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Personal listening devices can impair hearing: Study

Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young and not so young people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.

31 Aug 2010

Liberal health reform group pushing hard to save lawmakers, Berwick won't disclose donors

Politico: The liberal health group Health Care for America Now is "fighting hard to help reelect lawmakers who voted for the [health reform] bill — even if it means not talking about it. … HCAN activists say they are not dodging their key issue; rather, they want to keep pace with voter concerns, which have markedly shifted over the past year.

31 Aug 2010

VA's liabilities grow as agency expands list of diseases linked to Agent Orange

Politico looks at a new fight brewing over Agent Orange and how it affects programs for Vietnam Veterans. "It's a world turned upside-down from decades ago when returning soldiers had to fight to get attention for deadly lymphomas linked to the herbicide. Now the frailties of men in their 60s — prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease — lead the list of qualified Agent Orange disabilities, and the result has been an explosion in claims — and the government's liability.

31 Aug 2010

Otonomy announces closing of $38.5 million Series B financing

Otonomy, Inc. announced today that it has closed a $38.5 million Series B financing co-led by Novo Ventures and RiverVest Venture Partners, and joined by Domain Associates and TPG Biotech. This financing is incremental to the $10 million Series A closed with Avalon Ventures in June 2010. Avalon also participated in the Series B round.

30 Aug 2010

Cell-to-cell signaling pathway that designates future location of ear's sensory organs tracked

Researchers have tracked a cell-to-cell signaling pathway that designates the future location of the ear's sensory organs in embryonic mice. The scientists succeeded in activating this signal more widely across the embryonic tissue that becomes the inner ear. Patches of sensory structures began growing in spots where they don't normally appear.

30 Aug 2010

Auditory neurons accept first sound, ignore subsequent reverberations: Study

Voices carry, reflect off objects and create echoes. Most people rarely hear the echoes; instead they only process the first sound received. For the hard of hearing, though, being in an acoustically challenging room can be a problem. For them, echoes carry.

27 Aug 2010

NICE suggests bortezomib, thalidomide for multiple myeloma patients

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has released draft guidance which recommends the drugs bortezomib and thalidomide as first-line therapies for some patients with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that affects cells in the bone marrow.

27 Aug 2010

SOECIC announces UK's first operation to fit single cochlear implant to give sound in both ears

The UK's first operation to fit a single cochlear implant capable of giving sound in both ears takes place this Friday (27 August), thanks to the work of the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre (SOECIC), based at the University of Southampton.

26 Aug 2010

Panasonic introduces digital hearing instruments in U.S. market

Panasonic Corporation of North America, today announced that Panasonic Hearing instruments have been delivered to the U.S. market. The company is debuting three types of digital hearing instruments, including a new form factor that resembles the style of an MP3 player, a receiver-in-canal and behind-the-ear models. Panasonic is currently establishing a distribution network throughout the U.S.

From PHC Europe B.V. 26 Aug 2010

ORLocate system designed to prevent medical errors in surgical procedures receives FDA clearance

A new technology that tracks instruments and sponges during surgical procedures has earned clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

25 Aug 2010

Administrative Law Judge recommends grant of Certificate of Need for Trinity Medical Center's relocation

Trinity Medical Center achieved a major victory today in its effort to gain state regulatory approval for a new, state-of-the-art hospital facility on Highway 280. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) James Hampton has issued his recommendation in favor of granting the required Certificate of Need (CON) for Trinity's relocation from its 44-year old campus on Montclair Road to the new hospital facility. The decision follows months of deliberation and a comprehensive review of the facts during what was the longest ALJ hearing on a healthcare matter in Alabama history.

25 Aug 2010

Stem cell research issues fought out in the court

A US district court has issued a temporary injunction stopping President Obama’s plans to increase funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The US government will appeal. According to a Justice Department spokesman, they are likely to file a case this week.

24 Aug 2010

Early year-round sports specialization contributes to rise of overuse injuries

Bobby Boyle engages in serious year-round sports training and has had his share of minor muscle injuries. When the 12-year-old athlete felt tightness in the back of his thigh while sprinting at track practice, he and his parents thought he pulled a hamstring and assumed it would heal with limited exercise time.

21 Aug 2010

EPO upholds European Patent for Verathon's GlideScope video laryngoscopes

The European Patent Office ("EPO") Board of Appeals has issued a formal written decision to uphold European Patent No. EP 1307131 for Verathon Inc.'s GlideScope video laryngoscopes.

21 Aug 2010

Commonwealth Employment Relations Board rules that Cambridge Health Alliance violated state labor law

The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) ruled today that Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) violated state labor law, by bargaining in bad faith and depriving nurses of their union rights following CHA's decision to prematurely cease negotiations, declare impasse and unilaterally slash nurses' retiree health benefit.

20 Aug 2010

Statoil ASA launches new ear plug to alleviate noise-induced hearing impairment

Some 600 cases of noise-induced hearing impairment are reported by the Norwegian petroleum industry every year. A new, intelligent earplug is now set to alleviate the problem.

20 Aug 2010

Hematopoietic cell transplantation survivors report of chronic health condition after procedure

Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) cures many blood diseases, two-thirds of long-term survivors report at least one chronic health condition after the procedure, according to a recent study published online in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.

19 Aug 2010

Competitive forces against globally collaborative science

Can the International Science Community Find the Proper Balance Between Cooperation and Competition?

19 Aug 2010

Mass. regulators reach rate hike accord with one more insurer

Massachusetts regulators cut a deal Monday with insurer Health New England to limit premium increases for individual policyholders and small businesses to 8.2 percent, down from the hikes ranging from 11.5 to 21.3 percent the firm requested earlier this year, The Boston Globe reports. "With the Health New England agreement, the Patrick administration has now reached accords with five of the six Massachusetts insurance carriers that were denied double-digit increases on April 1.

19 Aug 2010

Beltone Electronics launches new generation of wireless hearing instruments

Chicago-based Beltone Electronics recently announced the introduction of the Beltone True™, a new generation of virtually invisible hearing instruments that wirelessly receive sound directly from TV, cell/home phone, stereo, PC, iPod or any audio device via a 2.4 GHz signal.

18 Aug 2010