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Study demonstrates significant clinical and economic impact of Nanosphere's Verigene blood culture test
Date: Oct-02-2013Nanosphere, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSPH), a company enhancing medicine through targeted molecular diagnostics, has announced publication of a study in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology that evaluated the clinical and economic impact of rapid bacterial identification and antibiotic resistance determination by the Verigene® Gram-Positive Blood Culture (BC-GP) Test for patients with enterococcal bacteremia, which can lead to sepsis...
Next generation sequencing test developed at UPMC improves detection of thyroid cancer, reduces unnecessary surgeries
Date: Oct-02-2013A new test for genetic markers that can identify which lumps in the thyroid gland are cancerous and which are harmless - potentially preventing unneeded operations - will make its debut Oct. 1 for patients seeking care at the UPMC/UPCI Multidisciplinary Thyroid Center (MTC). Growth of a small mass or nodule of the thyroid gland, which is located in the "Adam's apple" area of the neck, is very common, particularly with aging, said Yuri Nikiforov, M.D., Ph.D...
Alcohol leaving the UK charts with a hangover
Date: Oct-02-2013Are we allowing alcohol marketing to children and teens via the music they love? As many as one in five songs in the UK top ten today include references to alcohol a figure rising partly due to US-imported songs. What impact is this having on the youth of today? Experts warn that fresh evidence demonstrates that public health messages on alcohol may no longer be audible over the louder message from some sections of the music industry...
Castle Biosciences launches tissue repository for eye cancer patients
Date: Oct-02-2013Castle Biosciences Inc. has announced the availability of a tumor tissue repository for patients whose tumors are being tested with the Company's gene test for uveal, or ocular, melanoma. Patients will now have the option of storing an additional sample of their tumor free of charge for up to five years, and will be able to access it to take advantage of future developments in the disease. Castle Biosciences would provide the samples to third parties only with permission of the patient for legitimate research, treatment guidance or diagnostic purposes...
Changes to European medical device regulations will not protect patients with diabetes and a central European Device Agency is needed, says EASD
Date: Oct-02-2013The European Commission has just voted to approve new proposals to draft legislation to supposedly tighten medical device regulation and improve patient safety. But the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) says that the changes are inadequate and will not protect patients with diabetes. EASD President Professor Andrew Boulton said: "These changes will do little to improve Europe's antiquated regulations for regulating devices, that were brought in for electric toothbrushes and stethoscopes - not the wide range of medical devices vital for diabetes patients today...
Medical procedure or commercial commodity? Facing the challenges of corporate medicine business practices in plastic surgery
Date: Oct-02-2013Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic growth in the marketing of plastic surgery services directly to the public. Treating plastic surgery as a commercial product instead of a medical service represents a major departure from traditional patient care, with significant implications for physician ethics, patient safety and the essential doctor-patient relationship...
Legionella bacteria found in compost products
Date: Oct-02-2013A study conducted at the University of Strathclyde investigating the presence of Legionella in compost, has found that the bacteria exist in a significant number of commercial products. The research, the first substantial analysis of Legionella in UK composts, suggests that the bacteria are a common part of the microflora found within the composts tested. It is widely recognised that Legionella bacteria are commonly present in the environment and the researchers have found that compost could be a potential source of infection. Dr Tara K...
Helping new arrivals to be medicinewise: Medicines and refugees in Australia
Date: Oct-02-2013Australia has resettled over 750,000 refugees since Federation in 1901. With around 20,000 refugees settling in Australia this year, a new editorial in Australian Prescriber sheds some light on some of the particular health issues unique to this group. According to Dr Mitchell Smith, Director of the NSW Refugee Health Service, Dr Winston Lo, medical educator at GP Synergy and Jessica Bindra from the University of NSW, many of the medicine-related issues that refugees face are the same as those affecting other migrants, but some factors are accentuated...
Vacuum cleaners may be disease vectors
Date: Oct-02-2013The aerosolized dust created by vacuums contain bacteria and mold that "could lead to adverse effects in allergic people, infants, and people with compromised immunity," according to researchers at the University of Queensland and Laval University. Their findings are published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This finding is worrying as the study found resistance genes for five common antibiotics in the sampled bacteria along with the Clostridium botulinum toxin gene...
Zinc deficiency may contribute to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
Date: Oct-02-2013Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made a discovery that, if replicated in humans, suggests a shortage of zinc may contribute to diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which have been linked to defective proteins clumping together in the brain. With proteins, shape is everything. The correct shape allows some proteins to ferry atoms or molecules about a cell, others to provide essential cellular scaffolding or identify invading bacteria for attack...
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