Tobacco Control Regulations For Solomon Islands In Effect

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Media Release 16-01-14-GH

The Solomon Islands Government has shown its continued commitment to improving the health of Solomon Islanders with the gazetting of the Tobacco Control Regulations.

Under the Regulations, all tobacco packaging must display health warnings on 70% of the front of and 30% of the back of tobacco packaging by 1 January 2015. Other aspects of the Regulations will be phased in over 2014.

These picture images with written warnings in both Solomon Islands Pidgin and English will send powerful messages to warn the public about the deadly effects of tobacco, says Minister Sigoto. Research from around the world had shown that the larger the picture, the greater the impact. This decreases smoking rates overall.

The large warning messages put Solomon Islands among the leaders of the Pacific in protecting the public from the deadly effects of tobacco. Solomon Islands has a high rate of smoking, particularly among younger people. Evidence in Solomon Islands indicates that many of the public do not realise that smoking is a leading cause of preventable non-communicable diseases.

It is important that consumers clearly see the warnings before they buy the packet, says Minister Sigoto. This is why retailers will be required to display the front of cigarette packets when they offer these products for sale.

The Regulations are designed with the health of Solomon Islanders foremost in mind. During the public consultation phase the majority of submissions strongly supported large graphic health warnings to be displayed on tobacco packages.

The final Tobacco Control Regulations are essential for public health and a great step forward in ensuring people are adequately warned about a poisonous product that causes diseases and kills our people, says Dr Alependava, Chair of the Tobacco Control Taskforce Committee. We make no apology for protecting the right of Solomon Islanders to know what they are putting into their bodies.

The Regulations also:

require testing for toxic chemicals in tobacco products from an independent laboratory mandate the annual rotation of smoking messages on tobacco packets control what can be printed on cigarettes provide further requirements for persons in charge of non-smoking areas, and Require reports to be made to the Minister and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

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Tobacco Control Regulations For Solomon Islands In Effect

Journal of Human Genetics – Nature

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The Journal of Human Genetics is the official journal of the Japan Society of Human Genetics, publishing high-quality original research articles, short communications, reviews, correspondences and editorials on all aspects of human genetics and genomics. It is the leading genetics journal based in the Asia-Pacific region.

*** Announcing Open ***

Journal of Human Genetics now offers authors the option to publish their articles with immediate open access upon publication. Open access articles will also be deposited on PubMed Central at the time of publication and will be freely available immediately. Find out more from the FAQs page.

Special section on Epigenomics

The special section on epigenomics in the July 2013 issue of Journal of Human Genetics features review and original articles by top-level epigenetic researchers covers various topics of epigenetic research, both basic and clinical.

Pharmacogenomics: Recent advances and future directions

The Journal of Human Genetics is pleased to present its first "special section" in the June issue of the journal. These special sections are designed to bring together collections of papers on specific topics of interest; guest editors curate the section, inviting contributions from leading researchers in the field. The topic of the first special section is pharmacogenomics, featuring eight articles on the current state of pharmacogenomics research and its implementation in the clinic.

Biomedical Genomics Series Web Focus - Cancer

The Journal of Human Genetics is delighted to present the latest from the Series on Biomedical Genomics, a Web Focus on Cancer. The Focus includes reports covering genetic research into identifying risk and associations with Breast Cancer, lung squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and cervical cancer in different populations, such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Amerindian.

Biomedical Genomics Series Web Focus - Neuropsychiatric Disease

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Journal of Human Genetics - Nature

Illumina promises sequencing for $1000 per genome

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Jan. 15 (UPI) -- San Diego-based genetic technology company Illumina has announced a machine that can sequence a human genome for $1,000.

The new product, called HiSeq X Ten Sequencing System, was launched at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The $1 million sequencer comes in a set of 10 units and can generate 1.8 Tb of sequencing data in 3 days and up to 600 Gb in a single day at no more than $1,000 per genome.

"Breaking the sound barrier of human genetics not only pushes us through a psychological milestone, it enables projects of unprecedented scale," said Illumina CEO Jay Flatley.

This cost includes typical instrument depreciation, DNA extraction, library preparation, and estimated labor. A number of companies have placed orders for the product, including the Broad Institute, an independent biomedical research center affiliated with MIT and Harvard.

"Over the next few years, we have an opportunity to learn as much about the genetics of human disease as we have learned in the history of medicine, said Broad Institute founding Director Eric Lander.

The term "$1,000 genome" comes from the Archon X-prize that challenged teams to build machines that could sequence 100 genomes in 30 days or less, with minimal errors and at a cost of $1,000 per genome.

[Illumina]

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Illumina promises sequencing for $1000 per genome

Houston City Council debates contract with Cigna for health care benefits program – Video

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Houston City Council debates contract with Cigna for health care benefits program
Houston City Council debates ordinance for 3 year contract with Cigna as 3rd party administrator of City #39;s self-insured Employee health care benefits program...

By: Marc Pembroke

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Houston City Council debates contract with Cigna for health care benefits program - Video

Health Care Jobs – Healthcare Jobs Career Center for Medical …

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HEALTH CARE JOBSHealth Care Jobs, Medical Jobs, Hospital Jobs, Nursing Jobs

CAREER CENTER

Health Care Jobs Career Center will help you locate healthcare jobs and explore medical jobs, hospital jobs, and nursing jobs. Use this site to find health care jobs including jobs with the Veterans Administration and to explore healthcare careers and medical jobs.

You will find valuable health care job hunting information and resources that you can use to explore the lucrative and fast growing allied healthcare industry. The information provided on this service is excerpted from the new fourth edition of Health Care Job Explosion! High Growth Health Care Careers and Health Care JOB LOCATOR by Dennis V. Damp.

The U.S. Department of Labor projects a 30.3% increase in the number of health care jobs between now and 2014. That's 4,700,000 NEW HEALTH CARE JOBS. Health care jobs and careers are the rising stars of the employment outlook.

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Health Care Jobs - Healthcare Jobs Career Center for Medical ...

Invest in children to aid U.S. health care

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation weighed in this week on health care with a welcome twist. Its panel of experts focused not on the Affordable Care Act Obamacare to some and problems with its roll out and health care exchanges. Instead, the foundations Commission to Build a Healthier America called for a seismic shift in this countrys approach to health care by laying a foundation for better health outcomes early in life to reduce costs and sicknesses later on.

Titled Time to Act: Investing in the Health of Our Children and Communities, a 120-page report calls for a revolution in the mindset of individuals, community planners and leaders, and health professionals by expanding the U.S. focus on how to stay healthy in the first place.

The commission, which included medical professionals, economists, academics and community advocates from diverse backgrounds, spent many months assessing data and programs and reached the vital conclusion that improving Americas health must reach beyond medical care. Indeed, they conclude that this country cannot get health care costs under control or significantly improve the health outcomes of most Americans without addressing socioeconomic and other factors that play a key role in those matters.

The report bluntly takes note of this countrys poor and dropping health care status worldwide. In 1980, the U.S. ranked 15th among affluent countries in life expectancy. In 2009, it stood at 27th, below places like Slovenia, Chile and Korea and just above places like the Czech Republic, Poland and Mexico. Thirty countries have infant mortality rates lower than ours.

And that health care status comes in no small part because too many Americans grow up in environments and have childhood experiences that are detrimental to their health. Said Dr. David Williams, a professor at Harvards School of Public Health and a staff director for the commission, to the PBS Newshour this week: What we know is that the foundations of health in adulthood are laid in childhood. And the opportunities and the experiences that children have even before they go to school shape their risk of chronic disease 30, 40 years later, so that everything that we can do to prepare those children and give them the optimal health and optimal developmental opportunities in the preschool area, then theyre ready for school, and they have high levels of education, and they will have better health for the rest of their life.

With that perspective, its no surprise that the first of three strategies the commission recommended for improving the health care of Americans focuses squarely on the young. The report notes that research clearly tells us that children have a greater chance of achieving good health throughout life if they are raised in families that provide a well-regulated and responsive home environment, benefit from early supports that build resilience by mitigating the effects of significant adversity (such as chronic poverty, violence and neglect), and participate in high-quality early childhood programs.

Critics who deride the value of prekindergarten programs might want to take a moment to absorb these findings. Though the evidence is mixed on test score gains associated with preschool programs, there is strong evidence from studies that preschool yields more important and long-lasting benefits self-sufficiency, higher education, home ownership, more stable marriages and staying out of trouble with the law. Now this report says preschool and other investments early in a childs life are key to lifelong physical and mental health. With the health cost savings associated with that, it should be a powerful incentive for policymakers to make that investment in the well-being of young children especially children growing up in chronic poverty.

With growing numbers of N.C. children living in poverty (26 percent do), Laila Bell, head of Action for Children North Carolina (which recently merged with Covenant with NC's Children to become NC Child) took note last month of povertys impact: Poverty impairs cognitive development, making it difficult for children to start school ready to learn.

Enhanced learning environments and preventative health care can overcome those deficits, she said.

Many others are recognizing those benefits as well. President Obama has proposed a plan to support universal prekindergarten, and late last year a bipartisan group of House and Senate members offered similar legislation to create federal-state partnerships to expand voluntary pre-K programs for 4-year-olds near or at the poverty line.

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Invest in children to aid U.S. health care

Health care providers support Medicaid changes that stop short of managed care

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State hospitals, doctors and pharmacies united Wednesday in support of Medicaid changes that stop short of full managed care but would reward them for quality, cost-conscious care.

An advisory committee on state Medicaid changes heard from nearly 50 speakers Wednesday as it gathered more information on potential changes to the government health insurance program for low-income children and their parents, the elderly and disabled.

Gov. Pat McCrorys administration wants to control Medicaid spending with a switch to managed care. Medicaid spending has dented the budget in recent years. Some of the overruns were due to inaccurate budget forecasts. Under managed care, providers would be given a set amount to treat patients and would be responsible for costs if they overspend.

Managed care would represent a major switch from the current system where doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are paid for each procedure.

Most say Medicaid can improve, but theres no agreement how to do it.

The message from doctors groups, hospitals and retail pharmacies is that they support change but dont want full managed care.

What theyve proposed is a type of health care and payment system that can be run by providers. These accountable care organizations would be responsible for reaching health care goals and controlling costs. They would share in any cost savings. National managed care insurance companies would not necessarily be involved.

Reform must keep scarce health care dollars in North Carolina, providing the care our patients need, not paying for additional administrative overhead that is funneled to multiple out-of-state companies, said Dr. Bill Dennis, president of the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians. We simply cannot afford to settle for the failed policies of managed care that have proven to be disastrous in state after state throughout our country.

The federal Affordable Care Act encourages providers to set up accountable care organizations for Medicare, the government insurance program for the elderly. More than 20 are operating in the state.

Several speakers said affordable care organizations could build upon the statewide patient-care management program Community Care of North Carolina. CCNC has Medicaid patients choose a medical home that oversees their care. Patients with chronic illnesses get extra looking-after.

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Health care providers support Medicaid changes that stop short of managed care

Health care website passed recent test

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FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2013, file photo, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., right, confers with the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the start of the committee's hearing on the implementation of the Affordable Care Acts HealthCare.gov website. The top cybersecurity officer for the federal Health and Human Services department was concerned about potential vulnerabilities ahead of the launch of the Obama administrations health care website. Issa, investigating the chaotic rollout of the website contends the administration risked the personal information of millions of Americans in its zeal to meet a self-imposed Oct. 1 deadline. Cummings says the administration addressed the potential security issues through added vigilance instituted before the site went live. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) Cybersecurity concerns over President Barack Obama's health care website have been cleared up through testing, a government security professional who initially had qualms about the system assured lawmakers Thursday.

But a congressional hearing featuring three senior technology experts from within the Health and Human Services Department also revealed a broader internal debate before the hapless launch of HealthCare.gov last fall.

One of the witnesses, HHS Chief Information Officer Frank Baitman, said he personally brought security issues to the attention of the department's second-in-command, Bill Corr, as well as another senior official. It's unclear what, if anything, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House officials were told.

The maddening technical problems that frustrated consumers for weeks as they tried to sign up for health insurance would pale in comparison if a serious security breach compromised the names, Social Security numbers, incomes and other personal information of millions of Americans.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are trying to build a case that the administration recklessly ignored security concerns to meet a self-imposed Oct. 1 deadline for flipping the switch. The administration and Democratic lawmakers say all issues were addressed through special vigilance instituted just before the launch. While Republicans have raised questions, they have yet to find a smoking gun.

Officials told the committee no attempted attack by hackers has succeeded, although a shadowy group calling itself "Destroy Obamacare" has tried. There have been 13 known inadvertent exposures or disclosures of information.

The root of the controversy is that the health care site did not get full security testing, as is the usual practice with federal systems before they are put into use. The technology was getting constant tweaks that precluded a final assessment. It also was prone to crashing.

However, Medicare's top cybersecurity official testified Thursday that the revamped website passed full security tests Dec. 18, easing her earlier concerns about vulnerabilities. Teresa Fryer, chief information security officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, had initially balked at the site going live.

She said Thursday she would now recommend full operational and security certification for the site, which currently has what amounts to a six-month permit. The Medicare agency is responsible for expanding coverage to the uninsured under the health care law.

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Health care website passed recent test

Unpaid health care workers plan protest

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)-- A group of home health care workers, who called on News 8 for help after going weeks without a paycheck, will now have to wait it out even longer.

Their employer has now declined to accept money from the state.

As you can imagine, employees of the Newton-Foster Home Care Agency are not happy about this reversal. Founder Patty Newton-Foster initially said she was accepting the $30,000 advanced payment, offered by the CT Department of Social Services but changed her decision later for two reasons.

The amount would only partially cover the four week payroll debt and now the city of New Haven is involved. A spokesperson for The Mayor's office released this statement: "Our office can confirm that the city is working collaboratively with all parties towards a settlement. While we can confirm that the city is working towards a settlement, until negotiations are complete, any further comment would be premature." The agency employs 48 people. It provides much needed care for clients throughout the New Haven area.

Patty Newton-Foster says her problems stem from last July when D-S-S changed its billing and claims system. The DSS spokesperson says they are still willing to help but the agency still owes $91,000 from previous interim payments. We are told upset employees are planning a protest at 9:30 Friday morning in front of the agency.

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Unpaid health care workers plan protest

Genetic engineering – Definition and More from the Free …

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Artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic-acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms. The term initially meant any of a wide range of techniques for modifying or manipulating organisms through heredity and reproduction. Now the term denotes the narrower field of recombinant-DNA technology, or gene cloning, in which DNA molecules from two or more sources are combined, either within cells or in test tubes, and then inserted into host organisms in which they are able to reproduce. This technique is used to produce new genetic combinations that are of value to science, medicine, agriculture, or industry. Through recombinant-DNA techniques, bacteria have been created that are capable of synthesizing human insulin, human interferon, human growth hormone, a hepatitis-B vaccine, and other medically useful substances. Recombinant-DNA techniques, combined with the development of a technique for producing antibodies in great quantity, have made an impact on medical diagnosis and cancer research. Plants have been genetically adjusted to perform nitrogen fixation and to produce their own pesticides. Bacteria capable of biodegrading oil have been produced for use in oil-spill cleanups. Genetic engineering also introduces the fear of adverse genetic manipulations and their consequences (e.g., antibiotic-resistant bacteria or new strains of disease). See also biotechnology, molecular biology.

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Genetic engineering - Definition and More from the Free ...

Charles Gersbach, Tom Katsouleas: Fun with genetic engineering

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By Charles Gersbach, Assistant Professor, and Tom Katsouleas, Dean, Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering

Elaborate competitions to build the best robot or design cages to protect falling eggs have been a rite of passage for generations of engineering students. Today, there's a new contest with the same creativity and competitive spirit, but vastly more sophisticated projects--like mixing-and-matching bits of DNA to create new microorganisms that produce biofuels or costly medicines.

The International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition challenges student teams to use cutting-edge tools from the new field of synthetic biology to design, build, and test genetically engineered organisms. This fall, 133 teams of students from universities from around the world participated, producing an incredible array of projects. Some engineered microorganisms to produce medicines, clean up environmental contaminants, or act as biosensors for toxins or other chemicals. Others created genetically engineered living board games or transformed otherwise stinky bacteria to smell like wintergreen. Our own Duke University iGEM team focused on engineering gene circuits in yeast to better understand how cells make decisions, such as whether to replicate or respond to an environmental stimulus; the circuits can also be used in biomanufacturing.

If these examples surprise you, you're not alone. As the New York Times observed, "iGEM has been grooming an entire generation of the world's brightest scientific minds to embrace synthetic biology's vision -- without anyone really noticing, before the public debates and regulations that typically place checks on such risky and ethically controversial new technologies have even started." But we think this kind of hands-on experimentation and experience is precisely the way to prepare the next generation of leaders who can help society reap the benefits and manage the risks of synthetic biology--and other fields, for that matter.

At a time when the discussion of the future of college education is largely focused on online teaching and massive open online courses (MOOCs), it is critical to recognize the importance of hands-on education that can only be provided in a dynamic research environment. As Matt Baron, a biomedical engineering student and member of the Duke iGEM team, says: "If I had simply studied synthetic biology but not participated in the iGEM competition, I would not appreciate the practical implementation of the theoretical concepts--or how synthetic biology can be used to solve complex problems across seemingly unrelated fields such as medicine, agriculture, manufacturing and computing. More importantly, I would have lost the opportunity to take ownership over a project along with my team members." By encouraging freedom and independence in project design and exposing students to a new and exciting field as it is developing, the iGEM competition provides a quality of education that clearly cannot be replicated through online teaching, but is critical in educating the next generation of scientists and engineers.

The iGEM competition also teaches participants the importance of considering broader implications of advances in synthetic biology, such as the safety and security of the engineered systems and ethical issues concerning genetic manipulation. All projects are supervised by university faculty mentors, and the iGEM competition stresses environmental and societal responsibility as primary judging criteria. Our iGEM team worked with Duke faculty in the Schools of Law and Public Policy to develop a report on intellectual property and synthetic biology, addressing concerns involving patenting of gene sequences and subsequent effects on basic research and the biotechnology industry. These students are not just learning science and engineering--they're being trained in aspects of philosophy, policy and business.

But synthetic biology is not just an academic exercise. The number of synthetic biology companies has tripled over the last four years, from 61 to 192. The global synthetic biology market was estimated to be worth $2.1 billion in 2012 and is expected to expand to $16.7 billion by 2018. At this rate, the development of this nascent field is rapidly outpacing the release of new textbooks or other conventional educational models--whereas the iGEM competition adapts at the speed of student creativity, providing a new model for training that's already proving its worth. Many successful iGEM projects have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and several iGEM teams have even patented their inventions, creating opportunities to complement their science and engineering training with entrepreneurship experiences.

Educational paradigms must evolve to train the next generation of scientists and engineers, going beyond cultivating creativity and inventiveness to developing social consciousness and the mindset to face the grand challenges for the 21st century. The iGEM competition provides an excellent blueprint for how to achieve these goals by involving students not only in finding the right answers, but asking the right questions.

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Charles Gersbach, Tom Katsouleas: Fun with genetic engineering

Gene therapy – Science Daily

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Gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual's cells and tissues to treat a disease, and hereditary diseases in which a defective mutant allele is replaced with a functional one.

Although the technology is still in its infancy, it has been used with some success.

Antisense therapy is not strictly a form of gene therapy, but is a genetically-mediated therapy and is often considered together with other methods.

In most gene therapy studies, a "normal" gene is inserted into the genome to replace an "abnormal," disease-causing gene.

A carrier called a vector must be used to deliver the therapeutic gene to the patient's target cells.

Currently, the most common type of vectors are viruses that have been genetically altered to carry normal human DNA.

Viruses have evolved a way of encapsulating and delivering their genes to human cells in a pathogenic manner.

Scientists have tried to harness this ability by manipulating the viral genome to remove disease-causing genes and insert therapeutic ones. Target cells such as the patient's liver or lung cells are infected with the vector.

The vector then unloads its genetic material containing the therapeutic human gene into the target cell.

The generation of a functional protein product from the therapeutic gene restores the target cell to a normal state. In theory it is possible to transform either somatic cells (most cells of the body) or cells of the germline (such as sperm cells, ova, and their stem cell precursors).

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Gene therapy - Science Daily