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Transcatheter heart valve replacement recipient celebrates 102nd birthday

When Doris Snyder celebrated her 102nd birthday on August 10, she was that much closer to the expected birth of her first great-granddaughter who's due to arrive early September. She is very excited about the milestone, which might not have been possible were it not for a cutting-edge, experimental procedure that replaced one of Doris' heart valves weeks earlier when she was 101. The valve had been rendered useless by aortic valve stenosis—hardening from calcium deposits that restrict the flow of blood from the heart.

27 Aug 2010

Orexigen Therapeutics board approves grant of inducement stock options

Orexigen® Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity, today announced that on August 25, 2010 the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors approved the grant of inducement stock options to purchase a total of 10,000 shares of common stock to two new employees.

27 Aug 2010

Specialty Surgical Instrumentation announces new interactive, e-commerce Web site launch

Specialty Surgical Instrumentation, Inc. (SSI) a division of Symmetry Medical Inc. and leading provider of surgical instruments and sterilization products, announced today the launch of a new interactive, e-commerce Web site at www.specsurg.com.

27 Aug 2010

Charles River announces new $300 million accelerated stock repurchase program

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. announced today that it has implemented an accelerated stock repurchase (ASR) program to repurchase $300 million of common stock, as part of its previously announced authorization from its Board of Directors to repurchase up to $500 million of common stock. The new ASR program will enable the Company to facilitate, on a more timely and cost efficient basis, the repurchase of a substantial number of its shares pursuant to that stock repurchase authorization.

27 Aug 2010

Research Roundups: Underinsured children; Hospital progress on electronic records; Federal officlals' work on comparative effectiveness

Underinsurance Among Children In The United States - This study examines the scope of underinsurance, or health insurance that fails to sufficiently meet the needs, of children living in the U.S. Based on information obtained from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the authors of the study report, "19.3% — or 14.1 million — of all U.S. children (and 22.7% of children with continuous insurance coverage) were underinsured in 2007, exceeding the number of children without any insurance at all during the year (3.4 million) and the number who had insurance during only part of the year (7.6 million)."

27 Aug 2010

FDA approves Novartis' Tekamlo for treatment of high blood pressure

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tekamlo™ (aliskiren and amlodipine) tablets, a single-pill for the treatment of high blood pressure combining the only approved direct renin inhibitor, Tekturna® (aliskiren), with the widely used calcium channel blocker amlodipine. Tekamlo is approved as initial therapy for patients who are likely to need multiple drugs to achieve their blood pressure goals, and as replacement therapy for patients whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled with either aliskiren or amlodipine alone.

27 Aug 2010

Groups press Congress to end patients' wait for Medicare

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy reports: "Under federal rules, most people with disabilities who are younger than 65 aren't eligible for Medicare until more than two years after they qualify for Social Security disability income.

27 Aug 2010

Elsevier, KIT sign MoU to provide developing country researchers access to ScienceDirect and Scopus

Elsevier and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam announced on 26th of August the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) providing 150 researchers working in least-developed and low-income countries (for example Benin, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Togo etc.) with access to ScienceDirect and Scopus, Elsevier's online scientific research platform and flagship abstract and citation database.

27 Aug 2010

KemPharm broadens protection for LAT prodrug technology platform for ADHD with second patent

KemPharm, Inc. announced today that it has received a Notice of Issuance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its patent application entitled "Non-Standard Amino Acid Conjugates of Amphetamine and Processes for Making and Using the Same", U.S. Patent No. 7,776,917 B2. This patent, combined with KemPharm's recently issued U.S. Patent No. 7,772,222, provides broad protection of the Company's Ligand Activated Therapy (LAT) prodrug technology platform and its application to the treatment of Attention Deficit – Hyperactivity Disorder.

27 Aug 2010

Most home care clients rely on informal care from spouse or child

One in six people providing informal care to seniors experiences distress, according to a new study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), and those caring for seniors with moderate to severe cognitive impairment, such as those with Alzheimer's or other dementia, are most at risk.

27 Aug 2010

David Mosser to discuss primary duty of macrophages at American Physiological Society conference

The term "macrophage" conjures images of a hungry white blood cell gobbling invading bacteria. However, macrophages do much more than that. Not only do they act as antimicrobial warriors, they also play critical roles in immune regulation and wound-healing. They can respond to a variety of cellular signals and change their physiology in response to local cues.

27 Aug 2010

Research: Impact of seafood components on human health

Seafood has an enormous potential to promote health. At the same time the opportunities for innovation and value creation are huge. Knowledge and documentation are the keys to success.

27 Aug 2010

APF offers actionable solutions to improve access to pain care

The American Pain Foundation (APF), the nation's largest consumer advocacy organization for people in pain, released today a position statement imploring the medical community, regulators and concerned stakeholders to reaffirm their ethical commitment to the 76.5 million Americans—or one in four people—who struggle with pain, work collaboratively to improve access to pain care and dismantle the barriers preventing timely, appropriate and effective pain care for millions.

27 Aug 2010

Mexican IMSS awards Del Medical $2 million tender for DR radiographic rooms

Del Medical, Inc. today announced they were recently awarded a Mexican tender from IMSS (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) for over twenty complete Del Medical DR radiographic rooms valued in excess of $2 million. Each 50kw, floor-mounted tube stand system is equipped with Del's popular EV650 elevating, four-way, float top table and bundled with a DelWorks Medical DR package. Each package includes a 14" x 17" portable flat panel DR detector with DelWorks acquisition and processing software.

27 Aug 2010

Mixed pathologies in brains of elderly account for memory loss and confusion

Most recent studies show that elderly people over the age of 80 often have mixed pathologies in their brains that account for their memory loss and confusion. Very few senior citizens have "pure Alzheimer disease"; therefore, this terminology should be used with caution. It now appears that vascular problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes can shrink the parts of the brain that control memory and can significantly affect at what age elderly people become demented.

27 Aug 2010

HealthSpring announces acquisition of Bravo Health

HealthSpring, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Bravo Health, Inc., an operator of Medicare Advantage coordinated care plans in Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic region, and Texas, and Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans in 43 states.

27 Aug 2010

Natural selection theory can explain evolution of eusocial behavior: Study

Scientists at Harvard University have sketched a new map of the "evolutionary labyrinth" species must traverse to reach eusociality, the rare but spectacularly successful social structure where individuals cooperate to raise offspring.

27 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 27, 2010

In the headlines today, news about U.S. plans to step up efforts to crack down on health care fraud.

27 Aug 2010

World's tallest man undergoes Gamma Knife surgery

Much of Sultan Kosen's eight feet, two-inch stature rose up in an 17-year period starting at age 10, when the benign tumor in his brain's pituitary gland highjacked the organ, causing it to secrete massive amounts of growth hormone, making Mr. Kosen's body grow fast and grow without ceasing. He will need to wait several months to find out if his Gamma Knife® surgery last Thursday at the University of Virginia (UVA, Charlottesville, Va.) has inactivated the tumor and he has reached his final height, but his physicians are optimistic.

27 Aug 2010

Expansion of rapid response systems throughout the Veterans Affairs network can reduce morbidity

Implementing a rapid response team to aid in managing "potentially unstable" patients has led to a sharp reduction in the rate of cardiac arrests at a U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, reports a study in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

27 Aug 2010