Category: Regulations
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NSF Grant to Fund Savannah River Water Quality Monitors
Clemson University in South Carolina says it received a grant to develop a computerized water-quality technology for the entire length of the Savannah River. The four-year grant, exceeding $3 million, is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Computer and Network Systems. The system is expected to cover a network of buoys (pictured left)…
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Many Inter-Hospital Helicopter Patient Transports Not Needed
Analysts at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston found many neurosurgical patients transported by helicopter to a critical care facility from hospitals could have made the trip at least as quickly by ambulance. Their findings appeared yesterday in the online journal PLoS One. Surgeon Brian Walcott and colleagues reviewed electronic health records…
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Broccoli Shown More Beneficial Than Supplement Substitutes
Food scientists at Oregon State University in Corvallis find that a key enzyme in whole broccoli is better absorbed by the body than when offered in a supplement. Their research appeared last month in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (paid subscription required). Broccoli has attracted the interest of researchers because it contains high…
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Study to Assess Regulations’ Impact on Tobacco Users
The Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health today announced a joint national study of tobacco users to gauge the behavioral and health impacts of new government tobacco regulations. The Tobacco Control Act National Longitudinal Study of Tobacco Users is the first large-scale collaboration on tobacco regulatory research since Congress granted FDA the…
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FDA to Tap Outside Specialized Experts on Devices
The Food and Drug Administration announced plans to form a new network of outside experts to offer specialized advice on medical devices. The FDA is also seeking public comment on draft procedures for recruiting and operating this network. FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), the part of the agency that regulates medical devices,…
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Guidelines Show Safe MRIs with Implanted Cardiac Devices
Research conducted in the U.S. and Israel indicates that patients with implanted cardiac devices can safely undergo MRI scans, when a specified protocol is followed. The results of the study appear in the 4 October issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (paid subscription required). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been considered off limits…
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Brand-Name Statin Use Tied to High Cost of Unneeded Care
Researchers from medical centers in New York and San Francisco found that nearly 87 percent of the estimated $6.7 billion spent in one year on unnecessary tests or medications in primary care, is consumed by brand-name statins to treat high cholesterol. The findings appear in a research letter in the 1 October online issue of…
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Drug Company Stock Prices Linked to Cancer Trial Results
A study indicates that changes in stock prices of companies in phase 3 clinical trials of their cancer drugs were associated with the outcomes of those trials in the period before the results were publicly announced. The findings of Allan Desky of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada and colleagues appear online in the Journal…
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Likely Cause of Vertigo from MRI Identified
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have found what they believe is a likely cause of the dizzy feeling patients experience when subjected to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The findings from the team led by systems engineer Dale Roberts appear online in the journal Current Biology. Many patients undergoing MRI scans complain of…
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U.S. Biotech Gets Approval for Stem Cell Trial in Europe
Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Massachusetts has received clearance from authorities in the U.K. to begin treating patients with compounds derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as part of a clinical trial. The approval from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency involves a test of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from hESCs…