Medical News

RSS

Simbionix USA to launch two new hands-on training systems at AUA annual meeting

Simbionix USA Corporation, the world's leading provider of medical education and simulation training products for medical professionals and the healthcare industry, is launching two new hands-on training systems - the Lap Nepherctomy simulation module and the VirtaMed TURPSim. Both solutions will be revealed for the first time at the AUA annual meeting in San Francisco next week.

25 May 2010

Traumatic brain injuries may disrupt sleep patterns, says study

People with brain injuries may produce low amounts of melatonin, which affects their sleep, according to a study published in the May 25, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

25 May 2010

Regulators puzzling out what insurers must do under new health law

The Washington Post reports that regulators are "trying to resolve" which insurance plans must comply with the health law's new requirements. "In keeping with President Obama's promise that you can hold on to your insurance if you like it, the new law exempts existing health plans from many of its provisions. But the law leaves it to regulators to decide how much a health plan can change without giving up its grandfathered status."

25 May 2010

NIH, FDA launch new portal to provide easier access to online reporting

The Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health today launched a new Web site that, when fully developed, will provide a mechanism for the reporting of pre- and post-market safety data to the federal government.

25 May 2010

Media outlets highlight studies presented at International Microbicides Conference

A study in Africa, presented Sunday at the International Microbicides Conference (M2010) in Pittsburgh, has shown that a man's risk of HIV infection doubles if his HIV-positive partner is pregnant, according to HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report.

25 May 2010

Economic access becomes primary research focus in public health nutrition

Ensuring access to healthy, affordable foods is a top priority in tackling the obesity epidemic in the United States. Over the course of the last six months, the Institute of Medicine, United States Department of Agriculture, The White House and First Lady Michelle Obama have taken an interest in improving access to affordable and nutritious foods.

25 May 2010

Obesity is a risk factor for depressive symptoms

Researchers, led by Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that obesity is a risk factor for depressive symptoms, but not for clinical depression, suggesting that weight status could play a part in the development of depression in some adolescent girls.

25 May 2010

A unique multi-modal atlas of human brain

The Allen Institute for Brain Science announced today that it has launched the Allen Human Brain Atlas, a publicly available online atlas charting genes at work throughout the human brain.

25 May 2010

Reducing consumption of sugary drinks can lower blood pressure: Research

Research led by Liwei Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Health at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that there is an association between sugary drinks and blood pressure and that by cutting daily consumption of sugary drinks by just one serving a day, people can lower their blood pressure.

25 May 2010

One-third of Minnesotans understate their weight problems

When it comes to self-perceptions about their own healthy weight, many Minnesotans appear to be adapting Garrison Keillor's famous quip: "I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."

25 May 2010

Advances in health IT

The New York Times: A "broad transformation in health care underway" is "fueled in good part by technology" that "promises to shift a lot of the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of disease from hospitals and specialized clinics, where treatment is expensive, to primary care physicians and patients themselves — at far less cost."

25 May 2010

Obama's health IT leader says doctors will embrace change

Irene Wielawski writes for Kaiser Health News that electronic medical records may be as important as stethoscopes. "Dr. David Blumenthal was not happy to find a new computer installed on his desk when he showed up for work one morning eight years ago at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

25 May 2010

AMA's code of conduct helps ensure greater transparency and accountability from health insurers

The American Medical Association (AMA) today released its Health Insurer Code of Conduct Principles and called on all U.S. health insurance companies to adopt consistent corporate practices that will bring transparency and accountability to the multibillion-dollar health insurance industry

25 May 2010

Delphinus Medical Technologies secures $8M in venture capital to commercialize SoftVue system

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced today that its spin-off company Delphinus Medical Technologies, LLC, has secured $8 million in venture capital to start the commercialization process of SoftVue, an alternative to mammography.

25 May 2010

Silver nanoparticles effective at killing all kinds of bacteria

Writing in the International Journal of Nanoparticles, Rani Pattabi and colleagues at Mangalore University, explain how blasting silver nitrate solution with an electron beam can generate nanoparticles that are more effective at killing all kinds of bacteria, including gram-negative species that are not harmed by conventional antibacterial agents.

25 May 2010

STOP Obesity Alliance researchers receive $250,000 donation to research on health impact of obesity

The research team of The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services' Department of Health Policy's Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance received a $250,000 donation from Allergan, Inc. to support public health, policy analysis and research about the economic and health impact of obesity and related chronic diseases.

25 May 2010

FDA issues 510(k) clearance to Simplexa Influenza A H1N1 (2009) test on 3M Integrated Cycler

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued 510(k) clearance to the Simplexa Influenza A H1N1 (2009) test on the 3M Integrated Cycler. The Simplexa test, developed and manufactured by Quest Diagnostics' Focus Diagnostics business, is the first to be cleared by the FDA for use as an aid in the detection and differentiation of influenza A and 2009 H1N1 influenza viral RNA.

25 May 2010

DU receives $17.5M as gift to establish Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging

Betty Knoebel, widow of Denver food services pioneer Ferdinand "Fritz" Knoebel, has given the University of Denver $17.5 million, among the largest gifts in its history. DU will use the gift to establish the Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging and to support the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management in DU's Daniels College of Business.

25 May 2010

Beta-blocker medications provide new hope for patients with COPD: Study

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may have fewer respiratory flare-ups and longer survival if they take beta-blocker medications, according to a report in the May 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

25 May 2010

Florida health care providers offer language services, medical homes

As "the region continues to attract residents from all over the country and the world, local health care providers and educators are searching for ways to better serve them." Some use "cultural toolkits," and have guides to help providers relate to patients' cultural and religious preferences. "'From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense,' said Bernardo Ramirez, assistant professor of health services administration at the University of Central Florida.

24 May 2010