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ACF, HRSA accept applications for Tribal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration, is accepting applications for fiscal year 2010 for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program.

25 Jun 2010

Efforts to make medicine cheaper, more efficient underway

One of Minnesota's largest providers of supportive housing for seniors will begin testing telemedicine and sensor technology to help frail seniors stay healthier and delay institutional care under an $8 million grant announced Wednesday. It will be the largest project of its kind in the nation, involving about 1,600 clients in 40 rural cities.

25 Jun 2010

Automated calls can increase colon cancer screening rates by 30%: Study

Simple, automated telephone reminders can increase colon cancer screening rates by 30 percent, according to a Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study funded by the National Cancer Institute that appears in the July print edition of Medical Care.

25 Jun 2010

Medicare to use new fraud identification tool

Gov Info Security: "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is the first agency to use a new fraud mapping tool that ultimately will be used throughout the federal government.

25 Jun 2010

Scientists report potential toxicity of nanoparticles in consumer products

Scientists are reporting that particle size affects the toxicity of zinc oxide, a material widely used in sunscreens. Particles smaller than 100 nanometers are slightly more toxic to colon cells than conventional zinc oxide. Solid zinc oxide was more toxic than equivalent amounts of soluble zinc, and direct particle to cell contact was required to cause cell death.

25 Jun 2010

Study: Low BP levels are unhealthy for CKD patients

Recent guidelines by The National Kidney Foundation Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF KDOQI)1 call for lower target blood pressure levels in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

25 Jun 2010

MDG targets still attainable despite setbacks from global economic situation, U.N. report says

Efforts to curb poverty worldwide have been slowed by the global economic situation, but the developing world is still on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of people living on less than $1 per day by 2015 - according to an annual U.N. report (.pdf) on the MDGs, which this year shows a "mixed picture" on reaching all eight targets - the Associated Press reports (Lederer, 6/23).

25 Jun 2010

Standard CRP test ineffective for detecting inflammatory bowel disease: Study

C-reactive protein (CRP) is used to assess disease activity in diverse inflammatory disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, in IBD, a significant number of patients present with low CRP levels despite clinically active disease.

25 Jun 2010

Conn. AG launches probe of CVS prescription plan termination threat

Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, announced an investigation of CVS Caremark after the corporation threatened to terminate a discount prescription drug program, Dow Jones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Jun 2010

Researchers call for new psychological support for people living with disfigurement

Disfigurement can be a challenging and distressing experience for many of the 1 million people in the UK who have a visible difference of any kind.

25 Jun 2010

New research suggests resveratrol may inhibit pathogenic blood vessel formation

Current research suggests that resveratrol, a naturally occurring compound found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts, and other plants, inhibits pathogenic new blood vessel growth.

25 Jun 2010

KHN column: About those presidential promises

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, James Capretta writes: "Over the past three years, President Barack Obama made many promises to the American people about his health care plan.

25 Jun 2010

Impact of oil spill on humans and wildlife

University of Rhode Island Pharmacy Professor Bongsup Cho knows there are cancer-causing chemicals in diesel fumes and cigarette smoke.

25 Jun 2010

Cardio-respiratory aerobic exercise reduces joint pain in RA patients

Researchers from the University of Grenoble Medical School in France determined that cardio-respiratory aerobic exercise is safe for patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

25 Jun 2010

Editors of Canadian Medical Association Journal warn polio outbreak in Tajikistan could spread

"A large polio outbreak in Tajikistan - Europe's first in years - has the potential to further spread the dangerous virus to other regions of the world, the [editors of] the Canadian Medical Association Journal [CMAJ] warned Wednesday" in an editorial appearing in the journal, the Canadian Press reports.

25 Jun 2010

CXCL12/CXCR4 chemokine axis plays a critical role in pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterized by frequent diarrheal attacks and anal bleeding. Histologic characteristics of UC are the invasion of the crypt epithelium and lamina propria by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), disruption of the epithelial lining, and consequently mucosal ulceration and crypt abscess formation in the bowel wall.

25 Jun 2010

Gene therapy holds promise in treating cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases

EUREKA project E! 3371 Gene Transfer Agents has made great advances in the development of novel non-viral carriers able to introduce genetic material into the target cells.

25 Jun 2010

Day-long shifts for rookie doctors to be scaled back

Rookie doctors would get shorter shifts and more supervision if new guidelines proposed by the body that accredits medical residency programs go into effect, The Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Jun 2010

Correlation exists between synaptic plasticity and drug addiction

Why is it that only some drug users become addicts? This is the question that has been addressed by the teams of Pier Vincenzo Piazza and Olivier Manzoni, at the Neurocentre Magendie in Bordeaux (Inserm unit 862). These researchers have just discovered that the transition to addiction could result from a persistent impairment of synaptic plasticity in a key structure of the brain.

25 Jun 2010

Australian youth urged to become organ donors

New research has shown that many young Australians are not having their wishes to donate their organs honored because they fail to discuss these issues with their families beforehand. As a remedial measure Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Jim Bishop has urged more of the young population to come forth about their wishes to donate their organs after death.

24 Jun 2010