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Response to PLX4032 drug short lived in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma patients

Researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that melanoma patients whose cancers are caused by mutation of the BRAF gene become resistant to a promising targeted treatment through another genetic mutation or the overexpression of a cell surface protein, both driving survival of the cancer and accounting for relapse.

25 Nov 2010

New insurers rule meets resistance from Florida, Iowa

Florida officials plan to ask for a bye on the new health law's requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care, and refund policyholders if they fall short, the St. Petersburg Times reports.

25 Nov 2010

New drug research, incidence rates and Pope's comments brighten AIDS outlook

The Associated Press: "In the nearly 30 years the AIDS epidemic has raged, there has never been a more hopeful day than this. Three striking developments took place Tuesday: U.N. officials said new HIV cases are dropping dramatically worldwide. A study showed that a daily pill already on pharmacy shelves could help prevent new infections in gay men. And the pope opened the way for the use of condoms to prevent AIDS" (Marchione, 11/23).

25 Nov 2010

Scientists reveal long-standing mystery about HIV infection

Scientists at Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology have solved a long-standing mystery about HIV infection-namely how HIV promotes the death of CD4 T cells.

25 Nov 2010

Bio-Optronics to showcase workflow software solutions at RSNA annual meet

Bio-Optronics, Inc. will be showcasing its workflow software solutions at this year's Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago, Illinois, November 28 to December 3. Visit Booth 8710 for demonstrations of Momentum™ automated physician and staff scheduling and intelligent patient scheduling, and day-of-care workflow solutions.

25 Nov 2010

Obama administration clashes with insurers over controlling costs

Better coverage. Health insurance premiums lower than they would have been otherwise. Millions of Americans eligible for rebates in just a little over a year.

25 Nov 2010

New NIVI tissue-imaging technique can accurately detect cancer cells

The long, anxious wait for biopsy results could soon be over, thanks to a tissue-imaging technique developed at the University of Illinois.

25 Nov 2010

USAID's Shah announces Bureau for Food Security; Bread for the World releases 2011 Hunger Report

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah announced on Monday the creation of a Bureau for Food Security within the agency "to manage the Obama administration's Feed the Future initiative, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to turn over to USAID," National Journal Daily reports.

25 Nov 2010

New report from anti-poverty coalition Ontario Campaign 2000

Ontario's child poverty rate is on the rise with more than 1 in every 6 children growing up in a low income household, says a new report from the anti-poverty coalition Ontario Campaign 2000. The Ontario government needs to step up investment or it will not meet its target to cut child poverty by 25% by 2013.

25 Nov 2010

Researchers discover cells’ response to sour tastes

This Thanksgiving, when you bite into the cranberry sauce and the tartness smacks your tongue as hard as that snide comment from your sister, consider the power of sour. Neurobiology researchers at the University of Southern California have made a surprising discovery about how some cells respond to sour tastes.

25 Nov 2010

ADS MedicsDocAssistant V.5.2 EHR achieves ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification

Advanced Data Systems Corporation (ADS) announced today that MedicsDocAssistant Version 5.2 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as an EHR Module on November 19, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable Eligible Provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

25 Nov 2010

Fla. GOP takes aim at health law; Hawaii considers cuts in mental health services

Florida Republican lawmakers are reviving a proposed constitutional amendment that takes aim at a major part of the federal health overhaul with Senate President Mike Haridopolos planning the unusual step of sponsoring the proposal himself.

24 Nov 2010

Medicaid: Texas GOP activists push to drop the program; Fla. nurse practitioners vie for larger role

Dallas Morning News: "Tea party members and other conservative activists pushed state lawmakers Tuesday to vote to nullify the federal health care law and get out of Medicaid, though one GOP senator said the largely federally funded program pays for nursing home care for the elderly and disabled and is 'not all bad.' … Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina and dozens of others said the Legislature should declare the federal law void and also refuse to set up a state health insurance exchange.

24 Nov 2010

E. coli host bacterium produces antibiotic erythromycin A

Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have reported the first successful production of the antibiotic erythromycin A, and two variations, using E. coli as the production host.

24 Nov 2010

Breastfeeding while taking epilepsy drugs may not affect child's IQ

New research from the Emory University School of Medicine offers reassurance for nursing mothers with epilepsy. According to a study published in the November 24 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, breastfeeding a baby while taking a seizure medication may have no harmful effect on the child's IQ later in life.

24 Nov 2010

Opinions: The Pope and condoms; fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa; malaria eradication or control; health care workers; foreign aid in Haiti

Reflecting on Pope Benedict XVI's recent statements regarding the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV, Michael Gerson writes in a Washington Post column.

24 Nov 2010

Researchers find IGF1 topical gel can treat sudden sensorineural hearing loss

A new treatment has been developed for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), a condition that causes deafness in 40,000 Americans each year, usually in early middle-age.

24 Nov 2010

Chronic high fat cholesterol diet may lead to Alzheimer's disease

Research from the Laboratory of Psychiatry and Experimental Alzheimers Research at the Medical University Innsbruck (Austria) demonstrated that chronic high fat cholesterol diet in rats exhibited pathologies similar to Alzheimer's disease. The results were published in Molecular Cellular Neuroscience with lead author Dr. Christian Humpel. The study was co-authored by PhD students, Celine Ullrich and Michael Pirchl, from the same Laboratory.

24 Nov 2010

Discovery may lead to new generation of drugs to minimize heart attack risk

An international team led by researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge has announced a breakthrough in identifying people at risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots that can lead to heart attack.

24 Nov 2010

End-of-life care raises difficult questions about quality issues

PBS Frontline has kicked off a series called Facing Death, which explores the way Americans die, issues around extending life or prolonging death, uncertainty, talking about the end of life and modern medicine's trade offs.

24 Nov 2010