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MD Anderson Cancer Center receives $20 million to advance research on targeted therapies

Dallas businessman and philanthropist H. Ross Perot has donated $20 million to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for research to advance and design novel targeted therapies.

19 Aug 2010

24% more children with progeria discovered

Spectrum, a health and science communications firm, announced the results of a global awareness campaign that "found" 24 percent more children identified with a rare, fatal, and rapid aging disease called Progeria. The findings are being shared at a Centers for Disease Control national conference on health communications.

19 Aug 2010

Thomson Reuters releases new Health Care Reform content in Checkpoint

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters recently released Health Care Reform content onto its industry-leading online platform, Checkpoint, which is now relied upon by over a half million professionals. The latest EBIA manual and PPC guide are comprehensive, authoritative, and frequently updated to help business and individual plan administrators and advisors avoid possible risks of non-compliance with health care reform.

19 Aug 2010

Health insurance costs rise sharply for unemployed as COBRA subsidy ends

Kaiser Health News staff writers Andrew Villegas and Phil Galewitz, writing in collaboration with USA Today, report on the status of health insurance assistance for the unemployed: "Jennifer Richards of Park Ridge, Ill., is angry that her family's monthly health insurance bill tripled in August to $1,250 after her husband lost his job and health benefits. But as bad as that is, what really upsets her is the inaction of Congress"

19 Aug 2010

U-M research results show potential for discovering new avenues for anti-aging drugs

A team of University of Michigan scientists has found that suppressing a newly discovered gene lengthens the lifespan of roundworms. Scientists who study aging have long known that significantly restricting food intake makes animals live longer. But the goal is to find less drastic ways to achieve the same effect in humans someday. The U-M results offer promising early evidence that scientists may succeed at finding targets for drugs that someday could allow people to live longer, healthier lives.

19 Aug 2010

University of Maryland researchers link 3-D CT scans to standard ablation techniques

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed a novel 3-D imaging approach that may improve the accuracy of treatment for ventricular tachycardia, a potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorder that causes the heart to beat too fast. The new approach couples CT images with conventional ablation techniques to eliminate erratic electrical circuits in the heart that produce arrhythmias.

19 Aug 2010

Grants infuse health centers with more money to build, bolster services

The Washington Post: "Health centers across the country are lining up for a shot in the arm from the Obama administration: $250 million in federal grants to build clinics and bolster services at existing clinics for low-income patients such as public housing residents, the homeless, seasonal farmworkers and others who struggle to pay for care.

19 Aug 2010

New study sheds light on recovery from intoxication

A new study shows the impact of alcohol intoxication on reasoning and problem-solving abilities and may explain why some people feel they have recovered enough to drive after drinking. The research, led by Peter J. Snyder, PhD, vice president of research for Lifespan, is the first to explore how these cognitive abilities are impacted during both rising and declining blood alcohol concentrations, at matched blood alcohol level concentrations, and how self-evaluation of recovery differs from actual recovery from impairment.

19 Aug 2010

U.S. children and adolescents become fatter over the last decade: Study

Overweight American children and adolescents have become fatter over the last decade, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and National Institute on Aging (NIA). They examined adiposity shifts across socio-demographic groups over time and found U.S. children and adolescents had significantly increased adiposity measures such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST).

19 Aug 2010

Cluster-coated implant strengthens attachment of joint-replacement implant with bone

Researchers have developed an improved coating technique that could strengthen the connection between titanium joint-replacement implants and a patients' own bone. The stronger connection created by manipulating signals the body's own cells use to encourage growth could allow the implants to last longer.

19 Aug 2010

What do we call nurses with doctorates? And other quality issues

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Kansas City Star: "Most nurse practitioners still have master's degrees, but nursing schools want the doctor of nursing practice degree to be the entry-level degree for advanced-practice nurses by 2015. Enrollment in those programs nationally jumped from 70 in 2002 to more than 5,000 last year." The titles of nurses and how they interact with academic degrees are causing some confusion among patients and resentment from doctors. "Most newly graduating physical therapists now have doctorates, too.

19 Aug 2010

Mass. regulators reach rate hike accord with one more insurer

Massachusetts regulators cut a deal Monday with insurer Health New England to limit premium increases for individual policyholders and small businesses to 8.2 percent, down from the hikes ranging from 11.5 to 21.3 percent the firm requested earlier this year, The Boston Globe reports. "With the Health New England agreement, the Patrick administration has now reached accords with five of the six Massachusetts insurance carriers that were denied double-digit increases on April 1.

19 Aug 2010

Scientists reveal lab approach method to treat neuroblastoma in children

A study led by scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) reveals a new method of identifying drugs to treat children suffering from fatal cancers for which an effective treatment has not been found. Rather than developing a new drug from scratch, which is a complicated and time-consuming process, they tried a different approach: in the lab, they tested existing drugs on cancer stem cells from young patients with neuroblastoma, one of the common cancers of infants and children.

19 Aug 2010

Fralin Life Science Institute professor receives grant from NSF to elucidate research on fungi

Pablo Sobrado, assistant professor of biochemistry with the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech, has received a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance his research on the mechanism of iron acquisition in fungi and mycobacteria.

19 Aug 2010

Laid-off workers lament conclusion of COBRA subsidy

Kaiser Health News, in a collaboration with USA Today: Recently laid-off workers, as well as people who received a subsidy for 15 months to help them afford to keep their former employer's health insurance, are lamenting the end of the popular program. "Deficit-conscious lawmakers have not renewed a subsidy that helped many jobless Americans afford health benefits.

19 Aug 2010

Reuters examines measles outbreaks in Africa

Reuters reports on how some health experts worry that growing complacency about the threat of measles in Africa is contributing to "some of the largest and most deadly outbreaks in years." Worldwide, "[a]bout 164,000 people died from measles in 2008, down 78 percent from 733,000 in 2000, according to the Measles Initiative," Reuters reports, adding that "UNICEF fears the combined effect of decreased political and financial commitment to measles could reverse the gains, resulting in an estimated 1.7 million measles-related deaths globally between 2010 and 2013."

19 Aug 2010

Cannabis Science signs manufacturing and development license with RockBrook

Cannabis Science Inc. a pioneering US biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis products, announces that on August 18, 2010, Cannabis Science signed with RockBrook Inc., its first manufacturing and development license for the Cannabis Science Brand of Pharmaceutical Products for the State of Colorado.

19 Aug 2010

Broadband could be boon for rural clinics

A federal broadband initiative may have implications for the health system, too, NPR reports. "Millions of Americans who live in rural areas travel long distances to get health care. Or they may go without it. But high-speed Internet connections now make it possible to bring a doctor's expertise to patients in far-off places, if those places are connected. As part of its National Broadband Plan, the Federal Communications Commission has pledged $400 million a year to connect nearly 12,000 rural health care providers."

19 Aug 2010

AdvanSource Biomaterials 2010 fiscal first quarter revenue increases 11.8%

AdvanSource Biomaterials Corporation, a leading developer of advanced polymer materials for a broad range of medical devices, today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 first quarter ended June 30, 2010.

19 Aug 2010

State Department report documents U.S. efforts to expand developing countries' access to safe drinking water, sanitation

The State Department on Monday released its 5th annual Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act report (.pdf) to Congress detailing "U.S. efforts to expand access to safe drinking water and sanitation, improve water resources management and increase water productivity in developing countries," NAN/234NEXT.com reports (8/17).

19 Aug 2010