News
BBC Programme ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’ - BBC1, Tuesday 19 August, 9.00 Pm - The BVA has co-operated with the producers of the BBC programme due to be broadcast this evening, with the President being interviewed. From pre-publicity generated by the BBC Press Office it would appear that the programme, rather than looking at how science can help to overcome problems, is, as its title makes explicitly clear, an exposé of the worse elements of pedigree dog breeding.
Clinical Studies Completed For HeartVue’s 6S Heart Screening System - Pegasus/Heartview LLC (PINKSHEETS: PGUZ) announced that they have now completed the required clinical studies, which are an integral part of the process required for the marketing of the Company’s breakthrough HeartVue 6S Heart Screening System in North America.
Arizona Hospital Offers Culturally Tailored Care, Services To Navajo Indian Patients - USA Today on Monday examined how “traditional Navajo healing is merging with modern medicine” at the Page, Ariz.-based Banner Page Hospital. About 50% of the patients at the hospital come from a nearby Navajo reservation. “Hospitals have long struggled with providing health care” to American Indians who “often don’t trust modern medicine and techniques,” USA Today reports.
Arizona Universal Health Care Initiative To Appear On Ballot - A measure that would prohibit enactment of any law in Arizona that requires people to obtain health coverage has qualified for the November ballot after a Superior Court judge ruled that the 22 signatures originally declared invalid should be counted, the Capital Media/Arizona Daily Star reports.
North Carolina Physicians Raise Concern Over Undocumented Immigrants’ Lack Of Trust In Medical System - Some North Carolina doctors have raised concern that fear over their immigration status and a lack of trust in the health system could prevent some undocumented immigrants from seeking medical care and thus contribute to a rise in infectious diseases, infant mortality and emergency health costs, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
Proposed California Medicaid Changes Could Drive Up Health Insurance Premiums, Report Finds - Stricter Medi-Cal eligibility rules proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) would result in higher health insurance premiums for insured Californians because physicians and hospitals would shift the costs of treating more uninsured patients, according to a new study commissioned by Health Access California, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Lancet Publishes Articles About Presidential Candidates’ Global Health Plans, HIV Prevention - The Lancet in its Aug. 16 issue published an article about biomedical interventions to prevent HIV, as well as the U.S. presidential candidates’ global health plans. Summaries appear below.
Tadalafil Shows Promise For Relief Of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Associated With Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia - Men with signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) can be helped with a daily dose of tadalafil (Cxxxxs®) to relieve associated lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), according to a new study published in the October 2008 issue of The Journal of Urology.
Dallas Morning News Examines Differences Between McCain, Obama Health Plans - The Dallas Morning News on Saturday examined how, although “Democratic health care proposals may have gotten more attention during the primaries,” the plan proposed by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) “just might be more revolutionary.
Helping Provide Antiretroviral Access Abroad ‘Earns’ U.S. ‘Considerable Goodwill,’ Editorial Says - When President Bush in 2003 “proposed to take the fight against AIDS to Africa” with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, slowing the “spread of the disease seemed quixotic, particularly on a continent where only about 50,000 of the 30 million” people worldwide living with the disease had treatment access, a Washington Post editorial says.
Lawsuits Help Ensure Drug Safety, NEJM Editors Say - FDA by itself cannot guarantee drug safety and state-level lawsuits are “a vital deterrent” to help protect consumers against drugmakers that do not disclose all risks associated with a treatment, editors of the New England Journal of Medicine wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief on Thursday, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Orlando Sentinel, 8/15).
Suicidal Thoughts Not Uncommon Among US Students - A recent study found that suicidal thoughts among US college students is more common than might be expected, after more than half of 26,000 students surveyed at 70 colleges and universities reported having at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives.
ProPublica Examines U.S. Investigation Into Pharmaceutical Company Ranbaxy Over Antiretrovirals Used In PEPFAR, Other Drugs - ProPublica on Thursday examined a U.S. investigation into whether Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy engaged in a “pattern of systemic fraudulent conduct” by concealing its drug manufacturing process violated FDA standards, including HIV/AIDS medications used in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Andrews, ProPublica, 8/14).U.S.
Lawmakers Promote Bill To Increase Funds For Community Health Centers - Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) on Wednesday promoted legislation (S 901, HR 1343) that would increase federal funding for the 1,200 community health centers nationwide, the Wilmington News Journal reports.Carper, together with Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.
Number Of People Accessing HIV/AIDS Treatment Increasing In Northwest England, Study Finds - The number of people accessing HIV/AIDS treatment in the northwest region of England increased by 9% in 2007 compared with data from 2006, according to a report released recently by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University and the North West Protection Agency, the Press Association reports.
Some Democrats Respond To Bush Administration Decision Not To Enforce SCHIP Directive, Call On CMS To Stop Blocking States’ SCHIP Expansion Plans - Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on Friday called on CMS to rescind an SCHIP directive scheduled to take effect on Monday, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 8/15).
Conflict In Nigeria’s Delta Region Contributing To Spread Of HIV, IRIN/PlusNews Reports - Conflict in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region is contributing to the spread of HIV in the country, IRIN/PlusNews reports. According to IRIN/PlusNews, rapes being committed by militants fighting for a greater share of the region’s oil wealth and the military are contributing to the spread of HIV.
Beijing’s Health Department Distributes No-Cost Condoms, HIV/AIDS Pamphlets To Olympic Hotels - About 400,000 no-cost condoms and 250,000 HIV/AIDS prevention pamphlets recently were distributed by Beijing’s Health Bureau to 119 hotels that contracted with the Olympic Games, as well as other hotels in the city, Xinhuanet reports. Condoms have been placed in more than 90,000 rooms in 424 hotels rated three stars or higher, Jin Dapeng, the bureau’s party chief, said.
BIOLASE Launches Software Upgrade For First Generation WaterlaseTM Dental Laser Systems - BIOLASE Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLTI), the world’s leading dental laser company, today announced the global launch of a new software upgrade that includes innovations designed to extend the capabilities and useful life of installed first generation Waterlase™ hard and soft tissue dental laser systems.
HIV/AIDS Advocates In Georgia Discuss Need For Improved Outreach Efforts, Particularly Those For Blacks, Rural Residents, Young People - HIV/AIDS advocates in Georgia have become concerned that “[o]ld messages geared to urban, white, gay men simply don’t resonate with many” black, rural, women and young people, who now are the “new face” of HIV/AIDS in the state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
WellNet Launches Online Social Networking Program For Health Care Coordination - WellNet Healthcare this month will launch a test version of Point to Point Healthcare, a social network linking users’ physicians, pharmacists and insurance benefit managers, the Washington Post reports. The online tool will allow employees of companies who use the program to connect their health care providers to facilitate treatments.
Tennessean Examines Debate Over Effectiveness Of ‘Virginity Pledges’ - The Tennessean on Thursday examined the debate over the effectiveness of “virginity pledges” among teenagers. According to a recent RAND study, teens who said they wanted to delay sex were more likely to remain abstinent within three years of taking the pledge than were teens who wanted to avoid sex before marriage but did not take a pledge.
SinoFresh(R) Nasal Spray Kills MRSA “Super-Bug” In Live Noses - SinoFresh HealthCare, Inc. (OTCBB: SFSH) announced preliminary results today from a successful in vivo pilot study indicating that its patented SinoFresh® nasal spray was shown to be useful in controlling the MRSA “super-bug” in the nasal passages.
PregLem Starts Phase III Trials Of PGL4001 In Uterine Myoma - PregLem SA, a Swiss biopharmaceutical company specialized in reproductive medicine, announced the start of an international Phase III clinical trial program for PGL4001 (ulipristal) in symptomatic uterine myoma, a common benign solid tumor of the genital tract in women of reproductive age.
QIAGEN Unveils Diagnostic Assay In The EU To Detect Genetic Variation Causing Adverse Reactions In AIDS Patients - QIAGEN (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) announced that it has introduced a new molecular diagnostic test to type the HLA-B*5701 allele, a genetic variation in the Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) system.
ViRexx Announces Encouraging Results From Its Lead ChimigenTM Therapeutic Vaccine Candidate For Treating Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infections - ViRexx Medical Corp. (TSX:VIR) (AMEX:REX), company focused on developing innovative-targeted therapeutic products that offer better quality of life and a renewed hope for living.
Indiana Abortion Opponents Press For County Ordinances To Limit Access - Abortion-rights opponents in Indiana recently have been seeking county ordinances to require doctors who perform the procedure to have admitting privileges at a local hospital after efforts to enact statewide legislation stalled, the AP/WHAS reports.
Actavis Receives Approval Of Generic Wellbutrin XL(R) 300mg In The United States - Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, announced that it has received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration to market Bupropion Hydrochloride extended-release tablets (XL) 300mg. Distribution of the product will commence immediately.
Government Of Canada Confirms Funding For Canadian Mental Health Commission - The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health announced that the Government’s funding commitment to the Canadian Mental Health Commission is now confirmed at $130 million over its 10-year mandate.
World Water Week 2008 Focuses On Sanitation, Health And Hygiene - Over 170 collaborating organizations will meet to discuss issues around water and its impact on health, the environment, and poverty alleviation, at the annual World Water Week to be held in Stockholm from August 17 to 23. This year’s theme; Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World includes a special focus on sanitation and hygiene.
