Medical News

RSS

NHGRI funds assessment of public attitudes about population-based studies on genes and environment

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced it has awarded $2 million to the Genetics and Public Policy Center of the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University to conduct a public discussion about future potential large U.S. population-based studies examining the roles of genes and environment in human health.

28 Sep 2006

Imperial receives $4 million for glycomics research

A team of researchers from Imperial College London's Division of Molecular Biosciences has received a grant of over US $4 million to support a research facility for understanding how sugars are involved in cell to cell communication.

28 Sep 2006

FDA issues guidance for development of cell-based viral vaccines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued new guidance to aid manufacturers in developing safe and effective cell-based viral vaccines.

28 Sep 2006

WHO influenza pandemic task force meets for first time

The World Health Organization (WHO) Influenza Pandemic Task Force (IPTF) met for the first time on 25 September at WHO Headquarters in Geneva.

28 Sep 2006

New clues about virulence of 1918 influenza virus

The first comprehensive analysis of an animal's immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online in the journal Nature.

28 Sep 2006

No place for trans fats in the 'Big Apple'

The New York City Board of Health has unveiled a proposal prohibiting the city's 20,000 restaurants from serving foods that contain trans fats, just three years after the city banned smoking in restaurants.

27 Sep 2006

Medical reforms driving British doctors out of the health service

The British Government has been called on to delay it's controversial scheme intended to reform the training of junior doctors, amid fears that more than 10,000 doctors could be left without training posts when Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) is implemented next year.

27 Sep 2006

Making sense of food labels not that easy for some

According to a recent survey many people in the United States are struggling to understand current food labels.

27 Sep 2006

Faulty gene linked to hair pulling disorder

An unusual and uncommon psychiatric disorder that compels people to pull out their hair is now thought to be caused by a mutant gene.

27 Sep 2006

Bird flu strikes again in Thailand

The death of a 59-year-old farmer in northeastern Thailand last month has taken the countries death toll from bird-flu to 17 since late 2003 and is the third death this year.

27 Sep 2006

Spinach in Pennsylvania found to have E. Coli

A sample of fresh bagged spinach containing the E. coli bacteria O157:H7, responsible for the latest outbreak has now been discovered in Pennsylvania.

27 Sep 2006

Los Angeles Times examines medical identity theft problems, risks

The Los Angeles Times on Monday examined medical identity fraud, in which individuals use the names and medical records of others to obtain health care.

26 Sep 2006

Michigan Senate approves bills that would require girls to receive HPV vaccine before entering sixth grade

The Michigan Senate on Wednesday voted 36-1 to approve two bills (SB 1416, SB 1417) that would require girls in the state entering the sixth grade in the 2007-2008 school year and beyond to have received Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, the AP/Detroit Free Press reports (AP/Detroit Free Press, 9/20).

26 Sep 2006

HPV vaccine Gardasil approved for sale in EU

The European Commission on Friday approved Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil for sale and marketing in the European Union, London's Guardian reports (Batty, Guardian, 9/22).

26 Sep 2006

'Neglect,' not biology, kills 1 in 20 women in Africa

One in 20 women in Africa is at risk of dying in childbirth, but "[i]t's not biology that kills them so much as neglect," New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece.

26 Sep 2006

Retrial of medical workers accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV adjourned after defense lawyer hospitalized

The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV adjourned on Thursday until Oct. 31 after a defense lawyer for the Bulgarian nurses was hospitalized for high blood pressure and could not appear in court, the Sofia News Agency reports (Sofia News Agency, 9/22).

26 Sep 2006

Hispanics more likely to lack health care coverage

Hispanics in smaller, more rural communities have greater barriers in accessing care than do Hispanics in larger communities, according to a report released on Thursday by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Bradenton Herald reports.

26 Sep 2006

Workers often turn to managers for information on consumer-driven health insurance plans

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined how, although consumer-driven health plans have "motivated some workers to research what they are paying for medical care," the "employees' research often consists of going" to their managers for help.

26 Sep 2006

Call for examination of tax breaks for employer-based health insurance

The problem with the U.S. health care system is that it gives "the biggest tax breaks for employer-provided insurance to those in the highest brackets" and makes "everyone over 65 eligible for taxpayer-funded medical care regardless of financial need and, more insidiously, regardless of past opportunity to save," columnist Holman Jenkins writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

26 Sep 2006

Hospital services most expensive part of U.S. health aystem

About 33% of every dollar spent on U.S. health care goes toward inpatient hospital care, according to a report by HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Washington Times reports (Howard Price, Washington Times, 9/23).

26 Sep 2006