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New evidence about benefits of marriage

There's new evidence about the benefits of marriage. Women who are married suffer less partner abuse, substance abuse or post-partum depression around the time of pregnancy than women who are cohabitating or do not have a partner, a new study has found.

14 Dec 2012

Scientists isolate cancer stem cells that lead to growth of Wilms' tumours

Scientists have isolated cancer stem cells that lead to the growth of Wilms' tumours, a type of cancer typically found in the kidneys of young children. The researchers have used these cancer stem cells to test a new therapeutic approach that one day might be used to treat some of the more aggressive types of this disease.

13 Dec 2012

Roundup: Mass. a template for controlling health care costs?; Fewer than expected use Minn. health care vouchers; Blue Shield in Calif.'s proposed rate hikes

This simple shift in how health care is paid for -- long seen as key to taming costs -- has been occurring in pockets of the country. But nowhere is it happening more systematically than in Massachusetts, the state that blazed a trail in 2006 by guaranteeing its residents health insurance. Now Massachusetts, a model for President Obama's 2010 national health care law, may offer another template for national leaders looking to control health spending.

13 Dec 2012

CBT most effective for children with post-traumatic stress disorder

Research published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews confirms the effectiveness of psychologic therapy for children with post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy.

13 Dec 2012

Fatal imbalance between global disease burden and drug development

Despite important progress in research and development (R&D) for global health over the past decade, only a small fraction of new medicines developed between 2000 and 2011 were for the treatment of neglected diseases, highlighting the 'fatal imbalance' between global disease burden and drug development for some of the world most devastating illnesses, said Doctors Without Borders/M-decins Sans Fronti-res (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), in an analysis to be presented today at an international conference aimed at spurring medical innovations for these diseases.

13 Dec 2012

Physical activity improves brain function in older generations

The physical benefits of regular exercise and remaining physically active, especially as we age, are well documented. However, it appears that it is not only the body which benefits from exercise, but the mind too. The evidence for this is published in a new review by Hayley Guiney and Liana Machado from the University of Otago, New Zealand, which focuses on the importance of physical activity in keeping and potentially improving cognitive function throughout life.

13 Dec 2012

Examining maternal, newborn health care in Ethiopia

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog features two posts on maternal health in Ethiopia. In the first, Jennifer James, founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, writes about her trip to the country to "observe Save the Children's work with frontline health workers."

13 Dec 2012

Nurse-Family Partnership may not be as successful in reducing early childhood injuries

New research from PolicyLab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shows that one of the nation's largest programs providing home visitation support for at-risk mothers and children may not be as successful in reducing early childhood injuries as it was in earlier evaluations.

13 Dec 2012

iTube device can detect allergens in food samples

Are you allergic to peanuts and worried there might be some in that cookie? Now you can find out using a rather unlikely source: your cell phone.

13 Dec 2012

More than 850,000 children treated for malnutrition in Sahel in 2012, UNICEF says

"A UNICEF progress report says that more than 850,000 children are expected to have received life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition across nine countries in the Sahel region during the course of 2012," according to a UNICEF press release, noting the number is "based on the more than 730,000 children under five treated at centers between January and the end of September."

13 Dec 2012

Ceramic cookstoves may not reduce risk of pneumonia in young rural Kenyan children

Inexpensive, locally-produced ceramic cookstoves may produce less smoke than traditional indoor 3-stone firepits, but they don't significantly reduce indoor air pollution or the risk of pneumonia in young children, according to results from a small, year-long observational study by researchers working in rural Kenya.

13 Dec 2012

Canada's foreign aid agency, Grand Challenges Canada announce global health partnership

"Canada's foreign aid agency will work with Grand Challenges Canada in a bid to bring ideas for health innovation to the developing world, International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino says," the Globe and Mail reports.

13 Dec 2012

Mathematical models can improve efficiency and quality of healthcare

Healthcare organizations face huge challenges during the upcoming years: the constant cost increases must be halted, while at the same time patients are becoming more and more demanding, and hospitals nationwide still cope with some 2000 avoidable deaths each year. Simultaneously improving efficiency and quality of care would seem to be a contradiction in terms. Yet Kortbeek shows in his thesis, along a number of case studies, that this is absolutely doable. The key is developing and applying mathematical models.

13 Dec 2012

New biocompatible patch can repair congenital heart defects

A painstaking effort to create a biocompatible patch to heal infant hearts is paying off at Rice University and Texas Children's Hospital.

13 Dec 2012

Bumetanide could treat children with severe autism or Asperger's syndrome

Although this therapy is not curative, it nevertheless reduced the autistic disorders' severity in three-quarters of the children. The researchers have filed a request for authorisation to perform a multi-centre European clinical trial in order to determine more precisely the population concerned by this therapy.

13 Dec 2012

Study investigates different approaches to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases

A special issue of Pathogens and Global Health, published by Maney Publishing, investigates different approaches to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquitoes can transmit a number of pathogenic diseases including dengue fever, yellow fever, and malaria.

13 Dec 2012

Interim results from Inspiration’s OBI-1 and IB1001 hemophilia clinical study

Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inspiration) announced interim clinical results for the company's two lead product candidates, an intravenous recombinant porcine FVIII (OBI-1) in the treatment of serious bleeds in acquired hemophilia A (AHA) and an intravenous recombinant FIX (IB1001) for the treatment and prevention of bleeding in children less than 12 years of age with hemophilia B.

13 Dec 2012

Roundup: Health centers moving into contaminated tracts; Mass. budget cuts worry health advocates

The community health center rising on a derelict corner here in West Philadelphia never would have broken ground if not for the asbestos inside the building that was demolished to make way for it. Because of the contamination, Spectrum Health Services received a $2 million federal cleanup grant, the first piece of a $14 million construction financing puzzle.

13 Dec 2012

Delayed childbearing may protect against triple-negative breast cancer

Younger women who wait at least 15 years after their first menstrual period to give birth to their first child may reduce their risk of an aggressive form of breast cancer by up to 60 percent, according to a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study.

12 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Pelosi says higher Medicare age 'doesn't work;' Marketplace's clout could lower seniors' drug costs

In the talks to avert the fiscal cliff, the idea of raising the Medicare age is central to the Republican proposal. There's just one critical problem: It doesn't work. It doesn't have public support. It's unfair. And it doesn't lower health expenditures. Such a proposal is a reflection of the broader Republican plan: an assault on the middle class, seniors -- and our future.

12 Dec 2012