Medical News

RSS

Malaria, HIV interventions help reduce mortality among young children, challenges remain, UNICEF report says

Disease interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria and increased access to HIV treatment and prevention, have helped reduce the number of deaths among children younger than age five worldwide to 9.2 million in 2007, down from 9.7 million in 2006 and 12.7 million in 1990, according to a UNICEF report published Friday in the journal Lancet, Reuters reports (Kahn, Reuters, 9/12).

15 Sep 2008

Senate approves bill to expand protections under Americans with disabilities act

The Senate on Thursday by voice vote approved a bill (S 3406) that would expand protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, CongressDaily reports.

15 Sep 2008

Asian Development Bank, Vietnamese province launch project to curb spread of HIV/AIDS among youth

The Asian Development Bank and the Vietnamese province of Hai Duong have launched an initiative aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS among young people, the VNA/VietNamNet reports.

15 Sep 2008

Senate Committee approves legislation that would invalidate mandatory banding arbitration provisions of nursing home admission contracts

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved by voice vote a bill (S 2838) that would ban the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts, CQ Today reports.

15 Sep 2008

Effective public health response needed to fight HIV/AIDS in southeast Asia, WHO says

The World Health Organization on Thursday called for an effective public health approach to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southeast Asia, India's Economic Times reports. HIV/AIDS in the region was the focus of the third day of WHO's 61st Session of the Regional Committee for Southeast Asia, which is taking place in New Delhi.

15 Sep 2008

Herpes drug Acyclovir could help control HIV

Acyclovir -- a low-cost, generic drug used to treat herpes -- also might help control HIV in people living with both viruses, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal ell Host and Microbe, Reuters reports.

15 Sep 2008

House Committee weighs options for permanent overhaul of Medicare physician payment system

Witnesses at a House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing on Thursday discussed potential methods for overhauling the Medicare physician payment system, CQ HealthBeat reports.

15 Sep 2008

Uganda plans survey to determine prevalence of MDR-TB, health official says

Uganda this year plans to conduct a survey to determine the prevalence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in the country, National Leprosy and TB program manager Francis Adatu said Wednesday, the Monitor reports.

15 Sep 2008

CDC releases subpopulation estimates from data on annual new HIV infections; new infections high among blacks, MSM

The majority of new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2006 occurred among men who have sex with men, according to a study released Thursday in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the New York Times reports.

15 Sep 2008

Lawmakers warn federal officials to fix problems with Medicare information phone line

CMS has improved 1-800-Medicare, a toll-free telephone line that beneficiaries can call for information on the prescription drug benefit, but the agency needs to address some serious problems that remain before the next annual enrollment period begins on Nov. 15, advocates for seniors and lawmakers said on Thursday during a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, CQ HealthBeat reports. CMS has five call centers nationwide for the telephone line, which served about 30 million callers in 2007.

15 Sep 2008

DNA vaccine developed at the Karmanos Cancer Institute fights HER2-positive cancers

Researchers at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine have developed a HER2 DNA vaccine that has shown to be effective on drug resistant tumors in mice. The study was reported in the September 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

15 Sep 2008

Adding Taxotere to chemotherapy regimen improves survival in early breast cancer

For patients with early stage breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, adding four cycles of docetaxel (Taxotere) into a sequential regimen of epirubicin followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF) reduces the risk of recurrence and death, updated long-term results show.

15 Sep 2008

Inovio Biomedical achieves 75% complete response rate in preclinical testing of DNA-based cancer vaccine using its electroporation DNA delivery system

Inovio Biomedical Corporation announced today that it achieved positive results from its proprietary research and development program for DNA-based cancer vaccines delivered using the company's electroporation-based DNA delivery technology.

15 Sep 2008

Significant benefits in non-small-cell lung cancer from customizing erlotinib treatment

Lung cancer patients whose tumors carry specific genetic mutations can achieve significantly longer survival when treated with targeted therapies such as erlotinib, Spanish researchers report.

15 Sep 2008

Gender differences in experience of rheumatism

Rheumatoid arthritis is often a more painful experience for women than it is for men, even though the visible symptoms are the same.

15 Sep 2008

New cannabis-like drugs could block pain without affecting brain

A new type of drug could alleviate pain in a similar way to cannabis without affecting the brain, according to a new study published in the journal Pain on Monday 15 September.

15 Sep 2008

Keppra XR approved in the U.S. for partial onset seizures

UCB announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Keppra XR (levetiracetam extended-release tablets) for use as an add-on to other antiepileptic treatments for people with partial onset seizures who are 16 years of age and older. Keppra XR is expected to be available in U.S. pharmacies at the end of September 2008.

15 Sep 2008

30 years on from Alma-Ata and the pendulum is swinging back to primary health care

Thirty years on from the signing of the historic Alma-Ata declaration, the famous rallying call to the global health community, the concept of Primary Health Care, which lay at its heart, is back on the global agenda.

15 Sep 2008

'Dodgy dossier' partly to blame for failure of war against malaria in the tropics

The war against malaria in tropical countries was fought and lost in the 20th Century on the basis of faulty intelligence, a 'dodgy dossier' which argued that the same methods used to tackle the disease in temperate countries would also work in the tropics.

15 Sep 2008

One million pounds to improve access to physiotherapy

Providing timely access to physiotherapy is a long-standing problem for the NHS, with more than 4 million new referrals each year and waiting times of several months in many areas. A Bristol-led study to improve access has been given £1.06 million by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

15 Sep 2008

Medical News

Malaria, HIV interventions help reduce mortality among young children, challenges remain, UNICEF report says

Senate approves bill to expand protections under Americans with disabilities act

Asian Development Bank, Vietnamese province launch project to curb spread of HIV/AIDS among youth

Senate Committee approves legislation that would invalidate mandatory banding arbitration provisions of nursing home admission contracts

Effective public health response needed to fight HIV/AIDS in southeast Asia, WHO says

Herpes drug Acyclovir could help control HIV

House Committee weighs options for permanent overhaul of Medicare physician payment system

Uganda plans survey to determine prevalence of MDR-TB, health official says

CDC releases subpopulation estimates from data on annual new HIV infections; new infections high among blacks, MSM

Lawmakers warn federal officials to fix problems with Medicare information phone line

DNA vaccine developed at the Karmanos Cancer Institute fights HER2-positive cancers

Adding Taxotere to chemotherapy regimen improves survival in early breast cancer

Inovio Biomedical achieves 75% complete response rate in preclinical testing of DNA-based cancer vaccine using its electroporation DNA delivery system

Significant benefits in non-small-cell lung cancer from customizing erlotinib treatment

Gender differences in experience of rheumatism

New cannabis-like drugs could block pain without affecting brain

Keppra XR approved in the U.S. for partial onset seizures

30 years on from Alma-Ata and the pendulum is swinging back to primary health care

'Dodgy dossier' partly to blame for failure of war against malaria in the tropics

One million pounds to improve access to physiotherapy

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

Latest News