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New summit: Health care reform for children in California

“Why California’s Children Need Health Reform,” with special video remarks by U.S. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.

19 Mar 2010

Opinions: U.S. foreign aid effectiveness; Faith-based groups' work abroad

Although "foreign assistance is a very small proportion of the overall budget, its effectiveness is both measurable and priceless," Sheila Nix, the executive director of ONE, writes in a Roll Call opinion piece.

19 Mar 2010

Stemedica files IND for trial using allogeneic mesenchymal bone marrow cells in patients with ischemic stroke

Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. (Stemedica), a world leader in stem cell research and manufacturing, announced that it has filed an Investigative New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a clinical trial. The trial will assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of Stemedica's high potency proprietary allogeneic mesenchymal bone marrow-derived stem cells (adult human) as a treatment for ischemic stroke.

19 Mar 2010

Robertson Foundation commits $10.2M for Duke Medicine's cell therapy research

A $10.2 million commitment from the Robertson Foundation to create a state-of-the-art Translational Cell Therapy Center (TCTC) will advance Duke Medicine's pioneering cell therapy research and treatment programs for children and adults with cancer, cerebral palsy, stroke and brain injuries suffered at birth.

19 Mar 2010

Idaho, Virginia gear up for fight to defeat individual mandate; NY law sets procedure for decisions for unresponsive patients

The Associated Press: "Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by President Barack Obama. Republican Gov. C.L. 'Butch' Otter used a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to become the first governor to sign into law a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government over any such insurance mandates.

19 Mar 2010

Mars supports new national school nutrition standard

Mars, Incorporated today announced its support for improved school food nutrition standards so that more nutritious products are available to students nationwide. A key component of a comprehensive health and wellness campaign, the announcement was made in partnership with other industry leaders and public health organizations.

19 Mar 2010

Kaiser Permanente study: Snapshot of the prevalence of extreme obesity in younger children

Extreme obesity is affecting more children at younger ages, with 12 percent of black teenage girls, 11.2 percent of Hispanic teenage boys, 7.3 percent of boys and 5.5 percent of girls now classified as extremely obese, according to a Kaiser Permanente study of 710,949 children and teens that appears online in the Journal of Pediatrics.

19 Mar 2010

Governor Rendell kicks off 18th birthday celebration for CHIP

Governor Edward G. Rendell today kicked off the 18th birthday celebration for CHIP, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program.

19 Mar 2010

GSK's 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report published online

In its 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report published online today, GSK reiterated its commitment to running its business responsibly and to making the company more responsive, more flexible and more open to the expectations of society.

19 Mar 2010

HealthCorps, California Walnut Board form new partnership

The California Walnut Board's commitment to nutrition education continues through a new partnership with HealthCorps®, a proactive health movement founded and chaired by Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University Medical Center.

19 Mar 2010

As reform hangs in balance, policy benefits continue to be discussed

NPR reports on the immediate effects of the proposed health care bill, and that Congressional Democrats are focusing on those benefits in messages to constituents. "The White House is trying to shift the conversation away from the messy legislative process — which Republicans are keying on — and instead focus on what the health care overhaul would do for families and businesses."

19 Mar 2010

Call for European Cystic Fibrosis healthcare gap to be closed

A healthcare gap amounting to a ‘death sentence’ for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) children born in Eastern Europe must be closed say researchers from the EuroCareCF Coordination Action for Cystic Fibrosis.

18 Mar 2010

Stiff skin syndrome cause found

By studying the genetics of a rare inherited disorder called stiff skin syndrome, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have learned more about scleroderma, a condition affecting about one in 5,000 people that leads to hardening of the skin as well as other debilitating and often life-threatening problems. The findings, which appear this week in Science Translational Medicine, open doors to testing new treatments.

18 Mar 2010

Broad application of bipolar diagnosis in children may do more harm than good

Troubled children diagnosed with bipolar disorder may fare better with a different diagnosis, according to researchers at The Hastings Center.

18 Mar 2010

Unemployed and uninsured in California

One fourth of the adult and children population of California have no access to insurance. 6.4 million people were uninsured in 2007 and figures jumped up to 8.2 million in just 2 years. Recession and unemployment was thought to be the major contributing factor according to the investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research.

18 Mar 2010

Mrs. Obama on childhood obesity

Last month First Lady Michelle Obama launched a programme called “Let’s Move” aiming at reducing and eradicating the childhood obesity epidemic in the existing generation so that the nation as a whole attains a healthy adulthood in the coming decades.

18 Mar 2010

Babies born with severe cleft palates: Promising breakthrough without complex surgery

Scientists working on a treatment for babies born with cleft palates have made a promising breakthrough and the first clinical trials are planned for early next year. Clefts are the most common birth defect in Britain, with one in every 700 babies affected; currently in severe cases radical surgery is required to correct the problem, and in addition future complications can occur as the child grows into an adult.

18 Mar 2010

Gene regulation rather than genes make us unique

Once the human genome was sequenced in 2001, the hunt was on for the genes that make each of us unique. But scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Yale and Stanford Universities in the USA, have found that we differ from each other mainly because of differences not in our genes, but in how they're regulated - turned on or off, for instance.

18 Mar 2010

Genocea Biosciences acquires global license for novel Streptococcus pneumoniae antigens from Children’s Hospital Boston

Genocea Biosciences, a vaccine discovery and development company, today announced an exclusive worldwide license for developed countries to a portfolio of Streptococcus pneumoniae antigens from Children’s Hospital Boston. PATH and Genocea retain certain co-exclusive rights to the antigens for use in developing countries under their collaboration agreements with Children's Hospital Boston.

18 Mar 2010

Meta-study: Seven health risks impair academic performance of urban minority youth

"Educationally relevant health disparities" are key drivers of the achievement gap, "but they are largely overlooked," Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, said at a recent panel discussion at the College.

18 Mar 2010