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Budget cuts threaten global health progress, advocacy group warns in report

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) -- consisting of 40 global health research and advocacy organizations -- on Tuesday held a congressional briefing to launch its third annual policy report, titled "Sustaining Progress: Creating U.S. policies to spur global health innovation," GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports (Donnelly, 2/28).

1 Mar 2012

Similar mechanisms drive changes in puberty

It's one of life's special moments: a child finds a fat caterpillar, puts it in a jar with a twig and a few leaves, and awakens one day to find the caterpillar has disappeared and an elegant but apparently lifeless case now hangs from the twig.

1 Mar 2012

Snowe - The lone GOP health law vote - opts to not seek re-election

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, cited the polarized climate of Congress and Washington as a key reason she will leave the Senate. Her departure renews Democrats' hope of winning this GOP seat.

1 Mar 2012

Physiological problems stemming from concussions may persist

A study recently published by the University of Kentucky's Scott Livingston shows that physiological problems stemming from a concussion may continue to present in the patient even after standard symptoms subside.

1 Mar 2012

Gaining culturally appropriate knowledge can help provide more effective healthcare

Mary E. Jones, MD, MPH, is the child advocacy program director and an essential part of the Loyola University Health System pediatric team. In addition to her extensive knowledge in the medical care of children, her expertise in understanding the signs of child maltreatment help Loyola provide complete care to some of the most at-risk patients.

1 Mar 2012

Language barriers could deter Californians from enrolling in Health Benefit Exchange

Language barriers could deter more than 100,000 Californians from enrolling in the Health Benefit Exchange, according to a study released today by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.

1 Mar 2012

Expertise guide to facilitate use of QSARs under EU REACH Program

Seeking to maximise the value of computational modelling in avoiding animal testing for the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation has produced a free resource for chemical companies, identifying sources of information and expertise on the use of Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSARs).

1 Mar 2012

Dept. of Justice lawyers strategize on how to win key SCOTUS votes

Media outlets report on this and other health law implementation developments, including news about health exchanges and the measure's pre-existing condition insurance plan.

1 Mar 2012

Sex determination of skeletal remains based on tarsal bones

Law enforcement officials who are tasked with identifying a body based on partial skeletal remains have a new tool at their disposal. A new paper from North Carolina State University researchers details how to determine the biological sex of skeletal remains based solely on measurements of the seven tarsal bones in the feet.

1 Mar 2012

La Selva geothermal system contaminated with arsenic

Monitoring the construction of wells, avoid over-exploiting cold groundwater close to hot groundwater, and controlling mineral water extraction. These are the recommendations from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, after analysing the contamination of La Selva geothermal system, above all by arsenic pollution.

1 Mar 2012

Study to make pesticide, methyl iodide safer

In 2007, a controversial pesticide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on fruit and vegetable crops, mainly in California and Florida. Farm workers and scientists protested the approval of the pesticide because its active ingredient, methyl iodide, is a known carcinogen.

1 Mar 2012

IOM report identifies options that could further improve information obtained from pediatric studies

Federal laws that motivate or require drug and biologic developers to conduct pediatric studies have yielded beneficial information to guide the use of medications in children, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine. Still, studies involving children continue to be limited, especially in certain areas such as medications' use in newborns and long-term safety and effectiveness in children.

1 Mar 2012

Montreal intern joins WHO Africa to fight Noma, a face eating disease

Marie Renaud, an intern at the University of Montreal and CHUM Hospital's International Health, will be joining the World Health Organization's African office, where she will be working on the funding of the fight against Noma. This disease, scientifically called cancrum oris, eats away the faces of children- mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

1 Mar 2012

CNS invites press to annual meeting in Chicago

The Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) invites members of the press to attend its annual meeting, March 31- April 3, 2012, in Chicago at the Palmer House Hotel. See the latest scientific research in perception, action, memory, language - including the connections between sleep and memory, the neurological processes that govern our eating habits, and how we interpret and understand events in our lives.

1 Mar 2012

'Call to action' on wrong-route injections in anesthesia

Worldwide changes in catheter system design are urgently needed to prevent serious complications caused by accidental injection of drugs into the wrong location, according to a special editoral in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

1 Mar 2012

Medicare actuary issues cautions about current efforts to 'cure' spiralling costs

Medicare's actuary warned Tuesday that controlling cost growth is the primary challenge to the entitlement program's financial stability, but that neither the premium support system sought by Republicans nor cost-cutting measures pushed by the administration provide all the answers.

1 Mar 2012

New method for creating nanofibers could improve drug delivery methods

A new method for creating nanofibers made of proteins, developed by researchers at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), promises to greatly improve drug delivery methods for the treatment of cancers, heart disorders and Alzheimer's disease, as well as aid in the regeneration of human tissue, bone and cartilage.

1 Mar 2012

'Global leadership' through foreign assistance is 'strategic imperative' for U.S.

"[T]oday, with the national debt approaching $14.7 trillion, Americans rightly demand fiscal responsibility. Yet efforts in Congress to cut billions from the president's proposed budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are short-sighted," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

1 Mar 2012

Software transmits brain wave data for instant analysis

What if a computer chip in a football player's helmet could tell coaches on the sideline that he has suffered a concussion?

1 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 1, 2012

Today's headlines set the stage for the Senate's scheduled vote on a measure sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that would allow employers and insurers to opt out of provisions in Obama's health care law to which they object on religious or moral grounds.

1 Mar 2012