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U-M Cardiovascular Center now offers Edwards aortic valve replacement

As the population ages, more Americans will be susceptible to aortic stenosis, but not all patients can tolerate surgery to treat it. Select U.S. hospitals are now performing minimally invasive procedures called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, to replace a patient's diseased aortic valve without heart bypass or open heart surgery.

From Medtronic 23 Feb 2012

State lawmakers take up contraception coverage, abortion fights

States are taking up the fight over the Obama administration's contraception coverage mandate with several state legislatures proposing bills of their own to block the mandate. In the meantime, Virginia mulls a bill that would require women to get a sonogram before an abortion, and a federal judge is set to rule on requiring pharmacists there to carry emergency contraception.

23 Feb 2012

Self-propelled devices through the bloodstream a reality

Someday, your doctor may turn to you and say, "Take two surgeons and call me in the morning." If that day arrives, you may just have Ada Poon to thank.

23 Feb 2012

Kaiser Permanente to display new mobile offerings at HIMSS12

Kaiser Permanente, the nation's leading health care provider and not-for-profit health plan, will showcase its new collection of industry-leading mobile health applications at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society 12th Annual Conference and Exhibition at the Venetian Sands Expo Center.

23 Feb 2012

AHCA, NCAL announce multi-year Quality Initiative

Long term and post-acute care leadership from the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) announced a multi-year initiative this week to meet new quality goals, including reducing hospital readmission rates and improving staff retention.

23 Feb 2012

A job doesn't always solve health insurance difficulties

Bronner is one of six people from the St. Louis area whom NPR has been following for a little more than a year. Like the others, she started 2011 unemployed and searching for work. Like so many Americans who have struggled in this tough labor market, the people we followed have had difficulty getting health coverage. And for some, including Bronner, it didn't stop when they got jobs.

23 Feb 2012

DIRECT project to focus on stratification of patients with type 2 diabetes

Gathering experts from 21 European academic institutions and key players of the pharmaceutical industry, the DIRECT project (DIabetes REsearch for patient straTification) will focus on the stratification of patients with type 2 diabetes in order to develop personalized treatments, that would therefore be more efficient.

23 Feb 2012

New model to evaluate probiotic survival in the gut

Functional foods containing bacteria with beneficial health effects, or probiotics, have long been consumed in Northern Europe and are becoming increasingly popular elsewhere. To be of benefit, however, the bacteria have to survive in the very hostile environment of the digestive tract.

23 Feb 2012

Unknown facets of biological mechanism that immune cells use for creating free radicals

Sometimes our immune defence attacks our own cells. When this happens in the brain we see neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. But if the the immune defence is inhibited, the results could be disastrous.

23 Feb 2012

Women over 40 have better prognosis after mammography screening

Based on a study of nearly 2,000 breast cancer patients, researchers at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle say that, in women between the ages of 40 and 49, breast cancers detected by mammography have a better prognosis. The study appears in the March issue of Radiology.

23 Feb 2012

USPTO rejects MonoSol's patent infringement claims against BDSI

The United States Patent & Trademark Office has informed BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. that it has rejected all claims by MonoSol Rx, LLC (MonoSol) in its US Patent No. 7,425,292 (the '292 Patent) which is currently being asserted against BDSI and its commercial partners for ONSOLIS.

23 Feb 2012

Studies provide global perspective on condom use problems and errors

Problems with the correct use of the male condom, such as not wearing a condom throughout sex or putting it on upside down, are common in the U.S. and have become a major concern of public health officials. New research shows that countries around the world are facing similar challenges.

23 Feb 2012

State officials debate whether, how to set up health exchanges

Lawmakers in Maryland, Nebraska and Kansas consider bills to advance or block the marketplaces; California officials wrestle with the nitty gritty of implementation.

23 Feb 2012

ValueOptions, LifeWIRE partner to create mobile monitoring, intervention and counseling program

ValueOptions, the nation's largest independent behavioral health and wellness company, and LifeWIRE announced today a joint teaming agreement to create a mobile monitoring, intervention and counseling program.

23 Feb 2012

Scientists employ metagenomics to identify new possible antibiotics against MRSA

Scientists are reporting use of a new technology for sifting through the world's largest remaining pool of potential antibiotics to discover two new antibiotics that work against deadly resistant microbes, including the "super bugs" known as MRSA. Their report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

23 Feb 2012

Elevated levels of two TLRs can trigger heart disease and diabetes

UC Davis scientists have uncovered a key suspect in the destructive inflammation that underlies heart disease and diabetes. The new research shows elevated levels of a receptor present on leucocytes of the innate immune response in people at risk for these chronic diseases.

23 Feb 2012

Medivir reports net sales of SEK 698.6M for fiscal 2011

Today, Medivir AB, a research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, is publishing its Interim Report for the period 1 January - 31 December and its operational report for the fourth quarter of 2011.

23 Feb 2012

Adoption of Health IT still an uphill climb

The effort to drag the health-care industry into the technology age trudges onward, and it's still not clear whether the nation's 500,000 to 600,000 physicians will successfully make the journey. That's the finding from a number of health-care industry officials charged with pulling the medical profession into the 21st Century when it comes to managing patient records as well as automating the back-office operations of hospitals and clinics.

23 Feb 2012

GOP presidential hopefuls face off in two battleground states

Issues ranging from plans to cap or cut Medicaid spending to voting positions on the Medicare prescription drug program are among the policies being tossed about as candidates jockey for Tea Party votes and conservative credentials.

23 Feb 2012

Pediatricians should screen all children for vitamin D deficiency

As study after study shows the fundamental role vitamin D plays in disease and health, vitamin D deficiency — which often develops insidiously in childhood — should be on every parent's and pediatrician's radar, say physicians from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

23 Feb 2012