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Study suggests better quality primary care improves health

Financial incentives in primary care cut heart disease deaths and hospital admissions, particularly among people from deprived areas, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

8 Sep 2010

'Compliant concept' wins CTI Medtech Award 2010

"And the winner is- 'compliant concept' - Michael Sauter and his team receive the CTI Medtech Award 2010" was the announcement heard in the Casino in Bern on August 31st. The Medtech Event organized by the CTI, the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency, is the meeting place for all the main players in the medical technology branch in the country.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers investigate brain network to understand mind disorders

Uncovering the secrets of the brain requires an intense network of collaborative research. Building on a tool that was co-developed in his laboratory and described in a recent issue of Brain, Dr. Yaniv Assaf of Tel Aviv University's Department of Neurobiology is collaborating with an international team of scientists to understand how different parts of the human brain "connect" and to turn this information into a "brain atlas."

8 Sep 2010

NIH expands funding for Baylor College of Medicine Human Microbiome Project

The National Institutes of Health today announced expanded funding of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Microbiome Project clinical program initiated last year at Texas Children Hospital.

8 Sep 2010

Switching to nevirapine drug from PI based regimen reduces viremia in children: Study

HIV infected children in South Africa who were exposed to the drug nevirapine at birth (used to help prevent mother to child HIV transmission) and then received a protease inhibitor (PI) for viral suppression achieved lower rates of viremia (virus in the blood stream) if they were switched to nevirapine, compared to children who continued on the PI-based regimen, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.

8 Sep 2010

Study finds increase in emergency department usage among US patients

Only 45 percent of the 354 million annual visits for acute care in the United States are made to patients' personal physicians, as Americans increasingly make busy emergency departments, specialists or outpatient care departments their first point of contact for treatment of new health problems or a flare up of a chronic condition like asthma or diabetes.

8 Sep 2010

Study finds multivitamins have no impact on cancer recurrence, survival

Patients with colon cancer who used multivitamins during and after being treated with post-surgical chemotherapy did not reduce the risk of the cancer returning or their dying from it, according to researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

8 Sep 2010

Children's Hospital Boston engages Particle Sciences for drug product development services

Particle Sciences Inc. (PSI), a leading pharmaceutical Contract Research Organization (CRO), has been engaged by Children's Hospital Boston to help advance early stage molecules and drug innovations into new therapeutic products for patient care. Under the established framework between Children's and PSI, Particle Sciences provides drug product development services aimed at progressing the specific drug or drug product candidate to the point where it becomes attractive to potential licensees.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers discover tolerance mechanism in chronic morphine treatment

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a major mechanism underlying the development of tolerance to chronic morphine treatment. The discovery may help researchers find new therapies to treat chronic pain, and reduce tolerance and side effects associated with morphine use. The findings are published in the July 20th issue of Science Signaling.

8 Sep 2010

GW Cancer Institute receives grant to establish City-wide Patient Navigation Network in Washington

The GW Cancer Institute (GWCI) was recently awarded a $2.4 million grant from the D.C. Cancer Consortium to establish and coordinate a City-wide Patient Navigation Network (CPNN) in Washington, D.C.

8 Sep 2010

Forest Laboratories' ceftaroline fosamil receives FDA Advisory Committee approval for CABP and cSSSI

Forest Laboratories, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee voted 21 - 0 in favor of approval of ceftaroline fosamil for the treatment of community acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and voted 18 - 0 in favor of approval for complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI).

8 Sep 2010

Mylan completes acquisition of Bioniche Pharma

Mylan Inc. today announced it has completed the acquisition of Bioniche Pharma Holdings Limited sooner than anticipated.

8 Sep 2010

NIH awards St. Jude $8.6M to focus on anticancer agent research in children

With its new expansion of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital a prestigious grant to focus on anticancer agent research in children.

8 Sep 2010

Obesity directly accelerates progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The first study to demonstrate that obesity can directly accelerate the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been conducted at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and will be published in Cancer Prevention Research, on October 5, 2010. Obesity has been associated with an increased incidence of many cancers, including leukemia, but it has been unknown whether the increase in incidence was a direct effect of obesity or associated with genetic, lifestyle, health, or socio-economic factors.

8 Sep 2010

Hospitals hire to keep up with growing diversity, tech challenges

"As more immigrants crowd its waiting rooms, Elmhurst Hospital is joining a growing number of hospitals in New York and across the country that are going beyond hiring interpreters and offering translated paperwork and are adopting practices intended to improve care for an increasingly diverse patient population," The New York Times reports.

8 Sep 2010

Penn receives $12M NIH grant to study pharmacogenetics of nicotine addiction treatment

A variety of smoking cessation treatments are currently available for the more than 18 million adult Americans try to quit smoking each year, but success rates vary widely. Despite the importance of quitting smoking, more personalized approaches to smoking cessation treatment are needed to help smokers pick the right method that will work best for them. A major new personalized medicine clinical trial, led by addiction researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, will study how a smokers' genetic make-up influences their quitting success.

8 Sep 2010

CDC ramps up production of new three-in-one flu vaccine

Health officials say that there will be plenty of flu vaccine available this year, now that the H1N1 pandemic has ended, The Washington Post reports. "The World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic last month, based on indications that the H1N1 flu was transitioning to a more seasonal virus. Unlike last year, when there was one vaccine for H1N1 flu and another for seasonal flu, this year's vaccine is a 'three-in-one' that includes protection against H1N1 as well as two other strains."

8 Sep 2010

Study finds increase in bone morphogenetic protein usage for Off-Label procedures

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is increasingly used as an alternative to the patient's own bone for spinal fusion surgery. Yet at least 85 percent of these procedures are operations for which BMP use has not been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), suggests a study in the September 1 issue of Spine.

8 Sep 2010

Further evidence on adverse effects of smoking on fertility

Two new studies have shed more light on how smoking may damage fertility, and give further weight to advice that mothers and fathers-to-be should stop smoking before attempting to conceive. The research is published online in the reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction today (Wednesday 8 September).

8 Sep 2010

Studies examine health care use, quality

The New York Times: A new study finds "that more than half of the 354 million doctor visits made each year for acute medical care, like for fevers, stomachaches and coughs, are not with a patient's primary physician, and that more than a quarter take place in hospital emergency rooms. The authors of the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs, said it highlighted a significant question about the new federal health care law: can access to primary care be maintained.

8 Sep 2010