Nearly 4 million deaths among women and children in sub-Saharan Africa could be prevented annually if relatively inexpensive, "science-based health policies" reached 90 percent of families, according to an African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) report (.pdf) published Monday, Nature News reports. The report, which is the initiative's first policy paper, was released at the group's annual conference in Accra, Ghana, from Nov. 9-11.

"The report divides African countries into three categories based on the percentage of births that are overseen by a skilled person, such as a midwife or health worker: less than 30%, 30-60% and more than 60%," Nature News writes.  Read more

Wright Medical Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMGI), a global orthopaedic medical device company, announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval to the Company to market its original CONSERVE® Plus Total Hip Resurfacing System. Now available in the United States, this innovative total surface arthroplasty system provides surgeons and their patients a bone-conserving alternative to traditional total hip replacement.  Read more

The world record for fastest text message typing is held by a 21-year old college student from Utah, but his dexterous digits could mean serious injury later on. Most adults aged 18-21 prefer texting over e-mail or phone calls, and ergonomics researchers are starting to wonder whether it's putting the younger generation at risk for some overuse injuries - once reserved for older adults who have spent years in front of a computer.

Judith Gold, an assistant professor of Epidemiology at the College of Health Professions and Social Work, thinks this might be the case. At this year's annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, she presented preliminary research which suggested that among college students, the more they texted, the more pain they had in their neck and shoulders.  Read more

The Latino population is the nation's largest minority group at an estimated 47 million in 2008 and is predicted to make up 30% of the US population by 2050. At the same time, chronic diseases among Latinos are on the rise and require long-range strategies to prevent and clinically manage. Understanding the healthcare of this fastest growing population is critical to the healthcare debate and reform initiatives.

The Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, a consortium of researchers from major research institutions around the country, examines healthcare disparities affecting minorities with chronic diseases and has produced a special supplement of the Journal of General Internal Medicine examining Latinos and healthcare, shedding light on important issues that have been left out of the healthcare reform debate.  Read more

Fears of contracting the H1N1 virus this flu season have people steering clear of strangers with coughs and scolding friends who don't sneeze into their crooked elbows. With everyone trying to stay germ free, hand sanitizer has become a popular means of protection. But although a quick pump from a Purell dispenser is the most convenient form of hand cleaning, is it the best?

Not necessarily, according to Saint Joseph's University medical microbiology expert Michael McCann, Ph.D., who recommends washing with soap and water whenever possible. McCann says this-tried-and true method is still the best when it comes to killing germs and protecting your self from the flu.

However, if you can't get to soap and water, he suggests carrying an alcohol-based, rather than an antimicrobial, sanitizer. The latter contains chemicals like triclosan, which McCann warns, can cause more harm than good.  Read more

Double vision, also known as Diplopia, is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object - the patient sees two images of a single thing either all the time, or some of the time. The displacement may be horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Diagonal double displacement (double vision) means both the horizontal lines and vertical lines are being perceived as doubled - also known as oblique separation. Single binocular vision - each eye of the individual works independently, creating its own, faintly different image. The patient, however, only perceives one image because the brain is able to control the muscles of the eyes so that both of them point accurately at the object the person is looking at. The brain then joins the images produced by both eyes into one image - this is known as single binocular vision. If, however, the eye muscles are damaged, or even the nerves, or if some health condition has weakened them, the muscles may not be able to control the eyes correctly, resulting in double vision. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, diplopia is: "The condition in which a single object is perceived as two objects."  Read more

NeuroTherapeutics Pharma, Inc., or NTP, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that it received a $100,000 investment from the Epilepsy Therapy Project.

The Epilepsy Therapy Project invests in promising research efforts in order to help make new therapies a reality for patients, and the investment in NTP is one of the largest made in its history. "Our Board and our scientific advisors are enthusiastic about NTP and its lead compound. We view NTP's development effort as a potentially important new therapy with a novel mechanism of action for millions of people living with uncontrolled epilepsy," said Warren Lammert, Chairman and Co-Founder of the Epilepsy Therapy Project and epilepsy.com.  Read more

The American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates adopted a resolution calling on the AMA to work with the federal government to enact new federal policies to decrease the public's exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

The resolution, introduced by The Endocrine Society, reflects the findings and recommendations of The Endocrine Society's peer-reviewed Scientific Statement (http://www.endo-society.org/journals/scientificstatements) on EDCs released by the Society this past June. Adoption of this resolution means that it is now AMA policy and is wholly supported by the House of Medicine.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are substances in the environment that interfere with hormone biosynthesis, metabolism or action resulting in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects in both humans and wildlife. These chemicals are designed, produced and marketed largely for specific industrial purposes. They are also found in some natural foods and may become further concentrated as foods are processed.  Read more

New data confirms the rate of chronic kidney disease is inching upward, keeping pace with the rising rates of diabetes. In late September, the U.S. Renal Data System published its 2009 Annual Data report, which shows the incidence of chronic kidney disease in the U.S. Medicare population is now 9.8%, up from 8.7% reported in last year's data analysis.

Diabetes, the leading cause of kidney disease, moved closer to affecting one in four Medicare beneficiaries nationally: the newest data shows 24.8% have this disease, up from the 23.6% reported a year earlier. The Texas Department of State Health Services estimates more than 1.8 million Texans have diabetes.  Read more

In a new survey of physicians who treat breast cancer patients, only one-third said they had good access to trained medical interpreters or telephone language-interpretation systems when they needed it. Poor access to interpreters can compromise physician-patient communication that is critically important in cancer care.

The survey of 348 physicians took place in the Los Angeles area, where 27 percent of residents - roughly 2.5 million people - have limited English proficiency (LEP) compared with 9 percent in the rest of the United States. Spanish and Asian languages are the predominant first languages for LEP patients in the LA region, but there are many others, said lead study author Danielle Rose, Ph.D.

Rose worked on the study while at the Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study appears online in the journal Health Services Research.  Read more