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Former HHS Secretary Thompson says states will take lead on health care reform

Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, chair of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and a partner at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, on Thursday told reporters that states likely will take the lead on health care reform in the absence of federal action, CQ HealthBeat reports.

30 Oct 2006

Proposal to construct Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility in South Carolina might delay Omnibus Bill

A proposal by to build a $70 million medical facility in Charleston, S.C., could stall efforts to pass an omnibus Department of Veterans Affairs bill before the end of the lame-duck session next month, CQ Today reports (Yoest, CQ Today, 10/27).

30 Oct 2006

Health care IT bill could increase costs by $416 million

America's Health Insurance Plans released a new study that found a provision in a health care information technology bill (HR 4157) passed earlier this year by the House could increase U.S. health care costs by as much as $416 million, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 10/27).

30 Oct 2006

New initiative to combat corruption in medicines procurement

Huge amounts of money - up to $50 billion - are spent every year on pharmaceutical products, a market so large that it is extremely vulnerable to corruption. Recent estimates have shown that as much as 25% of medicines which are procured can be lost to fraud, bribery and other corrupt practices.

30 Oct 2006

Diagnostics for tuberculosis: Global demand and market potential

A significant and largely untapped global market exists for more effective and affordable tests to diagnose tuberculosis in low and middle income countries, where most TB cases today occur.

26 Oct 2006

Increased access to contraception not linked to decrease in numbers of unplanned pregnancies, abortions

The belief that increased access to contraception will "reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion" has "intuitive appeal, but the data prove otherwise," Susan Wills, associate director for education for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, writes in a Washington Post letter to the editor in response to a Post opinion piece by William Saletan, science and technology reporter for Slate magazine.

24 Oct 2006

Boston Globe examines the funding approach of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Boston Globe on Sunday examined the funding approach of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a $31.9 billion endowment and a commitment of $30 billion from Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett.

24 Oct 2006

New Hampshire citizens health initiative to promote electronic prescriptions

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) and Citizens Health Initiative -- which includes doctors, pharmacists, insurers and representatives from hospitals -- on Thursday announced a goal for all doctors in the state to be able to use electronic prescription systems by 2008, Foster's Daily Democrat reports.

24 Oct 2006

New method for targeting malignant brain tumors

A new method for targeting malignant brain tumors through inducing the cancerous cells to "commit suicide" has been developed by a team of researchers headed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor of biochemistry.

24 Oct 2006

Remote-control software that enables off-site MRI imaging via the Internet

UCLA radiologists and Siemens Medical Solutions have developed remote-control software that enables an off-site imaging expert to operate a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine via the Internet.

From Siemens Healthineers 24 Oct 2006

Mobile phone use should be banned in cars altogether

Hands-free mobile phones have failed to make the roads safer according to a University of Sussex psychologist.

23 Oct 2006

New smart anti-microbial approach to preventing tooth decay

Preventing cavities could one day involve the dental equivalent of a military surgical strike. A team of researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research report they have created a new smart anti-microbial treatment that can be chemically programmed in the laboratory to seek out and kill a specific cavity-causing species of bacteria, leaving the good bacteria untouched.

23 Oct 2006

Health hazards of global warming

Global warming could do more to hurt your health than simply threaten summertime heat stroke, says a public health physician.

23 Oct 2006

Race is associated with unfavorable breast cancer tumor biology

African-American women with breast cancer were more likely to have larger, later-stage tumors that were more difficult to treat and also had lower survival rates than Hispanic and Caucasian women who received the same treatment in two independent series of clinical trials examined by researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

23 Oct 2006

Gene called Kibra plays an important role in memory

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have announced the discovery of a gene that plays a significant role in memory performance in humans.

20 Oct 2006

An enzyme that regulates ether lipid signaling pathways in cancer annotated by multidimensional profiling

Using a combination of enzyme activity and metabolite profiling, we determined that this protein-whose function was previously unknown-serves as a key regulator of a lipid signaling network that contributes to cancer," said Benjamin F. Cravatt, a Scripps Research professor and a member of its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology who led the study.

20 Oct 2006

Study shows women need and want to protect themselves against violence as they get older

Forget fearing old age, it seems as women grow older those on lower incomes are more likely to fear the threat of violence, a Queensland University of Technology nationwide study has found.

20 Oct 2006

New Purdue biochip may speed drug development

Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.

20 Oct 2006

Former FDA Administrator Crawford pleads guilty to conflicts of interest

Lester Crawford, who resigned as FDA commissioner in September 2005, on Tuesday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges of false reporting and conflicts of interest related to ownership of stocks in companies that are regulated by the agency, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Bridges, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/18).

19 Oct 2006

Victhom files provisional sleep apnea patent application

Victhom Human Bionics announced that, after a series of pilot animal studies on potential medical indications of its Closed Loop System (the CLS Neuromodulator).

19 Oct 2006