Research presented at Digestive Disease Week® 2007 (DDW®) examines a new endoscopic suturing method for the treatment of gastrointestinal perforations and other types of transgastric surgery, as well as the use of wireless capsule endoscopy in young children, to better understand the pathology of the small intestine. Endoscopic procedures are continually enhancing and improving a physician’s ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. [click link for full article]

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the world’s largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, has announced that Dr. David Serreze, senior staff scientist at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, is the recipient of the 2007 Gerold & Kayla Grodsky Basic Research Scientist Award. The award, among JDRF’s most prestigious, will be given to Dr. Serreze at an awards ceremony tonight at the Marriott Financial Center in downtown Manhattan. [click link for full article]

The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine has received a $7 million renewal grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to conduct innovative basic and clinical research in the reproductive sciences through 2012. [click link for full article]

Chronic back pain is a condition that affects a significant part of the population, with patients falling into three major groups; those with herniated discs, spinal stenosis (a nerve affecting narrowing of the spinal cord), and complications from failed back surgery. Radiofrequency thermolesioning is a widespread treatment for chronic back pain, but because of its neurodestructive nature, it is often considered an unsuitable treatment. [click link for full article]

A calmer and more considered approach to the safety of rosiglitazone (Avandia) - the GlaxoSmithKline treatment for type 2 diabetes - is needed to avoid unnecessary panic among patients, says an Editorial published early Online today and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet. The Editorial discusses the sudden anxiety caused by the publication in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) of a systematic review of trials using rosiglitazone. [click link for full article]

Until recently, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin and celecoxib (sold as Celebrex), were being hailed as promising cancer prevention drugs. However, the latest studies have concluded that in most cases the adverse side effect of these drugs — including risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease — outweigh the potential benefit. [click link for full article]

As cancer survival rates have improved in recent decades, oncologists and patients increasingly are focusing on “survivorship” — long-term, post-cancer care that addresses side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, the New York Times reports. [click link for full article]

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has opened an office in Beijing to increase HIV prevention efforts in China and control the spread of the virus in the country, the Seattle Times reports. [click link for full article]

Broncus Technologies, Inc., has announced the start of its EASE (Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema) Trial to explore an investigational procedure that may offer a new, minimally-invasive treatment option for millions of emphysema sufferers. The study focuses on a procedure called airway bypass that uses drug-eluting stents to reinforce new pathways in the lung for trapped air to escape. This in turn, may relieve severe emphysema symptoms such as shortness of breath. [click link for full article]

An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) hasraised concern about a small increased risk of myocardial infarction andcardiovascular death in patients with type 2 diabetes treated withrosiglitazone. The article, based on an analysis of data retrieved from42 clinical studies, showed a small increased risk for myocardialinfarction and cardiovascular death among approximately 15,500 patientstreated with rosiglitazone. [click link for full article]