Children who can accurately assess how their classmates feel about them — even if those feelings are negative — are less likely to show symptoms of depression, according to Florida State University researchers.

Psychology Professor Janet Kistner found that children in third through fifth grades who had the wrong idea about their level of social acceptance were more likely to develop symptoms of depression over time. The study, “Bias and Accuracy of Children’s Perceptions of Peer Acceptance: Prospective Associations with Depressive Symptoms,” was published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Graduate students Corinne David-Ferdon and Karla Repper and psychology Professor Thomas Joiner were co-authors.

“There’s a long-running debate in the field of psychology about whether realistic perceptions are a hallmark of positive adjustment or they are associated with risk for depression,” Kistner said. “Our results support the perspective that realistic perceptions are a hallmark of mental health.”

The findings are significant because they show that accuracy is the key — not whether children thought that other kids liked them or not. That’s important because some psychologists have theorized that people who have a positive bias — meaning they think others like them more than they actually do — are protected against developing symptoms of depression, while those who have a negative bias are prone to maladjustment and depression. The researchers found neither to be true.

Instead, they found that those who had symptoms of depression at the start of the study over time became less accurate and more negatively biased about how well they were liked, indicating that negative bias is more of a consequence than a cause of depressive symptoms. The researchers are the first to look at both bias and accuracy, and the findings underscore the importance of studying both facets of perceptual errors, Kistner said.

“Little attention has been given to the role that inaccurate self-perceptions may play in children’s risk for depression,” she said. “Our results suggest a possible self-perpetuating cycle in which inaccurate perceptions lead to elevated depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms lead to decreased accuracy of perceived peer acceptance.”

The findings are consistent with psychological theories that attempt to explain social competence and general adjustment, according to Kistner. Self-verification theory suggests that people are motivated to maintain their self-perceptions, even if they are negative. Even positive feedback can cause distress if it threatens their view of themselves. Social competence theories center on the idea that children who accurately perceive how others feel about them are better able to modulate their behaviors in ways that maximize acceptance. Greater social acceptance, in turn, is expected to be associated with fewer symptoms of depression.

In Kistner’s study, 667 children were given class rosters at the beginning of the school year and asked how much they liked their classmates on a scale of one to five and to predict the acceptance ratings they would receive from each of their classmates. Their predicted ratings were compared to the actual ratings they received to measure perceptual accuracy. The children also were asked to complete a questionnaire about whether they had experienced symptoms of depression, including feeling sad, trouble concentrating and sleeping problems. The experiment was repeated six months later.

The average age of the children at the start of the study was 9.4 years old. Prior to about age 8, children’s self-perceptions tend to be glowingly positive and unrealistic, according to Kistner. As children’s cognitive abilities develop and they begin to rely on social comparisons to evaluate themselves, their exuberance gives way to more realistic — and sometimes negative — self-perceptions.

“This is an important age group to study because there is growing evidence of increased prevalence of depression in adolescence as well as a decrease in the age of first onset of depression,” Kistner said. “We need to identify children in the late elementary school grades who are at risk for depression and to increase our understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of depression.”

###

By Jill Elish October 2006

Contact: Janet Kistner

Florida State University Continue reading →

Active surveillance or watchful waiting might be sufficient treatment for patients with prostate cancer that has a low risk of progression, according to a new study published online in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Treatment of localized prostate cancer is controversial because, for some, this disease will not progress during their life time, and treatment may incur serious and long-lasting side effects. An increasingly popular option is active surveillance, or deferring treatment until evidence of disease progression.

To investigate outcomes of patients treated with active surveillance, P?¤r Stattin, M.D., of the Department of Surgical and Perioperative Science at Umea University, and colleagues conducted an observational study of 6849 patients in the National Prostate Cancer Register of Sweden with localized prostate cancer who were 70 years old or younger. The patients had low or intermediate risk of prostate cancer progression and were treated with active surveillance or watchful waiting; or radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy from 1997 through December 2002.

In this cohort, 2021 patients received surveillance, 3399 received radical prostatectomy, and 1429 received radiation therapy. After a median follow-up of 8.2 years, there were 413 deaths in the surveillance group; 286 in the radical prostatectomy group, and 1429 patients in the radiation therapy group. The researchers found a much higher percentage of death from competing causes in the surveillance group (19.2%, compared with 6.8% in the prostatectomy group and 10.9% in the radiation therapy group), suggesting that patients with a shorter life expectancy were more often selected for surveillance than surgery or radiation therapy.

This observational study found that the risk of calculated cumulative prostate cancer-specific death was lower among patients in the prostatectomy group than those in the surveillance group. However, the difference in absolute risk between the groups was modest, at 1.2%, after 10 years of follow-up.

The authors conclude that surveillance is the best strategy for many patients with low-risk prostate cancer. “With a 10-year prostate cancer-specific mortality of less than 3% for patients with low-risk prostate cancer on surveillance, this strategy appears to be suitable for many of these men,” they write.

In an accompanying editorial, Siu-Long Yao and Grace Lu-Yao of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey write that perhaps the most remarkable result of this and other recent studies is that survival among most patients with localized disease managed conservatively is now similar to that of control subjects of similar ages.

Indeed, most men will die of another disease, and a prostate cancer diagnosis should act as a wake-up call for men to take charge of their healthcare and take better care of themselves. However, the authors write that a significant challenge is that, “A bevy of cancer research has demonstrated that cancer patients are particularly receptive to health-care advice after diagnosis, although older men, like those with prostate cancer, appear to be less receptive to change.”

New study published online June 18 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Source:
Kristine Crane
Journal of the National Cancer Institute Continue reading →

The very real possibility of a swine flu pandemic should be a wake-up call to the many organizations that have not developed a plan to cope with widespread employee illness, according to CCH, part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. To reduce the impact on operations, employees, customers and the general public, it is important for all organizations that haven’t done so to begin continuity planning for a pandemic now, CCH says. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is a leading provider of research information and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal, business compliance and human resources professionals.

Unlike natural disasters or terrorist events, an influenza pandemic would be widespread, affecting multiple areas of the U.S. and other countries at the same time. A pandemic would also be an extended event, with multiple waves of outbreaks in the same geographic area; each outbreak could last from six to eight weeks. Waves of outbreaks might occur over a year or more.

“A pandemic could affect as many as 40 percent of the workforce during periods of peak illness. Employees could be absent because they are sick, they must care for sick family members or for children if schools or day care centers are closed, or they are afraid to come to work,” said CCH Workplace Analyst Heidi Henson, JD. “Lack of continuity planning can result in a cascade of failures as employers attempt to address challenges of a pandemic with insufficient resources and employees who might not be adequately trained in the jobs they will be asked to perform.”

In 2007, the CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey revealed that only 27 percent of companies reported that they had a plan in place in the event that a large percentage of employees become ill. This was almost a 100-percent increase over 2006, when only 14 percent of companies surveyed had such plans, however, it still represented just over one in four organizations.

“In 2007, there was heightened awareness of the need for pandemic planning because of concern over a possible avian flu pandemic,” Henson noted. “That outbreak never materialized; hopefully organizations have continued to develop plans in the meantime.”

Must Address “Presenteeism”

In establishing a plan to cope with a possible pandemic, organizations must address the phenomenon known as “presenteeism,” which occurs when employees show up for work sick. This can have a significant and costly impact on an organization, not only in terms of risking the spread of disease, but also in terms of diminished productivity, quality and attention to safety.

“We all know what it feels like to have the flu – you’re not operating at 100 percent, you may not even be operating at 50 percent,” said CCH Employment Law Analyst Brett Gorovsky, JD. “The bottom line for most organizations is that it’s in everyone’s best interest for sick workers to simply stay away, even in normal times.”

“Employers need to discourage both the ‘hero employee’ – and even more so, the ‘hero boss’ – who try to muddle their way through the day when they shouldn’t,” said Gorovsky. “Employees are sensitive to the differences between what management says and what it means, and when they see their supervisors coming in sick, they’re convinced that’s what’s expected of them also.”

Organizations that build pandemic plans may also help address their everyday presenteeism issues.

“As part of developing a pandemic plan, organizations need to thoroughly examine all their practices and procedures,” said Gorovsky. “Many organizations that take these steps will then roll them out as part of their overall HR practices, making sure they’re adequately addressing employee illness, whether it’s just a mildly severe flu season or a serious pandemic.”

Additional Resources for Employers

CCH recommends the following basic steps to prepare for a pandemic:

– Identify a pandemic coordinator or team with defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning;

– Identify key employees and key work processes required to maintain business operations during a pandemic;

– Establish (or review) an emergency communications plan;

– Seek up-to-date information from local and state health and emergency management resources; and

– Remind employees to get in the habit of washing their hands often and cover their mouths and noses when they cough and sneeze.

For more guidance, CCH recommends the following resources for employers interested in developing a pandemic response plan:

– The U.S. government’s web site for pandemic preparation provides a checklist for employers: pandemicflu/plan/businesschecklist.html;

– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lists ten steps for employers: uschamber/issues/index/defense/pandemic/10steps.html;

– In addition, each state has a web site designed specifically to provide pandemic flu information. The web site for each state can be found by adding a state’s name to the end of the following Web address: pandemicflu/plan/states.

About Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is a leading provider of research products and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals, as well as casebooks and study aids for law students. Its major product lines include Aspen Publishers, CCH, Kluwer Law International and Loislaw . Its markets include law firms, law schools, corporate counsel and professionals requiring legal and compliance information. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a unit of Wolters Kluwer, is based in New York City and Riverwoods, Ill. Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal, and regulatory sectors.

Source: CCH, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business
Further information on Swine Flu

See a Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
See our Mexico Swine Flu Blog Continue reading →

Men are more than twice as likely to continue dating a girlfriend who has cheated on them with another woman than one who has cheated with another man, according to new research from a University of Texas at Austin psychologist.

Women show the opposite pattern. They are more likely to continue dating a man who has had a heterosexual affair than one who has had a homosexual affair.

The study, published last month in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, provides new insight into the psychological adaptations behind men’s desire for a variety of partners and women’s desire for a committed partner. These drives have played a key role in the evolution of human mating psychology.

“A robust jealousy mechanism is activated in men and women by different types of cues – those that threaten paternity in men and those that threaten abandonment in women,” says Jaime C. Confer, the study’s lead author and a doctoral candidate in evolutionary psychology.

Confer conducted the study with her father, Mark D. Cloud, a psychology professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.

The researchers asked 700 college students to imagine they were in a committed romantic and sexual relationship with someone they’ve been dating for three months. They were then asked how they would respond to infidelity committed by the imagined partner.

Some participants were told their partners had been unfaithful with a man, others with a woman. Some were told their partners had an affair with one person, others with multiple partners. Some were told the infidelity happened once, others twice.

Regardless of the number of episodes or partners, the study found that:
Overall, men demonstrated a 50 percent likelihood of continuing to date a partner who has had a homosexual affair and a 22 percent likelihood of staying with a woman after a heterosexual affair.
Women demonstrated a 28 percent likelihood of continuing to date a boyfriend who has had a heterosexual affair and a 21 percent likelihood of staying with someone who has had a homosexual affair.

The findings suggest men are more distressed by the type of infidelity that could threaten their paternity of offspring. Men may also view a partner’s homosexual affair as an opportunity to mate with more than one woman simultaneously, satisfying men’s greater desire for more partners, the authors say.

“These findings are even more remarkable given that homosexuality attitude surveys show men have more negative attitudes toward homosexuality and to be less supportive of civil rights for same-sex couples than women. However, this general trend of men showing lower tolerance for homosexuality than women is reversed in the one fitness-enhancing situation – female homosexuality,” say the authors.

Conversely, women objected to continuing a relationship following both types of affairs, but especially so for a boyfriend’s homosexual affair. Such an affair may be seen as a sign of dissatisfaction with the current relationship and a prelude to possible abandonment, according to the authors.

Participants were also asked the outcomes of real-life infidelity experiences. Results mirrored those of the imagined infidelity scenarios: Men were significantly more likely than women to have ended their actual relationships following a partner’s (presumably heterosexual) affair.

Source:
University of Texas at Austin

Continue reading →

The recent medication error involving dangerous doses of heparin to the newborn children of actor Dennis Quaid announced highlight the continuing imperative to make real progress in eliminating medication errors.

“How many wake-ups calls do we need?” asked Henri R. Manasse, Jr., Ph.D., Sc.D, Executive Vice President and CEO for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). “What keeps us up at night is that we know how to prevent these serious errors. Yet here we are again, facing the exact same error that killed three infants one year ago in Indiana.”

ASHP has long called for hospitals and health systems to institute known safeguards and system approaches to create a fail-safe medication-use system. “Babies are being injured and even dying for no reason,” said Kasey Thompson, Pharm.D., ASHP Director of Practice Standards and Quality. “We know how to put an end to it and we must do it. Hospital boards of trustees and CEOs must take this seriously and act now,” said Thompson. “It’s important to remember that there are extremely well-qualified and careful staff at hospitals throughout the country,” Thompson adds. “These problems are caused by bad systems, not bad people.”

ASHP had already been planning an “IV Safety Summit” for this coming spring, pulling together a group of key stakeholders, including the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, the Joint Commission, the National Patient Safety Foundation, the Infusion Nurses Society, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center of Excellence for Patient Safety Research and Practice Center of Excellence for Patient Safety Research and Practice, and the U.S. Pharmacopeia to tackle this very issue.

ASHP recommends the following steps be instituted in all hospitals:

- Involve pharmacists in the design and evaluation of all medication-use processes. ASHP has developed a task analysis for this activity.

- Use the strongest preventive strategies, such as forcing functions or constraints, in processes involving high-risk drugs such as heparin and high-risk patients such as newborns.
- Limit the number of concentrations of medication available on patient care units to the one most frequently used and dispense the others from the pharmacy.

- Dispense medications in ready-to-use (unit dose) form prepared by the pharmacy. Limit, to the extent possible, any additional preparation steps prior to administration.

- Always label medications with the drug name and strength if not given immediately

- Implement barcode bedside scanning technology. Nearly 20 percent of hospitals use this technology, up from 1.5 percent since 2002. 1

- Simplify and standardize processes for medication use.

- Seek and use knowledge from other institutions that have solved similar problems.

- Assess the potential for error during selection, storage, preparation, and administration in areas where the medication will be used, including medications in automated dispensing machines. The appearance of both the outer package and immediate container should be compared to other stored medications to avoid look-alike mix-ups.

- Report all actual and potential errors. Use the “lessons learned” to improve the safety of medication use.

Reference:

1. Pedersen, C., Schneider, P., Scheckelhoff, D. ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings: Dispensing and administration-2005. Am. J. Health Syst. Pharm., Feb 2006; 63: 327 – 345.

ashp Continue reading →

Infants suffer disrupted sleep patterns that can affect their development as a consequence of family feuds, a new study by an international group of researchers has found.

The researchers sought to assess the relationship between marital instability-for example, parents who were contemplating divorce-and children’s sleep problems-namely, difficulties getting to sleep or staying asleep. Their inquiry was based, in part, on the possibility that changes in the brain systems involved in how children develop and regulate their sleep patterns reflect the impact of family stress on children.

The study also determined whether it was unsettled sleep patterns in infants that affected their parents/carers or whether the quality of parents’ relationships affected the child’s sleep patterns.

What they found surprised the team- instability in a parents’ relationship when the infant was nine months old still affected the child when s/he was 18 months old.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Oregon Social Learning Center, University of Leicester, Cardiff University, University of Pittsburgh, University of California at Davis, The Pennsylvania State University, University of New Orleans, and Yale Child Study Center. The findings appear in the journal Child Development.

Professor Gordon Harold, of the School of Psychology at the University of Leicester, said: “Regulated sleep is essential during infancy for healthy brain and physical development. Disrupted sleep patterns early in life have serious implications for children’s long-term development.

“How couples/parents relate to each other, specifically how they manage conflicts in their everyday lives, is also recognized as having significant implications for children’s long term emotional, behavioural and academic development.

“Understanding which comes first, children’s sleep problems affecting parent relationship quality or parent relationship quality affecting children’s sleep problems has significant clinical implications.”

Using a sample of over 300 children and their caregivers (mothers and fathers) in the United States, the association between infant sleep problems and parent’s relationship instability was examined when children were 9 months and 18 months. Results were such that parents’ relationship instability at 9 months predicted infant sleep problems at 18 months, but not the other way around.

“So, how parents relate to each other affects children’s sleep patterns, rather than sleep patterns affecting parents’ relationship quality; thereby significantly informing our understanding of early family relationship influences on children’s development,” said Professor Harold who is Chair in Behavioural Genetics and Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Leicester.

A most important and unique feature of the study was that the children and caregivers who took part in the study were adoptive children and parents, with all children in the study adopted at birth. Professor Harold said this is a very important design feature of the study in that it allows the researchers to examine whether another possible explanation for any association between family relationship influences, such as couple relationship instability, on child behavior, such as disrupted sleep patterns, may be a product of shared genetic influences between parents and children.

He said: “When parents and children are biologically related, any association between how parents behave and attributes of child behavior may be explained by common genetic factors (same genes underlying parent and child behavior). The present study rules this explanation out in that parents/caregivers and children are not genetically related, so common genetic factors cannot account for the associations noted. This study does not negate the importance of genetic (nature) and biological factors underlying children’s development but does locate the dynamic between couples as a unique family “environmental” influence (nurture) on children’s early development.”

The study was initiated while Professor Harold was at Cardiff University and finalized while at the University of Leicester.

The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

“Longitudinal Associations Between Marital Instability and Child Sleep Problems across Infancy and Toddlerhood in Adoptive Families by Mannering”
AM (Oregon Social Learning Center), Harold, GT (University of Leicester), Leve, LD (Oregon Social Learning Center), Shelton, KH (Cardiff University), Shaw, DS (University of Pittsburgh), Conger, RD (University of California at Davis), Neiderhiser, JM (The Pennsylvania State University), Scaramella, LV (University of New Orleans), and Reiss, D (Yale Child Study Center)

Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 82, Issue 4 Continue reading →

The Health Protection Agency will showcase another selection of the latest scientific research in health protection in a diverse and wide-ranging programme of presentations, seminars and lectures at its annual conference, ‘Health Protection 2011′, which is being held at Warwick University from 13-14 September.

The conference offers a variety of innovative presentations which will demonstrate the latest scientific research and its practical application in three key areas – preventing and reducing infectious diseases, minimising the impact of radiation, chemical and environmental hazards and preparing for potential or emerging threats to health. There will also be a session on developments in vaccines and therapeutics.

Justin McCracken, HPA’s chief executive, said, “The annual health protection conference is the premier event for scientists and healthcare professionals involved in the field of health protection. Last year’s was very well attended with 1100 participants and we hope this year with be an equal success.

“Every HPA conference offers a wide range of presentations which highlight good practice and new research, look at innovative approaches for the future and provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by health protection workers. The conference also provides an important opportunity for delegates to broaden their knowledge of issues that are at the forefront of health protection.”

As well as a series of five parallel tracks of themed sessions each day, there will also be an extensive poster exhibition.

Abstracts are now invited for submission by 13 May and more details can be found on the conference website.

Notes

1. The Health Protection 2011 conference will be held at Warwick University from 13-14 September. To book a place and for further information, visit here.

Source:

Health Protection Agency Continue reading →

Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj, who was imprisoned for more than eight years in Libya for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, is planning to file a complaint against the country with the United Nations Human Rights Committee, his lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Reuters, 8/7).

Alhajouj and five Bulgarian nurses in May 2004 were sentenced to death by firing squad for allegedly infecting 426 children with HIV through contaminated blood products at Al Fateh Children’s Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. They also were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to the families of the HIV-positive children. The Libyan Supreme Court in December 2005 overturned the medical workers’ convictions and ordered a retrial in a lower court. A court in Tripoli, Libya, in December 2006 convicted the health workers and sentenced them to death. The medical workers then filed an appeal of the December 2006 conviction with the Libyan Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction last month. After Libya’s Supreme Judicial Council reduced the sentence to life in prison, the six medical workers were released and pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov after arriving in the country.

The Gaddafi Development Foundation — which is headed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi — in July said the families of the children accepted a compensation package of about $460 million. The Supreme Judicial Council — which can approve or cancel the Supreme Court’s conviction of the medical workers or issue a less serious sentence — reduced the sentences to life in prison after each family received the compensation package (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/26).

According to Zegveld, Alhajouj plans to file the complaint in September over his “torture, delayed proceedings and abuse of evidence, among other things.” Zegveld also said that Alhajouj wants European states to negotiate with Libya for compensation and that he plans to file a criminal lawsuit against the officers he alleges tortured him (Reuters, 8/7).

In related news, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi in statements published on Wednesday in Newsweek said the release of the medical workers involved an “immoral game” and primarily was the result of French efforts to provide more support for the Libyan health sector than European nations previously offered, Reuters reports (Reuters South Africa, 8/8). “[I]t’s an immoral game, but they set the rules of the game, the Europeans, and now they are paying the price,” Seif al-Islam Gaddafi said, adding, “Everyone tries to play with this card to advance his own interest back home.”

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi also said the French offered “hundreds of millions of euros” to support Libya’s health sector. He added that “it’s not just about money, but about management and technical support … to run the hospital, to manage the hospital with the French staff and to link it to the French hospitals” (Dickey, Newsweek, 8/13). According to Reuters, French President Nicolas Sarkozy the day after the release of the medical workers signed a memorandum of understanding with Libya. Sarkozy has denied any link between financial deals with Libya and the release of the medical workers (Reuters South Africa, 8/8).

Editorial
Libya “deserves no plaudits” for its release of the medical workers, nor should “European negotiators take pride in an episode that, by all indications, is a clear-cut case of international extortion,” a Washington Post editorial says. Although the workers “should have been released long ago” because they are “almost certainly innocent,” no “ransom should have been paid,” the editorial adds. There is a “broad agreement” that the reason for the HIV cases probably was “poor hospital hygiene,” the editorial says, adding, “Nevertheless, convictions and death sentences came down and were upheld — until, that is, the Libyan supreme court commuted the death sentences last month and Tripoli got its payoff” (Washington Post, 8/8).

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 →

A Stratton Spotlight article recently highlighted a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey that showed a dramatic rise in the number of diabetes cases during the last 10 years and noted that pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are working on nearly 200 new medicines to treat this debilitating disease.

The rate of new cases of diabetes increased by more than 90 percent among adults over the last 10 years, and fatalities associated with diabetes increased by 45 percent in two decades, according to the CDC study.

To help treat the disease, America’s pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are working on 183 new medicines. These medicines include 133 for people with type 2 diabetes, and 26 new medicines for patients with type 1 diabetes. The remaining 34 medications would help treat other forms of the disease, such as gestational diabetes, as well as serious conditions spurred by the presence of diabetes.

The medicines are currently in different stages of research, either going through clinical trials or awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“The diabetes medicines now in the research pipeline are contributing substantially to the incredible progress made in the last five years by biopharmaceutical companies in developing new and more effective diabetes treatments,” said Billy Tauzin, PhRMA president and CEO. “The nation must continue its strong commitment to the cutting-edge pharmaceutical research that enables today’s diabetes patients to manage their disease and lead productive lives.”

Source: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Continue reading →

BRIT Systems announced today the release of a next-generation, Web-based technology platform for the Roentgen Works remote reading solution. Roentgen Works, a workflow solution that enables radiology groups of all sizes to provide outsourced radiology reading services, was launched earlier this year.

Debuting under the Roentgen Works is BRIT Systems’ next-generation Roentgen Files II, a new DICOM server that uses a Google database and Linux clustering technology to create a reliable, stable image management and distribution solution.

“The world is moving to the Web, and as a result new products or services need to support this movement,” says Shelly Fisher, President, BRIT Systems. “Beyond this capability, our enhancements to Roentgen Works demonstrate the interconnection of BRIT’s solutions that together offer a complete end-to-end workflow solution.”

BRIT is introducing the use of advanced technologies such as AJAX and Skype embedded in the Roentgen Works, and demonstrating newly developed urgent findings tools. AJAX technology enables real-time updating of information and viewers in an intelligent fashion. Skype technology lets users communicate over the internet, either by instant messaging or making phone calls that are logged and tracked.

An open API has been added to the Roentgen Works so the worklist can launch a study in another DICOM viewer, including BRIT Vision. The Roentgen Works will also include BRIT’s newly developed integrated voice dictation and transcription solution, BRIT Speak, which was also launched at the 2008 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

About BRIT Systems

BRIT Systems is a technology company that provides custom, turn-key solutions for PACS, RIS and teleradiology, including ASP solutions. Founded in 1993 with the goal of providing affordable PACS based on standards, BRIT designs and deploys high-quality PACS/RIS based on the company’s comprehensive understanding of radiology departments, medical imaging, networks, DICOM integration, security and highly-available computer systems. BRIT is an employee-owned corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

BRIT Systems Continue reading →