A new study from the American Cancer Society shows that people with only a high school education are nearly three times more likely to die from cancer than people with college and advanced degrees. From the Associated Press story:
Research & Development
First successful artificial lung use for a toddler staves off transplant for more than a year | Research roundup
Two-year-old Owen Stark became the first toddler successfully treated with an artificial lung, managing to avoid the need for a transplant more than a year later.
Owen arrived at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the summer of 2010 near death from heart failure and dangerously high blood pressure in his lungs.
ADA diabetes roundup: Is surgery the answer?
More than 13,500 people are gathered in San Diego at the 71st annual scientific conference of the American Diabetes Assn. to lead the fight against diabetes, a disease that affects more than 26 million children and adults in the U.S., according to the ADA.
By 2020, the ADA estimates that more than half of adult Americans will have diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Already diabetes contributes to the deaths of more than 231,000 Americans each year, more than breast cancer and AIDS combined.
St. Jude touts results of migraine treatment studies
An analyst described the results of St. Jude Medical’s (NYSE:STJ) clinical trial of its new neuromodulation product to treat chronic migraine as "impressive."
Update on breast implant safety from the FDA: They’re safe, but they won’t last
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration released updated information about gel-filled breast implants five years after approving them for clinical use, warning that they often cause complications that need additional surgery or removal.
The report confirms previous findings and asserts that the implants are safe when used as intended, but highlights the need to inform women considering the procedure that the implants won’t last forever.
Medical device review took the FDA 37% longer in 2010 than 2006
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Medical device consulting firm Emergo Group released results from a study of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s medical device application review, finding that application times jumped 37 percent from 2006 to 2010.
Emergo reviewed the number of submissions the FDA clears each year and how long it takes to win 510(k) clearance to obtain an average "submission to clearance" time.
In 2006 510(k) applications cleared by the FDA took an average of 96 days, but that number jumped to 132 days in 2010.
Students from China work with Minnesota University to develop med tech
Is TV Killing Us?
Hack this: Researchers develop device to shield pacemakers
Wireless devices have changed the way health information moves, making data more abundant and more accessible. But it’s also made medical devices more vulnerable.
Researchers at MIT and the University of Mass. Amherst are the first to develop a technology that could protect the millions of existing medical device implants without altering or replacing them.
Wireless technologies made their mark on medical devices in a big way, attaching themselves to everything from pacemakers and defibrillators to insulin pumps and nerve stimulators.
Heart attack trials bring good news for Athersys
Athersys Inc. (NSDQ:ATHX) reported that results from a phase 1 trial of its stem cell therapy suggest its MultiStem technology could hold benefits for heart attack patients.
Heart device studies show more misuse
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — More researchers are finding evidence of misused heart therapies that may be costing thousands of lives each year, making the case that both underuse and overuse of implanted cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapies are a problem in the health care industry.
Earlier this year researchers found that more than one in five patients implanted with ICDs may not have needed the device. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., kicked up a firestorm of attention and skepticism.