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Today's selection of opinions and editorials

Health care is a complicated and deeply personal issue; it takes time and effort to get reform right. Legislating every piece of this puzzle would be impossible and counterproductive.

17 Sep 2009

Melbourne's national approach for managing chronic pain

An unprecedented gathering of some of Australia's leading authorities in pain medicine, together with consumer groups representing chronic pain sufferers, will meet in Melbourne today to work towards a national, coordinated approach to managing chronic pain.

17 Sep 2009

Researchers outline the long-term safety of carbon nanotubes in a journal

Italian scientists suggest that we need a much more detailed toxicological approach to hazard assessment before judgement regarding the long-term safety of carbon nanotubes can be made. They outline their results in the International Journal of Environment and Health.

17 Sep 2009

Congressional townhall panel to discuss the economic and moral implications of health care reform

This Friday, September 18th at 9:50 am, FRC Action will host a Congressional townhall panel that will discuss the economic and moral implications of health care reform. The panel will be a part of the fourth annual Values Voter Summit and will feature Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). The panel will also take questions from the audience.

17 Sep 2009

State News Round-up: States trim budgets, experiment with reform ideas

News outlets report on a variety of state health stories including the Connector in Massachusetts, mental health care in Texas, hospital payments in Vermont, increased health insurance coverage in California and Republican efforts with employer insurance in Florida.

17 Sep 2009

Multi-detector row computed tomography predicts malignancy of IPMNs

A clinical research article to be published on August 28, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses the role of multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) in predicting malignancy of IPMNs preoperatively. The research team led by Prof. Wang DB from Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine recruited a total of 20 patients with pathologically-confirmed IPMNs in their study. Axial MDCT images combined with CT angiography (CTA) and multiplanar volume or curved reformations (MPVR or CR) were preoperatively acquired.

17 Sep 2009

IPTi tool with SP medicine helps prevent malaria in African infants

A third (30%) of malaria cases can be avoided in African infants using a safe, affordable and simple tool called Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in Infants (IPTi) with the medicine sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), which can be delivered alongside existing childhood vaccination programmes.

17 Sep 2009

Study: Therapy addition reduces risk of stroke and other cardiovascular events

Data from the independent KYOTO HEART study, presented recently at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and published online in the European Heart Journal demonstrated the addition of the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) Diovan (valsartan) to a non-ARB-based treatment regimen for high blood pressure provided a significant 45% relative risk reduction in cardiovascular events(1) including stroke, compared to conventional non-ARB treatment regimen.(1)

17 Sep 2009

Genentech releases Phase III PRIMA study findings

Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group and Biogen Idec, today announced that a Phase III study (PRIMA) showed that patients with follicular lymphoma who continued receiving Rituxan (rituximab) alone after responding to Rituxan and chemotherapy lived longer without their disease worsening (progression-free survival or PFS) than those who did not continue to receive Rituxan.

17 Sep 2009

Survey: Average cost of employer health plan up 5%

The average cost of an employer-provided family plan is now $13,375, up 5 percent from 2008, according to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust.

17 Sep 2009

Researchers investigate individual's ability to get rid of Hepatitis C

More than seventy percent of people who contract Hepatitis C will live with the virus that causes it for the rest of their lives and some will develop serious liver disease including cancer. However, 30 to 40 percent of those infected somehow defeat the infection and get rid of the virus with no treatment. In this week's Advanced Online Publication at Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers working as part of an international team report the discovery of the strongest genetic alteration associated with the ability to get rid of the infection.

17 Sep 2009

Lawmakers may wage jurisdiction fight over medical malpractice reform

Roll Call reports that the Senate Finance Committee could clash with the Senate Judiciary Committee if they try to amend their health reform bill to scale back medical malpractice lawsuits.

17 Sep 2009

Protein kinase Erk3 plays a critical role in intrauterine growth and lung maturation

Dr. Sylvain Meloche, Principal Investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universit- de Montr-al, and his colleagues have uncovered the critical role played by the protein kinase Erk3 in fetal growth potential and lung maturation.

17 Sep 2009

Clinical trial focuses on healing diabetic foot ulcers with stem cells

Fortis Healthcare, one of India's leading private hospital groups, has announced it will broaden inclusion criteria for its upcoming diabetic foot clinical trial. The study will use stem cells derived from peripheral blood to treat critical limb ischemia (diabetic foot).

17 Sep 2009

Bioheart's MARVEL Phase II/III clinical trial successful

Bioheart, Inc. (OTCBB:BHRT), presented positive efficacy data from part 1 of its Phase II/III clinical trial at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Thomas Povsic, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University, presented the final data for Part 1 of the MARVEL Phase II/III Clinical Trial as a part of the Late Breaking Clinical Trials Session.

17 Sep 2009

News outlets examine West Africa floods

The torrential rains that began in June in West Africa and subsequent floods have forced an estimated 150,000 people from their homes and claimed the lives of 160, VOA News reports. The worst affected countries include Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone (Schlein, 9/13).

17 Sep 2009

Cellzome's quantitative chemical proteomics platform described in a journal

Cellzome announces today, the publication entitled "Tankyrase inhibition stabilizes axin and antagonizes Wnt signalling" is now available online in Nature.

17 Sep 2009

Young adults have more to gain, and pay, in health reform

Young adults - a key constituency in President Obama's election - are likely to be major beneficiaries of health reform, as well as major contributors to funding it, the Washington Post reports.

17 Sep 2009

AF Stat Call to Action for Atrial Fibrillation document released

A diverse collaboration of healthcare leaders today released the AF Stat Call to Action for Atrial Fibrillation to serve as a roadmap for reducing the burden of atrial fibrillation (AFib) in the United States. The document outlines critical issues surrounding the management of AFib, and recommends priority actions in the areas of policy, management, education and quality.

17 Sep 2009

GENova to sign extensive collaboration agreement with Beckpharma

GENova Biotherapeutics Inc. ("GENova"), a biotechnology company that develops novel therapeutic proteins that disrupt the advance of life-threatening cancers, today announced it is in final negotiations with Beckpharma Ltd. ("Beckpharma") -a pharmaceutical development company also involved in cancer treatments for an extensive collaboration agreement.

17 Sep 2009