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IRIN examines expected surge of doctors in Ethiopia

"Ethiopia is preparing for a flood of medical doctors within 'three to four years,' an influx meant to save a public health system that has been losing doctors and specialists to internal and external migration," IRIN reports.

16 Aug 2012

Biomedical engineer devises new noise model that is closer to the biological reality

Biomedical engineer Muhammet Uzuntarla from Bulent Ecevit University, Turkey, and his colleagues present a biologically accurate model of the underlying noise which is present in the nervous system.

16 Aug 2012

HCA's profit trail: Billing, staffing and ER care changes

HCA's robust profit growth has raised the value of the firms' holdings to nearly three and a half times their initial investment in the $33 billion deal. The financial performance has been so impressive that HCA has become a model for the industry.

16 Aug 2012

Study examines environmental and biological impacts on children with cleft lip and palate

Children with cleft lip and/or palate encounter different challenges throughout the course of their development. Both environmental and biological factors play a role, and can affect speech, academic performance, and behavior. Research has shown varying influences, including the type of cleft, gender, and age, affecting outcomes.

16 Aug 2012

Medicare debate reverberates in House and Senate races

The New York Times reports that with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to be his running mate, the fight to control Congress may face a new twist.

16 Aug 2012

Study looks at differences in brain structure between karate practitioners

Brain scans have revealed distinctive features in the brain structure of karate experts, which could be linked to their ability to punch powerfully from close range. Researchers from Imperial College London and UCL (University College London) found that differences in the structure of white matter - the connections between brain regions - were correlated with how black belts and novices performed in a test of punching ability.

16 Aug 2012

Obama team sees opportunity in Ryan's record on abortion

News outlets report that the policy positions taken on abortion and contraception issues by Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate pick, could widen the so-called gender gap.

16 Aug 2012

Study uncovers new pathway that can treat depression

Depression takes a substantial toll on brain health. Brain imaging and post-mortem studies provide evidence that the wealth of connections in the brain are reduced in individuals with depression, with the result of impaired functional connections between key brain centers involved in mood regulation. Glial cells are one of the cell types that appear to be particularly reduced when analyzing post-mortem brain tissue from people who had depression.

16 Aug 2012

Achieving AIDS-free generation worth more than Olympic gold

In this post in Huffington Post's "Healthy Living" blog, John-Manuel Andriote, a journalist and author living with HIV, asks, "For all of us living with HIV infection -- Oct. 27 will mark seven years since my own diagnosis -- the question we face daily, hopefully more consciously and deliberately than most, is how shall we live, knowing as we do that we will most assuredly die one day?"

16 Aug 2012

Acute stress modifies DNA methylation and activity of certain genes

Acute stress alters the methylation of the DNA and thus the activity of certain genes. This is reported by researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Basel, Trier and London for the first time in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "The results provide evidence how stress could be related to a higher risk of mental or physical illness", says Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt from the Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the LWL University Hospital of the RUB.

16 Aug 2012

Poor families fear they are forgotten in Medicaid expansion debate

The Associated Press looks at the dilemma for many poor people who had expected to get health coverage under the 2010 federal law.

16 Aug 2012

Researchers discover mechanisms responsible for chemoresistance in ovarian cancer

The presence of multiple ovarian cancer genomes in an individual patient and the absence or downregulation of the gene LRP1B are associated with the development of chemoresistance in women with the high-grade serous cancer subtype of ovarian cancer whose disease recurs after primary treatment. These study results are published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

16 Aug 2012

WFP appeals for $48M in food aid for Malawi; Britain gives $4.7M

"The U.N.'s World Food Programme [WFP] said Tuesday it needs $48 million in food aid for about 11 percent of Malawi's population who will face hunger due to bad crops," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Aug 2012

Radiosensitivity molecular signature can lead to better radiation therapy decisions for breast cancer

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, working with colleagues in Sweden, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico, have validated a radiosensitivity molecular signature that can lead to better radiation therapy decisions for treating patients with breast cancer.

16 Aug 2012

U.S. military medical team supports Botswana HIV prevention efforts

In an article on the U.S. Department of Defense webpage, the American Forces Press Service reports on how a U.S. military medical team is helping the Botswana Defense Force "to promote Botswana's national program of education, HIV screening and male circumcision surgeries to stem what's become a national epidemic," according to Army Col. Michael Kelly, an Army Reserve surgeon deployed in Botswana from the Army Reserve Medical Command in Washington.

16 Aug 2012

Tofacitinib drug shows promise against moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis

An investigational drug currently under FDA review for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has now shown positive results in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine.

16 Aug 2012

Obama, Romney campaigns jockey for voter support in Medicare debate

Medicare clearly is a flashpoint in the presidential contest as both sides make claims and point fingers at the other.

16 Aug 2012

Combination of Zelboraf and immunotherapy increases tumor responses and survival in MM

Combining the recently approved BRAF inhibitor, Zelboraf with an engineered T cell immunotherapy to treat metastatic melanoma significantly increased tumor responses and survival in an animal model, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have shown.

16 Aug 2012

Gates looks to develop 'next-generation toilets' for developing world

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday "announced the winners of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge -- an effort to develop 'next-generation' toilets that will deliver safe and sustainable sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don't have it," according to a foundation press release.

16 Aug 2012

Intake of Mediterranean diet enriched with olive oil may increase serum osteocalcin concentrations

A study to be published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM) shows consumption of a Mediterranean diet enriched with olive oil for two years is associated with increased serum osteocalcin concentrations, suggesting a protective effect on bone.

16 Aug 2012