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DLPSS|HEALTHCARE NEWS|March 20, 2014

DLPSS|HEALTHCARE NEWS|March 20, 2014



Healthcare News

A Weekly Compilation of Clinical Laboratory and Related Information 
from The Division Of Laboratory Programs, Standards And Services

 

March 20, 2014


News Highlights 

 

View Previous Issues - Healthcare News Archive

 

Move to Replace Pap Smear With HPV Test Meets With Skepticism

U.S. health experts recommended that a test for cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) be approved to replace Pap smears in screening most women for cervical cancer, but the plan met with some skepticism within the medical community. But there are still questions, including how often the test should be done and the rate of false positives, Dr. Chelmow said. "It will take some time for the ACS (American Cancer Society), the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and other big groups to get a chance to look at the data," he noted. "There is little comparative effectiveness data comparing primary HPV screening with co-testing." Current guidelines, set by the American Cancer Society and other medical associations, call for the dual use of both Paps and HPV tests every five years to screen for cervical cancer risk in women between the ages of 30 and 65. For younger women ages 21 to 30, the recommendations call only for Pap smears every three years. Roche said a large clinical trial of its HPV test found that nearly 1 in 7 women with normal Pap results who were also HPV 16 positive actually had high-grade cervical disease that was missed.
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Pap Test Down but Far From Out

To take license with Samuel Clemens' words, reports of the Pap test's demise have been exaggerated, authorities agree in the aftermath of an FDA decision about HPV testing. Roche's Cobas HPV DNA test scored a regulatory hat trick, getting unanimous "yes" votes to the three key questions addressed by the FDA Medical Devices Advisory Committee Microbiology Panel. After reviewing data presented by the sponsor and by the FDA staff, the panel found that the test is safe, effective, and its benefits outweigh any risks. If the FDA follows the panel's recommendation -- which it does in most cases -- the HPV DNA test will supplant the Pap test as the initial screening test for cervical cancer, specialists in primary care, gynecology, and oncology told MedPage Today. However, the authorities agreed that the Pap test won't disappear anytime soon, if ever. "Even in the tentative algorithm that was discussed at the FDA panel's meeting, cervical cytology is still being used," said Warner Huh, MD, of the University of Alabama Birmingham. "It's being used as a triage test instead of a front-line test." Aside from the Pap test retaining a role in the screening process, consensus about the future of cervical cancer screening remains in flux, pending a final FDA decision and more information about cost and testing performance characteristics. Additionally, clinician and patient acceptance of the viral DNA test is assumed but not guaranteed.
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Administrative Procedures for CLIA Categorization - Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff

This guidance is updated to include information regarding FDA’s internal administrative processes, including CDRH’s e-copy program which is voluntary for CLIA categorizations. FDA's guidance documents, including this guidance, do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities. Instead, guidances describe the Agency's current thinking on a topic and should be viewed only as recommendations, unless specific regulatory or statutory requirements are cited. The use of the word should in Agency guidances means that something is suggested or recommended, but not required. You may submit electronic comments and suggestions at any time for Agency consideration to http://www.regulations.govExternal Web Site Icon2. Submit written comments to the Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, (HFA-305), Rockville, MD, 20852. 
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FDA Wins High-profile Support in Consumer Genetics Kerfuffle

When the Food & Drug Administration last November ordered the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm 23andMe to stop marketing its health-related genetic test kit to consumers, the ensuing debate took on a "rage against the machine" tenor. Entrepreneurs, patients' rights advocates and genetics geeks across the country argued that the plodding, risk-averse regulators of the FDA had neither the right nor the expertise to insert themselves between people wishing to own whatever mysteries their genes contained, and a company that promised to deliver such information. 
Now, however, a pair of respected experts in the dual fields of genetics and bioethics has weighed in — on the side of the FDA. "The FDA was right to issue a warning to 23andMe," write Boston University bioethicist George Annas and Northwestern University's Dr. Sherman Elias, a professor emeritus of obstetrics and clinical genetics. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annas and Elias argue that in the rapidly evolving field of clinical and consumer genomics, firms' peddling of genetic information that is unexplained, incomplete and potentially wrong can endanger patients.
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Genomics and Health Informatics Fellowship

Project Description:
A fellowship opportunity is available in the Laboratory Research and Evaluation Branch (LREB) within the Division of Laboratory Programs, Standards, and Services (DLPSS) in the Centers for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Under the guidance of a mentor, the selected participant will join LREB’s efforts in:
  • Adapting existing and developing new examples (termed Use Cases in the field of information technology) to simulate the implementation of standardized variant file and other information
  • Evaluating the potential technical, practice, and regulatory implications for the messaging, retention, and use of sequence data derived from clinical next-generation sequencing tests
  • Informing the discussions of an existing CDC facilitated national workgroup established to standardize the representation of a human genome and questions variants for inclusion in a variant file to facilitate data sharing and comparison across technologies, laboratories, databases, and electronic medical records
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Blood Test Accuracy Not Easily Measured

Researchers from Georgetown University found that levels of 10 substances in blood differed in cognitively normal older individuals who developed mild amnestic impairment or Alzheimer's disease within 3 years, compared with a similar group of people whose cognition remained intact. The researchers reported that the 10-marker panel had both specificity and sensitivity of 90% for distinguishing the two groups. But they left out an important statistic for judging the usefulness of such a test, as it would be applied in the clinic -- the positive predictive value (PPV) or the accuracy of positive results seen in the target population (in this case, cognitively healthy seniors).
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A New Way to Profile Immune Cells in Blood

The specific proportions of immune cells in a blood sample form a profile that can indicate disease or exposure to a toxicant. A new epigenetic technique described in Genome Biology provides a reliable way to detect such profiles, even in archived blood where whole cells may no longer be intact. 
When a person becomes sick or is exposed to an unwelcome substance, the body mobilizes specific proportions of different immune cells in the blood. Methods of discovering and detecting those profiles are therefore useful both clinically and in research. In a new paper in the journalGenome BiologyExternal Web Site Icon, a team of scientists describes a new and uniquely advantageous way to detect them.

 

Rapid Test for Dry Eye Disease Will be Available in US Soon

Rapid Pathogen Screening Inc. announced it has received a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments waiver from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for InflammaDry. InflammaDry is a rapid, disposable, in-office test to aid in the diagnosis of dry eye disease, according to a company press release. InflammaDry test detects elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9, a clinically relevant inflammatory marker, in the tears of patients with dry eye disease.

 

Genomic Test to Rule Out Obstructive CAD May Reduce Need for More Invasive Diagnostics

Nearly $7 billion is spent each year in the United States on diagnostic testing of the estimated three million people with symptoms of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). A new blood test that detects specific genes activated in individuals with obstructive CAD could exclude the diagnosis without the need for imaging studies or more invasive tests, reducing healthcare costs. The test is described in an article in Population Health Management. The article is available free on the journal’s website.
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Common Causes of Kidney Dysfunction After Transplantation Detected by Simple Urine Test

A new noninvasive urine test can distinguish among different causes of acute kidney dysfunction after transplantation. The test, which is described in a study appearing in an upcoming issue of theJournal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), may allow patients to avoid invasive kidney biopsies when their transplanted organ is not functioning properly. When creatinine levels are elevated in the blood of a kidney transplant recipient, it is an indication that the transplanted kidney is not functioning well. 
There are several reasons for transplant kidney dysfunction, and none of the blood or urine tests can reliably differentiate them. Because it is important to establish the exact reason for kidney dysfunction in order to determine the appropriate treatment, physicians typically perform a needle biopsy of the transplanted kidney. Now, however, Thangamani Muthukumar, MD (Weill Medical College of Cornell University) and his colleagues have developed a urine test that measures the levels of several messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that are directly related to the disease processes that cause kidney dysfunction.
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Blood Test Diagnoses Concussion, Gauges Severity

Levels of total tau protein in blood shortly after a head injury were not only diagnostic for clinically definite concussion, but were significantly predictive of persistent symptoms, researchers said. In a study of 288 Swedish pro hockey players, including 28 who experienced concussions, median total tau (t-tau) in blood samples taken 1 hour after injury in the concussed players was 10 pg/mL (range 2-102), compared with 4.5 pg/mL (range 0.06-22.7) in preseason samples taken from 47 other players (P<0.001), according to Pashtun Shahim, MD, of Sahlgrenska University in Mölndal, Sweden, and colleagues. Two other biomarkers touted as diagnostic for concussion, S-100B and neuron-specific enolase (NSE), did not perform as well, Shahim and colleagues indicated.

 

Circulating Tumor DNA Early Indicator of Cancer

A blood test that identifies cancer and helps track progression is showing promise as an early warning sign, say researchers. The so-called liquid biopsy works by detecting circulating tumor DNA. "The most significant advance is that it can give us an indication that cancer is there up to 5 months before it even shows up on a tissue biopsy," said Sarah-Jane Dawson, MD, from the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
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Whole-Gene Sequencing Solving Medical Mysteries

Whole-genome sequencing can determine the cause of undiagnosed diseases and can be done on a small scale, Howard Jacob, PhD, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, said here at the Future of Genomic Medicine VII. His hospital champions the use of whole-genome sequencing, not merely exome sequencing. And some patients owe their lives to it. A recent study showed that whole-genome sequencing conducted on 2 different machines matches up only one-third of the time (JAMA. 2014;311:1035-1045External Web Site Icon). But Dr. Jacob said he'll take those odds if that's the only way to diagnose an otherwise fatal disease.
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Rapid DNA Profiling for FBI

IntegenX, a developer of rapid human DNA identification technology, has met the US FBI guidelines to upload directly to the National DNA Index System (NDIS) known arrestee and convicted offender DNA profiles, as well as casework known samples. NDIS is considered one part of Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the generic term used to describe the FBI’s program of support for criminal justice DNA databases as well as the software used to run these databases. With less than five minutes of hands-on time, the system enables buccal swabs, collected from known arrestees, convicted offenders and casework known samples, to be analysed less than two hours, compared to weeks or months with conventional laboratory techniques. This improved efficiency will allow laboratories to spend more time reducing backlog and processing other forensic samples. The design of the cartridges allows users to process between one and seven samples in a single run.

 

Fusion Genomics Launches to Offer NGS-based Assay Development, Sarcoma Testing

A new company named Fusion Genomics will offer next-generation sequencing-based assay development and bioinformatics services, Genome British Columbia. The company currently is testing an NGS assay for use in diagnosing childhood sarcomas. The ChildSeq-SCRT assay identifies genetic fusions at the transcript level found in Ewing's sarcoma, desmoplastic small round cell tumors, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, and congenital fibrosarcoma, according to Fusion Genomics' website. 

 

ARUP Invents Automated Camera System That Detects Potential Patient Name Mislabeled Specimens

ARUP has invented an automated camera system that uses sophisticated software and optical character recognition (OCR) technology to identify specimens that are potentially mislabeled for the patient name. A prototype system was installed on our automated track in October 2012. A validation study of one million specimens was completed on May 31, 2013. The prototype system continues to operate on our automation system and is clearly reducing the number of corrected reports due to mislabeled specimens for that portion of ARUP’s workload that is analyzed by the OCR system. This is a major invention that is clearly having a positive impact on patient safety. This invention and its validation have just been published in the journal, Clinical Chemistry.

 

CLSI Releases New Molecular Methods Standards—MM09-A2 and MM22-A

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has released an updated edition of Nucleic Acid Sequencing Methods in Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine; Approved Guideline—Second Edition (MM09-A2) and published a new document entitled Microarrays for Diagnosis and Monitoring of Infectious Diseases; Approved Guideline (MM22-A). MM09-A2 addresses diagnostic sequencing using both automated capillary-based sequencers and massively parallel sequencing instruments. Topics in this guideline include specimen collection and handling; isolation and extraction of nucleic acid; template preparation; sequence generation, alignment, and assembly; validation and verification; ongoing quality assurance; and reporting results.

 

Charles River Laboratories Buying BioFocus, Argenta From Galapagos for up to $187M

Located in the UK and the Netherlands, BioFocus and Argenta provide integrated drug discovery services with a focus on in vitro capabilities and particular expertise in medicinal chemistry, target discovery, and "complex in vitro biology, as well as therapeutic area expertise in respiratory, inflammation, oncology and [central nervous system] diseases," Wilmington, Mass.-based Charles River said in a statement. BioFocus' capabilities include assay development and screening; target discovery; structural biology; fragment-based drug discovery; and others. Services offered by Argenta include assay development and screening; biomarker identification and pharmacodynamic evaluation; structural biology and biophysics; hit identification; and others.

 

Unexpected Discovery of Source of Lethal, Antibiotic-Resistant Strain of E. coli Could Lead to New Medical Laboratory Tests and Preventative Treatment

Antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria are one of healthcare’s biggest threats to patient safety and improved patient outcomes. Now advanced gene sequencing has given researchers a startling new understanding of how Escherichia coli (E. coli) has developed resistance to antibiotics.This discovery may have a major impact on microbiology labs in hospitals, because they do so much of the medical laboratory testing to detect and identify infections. These new research findings also demonstrate to pathologists how quickly genome analysis can generate new knowledge about diseases and their causes. 

 

Colon Cancer Rates Drop Sharply Due to Screenings

Colon cancer rates have fallen by 30% over the past decade in people over age 50, and colonoscopies are getting much of the credit, according to a report released Monday. "This is one of the great public health success stories of the decade," says Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society, whose researchers wrote the report, published Monday inCA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Doctors recommend that people at average risk begin getting screened for colon cancer at age 50.
Screening rates have climbed in recent years. The number of Americans ages 50 to 64 who have had a colonoscopy — which allow doctors to detect and remove polyps before they turn malignant — has nearly tripled, growing from 19% in 2000 to 55% in 2010. Declines in colon cancer rates became more dramatic in more recent years, falling at an annual rate of 7.2% a year from 2008 to 2010.
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NCCN: Test All Colorectal Cancers for Lynch Syndrome

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) now recommends that patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) be tested for Lynch syndrome. The syndrome is the most common inherited form of CRC, accounting for 2% to 4% of all cases. This translates to roughly 1 of every 35 CRCs. The universal testing recommendation includes an optional age-related consideration: for CRC patients younger than 70 years, test everyone; for CRC patients 70 years and older, test only those who meet the Bethesda criteria.

 

NIH Opens Research Hospital to Outside Scientists

Ten projects that will enable non-government researchers to conduct clinical research at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. were announced today. Through these three-year, renewable awards of up to $500,000 per year, scientists from institutions across the United States will collaborate with government scientists in a highly specialized hospital setting. The NIH Clinical Center is the largest hospital in the nation devoted entirely to clinical research. “This initiative will provide top scientists outside NIH the opportunity to utilize the sizable resources of our clinical center,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “The collaborative process they undertake with researchers here on campus will set a framework for important biomedical discoveries and needed treatments.”

 

FDA Approves Headband Device for Migraine

A headband delivering electrical nerve stimulation can prevent onset of migraine headaches and can be marketed for that purpose in the U.S., the FDA said. Called Cefaly, the Belgian-made device is the first to win FDA approval for migraine prevention and is also the first transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) system OK'd for any type of pain prevention, as opposed to acute treatment, the agency said.

 

Gut Bacteria Essential for Immune Cell Development

A new study finds that gut bacteria play an important role in the development of white blood cells that help the body's immune system fight infection. The human body is home to thousands of species of microbes - collectively known as the microbiome - that we are increasingly coming to realize are essential to health. The highest concentration and diversity of these species is found in the gastrointestinal tract, and the colon in particular. With his team at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Sarkis Mazmanian, a professor of biology and biological engineering, has been researching this area for some time. In the latest study, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, they describe how they discovered that beneficial gut bacteria played a key role in the development of innate immune cells - specifically macrophages, monocytes and neutrophils - special white blood cells that provide a first line of defense against invading pathogens.

 

Cells Appearing Normal May Actually Be Harbingers of Lung Cancer

Seemingly healthy cells may in fact hide clues that lung cancer will later develop, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The research is published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Examination of gene expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed the area adjacent to tumors is rich with cancer markers. In addition, researchers discovered the previously unknown role of a cancer-promoting gene in the airways of smokers with lung cancer.

 

New Thyroid Receptor Binding Site Mapped

Thyroid hormones may bind to a second site not previously reported, located on the surface of the thyroid hormone receptor, researchers found. This second binding site may modulate changes in activity and interaction with ligands in the ligand binding pocket (LBP), the main binding site for thyroid hormones, Igor Polikarpov, PhD, of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and colleagues reported in Molecular Endocrinology. "Binding of a new molecule to a second binding site could be useful as a new target for [thyroid receptor] drug design and could modulate selectively nuclear receptor functions," they wrote.
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Stem Cells Remember Substrates

Stem cells grown on hard or soft substrates seem to note the difference, and memory of their past environments can influence their later fates. Researchers demonstrate today (March 16) in Nature Materials that human mesenchymal stem cells grown on a rigid substrate for some time become biased toward differentiating into a bone-cell lineage, whereas cells grown on softer surfaces are just as likely to eventually follow a bone- or fat-cell fate.

 

Gel Protects Monkeys From H.I.V. After Sex, Study Finds

In another promising development in AIDS prevention, scientists have shown that monkeys can be protected against infection with a vaginal gel even when it is used as long as three hours after sex. If it works in humans, such a gel would be particularly useful in countries where women have little protection against domestic violence or rape, because they could apply it surreptitiously after a partner fell asleep or a clinic could administer it after a rape.

 

Vitamin D Enhances Breast Cancer Survival

Women with high levels of vitamin D in their blood when they are diagnosed with breast cancer are almost twice as likely to survive as those with low levels of vitamin D, according to a meta-analysis published in the March issue of Anticancer Research. The meta-analysis looked at 5 studies of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) that reported hazard ratios for mortality from breast cancer by quintiles of the vitamin. Combined, the studies involved 4443 patients with breast cancer.

 

Coffee Fuels Drive for Drugs for Parkinson’s to Dementia

For clues to treatments for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, scientists are looking at their morning cup of joe. What they’ve found is that caffeine, the world’s most widely used drug, does more than wake people up. It’s been linked to improvements in memory and appears to protect against the destruction of brain cells. One study found that people who drank two or more cups of coffee a day had a 40 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s. Emboldened by these findings, some companies have been designing drugs to replicate those benefits.

 

Study Questions Fat and Heart Disease Link

Many of us have long been told that saturated fat, the type found in meat, butter and cheese, causes heart disease. But a large and exhaustive new analysis by a team of international scientists found no evidence that eating saturated fat increased heart attacks and other cardiac events. The new findings are part of a growing body of research that has challenged the accepted wisdom that saturated fat is inherently bad for you and will continue the debate about what foods are best to eat.
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Surgical Safety Checklists May not Improve Patient Outcomes After All

Surgical safety checklists didn't improve operative mortality, readmission rates and emergency department visits within 30 days after discharge at Canadian hospitals, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. David R. Urbach, M.D., of the University of Toronto and colleagues surveyed all the acute care hospitals in the province to determine the checklists' effectiveness, according to the study.

 

Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

American science, long a source of national power and pride, is increasingly becoming a private enterprise. In Washington, budget cuts have left the nation’s research complex reeling. Labs are closing. Scientists are being laid off. Projects are being put on the shelf, especially in the risky, freewheeling realm of basic research. Yet from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, science philanthropy is hot, as many of the richest Americans seek to reinvent themselves as patrons of social progress through science research. The result is a new calculus of influence and priorities that the scientific community views with a mix of gratitude and trepidation. “For better or worse,” said Steven A. Edwards, a policy analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “the practice of science in the 21st century is becoming shaped less by national priorities or by peer-review groups and more by the particular preferences of individuals with huge amounts of money.”

 

10 Best Healthcare Cities in U.S.

Ten cities have the best healthcare in the country, based on market and hospital performance for populations, according to a new report from iVantage Health Analytics. The top 10 healthcare markets, according to iVantage, are:
  • Boston
  • Portland, Ore.
  • Philadelphia
  • St. Louis
  • Charlotte, N.C.
  • New York
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Minneapolis
  • Chicago
  • Atlanta

 

10 Overused Tests Waste Healthcare Dollars

The fight against healthcare fraud, waste and abuse could be aided by targeting 10 of the most common medical tests, which collectively waste billions of healthcare dollars a year and can harm patients, according to the AARP Bulletin. These tests, which providers perform on far too many asymptomatic people, often yield false-positive results that mushroom into more unnecessary procedures and medications, noted AARP, a consumer partner with the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign.

 

Feds Investigate 'Patient Dumping' Law Compliance

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights convened last week to determine if hospitals across the country are violating the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by "dumping" mentally ill and other patients, according to an announcement from the Commission. The law requires Medicare hospitals to treat any emergency medical condition even if patients can't pay, and makes it illegal to discharge patients with any medical condition prior to stabilizing them.

 

Volume of Notifiable Disease Reporting May Double With Required Electronic Lab Reporting

Public health departments nationwide are already feeling the strain from budget cuts. But their case report volumes may double when federal requirements for automated electronic laboratory reporting of notifiable diseases go into effect next year, according to a new study published in the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics. Past studies have noted that volumes increase following the introduction of electronic laboratory reporting, but this is the first to estimate what will occur with the 2015 required adoption of electronic laboratory reporting under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Meaningful Use program. Notifiable disease reports—required for sexually transmitted diseases,  E. coli, tuberculosis, Lyme disease and other conditions—typically are submitted by hospitals and physicians' offices to state and county public health departments by fax or phone or even paper mail. Electronic laboratory reporting prevents information from falling through the cracks and improves timeliness of data transmittal.
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FDA Reveals Health IT Report Coming Soon

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration intends to issue a long-awaited report on health IT regulation by April. Originally due in January, the report was delayed until March, and at a Senate subcommittee meeting this week, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, affirmed that the report is on its way to meeting that deadline.

 

Federal Panel Scales Back MU Stage 3

Members of the Health IT Policy Committee approved a set of recommendations that will bring meaningful use Stage 3 requirements one step closer to federal approval and scale back the initial Stage 3 proposals by 33 percent. Leaving 19 measures as part of the proposal, the recommendations, presented as a Stage 3 matrix developed by the meaningful use workgroup, will be sent on to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services for consideration in developing the final Stage 3 MU requirements. More public hearings and a notice of proposed rulemaking to inform HHS’s final requirements are expected to follow in 2015.

 

Electronic Health Record Functionality Needed to Better Support Primary Care

Electronic health records (EHRs) must support primary care clinicians and patients, yet many clinicians remain dissatisfied with their system. This article presents a consensus statement about gaps in current EHR functionality and needed enhancements to support primary care. The Institute of Medicine primary care attributes were used to define needs and meaningful use (MU) objectives to define EHR functionality. Current objectives remain focused on disease rather than the whole person, ignoring factors such as personal risks, behaviors, family structure, and occupational and environmental influences.

 

How Can Self-tracking Be Used for the Public Good?

Consumers who track their own health data are willing to contribute that information to larger research projects--and researchers eager to use it--if some basic concerns can be worked out, according to the Health Data Exploration (HDE) project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As wearable devices and smartphone apps become more popular for tracking personal health, an array of health data is being generated, but not used in traditional health care, public health or health research, the project report notes. "Self-tracking data can provide better measures of everyday behavior and lifestyle and can fill in gaps in more traditional clinical data collection, giving us a more complete picture of health," it states.

 

Smartphones to Diagnose Diseases in Real Time

A team from the US is developing a disease diagnostic system based on nanotechnology that will only require a smartphone and a $20 lens attachment to read results. While there are still some challenges to overcome, they are hopeful the end result will be an affordable diagnostic tool that can be used in the field. The new system is the creation of Jiming Bao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Richard Willson, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, at the University of Houston in Texas.

 

China 'Has Halved its TB Problem,' Survey Data Suggests

China has more than halved its tuberculosis (TB) prevalence, with rates falling from 170 to 59 per 100,000 population, figures suggest. The Lancet report says the success is due to a huge expansion of a community-based disease control programme. The World Health Organization says other countries could use a similar approach. China is a major contributor to the global TB pandemic, accounting for more than one-tenth of cases worldwide.
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Disclaimer- The information provided in this news digest is intended only to be general summary information. It does not represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is not intended to take the place of applicable laws or regulations.
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