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New review finds no link between pacifiers and breastfeeding problems

Although mothers often use pacifiers to comfort cranky babies, many experts fear that they can interfere with successful breastfeeding. However, a new review finds no association between the devices and early cessation of nursing.

16 Mar 2011

On The Issues Magazine examines how environmental health affects women's lives

The Spring 2011 edition of On The Issues Magazine – "The Ecology of Women" – examines how environmental health affects women's lives, particularly the toxins and chemicals that enter our bodies from the air, water, food and consumer products. These toxins are implicated as possible causes of conditions like cancer, early puberty, infertility, miscarriages, and birth defects.

16 Mar 2011

Backscattering interferometry can precisely measure membrane protein interactions

A new laser technique has demonstrated that it can measure the interactions between proteins tangled in a cell's membrane and a variety of other biological molecules. These extremely difficult measurements can aid the process of drug discovery.

16 Mar 2011

Malaria drug shrinks, slows resistant pancreatic tumors

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report they have shrunk or slowed the growth of notoriously resistant pancreatic tumors in mice, using a drug routinely prescribed for malaria and rheumatoid arthritis.

16 Mar 2011

Prophylactic PEG placement prior to HNC therapy associated with high rate of non use

Impairment of oral intake occurs in the majority of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) receiving chemoradiotherapy. Placement of prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube in asymptomatic newly diagnosed HNC before chemoradiation is a common practice in some centers. In some studies, PEG has been associated with a decrease in treatment related weight loss in patients with HNC, but no studies have examined the utilization rate.

16 Mar 2011

Protein folding may aid in developing new therapies for brain diseases

Misfold an origami swan and the worst that happens is you wind up with an ugly paper duckling. Misfold one of the vital proteins in your body - each of which must be folded in a particular way to perform its function - and the result can be a debilitating neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's or Huntington's.

16 Mar 2011

Montreal Heart Institute and Cerenis commence CER-001 Phase 2 study in acute coronary syndrome

The Montreal Heart Institute today announced the start of the Phase 2 CHI-SQUARE (Can HDL Infusions Significantly QUicken Atherosclerosis REgression?) study of CER-001 in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), in collaboration with Cerenis Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel high-density lipoprotein (HDL) therapies to treat cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

16 Mar 2011

State roundup: Fla. seeks MLR waiver; hospitals struggle

Alabama's Robert Bentley is one of two current governors to have "doctor" on his résumé. In an interview with Stateline last week, Bentley elaborated on his health care agenda. His plan emphasizes individual health savings accounts, which he says will lower costs by letting patients decide how they want to spend their health care dollars. He wants to give state tax breaks to businesses that purchase insurance for their employees and state-based incentives to attract more insurance carriers.

16 Mar 2011

Plexxikon selects Clinipace to manage 4 clinical trials for RA treatment

Clinipace Worldwide, a global digital clinical research organization, announced today that Plexxikon Inc., a leader in the structure-guided discovery and development of novel small molecule pharmaceuticals to treat human disease, has selected Clinipace to manage all aspects of four clinical trials comprising a Phase 1 healthy volunteer study, a Phase 1b rheumatoid arthritis study, and two phase 2 oncology studies.

16 Mar 2011

New self-monitoring blood glucose sensor uses tear fluid as sample

People with diabetes could be helped by a new type of self-monitoring blood glucose sensor being developed by Arizona State University engineers and clinicians at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

16 Mar 2011

Insight into Lyme disease

Researchers recently developed novel diagnostic tools able to distinguish between the various strains of bacteria responsible for causing Lyme disease. For more than a decade, only one strain of B. burgdorferi had been sequenced, and although that helped research efforts, it was not sufficient to understand the relationship between geographic variations in strains and disease characteristics.

16 Mar 2011

Anti-cancer drug loaded microcarriers successfully guided to targeted area in the liver

Soon, drug delivery that precisely targets cancerous cells without exposing the healthy surrounding tissue to the medication's toxic effects will no longer be an oncologist's dream but a medical reality, thanks to the work of Professor Sylvain Martel, Director of the Nanorobotics Laboratory at Polytechnique Montr-al.

16 Mar 2011

Manchester research offers hope for congenital hyperinsulinism treatment

University of Manchester scientists have led an international team to discover new treatments for a rare and potentially lethal childhood disease that is the clinical opposite of diabetes mellitus.

16 Mar 2011

Classifying gambling subtypes does not predict treatment outcomes

Approximately two million adults in the United States meet criteria for pathological gambling, and another four to six million are considered problem gamblers, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. A study by researchers at Wayne State University reveals that gambling addiction treatment is not one-size-fits-all, but it is difficult to predict which style of treatment is best for the various forms of gambling addiction.

16 Mar 2011

Researchers identify genetic cause of magnesium deficiency

Researchers and scientists of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in cooperation with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, and colleagues from the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic have succeeded in identifying a genetic cause of magnesium deficiency.

16 Mar 2011

Global settlement agreement reached in Tuschl patents litigation

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced the signing of a global settlement agreement among Alnylam, Max Planck Society ("Max Planck"), the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research ("Whitehead") and the University of Massachusetts ("UMass") resolving their ongoing litigation regarding the Tuschl patents.

16 Mar 2011

BRAF gene defect leads to pilocytic astrocytoma in children

Pilocytic astrocytoma, the most common brain tumor in children, is usually slow-growing and benign. However, surgeons often cannot completely remove the diffusely growing tumor.

16 Mar 2011

ASL releases new eye tracking software solution

Applied Science Laboratories, the true authority on eye tracking, has released its highly anticipated analysis software, ASL Results for the Mobile Eye solution. This revolutionary program makes measuring consumer response, human behavior and physiology faster and easier than ever, proving to be a game changer for the eye tracking industry.

16 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Texas' painful budget cuts; Congress 'should' attack deficit, Medicare costs

The real problem is that liberals and conservatives alike have over the years gauged an elected official's support for the goals of a program by the money he or she has been willing to spend on it. Thus, liberals measure one's support for education, welfare and health programs by how much more one votes to fund them each year.

16 Mar 2011

Researchers discover molecular switch for insulin secretion

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they have uncovered the molecular switch for the secretion of insulin — the hormone that regulates blood sugar — providing for the first time an explanation of this process.

16 Mar 2011