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Highlighting calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium in food packaging nutrition rating systems needed

Nutrition rating systems and symbols on the fronts of food packaging would be most useful to shoppers if they highlighted four nutrients of greatest concern - calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium - says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. These food components are routinely overconsumed and associated most strongly with diet-related health problems affecting many Americans, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

14 Oct 2010

Free public event to discuss impact of health care reform on industry

Pennsylvania Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Dan Onorato, along with physicians, nurses, patients, political leaders and those interested in health care reform will participate in a free public event on Wednesday, October 20, 2010, to discuss the impact health care reform will have on the health care industry, cardiovascular care and the patient experience.

14 Oct 2010

Overseas nurses not feeling personally or professionally valued by UK nursing establishment

Many overseas nurses have negative experiences of living and working in the UK, particularly when it comes to feeling personally valued and professionally respected, according to the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

14 Oct 2010

European Society of Cardiology to commence new programme of Global Scientific Activities at GW-ICC

On the opening day of today's Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology in Beijing the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will take its first step in a new programme of Global Scientific Activities. The GW-ICC will host a one-day ESC educational programme built around highlights from the Society's annual meeting in Stockholm and this year's newly published ESC guidelines.

14 Oct 2010

Onyx II 9560 wireless fingertip pulse oximeter helps rescue Chilean miners

Nonin Medical, Inc., the inventor of the world's first fingertip and wireless-fingertip pulse oximeter, announced today that its Onyx II 9560 wireless fingertip pulse oximeter was used in the effort to rescue 33 Chilean miners who were trapped in a Copiapo, Chile mine since August 5.

14 Oct 2010

Research finds fat cells can secrete hormones

Scientists are reporting new evidence that the fat tissue in those spare tires and lower belly pooches - far from being a dormant storage depot for surplus calories - is an active organ that sends chemical signals to other parts of the body, perhaps increasing the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases. They are reporting discovery of 20 new hormones and other substances not previously known to be secreted into the blood by human fat cells and verification that fat secretes dozens of hormones and other chemical messengers.

14 Oct 2010

Watermelon effective against prehypertension

No matter how you slice it, watermelon has a lot going for it -- sweet, low calorie, high fiber, nutrient rich -- and now, there's more. Evidence from a pilot study led by food scientists at The Florida State University suggests that watermelon can be an effective natural weapon against prehypertension, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.

14 Oct 2010

Stony Brook professor receives NIH grant to optimize cardiovascular devices

Danny Bluestein, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University, has been awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant by the National Institutes of Health. The award marks the first time a Stony Brook professor has received a Phase II Quantum Grant, given by The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a division of the NIH, to make a profound improvement or quantum leap forward—in health care.

14 Oct 2010

Terason and HEARTS Program seek to prevent SCA

The Terason t3000 CV Ultrasound is the ultrasound system of choice for The HEARTS Program a project of Memorial Hermann and UT Southwestern Hospitals. Houston Early Age Risk Testing and Screening (HEARTS) program, is a study designed to detect any abnormal heart conditions that can cause the heart to arrest.

13 Oct 2010

Bariatric surgery reduces healthcare costs for morbidly obese diabetics

New data presented today at Obesity 2010, the 28th annual scientific meeting of The Obesity Society, find that bariatric surgery is associated with reduced healthcare costs for diabetes patients who are morbidly obese.

13 Oct 2010

Studies examine risk factors for hospital readmission

In two studies published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the risk factors for readmission to the hospital are examined based upon general medicine inpatients and those with at least two admissions in a six-month period. Alongside clinical factors such as having cancer, chronic diseases such as heart failure or lung disease, or being on high-risk medications, the studies identified other factors which increase the likelihood of a patient being readmitted which could help hospitalists focus in on these groups.

13 Oct 2010

Hospitalizations and associated costs with peripheral artery disease increase as condition progresses

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a progressive and costly disease, but remains under-diagnosed and under treated. While current PAD treatments are effective at clearing artery blockages in the lower leg, high recurrence rates and the subsequent need for repeat procedures are costly. Even after initial procedures to clear blockages in leg arteries, hospitalizations and associated costs in patients with peripheral artery disease increase as the condition progresses, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

13 Oct 2010

Study examines health-care costs among heart failure patients in Canada

As the population ages, health care epidemiologist Padma Kaul and cardiologist Paul Armstrong, researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, want health-care professionals to talk to their patients about their options on places to die, whether it be at home, in hospital or a palliative care facility like hospice.

13 Oct 2010

New, longer lasting LVAD implanted in Canadian heart-failure patient

In a Canadian first, the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre used a new kind of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to treat a patient with advanced heart failure. The new device is longer lasting than older generation LVADs and may eliminate the need for a second LVAD - a major drawback with the old technology.

13 Oct 2010

Commercial genetic profiling services should provide detailed information about test results: Report

Direct-to-consumer personal genetic profiling services that claim to predict people's health risks by analysing their DNA are often inconclusive and companies that sell them should provide better information about the evidence on which the results are based, says the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in a new report on the ethics of so-called personalised healthcare services.

13 Oct 2010

Kennedy Krieger Institute launches phase II clinical trial to investigate Revatio for DMD treatment

Kennedy Krieger Institute announced today the launch of a first‐of‐its‐kind, phase II clinical trial to investigate a treatment for heart disease in individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

13 Oct 2010

Stanford medical school doctor, author teaches 'The art of the physicial'

The New York Times profiles physician, professor and author Dr. Abraham Verghese: "At Stanford, he is on a mission to bring back something he considers a lost art: the physical exam. The old-fashioned touching, looking and listening — the once prized, almost magical skills of the doctor who missed nothing and could swiftly diagnose a peculiar walk, sluggish thyroid or leaky heart valve using just keen eyes, practiced hands and a stethoscope.

13 Oct 2010

Cardiogenesis initiates enrollment in PHOENIX System Feasibility Study

Cardiogenesis Corporation, a leading developer of surgical products used in the treatment of diffuse coronary artery disease, reported the enrollment of the first two patients in its PHOENIX Feasibility Study. Dr. Guillermo Reyes at La Princesa Hospital, Madrid, Spain performed the procedures utilizing the company's proprietary PHOENIX System that combines the intramyocardial delivery of stem cells with transmyocardial revascularization (TMR).

13 Oct 2010

Trapped Chilean miners might be changed forever: Psychologists

The Chilean miners who have been trapped for more than two months may emerge with psychological problems say experts as the rescue approached. Rescue teams were set to start hoisting up the first of 33 miners, trapped down around 700 metres, to the surface around midnight on Tuesday (1400 AEDT Wednesday), Mines Minister Laurence Golborne said.

12 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 12, 2010

Today's early morning highlights from major news organizations look at a probe of a California hospital chain, the effect that the governors' races around the country will have on the federal health law and a review of prescription purchases that shows more Americans are foregoing their medicines.

12 Oct 2010