Health News

Big Data & Analytics in Life Science Forum, January 27-28, 2014, Boston

Date: Nov-19-2013
Big Data IQ, a division of IQPC, announces the Big Data & Analytics in Life Science Forum, being held January 27-28, 2014 in Boston, MA. Attendees will learn how the power of analytics can help your organization achieve the golden triangle of treatment: The Right Target, The Right Chemistry and the Right Patient!The Secret Ingredient to a Successful Life Sciences Formula is BIG DATA!

Personalised GP care will bring back old-fashioned family doctors, UK

Date: Nov-19-2013
Giving millions of elderly people a dedicated GP personally accountable for their care around the clock will bring back the era of the old-fashioned family doctor, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced on 15 November 2013.Under changes to their contract with the NHS, GPs will ensure the four million patients aged 75 or over will get all the treatment they need for physical and mental conditions.Other key changes introduce more transparency over practices' earnings and performance, greater patient choice and fairer pay.

Astrazeneca announces initiation of two additional global studies with Brilinta (ticagrelor)

Date: Nov-19-2013
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) has announced plans to conduct two new clinical studies as part of PARTHENON, AstraZeneca's largest clinical trial program involving over 80,000 patients. The studies are designed to build scientific understanding of BRILINTA® (ticagrelor) tablets in additional high-risk patient populations. SOCRATES (Acute Stroke Or Transient IsChaemic Attack TReated with Aspirin or Ticagrelor and Patient OutcomES) is a global clinical trial involving 9,600 patients who have experienced an acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).

New figures reveal hundreds of thousands of children regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in a car, UK

Date: Nov-19-2013
New figures released by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) show that around 185,000 children between the ages of 11-15 in England are exposed to potentially toxic concentrations of second-hand smoke in their family car every day or most days.[1] That's the equivalent of more than 6,100 classrooms full of children [2] or the entire population of Bournemouth.[3]The data analysis also showed that over 430,000 children aged 11-15 in England are exposed to second-hand smoke in their family cars at least once a week.

Canada's McMaster University develops new tuberculosis vaccine

Date: Nov-19-2013
A new vaccine developed at McMaster University offers new hopes for the global fight against tuberculosis. "We are the first to have developed such a vaccine for tuberculosis," said Dr. Fiona Smaill, professor and chair of the Dept. of Pathology and Molecular Medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster. She led the phase one clinical study for which results were published in Science Translational Medicine.

New technology will enable pathologists to automate marking of tissue samples with unprecedented accuracy

Date: Nov-19-2013
New technology, developed in Belfast, will soon enable pathologists to automate the process of marking tissue samples with unprecedented accuracy. TissueMark, developed by digital pathology specialists PathXL, analyses the detailed structural patterns in tissue samples and marks the boundaries of potentially cancerous sections for more detailed analysis. The new software will help accelerate cancer research and discovery, reduce time in drug development and to identify new markers of the disease.

Study linking idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly human disease with no effective treatment options, to presence of a monkey virus

Date: Nov-19-2013
Enzo Biochem Inc. (NYSE:ENZ) has announced publication of a study in a leading scientific journal, Modern Pathology, a Nature Publishing Group publication, that shows a strong association of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a pulmonary disease with 100% mortality within five years, with the presence of the herpesvirus saimiri virus, a virus native to squirrel monkeys. The breakthrough discovery of the IPF's origin is expected to result in a clinical diagnostic that could lead to screening and diagnosis, and perhaps result in potential treatment, for this fatal disease.

Vascular closure devices reduce complications and bleeding in appropriate cardiac patients

Date: Nov-19-2013
Vascular closure devices (VCDs) significantly reduce complications and bleeding in appropriate patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), according to an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine. VCDs permit closure of the access site using sutures, plugs, or metallic clips, especially after PCI by transfemoral route. VCDs are commonly used in clinical practice, yet there is little data on their efficacy for decreasing vascular complications.

Available evidence does not support FDA warning linking statin use to cognitive impairment

Date: Nov-19-2013
A systematic review of available evidence (low- to moderate-strength) did not find a link between statin use and adverse cognitive outcomes, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Recently, the FDA issued a warning after case reports suggested that statin use may lead to cognitive impairment. Researchers reviewed 25 published randomized, controlled trials and cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies evaluating cognition inpatients taking statins.

Experts weigh cancer screening strategy based on life expectancy

Date: Nov-19-2013
Calculating comorbidity-adjusted life expectancy may help physicians determine whether to continue or stop cancer screening in elderly patients, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The benefits of early cancer detection decline sharply with age because older patients are more likely to die of comorbid conditions or other causes. Published guidelines differ on when to stop screening elderly patients for cancer. For example, the U.S.