Research News and Research

RSS

Kinase inhibitors can arrest growth of cancer cells at early stages

Scientists have discovered a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous cells and stop them developing into tumours in what could provide a new approach to treating early-stage cancers.

From The University of Manchester 26 Aug 2009

Staff continues health reform heavy lifting while Obama vacations

The White House staff continues its tireless work on health care reform as President Obama vacations on Martha's Vineyard, The New York Times reports.

26 Aug 2009

Sabril (vigabatrin) Oral Solution receives approval from FDA

Sabril (vigabatrin) Oral Solution has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat infantile spasms in children ages 1 month to 2 years. Sabril is the first drug in the United States approved to treat the disorder, characterized by a severe type of seizure that usually appears in the first year of life, typically between ages 4 months and 8 months.

26 Aug 2009

Reform efforts focus attention on regional innovations in care delivery

As health reform efforts loom over Congress, news outlets find models of innovation in their own backyards. Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania, a Florida satellite of the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Oregon and Washington state, and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Va., all get some attention.

26 Aug 2009

Smokers twice as likely to get active TB, study finds

"A study in Taiwan has found that smokers are twice as likely to develop active tuberculosis compared to people who have never smoked, prompting calls for policymakers to be tougher on smoking," Reuters reports (Lyn, 8/24).

26 Aug 2009

The Society of Chest Pain Centers announces a new grant program to encourage clinical research

The Society of Chest Pain Centers (www.SCPCP.org), an international non-profit organization focused on improving care for cardiac patients, announces a new grant program in an effort to support research that is likely to result in a substantive contribution to acute cardiovascular medicine.

26 Aug 2009

White House increases deficit projection; CBO offers slightly better outlook

"The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House and congressional budget officials projected Tuesday in competing but similar economic forecasts, " The Associated Press reports.

26 Aug 2009

Vertical farms could solve food production problems, opinion piece says

"If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist," which means that the "majority of people could soon be without enough food or water," Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, warns in a New York Times opinion piece

26 Aug 2009

Program to help runaway girls proves effective

A nurse intervention program that helps sexually exploited runaway girls re-connect to family, school and health care reduces trauma and restores healthy behaviors, according to a new study led by University of British Columbia researcher Elizabeth Saewyc and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota nurse practitioner Laurel Edinburgh.

26 Aug 2009

Racial/ethnic disparities in clinically confirmed outcomes of heart and stroke surgeries

Minorities have poorer results and higher rates of unnecessary surgery from a common procedure used to remove plaque from inside the carotid artery, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center doctor who is lead author of the study in the journal Stroke.

26 Aug 2009

Report warns H1N1 could affect half of U.S. population

A U.S. presidential panel report released Monday estimates H1N1 (swine) flu could infect up to half of the country's population, the Washington Post reports.

26 Aug 2009

Symptomless blood disorder MGUS not a precursor of serious diseases

A symptomless blood disorder, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, known as MGUS, is not linked to as many serious diseases as previously thought. This finding may save patients from undergoing unnecessary workup and treatment according to a study published in the August 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

26 Aug 2009

FDA issues warning letters to eight companies for selling illegal OTC ibuprofen drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that the agency issued warning letters to eight companies marketing unlawful over-the-counter (OTC) topical drug products containing the pain reliever ibuprofen.

26 Aug 2009

Australian researchers to discover proteins that cause multiple sclerosis

Australian researchers will aim to discover the proteins that cause multiple sclerosis (MS), thanks to a new nationwide research effort. The new research project will receive funding of $1 million over four years, starting this year, under the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme and from MS Research Australia (MSRA), the research arm of MS Australia.

26 Aug 2009

Pro-health reform, other rallies to start this week

In an effort to counter the public's growing skepticism over health reform, "supporters of President Barack Obama's health care agenda are ramping up their efforts with rallies and bus tours starting this week," the Associated Press reports.

26 Aug 2009

Obama's rhetoric fails to capture voters' support

The rhetoric being used by Democrats on health care has been carefully planned but it doesn't appear to be capturing voters' support for health care reform. Wall Street Journal reports: "In the rhetorical battle over health care, the forces backing President Barack Obama's overhaul have spent years polling and using focus groups to find the precise language that would win over voters -- an effort that doesn't at the moment appear to be working."

26 Aug 2009

One-quarter of medicare beneficiaries will see premium hikes next year

While some in Medicare will not see premiums rise, Medicaid recipients, wealthy retirees and new enrollees will all have to pay more, U.S. News and World Report reports.

26 Aug 2009

Washington Post examines development of vaccine for food borne intestinal illness

The Partnership for Public Service/Washington Post examines how decades of work by Navy scientist Patricia Guerry could lead to "the first vaccine for a food borne intestinal illness that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year."

26 Aug 2009

Increased risk of death for men with heart conditions undergoing RT with hormone therapy for prostate cancer

Men with coronary artery disease-induced congestive heart failure or heart attack who receive hormone therapy before or along with radiation therapy for treatment of prostate cancer have an associated increased risk of death, according to a study in the August 26 issue of JAMA.

26 Aug 2009

The University of Nottingham scientists conduct research on swine flu virus

Scientists at The University of Nottingham and Health Protection Agency East Midlands are carrying out urgent research into the swine flu virus after being commissioned as part of the government's response to the pandemic.

26 Aug 2009