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Fat Tissue Growth In Rodent Models Suppressed By Turmeric Extract
Curcumin, the major polyphenol found in turmeric, appears to reduce weight gain in mice and suppress the growth of fat tissue in mice and cell models. Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) studied mice fed high fat diets supplemented with curcumin and cell cultures incubated with curcumin.
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SYNTAX Substudy Shows Positive Outcomes For Left Main Patients Treated With TAXUS(R) Express2(R) Stent System
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced positive outcomes from a substudy of patients with left main coronary disease who were treated with the TAXUS(R) Express2(R) Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System. SYNTAX-LE MANS is a substudy of the landmark SYNTAX trial, the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to compare percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using the TAXUS Stent to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in patients with left main disease and/or significant narrowing of all three coronary arteries (three-vessel disease). The substudy data were presented by A. Pieter Kappetein, M.D., Ph.D., at the annual EuroPCR Scientific Program in Barcelona.
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New York Becomes First State To Allow Payment For Donating Eggs For Stem Cell Research
New York"s Empire State Stem Cell Board earlier this month decided to allow embryonic stem cell researchers who receive state funding to compensate women for donating their eggs for use in research, making New York the first state to enact such a policy, the Washington Post reports (Stein, Washington Post, 6/26). According to the New York Times, the New York state Legislature in 2007 allotted $600 million for an 11-year stem cell research plan (Nelson, New York Times, 6/26). Under the board"s decisions, researchers receiving the state funding may pay women up to $10,000 to compensate them for the time, discomfort and expenses associated with egg donation. David Hohn, vice chair of the board"s two committees that endorsed the decision, said that the board "could not distinguish ethically between the payment for in vitro fertilization, which is very well precedented, and the compensation for donation for research." The board said researchers should follow the same guidelines as infertility clinics that receive donated eggs for infertile couples. Under those guidelines, payments exceeding $5,000 must be justified, and those exceeding $10,000 are considered excessive (Washington Post, 6/26). Robert Klitzman, director of the master"s degree program in bioethics at Columbia University and a member of the stem cell board"s ethics committee, said the payments will be carefully evaluated by an institutional review board (New York Times, 6/26).The Post reports that the decision goes against policies in other states that offer funding for embryonic stem cell research, as well as against current guidelines from scientific organizations like the National Academy of Sciences (Washington Post, 6/26). NAS guidelines, for example, prohibit paying women for eggs used in stem cell research. Similarly, the internal guidelines for New York-based groups like Rockefeller University, Cornell University and the Sloan-Kettering Institute prohibit financial compensation for donated eggs. However, researchers say that efforts to recruit unpaid donors have been unsuccessful and that the board"s decision will give New York an advantage in stem cell research (New York Times, 6/26). The decision was welcomed by scientists and other proponents of stem cell research, who said it will allow them to further research in areas like therapeutic cloning. The process, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves replacing the genetic material in a human egg with genes from the nucleus of a patient"s cell. The egg is then developed into an early embryo, which, in theory, could be used to produce stem cells that the patient"s immune system would not reject. Although the procedure has been unsuccessful so far, researchers say the board"s decision will help attract more donors, which will allow for more experiments. Egg donation involves weeks of hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries and a painful egg extraction procedure, which carries rare but serious risks. Other attempts at soliciting women to donate eggs for stem cell research have been unsuccessful, according to the Post.Some critics of the board"s decision said that paying women for eggs could lead to exploitation, especially for low-income women. Thomas Berg -- a Roman Catholic priest who is director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person and a member of the Empire State Stem Cell Board"s ethics committee -- said that in the current economic recession, paying a woman $10,000 to participate in a research project is an "undue inducement." He added that he thinks it "manipulates women" and "creates a trafficking in human body parts." Other opponents of the decision questioned if compensating women who donate eggs for research is indeed equivalent to the process for infertility treatments. Jonathan Moreno, a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said that donors recognize that egg donation for infertility treatments is a "very concrete good for society" but that "you can"t be sure any biological material you collect for research wi
Medical Devices

New Measures To Promote Quality In Darzi's One Year On Progress Report, UK

Plans to scrap some centrally driven targets and proposals for giving doctors and nurses control of their budgets were announced by Health Minister Lord Darzi today. The new proposals are part of Lord Darzi"s one year on report High Quality Care for All: Our Journey so Far which shows the progress the NHS has made on delivering high quality care to patients since he published his report on his review of the NHS in June last year. Major improvements have been delivered by the NHS over the last year with millions of long-term condition patients now having personalised care plans. Over 75 per cent of GP surgeries now open for longer hours and there are 50 new GP led health centres and more GP surgeries opening in under-doctored areas. The NHS has met targets to dramatically reduce C.difficile and MRSA infections and has ensured that no-one now waits more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. The next steps will be to drive up quality even further and free up clinicians" time to do this. Areas we will now work on include: - Clinician budget ownership - We will look at giving doctors and nurses in hospitals ownership of their budget. Allowing clinicians to manage their budgets will promote entrepreneurship and innovative delivery of services built around the needs of the patient; - Refining of targets based on evidence - We want to free up front line staff so they can focus on delivering high quality care and reducing costs. We will remove the obsolete 13 week outpatient and 26 week inpatient performance targets, as well as reviewing data collections across the board in order to reduce the burden on front line staff; - Peer review accreditation system - We will create a new voluntary peer review system in which clinicians will judge the standard of their peers in order to drive up quality and achieve a "gold standard" of care. The system will be developed through close collaboration and consultation with the relevant partners and stakeholders; - Promoting the health and well-being of staff - As the NHS transforms from a sickness to a wellness service we will make the NHS a world leader at promoting the well-being of its staff. Health Minister Lord Darzi said: "Since we set out on our journey a year ago, I am delighted that such substantial progress has been made and that real improvements have been delivered across the country for NHS patients and staff. We have laid solid foundations. Quality is well on its way to becoming the organising principle of the NHS. "Quality is what we aspire to and innovation is how we achieve it. High quality care is better for patients and often better value for taxpayers. The progress made since last year in the quality provided to patients and the safety of their care was not driven through top-down targets but by giving responsibility to the staff at local level. "The fantastic progress made since the publication of my report last year and the commitment we are making to continuing this will mean that our focus on quality will deliver a health service that meets the expectations of NHS patients, the aspirations of NHS staff and the value for money demanded by taxpayers." Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: "Ara Darzi set out a vision for an NHS with quality at its centre. We have made great progress on delivering this vision but it will be innovation, productivity and prevention that will drive the next stage in creating a people-centred NHS. "When I came into this job, I said we should "deep clean" the target regime so that it achieves what we all want: better patient care and more staff satisfaction. So to show we mean business, we will remove the 13 and 26 week inpatient performance targets which will reduce the burden on frontline staff, freeing them up to focus on delivering high quality care for all." Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, Said: "We welcome the progress made since the publication of the first report from Lord Darzi, particularly the focus on the quality agenda. The challenge for the NHS is to ensure that the components of the agenda are practical and deliverable ensuring that the laudable aspirations can be transferred from paper into practice, especially in an increasingly cash-strapped environment. "The College is delighted to be leading the national pilot project on the accreditation of stroke services. In addition, we support Academic Health Science Centres, which have the opportunity to be a real force in harnessing leading-edge research into new technologies and treatments for the benefits of patients." Department of Health, UK


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