Knee injuries, among the most economically costly sports injuries, are the leading cause of high school sports-related surgeries according to a study conducted at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in the June issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Findings about how the day of admission influences the length of a patient’s hospitalization for heart failure, and questions about the effectiveness of two drugs to treat heart failure patients are featured in the inaugural issue of Circulation: Heart Failure.The new journal features scientific articles charting advances and challenges in diagnosing and treating heart failure - a growing disease problem that afflicts 5.3 million Americans.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL unveiled a novel, grasshopper-inspired jumping robot at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, California. The robot weighs a miniscule 7 grams, and can jump 1.4 meters, or more than 27 times its body size - ten times farther for its size and weight than any existing jumping robot.

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College have received a five-year, $11.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study molecular mechanisms of cardiac injury that lead to heart failure and potential repair processes that occur in the adult failing heart. This project aims to find data that can be translated into novel therapeutic strategies to improve the failing heart.

Abbott and its philanthropic foundation Abbott Fund are providing U.S. $1.5 million in humanitarian aid in response to the earthquake in Sichuan Province in China and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Abbott is working with its humanitarian aid organization partners with an established presence on the ground in China and Myanmar. Abbott is providing grant funding to strengthen the organizations’ abilities to distribute relief supplies to people in need.

Heeding the call of a growing public health crisis — the unmet mental health needs of returning soldiers and their families — Give an Hour (GAH) and the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) announced a major expansion of a nationwide effort to help U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The use of Advair Diskus(R) 250/50 (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder) demonstrated a 30% reduction in exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have a history of exacerbations as compared with salmeterol alone, according to new data presented today at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society meeting in Toronto.

BARRX Medical, Inc., a global technology leader in treating Barrett’s esophagus, announced the publication of two related European trials which report a 100% eradication rate for early esophageal cancer and pre-cancerous dysplasia using endoscopic resection followed by ablation therapy with the HALO ablation system.

Delcath Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTH) announced that Richard Taney, President and Chief Executive Officer, provided an update on enrollment numbers in the Company’s pivotal Phase III clinical trial today at a gathering of financial and healthcare industry leaders attending the Rodman & Renshaw 5th Annual Global Healthcare Conference. Mr.

GlaxoSmithKline and Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp announced positive Phase II clinical data for elesclomol (formerly STA-4783), an investigational agent currently in development for metastatic melanoma. A retrospective analysis showed that stage IV metastatic melanoma patients treated with elesclomol and paclitaxel who had not previously received chemotherapy had a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared to patients who received paclitaxel alone.