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NYU hospital loses power and evacuates 215 patients during storm

Industry officials described the failure of the backup generator at the Manhattan medical center as an unusual incident, not a warning of systemic flaws in hospital preparedness plans.

1 Nov 2012

Encouraging results from Gilead’s TAF Phase 2 trial on HIV-1 infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating tenofovir alafenamide fumarate, an investigational novel prodrug of tenofovir for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, met its primary objective.

1 Nov 2012

Study compares mortality rates at magnet and non-magnet hospitals

Magnet hospitals had 14% lower odds of mortality in surgery patients compared with non-Magnet hospitals in a 4-state area during a 2-year period, according to a study published online October 7 in Medical Care.

1 Nov 2012

Humans and apes do not bare the imprint of nocturnal life in their eye structures

Since the age of dinosaurs, most species of day-active mammals have retained the imprint of nocturnal life in their eye structures. Humans and other anthropoid primates, such as monkeys and apes, are the only groups that deviate from this pattern, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin and Midwestern University.

1 Nov 2012

Calif. insurers competing to be part of state health insurance exchange

More than 30 plans are expected to seek to be part of the exchange, or new marketplace. Meanwhile, a small business health coverage exchange in Massachusetts -- a model for those called for by the health law in other states -- struggles.

1 Nov 2012

Encouraging results from stereotactic radiosurgery Phase I trial on kidney cancer

A first-of-its-kind clinical trial conducted at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center has shown encouraging results for the use of stereotactic radiosurgery to treat kidney cancer.

1 Nov 2012

Polio eradication efforts helping to improve other health indicators

"The world is on the verge of a great success story: the eradication of polio," John Hewko, CEO and general secretary of Rotary International, and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

1 Nov 2012

Few U.S. medical schools provide effective training on how to address weight issues in obese patients

It's no secret that obesity is a major problem in America. More than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children are obese and it is one of the leading causes of preventable death. The costs associated with obesity are estimated at $99 million annually, comparable to the economic toll of cigarette smoking.

1 Nov 2012

Political will, funding needed for successful polio eradication initiative

While there is "much to be proud of" in the progress in the fight against polio, "there's still more work to be done," former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin writes in a GlobalPost opinion piece. Martin, a polio survivor, notes that in 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched, 350,000 cases in more than 125 countries were recorded annually, but "so far this year, we've seen just 171 cases, and only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria have never stopped transmission."

1 Nov 2012

Exosomes alone could protect infants' lungs from dangerous inflammation

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have found that microscopic particles containing proteins and nucleic acids called exosomes could potentially protect the fragile lungs of premature babies from serious lung diseases and chronic lung injury caused by inflammation.

1 Nov 2012

Calif. health system ends pursuit of Ore. hospital amid community concerns

A California health system formerly tied to the Roman Catholic Church has ended its bid to acquire a community hospital in Oregon amid concerns over access to abortion and assisted suicide services. Meanwhile, two of Michigan's largest hospital groups are expected to announce plans Wednesday to pursue a merger.

1 Nov 2012

Low literacy strongly predicts childbearing among US teens

New research released today at the American Public Health Association's 140th Annual Meeting in San Francisco builds on previous knowledge about the link between teen pregnancy and social inequities internationally and suggests that, independent of other factors, low literacy in pre-teen girls strongly predicts childbearing among US teens.

1 Nov 2012

Health must be recognized in future framework for fighting global poverty

Noting "we are just three years away from the target date for achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by all ... U.N. member states back in 2000 to eradicate global poverty," Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in this Independent opinion piece reflects "on the critical role of health in and beyond the Millennium Development Goals" ahead of the second meeting of the U.N. Secretary General's High-Level Panel on the future strategy to fight global poverty, set to take place in London on Wednesday.

1 Nov 2012

University of Sheffield scientists reveal secrets of DNA repair

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have unlocked one of the secrets to DNA repair -helping doctors identify DNA base damage and a patient's susceptibility to certain types of cancer.

1 Nov 2012

AP examines future of AMFm following conflicting reports on program's success

The Associated Press examines the debate over the future of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), after the recent release of two papers evaluating the program's effectiveness. AMFm was established in 2010 as "a pilot project to subsidize artemesinin combination drugs, the most effective malaria treatment," the AP writes, noting the $460 million program is managed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

1 Nov 2012

Study shows how NCH guidelines improve quality of life for extremely premature infants

For the last decade, prematurity has been the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. As a result of prematurity many infants enter this world too early with a small chance of survival. In order to help treat these extremely premature infants, physicians at Nationwide Children's Hospital developed a set of guidelines tailored to meet the needs of these tiny infants, some born up to four months early.

1 Nov 2012

Implementation of food bill in India might be delayed, government adviser says

"The implementation of an ambitious bill that guarantees cheap food grains for India's poor could be pushed back to the next fiscal year, a top government adviser said," the Wall Street Journal reports.

1 Nov 2012

Proposing standards and guidelines for Rett syndrome research

There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat Rett syndrome, a rare and severe neurological disease mainly affecting girls. A bottleneck in drug development for this syndrome is a lack of clarity at the level of preclinical research. Key researchers in this field now tackle this issue, proposing standards and guidelines for Rett syndrome research, in an Open Access review article published on Oct. 31, 2012 in Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM).

1 Nov 2012

PLoS NTDs celebrates 5th anniversary with special collection on 'Geopolitics of NTDs'

To commemorate its fifth anniversary PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) on Thursday "compiled editorials and research papers published over the last five years to create a collection called 'The Geopolitics of NTDs,'" the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog reports.

1 Nov 2012

Brain's infralimbic cortex can switch between new and old habits

Habits are behaviors wired so deeply in our brains that we perform them automatically. This allows you to follow the same route to work every day without thinking about it, liberating your brain to ponder other things, such as what to make for dinner.

1 Nov 2012