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MEDNAX acquires South Oakland Anesthesia Associates

MEDNAX, Inc., today announced the acquisition of South Oakland Anesthesia Associates, P.C., a physician group practice that provides anesthesia care and pain management services at three hospitals, four ambulatory surgery centers, one eye center, and four pain management centers throughout Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties in Michigan.

21 Dec 2012

Researchers create first ever atlas of immune cells in the human body

By analyzing tissues harvested from organ donors, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have created the first ever "atlas" of immune cells in the human body.

21 Dec 2012

Real estate businessman delivers $2.5M gift to University of Chicago Medicine for GI study

Real estate businessman Seymour "Sy" Taxman and his wife, Nancy, presented a gift of $2.5 million to the University of Chicago Medicine on Wednesday in honor of the late Joseph B. Kirsner, MD, PhD, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and a pioneer in the research and treatment of digestive disease.

21 Dec 2012

Addiction specialists co-edit new textbook to help Canadians stop smoking

Researchers from the University of Alberta are helping Canadian smokers butt out with a new textbook designed to give health professionals the right tools to treat tobacco addiction.

21 Dec 2012

Shift-and-persist strategies, supportive role models may reduce physiological burden of poor teens

Low-income teenagers who have supportive role models and engage in adaptive strategies have lower levels of a marker for cardiovascular risk than low-income teens without such resources, according to a new study.

21 Dec 2012

Targeting PCS may help improve health of patients with chronic kidney disease

Insulin resistance, or prediabetes, in individuals with kidney disease may be caused by the progressive retention of certain compounds that are normally excreted by the kidneys in healthy individuals, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

21 Dec 2012

Study finds new signaling pathway involved in development of chronic inflammation of brain cells

The number of Alzheimer's patients will continue to dramatically increase in the next several decades. Various teams of researchers worldwide are feverishly investigating precisely how the illness develops. A

20 Dec 2012

Maternal vitamin D deficiency could cause low birth weight

Women deficient in vitamin D early in their pregnancies are more likely to deliver babies with lower birth weights, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health research reveals.

20 Dec 2012

Roundup: Calif. Report sets 10-year health goals; Conn. hospitals plead to stop cuts; Colo. lawmaker wants state universal health care on ballot

With the state facing rising medical costs and increasing rates of chronic disease, California health leaders issued a report Wednesday setting specific health targets to meet by 2022. The state's goals include reducing smoking rates, increasing vaccinations among children and improving depression screening and treatment. The report also describes ways to improve end-of-life care, by expanding palliative care at hospitals and hospice programs at home.

20 Dec 2012

Men with fibromyalgia symptoms less likely to receive diagnostic tests

Fibromyalgia is a complex illness to diagnose and to treat. There is not yet a diagnostic test to establish that someone has it, there is no cure and many fibromyalgia symptoms -- pain, fatigue, problems sleeping and memory and mood issues -- can overlap with or get mistaken for other conditions. A new Mayo Clinic study suggests that many people who have fibromyalgia, especially men, are going undiagnosed.

20 Dec 2012

Amgen to pay $762 million fine for improper drug marketing

Biotech giant Amgen Inc. pleaded guilty in federal court to improper marketing of its anemia drug Aranesp and has agreed to pay $762 million in criminal fines and civil settlements to resolve complaints from company whistle-blowers. Federal prosecutors in New York said the Thousand Oaks company was "pursuing profits at the risk of patient safety" by encouraging doctors to use its popular anemia drug for unapproved uses to boost sales and to take market share from a rival drug maker.

20 Dec 2012

GW nursing professors receive three-year $790,000 gerontology grant from HHS

Beverly Lunsford, a George Washington University assistant professor of nursing, believes a health care crisis is brewing.

20 Dec 2012

Top-line results from Medivir's simeprevir phase III trials on genotype 1 HCV infection

Medivir AB today announced top-line results from three pivotal phase III trials examining the one pill, once-daily, investigational protease inhibitor, simeprevir (TMC435), administered with pegylated interferon and ribavirin.

20 Dec 2012

People with chronic shortness of breath may soon have new way to help alleviate their discomfort

People experiencing chronic shortness of breath may soon have a new way to help alleviate their discomfort, according to a Penn State College of Medicine pulmonology researcher.

20 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Does 'fiscal cliff' end justify the means?; A shrinking government under any plan; Wrongly confusing Asperger's with mental illness

It is the third week of December, and all of Washington is focused on whether the country will fall off the "fiscal cliff" it has built for itself. ... As of January 1, physicians' fees for treating Medicare patients are scheduled for an across-the-board reduction of about 27% in addition to the 2% reduction for all services relating to Medicare under sequestration.

19 Dec 2012

Biologic changes after delivery may prevent development of chronic pain

Chronic pain from childbirth is remarkably rare, according to a study from the January issue of Anesthesiology. Additionally, in a second study, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., found the biologic changes after delivery may prevent the development of pain.

19 Dec 2012

Study highlights need for health services and social support for parolees

More than 40% of parolees and releases sent to the Bronx from New York State prisons have two or more major chronic conditions, a study to be released today at a public briefing at Health People: Community Preventive Health Institute in the Bronx shows.

19 Dec 2012

Ion channel acts as powerful ‘brake’ after epileptic seizures

Given that epilepsy impacts more than 2 million Americans, there is a pressing need for new therapies to prevent this disabling neurological disorder. New findings from the neuroscience laboratory of Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published Dec. 20 in the high-impact scientific journal, Neuron, may provide hope.

19 Dec 2012

Myostatin responsible for initiation of muscle loss: Study

A research study from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has yielded important breakthroughs on how the body loses muscle, paving the way for new treatments for aging, obesity and diabetes.

19 Dec 2012

MiR-122 plays a critical role in the life cycle of hepatitis C virus

Hepatitis C virus has evolved to invade and hijack the basic machinery of the human liver cell to ensure its survival and spread. Researchers at the University of North have discovered how hepatitis C binds with and repurposes a basic component of cellular metabolism known as a microRNA to help protect and replicate the virus.

19 Dec 2012