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FDA issues final guidance for public's comments at advisory committee meetings

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued final guidance for people who wish to comment during the agency's advisory committee meetings. The guidance provides instructions on how to request a time to speak and how FDA staff should respond to requests to speak at the meetings.

13 Dec 2010

Research programs embody the promise of anti-aging medicine.

Sometimes the value of research lies as much in exposing false remedies as in discovering true breakthroughs. Scientists at the country's first school of gerontology and in laboratories around the University of Southern California do both, mindful of their responsibility to a society focused on healthful aging.

13 Dec 2010

Cesarean-section deliveries may lead to degenerative back disease

Researchers from Michigan State University are studying whether pregnancies, specifically cesarean-section deliveries, are linked to a degenerative back disease that affects women three to nine times more often than men.

13 Dec 2010

e-cigarettes – Debate rages around globe

Following misleading advice that ‘e-cigarettes’ are a “healthy way” to quit smoking, thousands of smokers are switching to these electronic cigarettes. According to the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and anti-smoking groups these smokeless, battery-powered e-cigarettes packed with nicotine have not been tested for safety and could pose a serious health risk. Electronic cigarettes contain an inhaler, an atomiser and nicotine suspended in propylene glycol and water. At present they are banned in NSW and Victoria but overseas suppliers sell them online.

12 Dec 2010

Medication for depression ended before recommended time

Swedish women's use of antidepressants is twice as high as that of Swedish men. However, among both female and male new users, one fifth fills only one prescription. "This can be an indication of choices being made to end treatment before the recommended time," says researcher Karolina Andersson Sundell at the Nordic School of Public Health.

10 Dec 2010

HRT with estrogen alone may reduce risk of breast cancer: Study

While endogenous estrogen (i.e., estrogen produced by ovaries and by other tissues) does have a well-known carcinogenic impact, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) utilizing estrogen alone (the exogenous estrogen) provides a protective effect in reducing breast cancer risk, according to study results presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

10 Dec 2010

Social activities most promising in prevention of depression among older adults

Interventions focused on social activities significantly decrease depressive symptoms among older adults. This is the results from a recent study.

10 Dec 2010

Simple molecular sensor color test to determine safe fluoride levels

Used in the proper amounts, it can make teeth stronger and aid in the treatment of osteoporosis. When excessive amounts are consumed, however, it can be a killer - a carcinogen that causes bone, lung and bladder cancers. The "it" is fluoride, a common additive in most American communities' drinking water and an ingredient in the vast majority of commercially produced adult toothpastes.

10 Dec 2010

Obesity is associated with worse outcomes in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative disease

Obesity was associated with worse overall and disease-free survival in women with operable breast cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, but for the first time, researchers observed this finding in only a specific subset of patients - those with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/HER2-negative disease.

10 Dec 2010

Haitian cholera pathogen closely related to 'El Tor O1' variant from South Asia

Scientists from Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. and Harvard Medical School have successfully employed single molecule, real-time (SMRT™) DNA sequencing technology to rapidly characterize the pathogen responsible for the recent deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti. Published online Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results provide the first whole genome sequence analysis and most detailed genetic profile to date of the Haitian Vibrio cholerae outbreak strain.

10 Dec 2010

Opinions: Questioning WHO's relevance; Reforming foreign aid; Efforts to prevent child marriage

"The WHO - for 62 years the world's go-to agency on all public health matters - is today outmoded, underfunded, and overly politicized," Jack Chow, former assistant director-general on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria at WHO, writes in a Foreign Policy Argument where he outlines some of the major issues facing the WHO, including personnel challenges, the agency's "archaic" governance system and a "new atmosphere, where [other] organizations are taking health into their own hands."

10 Dec 2010

News outlets report on polio outbreaks in Central, East Africa

"Bad immunisation strategy has been blamed for an outbreak of polio, which has killed nearly 200 and is believed to have caused paralysis in more than 2,000 others across Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the Mail & Guardian writes in a story examining the emergence of the disease in the three countries and efforts to control it.

10 Dec 2010

Older people living in racially segregated neighborhoods have higher chance of developing cancer: Study

Older people who live in racially segregated neighborhoods with high crime rates have a much higher chance of developing cancer than do older people with similar health histories and income levels who live in safer, less segregated neighborhoods.

10 Dec 2010

Tobacco-cessation expert receives 2011 ASPO Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award tobacco research

Behavioral scientist and tobacco-cessation expert, Alexander V. Prokhorov, M.D., Ph.D., at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is the recipient of the 2011 American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award for Excellence in Tobacco Research.

10 Dec 2010

Research looks at early exposure to mobile phone risk

There has been plenty of speculation that mobile phones are not good for pregnant mums but a new study sheds light on the actual connection. It finds that pregnant women who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have children with behavioral problems, particularly if their children start using mobile phones in their first seven years. American researchers said that the risk of behavioral problems rose by 30% if such exposure was present. Those exposed before birth and in early childhood were at 50% higher risk than those who were not exposed they said.

9 Dec 2010

Pelosi issues statement following House passage of food safety legislation

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this evening following House passage of H.R. 3082, Making Further Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011 and the Food Safety Enhancement Act. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 212 to 206, funds the government for fiscal year 2011 and includes a sweeping overhaul of the nation's food safety system. It now goes to the Senate.

9 Dec 2010

School-based intervention program helps students with asthma better manage symptoms

A school-based intervention program helped New York City high school students with moderate to severe asthma better manage their symptoms, dramatically reducing the need for urgent care, including hospitalizations and emergency room visits, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

9 Dec 2010

Childhood maltreatment more strongly associated with current psychiatric symptoms than military sexual stressors

A study of long-term, active duty military personnel who used Department of Veterans Affairs' health services showed that childhood maltreatment and other high magnitude stressors, such as being in a serious accident or a natural disaster, were more strongly associated with participants' current psychiatric symptoms than were their military sexual experiences, such as sexual harassment.

9 Dec 2010

Trauma surgeon co-authors call to action to establish pediatric trauma research network

Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, director of the Trauma Program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, has co-authored a call to action for filling a significant gap in pediatric public health care and seeks federal oversight to establish the framework for a pediatric applied trauma research network (PATRN). This call to action was published simultaneously in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and the Journal of Trauma.

9 Dec 2010

Health care systems inadequate for managing acute GI hemorrhage outside of normal hours

Patients treated by Welsh hospitals for upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding were 41% more likely to die if they were admitted on a public holiday and 13% more likely if it was at the weekend, according to research in the January issue of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

9 Dec 2010

Public Health News and Research

FDA issues final guidance for public's comments at advisory committee meetings

Research programs embody the promise of anti-aging medicine.

Cesarean-section deliveries may lead to degenerative back disease

e-cigarettes – Debate rages around globe

Medication for depression ended before recommended time

HRT with estrogen alone may reduce risk of breast cancer: Study

Social activities most promising in prevention of depression among older adults

Simple molecular sensor color test to determine safe fluoride levels

Obesity is associated with worse outcomes in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative disease

Haitian cholera pathogen closely related to 'El Tor O1' variant from South Asia

Opinions: Questioning WHO's relevance; Reforming foreign aid; Efforts to prevent child marriage

News outlets report on polio outbreaks in Central, East Africa

Older people living in racially segregated neighborhoods have higher chance of developing cancer: Study

Tobacco-cessation expert receives 2011 ASPO Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award tobacco research

Research looks at early exposure to mobile phone risk

Pelosi issues statement following House passage of food safety legislation

School-based intervention program helps students with asthma better manage symptoms

Childhood maltreatment more strongly associated with current psychiatric symptoms than military sexual stressors

Trauma surgeon co-authors call to action to establish pediatric trauma research network

Health care systems inadequate for managing acute GI hemorrhage outside of normal hours

News Medical 2025: Healthcare Shifts That Mattered Most eBook

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

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