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AHF challenges Merck over Isentress AIDS drug pricing

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has criticized Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals, for the announced price for its key new HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress (raltegravir), an integrase inhibitor approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Friday, and priced by the company at nearly $9,900 per patient yearly.

17 Oct 2007

Weight loss before bariatric surgery linked to shorter hospital stay

High-risk morbidly obese patients who lose 5 to 10 percent of their excess body weight before undergoing gastric bypass surgery appear to have shorter hospital stays and more rapid postoperative weight loss, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, a theme issue on bariatric surgery.

16 Oct 2007

Research to investigate the experiences of the black African population in Britain

Two researchers at the University of Kent have been awarded £98,924 by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate the topic Black Africans in Britain: Integration or Segregation.

16 Oct 2007

Cancer death rate decline doubling

A new report from the nation's leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002.

16 Oct 2007

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expands research on therapeutics program

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced the award of $41.6 million over the next 4 years for a new coordinating center and 10 research centers as part of its Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) program.

16 Oct 2007

Low-volume whole-blood sensors could transform cardiac testing

University of Ulster researchers have teamed up with scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on a project to develop low-volume whole-blood sensors that could transform point-of-care cardiac testing.

15 Oct 2007

Annual maternal mortality ratio decline rate below target

The world's maternal mortality ratio (the number of maternal deaths per 100 000 live births) is declining too slowly to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, which aims to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth by three-quarters by 2015.

15 Oct 2007

COPD more common place in China that originally thought

In China, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in people over the age of 40 is much more prevalent than previously thought, according to researchers in Guangdong.

15 Oct 2007

Six years advance warning of Alzheimer's

One of the most distressing aspects of Alzheimer's disease is the difficulty in determining whether mild memory problems are the beginning of an inevitable mental decline.

15 Oct 2007

Picking the right stress test for heart disease risk analysis

Stress tests are good front-line tests indicators of heart disease, but just how good depends on ordering the right one, researchers say.

12 Oct 2007

Transthyretin protein may accelerate atherosclerosis

Scientists report in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that a protein called transthyretin (TTR) that is present in the blood may accelerate the development of atherosclerosis - a potentially fatal heart disease in which the arteries are progressively narrowed and hardened over time, reducing blood flow to the heart.

12 Oct 2007

Professional welders risk losing their sense of smell

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that professional welders who work in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation may be at risk for loss of sense of smell. The study appears in Neurology .

12 Oct 2007

Peripheral ehanolamine plasmalogen deficiency - likely factor in Alzheimer's and dementia

Dayan B. Goodenowe and colleagues report in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that people with Alzheimer's disease and related conditions exhibit decreased blood levels of an important brain chemical called ethanolamine plasmalogen, even at the very early stages of the disease.

12 Oct 2007

Potential health benefits of fish oil in baby formula

Scientists report in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that adding long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids - typically found in fish oil - to baby formula may help infants better regulate their blood sugar and make more proteins in their muscle cells.

12 Oct 2007

Penn awarded $2.1 million grant for cardiovascular research

Cardiac researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pioneer studies in cardiovascular disease management and participate in a novel collaboration network to develop and implement research in this critically important field.

12 Oct 2007

Compound called apolipoprotein B in blood better at predicting coronary heart disease in Chinese people

Scientists report in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that the concentration of a compound called apolipoprotein B in the blood is better at predicting whether Chinese have coronary heart disease – in which fatty deposits clog arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the heart – than other substances such as blood cholesterol levels.

12 Oct 2007

Through the labyrinth: the truth about how women become leaders

The glass ceiling -- the once ubiquitous metaphor referring to a subtle barrier built upon biases that block women from the highest positions of leadership -- doesn't apply today, according to a new book co-written by Alice Eagly, professor and chair of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.

12 Oct 2007

Legal needs of cancer patients not being met

Cancer patients have significant concerns about legal-medical issues that are not being adequately addressed and impact the quality of their lives, according to a study conducted by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Results of the study were published in a recent issue of Cancer and presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

12 Oct 2007

Discouraging fizzy drink consumption has no long term impact on childhood obesity

An education programme which successfully cut the level of obesity in children by teaching them about healthy eating and discouraging fizzy drinks was no longer effective three years after the intervention came to an end, according to a study published on bmj.com today.

9 Oct 2007