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Drugs that target cholesterol pathway may enhance cancer-killing potential of chemotherapy drugs

Johns Hopkins investigators are testing a way to use drugs that target a cholesterol pathway to enhance the cancer-killing potential of standard chemotherapy drugs. Their tests, in mouse models of pancreatic cancer, may yield new and more effective combinations of current and possibly new anti-cancer drugs.

4 Apr 2012

CMS: Medicare Advantage, Part D to get 3 percent boost in 2013 reimbursements

Also in the news, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced nearly $50 million in grants to state agencies to help seniors better understand Medicare.

4 Apr 2012

Tips for parents to increase outdoor physical activity for kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatric healthcare providers promote active healthy living by encouraging children to play outside as much as possible. Being outdoors correlates strongly with physical activity for children, which is important for preventing obesity in the preschool years and on through adulthood.

4 Apr 2012

Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute performs most adult heart transplants of any U.S. medical center

For the second year in a row, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and Comprehensive Transplant Center performed the most adult heart transplants of any U.S. medical center, according to government statistics.

4 Apr 2012

Altered activity at different sites within brain network may be related to different features of depression

Depressed individuals with a tendency to ruminate on negative thoughts, i.e. to repeatedly think about particular negative thoughts or memories, show different patterns of brain network activation compared to healthy individuals, report scientists of a new study in Biological Psychiatry.

4 Apr 2012

FTC blocks Ohio hospital merger; Kan. mental hospital's 'poor working conditions'

The Federal Trade Commission has blocked an Ohio hospital merger in a closely watched case that could slow the consolidation of health care providers around the country.

4 Apr 2012

Emotional response of persons linked to series of television adverts

What effect does a TV advert have on a viewer? How does it bring about a change in their knowledge, emotions or intentions? These questions have existed alongside advertising ever since it began. Through a psycho-physiological study developed jointly by El Bureau de la Comunicaci-n, the Tecnalia Centre for Applied Research, and the UPV/EHU, it has been possible to measure the emotional response of a person to a series of television adverts.

4 Apr 2012

Negative stress increases risk for coronary heart disease in cancer patient's relatives

A current study shows that the risk for coronary heart disease and stroke increases by almost thirty per cent in a person whose partner has cancer. The cause is probably the negative stress to which the cancer patient's relative is exposed.

4 Apr 2012

FTC approval of Express Scripts-Medco merger triggers new battlegrounds

Drug Stores and community pharmacists have pledged to fight on in the courts, but some consumer advocates see a silver lining in the merger.

4 Apr 2012

Nurses empowered to administer oral steroids for asthma during emergency

Dr. Roger Zemek, Director of Emergency Research at the CHEO Research Institute and ED physician, and assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, has overseen the creation and implementation of a Medical Directive that now empowers nurses to administer an oral steroid treatment, which has reduced wait time and improved patient care. This research is published today in Pediatrics.

4 Apr 2012

Impact of Personal Genomics Study to launch data collection phase

As genetic risk information plays an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, private companies have made personal genomic testing for these risk factors widely available to the public. However, very little data has been gathered to understand the motivations and expectations of consumers of personal genomic services, the psychological and behavioral impact of these services, and the associated ethical, legal and social issues—until now.

4 Apr 2012

Study: Functional link between two major causes of treatment failure in breast cancer

Research from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) shows a functional link between two major causes of treatment failure in breast cancer, showing the protein behind one of these causes plays a role in increasing the drug resistance properties of the other.

4 Apr 2012

Oral fluoroquinolones increase risk of retinal detachment

In an analysis of a cohort that included nearly one million patients who had visited an ophthalmologist, patients who were taking oral fluoroquinolones had a higher risk of developing a retinal detachment, a serious eye condition, compared with nonusers, although the absolute risk was small, according to a study in the April 4 issue of JAMA.

4 Apr 2012

OvaScience completes $37M Series B financing

OvaScience, a fertility company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel treatments for infertility, today announced that it has completed a $37 million Series B financing.

4 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 4, 2012

In today's headlines, President Barak Obama goes on attack against GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and the Republican budget blueprint; a federal court judge asks for clarifications regarding Obama's comment on judicial activism and the high court's consideration of the health law; as well as reports that doctors are stepping into the effort to curb unnecessary medical treatments.

4 Apr 2012

Obama attacks GOP budget on Medicare changes, entitlement spending cuts

In what has been described as a searing speech, President Barack Obama charged that the GOP budget would end Medicare "as we know it," and included GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in his criticisms.

4 Apr 2012

Study examines alcohol and drugs use patterns in adolescents

A survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. teenagers suggests that most cases of alcohol and drug abuse have their initial onset at this important period of development, according to a report published in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.

4 Apr 2012

India must focus on food supply chain to improve malnutrition rates

The cause of malnutrition in India -- which "results in a loss of productivity, indirect losses from impaired cognitive development, and losses from increased long-term health care costs" -- is "not so much a lack of nutrient-rich food, but rather a weakness in the food supply chain," William Thomson, a research assistant at the U.S. Naval War College, writes in an opinion piece in The Diplomat.

4 Apr 2012

Higher-spending hospitals do have better outcomes for emergency patients

Higher-spending hospitals do have better outcomes for their emergency patients, including fewer deaths, according to a Vanderbilt study released as a working paper through the National Bureau of Economic Research.

4 Apr 2012

Haitian cholera epidemic no place for 'good-guy/bad-guy distinctions'

In this Reuters opinion piece, finance blogger Felix Salmon responds to a New York Times (NYT) article published on Monday in which journalist Deborah Sontag examines the global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic.

4 Apr 2012