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Bioengineered spinal discs can prevent chronic back or neck pain

Every year, millions of people contend with lower back and neck discomfort. With intent to ease their pain, Cornell University engineers in Ithaca and doctors at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have created a biologically based spinal implant that could someday spell relief for these countless sufferers.

2 Aug 2011

New liquid material shows promise for people with facial deformities

Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins have developed a new liquid material that in early experiments in rats and humans shows promise in restoring damaged soft tissue relatively safely and durably.

2 Aug 2011

$VP, balloon kyphoplasty safe and effective for women with vertebral fractures$

VP, balloon kyphoplasty safe and effective for women with vertebral fractures

A working group of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) has issued a literature review of prospective controlled studies comparing the efficacy and safety of two minimally invasive techniques for vertebral augmentation after spine fracture: vertebroplasty (VP) and balloon kyphoplasty.

2 Aug 2011

Deaf candidate at University of Hamburg presented Deaf Holocaust

On July 26, 2011, Mark Zaurov, a deaf Ph.D. candidate at the University of Hamburg, Germany who had recently completed a four-month fellowship at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, presented "Deaf Holocaust." His research includes interviews with Deaf Holocaust survivors and Deaf German perpetrators.

30 Jul 2011

Journalism fellows to gather in Los Angeles to explore community health issues

USC Annenberg announced journalism awards totaling $53,500 to support investigative and explanatory reporting projects on topics ranging from health in America's underserved communities to the challenges for health reform and quality medical care.

30 Jul 2011

Boehner's debt-ceiling plan faces delay in the House

As Republican leaders struggle to gather enough votes to push the measure through, news outlets are analyzing a number of related issues -- including how both the House GOP and Senate Democrats' plans avoid tough decisions on entitlement program spending, and how future discussions surrounding Medicare may be significantly altered.

30 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 29, 2011

Today's headlines include speculation about how the debt-ceiling debate may have altered the discussion regarding changes to Medicare.

29 Jul 2011

Veterans' health care costs are a big part of federal budget

Though the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan will save the nation billions of dollars a year, another cost of war is projected to continue rising for decades to come: caring for the veterans.

29 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 28, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about the ever-growing US health health care tab and about the petition filed by a conservative legal center to bring their health law challenge to the Supreme Court.

28 Jul 2011

Cognitive behavioral therapy and self-help may improve unexplained symptoms of pain, fatigue

A new type of therapy may help people with symptoms such as pain, weakness, or dizziness that can't be explained by an underlying disease, according to a study published in the July 27, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Jul 2011

Efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, NTDs should be integrated

"The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) produce a devastating level of chronic disability in sub-Saharan Africa, with some estimates suggesting that the NTD disease burden exceeds tuberculosis and is one-half that of malaria," Julie Noblick and Richard Skolnick of George Washington University and Peter Hotez of the Sabin Vaccine Institute write in a PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases editorial.

28 Jul 2011

Researchers draw on ontology to define pain

All over the world, patients with chronic pain struggle to express how they feel to the doctors and health-care providers who are trying to understand and treat them. Now, a University at Buffalo psychiatrist is attempting to help patients suffering from chronic pain and their doctors by drawing on ontology, the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being or existence.

28 Jul 2011

Aetna second-quarter operating earnings increase to $522.8 million

Aetna today announced second-quarter 2011 operating earnings of $522.8 million, or $1.35 per share, a per share increase of 29 percent over 2010.

27 Jul 2011

As partisan debt-ceiling disputes continue, entitlement reform haunts discussion

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner each delivered prime time addresses Monday night, capping an extraordinary day of partisan debt-ceiling dueling. As the clock continues to tick toward the Aug. 2 deadline, specifics from the two very different plans emerged — one offered by House Republicans and the other by Senate Democrats.

27 Jul 2011

Researchers investigate the nature of stuttering

Radio-TV-Film senior Alex Murphy has a knack for storytelling through short stories, poetry and screenwriting. One of his undergraduate classes was a professional communication course, which requires students to deliver oral presentations in class.

27 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 26, 2011

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "In the controlled chaos of an hospital emergency department, ensuring that patients are pain-free and can make informed choices about their care often takes a back seat to assessing and stabilizing them and moving them through the system as fast as possible.

26 Jul 2011

Anesthetic agent isoflurane may treat intracerebral hemorrhage

The anesthetic agent isoflurane may be a useful treatment for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)—a type of stroke caused by bleeding inside the brain, reports a study in the August issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

26 Jul 2011

Fragile X syndrome study to reveal more

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability in the world. Medical experts, including the Mater Hospital's Dr Helen Heussler, are today launching a new push to uncover the secrets of a disorder that affects a child born in Australia every week. Fragile X is passed from parent carriers who often exhibit very few symptoms. Estimates suggest more than 100,000 Australians either carry the gene mutation that causes Fragile X or have the syndrome, yet the vast majority have not been diagnosed, according to the Fragile X Association of Australia.

25 Jul 2011

Biogen Idec's FAMPYRA receives EU conditional approval for treating functional impairment in MS

Biogen Idec announced today it has received conditional approval from the European Commission for FAMPYRA® (prolonged-release fampridine tablets) to improve walking in adult patients with multiple sclerosis who have walking disability.

25 Jul 2011

Homeless people report using street drugs to treat their pain

Chronic pain is not managed well in the general population and it's an even greater challenge for homeless people, according to new research by St. Michael's Hospital.

22 Jul 2011