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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children: an interview with Donna Gillies

Children with PTSD suffer significant distress or negative impacts on their daily lives. Estimates of the prevalence of PTSD in children and adolescents experiencing trauma are generally very high, at 30% to 40%.

28 Jan 2013

Temple scientists to solve long-standing mystery in sepsis

Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at the Temple University School of Medicine are inching closer to solving a long-standing mystery in sepsis, a complex and often life-threatening condition that affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. every year.

28 Jan 2013

Lawmakers target fiscal cliff's provision aiding Amgen for elimination

The fiscal cliff legislation approved earlier this month excluded Amgen's Sensipar, which is used by kidney dialysis patients, from Medicare price controls for an additional two years.

28 Jan 2013

New ESF position paper identifies needs and steps to improve teaching skills in higher education

A new position paper, The Professionalisation of Academics as Teachers in Higher Education, has been published today by the European Science Foundation.

28 Jan 2013

Germany commits to providing 1B euros to Global Fund through 2016

"Germany will give one billion euros $1.3 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the country's minister for economic cooperation and development Dirk Niebel said Thursday" during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, CNN reports.

28 Jan 2013

ED visits involving ADHD stimulant medications are on the rise

A new report shows that the number of emergency department visits involving attention deficit /hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulant medications more than doubled from 13,379 visits in 2005 to 31,244 in 2010.

28 Jan 2013

'Vaccine diplomacy' could reduce disease burden on Korean Peninsula

"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a New Year's Day speech, called for reductions in international tension and an end to confrontation with South Korea, while raising the prospect of reunification between the North and South," Peter Hotez, president and director of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, notes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, asking, "Could 'vaccine diplomacy' work on the Korean peninsula?."

28 Jan 2013

Paper says hospitals that do treat patients with anemia have better outcomes

Up to one-third of patients undergoing surgery in Ontario have a treatable form of anemia but are not optimally treated for it.

28 Jan 2013

Health law's Medicaid expansion raises possibilities, problems for states

California Gov. Jerry Brown describes implementing the expansion as "incredibly complex," while Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder sees it an opportunity to address gaps in the mental health system. In Arizona, meanwhile, the expansion is framed as an immigration issue.

28 Jan 2013

The LINC complex essential for hearing

In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Karen Avraham and colleagues at Tel Aviv University identified a genetic mutation in two families with hereditary high frequency hearing loss. The mutated gene, which has not previously been linked to hearing loss, encodes NESP4, a protein that is expressed in the outer nuclear membrane (ONM) of the hair cells of the ear.

28 Jan 2013

Urging U.N. to collect, report data on aging population affected by HIV

"Estimates suggest that by 2040, over nine million people with HIV will be 50 or older in sub-Saharan Africa, triple that of current data," The Body reports, noting, "Despite this, the 2012 UNAIDS report does not mention the aging of HIV," and "because it does not include data on those aged 50 or older, the report is inaccurate and misleading."

28 Jan 2013

Evidence links HPV16 to focal cortical dysplasia type IIB

Researchers at Shriner's Hospital Pediatric Research Center at the Temple University School of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania have evidence linking the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) - the most common cause of cervical cancer - to a common form of childhood epilepsy.

28 Jan 2013

Anti-abortion protestors marking Roe v. Wade anniversary with D.C. March

Meanwhile, a coalition including business interests, state officials and educational institutions is gelling around efforts to fight the health law's contraception mandate.

28 Jan 2013

Immunosuppressive drugs do not increase risk of cancer in lupus patients

People who take immunosuppressive drugs to treat lupus do not necessarily increase their cancer risk according to new research led by scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC).

28 Jan 2013

Bill Gates's annual letter to focus on measurement to fight poverty, disease

Writing in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, discusses his annual letter, which will be sent on January 30, according to the blog.

28 Jan 2013

Neuroscientists develop new way to stop epileptic seizures with fiber-optic light signals

UC Irvine neuroscientists have developed a way to stop epileptic seizures with fiber-optic light signals, heralding a novel opportunity to treat the most severe manifestations of the brain disorder.

28 Jan 2013

Medicare foots $120 million bill for patient groups not eligible for the program

According to two government reports, the Medicare program was billed for more than $33 million in inmate care and more than $91 million for illegal immigrant care between 2009 and 2011. Medicare generally does not pay for services for either of these patient groups.

28 Jan 2013

Daily antibacterial baths can safely reduce risk of bloodstream infections in critically ill children

Daily baths with an ordinary antibacterial cleanser can safely reduce the risk of dangerous bloodstream infections in critically ill children, according to a trial conducted in five pediatric hospitals and led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

28 Jan 2013

Secretary of State nominee Sen. Kerry testifies at Senate confirmation hearing

"In a confirmation hearing unusual for its bipartisan comity, Secretary of State-designate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) pledged Thursday to pursue a different brand of foreign policy -- one rooted in greater cultural understanding of the developing world -- while leading a global fight to combat climate change, which he described as a direct threat to American security," the Boston Globe reports.

28 Jan 2013