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China-Biotics applies for patents on new probiotic formulations

China-Biotics, Inc. today announced it has submitted applications for four patents to the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China.

31 Jul 2009

Risk factors of disordered eating in overweight youth identified

University of Minnesota Project Eating Among Teens (EAT) researchers have identified factors that may increase overweight adolescents' risk of engaging in extreme weight control behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, the use of diet pills, laxatives, and diuretics, as well as binge eating.

31 Jul 2009

Research suggests that zinc activates a key protein on T cells needed to fight infections

Everyone knows that vitamins "from A to zinc" are important for good health. Now, a new research study in the August 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that zinc may be pointing the way to new therapeutic targets for fighting infections.

31 Jul 2009

World Food Programme to cut $3 billion from programs because of budget shortfall

Low donation levels are causing the World Food Programme (WFP) to fall short of feeding the most critically hungry people in the world, and the agency "has so far received only $1.8 billion and has had to cut back rations and programs to the 108 million people it serves, said Josette Sheeran," WFP's executive director, Reuters reports (Rampton, 7/29).

30 Jul 2009

Colchicine approved for acute gout, Mediterranean fever

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Colcrys to treat acute flairs in patients with gout, a recurrent and painful form of arthritis, and patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), an inherited inflammatory disorder. The medication's active ingredient is colchicine, a complex compound derived from the dried seeds of a plant known as the autumn crocus or meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale).

30 Jul 2009

Short-term complications after bariatric surgery for extreme obesity low

Short-term complications and death rates were low following bariatric surgery to limit the amount of food that can enter the stomach, decrease absorption of food or both, according to the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-1). The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. Results are reported in the July 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Jul 2009

Three organizations form alliance to address global malnutrition

"Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis - the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children's Hospital" - have entered into a partnership, known as the Global Harvest Alliance (GHA), which aims to "create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world's hungry and undernourished," the AP/Google.com reports.

29 Jul 2009

No evidence for superior nutritional content of organic produce

There is no evidence that organically produced foods are nutritionally superior to conventionally produced foodstuffs, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

29 Jul 2009

Study of pulmonary hypertension treatment in sickle cell patients stopped by NHLBI

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has stopped a clinical trial testing a drug treatment for pulmonary hypertension in adults with sickle cell disease nearly one year early due to safety concerns.

28 Jul 2009

U.N. allocates $6 million emergency fund to address health problems in Ethiopia

The U.N.'s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) recently allocated $6 million to address several health challenges facing Ethiopia, IRIN reports.

28 Jul 2009

Deferoxamine could help diabetics heal wounds

A drug used to remove iron from the body could help doctors fight one of diabetes' cruelest complications: poor wound healing, which can lead to amputation of patients' toes, feet and even legs.

28 Jul 2009

Anesthesia not harmful for babies during birth process

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that children exposed to anesthesia during Cesarean section are not at any higher risk for learning disabilities later in life than children not delivered by C-section. These findings are reported in the current issue of the journal Anesthesiology.

28 Jul 2009

Artificial intelligence used to diagnose metastatic cancer

When doctors are managing care for women with breast cancer, the information available to them profoundly influences the type of care they recommend. Knowing whether a woman's cancer has metastasized, for instance, directly affects how her doctors will approach treatment -- which may in turn influence the outcome of that treatment.

28 Jul 2009

Cost effectiveness study looks at potential value of new genetic test for guiding chemotherapy treatment

For the 29,000 patients in the United States with metastatic colorectal cancer, chemotherapy with irinotecan is a standard treatment that has been shown to improve survival. But for more than one in 10 of these patients, a variation in their DNA means that this treatment could result in a severe reduction in their white blood cell count, leading to a high risk of bacterial infection and possible subsequent death.

27 Jul 2009

Intensive glucose control halves complications of longstanding type 1 diabetes

Near-normal control of glucose beginning as soon as possible after diagnosis would greatly improve the long-term prognosis of type 1 diabetes, concludes a study published in the July 27, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, which updates information about the clinical course of type 1 diabetes.

27 Jul 2009

Diets high in calcium and dairy products in childhood may lower mortality

Suggestive evidence points to the possibility that children who have a diet high in calcium and who consume dairy products may have a lower mortality rate than those who don't, according to a study by researchers in Bristol and Brisbane, published in the journal Heart.

27 Jul 2009

Seattle Genetics starts Brentuximab Vedotin retreatment trial

Seattle Genetics, Inc. has announced that it has initiated a phase II clinical trial of brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), for the retreatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).

27 Jul 2009

Music drives experimental samples through a lab-on-a-chip

Music, rather than electromechanical valves, can drive experimental samples through a lab-on-a-chip in a new system developed at the University of Michigan. This development could significantly simplify the process of conducting experiments in microfluidic devices.

27 Jul 2009

NHS on the cards for an ailing Australian health system

A new report is recommending a Federal takeover of the Australian public health and dental system - the report by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) says the health system is under strain and in need of a new prescription.

27 Jul 2009