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Viewpoints: A 'gift' to Amgen; Obama omits talk of grand bargain; Defending physician pay

For a disheartening example of how intense lobbying and financial contributions can distort the legislative process in Washington, consider what happened to the "fiscal cliff" bill approved three weeks ago by Congress.

23 Jan 2013

Article analyzes role of nutrition in mood swings

In this study, preliminary data yields conflicting but mainly positive evidence for the use of n-3 fatty acids and chromium in the treatment of bipolar depression. Limited evidence found that inositol may be helpful for bipolar depression, but larger sample sizes are needed. Preliminary randomized, controlled trials suggest that choline, magnesium, folate and tryptophan may be beneficial for reducing symptoms of mania.

23 Jan 2013

Data from Provectus' PV-10 pre-clinical study on melanoma to be presented at AACR meeting

Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company, announces that data on PV-10 will be presented in a poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

23 Jan 2013

Outgoing secretary of state Clinton should recommend making USAID a 'quasi-independent agency'

"As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has been a visible and vocal champion of development ... but her promise to make the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] the premier development agency in the world remains a promise in progress," Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development, writes in a Politico opinion piece.

23 Jan 2013

Researchers pinpoint several inherited mutations in autism

While autism clearly runs in some families, few inherited genetic causes have been found. A major reason is that these causes are so varied that it's hard to find enough people with a given mutation to establish a clear pattern. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have pinpointed several inherited mutations—among the first to be identified—through an unusual approach: using whole-exome sequencing to study large Middle Eastern families with autism.

23 Jan 2013

Actavis seeks FDA approval to market generic Opana ER

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today confirmed that Actavis South Atlantic LLC, which was acquired by Watson in October, has filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market Oxymorphone Hydrochloride Extended-release Tablets.

23 Jan 2013

Capsules: CMS community initiatives could reduce health costs; Report: States making it easier to apply for Medicaid

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Phil Galewitz reports on a study finding that states are making it easier to apply for Medicaid: "Despite the reluctance of some Republican governors to expand Medicaid next year under the 2010 health law, most governors are making it easier for people to apply for coverage in the state-federal program for the poor".

23 Jan 2013

Taking antiepileptic drug valproate during pregnancy affects the IQ of children

Research published in The Lancet Neurology shows that taking the antiepileptic drug valproate during pregnancy affects the IQ of children up to the age of six.

23 Jan 2013

State abortion restrictions having impact

In Kansas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas, new laws limiting abortion providers spur changes for clinics and patients.

23 Jan 2013

Interventional Radiology launches IR Quarterly magazine

Interventional Radiology announces the launch of IR Quarterly-a new magazine that communicates updates critical to the practice of interventional radiology, augmented with stories, interviews and in-depth analysis in each four-color, 40-page issue. IR Quarterly delivers quality reporting on political advocacy, practice management and the latest specialty news and information.

23 Jan 2013

Enterococcal cytolysin synthetase helps form distinctly different, 3-D protein ring structures

While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before.

23 Jan 2013

$30 for a flu shot: An outrage or a bargain?

The Los Angeles Times looks at the economics of producing a successful flu vaccine each year. And Reuters explores what may be on the horizon to improve those immunizations.

23 Jan 2013

SOPHIE project to evaluate social and economic policies’ impact on health inequalities

Europe will assess the impact of social and economic policies on health inequalities through the SOPHIE project. Health inequalities are avoidable and unfair differences determined by the circumstances in which people of different social groups are born, live, work and age.

23 Jan 2013

Obama's vision includes safety net programs

Drawing on language from his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama used his inaugural address to set out a promise to preserve programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

23 Jan 2013

Strong link between mortality and reduced innate immune responsiveness in critically ill patients

Investigators from 15 children's medical centers, including Nationwide Children's Hospital, observed and evaluated critically ill children with influenza to evaluate the relationships between levels of systemic inflammation, immune function and likelihood to die from the illness. The study appears in the January issue of Critical Care Medicine.

23 Jan 2013

Amgen drug gets boost in fiscal cliff legislation

Just two weeks after pleading guilty in a major federal fraud case, Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology firm, scored a largely unnoticed coup on Capitol Hill: Lawmakers inserted a paragraph into the "fiscal cliff" bill that did not mention the company by name but strongly favored one of its drugs.

23 Jan 2013

Changes in food label modifications may help consumers make healthful decisions

The Nutrition Facts label was introduced 20 years ago and provides consumers with important information, including: the serving size, the number of servings in the package, the number of calories per serving, and the amount of nutrients for each serving of a packaged food. However, research has shown that consumers often miscalculate the number of calories and the nutritional content of products that have two or more servings per container but are usually consumed in a single eating occasion.

23 Jan 2013

Do not 'give up' on successful anti-hunger initiatives

"As an anti-hunger advocate, ... I am hopeful about the global change that President Obama could make in his second term, especially when it comes to reducing poverty, but I worry Congress might toss the hungry off the fiscal cliff," Katie Campbell, senior policy analyst with ActionAid U.S., writes in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

23 Jan 2013

SMO and AKT1 mutations appear to drive about 15% of meningiomas

Large-scale genomic sequencing has revealed two DNA mutations that appear to drive about 15 percent of brain tumors known as meningiomas, a finding that could lead to the first effective drug treatments for the tumors, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute.

23 Jan 2013

Administration unveils new set of medical privacy rules

The Obama administration released a new set of rules and protections designed to govern patient privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

23 Jan 2013