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Cefpodoxime not effective in treating uncomplicated cystitis in women

Short-term use of the antibiotic cefpodoxime for the treatment of women with uncomplicated cystitis (bladder infection) did not meet criteria for noninferiority for achieving clinical cure compared with ciprofloxacin, a drug in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics for which there have been concerns about overuse and a resulting increase in resistance rates, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.

8 Feb 2012

New smartphone can help people with mental health problems

Brooding in your apartment on Saturday afternoon? A new smart phone intuits when you're depressed and will nudge you to call or go out with friends. It's the future of therapy at a new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine center where scientists are inventing web-based, mobile and virtual technologies to treat depression and other mood disorders. The phone and similar projects bypass traditional weekly therapy sessions for novel approaches that provide immediate support and access to a much larger population.

8 Feb 2012

World-renowned researcher to address NTDs at UH, Feb. 10

Dr. Peter J. Hotez, an internationally recognized clinician and investigator of neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, will be giving a lecture at the University of Houston (UH) from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Hotez is one of many prominent scientists with broad appeal who will be hosted by UH in support of the university's health initiative. The talk is free and open to the public.

8 Feb 2012

Tailoring TB treatment based on a patient's genetic sequence

A gene that influences the inflammatory response to infection may also predict the effectiveness of drug treatment for a deadly form of tuberculosis.

8 Feb 2012

LE strips can have a role in rapid diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection

Rothman Institute at Jefferson joint researchers continue to seek better ways to diagnose and subsequently treat periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in patients following total joint arthroplasty. Their latest research shows leukocyte esterase reagent (LE) strips, common in diagnosing urinary tract infections, can also have a role in rapid diagnosis of PJI.

7 Feb 2012

NQF endorses two surgical outcomes-based measures from ACS NSQIP

Two outcomes-based measures from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) were recently endorsed by the National Quality Forum.

7 Feb 2012

Forum for Collaborative HIV Research suggests new approach for conducting Phase 3 HIV clinical trials

As the war on HIV/AIDS begins its fourth decade, medical researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates and government regulators face a new and unexpected scientific challenge: how to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of promising new antiretroviral drugs when the two traditional study designs – the superiority trial and the non-inferiority trial – are no longer useful in showing improvements in both "treatment experienced" patients and those who have never received drug therapy (treatment-naive patients).

7 Feb 2012

FDA approves ivermectin lotion for treatment of head lice

Sanofi announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Sklice® (ivermectin) lotion, 0.5% for the topical treatment of head lice, in patients 6 months of age and older. Effective and well-tolerated, Sklice Lotion treats lice in most patients with a single 10-minute application of the lotion, without nit combing.

7 Feb 2012

National Black HIV/AIDS Day brings new statistics

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Blacks represent approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population, but accounted for an estimated 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. Over the same period, the rate of new HIV infections among black women was 15 times that of White women, and over 3 times the rate of Hispanic/Latina women.

7 Feb 2012

Antiretroviral therapy does not increase severity of psychiatric disorders

A study of more than 300 children and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) revealed no association between specific antiretroviral therapy and the severity of psychiatric disorders.

7 Feb 2012

Proactive test-and-treat case-detection strategy can combat malaria

As researchers work to eliminate malaria worldwide, new strategies are needed to find and treat individuals who have malaria, but show no signs of the disease. The prevalence of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic malaria can be as high as 35 percent in populations with malaria and these asymptomatic individuals can serve as a reservoir for spreading malaria even in areas where disease transmission has declined.

7 Feb 2012

U.N. supporting yellow fever vaccination campaigns in Cameroon, Ghana

Following an outbreak of the mosquito-borne yellow fever virus in Cameroon that has infected at least 23 people and killed at least seven people, U.N. and local officials are working to vaccinate "1.2 million people considered at high risk of contracting yellow fever, which has no cure," the U.N. News Centre reports.

7 Feb 2012

LE strips can rapidly diagnose periprosthetic joint infection

7 Feb 2012

Closing the 'cancer divide' between developing and developed countries

Noting "there is a huge 'cancer divide' between rich and poor," with more than half of new cancer cases and almost two-thirds of all cancer deaths occurring in developing countries, this year's World Cancer Day theme, "Together It Is Possible," "calls on all individuals, organizations and governments to do their part to reduce premature deaths from cancers by 25 percent by 2025," Felicia Knaul, secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, and Jonathan Quick, president of Management Sciences for Health, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

7 Feb 2012

WHO disputes study's claims that global malaria deaths are double current estimates

The WHO has disputed a study published last week in the Lancet "that claims nearly twice as many people are dying of malaria than current estimates," VOA News reports.

7 Feb 2012

Supporting scientific evidence under PEPFAR to end AIDS

On Wednesday, several HIV experts spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing "supporting the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program's reliance on scientific evidence to drive its work to end AIDS," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

7 Feb 2012

Dispute over malaria figures highlights lack of certainty in data in age of 'information overload'

In this post in TIME World's "Global Spin" blog, TIME's Africa bureau chief Alex Perry examines questions surrounding an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) study published in the Lancet on Friday that suggests "malaria kills almost twice as many people a year as previously believed."

7 Feb 2012

Economic transformation in Latin America an opportunity to improve NTD strategies, DNDi regional director says

"The rise of emerging economies in Latin America is an opportunity to improve strategies for fighting neglected illnesses and increase the region's contribution to the global struggle against them, says" Eric Stobbaerts, the Latin America director of the independent Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Inter Press Service reports.

7 Feb 2012

Closing elementary and secondary schools can help slow pH1N1 transmission

Closing elementary and secondary schools can help slow the spread of infectious disease and should be considered as a control measure during pandemic outbreaks, according to a McMaster University led study.

7 Feb 2012

Whole-genome sequencing helps trace the path of European E. coli outbreak

Using whole-genome sequencing, a team led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Broad Institute has traced the path of the E. coli outbreak that sickened thousands and killed over 50 people in Germany in summer 2011 and also caused a smaller outbreak in France.

7 Feb 2012