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AMA Urges Government To Slash GP Red Tape, Australia
Slashing red tape would allow Australia"s General Practitioners to spend more time caring for patients, AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today.

Microscope Shows How Nanoferries Invade Cells
Nanoparticles are just billionths of a millimeter in size. Exhibiting novel and often surprising properties, they are finding their way into an endless stream of equally innovative products. In medical therapies, for example, tiny nanovehicles could one day ferry drugs or even genes into cells. So far, the only way of testing these approaches has been to wait for the desired effect to show - the activation of a transported gene inside a cell for example. Under the direction of LMU Munich physicochemist Professor Christoph Bräuchle, a research group cooperating with Dr. Christian Plank of the Technische Universität MÃønchen (TUM) has now used a highly sensitive microscopic technique to pursue individual nanoparticles as they make their way into target cells - in real-time and at high spatial and temporal resolution. They tested magnetic nanoparticles that could be used, among other things, in cancer therapy. This approach should also allow a better understanding of existing nanovectors as well as the development of new systems, as reported in the current cover story of the Journal of Controlled Release.
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Foreign Aid Donors Should Prioritize Maternal Mortality In Developing Countries, NYT Opinion Piece Says
One of the "most lethal forms of sex discrimination" is the "systematic inattention to reproductive health care, from family planning to childbirth" in developing countries, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes. According to Kristof, a woman dies every minute somewhere in the world from pregnancy or childbirth complications, and 20 times that number suffer childbirth injuries. Providers of foreign aid, including the U.S., "have never shown much interest in maternal mortality, and impoverished women are typically the most voiceless, neglected people in their own countries -- so they die at astonishing rates," Kristof writes.Kristof highlights the childbirth experience of a 19-year-old Pakistani woman named Shazia Allahdita whose infant died in childbirth after her relatives refused to take her to the hospital because they did not want to pay for the taxi fare. Kristof writes that "[i]f men had uteruses, "paternity wards" would get res, ambulances would transport pregnant men to hospitals free of charge, deliveries would be free, and the Group of Eight industrialized nations would make paternal mortality a top priority." Kristof notes that there is "the dawn of a global movement against maternal mortality," with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon working with the U.S. and other countries to plan a "landmark global health session" on Sept. 23. The session will focus, in part, on maternal health, which Kristof terms a "milestone." He concludes, "My dream is that Barack and Michelle Obama will leap forward and adopt this cause -- and transform the prospects for so many young women like Shazia" (Kristof, New York Times, 7/29).
Endocrinology

Developments In Wound Management To Revolutionise Traditional Practices, UK

Infection of surgical wounds is a significant clinical problem which imposes severe demands on healthcare res. The ability to better understand the problems caused by infections and their associated health implications may provide an alternative to traditional wound healing practices. This is just one of the topics set to be discussed at the Recent developments in wound management: intelligent biomaterials to novel antimicrobials one day conference. Hosted by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), in partnership with the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the event will take place on Thursday 24 September 2009 at the RPSGB London headquarters. The conference aims to deliver world class research solutions to strategic wound management and will bring delegates up to date with recent developments in this field. Peter Lambert, Professor of Microbiology, at the University of Aston, who will be presenting the key note address "The problem organisms - their , resistance and virulence", said: "Enhanced approaches into ways of improving wound healing practices are urgently required. Understanding the problem organisms of infection cause will improve the effectiveness of skin disinfectants used during surgical procedures." "Devices such as central venous catheters, sutures and dressings can be designed to release antimicrobials and provide protection from associated infection during their lifetime, but this is impractical for long term devices. New strategies are needed to improve the current situation." A major concern is that the widespread use and dependence upon antibiotics and other antimicrobials with medical devices, sutures and dressings will encourage the development of resistance. Evidence for and against will be presented and discussed at the conference. The event has also gathered together speakers with expertise in front line wound management, material science, next generation device development and antimicrobial interventions at the molecular level. Other topics and presentations to be discussed at the conference include novel antimicrobial materials, devices such as drug eluting stents and catheters, along with developments in biomaterial design. The conference is aimed at academic, industrial and regulatory scientists working in biomaterials, synthetic chemistry, natural products, devices and formulation development, in addition to pharmaceutical and medial microbiologists. Delegates who register by Friday 24 July will save up to 10% on the booking fee. To view the programme, go to http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/sciconf090924.pdf. Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain


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