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WPI to develop integrated monitoring system to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received a one-year, $1 million award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop the final component of an integrated monitoring system designed to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries by precisely locating and tracking them inside buildings in three dimensions, continuously monitoring their vital signs to warn incident commanders when they are at risk of stress-related heart attacks, and taking floor-to-ceiling temperature readings inside buildings to provide an early warning of impending flashover.

1 Dec 2009

Lobbyists – including some surprise players – keep the heat on health legislation

Washington groups have lobbied Congress and the public in nearly every imaginable direction on health reform. But those groups include a few that you may not have guessed would have an interest.

25 Nov 2009

Experts call for greater crackdown on Medicare fraud

Efforts to crack down on Medicare fraud heat up while some experts say more should be done.

25 Nov 2009

Major direct health benefits by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions

Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions will have major direct health benefits in addition to reducing the risk of climate change, especially in low-income countries, according to a series of six papers appearing today (Wed., Nov. 25) in the British journal The Lancet.

25 Nov 2009

Senate Democrats brace for heavy health reform work

The Hill reports that "Democratic leaders sent out a notice Monday morning alerting senators that when the chamber returns to session after the Thanksgiving holiday, 'roll call votes could occur at any time during the day and evening, with weekend sessions likely.'" The health bill is also likely to affect work on a climate change bill and some senators' plans to go to the climate summit in Copenhagen (Bolton, 11/23).

24 Nov 2009

New MEMS sensor may help clinicians distinguish stable and unstable plaque during cardiac emergencies

University of Sourthern California biomedical engineer and cardiologist Tzung "John" Hsiai hopes to develop a new tool to help clinicians distinguish cardiac emergencies requiring immediate surgery from chronic problems manageable with drugs and lifestyle change.

24 Nov 2009

SANYO releases whitepaper on its new cell culture CO2 incubator

SANYO North America's Biomedical and Environmental Division has released a new whitepaper showing that higher up-time ratios, based on new protocols that minimize incubator downtime when compared to conventional decontamination methods, can accelerate a return on investment in cell culture CO2 incubators that use hydrogen peroxide vapor (H2O2) in conjunction with narrow-bandwidth ultraviolet light and copper-enriched stainless steel.

24 Nov 2009

Senators prepare for upcoming health reform battles

The Wall Street Journal reports that, in a party-line vote Saturday night, "Democratic leaders finally moved their sweeping health bill to the Senate floor, where wheeling and dealing over major unresolved and divisive issues likely will shape the legislation before its next big test." Some centrists are busy saying they won't support a bill with a government-run public option in it. They are also divided over abortion.

23 Nov 2009

Medical report showing the devastating impacts of coal on human body released

Physicians for Social Responsibility today released a groundbreaking medical report, "Coal's Assault on Human Health," which takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body.

23 Nov 2009

Scientists discover new potential target for treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered a molecular mechanism that may prove to be a powerful target for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphocytes, or white blood cells. By exploiting this mechanism, researchers have been able to powerfully suppress tumor formation in lab testing and in animal models.

22 Nov 2009

Dangerous behavior in work environment should not be ignored in the name of political correctness, says psychiatrist

As more red flags are uncovered about the Fort Hood tragedy, some observers allege that political correctness played a significant role in enabling this to happen. Has public concern over political correctness grown from its well-intentioned origin of inclusion and acceptance into a dangerous unwillingness to acknowledge obvious patterns of toxic behavior?

21 Nov 2009

Climate change to have a profound impact on global public health

An emerging body of evidence suggests that the changing global climate is already affecting infectious disease transmission patterns. As noted today in a symposium at the 58th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), such changes are expected to have a profound impact on global public health.

21 Nov 2009

Direct link between insulin and core body temperature discovered

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a direct link between insulin-a hormone long associated with metabolism and metabolic disorders such as diabetes-and core body temperature. While much research has been conducted on insulin since its discovery in the 1920s, this is the first time the hormone has been connected to the fundamental process of temperature regulation.

20 Nov 2009

Southern District of Florida Health Care Fraud Team receives the 2009 Excellence in Public Awareness Award

The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA) is pleased to announce that the Southern District of Florida Health Care Fraud Team--comprised of individuals representing the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida; the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Division; and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Regional Office--is the recipient of the 2009 Excellence in Public Awareness Award.

19 Nov 2009

Data on Synta Pharmaceuticals' STA-9090 synthetic inhibitor of Hsp90 presented

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today announced that preclinical data presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics shows that STA-9090, a novel, synthetic inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), demonstrated strong activity in multiple tumor models.

18 Nov 2009

First Edition: November 17, 2009

Based on today's headlines, all eyes continue to be focused on the Senate -- where Democratic leaders are still waiting for the revised Congressional Budget Office analysis of their health bill and plotting about when to hold the first procedural vote on the measure.

17 Nov 2009

AACR-NCI-EORTC conference highlights major expansion in cancer drug pipeline

To highlight results of more recent research, the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics International Conference will host a press briefing on "Drugs in the Pipeline." Sara A. Courtneidge, Ph.D., D.Sc., professor and director of the Tumor Microenvironment Program, and director of academic affairs at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, will moderate this press briefing.

17 Nov 2009

FDA approves NeurogesX's Qutenza patch for postherpetic neuralgia treatment

NeurogesX, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qutenza(TM) (capsaicin) 8% patch, the first and only product containing prescription strength capsaicin, for the management of neuropathic pain due to postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the nerve pain which can follow shingles.

17 Nov 2009

HDAC inhibitors: New therapy for treating breast cancer

A powerful new breast cancer treatment could result from packaging one of the newer drugs that inhibits cancer's hallmark wild growth with another that blocks a primordial survival technique in which the cancer cell eats part of itself, researchers say.

17 Nov 2009

New technique to cool the brains of cardiac arrest patients

The first randomized intra-arrest cooling study performed using a novel intra-nasal cooling method showed much faster and earlier cooling in treated patients and significantly higher neurologically intact survival - to - discharge rate in many patients. The Pre-Resuscitation Intra-Nasal Cooling Effectiveness (PRINCE) study involved 200 patients and was conducted by 15 Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic and Sweden.

16 Nov 2009