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Study finds medical homes help lower health care costs, maintain quality

Kaiser Health News: "Some health policy experts and clinicians have long maintained that, in the effort to reduce health care costs and improve patient outcomes, there's no place like (a medical) home. A new study in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs seems to validate that notion. Medical homes — where primary care doctors are held responsible for coordinating care for individual patients - are seen as a model for lowering costs without sacrificing quality.

6 May 2010

ArthroCare reports total revenue of $90.6M for first-quarter 2010

ArthroCare Corp., a leader in developing state-of-the-art, minimally invasive surgical products, announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010

6 May 2010

New research suggests tPA can act as neuroprotectant against stroke

New research on the properties of the clot-busting stroke drug tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) suggests that tPA can act as a neuroprotectant and may form the keystone of an adaptive response to a reduction in blood flow.

6 May 2010

DGIMED ORTHO receives 510(k) clearance for DISTALOCK Titanium Femoral Intramedullary Nail system

DGIMED ORTHO, Inc. announced today that the company has received notification of clearance of its 510(k) submission for the DISTALOCKTM Titanium Femoral Intramedullary Nail system. In November 2009, the Company also received its initial clearance on the DISTALOCKTM Drill system with a stainless steel femoral IM nail.

6 May 2010

New breakthrough: Seaweed for treatment of swine flu

In a groundbreaking new discovery a Tasmanian company has used seaweed as treatment for swine flu. The lab trials have been going on for the past nine months using the undaria seaweed (better know as wakame seaweed) harvested from waters at Triabunna, of Tasmania's East Coast.

5 May 2010

School playground equipment impacts physical activity levels

Schools looking to make children more active simply need to provide more balls, skipping ropes, racquets and hoola hoops, a new study has shown.

5 May 2010

BioTime first-quarter total revenue up 159% to $767,127

BioTime, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010 and provided an update on recent corporate developments.

5 May 2010

Mylan-Nifedipine Extended Release tablets launched in Canada

Mylan Pharmaceuticals ULC today announces it has launched Mylan-Nifedipine Extended Release tablets in 30 mg strength. Mylan is the only company in Canada to offer this generic alternative to Adalat XL. Previously available in 60 mg tablets, the addition of the 30 mg is another example of how generic manufacturers offer patients greater access to high quality products.

5 May 2010

LightLab Imaging granted FDA clearance for C7-XR Imaging System and C7 Dragonfly Imaging Catheter

LightLab Imaging, Inc., the pioneer and leader in the development of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology for vascular and other imaging applications, has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the C7-XR Imaging System and companion C7 Dragonfly Imaging Catheter.

5 May 2010

High-altitude exposure helps detect early vascular dysfunction

High altitude medicine is a "natural research laboratory" for the study of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology. As such, it can shed light on conditions and diseases that mimic the low oxygen content of the atmosphere at the top of mountains. Yves Allemann, MD, FESC, Swiss Cardiovascular Center, University Hospital, Bern, and Urs Scherrer, MD, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, have assembled an international group of leading authorities to contribute to a special issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.

5 May 2010

Cryo-EM images shed light on virus structure, function

UCLA researchers report in the April 30 edition of the journal Cell that they have imaged a virus structure at a resolution high enough to effectively "see" atoms, the first published instance of imaging biological complexes at such a resolution.

5 May 2010

New report lays groundwork for strengthening medical licensure renewal process

The Federation of State Medical Boards has approved a report that lays the groundwork for strengthening the medical licensure renewal process by implementing new standards for lifelong learning among physicians.

5 May 2010

University of Iowa develops iScrub Lite 1.5 application to monitor hand hygiene

One of the most common causes of preventable health care-associated infections is poor hand hygiene. iScrub Lite 1.5, an iPhone and iPod touch application developed at the University of Iowa, makes monitoring hand hygiene compliance more efficient and accurate.

5 May 2010

AAA symposium features digital technologies in anatomical reconstruction

Techniques for using digital technology in separating conjoined twins, developing facial prostheses and acquiring data from anthropologic specimens will be among the topics presented at a symposium sponsored by the American Association of Anatomists (AAA; www.Anatomy.org) on April 28. The symposium is part of the Experimental Biology 2010 conference being held April 24-28, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

5 May 2010

Pay-for-performance may create unintended financial incentives for doctors to discriminate against obese patients

Pay-for-performance reimbursement models may create unintended financial incentives for doctors to discriminate against obese patients, measuring a patient's waist circumference may be more effective in predicting surgical outcomes than the more traditional body mass index measure, and childhood obesity doubles the risk of developing colon cancer, according to data being presented at Digestive Disease Week- 2010.

5 May 2010

Decisive impact of informatics on nanomedicine

According to what researchers from Facultad de Informática and other institutions have advanced in an article just published in the prestigious medical journal Pediatric Research (Vol.6, No. 5, 2010), nanoparticles are poised to play a key role in medical research in the coming decades, when nanomedicine will become part of medical practice.

5 May 2010

Principals of StemTroniX, Power3 Medical Products file patent application

StemTroniX, Inc., a Texas corporation, and Power3 Medical Products, Inc. announced today that a joint provisional patent application entitled, "Stem Cell Protein Biomarkers and Their Use in Monitoring Stem Cells and Their Products for Stem Cell Therapy" has been filed by the principals of StemTroniX and Power3 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

5 May 2010

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex involved in cognitive aspects of ToM, says study

The ability to infer what another person is thinking is an essential tool for social interaction and is known by neuroscientists as "Theory of Mind" (ToM), but how does the brain actually allow us to do this? We are able to rationally infer what someone knows, thinks, or intends, but we are also able to "slip into their shoes" and infer how they feel, and it seems that the brain processes these different types of information in different ways, as confirmed by a new report in the June 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex.

5 May 2010

Study finds early follow-up for heart failure patients reduces readmission rates

Hospitals that have a higher rate of following up within one week for patients who were discharged after treatment for heart failure have a lower rate of readmission at 30 days for these patients, according to a study in the May 5 issue of JAMA.

5 May 2010

The practice of medicine: Changes are evident -- From med school training and technology to concierge medicine

Kaiser Health News, in partnership with The New York Times, explores what medical students are taught about health care costs: "Doctors in training have traditionally been insulated from information about the cost of the tests and treatments they order for patients — in fact, for decades, the subject was virtually taboo when professors and trainees discussed treatment decisions during hospital rounds.

5 May 2010