Health News

AACC calls for uniformity in lab test results

Date: Nov-26-2013
AACC has released a position statement on harmonization of - or ensuring uniformity among - clinical laboratory test results to help patients receive appropriate diagnoses and medical treatment. With this statement, the association aims to raise awareness about this essential healthcare issue and urge the medical community to work together to make harmonization a reality. The few laboratory tests that have been harmonized to date, such as those for cholesterol, glucose, and hemoglobin A1c, have made a marked positive impact on diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and diabetes.

FDA approves first adjuvanted vaccine for prevention of H5N1 avian influenza

Date: Nov-26-2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first adjuvanted vaccine for the prevention of H5N1 influenza, commonly known as avian or bird flu. The vaccine, Influenza A (H5N1) Virus Monovalent Vaccine, Adjuvanted, is for use in people 18 years of age and older who are at increased risk of exposure to the H5N1 influenza virus. Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by certain influenza A viruses. Most avian influenza A viruses do not infect people. However some viruses, such as H5N1, have caused serious illness and death in people outside of the U.S.

FDA approves Nexavar to treat type of thyroid cancer

Date: Nov-26-2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved uses of Nexavar (sorafenib) to treat late-stage (metastatic) differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is a cancerous growth of the thyroid gland, which is located in the neck. Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common type of thyroid cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 60,220 Americans will be diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 1,850 will die from the disease in 2013. Nexavar works by inhibiting multiple proteins in cancer cells, limiting cancer cell growth and division.

C-section rate for private patients double that of publicly funded patients

Date: Nov-26-2013
The rate of scheduled caesarean sections among private patients is around double that of publicly funded patients, indicates a study of more than 30,000 women in Ireland, published in the online journal BMJ Open.Differences in the medical and obstetric risks between the two groups don't fully explain this disparity, say the researchers, who looked at the impact of social, medical and obstetric factors on mode of delivery among women booked for privately or publicly funded care in the same hospital.

Clinical and biological implications of driver mutations in myelodysplastic syndromes

Date: Nov-26-2013
Myelodysplastic syndromes are a heterogeneous group of stem cell disorders that have been associated with a variety of mutations in genes involved in RNA splicing, chromatin modulation, and cell signaling pathways. In this week's issue of Blood, Papaemmanuil and colleagues provide new insights into the clonal evolution of these mutations and their role in the evolution of MDS. In the manuscript investigators detail results of their efforts to sequence 111 genes in 738 patients, demonstrating the sequential occurrence of mutations that dictate prognosis and risk of acute leukemia.

First observation of "molecular motors" involved in chromosome transport

Date: Nov-26-2013
Researchers at Waseda University in Japan have for the first time directly observed the "molecular motor", called Xkid, that plays a critical role in facilitating the proper alignment of chromosomes during cell division. Their findings are expected to contribute greatly to elucidating the molecular mechanisms of chromosome segregation, a key aspect of the development of certain medical disorders including cancer and birth defects.A human being begins as a single fertilized egg cell, which keeps dividing to form muscles, internal organs, the brain and other structures.

Protein essential for immune recognition, response to viral infection identified

Date: Nov-26-2013
A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-led research team has identified an immune cell protein that is critical to setting off the body's initial response against viral infection. The report that will be published in an upcoming issue of Nature Immunology and is receiving early online release describes finding that a protein called GEF-H1 is essential to the ability of macrophages - major contributors to the innate immune system - to respond to viral infections like influenza.

HIV testing in young adolescents

Date: Nov-26-2013
Having high knowledge about HIV and engaging in risky sexual activity do not make high-school-aged teens more likely to get tested for HIV. Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The study of nearly 1,000 Bronx, NY teens found those most likely to be tested for HIV had strong partner communication about HIV and were in committed relationships.

4 years after the public alarm caused by the influenza A virus - from a pediatric perspective

Date: Nov-26-2013
With autumn just around the corner and a new flu strain lying in wait for us, the presentation of a study analysing the management of the 2009 influenza A crisis could not, if anything, be better timed. The paediatrician Eider Oñate has just read her thesis in which she analyses how the H1N1 virus affected the paediatric population in Gipuzkoa during that period: what was done well, what was done badly, and whether the health services allowed themselves to be led by the public alarm rather than by exclusively clinical criteria when deciding hospital admissions.

Patients choose a bariatric surgical procedure based primarily on their own preferences and behaviors

Date: Nov-26-2013
A new study investigating why obese patients choose one type of weight loss operation over another reveals that the main factors influencing decision making are whether patients have type 2 diabetes, how much weight they want to lose, and their tolerance for surgical risk to achieve their ideal weight. Unlike findings from previous studies the patient's body mass index (BMI), or measure of obesity, does not play a significant role in the decision-making process according to study results published in the December issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.