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GSK starts testing H1N1 vaccine; Opinion piece addresses U.S. role in helping developing countries procure vaccine

"GlaxoSmithKline has started testing its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine in humans, and expects to start giving the results to government agencies next month, the drugmaker said on Friday," Reuters reports. The company "plans to conduct 16 different trials of the vaccine and to test 9,000 people in total across Europe, Canada and the United States," according to the news service (Deighton, 8/14).

17 Aug 2009

Running and addiction

Although exercise is good for your health, extreme exercise may be physically addicting. Rats given a drug that produces withdrawal in heroin addicts went into withdrawal after running excessively in exercise wheels, according to new research. Rats that ran the hardest had the most severe withdrawal symptoms.

17 Aug 2009

The President and White House officials try to debunk end-of-life care rumors

The Hill: "Democrats seem to have a new strategy for fighting the 'death panel' charges about healthcare reform legislation.

17 Aug 2009

Medicine lessons from the Arabic world

You've heard of Louis Pasteur and George Washington Carver, no doubt. And probably Joseph Priestley, one of the founders of modern chemistry. Names like Antoine Lavoisier, John Dalton, and Amadeo Avogadro may even bring a twinkle of recognition to the eye for their famous roles in establishing chemistry as a modern science.

17 Aug 2009

New addition to the forensic toolkit

In an advance toward the first portable device for detecting human bodies buried in disasters and at crime scenes, scientists today report early results from a project to establish the chemical fingerprint of death.

17 Aug 2009

Biologist demystifies Acinetobacter baumannii

Tao Weitao, a researcher in the College of Sciences' Department of Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio is making great strides in a project that was funded one year ago by the San Antonio Area Foundation. The professor in the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases is researching Acinetobacter baumannii, a soil-dwelling bacterium that threatens the health of military personnel in the Middle East and can also infect their family members once the soldiers have returned home following battle.

17 Aug 2009

Cord Blood America shows significantly improved balance sheet

Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells to families nationwide and internationally, said today that its 10Q filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission for the second quarter of 2009 shows a significantly improved balance sheet.

17 Aug 2009

New consortium to tackle African sleeping sickness and Leishmaniasis

A new consortium has been formed to boost drug development for the treatment of two deadly diseases, African sleeping sickness and Leishmaniasis, which affect millions of people worldwide.

17 Aug 2009

Infant sleep environments depicted in magazines targeted to women of childbearing age

More than one third of photos in women's magazines depicted babies in unsafe sleep positions, according to a new study in Pediatrics. Additionally, the study found that two-thirds of sleep environments depicted in these magazines were also unsafe.

17 Aug 2009

Mother's immune system may block fetal treatments for blood diseases

Pediatric researchers have resolved an apparent contradiction in the field of prenatal cell transplantation - a medical approach that holds future promise in correcting sickle cell disease and other serious congenital blood disorders. In a new study in animals, the researchers showed that the mother's immune response interferes with the offspring's earlier ability to tolerate transplanted donor cells.

17 Aug 2009

Astronauts test nutritional supplement formulas in space

After nearly four years of joint research of Houston-based AmeriSciences and NASA / Johnson Space Center (JSC), a senior NASA medical officer has confirmed that two of the resulting nutritional supplement formulas were used and tested in space by the astronauts of mission STS-125 of May 11, 2009 and the mission STS-127 of July 15, 2009 and are now in use and testing aboard the International Space Station.

17 Aug 2009

Ad audit: Club for growth's anti-government message

An anti-tax group goes after health care proposals in Congress, alleging they would lead to health care rationing and crushing government deficits. But the campaign includes some dubious comparisons with the British health system, and the group’s recommended solutions are open to question.

17 Aug 2009

Discovery of inherited gene variants that account for 37 percent of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified inherited variations in two genes that account for 37 percent of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), including a gene that may help predict drug response.

16 Aug 2009

Abuse, self-neglect places seniors at increased risk for premature death

Older adults who are subjected to abuse or self-neglect face a greater risk of premature death than other seniors, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA.

16 Aug 2009

Obama administration officials soften stance on public plan

Associated Press: "President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run health insurance as part of his ambitious health care proposal.

16 Aug 2009

PEPFAR partners with BD to improve blood collection safety in Africa

PEPFAR and the global medical technology company BD announced an iniative Tuesday that will work to improve blood collection safety in clinics and hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa – an issue that PANA/Afrique en ligne reports has "become more critical than ever in sub-Saharan nations and other developing countries severely impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic" (8/12).

16 Aug 2009

Grassley's doubts, coupled with cost control issues, could complicate Dems' overhaul efforts

Politico reports that, despite saying last week that he was "confident" President Obama was working towards a bipartisan health bill, Sen. Charles Grassley "told local voters, 'I'm not walking away from the table; I'm being pushed away from the table.' ... Grassley's Iowa road show shows just why Democrats feared this August recess.

16 Aug 2009

Lawmakers reconsider Town Hall format, continue to confront reform fervor

Some lawmakers are canceling town hall meetings or holding them over the telephone or with selected groups of people in an effort to avoid shouting confrontations over health care reform, which have greeted lawmakers returning home for the August recess, USA Today reports.

16 Aug 2009

New biomarker predicts response to hepatitis C treatment

Researchers have identified the first genetic marker that predicts response to hepatitis C treatments, and a single letter of DNA code appears to make a huge difference. Duke University Medical Center scientists says the biomarker not only predicts who is most likely to respond to treatment and who isn't, but also may explain why there are such different rates of response among racial and ethnic groups, a phenomenon that has puzzled physicians for years.

16 Aug 2009

New strategy for inhibiting virus replication

Viruses need living cells for replication and production of virus progeny. Thus far, antiviral therapy primarily targets viral factors but often induces therapy resistance. New improved therapies attempt to targets cellular factors that are essential for viral replication.

16 Aug 2009