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ACLU files challenge to Kansas law restricting abortion coverage

The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed suit to block a Kansas law restricting access to insurance coverage for abortion. Kansas law prohibits comprehensive insurance policies from covering abortion, except to save the life of a pregnant woman. Abortion coverage can be purchased separately, but the ACLU says it's not available to all women.

18 Aug 2011

Herbal supplements may weaken the effect of chemotherapy drugs

Acai berry, cumin, herbal tea, turmeric and long-term use of garlic - all herbal supplements commonly believed to be beneficial to your health - may negatively impact chemotherapy treatment according to a new report presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago this summer.

18 Aug 2011

Advanced ROS selects RayStation for conventional 3D-CRT treatments

RaySearch Laboratories AB has received an order for its RayStation treatment planning system from Advanced Radiation Oncology Services in Nyack, New York.

18 Aug 2011

Vitamin C shows promise against Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at Lund University have discovered a new function for vitamin C. Treatment with vitamin C can dissolve the toxic protein aggregates that build up in the brain in Alzheimer's disease.

18 Aug 2011

National campaign in China aims to rectify gender imbalance

Authorities in China "have begun a national campaign to crack down on procedures used to determine a fetus' sex for anything other than medical purposes and abortions performed because a fetus is of a certain sex" in an effort to curb the country's growing gender ratio imbalance, China Daily reports.

18 Aug 2011

Milk helps children to stay hydrated during exercise than water

Active children need to be watered with milk. It's a more effective way of countering dehydration than a sports drink or water itself, say researchers at McMaster University.

18 Aug 2011

World must invest equally in bird flu prevention and response

The "reports during the past two weeks of two recent infections and another death" from H5N1 (avian) influenza "raised little concern except among public health officials," Robert Gatter, co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies and professor of law at Saint Louis University, writes in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion piece, adding that "the fact that bird flu in developing nations receives little public attention reveals that the world has become complacent about this threat."

18 Aug 2011

OrthoSensor, Stryker partner for intelligent knee surgical trial

Stryker Corporation's Orthopaedics Division and OrthoSensor, Inc., the leader in intelligent orthopaedics, today announced an agreement in which OrthoSensor will provide the OrthoSensor Knee Trial, designed for use with Stryker's Triathlon Knee System.

From Stryker 18 Aug 2011

Interests line up to guide 'super committee' decisions

The American Medical Association is among the groups taking a message to Congress — but it goes beyond trying to avoid the 2 percent cut that would be triggered if the deficit reduction panel doesn't meet its savings target. The AMA hopes to link fixing the scheduled Medicare physician payment cut to what it terms "any serious proposal" to address the nation's fiscal challenges.

18 Aug 2011

BIS monitor not superior in preventing intraoperative awareness than other alternatives

Anesthesiology researchers have shown that a device approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the risk that patients will recall their surgery does not lower the risk of the problem, known as intraoperative awareness, any more than a less expensive method.

18 Aug 2011

Conference to expand awareness about benefits of human tissue research

When you have blood taken for a test or have tissue removed for a biopsy, it may be used for medical research. While there are clear benefits to such research, medical and health care professionals need to be aware of cultural and confidentiality concerns on the part of patients.

18 Aug 2011

Long-delayed forms to provide coverage details likely to be released today

Part of the health law, these rules will lay out, among other things, a new standard form that will provide consumers who are shopping for health coverage with policy details, such as deductibles and specific costs for certain medical circumstances.

18 Aug 2011

ADA releases papers that examine dental safety net programs

The American Dental Association today released the second in a series of papers that examine the challenges and solutions to bringing good oral health to millions of Americans, including the growing population whose only possible source of dental care is the so-called oral health safety net.

18 Aug 2011

Maternal stress may disrupt masculinization of developing mouse brain

Sons of male mice exposed to prenatal stress are more sensitive to stress as adults, according to a study in the August 17 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. These findings suggest experiences in the womb can lead to individual differences in stress response that may be passed across generations.

18 Aug 2011

Pittsburgh researchers combine Viscotek GPC and Zetasizer Nano in work on novel polymers for drug delivery

Molecular weight and molecular weight distribution measurements are a basic necessity in studying the synthesis of the novel polymers being carried out by researchers at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. For the Pittsburgh team, the applications and technical expertise provided by Malvern Panalytical is a significant factor in their use of the company’s Viscotek gel permeation chromatography (GPC) system to characterize polymer molecular weight, prior to applying the Zetasizer Nano for zeta potential measurements to study inter-molecular interactions.

From Malvern Panalytical 18 Aug 2011

New collaboration for development of new malaria vaccine

"The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) today announced a new Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on support of a collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) for the development of a new vaccine against malaria," an IDRI press release states.

18 Aug 2011

New process may eliminate need for full genome sequencing for cancer patients

People at risk for a certain form of colon and other types of cancer may soon have a better chance at surviving or even avoiding the diseases, thanks to a new study done by the Intermountain Clinical Genetics Institute at LDS Hospital.

18 Aug 2011

DNDi addresses 'alarming lack' of R&D for neglected diseases

In a Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment blog post, the third part of the center's Product Development Partnership (PDP) mini-series, "Bernard Pecoul from the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) discusses their experience with partnerships to develop treatments for neglected diseases."

18 Aug 2011

Researchers to unravel how brain makes everyday prognostications

Every day we make thousands of tiny predictions - when the bus will arrive, who is knocking on the door, whether the dropped glass will break. Now, in one of the first studies of its kind, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are beginning to unravel the process by which the brain makes these everyday prognostications.

18 Aug 2011

Philadelphia program promotes health services and insurance across cultural barriers

Promotoras — volunteer "health promoters" … carry messages of health and wellness to their peers, mostly Spanish-speaking Mexicans in South Philadelphia. As the minority group least likely to have a primary-care doctor and with nearly half living beneath the poverty line, Latinos, especially recent immigrants, have challenged doctors for decades.

18 Aug 2011