Medical News

RSS

Low calorie sweeteners offer effective solution to manage weight

The desire to eat sweet things does not need to be suppressed, just managed, according to health and nutrition experts meeting at the International Sweeteners Association's conference in Brussels today.

19 May 2011

HHS offers new initiatives to add momentum to ACOs

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced three new initiatives to encourage physicians and hospitals to better coordinate care after a key regulation came under intense criticism over the past week.

19 May 2011

Sensitive troponin assays improve clinical outcome and cardiac patient management

Research presented this week at the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Congress and Laboratory Medicine showed that using a lower diagnostic threshold for troponin improves clinical outcomes and patient survival in patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes.

19 May 2011

TissueGene commences enrollment in TG-C Phase II trial for severe knee osteoarthritis

TissueGene, Inc. announced today that it has initiated patient enrollment for a U.S. Phase II clinical trial of its lead product candidate TG-C. TG-C involves human allogeneic chondrocytes developed to produce the therapeutic protein TGF-beta1 for the regeneration of cartilage in patients suffering from severe osteoarthritis of the knee.

19 May 2011

IRIN examines high risk of TB infection among health workers in Kenya

IRIN examines tuberculosis among health care workers in Kenya, where "safety equipment - including protective masks and proper waste disposal facilities - are rarely available in rural centres, something health workers say must be addressed urgently."

19 May 2011

USPTO grants four key patents for Alvine's proteases to detect celiac disease

Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of autoimmune and gastrointestinal diseases, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued four key patents: 7,943,312; 7,928,056; 7,923,532; and 7,910,541, protecting various aspects of Alvine's core technology.

19 May 2011

Synthetic nanopatch helps regenerate natural heart tissue cells

When you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. Nerve cells in the heart's wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and contract - keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity - are lost forever. Surgeons can't repair the affected area. It's as if when confronted with a road riddled with potholes, you abandon what's there and build a new road instead.

19 May 2011

Hospital websites use industry-provided content and overestimate claims of surgical robots

An estimated four in 10 hospital websites in the United States publicize the use of robotic surgery, with the lion's share touting its clinical superiority despite a lack of scientific evidence that robotic surgery is any better than conventional operations, a new Johns Hopkins study finds.

19 May 2011

Afghan Acting Health Minister says country wants to boost immunization access

Reuters featured an interview with Afghanistan's Acting Health Minister Suraya Dalil on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. "Afghanistan, whose government is fighting a worsening insurgency that has dragged on for nearly a decade since the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Taliban, is also plagued by poverty, malnutrition and corruption," Reuters writes, adding that the government and donors together spend "barely" $10 per person on health annually.

19 May 2011

YM BioSciences announces updated interim results from CYT387 Phase I/II trial in myelofibrosis

YM BioSciences Inc., today reported updated interim results for the first 60 patients with high/intermediate-risk myelofibrosis who have completed a minimum of three cycles of treatment (12 weeks) in its ongoing Phase I/II multi-center study.

19 May 2011

Study: 10% of cancer patients fail to fill initial oral oncolytic prescriptions

Ten percent of cancer patients failed to fill their initial prescriptions for oral anti-cancer drugs, according to a new study published jointly today in the Journal of Oncology Practice and American Journal of Managed Care.

19 May 2011

Government study finds 12 women died giving birth per month in 2010 at hospital in Sierra Leone

A study has shown that during 2010, 12 women died every month while giving birth at the Princess Christian maternity hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, "a country with one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates," Agence France-Presse reports.

19 May 2011

Thirty endoscopy units earn ASGE recognition for safety and quality

The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy has recognized 30 endoscopy units as part of its program specifically dedicated to promoting quality in endoscopy, in all settings where it is practiced in the United States.

19 May 2011

Consumption of dairy products does not increase heart attack risk

Dairy products can be high in harmful saturated fat but not necessarily in risk to the heart. A newly published analysis of thousands of adults in Costa Rica found that their levels of dairy consumption had nothing to do statistically with their risk of a heart attack.

19 May 2011

Modified vitamin A drug may help prevent age-related macular degeneration

Slowing down the aggregation or "clumping" of vitamin A in the eye may help prevent vision loss caused by macular degeneration, research from Columbia University Medical Center has found.

19 May 2011

XTRAC Excimer Laser treatment offers new hope for patients with psoriasis

With XTRAC® Excimer Laser treatments, psoriasis patients can say goodbye to the red, dry patches of scaly, thickened skin they have been covering up all winter. Developed by PhotoMedex, Inc., an innovator of medical devices, the XTRAC laser offers new hope to the 7.5 million Americans suffering from this embarrassing and socially isolating disease.

19 May 2011

Decline in donations, weak U.S. dollar causing WHO to cut budget, staff, Director-General Chan says

A decline in contributions from the WHO's leading 30 "traditional" donor nations and the exchange rate for the weaker U.S. dollar are causing the agency to cut its budget and staff, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters in a news conference at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

19 May 2011

Humanized BLT mice help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission

The more than 2.7 million new HIV infections recorded per year leave little doubt that the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread globally. That's why there's the need for safe, inexpensive and effective drugs to successfully block HIV transmission.

19 May 2011

Health video games motivate vigorous exercise

Can't find anyone to exercise with? Don't despair: New research from Michigan State University reveals working out with a virtual partner improves motivation during exercise.

19 May 2011

Takeda reaches agreement to acquire Nycomed

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Nycomed A/S jointly announced today that Takeda has reached an agreement with the shareholders of Nycomed in which Takeda will acquire the Zurich-headquartered company for 9.6 billion Euro on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

19 May 2011