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Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants - carbon monoxide and nicotine - as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

3 Dec 2009

SJH and Pharos Innovations team up to enhance care and reduce healthcare costs

According to Stephen F. Jencks, MD, MPH, in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, America's healthcare crisis is fueled by unnecessary and costly hospitalizations, including re-admissions -- 90% of which are unplanned and at a price-tag of $17.4 billion. To enhance care and combat readmissions, South Jersey Healthcare (SJH), a leading regional healthcare provider in southern New Jersey, has entered a partnership with Pharos Innovations that aims to reduce healthcare costs while improving quality of life for patients.

3 Dec 2009

Chinese 'herbal' cigarettes are just addictive and no safer than regular cigarettes, find researchers

Despite popular belief and some marketing claims, researchers have found that Chinese "herbal" cigarettes that combine medicinal herbs with tobacco are just as addictive and no safer than regular cigarettes.

3 Dec 2009

Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation announces the 2009 winner of International Prize

The Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation is pleased to announce the 2009 winner of the International Prize: Donald F. Steiner, MD, A. N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, USA.

3 Dec 2009

People who smoke immediately after waking up face high risk of lung cancer

People who smoke their first cigarette within minutes after waking up have much higher levels of cotinine, a by-product of nicotine when processed by the body, than those who wait to smoke, regardless of the number of cigarettes smoked.

3 Dec 2009

Beta blockers and stress tests before non-cardiac surgeries should be avoided, according to study

Physicians should "throttle back" from routinely ordering stress tests and prescribing beta blockers to patients before non-cardiac surgeries, according to a report by the University of Michigan released online this week.

3 Dec 2009

Children vaccinated against chickenpox at much lower risk of developing shingles

Vaccination to prevent chickenpox (varicella) appears to have an added benefit for children—a reduced risk of shingles (herpes zoster). That's the finding of a study in the November issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

3 Dec 2009

Yale researchers survey door-to-balloon times in 831 hospitals

Healthcare professionals using new time-saving strategies to coordinate care for patients having a heart attack saw dramatic improvement in "door-to-balloon" (D2B) times-the time from when a patient enters the hospital to the time blood flow is restored to the heart by opening a blockage with angioplasty. The faster patients are treated, the more likely they are to survive. The results are published by Yale researchers and their colleagues in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 Dec 2009

Sepsis, a serious infection, remains a major threat to 'late preterm' infants

Sepsis is a serious infection that is a major cause of death in very premature infants. But sepsis is also a threat in "late preterm" infants born just a few weeks prematurely, according to a study in the December issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

3 Dec 2009

Beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs linked to autism-spectrum disorders

Commonly prescribed beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs for the treatment of asthma in pregnant women as well as pre-term labor may increase the incidence of autism-spectrum disorders, psychiatric pathology, cognitive problems and poor school performance in their children, according to a new study published in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

3 Dec 2009

Exercise remains one of the most effective interventions for peripheral artery disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 5 million individuals in the U.S. and is the leading cause of limb amputations. Doctors have long considered exercise to be the single best therapy for PAD, and now a new study helps explain why. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and published in this week's Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the findings demonstrate that a protein called PGC-1alpha plays a key role in the process.

3 Dec 2009

The Hill examines push to get more U.S. funding for malaria medicines

The Hill examines Medicines for Malaria Venture's (MMV) efforts to get more U.S. funding for its work. According to the newspaper, the group is "asking USAID and Congress to redirect more money beginning next year to drug research and development from a pot of funds used to cover the range of efforts to treat and prevent malaria, such as providing mosquito nets."

3 Dec 2009

Repeated use of ecstasy drug increases the risk of developing sleep apnea

Repeated use of the drug popularly known as "ecstasy" significantly raises the risk of developing sleep apnea in otherwise healthy young adults with no other known risk factors for the sleep disturbance, a new study by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests.

2 Dec 2009

Fruit flies use same molecular mechanisms as humans for maintaining cholestrol

More importantly, according to two new studies led by a University of Utah human geneticist, fruit flies use the same molecular mechanisms as humans to help maintain proper balances of cholesterol and a key form of stored fat that contributes to obesity. The findings mean that as researchers try to learn more about the genetic and biological processes through which people regulate cholesterol and fat metabolism, the humble fruit fly, also called Drosophila, can teach humans much about themselves.

2 Dec 2009

Research finds change in the outlook of people with type 2 diabetes and heart disease

The outlook for individuals with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease is not as grim as originally believed, according to new Saint Louis University research published in Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association.

2 Dec 2009

Vitro Diagnostics files a patent application for its technology related to generation of iPS cells

Vitro Diagnostics, Inc., dba Vitro Biopharma, announced the filing of a new United States patent application entitled “POU5-F1 Expression in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells” and the development of new technology related to generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).

2 Dec 2009

University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded IBM SUR grant

The University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which connects scientists who work on tissue engineering, cell therapies, artificial organs and biodevices, has been awarded a Shared University Research (SUR) Award from IBM ( IBM). The IBM SUR Award will provide IBM computer hardware, software and services to Pitt for its cutting-edge "in silico" biological research, which uses computer simulations to explore biological pathways and test therapeutic interventions.

2 Dec 2009

Women at high risk of developing breast cancer reluctant to take tamoxifen for prevention

Even when women at high-risk of breast cancer are well-informed about the risks and benefits of using the drug tamoxifen for prevention, only 6 percent said they were likely to take it.

2 Dec 2009

Patient enrollment complete in Peregrine Pharmaceuticals' Cotara trial

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported completion of patient enrollment in a dose confirmation and dosimetry trial of Cotara® in patients with relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the deadliest form of brain cancer. Cotara is a targeted monoclonal antibody linked to a radioisotope being developed as a potential new treatment for GBM.

2 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Once upon a time, grass-roots women challenged the establishment by figuratively burning their bras. Now, in some masochistic perversion of feminism, they are raising their voices to yell, "Squeeze our breasts!" (Barbara Ehrenreich, 12/2).

2 Dec 2009

Medicine News and Research

Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

SJH and Pharos Innovations team up to enhance care and reduce healthcare costs

Chinese 'herbal' cigarettes are just addictive and no safer than regular cigarettes, find researchers

Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation announces the 2009 winner of International Prize

People who smoke immediately after waking up face high risk of lung cancer

Beta blockers and stress tests before non-cardiac surgeries should be avoided, according to study

Children vaccinated against chickenpox at much lower risk of developing shingles

Yale researchers survey door-to-balloon times in 831 hospitals

Sepsis, a serious infection, remains a major threat to 'late preterm' infants

Beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs linked to autism-spectrum disorders

Exercise remains one of the most effective interventions for peripheral artery disease

The Hill examines push to get more U.S. funding for malaria medicines

Repeated use of ecstasy drug increases the risk of developing sleep apnea

Fruit flies use same molecular mechanisms as humans for maintaining cholestrol

Research finds change in the outlook of people with type 2 diabetes and heart disease

Vitro Diagnostics files a patent application for its technology related to generation of iPS cells

University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded IBM SUR grant

Women at high risk of developing breast cancer reluctant to take tamoxifen for prevention

Patient enrollment complete in Peregrine Pharmaceuticals' Cotara trial

Today's opinions and editorials

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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