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Feed the Future video shows progress in fight against global hunger

USAID's "IMPACTblog" features a "video of the week" from the State Department's Feed the Future initiative. In the three-minute video, "narrator Matt Damon discusses U.S. efforts to turn the tide against global hunger and increase agricultural production around the world through Feed the Future," according to the blog.

3 Oct 2012

RyMed Technologies to host symposium on origin of catheter-related bloodstream infections

RyMed Technologies will host a breakfast symposium on the origin of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) and how to prevent them at the upcoming Annual Scientific Meeting of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA).

3 Oct 2012

Study finds Medicare may favor skilled-nursing facilities over hospice

According to findings published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, almost a third of Medicare beneficiaries use their benefits to pay for nursing home end-of-life services.

3 Oct 2012

Patients with RA more likely to develop venous thromboembolism

A study that included more than 45,000 residents of Sweden with rheumatoid arthritis finds that individuals with this disease had an associated higher risk of venous thromboembolism (a blood clot that forms within a vein), and that this elevated risk was stable for 10 years after the time of diagnosis, according to a study in the October 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Oct 2012

Study finds access to doctors' notes helps patients manage their health

Patients who have access to doctor's notes in their medical records are more likely to understand their health issues, recall what the doctor told them and take their medications as prescribed, according to a study published Monday.

3 Oct 2012

Mexiletine use improves stiffness in patients with nondystrophic myotonias

Preliminary research finds that for patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain, use of the anti-arrhythmic medication mexiletine resulted in improvement in patient-reported stiffness, according to a preliminary study in the October 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Oct 2012

Conflicts straining U.N. resources to respond to refugees, displaced persons

"A combination of major new conflicts and unresolved ones around the world are increasingly straining humanitarian resources at unprecedented levels, the head of the United Nations refugee agency warned" on Monday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

3 Oct 2012

Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly announce data from LY2605541 Phase II study on type 2 diabetes

Eli Lilly and Company and Boehringer Ingelheim today announced patient-reported health outcomes data from a Phase II study of their investigational novel basal insulin analogue, LY2605541, in patients with type 2 diabetes.

3 Oct 2012

NPR's 'Morning Edition' reports on increasing number of polio cases in Nigeria

NPR's "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep on Monday interviewed reporter Jason Beaubien, who is traveling in northern Nigeria, about the country's increase in polio cases this year. Beaubien discussed myths and fears surrounding polio vaccination in Nigeria, including beliefs that the immunization will sterilize children, but also said one of the most encouraging things ... is that the religious leaders in northern Nigeria are now really united.

3 Oct 2012

New insights on mechanisms involved in regeneration of insulin-producing cells

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have found that a blood vessel-building gene boosts the ability of human bone marrow stem cells to sustain pancreatic recovery in a laboratory mouse model of insulin-dependent diabetes.

3 Oct 2012

Financial Times examines legal disputes in India over pharmaceutical patent laws

The Financial Times reports on a legal dispute between the Indian government and the German pharmaceutical group Bayer, writing, "Bayer is appealing against the Indian patent controller's decision in March to override the company's monopoly on its cancer drug Nexavar, and to allow an Indian company to produce and sell the life-extending drug for just $173 a month -- one-sixth of the $5,500 a month price charged by Bayer."

3 Oct 2012

Multiple sclerosis symptoms worse in those with low vitamin D levels

Low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased number of brain lesions and signs of a more active disease state in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study finds, suggesting a potential link between intake of the vitamin and the risk of longer-term disability from the autoimmune disorder.

3 Oct 2012

Synthetic hybrid molecules more effectively tackle chemo-resistant cancers

When Linda Tuttle was diagnosed with breast cancer, she never imagined her experience would inspire her colleagues to design new treatments to tackle the disease.

3 Oct 2012

Obama administration urges states to pursue the health law's Medicaid expansion

Even as federal officials push states to expand Medicaid programs, at least a dozen states are not ready or not willing to set up state-based health exchanges -- another aspect of the health law that is key to expanding insurance coverage.

3 Oct 2012

Study identifies epigenetic changes that occur in adult stem cells to generate different body tissues

The team led by Manel Esteller, director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program in the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona and ICREA researcher, has identified epigenetic changes that occur in adult stem cells to generate different body tissues. The finding is published this week in The American Journal of Pathology.

3 Oct 2012

Washington Post buys major stake in Celtic Healthcare Inc.; Tenet plans buybacks

Post Co. said Monday it would buy a majority stake in Celtic Healthcare Inc., a closely held provider of hospice and home health care in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, although one analyst, Sheryl Skolnick of CRT Capital Group, said average valuations suggests the deal could have been worth at least $50 million. That is a drop in the bucket for Post Co., which has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion.

3 Oct 2012

New testing method for gestational diabetes

The increasingly common condition of gestational diabetes can have serious consequences for both the mother and child if left untreated. Prompt diagnosis and therapy can protect against these consequences. A new testing method developed at the MedUni Vienna now makes diagnosis easier and also cheaper.

3 Oct 2012

Ranibizumab injections keep those with AMD driving longer

The advanced neovascular, or “wet,” form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), left untreated, is the most common cause of vision loss among the elderly and a leading reason for their loss of driving privileges. But results of a new study, published in the online version of the journal Ophthalmology, suggest that monthly injections of ranibizumab improve eye chart test results required for a driver’s license, build driver confidence and keep those with AMD driving longer.

3 Oct 2012

Aid organization urges more aid focus on disaster prevention rather than reaction

Islamic Relief Worldwide on Monday "urged the U.N. to establish a global contingency fund for disaster prevention as it is cheaper to help prepare for floods and drought than spend billions on emergencies," the Guardian reports.

3 Oct 2012

Positive results from Noven’s LDMP Phase 3 clinical studies on menopausal VMS

Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc., today announced positive results from two multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical studies evaluating low-dose mesylate salt of paroxetine (LDMP; 7.5 mg/day) for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS) associated with menopause.

3 Oct 2012