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Alzheimer's may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases

The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer's disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

4 Oct 2011

Addressing high-risk groups, couples counseling in HIV prevention

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Mead Over, a senior fellow at the center, follows up on a post last week in which he wrote that a panel of senior economists commissioned by the Rush Foundation was to address the question of how to spend an additional, but hypothetical, $10 billion on HIV/AIDS programs in Africa over the next five years.

4 Oct 2011

CNRS researcher wins 2011 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for immunology work

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Jules Hoffmann, a French citizen native of Luxembourg, CNRS senior researcher emeritus and professor at the university of Strasbourg, jointly with Bruce A. Beutler for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.

4 Oct 2011

Congress blocks funding meant for food aid, health care to Palestinian Authority

"Congress has ... blocked $200 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority [PA] since August, in a move a PA official described as 'collective punishment' for its United Nations bid" for statehood, GlobalPost reports.

4 Oct 2011

Certain care situations result in poorer hand hygiene practice in ED

Researchers studying hand hygiene of healthcare workers in the emergency department found certain care situations, including bed location and type of healthcare worker performing care, resulted in poorer hand hygiene practice.

4 Oct 2011

IPS examines the practice of breast ironing in Cameroon

Inter Press Service reports on the practice of breast ironing in Cameroon, a custom carried out by one-quarter of mothers in the country that is meant to reverse female sexual development in an effort "to avoid sexual contact between young girls and boys."

4 Oct 2011

Residential washing machines may not eliminate hospital-acquired bacteria

Residential washing machines may not always use hot enough water to eliminate dangerous bacteria like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Acinetobacter, a Gram-negative bacteria, from hospital uniforms, according to a study published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

4 Oct 2011

Canada Supreme Court rules Vancouver's safe drug-injection site can stay open

"Vancouver's Insite clinic, the only such safe-injection site for people who use drugs in North America, can stay open, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday in a landmark defeat for the federal government," Reuters reports.

4 Oct 2011

Telestroke improves care and reduces costs

The use of long-distance video and data hookups to link remote community hospitals with stroke neurologists in large centres provides the same level of care as having everyone in the same room, according to a new study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

4 Oct 2011

Supreme Court opens new term, health law challenge tops agenda

The cases coming before the court "address some of the central issues facing the country," said former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger. The clashes over health care and immigration "are not mere lawyers' issues, but fundamental questions about how the country is governed."

4 Oct 2011

G&D, Precise Biometrics partner to provide Match-on-Card technology

Precise Biometrics announces that they have entered into a partnership agreement with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) that will provide Precise Match-on-Card technology for use on G&D smart-cards.

4 Oct 2011

Columbian scientists tap global computer network in search of leishmaniasis drugs

"Colombian scientists are using a global network of personal and institutional computers to search for potential drugs against leishmaniasis, a disease that affects 12 million people worldwide," SciDev.Net reports. The researchers at the University of Antioquia "will harness the calculation potential of the almost two million computers that make up the World Community Grid, funded by the IBM Corporation," the news service writes.

4 Oct 2011

Creabilis receives $20 million in Series B funding

Creabilis SA, a clinical stage European biotechnology company addressing unmet medical needs in dermatology, inflammation and pain, has raised €15 million ($20 million) in a Series B funding round led by Abbott Biotech Ventures.

4 Oct 2011

Central African Republic declares new cholera outbreak

Central African Republic Health Minister Jean-Michel Mandaba on Friday declared a new outbreak of cholera in the south of the country had already killed at least 10 people, Agence France-Presse reports.

4 Oct 2011

Orexigen presents data from Contrave trial at 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., today announced that Contrave (naltrexone SR/bupropion SR) data will be presented in one oral and multiple poster presentations at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society on October 3, 2011 in Orlando, FL.

4 Oct 2011

NIH Director to deliver keynote address at eighth SIO international conference

The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) announced today that National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, will deliver the keynote address at its eighth international conference, which is co‐sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

4 Oct 2011

Virtual 18F-FDG PET/CT bronchoscopy may accurately detect NSCLC metastases

For patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) the accurate determination of the lymph node status before therapy is critical to develop an individualized treatment plan. Research from the October issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine highlights a new way for this information to be collected -- a virtual fly-through three-dimensional 18F-FDG PET/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) bronchoscopy that has high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of regional lymph node metastases.

4 Oct 2011

NICU stress linked with alterations in brain structure and function of preterm infants

New research shows that exposure to stressors in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is associated with alterations in the brain structure and function of very preterm infants. According to the study now available in Annals of Neurology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, infants who experienced early exposure to stress displayed decreased brain size, functional connectivity, and abnormal motor behavior.

4 Oct 2011

Chad launches three-day polio vaccination campaign

Chad's President Idris Deby, alongside Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Friday launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign at the Friendship China-Chad hospital "as part of efforts to rid the central African nation of the infectious disease," AlertNet reports.

4 Oct 2011

Interactive video games appear to safely enhance physical therapy for ICU patients

Interactive video games, already known to improve motor function in recovering stroke patients, appear to safely enhance physical therapy for patients in intensive care units (ICU), new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

4 Oct 2011