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Roundup: Wis. judge keeps law barring most collective bargaining on shelf; Study: Medicaid expansion could be costly after 2016; Doc shortage presaged in Las Vegas

A Wisconsin judge refused Monday to put on hold his earlier decision repealing major parts of Gov. Scott Walker's law effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers.

24 Oct 2012

Medical students want more ethics training

Almost two-thirds of medical students and residents feel that there is a need for more ethics training during their curricula and training programs, respectively, show results of a survey undertaken at a US medical school.

23 Oct 2012

Up to 10% of acute lung injuries may be drug-related

A population-based study has found that drug-induced acute lung injury accounts for around 9.5% of all acute lung injury cases.

23 Oct 2012

Donor gene clue to kidney transplant rejection

Genetic study results show that long-term kidney transplant rejection risk may be increased if the organ donor has a variant form of the multidrug resistance 1 gene.

23 Oct 2012

Almost all children on intensive care units given ‘off-label’ drugs

Study results show that a very high proportion of children admitted to intensive care units are treated with “off-label” drugs that have not been tested for the specific age or condition of the patient.

23 Oct 2012

GSU project to study how the body's internal clock is reset

Georgia State University's H. Elliott Albers, the Regents' Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, has received a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how the body's internal clock is "reset," a key to understanding more about sleep and other disorders affecting human health.

23 Oct 2012

Researchers investigate effects of sleep architecture on hunger

A new study shows that both length of time and percentage of overall sleep spent in different sleep stages are associated with decreased metabolic rate, increased hunger, and increased intake of calories (specifically from fat and carbohydrates). The findings suggest an explanation for the association between sleep problems and obesity.

23 Oct 2012

Link between marijuana use and cannabinoid hyperemesis

Marijuana use-both natural and synthetic-may cause cannabinoid hyperemesis (CH) a little-known but costly effect that researchers suggest is a serious burden to the health care system as it often leads to expensive diagnostic tests and ineffective treatments in an effort to find the cause of a patient's symptoms and provide relief, according to two separate case reports unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 77th Annual Scientific meeting in Las Vegas.

23 Oct 2012

Possible overlap exists between inflammatory bowel disease and IBS

Research unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 77th Annual Scientific meeting in Las Vegas suggests a possible overlap of symptoms of two prevalent GI disorders: irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and further suggests a possible link between subtle GI tract inflammation and IBS symptoms-a link that is also the focus of the first systemic review of the literature on this topic and an editorial both published in this month's American Journal of Gastroenterology.

23 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: LA Times endorses Obama; Romney, Ryan 'obfuscating their plans for Medicare, Medicaid;' Obama's health law polarizes the country

The outcome of the presidential election will determine which of two opposing paths the nation will follow on health care for all Americans. If voters re-elect President Obama, he will protect the health care reforms.

23 Oct 2012

Methylation provides clues to gastric cancer subtypes

Research published in Science Translational Medicine shows that many gastric cancers are associated with significant epigenetic alterations along the DNA triggered by methylation.

22 Oct 2012

Medicare's policy on compounded drugs under scrutiny; Lawsuits growing in meningitis outbreak

The Associated Press reports on the role Medicare plays in national drug purchasing and The Washington Post finds the "race is on" to sign up clients for lawsuits.

22 Oct 2012

Implementation update: What health law changes will be evident in 2013

The Wall Street Journal reports on how the 2010 health law might impact consumers' health coverage in 2013. In addition, CQ HealthBeat examines what might become of insurance exchanges if GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney wins the election.

22 Oct 2012

Liquid version of breast cancer drug Tamoxifen launched in the US

Breast Cancer Awareness Month raises visibility and research dollars to address a disease that in the United States claims nearly 40,000 lives annually and affects approximately 240,000 people who each year are newly diagnosed. While the month's activities are important in the fight against breast cancer, they are not designed to directly improve the day-to-day management of the disease.

22 Oct 2012

PLoS ONE publishes review of AntiViral-HyperActivation Limiting Therapeutics clinical trial

ViroStatics, a private Italian/American biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for viral and other chronic diseases, announced that a review of the first human clinical trial to test a new class of anti-HIV medications known as AntiViral-HyperActivation Limiting Therapeutics (AV-HALTs) has been published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

22 Oct 2012

EvaluatePharma's Tracking Drugs@FDA provides regulatory approval analysis

EvaluatePharma, the premier source for life science sector analysis and consensus forecasts, today launched a new service enhancement, Tracking Drugs@FDA, which gives clients access to the entire universe of approved FDA drugs and the related FDA document library as well as FDA Orange Book patent data - all fully integrated into the industry-leading EvaluatePharma platform and analytical tools.

22 Oct 2012

Acetylsalicylic acid slows decline in brain capacity among the elderly

A daily dose of acetylsalicylic acid equivalent to a fourth of an aspirin may slow the decline in intellectual capacity among elderly individuals with high cardiovascular risk. This is shown in a study by Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

22 Oct 2012

First Edition: October 22, 2012

Today's headlines include the latest news about how health policies are playing on the campaign trail as candidates move into the home stretch.

22 Oct 2012

VEGF produced by NPCs plays a strong role in influencing microglial behavior

The brain's key "breeder" cells, it turns out, do more than that. They secrete substances that boost the numbers and strength of critical brain-based immune cells believed to play a vital role in brain health. This finding adds a new dimension to our understanding of how resident stem cells and stem cell transplants may improve brain function.

22 Oct 2012

Pediatric ICU patients often receive off-label drug treatments

"Off label" drugs are medications that have not been tested for safety or efficacy for a specific patient age or condition. New research presented Oct. 21 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans found that off-label treatments were ordered for 96 percent of all pediatric patients, and 100 percent of patients ages 13-17, in the intensive care unit of an urban children's hospital.

22 Oct 2012