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First Edition: August 8, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the proposed rule released Wednesday by the Obama administration allowing the government to continue to pay for a significant portion of health insurance for lawmakers and Hill staffers.

8 Aug 2013

KU researchers receives grant to create new program to help American Indian students stop smoking

The University of Kansas Cancer Center's Cancer Control and Population Health program got a boost in April when Won Choi, Ph.D., and his colleagues were awarded a $2.7 million, five-year NCI grant to create an Internet-based program to help American Indian tribal college students stop smoking.

8 Aug 2013

Findings could lead to development of therapeutic agents for age-related diseases

Scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified a key factor that regulates the autophagy process, a kind of cleansing mechanism for cells in which waste material and cellular debris is gobbled up to protect cells from damage, and in turn, modulates aging.

8 Aug 2013

MAXIMUS revenue grows 26% to $334.3 million in Q3 2013

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services worldwide, today reported financial results for its third quarter ended June 30, 2013.

8 Aug 2013

Summer Community Program improves physician access in rural communities

According to a recent study, the Summer Community Program offered by the University of Missouri School of Medicine has made a significant impact on physician access in rural communities. The 15-year study showed medical school graduates involved in the program not only entered family practice residency training at higher rates than nonparticipants, but nearly half began their medical careers in rural locations.

8 Aug 2013

Study: Compared to open bypass, stenting keeps circulation flowing longer in some patients

New Johns Hopkins research suggests that people who undergo minimally invasive placement of stents to open clogged leg arteries are significantly less likely than those who have conventional bypass surgery to need a second treatment for the condition within two years.

8 Aug 2013

Penn State researchers find that protein changes can control gene functions

A Penn State-led research team has found that changes to proteins called histones, which are associated with DNA, can control whether or not a gene is allowed to function. The changes may be important in maintaining the genes' "expression potential" so that future cells behave as their parent cells did.

8 Aug 2013

Novartis earns global CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation

Novartis International AG, a multinational healthcare company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is the first company to earn global CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation. Their commitment to workplace wellness reaches across the globe to positively affect the lives of all their employees.

8 Aug 2013

Study finds no evidence that retired NFL players suffer chronic traumatic encephalopathy

The media have widely reported that retired NFL players are at risk for a neurodegenerative disorder called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which causes symptoms such as aggression, depression, suicidality and progressive dementia.

8 Aug 2013

UCLA researchers invent research maps to help neuroscientists choose what to study next

Before the digital age, neuroscientists got their information in the library like the rest of us. But the field's explosion has created nearly 2 million papers -- more data than any researcher can read and absorb in a lifetime.

8 Aug 2013

Biodegradable surgical sutures could treat brain infections

A plastic material already used in absorbable surgical sutures and other medical devices shows promise for continuous administration of antibiotics to patients with brain infections, scientists are reporting in a new study. Use of the material, placed directly on the brain's surface, could reduce the need for weeks of costly hospital stays now required for such treatment, they say in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

8 Aug 2013

Overthinking can be harmful to human performance, finds study

Trying to explain riding a bike is difficult because it is an implicit memory. The body knows what to do, but thinking about the process can often interfere. So why is it that under certain circumstances paying full attention and trying hard can actually impede performance? A new UC Santa Barbara study, published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, reveals part of the answer.

8 Aug 2013

Researchers unveil comprehensive portrait of the genome of world's first immortal cell line

A team from the University of Washington has unveiled a comprehensive portrait of the genome of the world's first immortal cell line, known as HeLa. The cell line was derived in 1951 from an aggressive cervical cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American tobacco farmer and mother of five - the subject of the 2010 New York Times bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

8 Aug 2013

One-third of patients with heart pumps develop infection at abdominal power connection site

Cardiac surgeons and cardiologists at the University of Maryland Heart Center are part of a multi-center clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of powering heart pumps through a skull-based connector behind the ear. Typically, these devices for patients with severe heart failure are energized through an electrical cord connected at an abdominal site, where potentially deadly infections can develop.

8 Aug 2013

Ret enzyme may be a novel therapeutic target in selected groups of breast cancer patients

Scientists at the MedUni Vienna, in collaboration with a working group led by Nancy Hynes at the University of Basel, have discovered a new approach in the treatment of breast cancer: an international team involving the Clinical Institute of Pathology at the MedUni Vienna has been able to demonstrate the activation of a receptor, the Ret protein (Rearranged during transfection), on the surface of breast cancer cells. Increased levels of this protein are associated with a lower likelihood of survival for breast cancer patients.

8 Aug 2013

Understanding the movement of neurons sheds light on how cancer cells invade health tissues

The invasion of brain-tumor cells into surrounding tissue requires the same protein molecule that neurons need to migrate into position as they differentiate and mature, according to new research from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and published August 7 in the online journal PLOS ONE.

8 Aug 2013

Janssen receives EC approval to use VELCADE as induction therapy in patients with multiple myeloma

Janssen-Cilag International NV announced today that the European Commission has approved the use of VELCADE (bortezomib) as induction therapy (a first therapeutic option) in combination with dexamethasone or thalidomide and dexamethasone. This licence extension will apply to adult patients with previously-untreated multiple myeloma who are eligible for high-dose chemotherapy with haematological stem cell transplantation.

8 Aug 2013

Harmful toxins found in food may put developing babies at risk

Pregnant women regularly consume food and beverages containing toxins believed to pose potential risks to developing fetuses, according to researchers at the University of California in Riverside and San Diego, suggesting that health care providers must do more to counsel their patients about the dangers of hidden toxins in the food supply.

8 Aug 2013

Research shows how mammalian and bacterial kingdoms interact

The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae harmlessly colonizes the mucous linings of throats and noses in most people, only becoming virulent when they leave those comfortable surroundings and enter the middle ears, lungs or bloodstream. Now, in research published in July in mBio, University at Buffalo researchers reveal how that happens.

8 Aug 2013

LUHS takes first-of-its-kind initiative to improve breast-feeding rates

More mothers in the United States are breast-feeding their babies, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued during World Breastfeeding Week, Aug. 1 to 7, and National Breastfeeding Month. The CDC attributes this to steps hospitals are taking to increase breast-feeding rates among new mothers.

8 Aug 2013

Medical News

First Edition: August 8, 2013

KU researchers receives grant to create new program to help American Indian students stop smoking

Findings could lead to development of therapeutic agents for age-related diseases

MAXIMUS revenue grows 26% to $334.3 million in Q3 2013

Summer Community Program improves physician access in rural communities

Study: Compared to open bypass, stenting keeps circulation flowing longer in some patients

Penn State researchers find that protein changes can control gene functions

Novartis earns global CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation

Study finds no evidence that retired NFL players suffer chronic traumatic encephalopathy

UCLA researchers invent research maps to help neuroscientists choose what to study next

Biodegradable surgical sutures could treat brain infections

Overthinking can be harmful to human performance, finds study

Researchers unveil comprehensive portrait of the genome of world's first immortal cell line

One-third of patients with heart pumps develop infection at abdominal power connection site

Ret enzyme may be a novel therapeutic target in selected groups of breast cancer patients

Understanding the movement of neurons sheds light on how cancer cells invade health tissues

Janssen receives EC approval to use VELCADE as induction therapy in patients with multiple myeloma

Harmful toxins found in food may put developing babies at risk

Research shows how mammalian and bacterial kingdoms interact

LUHS takes first-of-its-kind initiative to improve breast-feeding rates

Advancing Motor Neuron Disease Diagnosis with Non-Invasive Ultrasound and AI

How agentic AI is reshaping laboratory workflows

Fourier 80: bringing benchtop NMR systems to the laboratory

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