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New findings on "successful aging"

What, exactly, does "successful aging" mean? For more than a half century, researchers and gerontologists have argued whether successful aging is better defined subjectively or objectively (physical disease-related disability or mental decline). Answering this question is more than an academic exercise. As the first members of the famed "baby boom generation" reach age 65, understanding what it means to remain healthy and independent in later life could have an enormous impact on health care delivery and medical policy.

23 Jul 2010

Funding for new medical ventures improving

The Dallas Morning News reports on the funding climate for health care technology startups.

23 Jul 2010

Study reveals link between allergies, asthma and old age

Mistaken for illnesses like bronchitis and emphysema, exacerbated by medications like aspirin, and overlooked by patients and doctors alike, asthma is a common and highly treatable condition in older adults. And while allergies tend to decrease with age, they also are frequently disregarded as a potential cause of misery for the elderly.

23 Jul 2010

2010 Life Beyond Cancer Retreat invites applications

The Life Beyond Cancer Foundation is calling for applications from cancer survivors, oncology nurses, social workers, oncologists, and primary care physicians who help diagnose cancer to attend the 2010 Life Beyond Cancer Retreat. The 11th annual retreat, held Nov. 18 – 21 at Lakeway Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas, helps women rekindle their spirits, relax their minds and bodies, and rejuvenate their souls.

23 Jul 2010

hBD-3 biomarker helps early stage detection of oral cancer

Detecting oral cancer in its earliest stages can save the lives of the nearly 40,500 people diagnosed annually. But early detection has been difficult. Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine researchers discovered a biomarker, called human beta defensin-3 (hBD-3), which may serve as an early warning. The defensin is present in all oral cancers and associated with the early stages of oral cancer.

23 Jul 2010

Uroplasty prices underwritten public offering of common stock

Uroplasty, Inc. announced today that its underwritten public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock was priced at $3.50 per share. Uroplasty has granted the underwriters of the offering an option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of common stock within the next 30 days, solely to cover over-allotments, if any. All of the shares in the offering are being offered by Uroplasty. Uroplasty expects the offering to close on July 27, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions.

23 Jul 2010

Osteocalcin hormone can regulate glucose levels: Research

Researchers led by Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that the skeleton plays an important role in regulating blood sugar and have further illuminated how bone controls this process. The finding, published in Cell, is important because it may lead to more targeted drugs for type 2 diabetes.

23 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 studies, releases: Criminalization, discrimination of high-risk groups; Test-and-treat; UNAIDS launches HIV prevention commission

The criminalization of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people in Asia is holding back efforts to contain HIV/AIDS in the region, according to a report presented Wednesday by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health at the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, VOA News reports. The report "linked the criminalization of homosexual behavior to an increase in the infection rate of HIV and AIDS in Asia," the news service writes (Dewan, 7/21).

23 Jul 2010

Early bird registration for 2nd International Symposium on MR-guided Focused Ultrasound ends on July 31, 2010

The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation today issued a reminder that early bird registration discounts will end on Saturday, July 31 for the upcoming 2nd International Symposium on MR-guided Focused Ultrasound.

23 Jul 2010

Endologix second-quarter total revenue increases 19% to $15.7 million

Endologix, Inc., developer of minimally invasive treatments for aortic disorders, today announced financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010.

23 Jul 2010

Gene expression profiling may provide molecular diagnostic tool to diagnose depression

Blood tests have been extremely important tools aiding doctors in making medical diagnoses and in guiding the treatment of many diseases. However, psychiatry is one area of medicine where there are few diagnostic blood tests.New scientific fields may someday generate blood tests that can be used for these purposes. Some of the areas under increasingly intensive study are genetics, the study of variations in the genes that can be extracted from blood cells, and genomics like proteomics, the measurement of the levels of specific proteins in the blood, and gene expression profiling, which measures the levels of RNA produced from DNA as an indication of the level of the "activity" of particular genes.

23 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010: Halving HIV/TB co-infection deaths; Financial transaction tax discussed, and more

UNAIDS and the Stop TB Partnership joined together on Thursday at the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 in Vienna, Austria, with the goal of preventing 200,000 deaths annually from HIV and tuberculosis co-infection, Agence France-Presse reports. TB is the number one killer of people living with HIV/AIDS (Ingham, 7/22).

23 Jul 2010

Spinal orthopedics company AxioMed raises $14.5 million

AxioMed® Spine Corporation , a spinal orthopedics company focused on the development of products designed to restore spinal function in patients with degenerative spine disease by advancing the standard of care beyond fusion and first generation disc replacement, announced today that it has raised $14.5 million in two tranches from both current and new investors.

23 Jul 2010

KHN column -- Massachusetts shows federal reform headed for trouble

In this Kaiser Health News column, Grace-Marie Turner writes that Massachusetts' health reform has increased demand without increasing the supply of health care providers, it continues to keep people in the dark about the true cost of health care and health insurance, and has not changed incentives for people to seek more affordable options or for a truly competitive marketplace.

23 Jul 2010

African ancestry associated with triple-negative breast cancer: Study

A new study finds that African ancestry is linked to triple-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive type of cancer that has fewer treatment options.Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that, among women with breast cancer, 82 percent of African women were triple negative, 26 percent of African-Americans were and 16 percent of white Americans were.

23 Jul 2010

Zsa Zsa Gabor's fall prompts orthopaedic surgeons' advisory to seniors and caregivers

Approximately 66 million Americans care for their aging parents and each year, one in three older Americans fall in their own home. Just this week, 93-year-old actress Zsa Zsa Gabor fell out of bed and broke her hip, ultimately she required hip replacement surgery. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) knows that a fall in the home can be both life threatening and debilitating. Older Americans and their caregivers can take a proactive approach using the following AAOS guidelines to help keep seniors fall and injury-free.

23 Jul 2010

Protein parkin essential for hypothalamic neurons recovery in Parkinson's disease patients

A Michigan State University researcher is working to uncover how a protein known as parkin may help nerve cells fight off damage from Parkinson's disease, a strategy that could lead to new therapies for the degenerative ailment.

23 Jul 2010

KHN column – Dispatch from Massachusetts: The individual mandate is working

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Austin Frakt writes: "In Massachusetts, the individual mandate requiring state residents to buy health insurance is working. Yet, a similar requirement remains among the more controversial elements of the new national health reform law. Opponents of the mandate resent being required to purchase a product they may not want.

23 Jul 2010

athenahealth second-quarter total revenue increases 28% to $58.6M

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of web-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced financial and operational results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010. The Company will conduct a conference call on Friday, July 23, 2010, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss these results and management's outlook for future financial and operational performance.

23 Jul 2010

Drugs that activate SIRT1 hold potential to combat Alzheimer's: Study

MIT biologists report that they have discovered the first link between the amyloid plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and a gene previously implicated in the aging process, SIRT1.

23 Jul 2010