Medical clinics the world over could benefit from new software* created at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where a team of scientists has found a way to improve the efficiency of a pneumonia vaccine testing method developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Tech
Although syphilis is one of the oldest known diseases, most health professionals do not have access to the tests necessary to reliably diagnose it in its earliest and most infectious stage. A recent survey of infectious diseases specialists regarding the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis appears in the November 15, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
The Guidelines are the work of the IDF Task Force on Clinical Guidelines, which is focused on meeting the critical global need to provide up-to-date evidence-based information and training for healthcare professionals. This is especially important as, alarmingly, the latest data from the IDF Diabetes Atlas show that over 285 million people worldwide now live with diabetes. Within 20 years, IDF predicts the figure will jump to 435 million. Healthcare professionals must be equipped with the latest improvements and standards in diabetes care to tackle this spiralling epidemic.
It is very difficult to predict whether a cancer drug will help an individual patient: only around one third of drugs will work directly in a given patient. Researchers at the Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Medical Electronics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have developed a new test process for cancer drugs. With the help of microchips, they can establish in the laboratory whether a patient's tumor cells will react to a given drug. This chip could help in future with the rapid identification of the most effective medication for the individual patient.
The American College of Physicians, representing 129,000 internal medicine physicians and medical student members, is gravely disappointed by the failure of the "cloture" vote today in the U.S. Senate on S. 1776, the Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009. We commend Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the bill's principal sponsor, for her diligent efforts to persuade her colleagues to support this long-overdue legislation to sunset the flawed SGR formula and put an end to the cycle of annual Medicare cuts that threaten seniors' access to physician services.
Arlington, Va. – Medical providers on the front lines of HIV care applaud the U.S. Congress for extending the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, helping to ensure that more than half a million low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving care. The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) and the Ryan White Medical Providers Coalition (RWMPC) are pleased with Congress' four-year extension of this critical safety net and urge President Obama to quickly sign this important legislation.
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 21 – Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, may be hot on the heels of a Holy Grail of cancer therapy: They have found a way to not only protect healthy tissue from the toxic effects of radiation treatment, but also increase tumor death. The findings appear today in Science Translational Medicine.
DETROIT, Mich.---A University of Michigan survey released today shows widespread consumer interest in buying plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). But the cost of the cars is much more influential than environmental and other non-economic factors as a predictor of purchase probabilities.
With potential adverse health and environmental effects often in the news about nanotechnology, scientists in Arkansas are reporting that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could have beneficial effects in agriculture. Their study, scheduled for the October issue of ACS Nano, a monthly journal, found that tomato seeds exposed to CNTs germinated faster and grew into larger, heavier seedlings than other seeds. That growth-enhancing effect could be a boon for biomass production for plant-based biofuels and other agricultural products, they suggest.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 21, 2009 -- Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging two- and three-dimensional structures with correspondingly advanced functions.
The work is described this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by Harvard University researchers led by Bozhi Tian and Charles M. Lieber.
As preparations for the launch of SMOS and Proba-2 continue on schedule, the engineers and technicians at the Russian launch site say goodbye as both satellites are encapsulated within the half-shells of the Rockot fairing.
Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, "Today, with the encapsulation of the SMOS satellite in the launcher fairing, we have made an important step towards the launch of this key environmental mission, which will investigate two parameters of the complex climate system. I am looking forward to the launch in a few days!"
Damaged knee joints might one day be repaired with cartilage grown from stem cells in a laboratory, based on research by Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, chair of the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering and his colleagues.
Using adult stem cells from bone marrow and skin as well as human embryonic stem cells, Athanasiou and his group have already grown cartilage tissue in the lab. Now they are experimenting with various chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve its properties.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – More older Americans are choosing to continue to work or are returning to the labor force. The number of workers age 65 and older is predicted to increase by more than 80 percent by 2016. In an ongoing study, University of Missouri researchers are examining the financial motivations of older working Americans. New results reveal that older workers spend less money on necessities, including housing and food, and health care than older non-workers.