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New 5-minute Memory Orientation Screening Test to identify elderly patients with dementia

A new 5-minute test to identify elderly patients with dementia promises to give doctors a more sensitive tool to use in the Annual Wellness Examination. The Memory Orientation Screening Test (MOST™) developed by Mitchell Clionsky, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist, and Emilymarie Clionsky, MD, an internist/psychiatrist, is based on their clinical experience with thousands of patients who suffer from Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias, which now afflicts more than 5 million Americans.

10 Dec 2010

Using buprenorphine to treat opioid-dependent pregnant women may result in healthier babies

Using buprenorphine instead of methadone — the current standard of care — to treat opioid-dependent pregnant women may result in healthier babies, suggests new findings from an international team led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Dec. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

10 Dec 2010

Caliper to acquire CRi for $20.0 million

Caliper Life Sciences, Inc., a leading provider of products and services for drug discovery research, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Inc. (CRi) for approximately $20.0 million, including net debt. CRi's patented preclinical and tissue-based multiplexed analysis systems will expand Caliper's life sciences tools portfolio, particularly as it bridges into clinical research, pathology and clinical market applications.

10 Dec 2010

Presidential commission pushes feds to 'facilitate' more health IT

A report by a presidential advisory panel urges the federal government to be more aggressive in facilitating the adoption of universal standards for sharing electronic health information and maintaining patient privacy.

10 Dec 2010

Horizon Discovery secures exclusive rights to human isogenic cell models

With the goal of developing new, more effective and personalized cancer treatments, Horizon Discovery, based in Cambridge, England, has secured from Case Western Reserve University exclusive rights to a panel of new human isogenic cell models developed by the laboratory of Zhenghe John Wang, assistant professor of genetics at the university's School of Medicine.

10 Dec 2010

COPD becomes third leading cause of death in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released a report today, "Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2008," confirming that Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) became the third leading cause of death in the U.S. for 2008.

10 Dec 2010

Obesity is associated with worse outcomes in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative disease

Obesity was associated with worse overall and disease-free survival in women with operable breast cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, but for the first time, researchers observed this finding in only a specific subset of patients - those with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/HER2-negative disease.

10 Dec 2010

Exposure to tobacco smoke causes immediate damage leading to serious illness or death

Exposure to tobacco smoke - even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke - causes immediate damage to your body that can lead to serious illness or death, according to a report released today by U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin. The comprehensive scientific report - Benjamin's first Surgeon General's report and the 30th tobacco-related Surgeon General's report issued since 1964 - describes specific pathways by which tobacco smoke damages the human body and leads to disease and death.

10 Dec 2010

McNeil recalls ROLAIDS Ultra Strength SoftChews and SoftChews plus Gas Relief in Canada

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of Johnson & Johnson Inc. is voluntarily recalling all lots of ROLAIDS® Ultra Strength SoftChews® and ROLAIDS® Ultra Strength SoftChews® plus Gas Relief distributed in Canada.

10 Dec 2010

Insurers develop new products, brace for overhaul's impact

News outlets report that insurers and brokers are devising strategies to respond to the new health law.

10 Dec 2010

Haitian cholera pathogen closely related to 'El Tor O1' variant from South Asia

Scientists from Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. and Harvard Medical School have successfully employed single molecule, real-time (SMRT™) DNA sequencing technology to rapidly characterize the pathogen responsible for the recent deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti. Published online Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results provide the first whole genome sequence analysis and most detailed genetic profile to date of the Haitian Vibrio cholerae outbreak strain.

10 Dec 2010

State roundup: Facing budget 'cliff'; Medicaid woes; Arizona transplant program; Another Florida health vote?

U.S. states are preparing for more budget cuts next year as tax revenue isn't likely to rebound enough to replace almost $38 billion in aid that will be gone as federal economic stimulus ends, according to a report. At least 31 states and Puerto Rico are forecasting deficits of $82.1 billion in the next fiscal year even as tax receipts are picking up, the National Conference of State Legislatures said today.

10 Dec 2010

Talecris initiates clinical trial to evaluate 2 doses of PROLASTIN-C for emphysema due to AAT deficiency

Talecris Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced today the initiation of a clinical trial evaluating the safety and the pharmacokinetic profile of two doses of PROLASTIN®-C (Alpha(1)-Proteinase Inhibitor [Human]) (A1PI), a therapy indicated for chronic augmentation and maintenance in adults with emphysema due to alpha(1)-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency. AAT deficiency is a rare, genetic disorder in which low levels of the alpha(1) protein circulating in the lungs can increase an individual's risk of developing emphysema.

10 Dec 2010

Low phosphate diets may increase dialysis patients' risk of premature death

Doctors often ask kidney disease patients on dialysis to limit the amount of phosphate they consume in their diets, but this does not help prolong their lives, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

10 Dec 2010

Stereotactic radiation therapy as effective as surgery for patients with early-stage lung cancer

A new study shows that a new type of targeted radiation therapy called stereotactic radiation therapy is just as good as surgery for patients aged 75 and older with early-stage lung cancer, according to research presented at the 2010 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.

10 Dec 2010

Opinions: Questioning WHO's relevance; Reforming foreign aid; Efforts to prevent child marriage

"The WHO - for 62 years the world's go-to agency on all public health matters - is today outmoded, underfunded, and overly politicized," Jack Chow, former assistant director-general on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria at WHO, writes in a Foreign Policy Argument where he outlines some of the major issues facing the WHO, including personnel challenges, the agency's "archaic" governance system and a "new atmosphere, where [other] organizations are taking health into their own hands."

10 Dec 2010

TeleHealth Services announces extended partnership with Central Baptist Hospital

TeleHealth Services, the nation's leading provider of healthcare-grade televisions and interactive patient education solutions, today announced an extended partnership with Central Baptist Hospital. The 383-bed hospital, an early adopter to on-demand education, implemented TIGR as their interactive patient education and entertainment solution as a part of their "meaningful use" project, and the further utilization of advanced technologies to increase the quality of healthcare at the facility.

10 Dec 2010

PharmaDirections congratulates Orexigen on FDA Advisory approval for Contrave

PharmaDirections congratulates Orexigen Therapeutics on achieving FDA Advisory Board approval for their anti-obesity drug Contrave™. PharmaDirections is proud to have been Orexigen's pharmaceutical development partner and to have developed and produced the first Contrave™ product to undergo full clinical development.

10 Dec 2010

New molecular tools show promise for cleansing brain of amyloid plaques

New molecular tools developed at the University of Michigan show promise for "cleansing" the brain of amyloid plaques, implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

10 Dec 2010

IETF announces March as National Essential Tremor Awareness Month

The International Essential Tremor Foundation is proud to announce that the United States House of Representatives formally passed House Resolution 1264 sponsored by Congressman Dennis Moore officially designating the month of March as "National Essential Tremor Awareness Month".

10 Dec 2010

Medical News

New 5-minute Memory Orientation Screening Test to identify elderly patients with dementia

Using buprenorphine to treat opioid-dependent pregnant women may result in healthier babies

Caliper to acquire CRi for $20.0 million

Presidential commission pushes feds to 'facilitate' more health IT

Horizon Discovery secures exclusive rights to human isogenic cell models

COPD becomes third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Obesity is associated with worse outcomes in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative disease

Exposure to tobacco smoke causes immediate damage leading to serious illness or death

McNeil recalls ROLAIDS Ultra Strength SoftChews and SoftChews plus Gas Relief in Canada

Insurers develop new products, brace for overhaul's impact

Haitian cholera pathogen closely related to 'El Tor O1' variant from South Asia

State roundup: Facing budget 'cliff'; Medicaid woes; Arizona transplant program; Another Florida health vote?

Talecris initiates clinical trial to evaluate 2 doses of PROLASTIN-C for emphysema due to AAT deficiency

Low phosphate diets may increase dialysis patients' risk of premature death

Stereotactic radiation therapy as effective as surgery for patients with early-stage lung cancer

Opinions: Questioning WHO's relevance; Reforming foreign aid; Efforts to prevent child marriage

TeleHealth Services announces extended partnership with Central Baptist Hospital

PharmaDirections congratulates Orexigen on FDA Advisory approval for Contrave

New molecular tools show promise for cleansing brain of amyloid plaques

IETF announces March as National Essential Tremor Awareness Month

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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