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Proposed federal requirement for contraceptives drawing some fire

A proposed rule that birth control be a free preventive service under the health law is drawing partisan cheers and jeers.

8 Sep 2011

Study: Almost one third of students in Uganda have been subject to sexual coercion

Almost one third of students at a university in Uganda say that they have been subject to sexual coercion, an experience which was often linked to risky sexual behaviour. This is shown in a study from Lund University in Sweden.

8 Sep 2011

Increased consolidation among health plans linked to reduced hospital costs

Increased consolidation among health plans nationally may benefit consumers by lowering hospital prices, at least in those regions where health plans are the most consolidated, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

8 Sep 2011

Abnormal levels of lysophosphatidic acid can trigger congenital hydrocephalus

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found what may be a major cause of congenital hydrocephalus, one of the most common neurological disorders of childhood that produces mental debilitation and sometimes death in premature and newborn children.

8 Sep 2011

Pharnext puts together €2.5M to fund development of Pleodrug for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Pharnext SAS, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of innovative treatments based on Pleotherapy for severe neurological diseases, today announced that it has put together a €2.5 million round of financing (corresponding to a pre-money company valuation of €60 million).

8 Sep 2011

Study: Aerobic physical activity linked to reduced risk of dementia

Any exercise that gets the heart pumping may reduce the risk of dementia and slow the condition's progression once it starts, reported a Mayo Clinic study published this month in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

8 Sep 2011

New surprising discovery on division of mitochondria within cells

A surprising new discovery by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Davis regarding the division of tiny "power plants" within cells known as mitochondria has implications for better understanding a wide variety of human diseases and conditions due to mitochondrial defects.

8 Sep 2011

New study to better understand relapsed medulloblastoma in children

Children with medulloblastoma, (a type of malignant brain tumour), undergo extensive and debilitating treatment, which has led to marked improvements in survival rates over recent decades. Despite this, these tumours will return in a proportion of patients following treatment (termed relapse), and the vast majority of these will succumb to their disease.

8 Sep 2011

Study: Family meals may encourage children to try new types of food

A study has found that eating together as a family may encourage children to be more open to trying new types of food. This finding will be presented at the Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference to be held at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne from 7-9 September.

8 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 7, 2011

"Publicly, consumer and patient advocates continue to cheer wildly for last year's health care law. Behind the scenes, however, some worry that they are losing a few key battles to the insurance and business communities.

7 Sep 2011

Scientists discover 29 new genetic variants linked with MS

Multiple sclerosis is primarily an immunological disease. Scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) have in succeeded, in collaboration with 23 research teams from 15 different countries, in discovering a total of 29 new genetic variants that are involved in the genesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory disease of the nervous system.

7 Sep 2011

Continued funding from all countries needed to fight HIV/AIDS

"There is no doubt that" a 10 percent reduction in funding from donor governments for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries in 2010 from the previous year's levels "is linked to economic strain felt by countries across the globe," a VOA News editorial says.

7 Sep 2011

Scientists discover two opposing neuronal regulatory circuits for generation, elimination of fear

Emotional balance is regulated by molecular factors behind stress response. When healthy people are faced with threatening situations, they react with a suitable behavioural response and do not descend into a state of either panic or indifference, as is the case, for example, with patients who suffer from anxiety.

7 Sep 2011

Study: Gastric bypass surgery for obesity also decreases blood pressure

The kidneys play an important role in the regulation of blood pressure by adjusting the production of urine after eating or drinking. This process begins already in the upper digestive tract, which could explain why gastric bypass surgery for obesity also markedly reduce blood pressure, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.

7 Sep 2011

Chemotherapy linked to speech difficulties among cancer patients

Patients who have received high doses of chemotherapy may find it harder to express themselves verbally, according to new research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Speech difficulties among cancer patients who received chemotherapy treatment were two times higher than among those who did not.

7 Sep 2011

FDA reviews safety issues of bisphosphonates for osteoporosis

An advisory committee for U.S. Food and Drug Administration meets Friday to review the safety of a popular class of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates amid worry that their long-term use could cause rare fractures of the thighbones and affect the jawbone. The committee will evaluate whether women should temporarily stop using the drugs or use them for only a few years.

6 Sep 2011

Kids around smokers lose more school days than peers

A new study says that children whose parents smoke tend to miss more school than their classmates with non-smoking parents — possibly because of a higher rate of respiratory infections.

6 Sep 2011

Diabetes prevention in five steps: Study

According to a new study meeting just one of five key health goals reduces the odds of developing diabetes in middle age by roughly one-third. The report adds that the more goals are met the lower the risk falls, even if there is a family history of diabetes.

6 Sep 2011

Discovery of a key protein’s role in cell clearance could impact future treatments of autoimmune diseases, obesity and atherosclerosis

The healthy human body is extremely efficient at cleaning house. Every day, we purge 100 to 200 billion dead or dying cells – a process called cell clearance, which is fundamental in our ability to maintain a healthy physiological balance and prevent a number of chronic diseases. Professional cleaning cells, called phagocytes, are responsible for ridding the body of dead, or ‘apoptotic,’ cells.

6 Sep 2011

Month of birth may determine career

Being born in a certain month appears to indicate the statistical likelihood of what job a person will end up with, the study by the UK’s Office for National Statistics has found.

6 Sep 2011