Under a new law, doctors in Pennsylvania can access information about chemicals used in natural gas extraction — but they won’t be able to share it with their patients. A provision buried in a law passed last month is drawing scrutiny from the public health and environmental community, who argue that it will “gag” doctors who want to raise concerns related to oil and gas extraction with the people they treat and the general public — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The risk of premature babies developing cerebral palsy is cut by a third if the mother is given magnesium sulphate immediately before birth, new research shows.
It has only been proven to work in babies born before 30 weeks, but advocates say the approach would still prevent up to 150 babies developing the chronic life-long condition every year.
Doctors are hailing the development as the biggest breakthrough in preventing the debilitating condition in half a century, despite the fact it is not yet being routinely used in hospitals — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Black bears have a surprising capacity to heal as they hibernate, say researchers in the US.
Medical researchers and zoologists worked together to find that the bears’ wounds healed with almost no scarring, and were infection-free.
The scientists hope, eventually, to find out exactly how the bears’ bodies heal while their body temperature, heart rate and metabolism are reduced.
This could aid studies of human wound-healing.
The findings, published in the journal Integrative Zoology, are of particular relevance to medical researchers hoping to improve slow-healing and infection-prone wounds in elderly, malnourished or diabetic patients — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Rucksacks loaded with school books have been linked to higher levels of back pain in a study of Spanish school children.
The findings, reported in Archives of Disease in Childhood, said many pupils had excessively loaded
backpacks.
This was linked to higher levels of back pain in the 1,403 school children taking part in the study.
The research took place at Hospital da Costa in Burela and University Hospital Son Dureta in Palma.
The report’s authors said school children should not carry anything which weighs more than 10% of their body weight — via redwolf.newsvine.com
In a landmark decision that could set a precedent on how life-saving drugs under patents can be made affordable, the government has allowed a domestic company, Natco Pharma, to manufacture a copycat version of Bayer’s patented anti-cancer drug, Nexavar, bringing down its price by 97%.
In the first-ever case of compulsory licencing approval, the Indian Patent Office on Monday cleared the application of Hyderabad’s Natco Pharma to sell generic drug Nexavar, used for renal and liver cancer, at Rs 8,880 (around $175) for a 120-capsule pack for a month’s therapy. Bayer offers it for over Rs 2.8 lakh (roughly $5,500) per 120 capsule. The order provides hope for patients who cannot afford these drugs.
The approval paves the way for the launch of Natco’s drug in the market, a company official told TOI, adding that it will pay a 6% royalty on net sales every quarter to Bayer. The licence will be valid till such time the drug’s patent is valid, ie 2020. As per the CL (compulsory licence) order, Natco is also committed to donating free supplies of the medicines to 600 patients each year — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Uganda has opened its first clinics specifically set up to help thousands of children who have a mysterious fatal condition known as nodding syndrome.
The centres in the north — where the disease is most common — are to control the worst of the symptoms.
The disease’s cause is unknown, but it affects only children — who suffer from seizures, stunted physical and mental growth and nodding of the head.
There have also been cases of the disease in South Sudan and Tanzania — via redwolf.newsvine.com
One of Australia’s top IT security organisations has warned that the Federal Government’s flagship e-health records project is likely to be broken into, with Australians’ medical and identity information to be used for fraud and other criminal activities.
AusCERT, Australia’s Computer Emergency Response Team, which is not associated with the Government, in its submission to an inquiry about the legislation dated in January (PDF), criticised the Government’s Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) Bill (2011). In its commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Australian Internet users, AusCERT has expressed concern that miscreants could potentially use the PCEHR for identity theft and fraud. The submission was first reported by the AustralianIT.
AusCERT opines that enabling accessibility to personal identifying information in the form of the PCEHR from personal computers over the Internet will only worsen an ongoing problem that will make Australians vulnerable to fraud and identity theft. The submission focuses on the use of untrustworthy end point computers and mobile devices, which when compromised, will enable attackers exert full control over the PCEHR to look at or change its contents with the same privileges as the owner or authorised users — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A special kind of peanut butter has been bringing malnourished children back to life for years. Pharmaceutical company Abbott Labs is hoping it will help revive the Haitian economy, too.
International healthcare organisation Partners in Health (PiH) has distributed Nourimanba, a ready-to-use nutritional paste, to combat malnutrition in Haiti since 2007, and demand has only increased following the 2010 earthquake there, according to The New York Times.
As many as 300,000 children suffer from malnutrition in Haiti, says UNICEF. For these kids, Nourimanba is a lifesaver. Made from peanuts, milk powder, vegetable oil, sugar, and a scientifically formulated mix of vitamins, it’s like a souped-up version of common child favourite peanut butter. This helps to explain why it’s been successful: It actually tastes good — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Everyone knows that dog is man’s best friend. For 2-year-old Alida Knobloch, her dog Mr Gibbs is more than just a friend, he’s a true life-saver.
Knobloch has a rare disease called neuroendocrine hyperplasia of infancy, a disorder which occurs in children. People with NEHI have a condition in which diseased portions of the lung filter oxygen through extra layers of cells, making it harder for the afflicted to breathe properly and get enough oxygen into the lungs.
When Mr Gibbs is put in the red service animal vest, which has pockets on either side for small oxygen tanks, he follows Alida everywhere, providing a lifeline between her and the supply of air she needs to breathe properly — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Joint implants should always be made of materials like titanium, so they can last the lifetime of the patient … right? Well, not according to researchers at Finland’s Tampere University of Technology. They’ve developed a product known as RegJoint, which is reportedly the world’s first biodegradable joint implant. Unlike permanent implants, it allows the patient’s bone ends to remain intact, and it creates a new joint out of their own tissue — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A replacement limb that moves, feels and responds just like flesh and blood. It’s the holy grail of prosthetics research. The Pentagon’s invested millions to make it happen. But it’s been elusive — until, quite possibly, now.
The body’s own nerves are arguably the biggest barrier towards turning the dream of lifelike replacements into a reality. Peripheral nerves, severed by amputation, can no longer transmit or receive any of the myriad sensory signals we rely on every day. Trying to fuse them with robot limbs, to create a direct neural-prosthetic interface, is no easy task.
But now a team of scientists believe they’ve overcome that massive barrier. Their research is still in the early stages. But if successful, it’d yield artificial arms and legs that can move with agility; discern hot from lukewarm from freezing; and restore even the subtlest sensations of touch — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Scientists say they may have found a new weapon against pancreatic cancer after promising early trial results of an experimental drug combination.
Giving the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine with an experimental drug called MRK003 sets off a chain of events that ultimately kills cancer cells, studies in mice show.
Patients are now testing the treatment to see if it will work for them.
The Cancer Research UK-funded trials are being carried out in Cambridge — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A breast cancer survivor says she is challenging a patent claim on cancer genes because she does not want biotech companies to own human material.
A landmark case challenging the ownership of breast and ovarian cancer genes is being heard in the Federal Court in Sydney today.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn claims four biotech companies do not have the right to patent a set of human cancer genes — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Paediatricians fed up with parents who refuse to vaccinate their children out of concern it can cause autism or other problems increasingly are firing
such families from their practices, raising questions about a doctor’s responsibility to these patients.
Medical associations don’t recommend such patient bans, but the practice appears to be growing, according to vaccine researchers — via redwolf.newsvine.com
On the gurney lay a young woman the colour of white marble. The red pool between her legs, ominously free of clots, offered a silent explanation.
She arrived a few minutes ago. Not even a note.
My resident was breathless with anger, adrenaline, and panic.
I had an idea who she went to. The same one the others did. The same one many more would visit. A doctor, but considering what I had seen he couldn’t have any formal gynaecology training. The only thing he offered that the well-trained providers didn’t was a cut-rate price. If you don’t know to ask, well, a doctor is a doctor. That’s assuming you are empowered enough to have such a discussion. I was also pretty sure his office didn’t offer interpreters.
I needed equipment not available in an emergency room. I looked at the emergency room attending. Call the OR and tell them we need a room. Now.
And then I turned to my resident. I was going to tell him to physically make sure a room, any room, was ready when we arrived, but he had already sprinted towards the stairs. He knew — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Broken bones can mean weeks of having to wear a cast and the muscle atrophy that comes with that. More severe breaks can take months to mend, result in restricted movement, or in the worst cases the possible loss of a limb. There’s also the chance of re-fracture due to the amount of time some breaks take to heal if a patient isn’t extremely careful.
Speeding up the time it takes to heal a broken bone is highly desirable, and a solution may be on the horizon. Research being carried out at the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Centre has helped create a new gel being referred to as Fracture Putty. It’s major benefit to those suffering broken bones is its ability to heal them in just a few days, or in the case of severe breaks, cut the healing time to weeks instead of months.
Fracture Putty has yet to be tested on humans, but it has already been proven to work in animals. The putty takes the form of a gel that gets injected into the broken bones. It then goes to work rapidly generating bone much faster than a body can achieve on its own — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A skin cancer drug may rapidly reverse pathological, cognitive and memory deterioration associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research published on Thursday.
Bexarotene, a drug that is currently used to combat T cell lymphoma, appeared to reverse plaque buildup and improve memory in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease by reducing levels of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that cause mental deficits in Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers said the findings were particularly promising because the drug worked with unprecedented speed
by reducing soluble amyloid by 25 percent and its build-up in the brain by 50 percent in three days — via redwolf.newsvine.com
In March, the Mozambican legislature is expected to pass a bill that would revise the country’s draconian abortion law and legalise voluntary abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. In doing so, Mozambique would become the ninth African country to liberalize its abortion policy in the last decade. Since 2003, 28 countries have ratified an African Union protocol supporting the right to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or high-risk pregnancies. In these incremental changes, there may be signs of a continental shift — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been fitted to an 83-year-old woman’s face in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind.
The transplant was carried out in June in the Netherlands, but is only now being publicised.
The implant was made out of titanium powder — heated and fused together by a laser, one layer at a time.
Technicians say the operation’s success paves the way for the use of more 3D-printed patient-specific parts.
The surgery follows research carried out at the Biomedical Research Institute at Hasselt University in Belgium, and the implant was built by LayerWise — a specialised metal-parts manufacturer based in the same country
Its detractors may end up dubbing it Dementiaville
, but Switzerland is brushing aside a debate raging among geriatric-care experts with plans to build a mock-1950s village catering exclusively for elderly sufferers of Alzheimer’s and other debilitating mental illnesses.
The newly approved €20m (£17m) housing project is to be built next to the Swiss village of Wiedlisbach near Bern and will provide sheltered accommodation and care for 150 elderly dementia patients in 23 purpose-built 1950s-style houses. The homes will be deliberately designed to recreate the atmosphere of times past.
The scheme’s promoters said there will be no closed doors and residents will be free to move about. To reinforce an atmosphere of normality, the carers will dress as gardeners, hairdressers and shop assistants. The only catch is that Wiedlisbach’s inhabitants will not be allowed to leave the villag — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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