Discover the Science of Health
New videos to help people make lifestyle changes and cope with the demands of diabetes were announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The series of three-to five-minute videos, which can be found at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense, address topics such as setting goals to improve health, living with diabetes, finding the support you need, as well as segments on diabetes prevention and physical activity.
Google announced yesterday that it is giving up on its vision to help people access their health and wellness information online [1]. The internet search giant will discontinue Google Health at the end of the year.
Biomarker Bulletin is an occasionally recurring update of news focused on biomarkers aggregated at BiomarkerCommons.org. Biomarkers are physical, functional or biochemical indicators of normal physiological or disease processes. The individualization of disease management — personalized medicine — is dependent on developing biomarkers that promote specific clinical domains, including early detection, risk, diagnosis, prognosis and predicted response to therapy.
Although new biomarkers are regularly proposed to serve as potential determinants of disease risk, prognosis or response to treatment, many markers only get evaluated in one or a small number of studies. A review in the June 1st edition of JAMA reports that the results of highly cited biomarker-disease associations that appear in major journals are often substantially overestimated, with effect sizes exceeding those found when the association is evaluated in larger studies.
Roche said last week that it will provide UCLA scientists with a range of genomics tools as part of a research collaboration to study stem cells and cancer, and for the development of new predictive biomarkers for future therapeutics and diagnostics for a host of diseases.
Stemina Biomarker Discovery announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) to conduct a study of neural cells from autistic patients using Stemina’s proprietary biomarker discovery platform.
The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), a statewide collaboration of Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, as well as public and private partnerships, which facilitates the translation of scientific discoveries in the lab into clinical trials and new patient treatments in Indiana and beyond, announced on Friday that they have partnered with GVK Biosciences. GVK Biosciences will provide researchers across the United States access to their clinical biomarker database.
Biomarker Briefs is an occasionally recurring series highlighting particularly interesting articles on biomarkers and/or personalized medicine. This edition includes articles on personalized medicine, a new online tool for analyzing personal genome data, a blood test for depression, and a kidney injury biomarker initiative.
Summer is the hottest of the four seasons. At the summer solstice, which occurs on June 21st in the Northern Hemisphere and December 22nd in the Southern Hemisphere (when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa), the days are longest and the nights are shortest. Summer is a great time to spend time outdoors and practice a healthy lifestyle. There are plenty of chances to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, get some sun, and get in shape, whether it be by playing a sport, exercising or just working around the yard.
A new online resource, designed to give health care providers easy access to evidence-based information on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), was unveiled recently by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the National Institutes of Health. With this new resource, providers will have the tools necessary to learn about the various CAM practices and products and be better able to discuss the safety and effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine with their patients.
