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Assurant health cutting jobs ahead of health reform implementation

Milwaukee-based Insurer Assurant Inc. is cutting its workforce in various locations around America ahead of health care reform implementation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that 130 jobs in Milwaukee and Plymouth, Minn., will be cut. "The company, which sells health insurance for individuals and small employers as well as short-term policies, faces an onslaught of new federal health care reform regulations, including the requirement that it spend 80% of premiums on medical care.

21 Aug 2010

Low testosterone levels to blame for low libido, fatigue and weight gain

While most frequently associated with women's health, age-related hormone changes, often dubbed menopause, can occur in men as well, causing symptoms of fatigue, mood swings, decreased desire for sex, hair loss, lack of concentration and weight gain. Experts estimate that more than 5 million men are affected, yet worry the number may be considerably higher since symptoms are frequently ignored.

21 Aug 2010

Long-term exercise reduces chronic musculoskeletal pain: Research

Since returning home, some 100,000 veterans from the first Gulf War have reported chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) similar to fibromyalgia, and a new study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that acute exercise can exacerbate the pain but long-term exercise has the opposite outcome and reduces it.

21 Aug 2010

Scientists identify compound to treat Chagas' disease

A new compound may offer an effective drug candidate against the deadly tropical infection, Chagas' disease say researchers from Brazil. They report their findings in the August 2010 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

21 Aug 2010

EMR tracking system improves follow-up of abnormal Pap tests: Study

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) report that physicians who use an automated, electronic medical record (EMR) tracking system to follow-up on patients with an abnormal Pap test could increase the number of women who achieved diagnostic resolution and have women achieve resolution in less time than using traditional methods. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

21 Aug 2010

Researchers develop tiny color-changing sensor molecules

A new approach to building an "artificial nose" using fluorescent compounds and DNA could accelerate the use of sniffing sensors into the realm of mass production and widespread use, say Stanford chemists. If their method lives up to its promise, it could one day detect everything from incipiently souring milk to high explosives.

21 Aug 2010

What hospital consolidation means for the cost of an MRI

An MRI for a skier's torn ligament at Sutter Davis Hospital near Sacramento cost $1,271, while an identical scan at a nearby imaging center run by Radiological Associates of Sacramento runs only $696, Bloomberg reports. Why? Insurers say it's because Sutter has monopolized the regional hospital market and can essentially demand whatever prices it wants — often between 40 and 70 percent higher than competitors.

21 Aug 2010

Impax confirms initiation of challenge of patents listed by MSP Singapore for VYTORIN

Impax Laboratories, Inc. today confirms that it has initiated a challenge of patents listed by MSP Singapore Co. LLC in connection with VYTORIN® (ezetimibe/simvastatin), 10 mg/80 mg.

21 Aug 2010

National essay writing contest on obesity for teenagers

Teenagers are extremely concerned about America's relationship to food. In a national writing contest for high school students hosted by StageofLife.com, a blogging and writing resource for teens, high school students were asked, "Do we have an obligation to take better care of ourselves by making changes in the way we eat and/or buy and consume food".

21 Aug 2010

'Yakult' effective in reducing acute diarrhea in young children: Study

YAKULT HONSHA CO., LTD. announced on August 20 that its collaborative study on the incidence of acute diarrhea with the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata, India, showed that daily intake of "Yakult" is efficacious in reducing the incidence of diarrhea in young children.

21 Aug 2010

Study finds experiences of parenthood are different for male and female scientists

Many scientists in academia bemoan the fact that their lifestyles do not allow them to have as many children as they would like. Surprisingly, male scientists harbor more regrets than female scientists, according to a study by Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund.

21 Aug 2010

Cholera outbreaks on the rise, WHO expert says

A recent increase in the number of cholera outbreaks is threatening populations in pockets of the world, Claire-Lise Chaignat, WHO's cholera group coordinator, said on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. "Cholera is transmitted by water but also by food that had been contaminated by unclean water," the news service writes. "It causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time," AFP writes.

21 Aug 2010

ePRO solutions provider CRF Health relocates to Plymouth Meeting, PA

CRF Health, a leading provider of ePRO solutions for the Life Sciences industry, today announced it has relocated from Lansdale, PA to newly opened offices in Plymouth Meeting, PA. The two new office locations include North American corporate headquarters and new logistics and warehousing facilities. The facility expansion supports CRF Health's continued growth in the global ePRO market.

21 Aug 2010

Prescription opioids can be gate way to illicit drug addiction: Study

Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain. Another 24 began with a friend's left-over prescription pills or pilfered from a parent's medicine cabinet. The remaining 20 patients said they got hooked on street drugs.

21 Aug 2010

Wellcome Trust supports research on role of 'rotten eggs' as an anti-inflammatory agent

A research project at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, which will study the effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S - the 'rotten eggs' gas) as an effective anti-inflammatory agent, has won a research grant of -140,000 over three years from the Wellcome Trust.

21 Aug 2010

Turner Construction receives contract to modernize St. Mary's Hospital for Children

Turner Construction Company, the nation's largest builder of healthcare facilities, has been awarded a $72 million contract to provide pre-construction and construction management services for the modernization of St. Mary's Hospital for Children in Bayside, N.Y. The project is scheduled for completion in May 2013.

21 Aug 2010

CDC says teen vaccination rates up but should go higher

The Wall Street Journal writes about vaccination rates among teens: "The CDC says more teenagers got their recommended immunizations last year, but that there's room for improvement — for example, only 27% of teenage girls received the recommended three doses of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

21 Aug 2010

Cubist Pharmaceuticals ranked 31st on FORTUNE's 2010' 100 Fastest-Growing Companies' list

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced it has been ranked 31st on FORTUNE's 2010 "100 Fastest-Growing Companies" list and the top pharmaceutical company. In the "Profit Growth" subgroup Cubist ranked 21st. The magazine will be on the newsstands on August 23 and the full list is available today online.

21 Aug 2010

YoCream International announces grant to support Parkinson's awareness, education event

YoCream International, Inc., raised $8,000 for the Brian Grant Foundation at a fundraising event held at their Company Store in Portland Oregon. The Company and Foundation announced that all sales revenue generated on July 31st at the YoCream Frozen Yogurt Company Store would go to support Parkinson's awareness, education and research and Portlanders showed up in crowds to show their support. Grant was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson's at 36.

21 Aug 2010

EPO upholds European Patent for Verathon's GlideScope video laryngoscopes

The European Patent Office ("EPO") Board of Appeals has issued a formal written decision to uphold European Patent No. EP 1307131 for Verathon Inc.'s GlideScope video laryngoscopes.

21 Aug 2010