Stryker to take charge to end US knee-device probe
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Orthopedic implant maker Stryker Corp said it will take a charge of $33 million in the second quarter for an expected settlement of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into one of its artificial knee devices.
The charge, which is Stryker’s estimate of what it will cost to settle the probe into marketing practices concerning its OtisKnee device, is expected to reduce its reported diluted earnings per share by about 9 cents in the second quarter, Stryker said. The Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company said it will exclude the charge from its adjusted earnings per share.
In 2010, Stryker received a subpoena alleging violations of laws prohibiting sales of a medical device not cleared for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Doctors try to make sense of cancer’s genetic jumble
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Not too long ago, knowing the organ where a cancer first takes hold was generally all a doctor needed to determine what treatments to use. Not anymore.
Advances in understanding cancer at the molecular level mean doctors can better select the drugs that will most help individual patients. To do so, they must identify which genetic mutations are driving the growth of a patient’s tumor, and that shift is making their work much harder.
“We’ve had this biological revolution that has sliced the pie for these cancers finer and finer as we’ve learned more about the genomics of cancer,” said Dr. George Sledge, co-director of the breast cancer program at Indiana University and a past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Experimental drug shrinks cancer tumors
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An experimental cancer drug successfully shrank tumors in patients with different kinds of cancer, including typically hard-to-treat lung cancers, according to a new study. Oncologists said the research was encouraging, but more study was needed to know whether the drug would prolong life for cancer patients.
The study, led by Dr. Suzanne Topalian, was presented Friday at the Super Bowl of cancer professionals, a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In a small, early phase study, researchers used a drug targeting a portion of the body’s immune system, a pathway called PD-1, which usually works to stop the body from fighting cancerous tumors. By shutting down the pathway, the drug stokes the body’s immune system to fight tumor cells.
In Vitro Fertilization Less Successful With Alternative Fertility Treatments
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Women who are desperately trying to get pregnant might want to avoid complementary and alternative medicine.
The common belief is that it won’t hurt to try alternative fertility treatments before reverting to in vitro fertilization (IVF). But a new study from Denmark finds that the success of IVF treatment is 30% lower among women who have used alternative medicine. The researchers included over 700 IVF users over a 12-month period. Women who had first tried a combination of alternative treatments, such as reflexology, acupuncture, or herbal- and aroma therapy, had significantly lower pregnancy rates after IVF treatment.
Alex Polyakov and Beverley Vollenhoven of the Faculty of 1000 Medicine emphasize the relevance of the study for IVF clinics. “It is important, when discussing IVF treatment with couples, that their use of alternative therapies is also discussed, as this may have a bearing on treatment success.”
Avastin Slows Resistant Ovarian Cancer
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Progression of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer slowed by more than 50% in patients who received bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy compared with nonplatinum chemotherapy alone, results of a randomized trial showed.
Median progression-free survival (PFS) increased from 3.4 months with chemotherapy to 6.7 months with chemotherapy and bevacizumab.
The objective response rate more than doubled with the addition of the angiogenesis inhibitor, Eric Pujade-Lauraine, MD, of Hopital Hotel-Dieu in Paris, reported here at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting.
Older Adults May Need More Vitamin D to Prevent Mobility Difficulties
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Older adults who don’t get enough vitamin D - either from diet, supplements or sun exposure - may be at increased risk of developing mobility limitations and disability, according to new research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
“This is one of the first studies to look at the association of vitamin D and the onset of new mobility limitations or disability in older adults,” said lead author Denise Houston, Ph.D., R.D., a nutrition epidemiologist in the Wake Forest Baptist Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Houston researches vitamin D and its effects on physical function.
The study, published online this month in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, analyzed the association between vitamin D and onset of mobility limitation and disability over six years of follow-up using data from the National Institute on Aging’s Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. Mobility limitation and disability are defined as any difficulty or inability to walk several blocks or climb a flight of stairs, respectively.
Kids’ friends influence physical activity levels
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Children may be more physically active when their friends run and jump more, too, say U.S. researchers looking for ways to prevent obesity.
Kids in peer groups that included others who were physically active were six times more likely to change their activity levels, said Sabina Gesell of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville and her co-authors, in study published in today’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.
“Friendship ties may play a critical role in setting physical activity patterns in children as young as 5 to 12 years,” the researchers concluded.
In the study, 81 racially diverse public school students who went to after-school programs were interviewed to find out the names of their friends during three week-long periods during the spring of 2010.
Clock ticking on Illinois Medicaid, pension reforms
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Facing a May 31 deadline, the Illinois General Assembly on Friday raced to pass legislation to stop the state from sinking under pension and Medicaid payments, which account for 39 percent of general fund spending.
Both chambers of the Democratic-controlled legislature on Thursday sent Governor Pat Quinn a bill that would slice spending on Medicaid, the joint federal-state healthcare program for the poor, by $1.6 billion by reducing eligibility and provider rates and cutting or eliminating programs.
“The status quo would have led to Medicaid’s collapse, and I am pleased to see the General Assembly take strong action to put our Medicaid system and our state on the path to sound fiscal footing,” Quinn, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Tide to change Pods lid over child safety concerns
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After at least one child was hospitalized for swallowing its prettily packaged detergent, Procter & Gamble Co said on Friday it will make Tide Pods more difficult to open.
A double latch will be put on the lid of Tide Pods tubs and should be in markets in the next couple of weeks, P&G spokesman Paul Fox said on Friday.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) issued a warning last week that people should keep highly concentrated, single-dose packs of detergent high up and out of the reach of children.
According to the AAPCC, some young children who swallowed the small packets required hospitalization, while others got the detergent in their eyes.
Obese teen had to be cut from home in U.K.
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Emergency workers who needed to take an obese teenager from her home to a hospital in Wales had to break through a wall of the residence to get her out and into an ambulance, officials said Friday.
The rescue on the second floor of the small house on Thursday used scaffolding as a ramp to lower the woman to the ground level, the local Rhondda Cynon Taf council said.
The unidentified 19-year-old remained hospitalized Friday and her medical condition was not released.
Neighbors said her weight had risen as high as 380 kilos (835 pounds).
Most Germans view Israel as ‘aggressive’
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Survey shows 60% of Germans believe their country has no special obligation towards Jewish state; German doctors apologize for Nazi-era crimes
A recent survey conducted for Stern news magazine found that a large majority of Germans view Israel as “aggressive” and think Germany no longer has a special obligation to the Jewish nation.
Some 59% of those questioned viewed Israel as “aggressive”, an increase of 10 percentage points over a similar survey in January 2009.
Infertility gene may lead to pill for men
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Scottish scientists have discovered a gene that plays a key role in production of healthy sperm, a breakthrough that could soon pave the way for developing a new contraceptive pill for men.
In experiments on mice, researchers at the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh found a gene, called Katnal1, which was vital for the final stages of sperm production.
Detailing their findings in the journal PLos Genetics, the team said a drug which interrupts Katnal1 could be a reversible contraceptive.
Docs win most malpractice suits, but road is long
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Malpractice claims against U.S. doctors are often dismissed, and when they go to trial, the verdict is usually in the doctor’s favor, according to a new study.
But even when a case is dismissed, the road is typically long for both doctors and the patients suing, researchers said.
“Most claims go in favor of the physician, and they take a long time to resolve,” said lead researcher Dr. Anupam B. Jena, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Medical malpractice claims have become a hot-button issue in the U.S., coming up repeatedly in debates about healthcare reform. Some specialists must pay a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in premiums for insurance against malpractice claims—though rates vary by state.
Ramadan sets Muslim athletes extra test at London Games
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When Malaysian cyclist Azizulhasni Awang opted to postpone his Ramadan fast until after the London Games, the decision was all about going for Olympic gold.
Anything that might jeopardize the chance of a medal for the 24-year-old at his second Olympics had to be dealt with sensibly, he says. And going without food and drink between sunrise and sunset every day for four weeks is just too risky.
“We need to train, we need food, fluids, water,” he told Reuters during a training session at a velodrome in Melbourne with team mate Fatehah Mustapa, who will become the first Malaysian woman cyclist to ride at an Olympics.
Strategy Discovered to Activate Genes that Suppress Tumors and Inhibit Cancer
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A team of scientists has developed a promising new strategy for “reactivating” genes that cause cancer tumors to shrink and die. The researchers hope that their discovery will aid in the development of an innovative anti-cancer drug that effectively targets unhealthy, cancerous tissue without damaging healthy, non-cancerous tissue and vital organs. The research will be published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The team, led by Yanming Wang, a Penn State University associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Gong Chen, a Penn State assistant professor of chemistry, developed the new strategy after years of earlier research on a gene called PAD4 (peptidylarginine deiminase 4), which produces the PAD4 enzyme. Previous research by Wang and other scientists revealed that the PAD4 enzyme plays an important role in protecting the body from infection. The scientists compared normal mice with a functioning PAD4 gene to other mice that had a defective a PAD4 gene. When infected with bacteria, cells from the normal mice attacked and killed about 30 percent of the harmful bacteria, while cells from the defective mice battled a mere 10 percent. The researchers discovered that cells with a functioning PAD4 enzyme are able to build around themselves a protective, bacteria-killing web that Wang and his colleagues dubbed a NET (neutrophil extracellular trap). This NET is especially effective at fighting off flesh-eating bacteria.
