In a fundamental discovery that someday may help cure type1 diabetes by allowing people to grow their own insulin-producing cells for a damaged or defective pancreas, medical researchers here have reported that they have engineered adult stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood to produce insulin. [click link for full article]

Mayo Clinic researchers discovered it is safe — and much more convenient and less costly — for many patients to undergo coronary angiography and elective valve surgery on the same day, as reported in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.”We have developed a protocol to allow patients to safely have coronary angiography on the same day as their elective surgery,” says David Holmes Jr., M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic and one of the study authors. [click link for full article]

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices sponsor this fourth show in the Elements of State Health Reform series on value-driven health care at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, May 25. [click link for full article]

The vast majority of chemotherapy errors identified in children reach patients, according to one of the first epidemiological studies of cancer drug errors in children. [click link for full article]

The number of uninsured New Jersey children increased by 37% from 2000 to 2005, compared with a 9% decrease nationwide over the same period, an indication that the state should expand the FamilyCare program, according to a report released on Wednesday by New Jersey Policy Perspective, the [click link for full article]

Whiplash, the most common traffic injury, leads to neck pain, headache and other symptoms, resulting in a significant burden of disability and health care utilization. Although there are few effective treatments for whiplash, a growing body of evidence suggests that the type and intensity of treatment received shortly after the injury have a long-lasting influence on the prognosis. A new study published in the June 2007 issue of Arthritis Care & Research ( [click link for full article]

New evidence indicates that small pieces of noncoding genetic material known as microRNAs (miRNAs) might influence cancer susceptibility. Differences in certain miRNAs may predispose some individuals to develop cancer, say researchers collaborating in a joint study at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia, Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus and Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. [click link for full article]

Researchers studying inhaled steroids and children with asthma, as well as asthma and obesity, presented new findings from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Asthma Clinical Research Networks at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference in San Francisco. [click link for full article]

People addicted to alcohol and young adults who are heavy drinkers, but not considered alcoholics, have something in common: they possess poor decision-making skills, according to psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The findings are based on research examining binge drinking and heavy alcohol use among college students.The study was led by Anna E. [click link for full article]

A new study of intensive care unit patients who are breathing with the help of a mechanical ventilator has found that a two-step sedation and ventilator weaning protocol-called a “wake up and breathe” strategy-helps patients come off the ventilator faster so that they can be discharged from the ICU and hospital more quickly. The study is being presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference in San Francisco. [click link for full article]