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Cardiac rehab can prolong patients' lives and reduce risk of second heart attack

Twenty-eight year-old Alex Holton is an active young Torontonian, but five years ago, shortly after receiving life-saving heart surgery, Alex Holton was unsure he'd ever be active again.

28 Jul 2011

U.S. should address sex-selective abortions

The contentious nature of abortion in American politics is "distracting U.S. policymakers from what should be the real conversation in a country that leads the world in human reproductive technology: whether to allow parents to use a growing range of methods to select for characteristics like sex (or diseases that come on late in life and, perhaps one day, IQ) in their children.

28 Jul 2011

Binge drinking may precede sexual victimization in a subset of adolescents

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common outcome of sexual assault among many teenage girls, but they do not necessarily cope by binge drinking, a new study finds. When they occur in these girls, PTSD symptoms, such as unwanted recollections of the assault, decrease over time.

28 Jul 2011

Researchers draw on ontology to define pain

All over the world, patients with chronic pain struggle to express how they feel to the doctors and health-care providers who are trying to understand and treat them. Now, a University at Buffalo psychiatrist is attempting to help patients suffering from chronic pain and their doctors by drawing on ontology, the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being or existence.

28 Jul 2011

New study shows high prevalence of gout in the U.S.

A new study shows the prevalence of gout in the U.S. has risen over the last twenty years and now affects 8.3 million (4%) Americans.

28 Jul 2011

BioSante to offer and sell shares of common stock in an underwritten public offering

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it intends to offer and sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. All of the shares in the offering will be sold by BioSante.

28 Jul 2011

New enhanced MS ActiveSource for patients with multiple sclerosis

Biogen Idec today announced it has strengthened MS ActiveSource, its industry-leading suite of services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), with the addition of new resources and support programs.

28 Jul 2011

Insect virus holds key to safer stem cell therapy: Singapore scientists

The future of regenerative medicine lies in harnessing the potential of the human body to renew and repair itself. Now, scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world's first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute, have developed a new genetic engineering technique that promises safer stem cell therapy for cancer patients. Using an insect virus, the team of researchers successfully inserted a therapeutic gene into a safe site in the DNA of human embryonic stem cells without compromising the functionality of the engineered cells.

28 Jul 2011

BD to acquire Carmel Pharma

BD, a leading global medical technology company, announced today that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Carmel Pharma, Inc., a Swedish company that manufactures the PhaSeal System, the leading closed-system drug transfer device for the safe handling of hazardous drugs that are packaged in vials.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 28 Jul 2011

Viewpoints: Chambliss on reviving Gang of Six proposal; WSJ on Medicare Part D; Friedman on 'doing this right'

I joined five other senators to identify the difficult issues and make the hard, necessary decisions to address the twin challenges of our deficit and debt. ... Among other provisions, our proposal reduces the debt by $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years, stabilizes our publicly held debt by 2014, and imposes tough and honest budget enforcement.

28 Jul 2011

UNICEF in new African vaccine drive

UNICEF (UN Children's Fund), has launched a massive vaccination campaign across the Horn of Africa to protect 2.5 million children against diseases like measles, which can be deadly for malnourished children. This drive would include a strategy to vaccinate every child in Somalia (under the age of 15) against measles.

27 Jul 2011

Britain’s prescription drug use statistics revealed

According to latest NHS figures number of prescriptions dispensed has soared by 70 per cent over the last decade. Every man, woman and child in the country received on average 17.8 prescription items in 2010. The vast majority went to those aged over 60, who received 42.4 items each in 2007.

27 Jul 2011

Dense breasts raise risk of breast cancer

A new study supported by the National Cancer Institute found a higher cancer risk for women with dense breasts. It's the tissue in women's breast that can differ by heredity, from more fatty to more dense tissue. Fatty tissue shows up dark on a mammogram, but fibrous or dense tissue shows up white. So do small tumors, which can make them hard to find. The study was published in the July 27 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

27 Jul 2011

Breast cancer survival and lymph nodes

A large new study has found that a lymph node-sparing test hailed as revolutionary for its conservative approach does not lead to longer survival times for women undergoing lumpectomies whose early-stage breast cancer has spread microscopically.

27 Jul 2011

U.S. Judge approves federal funding for embryonic research

Federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research is now legal in the United States. Chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Royce Lamberth has ruled on the case Sherley et al. v. Sebelius, in favor of hESC research. This overturns an existing law that prohibits the government from funding research that destroys the embryo.

27 Jul 2011

A healthier ‘Happy Meal’ on the way

McDonald’s Happy Meal, under the pressure from health advocates, will now become a little more healthy. The company announced Tuesday that it would replace more than halve the amount of French fries and add fruit to its popular children’s meal in an effort to reduce the overall calorie count by 20 percent. A toy will still come with each Happy Meal despite criticism that the trinkets, often with tie-ins to movies, foster a powerful connection between children and the often calorie-laden meals.

27 Jul 2011

No link between cell phone use and increased risk for brain cancer: European study

A new study that looked at cell phone users under the age of 20 found no link between cell phone use and an increased risk for brain cancer. Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland, studied data collected in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

27 Jul 2011

Thermo Fisher Scientific second quarter revenues increase 12% to record $2.90 billion

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended July 2, 2011.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 27 Jul 2011

FDA accepts peginesatide NDA for anemia associated with CKD

Affymax, Inc. and Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc., U.S., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for review the New Drug Application (NDA) for peginesatide (formerly known as Hematide™) for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adult patients on dialysis.

27 Jul 2011

Recruitment complete in Aeterna Zentaris' perifosine Phase 3 trial for advanced colorectal cancer

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. today announced the completion of patient recruitment for the ongoing Phase 3 trial with perifosine in refractory advanced colorectal cancer.

27 Jul 2011