“Behind the Numbers: Health Care Cost Trends for 2008,” PricewaterhouseCoopers: The report analyzes a survey of the five largest private health insurers in the U.S., as well as previous research and government data to project health care cost trends for 2008. [click link for full article]

For the first time an important diagnostic test for cancer has been miniaturized and automated onto a microfluidic chip by a team of University of Alberta researchers in Edmonton, Canada.This new technology opens up the possibility of better, faster cancer treatment and greater accessibility to the test, thanks to quicker and more cost-efficient diagnosis.Chris Backhouse, professor of electrical engineering and cancer scientist Dr. [click link for full article]

Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) breast cancer specialists are using a new way to treat patients by delivering a one-time dose of radiation during surgery. The procedure, called intraoperative radiation therapy, takes less than an hour and eliminates the need for further radiation treatments.The PMH team combined the expertise of surgeons, radiation medicine specialists (radiation oncologists, physicists and therapists) and nurses to perform its first procedure. [click link for full article]

New research from The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center helps explain why excessive body weight increases the risk for heart disease.In the largest study of its kind, cardiologist M. Reza Movahed, MD, PhD, and research specialist Adolfo A. Martinez, MD, discovered that excessive body weight is associated with a thickening of the heart muscle in the left ventricle, the heart’s pumping chamber. [click link for full article]

Cultural traditions are among the main reasons for the low rate of female condom use, delegates attending the 2007 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, said recently, the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports (Musoni, New Times/AllAfrica.com, 6/18). [click link for full article]

In many parts of the country, with late spring and early summer comes pine pollen. Pine trees can emit copious amounts of the yellow, powdery stuff, coating cars and driveways,…

Adding more good news to last week’s announcement that Nexavar® (sorafenib) may be the first effective treatment for advanced liver cancer, researchers at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University have uncovered a new molecular mechanism that may “spontaneously” cause liver cancer. [click link for full article]

Merck and Sanofi-Aventis on Monday announced that Switzerland has recommended that girls ages 11 to 14 in the country receive Merck’s human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, Reuters reports (Reuters, 6/18). [click link for full article]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USA, is suggesting that air quality standards for ground level ozone should be tightened up - standards have not been changed since 1997. Ozone is the main component of smog. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, said “Advances in science are leading to cleaner skies and healthier lives. America’s science is progressing and our air quality is improving. [click link for full article]