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Miami resident pleads guilty to role in fraudulent medical testing scheme

Miami resident Hans Lobato pleaded guilty today to engaging in a fraudulent medical testing scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

17 Apr 2010

Open-heart surgery brings life back to 7-year-old boy

A 7-year-old boy who was brought to the United States to have his congenital heart defect repaired had successful open-heart surgery Thursday at the Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento by pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Teimour Nasirov, M.D., and assisted by Mohan Reddy, M.D., an internationally renowned pediatric heart surgeon from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

17 Apr 2010

MiRNA-21 interferes with Herceptin therapy, says study

Overexpression of a specific type of microRNA can derail treatment by disabling an important molecular brake on breast cancer cell proliferation, according to evidence presented by researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting 2010.

17 Apr 2010

U.N. Secretary-General calls on international community to adopt new initiatives to reduce maternal, newborn mortality

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a new initiative aimed at improving reproductive, maternal and newborn health on Wednesday at a meeting of international leaders, in an effort to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goal for reducing maternal deaths, Inter Press Service reports (Suozzi, 4/15).

17 Apr 2010

Genomic portrait may predict liver cancer recurrence: Study

Results of an international clinical study conducted in Europe and the US presented today at the International Liver CongressTM 2010, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver in Vienna, Austria, have identified a genomic portrait able to predict recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the fifth most common cancer in men.

17 Apr 2010

Intensive rehabilitation therapy with robotic aids can help stroke patients regain limb movement

Patients show modest yet meaningful gains in limb movement and an improved outlook on life years after suffering a stroke, a major clinical study has found. The paper, published online this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides the best evidence yet that stroke sufferers in a controlled study can regain limb movement long after an injury, through intensive therapy with specially trained personnel and newly created robotic aids.

17 Apr 2010

Conservative target Rep. Betsy Markey on health law: 'I'm proud to have voted for it'

Kaiser Health News staff writer Andrew Villegas reports: "Like other swing-district Democrats, Rep. Betsy Markey has a health care target on her back, and is working to defuse criticism before the November elections.

17 Apr 2010

Funding cuts to Ontario pharmacists would have devastating effect on patients

Funding cuts to Ontario pharmacists would have a devastating effect on patients, particularly those cared for by independent pharmacists, Janet McCutchon, vice-chair of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Pharmacists' Association, told the Economic Club of Canada yesterday.

17 Apr 2010

Handheld SD-OCT device helps examine vitreoretinal interface in infants with SBS

Ophthalmologists examining infants for possible Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) found that a handheld Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) device provided high-resolution images of the retina and the vitreoretinal interface in infants with SBS, reports a study in the current issue of Retina, The Journal of Retinal and Vitreous Diseases.

17 Apr 2010

Marker found in iPS cells correlates with levels of pluripotency: Researchers

Researchers in China are reporting that they have found a way to determine which somatic cells -- or differentiated body cells -- that have been reprogrammed into a primordial, embryonic-like state are the most viable for therapeutic applications.

17 Apr 2010

Pennsylvania awarded $1M in Recovery Act funding for managing chronic disease in older citizens

Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced that $1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been awarded to Pennsylvania to prevent and manage chronic disease in older citizens.

17 Apr 2010

Updated clinical guidelines presented at EAU Anniversary Congress

A number of updated guidelines are presented at the Anniversary Congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU) held in Barcelona, from 16 through 20 April. The abridged versions - Pocket Guidelines - which are based on the extended text documents will also be available in Barcelona to all EAU members and press.

17 Apr 2010

ADHD behaviors in children associated with serotonin activity and self-blame

ADHD may be caused by alterations in the serotonin neurotransmission system combined with a tendency to experience psychosocial distress. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions found that ADHD behaviors in children and adolescents were associated with interactions between low and high serotonin activity and self-blame in relation to inter-parental conflict.

17 Apr 2010

Minnesota OMC's $20.9M series 2010 revenue bonds rated 'BBB-' by Fitch

Fitch Ratings assigns a 'BBB-' rating to the following City of Rochester, Minnesota health care facilities revenue bonds: --$20.9 million series 2010 revenue bonds (Olmsted Medical Center Project).

17 Apr 2010

Researchers receive honorary Doctor of Medicine degrees

Two genetics researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been awarded prestigious honorary Doctor of Medicine degrees by European scientific institutions.

17 Apr 2010

Immune system cells that impede wound-healing process discovered

A new discovery about the wound-healing process could lead to better treatments for diabetics and other patients who have wounds that are slow to heal.

17 Apr 2010

State round-up: Penn. Medicare advantage; N.J. cuts immigrant care; Hospitals face hardships

Independence Blue Cross has lost 30 percent of its Medicare managed-care members in the region this year in the wake of federal government rate cuts as its major competitors saw enrollment gains. The cuts came after the Philadelphia insurer eliminated some product offerings for senior adults and raised rates for others.

17 Apr 2010

West African health experts to meet to address health in region

More than 150 health experts from West Africa will meet in Freetown, Sierra Leone, next week for a multi-day gathering aimed at addressing health issues facing people in the region, AfricaNews reports.

17 Apr 2010

New drug to stop the growth of prostate cancer tumors investigated

The American Cancer Society estimates one man in six will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, making it the second-leading cause of cancer death in men. With a new partnership with Areva Med, UC researchers will investigate the use of a new drug in stopping the growth of prostate cancer tumors.

17 Apr 2010

Role of race and health insurance status in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment

Researchers at The GW Cancer Institute, with funding from the National Cancer Institute, examined the effect of race and health insurance status on diagnostic and treatment delays over a 5-year period, with initial screenings going back 12 years, and found that race may play a larger role than previously thought when it comes to optimal diagnosis and treatment of black women with breast cancer.

17 Apr 2010