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Genzyme's alemtuzumab Phase lll trial on MS meets co-primary endpoints

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, reports today that the Phase lll CARE-MS ll trial met both of its co-primary endpoints. Relapse rate and sustained accumulation (worsening) of disability (SAD) were significantly reduced in multiple sclerosis patients receiving alemtuzumab as compared with Rebif.

14 Nov 2011

Maintaining normal blood glucose levels prevents long-term kidney complications

Maintaining good glucose control early in the course of type 1 diabetes could lessen the long-term risk of kidney disease, as measured by a common test of kidney function.

14 Nov 2011

New information on kidney-related policies in the U.S.

Two studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on kidney-related policies in the United States.

14 Nov 2011

Vegetative patients could be contacted using simple, cheap and portable technique – EEG

Scientists from the UK and Belgium have found a way to communicate with brain damaged patients who appear to be in a vegetative state. Writing in The Lancet medical journal they describe how they measured electrical activity in the brain to detect consciousness. The technique, known as EEG or electroencephalogram, is painless and involves attaching electrodes to the head.

10 Nov 2011

Maryland anesthesiologist named 2011 Researcher of the Year

Often on the mind of Gary Fiskum, PhD, are the more than 250,000 people in the U.S. who get resuscitated from cardiac arrest each year, the 6 million living with traumatic brain injuries, and the wounded warriors whose brain whose brains sustain enormous G-forces from roadside bombs in the war zone.

9 Nov 2011

Seriously ill adults skip needed care due to costs and medical debt

Chronically and seriously ill adults who received care from a medical home-an accessible primary care practice that helps coordinate care-were less likely to report medical errors, test duplication, and other care coordination failures, according to a new Commonwealth Fund international survey of patients' experiences in the U.S. and 10 other high-income countries.

9 Nov 2011

Brain hypoxia associated with poor short-term outcome after severe TBI

Low oxygen supply (hypoxia) to vulnerable brain tissue is a major contributor to the risk of death or major disability after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), reports a study in the November issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

9 Nov 2011

Neuromuscular training reduces noncontact lower extremity injuries in female athletes

Integrating a coach-led neuromuscular warm-up prior to sports practice appeared to reduce the risk of lower extremity injuries in female high school soccer and basketball athletes, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

9 Nov 2011

FDA grants Fast Track designation to Opexa's Tovaxin for treatment of SPMS

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., announced today that its lead drug candidate Tovaxin® has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

8 Nov 2011

Study to explore how people with disabilities can better access personal health records

Personal health records have been going electronic, and patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers are learning to navigate the new digital world of health information. Now three institutions are teaming up to discover how a large population—people with disabilities—can best access this information.

8 Nov 2011

New book: Aging Our Way

In 1998, Hallmark unveiled a series of "One-Hundredth-Birthday" cards; by 2007 annual sales of the cards were at 85,000. America is rapidly graying: between now and 2030, the number of people in the U.S. over the age of 80 is expected to almost triple. But how long people live raises the question of how well they live.

8 Nov 2011

High-field MRI can reveal tiny brain injuries in preterm infant

Pediatric neuroscientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital are the first to use high magnetic field strength MRI to reveal tiny white matter injuries in the developing brain previously undetectable using standard MRI.

8 Nov 2011

Study evaluates JIA disease activity after treatment with etanercept

Among patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who initiated treatment with the drug etanercept, one-third achieved an excellent response, and this response was associated with low measures of disability at study entry, younger age at the onset of JIA, and fewer disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs used before initiating etanercept, according to a study appearing in JAMA.

7 Nov 2011

Sports participation may increase risk of knee osteoarthritis

According to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, participating in certain sports such as soccer, as well as elite long distance running, weight lighting and wrestling may increase the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis.

7 Nov 2011

Metier obtains $9 million verdict against Campbell County Memorial Hospital

Tom Metier of Metier Law Firm, LLC, of Cheyenne, Wyoming and Fort Colllins, Colorado, obtained a $9 million verdict for plaintiffs Louis and Rebecca Prager against Campbell County Memorial Hospital and Brian Cullison, M.D. for medical negligence.

5 Nov 2011

InsurCard Virtual Card for P&C provider payments to be showcased at NWCD Conference and Expo

InsurCard, leading provider of Workers Compensation & Property Claims Payment Solutions, announced today that they will be introducing their newest product, InsurCard Virtual Card for P&C provider payments at the National Workers Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

5 Nov 2011

Incorporating mental health into agenda to ensure access to services for all

In this Lancet editorial, Giuseppe Raviola, Anne Becker and Paul Farmer, professors with the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, write, "Unprecedented opportunities to promote excellence and equity in health care delivery for the world's most underserved populations are upon us," but "delivery of mental health services in low-resource settings lags unacceptably and unjustly far behind that of other services."

5 Nov 2011

State roundup: Puerto Rico settles disability battle with Feds

Puerto Rico has reached an agreement with the U.S. government ending a 12-year legal battle to improve the island's health system for the mentally disabled, local justice officials said Thursday. Federal officials had accused the U.S. territory of abusing and neglecting hundreds of mentally disabled people by not providing food, medication, adequate housing, therapy or mental health care.

5 Nov 2011

Three Cigna disability case managers win Dorland Health People Award

Three Cigna disability case managers were recognized for excellence during the recent annual Dorland Health People Awards, created by publisher Dorland Health.

5 Nov 2011