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Readmission of elderly patients after colectomy strongly linked with mortality: Study

Readmission to a hospital after standard surgical treatment for colon cancer is far more common than suspected for elderly patients according to researchers who presented their findings at the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Results from the first study to determine nationwide readmission rates following colectomy [surgical removal of malignant disease and part of the colon] in the Medicare population revealed that nearly one in nine patients over the age of 65 was readmitted within 30 days.

19 Oct 2009

Discovery may yield better understanding of protective gut-dwelling bacteria

Medical researchers have long suspected that obscure bacteria living within the intestinal tract may help keep the human immune system in balance. An international collaboration co-led by scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center has now identified a bizarre-looking microbial species that can single-handedly spur the production of specialized immune cells in mice.

19 Oct 2009

IL-2 compound ineffective against HIV-AIDS

An international research team has demonstrated that treating HIV-AIDS with interleukin-2 (IL-2) is ineffective. As a result, the researchers recommend that clinical trials on this compound be stopped.

19 Oct 2009

NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology updated to include pralatrexate drug

NCCN has added pralatrexate (Folotyn(TM), Allos Therapeutics, Inc.) to the NCCN Guidelines for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas as one of the options for second-line therapy for relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

19 Oct 2009

Chrysanthemum indicum extract holds promise for treating human cancer

A series of studies have demonstrated that Chrysanthemum indicum possesses antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective effects. Recently, much attention has been devoted to the anticancer activity of Chrysanthemum indicum, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its anticancer mechanism of action is still not clear and needs further investigation.

19 Oct 2009

Parents are concerned about the overuse of prescription medications with their children: Survey

A new nationwide survey released today reveals that just 12 percent of parents with children under the age of 18 have spoken to their child's doctor about complementary and integrative approaches to medicine, yet nearly 90 percent say they want to know more.

19 Oct 2009

TheraDoc commences beta testing of new computerized patient surveillance tool

TheraDoc®, the leading provider of clinical decision support technology in healthcare, today announced that it has started beta testing of a new computerized patient surveillance tool that will help hospitals monitor and manage screening programs for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which every year kills more people in the United States than AIDS.

19 Oct 2009

Slow start for PSOs meant to help providers learn from mistakes

A federal agency has designated 68 "Patient Safety Organizations" to offer health care providers a way "to share information and learn from problems," Modern Healthcare reports. But, a year after the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality began implementing the program, its "technology has not been finessed enough to really enable that sharing."

19 Oct 2009

Focus Diagnostics' 2009 H1N1 influenza virus test granted FDA emergency use authorization

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a second emergency use authorization (EUA) to Focus Diagnostics, the infectious disease diagnostics business of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, for its 2009 H1N1 influenza virus test. With the EUA, Focus Diagnostics is the only company in the U.S. to offer test kits for detecting the pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus that the FDA has authorized for emergency use by CLIA high-complexity labs, which include certain hospital and regional labs.

19 Oct 2009

Public option re-emerges in Senate discussions; continues to play role in House

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's efforts to merge the two Senate health care reform bills is being complicated by question of whether to include a public plan and how it might fit with vote counting, the president's agenda and the more liberal version sure to come out of the House.

19 Oct 2009

New NIH grants to develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is awarding 15 new grants to further develop and test the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

19 Oct 2009

Angiochem announces results of Phase 1 /2 clinical trials of ANG1005

Angiochem, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing drugs that are uniquely capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to treat brain diseases, announced today that its lead drug candidate, ANG1005, has demonstrated a favorable safety and efficacy profile in more than 100 patients with brain cancer from two separate Phase 1 /2 clinical studies in patients with progressive gliomas, including recurrent glioblastoma, and in patients with progressive brain metastases.

19 Oct 2009

GOP, Some Dems object to plan for adjusting physicians' medicare pay

Senate Democrats next week will take up a $240 billion, stand-alone bill that would stop scheduled cuts in Medicare's payments to physicians, The Hill reports. Although the action would be separate from sweeping health reform legislation, "[f]ixing the physician payments could boost Democrats' health reform efforts by providing physicians with a win on their foremost priority.

19 Oct 2009

ESC comments on France preparing to authorise the sale of cigarettes on the internet

The European Society of Cardiology wishes to comment on media reports this week that France is preparing to authorise the sale of cigarettes on the internet, to conform to European rights.

19 Oct 2009

CytoSorb human clinical trials nearing completion

TapeBeat.com, the news and research portal for the serious bio-tech investor in conjunction with the Farseers Group is proud to profile one of the most exciting up and coming biotech companies, MedaSorb Technologies (MSBT.OB), which is perfectly poised to realize exponential growth.

19 Oct 2009

New chromosomal abnormality in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Researchers identified a new chromosomal abnormality in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that appears to work in concert with another mutation to give rise to cancer. This latest anomaly is particularly common in children with Down syndrome.

19 Oct 2009

Inaccurate body temperature readings can harm the entire health care system

As we head into a flu season where the 2009 H1N1 swine flu is expected to cause increased sickness, hospitalization and deaths across the U.S., something as simple as inaccurate body temperature measurements may lead to social and economic turmoil – and may cause many more deaths.

19 Oct 2009

Novel HIV drug to be studied in cell cultures and patients

A $6 million, five-year federal grant to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute will enable researchers to investigate a novel approach in treating HIV infection---a unique class of drugs focused on developing therapies for psychological and neurological effects in AIDS.

19 Oct 2009

NCCN program on Discovery Health Channel profiles patients battling lung cancer

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women. Although tobacco use is the strongest known risk factor for lung cancer, many people who never smoked also develop the disease.

19 Oct 2009

CCID Consulting releases article on China’s portable medical electronics field

CCID Consulting, China’s leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, and the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: HK08235), released its article on China’s portable medical electronics field.

19 Oct 2009