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New FAO head says agency will increase support to countries experiencing prolonged food crises

The new head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Director-General José Graziano da Silva, began work on January 1, "pledging on Tuesday to increase the agency's support to poor countries experiencing prolonged food crises," the U.N. News Centre reports.

5 Jan 2012

Rilonacept appears safe and well-tolerated in patients with gout

A phase II clinical trial found that rilonacept, an inhibitor of the protein interleukin-1 (IL-1), significantly reduced acute gout flares that occur when initiating uric acid-lowering therapy. Results of the trial—the first placebo-controlled study investigating IL-1 targeted therapy in prevention of gout flares—show rilonacept to be generally well tolerated with no serious infections or treatment-related serious adverse events reported.

5 Jan 2012

New algorithm could help GPs identify women at risk of early ovarian cancer

The lives of hundreds of women could be saved every year, thanks to a simple online calculator that could help GPs identify women most at risk of having ovarian cancer at a much earlier stage.

5 Jan 2012

Weight loss surgery can improve blood sugar control in diabetes patients

Weight loss surgery is not a cure for type 2 diabetes, but it can improve blood sugar control, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Surgery. Whereas some previous studies have claimed that up to 80 per cent of diabetes patients have been cured following gastric bypass surgery, researchers at Imperial College London found that only 41 per cent of patients achieve remission using more stringent criteria.

5 Jan 2012

Arrowhead receives FDA IND approval for Adipotide obesity drug

Arrowhead Research Corporation, a nanomedicine company with development programs in oncology and obesity, today announced that the Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for its first obesity drug candidate, Adipotide, was accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowing the initiation of a clinical trial to test the safety of the compound.

5 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Sebelius on 'essential benefits'; WSJ columnist on Democrats' 'Mediscare' argument - is it a lie?

Insurance needs and health systems vary state to state, and experience tells us that the best way forward is not to mandate a one-size-fits-all answer. Instead, our approach gives states the flexibility to take their own paths, while ensuring they all end up in the best place possible: with an Affordable Insurance Exchange that offers access to comprehensive, quality, affordable health insurance to small business owners and individuals who currently have few good choices in an expensive and broken market.

5 Jan 2012

Study finds increase in incidence and prevalence of IBD

The incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are increasing with time and in different regions around the world, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

5 Jan 2012

Arcion receives U.S. patent allowance for ARC-2022 to treat PHN

Arcion Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing topical therapies for chronic pain, today announced that it received notice of allowance for a US Patent for its high strength gel formulation of topical lidocaine, ARC-2022.

5 Jan 2012

Scientists determine structure of endomannosidase enzyme

Scientists have determined the structure of the enzyme endomannosidase, significantly advancing our understanding of how a group of devastating human viruses including HIV and Hepatitis C hijack human enzymes to reproduce and cause disease.

4 Jan 2012

Medtronic introduces mySentry Remote Glucose Monitor in the U.S.

Today, Medtronic, Inc. announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and U.S. market launch of the first-of-its-kind mySentry Remote Glucose Monitor, which allows a parent or caregiver to monitor from another room a patient's MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Revel System.

From Medtronic 4 Jan 2012

$Viamet commences VT-464 Phase 1/2 trial in castration-refractory prostate cancer$

Viamet commences VT-464 Phase 1/2 trial in castration-refractory prostate cancer

Viamet Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today that dosing has begun in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of VT-464, an oral, potent and lyase-selective CYP17 inhibitor for the treatment of castration-refractory prostate cancer.

4 Jan 2012

AAIPharma announces acquisition of Celsis Analytical Services

AAIPharma Services Corp., a leading provider of pharmaceutical product development services, announced today it has acquired Celsis Analytical Services, a division of Celsis International Ltd. that performs material testing services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and manufacturing sectors.

4 Jan 2012

RNF123 gene may play a role in major depression

Psychiatric disorders can be described on many levels, the most traditional of which are subjective descriptions of the experience of being depressed and the use of rating scales that quantify depressive symptoms. Over the past two decades, research has developed other strategies for describing the biological underpinnings of depression, including volumetric brain measurements using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the patterns of gene expression in white blood cells.

4 Jan 2012

Veloxis commences LCP-Tacro Phase IIIb study in kidney transplant patients

Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S today announced dosing of the first patient in the STRATO (Switching kidney TRAnsplant patients with Tremor to LCP-tacrO) Phase IIIb study of LCP-Tacro in kidney transplant recipients experiencing drug-induced tremors.

4 Jan 2012

Political cartoon: 'Technical Difficulties'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh perspective on health policy issues with "Technical Difficulties" by Chris Wildt.

4 Jan 2012

NovaSterilis awarded soft tissue processing patent

NovaSterilis Inc., specializing in developing applications for supercritical carbon dioxide, has been granted US Patent 8,034,288 B2. The patent, dated October 11, 2011 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Cleaning of Viable Donor Soft Tissue”, covers a new method for cleaning soft allograft tissue including tendon, fascia, and skin with a supercritical fluid, thus avoiding other harmful chemical solvents that may leave residual chemicals.

4 Jan 2012

Re-admission rates high among U.S. heart attack patients: Study

According to new research from U.S health experts, Americans who have a severe form of a heart attack are far more likely to be readmitted to the hospital than people from 16 other countries with the same kind of heart attack.

4 Jan 2012

Exercise leads to better school performance: Review

A review of earlier studies has shown that academic excellence in children could be linked to how physically active they are. Writing in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers said they found strong evidence of a link between exercise and academic performance. The review looked at 14 studies involving more than 12,000 children.

4 Jan 2012

Stem cell like progenitor cells could be key to aging slowly: Study

In new research on mice, scientists have found that stem cells could help slow the aging process. This new research was conducted on mice that had been bred to have progeria, a disorder that causes premature aging. Mice with the condition typically live only 21 to 28 days instead of the usual two years.

4 Jan 2012

Weight loss surgery cuts risk of heart attacks, strokes: Study

A new study shows that weight loss surgery clearly cuts the risk of heart attacks, strokes and death from cardiovascular disease. But the research also raises questions regarding which patients benefit the most from surgery.

4 Jan 2012