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Unassisted cessation proves to be most successful in quitting smoking

Health authorities should emphasize the positive message that the most successful method used by most ex-smokers is unassisted cessation, despite the promotion of cessation drugs by pharmaceutical companies and many tobacco control advocates.

10 Feb 2010

Proposed 2010-11 Rendell budget preserves essential health care and safety net services

Governor Edward G. Rendell's proposed 2010-11 budget maintains essential health care and other safety net services during the economic recovery by better managing programs, attacking waste and reducing unnecessary spending.

10 Feb 2010

PolyMedix provides overview of its 2010 clinical milestones

PolyMedix, Inc. (www.polymedix.com), an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders, provided an overview of its 2010 clinical milestones in a presentation by President & C.E.O., Nicholas Landekic at the 2010 BIO CEO & Investor Conference.

10 Feb 2010

Biology of lung cancer varies by age and gender

The biology of lung cancer differs from one patient to the next, depending on age and sex, according to scientists at Duke University Medical Center. The findings may help explain why certain groups of patients do better than others, even though they appear to have the same disease.

10 Feb 2010

Researchers find that mutation in single gene can cause endometrial cancer

A mutation in a single gene can cause endometrial cancer that is responsive to a specific drug therapy, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in an animal study.

10 Feb 2010

Antimalarial medicines in African countries are substandard, says QAMSA study

The first results from a large-scale study of key antimalarial medicines in ten Sub-Saharan African countries reveal that a high percentage of medicines circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of malaria.

10 Feb 2010

UnitedHealthcare launches OCA program for cancer patients

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, launched its Oncology Care Analysis (OCA) program. This patient-focused, integrated program uses a first-of-its-kind database that combines clinical and claims data to gauge the quality of cancer patient care based on approved treatment guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 21 leading cancer centers.

10 Feb 2010

Study may pave way for more refined treatments for brain tumors

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown once again that "ready, fire, aim," nonsensical though it may sound, can be an essential approach to research.

10 Feb 2010

Neuroimaging technique could help in devising effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease

Scientists have determined that a new instrument known as PIB-PET is effective in detecting deposits of amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brains of living people, and that these deposits are predictive of who will develop Alzheimer's disease.

10 Feb 2010

Autism Speaks: Ten most significant autism research achievements in 2009

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization has released its annual list of the 10 most significant research achievements to have impacted autism during the previous year. Every year, Autism Speaks documents the progress made toward its mission to discover the causes and treatment for autism spectrum disorders, and compiles a list of the 10 most significant research achievements to have impacted autism during the previous year.

10 Feb 2010

Study shows lactobacillus is effective in improving H. pylori-infected diseases

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are considered to be the most important etiological agents of chronic gastritis. The eradication of H. pyloridepends on the combination of antibiotics and acid suppression drugs.

10 Feb 2010

Hospitals use new robotic catheter guidance system to treat abnormal heart rhythms

The robotic system "enhances a doctor's natural ability, and we believe it will contribute to improved procedural outcomes," said Dr. David Wilber of Loyola University Health System, a nationally known researcher in heart rhythm disorders.

10 Feb 2010

Cholesterol lowering drugs also reduce risk of developing cataracts

Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, have been successfully fighting heart disease for years. A new study from Tel Aviv University has now found that the same drugs cut the risks of cataracts in men by almost 40%.

10 Feb 2010

TBTC to receive more than $90 million to develop effective tuberculosis treatments

The Tuberculosis Trials Consortium (TBTC) strives to conduct research about the diagnosis, medical treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease. The network is composed of a partnership of clinical investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), public health departments from different countries, as well as medical and pharmaceutical institutions.

10 Feb 2010

Findings of poor quality malaria drugs in Africa add to artemisinin-resistance worries

A study released on Monday found that between 26 percent and 44 percent of artemisinin-based malaria drugs sold in Madagascar, Senegal and Uganda "failed quality testing" because of impurities or insufficient amounts of active ingredient, the Associated Press reports.

10 Feb 2010

Research suggests a potential means of circumventing drug resistance in breast cancer patients

Overexpression of low-molecular-weight (LMW-E) forms of the protein cyclin E renders the aromatase inhibitor letrozole ineffective among women with estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in Clinical Cancer Research.

10 Feb 2010

MSU launches research and training program to address product counterfeiting

Michigan State University has launched the nation's first comprehensive research and training program designed to address product counterfeiting-- which the FBI has called "the crime of the 21st century."

10 Feb 2010

Research opens door for advancement of new category of painkillers

Research led by a scientist at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center has opened the door for the advancement of a new category of painkillers, called TRPV1 antagonists.

10 Feb 2010

G7 forgives Haiti's bilateral loans to support aid effort

At a press conference on Saturday, "Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he and his G-7 colleagues would forgive bilateral loans extended to poverty-stricken Haiti, which estimates it could have lost 200,000 residents in the major earthquake that hit last month," Dow Jones Newswires reports.

10 Feb 2010

GA²LEN and EAACI warn: Older antihistamines in OTC allergy medications may be hazardous

A joint GA²LEN /EAACI report to be published in "Allergy" and available online on 8 February reviews new data on the treatment of allergies with older antihistamines compared with newer, second-generation H1-antihistamines. The research was funded by GA²LEN, an EU-funded Network of Excellence.

10 Feb 2010