Rheumatoid Arthritis: Thrilling Two Decades for the Disease Fifteen years ago, a mere 20 percent pullback in arthritic activity was celebrated as remarkable improvement. Fast-forward to 2011, and now, armed with a host of innovative medicines (the latest are “oral molecules”) and clearly defined outcome measures, rheumatologists are setting much more aggressive goals: To spot rheumatoid arthritis […]

Ethiopia: HIV+ Mother Pulls Family Back from Brink With the help of WFP’s food support and livelihood assistance programmes, Belaynish Dabe and her HIV-positive husband no longer struggle to feed themselves and their children.  WFP’s food support to people living with HIV helps ameliorate the double burden of lack of income and deteriorating health. For […]

Nano meets pharma at Harvard-BASF symposium Experts gather this week to discuss the efficient creation and delivery of nanoscale particles of drugs Cambridge, Mass. – November 30, 2011 – From targeted cancer chemotherapy to the guarantee of successful organ transplants, the 21st century may prove to be the age of big ideas in medicine. The drugs […]

Brown integrates aging throughout medical school curriculum With the mantra “every student, every course, every year” and a $2-million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Warren Alpert Medical School has integrated content on aging into its curriculum, from first-year lectures through continuing education. The team of faculty members is making its materials and […]

Chew on this: The cognitive benefits of gum I’m a day late to this, but a discussion on the cognitive benefits of chewing gum (!) is just too interesting to ignore. On Frontal Cortex yesterday, blogger Jonah Lehrer highlights some of the “impressive body of psychological literature on gum” – some which has shown that gum can “be an […]

Toying with Happy Meals As you may have heard, a new San Francisco law forbids fast-food restaurants from giving away toys with children’s meals that don’t meet specific nutritional standards. And, as reported in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, some McDonald’s franchisees have opted to charge customers 10 cents if they want a toy with their Happy Meal. They […]

UN food aid agency helps create online game to fight hunger 30 November 2011 The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Japanese electronic entertainment company Konami Digital have teamed up to release an online game today that can support the fight against hunger. The game, Food Force, takes players through the process of planting, harvesting, processing […]

Working to prevent melanoma The most recent issue of Stanford Cancer Institute News(.pdf) contains a feature on efforts to prevent melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. Among the work being done here is a campaign to raise awareness of the disease among middle-aged and older men, who have the fastest-growing incidence and mortality rates: Men with less obvious risks […]

Latin American poverty levels fall to lowest in two decades, UN report finds 30 November 2011 – Poverty rates in Latin America have dropped to their lowest levels in 20 years, according to a new United Nations report which highlights public spending levels as one of the key factors that has allowed the continent to continue […]

Bollywood star to focus on child nutrition in new role as UNICEF ambassador 30 November 2011 – One of Bollywood’s biggest names, the actor-producer Aamir Khan, today became the newest Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), teaming up with the UN agency to promote better nutrition for children. Mr. Khan, 46, will use […]