Continuing its record of innovation in endovascular therapies for aortic aneurysms, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), announced the U.S. market launch of the AneuRx AAAdvantage(R) Stent Graft on the new Xcelerant(R) Hydro Delivery System, which features a hydrophilic coating designed to aid navigation of the device through tight and tortuous arteries by reducing friction with the artery wall. In addition, Medtronic has also received approval from the U.S.

The Medtronic Foundation announced new grant guidelines for its HeartRescue program. In 2008, funding priority will be given to school programs that educate students about sudden cardiac arrest and prepare them to act in an emergency. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), an abrupt loss of heart function caused by irregular electrical activity in the heart, is a leading cause of death throughout the world.

The Iowa Legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care on Tuesday recommended that lawmakers extend health coverage to all children in the state as the first step to establishing universal coverage, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports.

Ama Sumani, 39, who has terminal cancer and requires kidney dialysis, was forced back to Ghana from the UK when her visa expired. UK authorities say they were assured medical treatment would be available for her in Ghana before she was flown out of. Soon after being removed from University Hospital, Cardiff, Wales, Sumani went to hospital in Accra, Ghana, where she had to pay £3,000 ($6,000) for three months’ worth of kidney dialysis.

The American Medical Association on Tuesday announced the nationwide expansion of a campaign that seeks to focus the health care debate in the presidential election on the issue of the uninsured, The Hill reports. The multimillion-dollar “

BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (Nasdaq:BDSI) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing BDSI’s new drug application (NDA) for BEMA” Fentanyl that was submitted on October 31, 2007, for the management of breakthrough cancer pain in opioid tolerant patients. The acceptance of the filing means the FDA has made an initial determination that the NDA is sufficiently complete to warrant a substantive review.

Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of AdvaMed, released the following statement following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement to significantly expand its competitive acquisition program for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS): “We are deeply concerned that CMS is expanding a program before the first phase has started and the impact on beneficiaries’ access to supplies has been evaluated.

US scientists have found human saliva carries markers of breast cancer and have opened the door to the possibility that one day your doctor, or even your dentist, could do a simple saliva test for the disease.The discovery is reported in a paper published in the 10th January issue of the journal Cancer Investigation and was the work of researchers at the The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

A group of 10 teenagers recently testified before the New York City Council and said that sex education should be mandatory in high schools in the Bronx borough of the city, the New York Daily News reports. According to the

This week, January 7th to 13th, is National Folic Acid Awareness Week in the US, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has taken the opportunity to urge and remind all women of child bearing age to to make sure they take in 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid a day.Folic Acid is a B vitamin that helps to prevent birth defects.