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Acousticon receives FDA clearance for ACAM-5 hearing loss product

TCG today announced that Acousticon Inc., one of its portfolio companies, recently received FDA clearance for its ACAM-5 product, allowing the company to begin US commercialization activities for the first time.

9 May 2011

Ideal psychotropic drug may cause physical dependence

A report in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a group of European investigators headed by Fabrizio Schifano has explored the potential for dependence of pregabalin using patients' online reports.

9 May 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

"In 25 countries across Asia, from Kazakhstan to Papua New Guinea, we work to support the success of emerging economies and help address the challenges of hunger and poverty. We do this not just by extending a helping hand, but sharing the hope of the American Dream to people around the world - the mother who eats less so her children can eat more, the girl who risks her life to get an education, the entrepreneur who beats the odds to create a small business that employs his neighbors," Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator, writes in a post on the agency's "Impact blog".

7 May 2011

Opinions: U.S. support for maternal, child health; infection control at borders; the AMFm model; International Affairs budget; organizations supporting women

When Mother's Day is recognized on Sunday, "let's honor motherhood itself by giving all moms the gift they want most - the chance to deliver and raise healthy children," former Sens. Bill Frist and Jon Corzine, who serve as co-chairs of the Save the Children's Newborn and Child Survival Campaign, write in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

6 May 2011

Neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization associated with protection against SIV infection

Using a monkey model of AIDS, scientists have identified a vaccine-generated immune-system response that correlates with protection against infection by the monkey version of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The researchers found that neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization were associated with protection against SIV infection.

6 May 2011

Study examines community-based HIV testing programs in Africa, Southeast Asia

If you want to improve HIV testing rates in remote rural areas, get the community involved, says UCLA's Thomas Coates, who has directed a new study examining HIV testing programs in communities in Africa and Southeast Asia.

6 May 2011

Roundup: Vt. House vote on universal health care could come today; Calif. group warns of rising costs of retiree health care and pensions

The House is slated Thursday to take up a conference committee report on a bill designed to put the state on the path to universal health care by 2017 if not sooner. The bill sets up a new Green Mountain Care Board to design a system to provide health insurance to every Vermont resident.

6 May 2011

Angel Medical Systems to present observations of ischemic events detected using permanently implanted intracardiac ST-segment monitor in high risk CAD patients

Angel Medical Systems has announced that David Keenan will be presenting on behalf of Mitchell Krucoff, MD, FACC, Chairman, Division of Cardiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, on May 6th, 2011 from 2:45-3:00 PM at the Heart Rhythm Society's 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

5 May 2011

FDA releases final guidance to firms that market OTC drug products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released its final guidance to firms that manufacture, market, or distribute over-the-counter liquid drug products packaged with cups, droppers, syringes, and spoons to measure and dispense the doses of medication.

5 May 2011

Desmond Tutu calls on youth to lead next generation in HIV/AIDS fight

Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday at a meeting on Robben Island, South Africa, that "was meant to be a symbolic passing of the torch from an older generation of activists to younger people," called on youth to lead the next generation in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Agence France-Presse reports.

5 May 2011

Study: XMRV retrovirus is not present in chronic fatigue syndrome patients

New findings from University of Utah School of Medicine researchers show that the retrovirus called XMRV is not present in the blood of patients who have chronic fatigue syndrome.

5 May 2011

FDA clears Sectra's digital mammography system

Women in the US will now have the same opportunity as million of European women already have; to undergo mammography with significantly lower radiation dose. This is the result of FDA's clearance of the Swedish IT and medical technology company Sectra's digital mammography system, Sectra MicroDose Mammography.

4 May 2011

New research sheds light on origins of cryptococcal fungal infection

New research has shed light on the origins of a fungal infection which is one of the major causes of death from AIDS-related illnesses. The study, published today in the journal PLoS Pathogens, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the BBSRC, shows how the more virulent forms of Cryptococcus neoformans evolved and spread out of Africa and into Asia.

4 May 2011

FTC, FDA take action on unproven STD drug products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission today announced a joint effort to remove products from the market that make unproven claims to treat, cure, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

4 May 2011

Opinions: U.S. development aid, commitment to women; R&D partnerships and development

Once again, Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers report has ranked Afghanistan, where one in 11 women die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, the worst place in the world to be a mother, which "is not surprising," Ret. Army Col. John Agoglia, who served as director of the Counterinsurgency Training Center-Afghanistan in Kabul from 2008-2010, writes in a Politico opinion piece.

4 May 2011

AHF cautions against fast track FDA-approval for expanded use of Gilead’s Truvada

During its quarterly meeting over the weekend, The Board of Directors of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) adopted a resolution cautioning Gilead Sciences against seeking fast track FDA-approval for the expanded use of its best selling AIDS treatment, Truvada, as a possible form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent the transmission of HIV.

4 May 2011

Statins can help reduce lung damage in severe abdominal sepsis

Statins may be best known for their ability to reduce cholesterol, but a research report appearing in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that these same drugs could also play a crucial role in the reduction of lung damage resulting from severe abdominal sepsis and infection.

3 May 2011

Opinions: Population growth; global HIV response; global malaria fight; child brides

International population dynamics are a "ticking time bomb, which we cannot afford to neglect any longer," George Tsereteli, president of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development, writes in a New Europe opinion piece.

3 May 2011

NCI survey: Most people do not know much about clinical trials

Most people don't know much about clinical trials, according to surveys across all races and groups. Yet many members of the Hispanic community fear and distrust doctors, hospitals, and medical research. Part of this distrust may have come from the legacy of enforced sterilizations that Latinas experienced before World War II in Puerto Rico.

2 May 2011

HIV/AIDS research in Africa

Nowhere in the world has the AIDS/HIV pandemic cut a greater swath of devastation than in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of all people infected with the virus reside. As Barbara Smith, PhD, RN, FAAN, discovered firsthand, no segment of society there has been left unscathed.

30 Apr 2011