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Statins shown not to increase the risk of Lou Gehrig's disease

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration's analysis provides new evidence that the use of statins does not increase incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." The analysis was reported on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.

29 Sep 2008

Micronics receives two new patents on microfluidic technologies

Micronics, Inc. today announced that it has been issued two patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for novel microfluidic devices and methods. These new patents relate to the company’s focus on the development of rapid and easy to use clinical diagnostic products.

29 Sep 2008

Deadly virus scrumpox a threat to rugby players wrestlers

Rugby players and wrestlers may be at risk of a potentially serious skin disease called "scrumpox".

29 Sep 2008

States see rising enrollment in Medicaid as economy falters

With states confronting a weakening economy, enrollment in Medicaid began to rise last year with states expecting even larger increases for fiscal year 2009, according to a new 50-state survey released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU). With the increased enrollment, Medicaid spending is also rising more rapidly than in the recent past, raising the potential for program cutbacks as states confront the combined impact of more enrollees and fewer available resources.

29 Sep 2008

Guide to the virtual medical universe

Despite the weak dollar, a growing number of Americans are traveling overseas for less expensive medical care. But there's another way to become a so-called medical tourist, without a passport, luggage, or even leaving your house, notes the October 2008 issue of the Harvard Health Letter. All you need for this version of medical globe-trotting is a computer, an Internet connection, and some curiosity.

29 Sep 2008

Sequencing thousand and one genomes

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany, reported the completion of the first genomes of wild strains of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The entire genomes of two individuals of this species, one from Ireland, the other from Japan, have now been compared in great detail. They were found to be astonishingly different from each other, as Detlef Weigel and his colleagues write in Genome Research.

29 Sep 2008

Pain is not a symptom of arthritis, pain causes arthritis

Pain is more than a symptom of osteoarthritis, it is an inherent and damaging part of the disease itself, according to a study published today in journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

29 Sep 2008

Existing anti-obesity drugs may be effective against flu, hepatitis and HIV

Viruses dramatically increase cellular metabolism, and existing anti-obesity drugs may represent a new way to block these metabolic changes and inhibit viral infection, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

29 Sep 2008

Leaders of Kenya's Luo ethnic group embrace male circumcision after meeting with medical experts, lawmakers

An advisory board made up of Luo leaders from the Nyanza region of Kenya on Monday gave their support for a voluntary medical male circumcision program, a decision that Kenyan officials say is a significant step in the region's fight against HIV/AIDS, Kenya's Daily Nation reports.

29 Sep 2008

$3 billion announced for global malaria action plan to eradicate malaria by 2015

Government leaders, philanthropists, international organizations, not-for-profit groups and corporations on Thursday announced a combined $3 billion in contributions to implement the Global Malaria Action Plan -- aimed at eradicating malaria worldwide by 2015 -- during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports.

29 Sep 2008

Breast is best - the secrets of breast milk

Scientists unraveling the composition of human breast milk say it may lead to new ways to prevent and treat stomach illnesses and other diseases in babies and adults.

29 Sep 2008

Graphic picture warnings to persuade Brits to quit smoking

A nationwide campaign in Britain to get people to quit smoking will be dramatically hiked up this week.

29 Sep 2008

Breast feeding lowers breast cancer risk

Experts say women who breastfeed for a year over the course of their lifetime are less likely to develop breast cancer.

29 Sep 2008

Women warned about talcum powder ovarian cancer risk

Scientists have issued a warning to women about using talcum powder - they say it increases their risk of developing ovarian cancer.

29 Sep 2008

Breast, ovarian cancer prediction models more accurate for white women than Asian-American women

Two widely used prediction models for identifying a woman's risk for breast and ovarian cancer appear to be less reliable for Asian-American women compared with white women, according to a study in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reuters Health reports.

29 Sep 2008

New York City blacks more likely than other races to have high blood pressure, report finds

New York City blacks have the highest rate of high blood pressure of any racial or ethnic group in the city, according to a report released on Wednesday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Staten Island Advance reports.

29 Sep 2008

Gap in black, white new cancer diagnoses narrowing in Missouri; mortality rate gap falling more slowly, study finds

The gap between blacks and whites in Missouri for newly diagnosed cancers is narrowing in part because of an overall decline in smoking and an increase in cancer screenings, according to a study to be published early next year in the journal Missouri Medicine, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

29 Sep 2008

Illinois legislature overrides revisions from governor to approve bill that requires hospitals to provide discounts to uninsured

The Illinois Legislature this week voted unanimously to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's (D) revisions of a bill to give uninsured Illinois residents a discount on hospital care, the Chicago Tribune's "Triage" reports.

29 Sep 2008

HIV/AIDS services agency sues New Hampshire town for restricting access to group home

A Keene, N.H., AIDS services agency -- AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region -- said it is suing Gilsum, N.H., town officials for overstepping their authority and violating the state constitution by restricting who is allowed to live at a group home run by ASMR, the Keene Sentinel reports.

29 Sep 2008

Office of personnel management estimates premiums for Federal employees will increase by 8% in 2009

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday announced that federal employees in 2009 will have to pay on average about 8% more for their health insurance premiums, the Washington Post reports. The projected increase is significantly higher than the 2.9% increase in 2008 and the 2.3% increase in 2007.

29 Sep 2008

Medical News

Statins shown not to increase the risk of Lou Gehrig's disease

Micronics receives two new patents on microfluidic technologies

Deadly virus scrumpox a threat to rugby players wrestlers

States see rising enrollment in Medicaid as economy falters

Guide to the virtual medical universe

Sequencing thousand and one genomes

Pain is not a symptom of arthritis, pain causes arthritis

Existing anti-obesity drugs may be effective against flu, hepatitis and HIV

Leaders of Kenya's Luo ethnic group embrace male circumcision after meeting with medical experts, lawmakers

$3 billion announced for global malaria action plan to eradicate malaria by 2015

Breast is best - the secrets of breast milk

Graphic picture warnings to persuade Brits to quit smoking

Breast feeding lowers breast cancer risk

Women warned about talcum powder ovarian cancer risk

Breast, ovarian cancer prediction models more accurate for white women than Asian-American women

New York City blacks more likely than other races to have high blood pressure, report finds

Gap in black, white new cancer diagnoses narrowing in Missouri; mortality rate gap falling more slowly, study finds

Illinois legislature overrides revisions from governor to approve bill that requires hospitals to provide discounts to uninsured

HIV/AIDS services agency sues New Hampshire town for restricting access to group home

Office of personnel management estimates premiums for Federal employees will increase by 8% in 2009

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

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