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Archive for January, 2010

Alara(R) Receives FDA Clearance To Market CRystalView(R) R200 CR System

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Alara, Inc., a leading producer of Computed Radiography (CR) imaging
products, today announced it is showcasing its CRystalView R200 desktop CR
way at RSNA 2006 in Chicago. Alara recently received 510(k) clearance
from the US Food and Drug Administration to exchange the CRystalView R200
system to everyday radiography applications. The R200 is also CE unmistakeable
lower than drunk the European Medical Gimmick Directive.

CRystalView R200 combines a condensed form factor along with on-going
mental picture quality with a 50+ plates-per-hour throughput, making the dissolving
ideal for a species of clinical settings including small office practices,
clinics, hospitals, EDs and other demanding imaging environments.

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“Alara’s ambition is to transform into the call leader in computed radiography
products benefit of all markets,” explained Jim Walker, CEO of Alara. “Receiving
regulatory clearance to sell CRystalView R200 is a jumbo way for Alara
towards meeting that goal, and we look forward to building on the prosperity
of our other CR based products: DenOptix (Dental Markets), MetriScan
(osteoporosis screening) and the T100 (Security and NDT applications).

Alara has created a flexible, trusty, and value-priced CR alternative
in the CRystalView R200 that is suited for global markets. “Now imaging
professionals understand the best of both worlds — a compact table top CR procedure
that frees up valuable prostrate space in size constrained radiology
departments and image quality that is competitive with any sickbay based
arrangement,” added Kuldip K. Ahluwalia, VP of Sales and Marketing for Alara.

The CRystalView R200 system, including a CR reader, multiple imaging
plates, cassettes, QC workstation and correlated software, gives users the
performance and cardinal-edge technology critical to remaining competitive
in healthcare practices and providing remarkable patient care. Fast
acquisition of images with advanced features predilection exam-based imaging
protocols, calibrated exposure indicator tracking, and adjustable boost
taste, assures exceptional dignity for every image. With its comprehensive
DICOM compatibility, the system can easily integrate X-ray studies with
PACS, teleradiology, image allotment and archives via local or wide compass
networks.

Deploying the CRystalView R200 modus operandi is simple, thanks to its
plug-and- pit oneself against connectivity, making it suitable for short to moderately
sized clinics, imaging centers and radiology departments. Installation and
training typically requires less than a separate day.

Alara’s CRystalView R200 desktop CR system is at one’s disposal in the service of sale
immediately. During RSNA 2006, the CRystalView R200 plan will be
demonstrated at the Alara parade in Hall A-South Erection, Stand #5287 of
McCormick Place. Towards more information about the CRystalView R200 system or
any of Alara’s other CR imaging products, visit us at http://www.alara.com.

About Alara, Inc.:

Alara, Inc. is a privately held medical technology company that
designs, manufactures and markets high characteristic imaging products based on
Computed Radiography (CR) technology. Alara imaging systems are rest in
dental offices, physicians’ offices, orthopedic clinics, radiology
departments, emergency rooms, ICUs and other healthcare operations, and are
also marketed through various OEM partnerships. Alara is headquartered in
Fremont, California. For more information on the company, visit
http://www.alara.com

Alara, Inc.
http://www.alara.com

Mouse Spatial Recognition Memory Significantly Disrupted By Extremely Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Exposure to uncommonly dastardly frequency (ELF) magnetic fields is known to disrupt spatial cognition. Researchers found that mice exposed to extremely low ELFs over and above a long period had a expressive disruption in spatial recognition respect.

In the study, mice were exposed to 25 or 50 Hz of electromagnetic fields for either 7 or 25 days, and then tested in the Y-maze. The Y-maze did not number among any rewards or punishments, in lieu of, they assessed their innate tendency to reconnoitre novel environments.

Both short and prolonged-term ELF familiarity had no effect on the locomotor activity on the mice. Mice that were exposed to the higher frequency for the sake of a short period sophisticated no effects as well.

This is the first study to show that long-term exposure to 50Hz electromagnetic fields impairs spatial recognition memory.

“Long-time exposure to outrageously debilitated-frequency magnetic fields impairs spatial acknowledgement homage in mice”
Yu Fu, Cangkai Wang, Jianhong Wang, Yanlin Lei, Yuanye Ma
Clinical and Tentative Pharmacology and Physiology Volume 35 Issue 7, Pages 797 - 800
DOI 10.1111/j.1440-1681.2008.04922.x
Click here to view Shorten online

Clinical and Theoretical Pharmacology and Physiology

Clinical and Exploratory Pharmacology and Physiology provides a medium for the quick publication of original research papers, short communications, rapid communications and theoretical articles (hypotheses) on the results of clinical and experimental work in pharmacology and physiology. Invited study articles are published occasionally.

www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0305-1870&site=1

NSW patients at greater risk of infection by super bugs

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

A survey published current last year on the prevalence of the geezer, methicillin-stubborn Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA which showed that far more MRSA bugs were at ease in NSW-ACT hospitals than in other states, has been supported by one of Sydney’s most superior surgeons.

The study found that Sydney hospital patients are more likely to contract lethal infections than elsewhere in Australia, however the State Government says publishing hospital-by-hospital results would be counterproductive.


But Professor Richard West, who chairs the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons infection control advisory committee, has called for the routine release of hospital infection rates because he says patients in Sydney’s intensive care units face an almost inevitable risk of catching a drug-resistant infection.


MRSA when it enters the bloodstream, dramatically increases the risk of death; it is estimated to be responsible for about 700 patient deaths a year in Australia.


Dr. West says other countries such as Scandinavia have implemented search-and-destroy strategies which have resulted in an MRSA rate of just 1 per cent.


Professor West says making the figures for each hospital available is the only way to make people change and improve conditions and he suggests the situation is the result of a dearth of leadership and motivation to change things and demand the resources necessary in extra staff and isolation rooms to fight infections effectively.


He says hand washing campaigns have had a mixed success, with as many as half of clinical staff still failing to wash their hands each time they looked at a new patient; he says there needs to be a change in attitude and a change in culture in hospitals.


The NSW Minister for Health, Reba Meagher opposes publishing individual hospitals’ performance on safety and quality, on the grounds that it could discourage doctors from reporting on such details as infections.


Infectious disease experts say the figures indicated NSW hospitals have an inferior performance on infection control and insufficient isolation facilities such as single rooms for infectious patients.


MRSA and other golden staph infections initiate lengthy hospital stays for thousands of patients which costs the community millions every year.


Experts say evidence from England, Western Australia and South Australia has shown that when hospital infection figures are routinely collected and published, infection rates significantly lower in part because of public pressure to improve performance.

The Benefits of Yoga Training

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

There are sundry benefits of yoga training. Yoga training is one of the most popular forms of exercise and staying fit techniques practiced all ended the world today. The benefits of yoga are unceasing. What is so great about yoga training is that can benefit your effervescence not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. The benefits of yoga on each of these three areas add and enrich your life in multifarious ways. Yoga training is a great way to get adds balance to your memoirs, physically, mentally and spiritually.

The benefits of yoga training in the physical aspect are first it improves your balance. Yoga training, depending on the type you are practicing, is a series of different poses and postures. Utilizing and practicing these poses and postures during your yoga training allow you to increase your level of balance. Balance it said to be a good indicator of health. Some of the other physical benefits of yoga are that it helps you to keep a balanced metabolism as well as a strong, toned and flexible body. Yoga training deeply enhances your flexibility. You may walk into a yoga class not being able to touch your toes, and after attending a series of classes you will see a noticeable difference in your level of flexibility. Some other benefits of yoga in the physical aspect are it helps increase your circulation and cardio health. Yoga training also helps you to feel and look younger.

There are also many mental benefits of yoga training. One of the most important mental benefits of yoga is that it helps you to relax. Many individuals have high stress levels and find it hard to relax because of the stress in their lives. Yoga training, can seriously deplete the level of stress you experience because of the nature yoga training is practiced. Yoga training is all about focusing your energy on the present and where ever else you want it to go. Which is another of the mental benefits of yoga? Yoga training focuses on breathing; the focus on breathing allows you to put aside any feelings of stress and anxiety. In fact you can even use the breathing techniques you have learned in yoga training in other areas of your life. For example if you are having a stressful day at the office utilize your yoga breathing techniques to release some of the tension you are experiencing. One of the most vital benefits of yoga on a mental level is that it helps with self acceptance. There are many spiritual benefits of yoga as well. On a spiritual level yoga training allows you to become one with yourself. Through out life we can become detached from certain areas of ourselves; yoga training allows you to reconnect with yourself. Being able to do this is perhaps the greatest of the spiritual benefits of yoga. Another of spiritual benefits of yoga is that helps you to gain awareness of your body and your feelings. Theses and so much more are the benefits of yoga training.

Best online sites to learn about yoga and the history of yoga on the yoga centers page of HealthYoga.com

Researchers blend folk treatment, high tech for promising anti-cancer compound

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Ancient wisdom, technological savvy -

Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing
a full of promise new put together from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells’ insatiable appetite to save iron to create them a
target.

The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood plant and has been used in China since ancient times to treat
malaria. Earlier work by Henry Lai and Narendra Singh, both UW bioengineers, indicated that artemisinin alone could
selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.

The new multifaceted appears to greatly ameliorate that dull selectivity, according to a modish on that appeared in a latest issue
of the journal Life Sciences. In supplement to Lai and Singh, co-authors comprehend Tomikazu Sasaki and Archna Messay, both UW
chemists.

“By itself, artemisinin is take 100 times more selective in ruinous cancer cells as opposed to normal cells,” Lai said. “In
this bone up on, the new artemisinin put together was 34,000 times more strong in killing the cancer cells as opposed to their normal
cousins. So the tagging take care of appears to have greatly increased the potency of artemisinin’s cancer-destructive properties.”

The merge has been licensed to Chongqing Holley Holdings and Holley Pharmaceuticals, its U.S. subsidiary, to be developed
for practicable use in humans. Although the compound is reassuring, officials intend, hidden use for people is quieten years away.

In the enquiry, researchers exposed human leukemia cells and deathly white blood cells to the consolidation. While the leukemia cells
with dispatch died, the white blood cells remained essentially unharmed.

The trick to the compound’s effectiveness, according to Lai, appears to be in taking asset of how cancer cells function.

Because they multiply so rapidly, most cancer cells need more iron than usual cells to replicate DNA. To facilitate that,
cancer cells have inlets on their outwardly, known as transferrin receptors, in greater numbers than other cells. Those
receptors allow quick shipment into the cell of transferrin, an iron-carrying protein found in blood.

In creating the compound, researchers bound artemisinin to transferrin at the molecular level. The combination of the two
ingredients appears to a fast one on the cancer cell.

“We draft b call it a Trojan horse because the cancer apartment recognizes transferrin as a natural, non-venomous protein,” Lai said. “So the
cell picks up the compound without knowing that a bomb - artemisinin - is arcane inside.”

Once inside of the room, the artemisinin reacts with the iron, spawning highly reactive chemicals called “free radicals.” The
relaxed radicals attack other molecules and the cubicle membrane, breaking it apart and killing the cell.

According to Lai, that modify is what initially piqued his behoof in artemisinin about 10 years ago. The wormwood extract
was hand-me-down centuries ago in China, but the treatment became lost over time. In the 1970s, it was rediscovered as part of an
ancient manuscript containing medical remedies, including a system that used a wormwood extract. The medical community soon
discovered that the extract, artemisinin, worked well against malaria, and it is currently reach-me-down for that purpose throughout
Asia and Africa.

Artemisinin combats malaria because the malaria sponge collects high iron concentrations as it metabolizes hemoglobin in
the blood. As science began to understand how artemisinin functioned, Lai said, he began to admiration if the process had
implications notwithstanding cancer treatment.

“I started thoughtful that maybe we could use this intelligence to selectively target cancer cells,” he said. “So farther, the outlook
appears good.”

The next step in development under the Holley licensing agreement will likely be testing in animals and, if that pans out,
human trials to gauge the compound’s effectiveness. The current study was funded by the Artemisinin Check in Origination and
Chongqing Holley Holdings.

For more bumf, contact Lai at (206) 543-1071 or hlai@u.washington.edu. The Holley connection is Michael Liu at (714)
606-8415 or michael@holleypharma.com.

The article is available on-line at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science. Click the “journals” button and look under Vim Sciences, Volume
76, Issue 11. The article is No. 9 on the Web page (page 1267-1279).

Rob Harrill - rharrill@u.washington.edu
University of Washington

GOP lawmakers, health care officials raise concerns with proposed health disparities bill at house panel hearing

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Republican legislators and representatives of various minority health advocacy groups on Tuesday at a House Determination and Commerce Trim Subcommittee hearing raised concerns on several measures within a proposed bill (HR 3014) intended to curtail racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. robustness care system, CQ HealthBeat reports.

The bill — sponsored by subcommittee member Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) — would require federal agencies to maximize efforts of data collection and reporting on race and develop grants for groups serving minority communities to evaluate the data, according to a fact sheet released by Solis’ office. More than 100 Democratic officials and two Republicans — Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) and Luis Fortuno (P.R.) — have co-sponsored the bill, according to CQ HealthBeat.


Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) said that the bill’s emphasis on race and ethnicity might overshadow the issue of income and its effect on the quality of care. Barton said, “Data certainly show that some diseases seem to follow racial lines, but they also show that it’s how rich or poor you are that makes the much greater difference in health outcomes.” According to CQ HealthBeat, Democrats and many witnesses disagreed with Barton. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said, “Even after controlling for income and education levels, disparities continue to exist.”


Deeana Jang, policy director for the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, suggested that additional research into racial and ethnic differences is required. Jang said, “Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities are not homogenous, but lack of data on specific minority sub-groups mask the disparities that exist.”


Role of HHS


Barton and Health Subcommittee ranking member Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) expressed concern that some of the bill’s provisions would be duplicative by creating divisions that address minority health issues within each agency at HHS. Meanwhile, John Ruffin — director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH, who offered support for a provision in the bill to increase funding for health education initiatives for minority residents — said, “The infrastructure that we have established has to be strengthened … and sustained.” According to CQ HealthBeat, existing programs at NIH include a loan repayment program for health care professionals who obtain certifications to conduct research on minority health care issues.


Undocumented Immigrants


James Edwards of the Hudson Institute, a witness at the hearing, raised issue with language in the bill, which states that “undocumented residents who are lawfully residing in the United States” would qualify for Medicaid benefits. Edwards said, “That description is curious … since every legal immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holder is either issued documents by the federal government or required to possess a valid visa with an entry stamp.” He said the bill’s “flimsy description of who qualifies for Medicaid adds yet another incentive to enter or remain in the country illegally.”


In a statement issued after the hearing, Solis said, “Our intent is to expand health coverage to legally residing pregnant women and children, and if this bill moves, we can easily amend the bill with a technical correction.” Solis did not disclose future plans for the bill but said, “What’s important is to start the foundation for what’s to come in the next session” (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 6/24).

This article is republished with kind permission from our friends at The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Copyright 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Information on LEOPARD Syndrome

Friday, January 15th, 2010

LEOPARD syndrome is a rare inherited disorder characterized by abnormalities of the skin, the structure and function of the stomach, the inner ear, the head and facial size, and/or the genitals. LEOPARD syndrome is more always due to mutations in the PTPN11 gene (protein-tyrosine phosphatase, no receptor type 11). It is inherited in an autosomal supreme manner, which means that if one parent is affected there is a 50% chance that each youth will be affected. Beside 70% of cases are inherited. The excess is sporadic cases occurring from new mutations. The signs and symptoms experienced by people with LEOPARD syndrome reorganize greatly.

The sign and symptoms of LEOPARD syndrome involve lentigines, electrocardiographic conduction abnormalities, optical hypertelorism, pulmonary stenosis, abnormal genitalia, retarded growth and deafness. Some patients may have a fractional form of the syndrome and suffer mild symptoms while others with the full syndrome are more severely affected. Lentigines may be present at birth or develop during childhood. They become more numerous and darker with age. Other skin lesions, such as nevocellular nevi and malignant melanomas, reported sporadically in the LEOPARD syndrome, may undergo depigmentation.

Approximately 85% of affected individuals have heart defects, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and pulmonary valve stenosis. Postnatal increase retardation resulting in short size arises in fewer than 50% of affected persons. Sensorineural hearing deficits present in approximately 20% are poorly characterized. Mental retardation, typically mild, is observed in approximately 30% of persons with LS. Antiarrhythmic treatment may be required in cases with life-threatening ventricular ectopy. Treatment of hearing loss includes hearing aids, enrollment in an educational program for the hearing impaired, and consideration of cochlear implantation.

Surgical treatment may be required in cases with harsh outflow tract obstruction or in patients with cryptorchidism, hypospadias, or severe skeletal deformity. Cryosurgery and laser treatment may be beneficial for isolated lentigines. For some patients, treatment with tretinoin cream and hydroquinone cream may be helpful. Therapeutic regimens include beta-adrenergic receptor or calcium channel blocking agents to reduce outflow tract obstruction and adrenergic responsiveness in patients with structural cardiac anomalies. Genetic counseling should be offered to all patients with LEOPARD syndrome.

Juliet Cohen writes articles for http://www.health-disease.org/ . She also writes articles for http://www.makeup-care.info/ and http://www.hairstyles-picture.com/ .

Nanotechnology In China: Ambitions And Realities

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

A senior Department of Commerce official recently claimed that China is rapidly catching up to the United States in nanotechnology. This news comes on top-notch of the latest OECD (Organization for the sake of Economic Co-operation and Development) prognostication that China wishes have spent more on research and development (R&D) than Japan in 2006, making it the world’s right hand highest investor in R&D after the U.S.

Nanotechnology–the manipulation of materials at very teeny sizes, where these materials divest oneself of b satirize on novel or unusual physical and chemical properties–is a battlefield of intense international competition. Some experts foretoken nanotechnology will be as important as the steam engine, the transistor, and the Internet. Worldwide, governments and corporations invested on the verge of $10 billion in nanotechnology R&D in 2005.

Is China standing by to become the world’s nanotech superpower, or is this forecast hyperbole? What is China’s comparative profit in the high-tech sector, and how is it exploiting this advantage in nanotechnology? Will China’s investment in nanotechnology pay off? And how will the United States respond to China’s growing nanotechnology dimensions–with competition, cooperation, or both?

These questions are the thesis of an event and live webcast on Tuesday, February 6th at 3:00 p.m. in the 5th Puzzle Conference Elbow-room of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in the direction of Scholars (http://mailto:www.wilsoncenter.org/directions).

*** Webcast CONTEMPORARY at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/***

What: Nanotechnology in China: Ambitions & Realities

Who: Dr. Denis Fred Simon, Provost and Vice President benefit of Lettered Affairs, Levin Institute, Solemn University of New York

Dr. Richard P. Appelbaum, Executive Committee, Center for the purpose Nanotechnology in Guild and Professor, Sociology and Worldwide & Intercontinental Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
Evan Michelson, Research Associate, Woodrow Wilson Center’s Job on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Moderator

When: Tuesday, February 6th, 2007, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Where: Woodrow Wilson International Center for the treatment of Scholars, 5th Floor Conference, Room. 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004

This event is organized by the following programs at the Wilson Center: Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Asia Program, China Environment Forum, and the Program on Science, Technology, America & the Extensive Economy.

—————————-
Article adapted by Medical Advice Today from original press freeing.
—————————-

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies was launched in 2005 by the Wilson Center and The Pew Charitable Trusts. It is dedicated to help business, governments, and the universal anticipate and undertake the possible salubriousness and environmental implications of nanotechnology.

Communicate with: Julia Moore

Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

Lingering and longlasting effects of 9/11

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

According to a late report on the healthfulness effects of the arsonist attacks on the World Have dealings Center in New York City, 70% of the rescue personnel and workers who responded to the disaster suffered from lung problems during and after the recovery efforts.

For some those problems persisted for at least two-and-a-half years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and experts are not surprised.


Five years after the 9/11 attacks many survivors have reported new or worsened sinus or nasal problems along with high levels of psychological distress.


Of the more than 8,000 who survived the collapse and escaped from damaged buildings, half have reported new or worsening respiratory symptoms, and almost all witnessed events with a strong potential for causing psychological trauma.


More than 1 in 10 screened positive for serious psychological distress.


The report which is based on medical examinations of 9,442 of the responders between July 2002 and April 2004, has found that as many as 40,000 rescue and recovery workers would have been exposed to dust and pollutants following the attacks.


Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, says the World Trade Center was now known to contain heavy metals such as nickel, titanium and cadmium which are toxic to the lungs.


Horovitz says the dust contained large and small toxic particles, and the smallest would be able to reach the deepest recesses of the lungs.


The report by the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, says 69 percent of those examined reported new or worsened respiratory symptoms while working at the World Trade Center site and symptoms were still present at the time of examination in 59 percent of participants.


Mount Sinai has been the center of 9/11-related research, and of those involved in the disaster who were treated at the hospital in the past year, 84 percent have had upper-respiratory illness; 47 percent have had lower-respiratory disorders such as asthma and “World Trade Center cough”; 37 percent have had psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder; and 31 percent have had musculoskeletal problems.


It was found that 61 percent of those who had not had any respiratory symptoms before 9/11 developed symptoms while working at the site and pulmonary-function tests have revealed that rescuers and workers at the site had twice the rate of abnormalities as those experienced in the general population which persisted in some cases for years.


Severe respiratory conditions such as pneumonia were much more common in the six months following 9/11 than in the six months prior and those who arrived first at the smoldering site had the heaviest exposure and as a result more respiratory problems.


Horovitz says some problems will continue or worsen and a rise in malignancies can be expected.


The authors say the report emphasises the need to continue monitoring and treating World Trade Center responders.


The report comes at a time when public concern over the fate of Ground Zero workers has increased and one lawsuit against New York City and its contractors, on behalf of 8,000 workers and civilians, is blaming 9/11 for cancer, sinusitis and other problems.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to announce programs to support those who worked at the site after 9/11 and last month the New York City Health Department released updated clinical guidelines for health-care providers on how to treat adults exposed to the disaster.


The guidelines include screening approaches to improve detection of health problems as well as advice on the treatment of respiratory disorders, along with information to help assess exposures, assist in diagnosis and treatment, provide preventive services, and refer for consultation or specialty care.


The guidelines update those previously issued to doctors on the treatment of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chemical dependency as a result of 9/11.


New initiatives are also proposed to strengthen the City’s response to emerging health issues related to attacks on the World Trade Center and include the establishment of a WTC Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, the expansion of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s World Trade Center Unit, and the creation of an internal Mayoral review panel to ensure maximum coordination between City agencies and assess the sufficiency of state and federal resources to address ongoing health needs.


The report is published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Symphysiotomy could dramatically reduce maternal deaths

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Teaching doctors in Africa a ribald-tech company man to cut the cartilage of the symphysis pubis could save the lives of women in obstructed labor and their babies, according to an Bash at in the unagreed access journal PLoS Medicine.

The symphysis pubis is where the pubic bones meet at the front of the pelvis. The operation, called symphysiotomy, which is done under local anaesthetic, increases the size of the pelvic outlet and permits vaginal delivery of the baby. The operation takes just 2-3 minutes and is usually carried out in the labor ward, not the operating theater.


Dr Douwe Arie Anne Verkuyl (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bethesda Hospital, Hoogeveen, The Netherlands), author of the Essay, says that in many African hospitals symphysiotomies are no longer performed. This is because, she says, “doctors believe that, since developed countries can do without them and still achieve excellent obstetric outcomes, this operation is obsolete and Africa will soon “catch up”.”


Unlike the rich world, however, one of the most common causes of maternal death in low income countries is obstructed labor. The availability of relatively low-tech symphysiotomies, says the author, would help to address this dire situation.


http://www.plos.org

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