Archive for July, 2008

31
Jul

New Report Examines Current Use And Future Impact On Global Clinical And Reimbursement Practices

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Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Evidence-Based Medicine - Current Use and Future Impact on Global Clinical and Reimbursement Practices” report to their offering.

Evidence-based medicine is defined as an endeavor to use standards from scientifically-collected evidence to improve medical practices by assessing risks and benefits of treatments and/or the want of treatments. The term can be taken to cover a wide kind of recommendations and guidelines, as

30
Jul

Bone-Lengthening for Disfiguring Disease

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A pioneering new surgery technique is a dream come true for a 9-year-old Arkansas young lady with a rare osseous tissue disease.

Lauren McCabe was innate with a left sleeve nearly 2 inches shorter than her right, a condition that has unbroken her from being able-bodied to confidential information a normal life.

“I can’t really ride bikes, I can’t truly bowl and I can’t swim with my branch like that,” explained Lauren. Her disease has as well had an effect on her confidence, like the time she entered her local Miss Strawberry Pageant.

“One time in the Strawberry, I actually had my arm in front so I commit it in arrears my back so cypher could ever notice it.”

Stretching Surgery

Her handicap and deformity was acquiring progressively worse every class. “The experimental condition is a condition where instead of growing tenacious and square, the clappers grow bent and shortsighted and branches,” explained Dr. Aronson, tribal chief of pediatrics at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, who is one of the pioneers of the bone surgery that Lauren had.

“What we’re doing is a os lengthening, which means that we birth to mildly crack a bone so that its blood supply is preserved, stabilize the bone with pins that connect to the external, a build, and through that frame we unfold the ivory very slow,” said Dr. Aronson. At two and a half hours, the surgery is relatively quick.

The actual process of perpetuation the bone though takes months. While Lauren cured, doctors stretched the bone one millimeter a day with a motorized device. As they slowly separate the pearl and pull it apart, new pearl grows to close the gab, thusly lengthening the limb. It’s painstakingly slow so it doesn’t hurt.

Bright Future

After approximately five months doctors removed the device and fitted Lauren for a cast. “Good Morning America” met Lauren at the hospital on the special day the cast came off and ground her full of exhilaration for the future.

Before long she was chatting more or less the confidence she’d have cheerleading. “I’ll hold it. I’m gonna wave and everything,” says Lauren.

30
Jul

Magazine Examines Debate Over Spread Of ‘Father-Daughter Purity Balls’

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href=”hTTP://www.time.

30
Jul

British Birth Cohort Studies At Groundbreaking New Research Facility

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A groundbreaking ceremony new inquiry facility is planned to enable unprecedented understanding of how economic, social and biological factors combine to shape

29
Jul

Anorexics Who Commit Suicide Use Extreme Methods, Leaving Little Doubt Of Intent

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A disturbing new study, notable during this Eating Disorder Awareness Week, challenges assumptions that the high suicide rate among anorexics can be explained by compromised physical health that leads to death from the slightest attempt. Research to be published in the Journal of Affective Disorders shows that anorexics who are suicidal use highly lethal methods suggesting an overwhelming wish to die.

According to lead author, University of Vermont assistant professor of psychology Jill Holm-Denoma, while psychiatrists and other doctors have long observed that people with anorexia nervosa die by suicide at surprisingly high rates, there had been no data about what methods they were using to kill themselves. The assumption was often that these are people on the verge of death anyway; they are so malnourished and underweight that the smallest suicide attempt could easily lead to death.

Holm-Denoma’s research, however, suggests a different explanation. Among anorexics who commit suicide, the methods used tend to be overwhelmingly lethal in conjunction with a low potential for being rescued, means that would be likely to kill anyone. She found that women (the vast majority of people who suffer from anorexia) were burning themselves, jumping in front of trains and hanging themselves, among other extreme acts.

“I wouldn’t say that a defining feature of anorexia is a wish to die,” says Holm-Denoma, “but among the subgroup of people with anorexia who attempt suicide, they have a strong wish to die and they engage in an act of self injury that has a very high likelihood of killing them right away.”

Holm-Denoma, an expert on treating eating disorders, is available to discuss this research as well as other aspects of eating disorders. Approximately one percent of adolescent and young adult females suffer from anorexia and about twice as many have bulimia. And the population of people with eating disorders is growing outside of the traditional group, notably young, white, middle- to- upper- middle-class women. According to Holm-Denoma, as racial and ethnic minorities, as well as older women, are increasingly becoming media targets for the thin ideal, clinicians are seeing a rise in eating disorders from groups once thought to be protected.

Both anorexia and bulimia are also associated with high rates of mood, anxiety, substance use and personality disorders. A third category of eating disorder, binge eating, afflicts up to four percent of the population, and affects men and women equally. The combined effects take a huge toll. Anorexia, in fact, has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder.

University of Vermont
86 S. Williams St.
Burlington, VT 05401
United States
href=”http://www.uvm.edu” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.uvm.edu

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28
Jul

Bone-Lengthening for Disfiguring Disease

Posted By admin in News

A pioneering new surgery technique is a dream come true for a 9-year-old Arkansas girl with a rare bone disease.

Lauren McCabe was born with a left arm nearly two inches shorter than her right, a condition that has kept her from being able to lead a normal life.

“I can’t really ride bikes, I can’t really bowl and I can’t swim with my arm like that,” explained Lauren. Her disease has also had an effect on her self-confidence, like the time she entered her local Miss Strawberry Pageant.

“One time in the Strawberry, I actually had my arm in front so I put it behind my back so nobody could ever notice it.”

Stretching Surgery

Her disability and disfigurement was getting progressively worse every year. “The condition is a condition where instead of growing long and straight, the bones grow bent and short and branches,” explained Dr. Aronson, chief of pediatrics at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, who is one of the pioneers of the bone surgery that Lauren had.

“What we’re doing is a bone lengthening, which means that we have to gently crack a bone so that its blood supply is preserved, stabilize the bone with pins that connect to the outside, a frame, and through that frame we stretch the bone very slowly,” said Dr. Aronson. At two and a half hours, the surgery is relatively quick.

The actual process of lengthening the bone though takes months. While Lauren healed, doctors stretched the bone one millimeter a day with a motorized device. As they slowly separate the bone and pull it apart, new bone grows to close the gab, thus lengthening the limb. It’s painstakingly slow so it doesn’t hurt.

Bright Future

After about five months doctors removed the device and fitted Lauren for a cast. “Good Morning America” met Lauren at the hospital on the special day the cast came off and found her full of excitement for the future.

Before long she was chatting about the confidence she’d have cheerleading. “I’ll hold it. I’m gonna wave and everything,” says Lauren.

28
Jul

Regional Factors Driven By Genetic Diversity Add Complexity To Autoimmune Disease Drug Development

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As a group, autoimmune diseases remain one of the most refractory and difficult-to-treat segments of healthcare therapeutics. The underlying genetics of the immune response and the complexities they foster among individual patients make this one of the most challenging areas in all of life science. Until recently, autoimmune disease patients were given little hope for effective treatment. But the convergence of improved elucidation of autoimmune disease mechanisms and the ability to design and manufacture recombinant proteins capable of attenuating the immune system cascade has led to systemic treatments that have demonstrated the ability to provide some degree of relief from autoimmune symptoms in a significant number of patients.

Perhaps more than any other disease segment, autoimmune conditions and the companies that market treatments for them are benefiting from the potential for expanded indications. A typical strategy for many drug candidates is to initially target a larger, well-defined segment such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and then pursue secondary indications - for example - Lupus or Psoriasis, once the brand has been launched and established. Such a strategy requires resources and risks that can strain all but the largest players, making alliances highly attractive.

Because of the individual genetic variability underlying the incidence and severity of autoimmune symptoms, regional variations in the market for autoimmune therapeutics can be significant. This variability is compounded by differences in treatment protocols and cultural factors, which combine to make alliance partnerships with regional players of increased importance.

The dynamics of therapeutic intellectual property is another factor fostering alliance activity in the autoimmune sector. Because antibody technology forms the basis for much of the current generation of autoimmune disease treatment technology, mid-to-large pharma companies are increasingly in-licensing therapeutic candidates from smaller specialty laboratories, often at the pre-clinical stage.

More information is also available at
href=”http://www.applieddata.org/Autoimmune_Disease.htm” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.applieddata.org/Autoimmune_Disease.htm

About Applied Data

Applied Data Research is a healthcare therapeutics consulting firm focused on medical market strategies, product commercialization, venture development, and market research. We assist medical market participants in achieving their business objectives through the creation of detailed business development strategies, product commercialization programs, and comprehensive market and technology research and analysis.

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28
Jul

Researchers Use New Tools To Combat Skin Cancer

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There’s something new under the sun at South Dakota State University: Researchers are working with molecules that protect against skin cancer and may even help undo the sun’s damage.

Distinguished professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, head of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department in the College of Pharmacy at SDSU, said the work could be commercialized within 10 years.

“We are looking at a number of molecules that can be used with sunscreen or without sunscreen. They are not simply blocking the radiation, but they are reversing the damage caused by radiation,” Dwivedi said.

Exposure to ultraviolet light, especially in summertime, can contribute to skin cancer. Farmers, construction workers and others who spend long hours exposed to sunlight are among those most at risk.

People are becoming more aware of the risk of skin cancer thanks to educational efforts. More people wear sunscreens, though Dwivedi cautioned that sunscreens must be re-applied at regular intervals to provide optimum protection.

“We have been saying for a long time that prevention is the best medicine,” Dwivedi said. “We have to make the effort to prevent the disease before we treat it.”

Nevertheless, some new strategies are emerging that could make sunscreens and lotions even more effective against skin cancer.

Here’s a look at SDSU’s research of skin product components:

Alpha-santalol is the name of a molecule that provides one of the main components of oil of sandalwood. Dwivedi has made alpha-santalol a focus of his research for nearly 15 years.

“This product has been very effective in preventing skin cancer caused by chemicals and by UV radiation,” Dwivedi said.

“We have done our work in animal models,” according to the researcher. “Now it’s ready to go for testing in humans.”

“Best of all, this molecule has a very nice fragrance, so people will not mind using it.

“It smells nice, and at the same time, it prevents chemically-caused or UV-induced skin cancer.”

Another molecule called sarcophine-diol, made from a product called sarcophine coming from coral found in the Red Sea, has been a focus of SDSU research over the past five years.

Sarcophine-diol is effective in micrograms, as compared to milligrams, for other chemo-preventive products.

In other words it is effective in a concentration of about one-thousandth of what the scientific literature suggests for other chemo-preventive agents used against chemically and UV-induced skin cancer.

SDSU testing has examined two models thus far and is expanding to other models.

Dwivedi said collaboration with SDSU assistant professor Hesham Fahmy is moving that work forward.

Fahmy, a chemist, already had one patent for his work with sarcophine-diol at the University of Mississippi when he joined SDSU’s College of Pharmacy in 2004.

Dwivedi, Fahmy and SDSU are now pursuing licensing of the patent based on their collaborative research of sarcophine-diol.

Dwivedi said SDSU research will also look at combining products that protect against skin cancer to provide additive/synergistic effects on the protective properties of these molecules.

SDSU is also trying to assess whether the products’ potential benefits go beyond protection.

“We hope to include it in sun screen or lotion. Apply it once, and you are set for the day. We are hopeful that it will not only prevent skin cancer but may actually treat skin cancer,” Dwivedi said.

Fahmy explained that skin cancer occurs in two stages: initiation, when normal skin cells turn to precancerous skin cells and remain so for a number of years; and then promotion, a long stage of 10 to 20 years in which precancerous cells can become cancerous.

There is a chance to intervene in that second stage so that promotion doesn’t take place and the individual doesn’t contract skin cancer.

He added that cancer is able to proceed by outwitting the body’s mechanism that orders programmed cell death, called apoptosis, for cells that have been genetically damaged.

“After initiation, you have those precancerous cells. But when you use these compounds, they encourage these precancerous cells to commit suicide and regenerate rather than turn cancerous,” Fahmy said.

“So in this sense they can undo some of the damage. These compounds reinforce the programmed cell death process.”

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU graduates students from eight different colleges representing more than 200 majors, minors and options. The institution also offers 20 master’s degree programs and 11 Ph.D programs.

cutline: SDSU pharmacy distinguished professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, left, and assistant professor Hesham Fahmy are carrying out research at SDSU on molecules that offer protection against skin cancer.

South Dakota State University
Communications Media Center 105
Brookings, SD 57006
United States
href=”http://www.sdstate.edu” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.sdstate.edu

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26
Jul

MDA Activities Focus Attention On National ALS Awareness Month

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  Throughout the month of May, the Muscular Dystrophy Association will high spot the seventeenth annual national ALS Awareness Month by hosting events in communities across the country and disseminating information about amyotrophic lateral induration, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

ALS is a

26
Jul

Miami-Dade County, Fla., Town Hall Addresses Health Disparities Facing Black Residents

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Miami-Dade County, Fla., health officials on Monday held a