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Walt Disney launches national initiative to raise healthy, happy kids

The Walt Disney Company today launched Disney Magic of Healthy Living - a national multimedia initiative designed to partner with parents in their quest to raise healthy, happy kids. The initiative, which includes public service announcements featuring First Lady Michelle Obama and young Disney stars, builds on the Company's commitment to a healthier generation of kids begun in 2006 with the announcement of landmark nutritional guidelines associating Disney brands and characters with a more nutritionally balanced range of foods.

30 Sep 2010

Prix Galien USA committee honors life saving innovations

The Prix Galien USA committee honored innovations that are saving lives last night during the Prix Galien Awards Gala. The Pro Bono Humanum Award, the Prix Galien USA 2010 and the Prix Galien International were presented and related accomplishments celebrated.

30 Sep 2010

UN Secretary announces global strategy for women and children's health at MDG summit

At the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) summit in New York this week, world leaders gathered to review progress on the eight goals agreed in 2000 on alleviating world poverty and ill-health by 2015. As the summit came to a close, governments, businesses and aid organisations made commitments totaling $40bn to reach the goals, with particular emphasis on improving maternal and child health.

30 Sep 2010

First responders may not be willing to report for work if disaster is a potentially lethal pandemic

Although first responders willingly put themselves in harm's way during disasters, new research indicates that they may not be as willing- if the disaster is a potentially lethal pandemic.

30 Sep 2010

Children with eczema at greater risk of developing asthma and food allergies

Children with eczema, a chronic skin condition that often begins in childhood, have a greater risk of developing asthma and food allergies. The number of children with eczema is rising, but the reasons for this are unclear. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics examines the relationship between pet ownership and eczema. Researchers found that dog ownership among children with dog allergies may reduce the risk of developing eczema by age 4 years; cat ownership, however, may increase the risk among children with cat allergies.

30 Sep 2010

New report addresses difficult issues for design of health insurance exchanges

A new report from The Commonwealth Fund provides recommendations for state and federal policymakers as they design and implement the new health insurance exchanges which are a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

30 Sep 2010

First preventative approach to improve outcomes in traumatized children

After experiencing a potentially traumatic event - a car accident, a physical or sexual assault, a sports injury, witnessing violence - as many as 1 in 5 children will develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

30 Sep 2010

Study shows immunotherapy improves survival rate in children with neuroblastoma

Using immunotherapy biologic agents that stimulate the body's immune system pediatric oncologists have achieved the first substantial increase in over a decade in cure rates for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A newly released study shows that the new treatment improved two-year survival rates by 20 percent, compared to standard treatment for an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.

30 Sep 2010

NIH awards three grants to explore novel treatment strategies for muscular dystrophy

Three grants totaling more than $4.5 million, from agencies of the National Institutes of Health, will be used to explore novel treatment strategies for muscular dystrophy.

30 Sep 2010

State Watch: Health insurance advocate proposed in Penn., Calif. OKs medical parole for incapacitated inmates

A bill that would create a state office of health insurance consumer advocacy, representing consumers interests on any insurance matter before the courts or any state department or agency has been introduced in the state House in hopes of passage before the end of the 2009-2010 legislative session. The bill is aimed at helping consumers navigate the new federal health law

30 Sep 2010

Researchers discover treatment improves overall survival in pregnant women with breast cancer

Long associated with a worse outcome, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that women treated for breast cancer while pregnant, in fact, have improved disease free survival and a trend for improved overall survival compared to non-pregnant women treated for the disease.

30 Sep 2010

New form of immunotherapy increases survival in children with neuroblastoma

Administering a new form of immunotherapy to children with neuroblastoma, a nervous system cancer, increased the percentage of those who were alive and free of disease progression after two years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and fellow institutions. The percentage rose from 46 percent for children receiving a standard therapy to 66 percent for children receiving immunotherapy plus standard therapy, according to the study published in the Sept. 30, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Sep 2010

Study reveals consistent correlation between adult diabetes and particulate air pollution

A national epidemiologic study finds a strong, consistent correlation between adult diabetes and particulate air pollution that persists after adjustment for other risk factors like obesity and ethnicity, report researchers from Children's Hospital Boston. The relationship was seen even at exposure levels below the current EPA safety limit.

30 Sep 2010

Radiologists urge judicious use of radiation-based imaging in children

A CT scan can mean the difference between an accurate and a wrong diagnosis, timely and delayed treatment and, in some cases, life and death. But because CT scans and other tests that use X-ray technology expose the body to often large doses of radiation, their unnecessary, repeated and excessive use may increase cancer risk, especially in children.

30 Sep 2010

U.N. agencies' report examines global progress in fight against HIV/AIDS

"A record 1.2 million people in low- and middle-income countries started antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS in 2009" - a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 13-fold increase in six years, according to a joint report released Tuesday by the WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS, Reuters reports. In total, the report found that 5.25 million people received antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2009, three-quarters of them living in Africa (Migiro, 9/28).

30 Sep 2010

Merck's ROTATEQ vaccine receives Prix Galien USA 2010 Award for Best Biotechnology Product

ROTATEQ® (Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral, Pentavalent), Merck's vaccine for rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants and children, received the Prix Galien USA 2010 Award for Best Biotechnology Product, Merck announced today.

30 Sep 2010

First direct genetic link to ADHD

The latest study shows evidence of a genetic link to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. The researchers from Cardiff University, Wales said the disorder was a brain problem like autism and not due to bad parenting. The paper appeared in the acclaimed journal Lancet.

30 Sep 2010

Health law's medical loss ratios, exchanges scrutinized

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which is working with the Department of Health and Human Services on implementing key parts of the health law, is still considering how to determine the kinds of insurers' expenses that are considered medical care.

30 Sep 2010

Midlife crisis is hitting Britons earlier: Survey

The latest British research shows that the tmidlife crisis that was once thought to hit people on their fifties is now affecting people in their mid-thirties. The changes in the work culture may be the main reason say researchers.

30 Sep 2010

Study shows blueberries may help fight atherosclerosis

Blueberries may help fight atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries, according to results of a preliminary U.S. Department of Agriculture funded study with laboratory mice. The research provides the first direct evidence that blueberries can help prevent harmful plaques or lesions, symptomatic of atherosclerosis, from increasing in size in arteries.

30 Sep 2010