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Anti-HIV vaginal gel could also reduce genital herpes by half: Study

The study appears this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe that tested the gel on women in South Africa (where the risk of HIV and herpes is great) found that the anti-HIV/AIDS drug tenofovir reduced herpes infections by 51% and HIV infections by 39%.

24 Oct 2011

Your medical privacy – Another Obamacare casualty

It was a sad day recently when a married menopausal woman learned that her recent Pap test was positive for human papilloma virus (HPV). “How could this happen?” she asked. “I have not had relations with anyone but my husband since we married 30 years ago.”

24 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Health law curbs savings from OTC meds; Calif. wrestles with managing medical marijuana

[Over-the-counter] medicines play an important role in our nation's health care system, with almost 90 percent of physicians recommending patients try to address many ailments with self-care interventions, including the use of OTC medication, before seeking professional care.

24 Oct 2011

HMS, EPFL to collaborate on 6 pioneering neuroengineering projects

Two of the world's leading universities are joining forces to combine neuroscience and engineering in order to alleviate human suffering caused by such neurological disabilities as paralysis and deafness. Scientists, engineers, and clinicians at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Ecole Polytechnique F-d-rale de Lausanne (EPFL) will collaborate on six pioneering neuroengineering projects made possible thanks to a $3.6 million grant from the Bertarelli Foundation.

24 Oct 2011

Six prominent surgeons receive ACS' Honorary Fellowship

Honorary Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) was awarded to six prominent surgeons from South Africa, England, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and the People's Republic of China last night during Convocation ceremonies that preceded the official opening of the College's 97th Annual Clinical Congress.

24 Oct 2011

NIH awards DNASU $6.5M grant to expand Protein Structure Initiative-Materials Repository

Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute- is home to a rich trove of biological material. Known as DNASU, this growing storehouse-a sort of genetic Library of Congress-holds over 147,000 plasmids, (circular DNA samples that can be used to produce individual proteins), as well as full genome collections from numerous organisms and proteins associated with many leading human diseases.

21 Oct 2011

New Zealand can provide valuable model for health policy makers, IT professionals

A new report suggests that New Zealand can provide a valuable model for health policy makers and IT professionals seeking to reduce costs and increase the quality of health care in the United States and other nations.

21 Oct 2011

Tips for parents, drivers to keep kids safe during Halloween

On average, twice as many kids are killed in pedestrian accidents on Halloween compared to other days of the year. In an effort to keep kids safe this season, injury prevention experts from the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital urge parents to prepare children to act safely and drivers to take extra precautions.

21 Oct 2011

NIH selects Women & Infants to participate in Pelvic Floor Disorders Network

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to participate in the national Pelvic Floor Disorders Network (PFDN). Women & Infants is one of just eight medical centers from across the US, and the only one in the Northeast, to work collaboratively to develop and perform research studies related to women with pelvic floor disorders.

21 Oct 2011

Agilent announces winners of 2011 eMerging Insights grant program

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced the winners of the 2011 eMerging Insights grant program: Dr. Michael J. MacCoss of the University of Washington and Dr. Peter J. Park of Harvard University. Each will be awarded $75,000 toward their ongoing research on open source data-integration tools.

21 Oct 2011

Study links leptin levels with symptoms of depression, anxiety

A new study has for the first time in humans linked levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, with symptoms of depression and anxiety independent of weight.

21 Oct 2011

Young docs not so keen on immunizations: Survey

A cross-sectional survey of 551 healthcare providers and noted that more recent graduates were less likely to think that vaccines were efficacious said Saad Omer, assistant professor of Emory University in Atlanta. They were also more likely to have doubts about the safety of some vaccines, Omer told reporters at the 49th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

20 Oct 2011

Starting HIV therapy within two weeks of TB treatment increases survival by 33%

Timing is everything when treating patients with both HIV and tuberculosis. Starting HIV therapy in such patients within two weeks of TB treatment, rather than two months as is the current practice, increases survival by 33 percent, according to a large-scale clinical trial in Cambodia led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Immune Disease Institute.

20 Oct 2011

Study explores how internet message boards help women after pregnancy loss

Nearly one in six pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth, but parents' losses are frequently minimized or not acknowledged by friends, family or the community.

20 Oct 2011

Florida State receives eight-year LCME accreditation

The Florida State University College of Medicine has been granted a maximum eight-year accreditation by the sanctioning body of U.S. medical schools.

20 Oct 2011

Scientists discover complex cell mechanism that becomes an obstacle for radiation effectiveness

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and CIC bioGUNE discover a complex cell mechanism activated by a protein —HOXB9— that becomes an obstacle for radiation effectiveness.

20 Oct 2011

BUSM, COE receive NIH training grant to examine inflammatory disorders

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the College of Engineering (COE) a five year, $316,875 training grant to examine inflammatory disorders.

20 Oct 2011

Many Americans do not have access to a 'medical home'

Many Americans do not have access to a "medical home"-a physician practice that is able to manage ongoing care for patients and coordinate care among specialists and other health care facilities, according to a University of Michigan Health System-led study.

19 Oct 2011

Heart-failure related hospitalizations has declined substantially among Medicare patients

Between 1998 and 2008, heart-failure related hospitalizations declined substantially among Medicare patients, but at a lower rate for black men, according to a study in the October 19 issue of JAMA. Also, 1-year mortality rates declined slightly during this period, but remain high.

19 Oct 2011

HMS launches Initiative in Systems Pharmacology

Taking aim at the alarming slowdown in the development of new and lifesaving drugs, Harvard Medical School is launching an Initiative in Systems Pharmacology, a comprehensive strategy to transform drug discovery by convening biologists, chemists, pharmacologists, physicists, computer scientists and clinicians to explore together how drugs work in complex systems.

18 Oct 2011