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IRIN examines improvements in maternal, infant mortality indicators in Myanmar

IRIN examines maternal and child health in "conflict-afflicted eastern Myanmar, [where] until recently obstetric care was often crude, unsterile and dangerous for both mother and child, health experts say." To address high rates of maternal and infant mortality in the region, "in 2005 several CBOs, the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University, and the Global Health Access Program launched the Mobile Obstetric Medics (MOM) project -- dramatically boosting access to care," IRIN writes.

20 Oct 2011

Future-Directed Therapy for patients with major depression

Patients with major depression do better by learning to create a more positive outlook about the future, rather than by focusing on negative thoughts about their past experiences, researchers at Cedars-Sinai say after developing a new treatment that helps patients do this.

20 Oct 2011

Scientists discover complex cell mechanism that becomes an obstacle for radiation effectiveness

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and CIC bioGUNE discover a complex cell mechanism activated by a protein —HOXB9— that becomes an obstacle for radiation effectiveness.

20 Oct 2011

Bill, Melinda Gates speak at Malaria Forum, laud progress in fight against disease

"Eradicating malaria is not a vague, unrealistic aspiration but a tough, ambitious goal that can be reached within the next few decades," Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said on Tuesday at the international Malaria Forum in Seattle, Reuters reports.

20 Oct 2011

Ipsen, Syntaxin collaborate to develop new botulinum toxins

Ipsen and Syntaxin, a biotechnology company specialising in innovative biopharmaceutical therapies targeting cell secretion pathways, announced today a global strategic collaboration to explore the discovery and development of new compounds in the field of botulinum toxins.

20 Oct 2011

New, more effective DBS paradigm may manage Parkinson's symptoms

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a devastating and incurable disease that causes abnormal poverty of movement, involuntary tremor, and lack of coordination. A technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) is sometimes used to improve motor symptoms in patients with advanced disease. Now, a study published by Cell Press in the October 20 issue of the journal Neuron describes a new and more effective DBS paradigm that makes real-time adjustments in response to disease dynamics and progression and may be better for managing symptoms of advanced PD.

20 Oct 2011

Haiti has highest rate of cholera worldwide one year after disease outbreak began

Paul Farmer, a founder of Partners in Health (PIH) and U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti, in an interview with the Associated Press/Washington Post "said cholera has sickened more than 450,000 people in a nation of 10 million, or nearly five percent of the population, and killed more than 6,000," giving the Caribbean nation "the highest rate of cholera in the world a mere year after the disease first arrived."

20 Oct 2011

Breakthrough in development of effective therapy against Hendra virus

A team of Federal and university scientists reports a breakthrough in the development of an effective therapy against a deadly virus, Hendra virus. The results of their study, "A Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibody Protects African Green Monkeys from Hendra Virus Challenge," will appear in Science Translational Medicine online.

20 Oct 2011

Link between neighborhood poverty and low-income women's health

Low-income women with children who move from high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhoods experience notable long-term improvements in some aspects of their health, namely reductions in diabetes and extreme obesity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago and partner institutions.

20 Oct 2011

Lancet series revisits issue of global mental health four years after first examination

Four years after the Lancet "published a special series on global mental health, highlighting the gap in provision between rich countries and the rest of the world," the journal has published a new series, including an "editorial accompanying the series, welcoming the initiatives in global mental health in the past four years, but saying 'there is still a long way to go and many challenges to face,'" IRIN reports.

20 Oct 2011

Immdal sells its subsidiary Newport to Ewopharma

Immdal Limited ('Immdal'), a privately held Irish pharmaceutical healthcare group, today announced the sale of its subsidiary Newport Pharmaceuticals Limited ('Newport') to Swiss pharmaceutical company Ewopharma AG.

20 Oct 2011

Advances in yttrium-90 radioembolization for liver cancer

Finding innovative, minimally invasive ways to treat liver cancer-and being able to tailor that treatment individually to patients-are hallmarks of interventional radiologists. Advances in yttrium-90 (Y-90) radioembolization for liver cancer, a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, are reported in studies in the October Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

20 Oct 2011

Efforts to scale up medical education in developing countries must increase, study says

In a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine, "Francesca Celletti from the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues argue that a transformation in the scale-up of medical education in low- and middle-income countries is needed," according to a PLoS press release.

20 Oct 2011

Alcohol brand references in popular music linked with luxury lifestyle

In a study published online today in the international journal Addiction, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reported that the average US adolescent is heavily exposed to alcohol brand references in popular music.

20 Oct 2011

'Lance Armstrong effect' could become powerful new cancer weapon

The "Lance Armstrong effect" could become a powerful new weapon to fight cancer cells that develop resistance to chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments, scientists say in a report in the ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

20 Oct 2011

Emergency humanitarian response in Horn of Africa must shift to community development

Though emergency humanitarian assistance has helped keep people alive in the Horn of Africa, "this effort is not sustainable," David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada, writes in a Globe and Mail opinion piece.

20 Oct 2011

BRA Day to promote awareness on breast reconstruction surgery

Only seven per cent of female breast cancer patients opt for breast reconstruction surgery. Dr. Melinda Musgrave is determined to find out why.

20 Oct 2011

GETINGE EPS increases 2.0% to SEK 5.92 for January - September 2011

GETINGE: Reporting period January - September. Orders received declined by 4.6% to SEK 15,579 M (16,331), and grew organically by 3.8%.

20 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Super committee's secrecy; alternatives to CLASS; solving the drug shortage

The Congressional "super committee" charged with finding $1.5 trillion in debt savings through 2021 is under growing attack from both the left and the right for carrying out most of its work in secret. … History reveals the importance of extensive private talks for members of a bipartisan group to get to know one another and pursue compromises.

20 Oct 2011

JHU, Eisai enter drug-discovery research collaboration for brain disorders

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has entered into a drug-discovery research collaboration with Eisai, a pharmaceutical company based in Tokyo, to develop proprietary small-molecule drugs for a range of brain conditions such as schizophrenia, pain, brain tumors and Alzheimer's disease.

20 Oct 2011