Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Patients may not receive all necessary screening tests during medical checkups

New research finds that patients may not always receive all of the screening tests and counseling services that are due during their medical checkups.

30 Jan 2012

Researchers study new strategies to treat patients with influenza

Influenza virus can rapidly evolve from one form to another, complicating the effectiveness of vaccines and anti-viral drugs used to treat it. By first understanding the complex host cell pathways that the flu uses for replication, University of Georgia researchers are finding new strategies for therapies and vaccines, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

30 Jan 2012

Study: Electronic health records can improve care, outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes

Use of electronic health records shows promise for improving care and outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes, but still has considerable room for improvement, according to a new study in the journal Health Services Research.

30 Jan 2012

Bird flu investigator says continuation of research remains 'urgent' despite moratorium

Research into transmissible bird flu strains remains "urgent" despite flu investigators' recent declaration of a "60-day moratorium on avian flu transmission because of the current controversy," Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Tokyo University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "a lead researcher on one of two recent studies showing how H5N1 can be transmitted through airborne droplets" among ferrets, writes in a commentary published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Reuters reports.

27 Jan 2012

Longer looks: The Obama memos on health reform, Romney's Medicare mistake?, Flu 2012

The President's caution, and his concern about business, can be seen in the way he dealt with major interest groups. ... His health-insurance bill was crafted by building support from a delicate alliance of interest groups, and Obama personally guided the effort.

27 Jan 2012

CAT can assess exacerbation severity in patients with COPD

Exacerbation severity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be reliably assessed with the COPD Assessment Test- (CAT), according to a new study from the UK.

27 Jan 2012

New study aims to prevent bacterial infections in sub-Saharan African kids

Bacteria infections - most of which are preventable via vaccines readily available in the developed world - and not malaria are the leading cause of death for children in sub-Saharan Africa. A new Michigan State University project based in Nigeria and funded by a $5.8 million grant aims to help prevent these diseases by collecting local data on the ailments, spurring vaccine use and development. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the research led by Stephen Obaro focuses on diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis.

25 Jan 2012

Only one in five young adults received a swine flu shot during 2009-2010 epidemic

Only about one in five young adults in their late 30s received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, according to a University of Michigan report that details the behavior and attitudes of Generation X.

25 Jan 2012

No whooping cough deaths in California in one whole year

The news comes after the state experienced a whooping cough epidemic in 2010 when 9,000 were infected. Most vulnerable to the disease are infants too young to be fully immunized. Ten babies died after exposure from adults or older children. The last year in which no one died was 1991, when the state recorded just 249 cases of pertussis.

24 Jan 2012

Brown fat burns in the cold and could hold key to burning excess fat: Study

Brown fat is something that occurs more in thin people than fat, younger people than older and young women than men. It is brown in color and a new study finds that one form of it, which is turned on in cold climates can burn calories from elsewhere in the body to keep the body warm. Another new study finds that a second form of brown fat can be created from ordinary white fat by exercise.

24 Jan 2012

Voluntary action by two research teams to halt work on H5N1 lauded

A Georgetown University Medical Center professor says the voluntary action taken by two research teams to temporarily halt work involving the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is "laudable."

24 Jan 2012

Settling controversy surrounding bird flu research will not be easy

The WHO is expected to hold a meeting in February to discuss controversy over recent research on the H5N1 bird flu virus, after the U.S. National Scientific Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in December advised the journals Science and Nature to withhold publishing two teams' research on the virus for fear the information could "fall into the wrong hands," a commentary in the Economist's "Babbage" blog states.

24 Jan 2012

Scientists halt bird flu research for 60 days amid safety concerns

The head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which funded "two projects that created a highly pathogenic [H5N1] flu virus mutation, has welcomed a two-month moratorium on further research while defending the value and safety of the experiments," the Financial Times reports.

24 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Opposing views of HHS' contraception rule; Health care costs and the liberal agenda

The administration's rule leaves the decision in the hands of patients, where it belongs, while respecting the rights of religions. It holds true to the original and wise idea that access to preventive medicine is a good idea for the nation's physical and financial well-being.

24 Jan 2012

Pernix obtains marketing rights to new gastroenterology product in the U.S.

Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has entered into a license and supply agreement with a private company for a new FDA-approved prescription product to treat gastroenterology disease.

24 Jan 2012

Baxter to commence second GAMMAGARD LIQUID Phase III trial in Alzheimer's

Baxter International Inc. today provided an update on its clinical program evaluating the use of its GAMMAGARD LIQUID 10%, for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

From Baxter International Inc. 24 Jan 2012

Takeda receives FDA approval for VELCADE sNDA to treat MM

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company with its parent company Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for VELCADE(bortezomib), which updates the label to include the subcutaneous method of administration in all approved indications: multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma after at least one prior therapy.

24 Jan 2012

Duke team creates vaccine adjuvant of nanoparticles that target lymph nodes

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have created synthetic nanoparticles that target lymph nodes and greatly boost vaccine responses, said lead author Ashley St. John, Ph.D., a researcher at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

23 Jan 2012

EMA CHMP issues positive opinion to MSD's REMICADE for treatment of pediatric UC

MSD today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion recommending the use of REMICADE (infliximab) in the treatment of severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) in pediatric patients ages 6 to 17 years, who have had an inadequate response to conventional therapy, including corticosteroids and 6-mercaptopurine or azathioprine, or who are intolerant to or have medical contraindications for such therapies.

21 Jan 2012

Debate over publication of bird flu studies continues in journal opinion pieces

Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands -- lead researcher of one of two teams that last year reported study results "that showed how the H5N1 [bird flu] virus can be transmitted through airborne droplets between ferrets, a model for studying influenza in humans."

21 Jan 2012