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FDA clears Cook Medical's Evolution Duodenal Controlled-Release Stent

Cook Medical announced today that its Evolution Duodenal Controlled-Release Stent was recently granted 510(k) clearance by the Food & Drug Administration.

18 Oct 2011

Agencies mark World Food Day, call for increased transparency in commodity markets

At a ceremony marking World Food Day on Monday, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "called for more transparency on commodity markets to prevent sharp spikes in global food prices and deplored the scale of world hunger," Agence France-Presse reports.

18 Oct 2011

Accera identifies genetic profile of AD patients with heightened response to Axona

Accera, Inc., a biotech company specializing in cognitive health, announced today that it has identified the genetic profile of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients who have a high probability of responding to Axona (AC-1202), a prescription medical food product available at pharmacies nationwide.

18 Oct 2011

FDA approves Oxford BioMedica's UshStat IND to treat Usher syndrome type 1B

Oxford BioMedica plc, the leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company, today announces that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its Investigational New Drug application for the Phase I/IIa clinical development of UshStat, a novel gene-based treatment for Usher syndrome type 1B.

18 Oct 2011

Facing national deficit while preserving foreign assistance

Noting some of the successes of U.S. foreign assistance in the area of global health, Christopher Elias, president and CEO of PATH, and Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S., write in The Hill's "Congress Blog," "Unfortunately, ... American aid is being threatened with severe cuts, though it makes up less than one percent of the federal budget."

18 Oct 2011

U.S. NGOs call for Obama administration to explain delays in U.S. food aid to North Korea

"As South Korean President Lee Myung-bak continued his state visit to the United States on Friday, a group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) wants the Obama administration to explain what they call unconscionable delays in deciding whether to resume U.S. food assistance to North Korea," Reuters reports.

18 Oct 2011

Rural women need same access to resources as men to help increase food production, Ban says

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the international community to give rural women the same access to productive resources as men, noting the huge benefits that would ensue, from increased food production to a drop of 150 million in the number of the world's hungry people," the U.N. News Centre reports.

18 Oct 2011

FDA clears BioHelix IsoAmp HSV molecular diagnostic assay

BioHelix Corporation has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the company's first molecular diagnostic assay, the IsoAmp HSV Assay. The diagnostic test is intended for the detection of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1 & HSV2) in genital and oral lesion specimens from symptomatic patients.

18 Oct 2011

Scientists identify genes that act in muscles to modulate aging and resistance to stress

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a set of genes that act in muscles to modulate aging and resistance to stress in fruit flies.

18 Oct 2011

VIVUS announces Qnexa NDA resubmission for treatment of obesity

VIVUS, Inc. today announced that the company has resubmitted the New Drug Application (NDA) for Qnexa to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

18 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Class Act's effect on health law; new prescriptions for Medicare; food marketing to kids

Now that one of ObamaCare's major new benefit programs has been scrapped, liberals are trying to make stone soup by claiming that the Obama Administration merely committed an act of "good government." They claim that when this long-term care insurance program proved to be unworkable, the Administration conceded as much, and now it's gone. So let's review the evidence, not least because it so perfectly illustrates the recklessness that produced the Affordable Care Act.

18 Oct 2011

Scientists discover a way to accurately map typhoid outbreaks in the city

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Snow mapped cases of cholera in Soho, London, and traced the source of the outbreak to a contaminated water pump. Now, in a twenty-first century equivalent, scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust working in Kathmandu, Nepal, have combined the latest in gene sequencing technology and global positioning system (GPS) case localisation to map the spread of typhoid and trace its source.

18 Oct 2011

One in six mobile phones home for E. coli: Study

The London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine released a study in conjunction with the Queen Mary, University of London which suggests that Britons are not doing a good enough job of washing hands. Experts said the most likely reason for the potentially harmful bacteria festering on so many gadgets was people failing to wash their hands properly with soap after going to the toilet.

17 Oct 2011

Protein key to curbing overeating and preventing obesity

Including enough protein in our diets, rather than simply cutting calories, is the key to curbing appetites and preventing excessive consumption of fats and carbohydrates, a new study from the University of Sydney has found.

16 Oct 2011

Order of the day – massive calorie cuts for Britons

Andrew Lansley made an announcement that Britain needs to cut 5 billion calories a day from its diet to curb obesity. Lansley urged individuals to eat less and eat more wisely, and promised to talk to the food industry about voluntary cuts in the calorie content of processed food and drinks. The health secretary and the chief medical officer, Sally Davies also issued a “call to action” on diet, pointing out that alcohol contributed 10% to our calorie intake.

16 Oct 2011

Laws may be modified for faster approvals of medical devices

Three U.S. senators seeking to speed up review times for medical devices have proposed two new bills for advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The measure would reverse 2007 legislation that barred experts who had financial ties to a company or its competitor from serving on an advisory panel without a waiver. There is also a limit on the number of waivers that keeps decreasing.

16 Oct 2011

FDA may be lax when it comes to laws on sea food safety: Study

Due to the last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a new study contends that current federal standards underestimate the risk to pregnant women and children of cancer-causing contaminants that can accumulate in seafood from such spills.

16 Oct 2011

Broken biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus will impact food security

Should the periodic table bear a warning label in the 21st century or be revised with a lesson about elemental supply and demand? If so, that lesson could start with one element considered a staple of life - but growing endangered, like the Asiatic dhole - phosphorus.

15 Oct 2011

Computerized text analysis shows that psychopathic killers make identifiable word choices

As words can be the soul's window, scientists are learning to peer through it: Computerized text analysis shows that psychopathic killers make identifiable word choices - beyond conscious control - when talking about their crimes.

15 Oct 2011

UAB's Deep South Network now includes community-based cancer research

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center's Deep South Network for Cancer Control now includes research among its core outreach and awareness activities to reduce cancer disparities in the South's poorest communities.

15 Oct 2011