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Two-thirds of nations on track to meet poverty, hunger MDGs by 2015, WB-IMF report says

Two-thirds of developing countries are on track or close to reaching the U.N. Millennium Development Goal targets to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, according to a World Bank-IMF report released Friday to coincide with a meeting of the groups in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, Agence France-Presse/Edmonton Journal reports.

19 Apr 2011

Commonly used strategy has no effect in reducing MRSA, VRE in hospital ICUs

A new research study of the effect of a commonly used strategy to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospital intensive care units shows that the strategy had no significant effect. That's the surprising finding of a multisite study led by Mayo Clinic investigators.

19 Apr 2011

Vancouver's supervised injection site reduces overdose mortality rates to 35%

Illicit drug overdose deaths in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside dropped by 35 per cent after the establishment of Insite, North America's first supervised injection facility, according a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

19 Apr 2011

GOP presses to undo health law as Dems gear up advocacy strategy

News outlets report on Republican plans to stop the sweeping health overhaul — ranging from Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's push for the Supreme Court to "fast track" its consideration of legal challenges to congressional plans for defunding the law — as well as how Democrats are ginning up their message machines to counter these attacks.

19 Apr 2011

Patients with low back pain can benefit from immediate physiotherapy

Immediate treatment by a physiotherapist, bypassing a waiting list, can reduce problems with recurring low back pain, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

19 Apr 2011

New BGU technology for physically disabled

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev software engineering students have developed innovative technology that could enable people to operate a computer without using a keyboard or mouse - only their brainwaves.

19 Apr 2011

New research: 56% of Canadians with AF do not fear having fatal stroke

New research reveals more than half of Canadians living with atrial fibrillation do not fear having a stroke, despite AF-related strokes being more severe, debilitating and twice as likely to be fatal.

19 Apr 2011

Binge drinking can alter body's immune system response to orthopaedic injury

A Loyola University Health System study has found another reason to not binge drink alcohol.

19 Apr 2011

NIDA launches Addiction Performance Project for primary care providers

The National Institute on Drug Abuse announced today the launch of its Addiction Performance Project, an innovative continued medical education program designed to help primary care providers break down the stigma associated with addiction.

19 Apr 2011

Exacerbate-reverse' approach can identify potential therapy for fatal childhood disease

Many genes that cause human diseases have parallel genes in other organisms, including yeast. Now Columbia University researchers have used an innovative yeast-based screening method to identify a possible treatment for the fatal childhood disease Niemann-Pick C.

19 Apr 2011

Mother's diet during pregnancy can influence child's risk of obesity

Scientists have discovered that a mother's nutrition during pregnancy can strongly influence her child's risk of obesity many years later.

19 Apr 2011

Well-controlled blood sugar levels linked to low risk of diabetic complications

A new study of older diabetes patients has found that well-controlled blood sugar levels were associated with a lower risk of major complications such as heart attacks, amputation and kidney disease, but the very lowest blood sugar levels were associated with a small but significant increased risk of death.

19 Apr 2011

Hospitals can reduce unnecessary imaging tests using CD import

Each year, more than two million critically ill patients are transferred from one hospital emergency department to another for appropriate care. With the ability to successfully import data from a CD-ROM containing the patient's diagnostic medical images, hospitals may be able to significantly reduce unnecessary medical imaging tests, some of which expose patients to radiation. These findings are reported in a new study published in the July issue of Radiology.

19 Apr 2011

DaVita re-designs its leading online kidney disease resource

DaVita Inc., a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with end stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease, today announced the redesign and launch of DaVita.com, the leading online resource for information about kidney disease.

19 Apr 2011

Medtronic introduces new Midas Rex e-Institute website

Medtronic, Inc. today announced the launch of its new Midas Rex e-Institute website, an enhanced web portal for healthcare professionals to explore interactive education on surgical anatomy, surgical procedures, and technical instruction.

19 Apr 2011

First bypass surgery to restore lost brain tissue performed at Krembil Neuroscience Centre

Neurosurgeons at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, have for the first time, initiated the restoration of lost brain tissue through brain bypass surgery in patients where blood flow to the brain is impaired by cerebrovascular disease. The study, which involved 29 patients, was published online in the journal Stroke.

19 Apr 2011

Drospirenone doesn't carry any risk of gall bladder disease

Drospirenone, the top-selling oral contraceptive marketed as Yaz or Yasmin in the U.S. and Canada, doesn't carry any more risk of gall bladder disease than the older generation of birth control pills, despite claims by some consumers and lawyers in both countries, according to a new study by University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Mahyar Etminan.

19 Apr 2011

Also in global health news: U.N., Libyan government reach deal over aid; USAID monitoring HIV/AIDS in Philippines; WFP warns of Afghanistan food shortages; U.N. appeals for more aid in Cote d'Ivoire, Namibia

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday at a press conference in Hungary announced that the organization had reached an agreement with the Libyan government to provide humanitarian aid in the country's capital city of Tripoli, the Associated Press reports.

19 Apr 2011

Obama to rally support for his deficit-reduction plan

President Barack Obama will take his message on the road with a "series of campaign-style stops" in an effort to block a Republican deficit-reduction blueprint that would dramatically change Medicare and other social programs.

18 Apr 2011

Amedisys enters agreement to acquire Beacon Hospice

Amedisys, Inc., one of America's leading home health and hospice companies, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Beacon Hospice, Inc.

18 Apr 2011