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Salmonella's Sweet Tooth Predicts Its Downfall
For the first time UK scientists have shown what the food poisoning bug Salmonella feeds on to survive as it causes infection: glucose.

FDA Approves SAMSCA(TM) (tolvaptan), The First And Only Oral Vasopressin Antagonist To Treat Patients With Clinically Significant Hypervolemic
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (OPC) and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. (OPDC) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved SAMSCA(TM) (tolvaptan) as the only oral selective vasopressin antagonist for the treatment of patients with clinically significant hypervolemic and euvolemic hyponatremia (serum sodium less than 125 mEq/L, or less marked hyponatremia that is symptomatic and has resisted correction with fluid restriction) including patients with heart failure, cirrhosis, and the syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuretic hormone (SIADH). Patients requiring urgent treatment to raise serum sodium to prevent or to treat serious neurological deficits should not be treated with SAMSCA. Additionally, it has not been established that raising serum sodium with SAMSCA provides a symptomatic benefit to patients. SAMSCA, an oral vasopressin V2-receptor antagonist, will be commercialized in the United States by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI).
News of the day
Screening Of First-Degree Relatives Of Patients With Bicuspid Aortic Valve Recommended
Bicuspid Aortic Valve (BAV), a condition in which patients" aortic valves have just two leaflets instead of the normal three, is the most common cardiac anomaly, affecting up to two percent of the general population. The defect can result in calcification deposits on the heart valve, leakage of the valve and may results in a feeling of tightness in the chest as well as shortness of breath. The condition is easily diagnosed; often physicians can hear a "click" or a murmur when they listen to a BAV patient"s heart with a stethoscope.
Health Insurance

CPR Mattress: An Innovation That Can Save Lives

Students from Michigan Technological University have designed and developed a breakthrough in medical care that could save lives in a heartbeat. They devised a mattress that facilitates faster and more effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and they"re working to put it on the open market. The invention addresses a longstanding and critical problem: A standard hospital mattress, with six or more inches of foam, is pliable and cushiony. Pushing down to administer CPR is like pushing on a big sponge the force goes into the mattress and not the body lying on it. A team of Michigan Tech students came up with a simple solution: Push a button, suck the air out of the foam, and make it firm. Some tubing, a little motor, and a vacuum pump work the magic. It takes just ten seconds to work. The measure of their success? With a standard mattress, only 43 percent of the CPR load winds up reaching the heart; with a board underneath the mattress, that rises to 52 percent; and with the Michigan Tech students" design, it leaps to 81 percent. Another team of Michigan Tech students has founded a company and is working to get this mattress into hospitals, especially in emergency rooms. The students expect to have a patent by September 2009. They are talking with a number of companies that have experience bringing medical products to market. Michigan Technological University


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