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'Fresh efforts' needed to understand, deliver family planning in order to curb birth rates in developing countries

In this Financial Times opinion piece, journalist Andrew Jack examines the challenges of family planning in some poorer countries, where public health programs "risk adding to population pressures and inadvertently setting back development," writing, "In a number of countries, notably in central and western Africa, health programs have contributed to cutting infant mortality rates, but birth rates have continued to remain stubbornly high. The unintended consequence is a fast-growing population that adds further pressure on poor families and fragile environments."

24 Nov 2011

NIH grant to support Cedars-Sinai's Department of Neurology research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a four-year, $1.4 million grant to Cedars-Sinai's Department of Neurology to study an unexpected recent discovery: After ischemic stroke - the type caused by a clogged artery but with no bleeding into the brain - a normal protein that plays a positive role in blood clotting escapes intact arteries and damages healthy brain cells.

24 Nov 2011

Bloomberg examines Trans-Pacific Partnership trade initiative and potential impact to U.S. global efforts to tackle HIV

Bloomberg examines how a trade agreement being negotiated by leaders of the nine Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries -- Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States -- could potentially make it more difficult for people in TPP nations to get new generic drugs and may impact U.S.-led global efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS as outlined by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a recent speech at the NIH.

24 Nov 2011

New First Choice infographic explores issue of SAD and winter blues

First Choice, one of the UK's leading leisure travel companies, has released an infographic that sheds light on how the lack of sunshine during the winter months is affecting a large proportion of the population in northern countries.

24 Nov 2011

Scientists identify MEGF10 defective gene responsible for muscle weakness

An international team of researchers from England and the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin has presented new findings regarding the function of muscle stem cells, which are published in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

23 Nov 2011

BUSM professor receives 2011 ACN Communication Media Award

Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, director of the General Clinical Research Unit and professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) was selected by the American College of Nutrition (ACN) Awards Committee as the 2011 recipient of the ACN Communication Media Award.

23 Nov 2011

Neuralstem initiates spinal cord neural stem cell trial in ALS

Neuralstem, Inc. announced that the first patient to receive stem cells in the cervical (upper back) region of the spine was treated on Friday in its ongoing trial to test the safety of its spinal cord neural stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

23 Nov 2011

Transcept receives FDA approval for Intermezzo to treat insomnia

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Intermezzo (zolpidem tartrate sublingual tablets) for use as needed to treat insomnia characterized by middle-of-the-night waking followed by difficulty returning to sleep.

23 Nov 2011

CIC microGUNE and Biodonostia test a new technique for evaluating intestinal diseases in patients

The CIC microGUNE research centre and the Biodonostia Institute have recently started testing a new technique for assessing the severity of inflammatory intestinal diseases, such as Crohn's Disease, in patients at the Donostia Hospital.

23 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 23, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include an examination of changes in Medicare that the Democrats have endorses and a Kansas abortion case.

23 Nov 2011

JIB highlights aluminium's potential role in neurodegenerative diseases

Aluminium's potential role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer, specifically breast cancer, and the potential role for aluminium adjuvants in vaccine-related adverse effects are spotlighted in the latest issue of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry (JIB).

23 Nov 2011

Romney, Gingrich targeting Medicaid to pay for other programs

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday called on Congress to take money from Medicaid, not defense, to compensate for the failure of the congressional supercommittee to agree on deficit reductions.

23 Nov 2011

Live cell encapsulation technology helps overcome obstacles facing applications of live stem cell usage

Nuvilex, Inc. announced today testing confirmed that through use of live cell encapsulation technology, two major obstacles facing the vast and broad applications of live stem cell use have been overcome.

23 Nov 2011

Balanced approach needed to fight cholera outbreaks in Haiti

Jason Nickerson, a respiratory therapist and doctoral candidate in Population Health at the University of Ottawa, in this Global Health Hub post, recounts recent controversy surrounding "the health and humanitarian response to the earthquake and cholera outbreaks" in Haiti, noting tension "between the provision of [a cholera] vaccine as opposed to spending the money on improvements to water and sanitation" in the country.

23 Nov 2011

Cancer medicine component could prevent heart attacks

A substance in medicines for cancer and epilepsy could also prevent heart attacks, according to researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who have been using it to stimulate the body's own defence system against blood clots.

23 Nov 2011

BIOTRONIK announces first implantations of new Lumax 740 ICDs

BIOTRONIK, a leading manufacturer of innovative medical technology, announced today the first implantations of the new Lumax 740 implantable cardiac defibrillators—the world's first and only ICDs eligible for use with magnetic resonance imaging.

23 Nov 2011

TLRs contribute to brain damage following hypoxia in newborns

Two out of every thousand babies are at risk of brain damage in connection with birth. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified mechanisms behind these injuries, which could lead to better treatment and a richer life for the infants affected.

23 Nov 2011

University of Rochester receives U.S. patent for HPV vaccine research

The University of Rochester has been awarded a U.S. patent for research essential to both human papillomavirus vaccines on the market.

23 Nov 2011

J-shaped relationship between wine intake and reduced cardiovascular risk

Research published in the European Journal of Epidemiology by Costanzo S, Di Castelnuovo de Gaetano G et al has sought to separate the effects of wine, beer or spirit drinking in relation to fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events. The Italian authors carried out an updated meta-analysis on the relationship between wine, beer or spirit consumption and cardiovascular outcomes, using state-of-the-art statistical techniques.

23 Nov 2011

UCF researchers use stem cells to create nerve-muscle junctions

University of Central Florida researchers, for the first time, have used stem cells to grow neuromuscular junctions between human muscle cells and human spinal cord cells, the key connectors used by the brain to communicate and control muscles in the body.

23 Nov 2011