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Role of health centers in national health reform

A new issue brief from The Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, co-authored by Commission staff and researchers at the George Washington University's Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative, examines the role of health centers in national health reform and the issues that will affect health center expansion to meet the growing need for primary health care.

14 Sep 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals presents findings of humanized monoclonal antibodies against C. difficile bacterium

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented preclinical findings for its humanized monoclonal antibodies against the disease-causing toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium difficile.

14 Sep 2010

Alice Cepeda receives National Award of Excellence in Research for Hispanic drug abuse research

The National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse awarded the National Award of Excellence in Research by a New Investigator to Alice Cepeda, sociology professor and associate director of the Center for Drug and Social Policy Research, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston. Cepeda will be honored Sept. 30 at the organization's annual conference in New Orleans.

14 Sep 2010

Human cytomegalovirus cloned

A team of Welsh scientists have successfully cloned a human virus offering new hope for the treatment of potentially life-threatening diseases.

14 Sep 2010

Sanofi Pasteur files Fluzone Intradermal influenza virus vaccine sBLA with FDA

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that it has filed a Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Fluzone® Intradermal (Influenza Virus Vaccine). The file has been accepted by the FDA and an action date is anticipated in the first half of 2011.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 14 Sep 2010

HHS awards $16.8 million to 27 Public Health Training Centers

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the award of $16.8 million to support 27 Public Health Training Centers (PHTC) at schools of public health and other public or non-profit institutions across the country. The PHTC Program helps improve the public health system by enhancing skills of the current and future public health workforce.

13 Sep 2010

Today's Opinions: Prevention and small business; Views on medical inflation and health reform; Sebelius letter examined

In this anemic economy, small businesses need all the help they can get, and the Prevention and Public Health Fund provides the best medicine (Dr. Georges Benjamin and Larry Cohen, 9/13).

13 Sep 2010

KHN column - The Prevention and Public Health Fund: Good for our health, good for small business

In this Kaiser Health News column, Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, and Larry Cohen, founder and executive director of Prevention Institute, offer their perspective on a legislative question: "As Congress returns to work this week, senators are scheduled to cast a critical vote on Tuesday as part of a broad measure designed to encourage economic growth for small businesses.

13 Sep 2010

First Edition: September 13, 2010

In this morning's news, many in Congress are pushing for repeal of a tax provision in the health law that critics say places a heavy burden on small businesses. Meanwhile, opponents of the overhaul are focused on a Florida court hearing.

13 Sep 2010

Scientists find low levels of bacteria in fields sprayed with swine manure

That swine manure sprayed on to fields adds valuable nutrients to the soil is well known. But what is not known is whether all that manure is bringing harmful bacteria with it.

13 Sep 2010

Six California-based institutions collaborate to guide CDU

Six California-based institutions specializing in health, hospital, university and nonprofit health announced today the formation of a new and unprecedented collaboration effort to rescue, restructure, reinvigorate and guide Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) towards a new, resurgent and financially viable future.

13 Sep 2010

eMedischedule.com to provide online appointment scheduling system for clinics

eMedischedule.com, a provider of online clinic scheduling and medical scheduling technology, has been selected by the South Central Public Health District in Twins Falls, ID., to provide customized online scheduling and automated virtual call center technology to support its clinic and office scheduling needs.

13 Sep 2010

CAP forges collaboration with CAP-ACP and RCPA for development of cancer protocols

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) recently signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the Canadian Association of Pathologists (CAP-ACP) and the Royal College of Pathologists Australasia (RCPA), forging a collaboration in the development of cancer datasets, also called protocols. The CAP Cancer Protocols are designed as a guideline for definitive cancer reporting.

13 Sep 2010

Scientists discover SNP association with primary open-angle glaucoma risk

Scientists at deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from Iceland, China, Sweden, the UK and Australia today report the discovery of the most important single-letter variation (SNP) in the sequence of the human genome yet associated with risk of primary open-angle glaucoma. This is the most common form of glaucoma and a major cause of blindness worldwide.

13 Sep 2010

Current economic crisis threatens to affect cancer incidence: Report

Although overall mortality from cancer is decreasing in the European Union, its incidence increased by almost 20%, from 2.1 million new cases in 2002 to 2.5 million in 2008, says a special issue of the European Journal of Cancer on cancer prevention, published today.

13 Sep 2010

Republicans shifting campaign focus beyond health care

Republicans had promised to make the fall elections a reprise of the bitter, exhausting debate over what they call 'Obamacare',The Boston Globe reports. But two months before the vote, the GOP has adopted a more nuanced approach and folded the issue into broader attacks on the Democrats' handling of the economy.

13 Sep 2010

Researchers develop mathematical framework for vaccine stockpile implications

A creative version of a classic engineering technique may improve decisions about building and using supplies of important pediatric vaccines, potentially leading to lower public health costs and healthier children.The United States maintains a six-month supply of common pediatric vaccines to ensure protection from deadly diseases, such as the flu, polio, and diphtheria, despite interruptions in vaccine production.

13 Sep 2010

Accord reached on draft declaration for MDG summit

World powers have reached an accord, after weeks of tough talks, on a document to be adopted at a Millennium Development summit this month for which [U.N.] Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is seeking billions of dollars of new funding,Agence France-Presse reports in an article that describes how representatives from donor and developing nations debated how best to pay for a kick start to the ambitious development goals first set at the Millennium summit in 2000.

13 Sep 2010

C-section rates on the rise

According to a California Watch analysis, profit making hospitals across the state are performing Cesarean sections at higher rates than non-profit hospitals. The analysis compiled a database of state birthing records and showed that women were at least 17 percent more likely to have a Cesarean section at a for-profit hospital than at a non-profit or public hospital from 2005 to 2007.

12 Sep 2010

'Behind the counter' shop displays of cigarettes encourage smoking among youth

Young people believe 'behind the counter' shop displays of cigarettes encourage smoking and are considered "cool, fun and attractive" according to new research published in Health Promotion Practice.

10 Sep 2010