Health News

Minister launches radical new procurement strategy to save the NHS £1.5 billion, UK

Date: Aug-06-2013
A radical new blueprint for how the NHS buys everything - from rubber gloves and stitches to new hips, building work, bed pans and temporary staff - has been unveiled by health minister Dr Dan Poulter. Dr Poulter's new strategy for NHS procurement is set to radically change what the NHS does with its money by cutting wasteful spending - so cash can be ploughed back into the front line for patient care. It details ambitious plans to save £1.5 billion by getting our NHS to use its money more smartly and more efficiently. The government's NHS reforms are already making £1...

GPS-like 'grid' cells found in human brain

Date: Aug-06-2013
Scientists rarely have the opportunity to study single cell behavior deep inside a living human brain. But a US team was offered the chance to make human brain recordings in epilepsy patients undergoing treatment that implanted electrodes deep inside their brains. The researchers discovered that humans, like other animals, appear to have a type of brain cell that behaves like a GPS...

Indications of considerable added benefit for apixaban in atrial fibrillation

Date: Aug-06-2013
Fewer strokes and embolisms than with ASA / Fewer deaths, strokes and bleeding events in people over the age of 65 years in comparison with warfarin The clot-inhibiting drug apixaban (trade name: Eliquis) has been approved in Germany since November 2012 for the prevention of embolism and stroke in adults with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined the added benefit of apixaban...

Designing anti-viral therapies that are effective against Dengue

Date: Aug-06-2013
New research into the fight against Dengue, an insect-borne tropical disease that infects up to 390 million people worldwide annually, may influence the development of anti-viral therapies that are effective against all four types of the virus. The findings, led by researchers at the University of Bristol and published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry show for the first time that there may be significant differences in specific properties of the viral proteins for the four dengue virus types...

Added benefit not proven for vandetanib in thyroid cancer

Date: Aug-06-2013
Uncertain data / No conclusion on harm possible / Hint of positive effect in people aged under 65 years Vandetanib (trade name: Caprelsa) has been approved in Germany since February 2012 for the treatment of adult patients who have a particular form of aggressive thyroid cancer. In a new benefit assessment, the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now examined the added benefit of the drug pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG)...

Listen and communicate with your children about asthma

Date: Aug-06-2013
Children's perceptions of living with asthma may differ significantly from their caregivers' perceptions, which means both should be interviewed when they visit the doctor's office, a new study from UT Kids San Antonio and the Center for Airway Inflammation Research (cAIR) shows. The study analyzed the agreement between 79 children and their caregivers on health-related quality-of-life questionnaires. The children ranged in age from 5 to 17. Fifty-three were classified as having acute asthma and 26 had refractory, or treatment-resistant, asthma...

Studies reveal that visual attention is boosted but impulse control reduced by video games

Date: Aug-06-2013
A person playing a first-person shooter video game like Halo or Unreal Tournament must make decisions quickly. That fast-paced decision-making, it turns out, boosts the player's visual skills but comes at a cost, according to new research: reducing the person's ability to inhibit impulsive behavior. This reduction in what is called "proactive executive control" appears to be yet another way that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior...

The effectiveness of national, state, and community obesity prevention efforts and policies: New IOM report

Date: Aug-06-2013
The United States lags behind other international plans to evaluate obesity prevention efforts, and the country needs to know whether these efforts are having their intended impact, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The committee that wrote the report concluded that more systematic and routine evaluations could help determine how well obesity prevention programs and policies are being implemented and which interventions work best. The committee also recommended specific national and community plans for evaluation of obesity prevention efforts...

Sleeping patterns of baby owls likened to those of baby humans

Date: Aug-06-2013
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Lausanne have discovered that the sleeping patterns of baby birds are similar to that of baby mammals. What is more, the sleep of baby birds appears to change in the same way as it does in humans. Studying barn owls in the wild, the researchers discovered that this change in sleep is strongly correlated with the expression of a gene involved in producing dark, melanic feather spots, a trait known to covary with behavioral and physiological traits in adult owls...

Hope for improved drugs for addiction

Date: Aug-06-2013
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have described findings that could enable the development of more effective drugs for addiction with fewer side effects. The study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, showed in a combination of cell and animal studies that one active compound maintains a strong bias towards a single biological pathway, providing insight into what future drugs could look like. The compound examined in the study, known as 6'- guanidinonaltrindole (6'-GNTI), targets the kappa opioid receptor (KOR)...