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AIDS, health groups submit comments to FDA prior to agency's review of PrEP

"In public comments submitted this week, a group of 14 leading HIV/AIDS and health organizations stated their support for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate [TDF/FTC] ... as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection in adult men and women," a press release from AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention states.

3 May 2012

Autism researcher awarded $1 million grant to apply virtual-reality technology

UC Davis autism researcher and education specialist Peter Mundy has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to apply virtual-reality technology to evaluate social attention and its relation to academic achievement among school children with autism.

3 May 2012

Senior Health Implementation Center to disseminate Aging Brain Care Program tools

The resources developed for an innovative collaborative model of dementia care, which reduces emergency room and hospital visits and improves the quality of care for those with dementia, are now available to institutions, clinicians and caregivers around the globe with the establishment of the Aging Brain Care Program.

3 May 2012

Lay health workers can make a great contribution to care but they need to be cared for

Sixteen years after apartheid the public health system in South Africa continues to be plagued by health worker shortages. "But lay health workers can make a great contribution to care", says Karen Daniels at Nordic School of Public Health. But they also need greatly to be cared for. Here thesis explores how ordinary people trained to assist in health care is an option to tackling this crisis.

3 May 2012

Cardiac testing important for lung disease prognosis, treatment

A simple test for heart disease risk can go a long way toward determining the long-term prognosis for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to UC Irvine researchers.

3 May 2012

Sleep deprivation may affect surgeons' ability to tackle unexpected events

Sleep-deprived surgeons can perform a previously learned task or learn a new task as well as surgeons who are rested, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. However, in sleep-deprived surgeons, the brain must work harder, which could lead to problems during unexpected events.

3 May 2012

Non-invasive imaging technique measures specific brain chemical changes

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. New and accurate techniques for early diagnosis are critical. Pravat K. Mandal, PhD, and his colleagues have developed a completely non-invasive brain imaging technique to measure specific brain chemical changes. This provides a signature of the early stages of AD from the hippocampal region of the brain.

3 May 2012

Large-scale, patient-specific simulations of blood function

Having a virtual copy of a patient's blood in a computer would be a boon to researchers and doctors. They could examine a simulated heart attack caused by blood clotting in a diseased coronary artery and see if a drug like aspirin would be effective in reducing the size of such a clot.

3 May 2012

Reuters examines cancer in Africa

Reuters examines cancer in Africa, writing, "Most of Africa's around 2,000 languages have no word for cancer. The common perception in both developing and developed countries is that it's a disease of the wealthy world, where high-fat, processed-food diets, alcohol, smoking and sedentary lifestyles fuel tumor growth."

3 May 2012

A better understanding of link between glycemic variability and psychological disorders needed

When blood sugar levels in diabetes are poorly controlled, patients tend to have more complications such as depression and other mood disturbances, including anxiety and anger, and a lower overall quality of life.

3 May 2012

Cone beam CT superior to mutidetector CT for detecting superior semicircular canal dehiscence

Cone beam CT is superior to mutidetector CT for detecting superior semicircular canal dehiscence or the so called third window (a small hole in the bony wall of the inner ear bone that can cause dizziness and hearing loss) and it uses half the radiation dose, a new study shows.

3 May 2012

Lexicon first quarter revenues decrease 50% to $0.3 million

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering breakthrough treatments for human disease, today updated its drug development progress and reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

3 May 2012

Symposium at EuroPRevent 2012 highlights benefits of oily fish consumption

Most people, whether healthy or having cardiovascular disease (CVD), would benefit from regular consumption of oily fish, concluded speakers at the EuroPRevent 2012 meeting. While eating whole fish undoubtedly offers the optimum approach for increasing omega-3 intakes in both primary and secondary prevention, delegates heard, supplements have a major role to play in increasing omega-3 intakes for people who do not like fish.

3 May 2012

Pacira secures $27.5 million debt financing facility

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has secured a $27.5 million debt financing facility through Oxford Finance. Pacira will use the proceeds from this financing to refinance the remaining principal of its outstanding term loan and for general corporate purposes.

3 May 2012

Cervical spine CT exams unnecessary for simple assault and ground-level fall victims

Cervical spine CT examinations are unnecessary for emergency department (ED) patients who are a victim of "simple assault" or who have a "ground-level fall", unless the patient has a condition that predisposes the patient to spine fracture, a new study finds.

3 May 2012

New pressure-technology device effective in reducing incidence of PONV

In a peer-reviewed published study, a new medically engineered pressure-technology disposable adhesive device (Pressure Right-) developed by Pressure Point Inc. has clinically proven to enhance the efficacy of a popular prophylactic antiemetic drug combination in reducing the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) among high-risk patients after major laparoscopic surgery procedures.

3 May 2012

ENABLER-P Balloon Catheter System offers alternative to surgical revascularization

A new balloon catheter system could advance the endovascular approach to treating obstructed arteries in the leg, offering an alternative to surgical revascularization. Peripheral artery disease affects about 12 to 14 percent of the general population, and revascularization can be achieved through bypass surgery or a number of minimally invasive endovascular techniques that seek to reduce or eliminate symptoms of reduced blood flow by improving tissue perfusion.

3 May 2012

Combination of two mTOR inhibitors stops growth of hepatocellular carcinoma

The combination of two inhibitors of protein mTOR stops the growth of primary liver cancer and destroys tumour cells, according to a study by researchers of the Group of Metabolism and Cancer at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute.

3 May 2012

HSPH introduces Obesity Prevention Source website

What is causing the obesity epidemic-and how can we stop and reverse this worldwide weight problem? A new website offers authoritative answers to these pressing questions and sheds light on one of the most challenging public health threats of our time.

3 May 2012

ADM hormone plays a significant role in tubal ectopic pregnancies

Tubal ectopic pregnancy (TEP) is currently the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths during the first trimester and a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) shows that the hormone adrenomedullin (ADM) may help predict this condition.

3 May 2012