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Mimicking periosteum to heal traumatic bone injury

A manmade package filled with nature's bone-building ingredients delivers the goods over time and space to heal serious bone injuries faster than products currently available, Cleveland researchers have found.

14 Dec 2011

Baxter to acquire Synovis

Baxter International Inc. and Synovis Life Technologies, Inc. today announced a definitive agreement for Baxter to acquire Synovis, a leading provider of biological and mechanical products for soft tissue repair used in a variety of surgical procedures.

From Baxter International Inc. 14 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 13, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz talked with former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick, who defended these federal health programs, but said they are trapped in a U.S. health system that promotes wasteful spending and inefficient care.

13 Dec 2011

ISIS-FXIRx reduces Factor XI activity without bleeding in healthy volunteers

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today positive results from a Phase 1 study with ISIS-FXIRx. The results demonstrated that treatment with ISIS-FXIRx produced dose-dependent statistically significant reductions of up to 78 percent in Factor XI activity.

13 Dec 2011

WPI to develop smart phone app for foot ulcers, advanced diabetes

An interdisciplinary research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received a $1.2 million award from the National Science Foundation to develop a smart phone application that will help people with advanced diabetes and foot ulcers better manage their disease.

13 Dec 2011

'Twinning' team approach improves pediatric lymphoma outcomes

In an African county lacking any specialists in children's cancers, a team approach that "twins" Rwandan physicians with Boston-based pediatric oncologists has shown it can deliver expert, curative care to young patients stricken with lymphoma.

13 Dec 2011

PET scans can provide insight into process that causes aortic stenosis

Patients with life-threatening heart valve disease could be helped with alternative scanning techniques that provide greater insight into the condition.

13 Dec 2011

Alternative cures for cancer lure people and may cause more harm than good: Study

According to doctors thousands of cancer patients are turning to alternative treatments that could harm them and ultimately claim their lives. There have been cases of alternative practitioners who have tricked vulnerable patients into fraudulent cancer therapies. This fails to deter most people shows a new study.

12 Dec 2011

Side effects and non-compliance with breast cancer therapy

Yet another study showed that more than a third of women taking a certain class of breast cancer drugs are so bothered by side effects that they stop taking the pills before their treatment is complete

12 Dec 2011

Risk of breast cancer in the genetically predisposed

A new study showed that women who have been successfully treated for cancer in one breast and who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 cancer gene are at increased risk for developing cancer in their other breast.

12 Dec 2011

Bone drug effective in improving breast cancer survival

In a chance finding a bone drug was found to be effective in breast cancer. While doctors were prescribing young women a medicine to keep their bones strong during breast cancer treatment they noted that after seven years it did more than that - the bone drug improved survival, as much as most chemotherapy could do.

12 Dec 2011

Second annual clinical meeting of Cell Society to be held in San Diego

Although demand and interest in adult stem cell therapies are increasing, it has been challenging for physicians, patients and policy-makers to retrieve the most current and accurate information available. Cell Society International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the clinical applications of adult stem cell therapies worldwide. Cell Society firmly believes that cell therapies offer improved medical treatment for many complicated and hard to treat diseases/injuries.

12 Dec 2011

Mazor Robotics to purchase Renaissance system for spine surgeries

Mazor Robotics Ltd., the leader in innovative surgical robots and complementary products for spine surgery, signed an agreement for the purchase of a Renaissance system with Richard R. M. Francis, MD, of Spine Associates of Houston and the Houston Orthopedic and Spine Hospital, formerly known as Foundation Surgical Hospital, in Bellaire, Texas.

12 Dec 2011

Research assesses safety and efficacy of pre-operative transfusions, hydroxyurea therapy for SCD

Research assessing the safety and efficacy of hydroxyurea therapy in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and the use of pre-operative transfusions for patients with SCD who undergo low- and moderate-risk elective surgery will be presented today at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

12 Dec 2011

Research examines novel treatment techniques for hemophilia B, VTE

Bleeding and clotting disorders affect a large number of patients annually and, while accurate diagnosis is important, timely and effective treatment for these disorders is key, as they have the potential to quickly become life-threatening. Research examining novel treatment techniques for bleeding and clotting disorders will be presented today at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

12 Dec 2011

Mayo Clinic to break ground for cutting edge cancer therapy facility

Mayo Clinic will break ground for a cutting edge cancer therapy facility on December 13 at its hospital campus in Phoenix. Construction begins this month for a massive $182 million facility to house Mayo Clinic's Proton Beam Therapy program - marking a new era in cancer treatment.

12 Dec 2011

Researchers shown how BRCA1 inactivation raises cancer risk

Working with human breast cells, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have shown how the inactivation of a single copy of the breast cancer gene BRCA1 leaves breast cells vulnerable to cancer by reducing their ability to repair DNA damage, causing genetic instability.

12 Dec 2011

Leapfrog names RUMC a top hospital for safety and quality

For the third time, Rush University Medical Center has been named one of the top hospitals in the country by the Leapfrog Group, a national not-for-profit organization that promotes health care safety and quality improvement.

12 Dec 2011

Gene therapy can reduce painful bleeding episodes in patients with hemophilia B

Symptoms improved significantly in adults with the bleeding disorder hemophilia B following a single treatment with gene therapy developed by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and demonstrated to be safe in a clinical trial conducted at the University College London (UCL) in the U.K.

12 Dec 2011

Many postmenopausal women quit breast cancer drugs early because of side effects

Why do so many postmenopausal women who are treated for estrogen-sensitive breast cancer quit using drugs that help prevent the disease from recurring? The first study to actually ask the women themselves -- as well as the largest, most scientifically rigorous study to examine the question -- reports 36 percent of women quit early because of the medications' side effects, which are more severe and widespread than previously known.

12 Dec 2011