December 27, 2007

• Terriers Join Fight Against A Killer Disease In Humans
  (HealthDay News) -- The illness, called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), affects 128,000 Americans, is typically fatal within three years of diagnosis, and kills more than 40,000 people in the United States annually -- a death toll equivalent to that of breast cancer.
  

• Small Prematures With Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia At PAH Risk
  (Medscape) -- Certain formerly premature infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) appear to be at increased risk of severe pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH), researchers report in the December issue of Pediatrics.
  

• New Lungs The Best Gift For Aimee Blakiston
  (perthnow) -- Her message for the festive season was clear: "I just want to say Merry Christmas to my donor family because they're spending it without a loved one,'' she said.
  

• For A Smarter, Healthier New Year, Resolve To Sidestep These Consumer Health Snares
  (Washington Post) -- Before you prepare your own list of things to do better in 2008, consider their review of health lessons -- and traps to avoid -- in the new year.

• Translational Research Patented First Experimental Treatment Against Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
  (EurekAlert) -- Researchers from the Biomedical Research Institute of Barcelona CSIC (IIBB-CSIC), a centre developing research in the framework of the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), have discovered and patented a method to stop and revert this disease in an animal model. A clinical study will be soon conducted in humans in the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.
  

• Sleep Apnea May Boost Blood Carbon Dioxide Levels
  (Reuters) -- People who suffer from the nighttime breathing disorder known as sleep apnea may develop high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood during the daytime -- a condition known as hypercapnia, Japanese researchers have found.
  

• Philips Buys Respironics
  (MSNBC) -- Philips, the Dutch electronics group, said on Friday it would buy Respironics, the US medical equipment maker specialising in sleep therapy, for €3.6bn ($5.2bn) in cash, its biggest acquisition to date.
  

• Medicare Announces Proposed Policy For CPAP Therapy For OSA
  (Medical News Today) -- he Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed to extend Medicare coverage for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices to include beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as a result of a Type II, III, or IV home sleep test (HST).
  

• Allegheny General To Begin Lung Transplants
  (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) -- Allegheny General officials said their new program was approved by the network in September and has already begun evaluating patients for placement on the lung transplant list.
  

• Putting Very Little Weight in Calorie Counting Methods
  (New York Times) -- Despite the displays on machines at gyms, with their precise-looking calorie counts, and despite the official-looking published charts of exercise and calories, it can be all but impossible to accurately estimate of the number of calories you burn.

• Phase III Study Initiated With Actelion-1
  (Actelion) -- Actelion Ltd announced today the initiation of the phase III study SERAPHIN (Study with an Endothelin Receptor Antagonist in Pulmonary arterial Hypertension to Improve cliNical outcome) for its highly potent, tissue-targeting endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) Actelion-1 (ACT-064992). The study is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Actelion-1 in delaying disease progression and mortality in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
  

• PAH: Improving Outcomes Through Early Intervention
  (Medscape) -- Over the past 10 years, 6 new medications were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) World Health Organization (WHO) Group I. These medications lead to improvement in functional class, quality of life, hemodynamics, and survival. Most were approved for patients only in certain "functional classes" based on which patients were included in the pivotal trials. For treatment studies conducted in the late 1990s/early 2000s, this meant inclusion of almost exclusively WHO functional class III/IV patients. More recent studies have included some patients with functional class I/II symptoms, and evidence that early treatment of these groups may be beneficial is growing.
  

• Study Examines Imaging Procedures For Diagnosing Blood Clots In The Lung
  (EurekAlert) -- New research indicates that a diagnostic strategy using computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) may be a safe alternative to conventional lungs scans (known as ventilation-perfusion scans) for excluding the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lung vessels), although CTPA may detect more clots, according to a study in the December 19 issue of JAMA.
  

• Menstrual Cycle Changes May Lead To New Therapies For Lung Diseases
  (WKYC) -- The research may lead to a better understanding of airflow obstruction that occurs in some asthmatic women around the time of their menstrual cycle. It may also have implications in other lung diseases that have a predilection for women such as pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure within the arteries in the lungs.
  

• Anthera's A-001 Receives Orphan Drug Status For The Prevention Of Acute Chest Syndrome In Patients With Sickle Cell Disease
  (Earthtimes.org) -- Acute Chest Syndrome (ACS) primarily affects children suffering from sickle cell disease. It is believed that the incidence of sickle cell disease is highest in children two to four years of age decreasing gradually to its lowest value in adults. Patients five to eleven are also a large part of the population who could benefit from a new therapy. ACS is also believed to be a contributor to pulmonary function abnormalities, pulmonary hypertension, and long-term mortality.
  

• AASM Approves Home Sleep Testing To Detect Sleep Apnea
  (Medical News Today) -- New guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) state that a home sleep test can help detect obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in select adults.
  

• Actelion Will Not Develop Tracleer For Melanoma
  (Reuters) -- Swiss drug maker Actelion said on Monday it would not develop its bosentan medicine, sold as Tracleer, as a treatment for metastatic melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
  

• New Approach For Attacking Lupus Identified
  (Science Daily) -- Investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified two new targets for drugs aimed at controlling lupus. If companies are able to develop drugs that hone in on these targets, patients may be able to control their disease with few side effects.
  

• Plaintiffs Attorney, Firm Sued Over Fen-Phen Expenses
  (Law.com) -- A former fen-phen client of Fleming & Associates has sued the Houston-based firm and partner George Fleming, alleging they took too much expense money out of her fen-phen settlement, including a share of $29 million for echocardiograms performed on prospective clients.
  

• Profound Immune System Discovery Opens Door To Halting Destruction Of Lupus
  (EurekAlert) -- A researcher funded by the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) has discovered an entirely new and powerful molecular switch that controls the inflammatory response of the immune system. The major finding, reported in the December 14th issue of the journal Cell, means that new methods can now be pursued to shut down uncontrolled inflammation, restore immune system regulation, and treat chronic autoimmune disorders such as lupus.
  

• Merck KGaA Starts Phase II/III Clinical Studies Of Atacicept In Lupus Nephritis
  (CNN) -- Merck KGaA said it has initiated a Phase II/III clinical trial of Atacicept in lupus nephritis, a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus (LSE).
  

• Elective C-Section: 38th Week Too Soon?
  (CBS) -- After adjusting for factors that might affect the infant's breathing, Kirkeby Hansen and colleagues found that children delivered by elective C-section at 37 weeks' gestation had a 3.7-fold higher risk -- and at 38 weeks, a 3.0-f old higher risk -- of transitory tachypnea of the newborn (a condition sometimes called wet lung), respiratory distress syndrome, or persistent pulmonary hypertension (dangerously high blood pressure in the lungs).

• Sticking With Sleep Apnea Treatment Cuts BP
  (Reuters) -- New research suggests that people who suffer from the nighttime breathing disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, who also have high blood pressure could benefit from good compliance with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment.
  

• Race Is On For The Next Blood Thinner
  (Wall Street Journal) -- At least five next-generation blood thinners are in advanced testing to treat or prevent potentially debilitating or life-threatening blood clots in surgery and heart patients. First candidates could reach the market in 2009.
  

• Disability Cases Last Longer As Backlog Rises
  (New York Times) -- Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.
  

• A New Judge In Fen-Phen Lawsuit
  (Cincinnati Post) -- Chief Senior Judge William Wehr on Tuesday appointed fellow Senior Judge Roger Crittenden to the task. Wehr gave no specific reason for the decision, but said he would remain available to preside over any settlement conferences "if requested by the parties."
  

• Immupharma Starts Separate Lupus Trials After US FDA Talks
  (Hemscott) -- Immupharma PLC said it will start separate phase IIb and phase III trials for its drug IPP-201101 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, following talks with the US Food and Drug Administration.
  

• A Children’s Book Every Adult Should Read
  (Easier) -- Today sees the launch of a new children’s book that tackles the tricky subjects of severe illness and death through the eyes of a nine year old whose Nana is dying of the rare illness, Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) and a Stroke.
  

• Lauded UM Scientist Searching For Cardiovascular Secrets
  (Miami Herald) -- What if the body could grow new cells that would develop into viable valves?

• Intensive Love For Wonder Baby
  (Melbourne Herald Sun) -- Melinda Cannell was just 24 weeks pregnant when a heart condition that was first detected in childhood flared to threaten both her and the life of her unborn baby.
  

• Soliris(R) Demonstrates Reductions In Hemolysis And Improvements In Fatigue, Overall Quality Of Life And Anemia In A Broad Population Of PNH Patients
  (PRNewswire) -- SHEPHERD examined the safety and efficacy of eculizumab in a broader, more diverse population of PNH patients than the TRIUMPH study by allowing enrollment of patients with minimal transfusion requirements and/or evidence of thrombocytopenia to enter the trial. A total of 69 patients (71%) in the SHEPHERD study would not have met the inclusion criteria for entry into the companion Phase III double-blind placebo-controlled TRIUMPH trial.(4)

• In Need Of A New Heart
  (TheReporter.com) -- When Cruz was evaluated later, doctors diagnosed her with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, which is high blood pressure of the lungs, and Eisenmenger syndrome, which is a reversed shunting of the passage of blood through the heart. Her overstressed heart had also taxed her lungs - meaning she would need a transplant for both.
  

• Chili Becomes Food For The Heart For One Man
  (WTOC-TV) -- Everyday life let David Sisk know he had a problem. But it wasn't until he collapsed during a stress test that he realized it was one that will affect every day of the rest of his life.
  

• Lupus Gene Identified
  (InTheNews.co.uk) -- The discovery of a new genetic variant, OX40L, which raises the risk of developing Lupus - or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) - has increased the possibility of exploring the underlying causes of the disease and finding a cure.
  

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