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Air traffic pollution impacts growth and development of unborn children

A UK academic is calling for a nationwide study into the effects traffic pollution has on asthma sufferers after his own research in Cairo highlighted health problems in children who may even be affected while still in the womb.

6 Jul 2011

Zinc oxide nanowire waveguide lasers could kill viruses, increase DVD storage capacity

A team led by a professor at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has made a discovery in semiconductor nanowire laser technology that could potentially do everything from kill viruses to increase storage capacity of DVDs.

6 Jul 2011

EIM collects data on frozen oocyte retrieval cycles for the first time

Other important data the European IVF Monitoring group (EIM) on 2008 cycles and the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART) on 2007 cycles highlighted were Sweden's low rate of multiple births - the lowest in the world - and Spain's 30 % share of egg donations in Europe.

6 Jul 2011

Critical access hospitals provide lower quality of care

In an analysis of data from more than 4,500 hospitals that serve Medicare beneficiaries, critical access hospitals had fewer clinical capabilities, worse measured processes of care and higher rates of death for patients with heart attack, congestive heart failure or pneumonia, compared to non-CAHs, according to a study in the July 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Jul 2011

New tools can significantly reduce HIV/AIDS worldwide

We are entering a new era in HIV prevention. PEPFAR promoted a 'combination prevention' strategy from the beginning. But the tools were limited. Scientific advances could give individuals the ability to determine the prevention intervention that works best for them.

6 Jul 2011

Experiment to protect astronauts from bone loss during micro-gravity exposure

Researchers in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/North Carolina State University Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering will be at the Kennedy Space Center for the last space shuttle launch of the NASA program as Atlantis departs for its final mission into Earth's orbit.

6 Jul 2011

Employers maintain corporate fitness programs, on-site medical clinics

Despite recent hard economic times, large businesses appear to be continuing their investment in corporate fitness programs and, in another effort to curb high health costs, on-site health centers.

6 Jul 2011

Review of non-smoker patient with lung cancer to be presented at IASLC conference

A first-of-its-kind study of a patient with lung cancer who never smoked will be presented today by TGen and the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer, July 3-7 in Amsterdam.

6 Jul 2011

Concept advances for more accountable care to elderly patients

The Chicago Tribune reports on how the health law — via Medicare — is pushing accountable care organizations, a new model that emphasizes coordination. And, the Minneapolis Star Tribune details some of the hesitancy that seems to surround the health law's wellness screenings.

6 Jul 2011

Researchers investigate predictors for adverse outcome in IVF singletons

In Sweden almost 40 000 children have now been born after IVF, around 3 500 each year, and IVF children constitute 3% of all newborns. "This represents a large number of children and any adverse outcomes related to IVF are therefore a major public health issue," said Dr. Antonina Sazonova, from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden, who carried out the research with colleagues from the hospital and from Lund University.

6 Jul 2011

AIDS vaccine may be far off, but path to it is getting clearer

In his latest Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Gerson highlights scientific efforts to create an AIDS vaccine, noting the work of researchers at the Vaccine Research Center.

6 Jul 2011

CMS issues proposed Medicare payment rules

The measure would increase hospital outpatient rates, dramatically cut physician payments and link surgical center payment to quality.

6 Jul 2011

New technique explores how cells react to rapidly changing patterns of chemoattractants

Many cell types in higher organisms are capable of implementing directed motion in response to the presence of certain chemical attractants in their vicinity. A team led by Dr. Doris Heinrich of the Faculty of Physics and the Center for NanoScience (CeNS) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit-t (LMU) in Munich has developed a novel technique to expose an ensemble of living cells to rapidly varying concentrations of chemoattractants.

6 Jul 2011

Dems to CMS: Hold firm on Medicaid 'MOE' requirements

Meanwhile, a Government Accountability Office report finds that, although most physicians still accept some new Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program patients, a majority of primary care docs say they have difficulty finding specialists to provide care for young low-income patients.

6 Jul 2011

Drug companies' desires to maintain status quo are 'lethal'

In the second of a two-part Al Jazeera opinion piece series "examining the methods by which multinational drug corporations inflate their expenses and justify their pricing strategies," Khadija Sharife, a journalist and visiting scholar at the Center for Civil Society, looks at U.S. tax laws, lax oversight of international clinical trials, the cost of research on new pharmaceutical compounds, and vaccine manufacturing.

6 Jul 2011

Scientists discover three unexpected RNAs involved in diabetes cell-death pathway

Excess nutrients, such as fat and sugar, don't just pack on the pounds but can push some cells in the body over the brink. Unable to tolerate this "toxic" environment, these cells commit suicide.

6 Jul 2011

Washington Post examines increase in number of USAID contract suspensions

"The U.S. Agency for International Development, as it cracks down on vendor impropriety, has more than doubled the number of companies and nonprofit groups it has suspended or debarred from receiving new contracts," the Washington Post reports in an article focusing on the agency's suspension of government grants in March to the Washington-based nonprofit Academy for Educational Development.

6 Jul 2011

Older people, women and minorities enrolled less frequently in lung cancer drug trials

Women, older people and minorities are enrolled less frequently in lung cancer drug trials and the numbers do not reflect the prevalence of lung cancer in these populations, according to research presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

6 Jul 2011

The essential role of midwives

Mary Ellen Stanton, a senior maternal health advisor at USAID, and Chris Thomas, global health communications and policy advisor at USAID, outline the agency's work to promote better health outcomes for women and children in the developing world on GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog.

6 Jul 2011

Maternal smoking cessation improves perinatal outcomes in children

Low birthweight is the most common negative outcome of smoking during pregnancy, but foetuses exposed to maternal smoking are also at risk of premature birth and the associated problem of brain damage, as well as congenital abnormalities such as cleft lip.

6 Jul 2011