Medical News May 7th, 2008
Medical lab to boost Indy staff by 125
DCL Medical Laboratories, a full-service medical testing laboratory focusing on women’s health, today announced a major expansion of its Northwestside headquarters that includes hiring 125 people.
DCL employs 150 already and is bringing aboard pathologists, lab professionals, and IT and service experts.
Kaiser Permanente completes rollout of electronic medical records
Kaiser Permanente said Monday that all of its 8.7 million enrollees in nine states and the District of Columbia have access to HealthConnect, an outpatient electronic health record Kaiser says is the world’s largest privately funded EHR.
Outpatient implementation started in Hawaii four years ago and was completed in Northern California this month, according to officials at Oakland-based Kaiser. They said all of Kaiser’s 13,000 physicians nationwide now have electronic access to patients’ medical records in the system’s 421 medical offices and clinics.
Cohera Medical closes on $7.6M financing round
Medical device firm Cohera Medical Inc. said Wednesday that it closed on a financing round that brought in $7.6 million.
Based on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the company’s lead product is TissueGlu, an adhesive designed to improve the wound closure process.
The breakdown of financing was not released by the company, but the lead investor was Kern Whelan Capital LLC.
Giving up smoking has rapid health benefits, says study
People who give up smoking begin to improve their health almost immediately, according to a study of more than 100,000 women carried out between 1980 and 2004. Within five years the risk of death from all causes fell by 13%, it found. By 20 years, people had no extra risk of death because of their past smoking history.
Artes Medical names Michael Green to replace Wulff as CFO
SAN DIEGO -
Wrinkle filler maker Artes Medical Inc. said Wednesday it named Michael K. Green as chief financial officer to replace Peter Wulff, who has resigned to pursue business development and corporate finance for commercial development firms.
Previously, Green served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Orchestra Therapeutics, as ewll as CFO of animal health testing and medical devices maker Synbiotics Corp.
Breakaway Selected by Medical College of Georgia to Develop Game-Based Dental Implant Training Simulation
Simulation Provides Tools for Improved Decision-Making and Clinical Skills Training
BALTIMORE, May 7 –
BreakAway, Ltd., a leading developer of game-based technology solutions for training, experimentation and decision- making analysis has been selected by the Medical College of Georgia to develop the groundbreaking Dental Implant Training Simulation to better teach and train dental students patient assessment and diagnosis protocol, and to practice dental implant procedures in a highly immersive, virtual, three dimensional environment. The Dental Implant Training Simulation is funded through a grant from Nobel Biocare awarded to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) School of Dentistry.
Medical marijuana ID card fee reduced by Santa Clara County supervisors
SAN JOSE - Santa Clara County supervisors today agreed to lower the cost of obtaining a medical marijuana identification card during a 14-month period.
The cost for a medical marijuana identification card will be reduced to $150 from $294 starting this month until April 2009. At the end of the pilot program term, the public health department will conduct a participation level review to determine if the lowered fee resulted in increased participation.
The county is mandated to provide this service, but carrying the card is voluntary.
Prisoner HIV program leads to continuum of medical care after release
95 percent of participants completed program linking ex-offenders to medical care, housing and addiction services
Providence, R.I. By linking HIV positive prisoners to community-based medical care prior to release through an innovative program called Project Bridge, 95 percent of ex-offenders were retained in health care for a year after being released from incarceration, according to researchers from The Miriam Hospital. Continuity of medical care can reduce costs to the criminal justice systems, improve health outcomes, and may reduce HIV transmission.
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Health commissioner has plan to help stop smoking
NEW YORK STATE — A pack of cigarettes goes up by a $1.25 on June 3rd and New York’s Health Commissioner has a plan to help thousands of people who are going to try to quit when the new tax goes into effect.
Dr. Richard Daines says the state is committed to reaching out to help those who want to quit smoking.
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Lung Cancer Risk reduces by 20% 5 years after Stopping Smoking According to JAMA (Interview with Stacey Kenfield, ScD)
(May 6, 2008 - Insidermedicine) Among women, the excess mortality risk associated with smoking does diminish down to the same levels as never smokers after quitting, but it can take up to 30 years, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Here are some recommendations about advising patients to quit smoking from t he National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence:
• General practitioners, nurses in primary and community care, as well as other health care professionals should take the opportunity to advise all patients who smoke to quit when they attend a consultation. Those who want to stop should be offered a referral to an intensive support service. If they are unwilling or unable to accept this referral they should be offered pharmacotherapy.
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Exhaustion Of HIV-specific T Cells May Be Caused By Chronic Exposure To Virus
ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — The “exhaustion” of immune cells that target HIV appears to result from chronic exposure to the virus, specifically exposure to the particular protein segments targeted by the pathogen-killing HIV-specific CD8 T cells. A study from researchers at the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PARC-MGH), appearing in PLoS Medicine, may have answered a key question regarding the immune response to HIV infection: is the functional impairment of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) the cause or the result of unchecked viral replication in chronic progressive HIV-1 infection?
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New Saliva-based HIV Test May Speed Up Detection
ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — The usual waiting period for the results of a HIV test can seem like an eternity, especially in emergency situations where results are needed immediately. Also it requires a blood sample, which is invasive and often painful. Recognizing the urgent need for a faster and less invasive diagnostic method, Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, from Marina Klein’s research team at the MUHC has just finished testing a new saliva-based test that gives results in approximately 20 minutes.
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