El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos and Mountain View, Calif. said it plans to lay off 140 employees by the end of October in an attempt to save money. The hospital sent out warning notices to 195 employees, reports San Jose Mercury News. There are approximately 460 employees in Los Gatos and 2,600 in Mountain View.
Continue reading ‘Hospital Cuts Staff, Hires Robots to Save Costs’
I have to admit that MetroWest Medical Center’s text messaging service is pretty slick. I texted them last night at 11:48 p.m. and within seconds received a text message with average emergency room wait times at its two hospitals. Framingham Union was 12 minutes and Leonard Morse Natick was five minutes.
Continue reading ‘Is ER Text Messaging Service just a Marketing Ploy?’
A relatively recent subgroup of nanotech research is what is beginning to be commonly referred to as “nanotox,” or the study of how nanoparticles react to the environment and human body. It is a line of inquiry that directly arose out of concerns that if engineered nanoscale particles have the potential to do great things in specifically targeted way, then there might be some unintentional harm happening as well. A group of nanotox researchers at North Carolina State University looking into how nanoparticles interact with living things might have also, as a side benefit, made a discovery with applications for drug delivery.
Continue reading ‘‘Nanotox’ Research also has Implications for Nano Drug Delivery’
Surgeons tweeted updates during a recent double hand transplant at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville. While the operation would be only the third double hand transplant in the U.S., it’s probably the first accompanied by live tweeting.
Continue reading ‘Surgeons use Twitter during Double-Hand Transplant’
A leaky product development pipeline is hampering the country’s ability to ensure a steady output of new medical countermeasures, such as medications, vaccines, equipment and supplies needed for health emergencies, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
Continue reading ‘Feds Aim to Fortify Biodefense by Fixing Product Development Pipeline’
Drug counterfeiting has become a $200-billion business annually, according to the World Customs Organization. By some calculations, the counterfeiting trade has become more lucrative than the narcotics business. It’s a global problem. The World Health Organization estimates that counterfeit drugs make up ten percent of the drug market worldwide. And experts say that solving it–or at least stemming the tide–requires the participation of both government and industry.
Continue reading ‘Drug Counterfeiting – a $200 Billion Business’
A team headed by researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has been awarded a $21 million grant to ascertain how the immune system reacts immediately after it is exposed to the AIDS virus. The project will bring together the expertise of 13 research groups at seven institutions to uncover the cellular protein machinery that represents the first line of defense against HIV.
More drugs are hitting the recall list these days. As CNN Money reports, the number of recalls hit 1,742 last year–that’s an increase of 309 percent over 2008. “We’ve seen a trend where the last four years are among the top five for the most number of drug recalls since we began tallying recalls in 1988,” says Bowman Cox, managing editor of the Gold Sheet, a trade pub that analyzes FDA data. “That’s a meaningful development.”
Pharmaceuticals promoting their products through Facebook “Shares” have been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… and they’re apparently heeding that warning. Pharmaceutical company Novartis removed it’s Facebook Share after receiving a letter from the FDA warning that the Facebook Share button it is using to promote its cancer medication, Tasigna, violates FDA requirements about disclosure of drug information, and that the information is misleading and “implies superiority over other product.”
When his phone battery ran low, instead of dialing 911 and possibly languishing on hold, Atlanta Councilman Kwanza Hall tweeted, “Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson St. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” according to WSBTV. Within moments, Twitter followers retweeted his message and several called 911. Paramedics were able to rush the woman to the hospital.
Continue reading ‘Web users see Twitter, Facebook as 911 backup’
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