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Aetna provides free electronic roster billing to pharmacies and other providers for H1N1 flu vaccine claims

Aetna is providing free electronic roster billing for pharmacies and other non-traditional providers to use when submitting claims for the administration of the H1N1 flu vaccine.

4 Nov 2009

Coffee affects quality of daytime recovery sleep

Night-shift workers should avoid drinking coffee if they wish to improve their sleep, according to research published in the journal Sleep Medicine. A new study led by Julie Carrier, a Universit- de Montr-al psychology professor and a researcher at the affiliated H-pital du Sacr--C-ur Sleep Disorders Centre, has found the main byproduct of coffee, caffeine, interferes with sleep and this side-effect worsens as people age.

4 Nov 2009

Specimen Collection Kit to help medical personnel combat H1N1 and RSV

As the outbreak of H1N1 (Swine Flu) intensifies, there is a growing need for greater speed and accuracy in collecting specimens from patients for testing to determine with what they've been infected.

4 Nov 2009

Lower total cholesterol may be caused by undiagnosed cancer: Study

A pair of studies in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, lay to rest the decades-long concern that lower total cholesterol may lead to cancer, and in fact lower cholesterol may reduce the risk of high-grade prostate cancer.

4 Nov 2009

Pfizer and Medivation initiate dimebon trials in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Pfizer Inc and Medivation, Inc. today announced the initiation of CONTACT and CONSTELLATION, two Phase 3 trials of the investigational drug dimebon (latrepirdine)* in patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

4 Nov 2009

Reid works to convince moderate Dems to vote for Senate health bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is in the "awkward position of looking for votes on a major health care reform bill that doesn't quite exist," Roll Call reports.

4 Nov 2009

The Children’s Hospital leads the charge against childhood obesity

The Children’s Hospital is leading the charge against childhood obesity, a problem that is impacting more and more families across the country. Experts from The Children’s Hospital offer a pediatric perspective on proactive steps parents can take to ensure their children maintain nutritious diets and healthy, active lifestyles.

4 Nov 2009

PET imaging is not the basis for increasing dosage level

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of non-small cell lung cancer prior to receiving radiation therapy should not be the basis for determining areas that may benefit from higher doses of radiation, according to research presented by investigators at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting (Abstract #2583/B-186).

4 Nov 2009

Common pain killers may blunt the effect of flu shots

With flu vaccination season in full swing, research from the University of Rochester Medical Center cautions that use of many common pain killers - Advil, Tylenol, aspirin - at the time of injection may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the immune system.

4 Nov 2009

GOP health reform bill takes shape as draft circulates on Capitol Hill

The Associated Press: "After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans."

4 Nov 2009

Senate might see health overhaul vote slip into 2010

Democrats are, by many accounts, a long way from agreement among their own members on a health care reform bill.

4 Nov 2009

Men with lower cholesterol less likely to develop high-grade prostate cancer

Men with lower cholesterol are less likely than those with higher levels to develop high-grade prostate cancer - an aggressive form of the disease with a poorer prognosis, according to results of a Johns Hopkins collaborative study.

4 Nov 2009

Study: Estrogen replacement may help protect brain damage

Eighteen years ago this month the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it would sponsor a landmark study to examine women and cardiovascular disease. Known as the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), the study enrolled more than 161,000 women.

4 Nov 2009

Lovastatin-synthesizing enzyme successfully reconstituted

Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have for the first time successfully reconstituted in the laboratory the enzyme responsible for producing the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin.

4 Nov 2009

Health experts urge government authorities to declare a moratorium on new tobacco products

At the 6th Conference on Tobacco or Health being held in Montreal this week, numerous stakeholders are urging government authorities to declare a moratorium on new tobacco products to counter the innovative product launch and marketing strategies of cigarette manufacturers.

4 Nov 2009

$Optic nerve sheath meningioma patients can be cured using fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy$

Optic nerve sheath meningioma patients can be cured using fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy

Optic nerve sheath meningiomas are rare tumors that are traditionally treated with surgery, which is typically a blinding procedure. However, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital have found that a specialized type of radiation therapy offers the same local control, with fewer adverse effects on vision.

4 Nov 2009

Prayer treatments covered in health care reform bills

Prayer treatments may get a boost in health care legislation, raising debate about what constitutes healing and the separation of church and state.

4 Nov 2009

Blood vessels good indicators of prostate cancer behavior

A diagnosis of prostate cancer raises the question for patients and their physicians as to how the tumor will behave. Will it grow quickly and aggressively and require continuous treatment, or slowly, allowing therapy and its risks to be safely delayed?

4 Nov 2009

MagForce Nanotechnologies announces successful completion of its Nano-Cancer therapy trials

MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, the Berlin-based medical technology company majority owned by Nanostart AG, today announced the successful completion of final trials demonstrating the efficacy of its Nano-Cancer® therapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, a frequent form of brain tumor which is highly malignant. The actual study results significantly exceeded the study objective.

4 Nov 2009

News outlets examine first World Pneumonia Day

To mark the first World Pneumonia Day, Inter Press Service examines how vaccines and other strategies can be used to combat the disease, which kills more children under age 5 each year "than measles, malaria, and AIDS combined, according to the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia."

4 Nov 2009