Hepatitis C : Morning News

Drinking More Coffee Linked to Improved Response to Hepatitis C Treatment
SUMMARY: Higher coffee consumption was associated with greater likelihood of response to hepatitis C treatment, according to data reported at the recent American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases "Liver Meeting" (AASLD 2010) in Boston. In the HALT-C trial, which looked at prior non-responders with advanced liver disease, people who drank more coffee were more likely to achieve early and sustained virological response to pegyalted interferon plus ribavirin.

Alcohol and Diabetes Increase Risk of Liver Disease Progression in Hepatitis B Patients
SUMMARY: Older patients and men with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were more likely to progress to liver cancer, decompensated cirrhosis, and liver-related death, while Asian patients had lower progression rates, according to an analysis of Kaiser Permanent members presented at the recent American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases "Liver Meeting" (AASLD 2010) in Boston. Diabetes and heavy alcohol use also predicted poor outcomes.

Only The Rich Can Get Organ Transplants Now in Arizona
You know what should definitely be the last thing that states should ever cut from their budgets? Money for life-saving organ transplants. In Arizona, cuts to state medicaid have literally stolen organ transplants from sick poor people.

The six degrees of Steve Cohen
Posted by
Duff McDonald, Contributing Editor
December 3, 2010 10:44 am
He's the man with the bulls-eye on his head, yet the Feds can't quite seem to hit it. It's beginning to look like it's riskier to be associated with the hedge fund giant than it is to be Steve Cohen himself.
Chip Skowron, FrontPoint Partners
The Feds have charged French doctor Yves Benhamou with passing information about trials for hepatitis C drug Albuferon to Skowron, a former SAC analyst. Skowron has been placed on leave and FrontPoint is closing its health-care funds.

IncellDx molecular tests for diseases are cheaper, faster
IncellDx Inc. is trying to make that knowledge actionable. The Palo Alto startup combines molecular diagnostics with cellular analysis and focuses on HIV, AIDS, HPV, cervical cancer, hepatitis, organ transplant infections, breast cancer and ovarian cancer

Sixth hepatitis B death reported at N.C. assisted living center
There has been a sixth reported death in connection with an outbreak of hepatitis B at a North Carolina assisted living center.Public Health officials in North Carolina have announced that a former resident of GlenCare of Mount Olive died on November 23, according to WITN.com. Officials have not released the cause of death, but the officials acknowledge that the woman was diagnosed with hepatitis B in October during the screening of residents at the facility.Additional testing revealed that at least two other residents have antibodies to the disease, which suggests a possible infection, but neither was diagnosed and both have since recovered, WITN.com reports

Kadmon Pharmaceuticals Launches Topotecan for Injection
Kadmon Pharmaceuticals announced today that Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, a Kadmon Company, has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market Topotecan Hydrochloride for Injection, 4 mg (base)/vial, the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Hycamtin®. Kadmon’s Topotecan for Injection is now available for shipment.
Topotecan for Injection is indicated for small cell lung cancer sensitive disease after failure of first-line chemotherapy, and is also indicated for use in combination therapy with Cisplatin for stage IV-B, recurrent, or persistent carcinoma of the cervix not amenable to curative treatment with surgery and/or radiation therapy. Topotecan for Injection had U.S. sales of approximately $157.1 million in 2009, according to IMS Health.

Other Health News

Risk Of Death Increases In IBD Patients With Hospital-Acquired Infections
03 December 2010Death and length of stay are increased among hospitalized inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who develop hospital-acquired infections, according to a study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official...
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Cancer Prevention Coalition: Varmus is Unqualified to Lead the War against Cancer
The following is an opinion editorial provided by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman of Cancer Prevention Coalition, and his colleagues:
On October 22, 2010, Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Dr. Harold Varmus, who was appointed director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by President Obama three months previously. The Senator raised questions on the amount of "sponsored travel," sometimes a dozen or more trips a year and almost exclusively to international conferences paid for by outside organizations or companies, taken in recent years by "numerous NCI employees, notably senior leadership." According to ScienceInsider, many of the 16 scientists involved took at least 10 trips a year in 2008, 2009, and 2010. One of the frequent fliers took 33 trips in 2008 and 2009, while another took 11 from October 2008 to March 2009.

Scientists Propose New International Cancer Effort Akin to Human Genome Project
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Scientists are proposing an international effort, on the scale of the Human Genome Project (HGP), to identify all the proteins present in cancer cells. HGP was the international scientific research project that identified and mapped all the genes in humans.

Stem Cells
Research Scientists Home In On Chemicals Needed To Reprogram Cells
03 December 2010For Immediate Release Scripps Research Institute scientists have made a significant leap forward in the drive to find a way to safely reprogram mature human cells and turn them into stem cells, which can then change into...
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Scripps Research Scientists Home In On Chemicals Needed To Reprogram Cells
03 December 2010Scripps Research Institute scientists have made a significant leap forward in the drive to find a way to safely reprogram mature human cells and turn them into stem cells, which can then change into other cell types, such as...
[read article]

TAU Uncovers Muscle-Stem Cell Mechanism In Aging
03 December 2010Working out can help you shed pounds - but that's just the beginning. New research from Tel Aviv University has found that "endurance exercises," like a Central Park jog or a spinning class, can make us look younger..
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