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CAMH releases comprehensive reviews of most effective treatments for alcohol dependence

Scientists from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have released comprehensive reviews of the most effective treatments for alcohol dependence, one of the most prevalent addictions in Canada.

27 Jun 2012

State roundup: Rules would ban collections in nonprofit ERs

The U.S. Department of Treasury released proposed regulations Monday that would ban debt collection activities in the emergency rooms of non-profit hospitals. The proposed restriction comes in the wake of a lawsuit by Minnesota's attorney general alleging Fairview Health Systems former contractor, Accretive Health hit up patients in emergency rooms for payment before treatment. The Treasury Department has proposed adding regulations to a part of the federal health care law to protect patients from abusive collection practices.

27 Jun 2012

Obese children show greater exposure to phthalates

Obese children show greater exposure than nonobese children to a phthalate, a chemical used to soften plastics in some children's toys and many household products, according to a new study, which found that the obesity risk increases according to the level of the chemical found in the bloodstream.

27 Jun 2012

Broken heart syndrome may protect the heart from adrenaline overload

A condition that temporarily causes heart failure in people who experience severe stress might actually protect the heart from very high levels of adrenaline, according to a new study published in the journal Circulation. The research provides the first physiological explanation for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called "broken heart syndrome" because it affects people who suffer severe emotional stress after bereavement, and suggests guidance for treatment.

27 Jun 2012

Analyzing the FDA bill's course: Bipartisanship or something else?

The bipartisan treatment the FDA user fee bill has enjoyed did not fall like manna from heaven. It came at the insistence of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, the FDA and legislators on both sides of the aisle who agreed early on they would get a deal done. And then actually did it.

27 Jun 2012

The Endocrine Society issues Statement of Principles on EDCs and public health protection

In a Statement of Principles unveiled today, The Endocrine Society proposes a streamlined definition for endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and offers recommendations that will strengthen the ability of current screening programs to identify EDCs.

27 Jun 2012

New issue of Global Health Governance journal available online

Volume V, Issue 2 of the online journal Global Health Governance is now available online. Among other articles, the issue features a piece examining the sustainability of sub-regional disease surveillance networks, a piece examining the impact of regional health meetings in the Pacific on health governance, and a commentary on investing in strengthening health systems.

27 Jun 2012

Apple iPad 2 can affect programmable shunt valve in children with hydrocephalus

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that the Apple iPad 2 can interfere with settings of magnetically programmable shunt devices, which are often used to treat children with hydrocephalus.

27 Jun 2012

New York Times examines bird flu studies, history of controversy

The New York Times examines several studies published in the journals Nature and Science looking at how the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate to become more virulent among humans and outlines the history of controversy surrounding the studies.

27 Jun 2012

Researchers identify latest gene associated with typical late-onset Lewy body Parkinson's

An international team led by human genetic researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health has identified the latest gene associated with typical late-onset Lewy body Parkinson's disease (PD), with the help of a Canadian Mennonite family of Dutch-German-Russian ancestry.

27 Jun 2012

Examining how mobile gaming could improve sanitation practices

Ben Armstrong and Luis Arbulu of Hattery Labs, a collaborative design firm, write in this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog about how they are beginning "to explore how games might improve sanitation practices."

27 Jun 2012

SIR/TAC combination more effective in preventing GVHD after allogeneic blood cell transplantation

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have conducted a clinical trial aimed at preventing graft vs. host disease (GVHD) in patients who have received hematopoietic (blood) cell transplants (HCT). The study, comparing the drug tacrolimus (TAC) in combination with either methotrexate (MTX ) or sirolimus (SIR), found that the sirolimus/tacrolimus (SIR/TAC) combination was more effective in preventing grades II-IV acute GVHD and moderate-severe chronic GVHD after allogeneic blood cell transplantation.

27 Jun 2012

USA Today features Q&A on Truvada's potential as prevention tool

USA Today features a Q&A on Truvada, an antiretroviral drug that a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel in May recommended be approved for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among healthy people at risk of contracting the virus.

27 Jun 2012

Scientists discover new flu-fighting role for IL-15 protein

University of Georgia scientists have discovered a new flu-fighting role for a well-known component of the immune system. Kimberly Klonowski, assistant professor of cellular biology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and her colleagues found that administering a cell-signaling protein known as IL-15 to mice infected with influenza reduces their peak viral load by nearly three times.

27 Jun 2012

Federal task force urges docs to screen for obesity, offer counseling

An advisory panel on Monday recommended that obese adults receive intensive counseling. This step could lead to an expansion of insurance coverage for weight-loss treatments.

27 Jun 2012

Researchers examine how parenting style is associated with sedentary behaviour

In two studies published in a special issue of the journal Early Child Development and Care devoted to "Parental Influences of Childhood Obesity", researchers examine how parenting style - whether a strict but loving parent or a less-involved and more permissive parent - was associated with sedentary behaviour.

27 Jun 2012

PLoS blog interviews guest editor of journal's series on 'Big Food' industry

"Following the launch of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food and the publication of the first three articles in the series last week," Clare Weaver of the journal's "Speaking of Medicine" blog interviews David Stuckler, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Cambridge and one of the guest editors of the series, about his research background and some of the issues related to the series.

27 Jun 2012

Two major organizations partner in new vendor-neutral health IT innovation network

Two major non-commercial health information technology organizations are working together in a new vendor-neutral health IT innovation network designed to stimulate development of new ideas and shorten the time required to bring new solutions into practice.

27 Jun 2012

London summit 'best opportunity' to address lack of access to family planning

In the first of a series titled "Imagine a world...," posted on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Paula Franklin, U.K. medical director for Marie Stopes International, writes, "For the most part, only people who really need or want something care much about it being available, and that's why it can be hard to make people in the developed world tune in to the huge unmet need for contraception globally -- 222 million people who want to use contraception can't get it, at the last count."

27 Jun 2012

Scientists identify novel mechanism behind bacterial pathogenesis

Scientists have identified a new mechanism of bacterial pathogenesis. The results of the research project, partly funded by the Academy of Finland, have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

27 Jun 2012