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Hope for heterotopic ossificiation

A recent United States Army study found that excessive bone growth, also known as heterotopic ossificiation (HO), affects up to 70 percent of soldiers who are severely wounded during combat. A much smaller percentage of the civilian population also suffers from HO following trauma or invasive surgery. The excessive bone forms within muscles and other tissues causing severe pain, reduced mobility and even local paralysis if untreated.

24 Sep 2009

Two Yale faculty members awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant for extraordinary commitment to research

Two Yale faculty members have been named MacArthur Foundation Fellows for 2009, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced. Mary Tinetti, M.D., the Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health and Richard O. Prum, the William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology will each receive a five-year, $500,000 "genius" grant to spend as they see fit.

24 Sep 2009

Electrically stimulating nerve cells can restore some vision

Results: MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness. The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

24 Sep 2009

VisEn launches new imaging agent for monitoring key hypertension and renal disease biomarker

VisEn Medical Inc., a leader in fluorescence in vivo imaging from research through medicine, announced today the commercial launch of its new ReninSense680(TM) FAST imaging agent for measuring and monitoring a key hypertension and renal disease biomarker in vivo.

24 Sep 2009

Also in global health news: Malawi HIV/AIDS fight; cancer in developing world

Tim Gilbo, the World Bank's director in Malawi, announced on Tuesday that the organization will grant the country $30 million, which will be used to "increase access to prevention, treatment and mitigation services with a focus on behavioural change," SAPA/News24.com reports. Gilbo also said the country should "identify and promote those programmes that are working and drop or redesign those that are not bearing any fruits." UNAIDS Malawi coordinator Desmond Johns said HIV/AIDS is "arguably the single consistent threat in overall development" for Malawi (9/22).

24 Sep 2009

Global effort needed to protect people from species-crossing diseases, Report finds

A team of health experts on Tuesday called for the U.S. "to lead a global effort to protect people from new outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases that originate in animals, such as swine flu, AIDS and SARS," Reuters writes (Morgan, 9/22).

24 Sep 2009

NIH grants $2.5M for the study of physical forces on cell function

The National Institutes of Health today announced an award of $2.5 million to a team led by Boston University biomedical engineer Bela Suki that will study the role of physical forces on cell function, with the goal of understanding the possible roles of these forces in diseases like atherosclerosis, neuro-degenerative diseases, metabolic disorders, aging and cancer.

24 Sep 2009

Checking in with Linda Douglass

Kaiser Health News interviewed Linda Douglass, who spent three decades as a television news reporter in California and Washington before joining the Obama administration.

24 Sep 2009

Clinton, Obama open CGI; safe water, opportunities for African women commitments announced

During opening remarks of the Clinton Global Initiative's annual summit in New York, former President Bill Clinton said more people are "attending this meeting than ever before," Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports.

24 Sep 2009

Marchers, celebrities sound off on health care reform

Across the country, protesters and celebrities are sounding off on health reform as legislation gets closer to becoming reality.

24 Sep 2009

Pelosi, House Dems finding compromise on health bills difficult

The Hill: "Speaker Pelosi is backing away from a deal she cut with centrists to advance health reform, said a source familiar with talks. Pelosi's decision to move away from the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill out of committee would steer the healthcare legislation back to the left as she prepares for a floor vote.

24 Sep 2009

Who are the uninsured and where do they live?

"The nation's uninsured — a growing class of people whose recession-fed ranks have swelled to 46.3 million — are central to the health care debate in Washington and the questions about how and whether to get them covered are as vexing and emotional as they come," USA Today reports. "While the nation waits for Congress and the White House to come up with answers, those who live without insurance say they are waiting scared."

24 Sep 2009

Z-Medica launches the QuikClot Interventional hemostatic bandage for use during catheterization procedures

Z-Medica Corporation, a medical device company developing innovative hemostatic agents, today announced the availability of the QuikClot® Interventional™ hemostatic bandage, on display at booth #1338 at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

From Medica Corporation 24 Sep 2009

Genetic variation helps identify hepatitis C infected people, according to a study

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers are part of an international team that has discovered a genetic variation that could identify those people infected with hepatitis C who are most likely to benefit from current treatments.

24 Sep 2009

Opinions: Reforming U.S. aid; delivering health care in developing countries

To change the U.S. foreign aid system, we must "[d]o what the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) did: break the rules and then rewrite them," Mark Dybul, former U.S. global AIDS coordinator, writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece examining the development and implementation of the program.

24 Sep 2009

Hsp-27 protein helps identify aggressive prostate cancer

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered a molecular 'flag' that predicts survival from prostate cancer at diagnosis, reveals a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

24 Sep 2009

Cambridge Heart's modified Alternans technology to identify myocardial ischemia

Cambridge Heart, Inc. announced today that it intends to pursue research and development efforts on a new application derived from its core Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) technology.

24 Sep 2009

Advanced Biohealing announces growth strategy to expand its product line

Advanced BioHealing, Inc. (ABH), a leader in commercializing the promise of regenerative medicine, announced a strategic growth plan designed to continue the transformation of this former start-up into the leading international regenerative medicine company.

24 Sep 2009

Research study links high-fructose diet to increased blood pressure in men

A high-fructose diet raises blood pressure in men, while a drug used to treat gout seems to protect against the blood pressure increase, according to research reported at the American Heart Association's 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference.

24 Sep 2009

Analyzing the Baucus bill: Individual mandate, tax provisions

One of the biggest points of contention in Senate Finance Committee's consideration of Max Baucus' health bill is the "individual mandate" requirement.

24 Sep 2009