Body

Minneapolis, MN – October 23, 2008 – Most people receive health coverage through their place of employment. However, with the continued downward trend in the economy and increasing fiscal pressures, many employers are either dropping health benefits or increasing the cost to the point that employees can no longer afford to pay their contribution for coverage. New programs known as Local Access to Care Programs, or LACPs, are being developed to give access to a network of providers who agree to offer care at a lower discounted fee or for free.

Atlanta, GA – October 23, 2008 – If we want to fully understand the allure of pharmaceuticals, we need to look beyond both medical efficacy and profit motives. A new study in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics shows that when we use claims about drugs in arguments about racial identity, the meaning of both the pharmaceuticals and of race remain unsettled.

Liver fibrosis occurs in the setting of chronic injury caused by different etiologies constituting a serious worldwide public health problem. In addition to schistosomiasis, hepatopathies due to alcohol, viral hepatitis, drugs, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, and congenital abnormalities are important causes of liver fibrosis. New therapeutic strategies aiming to minimize damages caused by hepatic fibrogenesis in chronic liver diseases are of great interest.

Colon cancer ranks second of all gastrointestinal malignant tumors, it is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Until now, several molecules have been reported to play an important role in gastroenterological tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis, but the molecular mechanisms involved tumor development and progression still remain unclear in colon cancer.

The Sphincter of Oddi (SO) plays a vital role in maintaining the normal bile duct pressure, promoting gallbladder excretion and preventing from reflux. When sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) occurs, the incidence rate for bile duct infection and cholelithiasis will greatly increase. The Sphincter of Oddi Manometry (SOM) is the gold standard for examining the SOD – in which the Sphincter of Oddi pressure is well accommodated by the abundance of nerves and hormone receptors on the SO.

In the last decade, stapled hemorrhoidopexy has become increasingly popular and is indicated for the treatment of symptomatic hemorrhoids grade 3 and 4. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy does not remove the hemorrhoids, but it is rather a strip of mucosa and submucosa at the top of the hemorrhoids. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy is a safe, effective and time-efficient procedure in hands of experienced colorectal surgeons. However, life threatening complications occur occasionally.

Los Angeles, CA – October 23, 2008 – In a new study published in Strategic Management Journal, researchers explain when external stakeholders can effectively influence organizations to adopt greener management practices. In an effort to appease the demands of external stakeholders, supervisors of facilities appear to adopt management practices that are favorable to their professional network.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the more common causes of chronic liver disease in world with a variety of extrahepatic complications such as essential mixed cryoglobulinemia, membranoproliferative glomerulonep hritis, autoimmune thyroiditis, sialadenitis, and cardiomyopathy. IPF is present in patients with chronic HCV infection. However, there is little or no information on the yearly cumulative incidence and risk factors on the development rate of IPF in patients with HCV.

Maputo, Mozambique—the existing networks for collecting, storing and distributing data in many areas of science are inadequate and not designed to enable the inter-disciplinary research that is necessary to meet major global challenges. These networks must be transformed into a new inter-operable data system and extended around the world and across all areas of science. The General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU) agreed today to take the first strategic steps to establish such a system.

Maputo, Mozambique—natural and social sciences must work together to help solve some of the most pressing issues facing society. That’s the message in a report delivered today to the global scientific community at the 29th General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Maputo, Mozambique.

Women who are overweight and obese can find accessing healthcare difficult and stressful, according to research in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Researchers from Texas, USA, carried out in-depth interviews with women aged between 20 and 61, after recruiting them through local advertisements placed in community agencies and a regional newspaper.

MAYWOOD, Il. -- Studies in recent years have demonstrated that binge drinking can decrease bone mass and bone strength, increasing the risk of osteoporosis.

Now a Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine study has found a possible mechanism: Alcohol disturbs genes necessary for maintaining healthy bones.

The findings could help in the development of new drugs to minimize bone loss in alcohol abusers. Such drugs also might help people who don't abuse alcohol but are at risk for osteoporosis.

Geneva, Switzerland: European researchers have found that metastatic colorectal cancer patients with a mutation in the BRAF gene do not respond to anti-EGFR therapy with cetuximab and panitumumab. The finding could help doctors better identify which patients are likely to benefit from such treatment, which is commonly used as last-effort therapy but only works in a fraction of patients. The research was presented at the 20th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Geneva today (Thursday 23 October).

Geneva, Switzerland: Preliminary trials of a new multi-kinase inhibitor have indicated it has impressive tumour shrinkage activity in patients with a difficult to treat type of thyroid cancer. The results have put the drug's development on a fast track, prompting the accelerated initiation of a large phase III trial.

The compound, XL184, targets cell growth and migration, as well as blood vessel growth (angiogenesis), through inhibition of MET kinase, VEGFR and RET kinase.

As the first globally co-ordinated plan for the planet's gravest health threats is hatched by government ministers from around the world this weekend, a new report sets out a 10-point plan for this new, globalised approach to infectious diseases such as avian flu.