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CMAJ: Canada needs national pharmacare program

Canada needs a national pharmacare program and federal leaders must commit adequate funding, states an editorial in CMAJ.

27 Apr 2011

Cardiac Science receives European contract for automated external defibrillator

The wholly-owned subsidiary of Opto Circuits Ltd., Cardiac Science Corporation, a global leader in automated external defibrillator and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, has been awarded a contract to deploy 650 Powerheart AEDs in Girona, Spain, home to 700,000 Catalonians.

27 Apr 2011

American Lung Association releases 2011 annual air quality report

Today, the American Lung Association released its annual report on air quality, State of the Air 2011, which includes lists of the nation's most polluted metropolitan areas.

27 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: Shortsighted fight against fund to prevent disease; strengthening regulators' control of premium increases

House Republicans are so bent on blocking any and all aspects of health care reform that they have passed a bill that would eliminate a farsighted program — the Prevention and Public Health Fund — intended to help states and communities prevent diseases. Eliminating the fund would save roughly $16 billion over the course of a decade. … The loss to states and local communities would be considerable.

27 Apr 2011

University of Arkansas receives USDA grant for childhood obesity project

University of Arkansas scientists and educators are attacking childhood obesity in a project funded by a $4.78 million grant for five years from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

26 Apr 2011

University of Texas receives $5 million USDA grant to fight childhood obesity

The use of family-focused gardening in the fight against childhood obesity may become a growing trend with a near $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to a Texas higher education partnership.

26 Apr 2011

Caliber opens world's largest plant-made pharmaceutical facility in Bryan

Caliber Biotherapeutics, a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company, announced the opening of the world's largest plant-made pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Bryan, Texas, with the capability of producing 10-100 million doses of infectious vaccines per month, and hundreds of thousands of doses of protein biotherapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies.

26 Apr 2011

Study: Women use more medications during pregnancy

Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard School of Public Health, have reported widespread and increasing medication use among pregnant women.

26 Apr 2011

U.S. President's Malaria Initiative releases fifth annual report

Each year, World Malaria Day is observed to call attention to the disease and to mobilize action to combat it. On this occasion, the President's Malaria Initiative, led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, releases its fifth annual report, which describes the role and contributions of the U.S. Government in the effort to reduce the burden of malaria in Africa.

26 Apr 2011

World Malaria Day opinion pieces

Andrew Mitchell, Britain's secretary of state for international development, discusses the U.K.'s approach to combating malaria around the world in a post on the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

26 Apr 2011

Unintentional prescription opioid overdose deaths have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.

Unintentional overdose deaths in teens and adults have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. In some 20 states in 2007 the number of unintentional drug poisoning deaths exceeded either motor vehicle crashes or suicides, two of the leading causes of injury death.

26 Apr 2011

Men with high DHA levels may face risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer

The largest study ever to examine the association of dietary fats and prostate cancer risk has found what's good for the heart may not be good for the prostate.

26 Apr 2011

Death rates have decreased among people with high blood pressure

Death rates have decreased among people with high blood pressure but remain far higher than in those without it, according to research in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

26 Apr 2011

State roundup: Fla. hospitals divided public/private oversight; generous health benefits for Calif. elected officials

Hundreds of part-time elected officials throughout the Bay Area received full-time health care benefits in 2010 at taxpayer expense, with individual policies sometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars, according to government compensation data acquired by Bay Area News Group and published on its websites Sunday.

26 Apr 2011

People who travel extensively for business have high rates of health risk factors

People who travel extensively for business have increased rates of poor health and health risk factors, including obesity and high blood pressure, reports a study in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

26 Apr 2011

Rwanda, QIAGEN and Merck launch comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program

The Government of Rwanda, together with QIAGEN N.V. and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the launch, in Kigali, Rwanda, of a comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program that includes vaccination with GARDASIL [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for appropriate girls 12 to 15 years of age and modern molecular diagnostic screening for women between the ages of 35 and 45.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 25 Apr 2011

Analysis of the health law's effects continues

Reports look at the diverse effects of the health law — from Medicare and Medicaid to the accountable care organizations.

25 Apr 2011

Africa's football leaders earn UAM recognition for combating malaria

Today on World Malaria Day, the United Against Malaria campaign, under the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, recognized leaders from Africa's football and corporate spheres for their role in bringing malaria control messages to more than two billion 2010 World Cup spectators through public service announcements and media, and to 10 million employees through "Malaria Safe" corporate initiatives.

25 Apr 2011

SAMHSA develops Metro Briefs on drug-related statistics across the nation

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has developed a series of Metro Briefs providing detailed statistical snapshots of drug- related visits to hospital emergency departments occurring in 11 metropolitan areas across the nation.

25 Apr 2011

Planned Parenthood offers free STI tests during Take Action Tour concert

To help reduce the alarming rate of sexually transmitted infections among young people, Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania will give away vouchers for free or low-cost HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea testing during Hopeless Records' Take Action Tour concert at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 23rd, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

25 Apr 2011