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Medicines Patent Pool can help many but has potential limitations for AIDS drug access in middle-income countries

In a post on the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog, author and journalist Tina Rosenberg writes about the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and describes how it can help purchase AIDS drugs for "vast numbers of people."

25 Jul 2011

First high-resolution genetic maps for African American populations

UCLA life scientists and colleagues have produced one of the first high-resolution genetic maps for African American populations. A genetic map reveals the precise locations across the genome where DNA from a person's father and mother have been stitched together through a biological process called "recombination." This process results in new genetic combinations that are then passed on to the person's children.

25 Jul 2011

Specific yeast protein can promote spontaneous prion formation

It's a chicken and egg question. Where do the infectious protein particles called prions come from? Essentially clumps of misfolded proteins, prions cause neurodegenerative disorders, such as mad cow/Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, in humans and animals.

25 Jul 2011

Eating location, food source impact daily energy intake for children

As childhood obesity rises and the American diet shifts towards increasing consumption of foods eaten or prepared outside of the home, concerns about the nutritional quality and the total consumption of such foods are also increasing.

25 Jul 2011

Aspen Dental to inaugurate new office in Davenport, Iowa

Patients looking for a dentist in Davenport, Iowa now have a new dental care provider option with the opening of a new Aspen Dental office this month. The new practice, which opens on July 28 at 5270 Elmore Avenue, will provide dental services that range from dentures and preventive care to general dentistry and restoration.

25 Jul 2011

PNH patients applaud pan-Canadian approach to providing equitable access to Soliris

The Canadian Association of PNH Patients applauds governments across Canada for their landmark agreement to provide public access to Soliris (eculizumab), a life-saving treatment for the ultra-rare blood disease known as paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria.

25 Jul 2011

GlaxoSmithKline files suit against Watson over generic JALYN

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today confirmed that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc. - Florida, filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market dutasteride and tamsulosin hydrochloride capsules.

25 Jul 2011

Nearly 720,000 children are at risk of death across the Horn of Africa

With famine now declared in two regions of Southern Somalia and malnutrition rates at emergency levels in arid and semi-arid regions across the Horn of Africa, nearly 720,000 children are at risk of death without urgent assistance.

25 Jul 2011

MHCC, U of C partner to evaluate 'The Mind Course' for medical students

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has partnered with the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine to evaluate a special course for second year medical students which aims to reduce the prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illness.

25 Jul 2011

Al-Shabab says ban on aid groups in Somalia remains in place; WFP announces resumption of airlifts

Two weeks after lifting a ban on certain aid groups providing assistance in Somalia, the militant Islamist group al-Shabab "has announced that the ban remains in place" and said that the U.N.'s declaration of famine in two regions of the country was being used as "propaganda," Al Jazeera reports.

25 Jul 2011

New method for detecting breast cancer at 'stage 0'

RNL Natural Co., Ltd, a leading biotech company specialized in adult stem cell therapeutics affiliated with RNL BIO Co., Ltd., introduced on June 22, 2011 a new method of detecting breast cancer as early as at 'stage 0' through breath VOCs.

25 Jul 2011

Tips for children with allergies or asthma

The new school year means new clothes, new classes, new teachers - and the same old misery due to sneezing and wheezing for children who have allergies or asthma. From the class hamster to dust mites residing in carpet to germs from cold and flu viruses, asthma and allergy triggers lurk throughout the classroom.

25 Jul 2011

Large clinical trial to test new device for detecting Barrett's oesophagus

CANCER RESEARCH UK has launched a large multi-centre trial to test a new device for detecting Barrett's oesophagus - a condition that puts sufferers at increased risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus, one of the most deadly cancers.

25 Jul 2011

Janssen receives FDA Complete Response letter for SIMPONI sBLA to treat RA

Janssen Biotech, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Complete Response letter for its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for SIMPONI.

25 Jul 2011

President Obama: 'We have run out of time' to resolve debt ceiling crisis

"In the end, we couldn't connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country," Boehner said in a letter to colleagues. He said Mr. Obama "is emphatic that taxes have to be raised" and "adamant that we cannot make fundamental changes to our entitlement programs."

25 Jul 2011

Catholic Church apologizes for past forced adoption practices

According to the head of the healthcare arm of the Catholic Church, they are prepared to apologize to the victims of forced adoption practices dating back 50 years. The Catholic Health Australia admits that “a small number” of church-run hospitals and women's homes maintained unwanted adoption practices from the 1950s to the 1970s.

24 Jul 2011

Many smokers disbelieve health risk warnings: Survey

A new survey has revealed that nearly a third of smokers believe the health effects of smoking are exaggerated. Also less than four in 10 smokers are able to identify emphysema as a health effect of smoking. The survey was conducted over phone by the Cancer Council and included 861 smokers in 2009. The results were collated this year.

24 Jul 2011

Hendra virus continues in Queensland

Experts have confirmed the eighth outbreak of the deadly Hendra virus in Queensland in a horse on the western Darling Downs. It is not known yet if a large number of people have been exposed to the sick animal, with passers-by and neighbours possibly having stroked it on the Chinchilla property where it lived as a pet.

24 Jul 2011

Circumcision prevents HIV transmission & cocktail of anti-HIV drugs prolong life

Reports came in last Wednesday that circumcision reduces transmission of HIV, in regions where transmission is high. To researchers, this procedure proves to be a cost-effective way to handle the pandemic. In South Africa, a study reported that men with circumcisions reduced new HIV infections by 76%.

24 Jul 2011

U.S. amends human research rules

The U.S. Government has proposed major changes in the rules covering research involving human subjects. Officials believe this would strengthen protections while reducing red tape that can impede studies. The experts cited vastly altered research climate as reasons for these recommendations. New features include genomics studies using patients’ DNA samples, the use of the Internet and a growing reliance on studies that take place at many sites at once. The new rules cover topics like the informed consent that research participants must provide and the institutional review boards that oversee research at universities and hospitals.

24 Jul 2011