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FDA warns four firms to stop making unproven MRSA prevention claims

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued four warning letters to companies that manufacture and market over-the-counter (OTC) drug products, including hand sanitizers, that claim to prevent infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA).

21 Apr 2011

NEJM features pulse oximetry training video

A pulse oximetry training video produced by Rafael Ortega, MD, the vice-chair of academic affairs for the department of anesthesiology at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and professor of anesthesiology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), and his colleagues is featured in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Apr 2011

Rate of antiretroviral virological failure higher among children living with HIV/AIDS than adults, study finds

One in eight children living with HIV/AIDS "experiences triple-class virological failure - meaning the virus becomes resistant to multiple drugs - within five years of starting antiretroviral treatment," according to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet, HealthDay News/MSN reports. The "failure rate is higher than in adults and highlights the challenge of maintaining viral load suppression in young patients who begin antiretroviral therapy so early in life, the researchers said," according to the news service (Preidt, 4/19).

21 Apr 2011

ICA selected by Central Illinois HIE as vendor of choice

Informatics Corporation of America announced today that it has been selected by the Central Illinois Health Information Exchange (CIHIE), www.qualityquest.org, as its health information exchange vendor of choice and has begun contract negotiations to furnish the technology and infrastructure for a regional HIE that will serve 20 counties in the Peoria, Bloomington, Champaign, and Decatur areas of Illinois.

21 Apr 2011

Roundup: Abortion opponents weigh strategy; Supreme Court reinstates case involving deaths at Va. hospitals

Republican legislatures across the country are passing tough new anti-abortion laws — and while abortion rights advocates believe the new laws are unconstitutional, they're not rushing to court to stop them. The reason: There's a decent chance they'd lose (Kliff, 4/20).

21 Apr 2011

Nursing home industry worried about health law mandates; Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid

During a roundtable meeting with reporters, Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, detailed the concerns of nursing homes.

21 Apr 2011

Normal routine use of topical corticosteroids for eczema in children does not 'thin the skin'

A new study published in the journal Pediatric Dermatology reveals that routine, long-term use of topical corticosteroids (TCS) for treating children with eczema does not cause any significant, negative side effects.

21 Apr 2011

Study examines hospital stays and readmissions for hip-replacement patients

Patients undergoing hip-replacement surgery are being released earlier, while more make return trips to the hospital within 30 days of the procedure, an analysis of Medicare recipients found.

21 Apr 2011

Elderly persons with low income use inappropriate psychotropic drugs more often

Elderly persons often have several diseases and use many drugs; they are also more sensitive to drugs compared to younger persons. Use of more drugs than necessary tends to occur among the elderly, however, underuse of drugs and use of inappropriate types of drugs also occur. Psychotropic drugs, such as hypnotics, anxiolytics and antidepressant drugs, are common among the elderly.

21 Apr 2011

House GOP seeks details from advocacy groups regarding health reform 'meetings and discussions'

Continuing their assault on the health care law, House Republicans Monday formally requested top advocacy groups detail their interactions with the Obama Administration during the congressional health care negotiations.

21 Apr 2011

Military personnel with TBI should receive adequate protein and calories immediately after trauma

To help alleviate the effects of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), the U.S. Department of Defense should ensure that all military personnel with this type of injury receive adequate protein and calories immediately after the trauma and through the first two weeks of treatment, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

21 Apr 2011

U.N. agencies begin deploying humanitarian aid in western region of Libya

U.N. agencies have begun providing humanitarian assistance in the western region of Libya for the first time since civil unrest began in February, following an April 17 agreement between the organization and the Libyan government to allow a "humanitarian corridor," Bloomberg reports (Varner, 4/19).

21 Apr 2011

Some states struggling with efforts to establish insurance exchanges

House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, who may hold the future of Colorado's health exchange in her hands, predicted Tuesday that Colorado lawmakers ultimately will support the online health insurance marketplace and said her coalition is not fractured.

21 Apr 2011

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

In a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, African Health Ministers Aaron Motsoaledi of South Africa, Mphu Ramatlapeng of Lesotho, and Benedict Xaba of Swaziland call upon the international community to join with them in the fight to rid the world of tuberculosis (TB). "That goal might seem overambitious or unrealistic. [But i]t's not," they write

21 Apr 2011