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Abbott collaborates with Velcera to market pain management product for pets

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today they have partnered with Velcera, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on pet health, to market the first canine pain management product delivered in a transmucosal mist form. Currently in clinical trials, the product combines the proven pain medication meloxicam, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with Velcera's patented Promist(TM) technology, and has been globally licensed for pain management in dogs

19 Aug 2009

Affiliated Computer Services collaborates with clients to develop business solutions for managing downturn

As companies and government agencies navigate unprecedented economic challenges, some organizations are finding innovative ways to save money but also improve services and productivity. Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS) is working closely with its clients to develop successful business solutions designed to help them manage the economic downturn and prepare for the eventual rebound.

19 Aug 2009

User-friendly programme developed to monitor trends in food alerts

The growth in world population along with the urbanisation of developing countries is placing undue demands on global food supplies. Key challenges include production, transportation and also maintaining food safety and security.

19 Aug 2009

American Asthma Foundation awards $750,000 to Dr.Charles Zuker

Dr. Charles Zuker, a renowned expert on the nerves that determine taste and smell, has been awarded $750,000 by the American Asthma Foundation (AAF). Dr. Zuker will apply his expertise to asthma by defining the nerves that contract the airways during an asthma attack in order to reduce the severity of these episodes.

19 Aug 2009

Cyanide toxicity in smoke inhalation victims

"If commercial flying had as many civilian fatalities as those relating to smoke and fire, there would be a public revolt," said Rob Schnepp, CPTC president and assistant chief of special operations for the Alameda County Fire Department in California. "The numbers aren't going down, and this tells me that we aren't addressing the problem adequately.

18 Aug 2009

Asia's food and feed demand is expected to double by 2050 bringing shortages

A comprehensive new study of irrigation in Asia warns that, without major reforms and innovations in the way water is used for agriculture, many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050.

17 Aug 2009

Scientific studies enough to warrant action on bisphenol A

Scientists, physicians, consumers and environmental health advocates today responded to an FDA staff presentation on progress of their review of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone linked to cancer, diabetes, heart problems and other illness. Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak asked for FDA to review their evaluation of BPA.

17 Aug 2009

Gates Foundation appoints global health policy head to lead new London office

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Thursday that Joe Cerrell, who currently leads the foundation's global health policy and advocacy group, will head a new Gates Foundation office in London beginning in January 2010, the Wall Street Journal reports.

17 Aug 2009

Genetic diagnosis of embryos: Clear explanation, not rhetoric needed

In the area of genetic diagnosis of embryos, the choice of words matters as they can influence policies and perceptions, according to an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

17 Aug 2009

Disabled woman assaulted at health care town hall meeting

After releasing our article on Friday discussing how violence at health care town hall meetings could escalate, we attended a health care protest at Senator Dianne Feinstein's office in West Los Angeles, where we met a disabled woman, Kimberly King.

17 Aug 2009

Herbal supplements aren't always safe!

Natural doesn’t always mean safe when it comes to herbal supplements, according to the August issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

13 Aug 2009

Opinion: U.S. global health strategy; fighting drought

As the U.S. "works on a comprehensive global health strategy," we need to "expand our thinking to encompass holistic solutions that go into improving the health of the world’s poor," Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate Majority leader and current member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Board of Directors, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

13 Aug 2009

Human trafficking, HIV; Zimbabwe doctors; Lay health care workers

"Up to a quarter of a million women and girls in Southeast Asia, mostly adolescents, are forced into prostitution each year and face violence and the prospect of contracting HIV/AIDS," researchers said on Wednesday in a report about criminal activity in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, Reuters reports.

13 Aug 2009

Clinton announces U.S.-Nigeria Commission

At a town hall meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday, the fifth stop of her seven-nation African tour, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Nigeria to fix its "flawed electoral system," and "pledg[ed] U.S. assistance in efforts to bring peace to the volatile and oil-rich Delta region," the Wall Street Journal reports.

13 Aug 2009

Clinton calls for prosecution of Congolese rapists, announces $17 million aid package

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called for the prosecution of Congolese soldiers and militiamen involved in a staggering epidemic of rape in eastern Congo and said the world must take stronger action to end the suffering brought on by a military operation that began in January," the Washington Post reports (Sheridan/McCrummen, 8/12).

12 Aug 2009

UNICEF issues $1.5 million urgent appeal for malnourished children in Central African Republic

UNICEF on Tuesday issued an urgent appeal for $1.5 million to provide thousands of acutely malnourished children in the Central African Republic (CAR) with "life-saving therapeutic foods, drugs and other supplies" over the next six months, VOA News reports (Schlein, 8/11).

12 Aug 2009

Outdoor air pollutants at high levels

Higher summertime levels of outdoor ground-level ozone, microscopic particle pollution like smoke and smog, as well as other air pollutants may cause anyone who is sensitive to these airborne contaminants to experience shortness of breath, wheezing and coughing, and may also trigger asthma attacks and cause lung irritation.

12 Aug 2009

When issues at home interfere with work, sick days increase

Employees who feel that issues with home and family life are interfering with their work take more sick leave, more often, according to a study in the August Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

12 Aug 2009

Hillary Clinton visits Democratic Republic of Congo

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the U.S. is "very concerned about civilian casualties, both deaths and rapes, and other injuries from the military action" in the country, Reuters reports (Pleming, 8/11).

11 Aug 2009

The Obesity Society response to recent criticism of Surgeon General Nominee Regina Benjamin

The Obesity Society would like to make known its response to recent criticism regarding President Obama's nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin, his candidate to serve as the next Surgeon General. Critics have suggested that because Dr. Benjamin is overweight, this sends the wrong message from the person who will be the public face of America's health initiatives.

11 Aug 2009