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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries
"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts.Bloggers are tentatively reacting to a report and blog post released by the Congressional Budget Office that summarizes the agency"s approach to estimating the cost of any health overhaul bills. At issue is how CBO will count different stipulations of legislation -- like an individual mandate or a public plan -- and whether their conclusions will result in a heftier price tag. Douglas Elmendorf explained on the Director"s Blog: "In CBO"s view, the key consideration is whether a proposal would be making health insurance an essentially governmental program, tightly controlled by the federal government with little choice available to those who offer and buy health insurance -- or whether the system would provide significant flexibility in terms of the types, prices, and number of private-sector sellers of insurance available to people. The former -- a governmental program -- belongs in the federal budget (including all premiums paid by individuals and firms to private insurers), but the latter -- a largely private-sector system -- does not." Janet Adamy of the Wall Street Journal"s Washington Wire notes that the report doesn"t address the cost estimates of the scenarios. Alan Katz on his Health Care Reform Blog concludes, "the message is clear: the looser government"s hand grips the new health care system the smaller its budgetary impact." Liberal bloggers had a variety of reactions -- some found the report too vague, while others saw it as good news. The New Republic"s Jonathan Cohn says, "you may need a Talmudic scholar to figure out what those implications are." Cohn continues, "Other passages in the briefing are [similarly] vexing and, for what it"s worth, the reactions I"ve gotten from insiders familiar with the report have ranged from sighs of relief to statements not suitable for a family blog." Ezra Klein agrees the report lacks specificity, but says, "Even so, I"m cheered by the simple existence of this ruling. The fact that CBO is explaining its thinking before legislation arrives [is] yet more evidence that CBO appears, insofar as it can, to be trying to help out on health reform. ... That"s an important change from past years." Interesting Elsewhere:
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Fabricant Named Interim Executive Director And CEO Of Natural Products Association
The Natural Products Association (NPA) announced that Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., has been appointed interim executive director and CEO of the organization effective August 3. Fabricant has served as vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with NPA since December of 2004. As was previously announced, David Seckman, who has headed the association for more than nine years, will be leaving at the end of the month to lead the Food Processing Suppliers Association.
News of the day
Carbapenems And Other Agents That Provide Broad-Spectrum Activity Are Preferred By Surveyed Physicians For The Treatment Of Intra-Abdominal Infections
Arlington Medical Res (AMR) and Decision Res find that surveyed physicians will increase prescribing of Wyeth"s Tygacil, Merck"s Invanz and Johnson & Johnson"s Doribax in the next five years for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections because of their potent broad-spectrum activity and efficacy against gram-negative and anaerobic organisms.
Diagnostics

New Research Evaluates The Impact Of Working Memory Training And Stimulant Medication On Kids With ADHD

A study to be published in the August 2009 edition of Applied Cognitive Psychology sheds new light on how Cogmed Working Memory Training and stimulant medication address working memory impairments in children with ADHD. Working memory, acknowledged as one of the core deficits in ADHD, represents the brain"s ability to hold and process critical information related to the present moment. This study represents the latest findings from a team of independent UK researchers whose ongoing work examines the impact of Cogmed"s software-based training program on individuals with disorders of memory and attention. Conducted at the University of York, the research was led by Joni Holmes, Ph.D., and Susan Gathercole, Ph.D. The study evaluated the effects of both working memory training and medication on 25 children with ADHD. Each child performed a battery of tests to assess different aspects of working memory twice before training, once when the children were taking their medication for ADHD and once when they were not. Tests measuring the same aspects of working memory were also administered immediately after the Cogmed training program, as well as six months after training as a follow up. The results show that stimulant medication significantly increases visuo-spatial working memory, but that Cogmed training leads to significant improvements in all four critical measures of working memory; verbal and visuo-spatial short-term and verbal and visuo-spatial working memory. The training effects remained six months after training. "We"re only just beginning to understand the different ways we can boost working memory. As we continue our work with children with ADHD and those with low working memory, it is very promising to see the magnitude and sustainability of gains following training," said Holmes. "This recent study illustrates the important and lasting effects Cogmed training can have on the underlying issues in ADHD," said Jonas Jendi, Cogmed"s CEO. "We are of course pleased to note that the study finds that the Cogmed training brings the working memory capacity of these children into the normal range, and that the findings hold for all of the six-month testing period. For a family struggling with ADHD and the school challenges that follow from the disorder, this is a finding that resonates." The study adds to a growing body of research showing that Cogmed Working Memory Training can lead to a range of lasting improvements for anyone with a working memory impairment, spanning from pre-school children, adolescents, working adults and seniors. For more information on the study, please visit here. For more information about the University of York, visit http://www.york.ac.uk. For a summary of this study, and on other Cogmed studies, visit http://www.cogmedresearch.com. Cogmed


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