Silent stroke symptoms kill millions

South Africa has joined the worldwide movement to educate the public on the symptoms and dangers of atrial fibrillation (AF), an under-diagnosed, under-treated and potentially life threatening condition. Read more >>

Doctors up in arms over council's tariff guidelines

Private sector doctors and dentists have criticised tariff guidelines published by the Health Professions Council of SA last week as unscientific and out of kilter with the reality of running a healthcare business. Read more >>

Government must intervene in health care costs

South Africans are paying up to five times more than other nations when it comes to the cost of health care. This is the opinion of Dr. Anban Pillay, deputy director in the Department of Health. Read more >>

Make your medical savings funds stretch

Statistically by now, over half of South Africa's eight million medical aid members would have run out of their medical savings funds that cover day-to-day expenses, which may contribute to less effective disease management. Mariska Fouche, spokesperson for Pharma Dynamics, says it is vital that medical scheme members manage their medical savings funds better. Read more >>

Medical Aid rules re: late joining, further legislation may be needed

[Sylvester Appasamy] As four medical schemes have been taken to task over the application of late joiner penalties and waiting periods, it is important to understand the rationale behind the medical aid societies' rules. However, these four schemes are not alone in the industry to be applying late joiner penalties and waiting periods. Read more >>

Yale team discovers how stress and depression can shrink the brain

[Bill Hathaway] Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now a team of researchers led by Yale scientists has discovered one reason why this occurs - a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models. Read more >>

Natural birth - but not C-section - triggers brain boosting proteins

[Karen N. Peart] Vaginal birth triggers the expression of a protein in the brains of newborns that improves brain development and function in adulthood, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, who also found that this protein expression is impaired in the brains of offspring delivered by caesarean section (C-sections). Read more >>

TRPM7 protein key to breast cancer metastasis in animal models

The protein transient receptor potential melastatin-like 7 (TRPM7) is a critical determinant of breast cancer cell metastasis, according to study results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Read more >>

South African label overcomes multi-lingual pharmaceutical requirements

Research conducted at the second Annual Pharma Packaging and Labelling Compliance conference revealed that the most pressing issue within in the pharmaceutical industry was the fact that manufacturers that export their products are required to abide by different legislation in different countries, compounded by the need to use text in different languages on the label of products they export. Read more >>

Drug firms win SA preference tender

[Tamar Kahn] The Department of Health has awarded its first tender aligned with the government's latest industrial policy which gives preference to local manufacturers, boosting business for some of SA's biggest drug firms. Read more >>