The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck

Rosetta Genomics Interview – microRNA for Diagnosing Lung Cancer Tumors

2009-01-08T08:54:00Z

Tests to detect cancer of the unknown primary Rosetta Genomics – Today I had the opportunity to speak with and interview Ronen Tamir, Chief Commercialization Officer, at Rosetta to find out how microRNA is helping diagnose and treat cancer. If you have been keeping up with the news of late, Rosetta in the last couple of weeks has had 3 press releases announcing their new microRNA tests which they will begin offering to help doctors analyze and determine diagnosis of certain types of lung...(read more)

Heart valves implanted without having open-heart surgery

2009-01-08T07:02:00Z

This is still listed as a clinical trial, and there is either a small incision in the chest, or no incision with navigating through the femoral artery in the patient’s leg. This option will enable patients, who normally would not be able to survive a full open heart surgery to have the opportunity to have a heart valve replaced. The procedure takes 90 minutes, compared to a much longer procedure with full open heart surgery, whereby the entire chest area is cut open, ribs expanded, and...(read more)

Surgeon Files for Divorce and Claims Extra Marital Kidney affairs..

2009-01-08T04:59:00Z

This is not one of somewhat off balanced individuals walking the earth, this is a surgeon, but he did say he would take 1.5 million instead of the return of the kidney. Obviously he saved her life and this sounds like one of those moments of rage that occur with divorce, or at least let’s hope so. This is a bit different than the usual fighting over the furniture, refrigerator, etc. Does the wife have 1.5 million of funds first of all, and how would one use a kidney as collateral? ...(read more)

Goats milk used for blood thinning drugs..DNA and Proteins at work

2009-01-08T04:25:00Z

The drug, ATryn has already been approved in Europe. Up until now the drug has been created from blood from human donors. The drug is used to prevent blood clots and would be used during surgery given via an IV, and would not replace normal prescribed blood thinners taken as a normal treatment plan. “Milk from transgenic goats is collected according to standard operating procedures that meet or exceed established practice for the dairy industry. GTC Biotherapeutics has developed...(read more)

Have some coffee with your fruit…Study says it helps lower chances of selected oral types of cancer

2009-01-08T03:36:00Z

Here’s some good news for coffee lovers like me, this time it’s good news, add some coffee to your diet with a cup a day and your chances of cancer may decline as related to throat and oral types of cancer. BD Raise high the coffee bean! Good news, coffee-drinkers: a new study shows your beverage of choice may lower your chances of getting oral, esophageal and pharyngeal (back-of-the-throat) cancer . Japanese researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week that people...(read more)

Access Additional News Items on the Medical Quack from Journals, Other Bloggers and Online Newspapers

2009-01-07T06:57:00Z

There is another column added whereby information from other blogs and journals can be viewed on the site. What happens when you click on a link, the full story will show up within the website, so you don’t have to leave the blog to view a post from another blogger, journal or paper. You will see this in the middle of the page, a short distance down from the top. Here is one from Fierce, which most may all be familiar with their web site. After viewing the article, all you...(read more)

Injected Fat-Dissolver Shows Promise in Human Tests - Kythera

2009-01-07T04:35:00Z

Clinical Trials coming soon! FDA still working with the company so I guess the trials are TBA for now. Kythera was formed by a group of former Amgen employees. If approved by the FDA, off label use here looks very attractive, forget the jaw and let’s get down the real problem areas (grin). BD Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, announced “clinically meaningful” positive results from two phase II studies of its lead product, ATX-101, for zapping small fat deposits under the chin...(read more)

Social Security begins taking online applications – Available now

2009-01-07T03:18:00Z

Even Social Security is jumping on the bandwagon with allowing enrollment on the internet. Recently I had also posted about Beth Israel Hospital in Boston working with Social Security on the exchange of medical records as relates to disability with their pilot program. Just like every other business today, the human time to sit down with each person for around 45 minutes is just not available at the pace we are moving at today. There will be upcoming ads in the papers as well to...(read more)

Suits Pile Up Over ObTape Medical Device for Women

2009-01-07T02:28:00Z

The FDA issued a generic alert to doctors warning of complications in surgical mesh devices designed to treat stress urinary incontinence but the product was not specifically named. Johnson and Johnson back in December just purchased Mentor, who is also known for their other products such as breast enhancement implants. BD The manufacturer of a medical device used to treat a form of urinary incontinence in women is heralding a recent court verdict as dozens of lawsuits alleging...(read more)

Brain Implants For Parkinson's Show Benefits as well as risks

2009-01-07T02:00:00Z

Neuromodulation is a growing field to say the least. There is also this related story below which is using pretty much the same technology. Sex Chip is to stir up the libido – the latest technology with implanted medical devices? The story below about the banjo player who was helped is quite a success story. As with any procedure there is a risk of infection and is is no different with devices being implanted. A drug is a visitor, but a device comes home to live with you. ...(read more)

“Beetle” Based Food Color Must Be Listed On Label Says the FDA – Beetle Juice?

2009-01-07T01:42:00Z

I had no idea I have been munching on these little guys for years, and probably wearing them as well! As everything else goes today with being the informed consumer, transparency on what we are wearing and eating will be reflected on the labeled products, gives a whole new meaning to “beetle juice”. BD That’s right, bugs. Specifically, crushed cochineal beetles. The ingredient is also often called carmine. There has been debate for many years about the safety of using these...(read more)

DiFusion Technologies – Medical Device to fight infections after spinal surgery

2009-01-07T01:13:00Z

This is pretty interesting in the fact that the device mixes silver, zinc and copper ions within the device instead of a coating placed on the outside, in other words it is part of the product or solution. 5 percent of spinal surgeries are known to involve infections and this appears to be able to fight off the bacteria after surgery, it is not FDA approved yet but anticipated later this year. The company is currently existing on “Angel” funding, of which, most investors are surgeons...(read more)

Health care IT (Electronic Medical Records) falls on funding delay – Where’s the Money?

2009-01-07T00:48:00Z

What was anticipated as being a booming year for health IT relative to electronic medical records has somewhat hit a stall, at least for now due to economic conditions. We probably won’t know more until the new administration takes office and can go from there. Right now there are many hospitals struggling for their survival, much less have enough capital for the expenditure required to convert from paper to a paperless charting and business intelligence system. Related Reading...(read more)

In Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists Turn Cautious – Now thinking about personalized healthcare investments…

2009-01-06T21:33:00Z

Well this might end up being a good move here as there’s much to gain. At least invest in something that has the potential to improve and save lives rather than to over deluge us with more social software. Don’t misunderstand here, I use and like social medias and it works well for me with blog promoting and making connections, but how much more do we need and will there be a VC return? A question the VC may want answered as well. (grin). Here’s an article that lists the most...(read more)

eClinicalWorks Electronic Medical Records Scores with 2 new large installations

2009-01-06T18:03:00Z

Recently there has been quite a bit in the news about eClinicalWorks and perhaps this might be due to the fact that they not only offer a complete electronic medical records program, but they also appear to have a large focus on interoperability as well. The related reading section below has a couple other recent announcements as well. Integration of medical records is the keyword for 2009 and was for 2008, but I believe this year we will see even more movement in that direction. ...(read more)