes Enter Host Cells
  A research team led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech has discovered a fundamental entry mechanism that allows dangerous fungal microbes to infect plants and cause disease. The discovery paves the way for the development of new intervention strategies to protect plant, and even some animal cells, from deadly fungal infections. The findings are published in the July 23 edition of the journal Cell. The researchers have revealed how special disease-related proteins, known as effectors, blaze a trail into cells…

  
  

  

• Sugar Substitutes Help Reduce Caloric Intake Without Overeating Or Hunger: New Research
  A new study published in the August 2010 journal, Appetite, further demonstrates that people who consume low-calorie sweeteners are able to significantly reduce their caloric intake and do not overeat. In fact, study participants who received the sugar substitutes instead of sugar consumed significantly fewer calories and there was no difference in hunger levels despite having fewer calories overall…

  
  

  

• Decreasing Time Spent Sitting Could Be Life-Saving
  A new study from American Cancer Society researchers finds it’s not just how much physical activity you get, but how much time you spend sitting that can affect your risk of death. Researchers say time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level. They conclude that public health messages should promote both being physically active and reducing time spent sitting. The study appears early online in the American Journal of Epidemiology…

  
  

  

• Circulating Aberrant Cells Increase As Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Progresses
  A novel approach detects genetically abnormal cells in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients that match abnormalities found in tumor cells and increase in number with the severity of the disease, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. Lung cancer patients in the study also had many times the number of these circulating abnormal cells than study volunteers in a closely matched control group…

  
  

  

• Health Effects Of Occupational Exposures In Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Workers
  A five-year study into the causes of deaths of workers at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) shows significantly lower death rates from all causes and cancer in general when compared to the overall United States population. This is known by occupational health researchers as the “healthy worker effect”. However, death from lymphatic and bone marrow cancers such as leukemia or multiple myeloma were slightly above national rates…

  
  

  

• Early HAART During TB Treatment Boosts Survival Rate In Co-Infected People
  A clinical trial in Cambodia has found it possible to prolong the survival of untreated HIV-infected adults with very weak immune systems and newly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) by starting anti-HIV therapy two weeks after beginning TB treatment, rather than waiting eight weeks, as has been standard…

  
  

  

• Discovery Of Genetic Link To Children’s Emotional Problems Precipitated By Bullying
  Bullying victimization is common among children of school age, although its consequences are often anything but benign. The recent death of a Massachusetts teen by suicide prompted state lawmakers to pass one of the most far-reaching anti-bullying laws within the U.S. Whether such legislative actions result in measurable decreases in physical or emotional distress among school peers remains to be seen, but a team of researchers from Duke University and Kings College London have discovered a genetic variation that moderates whether victims of bullying will go on to develop emotional problems…

  
  

  

• After-School Snacks Could Provide Kids With The Whole Grains That They Avoid
  An after-school snack of graham crackers might be one way to get children to eat more whole grains, a new study from the University of Minnesota shows. Federal nutrition guidelines recommend at least three servings a day of whole-grain foods, but previous studies have found that children typically only eat about one serving per day, largely because they don’t like the taste or texture of whole-grain foods. In this study, researchers served graham snacks with four levels of whole-grain flour content to about 100 elementary-school children in a Roseville, Minn. after-school program…

  
  

  

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• Cardinal Health Launches New, User-Friendly Online Ordering System At Its Annual Trade Show For Independent Pharmacies
  To kick off its annual retail pharmacy trade show, Cardinal Health launched Order Express, a completely new, user-friendly online ordering system for independent pharmacies. Developed in collaboration with hundreds of independent pharmacists nationwide, Order Express significantly streamlines the way pharmacies place, receive and track orders, allowing them to more efficiently manage the ordering process so they can more quickly respond to patient needs…

  
  

  

• Siemens Announces First Orders Of New Aera And Skyra MRI Systems
  Siemens Healthcare is pleased to announce its first orders of the MAGNETOM® Aera 1.5 Tesla and MAGNETOM® Skyra 3 Tesla MRI systems following recent product launches into the UK market. The first hospitals to place orders include Wythenshawe Hospital, part of University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust (UHSM), Guys Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Kidderminster Hospital, part of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal Brompton Hospital, part of Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust…

  
  

  

• GE Healthcare Inaugurates Its First Factory In Brazil
  GE Healthcare, a unit of GE (NYSE: GE), announced the opening of its first factory in Brazil, as well as South America, in the town of Contagem (MG). With a planned investment of $50 million over a ten-year period, the company is committed to the development of the country by increasing access to healthcare technologies for the Brazilian population at more affordable costs, and also to become an export hub for Latin America. The Brazilian plant has been designed initially to produce X-ray and mammography equipment as well as remanufactured diagnostic imaging equipment…

  
  

  

• USDA Seeks Public Comment On Distance Learning And Telemedicine Programs
  Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager announced that USDA will facilitate a virtual discussion for individuals interested in the field of telemedicine. The Power of Telemedicine web discussion is an extension of the USDA’s Open Government effort and Rural Development’s latest effort to encourage a more widespread use and understanding of telemedicine…

  
  

  

• New Guidelines OK Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)
  In a bid to bring down the high rate of cesarean delivery in the US, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has eased the guidelines on vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC, pronounced “veebac”) and declared it is a safe and appropriate choice for most women who have had a cesarean, and even for some who have had two…

  
  

  

• Raising Cultural Awareness For GPs And Practice Teams, Australia
  The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has received funding from the Department of Health and Ageing to support cultural awareness orientation for its members and general practice teams. This funding is provided as part of the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Indigenous Health Incentive…

  
  

  

• The Institute Of Cancer Research Chief Executive To Become Deputy Chairman Of The Wellcome Trust
  The Institute of Cancer Research’s Chief Executive Professor Peter Rigby has been named the next Deputy Chairman of the Wellcome Trust’s Board of Governors. He will take up the position at the independent, global biomedical charity in October. Professor Rigby has been a member of the Trust’s Board of Governors since January 2008. He will take over from Professor Adrian Bird from the University of Edinburgh as Deputy Chairman when Professor Bird’s ten-year tenure as a Governor comes to an end. Professor Rigby has been Chief Executive of the ICR since 1999…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 87.7 Percent Of Alabama Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 87.7 percent of Alabama small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Alabama, this means 50,600 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 86.8 Percent Of Louisiana Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 86.8 percent of Louisiana small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Louisiana, this means 57,400 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• Dr. Julio Frenk To Join Commonwealth Fund Board Of Directors
  Julio Frenk, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and T & G Angelopoulos professor of Public Health and International Development, a joint position at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health, has been elected to The Commonwealth Fund Board of Directors. His membership on the Board will begin in April 2011. Dr…

  
  

  

• Majority Of Calif. Voters Support Abortion Rights, Poll Finds
  A large majority of California’s likely voters support abortion rights, including most Republicans and people who intend to vote for GOP candidates in the upcoming gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections, according to a Field Poll released Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The survey — which included 1,390 registered California voters — was conducted June 22 through July 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. California has been a “pro-choice state” since Field Poll’s first voter survey in 1987, according to Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 93.2 Percent Of Mississippi Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 93.2 percent of Mississippi small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Mississippi, this means 34,100 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• Christian Science Monitor Opinion Piece Argues Against Burris Amendment On Military Abortion Care
  In a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece, Joey Hendrix — an active duty officer in the U.S. Army — argues that an amendment adopted in the National Defense Authorization Act (S 3280) that would allow military servicewomen to obtain abortion care at military hospitals if they use private money is “well-intentioned” but “will almost certainly create a more hostile environment for pregnant servicewomen” (Hendrix, Christian Science Monitor, 7/21). The amendment, authored by Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill…

  
  

  

• Administration Announces New Affordable Care Act Measures To Protect Consumers And Put Patients Back In Charge Of Their Care
  The Obama Administration is announcing both new regulations to empower consumers to appeal decisions made by their health plans or insurance companies and the availability of resources that will be used to help give consumers more control of their health care decisions. These provisions of the Affordable Care Act will help support and protect consumers and help end some of the worst insurance company abuses. The new appeals regulations were issued by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury…

  
  

  

• AHA Board Elects Teri Fontenot Chair-Elect Designate
  The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Board of Trustees has elected Teri G. Fontenot, president and CEO of Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, La. as its chair-elect designate. Fontenot will assume the chairmanship in 2012, becoming the top elected official of the national organization that represents America’s hospitals and health systems. Fontenot joined Woman’s Hospital in 1992 as senior vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. She was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer in 1994, and assumed her current position in 1996…

  
  

  

• Public Health Leaders Push Ambitious Agenda To Stop TB Deaths Among People Living With HIV
  It’s a story that unfolds every day around the world but is rarely heard. A woman, man or child living with HIV gets exposed to tuberculosis (TB) in a setting where there are no measures to stop the spread of infection. It could be a workplace, a prison, a clinic or even at home. Soon the person is sick – coughing, feverish and weak. This story is being told and retold this week among the 20 000 participants gathered for the 2010 International AIDS Conference. It’s a story that can end well if the person is lucky enough to have access to both antiretroviral and TB treatment…

  
  

  

• New Female Justice Would Inevitably Change Supreme Court, Washington Post Columnist Says
  If Elena Kagan is confirmed to the Supreme Court, her presence as the third current female justice “will change the high court in ways that no one foresees,” Washington Post columnist David Broder writes. The “conventional wisdom” is that Kagan’s confirmation would not alter the court because her “moderate liberal philosophy is unlikely to deviate often from that of” Justice John Paul Stevens, whom she will replace, Broder continues…

  
  

  

• Funding For New Medical Ventures Improving
  The Dallas Morning News reports on the funding climate for health care technology startups. At the second annual MedVentures conference, “the consensus of entrepreneurs … is that the fundraising climate is getting better after a rough few years, but there’s still a dearth of seed and start-up money. Venture capital investments in biotechnology and medical devices … peaked in 2007 and hit a low point in early 2009. But funding for the first half of this year is increasing. For the Dallas area, venture capitalists invested $12…

  
  

  

• Michigan Challenge To Health Law Begins
  The Detroit News: On Wednesday, “[a] federal judge heard arguments [in the] lawsuit that is being watched nationwide for its challenge of congressional authority to reform health care in a way that would penalize citizens who fail to obtain their own health insurance.” The attorney for one plaintiff, The Thomas More Law Center, a group espousing religious principles, said, “There is no precedent for this power grab” (Guthrie, 7/22). Detroit Free Press: The group is “seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the government to force them to purchase health care…

  
  

  

• GE Healthcare To Develop Scanning Devices For Pediatrics
  GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center and the Davis Heart and Lung Institute of The Ohio State University, was awarded $1 million for (MRI) magnetic resonance imaging and devices for the “Pediatrics Population” project. This project reinforces GE’s commitment to healthymagination which works to bring new technologies and solutions to more people…

  
  

  

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• New Report Shows 84.3 Percent Of Minnesota Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 84.3 percent of Minnesota small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Minnesota, this means 77,900 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 91.9 Percent Of North Dakota Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 91.9 percent of North Dakota small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In North Dakota, this means 15,200 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 78.5 Percent Of Illinois Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 78.5 percent of Illinois small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Illinois, this means 159,900 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 86.8 Percent Of Wisconsin Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 86.8 percent of Wisconsin small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Wisconsin, this means 86,100 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• Physical Therapist Wren Mclaughilin Receives Mary Mcmillan Scholarship Award
  Physical therapist and member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Wren McLaughlin, PT, of Bellingham, Washington, received the APTA Mary McMillan Scholarship Award. She was honored during an awards ceremony at PT 2010: APTA’s Annual Conference and Exposition, held in Boston, June 2010. McLaughlin, a graduate of Duke University, recently completed an internship at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, where she participated in a pilot peer-learning program with Norwegian physical therapy students…

  
  

  

• New Report Shows 93.8 Percent Of Nebraska Small Businesses Eligible For Health Care Tax Credits
  More than 93.8 percent of Nebraska small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible this year for tax credits to help pay the cost of employee health coverage, according to a new report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA and small business advocacy group Small Business Majority. The tax credit program, a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, targets small employers with up to 25 workers. In Nebraska, this means 33,200 small businesses will qualify. Nationally, more than 4 million small businesses-83…

  
  

  

• Physical Therapist Suzanne Wing Dougherty Receives Mary Mcmillan Scholarship Award
  Physical therapist and member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Suzanne Wing Dougherty, PT, DPT, of Lincoln, Nebraska, received the APTA Mary McMillan Scholarship Award. She was honored during an awards ceremony at PT 2010, APTA’s Annual Conference and Exposition, held in Boston, June 2010. Since receiving her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in May, Dougherty has begun practicing at Handprints and Footsteps as a pediatric physical therapist in Lincoln…

  
  

  

• AXcess News: Adult Stem Cell Research Gets U.S. Army’s Approval
  Adult stem cell leader Neostem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NBS) has been awarded a $700,000 military grant from the U.S. Army’s Medical Research and Materiel Command to study adult stem cell applications in the healing of trauma wounds. The award opens new opportunities for the company’s patented VSEL technology. Shares of Neostem rose more than 5 percent on the news. In a statement released to the press, Neostem founder and Chairwoman Dr…

  
  

  

• Physical Therapist Megan Brock Receives Mary Mcmillan Scholarship Award
  Physical therapist and member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Megan Brock, PT, DPT, of Decatur, Georgia, received the APTA Mary McMillan Scholarship Award. She was honored during an awards ceremony at PT 2010: APTA’s Annual Conference and Exposition, held in Boston, MA, June 2010. As a student at Emory University, Brock volunteered much of her time to meeting the rehabilitation needs of underserved populations…

  
  

  

• AIDS 2010: Advocates March In Vienna For Human Rights Of HIV/AIDS Patients
  Thousands of HIV/AIDS advocates, gathered for the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, “marched through Vienna’s city centre on Tuesday evening, demanding more respect for human rights in the fight against HIV,” Agence France-Presse reports. Julio Montaner, director of the International AIDS Society and co-chair of AIDS 2010, Michel Sidibe, head of UNAIDS and Michel Kazatchkine, head of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, helped lead the march, according to the news service (7/20)…

  
  

  

• AU Pre-Summit On Gender Concludes
  The African Union (AU) Pre-Summit on Gender concludes Wednesday after three days of discussion about how African countries could improve progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targeting women and children’s health, the Independent reports. “Losing a life of a woman or child is an indictment for Africa if most of these causes can be prevented,” said Bience Philomina Gawanas, the commissioner of social affairs for the African Commission…

  
  

  

• Eli Lilly CEO Says U.S. Drugmakers’ Biggest Challenge Is Sustaining Innovation
  USA Today/Indianapolis Star: Drugmakers are facing an array of challenges, like lawsuits and patent losses, but also new opportunities including global growth and an expected surge in the number of U.S. residents with health insurance. Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter comments in a Q&A: “The biggest challenge facing the industry is to be able to sustain the flow of innovative medicines from our pipelines that can effectively compete against the generic versions of our own products” (Chu, 7/21)…

  
  

  

• Toxic Trio Identified As The Basis Of Celiac Disease
  Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have identified the three protein fragments that make gluten – the main protein in wheat, rye and barley – toxic to people with coeliac disease. Their discovery opens the way for a new generation of diagnostics, treatments, prevention strategies and food tests for the millions of people worldwide with coeliac disease. When people with coeliac disease eat products containing gluten their body’s immune response is switched on and the lining of the small intestine is damaged, hampering their ability to absorb nutrients…

  
  

  

• Also In Global Health News: India’s Food Security; ASEAN To Address Disaster Preparedness; Iraqi Food Aid; Why Fistula Plagues Kenya
  Implications And Challenges Of India’s Proposed Food Security Bill A Reuters article discusses the implications of an Indian bill that would “subsidise grains for the poor, a move that will impact government finances as well as political support.” According to the news service, the proposal “aims to partly shield a substantial voter base from surging inflation in a country where about 40 percent of the 1.2 billion population lives below the U.N. estimated poverty line.” The “draft bill envisages making available 25 kg (55 lb) of grains a month for 3 rupees (6 U.S…

  
  

  

• First Indication That Smog Might Trigger Cell Death In The Heart: New Study
  An early study in rats provides the first direct indication that a major component of smog might trigger cell death in the heart, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2010 Scientific Sessions – Technological and Conceptual Advances in Cardiovascular Disease. The study found that exposure to ground-level ozone over several weeks increased the activity of a substance that triggers cell death in the heart. Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas made up of three oxygen molecules…

  
  

  

• Severe State Budget Shortfalls Trigger Medicaid Program Cuts
  The New York Times: “As states face severe budget shortfalls, many have cut home-care services for the elderly or the disabled, programs that have been shown to save states money in the long run because they keep people out of nursing homes. Since the start of the recession, at least 25 states and the District of Columbia have curtailed programs that include meal deliveries, housekeeping aid and assistance for family caregivers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research organization…

  
  

  

• Six Researchers To Receive Prestigious Awards From The American Society Of Hematology
  The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world’s largest professional society of blood specialists, will honor six scientists who have made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of hematologic diseases. These awards will be presented at the 52nd ASH Annual Meeting taking place December 4-7 in Orlando. Volker Diehl, MD, of the University of Cologne in Cologne, Germany, will be presented with the 2010 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology for his pioneering research on Hodgkin lymphoma for more than 40 years…

  
  

  

• AIDS 2010 Opinions: U.S. AIDS Funding; Human Rights And HIV; Invest In Primary Care; Microbicide Gel’s Possibilities
  U.S. Should Spend More To Combat HIV Globally “Having met President [Barack] Obama, I’m confident that he’s a man of conscience who shares my commitment to bringing hope and care to the world’s poor. But I am saddened by his decision to spend less than he promised to treat AIDS patients in Africa,” Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and honorary chairman of the Global AIDS Alliance, writes in a New York Times opinion piece…

  
  

  

• Acorda Therapeutics Announces Receipt Of NIH Grant For Development Of GGF2 In Heart Failure
  Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) announced the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has awarded a $1 million Cardiac Translational Research Implementation Program (C-TRIP) grant to support research on Glial Growth Factor 2 (GGF2), a novel investigational agent for the treatment of patients with heart failure under development at Acorda. The grant, supporting both clinical and laboratory studies, was awarded jointly to Acorda and Vanderbilt University Heart and Vascular Institute, which are collaborating on research of GGF2 in heart failure…

  
  

  

• Sec. Of State Clinton Addresses Afghan Women’s Rights During Visit To Kabul
  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “used part of her address to a key conference in Kabul on Tuesday to defend Afghan women concerned that peace efforts with the Taliban could jeopardise their rights,” Agence France-Presse reports. “I speak from experience when I say that the work of Afghan women and civil society groups will be essential to this country’s success,” Clinton said to a group of 70 representatives from international organizations and countries. “If these groups are fully empowered to help build a just and lasting peace, they will help do so…

  
  

  

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