StatSure Diagnostic
Systems, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SSUR.OB) announced that the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), through its Center for Devices and
Radiological Health, has approved a waiver under the Clinical Laboratory
Improvements Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”) for an HIV 1/2 Rapid Test
employing the Company’s patented “barrel” technology. The HIV 1/2 product
is marketed and distributed worldwide by Inverness Medical Innovations
(Amex: IMA) under its Clearview(R) brand as “Clearview COMPLETE HIV 1/2.”

Specifically, the test has been waived for use in detecting HIV-1 and
HIV-2 antibodies in human whole blood, serum, and plasma and demonstrates a
sensitivity of 99.7% and a specificity of 99.9% in clinical trials. With
this waiver, the CLEARVIEW (R) HIV-1/2 test can be used by more than
189,000 sites in the United States, including outreach clinics,
community-based organizations and physicians’ offices. StatSure’s patented
“barrel” technology is designed to maximize safety, convenience,
performance and shelf-life and minimize exposure to infectious agents.

Steve Peltzman, CEO of StatSure, stated: “We are very excited about
this achievement and the underlying markets that now may commercially be
pursued.” StatSure hopes to leverage this proprietary “barrel” format to
develop and commercialize additional point-of-care rapid screening tests
for other infectious disease.

ABOUT STATSURE

StatSure Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SSUR – News) is
engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of rapid immunoassay
tests for the detection of sexually transmitted and other infectious
diseases; in addition, the Company has developed and is marketing a product
line of patented, oral- fluid collection devices. The Company’s proprietary
platforms provide significant customer benefits and competitive advantages
as compared to similar products that are currently available. Improved
accuracy, operator convenience, and reduced risk of infection from
collecting and handling specimens, have been engineered into SDS products.
All of the company’s diagnostic tests are based on the same easy-to-use
technology platform, thus facilitating the development of future products.
Certain of these products are sold in the United States as well as
internationally to various distributors for use in clinical laboratories,
hospitals, clinics, community-based organizations and other public health
organizations. Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (Amex: IMA), StatSure
Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SSUR) and Chembio
Diagnostics, Inc. announced in October of 2006 agreements that provide
Inverness with exclusive worldwide marketing rights to Chembio’s
FDA-cleared, point of care, rapid test for the detection of antibodies to
HIV. The test utilizes Inverness’ proprietary lateral flow technology as
well as StatSure’s patented “barrel” technology designed to maximize ease
of use and minimize exposure to infectious agents.

Please visit our website at StatSure

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release may contain
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities
laws. These statements reflect StatSure’s current views with respect to
future events and are based on management’s current assumptions and
information currently available. Actual results may differ materially due
to numerous factors, including without limitation, the future demand for
HIV testing products; our ability to successfully commercialize the
products; the intensely competitive environment in the relevant markets and
the risks and uncertainties described in periodic reports filed by StatSure
with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the federal securities
laws, including periodic reports on Form 10-Q or Form 10-QSB, as
applicable, for the period ended June 30, 2007. StatSure undertakes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein.

StatSure Diagnostic Systems, Inc.
StatSure Continue reading →

To mark World Health Day, the takeaway food that has become a regular component of our diets is the focus of a conference coordinated by heart health charity Heart of Mersey and held in Liverpool today.

As a nation we are eating more takeaway food than ever before; nationally one in six meals are now eaten out of home amounting to more than ??10 billion each year being spent on sandwiches, chips, burgers, curries and similar food from small independent outlets. This is five times more than the Government spends on providing food for public institutions such as schools, hospitals and prisons.

Meals and snacks eaten outside the home tend to be higher in saturated fat, sugar and salt which poses a significant health risk to everyone, but is particularly the case in areas where there are high numbers of takeaway outlets.

Simon Capewell, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Liverpool and Heart of Mersey trustee says:

“We can see that where there are clusters of fast food outlets, it becomes more difficult for healthier choices to be the easier choice. Of particular concern is the finding that where there are a large number of fast food outlets in an area there is a link with increased obesity in children.”

Nearly a third of children under three eat a takeaway meal at least once a week and nationally children spend more than ??549 million per year on fast food on the way to and home from school.

Speaking at the conference, Jack Winkler, professor of nutrition policy and director of Nutrition Policy Unit said: “All our energetic and expensive efforts to improve school meals will fail unless we deal with the powerful competition from takeaways that surround schools. They are winning – serving more food to more pupils than school canteens. We must engage proactively with food shops on the school fringe. Local action and support is required from schools, fringe shops, local councillors, local NHS, environmental health and others working together to improve food provision.’

Robin Ireland, chief executive of Heart of Mersey said “An unhealthy diet is a major factor in the unacceptably high levels of heart disease and stroke affecting our most vulnerable and socially disadvantaged communities. We need to take action now to slow or reverse this trend. We hope that today’s conference helps us to understand how we can work together at local and national levels to have the biggest impact on our health and the health of our children.”

Source
Heart of Mersey Continue reading →

Even though we do not realize it, our sense of smell is as keen as those of animals, – it seems our ability to follow a scent is not that much different to that of a dog’s, say researchers from the University of California Berkeley, USA.

You can read about this new study in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Scientists asked 32 blindfolded volunteers, male and female, to follow 10-meter scent trails in a field from one end to the other. The trails were scented with chocolate oil. As well as not being able to see, the volunteers had to wear gloves and earplugs – making them dependent on their sense of smell. Two-thirds of the participants accurately followed the scent trails. The volunteers could be seen crawling on their hands and knees with their noses close to the ground.

To make sure it really was their sense of smell that was guiding them, the scientists made them try to follow a trail again, but this time with their noses plugged (blocked up) – everyone failed.

Everyone who succeeded was slower than animals. However, after a bit of practice all the humans improved significantly. The scientists also found that both nostrils are needed in order to follow the directions of a trail – “scent-tracking is aided by inter-nostril comparisons.”

The scientists say that humans are capable of much more than they realize; adding that with proper training, we should be able to do the work currently just done by animals. The researchers noticed that that as people got better with practice, they sniffed much more frequently and faster.

Lead Author, Jess Porter, said that the scientists found people can sniff their way accurately around a spatial context. It seems our two nostrils work together to triangulate a scent path. When asked to follow a scent trail with one nostril plugged, only one third of the volunteers succeeded, compared to two thirds when both nostril are used.

As we rely on our other senses, especially our eyesight, we have underestimated just how much we can achieve with our sense of smell.

Comment by Editor of blog

If Elvis were alive today he may have said “You have something of a hounddog!”

“Mechanisms of scent-tracking in humans”
Jess Porter, Brent Craven, Rehan M Khan, Shao-Ju Chang, Irene Kang, Benjamin Judkewicz, Jason Volpe, Gary Settles & Noam Sobel
Nature Neuroscience doi:10.1038/nn1819
Click here to view abstract online

Continue reading →

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a legal challenge brought by AARP concerning an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that employers can reduce benefits for retirees who reach age 65 and become eligible for Medicare, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports (AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/25).

The EEOC ruling, published in the Federal Register, allows employers to create two classes of retirees — those younger than age 65 and those older than 65 — and offer different benefits to each group. In addition, the ruling allows employers to eliminate or reduce benefits provided to spouses or dependents of retirees older than 65 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/2).

AARP argued that the EEOC ruling violated age discrimination laws (Lipman, Cox/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/25). Supporters of the EEOC rule say it encourages companies to maintain benefits for their retirees, because without the ability to reduce benefits for some, employers could eliminate all retiree benefits.

Reaction
Rae Vann, general counsel for EEOC, said, “This is good news because it clears up the lingering doubts about the law,” adding, “From a practical point of view, it is also good for retiree health benefits. It means more employers will continue to provide these benefits.”

AARP in a statement said it was “deeply disappointed” by the court’s decision, which it believes “clears the way for employers to discriminate by reducing or terminating benefits for older retirees simply because they’ve turned 65″ (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 3/25).

David Certner, AARP’s legislative policy director, said, “This double standard — one tier of coverage for those under 65, and another, lower tier for those 65 and over — is especially troubling because it comes from the EEOC, the federal government agency created to enforce anti-discrimination policies.” Certner added, “The timing of this new rule couldn’t be worse. Due to rising costs and fixed incomes, many retirees are already forgoing needed services that have simply become unaffordable” (Cox/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/25).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →

Keyboards located in triage and registration areas were found to be more contaminated with bacteria than those in other areas of the Emergency Department at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, according to a new study conducted by the hospital.

“Contamination was predominantly found in non-treatment areas,” says Angela Pugliese, M.D., lead author of the study and an emergency department physician at Henry Ford Hospital.

“This suggests that only areas without true patient contact, and likely less frequent hand washing, might benefit from using washable silicone rubber or antibacterial keyboards instead of a standard keyboard.”

Dr. Pugliese will present the findings June 5 at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in Phoenix.

Multiple studies have found colonies of bacteria on computer keyboards. Due to the threat of its potential spread to patients, Henry Ford’s Information Technology and Infection Control departments recommended exchanging traditional keyboards in the Emergency Department for washable, silicone rubber models.

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and type of keyboard contamination before replacing the keyboards.

Seventy-two standard, non-silicone rubber keyboards were swabbed on two different days, six days apart. All keyboard keys, except the function keys, were cultured and analyzed for bacteria.

Less than 14 percent, or 10 keyboards, were colonized with nine different bacteria. Of the keyboards in non-treatment areas, nearly 32 percent were contaminated, versus less than nine percent in treatment areas.

Further studies are needed to determine if measures such as more frequent cleaning, or replacing standard keyboards with silicone rubber or antibacterial keyboards, would improve safety in these non-clinical areas, said Dr. Pugliese.

In addition to Dr. Pugliese, the Henry Ford research team included A. Joseph Garcia, M.D.; Gerard Martin, M.D.; William Dobson; and Linoj Samuel, Ph.D.

The study was funded by Henry Ford Health System.

Source:
Sally Ann Brown
Henry Ford Health System Continue reading →

The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), founded in 1985 as the first national professional organization for NPs of all specialties, will host their 2008 National Conference, June 26 thru July 1, at the Gaylord National on the Potomac.

The conference includes a full slate of expert faculty presentations of current, practical and clinically oriented evidence-based practice information in specialty areas such as acute care, adolescent/pediatric, adult/family, business/professional issues, gerontology, integrative medicine, men’s health, occupational health, pharmacology, psychiatric/mental health, research, uniformed/military, and women’s health.

State-of-the-art skills workshops and sessions on legislative, regulatory, and practice issues plus a packed exhibit hall filled with the latest products and services for the NP will all be held at this world-class resort hotel and convention center, located near Old Towne Alexandria, Georgetown and the endless wonders of our nation’s capital.

###

To register for the conference or for more information, go to aanp/ and click on 2008 Conference.

Source: Nancy McMurrey

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Continue reading →

UCSF prevention experts have released the Positive Prevention Toolkit, a collection of resources designed to enable HIV/AIDS caregivers to provide prevention messages when interacting with HIV-positive patients. The goal is to help patients modify their behavior to reduce risk and decrease the spread of HIV.

The toolkit, developed by the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, includes proven prevention interventions for HIV-positive individuals. Toolkit materials are developing country focused and can be adapted for use in African settings. Available on the web, on CD-ROM and in English and Portuguese, the toolkit is being implemented in Mozambique on a national level.

“We hope the Mozambique positive prevention training materials will be used as a resource to train healthcare staff and community volunteers about the prevention and care needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Mozambique. While this intervention is focused toward clinical and community-based sites in Mozambique, our ultimate goal is that this resource can be adapted into other programs interested in implementing positive prevention interventions,” said lead developer, Carol Dawson-Rose, PhD, MSN, RN, associate professor of nursing at the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.

The Positive Prevention Toolkit consists of seven sections, with the first providing resources on training skills. The second provides a collection of positive prevention training curricula. The remainder consists of practical resources, including factsheets, manuals, policy reports and guidelines, personal narratives from people living with HIV and a bibliography.

“We created the toolkit for use by the full spectrum of service providers including health care providers, trainers, peer educators, facilitators, and other health care workers,” said Dawson-Rose.

Sarah Gutin, MPH, Shannon Eng, MBA and Tomiko Conner, MPP, MPH, from UCSF and Monica Dea, MPH, formerly with UCSF, assisted in the development of the toolkit.

The development of the Positive Prevention Toolkit was funded through an HIV/AIDS Twinning Center partnership supported by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source:
Jeff Sheehy
University of California – San Francisco Continue reading →

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) award-winning podcast series, “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions,” focuses on new blood test that can quickly tell whether patients are infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that’s become a global threat, significantly improving treatment.

This “superbug” is called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or simply MRSA. The podcast explains how MRSA started off as a threat mainly in hospitals and nursing homes among patients with open wounds, urinary catheters and weakened immune systems. Older people and children were frequent victims. But these infections, which shrug off many of the most powerful traditional antibiotics, are now occurring in locker rooms, gyms and other settings in the general community.

And these superbugs are now attacking healthy people. MSRA strikes at least 280,000 people in the United States alone every year. Almost 20,000 of those patients die. The cost of treating a single case often exceeds $20,000.

Diagnosing MSRA infections quickly is important, so that treatment can begin immediately with the right antibiotic, explains Kent Voorhees, Ph.D., who is featured in the new episode. Voorhees and former Ph.D. student Angelo Madonna developed the technology for a fast new blood MSRA blood test, just approved for general medical use by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. Marketed by MicroPhage, Inc., the KeyPath™ MRSA/MSSA Blood Culture Test uses paper strips to diagnose these infections so that treatment can begin within hours, rather than days. Voorhees is with the Department of Chemistry & Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo.

“A correct diagnosis is critical so that physicians can start the right treatment as soon as possible and so they can take proper precautions to prevent the spread of an infection to other patients and to healthcare workers,” says Voorhees. “We developed a test that can tell whether a patient has MRSA or an illness that could be more responsive to conventional treatments. The new test takes only five hours, whereas current methods can take up to three days. Every day and every hour matters when you deal with MRSA infections.”

Source:
Michael Bernstein

American Chemical Society
The new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from ACS’ website at www.acs/globalchallenges. Continue reading →

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Tuesday discussed various health topics in an interview with… Associated Press editors and reporters. The topics are highlighted below.

Medicaid: Leavitt said that the commission he appointed to recommend ways to cut $10 billion from Medicaid over five years would “likely look” at proposals from the National Governors Association and determine that they “are pretty well thought-out ideas,” the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. “What the governors have basically proposed is a series of things that have been talked about for 10 years,” Leavitt said. He said the governors’ proposal to increase copayments and deductibles would make beneficiaries more conscious of the cost of health care. Leavitt added, “If we weren’t talking about a budget here, we’d be talking about this as reforms because this is what the governors want” (Freking, AP/Las Vegas Sun [1], 8/2).

Avian flu: Leavitt said that it is “in some ways an absolute certainty” that an avian flu pandemic or other flu pandemic eventually will occur in the U.S. (Freking, AP/Boston Globe, 8/3). Leavitt said, “I believe that we are at a greater risk of a pandemic than we’ve been for decades,” adding that he has had three recent meetings with President Bush to discuss the matter. Leavitt said the Bush administration is developing a domestic surveillance system in hospital emergency departments to give health officials an early warning if a flu pandemic or other health threat arises, adding that a quarantine in such an event is possible (Freking, AP/Las Vegas Sun [2], 8/2). He said the government’s goal is to deliver vaccine within 12 hours of any decision to make vaccine available, but exercises have revealed that “the distribution systems are not adequate to put medicines in the hands of people fast enough.” Leavitt said, “We’re looking at having more points of distribution, for example. We’re experimenting with having the postal service being able to deliver them because they walk those routes every day.” He added that firehouses also are being considered as distribution points. Leavitt said the government would like to obtain 20 million doses of avian flu vaccine and 20 million doses of Tamiflu, an antiviral medication. It would take four to six months to produce the vaccine, and capacity is too low to produce both an avian flu and pandemic flu vaccine, he said. Leavitt added that it remains unknown how much vaccine is necessary to induce a response in humans (AP/Boston Globe, 8/3).

Stem cell research: Leavitt said he does not believe Bush would change his position on expanding federal funding for stem cell research. “It’s a moral decision with him,” he said, adding, “I’ve seen no wavering on his part at all.” Leavitt said he is “very comfortable with the president’s decision.”

Drug advertising: Leavitt said that HHS will continue to monitor pharmaceutical companies’ direct-to-consumer advertising “very carefully,” despite voluntary guidelines that the industry announced on Tuesday. “We have the authority already to enforce limits when people are misleading, and we will use it,” he said (AP/Las Vegas Sun [2], 8/3).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

View drug information on Tamiflu capsule. Continue reading →

The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, hosted a luncheon with Health Ministers from around the world, while they were in Geneva participating in the World Health Organization’s 61st World Health Assembly.

During the luncheon Minister Clement led a discussion on protecting the health and safety of people, by having in place stringent laws and measures on consumer goods and foods. The luncheon provided an opportunity to discuss potential areas of collaboration and partnerships.

“This year, the Canadian Government proposed tougher food and product safety laws that will prevent problems in the first place and increase penalties on actions that endanger people’s health,” said Minister Clement. “Our discussion here is important today, because when food and products cross borders, as they often do now in our global economy, federal governments have the responsibility to ensure their product safety standards are second to none.”

The new legislation was introduced as part of the Canadian Government’s new Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan. The legislation calls for:

- A general prohibition against the manufacture, importation, advertisement or sale of consumer products that are a danger to human health or safety;

- A requirement of mandatory reporting by suppliers of serious product-related incidents – including near-misses and defects, allowing for more targeted oversight;

- Dramatically increased fines for violations; and

- A new power for the federal government to order recalls of unsafe consumer products.

Minister Clement also discussed the proposed legislation in his address yesterday in the plenary session of World Health Assembly, made up of representatives from 193 member states. “We need to strive to work together and promote standards that ensure the health and safety of our citizens, our communities and our environment.”

The proposed new legislation was also on the agenda when Minister Clement met with the Health Minister from China, the U.S. and Mexico.

Minister Clement also met with the Health Ministers from Brazil and the United Arab Emirates and participated in a trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Mexico.

Health Canada Continue reading →