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College health plans beginning to accommodate transgender students

Over the last decade, as activists started pushing colleges to accommodate transgender students, they first raised only basic issues, like recognizing a name change or deciding who could use which bathrooms.

14 Feb 2013

IAP antagonists may actually increase risk of bone tumors

Cancer drugs should kill tumors, not encourage their spread. But new evidence suggests that an otherwise promising class of drugs may actually increase the risk of tumors spreading to bone, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

14 Feb 2013

State policies, positions on Medicaid expansion continue to take shape

North Carolina will not expand Medicaid coverage under President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law and will play no role in setting up the required health insurance exchange, Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, said on Tuesday.

14 Feb 2013

Researchers identify new way to influence the vital serotonin signaling system

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the University of Houston has found a new way to influence the vital serotonin signaling system - possibly leading to more effective medications with fewer side effects.

14 Feb 2013

Study: No link between hospital readmissions and saving patient lives

A Journal of the American Medical Association study released Tuesday has found that higher hospital readmissions don't lead to fewer patient deaths.

14 Feb 2013

GSK1322322 targets gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant strains of MRSA

An increasing number of bacteria is evolving antibiotic resistance. Much-feared representatives of this steadily growing group include Staphylococci strains. At this point, multi-resistant forms of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus - the "hospital germ" known commonly by its acronym, MRSA - can only be treated with a select subset of antibiotics as many drugs have simply stopped working. This is precisely why the field of medicine is in desperate need of new treatment options.

14 Feb 2013

More polio workers killed than reported cases of disease, NPR reports

"The global effort to eradicate polio has reached a bizarre stage: More people have been gunned down recently over the disease than actually infected with it," NPR's "Shots" blog reports.

14 Feb 2013

Traumatic brain injury investigational treatment from BHR Pharma receives EMA orphan medicinal product designation

BHR Pharma, LLC announced today the European Medicines Agency (EMA), responsible for evaluating medicines developed for use in the European Union, granted an orphan medicinal product designation for treating moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) to its proprietary intravenous progesterone infusion agent, BHR-100. The agent currently is being evaluated as a neuroprotective treatment for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the global, Phase III SyNAPSe® clinical trial.

14 Feb 2013

Threat vigilance can protect soldiers against PTSD

The onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is unpredictable. Because it depends on the unforeseeable occurrence of traumatic events, it is difficult to identify preventative or causative factors. Scientists typically turn to patients who have already developed PTSD to study the disorder, but that means they can't draw comparisons to their psychological state prior to experiencing trauma.

14 Feb 2013

Will more availability of some Medicare therapies spark a budget crisis?

Politico looks at how making some therapies more widely available to Medicare recipients -- as one lawsuit is asking for -- could strain the program's budget. In addition, The Associated Press examines Medicare records to find that monitoring some kidney cancer patients instead of operating could improve their chances to live.

14 Feb 2013

Study finds human MPV as second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children

New Vanderbilt-led research published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has identified the relatively unknown human metapneumovirus (MPV) as the second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children.

14 Feb 2013

Blogs examine root causes, implications of myths about polio vaccination

Citing a review by Telegraph correspondent Rob Crilly criticizing the film Zero Dark Thirty "for getting its facts wrong about the CIA vaccination campaign that sought to confirm the DNA of Osama bin Laden's children," development blogger Tom Murphy writes in the Humanosphere blog, "Crilly's larger point is to say that the film gives further ammo to polio vaccine conspiracy theorists."

14 Feb 2013

Theradiag’s new biotherapy monitoring kits receive CE mark approval

Theradiag, a company specializing in theranostic and in vitro diagnostics, today announced it has obtained a CE mark for two new biotherapy monitoring kits; Tocilizumab (anti-IL6R) and Rituximab (anti-CD20) that further expand the Lisa Tracker range.

14 Feb 2013

Rubio' repeats GOP calls for overhauling Medicare, other entitlement programs

During his televised speech responding to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also criticized the health law.

14 Feb 2013

Computer-based cognitive/behavioral training program can benefit patients with fragile X

Researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute will examine whether children and youth with fragile X syndrome can improve their working memory, cognition and behavior by using an online computer-based cognitive training program, through a new $1 million grant from The John Merck Fund.

14 Feb 2013

As part of 'expansive' agenda, Obama offers support for 'modest' Medicare reforms

In last night's State of the Union address, President Barack Obama offered his take on how the U.S. budget could achieve "fiscal stability" through a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases; however, he provided few details of what changes to Medicare he found acceptable.

14 Feb 2013

Novel approach uses adult stem cells to save sight of diabetes sufferers

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells.

14 Feb 2013

USAID blog reports on India's Call to Action Summit for Child Survival, Development

In a post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Ariel Pablos-Mendez, assistant administrator for global health at USAID, provides an overview of India's "Call to Action Summit for Child Survival and Development," which took place last week, writing, "Led by India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Summit called for an accelerated response to decrease child mortality across the country."

14 Feb 2013

Link between Jagged-1 protein and bone formation

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered that a protein called Jagged-1 stimulates human stem cells to differentiate into bone-producing cells.

14 Feb 2013

President Obama delivers SOTU address, mentioning trade agreements, AIDS-free generation

"President Barack Obama outlined an ambitious agenda in his State of the Union address Tuesday that included raising the minimum wage, increasing spending on infrastructure, attacking climate change and passing gun-control legislation," the Wall Street Journal reports.

14 Feb 2013