health - "medicine"

Two reports from TRAFFIC, the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network, on traditional medicine systems in Cambodia and Vietnam suggest that illegal wildlife trade, including entire tiger skeletons, and unsustainable harvesting is depleting the region's rich and varied biodiversity and putting the primary healthcare resource of millions at risk.

'The pathways are parallel, and the idea is if you can somehow disrupt the fat production pathway, you will get more bone,' says Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia Institute of Molecular medicine and Genetics.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of medicine have identified a potential new way to vaccinate against avian flu. By delivering vaccine via DNA constructed to build antigens against flu, along with a minute electric pulse, researchers have immunized experimental animals against various strains of the virus. This approach could allow for the build up of vaccine reserves that could be easily and effectively dispensed in case of an epidemic.

Saturday can be the worst enemy for our waistlines, according to researchers at Washington University School of medicine in St. Louis. They found that study subjects on strict diet and exercise programs tend to lose weight more slowly than expected because they eat more on weekends than during the week.

Having intercourse more often may help prevent the development of erectile dysfunction (ED). A study published in the July 2008 issue of The American Journal of medicine reports that researchers have found that men who had intercourse more often were less likely to develop ED.

UCB announced that a Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) has been submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) requesting the approval of Cimzia® (certolizumab pegol) as a subcutaneous treatment for adults with moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and has been accepted for review. Subject to approval, Cimzia® will be the first and only PEGylated, Fc-Free anti-TNF (Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha) biologic therapy available in Europe for the treatment of RA.

DxS, a personalised medicine company and leaders in the provision of companion diagnostics, has today announced the launch of its K-RAS cancer mutation detection kit in Australia. This follows the kit meeting the compliance standards of Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

A small protein may have a big role in helping you make more bone and less fat, researchers say. 'The pathways are parallel, and the idea is if you can somehow disrupt the fat production pathway, you will get more bone,' says Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia Institute of Molecular medicine and Genetics. (Source: News-Medical News Feed)

In the first study of its kind, researchers led by The University of Pennsylvania School of medicine's Ross Koppel, Ph.D. studied how hospital nurses actually use bar-coded technology that matches the right patient with the right dose of the right medication. The surprising result is that the design and implementation of the technology, which is often relied upon as a 'cure-all' for medication administration errors, is flawed, and can increase the probabilities of certain errors.

Cancer starts when key cellular signals run amok, driving uncontrolled cell growth. But scientists at the Stanford University School of medicine report that lowering levels of one cancer signal under a specific threshold reverses this process in mice, returning tumor cells to their normal, healthy state. The finding could help target cancer chemotherapy to tumors while minimizing side effects for the body's healthy cells.