The Parents Zone

Heres whats making health news this morning:

Health Case Ripples Outward (WSJ): After three days of arguments over the constitutionality of the health-care overhaul, its impossible to predict how the Supreme Court will rule, but skepticism from some justices heightens the possibility it could be overturned in June. Also: Three Days of Hearings Yield Five Take-Aways.

Obesity-Linked Cancers Increase (WSJ): Overall cancer diagnoses in the U.S.

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Doctors at Yale University have successfully implanted a biodegradablescaffold seeded with a four-year-old girls own bone-marrowcells to help treat a serious heart defect, as WSJs Heartbeat column describes.

The tube about three inches long is made of polyester material similar to that used in the manufacture of dissolvable sutures.

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Salmonella bacteria

By Timothy W. Martin

As the amount of food shipped from overseas continues to rise, so does the risk of any contamination sparking outbreaks in multiple states.

As WSJ reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of disease outbreaks from imported food is rising, with 39 outbreaks between 2005 and 2010. Nearly half of those occurred in 2009-10, and 45% of the foods that sickened people originated in Asia.

Almost a quarter of the import outbreaks occurred across several states, the CDC said, compared to just 1% of all outbreaks.

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The CFIDS Association of America says that $2 million in funding backed by individual gifts including a $250,000 donation from best-selling writer Laura Hillenbrand, who has chronic fatigue syndrome is going to grants and projects designed to accelerate the development of treatments for CFS.

One of the new projects: an attempt at so-called drug repurposing, when already-approved drugs for one indication are tried in a different disease.

As the WSJ has reported, drug repurposing is getting a big push from a number of quarters, including the NIH, which is targeting repurposing efforts in rare diseases, and organizations such as the ALS Therapy Development Institute, which recently reported that an approved multiple sclerosis drug appeared to be effective in mice with ALS.

The high cost of developing new therapies has helped drive recent interest in drug repurposing.

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