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Stanford researchers want FDA to require drug makers to state how new medications compare with similar, existing treatments

The labeling information that comes with prescription drugs tells you what’s known about the medication, but researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine think it’s high time that the labeling tell you what isn’t known.

13 Aug 2009

Medical imaging: The good, the bad and the ugly

In the political minefield of healthcare reform, medical imaging has emerged as a microcosm of this contentious debate. Congress has been charged with a high stakes, high wire balancing act: to create a bill preserving quality and access while trimming unethical and unnecessary spending. Medical imaging represents such a challenge, with its undeniable benefits tainted by inappropriate use.

13 Aug 2009

Remarkable vision improvements after gene therapy for inherited blindness

One year after a trio of young adults received gene therapy for an inherited form of blindness, researchers have documented that the patients are still experiencing the same level of remarkable vision improvements previously measured within weeks.

13 Aug 2009

Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority marks one million report milestone

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority has collected over one million reports from Pennsylvania healthcare facilities since June 2004. Ninety-six percent of the events are near misses or events that did not cause harm to the patient.

13 Aug 2009

Kill Grandma? Debunking a health bill scare tactic

It's not, however, because people aren't saying it. The most notable spokeswoman for the cause is Elizabeth McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York. McCaughey's last brush with major public prominence came during the debate over then-President Bill Clinton's health plan, when she wrote a highly controversial critique of the proposal published in The New Republic arguing the bill would have bound everyone inside the new system.

13 Aug 2009

Response Biomedical announces Q2 2009 financials

Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX:RBM) (OTCBB:RPBIF) reported that clinical products revenue for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2009 increased 373% and 208% to $1,805,308 and $3,548,014, respectively, compared to $381,615 and $1,150,760 for the same periods in 2008.

13 Aug 2009

Clever biochemical strategy enables bacteria to move freely and colonize host

A team of researchers from Boston University, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently made a discovery that changes a long held paradigm about how bacteria move through soft gels.

13 Aug 2009

Westaim announces Q2 2009 financials

The Westaim Corporation announced today that for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, it recorded a net loss of $1.3 million, or 1 cent per share, on revenues of $5.8 million compared to a net loss of $3.0 million, or 3 cents per share, on revenues of $4.8 million in the same quarter for the previous year.

13 Aug 2009

Building a comprehensive child vision care system

Even though universal comprehensive eye exams for children prior to starting school would result in more children being diagnosed and successfully treated for vision problems and eye diseases, requirements vary widely from state to state and only three states require eye examinations for school-age children, according to a new report from the National Commission on Vision and Health.

13 Aug 2009

Antigenics’ Oncophage cancer vaccine trial starts enrolling patients

Antigenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) today announced that the Brain Tumor Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, has begun enrolling patients into a Phase 2 clinical trial of Oncophage (vitespen) in combination with the standard of care - radiation therapy plus Temodar (temozolomide) - for newly diagnosed glioma patients.

13 Aug 2009

Similarities found in the way neural circuits linked to vision process information in both sighted and blind since birth

The ability to recognize visually presented objects relies on a critical neural pathway called the ventral stream. Previous imaging studies of the human brain have demonstrated that the sight of nonliving objects, such as tools and houses, activates different regions within the ventral stream than the sight of living things, such as animals and faces. It is not known whether category-specific neural responses in the ventral stream depend on visual experience.

13 Aug 2009

Neurological complications of heart surgery detailed in research

Possible neurological complications of heart surgery, ranging from headaches to strokes, are detailed in a new report in the online journal MedLink Neurology.

13 Aug 2009

Pharmos reports Q2 2009 financials

Pharmos Corporation (Pink Sheets: PARS) today reported financial results for the second quarter and six-month period ended June 30, 2009.

12 Aug 2009

Study looks at imipramine in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome

IBS remains a common intestinal disorder causing significant discomfort and poor quality of life in patients who have the diagnosis. TCAs have been shown to improve abdominal pain in patients with IBS; however, there is insufficient evidence of global symptom relief. The search for an optimal treatment to improve symptoms and quality of life in IBS remains ongoing.

12 Aug 2009

Under pressure from Dems, insurers point fingers at doctors' charges

A new survey sponsored by the leading insurance industry group shows that its member companies received some huge bills – many times what Medicare pays for a given procedure – from doctors in many states last year. One example: a $72,000 dollar charge for a spinal fusion in New Jersey for which Medicare pays $1,628, the New York Times reports.

12 Aug 2009

Promising new treatment target for Kennedy's disease

New research with transgenic mice reveals that a therapy directed at the muscle significantly improves disease symptoms of a genetic disorder characterized by destruction of the neurons that control movement. The study, published by Cell Press in the August 13th issue of the journal Neuron, highlights a promising new treatment for this currently incurable and nontreatable neurodegenerative disorder.

12 Aug 2009

Oncothyreon reports Q2 2009 financials

Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY) (TSX: ONY) today reported a net loss of $6.3 million, or $0.30 per basic and diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, 2009, compared with a net loss of $4.9 million, or $0.25 per basic and diluted share, for the comparable period in 2008.

12 Aug 2009

Same-sex mating found in most common human fungal pathogen Candida albicans

Brown University researchers have discovered that Candida albicans, a human fungal pathogen that causes thrush and other diseases, pursues same-sex mating in addition to conventional opposite-sex mating.

12 Aug 2009

Weight training reduces lymphedema symptoms after breast cancer surgery

Breast cancer survivors who lift weights are less likely than their non-weightlifting peers to experience worsening symptoms of lymphedema, the arm- and hand-swelling condition that plagues many women following surgery for their disease, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published in the August 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

12 Aug 2009

Pacific Biosciences raises additional $68 million in financing

Pacific Biosciences, a private company pioneering the development of a transformative DNA sequencing technology, announced today it has raised an additional $68 million in financing.

12 Aug 2009