Hospital News and Research

RSS

Do viruses make bacteria more deadly?

In England and Wales, the national health statistics in 2007 showed that there were 8,324 death certificates which named Clostridium difficile. This is a bacterium which causes severe diarrhoea in humans and animals as the underlying cause of death, a 28% increase from 2006.

22 Jun 2009

Questions raised over Australia's first swine flu related death

According to the latest update (51) on the swine flu pandemic (influenza A H1N1), from the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of the 19th of June 2009 there have now been 44,287 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide and 180 deaths.

21 Jun 2009

House Democrats release sweeping reform plan

Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled their bill to overhaul the U.S. health care system today. Senior Correspondent Mary Agnes Carey was there and spoke with Peggy Girshman, KHN's Executive Editor for Online, about the plan.

21 Jun 2009

U.S. flu funds; South Africa confirms first case; EU encouraged to coordinate pandemic vaccine policy

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a $105.9 billion war-funding bill that "includes $7.7 billion to prepare for pandemic flu," the Washington Post reports (Bacon, Washington Post, 6/19).

21 Jun 2009

Prosposed budget cuts worry hospitals

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires reports on reaction to the Obama administration's proposed cuts that may acutely affect hospitals. It notes: "President Obama last weekend called for $313 billion in savings over 10 years through adjustments in Medicare and Medicaid payments - a plan that a 'deeply disappointed' American Hospital Association said would mean $220 billion in payment cuts to hospitals, on top of billions in other proposed Medicare cuts."

18 Jun 2009

Antisense Therapeutics trial of ATL1101 in prostate cancer shows promise

Antisense Therapeutics Ltd. (ASX: ANP) has reported further positive results from its collaborative preclinical research studies on the therapeutic potential of ATL1101 in prostate cancer. In experimental models, ATL1101 treatment significantly enhanced the tumor-suppressive effect of the cancer drug Paclitaxel. Paclitaxel is one of a class of drugs known as taxanes.

18 Jun 2009

New antioxidant supplement may help slow sight loss in elderly

Queen's University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.

18 Jun 2009

Targeting tumor behavior may find new anti-cancer agents

Ohio State University cancer researchers have used computational and genomic methods to identify possible anti-cancer agents that may block a particular kind of tumor behavior. The agents target multiple genes associated with that behavior at one time.

18 Jun 2009

Can the private sector deliver public services?

The private sector has an important role to play in the delivery of public services, according to a new report by Professor Paul Grout of the Centre for Market and Public Organisation (CMPO). However, he argues that the desire to be profitable can be damaging in some cases, generally in public services where staff are motivated, not just by financial reward, but also by a desire to serve the greater public good.

18 Jun 2009

Penn researchers: Nursing needs a bailout, federal scholarships needed to fix nursing shortage

Researchers from the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing say having enough nurses to meet a national shortage is a "mathematical improbability" unless nursing schools admit more students through federal financial support in a potential bailout, according to an article in today's issue of Health Affairs.

18 Jun 2009

Call to protect hospitals, schools from impact of disasters

WHO and UNICEF today called on governments to strengthen risk reduction measures in four key areas so that health and education systems are able to cope with disasters, including the risks from climate change. These areas are:

18 Jun 2009

Obama plan to cut hospital payments draws ire

The Obama administration has called for $200 billion in cuts for hospital reimbursements in an effort to overhaul the health care system.

18 Jun 2009

Recession and budget cuts hit children especially hard

As the recession forces more hospitals and doctors to pare costs and services, children are being especially hard hit.

18 Jun 2009

CNN, The Independent, VOA News examine technology, health systems in developing countries

CNN examines the increasing numbers of health workers using cell phone technology to monitor diseases in the developing world. The article features EpiSurveyor - "a free, open-source application designed for personal digital assistants" that can be downloaded onto cell phones, so that officials can "gather data directly from the site of the outbreak and send it electronically back to headquarters for faster analysis," CNN writes.

18 Jun 2009

Whole-genome searches unlock secrets of a childhood cancer

Two new studies from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia advance the search for genetic events that result in neuroblastoma, a puzzling, often-deadly type of childhood cancer.

17 Jun 2009

Research uncovers clues to the development of cancers in AIDS patients

In a series of recently-published articles, a research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has uncovered clues to the development of cancers in AIDS patients.

17 Jun 2009

Relation between local food environments and obesity among adults

Living in an area with more fast food outlets and convenience stores than supermarkets and grocers has been associated with obesity in a Canadian study. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have shown that your local food environment can affect your weight.

17 Jun 2009

New diagnostic technique detects possible Alzheimer's biomarker in blood

A new diagnostic technique which may greatly simplify the detection of Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by researchers at McGill University and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital (JGH).

17 Jun 2009

New understanding on how "trans fats" gum up cellular machinery

Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in processed foods contain trans fatty acids that interfere with the regulation of blood flow. A new report reveals a new way in which these "trans fats" gum up the cellular machinery that keeps blood moving through arteries and veins.

17 Jun 2009

Taxol-carrying nanoparticles

Nanoparticles specially engineered by University of Central Florida Assistant Professor J. Manuel Perez and his colleagues could someday target and destroy tumors, sparing patients from toxic, whole-body chemotherapies.

17 Jun 2009