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UH vision scientist hopes techniques lead to earlier diagnoses in glaucoma

A University of Houston (UH) vision scientist has received a $1.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate whether his techniques are more effective than others in understanding the earliest changes of glaucoma, which could lead to developing a way to earlier diagnose this potentially blinding disease.

27 Jan 2012

Research!America profiles various U.S. states regarding global health R&D

This post in the Global Health Technologies Coalition's (GHTC) "Breakthroughs" blog is the first of a series in which Research!America, a member of the GHTC, will profile various U.S. states based on an analyses the organization conducted "to measure the economic impact of [research & development (R&D)], highlighting the benefits of it for states across the nation," and to examine "what the [U.S.] is doing to advance global health R&D and why our continued support of such work is crucial for the health and prosperity of our future."

27 Jan 2012

Survey: Mass. health law increased coverage, but struggles on cost

The journal Health Affairs has a new study analyzing the effects of the 2006 Massachusetts health insurance law.

27 Jan 2012

Study explores links between antiretroviral prophylaxis, cleft lip and palate

HIV-positive mothers have been able to guard against transmitting the disease to their babies by taking antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. Although the drugs prevent children from being born with HIV, they could cause birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate. A new study explores any links between antiretroviral prophylaxis and cleft lip and palate.

27 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 27, 2012

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Christian Torres reports on a speech given at the Care Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., by Marilyn Tavenner, the president's nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, about the health law's accomplishments: "Tavenner will likely make some of the same arguments for the law and CMS initiatives when – or if – she encounters a grilling at her yet-to-be scheduled Senate confirmation hearing.

27 Jan 2012

State of the Union redux: Reading between the lines for health policy impact

News reports analyze why President Barack Obama gave only scant reference to the health law in his State of the Union address, how his push for regulatory reform may play out in the health care sector and how the speech represents his return to familiar themes.

27 Jan 2012

IDEXX fourth quarter revenues increase 8% to $307.2 million

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., today reported that revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 increased 8% to $307.2 million, from $283.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Organic revenue growth, as defined below, was 7%. Earnings per diluted share ("EPS") for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 increased 8% to $0.67, compared to $0.62 for the same period in the prior year.

27 Jan 2012

An examination of the premium support concept

Henry Aaron, who helped create the concept of premium support back in 1995, doesn't like its latest incarnation: Wyden-Ryan. Joseph Antos says the bipartisan odd couple has given Medicare - and taxpayers and beneficiaries - a real chance at fiscal sustainability. Two politely dueling essays in this week's New England Journal of Medicine dissect the proposal made by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

27 Jan 2012

GenPath, BioReference Labs to introduce OnkoMatch solid tumor genotype test

BioReference Laboratories, Inc. and its GenPath Oncology business unit and through its exclusive commercialization agreement with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is introducing its groundbreaking solid tumor genotype test.

27 Jan 2012

More than 40% of world's population at risk of dengue, WHO fact sheet states

"The incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades," the WHO writes in an updated fact sheet about dengue and severe dengue published on the organization's website. According to the fact sheet, "Over 2.5 billion people -- over 40 percent of the world's population -- are now at risk from dengue," and "WHO currently estimates there may be 50-100 million dengue infections worldwide every year."

27 Jan 2012

CRT launches Acublate to develop HIFU cancer surgery device

Cancer Research Technology, the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, has today launched Acublate Limited, a spin-out company which will develop a next-generation High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) surgery device to treat a range of solid tumour types.

27 Jan 2012

Medicaid news: Penn. enrollment up; Fla. hospitals protesting cuts; Fraud in Kansas

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare's stepped-up efforts over the summer to target waste, fraud, and abuse quickly bore fruit in the fall. Adult Medicaid enrollment alone was down 109,000 through November. … Now, DPW has suddenly changed its reporting method. Revised calculations show a decline of just 6,000 participants for the same period. And when December is added in, enrollment is up by 23,000 since August.

27 Jan 2012

DWH signs collaboration agreement with CPDD

Developing World Health (DWH), a leading medical charity based in Stirlingshire, Scotland and committed to developing effective treatments for neglected tropical diseases, has signed a collaboration agreement with the internationally respected Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development (CPDD), based at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

27 Jan 2012

Republican leadership prepares 'replace' plan should Supreme Court strike health law

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, said Republicans will be ready with a replacement package if the health law is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Also in the news, CQ HealthBeat reports the insurance industry expects to see legislation in the Senate to exempt brokers' fees from the medical-loss ratio. Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Kyl, R- Ariz., wants to use war savings to pay for the Medicare "doc fix."

27 Jan 2012

Study shows lack of physical activity in 42% of adults with RA

A new study, funded by a grant from the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), found that two in five adults (42%) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were inactive.

27 Jan 2012

Bird flu investigator says continuation of research remains 'urgent' despite moratorium

Research into transmissible bird flu strains remains "urgent" despite flu investigators' recent declaration of a "60-day moratorium on avian flu transmission because of the current controversy," Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Tokyo University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "a lead researcher on one of two recent studies showing how H5N1 can be transmitted through airborne droplets" among ferrets, writes in a commentary published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Reuters reports.

27 Jan 2012

Addressing misperceptions about foreign aid spending amid primary season campaigning

In this post on the Council on Foreign Relation's "The Internationalist" blog, Stewart Patrick, a senior fellow and director of the Program on International Institutions and Global Governance, addresses what he calls myths about foreign aid amid this year's primary season, writing, "GOP presidential candidates regularly bash it, echoing 'Mr. Republican' Robert Taft -- who dismissed overseas assistance more than six decades ago as 'pouring money down a rat hole.'"

27 Jan 2012

Cancer Research UK opens first AT9283 trial to treat childhood leukaemia

Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office has opened the first trial of a new type of drug to treat children aged from six months to 18 years with acute leukaemia, who are no longer responding to treatment.

27 Jan 2012

Responding to emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis

This post in the Center for Strategic and International Studies' "Smart Global Health" blog examines drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), stating, "[S]ince the recent outbreak of the so-called totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) in India, TB has a new face."

27 Jan 2012

Caffeine intake among women of child-bearing age influences estrogen levels

Asian women who consumed an average of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day-the equivalent of roughly two cups of coffee-had elevated estrogen levels when compared to women who consumed less, according to a study of reproductive age women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

27 Jan 2012