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Patient safety incidents at the nation's hospitals rose three percent

Patient safety incidents at the nation's hospitals rose three percent over the years 2003 to 2005, but the nation's top-performing hospitals had a 40 percent lower rate of medical errors when compared with the poorest-performing hospitals, according to the largest annual study of patient-safety issued today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings company.

2 Apr 2007

Gender differences and skin cancer

Inherent gender differences – instead of more sun exposure – may be one reason why men are three times more likely than women to develop certain kinds of skin cancer, say researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center.

2 Apr 2007

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy directly associated with having an overweight child

Pregnant women who gain excessive or even appropriate weight, according to current guidelines, are four times more likely than women who gain inadequate weight to have a baby who becomes overweight in early childhood.

2 Apr 2007

PCV7 vaccine reduces frequent ear infections in children

A vaccine has been shown to help reduce the number of infants and toddlers developing frequent ear infections, according to new research from Katherine A. Poehling, M.D., a pediatrician at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

2 Apr 2007

SCHIP program needs substantial work

When given health insurance through the state children's health insurance program (SCHIP), teens see their doctors more often, racial disparities are eliminated and more preventive care is received.

2 Apr 2007

Most pediatricians use untrained interpreters to communicate with families not proficient in English

Most pediatricians use untrained interpreters to communicate with families who are not proficient in English, according to the results of a nationwide survey of doctors led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

2 Apr 2007

New screening method for cervical cancer holds promise

A method of screening women in Ghana for early signs of cervical cancer and providing preventive treatment at the same visit appears to be safe, acceptable to women and feasible, according to a study by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

2 Apr 2007

Mexico City lawmakers begin hearings on abortion during first three months

Mexico City lawmakers on Wednesday began hearings on a bill that would allow pregnant women in the city to obtain a legal abortion during the first three months' gestation, the Los Angeles Times reports (Tobar, Los Angeles Times, 3/29). Lawmakers from Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution recently proposed the measure.

2 Apr 2007

FDA discourages consumers from purchasing Accutane online

FDA last week launched a Web page aimed at discouraging consumers from purchasing the acne drug isotretinoin, sold by Roche under the brand name Accutane, on the Internet, Dow Jones/Marketwatch reports.

2 Apr 2007

USAID is extending its HIV/AIDS prevention and care project in Pakistan

USAID is extending its HIV/AIDS prevention and care project in Pakistan by awarding grants to three organizations working to combat the disease among high-risk groups in the country, USAID Director for Pakistan Jonathan Addleton said last week at the grant awards ceremony, the PakTribune reports.

2 Apr 2007

Efficacy of Ugandan HIV prevention programs decreasing

The efficacy of Uganda's HIV prevention programs is decreasing because a new generation of young people are no longer receiving the messages of fidelity that helped curb the country's HIV epidemic in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Washington Post reports.

2 Apr 2007

Bahrain launches campaign to involve religious leaders in fight against HIV/AIDS

Officials in Bahrain have launched a wide-scale campaign aimed at involving religious leaders in the country's fight against HIV/AIDS, the Gulf Daily News reports.

2 Apr 2007

California Senate Committee approves bill that would allow HIV-positive men to have sperm washed

The California Senate Health Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a bill (SB 443) that would allow HIV-positive men to have their sperm washed and used for fertility treatments, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, under certain guidelines, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

2 Apr 2007

About 50% of people fail to take medication as directed

USA Today on Thursday examined how multiple studies have shown that only about half of people with chronic conditions in the U.S. and other developed countries continue to take medication as directed.

2 Apr 2007

Dingell says tobacco tax increase might not be good source of funding for SCHIP

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday at a forum sponsored by the Center for American Progress said increasing the federal tobacco tax might not be a practical way to fund a reauthorization of SCHIP and indicated that a better funding source would be to reduce Medicare Advantage payments, CQ HealthBeat reports.

2 Apr 2007

Critics question Wikipedia-style web site created by physicians

Several Cleveland Clinic physicians recently launched the Web site Ask Dr Wiki -- a medical version of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that users can edit -- but critics have raised concerns about the reliability of the new site, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

2 Apr 2007

HHS Inspector General Office to review conflicts of interest for NIH grantees, employees

HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson has announced that investigators will examine conflict-of-interest policies at NIH regarding scientists who are not employed by the agency but who use federal grant money, the AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

2 Apr 2007

Medical News

Patient safety incidents at the nation's hospitals rose three percent

Gender differences and skin cancer

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy directly associated with having an overweight child

PCV7 vaccine reduces frequent ear infections in children

SCHIP program needs substantial work

Most pediatricians use untrained interpreters to communicate with families not proficient in English

New screening method for cervical cancer holds promise

Mexico City lawmakers begin hearings on abortion during first three months

FDA discourages consumers from purchasing Accutane online

USAID is extending its HIV/AIDS prevention and care project in Pakistan

Efficacy of Ugandan HIV prevention programs decreasing

Bahrain launches campaign to involve religious leaders in fight against HIV/AIDS

California Senate Committee approves bill that would allow HIV-positive men to have sperm washed

About 50% of people fail to take medication as directed

Dingell says tobacco tax increase might not be good source of funding for SCHIP

Critics question Wikipedia-style web site created by physicians

HHS Inspector General Office to review conflicts of interest for NIH grantees, employees

Scientists uncover bacterial cloaking

ESMO explores collaboration to fight cancer on all fronts

People who are pre-diabetic or who have Type 2 diabetes have much shorter telomeres

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting

From street to lab: Advancing controlled substance testing with handheld Raman and FTIR

Reimagining light scattering for biotherapeutics

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