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NYU Langone establishes new LVAD Program for patients with advanced heart failure

The Cardiac & Vascular Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center has established its new LVAD Program. This surgical intervention program offers eligible, advanced heart failure patients implantation of the latest, lifesaving tool - a left ventricular assist device.

2 Dec 2011

Arbor files first NDA with U.S. FDA

Arbor Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has filed its first New Drug Application (NDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recently filed product has been granted an Orphan designation by the FDA which provides seven years of market exclusivity.

2 Dec 2011

HIV physicians launch CALIBER of Care initiative

Today, on World AIDS Day, an expert panel of physicians from HIV clinics across the country announced the launch of the CALIBER (Clinic Activation to Lead and Implement Best practices for Enhancing Response to HIV) of Care© initiative, a partnership with Merck that is designed to help improve HIV patient care through physician-patient communication resources.

2 Dec 2011

Two studies uncover limitations in screening for hepatocellular carcinoma

Two studies available in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, have uncovered limitations in screening for primary liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma.

2 Dec 2011

State roundup: Florida's growing Medicaid costs; Missouri insurance rates; Maryland's unspent disabilities money

Florida Governor Rick Scott said he has whittled down a corporate tax-relief plan compared with what he sought last year because of a ballooning deficit driven by health-care spending. "Medicaid is growing way faster than we thought," the former hospital executive said yesterday. ... Florida, which closed a $3.8 billion budget gap for fiscal 2012, is facing another of as much as $2.3 billion next year.

2 Dec 2011

Autism Speaks releases 'Visual Supports' tool kit for parents, providers

Autism Speaks, North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization today released the Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder tool kit providing valuable guidance to parents, families and providers about how to utilize pictures, photographs and other visual supports to improve communication for children, adolescents and adults who struggle with understanding or using language.

1 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 1, 2011

In today's headlines, Republicans in Congress advance plan to charge wealthy beneficiaries more for Medicare in order to cover the costs of the proposaed payroll tax extension.

1 Dec 2011

House Committee expected to vote Wednesday to repeal CLASS Act

The Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to approve, along party lines, a measure to repeal the long-term care insurance program. Meanwhile, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is being pressed to lift his hold on legislation to fund children's hospitals. He has been blocking the measure's progress because he still hopes to add an amendment that would expand it to children's psychiatric hospitals.

1 Dec 2011

Study reveals no clear advantage of one implant type over another

More than 270,000 Americans get hip replacement surgeries every year -- a number that is projected to double in the next decade as the population ages. With various options for implants, including metal-on-polyethylene, metal-on-metal and ceramic-on-ceramic, there have been questions about which kind works best.

1 Dec 2011

Ariz. hospitals file suit to stop cuts in Medicaid reimbursements

Arizona hospitals on Tuesday filed suit to block a 5 percent reduction in the rates they're paid to care for Medicaid patients. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, argues that the rate cut will reduce patient access to health-care providers, in violation of federal law.

1 Dec 2011

Immune system stimulant used as suppressor to treat chronic graft-versus-host disease

In a study that seems to pivot on a paradox, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have used an immune system stimulant as an immune system suppressor to treat a common, often debilitating side effect of donor stem cell transplantation in cancer patients. The effect, in some cases, was profound.

1 Dec 2011

Improving RNs' work environments can promote high quality patient care

While nurse-to-patient ratios are widely recognized as an important factor in determining the quality of patient care, those ratios are not always easy to change without significant cost and investment of resources. What's more, the projected nursing shortage will make it even more difficult for hospitals to increase nurse staffing.

1 Dec 2011

Study finds unhealthy food environment in children's hospitals

Given the obesity epidemic among the nation's young, one would hope that children's hospitals would serve as a role model for healthy eating. But hospitals in California fall short, with only 7 percent of entrees classified as "healthy" according to a new study published in Academic Pediatrics.

1 Dec 2011

Inadequate mask and respirator use put health care workers at risk of 2009 H1N1 infection

Inadequate use of masks or respirators put health care workers at risk of 2009 H1N1 infection during the earliest stages of the 2009 pandemic in the U.S., according to a study published in the December issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

1 Dec 2011

Increased screening for mental health, substance abuse may help identify women at risk of suicide

Increased screening of pregnant women and new mothers for major depression and conflicts with intimate partners may help identify women at risk for suicide, a University of Michigan Health System-led analysis of federal data concludes.

1 Dec 2011

First neurovascular unit opens at Krembil Neuroscience Centre

The first neurovascular unit (NVU) in Canada opened today at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, which is part of the University Health Network.

1 Dec 2011

First study to investigate risk factors for CCSVI in patients without neurological disease

The first study to investigate risk factors for the vascular condition called CCSVI (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency) in volunteers without neurological disease has identified what the researchers call a remarkable similarity between this condition and possible or confirmed risk factors for multiple sclerosis.

1 Dec 2011

Study reveals classification scheme for treatment of blunt aortic injury

New research at the University of Washington's (UW) Harborview Medical Center in Seattle reveals a classification scheme for the treatment of blunt aortic injury.

1 Dec 2011

Timely acute care reduces total stroke and TIA costs

New research published in the journal Age and Ageing suggests that timely acute care immediately after a stroke reduces the level of disability in stroke survivors and the associated need for long-term care, therefore reducing aftercare costs.

1 Dec 2011

Boston Scientific provides new warranty for ICDs and CRT-Ds

Boston Scientific Corporation announced that, along with today's introduction of a new family of INCEPTA and ENERGEN implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds), it is providing an extended warranty for these devices in the U.S. and many international countries of up to 10 years, depending on model.

1 Dec 2011