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Mepolizumab almost halves exacerbations in severe asthma patients

The largest study of patients with severe asthma to date, published in The Lancet special issue on respiratory medicine, shows that those treated with the monoclonal antibody mepolizumab experienced an almost 50% reduction in severe exacerbations, emergency room visits, and hospitalisations compared with patients given placebo.

17 Aug 2012

A view from the field: How Medicare is playing in congressional, Senate races

From Texas to Connecticut, members of Congress and their challengers are pressing their views on the federal health program for seniors.

17 Aug 2012

Retail medical clinic visits increase four-fold from 2007-2009

Fast-growing retail medical clinics are attracting more older patients and delivering more preventive care, particularly flu shots and other vaccinations, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation.

17 Aug 2012

Congressional leaders plan to make the most of this election-year Medicare debate

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, urged his fellow Republicans to "play offense" on the issue while their Democratic counterparts plan to keep the heat on.

17 Aug 2012

Study examines whether eribulin offers added benefit to women with breast cancer

Eribulin was approved in March 2011 for women with locally advanced or metastasizing breast cancer in whom the disease has progressed despite prior drug therapy.

17 Aug 2012

Tobacco use epidemic estimates show urgent need to redouble control efforts

New estimates illustrate the epidemic of tobacco use for over half of the world’s population (representing more than 3 billion adults living in the UK, USA, and 14 developing countries), with around 852 million tobacco consumers (661 million smokers and 247 million smokeless tobacco users).

17 Aug 2012

Hospital records link C.diff to 2 times more deaths than federal estimates indicate

A USA TODAY investigation shows that C. diff is far more prevalent than federal reports suggest. The bacteria is linked in hospital records to more than 30,000 deaths a year in the United States -- about twice federal estimates and rivaling the 32,000 killed in traffic accidents. It strikes about a half-million Americans a year.

17 Aug 2012

ACOEM integrates U.S. FDA's National Drug Code data into APG-I

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has integrated the U.S. Federal Drug Administration's National Drug Code (NDC) data into APG-I, the College's on-line Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines data base.

17 Aug 2012

Blog examines administration of zinc, rehydration salts to treat diarrhea in rural India

In this post in the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog, guest blogger Oliver Sabot, executive vice president of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, "reflects on the challenge and opportunity of scaling-up access to effective treatment for diarrhea, the second largest cause of child mortality globally."

17 Aug 2012

Affordable Care Act: an interview with Val J. Halamandaris, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC)

The intent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to provide all Americans with medical insurance. Thirty-five million additional people will be covered, in part by government premiums and in part by making it easier for them to buy their own insurance.

17 Aug 2012

White Coat Ceremony welcomes Stritch medical students into profession of medicine

The largest class of first-year medical students at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) will receive their first white medical coats in a ceremony that emphasizes the privilege of being able to care for patients and responsibility that comes with wearing the coat.

17 Aug 2012

Study finds genetically modified rice good source of vitamin A for malnourished children

"Genetically modified rice could be a good source of vitamin A for children in countries where deficiency in the vitamin is common," according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Reuters reports.

17 Aug 2012

Dendritic cells protect against MS in mouse model

In multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing movement problems, muscle weakness and loss of vision. Immune cells called dendritic cells, which were previously thought to contribute to the onset and development of multiple sclerosis, actually protect against the disease in a mouse model, according to a study published by Cell Press in the August issue of the journal Immunity.

17 Aug 2012

In face of global economic recession, developing world needs low-tech health innovations

"The developing world needs support for low-tech health innovations that do not compromise on effectiveness," journalist Priya Shetty writes in this SciDev.Net opinion piece, adding that, against the backdrop of global economic recession and shrinking research and development (R&D) budgets in many developing countries, "a new movement of 'frugal science' is taking hold, in which researchers are hunting for the most cost-effective health technologies for developing countries."

17 Aug 2012

Study provides insights into life-time risk of end-stage renal disease

How likely are middle-aged adults to develop kidney failure during their lifetime? A study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) provides some insights, which may be used to help set priorities related to kidney care and to increase public interest in the prevention of kidney disease.

17 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Public seeks better campaigns but politicians use 'schoolyard rules;' GOP's Medicare 'flip-flops'

Political ads often stretch facts to the breaking point, but the people who create them usually feel constrained to back up their claims by citing sources - at least enough to keep neutral fact-checkers from exposing their work as fiction. Not so in this year's presidential campaign. There's no nice way to say this: President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are both condoning deliberate falsehoods.

17 Aug 2012

Peptide combinations might offer more effective cancer therapy

Two studies suggest that two peptide agents used either together or individually with a low-dose of a standard chemotherapy drug might offer more effective cancer therapy than current standard single-drug treatments.

17 Aug 2012

Parkland Hospital struggles with 1,300 unfilled positions; Largest Boston hospitals pay chiefs up to $3 million

Vacant jobs at Parkland Memorial Hospital have reached "crisis mode" -- almost 16 percent, or more than 1,300 unfilled positions -- a top official said Wednesday. Parkland's board of managers was presented a grim picture of an understaffed facility and a lagging effort to keep track of how many jobs were available. The situation was further crippled by the hospital's inability to process tens of thousands of job applications.

17 Aug 2012

Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex increases credulity

Everyone knows the adage: "If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is." Why, then, do some people fall for scams and why are older folks especially prone to being duped? An answer, it seems, is because a specific area of the brain has deteriorated or is damaged, according to researchers at the University of Iowa.

17 Aug 2012

Roundup: States limit Medicaid mental health prescriptions; Mass. to vote on assisted suicide; Insurer earnings drop in Mass.

Medicaid is the largest funder of mental health services in the United States. In 2008, in all 50 states, Medicaid spent a total of $4.5 billion on behavioral health drugs, about a fifth of the $22.5 billion spent by the program on all pharmaceuticals combined. Roughly a third of the participants in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program experience a mental health episode annually, according to a 2010 report by the Mental Health Services Administration.

17 Aug 2012

Medical News

Mepolizumab almost halves exacerbations in severe asthma patients

A view from the field: How Medicare is playing in congressional, Senate races

Retail medical clinic visits increase four-fold from 2007-2009

Congressional leaders plan to make the most of this election-year Medicare debate

Study examines whether eribulin offers added benefit to women with breast cancer

Tobacco use epidemic estimates show urgent need to redouble control efforts

Hospital records link C.diff to 2 times more deaths than federal estimates indicate

ACOEM integrates U.S. FDA's National Drug Code data into APG-I

Blog examines administration of zinc, rehydration salts to treat diarrhea in rural India

Affordable Care Act: an interview with Val J. Halamandaris, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC)

White Coat Ceremony welcomes Stritch medical students into profession of medicine

Study finds genetically modified rice good source of vitamin A for malnourished children

Dendritic cells protect against MS in mouse model

In face of global economic recession, developing world needs low-tech health innovations

Study provides insights into life-time risk of end-stage renal disease

Viewpoints: Public seeks better campaigns but politicians use 'schoolyard rules;' GOP's Medicare 'flip-flops'

Peptide combinations might offer more effective cancer therapy

Parkland Hospital struggles with 1,300 unfilled positions; Largest Boston hospitals pay chiefs up to $3 million

Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex increases credulity

Roundup: States limit Medicaid mental health prescriptions; Mass. to vote on assisted suicide; Insurer earnings drop in Mass.

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