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U-M Professor to review data from three prominent studies on heart failure

Roughly 5 million people in the United States live with heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump blood around the body effectively. The causes and types of heart failure vary greatly, and treatment must be tailored to each patient. In some cases, doctors will prescribe a class of diuretic drugs called aldosterone antagonists.

20 Sep 2011

Autopsy study reveals earliest 1918 pandemic influenza cases

Examination of lung tissue and other autopsy material from 68 American soldiers who died of respiratory infections in 1918 has revealed that the influenza virus that eventually killed 50 million people worldwide was circulating in the United States at least four months before the 1918 influenza reached pandemic levels that fall.

20 Sep 2011

Introduction of free caesarean sections in Congo leads to increase in procedure

"A health policy shift that saw the introduction in May of free caesarean section operations in 35 hospitals across the Republic of Congo -- to curb the growing rate of maternal and infant mortality -- seems to have prompted a proliferation of such operations, according to health officials," IRIN reports.

20 Sep 2011

World Bank report examines gender equality, highlights mortality disparity between men and women

The World Bank's annual World Development Report, which was released on Sunday and this year "focuses on gender equality around the world, offers some stark facts about how women and girls fare in developing countries despite decades of progress," the Wall Street Journal reports (Reddy, 9/18). "The most glaring disparity is the rate at which girls and women die relative to men in developing countries, according to" the report, Reuters/AlertNet reports.

20 Sep 2011

ESC urges European heads of state to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases

The European Society of Cardiology, through the European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA), has urged European heads of state "to show leadership" and long-term commitment to the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases at today's "high level meeting" of the UN General Assembly in New York.

19 Sep 2011

Low-dose anticholinergic drugs do not appear to cause cognitive impairment in dementia patients

Researchers whose findings on the detrimental impact of some common medicines on elderly people were widely reported earlier in the summer have found that taking a few of these medicines does not appear to cause further cognitive impairment in those already suffering from dementia.

19 Sep 2011

ACC cardiologist to address the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases

Cardiologist William Zoghbi, M.D., will address the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases next week to argue that abating heart disease should be a target of the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals.

19 Sep 2011

Increase in hospital births helps lower neonatal mortality rate in China, study says

A campaign that began in 2000 encouraging women in China to give birth in hospitals instead of at home helped cut the nation's neonatal mortality rate by 62 percent between 1996 and 2008, according to a study by researchers from Peking University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, BBC News reports.

17 Sep 2011

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence From Medicare Drug Plans – Defining comparison friction as "the wedge between the availability of comparative information and consumers' use of it," the authors determined that providing prescription drug pricing information, even though it was free and accessible in other ways, increased the amount of "plan-switching" in the group to 28 percent compared to 17 percent in another that did not get the individual information.

17 Sep 2011

Risks of problem drinking on the rise among women

In a review of 31 peer-reviewed and published studies, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health looked generational and gender differences in alcohol consumption, alcohol disorders, and mortality. Findings indicate that people born after World War II are more likely to binge drink and develop alcohol use disorders. Researchers also found that the gender gap in alcoholism and problem drinking is narrowing in many countries.

17 Sep 2011

Additional data on safety, tolerability of Cempra's solithromycin to be presented at 51st ICAAC

Cempra Pharmaceuticals today announced abstracts to be presented on its fourth generation macrolide and novel fluoroketolide antibiotic, solithromycin (CEM-101), at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), September 17 to 20, 2011, in Chicago. The abstracts provide additional data that demonstrate the safety and routes of administration of CEM-101, a new generation macrolide.

17 Sep 2011

Reading between the lines: As poor get poorer, their health is at greater risk

In the wake of this week's Census Bureau report, news outlets report that the dire data about the percentage of Americans living in poverty could feed the current deficit-reduction discussions in Congress.

16 Sep 2011

Global child mortality rate is shrinking, but not enough to reach MDG, UNICEF/WHO report says

"The annual number of children who die before they reach age five is shrinking, falling to 7.6 million global deaths in 2010 from more than 12 million in 1990, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday" in their annual report on child mortality, Reuters reports. "Overall, 12,000 fewer children under age five die each day than a decade ago," according to the report, the news agency notes.

16 Sep 2011

Women urged to use clinics for birthing, family planning counseling in refugee camps along Somalia-Kenya border

IRIN examines how community health workers and international aid organizations, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and the International Rescue Committee, are working to provide safe and adequate health facilities in refugee camps on the Kenya-Somalia border where women can give birth.

16 Sep 2011

Breast and cervical cancers on the rise in poor nations

A new global analysis of diseases has revealed that the number of cases and deaths from breast and cervical cancer is rising in most countries across the world, especially in poorer nations where more women are dying at younger ages.

15 Sep 2011

E.U. announces launch of 126M Euro program to fight AIDS, TB in South Africa

European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs announced during a visit to South Africa on Monday that the European Union (E.U.) "will contribute 126 million euros to South Africa's fight against AIDS and tuberculosis (TB)," money that "will be used to improve South Africa's primary health care system, increasing access for patients," Reuters reports.

15 Sep 2011

Heart specialists reveal how pacemaker works at the biological level

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins have figured out how a widely used pacemaker for heart failure, which makes both sides of the heart beat together to pump effectively, works at the biological level.

15 Sep 2011

Scientist granted over $138,000 to explore Vitamin C therapy in sepsis

Sepsis kills more people than breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers combined. Outside of coronary care units, it is the leading cause of mortality in intensive care units. Every year 18 million people worldwide develop this potentially fatal disease. Thanks to a generous grant of $138,238.65 from the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation, Lawson Health Research Institute's Dr. Michael Sharpe is exploring a new sepsis therapy using Vitamin C.

15 Sep 2011

Number of global malaria deaths fell by one-fifth over past decade, RBM report says

Worldwide, the number of malaria deaths has "fallen by a fifth over the past decade, reflecting an influx of funds to fight the disease with better drugs and mosquito nets, Roll Back Malaria (RBM) said" in a report released on Monday, Agence France-Presse reports.

14 Sep 2011

U.N. report highlights innovations aimed at improving maternal and child health

PBS NewsHour's blog "The Rundown" examines a "report from the U.N.'s Every Woman, Every Child Innovation Working Group, out in the Lancet Monday, which looks at some of the promising and innovative projects" aimed at improving maternal and child health

14 Sep 2011

Mortality News and Research

U-M Professor to review data from three prominent studies on heart failure

Autopsy study reveals earliest 1918 pandemic influenza cases

Introduction of free caesarean sections in Congo leads to increase in procedure

World Bank report examines gender equality, highlights mortality disparity between men and women

ESC urges European heads of state to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases

Low-dose anticholinergic drugs do not appear to cause cognitive impairment in dementia patients

ACC cardiologist to address the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases

Increase in hospital births helps lower neonatal mortality rate in China, study says

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Risks of problem drinking on the rise among women

Additional data on safety, tolerability of Cempra's solithromycin to be presented at 51st ICAAC

Reading between the lines: As poor get poorer, their health is at greater risk

Global child mortality rate is shrinking, but not enough to reach MDG, UNICEF/WHO report says

Women urged to use clinics for birthing, family planning counseling in refugee camps along Somalia-Kenya border

Breast and cervical cancers on the rise in poor nations

E.U. announces launch of 126M Euro program to fight AIDS, TB in South Africa

Heart specialists reveal how pacemaker works at the biological level

Scientist granted over $138,000 to explore Vitamin C therapy in sepsis

Number of global malaria deaths fell by one-fifth over past decade, RBM report says

U.N. report highlights innovations aimed at improving maternal and child health

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