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Children's Medical Center employees, volunteers and vendors to get free flu shots

For the first time, Children's Medical Center will require all employees, contractors, volunteers and vendors to get influenza vaccinations this fall to protect the health and safety of the hospital's patients.

22 Sep 2011

New and better understanding of blood vessel growth and angiogenesis in cancer

A new and better understanding of blood vessel growth and vascular development (angiogenesis) in cancer has been made possible by research carried out by a team of scientists from Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of Florida, Harvard University, Yale University and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

22 Sep 2011

Looking at the bigger picture of corruption in India's health sector

Milan Vaishnav, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University in New York who also serves as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI) at Georgetown University, examines the issue of health sector corruption in India's Uttar Pradesh (UP) state, and in the country at large, in a post in the CGD's "Global Health Policy" blog.

22 Sep 2011

Vaccinating infants against rotavirus decreases health care use and treatment costs

Vaccinating infants against rotavirus has resulted in dramatic decreases in health care use and treatment costs for diarrhea-related illness in U.S. infants and young children, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study is published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

22 Sep 2011

WHO mandated to lead global response against NCDs but funding lacking

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, writes that the "main outcome" of the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is an assignment for the WHO "to lead the global response to NCDs, develop a monitoring and evaluation framework, provide technical assistance and track progress towards global targets."

22 Sep 2011

First ever domino liver transplant

For the first time ever, a surgical team led by Alan Hemming, MD, has successfully performed a domino transplant using a liver with a rare genetic disorder called methylmalonic acidemia.

22 Sep 2011

Health officials in Africa address NCDs in addition to HIV/AIDS epidemic

PlusNews examines how health officials are addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa, where "countries grappling with HIV prevalence are now faced with rising epidemics of chronic diseases."

22 Sep 2011

Women's position in the household may influence sexual activity

In Sub-Saharan Africa, women who are empowered to make household decisions tend to have sex less often. This is according to a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They examined the relationships between married women's autonomy and the time since most recent sexual intercourse and found that women's position in their household may influence sexual activity.

22 Sep 2011

UNFPA working to ensure health of future generations in Dadaab refugee camps

The health care system in the refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, which were established "long ago," are "currently challenged and stretched by the recent influx of refugees," UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimihen writes in this BMJ Group Blogs entry, noting that efforts are underway "to strengthen the existing system with supplies and human resources at clinic and outreach levels" to increase access.

22 Sep 2011

Mayo Clinic to develop Global Smoke-Free Worksite Challenge

Mayo Clinic announced today at the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in New York City its partnership with other organizations to develop a Global Smoke-Free Worksite Challenge.

22 Sep 2011

Physician leader: Medical resident training should focus on cost-conscious care

"Why didn't you order test X?" That question, posed routinely to residents by faculty members at teaching hospitals, bears some of the blame for the high and unsustainable cost of U.S. health care, writes a leader of the American College of Physicians in the September 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

22 Sep 2011

Zymeworks announces completion of $8.1M financing

Zymeworks Inc., a privately held biotherapeutics company focused on the development of best-in-class antibody and next generation protein-based therapeutics, today announced the completion of a financing totaling $8.1 million.

22 Sep 2011

USAID launches 'FWD' campaign to raise awareness of famine, drought in Horn of Africa

The PBS NewsHour blog "The Rundown" features an interview with USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, in which he discusses a new website initiative called "FWD," "aimed at giving viewers a better sense of the scope of the famine in the Horn of Africa -- its worst in more than 60 years." The site includes infographics and data maps "intended to contextualize the problem by showing the recent increase in food prices, where internally displaced peoples camps are located, and where various aid groups are operating," according to the blog.

22 Sep 2011

MD Anderson professor wins 2011 Julie and Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in Prevention

Lorna McNeill, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2011 Julie and Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in Prevention.

22 Sep 2011

Leaders address nutrition on sidelines of U.N. NCD meeting

On the sidelines of the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) on Tuesday, "representatives of governments, civil society and the private sector joined United Nations agencies ... to emphasize the importance of good nutrition, which is vital not only for human health but also for national economic and social development," the U.N. News Centre reports.

22 Sep 2011

New portable test can quickly and economically detect adulterated heparin

Scientists are reporting refinement of a new test that promises to help assure the safety of supplies of heparin, the blood thinner taken by millions of people worldwide each year to prevent blood clots.

22 Sep 2011

Four insurers may help provide answers to health cost puzzle

Four major health insurers announced plans yesterday to pool their health care claims data into a single database to enable researchers to mine for information about trends in costs, utilization and intensity of care.

22 Sep 2011

Quidel, Life Technologies to distribute and commercialize molecular diagnostics in Europe

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that the company has signed an agreement with Quidel Corporation to distribute and commercialize molecular diagnostic assays for the European market.

22 Sep 2011

Addressing the exclusion of mental health from the MDGs

PRI's "The World" highlights the state of mental health care in Uganda in an examination of how the exclusion of mental health from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has, according to some advocates, held back mental health as a global health issue. Julius Kayiira, director of Mental Health Uganda, an organization that provides social support, job training and care to people with mental illness, "says organizations like his face an enormous funding gap, and he blames that gap, in part, on the United Nations," according to "The World."

22 Sep 2011

Virginia G. Piper, TGen and Scottsdale Healthcare begin AP26113 Phase 1 study in NSCLC

Patients at Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials are the first in the nation to participate in a clinical trial to determine the safety, tolerability and preliminary activity of an investigational drug that targets cell-signaling proteins associated with the most common form of lung cancer, as well as other forms of cancer such as lymphomas and neuroblastoma.

22 Sep 2011