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Study aims to develop noninvasive method to analyze interstitial cystitis

A pilot study led by University of Kentucky researchers shows that the gene expression analysis of urine sediment could provide a noninvasive way to analyze interstitial cystitis in some patients.

24 Feb 2012

Governor of Illinois urges Medicaid cuts

Pat Quinn, the Democratic governor, underscored the need for cuts to Medicaid and the state worker pension system, but some critics said his proposals did not offer enough specifics about how to reduce the state's underfinanced liabilities.

24 Feb 2012

Kidney failure patients may benefit from frequent and longer dialysis treatments

Frequent and longer dialysis treatments may provide more benefits for patients than conventional dialysis treatments, according to several studies appearing in upcoming issues of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

24 Feb 2012

Health issues create political flashpoints during GOP presidential primary debate

GOP candidates sparred during last night's face-off over a range of issues including the Massachusetts health law that Mitt Romney signed while that state's governor, family planning and contraception, and abortion.

24 Feb 2012

Workshop increases pharmacy and medical students' empathy

One year ago, a landmark study led by Mohammadreza Hojat, Ph.D., research professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Thomas Jefferson University, quantified a relationship between physicians' empathy and their patients' positive clinical outcomes, suggesting that a physician's empathy is an important factor associated with clinical competence.

24 Feb 2012

State legislatures contemplate controlling costs, health IT, prescribing authority

The proposed premium hikes for hundreds of thousands of California consumers with individual coverage would outpace the cost of overall medical care, which has risen just 3.6 percent in the last year.

24 Feb 2012

Study strengthens statistical link between BPA and heart disease

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a controversial chemical widely used in the plastics industry. A new study followed people over a 10-year time period and shows that healthy people with higher urine concentrations of BPA were more likely to later develop heart disease.

24 Feb 2012

Ga. vasectomy bill goes viral

A Democratic lawmaker has proposed denying men vasectomies as a parody of a Republican bill that would prohibit abortions for women more than 20 weeks pregnant. Elsewhere, a Wisconsin bill would require physicians to give women a physical exam and be present when giving abortion-inducing drugs.

24 Feb 2012

Penn researchers produce first state-by-state sleep maps for the U.S.

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have put sleeplessness on the map - literally. The research team, analyzing nationwide data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has produced the first state-by-state sleep maps for the United States, revealing that residents of Southern states suffer from the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue, while residents on the West Coast report the least amount of problems.

24 Feb 2012

More people than ever overweight, obese in developed countries, OECD report says

"More people in developed countries are overweight or obese than ever before, dooming them to years of ill health, pushing up health care costs and piling more pressure on health systems, a report by the OECD found on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

24 Feb 2012

Blog examines gap between mental health disease burden, attention given to problem

This post in KPLU's "Humanosphere" blog examines the "gap between the disease burden of mental illness and the amount of funding and attention devoted to solving the problem," referencing a post published Friday in the Global Health Interest Forum's "Blog of Scientists for Global Health," written by Paul Southworth, a visiting scholar on malaria and vaccine science at the NIH.

24 Feb 2012

Washington state law requiring pharmacies stock emergency contraception is struck down

A federal judged ruled Wednesday that Washington can't require pharmacists to carry and give patients emergency contraception. Other cases included a whether a lesbian couple can share health benefits and challenge to a Mass. law on abortion buffer zones.

24 Feb 2012

Bath salts mimic effects of two powerful narcotics

The street drug commonly referred to as "bath salts" is one of a growing list of synthetic and unevenly regulated narcotics that are found across the United States and on the Internet. New research on this potent drug paints an alarming picture, revealing that bath salts pack a powerful double punch, producing combined effects similar to both methamphetamine (METH) and cocaine.

24 Feb 2012

South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

"Decades of war, neglect, and lack of development have left South Sudan with nine out of 10 of th[e] key neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] -- all but Chagas disease, which is endemic to South America," and health workers in the new nation are hoping that the recent formation of a large public-private partnership to combat the diseases "will finally help to have an impact on South Sudan's appalling health indicators," IRIN reports.

24 Feb 2012

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

Cigarette smoke has long been considered the main risk factor for heart disease. But new research from Brown University in Providence, R.I., shows that nicotine itself, a component of cigarette smoke, can contribute to the disease process by changing cell structure in a way that promotes migration and invasion of the smooth muscle cells that line blood vessels.

24 Feb 2012

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. Sharks are primarily killed for their fins alone, to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease.

24 Feb 2012

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

Several neurodegenerative diseases - including Alzheimer's and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) - are caused when the body's own proteins fold incorrectly, recruit and convert healthy proteins to the misfolded form, and aggregate in large clumps that gum up the works of the nervous system. "For Star Trek fans, this is like the Borg, a fictional race of cyborgs that abduct and assimilate humans and other species," says Steven Plotkin, a biophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies the process of protein misfolding.

24 Feb 2012

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

The WHO "is calling on all Afghans to vaccinate their children after a recent measles outbreak that has been made worse by severe weather that hampers access to immediate treatment as well as low immunization coverage," the U.N. News Centre reports.

24 Feb 2012

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

When bacteria wage a turf war, some of the combatants have an extra weapon. Certain strains of the bacteria E. coli produce proteins that kill competing E. coli and other like microbes, and researchers from Newcastle University in England have recently discovered something surprising about one of these lethal proteins: even after the toxic folded portion of the protein is removed, the unfolded end is still deadly.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

24 Feb 2012

Research News and Research

Study aims to develop noninvasive method to analyze interstitial cystitis

Governor of Illinois urges Medicaid cuts

Kidney failure patients may benefit from frequent and longer dialysis treatments

Health issues create political flashpoints during GOP presidential primary debate

Workshop increases pharmacy and medical students' empathy

State legislatures contemplate controlling costs, health IT, prescribing authority

Study strengthens statistical link between BPA and heart disease

Ga. vasectomy bill goes viral

Penn researchers produce first state-by-state sleep maps for the U.S.

More people than ever overweight, obese in developed countries, OECD report says

Blog examines gap between mental health disease burden, attention given to problem

Washington state law requiring pharmacies stock emergency contraception is struck down

Bath salts mimic effects of two powerful narcotics

South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

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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