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Three Georgia Tech projects to receive NSF's EFRI grants

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $6 million to fund three projects involving researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Each four-year, $2 million grant was awarded through the NSF's Division of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation.

30 Sep 2011

NGOs, government face challenges in preventing fistula in DRC

Inter Press Service examines the challenges that non-governmental organizations and the government face in trying to prevent fistula among women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an estimated 12,000 cases are recorded annually because of sexual violence, early marriage and complications in childbirth, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Poverty, early pregnancy and marriage, sexual violence, and a lack of education and knowledge about the condition contribute to its prevalence, IPS reports.

30 Sep 2011

Cincinnati Children's to conduct first medication clinical trial for pediatric migraine

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has received a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct the first clinical trial to determine the medication of choice for preventing migraines in children and teens.

30 Sep 2011

Immunotherapeutics for treatment of metastatic melanoma

A new cancer research program at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine will develop therapies designed to turn patients' own immune systems into potent weapons against cancer.

30 Sep 2011

Obama administration asks high court to rule on health law

The Justice Department's formal appeal puts to rest speculation about the administration's legal strategy. In addition, Republican state attorneys general separately asked the Supreme Court for a verdict early next year. Many observers say the new timeline will make the court's ultimate finding a factor in the presidential election.

30 Sep 2011

Researchers determine structure of RIG-I protein linked with viral infections

Researchers at Rutgers and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have determined the structure of a protein that is the first line of defense in fighting viral infections including influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile, rabies, and measles.

30 Sep 2011

Analyzing the health law's tax credits and the CLASS Act's future

This round-up of health law implementation news also includes a report that the comment period for state health exchanges has been extended and news that Catholic organizations have stepped-up their opposition to the measure's requirement that contraceptive services be covered.

30 Sep 2011

UNC professor wins 2011 PECASE award for research into alcohol addiction

During a White House ceremony next month, Thomas L. Kash, PhD, assistant professor in the department of pharmacology and the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine will receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

30 Sep 2011

Initiative pays primary-care docs for coordinating Medicare patients' care

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday a new initiative created by the health law that will ask physicians to focus on patients with chronic conditions. The program will be tested in five to seven markets across the country.

30 Sep 2011

Strides being made against trypanosomiasis

Rachel ter Horst, medical advocacy adviser at Medecins Sans Frontieres, describes findings presented at the recent 31st biennial International Scientific Council for Trypanosomiasis Research and Control in Bamako, Mali, in this "BMJ Group Blogs" post.

30 Sep 2011

Two UTA scientists win 2011 PECASE award for innovative research

Two scientists from The University of Texas at Austin are among the 2011 recipients of Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

30 Sep 2011

Military benefits face same cost challenges as Social Security, Medicare

The federal government last year spent a record $275.2 billion on benefits for retired federal workers, two-thirds of it for military retirees. What's driving up costs: Congress has expanded benefits frequently and Baby Boomers are living longer, collecting pension checks longer and consuming more health care -; the same issues challenging Social Security and Medicare.

30 Sep 2011

Homobrassinolide may increase appetite, muscle mass and physical performance

New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that rats fed homobrassinolide, found in the mustard plant, produced an anabolic effect, and increased appetite and muscle mass, as well as the number and size of muscle fibers.

30 Sep 2011

Small Phase I trial shows HIV vaccine candidate is most powerful to date

Researchers at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have successfully completed a small Phase I human clinical trial of an HIV vaccine candidate that granted 90 percent of 30 study participants an immunological response against the virus, Gizmag reports.

30 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Rising health costs and the health law

Even a slow economy can't stop healthcare costs from rising. A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust shows that the cost of employer-provided insurance rose 9% this year -; even as workers and their families were cutting back on trips to the doctor's office -; and has more than doubled over the last decade.

30 Sep 2011

Gingrich issues new 'Contract with America'; includes health insurance proposal

Republican Newt Gingrich, who has positioned himself as the idea guy in this presidential campaign, will today call for Americans to have new choices in how they buy health insurance, pay their income taxes and save for retirement. In his '21st Century Contract with America' that he shared with The Des Moines Register and will officially release Thursday in Iowa, Gingrich says people should to be able to choose either a tax credit or the ability to deduct the value of their health insurance up to a certain amount.

30 Sep 2011

Medicaid payments in N.Y., Kentucky questioned

New York auditors says nursing homes were overpaid, while a Kentucky state senator says doctors at the University of Louisville misused Medicaid funds.

30 Sep 2011

Journal of Vascular Surgery publishes Atrium's COBEST Trial on aorto-iliac disease

Atrium Medical Corporation today announced the publication of the COBEST Trial by the Journal of Vascular Surgery. COBEST (Covered Versus Balloon Expandable Stent Trial) was an independent, landmark, prospective, multi center, randomized, controlled clinical trial that has demonstrated that Atrium's proprietary balloon expandable covered stent technology is superior to traditional bare metal stents for the treatment of aorto-iliac disease.

30 Sep 2011

Increased focus on vaccine for dengue fever is critical to curb spread of disease

In this GlobalPost opinion piece, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Husein Laljee Dewraj professor and head of the Division of Maternal and Child Health at the Aga Khan University Medical Center in Karachi, Pakistan, and Ciro de Quadros, executive vice president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and former director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization at PAHO, examine the need for a dengue fever vaccine as Pakistan struggles to curb an outbreak of the disease that to date has killed 60 people and has infected more than 8,000.

30 Sep 2011

Jails are holding increasing numbers of mentally ill

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that in Georgia more mentally ill people are locked away than are treated in state psychiatric hospitals. In other state news about mental health, Florida seeks to recoup $4 million from company that managed Medicaid mental health services, and Milwaukee considers bolstering services.

30 Sep 2011