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USAID has technical capacity to lead GHI if given authority

In a post in the Center for Global Development's "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog," Nandini Oomman, director of the HIV/AIDS Monitor at the center, and Rachel Silverman, a research assistant at the center, examine the question of Global Health Initiative (GHI) leadership, citing the State Department's Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), released last December, which states that "USAID would assume leadership of the GHI by September 2012, contingent upon fulfilling a set of 10 benchmarks to demonstrate its capacity."

1 Nov 2011

Majority of college students could identify risk factors linked with eating disorders

They're the prime demographic for developing eating disorders, yet new research out of the University of Cincinnati suggests that it could be difficult for college students to notice the warning signs. On Oct. 31, Ashlee Hoffman, a UC doctoral student in health promotion and education, will present her research, titled, "University Students' Knowledge of An Ability to Identify Disordered Eating, Warning Signs and Risk Factors," at the American Public Health Association's 139th annual meeting and exposition in Washington, DC.

1 Nov 2011

Knife-edge scanning microscopy rapidly maps new blood vessels in organs

Like normal tissue, tumors thrive on nutrients carried to them by the blood stream. The rapid growth of new blood vessels is a hallmark of cancer, and studies have shown that preventing blood vessel growth can keep tumors from growing, too. To better understand the relationship between cancer and the vascular system, researchers would like to make detailed maps of the complete network of blood vessels in organs. Unfortunately, the current mapping process is time-consuming: using conventional methods, mapping a one-centimeter block of tissue can take months.

1 Nov 2011

Pressure mounts as clock ticks toward super committee's Thanksgiving deadline

The LA Times reports on how a deficit-reduction deal has so far eluded Congress while Politico outlines the politics that are at work in the process.

1 Nov 2011

Ultra-sensitive techniques for early detection of breast cancer

A team of scientists at Tufts University will develop ultra-sensitive techniques at the single-molecule and single-cell levels designed to detect breast cancer earlier, and treat it with greater precision, through a $6.6 million Innovator Award from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program made to Tufts chemist David R. Walt, Ph.D.

1 Nov 2011

Senior Scientific's nanomagnetic technology more sensitive in detecting breast cancer

Manhattan Scientifics announced today that "Breast Cancer Research," an international, peer-reviewed online journal, has published results of a study using Senior Scientific's nanomagnetic technology.

1 Nov 2011

Health care comments prominent on the trail to Iowa caucus

In a campaign speech to potential caucusgoers here this afternoon, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann colored her calls for the repeal of the federal health care law passed in 2010 with a brief history of health care. When she was a child, she said, a visit to the doctor in Waterloo, Iowa, cost just $5, and people who couldn't afford that often would receive free care at the physician's discretion. Such prices and charity care are impossible today, she argued, because of government intervention into the health care system and the threat of lawsuits.

1 Nov 2011

BUSM professor delivers Van Meter Award Lecture at 81st ATA meeting

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is proud to announce that Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, today delivered the Van Meter Award Lecture at its 81st Annual Meeting, held October 26-30, Indian Wells, California.

1 Nov 2011

Study: People with schizophrenia have weakened sense of body ownership

A study using a procedure called the rubber hand illusion has found striking new evidence that people experiencing schizophrenia have a weakened sense of body ownership and has produced the first case of a spontaneous, out-of-body experience in the laboratory.

1 Nov 2011

PlusNews interviews Stop TB Director Mario Raviglione

At the recent International Lung Health Conference in Lille, France, IRIN/PlusNews spoke with Stop TB Director Mario Raviglione about the threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), its treatment and "the precarious TB funding gap," the news service writes.

1 Nov 2011

Multi-centre phase II trial for new brain tumor surgical technique starts in the UK

A multi-centre phase II clinical trial for a pioneering new surgical technique has started in the UK, jointly funded by Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and Cancer Research UK.

1 Nov 2011

iBio receives U.S. patent entitled 'System for Expression of Genes in Plants'

iBio, Inc. today announced notice of issuance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for US Patent 8,058,511, entitled "System for Expression of Genes in Plants," that further extends iBio's patent coverage of viral vectors comprising its iBioLaunch platform.

1 Nov 2011

Companies focus on wellness programs to help bottom lines

Corporations view employee obesity and smoking as two things driving up their health care costs. Therefore, many businesses are taking steps toward wellness programs and incentives.

1 Nov 2011

Studies on effectiveness of new HCV therapies presented at 76th ACG meeting

Studies reporting on the effectiveness of new therapies for chronic Hepatitis C virus are among the clinical science presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's 76th Annual Scientific Meeting, where investigators also presented findings from an age-based risk assessment and screening intervention for Hepatitis C among Baby Boomers, patients aged 50-65, who saw a gastroenterologist for routine colon cancer screening.

1 Nov 2011

MSU to establish statewide Division of Geriatric Medicine

An unprecedented decade of economic demise and a population older than 80 percent of all other U.S. states is putting Michigan in a precarious spot: More aging residents needing health care with fewer resources to pay for it.

1 Nov 2011

Upcoming G20 Summit presents 'critical opportunity' to address food security crisis

In a post in the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' "Global Food For Thought" blog, Adam Taylor, vice president of advocacy at World Vision, writes that the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Cannes, France, next week "provides a critical opportunity for President Obama to galvanize G20 leadership in addressing the mounting crisis of food security -- the lack of reliable, nutritious food for the world's poorest people."

1 Nov 2011

Non-carriers do not have increased risk of breast cancer due to familial mutation

A population-based analysis of more than 3,000 families including women with breast cancer has found that close relatives of women who carry mutations in a BRCA gene - but who themselves do not have such genetic mutations - do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to relatives of women with breast cancer who do not have such mutations.

1 Nov 2011

Several West African nations facing food insecurity; WFP steps up efforts in Niger

Several countries in West Africa, including Niger, Mauritania and Chad, are facing food insecurity crises "unless the international community acts now, the United Nations warned on Friday," AlertNet reports.

1 Nov 2011

Non-invasive rtACS treatment can reduce partial blindness

It has long been thought that blindness after brain lesions is irreversible and that damage to the optic nerves leads to permanent impairments in everyday activities such as reading, driving, and spatial orientation. A new study published in Elsevier's Brain Stimulation suggests that treating such patients with low levels of non-invasive, repetitive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) for 10 days significantly reduces visual impairment and markedly improves vision-related quality of life.

1 Nov 2011

GPEI must 'take seriously' recommendations in Independent Monitoring Board report

In this post in the "Health Affairs Blog," diplomacy and global health consultant Judith Kaufmann writes about the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Independent Monitoring Board quarterly report released last week, stating, "What is really new about this report ... is that it does not, as so many GPEI reports have in the past, point the finger at lack of funding, although there is an obvious concern about the funding gap. Rather, the report looks squarely at changes needed in the management of the global program itself."

1 Nov 2011