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Appeals Court Ends Ban on Stem Cell Financing, for Now
A federal appeals court here ruled Thursday that federal financing of embryonic stem cell research could continue while the court considers a judge’s order last month that banned the government from underwriting the work. The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals could save research mice from being euthanized, cells in petri dishes from starving and scores of scientists from a suspension of paychecks, according to arguments the Obama administration made in the case. It could also allow the National Institutes of Health to provide $78 million to 44 scientists whose research the agency had previously agreed to finance.

U.S. health reforms cause bump in spending: report
U.S. reforms will slightly accelerate the rise in healthcare spending, according to a survey released on Thursday, handing Republicans more ammunition as they attack the Obama administration's legislative victory. The survey, conducted by U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) auditors, said the spending bump is modest, and the more dramatic change is in how money is spent as roughly 32 million Americans gain coverage. Government researchers said U.S. healthcare spending will rise at an average annual rate of 6.3 percent over the next decade, reaching almost $4.6 trillion by 2019. More Health Policy News

Medicine News

Nesiritide in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: A Pooled Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating nesiritide for the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) have reported wide variances in mortality hazard ratios for nesiritide vs controls, but these individual trials were neither designed nor powered to evaluate mortality. This study used relevant data from all RCTs of nesiritide in ADHF completed as of June 2006 to independently estimate the effect of nesiritide on 30- and 180-day mortality. The risk-adjusted hazard ratio for mortality was 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85–1.30) at 30 and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.88–1.14) at 180 days with no clear relationship to nesiritide dose. In addition to consistent results across 2 time points, no significant evidence of sensitivity to control group or baseline risk factors was found.

Treatment: Comparison of the efficacy and safety of tramadol/acetaminophen combination therapy and gabapentin in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy
This study compared the efficacy and safety of tramadol/acetaminophen (T/A) and gabapentin in the management of painful diabetic neuropathy. This was an open, randomized, comparative study was conducted. Subjects with painful symmetric neuropathy in the lower limbs and mean pain-intensity score ≥ 4 on a numeric rating scale were eligible. Subjects were randomized to receive either tramadol (37.5 mg)/acetaminophen (325 mg) or gabapentin (300 mg) for 6 weeks. t the final visit, the mean doses were 1575 mg/day for gabapentin and 4.22 tablets/day for T/A. Both groups were similar in terms of baseline pain intensity At the final visit, the mean reductions in pain intensity were similar in both groups. Overall this study suggests that the T/A combination treatment is as effective as gabapentin in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy in patients with Type 2 diabetes. More Medicine News