Despite sluggish hospital hiring, health care reports job growth

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Health care continued to add jobs last month, but the industrys employment growth occurred largely outside of hospitals, which until recently were a steady source of payroll gains.

Health care added 18,700 jobs in March, an increase of 0.1 percent to total 14.7 million, although hiring by hospitals was stagnant, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall U.S. employment increased by 288,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent.

Last months health care job growth was slightly slower than the 0.2 percent the same month last year. For the 12 months that ended in March, health care added 198,200 jobs, an increase of 1.4 percent compared with growth of 1.7 percent the prior year.

Hospital hiring, meanwhile, was essentially unchanged with 1,700 new jobs in March, continuing a trend in uneven growth and some job losses in recent months. Hospitals hired 6,600 workers in the same month last year, their strongest month for hiring since February 2012. For the year that ended in March, hospitals shed 4,100 jobs, a decline of 0.1 percent compared with growth of 26,900 jobs the prior year, or growth of 0.6 percent.

Hospital employment totaled 4.8 million in March.

Ambulatory-care providers added 12,600 jobs last month, an increase of 0.2 percent, for total employment of 6.6 million. Thats down from employment gains of 21,000 in March 2013. For the year that ended in March, ambulatory care added 174,200 jobs, an increase of 2.7 percent, compared with 179,600 jobs the prior year, for gains of 2.9 percent.

Physician office hiring was up 0.2 percent with 5,600 new jobs in March to total 2.5 million jobs. Thats compared with growth of 7,700 jobs in the same month the prior year. For the year that ended in March, physician office employment increased by 55,300, or 2.3 percent, compared with 50,500 new jobs the prior year, likewise a 2.3 percent gain.

Modern Healthcare is a sister publication to Crains Detroit Business.

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Despite sluggish hospital hiring, health care reports job growth

-Mental health care services are not good enough, says Hie

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Minister of Health Bent Hie admits that health care services for the mentally ill have not been good enough. Meanwhile, those struggling with mentall illness must not be stigmatized - they must not be reluctant to ask for help, Hie says. "The current health care services are not good enough. Therefore I want to make mental health and drug abuse a priority in the time ahead," Hie tells NRK.

According to NRK, 102 persons were murdered by people who suffered from mental illness between 2003 and 2013.

"When 102 out of 228 murders have been committed by persons who suffer from serious mental illness, it is a sign that we are not good enough at preventing severe criminal acts committed by this group. I think and believe that several of these murders could have been prevented if the health care system had taken more responsibility for the mentally ill and offered them better services," says Erik Nadheim, Director of the Council for Crime Prevention (Det kriminalitetsforebyggende rd).

Hie promises that the government wil invest more in mental health.

"We have already started to expand the health care services that are offered in the municipalities." More money will be invested, and the money that has already been allocated to Norwegian hospitals will be re-prioritized, Hie explains.

However, the Minister of Health is worried that too much focus on mental health and its combination with murders and violence can also make matters worse. He warns of the effect it may have on the challenges associated with mental illness.

"Those who are ill must not hesitate to seek help," he says. "It is important to avoid that people who suffer from mental illness are stigmatized. We need openness so that everybody who needs it can seek help at an early stage," Hie tells NRK.

(NRK)

Tuesday, 28 January 2014 21:29

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-Mental health care services are not good enough, says Hie

Genetic, environmental influences equally important risk for autism spectrum disorder

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-May-2014

Contact: Sid Dinsay sid.dinsay@mountsinai.org 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine

In the largest family study on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to date, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, along with a research team from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm Sweden and King's College in London found that individual risk of ASD and autistic disorder increased with greater genetic relatedness in families that is, persons with a sibling, half-sibling or cousin diagnosed with autism have an increased likelihood of developing ASD themselves. Furthermore, the research findings showed that "environmental" factors unique to the individual (birth complications, maternal infections, etc.) were more of a determinant for ASD than previously believed.

The population-based, longitudinal study, titled "The Familial Risk of Autism," was led by Abraham Reichenberg, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and was first published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The findings from this extensive, prospective study will help improve how we counsel families with children who suffer from ASD and autistic disorder," said Dr. Reichenberg. "Currently, ASD affects nearly one percent of all children born in the United States. This study tells us that while we continue to study the genetic risk factors associated with ASD, we should find what environmental factors may play a role as well."

ASD is defined as impairment in social interaction and communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviors; in the U.S., approximately one percent of the population is believed to have ASD. For purposes of this study, ASD included the definition for Asperger syndrome.

The study cohort comprised more than two million Swedish children born in 1982 through 2006, and included more than 1.6 million unique families. The breadth of this study allowed researchers the opportunity to examine a large spectrum of relatedness, including monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins; full siblings; maternal and paternal half siblings; and cousins. Single-child families were excluded from this study.

Researchers studied the relative recurrence risk, or RRR, for autism spectrum disorder and autistic disorder in these families and used it to determine heritability. Recurrence risk expresses the risk of having another affected family member in an already-affected family that is, the likelihood of a person in a family to be diagnosed with ASD if they have a sibling or cousin with autism spectrum disorder. RRR measures this recurrence in relation to disease in families without any affected members.

In calculating RRR for the different genetic relations, the researchers found that the closer the genetic relatedness, the greater the risk a sibling or cousin would also be diagnosed. Monozygotic twins had the highest adjusted RRR for ASD (estimated to be 153 times more likely to develop ASD); followed by full siblings (10.3 times), dizygotic twins (8.2), maternal half-siblings (3.3), paternal half-siblings (2.9) and cousins (2.0). Similar, if slightly higher, adjusted RRRs are found for autistic disorder: monozygotic twins (116.8), dizygotic twins (16.9), full siblings (14.6), maternal half-siblings (4.3), paternal half-siblings (2.9), and cousins (2.3).

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Genetic, environmental influences equally important risk for autism spectrum disorder

Genetic and Environmental Influences Are Equally Important Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Newswise In the largest family study on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to date, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, along with a research team from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm Sweden and Kings College in London found that individual risk of ASD and autistic disorder increased with greater genetic relatedness in families that is, persons with a sibling, half-sibling or cousin diagnosed with autism have an increased likelihood of developing ASD themselves. Furthermore, the research findings showed that environmental factors unique to the individual (birth complications, maternal infections, etc.) were more of a determinant for ASD than previously believed.

The population-based, longitudinal study, titled "The Familial Risk of Autism," was led by Abraham Reichenberg, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and was first published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings from this extensive, prospective study will help improve how we counsel families with children who suffer from ASD and autistic disorder, said Dr. Reichenberg. Currently, ASD affects nearly one percent of all children born in the United States. This study tells us that while we continue to study the genetic risk factors associated with ASD, we should find what environmental factors may play a role as well. ASD is defined as impairment in social interaction and communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviors; in the U.S., approximately one percent of the population is believed to have ASD. For purposes of this study, ASD included the definition for Asperger syndrome.

The study cohort comprised more than two million Swedish children born in 1982 through 2006, and included more than 1.6 million unique families. The breadth of this study allowed researchers the opportunity to examine a large spectrum of relatedness, including monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins; full siblings; maternal and paternal half siblings; and cousins. Single-child families were excluded from this study. Researchers studied the relative recurrence risk, or RRR, for autism spectrum disorder and autistic disorder in these families and used it to determine heritability. Recurrence risk expresses the risk of having another affected family member in an already-affected family that is, the likelihood of a person in a family to be diagnosed with ASD if they have a sibling or cousin with autism spectrum disorder. RRR measures this recurrence in relation to disease in families without any affected members.

In calculating RRR for the different genetic relations, the researchers found that the closer the genetic relatedness, the greater the risk a sibling or cousin would also be diagnosed. Monozygotic twins had the highest adjusted RRR for ASD (estimated to be 153 times more likely to develop ASD); followed by full siblings (10.3 times), dizygotic twins (8.2), maternal half-siblings (3.3), paternal half-siblings (2.9) and cousins (2.0). Similar, if slightly higher, adjusted RRRs are found for autistic disorder: monozygotic twins (116.8), dizygotic twins (16.9), full siblings (14.6), maternal half-siblings (4.3), paternal half-siblings (2.9), and cousins (2.3).

Participants were followed for 20 years or until 2009, whichever came first. (Regular medical and developmental examinations are required for Swedish children as infants and throughout preschool.) At four years of age, a mandatory developmental assessment is conducted. From that assessment, children with suspected developmental disorders are referred for additional assessment. These assessments ensured completeness of data for the study.

This study held several advantages over previous studies, which may account for differences in research findings. The large sample size, established using data from multiple Swedish national registries, provided researchers with an unbiased population-based sample. Additionally, the length of follow-up time in this study increased the reliability of the finding results. This study was also one of the first to be able to accurately calculate RRR, by including twice as many cases of ASD and more detailed family data, including monozygotic and dizygotic twins and cousins, than previous studies.

This study was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health: Grant HD073978 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and Grant MH097849 from the National Institute of Mental Health; and by the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation.

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Genetic and Environmental Influences Are Equally Important Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Gene Therapy Used to Preserve Sight in Patients

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Newswise Orlando, Fla. In two separate studies, vision scientists have developed healthy genes to prevent blinding diseases that stem from genetic defects. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla.

In a clinical trial to treat choroideremia, a rare disease that causes progressive and irreversible blindness, scientists developed a virus that can replace the missing gene (that causes the disease) in the cells at the back of the eye. Six months after the virus was injected into patients, findings showed that some patients experienced improved vision.

Abstract Title: Improved visual function in patients with choroideremia undergoing subretinal gene therapy Presentation Start/End Time: Sunday, May 4, 3:15 3:30pm Location: S 320AB Session Number: 147

In a separate study, researchers developed a gene therapy to stop the progression of a form of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease transmitted from mothers to sons. Two years after the therapy was used to treat dogs at an early stage of the disease, the treatment remained effective. Further use of the technique in dogs with mid and late stages of the disease also resulted in a positive response to the intervention.

Abstract Title: RPGR gene augmentation delivered at early, mid and late stage disease in a canine model of XLRP rescues photoreceptor structure and function Presentation Start/End Time: Tuesday, May 6, 11am 12:45pm Location: Exhibit/Poster Hall SA Session Number: 342 # # #

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include some 11,500 eye and vision researchers from over 70 countries. ARVO encourages and assists research, training, publication and knowledge-sharing in vision and ophthalmology.

All abstracts accepted for presentation at the ARVO Annual Meeting represent previously unpublished data and conclusions. This research may be proprietary or may have been submitted for journal publication.

Embargo policy: Journalists must seek approval from the presenter(s) before reporting data from paper or poster presentations. Press releases or stories on information presented at the ARVO Annual Meeting may not be released or published until the conclusion of the presentation.

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Gene Therapy Used to Preserve Sight in Patients

Regeneron, Avalanche To Develop Novel Gene Therapy Products In Ophthalmology

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By RTT News, May 05, 2014, 08:34:00 AM EDT

(RTTNews.com) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( REGN ) and Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc. formed a broad collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize novel gene therapy products to treat ophthalmologic diseases. The collaboration includes novel gene therapy vectors and proprietary molecules, discovered jointly by Avalanche and Regeneron, and developed using the Avalanche Ocular BioFactory, an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based, proprietary, next-generation platform for the discovery and development of gene therapy vectors for ophthalmology.

As part of the agreement, Avalanche would receive an upfront cash payment, contingent payments of up to $640 million upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones, plus a royalty on worldwide net sales of collaboration products. The collaboration comprises up to eight distinct therapeutic targets, and Regeneron will have exclusive worldwide rights for each product it moves forward in clinical development. Further, Avalanche has the option to share in development costs and profits for products directed toward two collaboration therapeutic targets selected by Avalanche.

Pursuant to the agreement, Regeneron has a time-limited right of first negotiation for certain rights to AVA-101, Avalanche's gene therapy product targeting vascular endothelial growth factor currently under development for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, upon completion of the ongoing Phase 2a study.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

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Regeneron, Avalanche To Develop Novel Gene Therapy Products In Ophthalmology

Artists Your waiting for opportunity is over (Hindi) – QuickAudition – Video

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Artists Your waiting for opportunity is over (Hindi) - QuickAudition
If you are an experienced or upcoming artist : Can you give 10 auditions at the same time? Can you travel to different state/place within very short notice for audition? Can you...

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Artists Your waiting for opportunity is over (Hindi) - QuickAudition - Video