Medical News

RSS

Table-top solid-state laser system cuts brain tissue with unprecedented precision

Researchers from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) were involved in the development of a table-top solid-state laser system that could cut brain tissue with unprecedented precision. The achievement is a result of an interdisciplinary EU project that involved partners from seven European countries.

25 May 2012

Auditors find Medicare lax in collecting overpayments; New members named to Medpac

Federal auditors say Medicare failed to collect about 80 percent of the more than $400 million that were identified as overpayments, Modern Healthcare reports.

25 May 2012

Merck welcomes launch of ROTATEQ in Rwanda of Africa’s rotavirus vaccination program

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, welcomes today's launch in Rwanda of Africa's first national rotavirus vaccination program with ROTATEQ (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent), Merck's vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus disease.

25 May 2012

DiagnoCure’s PCA3 prostate cancer diagnostic test showcased at AUA meeting

DiagnoCure Inc., a Quebec life sciences company that develops and commercializes high-value cancer diagnostic tests, reported that the PROGENSA PCA3 prostate cancer diagnostic test has been featured in a number of presentations and discussions at the American Urological Association (AUA) meeting in Atlanta, GA.

25 May 2012

Prevalence of contraceptive use among women during first sexual encounter is 70.4%

Contraceptive use in Spain during the first sexual encounter is similar to other European countries. However, there are some geographical differences between Spanish regions: women in Murcia use contraceptives less (55.8%) whereas women in the Basque Country use them more (76.7%).

25 May 2012

European CHMP issues positive opinion to Vertex's KALYDECO for treatment of CF

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced today that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion by consensus recommending the approval of KALYDECO (ivacaftor) for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 6 and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.

25 May 2012

BBSRC allocates £250M for strategic investment programmes

Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, will today announce substantial funding that will ensure the UK's bioscience research base remains globally competitive and at the forefront of meeting the grand challenges faced by society in the coming decades. The announcement will be made by the Minister during a visit to the Babraham Research Campus, near Cambridge, and highlighted again during a major speech at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.

25 May 2012

Gene therapy can effectively treat ADA-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency

Severe combined immunodeficiency is defect in the immune system that results in a loss of the adaptive immune cells known as B cells and T cells. Mutations in several different genes can lead to the development of severe combined immunodeficiency, including mutation of the adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene. Traditional treatment options, such as enzyme replacement therapy, are of limited efficacy, but bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor leads to a better response.

25 May 2012

Study examines effects of UV-blocking contact lenses on macular pigment density

Blocking the transmission of ultraviolet light (UV) through a contact lens may have an effect in maintaining the eye's macular pigment density, according to new research presented today at the 2012 British Contact Lens Association Clinical Conference. Existing research suggests that a higher level of macular pigment appears to have a protective effect against age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of severe vision loss for people over the age of 55.

25 May 2012

Measuring bone age should be part of routine care for pediatric patients with Crohn's disease

Measuring bone age should be a standard practice of care for pediatric patients with Crohn's disease, in order to properly interpret growth status and improve treatment, according to a new study from the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.

25 May 2012

Takeda signs agreement to acquire Multilab

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Multilab Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Farmacêuticos Ltda. today jointly announced that both parties have signed an agreement whereby Takeda Farmacêutica Brasil Ltda., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda, aims to acquire Multilab.

25 May 2012

University of Kentucky researcher receives $1.8M NIH grant to study CF

David Feola, a University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy faculty member in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, received a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue his research investigating immune responses in the lungs that will potentially lead to the discovery of medical treatments for patients with cystic fibrosis and other chronic pulmonary inflammatory conditions.

25 May 2012

MIT researchers engineer new jet-injection system

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths - an improvement over similar jet-injection systems that are now commercially available.

25 May 2012

Thioridazine drug successfully kills human cancer stem cells

A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments.

25 May 2012

WHO can survive with reform, flexibility

"As the nations of the world attend the World Health Assembly in Geneva this week, the World Health Organization is in a budget crisis and continuing to struggle for relevancy among better-funded, more agile philanthropic foundations and disease-specific initiatives," Thomas Bollyky, senior fellow for global health, economics, and development at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), writes in this CFR expert brief.

25 May 2012

New ad touts Obama's commitment to Medicare

President Barack Obama's campaign rolled out ads pitched to seniors and veterans Wednesday. Meanwhile, Politico analyzes Mitt Romney's decision to emphasize his record as a businessman rather than as Massachusetts governor when he helped pass that state's health reform law.

25 May 2012

GSU aims to improve reading for children with DHH

Researchers at Georgia State University's College of Education have been awarded a significant $10 million grant to create the first national research center aimed at dramatically improving reading for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH).

25 May 2012

Union reaches contract agreement with Minn. hospitals

Union workers have overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract that averted a strike at eight Twin Cities hospitals. The union represents 3,500 nursing assistants, technicians and support staff. The agreement was reached last week after union members voted to authorize a 2- to 5-day strike. The union says the new contract holds back on increases in health benefit premiums, retains overtime benefits and includes small wage increases.

25 May 2012

EPSRC to help researchers in synthetic biology to establish platform technology

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will help the UK's world-leading researchers in synthetic biology to establish platform technology in the emerging field with a new grant of almost -5 million. Platform technology is the crucial next step necessary for applications to be produced and commercialised.

25 May 2012

Revive rights-based focus on women's health

"We need to revive the rights-based agenda and realign research priorities for women's health," journalist Priya Shetty writes in this SciDev.Net opinion piece. "The activists who fought to put human rights at the center of women's sexual and reproductive health, at the landmark International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, may have won the battle -- but they are still fighting the war," she continues and outlines the "radical set of resolutions" produced by the conference.

25 May 2012