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CDC study finds American traumatic brain injury population on the rise

The number of Americans living with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is growing, according to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Brain Injury Association of Michigan (BIAMI) believes the following issues will have a profound impact on the nearly 200,000 Michigan residents who have suffered a TBI and the many more who may suffer one in the future.

21 Aug 2010

HHS unveils $1.9B strategy to better prepare for biological threats

"Acknowledging that the development of medical countermeasures against bioterrorism threats and pandemic flu is lagging, [U.S.] federal authorities Thursday announced a $1.9 billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public-health emergencies," Tribune Company/Seattle Times reports.

21 Aug 2010

Melanoma Research Alliance announces grant to support six research programs

The Melanoma Research Alliance today announced $5.2 million in grants to support six multidisciplinary teams pursuing innovative, translational research approaches designed to benefit melanoma patients.

21 Aug 2010

New FDA laws on egg safety would have prevented salmonella outbreak, Feds say

The Washington Post: "Salmonella-infected eggs traceable to a large egg producer in Iowa may have caused as many as 1,200 cases of intestinal illness … The eggs went to distribution companies in 17 states, mostly west of the Mississippi River, but were then sold nationwide. ... Many states, as well as egg-producer associations, have voluntary 'egg quality assurance' programs with guidelines similar to those that are now mandatory. … In healthy people, it rarely causes severe illness.

21 Aug 2010

Reform law causing students, insurers to examine college health plans

Colleges are saying the new health law could keep them from offering low-cost, limited benefit student health insurance plans, "and they're seeking federal authority to continue offering them," Kaiser Health News reports. "Without a number of changes, it may be impossible 'to continue to offer student health plans,' says an Aug. 12 letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from the American Council on Education and signed by 12 other trade associations representing colleges."

21 Aug 2010

MINDBODY receives fund from two venture capital firms

MINDBODY, Inc., the industry leader in cloud-based, business management software for health and wellness organizations worldwide, has received a major investment from two of the country's most respected venture capital firms, Bessemer Venture Partners and Catalyst Investors.

21 Aug 2010

Center for Health Sciences to offer certificate program in Phlebotomy

Beginning in October, the Graduate School's new Center for Health Sciences will offer a Medical Laboratory Technician, Associate of Applied Science degree and a certificate program in Phlebotomy. The first of many programs to be offered, both curricula provide a combination of coursework and clinical experience with strong emphasis on employability skills such as problem solving, effective communication, professional conduct, and information and technology literacy.

21 Aug 2010

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

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

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

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

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

Study finds genetic change in chromosome 4 causes FSHD

The Muscular Dystrophy Association today heralds a landmark muscular dystrophy advance by an international study team of scientists and physicians from the Netherlands, United States, France and Spain. Led by MDA-grantee Silvère van der Maarel, Ph.D., at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, the collaborative study of more than 2,300 people found that two distinct genetic changes on chromosome 4 must be present to cause facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

21 Aug 2010