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| PSA Supports Frontline Role For Pharmacists, Australia | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| PSA supports the call for pharmacy to play a more prominent role as the first port of call for people seeking assistance for minor ailments. PSA National President Warwick Plunkett said today that pharmacists are uniquely placed to provide primary health care delivery. 'Community Pharmacies are already the first place many people go when the have a minor ailments such as a cough or cold. | |
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| Man Says His Dog Detected His Skin Cancer | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| A man from Banbury near Oxford, England, said his dog sniffed out his skin cancer, reminiscent of reports of trials that have shown dogs can detect cancer, in some cases even when screening tests can't. Chris Tuffrey told the BBC yesterday that his pet Rottweiler, called Beamish, kept nuzzling and licking him and trying to get him to lift his arm. | |
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| Senate Leaders Hold Closed-Door Meeting To Discuss Health Care Overhaul Legislation | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in a Wednesday meeting that included other Senate leaders discussed plans for health care overhaul legislation to be proposed next year, CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 11/19). | |
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| Toronto Health Officials Tackle Rise In Number Of HIV, STI Cases | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Health officials in Toronto are attempting to address an increase in the number of reported sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, in the city, the National Post reports. STI figures through September from Toronto Public Health show that 405 HIV cases, 5,480 chlamydia cases, 1,293 gonorrhea cases and more than 200 new cases of infectious syphilis have been diagnosed. | |
| About 34M Unpaid Caregivers Performed $375B Worth Of Aid In 2007, AARP Reports | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| About 34 million caregivers provided unpaid help to family and friends last year valued at an estimated $375 billion, an increase from $350 billion in 2006, according to a report released on Thursday by AARP, the Wall Street Journal reports. The estimate, derived from five nationally representative surveys, was based on the caregivers providing an average of 21 hours per week of care at $10. | |
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| 'Urgent Need' For HPV Vaccine In Developing World, Opinion Piece Says | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| While officials in the United Kingdom and the U.S. are "dithering and doubting" over issues related to GlaxoSmithKline and Merck's HPV vaccines, "there is an urgent need" for Gardasil and Cervarix in developing countries, Sarah Boseley -- health editor at London's Guardian -- writes in an opinion piece. | |
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| FDA Acts To Avoid Shortage And Strengthen The Safety Of Sucraid | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued an expedited approval of a supplemental application that allows for changes in the manufacturing of Sucraid (sacrosidase) Oral Solution. The approval will prevent a product shortage by allowing the sole manufacturer of the drug, QOL Medical, to obtain Sucraid's active ingredient from a different manufacturer. | |
| FDA Approves New Drug To Treat Severe Form Of Epilepsy | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug, Banzel (rufinamide), for use as an adjunctive (add-on) treatment for seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. "This approval offers another treatment option for patients who suffer from these debilitating, severe seizures," said Russell Katz, M.D. | |
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| Early Treatment For HIV-Positive Infants Reduces Death Risk By 76%, Study Says | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| HIV-positive infants who begin receiving antiretroviral therapy immediately after being diagnosed with the virus are 76% less likely to die than HIV-positive infants who do not receive treatment until the disease has progressed, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports. | |
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| Scientists Honored For Contributions To Cancer Fight | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The American Cancer Society - the nation's leading voluntary health organization and largest non-governmental funder of cancer research and discovery - will present its highest honor, the Medal of Honor, to four Americans who have made outstanding contributions to the fight against cancer. | |
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| Impact Of Aging Society To Be Examined By New MacArthur Network | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is creating a new inter-disciplinary research network to help America prepare for the challenges and opportunities posed by our aging society. In the middle of the next decade, the United States will become an aging society, one feature of which is that those over age 60 will outnumber those under age 15. | |
| AVMA Responds To Alleged Abuse Of Turkeys At West Virginia Farm | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is concerned about reports detailing possible inhumane treatment of turkeys at poultry-breeding facilities in West Virginia. The AVMA expects that the alleged abuse, which was captured on video, will be fully investigated. | |
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| Asthma UK Northern Ireland Seeks Support From Health Committee | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Asthma UK Northern Ireland has used an exclusive round table discussion with the Health Committee to seek their support and Intervention to ensure that the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) keep its promises to people with asthma, and to highlight current issues affecting people with the condition in Northern Ireland. | |
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| Dietitians Congratulate Food Producers, Caterers And Restaurants For Improving Foods | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| British Columbia dietitians are commending food service establishments for their enhanced efforts to improve the nutritional value of food served in schools. Dietitians of Canada is leading a BC Healthy Living Alliance initiative funded by ActNow BC to support the implementation of the Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools. | |
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| Impact Of Buggies On Parent-Infant Interaction Investigated | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| A groundbreaking study being presented on 22nd November at the British Psychological Society Scotland's Annual Conference suggests the orientation of a baby's buggy impacts on mother-baby interaction, infant stress levels and ultimately child development. Contemporary design of buggies allows the baby to either face towards or away from their parent. | |
| Facial Composite Techniques May Hinder CCTV Identification | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Composite photographic images, similar to that used in the 'de Menezes case', may hinder rather than help suspect identification. This is the finding of a study presented today, 21st November, at The British Psychological Society Scotland's Annual Conference. Ailsa Strathie and Dr Allan McNeill from Glasgow Caledonian University asked 24 people to look at a series of photo pairs. | |
| GOP Must Renew Focus On 'Core' Social Values, Conservative Leader Says | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The Republican Party will regain political power only if its leaders remain firm in their socially conservative positions, including the party's antiabortion stance, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said this week, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. | |
| The Role Predator Selection On Polymorphic Aposematic Poison-frogs | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Phenotypic variation between populations of the poison frog Dendrobates tinctorius is extremely high throughout their distribution in northern South America. As the bright colors are assumed to act as a warning signal to potential predators, the evolution of this variation within a species raises some interesting questions. On pp. xxx-xxx B.P. Noonan & A.A. | |
| The King's Fund Calls For Major Overhaul Of Key Government Health Reform | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| A major shake-up of one of the government's central health policy reforms to devolve greater power to GPs and deliver higher quality services to local communities is urgently needed, concludes a two-year study of practice-based commissioning published today by The King's Fund. | |
| Inhaler Technique A Major Concern | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Around six million Australians suffer from respiratory diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and asthma. Most of these people rely on preventer and reliever medications delivered via an inhaler to manage their conditions, but the experts believe that the vast majority are not using their inhalers properly. | |
| Clinical Nurse Leader Program Expanded And Endowment Created By 2-Part Gift | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The Medical College of Georgia has received a $1.27 million two-part gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust to expand nursing education in Georgia. An approximately $1 million component of the gift, given over three years, allows MCG's School of Nursing to partner with the nursing schools of Macon State University and Georgia Southwestern University to expand the clinical nurse leader program. | |
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| Final World Trade Center 7 Investigation Report Released By NIST | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the 47-story World Trade Center building 7 (WTC 7) in New York City. The final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplemental text suggested by organizations and individuals worldwide in response to the draft WTC 7 report, released for public comment on Aug. | |
| Immune System Tricked In Diabetic Mice | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The body's immune system hates strangers. When its security patrol spots a foreign cell, it annihilates it. This is the problem when people with type 1 diabetes undergo human islet cell transplantation. The islet cells from a donor pancreas produce robust amounts of insulin for the recipient -- often permitting independence from insulin therapy. | |
| Tumors Fuelled By Lactic Acid | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| A team of researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) has found that lactic acid is an important energy source for tumor cells. In further experiments, they discovered a new way to destroy the most hard-to-kill, dangerous tumor cells by preventing them from delivering lactic acid. | |
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| Tumor Formation May Be Spurred By The Misreading Of Damaged DNA | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The DNA in our cells is constantly under assault from oxygen, the sun's radiation and environmental stresses. Most of the time, our cells can repair the damage before it gets copied into a permanent mutation that could lead to cancer. | |
| Quantum Computers Could Excel In Modeling Chemical Reactions | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Quantum computers would likely outperform conventional computers in simulating chemical reactions involving more than four atoms, according to scientists at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Haverford College. Such improved ability to model and predict complex chemical reactions could revolutionize drug design and materials science, among other fields. | |
| Canadian Blood Services Helps Deaf Donors Give Blood | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Canadian Blood Services is launching a new initiative that will make it easier for donors who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing to give blood. Until now, these potential donors were only able to donate if they could communicate directly with the screening nurse in written English or French. | |
| Tracing Metal Pollution Back To Its Sources | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| A new way of pinpointing where zinc pollution in the atmosphere comes from could improve pollution monitoring and regulation, says research out this week in the journal Analytical Chemistry. Imperial College London researchers say their work is a major breakthrough as current methods for analysing zinc pollution only measure pollution in the atmosphere; they do not trace it back to its source. | |
| Canadians Answer The Call For Blood Donors | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Three weeks after announcing Canada's national blood inventory had dropped 40 percent, our nation's blood supply has recovered, thanks to a generous response by Canadians. As of November 18, all blood groups are back to their regular 4- to 6-day supply, which is required to fully meet hospital patient needs. | |
| Breathing Test Vital For Accurate Asthma Diagnosis: Lung Association | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| The Lung Association today released the following statement in response to the study entitled "Overdiagnosis of asthma in obese and non-obese adults" which was published in the November 18, 2008, edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ): The study released yesterday underscores th | |
| Symposium: Public Health And Human Rights: The Work Ahead Of Us | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| On December 5, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The New York Academy of Sciences will host a half-day symposium to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event, "Public Health and Human Rights: The Work Ahead of Us," will evaluate progress in public health and human rights over the last 60 years. | |
| Warning Displays May Function As Honest Signals Of Toxicity | Fri, 21 Nov 2008 |
| Are warning signals honest? We are familiar with the fact that dangerous prey animals advertise their toxins with bright colouration (bees, wasps, ladybirds etc). The (antioxidant) molecules used by prey to make themselves brightly pigmented may also be used to prevent them poisoning themselvse with their own toxins. | |
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