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Despite challenges, U.S. GHI moves toward integrated approach to global public health

In this Lancet opinion piece, Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Josh Michaud, principal policy analyst at the Foundation, examine the U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI), which "represents the bulk of the U.S. global health budget and bilateral activities in more than 80 countries."

25 May 2012

BMA ballot results on industrial action to be published next week

The BMA’s ballot of doctors on industrial action on major changes to the NHS pension scheme closes at 5pm on Tuesday 29 May 2012.

25 May 2012

School districts, hospitals cut nurses

Nurses, long a presence in many schools and the backbone of hospital care, are being cut back or stretched thin, according to several news organizations; Meanwhile, NPR reports on a poll that found three out of five patients feel their doctors rush through exams.

25 May 2012

Dueling student loan bills stall in Senate

Neither measure reached the 60-vote threshold needed to delay an interest rate increase for 7.4 million students with college loans. Republicans want to pay for it by abolishing a preventive health program in the health care law; Democrats proposed raising Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes on high-income owners of some privately held companies.

25 May 2012

$CDC report finds states spend only a fraction of tobacco funds to fight smoking$

CDC report finds states spend only a fraction of tobacco funds to fight smoking

The study says states collected $244 billion from tobacco settlement payments between 1998 and 2010, and used about $8 billion of that for anti-smoking campaigns.

25 May 2012

Merck welcomes launch of ROTATEQ in Rwanda of Africa’s rotavirus vaccination program

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, welcomes today's launch in Rwanda of Africa's first national rotavirus vaccination program with ROTATEQ (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent), Merck's vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus disease.

25 May 2012

Prevalence of contraceptive use among women during first sexual encounter is 70.4%

Contraceptive use in Spain during the first sexual encounter is similar to other European countries. However, there are some geographical differences between Spanish regions: women in Murcia use contraceptives less (55.8%) whereas women in the Basque Country use them more (76.7%).

25 May 2012

Fever during pregnancy associated with autism or developmental delay

A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.

25 May 2012

Global Polio Eradication initiative launches 'emergency action plan'

"A global initiative to rid the world of polio launched an emergency action plan on Thursday because gaps in funding and vaccination coverage threaten to derail a final push towards stamping out the paralyzing disease," AlertNet reports.

25 May 2012

IUDs and implants effectively reduce risk of unintended pregnancy

A study to evaluate birth control methods has found dramatic differences in their effectiveness. Women who used birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring were 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who used longer-acting forms such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or implant.

24 May 2012

USP announces two new standards related to elemental impurities

As part of its ongoing efforts to help ensure the quality of medicines, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has announced two new standards related to elemental impurities: General Chapters <232> Elemental Impurities-Limits and <233> Elemental Impurities-Procedures. The new standards provide procedures for the detection of selected impurities in drug products based on modern analytical methods, as well as acceptable limits for their presence based on toxicity data and exposure levels.

24 May 2012

NRDC's report estimates heat-related death in top U.S. cities

More than 150,000 additional Americans could die by the end of this century due to excessive heat caused by climate change, according to a detailed analysis of peer-reviewed scientific data by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

24 May 2012

Acne pills can cause eye infections

Millions of teenagers suffer from acne, and they deal with the embarrassing skin blemishes by taking popular prescription medications such as Accutane or Roaccutane. Now, however, research from Tel Aviv University shows that these pills can also cause eye infections such as conjunctivitis (pink eye) or sties.

24 May 2012

Study: Phthalates from PVC flooring materials is taken up by our bodies

A new study at Karlstad University in Sweden shows that phthalates from PVC flooring materials is taken up by our bodies. Phthalates are substances suspected to cause asthma and allergies, as well as other chronic diseases in children. The study shows that children can ingest these softening agents with food but also by breathing and through the skin.

24 May 2012

VCU Center on Health Disparities to research into preterm birth

The Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Health Disparities has been awarded a five-year grant renewal totaling $6.2 million from the National Institute of Health's Institute on Minority Health Disparities for research, research training and community outreach in the area of preterm birth.

23 May 2012

The details of direct primary care

The New York Times examines the emergence of direct primary care in the health care marketplace and links this concept back to concierge medicine. In a separate New York Times story, one health industry expert offers his take on how to control costs while improving access to care -- it comes down to thinking like an investor.

23 May 2012

HVTN opens enrollment in GeoVax’s GM-CSF adjuvanted vaccine Phase 1 trial for HIV

GeoVax Labs, Inc., an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, today announced that the NIH-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) has opened enrollment for a Phase 1 trial for the company's second-generation HIV vaccine.

23 May 2012