Culture

Washington, D.C. (28 February 2012)—The prospect of deep cuts in the federal budget threatens to reverse the dramatic progress of a bipartisan US commitment to defeat neglected diseases in developing countries, according to a new report released today by the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC).Federal investments in global health research and development (R&D) programs that span multiple agencies have helped nurture an array of new vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and other health products needed to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and childhood

Obesity is considered the leading preventable cause of death worldwide — until you reach old age, that is. Though obesity increases the risk of an early death, shaving an average of six to seven years off a person's lifespan, Tel Aviv University researchers have found that this trend may reverse itself after the age of 85. In these people, excess fat seems to have a "protective" effect, decreasing the risk of death when compared to those who are considered at a normal body weight.

Initiatives by successive governments to provide better access to higher education for young people from less-privileged backgrounds have failed according to Understanding Society, the world's largest longitudinal study. Findings show just a five per cent increase in degrees among children of routine and manual workers.

The archaeological examination by robotic camera of an intact first century tomb in Jerusalem has revealed a set of limestone Jewish ossuaries or "bone boxes" that are engraved with a rare Greek inscription and a unique iconographic image that the scholars involved identify as distinctly Christian.

Opioid-dependent individuals who want to kick the habit typically begin the road to recovery with detoxification. But detox is ineffective as a stand-alone treatment, with relapse rates ranging from 65% to 80% just one month after discharge. New research published online today in the journal Addiction reveals that individuals with substance use disorders may be as much as ten times more likely to stay abstinent when they have access to drug-free recovery housing and day-treatment programs following detox.

SAN DIEGO (Feb. 27, 2012) – People are relying on sleeping pills more than ever to get a good night's rest, but a new study by Scripps Clinic researchers links the medications to a 4.6 times higher risk of death and a significant increase in cancer cases among regular pill users.

The results, published today by the open-access online journal BMJ Open, cast a shadow over a growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry that expanded by 23 percent in the United States from 2006 to 2010 and generated about $2 billion in annual sales.

A new study conducted by researchers from McGill University, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, has put the accuracy of rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) under the microscope. The meta-analysis of 159 studies showed three key findings: that RIDTs can be used to confirm the flu, but not to rule it out; that test accuracy is higher in children than it is in adults; and that RIDTs are better at detecting the more common influenza A virus than they are at detecting influenza B.

Philadelphia, PA, February 27, 2012 – Based on a review of the latest evidence, the Guidelines Committee of the Heart Failure Society of America now recommends that the use of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) be expanded to a larger group of patients with mild heart failure symptoms. Recommendations for integrating new evidence into clinical practice appear in the February issue of the Journal of Cardiac Failure.

CHICAGO – Telephone motivational counseling sessions did not result in a statistically significant improvement in adherence to an osteoporosis medication regimen, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

CHICAGO – A physical activity and diet program implemented by health educators in physician offices appears to be associated with modest reductions in waist circumference among obese patients, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

CHICAGO – A meta-analysis of eight previously published clinical trials suggests that initial stent implantation for patients with stable coronary artery disease is not associated with improved outcomes compared with initial medical therapy for prevention of death, nonfatal heart attacks, unplanned revascularization or angina, according to a study published in the Feb. 27 Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Less is More series.

Heart transplant patients who receive new organs before the age of 55 and get them at hospitals that perform at least nine heart transplants a year are significantly more likely than other people to survive at least 10 years after their operations, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

Examining data from the more than 22,000 American adults who got new hearts between 1987 and 1999, researchers found that roughly half were still alive a decade after being transplanted and further analysis identified factors that appear to predict at least 10 years of life after the operations.

TAK-875, a new treatment for type 2 diabetes, improves blood sugar control and is equally effective as glimepiride, but has a significantly lower risk of creating a dangerous drop in blood sugar, called hypoglycemia, according to a new study.

The results of the phase 2 randomized trial were published Online First Sunday in The Lancet.

Tampa, Fla. (Feb 27, 2012) – Speaking at the Inaugural Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors ® (NAI), held Feb. 16-17 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, spoke on changes and improvements at the USPTO since he was appointed director by President Barack Obama in August, 2009.