Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Timing Is Everything: Growth Factor Keeps Brain Development On Track
Just like a conductor cueing musicians in an orchestra, Fgf10, a member of the fibroblast growth factor (Ffg) family of morphogens, lets brain stem cells know that the moment to get to work has arrived, ensuring that they hit their first developmental milestone on time, report scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the July 16, 2009, edition of the journal Neuron.

Bausch & Lomb Receives FDA Approval Of Besivance™, New Topical Ophthalmic Anti-Infective For The Treatment Of Bacterial Conjunctivitis ("Pink Ey
Bausch & Lomb, a world leader in eye health, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Besivance™ (besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension) 0.6% for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis, commonly referred to as "pink eye." Besivance™ is a new topical ophthalmic anti-infective, administered via sterile ophthalmic drops, that treats a wide range of eye pathogens including those that most commonly cause bacterial conjunctivitis.4 Bacterial conjunctivitis is one of the most common ocular conditions worldwide. 2
News of the day
Medtronic Announces Two Worldwide Clinical Trials To Study Medical Device Interventions For Stroke
Each year, approximately 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke1 in the United States, and approximately a half million people in Western Europe are similarly afflicted2. Today, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announces two significant clinical trials related to medical device interventions for stroke. First enrollments in the global CRYSTAL AF (Study of Continuous Cardiac Monitoring to Assess Atrial Fibrillation After Cryptogenic Stroke) trial have taken place. The trial will use the Reveal® XT Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) to assess the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with cryptogenic stroke (stroke of an undetermined cause) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in order to aid physicians in determining the optimal course of treatment for these patients. It is widely recognized that patients with sustained AF are at increased risk of stroke3.
Cardiovascular

Comp. Effectiveness Promises Better, Cheaper Health Care But Critics Link It To Rationing

"Federal health agencies, seeking to hand out stimulus funds to research the effectiveness of various medical treatments, said they will include projects that look in part at the cost of drugs and other treatments. The approach -- which was unveiled in a report to Congress this week by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health, both agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services -- could provide more fodder to conservatives worried that the government might use the results of such studies to limit health care to consumers," the Wall Street Journal reports. The agencies will spend about $700 billion on the comparative effectiveness research over the next two years. AHRQ will target arthritis, cancer, and 12 other conditions that require expensive treatments. NIH says it has 1,800 pending research applications, but has yet to determine which count as comparative effectiveness research (Zhang, 7/31). Broader research shows that treatments, quality outcomes, and cost vary widely between regions and even specific hospitals. "No two hospitals are alike, according to a trove of evidence showing that the quality and cost vary dramatically from one place to another," USA Today reports, adding that Don Berwick, of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement notes "these communities appear to share a "sense of moderation" that places the interests of patients above competition for market dominance; they rely more on primary care doctors and share a culture of quality that leans heavily on data to evaluate medical performance." However, hospitals that engage in data driven efforts to cut back on costs, and members of Congress that support such efforts, open themselves up to accusations of "rationing," Len Nichols, an economist at the New America Foundation pointed out (Sternberg, 8/2). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009