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Mental-health treatment could reduce pain in osteoarthritis patients: Study

How much pain osteoarthritis sufferers feel is directly related to their mental health, a new study by researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine has found. In the study, people with better mental health felt less pain, and people with worse mental health felt more.

31 Jul 2010

Sodium Working Group recommends reducing sodium intake among Canadians

The federally-mandated Sodium Working Group has released the Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada. The three-pronged strategy contains six over-arching and 27 specific recommendations for a population health strategy for reducing sodium intake among Canadians.

31 Jul 2010

High-risk health insurance pool rules bar abortions, limit patient costs

"Elective abortions will be prohibited and people with pre-existing conditions will be able to get comprehensive benefits without paying any more than healthy people, under new federal regulations for high-risk health insurance pools released today by the Obama administration" (Galewitz, 7/30).

31 Jul 2010

QVC organizes special two-hour "designer charity sale" to benefit OCRF

"Charity chic" is back in style this summer as QVC once again joins forces with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund to broadcast QVC Presents Super Saturday Live, benefiting OCRF.

31 Jul 2010

Mylan prices $300 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes due 2020

Mylan Inc. today announced that it priced $300 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes due 2020 at an issue price of 105.5% with a coupon of 7.875%, or an effective yield to maturity of 7.087%. The notes are being offered as additional notes under an existing indenture under which Mylan issued $700 million aggregate principal amount of 7.875% Senior Notes due 2020 on May 19, 2010. The notes to be issued in this offering and the previously issued 7.875% Senior Notes due 2020 will be treated as a single class of notes under the indenture.

31 Jul 2010

Scientists reveal origins of second heart field in vertebrates

Using the model organism Ciona intestinalis, commonly known as the sea squirt, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have uncovered the origins of the second heart field in vertebrates.

31 Jul 2010

Consumers who have MMS should stop using it immediately, FDA warns

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to take Miracle Mineral Solution, an oral liquid solution also known as "Miracle Mineral Supplement" or "MMS." The product, when used as directed, produces an industrial bleach that can cause serious harm to health.

31 Jul 2010

Nashville hospitals cut costs to keep up revenues, despite fewer patients

"Over the past year and a half, keeping costs in check has helped the large hospital chains based in the Nashville area to increase quarterly earnings, even when seeing fewer patients come through their doors," The Tennessean reports. "The recent second quarter was no different. Cost controls fueled an 18 percent increase in net income at Franklin-based Community Health Systems, despite a decline in the number of patients. HCA Inc. saw fewer inpatient visits, and higher interest expense kept its pre-tax profits flat.

31 Jul 2010

Self assembly approaches to improve DNA sequencing

In an innovation critical to improved DNA sequencing, a markedly slower transmission of DNA through nanopores has been achieved by a team led by Sandia National Laboratories researchers.Solid-state nanopores sculpted from silicon dioxide are generally straight, tiny tunnels more than a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They are used as sensors to detect and characterize DNA, RNA and proteins. But these materials shoot through such holes so rapidly that sequencing the DNA passing through them, for example, is a problem.

31 Jul 2010

Florida judge blocks state constitutional amendment on federal health law

A Leon County circuit judge today blocked a proposed [state] constitutional amendment that targets the federal health-reform law, saying Florida Republican lawmakers included wording in the proposal that would mislead voters. Judge James O. Shelfer said the proposal --- dubbed by lawmakers as the 'Health Care Freedom' amendment --- should not go on the November ballot. He described wording in a ballot summary as 'manifestly misleading.'

31 Jul 2010

Circuit Court Judge removes Amendment 9 from November ballot

Today, Circuit Court Judge James Shelfer removed Amendment 9—modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act now proposed in 42 states—from the November ballot. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is expected to appeal to Florida's Supreme Court.

31 Jul 2010

Delta Dental launches updated website for Spanish-language speakers

Spanish-language speakers can now more easily find up-to-date oral health information and personal benefit details, thanks to an updated website launched by a group of Delta Dental companies.

31 Jul 2010

Idaho Technology signs licensing agreement with E. I. du Pont de Nemours

Idaho Technology, Inc. has signed a licensing agreement with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company acting through its DuPont Qualicon Business covering reagents or methods using SYBR® Green I technology and post-PCR melting curve analysis.

31 Jul 2010

HealthSouth plans new rehabilitation hospital in northwest Houston

HealthSouth Corporation today announced plans to begin construction of a new 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in the Cypress area of northwest Houston in the fourth quarter. In connection with such plans, HealthSouth has signed a contract to purchase a 6-acre tract of land from an affiliate of Caldwell Companies, based in Houston. The land is located on the northeast corner of Highway 290 and FM 1960 in Houston.

31 Jul 2010

Patients with malignant gastrointestinal disease show high prevalence of malnutrition

Malnutrition is an important factor, influencing both morbidity and recovery after surgery. The early detection of nutritional risk would allow early intervention, which may prevent later complications. A traditional nutritional assessment often includes dietary and medical evaluations to identify significant weight loss over time, significantly low or high body weight(BW), skinfold thickness, serum nutritional factor levels and functional measurements of muscle strength.

31 Jul 2010

Researchers receive $4.7M contract to develop drugs to improve soldiers' performance at high altitude

Jonathan Stamler, MD, Director of the Institute for Transformative Molecular Medicine and the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Innovation at the Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Harrington-McLaughlin Heart & Vascular Institute, has recently received a $4.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to fund the development of a new class of drugs that will selectively dilate blood cells under hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the body's tissues) and thereby enhance soldiers' performance at high altitude.

31 Jul 2010

Blumenthal defends hew health IT rules to Utah leaders

David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health information technology for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "defended the administration's new plans against critics who say the watered-down rules miss an opportunity to lower costs and improve patient care," The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

31 Jul 2010

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, particularly in China. However, HCC remains one of the more difficult cancers to treat. It is important to screen for new anti-cancer drugs. A number of dietary compounds possess anti-cancer properties. These dietary compounds may modify the activity of specific targets that control cell proliferation and apoptosis. Galangin could inhibit the methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activity of CYP1A2, CYP1A1 and P-form phenolsulfotransferase.

31 Jul 2010

Abortion rights supporters, children's groups, GOP pushing back on various health law provisions

"Elective abortions will be prohibited and people with pre-existing conditions will be able to get comprehensive benefits without paying any more than healthy people, under new federal regulations for high-risk health insurance pools released ... by the Obama administration," according to Kaiser Health News.

31 Jul 2010

Study finds ST131 a major cause of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli infections

The new strain, ST131, was a major cause of serious antimicrobial-resistant E. coli infections in the United States in 2007, researchers found. This strain has been reported in multiple countries and encountered all over the United States. In the study, researchers analyzed resistant E. coli isolates collected during 2007 from hospitalized patients across the country. They identified 54 ST131 isolates, which accounted for 67 percent to 69 percent of E. coli isolates exhibiting fluoroquinolone or extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance.

31 Jul 2010