Health Insurance
This Independence Day, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in conjunction with Ralphs and L.A. Care Health Plan, is helping LA County residents declare their freedom from smoking by giving away free two-week starter kits of nicotine patches or gum. The quit smoking aids are free to residents of LA County at 47 participating Ralphs Pharmacies throughout the county between the hours of 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., while supplies last.
Adult obesity rates did not decrease in a single state over the past year, but rather increased in 23 states. Also, the percentage of obese and overweight children is now at or above 30 percent in 30 states.
A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions.
In times of doubt and uncertainty, many Americans turn to self-help books in search of encouragement, guidance and self-affirmation. The positive self-statements suggested in these books, such as "I am a lovable person" or "I will succeed," are designed to lift a person"s low self-esteem and push them into positive action. According to a recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, however, these statements can actually have the opposite effect.
Professor Peter Piot, Director of the Institute for Global Health at Imperial College, is joining the Board of Trustees at Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) this month.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced that their marketing authorization application for ONGLYZA™ (saxagliptin) received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults as add-on therapy with metformin, a thiazolidinedione or a sulphonylurea.
Psychotherapy consists of a series of techniques for treating mental health, emotional and some psychiatric disorders. Psychotherapy helps the patient understand what helps them feel positive or anxious, as well as accepting their strong and weak points. If people can identify their feelings and ways of thinking they become better at coping with difficult situations.
The essential chromosomal protein complex cohesin has crucial roles in sister chromatid cohesion, DNA repair and transcriptional regulation. Despite its conserved function, cohesin"s disparate association patterns in different organisms did not quite add up. New research published in the open access journal Genome Biology works towards completing the cohesin puzzle, reconciling some of these differences.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA), UK, informed yesterday 3rd July, 2009, in its weekly update that the total number of confirmed human cases of Swine Flu A(H1N1) infection has reached 7,447. British health authorities estimate that the figure will be over 100,000 by the end of this summer.
Using zebrafish, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have identified and described an enzyme inhibitor that allows them to increase the number of cardiac progenitor cells and therefore influence the size of the developing heart. The findings are described in the advance online version of Nature Chemical Biology.
Puberty is the period in children"s lives when they experience physical changes by which their bodies eventually become adult bodies that are capable of reproducing. Puberty is triggered by hormone signals from the brain to the ovaries and testes (gonads). The ovaries (in girls) and testes (in boys) respond to hormone signals from the brain by producing a range of hormones that stimulate the growth, function and change in various parts of the body, including the reproductive organs, breasts, skin, muscles, bones, hair and the brain.
Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CGRB) announced today that the initial offering period of Johnson & Johnson"s (NYSE: JNJ) tender offer for all the outstanding shares of Cougar common stock expired at midnight (Eastern time) on July 2, 2009. The offer was conducted through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson named Kite Merger Sub, Inc.
In the hope of stemming one of the biggest public health crises in Southeast Asia, Yale University is partnering with the University of Malaya to fight the spread of HIV among drug users in Malaysia who are completing prison terms and transitioning back into the community. The two universities recently signed a letter of intent expressing their continued commitment to this partnership, which is funded by a $4.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Responding to the written statement from the Secretary of State for Health, Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said:
Suspected side effects to swine flu antiviral medicines can now be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) via a new dedicated webpage (http://www.mhra.gov.uk/swineflu).
Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (OTCBB: PWRM), announced that results for the early stage diagnosis from clinical validation trials of the NuroPro® PD test for Parkinson"s disease are better than expected. The NuroPro PD test was developed to help clinicians distinguish patients with Parkinson"s disease from "normal" individuals and patients with other neurological disorders. The NuroPro PD test, developed by Power3, utilizes a panel of blood serum protein biomarkers evaluated by biostatistical analysis to predict the probability that a patient has Parkinson"s disease. The test is intended to solve a critical challenge facing physicians, clinicians, and patients for a quick, early stage and accurate diagnosis of the debilitating disease known as Parkinson"s.
The global economic downturn has "reversed a 20-year decline in world poverty" and could "add up to 90 million to the ranks of the hungry in 2009, an increase of six percent over current totals," according to a U.N. report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched in Geneva on Monday, Reuters reports (Evans, 7/6).
The 2 million Pakistani refugees forced from their homes due to a military offensive against Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley continue to be at high risk for diseases "as they cope with damaged water and sewage systems in towns and villages," according to the U.N., Bloomberg reports. "Displaced people are threatened with diarrhea, measles and respiratory infections as a result of the strain on the health service, [Eric] Laroche, [assistant director-general of the Health Action in Crises Cluster of the WHO], said. So far, the WHO"s early warning system has managed to identify and control more than 30 potential communicable disease outbreaks, he said," Bloomberg writes (Tighe/Qayum, 7/3).
The AP/Los Angeles Times examines Haiti"s success at reducing the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the country through the work of the "nonprofit groups, Boston-based Partners in Health (PIH) and Port-au-Prince"s GHESKIO, widely considered to be the world"s oldest AIDS clinic." Haiti"s HIV rate is "lower than the Bahamas, Guyana and Suriname, and much lower than sub-Saharan Africa, where the rate averages about 5 percent but spikes to 24 percent in Botswana and 33 percent in Swaziland," according to the newspaper. Still, as the article notes, Haiti"s "crisis is far from over," with varying infection rates across remote regions in the country.
Parkison"s Disease Drugs Could Treat MDR-TB, XDR-TB
OmniGuide, Inc., the developer of the first and only flexible CO2 laser fiber based on breakthrough photonic bandgap technology, announced the results of a pre-clinical study comparing the Company"s fiber scalpels to conventional incision methods in neurosurgery. In the study, surgeons from the Barrow Neurological Institute reported that careful studies of incisions produced in live brain tissue with fiber delivered CO2 laser radiation produced precise cuts while minimally effecting adjacent brain tissue when compared with a widely used reference technique. The study, led by Drs. Mark Preul, Robert W. Ryan, and Robert Spetzler of the Neurosurgery Research Laboratory, Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona, was presented at the annual conference of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons in San Diego, California.
Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) announced that the results of the long-term, 5-year study of Lantus(R) (insulin glargine [rDNA] injection) versus NPH insulin on progression of retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes, published on-line in Diabetologia (DOI 10.1007/s00125-009-1415-7) showed similar effects on retinopathy and overall safety in the two treatment groups. This is the longest controlled study ever reported using insulin glargine.
Surgical removal of a tissue sample is now the standard for diagnosing cancer. Such procedures, known as biopsies, are accurate but only offer a snapshot of the tumor at a single moment in time.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced it received a fourth approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ALIMTA(R) (pemetrexed for injection). The latest approval is for ALIMTA as a maintenance therapy for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), specifically for patients with a nonsquamous histology whose disease has not progressed after four cycles of platinum-based first-line chemotherapy. ALIMTA is not indicated for treatment of patients with squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer.
A procedure that sends targeted energy into the heart through a catheter can be used to treat a common type of irregular heartbeat, but little is known about the treatment"s long-term benefits and the best methods and circumstances for applying it, according to a new report funded by HHS" Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Mercedes Walton, CEO of Cryo-Cell International, one of the largest and most established family cord blood banks, is praising legislative progress to date and encouraging continued momentum for existing bills through the second half of the year. H.R. 1718, the "Family Cord Blood Banking Act," and H.R. 2107, the "Cord Blood Education and Awareness Act of 2009" would continue to build on the progress from the first half of the year to enable and promote the continued research, public awareness and tax benefits related to storing and using cord blood, all of which provide great benefit to families across America.
AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement on the final National Institutes of Health"s (NIH) Guidelines on Human Stem Research, published today:
Senator Christopher Dodd, who is presiding over the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the absence of Committee Chair Edward Kennedy, today released the remaining portions of the health care reform bill that the Committee will consider when the July 4th recess ends. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the bill:
Democrats and Republicans are saying that they will need to compromise on a government-run public plan if they are to meet the deadline of having a bill on the Senate floor by the August recess, The Associated Press reports.
The Medicare Rights Center (Medicare Rights) and Food Bank For New York City (Food Bank) have joined forces to enroll poor older New York City residents in programs to help them afford health care and healthy food. Funded by a $1 million grant from the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the two advocacy organizations will help city seniors enroll in four under-utilized assistance programs, with a total project value to enrollees of $46 million.
President Obama on Friday said that although he intends to reverse the Bush administration"s provider "conscience" rule, he still favors a "robust" federal policy that would enhance the rights of health care workers to refuse to perform certain procedures because of moral or religious objections, the Washington Post reports. In a session with reporters one week before his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, Obama said that he is a "believer in conscience clauses." He added that a new policy from his administration "may not meet the criteria of every possible critic of our approach, but it certainly will not be weaker than what existed before the changes were made." According to the Post, Obama"s comments aimed to reassure Roman Catholic health care workers that they would still be able to refuse to perform abortions and other procedures that go against the Church"s teachings. Several federal laws in place since the 1970s protect the rights of health care workers with moral or religious objections (Salmon, Washington Post, 7/3). Nancy Berlinger, deputy director of the Hastings Center, said that conscience laws also "are on the books in almost every state." She added, "The idea was that when abortion moved from being an illegal procedure, therefore something that you did not offer in a hospital, to being a legal procedure, therefore something that you might offer in a hospital, there was a move to protect providers ... from having to participate in abortions." However, not all conscience laws are specific to abortion, NPR"s "Morning Edition" reports. For example, some allow providers to refuse to provide birth control, in vitro fertilization or end-of-life care (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).The Bush administration said its 2008 policy was designed to ensure that the federal laws are enforced. The policy would cut off federal funding to health care facilities and other entities that did not accommodate workers who refused to participate in certain procedures (Washington Post, 7/3). Joxel Garcia, the assistant secretary for health in the Bush administration who helped write the policy, said that it is necessary because few health care workers are aware of the protections. He added that the policy gives health workers "a mechanism to seek help" through HHS.However, critics of the Bush administration"s policy contend that it would widely expand the scope of health care covered by the policy and the type of health care workers who could object to procedures. Berlinger said, "Words like belief, when you talk about them in the context of health care, aren"t just anything you might think of." She noted that a "false belief about science or the promotion of ambiguity where things can be disambiguated," such as the claim that birth control is equivalent to abortion, "is not ethical" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).Obama"s plan to replace the policy has stoked concern from Catholic health care providers that they would be forced to perform abortions, sterilizations and other procedures that go against Catholic teachings (Washington Post, 7/3). A recent survey conducted for the Christian Medical Association found that 90% of doctors surveyed said that "they will quit their practices before violating their conscience," according to David Stevens, executive director of CMA. Stevens said that repealing the Bush administration"s rule "sends a clear message: It"s open season on health care professionals of conscience -- discriminate at will" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).Obama on Friday also said that although he and the pope have areas of "deep agreement ... there are going to be some areas where we"ve got some disagreements," such as abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. The president will meet with the pope on July 10, while he is in Europe for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. Obama Addresses Catholic Concerns on Pregnancy PreventionObama also discussed opposition to the inclusion of comprehensive sex education and contraception in any legislative pac
In answering two certified questions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the Ohio State Supreme Court on July 1 declared that a state law regulating the use of mifepristone -- which is used in medication abortion -- bars physicians from prescribing it for off-label use, BNA reports. The court confirmed that doctors who use the drug to induce abortion must do so in compliance with the 49-day gestational limit included in FDA"s 2000 drug approval letter. Doctors also must prescribe the drug in accordance with the protocols and dosage indications included in its FDA-approved labeling.Interpretation of State Law in ContentionThe Ohio General Assembly in 2004 passed a law (Section 2919.123 (A)) that required any health care professional prescribing or dispensing mifepristone to comply with "all provisions of federal law that govern the use" of the drug. The law defines "federal law" as "any law, rule or regulation of the United States or any drug approval letter" from FDA "that governs or regulates the use of" mifepristone for inducing abortion. FDA"s approval letter states that the drug "is indicated for use in the termination of pregnancy (through 49 days" pregnancy) and has no other approved indication for use during pregnancy." In addition, the drug"s label states the recommended dosage and that its use requires three office visits by the patient. Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region challenged the law in district court, arguing that neither FDA"s approval letter nor any other federal provision bans the off-label use of mifespristone to induce abortion beyond 49 days" gestation. The group also argued that the state law was unconstitutionally vague because it did not notify abortion providers in advance regarding which FDA documents were included in the state"s criminal law. In addition, Planned Parenthood said that prohibiting the evidence-based use of the drug would infringe on the rights of women, requiring them to take higher-than-necessary dosages of the drug or to undergo surgical abortions when a noninvasive alternative is available. The district court ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, saying that the law was void because of vagueness. The state appealed the decision to the 6th Circuit, which then submitted two questions to the state Supreme Court seeking its interpretation of the law.The state Supreme Court ruled that FDA"s drug approval letter is included in the definition of "federal law" and that the state law is not ambiguous, according to BNA. The court said that because the drug approval letter incorporated FDA"s labeling text, Ohio physicians cannot prescribe or provide mifepristone to induce abortion outside of the stipulations of the drug approval letter and approved label. According to BNA, product liability law experts say the ruling will not have an impact outside of mifepristone or the state of Ohio.Case Returns to Appeals CourtRoger Evans of Planned Parenthood Federation of America said that he is not sure if the court"s decision helps or hurts the group"s case. Evans said that the district court declared the law unconstitutional based on an interpretation that the statute operates in the same way the state Supreme Court ruled it does. He noted that there are other possible interpretations of the law that would have solved the constitutional issues at the center of the litigation. However, because those issues were not resolved, the case now returns to the 6th Circuit, which will decide if the statute is constitutional based on the state Supreme Court"s interpretation. If the circuit court agrees with the district court that the statute is unconstitutionally vague, the state of Ohio could seek a U.S. Supreme Court review. If the circuit court finds that the statute is constitutional, the case likely will be sent back to the district court for resolution of some other issues in the case, according to BNA (BNA, 7/6).
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) commends Chairman Kennedy and Senator Dodd on the recent version of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill that includes a public health insurance option and reforms to expand access, and urges leaders in Washington to further strengthen legislation. AMSA calls for a robust public health insurance option funded by tax revenue, available to all Americans.
In this week"s open access journal PLoS Medicine, Nayreen Daruwalla and
Chronic seizures caused by traumatic head injuries may result from chemicals released by the brain"s immune system attempting to repair the injured site, according to a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Riders across the country will take to the streets on Friday, May 15 in celebration of National Bike to Work Day. In support of their efforts and enthusiasm, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) offers tips for reducing the risk of bicycle-related injury through proper bike fit.
Long-term survival for patients undergoing surgical repair of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms has improved in recent decades, according to a Swedish study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Research from the Johns Hopkins Children"s Center exposes alarming gaps in training hospital residents in "first response" emergency treatment of staged cardiorespiratory arrests in children, while at the same time offering a potent recipe for fixing the problem.
A tightly controlled system of checks and balances ensures that a powerful tumor suppressor called p53 keeps a tight lid on unchecked cell growth but doesn"t wreak havoc in healthy cells. In their latest study, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggest just how finely tuned the system is and how little it takes to tip the balance.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBST), a leading acute care therapeutics company, announced that it has begun dosing in the CONSERV™-2 clinical trial with ecallantide. CONSERV-2, being conducted in Europe, is a Phase 2 trial that will investigate ecallantide"s effect on surgical blood loss volume in cardiac surgery patients who are on cardiopulmonary bypass and are at a high risk of bleeding. The trial is expected to enroll 300 subjects.
Primary Health Care Trusts (PCTs) the length of England could soon find themselves in the High Court over the pitiful lack of appropriate treatment being offered to those with severe alcohol problems following an audit carried out by pressure group UK Advocates.
The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) praised the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Final Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research that were issued today. Susan L. Solomon, NYSCF CEO, applauded the NIH for listening carefully to the public response to its earlier draft guidelines and its willingness to make modifications in furtherance of stem cell science. "We are pleased that the NIH guidelines issued today provide a way in which funding may be considered for existing stem cell lines, on which current research is being done. President Barack Obama"s leadership on this issue, which will impact generations to come, is to be applauded."
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals (P&GP) announced the availability of Asacol HD (mesalamine) delayed-release tablets, which are indicated for the treatment of moderately active ulcerative colitis (UC), a form of inflammatory bowel disease. UC involves inflammation of the lining of the colon and rectum and is typically characterized by flares followed by periods of remission. Moderately active UC is characterized by tougher symptoms than mildly active UC. Asacol HD is proven to help treat these tougher flares of moderately active UC. Asacol HD was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on evaluations from the ASCEND studies [Assessing the Safety and Clinical Efficacy of a New Dose of 5-ASA (4.8 g/day 800 mg tablet)].
State and local health departments get mixed marks for efforts to convey information about the H1N1 virus to the public using their Web sites immediately after U.S. officials declared a public health emergency in April, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Black women diagnosed with breast cancer have a greater chance of dying from the disease than white women, according to a new study published online July 7 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The Society for Vascular Nursing (SVN) has released the first in a series of guidelines being developed that will focus on the nursing care of patients with vascular disease. Working as a collective group of experts, members of SVN have developed guidelines based on the latest available evidence supporting patient care, 2009 Clinical Practice Guideline for Patients Undergoing Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA), which appears in the June issue of the Journal of Vascular Nursing published by Elsevier.
The Washington Times recently included a two-part series examining President Obama"s proposed reallocation of abstinence-only sex education funding in his 2010 budget plan. The proposal would redirect funding toward a new Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative that uses comprehensive sex education curriculums. Summaries of the series appear below.~ Part 1: Obama"s budget proposal states that funds for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative should go to programs that are proven to help delay first sex, increase contraceptive use or reduce teen pregnancy, though a few advocates of comprehensive sex education say such goals are laudable but too narrow, the Times reports. William Smith -- vice president for public policy for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States -- and James Wagoner -- president of Advocates for Youth -- wrote in a June 17 blog entry that preventing unintended pregnancy among teens is "incredibly important" but that it is "not the only sexual and reproductive health issue facing our nation"s youth." They continued that it would be more beneficial to "expand the scope" of the initiative so it can serve "all young people in all communities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, whose needs fall wholly outside of the narrow teen-pregnancy-prevention framework." According to the Times, Smith said in an interview that money allotted for the initiative would be best used if it went to programs focused on "good outcomes" for youth, "not these disaster-aversion silos that don"t serve us well." Wagoner said that advocates have been "very clear in giving the president credit for shifting tracks here in a big way" by ending funding for abstinence-only sex education. However, he added that it is "our job to press for the right destination" and to see the changes implemented into law (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 6/28).~ Part 2: Some supporters of Obama"s proposal argue that it is "exactly the right idea, at the right time," as the U.S. teen birth rate has increased in the last two years after 14 years of decline, the Times reports. Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said that Obama"s proposal is the "first really focused expenditure on effective teen pregnancy prevention programs." Brown noted that the U.S. has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth in the industrialized world. She said that the best programs will address one or more of the three goals of the initiative -- delaying first sex, increasing contraceptive use or reducing teen pregnancy. Last month, about 175 organizations sent a letter to Obama and members of Congress calling for an expanded initiative that would include subjects such as sexually transmitted infections and abusive relationships. However, Brown said that many teen pregnancy prevention programs include discussion of STIs and other areas, "[s]o we really don"t see much tension here" (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 7/5).
"Society of Interventional Radiology 2009 Standards Division Guidelines" is the
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "Just the Facts, Sir: The False Dichotomy of Catholics vs. "Pro-Choice" on Common Ground," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: In anticipation of the release of the White House"s "common ground" proposal to reduce the need for abortion and help prevent unintended pregnancies, "numerous members of the male pontificator commentariat are trying to spark anxiety by claiming Obama will have to make a choice between "the Catholic vote" and "the pro-choice community,"" Jacobson writes. However, "[n]othing could be further from the truth," she states, noting that Obama received the majority of the Catholic vote in the election and that a "majority of Catholic voters approve of [his] performance to date." There is "no danger" of Obama losing Catholic support "on this particular issue, as long as the administration makes clear its values and principles and goals and objectives, and as long as it sticks to the facts," Jacobson continues. She lists several steps that the White House should take with its proposal, including making it clear that the administration is "committed to evidence-based policies in public health" and that "the best way to reduce unintended pregnancies, and hence the need for abortion, is to provide universal access to prevention services." By focusing on evidence-based public health policies, the Obama administration "can, in the long run, actually bring profound change to this debate," Jacobson writes. She concludes that "evidence-based policies put into practice will achieve many of the goals we seek and take the air out of the ideological fight in which we have been engaged" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 7/2).~ "Is Denying Women Abortions the Price of Bipartisanship?" Igor Volsky, Think Progress" "The Wonk Room": Volsky writes that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee reportedly are pushing health care reform legislation that would require insurers participating in a new national health insurance exchange to exclude coverage for abortion services. According to Volsky, the committee"s version of the bill would be the only piece of health care reform legislation "that specifically prohibits -- takes away, rations, if you will -- a medical service." Meanwhile, health care reform legislation being considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House"s three committees that govern health care "leaves the coverage decisions -- the design of the so-called essential benefit packages" -- to the HHS secretary or an expert committee. Volsky notes that approximately one in three U.S. women will have an abortion by age 45 and that private insurers usually cover the procedure. He writes, "As Republicans often argue, Congress should leave benefits decisions to the medical professionals." He adds that "if denying abortion services to women is the price of bipartisanship, then perhaps winning those one or two Republican votes isn"t worth the price of jeopardizing women"s health and well-being" (Volsky, "The Wonk Room," Think Progress, 7/6).~ "House Moves To Lift Bans On Abortion Funding, Needle Exchange, Domestic Partnership and Medical Marijuana in D.C.," Choice Words: The fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill currently under review in the House "would lift a number of reproductive justice-related funding bans" in the District of Columbia, including a ban on using locally-raised funds for abortion, the blog entry states. "Access to abortion in D.C. has been severely limited by anti-choice Congresspeople playing politics with the district," the blog says, noting that Congress has "supreme authority" over the district"s funding. The bill also would end bans on using funds for certain other purposes, such as domestic partnership registration and benefits, according to the blog. The blog concludes that the "fight to lift these funding bans is just beginning" and is an "important first step towards protecting reproductiv
"While Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is expected to be on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee only for a short time, he should have a major effect on health reform," Roll Call reports. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chose Whitehouse to temporarily take the place of former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), now secretary of State, on HELP because of his experience with health care policy at the state level." But when Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., takes over "the long-vacant Minnesota seat, Whitehouse"s time on the committee will soon be coming to an end -- but not before the health debate is finished."
Services for veterans have improved recently, but many veterans say more improvements still need to be made.
New data demonstrate that maintenance therapy with RISPERDAL(R) CONSTA(R) (risperidone) Long-Acting Treatment (RLAT) significantly delayed the time to relapse compared to placebo in patients with Bipolar I Disorder. Results of the study were presented this week at a major medical meeting.
Jeremiah (Jere) Mead, architect of the field of respiratory mechanics and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), passed away on July 4, 2009, at a health care facility in Ellsworth, ME. He was 88 years old.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered a molecular coupling factor that helps bones grow and remodel themselves to stay strong, a finding that could lead to better bone-building therapies and new osteoporosis drugs, the researchers said
Many of the diseases that we develop as adults likely began in our mothers" wombs. This provocative idea and others-including the causes of infertility, the impact of the environment on maternal and fetal health, and new approaches to unraveling the molecular pathways that guide reproduction-will be among the topics discussed at the 42nd annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR), which runs from July 18 to 22 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown Pittsburgh.
A new online training course from the British Dental Association (BDA) that qualifies dental care professionals (DCPs) to advise patients on oral health has been launched. Combining theoretical knowledge and the development of communication skills, the course aims to see DCPs put an enhanced skill-set into practice with confidence.
The nation"s first standard to safeguard workers from the spread of airborne diseases was approved yesterday by California"s Office of Administrative Law and filed with the Secretary of State. With full support from labor and management stakeholders, on May 21 the Cal/OSHA Standards Board unanimously approved the Aerosol Transmissible Disease (ATD) standard which is designed to protect workers in healthcare and related industries from the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, influenza, and other pathogens spread by coughing and sneezing. The standard becomes effective on August 5.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization released the following statement in response to the National Institutes of Health"s (NIH) final guidelines on federal funding of stem cell research, which includes embryonic stem cell research. The new guidelines go into effect today.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have shown that endoscopic surgery is a valid treatment option for treating esthesioneuroblastoma (cancer of the nasal cavity), in addition to traditional open surgery and nonsurgical treatments. These findings appear in the July issue of Laryngoscope.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 16 percent of children ages 6-19 years are overweight or obese - a number that has tripled since 1980.
Patients across the country are voicing a growing desire for greater engagement in, and control over, their own medical care. A new study led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) will examine the impact of adding new layer of openness to a traditionally one-sided element of the doctor-patient relationship - the notes from patients" doctors" visits.
Commenting today on the Finance Minister"s decision that he would not allocate the necessary ÷£55 million funding to combat the swine flu pandemic, Dr Brian Patterson, Chairman of the BMA"s Northern Ireland Council said,
Rasilez® (aliskiren), the first new type of high blood pressure medicine in more than a decade, has been approved for use in Japan. Rasilez directly inhibits renin9, an enzyme that triggers a process leading to high blood pressure and organ damage. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan approved Rasilez for the treatment of high blood pressure alone or in combination with other high blood pressure medicines.
Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to develop acute lung injury, or ALI, as white Americans, according to researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. The study also revealed that black patients did not have a higher risk of in-hospital death when compared to white patients.
A single case study from Israel of a bilingual man who suffered damage to one part of his brain suggests that a person"s first and second language
The White House announced that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan will host an all-day H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit with states to further prepare this nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of H1N1 flu. The Summit will be held on July 9, 2009 at the Natcher Conference Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
A condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH, is easily treatable but frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed, leading to infertility and other "perplexing symptoms," the New York Times reports. CAH is a hormone deficiency that leads to excess production of androgens, which can hinder ovulation in women and cause low sperm count in men. It also can cause short stature, body odor, acne, irregular menstruation and excessive hair growth. The condition can be diagnosed through a blood test and treated with small doses of the steroid dexamethasone, which can reverse symptoms in three months to two-and-one-half years.According to Maria New, a leading authority on CAH and a professor of pediatrics and human genetics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the disease occurs in one in every 100 people in the general population. It is more common among certain ethnic groups, occurring in one in 27 Ashkenazi Jews and one in 40 Hispanics. Not everyone with the condition has symptoms or needs to be treated. The most severe form of the disease, classic CAH, can result in ambiguous genitalia in girls, while the milder nonclassical form sometimes produce no symptoms, the Times reports.Many fertility clinics do not test for the disease or only test after attempting other treatments. Some obstetricians are unaware of CAH and its effect on fertility, according to Zev Rosenwaks, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell hospital. CAH also can be confused with polycystic ovarian syndrome -- which has some similar symptoms -- or early puberty in younger patients (Tarkan, New York Times, 7/7).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that stillbirth occurs in about one in every 160 pregnancies in the U.S., but physicians rarely warn pregnant women or their partners about the possibility, Washington Post staff writer Alan Goldenbach writes in an article discussing his experience when his wife"s pregnancy ended in stillbirth. In the U.S., the clinical definition for stillbirth is the death of a fetus after 20 weeks" gestation or weighing 350 grams if the age is unknown.There are about 26,000 stillbirths annually in the U.S., according to CDC. Goldenbach writes that this is "10 times the number of deaths attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, which has been identified as a key public health issue, and four times the incidence rate of Down syndrome, for which prenatal testing has become almost ritual." He continues that many doctors told him and his wife "that they don"t see any point in discussing stillbirth, that it"s a catch-all term for an event, and one that is frequently unexplained." Doctors contend that if they knew the causes or signs of stillbirth, they would warn patients or take preventive action, he adds. Noting that awareness of SIDS spurred research into preventive measures, Goldenbach writes that "[w]e can"t know if improved technology or more stringent standards of monitoring can lower stillbirth rates unless we do the research."Ruth Fretts, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and chair of the scientific committee for the International Stillbirth Alliance, said, "It"s a trade-off -- you are going to frighten a lot of people" by discussing stillbirths. According to Fretts" research, the leading cause of fetal death after 28 weeks" gestation is an unexplained . Goldenbach writes, "Several doctors told us privately that many ob-gyns fear charges of malpractice following a stillbirth, leading them to avoid citing a cause of death."Stillbirth Legislation in Development Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is drafting legislation similar to a stillbirth prevention bill that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced in June 2008. According to s familiar with the bill, it will be brought to the Senate floor before the August recess. The legislation will expand stillbirth registries already in operation in Iowa and metropolitan Atlanta. The bill"s supporters hope to have as many as 12 states participating in the registry and installing a standard protocol for data collection after each stillbirth. Another provision would create a campaign to increase public awareness and strengthen grief support services, Goldenbach writes (Goldenbach, Washington Post, 7/6).
The Wall Street Journal reports: "Industry representatives met at the White House Tuesday with officials to consider specifics of a cost-saving agreement the industry reached last month with health-care negotiators and to discuss other concerns that the pharmaceutical industry has with the larger health-care overhaul being considered by Congress. As a presidential candidate, President Barack Obama endorsed re-importation, an idea the industry opposes. White House officials have told the industry if the larger health care bill passes, the cost savings will be so great that reimportation will be unnecessary, according to Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America." Some of the pharmaceutical companies represented at the Tuesday meeting included Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Abbott Laboratories and AstraZeneca.
The idea of taxing health care benefits is proving to be a divisive issue for Democrats as they continue to press forward in health overhaul negotiations. "One day after lawmakers returned from a weeklong vacation, the White House and Democratic leadership made a conspicuous effort to assert control over the effort to push health insurance legislation through committees and both houses of Congress over the next five weeks," the Associated Press reports. "While Obama has called for a bipartisan measure, a partisan bill written by and for Democrats is also a possibility, given the size of the party"s majorities in the House and Senate. ̣€¦ Nowhere were the challenges of passing legislation more evident than in the Senate. There, several Democratic officials said the party"s leadership told (Sen. Max) Baucus, D-Mont., that they were unhappy with any tax on health care benefits - a key component of bipartisan negotiations - and expressed fears it could lose more votes on their side of the aisle than it gained among Republicans."
U.S. News & World Report examines cost, frequency, and outcomes studies on Medicare patients from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice : "The Dartmouth research is particularly relevant to older Americans because it is based to a large extent on Medicare data, involving patients ages 65 and older. The 2008 atlas, in particular, paints a devastating portrait of Medicare treatments based on an extensive study of Medicare recipients who died from one or more of nine chronic illnesses. Not only are chronic illnesses very expensive to treat, but they"re also the cause of most deaths in the United States. According to the 2008 atlas: More than 90 million Americans live with at least one chronic illness, and 7 out of 10 Americans die from chronic disease. Among the population that receives Medicare, the toll is even greater: About 9 out of 10 deaths are associated with just nine chronic illnesses: congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, cancer, coronary artery disease, renal failure, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, chronic liver disease, and dementia."
Within the next few days, the WHO "will recommend that countries stop trying to test all suspected cases of swine flu, said Keiji Fukuda, the agency"s assistant director-general of health security and environment," Tuesday during a conference call with reporters, Bloomberg reports. Instead, countries who have previously confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in their population should diagnose the flu based on symptoms alone, opening up "laboratories to test samples in unusual or severe cases, clusters of illnesses and cases with odd symptoms, he said," Bloomberg writes (Serafino/Hallam, 7/7).
-- The NPHS influenza surveillance scheme, which records reports of diagnoses of flu from more than 300 GP practices across Wales, shows low levels of influenza activity in all parts of Wales. Further detail can be found on the NPHS website.
WASHINGTON-AARP"s Health Action Now campaign turns its
The doctor"s mouth opens, and "medicalese" pours forth: words like "pyrosis" and "myocardial infarction." The patient"s eyes glaze over. If only the doctor said "heartburn" or "heart attack," the patient could learn what caused the chest pain.
A team of researchers from DuPont and Lehigh University has reported a breakthrough in the quest to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are suitable for use in electronics, medicine and other applications.
Transplant patients rely on drugs to prevent graft rejection, but at the cost of serious side effects. The class of immunosuppressive drugs known as calcineurin inhibitors (examples are cyclosporine and tacrolimus) can damage patients" kidneys and lead to high blood pressure, among other problems.
Boston University School of Medicine researchers (BUSM) have observed in a study of pregnant women that consumption of at least seven servings per day of fruits and vegetables moderately reduced the risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). The BUSM study appears online in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
Bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in plastics and known to cause reproductive problems in the offspring of pregnant mice exposed to it, also has been found to retard the growth of follicles of adult mice and hinder their production of steroid hormones, researchers report.
Researchers of the University of Granada (Spain) have used a technique consisting of the induction of neuronal degeneration neuronal for intense light exposure in the mouse"s retina that will be helpful for the study of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a group of hereditary diseases which lead to blindness and affect more than one million persons a year all over the world. In addition, the results of this research work could be very useful for the detection of new factors or molecules originated by microglial cells and related to degenerative processes of the retina.
If you have the financial res of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett you needn"t pay money to a health plan each month, since if you get sick or injured - even very seriously - you have more than enough money to pay all your medical bills yourself.
Treatment with the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab improved hearing and alleviated other symptoms in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). In a paper to appear in the July 23 New England Journal of Medicine, which is receiving early online release, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that bevacizumab treatment successfully shrank characteristic tumors in a small group of NF2 patients, the first reported successful NF2 treatment not involving surgery or radiation.
A ÷£5million package of measures is being rolled out to help improve services for children and young people with communication problems. A new Communication Champion is also being recruited to raise the profile of these issues, Children"s Secretary, Ed Balls and Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced today.
For the past half-century or more, conservation goals
A consultation on a new national three-digit number - 111 - that will make it easier for patients to access urgent care wherever they are was launched by Ofcom.
The California Immunization Coalition recently bestowed the Natalie J. Smith, MD, MPH Immunization Champion Award upon Steve Baranov, vice president for community health at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) and executive director of South Los Angeles Health Projects.
US scientists found that when rhesus monkeys were kept on a nutritious but reduced calorie diet for 20 years they led a longer and healthier life with
In recent news reports, there was a statement made that abuse experienced as a child can later lead to the development of autoimmune diseases, including lupus. There is no scientific evidence to support this statement, either in humans or animal models of lupus. Stress is sometimes listed as a "trigger" for a lupus flare in a patient that has lupus. Even this hypothesis is only supported by anecdotal data and not a well defined clinical study. There is clearly a connection between the immune system and the nervous system. Stress can induce a number of physiologic changes that can last for varying periods of time. To suggest, however, that child abuse is an accepted cause of lupus is inaccurate and unsupportable until there is clear data linking childhood abuse with later development of lupus.
"As Congress wrangles with overhauling the health care system, there is one population not being discussed. No proposal for a national health plan would cover the nation"s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants," NPR reports. But "analysts say the notion that illegal immigrants drain the health system is overblown. Simply figuring out how many undocumented immigrants lack insurance is not easy," although the Lewin Group has estimated that the number is about 6.1 million, which is "only about half the total population of undocumented immigrants." John Sheils of the Lewin Group "says many illegal immigrants use false documents to work on the books, with regular tax deductions and benefits."
Connecticut: The Associated Press/Hartford Courant reports, "Gov. M. Jodi Rell has vetoed two health insurance bills he said were "well-intentioned" but "would cost the state billions of dollars before any economic recovery is complete." Unions and health care advocates had pressured the Republican governor to sign the measures. "[O]ne of the billṣ€¦ opens the state"s health insurance plan to municipalities, small businesses and nonprofit agencies. The second bill creates a new public authority to develop a plan to extend coverage to the state"s uninsured." It"s not yet clear if Democrats, who have a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly, will try to override Rell"s action (7/8).
The World Food Programme (WFP) issued an urgent appeal on Tuesday for $23 million in "financial support from international donors for food aid to Yemen specifically targeted at women and children," AFP/Google.com reports. The agency said that the "figure represents 42 percent of the 55 million dollars that it needs for the current year to improve the nutrition of more than 1.6 million vulnerable people in Yemen," the news service writes.
Changing Humanitarian Messaging Could Save More People
President Obama has announced that two Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center investigators have been awarded the nation"s highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their independent research careers. Basic scientist Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., and cancer-prevention researcher Ulrike "Riki" Peters, Ph.D., are among 100 researchers to receive the prestigious 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Each will be honored in a ceremony this fall at the White House.
Stroke in children costs at least $42 million annually in the United States, researchers report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Four researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and their colleagues at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine are advocating the use of systems biology as an innovative clinical approach to cancer. This approach could result in the development of improved diagnostic tools and treatment options, as well as potential new drug targets to help combat the many potentially fatal types of the disease.
EpiCept Corporation (Nasdaq and OMX Nordic Exchange: EPCT) today announced the start of a post-approval clinical study with Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride) following Ethics Committee and Competent Authority approvals in Sweden, Belgium, and France. This study will fulfill the post approval commitments requested by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) in granting marketing authorization. Ceplene® is indicated for remission maintenance in adult patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in first remission. Ceplene®is to be administered in conjunction with low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2).
BioAlliance Pharma SA (Paris:BIO), the specialty pharmaceutical company focused on therapy and supportive care in cancer and AIDS, announced Europe-wide approval for embossing its Loramyc® mucoadhesive buccal tablet, developed for the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis.
Several large adoption agencies are reporting an increase in the number of women with unintended pregnancies who are considering adoption, a trend that some advocates say is tied to the recession, USA Today reports. Scott Mars of American Adoptions said that he has observed a 10% to 12% increase in the past year in the number of women asking about adoption and a 7% to 10% increase in actual placements. Mars said that the economy has led women to "take a second look at adoption." Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a research group, said, "Finances are one of the major reasons women feel compelled to place their children for adoption." According to USA Today, more women also are considering delaying pregnancy or inquiring about abortion because of financial factors. A recent Gallup poll found that the economy has prompted one in 10 married women to delay pregnancy. Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation, which represents abortion providers, said that calls to the group"s hotline have increased nearly threefold since 2008 and that many of the calls have come from women who have experienced job loss in their families.According to Joan Jaeger of the Chicago-area adoption agency The Cradle, about 30% more women are asking about placing a child for adoption than in 2008. She noted that many of the women inquiring about adoption are in their 20s and have at least one child. Joseph Sica of Adoption by Shepherd Care said he has seen a "dramatic increase in girls calling us from the hospital" who are interested in placing a child for adoption. Sica said that many of these women expect to receive assistance in raising their infants but inquire about adoption after they give birth and find that little help is available. He said that in 2008 his agency facilitated 14 such adoptions, an increase from 11 in 2007 and four in 2006. However, Chuck Johnson -- chief operating officer of the advocacy group the National Council for Adoption -- said that the percentage of women who place a child for adoption remains low overall, which he attributed to access to legal abortion and greater societal acceptance of single parenthood. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that before abortion became legal in 1973, one in five never-married white women and one in 10 never-married women overall placed a child for adoption after giving birth. Since then, that rate has "plummeted," USA Today reports. A 2002 survey, the most recent available, found that only 1% of such women placed a child for adoption (Koch, USA Today, 5/19).
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is backing the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) bid
The Supreme Court on Monday in a 7-2 decision ruled that employers are not required to award women credit toward pension benefits for maternity leave taken before Congress passed the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which states that pregnancy should be treated like other temporary disabilities, the New York Times reports. The majority opinion stated that the 1978 law, which made pregnancy-related discrimination a form of sex discrimination, was not retroactive; therefore, employers were not required to adjust the pension calculations for these women. The case decided Monday -- AT&T v. Hulteen -- involved four women who had taken maternity leaves before 1978, when it was legal for employers to treat pregnancy leave differently from other types of disability leave. In the majority opinion, Justice David Souter wrote that the women are not entitled to full credit for their pregnancy leaves and will therefore receive smaller pensions, the Times reports. Souter was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer dissented. Souter"s ruling was based in great part on a 1976 Supreme Court ruling, General Electric v. Gilbert, which found that policies treating pregnancy leave worse than other types of disability leaves did not amount to sex discrimination (Liptak, New York Times, 5/19). Congress swiftly overruled Gilbert by passing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/19). Ginsburg in the dissent wrote that the court had "erred egregiously" in Gilbert, which she said advanced the "strange notion that a benefits classification excluding" pregnant women is not based on sex "because other women are among the favored class ("non-pregnant persons")." Ginsburg said that in passing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Congress did not intend to continue reducing women"s compensation, including pension benefits, "attributable to their placement on pregnancy leave," adding that the women involved in the case will receive smaller pensions than their colleagues for the rest of their lives (New York Times, 5/19). "[A]ttitudes about pregnancy and childbirth ... have sustained pervasive, often law-sanctioned, restrictions on a woman"s place among paid workers and active citizens," Ginsburg said (Biskupic, USA Today, 5/19).ImpactJudith Kurtz, a plaintiffs" attorney in the case, said the ruling will affect thousands of women across the country, nearly all of them in the telecommunications industry. Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said that the decision is "a painful and serious blow to America"s working women and the families who rely on their retirement benefits" (San Francisco Chronicle, 5/19). Ness said that the decision "forces women to pay a high price today because their employers discriminated yesterday" (Holland, AP/Google.com, 5/18). She added, "In the current economic climate, women and their families cannot afford to see their retirement benefits kept lower by discriminatory workplace policies that should have been remedied decades ago" (Mears, CNN.com, 5/18). Some women"s rights advocates said the ruling is comparable to the pay discrimination decision against Lilly Ledbetter in 2007. Marcia Greenberger of the National Women"s Law Center said the decision was "an all-too-timely reminder of the importance of having on the Supreme Court justices who understand the real-world impact of the law" (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 5/19).
LifeBridge Health in Baltimore, Maryland is one of the few heath care systems with computerized records that can now be accessed across our whole system, which includes two acute hospitals, one sub-acute hospital and two nursing homes.
Medical information of more than 35 million persons from the general European population will be studied with the goal of better guiding clinicians how to balance the risk of gastrointestinal and cardiovascular events when prescribing NSAIDs.
Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) held a press conference on Thursday to rally support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee begins Monday, Roll Call reports. Boxer said that there is no need for abortion-rights groups and other women"s advocacy groups to publicly express their support for Sotomayor because the confirmation process has been progressing well. She said, "Things are going well. There"s no need to get involved." However, Boxer added that "foul play" by Republicans to delay the confirmation would prompt women"s organizations to more publicly advocate for Sotomayor (Brady, Roll Call, 7/9).Hearing Witness List Released The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday released witness lists for Sotomayor"s confirmation hearings, the New York Times reports. The Republicans" list includes Charmaine Yoest, president of the antiabortion-rights group Americans United for Life. Among Democrats" list is JoAnne Epps, dean of the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, on behalf of the National Association of Women Lawyers (Phillips, New York Times, 7/10).
President Obama has asked Congress to deliver a bill by October that would "cut healthcare costs and provide medical coverage to most of the 46 million uninsured Americans," a goal that may no longer be realistic as members of the president"s own party move to stall efforts, the Reuters/The Washington Post reports (Allen, 7/9).
New data regarding hospital readmission rates have emerged "amid a national debate over how to reduce" these numbers, "which cost the federal government billions of dollars a year in Medicare reimbursements," the New York Times reports. The data, posted on Medicare"s Hospital Compare Web site, examines the number of patients "readmitted to hospitals within a month of being discharged after treatment for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia between July 2005 and June 2008."
The Obama administration on Thursday said a nationwide vaccination program could begin as early as mid-October to protect Americans from the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and pledged $350 million to help prepare communities across the country for this effort, the Washington Times reports (Ward, 7/9).
People with pain in the elbow or forearm from playing sports or just from common everyday activities, might be able to use a simple bar and strengthening exercise to alleviate pain, say researchers who presented their study results at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine"s Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, July 9th-12th.
In 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $31 million to depopulate herds of cattle affected by bovine tuberculosis (TB), even though the risk of the disease has been significantly reduced in the U.S. over the past several decades. Worldwide, especially in developing countries, the disease persists, which could threaten the U.S. cattle industry in terms of international trade.
Top researchers from the West Midlands are working to improve the treatment of conditions that affect millions of people. Across the region research into areas such as osteoarthritis, joint pain and sciatica, stroke prevention and treatment, community care for people living with diabetes, and the treatment of liver disease have received a real boost over the last three years.