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Cancer Research UK opens first AT9283 trial to treat childhood leukaemia

Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office has opened the first trial of a new type of drug to treat children aged from six months to 18 years with acute leukaemia, who are no longer responding to treatment.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Responding to emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis

This post in the Center for Strategic and International Studies' "Smart Global Health" blog examines drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), stating, "[S]ince the recent outbreak of the so-called totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) in India, TB has a new face."

27 January 2012 Read Article

Caffeine intake among women of child-bearing age influences estrogen levels

Asian women who consumed an average of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day-the equivalent of roughly two cups of coffee-had elevated estrogen levels when compared to women who consumed less, according to a study of reproductive age women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Reflecting on Global Fund's decade of accomplishment, looking forward to challenges ahead

"This week marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- the world's most powerful tool for improving health -- at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland," Natasha Bilimoria, president of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in this post in the AlertNet "Insight" blog.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Researchers discover new gene linked to MLCRD

Researchers have found a new gene that, when mutated, can lead to lymphoedema (swollen limbs) as part of a rare disorder that can also cause problems with eye and brain development. This is the fourth lymphoedema-related gene found by the same researchers in three years, and the first linked to the eyes and brain. They say it could lead to better diagnosis and treatment for lymphoedema, an area that has been poorly understood previously.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Global economic downturn may thwart progress in fight against poverty, disease, Gates says

"The global economic downturn and the euro-zone crisis may stand in the way of efforts to reduce poverty and disease around the world," Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Wednesday in a talk at the London School of Economics sponsored by the Global Poverty Project, Bloomberg reports.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Two NIH clinical trials to evaluate treatments for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

The National Institutes of Health has launched two multi-site clinical trials to evaluate treatments for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. One will compare continuous chest compressions (CCC) combined with pause- free rescue breathing to standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which includes a combination of chest compressions and pauses for rescue breathing.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Longer looks: The Obama memos on health reform, Romney's Medicare mistake?, flu 2012

The President's caution, and his concern about business, can be seen in the way he dealt with major interest groups. ... His health-insurance bill was crafted by building support from a delicate alliance of interest groups, and Obama personally guided the effort.

27 January 2012 Read Article

Rapid discontinuation of prednisone after kidney transplant can help prevent side effects

Rapid discontinuation of the immunosuppressive steroid prednisone after a kidney transplant can help prevent serious side effects, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

27 January 2012 Read Article