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ALIAS research project to initiate elderly care through robots

A partnership among 20 European states, the European Union and a number of private enterprises has launched a three-year, 3.87-million-euro project to make robots capable of serving as adaptable, interactive, and above all safe assistants for elderly people. The research project, known as ALIAS, places special emphasis on maintaining social networks, warding off feelings of loneliness and isolation, and increasing activities that may protect and enhance cognitive capabilities.

14 Sep 2010

3M Health Information Systems releases ICD-10 Code Translation Tool

3M Health Information Systems, an international leader in ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding and clinical terminology management, has released the 3M ICD-10 Code Translation Tool, now fully integrated with 3M's medical vocabulary server, the 3M Healthcare Data Dictionary, to provide a single source solution for translating and converting ICD-9 based applications to ICD-10.

13 Sep 2010

Sec. of State Clinton discusses Obama administration's foreign policy strategy

In a speech on Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined the Obama administration's approach to foreign policy and said that U.S. "global leadership is essential, even if we must often lead in new ways," the Washington Post reports.

10 Sep 2010

Summit negotiators seek to get MDGs 'back on track'

"World powers are moving slowly toward an accord on the strategy to be embraced at a looming United Nations summit aiming to get the lofty Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] back on track," Agence France-Presse writes in an article examining the ongoing debates over how best to achieve the MDGs before the 2015 deadline.

10 Sep 2010

Seaside reports positive data from STX209 Phase 2 study in ASD

Seaside Therapeutics, Inc. announced today positive data from an open-label Phase 2 study of STX209 conducted in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The primary endpoint of the study, an improvement on the Irritability subscale of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC-I), achieved statistical significance (p<0.001).

9 Sep 2010

Researchers find minocycline antibiotics effective for fragile X syndrome

One of the antibiotics most commonly prescribed to treat adolescent acne can increase attention spans and communication and decrease anxiety in patients with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of mental impairment, according to a new survey study that is the first published on parents' reports of their children's responses to treatment with the medication.

9 Sep 2010

Alcohol consumption by pregnant women can seriously harm unborn children

To kick off Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health is reminding the public that alcohol consumption by pregnant women can seriously harm unborn children.

8 Sep 2010

TransOral Robotic Surgery removes head and neck cancer tumors, while preserving speech

An incisionless robotic surgical procedure is offering patients a new option to remove certain head and neck cancer tumors without visible scarring, while preserving speech and the ability to eat.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers decode words from brain signals in paralyzed people

In an early step toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain. "We have been able to decode spoken words using only signals from the brain with a device that has promise for long-term use in paralyzed patients who cannot now speak," says Bradley Greger, an assistant professor of bioengineering.

7 Sep 2010

VOA News examines U.S. Global Health Initiative

VOA News examines President Barack Obama's $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI), noting the initiative's emphasis on cost-effective strategies to improve child- and maternal-health as well as programs to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. The article includes recent comments by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the role the GHI will play in strengthening health systems and the administration's on-going commitment to global HIV/AIDS programs.

4 Sep 2010

ISWG researchers establish guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of infantile spasms

Researchers from across the U.S., as part of the Infantile Spasms Working Group (ISWG), established guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of infantile spasms (IS). The goal of the ISWG is to improve patient outcomes by creating protocols that educate pediatricians on early diagnosis and treatment options. Full details of this study appear online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

3 Sep 2010

International consortium publishes third-generation map of human genetic variation

An international consortium today published a third-generation map of human genetic variation, called the HapMap, which includes data from an additional seven global populations, increasing the total number to 11 populations. The improved resolution will help researchers interpret current genome studies aimed at finding common and rarer genetic variants associated with complex diseases.

2 Sep 2010

MRI recordings at one fiftieth of a second

"Please hold absolutely still": This instruction is crucial for patients being examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It is the only way to obtain clear images for diagnosis. Up to now, it was therefore almost impossible to image moving organs using MRI. Max Planck researchers from G-ttingen have now succeeded in significantly reducing the time required for recording images - to just one fiftieth of a second.

30 Aug 2010

An overview of Schizophrenia and psychotic disorders

Schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders are a chronic and often disabling condition. Despite modern treatment techniques they still present an enormous burden to the patients and their relatives and take a serious toll in terms of human suffering and societal expenditure.

30 Aug 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"[N]ew diagnostic techniques [for tuberculosis] need to be studied in children," according to a Lancet Infectious Diseases Reflection. "Tuberculosis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide, but estimates of disease burden are inaccurate because most cases are not confirmed," the author writes. He discusses a study published in the same issue that examines various methods for diagnosing TB in children.

27 Aug 2010

Researchers recommend traumatic brain injury reclassification for additional funding

Traumatic brain injury, currently considered a singular event by the insurance industry and many health care providers, is instead the beginning of an ongoing process that impacts multiple organ systems and may cause or accelerate other diseases and disorders that can reduce life expectancy, according to research from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

27 Aug 2010

Auditory neurons accept first sound, ignore subsequent reverberations: Study

Voices carry, reflect off objects and create echoes. Most people rarely hear the echoes; instead they only process the first sound received. For the hard of hearing, though, being in an acoustically challenging room can be a problem. For them, echoes carry.

27 Aug 2010

V Foundation Wine Celebration raises fund for cancer research

The 12th Annual Wine Celebration benefitting The V Foundation took place August 6&7 in Napa Valley, raising $2.2 million for cancer research. The event, a signature fundraiser for sportscaster/coach Jim Valvano's eponymous foundation, has raised more than $35 million since 1998.

27 Aug 2010

FORTUNE ranks China-Biotics 62nd on 2010 'Fastest-Growing Companies' list

China-Biotics, Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of probiotics products in China, today announced that the Company is ranked 62nd on FORTUNE's 2010 "Fastest-Growing Companies" list.

26 Aug 2010

SOECIC announces UK's first operation to fit single cochlear implant to give sound in both ears

The UK's first operation to fit a single cochlear implant capable of giving sound in both ears takes place this Friday (27 August), thanks to the work of the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre (SOECIC), based at the University of Southampton.

26 Aug 2010