High blood pressure is the most common chronic medical condition in the United States, and the most common identifiable cause is narrowing of a kidney artery, called renal artery stenosis. Renal artery stenting is a widely performed but controversial procedure for patients with narrowed kidney arteries. Studies have demonstrated little improvement in average kidney function with a significant minority of patients experiencing a decline in kidney function after the procedure. [click link for full article]

Representatives for pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers have begun to fight a rule proposed by CMS that would revise the formula used to calculate Medicaid reimbursements for generic medications, the Wall Street Journal reports. The rule, mandated under the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, would save Medicaid an estimated $8.4 billion over five years. [click link for full article]

In patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, contrast dye injection can sometimes cause contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), otherwise known as acute renal failure. According to a study presented today at the American College of Cardiology’s Innovation in Intervention: i2Summit, peri-procedural hydration treatment with either sodium bicarbonate or sodium chloride show similar rates of protection against CIN. [click link for full article]

Psychiatrists’ first large-scale assessment of the general population shows nearly 30 percent need mental health care and about one-third of them get it.The study focused on Baltimore, where a team of psychiatrists interviewed 816 people between 1993 and 1999.They found the greatest need was treatment of alcohol dependence, nearly 14 percent, and major depression, nearly 11 percent. [click link for full article]

Effective postoperative pain control using continuous peripheral nerve block reduced average length-of-stay by nearly a day, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine physicians reported today during the 81st Clinical and Scientific Congress of the International Anesthesia Research Society at the Buena Vista Palace in Orlando, Fla. [click link for full article]

CMS on Friday in the Federal Register published the final version of a rule that transplant centers must follow to participate in Medicare, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

The Hill on Tuesday published a special section on health care reform that included opinion pieces from a number of lawmakers and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. Summaries appear below.Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del. [click link for full article]

An international “healing collaborative” involving medical schools in the United States and United Kingdom- originally announced in a press release in February 2007 - has been officially launched, with the goal of developing novel Trans-Atlantic research, educational and clinical opportunities. [click link for full article]

Protherics PLC, the international biopharmaceutical company focused on critical care and cancer, today announces the enrolment of the first patient in a clinical study to investigate the use of OncoGelTM, a novel formulation of paclitaxel for local administration, as an adjuvant treatment to surgical removal of the tumour in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). [click link for full article]

In its first laboratory tests on human tissue, a light-based probe built by researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering almost instantly detected the earliest signs of cancer in cells that line internal organs.If the preliminary success of the “optical biopsy” is confirmed through clinical trials, such a device could ultimately provide a particular advantage for early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of many types of cancer, according to the researchers. [click link for full article]