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DaVita launches Kidney Awareness Run|Walks for chronic kidney disease

DaVita Inc., a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), today announced its launch of the 5th annual DaVita Kidney Awareness Run|Walks, a 10 city series of 5K events raising funds and awareness of CKD across the nation.

17 Sep 2010

Center for One Health Illinois to receive additional $500,000 grant from USDA

The Center for One Health Illinois, established at the University of Illinois last year with a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will receive another $500,000 in grants over several years from the USDA to pursue its mission of fostering collaborations and the free flow of information among those in the fields of medicine, public health, the environment and agriculture.

17 Sep 2010

New iPhone application tracks drug safety updates

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Children's Hospital Boston have developed a new iPhone application to encourage health-care professionals and patients to send and receive information about the use and side effects of prescription medications.

17 Sep 2010

Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers to strengthen alliance with GAVI

Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN), a voluntary public health driven alliance of state owned and private vaccine manufacturers from developing countries, now intends to strengthen its collaboration with Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI) to increase its bandwidth in immunization for the developing countries.

17 Sep 2010

ACTION Ontario applauds Narcotics Safety and Awareness bill

ACTION Ontario, a non-profit group advocating on behalf of chronic pain sufferers, applauds the provincial government's Narcotics Safety and Awareness bill and encourages the government to take the next step and also address the underlying issue of pain with a comprehensive strategy.

17 Sep 2010

American Lung Association data shows improvement in health benefits

The American Lung Association in California released new data today showing significant public health benefits from pursuing a smart growth future for California. The American Lung Association data shows health benefits, including reduced asthma attacks and premature deaths linked to the Vision California "mixed growth" and "growing smart" scenarios in 2035 that include more compact, sustainable development patterns.

17 Sep 2010

Media reporting can reduce impact of infectious disease outbreaks

At the first sign of a disease pandemic, public health officials should begin strongly communicating about the extent of the outbreak and the steps that can be taken by the public to avoid infection. That's the recommendation of two mathematical biologists who have modified the most widely used infectious disease transmission model to account for the impact of news media coverage.

17 Sep 2010

NIH to implement ScriptPro pharmacy automation systems

ScriptPro has been awarded a contract to provide pharmacy automation systems to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD.

17 Sep 2010

Poorer patients wait months for basic services in Minn.; Calif. unions criticize plan for state workers to pay more for benefits; Neb. Medicaid study questioned

Minnesota Public Radio: "Three months after the state implemented a scaled-back health care coverage program for its poorest residents, many patients are waiting months for basic medical services and hospitals have lost millions of dollars in uncompensated care. … The restructuring of the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program has forced thousands of low-income residents … to leave their medical providers and receive care through one of four Twin Cities-area hospitals.

17 Sep 2010

New anti-pathogenic drugs render MRSA harmless without killing bacteria

Menachem Shoham, PhD, associate professor and researcher in the department of biochemistry at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has identified new anti-pathogenic drugs that, without killing the bacteria, render Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) harmless by preventing the production of toxins that cause disease.

17 Sep 2010

Study suggests familial, contextual factors affect girls' pubertal timing

Girls in homes without a biological father are more likely to hit puberty at an earlier age, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers identify bacteria responsible for chronic intestinal inflammation

Certain bacteria that inhabit the intestine provide the environmental trigger that initiates and perpetuates chronic intestinal inflammation in individuals who are genetically susceptible to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a study led by Harvard School of Public Health researchers has found.

17 Sep 2010

Severe acne linked to suicidal thoughts in teenagers

According to a new study on Norwegian youth, compared to clear-skinned peers, teens who have bad acne are more than twice as likely to have mental health problems and are at greater risk of having suicidal thoughts.

16 Sep 2010

Friendship paradox helps analyze social network, monitor member health to predict flu outbreak

Nicholas Christakis, professor of medicine, medical sociology and sociology at Harvard University, and James Fowler, professor of medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego, used the paradox to study the 2009 flu epidemic among 744 students. The findings, the researchers say, point to a novel method for early detection of contagious outbreaks.

16 Sep 2010

Survey reveals physicians’ misperception on misuse, abuse of opioids

Findings from a new national survey, sponsored by the American Pain Foundation, reveal misperceptions among physicians regarding the misuse and abuse of opioids. The results come in light of government statistics to be released today looking at the broader U.S. population, showing 2009 rates of nonmedical use of these products nationwide.

16 Sep 2010

NMS Labs launches method for K2 drug metabolites detection in urine

Of growing concern to public health officials and law enforcement is that routine drug testing cannot detect the use of the popular and highly intoxicating new drugs K2 and Spice. NMS Labs now has a full menu of tests that can detect the use of the designer chemicals present in these products, sold as incense or legal highs. A few weeks ago, NMS Labs launched a blood test to detect a range of these laboratory-designed synthetic drugs.

16 Sep 2010

Scientists discover 13 genes linked to human body mass

Johns Hopkins scientists who specialize in unconventional hunts for genetic information outside nuclear DNA sequences have bagged a weighty quarry 13 genes linked to human body mass. The experiments screened the so called epigenome for key information that cells remember other than the DNA code itself and may have serious implications for preventing and treating obesity, the investigators say.

16 Sep 2010

Aetna supports landmark study on BRCA testing

Testing is available to help identify if a woman is likely to face one of her gender's worst fears: inherited breast and ovarian cancer. But significant questions have been raised among doctors and public health agencies about whether these tests are being offered to the women who can most benefit - consistent with the evidence-based guidelines for this testing - and whether the information learned from testing is being put to best use.

16 Sep 2010

Researchers to examine effects of environmental influences on health, development of children in the U.S.

Residents of Durham County, N.C., are encouraged to take part in the largest ever long-term study of children's health and development undertaken in the United States.

16 Sep 2010

U.N. General Assembly opens 65th session with a look ahead to next week's MDG Summit

The U.N. General Assembly opened its 65th session on Tuesday in New York with the incoming Assembly President Joseph Deiss, former Swiss foreign minister, calling for the focus of the upcoming year to be prioritizing efforts to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reaffirming the role of the U.N. in global governance and promoting sustainable development, Xinhua reports (9/15).

16 Sep 2010