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Nation's best cardiac programs team up to offer improved heart care

Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach is among Florida's most renowned heart hospitals. New York's Columbia University Medical Center is ranked among the nation's top cardiovascular programs. Together, they take the best heart care and make it better for South Florida

8 Jan 2010

Genzyme enters into mutual cooperation agreement with Relational Investors

Genzyme Corporation and San-Diego based institutional investor Relational Investors LLC announced today that they have entered into a mutual cooperation agreement. Relational, a $6 billion private investment fund, began investing in Genzyme shares in late 2008 and currently owns approximately 4 percent of the company’s common stock.

8 Jan 2010

Epigenetic diagnosis and therapies, a new strategy for treating cancer

A tumor's genetic profile is often useful when diagnosing and deciding on treatment for certain cancers, but inexplicably, genetically similar leukemias in different patients do not always respond well to the same therapy.

7 Jan 2010

Fresenius Medical Care offers tips on how dialysis patients can plan their treatment during winter season

As winter brings freezing temperatures and blankets regions of the U.S. with snow, dialysis patients are especially vulnerable because they typically need treatment every two to three days, and any substantial delay can be life threatening. Power outages can disrupt their regular treatments, and snow and ice can make driving treacherous, preventing patients from getting treatment at dialysis facilities.

7 Jan 2010

Renowned ophthalmologist performs innovative procedure on patient suffering from severe visual impairment

Ten years ago, Southern Californian resident Kenny Atkins suffered from severe visual impairment caused by coning of the cornea, otherwise known as keratoconus. Prescription glasses and contact lenses proved to be ineffective, and Atkins needed a solution fast – as an ocean lifeguard, Atkins’ ability to see could mean the difference between life and death.

6 Jan 2010

Life-saving therapeutic interventions possible with early detection of hepatitis C recurrence

A recent study by doctors from the Hospital Cl-nic in Barcelona, Spain determined that repeated liver stiffness measurements (LSM) in the first year following liver transplant (LT) could discriminate between slow and rapid "fibrosers" (patients with fibrosis stage of F2-F4 one year post LT).

6 Jan 2010

DSMB recommends Quark Pharmaceuticals to continue clinical study of QPI-1002

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the world leader in clinical development of RNAi-based therapeutics, announced today that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board ("DSMB") recommended that QPI-1002 (I5NP) continue on to the next phase of clinical testing.

5 Jan 2010

Scientists uncover an important link between inflammation and breast cancer stem cells

Scientists at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered an important link between inflammation and breast cancer stem cells that suggests a new way to target cells that are resistant to current treatments.

4 Jan 2010

Organ donation gives a new life

Ten years ago, Dale Shippam got a new heart. It's taken him around the world, and, in the New Year, on a part of an Olympic journey across Canada.

31 Dec 2009

Sharing Miracles: A TV program that features inspirational stories of real patients

Major League Baseball slugger Aaron Boone will be featured on January's episode of Sharing Miracles - a 30-minute public affairs television program that tells the compelling and inspirational stories of real patients. Sharing Miracles airs every week on more than 300 television stations nationwide.

31 Dec 2009

NYBC calls for blood donation in recognition of National Blood Donor Month

New York Blood Center (NYBC) and its divisions in Manhattan, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Brooklyn/Staten Island, and New Jersey call upon the community to please donate blood, in recognition of National Blood Donor Month, and to help save lives.

30 Dec 2009

Kidney transplantation saves life

For more than 20 years Delores Evans battled diabetes, high blood pressure and, finally, kidney failure. By 2008 she needed a new kidney to stay alive, but she never could have imagined the circumstances that brought it about.

29 Dec 2009

Double-lung transplant donation saves life

Kurt Penner, who in 2002, was days away from dying of emphysema received a life-saving double-lung transplant through the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN). On December 27, he'll be carrying the 2010 Olympic torch for 300 metres through the streets of Woodstock, Ontario, thanks to that donation.

24 Dec 2009

TGLN responds to CIHI report on organ donation

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report that was issued this afternoon, understandably, takes a national perspective, and uses a conventional 10 year time frame.

23 Dec 2009

New CIHI study highlights that Canada needs to retrieve more organs for transplants

The availability of donated organs in Canada rose by more than one-quarter (28%) over the past decade, but this increase is not keeping pace with demand. More than 1,000 Canadians donated organs in 2008, up from 812 in 1999, according to a new study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

23 Dec 2009

Enzyme dCK plays a profound role in normal lymphocyte development

Mice without the deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) enzyme have defects in their adaptive immune system, producing very low levels of both T and B lymphocytes, the major players involved in immune response, according to a study by researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

23 Dec 2009

UMHC activates Philips VISICU eICU Program to care for critically ill patients

University of Mississippi Health Care (UMHC) announced today its activation of the Philips VISICU eICU® Program to enhance care of the critically ill in rural communities of Mississippi. As the first health system in the region to implement the eICU Program, UMHC will serve as the lead resource for critical care across Mississippi.

23 Dec 2009

Viron Therapeutics' three drug candidates granted U.S. patents

Viron Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering the development of virally-derived protein therapeutics, today announced that it has been granted U.S. patents related to three of its drug candidates, VT-111, VT-346 and VT-384.

23 Dec 2009

Cardiac rehabilitation improves survival rate in heart attack patients

Medicare beneficiaries with heart disease who attended more cardiac rehabilitation sessions had fewer heart attacks and were less likely to die within four years than those who went to rehab less, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

23 Dec 2009

QLT Ophthalmics to distribute Visudyne in the U.S. market

QLT Inc. ("QLT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the establishment of its commercial presence in the United States through a newly formed U.S. subsidiary, QLT Ophthalmics, Inc. ("QOI"). QOI will take on the sales and marketing of Visudyne(R) in the U.S.

22 Dec 2009