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CIHR grants $2.5 million to probe impact of physical activity on breast cancer

Over the next five years, a diverse, multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by Dr. Kerry Courneya of the University of Alberta and Dr. Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services will conduct a series of five large research projects to probe the impacts of physical activity on breast cancer thanks to a $2.5 million team grant over five years from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

28 Jul 2010

AirStrip Remote Patient Monitoring solution receives FDA marketing clearance

AirStrip Technologies, a pioneer in mobile medical software applications, today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market the AirStrip Remote Patient Monitoring solution (RPM), including AirStrip RPM CRITICAL CARE and AirStrip RPM CARDIOLOGY.

28 Jul 2010

Dengue fever emerges as major health threat in Gulf coast cities

Several cases of dengue fever, a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of urban dwelling Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, have recently been reported in the continental United States. Prevalent in Central America and the Caribbean, dengue fever's most common symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and body aches lasting several days. The disease's more threatening form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause internal bleeding, loss of blood pressure, and death. Over the past five years, outbreaks of both forms of the disease have been reported in Texas and Florida.

28 Jul 2010

State governments expect tax collections to grow but still face budget gaps

The Wall Street Journal: "State governments expect tax collections to grow for the first time in two years as tax increases and a recovering economy lead to higher collections. But states are still likely to face at least two more years of financial troubles and about half will see gaps in this year's budgets if Congress doesn't extend special Medicaid payments that were part of the 2009 stimulus act, according to a report expected to be released Tuesday by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

28 Jul 2010

Cell Therapeutics closes $4.06 million private offering

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the successful closing of its previously announced sale of $4.06 million of securities to an accredited investor in a private offering pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The sold securities consist of 4,060 shares of Series 6 preferred stock, no par value per share, together with warrants to purchase an aggregate of 5.8 million shares of common stock.

28 Jul 2010

Analyzing PSA level not sufficient for treatment decisions: Report

A new report published in the July 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine claims many men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer undergo aggressive therapy, even when they have low PSA scores and low-risk disease, saying "these results underscore the fact that PSA level, the current biomarker, is not a sufficient basis for treatment decisions."

28 Jul 2010

Merck, Sinopharm sign statement of mutual intent for cooperation on HPV vaccine

Merck, known outside the U.S. and Canada as MSD, and Sinopharm today announced the signing of a statement of mutual intent. Under the statement, Sinopharm and Merck will cooperate on HPV vaccine and other mutually-selected vaccine products in China, and will also discuss the potential for promoting and marketing Merck's pharmaceutical products in China.

28 Jul 2010

BioImagene collaborates with ten new academic medical centers to develop digital pathology solutions

BioImagene, Inc., the leading provider of innovative digital pathology solutions has added ten new academic medical centers to its roster of collaborators during the last quarter. Many of these collaborators have been named "America's Best Hospitals 2010-2011: The Honor Roll" by U.S. News and World Report.

28 Jul 2010

Abortion, other issues continue to stoke the politics surrounding health reform

Politico reports that "the issues of health care and abortion" are making the campaign tough for some Democrats. Among the vulnerable Democrats are Reps. Kathleen Dahlkemper, D-Pa.; Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio; and Indiana Reps. Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth, who is running for Senate. "'We are going to do everything we can to point out that Democrats who said they were pro-life caved on the big one,' said Marilyn Musgrave, a former Colorado congresswoman.

28 Jul 2010

NIH awards Akonni $435K to develop point-of-care diagnostics for multi-drug resistant strains of MTB

Akonni Biosystems a molecular diagnostics company focused on developing and manufacturing rapid, high multiplex solutions for infectious disease testing, today announced receipt of a $435K grant from the National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health. The award will enable Akonni to accelerate development of its hands-free, sample-to-answer system for identifying a broader range of multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

28 Jul 2010

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

DIATHERIX Laboratories ,adds a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) panel and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) panel to its line up of highly sensitive, rapid response diagnostic panels. The HSV panel identifies herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and the STD panel identifies 10 sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously, many of which cannot be accurately identified by current testing methods. These STD organisms, if not appropriately treated, can cause diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoeae, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, etc. and may lead to blindness, infertility or complications during pregnancy.

28 Jul 2010

USANA second-quarter net earnings increase 22.5% to $10.8 million

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. today announced record financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended July 3, 2010.

28 Jul 2010

Cytori Therapeutics receives European approval for Celution System

Cytori Therapeutics received expanded European approval (CE Mark) for its Celution System, a medical device that extracts and separates stem and regenerative cells from a patient's own fat tissue. The new indications include key medical applications such as breast reconstruction, repair of soft tissue defects, as well as the facilitation of healing certain types of wounds, such as those resulting from Crohn's disease. This broadens Cytori's ability to offer the Celution System to patients and hospitals and further supports the company's efforts to gain treatment reimbursement.

28 Jul 2010

35 cases of hepatitis C among Melbourne abortion clinic patients

Over the last few months there has been a rise in hepatitis C cases at an abortion clinic in Melbourne. In a new development 13 new cases have been diagnosed. This brings the total count to 35. The Victorian police are investigating the source of the infections. The link between the Croydon Day Surgery and the cluster was first revealed in April, when there were only 12 cases.

28 Jul 2010

Seniors understand very little about health overhaul law, poll finds

The Hill: "The majority of the nation's seniors have little understanding of what the Democrats' newly enacted healthcare law actually does, according to poll results released Monday. The survey, sponsored by the National Council on Aging (NCOA), an advocate for seniors, found that only 17 percent of respondents could answer even half of the 12 questions about key provisions in the law selected by the NCOA.

28 Jul 2010

Antares Pharma reports positive results from Anturol Gel Phase 3 study in overactive bladder patients

Antares Pharma, Inc. announced today positive results from its Phase 3 study of Anturol Gel in patients with overactive bladder. The study met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in urinary incontinence episodes for both doses studied.

28 Jul 2010

Calcium transfer impacts fuel mechanism for normal cell metabolism

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have described a previously unknown biological mechanism in cells that prevents them from cannibalizing themselves for fuel. The mechanism involves the fuel used by cells under normal conditions and relies on an ongoing transfer of calcium between two cell components via an ion channel. Without this transfer, cells start consuming themselves as a way of to get enough energy.

28 Jul 2010

IntriCon second-quarter net sales increase 16.6% to $14.9 million

IntriCon Corporation, a designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of body-worn medical devices, today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

28 Jul 2010

Maryland sees savings in federal health law, for a while at least

Maryland could spend $829 million less than expected on health care between next year and 2020 because of the federal health overhaul law, according to an analysis by a state-convened committee, The Associated Press/Washington Post reports. "The savings, however, last only until the end of the decade, when the federal law shifts a greater share of financial responsibility for Medicaid expansion to the states." The analysis was produced by the state's Health Care Reform Coordinating Council, a panel created by Gov. Martin O'Malley in March (Witte, 7/26).

28 Jul 2010

Study shows music alleviates anxiety, depression

For decades research has shown that listening to music alleviates anxiety and depression, enhances mood, and can increase cognitive functioning, such as spatial awareness. However, until now, research has not addressed how we listen to music. For instance, is the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it? Further, how does our preference for a particular type of music affect performance? A new study from Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that listening to music that one likes whilst performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.

28 Jul 2010