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Lung protein appears to play a key role in smoking-related emphysema

An international research team has identified a lung protein that appears to play a key role in smoking-related emphysema and have crafted an antibody to block its activity, Indiana University scientists reported.

17 May 2011

AP reports on Global Fund's release of information on corruption, fund responds

After an Associated Press story on Friday reported that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "will make public more detailed information about money it has lost to corruption and mismanagement, but won't release other information critics have sought that might have made it possible to calculate how much of the money investigated is lost to corruption, or what percentage of the fund's overall disbursements are misspent".

17 May 2011

Patients with COPD can benefit from computer-based decision aid

A new program developed by researchers at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University may make it easier for patients with moderate/severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to make critical decisions regarding their care as their disease worsens.

17 May 2011

Critics say program offering money for contraception to HIV-positive Kenyan women is illegal

IRIN/Plus News reports that "the Kenyan government and rights groups have expressed outrage at a project in western Kenya that is paying HIV-positive women to undergo long-term contraception."

17 May 2011

Remote telemonitoring does not offer promise for critically-ill patients

Telemonitoring may offer promise for patients in remote locations without access to specially trained intensive care physicians. However, a recent study indicates telemonitoring does not offer improved clinical outcomes compared to patients who receive standard care.

17 May 2011

Five out of 13 plastic products intended for children are toxic

Many plastic products contain hazardous chemicals that can leach to the surroundings. In studies conducted at the University of Gothenburg, a third of the tested plastic products released toxic substances, including 5 out of 13 products intended for children.

17 May 2011

Inhalation of hydrogen can reduce hyperoxic lung injury

Inhaling small amounts of hydrogen in addition to concentrated oxygen may help stem the damage to lung tissue that can occur when critically ill patients are given oxygen for long periods of time, according to a rat model study conducted by researchers in Pittsburgh. The study also found hydrogen initiates activation of heme-oxygenase (HO-1), an enzyme that protects lung cells.

17 May 2011

New bronchial thermoplasty long-term safety data in asthma presented at ATS annual meeting

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced long-term safety data from the Research in Severe Asthma (RISA) Trial, which demonstrated the maintenance of stable lung function and the absence of clinical complications over a five-year period in patients with severe refractory asthma treated with its Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System.

17 May 2011

Pioneer of ‘organ-on-a-chip’ technology to speak at Imperial College London

The potential of microscopic organ-on-a-chip devices that mimic the way real organs work, so that scientists and engineers can model the effects of therapies more accurately, will be discussed by a pioneer in bioengineering at Imperial College London this week.

17 May 2011

WFP resumes food aid operations in South Sudan

The World Food Program (WFP) has resumed food aid operations in South Sudan after operations were suspended last month because of violence, Reuters reports.

17 May 2011

LDC conference ends with 10-year action plan

The Fourth U.N. Conference on Least Developed Countries closed in Istanbul on Friday "with a number of recommendations seeking to halve, from 48 to 24, the number of LDCs during the next 10 years," the Guardian's "Global Development" blog reports.

17 May 2011

Virtual reality offers returning soldiers 'psychotherapy by computer' to treat PTSD

For those soldiers worried about the stigma associated with seeing a therapist, virtual reality applications for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be the alternative to the traditional "talk therapy."

17 May 2011

Scientists identify 'de novo' genetic mutations in autism spectrum disorder children

Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) Department of Genome Sciences have identified several sporadic or "de novo" genetic mutations in children with autism spectrum disorder. The researchers applied leading edge molecular biology techniques and massively parallel sequencing to simultaneously examine all of the protein coding portions of the genome, collectively called the exome.

17 May 2011

Business trends shape medical practices

Minnesota Public Radio reports that independent practices increasingly face an uphill battle while the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes that the "company doctor" is making a comeback in workplaces across the nation.

17 May 2011

Scientists make human stem cells without working on human embryos

Stem cell research courts both controversy and support in the community- depending on your viewpoint.

17 May 2011

'Mu opioid' receptors in the brain linked to smoking relapse

Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking says it's incredibly difficult, and the struggle is due in part to genetic factors. Now, a new study from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on how one specific genetic risk for smoking relapse may work: Some of the difficulties may be due to how many receptors, called "mu opioid" receptors, a smoker has in his or her brain.

17 May 2011

World Health Assembly begins in Geneva

As the 64th World Health Assembly gets underway in Geneva, the body will consider "an array of subjects pertaining to reforms of the organisation and its financing, vaccines, fake medicines, and influenza pandemic preparedness, as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases," Intellectual Property Watch reports.

17 May 2011

New biomarker can predict breast cancer recurrence

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have discovered a new biomarker related to the body's immune system that can predict a breast cancer patients' risk of cancer recurrence.

17 May 2011

UW's ultrathin laser endoscope gives a Google Earth view of the bladder

Bladder cancer is the fourth-most-common cancer in men and one of the most expensive cancers to treat from diagnosis to death. After initial diagnosis and surgery, patients must return to the urologist at least yearly for a costly, time-consuming and uncomfortable bladder scan. Tumors recur in more than half of patients.

17 May 2011

Novel topically-applied molecular microbicide protects women against HIV infection

Using a technique that silences genes promoting infection, researchers have developed a novel, topically-applied molecular microbicide capable of preventing HIV transmission.

17 May 2011