HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- The controversial diabetes drug Avandia does raise the risk of heart attack more than other medications of its kind but should stay on the market with tightened controls, a U.S. government advisory panel recommended late Wednesday.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- Over the eight years that Mary Cusack has been raising her son, Nicky, she's become familiar with finger 'stims' -- the repetitive hand movements that Nicky and others with autism often display. If left unchecked, Nicky's stimming can interfere with everyday activities.

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Some women may choose to deliver a baby with the help of a midwife rather than a doctor.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- Obese people prefer lifestyle change programs to help them shed excess pounds, rather than strategies that focus only on weight loss, a new study finds.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- Vascular disease, which affects blood flow in brain vessels, appears to be a common cause of dementia in some people with diabetes, new study findings suggest.

AmStem Corporation (OTCBB: AMST), a leading provider of biotherapeutic and cosmetic stem cell products, stem cell collection and storage expertise and access to nanotechnology vital to stem cell research, announced positive early results from its preliminary consumer study of SteMixx™. David Stark, President of AmStem International, Inc. said, "During the first few days, we asked participants of our initial consumer study of SteMixx™ for their initial impressions. We were not surprised but certainly pleased at how positively they responded...

Reuters - Squirting insulin up the noses of patients with early forms of Alzheimer's disease showed signs of improving their memory, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) recently published "Validation, Verification, and Quality Assurance of Automated Hematology Analyzers; Approved Standard--Second Edition" (H26-A2). This document covers portions of the life cycle of an automated multichannel hematology system and provides guidance for manufacturers' validation, end-user laboratory verification, calibration, quality assurance (QA), and quality control (QC) through standardized approaches to ensure good science and clinical relevance. Albert Rabinovitch, MD, PhD, NovoMetrics, Inc...

Stroke risk more than doubles in the hour after drinking alcohol, according to a small study of stroke survivors, but chances are still small for most people.

Reuters - The first new prescription weight-loss pill in more than a decade failed to win backing from U.S. health advisers, who said safety concerns about the drug outweighed its ability to help obese patients shed pounds.

Having HIV appears to be associated with a greater risk of death, even when the immune system is relatively robust and patients have not started treatment, according to researchers.

AP - A panel of federal health experts dealt a surprising setback Thursday to a highly anticipated anti-obesity pill from Vivus Inc., saying the drug's side effects outweigh its ability to help patients lose weight.

Reuters - Reduced funds from rich donor nations to treat HIV/AIDS in poorer nations will ultimately lead to more graves and higher care costs for people who get sick while they wait for drugs, a leading charity said on Thursday.

Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), a leading provider of clinical information and medication delivery technologies, announced a study showing how the TheraDoc(TM) clinical surveillance system helped clinicians at Memorial Hospital Miramar reduce catheter-related infections, which correlated with an increase in infection-control interventions...

Reuters - U.S. health officials are investigating if a class of commonly used blood pressure drugs may increase cancer risk after a recent study raised concern.

WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- The FDA initiated a class I recall -- its strictest -- of two infusion pumps released by a single company, due to a device error which may fail to recognize in-line air in infusions.

Varian Medical Systems' new TrueBeam™ system for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery will be publicly exhibited for the first time next week at the 2010 meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) here. During the meeting running from July 18-22, Varian (NYSE: VAR) will also exhibit its next generation Gated RapidArc® radiotherapy technology together with other products for planning and delivering treatments. Varian's cancer treatment technologies are central to presentations and posters slated for presentation at the scientific meeting...

NEW ORLEANS (MedPage Today) -- Catheter-related bloodstream infections remain a concern at some hospitals, according to a survey of healthcare providers.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (MedPage Today) -- An FDA advisory panel was divided over whether to recommend the approval of the investigational weight-loss drug phentermine/topiramate (Qnexa), but the Nay votes prevailed 10-6.

A significantly more accurate* way of calculating the dosimetry of cancer treatments will be spotlighted by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) annual meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia from July 18th-22nd. Acuros® BV enables clinicians to rapidly calculate patient doses for brachytherapy radiotherapy treatments with an extremely high level of accuracy...