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£60 million boost for pregnant mums to reduce child poverty

Public Health Minister, Yvette Cooper, will today announce a £60 million boost to tackle child poverty in low income areas even before children are born. The money will extend Sure Start programmes to cover pregnant women and their partners for the first time alongside families with children under four-years-old.

16 Apr 2004

Delirium in ICU patients a predictor of mortality

Between 60 percent to 80 percent of these patients develop a brain dysfunction known as delirium, which according to a group of physicians at Vanderbilt Medical Center is an independent predictor of mortality.

16 Apr 2004

Evidence suggests cutting back on state-sponsored smoking prevention campaigns could increase smoking rates

New evidence indicates that cutting back on state-sponsored smoking prevention campaigns could result in a sharp increase in smoking rates, particularly among adolescents, and should convince all states to protect these programs, according to the American Heart Association.

16 Apr 2004

Teenager smoking on the rise

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that only six months after Minnesota legislators eliminated the state's aggressive, successful "Target Market" youth anti-tobacco campaign, kids in Minnesota were at substantially greater risk of falling victim to tobacco addiction.

16 Apr 2004

Cancer rates have decreased in men and remained stable in women

Data newly compiled by the American Cancer Society finds death rates for most major cancers continue to decline, but a growing and aging population continues to produce a rise in the total number of cancer deaths.

14 Apr 2004

Extended lymph node dissection fails to increase survival among gastric cancer patients

Extended lymph node dissection – a treatment for gastric cancer involving the surgical removal of lymph nodes near the tumor, in distant areas of the stomach, and in some cases, in combination with the removal of the spleen and pancreas tail – has shown no long-term survival benefit for gastric cancer patients, according to the largest randomized trial of limited and extended lymph node dissection among this population.

13 Apr 2004

Bird flu in humans highlights vulnerability of people to emerging diseases

The occurrence of avian influenza in humans is a reminder of the vulnerability of people to an emerging pandemic, Mayo Clinic researchers warn in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

13 Apr 2004

Extended lymph node dissection, a treatment for gastric cancer

12 Apr 2004

Women with a history of pre-eclampsia are at increased risk of cancer

Women with a history of pre-eclampsia are at increased risk of cancer, particularly cancers of the stomach, breast, ovary, lung and larynx, according to a Columbia University study recently published by the British Medical Journal. Researchers studied 37,000 women in western Jerusalem, Israel, who delivered babies in three large hospitals between 1964 and 1976.

7 Apr 2004

Implantable defibrillator cuts heart attack risk of sudden death by 31%

Researchers at Loyola University Health System, Maywood, Ill., and the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y., found that the previously demonstrated survival benefit of ICDs following a heart attack can last up to 15 years.

5 Apr 2004

Doctors Likelier to Delay Prescribing Antiretroviral Drugs for Women and Minority HIV Patients

A new UCLA study finds that doctors who follow guidelines recommending the delay of antiretroviral therapy for non-adherent HIV patients are likelier to put off that treatment for Latinos, women and poor patients than they do for others. In addition, doctors are slower to prescribe protease inhibitors for African American patients whether or not the physician follows the guidelines.

4 Apr 2004

WHO says more pregnant women getting antenatal care

The number of pregnant women in developing countries receiving antenatal care during pregnancy has increased significantly since 1990, signalling that an untapped opportunity exists to reach poor women with a whole package of life-saving health services, according to a joint report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

30 Mar 2004

Air pollution effects Cystic Fibrosis Sufferers

University of Washington (UW) researchers have shown for the first time that air pollution has adverse effects on people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The research results are published in the April 1 edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

29 Mar 2004

36 million Americans have inadequate health care

New data indicate 36 million Americans do not have access to health practitioners and therefore do not receive adequate health care, regardless of the fact that many are insured or are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.

29 Mar 2004

Oral chemotherapy agent Orathecin™ (rubitecan) capsules accepted by FDA for filing

SuperGen Inc. announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially accepted the Orathecin™ (rubitecan) capsules’ New Drug Application (NDA) for filing. Orathecin, an investigational anticancer compound, is an oral chemotherapy agent that has been investigated as a treatment for pancreatic cancer patients who have failed at least one prior chemotherapy.

26 Mar 2004

Alfuzosin, new treatment for Acute Urinary Retention

The results of the ALFAUR (ALFuzosin in Acute Urinary Retention) study, announced today at the XIXth European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Vienna, Austria, indicate that the uroselective alpha1-blocker alfuzosin 10 mg once daily (OD) may have a beneficial effect in the management of male patients suffering from acute urinary retention (AUR), a sudden inability to pass urine that results in a painful distension of the bladder, requires immediate management with urethral catheterization and could necessitate surgical intervention.

25 Mar 2004

British company to launch "super bug tester" into UK hospitals

MRSA is the first test to be developed from Acolyte’s BacLite® testing platform. BacLite reduces the time for identifying both the type of bacteria and, more importantly, the antibiotic sensitivity of the bacteria from the current 3-4 day standard to just 2-5 hours. This time advantage will mean clinicians will be able to treat, much more effectively, serious bacterial infections and prevent potentially fatal complications, such as sepsis and septic shock, from developing.

24 Mar 2004

Alcohol Consumption Decreases Risk of Heart Disease in Men

Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, is the leading cause of death in the United States. To help combat this epidemic, studies throughout the United States pinpoint dietary guidelines to reduce risk including a recent release from the American Heart Association which stated that hypertensive patients should avoid alcoholic beverages.

23 Mar 2004

20% of worldwide population lack enough zinc in diet

Up to one-fifth of the world's people lack sufficient zinc in their diet, while an estimated one-third live in countries considered at high risk of zinc deficiency, warns a comprehensive new report by an international group of medical researchers.

23 Mar 2004