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CDC, national leaders issue recommendations to standardize testosterone tests

The use of testosterone assays for patient care and research is on the rise as new research links testosterone to a variety of diseases and conditions. Although the assays are heavily used, discrepancies and inaccuracies in measurements resulting from the various assays are widespread.

11 Oct 2010

Drugs may prevent temporary combativeness in children after surgery

Temporary combativeness after surgery-a complication affecting up to half of anesthetized children-may be preventable with drugs that decrease epinephrine production, according to a Medical College of Georgia pediatric anesthesiologist.

11 Oct 2010

Flu season looking 'typical,' CDC says

Flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, where the flu season is ending, has been 'typical,' the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. All three types of flu that normally circulate are present, although the H1N1 'swine flu' strain that caused last year's pandemic has replaced the seasonal H1N1 strain that circulated before 2009.

11 Oct 2010

Study finds inconsistencies in methods to identify CA-BSI infection in pediatric patients

A new study looking at how hospitals identify pediatric patients who develop catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CA-BSI) found significant inconsistencies in the methods used to report the number of patients who develop them.

11 Oct 2010

Opinions: Learning to live with malaria; U.S. food aid policy; foreign aid reform

Recent discoveries of a possible wild reservoir for humankind's most malignant malaria, some 130 years after the discovery of the malaria parasite, could mean that it will be impossible to eradicate malaria,Sonia Shah, the author of The Fever, How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years,observes in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece.

11 Oct 2010

Political Ads, rhetoric on health law heating up races in Alaska, Nevada, Pennsylvania

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller said this week that his family took benefits years ago from Medicaid and a state program for low-income children and pregnant women despite his criticism of entitlement programs, The Associated Press reports.

11 Oct 2010

HHS, PEPFAR to invest $130 million to transform African medical education

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to invest $130 million over five years to transform African medical education and dramatically increase the number of practicing health care workers.

8 Oct 2010

Portrait painting may help children with craniofacial problems

A group of artists, young people and medical experts are involved in a groundbreaking project at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that uses the intimate process of portrait painting to help children and young people with craniofacial problems see themselves in a different light.

8 Oct 2010

Presbyterian Hospital collaborates with New York Center for Autism to establish Institute for Brain Development

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, along with its affiliated medical schools Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College, announced its collaboration with the New York Center for Autism to establish the Institute for Brain Development, a comprehensive, state-of-the-art institute dedicated to addressing the pressing clinical needs of individuals living with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disorders of the brain, across their lifespan.

8 Oct 2010

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center named Centers of Excellence for Molecular Hematology

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has been named one of five national Centers of Excellence for Molecular Hematology to find new gene and cell therapies for inherited diseases affecting blood cells.

8 Oct 2010

Spanish mothers more concerned about the safety of childhood vaccines

Researchers from the University of Alicante (UA) taking part in the European VACSATC project have studied mothers' and fathers' opinions on vaccinating their children in five countries. The results of the survey show that Spanish mothers are more resistant than those in other countries to the idea of paying for vaccines, while 20.9% expressed some concern about the safety of vaccines.

8 Oct 2010

CDC issues new universal influenza vaccination recommendation for all Americans

With the influenza vaccine already available and more supply anticipated than ever before, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases convened ten of the country's leading medical and public health groups to call on all Americans to get vaccinated this season.

8 Oct 2010

Firm sees drugs sales rising 5 to 7 percent next year, other drug industry news

The Associated Press reports that global prescription drug sales should rise 5 percent to 7 percent next year reaching at least $880 billion, fueled by new drugs and rising sales in developing countries, according to drug data firm IMS Health.

8 Oct 2010

N.Y. officials seek to ban purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps

"New Yorkers on food stamps would not be allowed to spend them on sugar-sweetened drinks under an obesity-fighting proposal being floated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson. Bloomberg and Paterson planned to announce Thursday that they are seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the nation's food stamp program, to add sugary drinks to the list of prohibited goods for city residents receiving assistance. If approved, it would be the first time an item would be banned from the federal program based solely on nutritional value" (Kugler Frazier, 10/7).

8 Oct 2010

U.S. to provide $120M for Haitian rebuilding, rubble removal; Haiti Commission approves 18 projects worth $777M

The U.S. on Wednesday announced that it will contribute $120 million to the Haiti Recovery Fund, the New York Times reports. Cheryl Mills, chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, announced the funding during the third meeting of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).

8 Oct 2010

StemCells provides update on PMD Phase I clinical trial

StemCells, Inc. today provided an update on its ongoing Phase I clinical trial in Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder that afflicts male children.

8 Oct 2010

ABC news announces one-year reporting series on global health issues

ABC News on Wednesday announced a yearlong project to focus attention on the diseases and health conditions that afflict the world's poorest people the Associated Press reports.

8 Oct 2010

U.N. Secretary-General urges funding for GAVI during replenishment meeting

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged more funding for the GAVI Alliance to help achieve its childhood vaccine targets and the related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), TopNews reports.

8 Oct 2010

Inviragen, PharmaJet awarded NIAID contract to develop needle-free, easy to administer dengue vaccine

Inviragen and PharmaJet announced the award of a five year, $15.5 million dollar contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to advance the development of a needle-free, easy to administer dengue vaccine. The award will fund preclinical studies, regulatory filings, manufacturing and clinical testing of Inviragen's tetravalent dengue vaccine, DENVax delivered with PharmaJet's convenient needle-free injection device.

8 Oct 2010

HHS offers waivers as firms, insurers threaten to abandon markets

The Obama administration has granted "dozens" of waivers that will allow insurers and companies - most notably McDonald's - to continue offering health benefits that do not meet new health law requirements in an effort "to stave off threats by some health insurers to abandon markets, drop out of the business altogether or refuse to sell certain policies," The New York Times reports.

8 Oct 2010