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Threat of agricultural pesticides to vultures may also risk human health

While vultures across Asia teeter on the brink of extinction, the vultures of Cambodia are increasing in number, providing a beacon of hope for these threatened scavengers, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project.

4 Sep 2010

Kavli Day 2010 at Norwegian University of Science and Technology

In celebration of Kavli Prize Week, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Kavli Foundation will hold a series of lectures and events on 9 September 2010 in Trondheim, Norway at the NTNU campus. The event features a number of 2010 Kavli Prize Laureates. The festivities continue after the official celebration, with two symposia sponsored by NTNU, one in neuroscience and one in nanoscience.

4 Sep 2010

PennHIP radiographic method may hold potential to evaluate human susceptibility to hip dysplasia

A study comparing a University of Pennsylvania method for evaluating a dog's susceptibility to hip dysplasia to the traditional American method has shown that 80 percent of dogs judged to be normal by the traditional method are actually at risk for developing osteoarthritis and hip dysplasia, according to the Penn method.

4 Sep 2010

New VA regulation helps to get recognition, treatment for three disorders in Agent Orange exposure

A new VA regulation adding three health conditions to the list of those presumed to have been caused by exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War was published this week. Pending a 60-day congressional review, the regulation will make some 200,000 veterans eligible for VA benefits over the next year and a half.

4 Sep 2010

Companies need new, better tools for measuring employee productivity: Article

Can investing in employee health improve the bottom line by making workers more productive? To answer that question, companies need new and better tools for measuring employee productivity, according to an article in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

4 Sep 2010

Fundraising events in September in support of pulmonary fibrosis research

The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) today announced its September schedule of fundraising events as part of its ongoing campaign to support the efforts of patients and families to raise new funds for pulmonary fibrosis (PF) research.

4 Sep 2010

Challenges Chief Medical Officers face in clinical trial operations

“One of the major issues that Chief Medical Officers (CMO) encounter in their day to day practice is the variety of countries that they deal with and the different regulatory issues that they need to solve.”

4 Sep 2010

Human endogenous retroviruses may provide insight evidence to HIV diagnosis

Why is it so hard to isolate and purify human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Why has no one been able to see, by electron microscopy, a single HIV particle in the blood of AIDS patients, even those who have a "high viral load" Why does HIV seem to mutate with startling rapidity. AIDS researchers have not been able to come up with answers to these questions.

4 Sep 2010

Aetna to help members access care in storm-impacted areas

Aetna is making it easier for members who may be impacted by Hurricane Earl to refill prescriptions and access employee assistance and behavioral health programs. The company is monitoring the situation carefully, and will re-evaluate its medical and dental policies for members as necessary to help them access care in the storm-impacted areas along the East coast.

4 Sep 2010

Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat malaria in humans

An experimental malaria drug was shown to effectively treat the disease in mice with only a single dose, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/2). The new drug, known as NITD609, "represents an entirely new class of medicines to treat malaria ... Human trials, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG, could begin later this year," the Wall Street Journal writes (Naik, 9/3).

4 Sep 2010

MIT develops safer, simpler way to attach phosphorus to organic compounds

Phosphorus, a mineral element found in rocks and bone, is a critical ingredient in fertilizers, pesticides, detergents and other industrial and household chemicals. Once phosphorus is mined from rocks, getting it into these products is hazardous and expensive, and chemists have been trying to streamline the process for decades.

4 Sep 2010

Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists disagree with NPATCH's support on anesthesia administration

"The Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) strongly disagrees with NPATCH's support for allowing nurses to administer anesthesia without physician supervision.

4 Sep 2010

Almost half of all Americans use prescription drugs each month

Nearly half of all Americans used at least one prescription drug per month in 2008, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bloomberg reports. That's a 10 percent increase over the preceding decade. Over that time, yearly spending by Americans on drugs doubled to $234 billion. "The two biggest-sellers last year were Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor for high cholesterol and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s clot-buster, Plavix.

4 Sep 2010

At U.N. MDG summit, ministers will propose world currency tax to fund development aid

"A group of 60 nations, including France, Britain and Japan, will propose at the U.N. [summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)] this month that a tax be introduced on international currency transactions to raise funds for development aid, ministers said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Irish, 9/1).

4 Sep 2010

PELC to conduct annual survey on physicians in health care organizations

Physician Executive Leadership Center (PELC), the nation's only executive search firm focused solely on the recruitment and placement of physicians in executive leadership positions, is conducting their annual survey of physicians serving in leadership positions in health care organizations.

4 Sep 2010

Decline in ownership of life insurance

This week an insurance research firm reported that ownership in life insurance has reached a 50-year low, with nearly a third of U.S. households not having a form of this financial protection. As the benefits industry begins Life Insurance Awareness Month in September, Unum (NYSE: UNM) shares the concern that this decline exposes working Americans to financial uncertainty.

4 Sep 2010

Research provides new framework for quantifying risk of avian-borne diseases

In 2005 an outbreak of the H5N1 'bird flu' virus in South East Asia led to widespread fear with predictions that the intercontinental migration of wild birds could lead to global pandemic.

4 Sep 2010

IAS urges to review guidelines for implementing HIV prevention and care

Following the imprisonment of Maxim Popov in April 2010, sentenced to 7 years jail primarily for the promotion of HIV prevention efforts in Uzbekistan, the International AIDS Society (IAS) notes with alarm the detention of a medial practitioner working in HIV prevention in Ukraine.

4 Sep 2010

New insight into abnormalities in cancer cells

A basic requirement for growth and life of a multicellular organism is the ability of its cells to divide. Chromosomes in the cells duplicate and are then distributed among the daughter cells. This distribution is organized by a protein complex made up of several hundred different proteins, called the centrosome. In cancer cells, the centrosome often assumes an unnatural shape or is present in uncontrolled numbers. The reasons for this were previously largely unknown.

4 Sep 2010

CMS to withdraw provisions of Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement formula under AMP rule: NACDS, NCPA

We are pleased that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed a rule that would withdraw provisions of what is known as the Medicaid average manufacturer price rule. The proposed rule calls for the withdrawal of existing provisions that define AMP, that determine the calculation of federal upper limits, and that define 'multiple source drug.'

4 Sep 2010