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FDA's BPAC renders positive opinion on Phase III clinical trial of INTERCEPT Blood System

Cerus Corporation announced today that the FDA's Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC) rendered a positive opinion on the proposed hemostatic efficacy and safety endpoints for a potential U.S. Phase III clinical trial of the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets.

17 Nov 2009

Nutrition is crucial to achieve the most desirable complexion

Researchers from the universities of Bristol and St. Andrews in the UK have found that the color of a person's skin affects how healthy and therefore attractive they appear, and have found that diet may be crucial to achieving the most desirable complexion. The work will be published in the December issue of Springer's International Journal of Primatology.

17 Nov 2009

Hospitals should expand quality control guidelines to improve surgical complications in older patients

The elderly are more vulnerable to problems after a major surgical procedure than younger patients, but a team of investigators using data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) suggest that one way to improve surgical results in this age group is to have hospitals expand their quality control guidelines to include more types of surgery-related complications.

17 Nov 2009

Targeting normal cells that surround cancer cells increases the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments

Targeting the normal cells that surround cancer cells within and around a tumor is a strategy that could greatly increase the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments, say researchers at The Wistar Institute.

17 Nov 2009

Cold weather can trigger Raynaud's disease

Cold weather triggers a painful and sometimes debilitating disorder for millions of Americans who suffer from Raynaud's disease (also known as Raynaud's syndrome or phenomenon). Raynaud's is an autoimmune disorder in which spasms in the blood vessels can interrupt blood flow to the fingers, toes, nose and ears. Exposure to cold triggers the spasms, typically causing the affected area to turn white, then blue, then bright red. Emotional stress can also cause an attack.

17 Nov 2009

FDA approves NeurogesX's Qutenza patch for postherpetic neuralgia treatment

NeurogesX, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qutenza(TM) (capsaicin) 8% patch, the first and only product containing prescription strength capsaicin, for the management of neuropathic pain due to postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the nerve pain which can follow shingles.

17 Nov 2009

EKG may not always be correct

The electrical measurements on the electrocardiogram can often mislead physicians in diagnosing the heart condition left ventricular hypertrophy, causing other screening tests to be ordered before a definitive conclusion can be made, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

17 Nov 2009

Half of eligible patients are not getting aortic valve replacement due to fear of surgery

Fear about the risk of surgery is among the reasons half of eligible patients are not getting aortic valve replacement surgery, according to a study by physicians at the University of Michigan Health System.

17 Nov 2009

Antioxidant found in vegetables can protect cells from damage caused by infection and injury

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a dietary antioxidant found in such vegetables as broccoli and cauliflower protects cells from damage caused by chemicals generated during the body's inflammatory response to infection and injury. The finding has implications for such inflammation-based disorders as cystic fibrosis (CF), diabetes, heart disease, and neurodegeneration.

17 Nov 2009

HDAC inhibitors: New therapy for treating breast cancer

A powerful new breast cancer treatment could result from packaging one of the newer drugs that inhibits cancer's hallmark wild growth with another that blocks a primordial survival technique in which the cancer cell eats part of itself, researchers say.

17 Nov 2009

Statin therapy should still be used first to reach blood cholesterol levels before considering niacin

Heart experts at Johns Hopkins are calling premature the early halt of a study by researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center on the benefits of combining extended-release niacin, a B vitamin, with cholesterol-lowering statin medications to prevent blood vessel narrowing. Cardiovascular atherosclerosis, as it is also known, is believed responsible for one in three deaths in the United States each year.

17 Nov 2009

Healthy adults may have better immunity to 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, says study

A new study shows that molecular similarities exist between the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus and other strains of seasonal H1N1 virus that have been circulating in the population since 1988. These results suggest that healthy adults may have a level of protective immune memory that can blunt the severity of infection caused by the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus.

17 Nov 2009

HealthTrans Access sponsors 50 disadvantaged families to free healthcare support

HealthTrans Access, a comprehensive discount healthcare provider, has arranged for 50 disadvantaged families from the Greater Denver and Boulder areas to receive one year of membership in the HealthTrans Access discount healthcare program at no cost. In partnership with Denver Human Services and several of their community organizations, HealthTrans Access is providing families with its Premium discount program, which provides deep discounts for healthcare services for the entire family.

17 Nov 2009

Sudden cardiac death more predictable in men than women

A woman who suffers sudden cardiac arrest is significantly less likely than a man to exhibit the decrease in the heart's pumping ability that is widely recognized as a precursor, says a new study in the Nov. 24 Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

17 Nov 2009

Stem cell therapy to treat heart, lung and vascular diseases show positive results

A Florida cardiologist is using stem cell therapy to treat patients who suffer from a range of heart, lung and vascular illnesses. The results have been extraordinary.

16 Nov 2009

H1N1 continues to spread, despite leveling off in some regions, WHO reports

Despite reports that the numbers of new H1N1 (swine flu) are leveling off in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the virus continues to spread, the WHO said Friday, Reuters reports. "In an update on the H1N1 swine flu virus, the WHO said parts of the southern and southeastern United States, as well as Iceland and Ireland, seemed to have weakening levels of disease after an unusually early start of the winter flu season," the news service writes.

16 Nov 2009

Also in Global Health News: HIV/AIDS in Uganda; medical equipment in Tanzania; birth control in Afghanistan; Ethiopia malaria fight

"The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is revamping its national HIV information campaign after HIV prevention messages were less successful than hoped," PlusNews reports. "Campaigns aimed at ending cross-generational sex will be abandoned in favour of generic warnings about engaging in risky sex because of fears that young people may believe that sex within their own generation is risk-free. Officials have also said factors such as alcohol abuse, which predispose people to risky sexual behaviour, must be tackled alongside HIV prevention" (11/16).

16 Nov 2009

Migraine headaches linked with increased risk of common kind of stroke

Pooling results from 21 studies, involving 622,381 men and women, researchers at Johns Hopkins have affirmed that migraine headaches are associated with more than twofold higher chances of the most common kind of stroke: those occurring when blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut off by the buildup of plaque or a blood clot.

16 Nov 2009

Cord Blood reports its 10Q filing with the U.S. SEC for the three and nine-month period ended September 30, 2009

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (http://www.cordblood-america.com ) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, announced today that its 10Q filing with the U.S. SEC for the three and nine-month period ended September 30, 2009, confirmed its announcements throughout 2009 that it is significantly reducing debt.

16 Nov 2009

Color of skin impacts health, say researchers

16 Nov 2009

Blood News and Research

FDA's BPAC renders positive opinion on Phase III clinical trial of INTERCEPT Blood System

Nutrition is crucial to achieve the most desirable complexion

Hospitals should expand quality control guidelines to improve surgical complications in older patients

Targeting normal cells that surround cancer cells increases the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments

Cold weather can trigger Raynaud's disease

FDA approves NeurogesX's Qutenza patch for postherpetic neuralgia treatment

EKG may not always be correct

Half of eligible patients are not getting aortic valve replacement due to fear of surgery

Antioxidant found in vegetables can protect cells from damage caused by infection and injury

HDAC inhibitors: New therapy for treating breast cancer

Statin therapy should still be used first to reach blood cholesterol levels before considering niacin

Healthy adults may have better immunity to 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, says study

HealthTrans Access sponsors 50 disadvantaged families to free healthcare support

Sudden cardiac death more predictable in men than women

Stem cell therapy to treat heart, lung and vascular diseases show positive results

H1N1 continues to spread, despite leveling off in some regions, WHO reports

Also in Global Health News: HIV/AIDS in Uganda; medical equipment in Tanzania; birth control in Afghanistan; Ethiopia malaria fight

Migraine headaches linked with increased risk of common kind of stroke

Cord Blood reports its 10Q filing with the U.S. SEC for the three and nine-month period ended September 30, 2009

Color of skin impacts health, say researchers

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Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

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