A protein measured in a simple blood test may be a new biomarker to identify patients with the most serious form of asthma, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine.Identifying this new biomarker, YKL-40, brings investigators one step closer to a treatment for the nation’s 2.5 million asthmatics with a severe form of the disease that is difficult to treat, the researchers say. [click link for full article]

A new, simpler model for predicting breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women appears to be as accurate as a more complicated method currently used to decide if women would benefit from medication to reduce their risk of getting cancer, according to research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. A team of researchers led by Rowan T. [click link for full article]

Zyrtec-D (cetirizine HCl 5 mg and pseudoephedrine HCl 120 mg), a medication combining a powerful, low-sedating antihistamine with an oral decongestant, has been recently approved by the FDA for availability…

The New York Times on Tuesday examined the global health group PATH’s efforts to gain approval of its redesigned female condom. According to the Times, the female condom has never been widely used in the U.S. and never “caught on” in developing countries, where “public health workers hoped it would … [click link for full article]

The Miami Herald on Sunday featured a special section on topics related to the open enrollment period for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which begins on Thursday. Summaries appear below.” [click link for full article]

With the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit entering its third year and insurers making changes to their offerings, beneficiaries might “have more reasons than ever” during the six-week open enrollment period starting on Thursday “to revisit their prescription drug coverage and consider a change,” the Wall Street Journal reports. [click link for full article]

Ohio Department of Education officials recently decided to apply for a $1.25 million, five-year grant from CDC intended to prevent the spread of HIV among teenagers, the [click link for full article]

A woman who suffers from heart failure is less likely to get the recommended investigations and treatment than a man when she is admitted to hospital as an emergency, according to an article published in the journal Heart (British Medical Journal).The findings come after analysis of a survey involving nearly 9,500 heart failure patients. They were all admitted as an emergency in 176 out of 177 acute care hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2005. [click link for full article]

USA Today in the second day of a four-day series titled “The Fight Against Diabetes” examined how the “nationwide trend toward more high-fat food and less high-activity play” that has “run smack into a genetic predisposition for diabetes” has prompted an increase in cases of type 2 diabetes in children. [click link for full article]

A sophisticated microscope that offers a “real-time” 3-D analysis of tissue samples might, in the future, reduce the number of needle biopsies traditionally needed from women suspected of having breast cancer, according to recent research published at Georgetown University Medical Center’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. [click link for full article]