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HHS awards Sanofi Pasteur 3-year, $56.94M egg supply contract for pandemic vaccine preparedness

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, has been awarded a three-year contract for $56.94 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain flocks to enable manufacturing pandemic influenza vaccine at full capacity on a year-round basis.

11 Oct 2010

CDC, national leaders issue recommendations to standardize testosterone tests

The use of testosterone assays for patient care and research is on the rise as new research links testosterone to a variety of diseases and conditions. Although the assays are heavily used, discrepancies and inaccuracies in measurements resulting from the various assays are widespread.

11 Oct 2010

Obesity can accelerate progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Study

The first study to demonstrate that obesity can directly accelerate the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been conducted at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and was published in Cancer Prevention Research, on October 5, 2010.

11 Oct 2010

FDA designates NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System as HUD device for ALS patients

Synapse Biomedical Inc. announces today that they have received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation of the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System (DPS) as a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with a stimulatable diaphragm who are experiencing chronic hypoventilation and has now submitted for Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) approval.

11 Oct 2010

Fish located near coal-fired power plants can pose public health problems

A new study from North Carolina State University finds that fish located near coal-fired power plants have lower levels of mercury than fish that live much further away. The surprising finding appears to be linked to high levels of another chemical, selenium, found near such facilities, which unfortunately poses problems of its own.

8 Oct 2010

Reverby writes commentary for Bioethics Forum on syphilis study

The researcher whose revelations about unethical U.S. studies on syphilis in Guatemala in the 1940's led to apologies from the Obama administration last week has written a commentary for Bioethics Forum, the Hastings Center's online publication. She calls for the need to learn from history to better protect human subjects in the developing world.

8 Oct 2010

GWUMC to serve as Coordinating Center for multiple NIH MEPI programs

The George Washington University Medical Center has been tapped to serve as the Coordinating Center for multiple NIH Medical Education Partnership Initiative programs and linked grantees that are focused on improving medical education and research in Sub-Saharan Africa. The five-year, $12.5 million grant awarded to GW will fund the Coordinating Center that will oversee the $130 million U.S. commitment to the program.

8 Oct 2010

US continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy: Study

America continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and commonly cited causes for our poor performance-obesity, smoking, traffic fatalities and homicide-are not to blame, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

8 Oct 2010

ABMS awarded HHS contract to align meaningful use of HIT, ABMS MOC program

The American Board of Medical Specialties announced today a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to align the meaningful use of health information technology and the ABMS Maintenance of Certification program, which was created by ABMS and its 24 Member Boards to promote lifelong learning and self assessment for physician specialists. The contract was awarded by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for HIT.

8 Oct 2010

Smoking ban contributes to fewer heart attack deaths: Study

A new study finds that the number of deadly heart attacks in Massachusetts fell by more than 7 percent after the state outlawed smoking in workplaces, a possible sign that the ban contributed to better health as fewer people found themselves around smoke.

8 Oct 2010

Spanish mothers more concerned about the safety of childhood vaccines

Researchers from the University of Alicante (UA) taking part in the European VACSATC project have studied mothers' and fathers' opinions on vaccinating their children in five countries. The results of the survey show that Spanish mothers are more resistant than those in other countries to the idea of paying for vaccines, while 20.9% expressed some concern about the safety of vaccines.

8 Oct 2010

CDC issues new universal influenza vaccination recommendation for all Americans

With the influenza vaccine already available and more supply anticipated than ever before, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases convened ten of the country's leading medical and public health groups to call on all Americans to get vaccinated this season.

8 Oct 2010

N.Y. officials seek to ban purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps

"New Yorkers on food stamps would not be allowed to spend them on sugar-sweetened drinks under an obesity-fighting proposal being floated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson. Bloomberg and Paterson planned to announce Thursday that they are seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the nation's food stamp program, to add sugary drinks to the list of prohibited goods for city residents receiving assistance. If approved, it would be the first time an item would be banned from the federal program based solely on nutritional value" (Kugler Frazier, 10/7).

8 Oct 2010

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center receives $7.6M ARRA stimulus grant for prostate cancer research

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center has received a $7.6 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus grant to coordinate a study comparing the effectiveness of various treatments for prostate cancer. David Penson, M.D., M.P.H., professor of Urologic Surgery, will serve as Principal Investigator for the Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Surgery and Radiation study on prostate cancer.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers find significant difference between prevalence of tinnitus among elderly people

Tinnitus is common among elderly Nigerians and associated with treatable health conditions like otitis media, rhinosinusitis, head injury and hypertension, according to new research published in the October 2010 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

8 Oct 2010

U.N. Secretary-General urges funding for GAVI during replenishment meeting

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged more funding for the GAVI Alliance to help achieve its childhood vaccine targets and the related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), TopNews reports.

8 Oct 2010

NIAID announces three new contracts to fund research on dengue, anthrax vaccines

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced three new contracts to fund research on vaccines to protect against emerging infectious diseases and biological threats that could be used in a terror attack. Each project focuses on simple and efficient vaccine delivery approaches that could be deployed quickly. The total funding for the three contracts could reach $68 million, depending on the successful completion of defined project milestones.

8 Oct 2010

Center for Injury Research and Policy awarded $38.6M to expand METRC

The Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been awarded $38.6 million by the Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program of the U.S. Department of Defense to expand its Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium.

7 Oct 2010

UEM, San Diego School of Medicine enter partnership to address medical human resource needs in Mozambique

Aimed at enhancing the capacity of Mozambique's flagship medical school, Universidade Eduardo Modlane (UEM), in pre- and postgraduate medical education, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UEM entered into a partnership in 2007 to address both short and long-term medical human resource needs in Mozambique.

7 Oct 2010

CDC selects Northrop Grumman to compete for task orders in CIMS contract

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to compete for task orders to provide information management and technology services in support of the CDC's global health mission under a $5 billion indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.

7 Oct 2010