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Pregnant mothers who are vitamin D deficient raise risk of language difficulties in kids: Study

The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research study is the first to show low levels of the vitamin in utero can harm a child's language development, including the ability to pick up new words and string together sentences.

15 Feb 2012

FDA approves preservative-free drug for glaucoma

The U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has approved tafluprost ophthalmic solution (Zioptan, Merck) 0.0015%, the first preservative-free prostaglandin analog ophthalmic solution for glaucoma.

15 Feb 2012

Air pollution raises risk of stroke and cognitive decline

According to data from two studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine exposure to air pollution may have serious cognitive and cardiovascular health consequences, even at levels currently deemed acceptable by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

15 Feb 2012

Mediterranean diet could prevent brain damage in the long term: Study

A new study suggests that people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet have less small blood vessel damage in the brain. The study appeared in the February issue of the Archives of Neurology.

15 Feb 2012

400 lipsticks found to contain too much lead and could be harmful

Reuters first reported that a new study conducted by the FDA found that 400 lipsticks on the market tested positive for lead, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition that advocates for safer cosmetics and hygiene products.

15 Feb 2012

Heart attack scars mended using stem cells

Researchers from United States have successfully healed the scars caused by a heart attack using stem cells gathered from the patient's own heart. The amount of scar tissue was halved in the small safety trial reported in the Lancet medical journal. The authors said there was also an “unprecedented” increase in new heart muscle.

15 Feb 2012

IOM recommendations for healthful diet to children and adolescents not fully implemented

New research has found that the US government and schools have made mixed progress to comprehensively address food and beverage marketing practices that put young people's health at risk.

15 Feb 2012

Online anatomy dissector a 'superb learning tool': JAMA

A Georgetown University School of Medicine professor's online anatomy dissector designed to assist medical students in learning gross anatomy is described as a "superb learning tool" in a review published in the February 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

15 Feb 2012

Surgeons fix plumbing in the heart of newborn 5 days old

Keyota Cole was born with a bad heart. The 33-year-old from of Bakersfield, Calif., suffers from a congenital heart disease called Ebstein's malformation of the tricuspid valve, and from abnormal pulmonary veins. She has undergone multiple surgeries over her lifetime, including one to repair a hole in her heart, a valve replacement and the implantation of a pacemaker.

15 Feb 2012

Second chance may be the last chance for heart attack patients

After he failed to heed the first big warning about his heart, John Magri was lucky to survive the second.

15 Feb 2012

Biological scaffold for heart valves can be freeze-dried for later use

The biological scaffold that gives structure to a heart valve after its cellular material has been removed can be freeze-dried and stored for later use as a tissue-engineered replacement valve to treat a failing heart, as described in an article in Tissue Engineering, Part C: Methods, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

15 Feb 2012

Feds recover record amounts from fraudulent Medicare claims

Federal authorities say they recovered $4.1 billion in health care fraud judgments last year, a record high which officials on Monday credited to new tools for cracking down on deceitful Medicare claims.

15 Feb 2012

World Economic Forum releases list of 'Important Technologies'

The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has just released its list of "Important Technologies" that will change the world in the years ahead. The list highlights technology trends most likely to impact on the state of the world in the near future and was developed by a cross section of experts from science, businesses, and public policy.

15 Feb 2012

Senate Republicans ask Supreme Court to strike mandate

In a brief filed Monday, 43 Senate Republicans said that if the Supreme Court allows the mandate to buy health insurance in the Democrats' health law to stand, then Congress could require Americans to buy almost anything.

15 Feb 2012

Ovarian cancer subtype may be susceptible to 'anti-angiogenic' drugs

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a subtype of ovarian cancer able to build its own blood vessels, suggesting that such tumors might be especially susceptible to "anti-angiogenic" drugs that block blood vessel formation.

15 Feb 2012

Ability of the brain to rehearse is critical to make newly acquired memory more permanent

Edmonton-University of Alberta researchers have established that the ability of the brain to rehearse or repeat electrical impulses may be absolutely critical in order to make a newly acquired memory more permanent.

15 Feb 2012

VPCI announces successful petition to the FDA for removal from Import Alert

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains strict labeling requirements for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). If an API does not maintain adequate labeling as per section 502(f)(1) of the Act, the FDA will consider the material to be misbranded. Foreign APIs which are misbranded are subject to detention without physical examination under FDA's Import Alert 66-66 "Red List."

15 Feb 2012

USAID improves health through access to clean water in Timor-Leste

In this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Carlos dos Reis, foreign service national environmental health officer for Timor-Leste, reports on a trip to the country's remote district of Oecusse with U.S. Ambassador Judith Fergin and USAID/Timor-Leste Mission Director Rick Scott to "inaugurate the new clean water supply system built with the support of USAID."

15 Feb 2012

Greenest supercomputer to advance study of human disease

Victoria will be home to one of Australia's fastest supercomputers and the world's greenest supercomputer, the IBM Blue Gene/Q, which will be housed at the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) hosted by the University of Melbourne, and is aimed at advancing the study of human disease.

15 Feb 2012

Fewer people getting health insurance through employer

Fewer people - 44.6 percent of all Americans - are getting health insurance through their employer, a new Gallup poll finds. In other news, as health care costs increase, giving birth at home is becoming a more attractive option despite doctors' concerns.

15 Feb 2012