(Washington) In a policy paper released today the American College of Physicians reaffirmed its support for increased health care transparency. Healthcare Transparency—Focus on Price and Clinical Performance Information, the first paper in a series of policy papers about transparency, is an introduction and overview of the issues and challenges faced with increased health care transparency. "We believe that increasing transparency in the health care system can be beneficial to both patients and physicians," said J. Fred Raslton, Jr., MD, FACP, president of ACP. "However, ...

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 20, 2010 — American and Italian researchers have found that a novel drug allows anandamide – a marijuana-like chemical in the body – to effectively control pain at the site of an injury. Led by Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences and director of the Center for Drug Discovery at UC Irvine, the study suggests that such compounds could form the basis of pain medications that don't produce sedation, addiction or other central nervous system side effects common with existing painkillers, such as opiates. "These findings ...

New research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators adds to evidence that the Six3 gene functions like a doorman in the developing brain and visual system, safeguarding the future retina by keeping the region where the eye is forming free of a signaling protein capable of disrupting the process. The findings underscore the pivotal role Six3 plays in the developing nervous system as a key regulator of the Wnt family of signaling proteins and expands on earlier work from the laboratory of Guillermo Oliver, Ph.D., member of the St. Jude Department of ...

DURHAM, N.C.—Two-thirds of Americans with voice problems don't seek medical care either because they don't know treatment is available or because they think the problem will just go away, according to a new study conducted at the Duke Voice Care Center. That's concerning, says Seth Cohen, MD, an otolaryngologist at Duke. "Voice disorders aren't benign nuisances that just go away. They are symptoms of a range of medical conditions from allergies to cancer. When caught early, the right treatment can make a big difference. Left untreated, they can become chronic problems ...

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a new pathway that helps control the immune balance through reciprocal regulation of specialized T lymphocytes, which play very different inflammatory roles. Investigators also determined that two drugs working in different ways to dampen the inflammatory response in patients with multiple sclerosis or following organ transplantation target this new mechanism. Further research into the pathway might lead to new medications to block other autoimmune disorders or to new anti-rejection drugs, researchers said. ...

University of Southern California computer scientists have found a way to combine smartphone resources with a novel application that allows the phones' users to help monitor air quality. The application, provisionally titled "Visibility," is available for download at http://robotics.usc.edu/~mobilesensing/Projects/AirVisibilityMonitoring The researchers, from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, hope that as many users as possible download and try it in order to improve the software. Currently, the download works for smartphones running the Android system and soon ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Individuals with disrupting mutations in the BRCA1 gene are known to be at substantially increased risk of breast cancer throughout their lives. Now, discoveries from an international research team led by Mayo Clinic researchers show that some of those persons may possess additional genetic variants that modify their risk. These new findings enhancing individualized medicine appear in the current Nature Genetics. "These findings should be useful in helping determine individual risk for breast cancer in BRCA1 carriers," says Fergus Couch, Ph.D., Mayo ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A consortium of cancer researchers has identified four chromosome locations with genetic changes that are likely to alter a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer. The findings appear in Nature Genetics in an article authored by a Mayo Clinic researcher. Researchers say that while more needs to be learned about the function of the specific chromosomal regions involved in susceptibility, the discoveries move them a major step closer to individualized risk assessments for ovarian cancer. In the future, women at greatest risk due to these and other ...

Radio transmitters that can withstand temperatures of up to 900 oC could soon be dropped into the depths of the earth to provide early warning of a volcanic eruption. The state-of-the-art technology being pioneered by experts at Newcastle University uses Silicon Carbide electronics that can withstand temperatures equal to the inside of a jet engine. Measuring subtle changes in the levels of key volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, the wireless sensor would feed back real-time data to the surface, providing vital information about volcanic activity ...

DURHAM, N.C. – An international consortium of scientists has discovered new genetic variants in five regions of the genome that affect the risk of ovarian cancer in the general population, according to two separate studies published today (Sunday), online in Nature Genetics. The consortium, including scientists from the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia, based the new work on their earlier research comparing 10,283 women with ovarian cancer to 13,185 women without the disease. That effort had found a stretch of DNA on chromosome 9 containing single DNA letter variations ...

A drug commonly used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) successfully treats adults whose asthma is not well-controlled on low doses of inhaled corticosteroids, reported researchers supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. "This study's results show that tiotropium bromide might provide an alternative to other asthma treatments, expanding options available to patients for controlling their asthma," said NHLBI Acting Director Susan B. Shurin, M.D. "The goal in managing ...

Biologists have found that a key protein that regulates the biological clocks of mammals also regulates glucose production in the liver and that altering the levels of this protein can improve the health of diabetic mice. Their discovery, detailed in this week's advanced online publication of the journal Nature Medicine, provides an entirely new biochemical approach for scientists to develop treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes. It also raises the interesting possibility that some of the rise in diabetes in the U.S. and other major industrialized countries could ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers researchers have discovered how HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, resists AZT, a drug widely used to treat AIDS. The scientists, who report their findings in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, believe their discovery helps researchers understand how important anti-AIDS treatments can fail and could help AIDS researchers develop more effective treatment for the disease. "What we've found is the detailed way in which the mutations act to promote the resistance," said author Eddy Arnold, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and ...

The emerging idea that obesity may have an infectious origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers who found that children exposed to a particular strain of adenovirus were significantly more likely to be obese. The study will be published in the September 20 online edition of the journal Pediatrics. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Diego, and colleagues examined 124 children, ages 8 to 18, ...

A team of researchers led by Maryse Bouchard, adjunct professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Health, Environment and Society (CINBIOSE) of the Université du Québec à Montréal and a researcher at Sainte-Justine University Hospital, and Donna Mergler, professor emerita in the Department of Biological Sciences and a member of CINBIOSE, recently completed a study showing that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures. Their results ...

A recent study by researchers at the University of Utah determined that the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) caused a higher rate of neurological complications in children than the seasonal flu. The most common complications observed were seizures and encephalopathy. Full details of the study, the most extensive evaluation of neurological complications following H1N1 flu in children, are published in the September issue of Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association. The H1N1 virus (swine flu) was identified in Mexico and the U.S. in April ...

10 Points to Effective Grant Writing is scheduled for 8 to 10 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the Camille Kendall Academic Center (Building III), Suite 4219, at the Universities at Shady Grove, 9636 Gudelsky Dr., Rockville, MD 20850 Admission is free for representatives of non-profit agencies and organizations; advance registration is required. "Traditional sources of funding for non-profits are more and more difficult to identify," says Montgomery Alliance President Harriet Guttenberg. "Writing successful grant proposals can lead to resources that keep an organization in ...

Yampu Tours, an expert travel company that offers tailor-made tours to Latin America and a growing list of other continents, announced a special discount today on all 2010 highlight tours. The discount allows travelers who book before September 30, 2010 to save up to $600 on their vacation tour package. What sets Yampu Tours (www.yampu.com) apart from other travel companies is the care and thought that its consultants put into each vacation package. All of Yampu's tours are custom-made and can be reworked to fit your particular schedules and inclinations, whether you ...

It's a good thing this city never sleeps as Fashion News Live brought you nonstop celebrity and designer coverage straight from the hottest go-to fashion events the week had to offer. Creator, executive producer, and host Rocco Leo Gaglioti is a self-made triple threat whose powerful fast-working Fashion News Live army produced, invaded, distributed, and uploaded their Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week content daily. The result? FashionNewsLive.com viewership has increased to 400% in this month alone and is still climbing on the charts. Fashion News Live was treated with ...

A craftsman style home is highly sought after, even today. Their appeal of welcoming front porches with sturdy columns and simple bungalow style have lasted for over a hundred years. But renovating a true Craftsman can be a money pit to say the least. Small closets, closed floor plans, out of date bathrooms and ancient wiring and plumbing can all be cost prohibitive obstacles. One Houston custom home builder has come up with the solution. A modern home on the inside that still captures the flavor of the craftsman style home on the outside. Whitestone Builders specialize ...

Wallbeds "n" More (http://www.wallbedsnmore.com), a leading murphy wallbed retailer with the largest display of in-store wallbeds, is celebrating the Grand Opening of their new showroom in Pasadena on Saturday, September 18th. Located at 1382 E Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91106, they are centrally located with easy access via Interstate 210. Offering increased service to Los Angeles residents, they are excited to be adding a new location to their southern California collection of stores. The grand opening of this unique furniture store has been highly anticipated, with ...

American Wave Machines, Inc. (AWM), an innovator in artificial wave technology, today announced the successful commissioning of the first modular surfing system delivering multiple wave types including a left and right breaking barrel option. Surfers are lining up to ride real surfboards with fins on the first barreling standing wave in Europe. The machine debuted at the Himlabadet Municipal Aquatic Sports and Spa Facility in Sundsvall, Sweden and is another first for AWM. The locals in Sundsvall came out in full-force to ride SurfStream at the opening day event, ...

Empire Medical Training - the #1 name in medical training and certification - has answered the call from countless physicians by expanding its training to include workshops in Toronto, Canada. Beginning on December 3-5, 2010, the programs to be offered in Toronto will include Facial Aesthetics, Mesotherapy, Comprehensive Botox and Dermal Fillers. Empire offers 200 CME Medical and Aesthetic workshops each and every year in cities from New York to Los Angeles, Houston to Boston, Las Vegas to Dallas and now, even Toronto, Canada. With over 27 different medical and aesthetic ...

If there were a World Cup for antique toys, the name engraved on the trophy quite likely would be that of K-B Toys co-founder and toy collector extraordinaire Donald Kaufman. The late Mr. Kaufman's incomparable array of antique and vintage toys - a blue-ribbon panoply of pre- and postwar production - has fascinated and seduced hobbyists the world over since Bertoia Auctions' 2008 announcement that the collection was to be sold. With three Kaufman auctions from the ongoing series now completed and the $9.3 million subtotal confirmed as the highest amount ever achieved ...

Shopping online can be fun, but it can be frustrating if the company doesn't ship to your location. Merchant restrictions on shipping can be especially difficult for international customers. Anyone outside the U.S. will be happy to know they can shop all they want, and have the products shipped to them with the help of WorldBox USA. WorldBox USA provides customers living abroad with a unique U.S. address, allowing them to shop in the U.S. from anywhere in the world, even from merchants that don't ship overseas. WorldBox USA will provide you with an address in the U.S. ...