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Keeping HIV patients on ART will have long-term economic benefits, study shows

Investments to keep 3.5 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral drugs provided by programs co-financed through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through 2020 will cost an estimated $14.2 billion, but "the financial savings would amount to between $12 billion and $34 billion," according to a study published in the journal PLoS One, Sarah Boseley reports in her "Global Health Blog" in the Guardian.

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover rare genetic alteration responsible for hypoglycaemia

Cambridge scientists have identified the cause of a rare, life-threatening form of hypoglycaemia. Their findings, which have the potential to lead to pharmaceutical treatments for the disorder, were published today, 07 October, in the journal Science.

7 Oct 2011

Teriflunomide drug reduces relapse rate of people with MS

A new oral drug has been shown in a large international clinical trial to significantly reduce the relapse rate of people with multiple sclerosis and to slow the progression of the disease.

7 Oct 2011

Strain echocardiography can help physicians detect early signs of cardiac toxicity in cancer patients

There is good news for cancer patients whose medical treatments put them at risk for future cardiac problems: using strain echocardiography can help physicians detect early signs of cardiac toxicity.

7 Oct 2011

Herceptin chemo combination could mean longer survival and lower side effects in breast cancer patients: Study

A new study released this Wednesday revealed that breast cancer that is highly aggressive but caught early could be best treated with a combination of Herceptin and chemotherapy.

6 Oct 2011

Thriving stem cells created by cloning technique

In a breakthrough that has been debated and awaited for long, scientists have finally derived colonies of embryonic stem cells from human embryos created using cloning technology.

6 Oct 2011

People with good vitamin D supply at lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes

Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have shown that people with a good vitamin D supply are at lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study, which was conducted in cooperation with the German Diabetes Center and the University of Ulm, will be published in the October edition of the renowned scientific journal Diabetes Care.

4 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 4, 2011

Today's news highlights include reports that the Supreme Court kicked off its new term by hearing a key Medicaid case that tests whether providers and patients can go to court to challenge decisions by cash-strapped states to reduce Medicaid payments.

4 Oct 2011

Fear of trouble and embarrassment a reason for avoiding online error-reporting systems

"Too busy," and "too complicated." These are the typical excuses one might expect when medical professionals are asked why they fail to use online error-reporting systems designed to improve patient safety and the quality of care. But, Johns Hopkins investigators found instead that the most common reason among radiation oncologists was fear of getting into trouble and embarrassment.

4 Oct 2011

Clinical study: Higher radiation dose does not improve overall survival for NSCLC

A higher dose of radiation (74 Gy) does not improve overall survival for non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, compared to the standard radiation dose (60 Gy), according to an interim analysis of a late-breaking randomized study presented at the plenary session, October 3, 2011, at the 53rdAnnual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

4 Oct 2011

Researchers discover cell differentiation mechanism

Researchers from the Haematopoietic Differentiation and Stem Cell Biology group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), have described one of the mechanisms by which a cell (from the skin, for example) can be converted into another which is completely different.

4 Oct 2011

Three Penn labs receive NIH grant to speed translation of medical research into patient care

Three labs from the University of Pennsylvania have received $12.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of its $143.8 million national grant program to challenge the scientific status quo with innovative ideas that have the potential to speed the translation of medical research into improved health for the American public.

4 Oct 2011

More than three-quarters of cancer patients have vitamin D deficiency

More than three-quarters of cancer patients have insufficient levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) and the lowest levels are associated with more advanced cancer, according to a study presented on October 2, 2011, at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

4 Oct 2011

Orexigen presents data from Contrave trial at 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., today announced that Contrave (naltrexone SR/bupropion SR) data will be presented in one oral and multiple poster presentations at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society on October 3, 2011 in Orlando, FL.

4 Oct 2011

NIH Director to deliver keynote address at eighth SIO international conference

The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) announced today that National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, will deliver the keynote address at its eighth international conference, which is co‐sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

4 Oct 2011

Virtual 18F-FDG PET/CT bronchoscopy may accurately detect NSCLC metastases

For patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) the accurate determination of the lymph node status before therapy is critical to develop an individualized treatment plan. Research from the October issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine highlights a new way for this information to be collected -- a virtual fly-through three-dimensional 18F-FDG PET/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) bronchoscopy that has high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of regional lymph node metastases.

4 Oct 2011

Interactive video games appear to safely enhance physical therapy for ICU patients

Interactive video games, already known to improve motor function in recovering stroke patients, appear to safely enhance physical therapy for patients in intensive care units (ICU), new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

4 Oct 2011

MR-guided focused ultrasound may effectively control essential tremor

In a presentation at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons today, University of Virginia neurosurgeon W. Jeffrey Elias, MD reported that preliminary results of a pilot clinical trial indicate that MR-guided focused ultrasound has the potential to safely and effectively control essential tremor (ET), a common neurological condition that affects 10 million Americans.

4 Oct 2011

PE, CT appear to reduce PTSD symptoms in patients with recent traumatic event

Prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, and delayed prolonged exposure therapy, appear to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in patients who have experienced a recent traumatic event, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Oct 2011

Cancer patients prefer to use Web-based technology for quality of life survey

When cancer patients are given the choice, they are significantly more likely to use Web-based technology to answer questions about their quality of life six months after treatment, compared to a paper survey, according to a unique study presented at a scientific session, October 5, 2011, at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

4 Oct 2011