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Experts' debate over how trade affects food security focusing attention on Doha talks, IRIN reports

IRIN reports how "[a]n exchange between two leading world officials on how trade affects food insecurity in countries has helped focus attention on the stalled Doha trade talks."

23 Dec 2011

Federal officials seek to keep details on bird flu study secret

A federal board has asked two scientific journals to restrict access to details of a genetic study of the bird flu in which researchers altered the virus to be more easily transmittable between humans.

23 Dec 2011

Investigation finds shell companies stealing millions from Medicare

Reuters reports on rampant Medicare fraud and the development of new technologies that can be used to fight it.

23 Dec 2011

Declined consent affects organ donation rates

Research published today in the British Journal of Anaesthesia suggests that organ donation rates in the UK could be increased if the current issues affecting declined consent are improved. At present, only 30% of the UK population are registered on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). From 2003 to 2005, the overall consent rate for donation after brain death (DBD) was 59%.

23 Dec 2011

Employment issues: A hot topic among health care workers

In Connecticut, the issue of unionizing home care attendants has sparked charged debate. Meanwhile in California, nurses -; in the midst of contract negotiations -; plan to picket at Sutter Health's Sacramento headquarters and nine of its hospitals; and, in Texas, nurses filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board regarding Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center's sick leave policy.

23 Dec 2011

WHO researchers release critique of methods to estimate global malaria incidence

"Richard Cibulskis and colleagues at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland present a critique of different estimation methods of the worldwide incidence of malaria in this week's PLoS Medicine," according to a post in the PLoS Medicine "Community Blog."

23 Dec 2011

Obama administration should provide food aid to N. Korea 'as soon as is practical'

Recounting the factors that led to and conditions that persisted during the North Korean famine between 1995 and 1998, New Yorker staff writer Steve Coll says in this opinion piece in the magazine, "Better harvests and international food aid ended the worst suffering by 1998. Yet chronic food insecurity and shortages persist to this day."

23 Dec 2011

Injected meth users at greater risk of attempting suicide

The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth.

23 Dec 2011

AVAC report outlines science-based agenda for ending AIDS epidemic

AVAC's annual report, titled "AVAC Report 2011: The End?," "is intended as a vision and a challenge to the field, and a first step in holding all of us -- civil society, researchers, governments, and funders -- accountable for progress" toward ending AIDS, according to the AVAC website (12/22).

23 Dec 2011

Researchers discover key interaction at heart of promising new treatment for Fabry disease

A research team led by biochemist Scott Garman at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered a key interaction at the heart of a promising new treatment for a rare childhood metabolic disorder known as Fabry disease.

23 Dec 2011

PBS NewsHour examines role of religious leaders in Morocco's fight against HIV/AIDS

In this post in PBS NewsHour's "The Rundown" blog, journalist Ray Suarez reports on the role of religious leaders in Morocco's battle against HIV/AIDS and stigma.

23 Dec 2011

Biosensors capable of detecting lung cancer in exhaled breath

Tecnalia, through the Interreg project Medisen, is contributing to develop biosensors capable of detecting the presence of tumour markers of lung cancer in exhaled breath.

23 Dec 2011

UNICEF aims to vaccinate 1.7M children against measles in DRC

A UNICEF measles immunization campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aimed to vaccinate 1.7 million children under age five between December 19 and December 21, IRIN reports.

23 Dec 2011

Reverse spectroscopy eliminates background noise and cleans up images

Optical techniques enable us to examine single molecules, but do we really understand what we are seeing? After all, the fuzziness caused by effects such as light interference makes these images very difficult to interpret.

23 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 23, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a variety of stories about a tax plan agreement reached on Capitol Hill that will keep Medicare's doctor reimbursements from falling for two months.

23 Dec 2011

Scientific American examines relationship between climate change, health

Scientific American examines the interface between climate change and human health, writing, "WHO research suggests that current warming of global average temperatures of just under one degree Celsius is responsible for an additional 150,000 deaths per year, largely due to agricultural failures and diarrheal disease in developing countries.

23 Dec 2011

Democrats, Republicans stand their ground on 'doc fix' positions

Congressional Democratic leaders pan the idea of a stand-alone bill for Medicare physician payments, while Republicans continue to insist on a full-year fix.

23 Dec 2011

'Dramatic gains' in fight against malaria in jeopardy due to Global Fund shortfall

In this post on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Kent Campbell, director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, says "dramatic gains" made in the fight against malaria, and the possibility of ending the disease, are in jeopardy because the "Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides two-thirds of the global financing for efforts to combat malaria, is facing a financial crisis due to unfulfilled donor commitments."

23 Dec 2011

Deal may be near for House agreement on Senate bill

House Republicans will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Thursday amid indications of a possible deal to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires on January 1, a top Republican source has told CNN. The development comes hours after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, called for a short-term extension of the tax holiday as part of a compromise, increasing pressure on House GOP leaders to end their resistance to such a step.

23 Dec 2011

Radiology researchers discover that MS affects thalamus of the brain

Radiology researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have found evidence that multiple sclerosis affects an area of the brain that controls cognitive, sensory and motor functioning apart from the disabling damage caused by the disease's visible lesions.

23 Dec 2011