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Link between coronary artery disease and prostate cancer

In a large analysis of men participating in a prostate drug trial, researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute found a significant correlation between coronary artery disease and prostate cancer, suggesting the two conditions may have shared causes.

8 Feb 2012

Association of Nutrition & Foodservice Professionals launches new magazine

The Association of Nutrition & Foodservice Professionals (formerly the Dietary Managers Association) has launched its newly redesigned and renamed magazine, Nutrition & Foodservice Edge.

8 Feb 2012

BioMimetic to launch new bone graft substitute product line at AAOS meeting

BioMimetic Therapeutics, Inc. today announced it will introduce Augmatrix Biocomposite Bone Graft, a new bone graft substitute product line, to surgeons and distributors at its exhibit booth during the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting this week in San Francisco, CA.

8 Feb 2012

Genzyme announces four-year data from eliglustat tartrate phase 2 trial on Gaucher disease type 1

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today four-year follow-up data from patients enrolled in the phase 2 clinical trial for its investigational oral therapy for Gaucher disease type 1 known as eliglustat tartrate.

8 Feb 2012

Watson settles ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN LO patent litigation with Janssen

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has reached a settlement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on outstanding patent litigation related to Watson's generic version of Janssen's ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN LO (norgestimate/ethinyl estradiol) tablets.

8 Feb 2012

White House budget trims Medicare with cuts focused on insurance company payments, hospitals

President Barack Obama's budget proposal on February 13 will make an election-year call for economic fairness with higher taxes on wealthy Americans as part of a $3 trillion-plus deficit reduction plan that he first unveiled last September... Expect domestic spending cuts of around $580 billion over 10 years, going by Obama's September deficit plan.

8 Feb 2012

Positive emotional experience induces people to visit social networking sites

People visit social networking sites such as Facebook for many reasons, including the positive emotional experience that people enjoy and want to repeat, according to an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

8 Feb 2012

More seamless exchange of information between EHRs and immunization registries needed

U-M researchers are calling for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to encourage a more seamless exchange of information between electronic health records and immunization registries.

8 Feb 2012

FDA clears externally controllable internal limb lengthening system

A pioneering new system codeveloped by Sinai Hospital orthopedic surgeons Shawn Standard, M.D., head of Pediatric Orthopedics at the International Center for Limb Lengthening (ICLL), and John Herzenberg, M.D., director of the ICLL, offers a major advancement in limb lengthening surgery.

8 Feb 2012

State Department, USAID blog posts support elimination of FGM/C

In support of the ninth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, and David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, outline several examples of U.S. advocacy and funding related to stopping the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog.

8 Feb 2012

Ethical framework to guide coverage and reimbursement decisions for expensive orphan drugs

How can insurers justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient per year on "orphan drugs" - extremely expensive medications for rare conditions that are mostly chronic and life-threatening -- when this money could provide greater overall health benefit if spread out among many other patients?

8 Feb 2012

Legal challenges likely next step as flap over birth control rule continues

News outlets report on the clash between the Obama administration and Catholic leaders.

8 Feb 2012

Thumb and little finger react faster than the middle finger

The fingers on the outside - i.e. the thumb and little finger - therefore react faster than the middle finger, which is exposed to the "cross fire" of two neighbours on each side. Through targeted learning, this speed handicap can be compensated. The working group led by PD Dr. Hubert Dinse (Neural Plasticity Lab at the Institute for Neuroral Computation) report in the current issue of PNAS.

8 Feb 2012

Al Jazeera examines unique polio eradication campaign in Pakistan

In this video report, Al Jazeera examines polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, writing, "[I]n an unusual effort to eliminate the disease, health workers are stopping vehicles at a busy toll booth outside Islamabad to administer free polio vaccination drops to children under the age of five."

8 Feb 2012

A critical step forward in understanding how insulin secretion is regulated in the body

In a study published last week in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a team led by Dr. Vincent Poitout of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) has made an important step forward in understanding how insulin secretion is regulated in the body.

8 Feb 2012

Humana, HCA show brighter earnings picture though worries remain

Humana met analyst projections for the quarter and HCA stock shares are rebounding.

8 Feb 2012

Exemestane has negative effect on postmenopausal women's bone health

Exemestane, a drug used in the prevention of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, has a negative effect on bone density and structure in these women, despite calcium and vitamin D supplements.

8 Feb 2012

RV5 vaccination does not increase risk of intussusception in infants

Although some data have suggested a possible increased risk of intussusception (when a portion of the small or large intestine slides forward into itself, like a telescope) after administration of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in infants, an analysis that included almost 800,000 doses administered to U.S. infants found no increased risk of this condition following vaccination, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.

8 Feb 2012

Obama administration rejects Calif. Medicaid co-pay proposal

The Obama administration said "no" Monday to a California proposal designed to help close a budget gap. Elsewhere, Texas is planning a change to how it pays for charity care in its Medicaid program.

8 Feb 2012

Center for LAM Research and Clinical Care at BWH to conduct phase I combination drug trial

The Center for LAM Research and Clinical Care at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has been awarded a $1 million plus, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to fund their work on lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

8 Feb 2012