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Lawmakers allege some drug companies inflate cost of scarce drugs with 'fake pharmacies'

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is leading a congressional investigation accusing some drug distributors of opening "fake pharmacies" to drive up the cost of some pharmacueticals that are in short supply.

23 Mar 2012

TAS2R38 and CD36 gene may play a role in fat perception

While high-fat foods are thought to be of universal appeal, there is actually a lot of variation in the extent to which people like and consume fat. A new study in the March issue of the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, reported that two specific genes, may play a role in some people's ability to taste and enjoy dietary fat.

23 Mar 2012

Researchers identify corin enzyme linked with pre-eclampsia

Researchers have identified an enzyme linked to pregnancy-induced hypertension - also known as pre-eclampsia - a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and swelling due to fluid retention. The findings could be used to better screen for - and treat - this condition.

23 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific's WallFlex Stent technology now available for interventional radiologists

Boston Scientific Corporation announces the U.S. and international launch of the WallFlex Biliary Transhepatic Stent System.

23 Mar 2012

RT after surgery could reduce chances of local DCIS recurrence by 50%

Radiotherapy treatment (RT) after surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) still has a major protective effect against recurrence more than 15 years later, according to the results of an international trial.

23 Mar 2012

House vote on IPAB repeal scheduled for today

The full House is scheduled to vote today on legislation that would repeal the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board. Some supporters have been frustrated by the measure's link to medical tort reforms, which drove some Democrats, who initially favored rejection of the panel, to oppose the overall bill.

23 Mar 2012

Scientists artificially derive brain stem cells from connective tissue of mice

These stem cells can reproduce and be converted into various types of brain cells. To date, only reprogramming in brain cells that were already fully developed or which had only a limited ability to divide was possible. The new reprogramming method presented by the Bonn scientists and submitted for publication in July 2011 now enables derivation of brain stem cells that are still immature and able to undergo practically unlimited division to be extracted from conventional body cells.

23 Mar 2012

Blocking PFKFB4 enzyme could prevent growth of prostate cancer cells

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered how blocking a key enzyme, which helps convert glucose into energy, could provide a new way to kill prostate cancer cells, according to a study published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

23 Mar 2012

HCC patients have reduced risk of waitlist mortality

New research shows increasing disparity in mortality among candidates with and without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are on the waiting list for liver transplantation. The study available in the April issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, found that liver cancer patients are less likely to die on the wait list than non-HCC candidates, prompting transplantation specialists to suggest a reevaluation of current allotment criteria for those with HCC.

23 Mar 2012

Nightingale on Demand receives EMR certification from Infoway

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) announced today that Nightingale on Demand, a software product developed by Nightingale Informatix Corporation, (Nightingale), is the first product in Canada to successfully achieve electronic medical record (EMR) certification.

23 Mar 2012

U.N.-backed campaign aims to vaccinate 111M children in 20 countries against polio over 4 days

"Some 111.1 million children below the age of five are to be vaccinated against polio in a synchronized campaign covering 20 countries in West and Central Africa starting on Friday," the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement on Wednesday, PANA reports.

23 Mar 2012

UI receives three grants to hasten discovery of new TB therapeutics

Forty-five years. That's how long it's been since the last drug - rifampin - hit the market to treat tuberculosis, an infection that affects nearly one third of the world's population and causes 1.8 million deaths annually. The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has received three new federally-funded grants to hasten the discovery of new therapeutic treatments.

23 Mar 2012

tAI could predict sensitivity to chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

Scientists have uncovered a marker of DNA damage that could predict who will respond to platinum-based chemotherapy drugs like cisplatin or carboplatin.

23 Mar 2012

Study provides important clue in type 1 diabetes

In type 1 diabetes (T1D), pancreatic beta cells die from a misguided autoimmune attack, but how and why that happens is still unclear. Now, JDRF-funded scientists from the Indiana University School of Medicine have found that a specific type of cellular stress takes place in pancreatic beta cells before the onset of T1D, and that this stress response in the beta cell may in fact help ignite the autoimmune attack.

23 Mar 2012

PFKFB4 gene leads to excessive growth of prostate cancer cells

Cancer cell metabolism may present a new target for therapy as scientists have uncovered a possible gene that leads to greater growth of prostate cancer cells.

23 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Health law's threat to individual liberty; Conflicting opinions on the constitutionality of the individual mandate

On Monday, the Supreme Court will begin an extraordinary three-day hearing on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. At stake are the Constitution's structural guarantees of individual liberty, which limit governmental power and ensure political accountability by dividing that power between federal and state authorities. Upholding ObamaCare would destroy this dual-sovereignty system, the most distinctive feature of American constitutionalism.

23 Mar 2012

Emergent receives NIAID grant to advance development of MVA85A TB vaccine

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that it has received a multi-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to advance the development of MVA85A, a candidate vaccine against tuberculosis.

23 Mar 2012

Verapamil drug may reverse diabetes-related death of pancreatic beta cells

A common high-blood-pressure medication appears to reverse the diabetes-related death of pancreatic beta cells, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published today in the journal Diabetes.

23 Mar 2012

Study identifies abnormal brain gene expression patterns in autism

A study led by Eric Courchesne, PhD, director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has, for the first time, identified in young autism patients genetic mechanisms involved in abnormal early brain development and overgrowth that occurs in the disorder. The findings suggest novel genetic and molecular targets that could lead to discoveries of new prevention strategies and treatment for the disorder.

23 Mar 2012

Researcher examines factors that influence injury rate among soccer players

All soccer players and fans know that it is better to win than to lose. Yet the fact that victory also means less risk of injury is not as obvious. New findings from researchers in sports medicine at Linköping University have aroused great interest among Europe's elite soccer teams.

23 Mar 2012