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Total Confirmed Human Swine Flu Cases Jumps To 4,250 In The UK
An additional 535 confirmed human cases of Swine Flu A(H1N1) cases have been confirmed in the England, plus 111 in Scotland, 5 in Northern Ireland, and 3 in Wales, bringing the UK total so far since April 2009 to 4,250, says the Health Protection Agency (HPA). The HPA informs that the infection can be effectively treated with antiviral medication. The majority of UK cases have been mild, the agency says, and people have recovered fully after treatment.

What Is Alzheimer's Disease? What Causes Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer"s disease is a progressive neurologic disease of the brain leading to the irreversible loss of neurons and the loss of intellectual abilities, including memory and reasoning, which become severe enough to impede social or occupational functioning. Alzheimer"s disease is also known as simply Alzheimer"s, and Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (SDAT) .
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1/4 Of Patients On Highest Investigational Doses Of CP-690,550 Achieve ACR70 At Week 12
A quarter of active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving either 10mg (24.6%) or 15mg (28.1%) twice daily of the investigational oral JAK-3 (janus-associated kinase) inhibitor CP-690,550 (CP) achieved ACR70* after 12 weeks, according to the results of a new study presented at EULAR 2009, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Copenhagen, Denmark. The primary outcome for the study was ACR20*, with 75.4% of patients achieving this measure at 12 weeks for both 10mg and 15mg doses.
Endocrinology

Lawsuits Allege Some Medical Device Companies Gave Kickbacks To Surgeons

Whistleblowers allege in lawsuits unsealed Wednesday that some medical device companies gave kickbacks to heart surgeons to get the doctors to use their products to treat a heart condition, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The lawsuits, filed in federal district court in Houston, name at least four companies whose products are among those used in surgery to treat the heart condition (called atrial filrillation). They are AtriCure Inc., Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp." "The suits, originally filed in 2007 but recently unsealed by a Texas federal judge, allege that a "fraudulent marketing and inducement campaign" involving kickbacks to doctors and hospitals resulted in excessive charges to the Medicare insurance program." "The case against Boston Scientific was filed by a former saleswoman who says she was fired after complaining about illegal practices at the company." One of the plaintiffs say the companies marketed the tools as surgical ablation equipment even though it wasn"t approved by the Food and Drug Administration (Burton and Armstrong, 7/16). "These off-label uses were more expensive than those sanctioned by the FDA, and resulted in the government"s Medicare program being overbilled, according to the documents," The Associated Press/Houston Chronicle reports: "The whistleblower also alleges that the companies "offered the surgeons kickbacks in the form of free advertising, press, and referral services to bring in more patients and business"" (Perrone, 7/15). 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.


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