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First Edition: January 21, 2011

Today's headlines highlight the House GOP's plans to advance the "replace" part of their strategy to reverse the health overhaul.

21 Jan 2011

Approaches designed to motivate drug development for children needed

Recent legislative and regulatory actions make great strides toward establishing much needed incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to develop and test more medications for pediatric rare diseases, including pediatric cancers, according to commentary by experts from Children's National Medical Center. The commentary appears in the January 19 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

21 Jan 2011

Math may help assess how rapidly stem cells and cancer-causing cousins increase numbers

The difficult task of sorting and counting prized stem cells and their cancer-causing cousins has long frustrated scientists looking for new ways to help people who have progressive diseases.

21 Jan 2011

HCLA testifies that medical lawsuit abuse threatens patient care

The Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA) testified today before the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives in a hearing titled, "Medical Liability Reform – Cutting Costs, Spurring Investment, Creating Jobs." Stuart L. Weinstein, MD, a spokesperson for the HCLA, called on the Congress to "create a climate for patient centered care by reforming a medical liability system that continues to put everyone's health care at risk."

21 Jan 2011

Initiative to eliminate cervical cancer in North Carolina

Patricia Gregory of Cary was only 24 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Now a mother of an 11-year-old daughter, she considers herself blessed to have a child, as cervical cancer can make women unable to bear children.

21 Jan 2011

RBM, SMA Foundation collaborate to develop plasma protein biomarkers for spinal muscular atrophy

The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation and Rules-Based Medicine, announced today that they have reached the first milestone in a program to develop a panel of plasma protein biomarkers for SMA using RBM's Multi-Analyte Profiling technology platform.

21 Jan 2011

Vibrio cholerae kills E. coli bacteria

Just over a year after the earthquake in Haiti killed 222,000 people there's a new problem that is killing Haitians. A cholera outbreak has doctors in the area scrambling and the water-borne illness has already claimed 3600 lives according to officials with M-dicin Sans Fronti-res (Doctors without Borders).

21 Jan 2011

Study highlights relationship between language and health care quality

Wayne State University researchers have found that when patients and providers speak the same language, patients report less confusion and better health care quality.

21 Jan 2011

U.S., China announce public-private health care partnership

In conjunction with the state visit to the U.S. by Chinese President Hu Jintao, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other federal agencies on Wednesday announced a new public-private health care partnership between the U.S. and China, Modern Healthcare reports (Blesch, 1/19).

21 Jan 2011

Precision highlights role of ChemoFx test, multi-gene predictors for breast cancer

In a new study in which Precision Therapeutics' Multi-Gene Predictors were independently validated by investigators at US Oncology and MD Anderson, Precision highlights the potential role of the ChemoFx® in vitro chemosensitivity test and multi-gene predictors in determining a patient's likelihood of response to multi-drug chemotherapy regimens in breast cancer.

21 Jan 2011

WHO executive board meeting addresses agency's policy on counterfeit, substandard medications

According to the news service, WHO "members … raised strong concerns that a working group they mandated last May to address problems with WHO policy on counterfeit and substandard medicines has yet to be formed - with four months remaining before it must report back to members."

21 Jan 2011

Study evaluates Masimo SpHb's accuracy in monitoring low hemoglobin levels

Masimo announced today that a new study demonstrating the clinical accuracy and value of its noninvasive and continuous hemoglobin monitoring technology breakthrough was presented this week at the Society of Critical Care Medicine Annual Critical Care Congress in San Diego.

21 Jan 2011

Major breakthrough: Genome-based medicine for treatment of alcoholism

For the first time in alcohol addiction research, UVA investigators have successfully treated alcohol-dependent individuals with medication that is tailored specifically to match their genetic profile.

21 Jan 2011

NGOs, IAOMT urge to ban mercury-containing products, including dental amalgam

Mercury, the main ingredient in "silver" or amalgam fillings, will be the subject of a United Nations conference to be held in Chiba, Japan on January 24-28. Members of various non-governmental organizations, as well as dentists and scientists from groups such as the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, will be attending and urging a ban on products containing mercury, including dental amalgam.

21 Jan 2011

Fat linked with DNA chemical changes may help identify risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes

Fat appears to associate with some distinctive chemical changes in the DNA - a finding that may help explain why obesity can increase the risk for chronic problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, researchers report.

21 Jan 2011

Employees with heart attack, ACS are major source of health costs

Employees with myocardial infarction and other types of acute coronary syndrome are a major source of direct and indirect health costs, reports a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

21 Jan 2011

Three ASM scientists to receive NAS award for excellence in microbiology field

Three members of the American Society for Microbiology are among the 13 scientists that will be honored by the National Academy of Sciences with awards recognizing extraordinary scientific achievement in the field of microbiology:

21 Jan 2011

Breast cancer patients having strong social support live longer

Breast cancer patients who have a strong social support system in the first year after diagnosis are less likely to die or have a recurrence of cancer, according to new research from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the Shanghai Institute of Preventive Medicine.

21 Jan 2011

ACT Biotech releases telatinib Phase 2 trial data for metastatic stomach cancer

ACT Biotech, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of highly targeted, oral therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today released data on additional analysis of the Phase 2 clinical trial of telatinib in patients with metastatic stomach cancer that further supports the highly-potent nature of the antiangiogenic agent.

21 Jan 2011

PROSPECT trial results shed new light on plaque types that cause unexpected heart attacks

Results from the PROSPECT clinical trial shed new light on the types of vulnerable plaque that are most likely to cause sudden, unexpected adverse cardiac events, and on the ability to identify them through imaging techniques before they occur.

21 Jan 2011