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To win senior votes, some campaigns focus on Medicare fears

With Labor Day weekend the traditional start of intense campaigning, some news coverage focused on seniors' health care.

6 Sep 2010

Gene containing 'minisatellite' plays key role in driving human DNA diversity

One of the key drivers of human evolution and diversity, accounting for changes that occur between different generations of people, is explained by new research published today (Sept 5) by world-renowned scientist Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, who discovered DNA fingerprinting at the University of Leicester.

6 Sep 2010

Young drug users develop brain abnormalities

According to a new study published in the Australian Medical Journal, 20 percent of users of the drugs ecstasy, ice and speed in the ER developed signs of brain damage. Two thirds had concentration and mood problems, and half said they had general health problems.

5 Sep 2010

Cairns forum to discuss PNG issues

James Cook University's (JCU) Papua New Guinea and Pacific Research Forum from the Pacific Island Nations will be discussing the issues affecting the region at Cairns in far north Queensland today. Academics as well as policy makers are likely to convene at the forum.

5 Sep 2010

Childhood cancer survivors 5 times more likely to get cancer again: Study

According to a new study, children who survive cancer are at a higher risk of cancer later in life or may die early of other cause. The study included almost 900 young cancer survivors treated at Sydney Children's Hospital, from 1972 to 1999, alongside new cancer cases and early deaths. The risk of cancer was five times higher in childhood cancer survivors, the results showed, compared with the overall NSW population, that these survivors were seven and a half times more likely to die early.

5 Sep 2010

TimeTemp's shelf-life indicator for food will help Norwegian retailers reduce waste

Norwegian food retailers discard over 50,000 tonnes of food annually - much of it of perfectly good quality. New technology from Norway could substantially reduce this wastefulness.

4 Sep 2010

2010 Mainz University Meeting to focus Interdisciplinary Neurosciences

The 2010 Meeting of the Mainz University Research Focus on Interdisciplinary Neurosciences will be held on "Cognitive Enhancement Ethics and Society".

4 Sep 2010

Employers urged to ensure top priority for workplace safety

A leading Scottish lawyer has urged employers to make sure safety is always their top priority after a man suffered a serious brain injury whilst working.

4 Sep 2010

Threat of agricultural pesticides to vultures may also risk human health

While vultures across Asia teeter on the brink of extinction, the vultures of Cambodia are increasing in number, providing a beacon of hope for these threatened scavengers, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project.

4 Sep 2010

Kavli Day 2010 at Norwegian University of Science and Technology

In celebration of Kavli Prize Week, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Kavli Foundation will hold a series of lectures and events on 9 September 2010 in Trondheim, Norway at the NTNU campus. The event features a number of 2010 Kavli Prize Laureates. The festivities continue after the official celebration, with two symposia sponsored by NTNU, one in neuroscience and one in nanoscience.

4 Sep 2010

PennHIP radiographic method may hold potential to evaluate human susceptibility to hip dysplasia

A study comparing a University of Pennsylvania method for evaluating a dog's susceptibility to hip dysplasia to the traditional American method has shown that 80 percent of dogs judged to be normal by the traditional method are actually at risk for developing osteoarthritis and hip dysplasia, according to the Penn method.

4 Sep 2010

New VA regulation helps to get recognition, treatment for three disorders in Agent Orange exposure

A new VA regulation adding three health conditions to the list of those presumed to have been caused by exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War was published this week. Pending a 60-day congressional review, the regulation will make some 200,000 veterans eligible for VA benefits over the next year and a half.

4 Sep 2010

Companies need new, better tools for measuring employee productivity: Article

Can investing in employee health improve the bottom line by making workers more productive? To answer that question, companies need new and better tools for measuring employee productivity, according to an article in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

4 Sep 2010

Fundraising events in September in support of pulmonary fibrosis research

The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) today announced its September schedule of fundraising events as part of its ongoing campaign to support the efforts of patients and families to raise new funds for pulmonary fibrosis (PF) research.

4 Sep 2010

Challenges Chief Medical Officers face in clinical trial operations

“One of the major issues that Chief Medical Officers (CMO) encounter in their day to day practice is the variety of countries that they deal with and the different regulatory issues that they need to solve.”

4 Sep 2010

Human endogenous retroviruses may provide insight evidence to HIV diagnosis

Why is it so hard to isolate and purify human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Why has no one been able to see, by electron microscopy, a single HIV particle in the blood of AIDS patients, even those who have a "high viral load" Why does HIV seem to mutate with startling rapidity. AIDS researchers have not been able to come up with answers to these questions.

4 Sep 2010

Aetna to help members access care in storm-impacted areas

Aetna is making it easier for members who may be impacted by Hurricane Earl to refill prescriptions and access employee assistance and behavioral health programs. The company is monitoring the situation carefully, and will re-evaluate its medical and dental policies for members as necessary to help them access care in the storm-impacted areas along the East coast.

4 Sep 2010

Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat malaria in humans

An experimental malaria drug was shown to effectively treat the disease in mice with only a single dose, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/2). The new drug, known as NITD609, "represents an entirely new class of medicines to treat malaria ... Human trials, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG, could begin later this year," the Wall Street Journal writes (Naik, 9/3).

4 Sep 2010

MIT develops safer, simpler way to attach phosphorus to organic compounds

Phosphorus, a mineral element found in rocks and bone, is a critical ingredient in fertilizers, pesticides, detergents and other industrial and household chemicals. Once phosphorus is mined from rocks, getting it into these products is hazardous and expensive, and chemists have been trying to streamline the process for decades.

4 Sep 2010

Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists disagree with NPATCH's support on anesthesia administration

"The Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) strongly disagrees with NPATCH's support for allowing nurses to administer anesthesia without physician supervision.

4 Sep 2010