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Prescription Solutions launches unique online service to streamline Prior Authorization requests

Prescription Solutions, a leading pharmacy benefits management organization and UnitedHealth Group company, has launched a unique online service to streamline submission, review and approval of Prior Authorization requests.

24 Mar 2011

Gut bacteria and state of immune system influence personality

Researchers at McMaster University discovered that the "cross-talk" between bacteria in our gut and our brain plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness, intestinal diseases and probably other health problems as well including obesity.

24 Mar 2011

Fudan, UTHealth introduce international network to fight against scleroderma

Scleroderma clinicians and researchers in the United States and China have launched an international network to fight this debilitating disease that affects more than one million people worldwide.

24 Mar 2011

New report shows 2% decrease in anxiolytic and hypnotic sales in Norway

After many years of gradual increase followed by a three-year levelling off period, sales of addictive anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs decreased by just under two per cent in 2010.

24 Mar 2011

ISEFC, TB Alliance to establish Global Health R&D Center of China

The International Scientific Exchange Foundation of China, a technical public foundation dedicated to promoting and advancing scientific development, cooperation, and exchange, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, to work together to establish the Global Health R&D Center of China, a world-class organization focused on developing innovative new treatments for public health diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.

24 Mar 2011

USPTO grants patent to ULURU's Altrazeal product

ULURU Inc. announced today that it has been issued U.S. Patent 7,910,135 – Hydrogel Wound Dressing and Biomaterials Formed In Situ and Their Uses.

24 Mar 2011

Kenya’s condom shortage

Health authorities in Kenya have revealed that the country was facing a condom shortage and it has made an emergency order of 45 million more. A January consignment of 19 million condoms lasted for around six weeks.

23 Mar 2011

Drug resistance tuberculosis concerns

According to a report released Wednesday, the World Health Organization revealed that drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) accounts for about 440,000 cases and 150,000 deaths worldwide each year. The WHO called for better diagnosis and more funding for treatment of the drug-resistant disease that's harder to cure.

23 Mar 2011

New insights into cancer genome may lead to designer drugs for myeloma

Patients with myeloma could benefit from ‘designer’ drugs in the future after new genome-mapping technology has allowed scientists to identify a full genetic blueprint of the mutations which drive the bone marrow cancer.

23 Mar 2011

Elder abuse victims more likely to suffer from mental disorder, use drugs or alcohol

Victims of severe traumatic elder abuse are more likely to be female, suffer from a neurological or mental disorder, and to abuse drugs or alcohol, according to research published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

23 Mar 2011

Report highlights common problems in Nordic mental health care reforms

In Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden reforms within psychiatry have transformed inpatient care to the point where it has increasingly been replaced by outpatient care.

23 Mar 2011

Health law opponents appeal recent Medicare ruling on opting out

News outlets detail a recent Medicare ruling as well as a status report on Medicare drug discounts.

23 Mar 2011

Japanese, International officials continue to monitor radiation levels

Japanese officials plan to measure radiation levels in the ocean beyond the country's borders on Tuesday and Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, CNN reports.

23 Mar 2011

Artificial disc replacement may provide better long-term results at reduced cost

When physical therapy and drugs fail to relieve back or neck pain, patients often turn to spinal fusion surgery as a last resort, but two new studies show that in certain situations, especially when several discs are involved, artificial disc replacement may give better long-term results at lower cost.

23 Mar 2011

Jefferson begins patient recruitment for new clinical trail to prevent colon cancer

Thomas Jefferson University has started recruiting patients for a new National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trial to test whether the cholesterol-reducing drug rosuvastatin is effective in the prevention of recurrent colon cancer.

23 Mar 2011

Biologists decipher molecular code regulating availability of brain channel linked to neuronal excitability

A key question in protein biochemistry is how proteins recognize "correct" interaction partners in a sea of cellular factors. Nowhere is that more critical to know than in the brain, where interactions governing channel protein activity can alter an organism's behavior.

23 Mar 2011

Early smoking onset linked to higher risk of cannabis use

Young people who start smoking at an early age have a much higher risk of starting to use cannabis by the time they turn 17. Risk factors that increase the likelihood of starting to smoke include externalising problem behaviours such as impulsiveness. Smoking, in turn, is a significant risk factor for cannabis use. These results have been confirmed in a project researching smoking at an early age and externalising behaviour as predictors of drug use.

23 Mar 2011

Use of fibrates for high lipid levels increases despite uncertain improvement in clinical outcomes

Although recent evidence suggests that the clinical benefit may be uncertain for fibrates, a class of drugs used for the treatment of high lipid levels, use of these drugs is common in the U.S. and Canada, with usage increasing steadily in the last decade in the U.S., especially for a brand-name fibrate product, according to a study in the March 23/30 issue of JAMA.

23 Mar 2011

Mayo Clinic receives $1 million gift for Lewy body dementia study

To help continue its internationally recognized work in Lewy body dementia, the Harry T. Mangurian, Jr., Foundation has awarded Mayo Clinic a $1 million gift, pledged over four years. Lewy body dementia, which combines aspects of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, is the second most common form of dementia in the United States.

23 Mar 2011

WHO releases first list of 30 priority medicines for women, children

The WHO on Monday released a list of 30 medicines that "are essential for treating common diseases of mothers and children," Ghana News Agency reports (3/21).

23 Mar 2011