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FDA awards grants to boost food and feed safety initiatives

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it has awarded 83 grants in FY2009 totaling $17.5 million to state and local regulatory agencies to boost food and feed safety initiatives among federal, state, and local partners.

27 Oct 2009

Senate health bill could come this week, 'compromise' public option now seems likely

Senate Democrats will need to move quickly if they want to pass some version of health overhaul legislation by the end of the year.

27 Oct 2009

Opinions: Africa Food Aid; International Violence Against Women Act; brain drain

While the drought and starvation in the Horn of Africa are "ghastly to be sure," when "you see children on TV with distended bellies keening over their dying parents ... do them a favour. Sit on your hands," Sam Kiley, a former Africa bureau chief with the London Times, writes in a newspaper opinion piece.

27 Oct 2009

Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

Filipinos are "struggling to live in flooded suburbs or crowded shelters one month after devastating rains began pounding the Philippines, and officials warn no quick fix is in sight," Agence France-Presse reports. According to the WHO, 1.43 million people, "mostly in and around Manila, continue to endure a dangerous existence living in flooded districts" (Morella, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

National Cancer Institute awards Johns Hopkins $14.8 million for cancer research

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology have been awarded $14.8 million from the National Cancer Institute to launch a research center aimed at unraveling the physical underpinnings of the growth and spread of cancer.

26 Oct 2009

Pritzker Olsen to represent 3-year-old child sickened with an E. coli O157:H7 infection

Pritzker Olsen law firm has been retained to represent a 3-year-old child sickened with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome. The child is believed to have contracted the illness at a local apple orchard/ petting zoo in the Twin Cities (MN) area. Preliminary testing indicates that the genetic fingerprint of the E .coli O157:H7 obtained from the child’s stool sample matches the genetic fingerprint of E. coli from llama feces tested at the petting zoo.

26 Oct 2009

CCA and key industry leaders to discuss role of retail-based healthcare in health reform

On Monday, October 26, the Convenient Care Association (CCA) and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, along with the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and The Drug Store News Group, will discuss the evolution and growth of the convenient care industry, expansion of the convenient care model, convenient care in the health system setting, and quality in convenient care.

26 Oct 2009

Pittsburgh Technical Institute gets initial approval for its Practical Nursing program

Pittsburgh Technical Institute (PTI) announces initial approval of its Practical Nursing program by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. At its Monday, September 28, 2009, meeting, the Nursing Board granted PTI permission to offer a 12-month certificate in Practical Nursing through the career college's School of Healthcare.

24 Oct 2009

Wildlife Conservation Society to monitor diseases for preventing global pandemic

The Wildlife Conservation Society will play a key role in a new international effort to monitor diseases that move between animals and people in order to prevent the next global pandemic.

24 Oct 2009

UC Davis' international effort to prevent new pandemics

In hopes of preventing the next global pandemic and a possible death toll into the millions, UC Davis today launches an unprecedented international effort to find and control diseases that move between wildlife and people.

24 Oct 2009

FDA to standardize front-of-package criteria, Smart Choices Program postpones active operations

The Smart Choices Program announced today that it will voluntarily postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the logo at this time by either new or currently enrolled companies.

24 Oct 2009

New report analyzes similarities, differences, potential impacts and costs of current health reform bills

A new Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the similarities, differences, potential impacts, and costs of current bills passed by the five committees of jurisdiction in the United States Congress: Finance Committee and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce committees.

24 Oct 2009

African American seniors less likely to be vaccinated against flu; fear and misinformation pose problems

A study about why African American seniors do or do not get influenza vaccinations finds that many of them do not have accurate and complete information about the flu itself, the safety and efficacy of the inoculations, and the ease and necessity of getting the shots.

24 Oct 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

"The spread of dengue virus throughout the tropics represents a major, rapidly growing public health problem with an estimated 2.5 billion people at risk of dengue fever and the life-threatening disease, severe dengue," write the authors of a Lancet Infectious Diseases review that examines what is known about the virus and progress in the development of a dengue vaccine (Webster et. al, 11/09).

24 Oct 2009

Learn to recognise stroke symptoms and take action: World Stroke Organization

The theme of this year's World Stroke Day on 29th October is "What can I do?". As the World Stroke Organization says, everyone can do something: learn to recognise symptoms and take action, learn to recognise the risk factors and take action.

24 Oct 2009

E. coli outbreak highlights the importance of food safety

Two students from Lincoln Middle School in Lincoln, Rhode Island were hospitalized several days after a field trip to Camp Bournedale in Plymouth, Massachusetts earlier this month. Several other students were also sickened.

24 Oct 2009

NIH awards $1.4 million Small Business Technology Transfer grant to BloodCenter of Wisconsin

BloodCenter of Wisconsin (BCW) today announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $1.4 million Small Business Technology Transfer grant to fund continued research into the deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enhance safety and reduce hospital costs related to the collection, manufacture and transfusion of blood products. The NIH grant allows the first-ever research into the potential clinical and financial benefits of RFID technology for automatic identification, tracking, and status monitoring of blood and blood products across the entire transfusion medicine supply chain.

24 Oct 2009

Illegal immigrants, though excluded from government insurance, remain part of health debate

Lawmakers are excluding undocumented immigrants from health care reform legislation and barring them from receiving any government benefits.

24 Oct 2009

Media examines U.S., Mexico H1N1 vaccine campaigns, health effects of handwashing in Bolivia

The Washington Post examines H1N1 vaccine supplies across the U.S.: "With only a fraction of the tens of millions of doses of vaccine that authorities predicted would be available arriving in states, cities and towns, public health officials who spent months planning for a massive immunization program are instead scrambling to parcel out their limited supply of nasal sprays and shots," the newspaper writes.

24 Oct 2009

Chasm between insurers and reform supporters grows

Although "[h]ealth insurers insist they're still committed to getting a health care overhaul bill passed this year," many people in Washington are "wondering if — or when — the industry will change its mind and try to kill it," The Associated Press reports.

24 Oct 2009

Public Health News and Research

FDA awards grants to boost food and feed safety initiatives

Senate health bill could come this week, 'compromise' public option now seems likely

Opinions: Africa Food Aid; International Violence Against Women Act; brain drain

Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

National Cancer Institute awards Johns Hopkins $14.8 million for cancer research

Pritzker Olsen to represent 3-year-old child sickened with an E. coli O157:H7 infection

CCA and key industry leaders to discuss role of retail-based healthcare in health reform

Pittsburgh Technical Institute gets initial approval for its Practical Nursing program

Wildlife Conservation Society to monitor diseases for preventing global pandemic

UC Davis' international effort to prevent new pandemics

FDA to standardize front-of-package criteria, Smart Choices Program postpones active operations

New report analyzes similarities, differences, potential impacts and costs of current health reform bills

African American seniors less likely to be vaccinated against flu; fear and misinformation pose problems

Recent releases in Global Health

Learn to recognise stroke symptoms and take action: World Stroke Organization

E. coli outbreak highlights the importance of food safety

NIH awards $1.4 million Small Business Technology Transfer grant to BloodCenter of Wisconsin

Illegal immigrants, though excluded from government insurance, remain part of health debate

Media examines U.S., Mexico H1N1 vaccine campaigns, health effects of handwashing in Bolivia

Chasm between insurers and reform supporters grows

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