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Menstruation raises risk of injuries while pills protect: Study

Scientists have found that a woman's risk of injuring her knees, feet and ankles is significantly heightened at the beginning and middle of her period. But the risk is low for women on contraceptive pills they say.

28 Apr 2011

Calls for improvement of hospital food by Australian Medical Association

According to the Australian Medical Association (AMA) the standards of meals must improve in public hospitals in South Australia or more patients will be discharged in a malnourished state. It says nutrition is being addressed but the overall standard of meals is not high enough. They added that for elderly patients there are simple obstacles such as hard-to-open food packaging.

28 Apr 2011

Legislative approaches needed to address obesity epidemic in Canada

With the increase in numbers of overweight children and young adults, Canada and other developed countries are facing an obesity epidemic and legislative approaches are required to address this issue, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

28 Apr 2011

Anglican Church’s take on population growth: Stop baby bonus

An Anglican Church body has urged authorities to scrap the baby bonus to control population growth. The church's key advisory group wants the Gillard Government to scrap public incentives that increase the birth rate and to cut immigration. It has described population growth as a taboo subject and the “elephant in the room”.

28 Apr 2011

Non-communicable diseases responsible for more than half of deaths worldwide, WHO report says

Chronic and non-communicable illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, are at epidemic proportions and cause more deaths worldwide than all other diseases combined, the WHO said in a report released Wednesday, Reuters reports.

28 Apr 2011

ASTRO develops new thoracic radiotherapy guideline

The American Society for Radiation Oncology has developed a guideline for the use of external beam radiation therapy, endobronchial brachytherapy and concurrent chemotherapy to palliate thoracic symptoms caused by advanced lung cancer. The guideline will be published in Practical Radiation Oncology, an official journal of ASTRO.

28 Apr 2011

Frailty increases exponentially with age throughout adult life span

The prevalence of frailty, which is linked to earlier death, increases throughout adulthood as people age and not just after age 65, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Relatively good fitness levels at all ages were predictive of lower mortality and less reliance on health care services.

28 Apr 2011

IAHF, Global Bridges launch tobacco treatment training for Mexico health care providers

Global Bridges, a healthcare alliance for tobacco dependence treatment based at Mayo Clinic, and its regional partner, the InterAmerican Heart Foundation in Dallas, Texas, announced today the first of a series of training courses for health care providers in Latin America on how to successfully treat tobacco users.

28 Apr 2011

IL28B gene plays a key role in spontaneous HCV clearance in infants

New research shows that high maternal viral load and co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus are the only risk factors associated with vertical transmission of the hepatitis C virus.

28 Apr 2011

Seattle BioMed study to identify biomarkers for malaria vaccine design

In the first study of its type in the malaria field, Seattle BioMed has been awarded an $8.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify biomarkers that will allow malaria vaccine design based on robust predictors of protective immunity.

28 Apr 2011

Scientists weaken long-term memory

Could veterans of war, rape victims and other people who have seen horrific crimes someday have the traumatic memories that haunt them weakened in their brains? In a new study, UCLA life scientists report a discovery that may make the reduction of such memories a reality.

28 Apr 2011

Nursing environment linked to improved patient outcomes

Better working conditions and better staffing of nurses can significantly improve the care of patients with serious conditions, according to the latest nurse labor study by the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

28 Apr 2011

Tsetse fly mapping distribution model may help solve sleeping sickness mystery

Since before the 1300s, people living in many parts of Africa have been dying from a disease known as sleeping sickness. Despite public health campaigns that explain ways to stop infection—primarily by killing the disease-spreading tsetse fly—successful eradication has remained out of reach. That's partly because epidemiologists can't predict where cases will emerge next.

28 Apr 2011

Blueberries can protect against heart disease and cancer

The first analysis of the healthful antioxidant content of blueberries that grow wild in Mexico, Central and South America concludes that some of these fruits have even more healthful antioxidants than the blueberries - already renowned as "super fruits" - sold throughout the United States.

28 Apr 2011

Scientists identify new risk gene variant for depression

Max Planck scientists uncover surprising genetic links. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich have compared the genomes of a total of 4,088 patients and 11,001 healthy control subjects from all over the world and identified a new risk gene variant for depression.

28 Apr 2011

The Lancet publishes phase 3 clinical study data on VIVITROL for treatment of opioid dependence

Alkermes, Inc. today announced that results from the phase 3 clinical study of VIVITROL® (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) in opioid dependence have been published by The Lancet. The six-month, phase 3 trial met its primary endpoint and showed significantly greater opioid-free weeks among patients treated with VIVITROL, compared to placebo.

28 Apr 2011

NIH awards UH with $361,000 grant for chikungunya vaccine study

It is spread to humans by mosquito bites, causing arthritic symptoms so severe that some victims can't even walk. While rarely fatal, the effects of the chikungunya virus can last up to a year.

28 Apr 2011

Report: Health law will make insurance more affordable to most

Meanwhile, CQ HealthBeat reports that the Department of Health and Human Services is bracing for a significant number of public comments regarding the health law's essential benefits provision.

28 Apr 2011

Resection arthroplasty more effective for patients with diabetic foot ulcers

A recent study published in the March issue of Foot & Ankle International, the official scientific journal of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society describes a possible amputation alternative for patients with neuropathic ulceration of the first metatarsophalangeal or big toe joint.

28 Apr 2011

Janssen, Beactica enter drug discovery agreement

Beactica, the leading Swedish fragment-based drug discovery company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Janssen Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.

28 Apr 2011