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Neurogenesis linked to drug addiction and relapse

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center hope they have begun paving a new pathway in the fight against drug dependence. Their hypothesis - that increasing the normally occurring process of making nerve cells might prevent addiction - is based on a rodent study demonstrating that blocking new growth of specific brain nerve cells increases vulnerability for cocaine addiction and relapse.

27 Feb 2010

NIH awards $3M grant to VCU Massey Cancer Center to develop test to measure health literacy of cancer patients

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Virginia Commonwealth Massey Cancer Center a National Cancer Institute grant totaling nearly $3 million to develop a standardized test to measure health literacy among cancer patients.

27 Feb 2010

Health on the Hill: After the summit

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey and the Kaiser Family Foundation's Jackie Judd discuss the health care summit between President Obama, Republicans and Democrats. The forum ended with the president laying out some areas of consensus between the two parties but many disagreements remain (Kaiser Health News).

27 Feb 2010

Federal officials focus on radiation practices at Florida clinic; Medical scan makers announce new efforts to prevent mistakes

Medicare regulations require that when patients receive some types of highly specialized cancer treatments, their radiation oncologist must be on site. But The New York Times reports that federal officials are investigating a Florida cancer clinic that billed Medicare for such treatments while the doctors were absent, sometimes on overseas trips.

27 Feb 2010

Federal officials seek to root out financial and Medicare fraud

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's criminal division told a gathering of criminal defense lawyers on Thursday that the division was using tools 'not often seen in white collar cases' to combat financial fraud," which includes Medicare.

27 Feb 2010

President Obama, Pelosi inaccurately respond: Health bills do not fund abortion

Yesterday members of Congress attended the White House Summit on Health Care Legislation. Responding to a claim by Minority Leader John Boehner that the health care legislation will fund abortion, President Obama dismissed it as talking points and "untrue." Speaker Pelosi also inaccurately responded that the health bills do not fund abortion.

27 Feb 2010

Fact-checks of the bipartisan health care summit

News outlets fact-check the bipartisan health care summit and provide analyses of the messaging and poll numbers lawmakers used during the six-hour event.

27 Feb 2010

Cancer researchers assess PCI-32765 drug that targets molecular abnormalities of lymphoma cells

Cancer researchers have high hopes for a new therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukemia.

27 Feb 2010

Medical innovation and research: A real boon for American patients to live longer, healthier

An article in the Suislaw News recently highlighted the fact that medical innovation and research are enabling many people to live longer, healthier and more productive lives.

26 Feb 2010

Colorado city a model for low-cost, high quality care, series details

Colorado Public News/Los Angeles Times presents a series of stories about Grand Junction Colorado which delivers some of the best and lowest-cost health care in the nation.

26 Feb 2010

Gene signature may help identify risk of colon cancer recurrence

A gene signature, first identified in mouse colon cancer cells, may help identify patients at risk of colon cancer recurrence, according to a recent study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers.

26 Feb 2010

Criticism, passion emerge at health care summit

NPR interviewed Rep. Dave Camp, ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. Camp said: "We were able to at least be heard and have some exposure to the ideas that we've been promoting for a long time. And the president did finally say in the close that we do have ideas that lower costs in insurance and that — do it without increasing taxes. And we don't cut Medicare. And we don't have new mandates in our proposals. So this is really the first opportunity we've had to really focus not only our colleagues and the president, but also the American people on the proposals we've had" (Siegel, 2/25).

26 Feb 2010

House votes to extend COBRA benefits for a month, Bunning stalls Senate action

After the House passed a month-long extension of COBRA and other benefits for laid-off workers, the Senate Thursday did not follow suit, "jeopardizing unemployment benefits scheduled to expire over the weekend," The Associated Press reports.

26 Feb 2010

Carotid artery stenting and carotid endarterectomy equally safe and effective for people at risk for stroke

Carotid artery stenting, a less invasive alternative to surgery on the carotid artery (carotid endarterectomy), is equally safe and effective for people at risk for stroke as carotid endarterectomy, according to a major new study presented today at the 2010 International Stroke Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

26 Feb 2010

Gaucher disease: FDA approves VPRIV

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved velaglucerase alfa for injection (VPRIV) to treat children and adults with a form of the rare genetic disorder Gaucher disease.

26 Feb 2010

CAMH signs licensing agreement with US-based Athena Diagnostics to market new genetic test

For the second time in as many months the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has signed a licensing agreement with US-based Athena Diagnostics Inc. to market a new genetic test.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 26 Feb 2010

Partisanship peaks at health summit, Democrats likely to go it alone

Thursday's bipartisan health summit ended with the partisan rift intact, increasing the possibility that President Barack Obama will try to unify Democrats to pass legislation without GOP support.

26 Feb 2010

Reconciliation may be Democrats last hope for health overhaul

At the close of Thursday's summit, President Barack Obama hinted at his party's next step: If Republican support does not emerge, Democrats will move forward with reconciliation, a complicated procedure that would allow them to pass health overhaul legislation even without a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate, The Washington Post reports.

26 Feb 2010

The VA will reexamine Gulf War Illness Cases; House probes impact of burn pits

The Veterans Affairs Administration is planning to take another look at Gulf War Illness Cases, while the House probes the impact of burn pits.

26 Feb 2010

Hypnosis may help reduce pain and suffering in metastatic breast cancer patients

Hypnosis can help alleviate the pain and suffering experienced by women being treated for breast cancer, according to a study by a University at Buffalo School of Social Work professor.

26 Feb 2010