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Uproar follows Komen-Planned Parenthood rift

Anti-abortion activists applaud the move, but many other women's health advocates are angered the well-known breast cancer advocacy group has opted against helping another prominent women's health organization.

3 Feb 2012

PLoS editorial examines inequities in global disease burden

In this PLoS Medicine editorial, the editors review progress toward the journal's goal of reflecting and addressing inequity in the burden of ill-health around the world as part of the Global Burden of Disease project -- a "comprehensive work studying the burden of ill-health and death resulting from specific conditions, injuries, and risk factors," a PLoS press release writes.

3 Feb 2012

Small molecules at cell's membrane enable cell movement

Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have identified key steps in how certain molecules alter a cell's skeletal shape and drive the cell's movement.

3 Feb 2012

Molecular subtypes of lung cancer manifest as different diseases

Different kinds of lung cancer behave in different ways, suggesting they are fundamentally different diseases. According to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in Cancer, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, different subgroups of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show distinct patterns of spread in the body.

3 Feb 2012

CSIS report examines changing role of private sector in global health

This report, published by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday and titled "The Private-Sector Role in Public Health," reflects on an evolution in the roles and responsibilities of business in global health over the recent decades.

3 Feb 2012

New procedure rapidly induces nerve regeneration

American scientists believe a new procedure to repair severed nerves could result in patients recovering in days or weeks, rather than months or years. The team used a cellular mechanism similar to that used by many invertebrates to repair damage to nerve axons. Their results are published today in the Journal of Neuroscience Research.

3 Feb 2012

Fallout continues over Obama administration birth-control coverage rule

President Barack Obama's decision on this issue may offer insights into his approach to policy making. Meanwhile, kudos and criticism come from different sides of the issue.

3 Feb 2012

International conference focuses on where and how memory is formed

The University of Haifa is hosting an international conference of leading brain researchers from around the world next week, where the participants will be attempting to answer the question of where and how memory is stored; or in less ordinary terms: "Cell and molecular mechanisms of memory formation".

3 Feb 2012

VA purchase of $1.2 billion in pharmaceutics termed a 'team failure'

These comments came during a Wednesday House Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing. Meanwhile, in other news related to veterans' health, USA Today reports that the return of combat troops is driving a medical-care backlog.

3 Feb 2012

Immune cells from healthy individuals effectively kill cancer cells

Immune cells from healthy individuals can be the new immune cure for cancer. This treatment can kill cancer cells without destroying neighbouring cells. The hope is to eradicate cancer for ever.

3 Feb 2012

Capitol Hill briefing examines PEPFAR work

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog describes a Capitol Hill briefing that was held Wednesday "to discuss the various evidence-based approaches to prevent HIV infection that the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program is implementing on the ground in the countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic."

3 Feb 2012

Home-based dialysis treatments appear to decline in developed countries

Home-based dialysis treatments are on the rise in both the developing and developed worlds, but developed countries appear to be turning to them less often, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

3 Feb 2012

Cedars-Sinai experts to present research updates at International Stroke Conference

Stroke experts from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will present research updates at the International Stroke Conference of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Feb. 1 through Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

3 Feb 2012

Occasional erratic heart rhythms cause about one-fifth of unexplained strokes

Occasional erratic heart rhythms appear to cause about one-fifth of strokes for which a cause is not readily established, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.

3 Feb 2012

Concussions linked with number of hits received by football players

A two-year study of high school football players suggests that concussions are likely caused by many hits over time and not from a single blow to the head, as commonly believed.

3 Feb 2012

Caffeine consumption reduces risk of advanced fibrosis in NAFLD patients

Caffeine consumption has long been associated with decreased risk of liver disease and reduced fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Now, newly published research confirms that coffee caffeine consumption reduces the risk of advanced fibrosis in those with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

3 Feb 2012

Scientists uncover genes that govern male and female behaviors

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how? Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice.

3 Feb 2012

State roundup: Iowa Senate provides $5M for mental health; UMass health to cut 6% of workforce; Judge considers making Wash. pharmacies sell Plan B

The bill also allocates $5 million more from what is known as the Mental Health Risk Pool. The pool was created about a decade ago to keep counties with financial shortfalls from denying care to people with mental disorders or retardation. Linn County, for example, will receive $1.2 million of the extra money.

3 Feb 2012

Researchers tease out toxic role of tau oligomers in Alzheimer's

One of the most distinctive signs of the development of Alzheimer's disease is a change in the behavior of a protein that neuroscientists call tau. In normal brains, tau is present in individual units essential to neuron health. In the cells of Alzheimer's brains, by contrast, tau proteins aggregate into twisted structures known as "neurofibrillary tangles."

3 Feb 2012

DNA-based prenatal blood test can also identify trisomy 13 and 18

A newly available DNA-based prenatal blood test that can identify a pregnancy with Down syndrome can also identify two additional chromosome abnormalities: trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). The test for all three defects can be offered as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy to women who have been identified as being at high risk for these abnormalities.

3 Feb 2012