The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that although the global response to the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus has significantly improved over the past few years, the virus remains entrenched in several countries and will continue to spread.
Saxagliptin, an inhibitor of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) in development by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), in combination with metformin, exhibited a statistically significant improvement in glycemic control in subjects with Type 2 diabetes compared to metformin alone through 24 weeks of treatment.
Stroke is a leading cause of hospital admission among older adults. Yet more hospital readmissions after stroke are for pneumonia or for heart disease than for another stroke, according to a study published in the June 2007 issue of the journal Stroke. This finding may alter the standard medical management of post-stroke patients.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is holding a three-day workshop this week in Bamako, Mali, to prepare humanitarian relief providers for an avian influenza pandemic.
Treatment with the oral antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and prophylaxis for people exposed to infected patients could be one of the most cost-effective strategies for reducing illness and death during an influenza pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it is working with vaccine manufacturers to move ahead on plans to create a global stockpile of vaccine for the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
To prepare for the next flu pandemic, many countries are stockpiling potential vaccines. These are likely to be sub-optimal (i.e. not match the emerging pandemic viral strain) and sure to be in short supply.
In this study, Dr. Michael J. Schull and colleagues determined that restrictions on the non-urgent use of hospital-based services at 32 hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area imposed when a provincial health emergency was declared during the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto, Ontario, resulted in a 12 percent decrease in admissions.
Previously undisclosed pre-clinical data showing how a new flu vaccine has the potential to protect against all strains of influenza, including pandemic and annual, was presented by PepTcell, at the 2007 Options for the Control of Influenza VI (Options) Conference, in Toronto, Canada.
In the study, ?Simple Models of Influenza Progression Within a Heterogeneous Population,? Dr. Richard C. Larson, a former president of INFORMS and a professor at MIT, discusses the importance of forecasting and ultimately limiting the spread of disease while taking into account the different infection rates among those who might contract the disease.