Three-drug combo ups quit rates in ill smokers.
PITTSBURGH--Among medically ill smokers, a three drug combination of nicotine patch, nicotine inhaler, and bupropion significantly increased smoking cessation rates at 26 weeks, compared with the nicotine patch alone, and did not result in serious adverse events. In a randomized trial of 127 medically ill smokers, 35%...

Novel agent promising for osteoarthritic knee pain.
PARIS - Tanezumab, a novel inhibitor of nerve growth factor, significantly eased knee pain in patients with moderately severe osteoarthritis, according to the findings of a large, phase II, double-blind randomized trial. Within 3 days after a first dose of tanezumab, many participants in the 440-patient trial...

Asthmatic adults merit vaccination.
ATLANTA--All adults with asthma should now receive pneumococcal immunization, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted at its summer meeting. The vote adds adults aged 18-64 with asthma to the list of individuals considered at increased risk for invasive...

A preliminary study of the effectiveness of an otolaryngology-based multidisciplinary falls prevention clinic.
Abstract Because the cause of falls is often multifactorial, efforts to identify risk factors and promote prevention would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach in which the contributions of a broad range of body systems are considered. We describe the practices and procedures followed at the otolaryngology-based multidisciplinary...

New diabetes drugs must meet heart health tests: the recommendations were intended for new drugs, and suggestions for existing drugs weren't as specific.
SILVER SPRING, MD. -- At a meeting earlier this month, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel agreed in a 14-2 vote that developers of new drugs or biologics for type 2 diabetes should be required to conduct a long-term study evaluating cardiovascular safety or should provide "equivalent evidence"...

Biogen Idec Begins Phase III Clinical Trial for Adentri.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-26 August 2008-Biogen Idec Begins Phase III Clinical Trial for Adentri(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Biogen Idec announced the initiation of a Phase III clinical trial of intravenous (IV) Adentri (BG9928), an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist, for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) patients with...

A cruel and unfair system.
Byline: The Register-Guard The number 47 million comes up a lot when talk turns to the badly broken U.S. health care system. It's the number of Americans who have no health insurance. Among them are 576,000 Oregonians. Most are working in jobs that don't provide...

Physicians urged to engage in pay for performance.
WASHINGTON -- Physicians may never embrace pay for performance with open arms, but they do need to get in the game. That was the message delivered by policy experts speaking at the annual research meeting of AcademyHealth. Hospitals have viewed pay for performance "as something...

Society of Hospital Medicine Applauds Plan by American Board of Internal Medicine to Recognize Hospital Medicine With Certification.
Decision Represents 'Historic Moment' for Hospitalists, Says SHM PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling it an "historic moment" for America's 15,000 hospitalists, the Society of Hospital Medicine is applauding a recent decision by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) to begin development of a Focused Recognition...

American Board of Internal Medicine Endorses the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) 'Five Million Lives' Patient Safety Campaign, Opens Maintenance of Certification to Campaign Data.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has formally endorsed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's "Five Million Lives" Campaign, an aggressive patient safety initiative that aims to eliminate five million needless hospital injuries or deaths in the next two years. As part of that,...