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Workers' compensation status may affect treatment outcomes for herniated disks

Surgery provides better results than nonsurgical treatment for most patients with back pain related to a herniated disk—but not for those receiving workers' compensation for work-related injuries, reports a study in the January 1 issue of Spine.

28 Jan 2010

HSC Foundation invites applications for its 2010 Advocates in Disability Award

In an effort to support the next generation of disability advocates, The HSC Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2010 Advocates in Disability Award, which recognizes a young person between the ages of 14 and 26 in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area who is dedicated to empowering people with disabilities.

28 Jan 2010

New insight into reprogramming of cells

A discovery by Babraham scientists brings new insight into how cells are reprogrammed and a greater understanding of how the environment, or factors like nutritional signals, can interact with our genes to affect health. As an embryo develops, cells acquire a particular fate, for example becoming a nerve or skin cell. The findings, reported online in the journal Nature, pinpoint a protein called AID as being important for complete cellular reprogramming in mammals.

28 Jan 2010

Posible new method to assess loss of consciousness

The brains of people under anesthesia respond to stimuli as they do in the deepest part of sleep - lending credence to a developing theory of consciousness and suggesting a new method to assess loss of consciousness in conditions such as coma.

28 Jan 2010

New report illustrates why cardiovascular disease is under-recognized and under-treated in women

Today, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) launched "WINHeart -- Score a WIN for Women," an initiative that raises awareness surrounding gender-based disparities in the diagnosis, treatment and survival of women with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

28 Jan 2010

Automated measurements more reliable in moderate cases of knee degeneration

Scientists have automated the measurement of a vital part of the knee in images with a computer program that performs much faster and just as reliably as humans who interpret the same images.

28 Jan 2010

Alli boosts weight loss and reduces excess visceral fat

New studies show that overweight and obese people using alli® (orlistat 60 mg) with a reduced calorie, lower-fat diet can significantly reduce weight, visceral fat, and waist circumference and therefore may reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.

28 Jan 2010

IsoRay ships first set of Cesium-131 brachytherapy seeds to Canada

IsoRay, Inc. announced today that it has successfully shipped the first set of Cesium-131 brachytherapy seeds to a Canadian customer for the purpose of furthering research and development of Cesium-131 in Canada. Cesium-131 is currently approved by Health Canada for the treatment of low-risk prostate cancers and has been cleared by the US FDA for treatment of a wide variety of malignant disease (e.g. prostate, head and neck, brain, breast, lung, eye, etc.).

28 Jan 2010

New research findings may lead to new treatment options for abdominal aortic aneurysms

New research findings from a team at the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia (UBC) may lead to new treatment options for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) - a potentially fatal disease that currently has no pharmacological treatments.

28 Jan 2010

Health education programmes can help parents recognise healthy weight for their children

Half of the mothers who took part in a study thought that their obese four or five year-old was normal weight, as did 39 per cent of the fathers, according to the February issue of Acta Paediatrica.

28 Jan 2010

Down Syndrome, menopause, dementia and death

Women experiencing an early onset of menopause could develop dementia at a younger age. Research by Tonnie Coppus of Erasmus MC has indicated this. She studied women with Down Syndrome, who are known to have an early onset of menopause. The results of her research can be translated to apply to the general population. Her results will be published in the Journal of Alzheimer Disease today.

28 Jan 2010

Study finds RA workers have similar keyboarding speed compared to non-impaired individuals

A recent study by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found that workers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were comparable to non-impaired individuals in keyboarding speed. Individuals who were trained in touch typing demonstrated faster typing speeds than those using a visually-guided ("hunt and peck") method, regardless of impairment.

28 Jan 2010

NNSA helps funding development of domestic radioisotope supply

SNM applauds a move by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to help fund the development of a domestic supply of radioisotopes, which are used to help millions of patients each year through the diagnosis and staging of cancer, thyroid and heart disease.

28 Jan 2010

Scientists discover new technique to investigate cancer stem cells

Scientists at Oxford University, funded by Cancer Research UK, have discovered a way to investigate cancer stem cells more efficiently in the laboratory.

28 Jan 2010

Leukemia cells rely on fatty acid metabolism to grow and evade cell death

Leukemia cells, like most cancers, are addicted to glucose to generate their energy, but new research shows for the first time that these cells also rely on fatty acid metabolism to grow and to evade cell death.

28 Jan 2010

Majority of Americans agree monetary stress can negatively affect health

As we enter a new decade with the hope of rebounding from one of the worst economic downturns in our history, a newly commissioned bank study confirms that nearly 90 percent of Americans agree that monetary stress can negatively affect one’s health. Even more women (91 percent) and older adults (92 percent of those 45 and older) link stress to concerns over money.

28 Jan 2010

GENFIT's GFT505 exhibits potential to address unmet needs in prediabetic and diabetic patients

GENFIT, a biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of drug discovery and development, focusing on the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of cardiometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, today announces positive results from a recently completed clinical trial demonstrating the activity of GFT505 on glucose homeostasis. Results from the clinical trial (GFT505-2094) clearly demonstrate the potential of the drug candidate to reduce global cardiovascular risk in prediabetic patients who suffer from impaired fasting plasma glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and abdominal obesity.

28 Jan 2010

Adipose tissue, a promising new source of HSPCs

Bone marrow is a leading source of adult stem cells, which are increasingly used for research and therapeutic interventions, but extracting the cells is an arduous and often painful process. Now, researchers have found evidence that fat tissue, known as adipose tissue, may be a promising new source of valuable and easy-to-obtain regenerative cells called hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), according to astudy prepublished online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology.

28 Jan 2010

GI practices team up with NeuIsys to bring advanced imaging technologies for patients

NeuIsys Imaging System Solutions, LLC, a leader in providing state-of-the-art CT and MR imaging systems to physician practices, announced today that three gastroenterology (GI) practices have entered into agreements with NeuIsys to plan, install, and service the recently FDA approved NeuViz 16 Multi-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) System.

28 Jan 2010

Depression raises risks of advanced and severe complications from diabetes

Depression raises risks of advanced and severe complications from diabetes, according to a prospective study of Group Health primary-care patients in western Washington. These complications include kidney failure or blindness, the result of small vessel damage, as well as major vessel problems leading to heart attack or stroke.

28 Jan 2010