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New method for treating the digestive disease, ulcerative colitis (UC)

Research from Bristol University on a new method for treating the digestive disease, ulcerative colitis (UC) will be presented at an international conference of experts in New Orleans on Tuesday, 18 May as part of Digestive Disease Week 2004.

19 May 2004

1.3 million Hispanics will have Alzheimer’s disease by 2050

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are projected to increase more than six-fold among Hispanics in the U.S. during the first half of the 21st century, according to a new report released today by the Alzheimer’s Association. This increase means that 1.3 million Hispanics will have Alzheimer’s disease by 2050, compared to fewer than 200,000 currently living with the disease.

17 May 2004

HHS launches new web pilot project for consumer health information

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the launch of a 9-month pilot project with WebMD Health to make HHS consumer health information more widely and more rapidly available to the public on a new HHS "channel" on WebMD.

17 May 2004

Scientists move closer toward treatment for degenerative diseases

Scientists at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine have discovered a key step that will provide new targets for treatments of many degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cystic Fibrosis and Diabetes.

17 May 2004

New website for oral cancer prevention and detection

Every year in the United Kingdom, approximately 3, 500 people are diagnosed with oral cancer. About half these people will die of the disease. On average, four people in the UK die every day from oral cancer.

17 May 2004

Research suggests that weanling pigs are susceptible to West Nile virus infection

Since the emergence of West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere in 1999, health care personnel have been on the lookout for signs of infection in people and animals. Recent research suggests that food processing personnel should beware of the presence of the virus in swine and a potential health risk to employees in pork processing plants.

17 May 2004

HHS to ensure safe, effective drugs delivered to developing countries under the President's $15 billion plan for AIDS relief

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced an expedited review process to ensure that the United States is providing safe, effective drugs to developing countries under the President's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

16 May 2004

The federal government should expand its role in the financing of HIV/AIDS treatment for low-income Americans

The federal government should expand its role in the financing of HIV/AIDS treatment for low-income Americans to ensure that the thousands of HIV-infected people currently not receiving care through existing programs gain access to the services they need, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

16 May 2004

Higher rate of cardiac complications from smallpox vaccinations for US military

While adverse reactions from smallpox vaccinations given to military personnel in the wake of renewed threats of bioterrorism remain minimal, the rate of cardiac complications has been higher than expected, according to a clinical review presented at an American Medical Society media briefing on cardiology today.

16 May 2004

Glucose metabolism could be used to selectively destroy cancer cells

Scientists have known for decades that cancer cells consume more glucose than normal cells. A longstanding assumption that the excess glucose metabolism was needed to make energy has not been borne out by research studies.

15 May 2004

Poll finds alcohol and drug addiction has impacted the lives of 63 percent of Americans

People in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol or other drugs face widespread stigma and discrimination, according to a groundbreaking, national survey released today.

15 May 2004

Lockheed Martin has won a $47.8 million DoD military health contract

Lockheed Martin has won a $47.8 million contract to develop and integrate software applications for the Department of Defense's Theater Medical Information Program (TMIP), Block 2.

15 May 2004

Women are not checking for colon cancer

Many women who regularly get checked for breast cancer and cervical cancer still don’t go for a test that could save them from another big killer -- colon cancer – according to new University of Michigan research. But perhaps their mammogram and Pap smear appointments could be used as “teachable moments” to help prompt them to get their colons checked, the researchers suggest.

15 May 2004

Unique computer system to help patient care in America

Like a chain with many fragile links, the care of every hospital patient in America is made up of dozens, even hundreds, of daily interactions and handoffs between the doctors, nurses, therapists, residents and medical students who care for them.

15 May 2004

America’s patients and physicians one step closer to relief from the current broken medical liability system

On May 12, the U.S. House again passed the AMA-supported Health Act (H.R. 4280) by a vote of 229-197, bringing America’s patients and physicians one step closer to relief from the current broken medical liability system.

15 May 2004

Health care status in the United States leaves 44 million children, women and men without health insurance

"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiated Cover the Uninsured Week so that millions of Americans could join together to say that the health care status quo in the United States, which leaves 44 million children, women and men without health insurance, is unacceptable, and that we cannot allow this situation to continue.

15 May 2004

John Kerry says families are being squeezed by the high cost of health care

Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry Wednesday traveled to Orlando, Fla., where he held a town hall meeting at Englewood Neighborhood Center with families who are being squeezed by the high cost of health care.

15 May 2004

Americans spend more on health care but feel worse

Americans spend twice as much on health care as their European and Canadian counterparts, yet are more likely to rate their own quality of health as poor, says a new report, “Spending more, feeling worse: medical care expenditures and self-rated health,” forthcoming in the June 2004 edition of the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

14 May 2004

Twice as many overweight children and almost three times as many overweight adolescents as there were in 1980's

The number of people who are overweight or obese is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. There are nearly twice as many overweight children and almost three times as many overweight adolescents as there were in 1980.

14 May 2004

New Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research

In their mission to improve transplant access and outcomes for patients, the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) and the Medical College of Wisconsin’s International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR/ABMTR) have created the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR.)

14 May 2004