Research News and Research

RSS

Roundup: Vt. universal care bill advances; Duluth, Minn., seeking to change retiree health benefits; Texas steps back from plan to close centers for disabled

Dr. James Mongan, a physician with a specialty in politics who for decades helped shape the health care debate in Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth, and who formerly served as president of Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare, died in MGH yesterday.

5 May 2011

TGen licenses ONCO-101 cancer drug to Syracuse

The Translational Genomics Research Institute has licensed its first drug, a unique compound that targets cancer tumors by modifying the actions of proteins.

5 May 2011

ACOs, employer mandate continue to draw attention

The Hill reports that the Internal Revenue Service is seeking public comment on the health law's employer mandate while PBS NewsHour "decodes" accountable care organizations.

5 May 2011

Cameron Health completes enrollment in subcutaneous implantable defibrillator pivotal study

Cameron Health, Inc. announced today that it has completed enrollment in its pivotal FDA clinical study of the S-ICD System, the world's only completely subcutaneous implantable defibrillator.

5 May 2011

Viewpoints: Basic benefits package budget buster?; Colorado CHIP cuts; pharma's public image

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims for a delicate balance that even its champions acknowledge as highly challenging: Making medical services affordable for tens of millions of uninsured Americans, and yet restraining the expenditures needed to vastly expand coverage. To grasp why the reform bill risks missing both goals -- and why the measure's margin for error is so perilously narrow -- it's crucial to follow the debate over its central provision, what it calls the "Essential Health Benefits" package.

5 May 2011

Researchers identify regulatory protein that can inhibit cancer metastasis

A protein capable of halting the spread of breast cancer cells could lead to a therapy for preventing or limiting the spread of the disease.

5 May 2011

New non-invasive blood test may detect early stage Alzheimer's

A new blood test that will diagnose Alzheimer's disease may soon hit the market, thanks to an innovative study from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

4 May 2011

Amygdala predicts spontaneous behavior: Study

A pianist is playing an unknown melody freely without reading from a musical score. How does the listener's brain recognise if this melody is improvised or if it is memorized? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig investigated jazz musicians to discover which brain areas are especially sensitive to features of improvised behaviour.

4 May 2011

Labopharm first quarter total revenue increases to $5.3 million

Labopharm Inc. today reported its progress and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

4 May 2011

Affitech, Cancer Research Technology sign deal to advance therapeutic antibodies

Cancer Research Technology, the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, has signed a license agreement to grant antibody medicines company, Affitech A/S, exclusive rights to a CRT patent application and relevant know how to develop and use therapeutic antibodies that recognise and block the function of CCR4, a protein found on certain tumours - including early and late stage cervical cancer and oesophageal cancer.

4 May 2011

Study finds greater weight management support in pistachio snackers

When it comes to healthy snacking and weight management, a new study bolsters the long-held view that not all calories are created equal. According to nutrition researchers at UCLA, choosing to snack on pistachios rather than pretzels as part of a healthy diet not only supports your body mass index (BMI) goals, but can support heart health too.

4 May 2011

Congress returns to face health program costs, budget issues

News outlets report that lawmakers are returning to work after a two-week recess, during which they faced emotional challenges from constituents regarding the deficit and the nation's entitlement programs.

4 May 2011

Cocaine and nicotine employ similar mechanisms to induce synaptic plasticity in brain

The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research.

4 May 2011

ACO rule draws tough questions, highlights system's shortcomings

CQ HealthBeat reports that federal officials are considering the public criticism and comments they are receiving in response to the proposed rule issued regarding the health law's accountable care organizations. One expert, for instance, tells Politico Pro that data collection challenges could impede the formation of ACOs.

4 May 2011

Lack of insurance interferes with cervical cancer prevention, treatment

In her early 20s, Tamika Felder skipped seeing her gynecologist and getting Pap smears for a few years because she couldn't afford health insurance. ... In 2001, at age 25, Felder learned that she had cervical cancer.

4 May 2011

New genetic discovery in megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts

White matter disease covers a large group of disorders that affect the white matter, or myelin. In children these disorders are commonly genetic and often go undiagnosed. In new research, a team led by Raúl Estévez, a lecturer from the Department of Physiological Sciences II, based at the UB's Bellvitge Health Sciences Campus, working with the researcher Marjo van der Knaap, from the University Medical Centre at VU University Amsterdam, have identified mutant GLIALCAM as responsible for 25% of cases of megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts, a rare genetic disease affecting cerebral myelin.

4 May 2011

Breakthrough research offers hope for new obesity treatment

By knocking down the expression of a protein in rat brains known to stimulate eating, Johns Hopkins researchers say they not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat into a type that burns off more energy. The finding could lead to better obesity treatments for humans, the scientists report.

4 May 2011

Japan pledges to maintain aid to Africa despite rebuilding costs

Japan will maintain its aid pledges to African nations, despite reconstruction costs following an earthquake and tsunami, a senior government official said on Sunday at a development conference in Dakar, Senegal, Agence France-Presse reports.

4 May 2011

Study measures cost-effectiveness of trauma drug published in PLoS One

How much would you pay for an extra year of healthy life? The cost of filling up your car at the petrol pumps? Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have found that a year of life could be saved for around the price of filling up the tank of an average family car in the UK - which is a fitting comparison bearing in mind that most of the patients who will benefit from this cheap life-saving drug have been hit by cars.

4 May 2011

An in-depth look at how a Medicaid block grant would work

Kansas Health Institute News published a package of stories detailing how the block grant concept works, the pros and cons of this approach, and the history of such proposals.

4 May 2011