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.
Research published this week in the journal Autism, published by SAGE, estimate the annual costs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to be more than ÷£27 billion a year. The costs of supporting children with ASDs were estimated to be ÷£2.7 billion per year, ÷£25 billion each year for adults. The findings were presented at the Autism & Employment Workshop at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The Government has announced that the UK is moving to a treatment phase to manage the current pandemic flu outbreak.
Even when she"s well, little Cammy Barber doesn"t like getting her ears
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today proposed changes to policies and payment rates for services to be furnished during calendar year (CY 2010) by over 1 million physicians and nonphysician practitioners who are paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The MPFS sets payment rates for more than 7,000 types of services in physician offices, hospitals, and other settings.
Sorin Group, (MIL:SRN) (Reuters Code: SORN.MI), a global medical device company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, announced the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) approval to market the FACIL™ and REPLY™ families of dual and single chamber rate responsive pacemakers.
Genentech, Inc. announced that the Phase III study BRAVO showed Lucentis® (ranibizumab injection) improved vision, as measured by the primary endpoint of mean change from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity at six months, in patients with macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion. The safety profile of Lucentis was consistent with previous experience and no new adverse events related to Lucentis were observed in the study. Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a common cause of vision loss that occurs when blood flow through a retinal vein becomes blocked, such as by a blood clot.
Existing drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson"s disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health.
State health officials are urging Hoosiers to take steps to protect themselves from the West Nile virus this holiday weekend. West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. Last year, there were four human cases of West Nile virus in the state, and recently, the first reported mosquito groups have tested positive for West Nile virus.
More than 270,000 refugees who have fled war in Somalia are facing such alarming shortages of food, water, and adequate shelter in severely overcrowded camps in northern Kenya that many are considering returning to the Somali war zone, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Mç©decins Sans Frontiç¨res (MSF) said today.
Homeopathy risks being subsumed by modern medicine, argues a historian of science. Not only does this means that homeopathy"s heroes have become mere footnotes in history, but it could limit homeopathy"s potential to contribute to the treatment of today"s pressing medical problems, she says.
The British Dental Association (BDA) has responded to the publication of outline plans for the reform of NHS dentistry in England by the Conservative Party which have been released today. The plans, which are outlined in a document titled Transforming NHS dentistry, include commitments to improve access to dental care, scrap the unit of dental activity, reintroduce formal patient registration and reward preventive care given by dentists. The document also sees the Conservatives pledge to properly pilot any reforms.
Women in Nepal face the highest risk of maternal death in South Asia. The country"s high rates of maternal death and reproductive morbidity will be discussed at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) South Asia Day. The conference gathers together a group of international experts to discuss ways to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 (reduce child mortality) and 5 (improve maternal health).
The Victorian hospital system coped well in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009 but new research, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, suggests the lessons learned over this time must be used to further strengthen the State"s prevention and medical response systems.
Three programs that expand the reach of palliative and end-of-life care will be recognized as the 2009 recipients of the Circle of Life Award®: Celebrating Innovation in End-of-Life Care, along with two others that were awarded citations of honor.
While Lands End and John O"Groats may be poles apart geographically they"re side by side when it comes to generosity.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Alimta (pemetrexed), the first drug available for maintenance therapy of advanced or metastatic lung cancer.
A study of elderly patients receiving CPR in the hospital shows that rates of survival did not improve from 1992 to 2005. During that period, the proportion of hospital deaths preceded by CPR rose, and the proportion of patients who were successfully resuscitated and later discharged home fell. The researchers found that 18.3 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older who underwent in-hospital CPR survived to discharge.
WHO leaders and international health ministers met Thursday for a two-day meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to share the lessons learned from the spread of H1N1 (swine flu) (Xinhua, 7/3) and strategies for "battling the pandemic," the AP/Washington Post reports (Rodriguez, 7/2).
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
As part of its continued drive to reduce people"s risk of developing coronary heart disease, the Food Standards Agency has today published revised, voluntary salt reduction targets for industry to meet by 2012.
"In the past few months, we"ve experienced near hysteria over swine flu and almost constant media attention to scares about tainted food," syndicated columnist Marie Cocco writes in the Oregonian, adding, "These are genuine health hazards - but they aren"t necessarily deadly, nor do they affect nearly as many people in the United States and around the world as does AIDS." Cocco discusses a recent finding by researchers from Columbia University and the Alan Guttmacher Institute that links a drop in condom use among teenagers "in part to waning public concern about transmission of HIV." She writes, "The clear increase in the proportion of teenagers using condoms came during years when public health and media messages about the dangers of HIV were at a height." Cocco continues, "You can argue, based on hard data, that when it comes to teenagers and sex, good policy and genuine leadership get better results than moralizing or ignoring signals that an upsurge in HIV infections may emerge" (Cocco, 7/2).
A recent directive to streamline the HIV testing consent process in Massachusetts as well as consent forms "no longer hav[ing] to accompany test specimens to the lab," are bringing "the state closer to a CDC recommendation that clinicians provide HIV screening on an opt-out basis," according to a Boston Globe editorial. "The opt-out provision is at the heart" of legislation sponsored by state Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D) that would end the state"s requirement of written consent for HIV testing "and instead have healthcare providers inform patients verbally that the test is planned but that they can decline it," the editorial states, adding, "The Jehlen bill would help destigmatize HIV testing itself" (7/6).
AbbeyMoor Medical Inc., a developer and manufacturer of medical devices for the management and treatment of prostatic obstruction, announced that it has received PMA approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for design changes to their flagship product, The Spanner(TM) Prostatic Stent.
Several area health care organizations agree that today"s tough economic times can make staying healthy a challenge. The organizations provided tips for Ohioans to stay healthy.
The estimated one-third of adults who suffer from insomnia could soon find effective treatment without ever leaving their homes. Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have developed a unique Internet-based intervention, based on well-established face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, that has shown remarkable results in improving patients" sleep.
Senators home for the Fourth of July recess found activists on each side of the health care debate waiting for them.
"A network of health insurance plans run by the customers they serve, proposed in the U.S. Congress to offset opposition to a government-run system, may take a generation to pay off, even with $10 billion in seed money," Bloomberg reports. The co-ops, according to Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who first floated the idea last month could lower costs, cover more Americans, and gain bipartisan support. President Obama said in late June that he was "open" to the idea.
With neuroscience on the threshold of unprecedented advances in understanding and treating Alzheimer"s disease, Parkinson"s disease, autism, and a range of other disorders of the brain and nervous system, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced plans to launch a new journal devoted to the molecular basis of neurological disease.
The instruction manual for maintaining an efficient brain may soon include a section on synaptotagmin-IV (Syt-IV), a protein known to influence learning and memory, thanks to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has published a report on Genomic Medicine which argues that recent developments in genomic science stemming from the sequencing of the human genome represent a unique opportunity for real advances in medical care and that the Government and the NHS must take a range of steps to ensure that these advances are realised.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, (CAC) concluded a week-long meeting and adopted more than 30 new international standards, codes of practice and guidelines to improve worldwide food safety and protect the health of consumers.
The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) will further the UK"s capacity in genomics - the science of understanding the genetic makeup of organisms and the genetic differences that exist between individuals. This knowledge can then be used for developments that include the production of new antibiotics to fight "superbugs", breeding of new crops with increased tolerance of drought, and the breeding of livestock better able to resist emerging exotic disease. TGAC will underpin these advances as well as making a significant contribution to economic development.
Downing between eight and 14 units of alcohol a week boosts the total number of days spent in hospital, finds research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Lower IQ alone does not predict the chances of dying early, as previous research has often suggested, concludes a study published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
In this week"s open access journal PLoS Medicine, Nayreen Daruwalla and
Children given an oral syrup containing the naturally occurring sweetener xylitol may be less likely to develop decay in their baby teeth, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
College students with depression are twice as likely as their classmates to drop out of school, new research shows.
An online insomnia intervention based on established face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy techniques appears to improve patients" sleep, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Antibodies to a wide range of substances that can aggregate to form plaques, such as those found in Alzheimer"s patients, have been identified in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy people. Levels of these antibodies decline with age and, in Alzheimer"s patients, with increasing progression of the disease.
Pharmasset, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRUS) announced the nomination of PSI-352938 ("PSI-938") as a lead development candidate from two series of purine analogs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. PSI-938 is a proprietary nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor of HCV that is being advanced into studies required for submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory application.
King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: KG) and Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTIE) announced that on July 2, 2009, King met with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss the Complete Response Letter regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) for REMOXY(R). The outcome of this meeting provided King with a clear path forward to resubmit the REMOXY(R) NDA and to address all FDA comments in the Complete Response Letter.
On the eve of the G8 Summit in Italy, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) calls on leaders of the world"s richest countries to announce significant additional funds to ensure that AIDS treatment and prevention programs for millions of men, women and children do not become a casualty of the economic down-turn.
A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) reports that diabetes care and clinical outcomes are improved by an electronic system with personalized patient information shared by diabetes patients and their primary care providers.
The Alabama Department of Public Health has proposed a $650 civil penalty against
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).
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
"Unionized workers have fought to preserve their relatively expensive health plans through contract talks, sometimes at the expense of wage increases," CQ Politics reports. "Now, with some unions airing televised ads targeting senators who support the idea of counting some health benefits as taxable income, pressure is increasing on Capitol Hill to look elsewhere to offset the cost of a health care overhaul."
"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."
Significant and widespread cognitive problems appear to exist in schizophrenia in its earliest phase, making it very hard for people with the disorder to work, study or be social, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
An Associated Press examination of the "new all-digital Children"s Hospital of Pittsburgh" reveals the benefits of electronic health records in action, and the steep climb the hospital took to achieve those improvements.
"There"s support in Michigan"s Legislature for eliminating insurance practices that deny coverage and charge high rates for people with chronic health problems. But the Michigan reforms face a tight timetable as lawmakers focus on the state"s worsening budget crisis," The Detroit Free Press reports. One Republican plan in the state Senate would address the problem of lost coverage from rising unemployment in Michigan by requiring "businesses -- including self-insured enterprises such as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC, now exempt from state regulations, -- to pay to expand health care for poor people. The Detroit Regional Chamber and others oppose new taxes in the Senate plan, particularly when so many businesses are hurting" (Anstett, 7/6).
Australia"s aged care workers have been "short-changed" by today"s decision by the Fair Pay Commission to put a freeze on minimum wages, the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) said today.
Developing countries will need an estimated $1 billion by year"s end to ensure their access to antivirals and vaccines to protect against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday, AFP/Google.com reports. "Funding had "not been flowing as expected," following appeals in recent weeks, [Ban] added," according to the news service (7/6).
Global HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs are already feeling the effects of the global economic crisis, according to a report (pdf) released Monday by UNAIDS and the World Bank, AFP/Google.com reports (7/6).
Economic Crisis Presents Opportunity To Reform Pharmaceutical Practices In Africa, Says UNAIDS Head
An international contingent of nearly 500 researchers and physicians are taking part in the International HIV Controllers Study, which is examining "the phenomenon," in which certain people living with HIV seem "somehow protected from AIDS," the Washington Post reports. Fewer "than one in every 300 cases, or perhaps 5,000 of the more than 1 million infected Americans" living with HIV are deemed ""elite controllers" because their ability to combat the virus puts them in exceptional company among infected individuals," according to the Post. The article states, "No one knows how their bodies keep AIDS at bay. Are their immune systems exceptionally strong and effective? Do they possess some genetic trait that protects them? Or does a combination of still-unknown factors set them apart?" Researchers anticipate that studying the T cell levels - which helps determine the progression to AIDS - of the elite controllers, will enable them "to uncover what shields these rare few from AIDS. And perhaps in the process they"ll find a way to safeguard everyone else as well," the Post reports (Slack, 7/7).
Healthy young mice treated with erythropoietin show lasting improved performance in learning and other higher brain functions. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology tested the cognitive effects of the growth factor, finding that it improved the sequential learning and memory components of a complex long-term cognitive task.
For the last six years, doctors have faced a dilemma about whether to treat men at risk of prostate cancer with the drug finasteride. On one hand, the drug had been shown to prevent cancer in about one of every four patients who received it. On the other, those who did develop cancer while on the drug were 25 percent more likely to have a more aggressive form of the disease.
Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and Linkç¶ping University are well on the way to creating the first artificial nerve cell that can communicate specifically with nerve cells in the body using neurotransmitters. The technology has been published in an article in Nature Materials.
Terumo Heart Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Terumo Corporation, announced reaching a critical milestone in the worldwide expansion of its DuraHeart(TM) Left-Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) as the 100th patient was treated by Latif Arusoglu, MD and Michiel Morshuis, MD, cardiothoracic surgeons at the Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University of Bochum in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
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.
Have you ever covered yourself with a blanket to stave off the shivers? A new study shows that a blanket can also help alleviate shivering in patients who have been cooled to prevent brain damage.
Agennix announced that talactoferrin alfa (talactoferrin) has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first-line treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in combination with sunitinib (Sutent(R) - Pfizer).
Allos Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTH) announced the completion of patient enrollment in the Company"s randomized Phase 2b clinical trial comparing pralatrexate to erlotinib (Tarceva®) in patients with Stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are, or have been, cigarette smokers who have failed treatment with at least one prior platinum-based chemotherapy regimen.
One of nature"s most gripping feats of survival is now better understood. For the first time, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy"s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory observed the chemical changes in individual cells that enable them to survive conditions that should kill them.
MEDRAD Interventional(TM)/Possis(R) announced that it has reached key milestones in bringing the Paccocath(R) Technology closer to market as an option for the over 14 million patients in the United States and Europe who suffer from Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). These milestones include the selection of physician investigators for U.S. clinical trials and the completion of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Medical mycologists in The South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID) and the Department of Biology at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have significantly advanced the fight against San Joaquin Valley Fever, a respiratory infection of humans, commonly called Valley Fever, which is caused by the Coccidioides fungus. For the first time, the researchers have genetically engineered a live, attenuated vaccine that successfully protects mice against Valley Fever, known in scientific circles as coccidioidomycosis.
A new study from the US suggests that travel is linked to a higher risk of developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), also known as a venous
Since its introduction in 1993, molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) albumin dialysis has been a subject of research, with the hope of effectively treating patients with acute liver failure. The impact of MARS treatment on outcome as well as clinical and laboratory variables has been investigated widely in small non-randomized studies. However, larger studies with longer follow-up time are required to determine the true usefulness of MARS treatment in different liver failure etiologies.
A Monash University study has proven a critical link between obesity and the onset of Type 2 diabetes, a discovery which could lead to the design of a drug to prevent the disease.
Infants who received two or three primary doses of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) both had a decreased rate of carrying pneumococcal microorganisms that can cause pneumonia and other infections, compared to infants who were not vaccinated, according to a study in the July 8 issue of JAMA.
Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc (NYSE: JWa), (NYSE: JWb), has announced that the inaugural issue of its new journal, LUTS (Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms), is now live online.
The following is a statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) announced results of a national survey that reveals the inability to pay for cancer care is among Americans" top fears about the disease. Seven out of ten report being very concerned about paying for cancer treatment if they developed the disease (69%), the same proportion who are very concerned about dying of it (68%). Only the cancer consequences of having a poor quality of life (75%) and being in pain (72%) evoke slightly more concern.
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
Police, teachers and other public sector workers should be trained in spotting signs of mental ill-health as a new report from a coalition of mental health groups sets out its vision for mental health services that spans across public services.
The issue of whether government-subsidized health care programs should include coverage for abortion procedures is gaining attention as Congress continues drafting health care reform legislation, Time reports. Currently, the Hyde Amendment -- a legislative provision attached annually to major spending bills since 1976 -- prohibits states from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortion. All but 17 states have similar restrictions on their own funds. Although current versions of health reform legislation do not yet address the issue of abortion, congressional s involved in the process say that an explicit ban on abortion coverage could have "much further-reaching implications" than the Hyde Amendment. According to Time, the restrictions could deny abortion coverage to women whose private insurance plans currently cover the procedure. A 2002 Guttmacher Institute survey found that nearly 90% of private insurers cover abortion procedures. Under the legislation being worked on in three House committees, U.S. residents with incomes up to 400% of the poverty level -- about $88,000 annually for a family of four, or $43,000 for an individual -- would be eligible for government subsidies to help purchase coverage. However, antiabortion-rights lawmakers are pushing to prohibit those subsidies from being used to purchase health insurance policies that include abortion coverage, Time reports. Such restrictions would mean that women who currently have abortion coverage in their private plans would have to give up the benefit. According to Time, such a provision also "would raise all sorts of other questions if insurers were allowed to discriminate among their customers based on whether or not they are using federal dollars to pay for their policies."Pelosi Negotiating With House Dems Over ConcernsLast week, 19 House Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stating that they "cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." They also said that abortion "must be addressed clearly in the bill text" of the legislation. The signers of the letter include Reps. Bart Stupak (Mich.) and Charlie Melancon (La.), both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the three panels with jurisdiction over health care reform. According to Time, Pelosi"s office is attempting to address the concerns through negotiations.Poll Shows Support for Reproductive Health CoverageMeanwhile, abortion-rights advocates are "pushing back" against those seeking to specifically exclude abortion coverage in health care reform legislation, Time reports. The National Women"s Law Center on Monday released results of a nationwide poll of 1,000 likely voters showing that 71% of respondents favor including reproductive services like birth control and abortion in health care reform (Tumulty, Time, 7/8). The poll also found that 72% would oppose exclusion of abortion coverage from any national health care plan (Eaton, Plain Dealer, 7/7). In addition, 75% of respondents said that an independent commission, not Congress, should determine what medical services are included in the basic benefits offered under health reform. Congress also is weighing giving that power to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Time, 7/8).Judy Waxman, NWLC vice president, said that 80% of employer-based insurance plans provide coverage for abortion services, adding that "people will be angry if they don"t get to keep what they already have" under any public insurance option (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7/7). Waxman said Congress should "refrain from practicing medicine and instead let medical professionals determine what health care services will be included in a benefits package" (Time, 7/8).
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.
Thirteen people charged with "disruption of Congress" for standing and shouting pro-single-payer system slogans during a health care reform committee hearing settled their cases, The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reports.
President Barack Obama joined world leaders in Italy on Wednesday for "three days of intense talks on threats to global security and stability" at a G8 summit "where climate change, the continuing global economy crisis and world hunger got top billing," AP/Google.com reports (Babington, 7/8).
KPBS examines the reasons why the San Diego Board of Supervisors will not support the city"s needle exchange program, which twice weekly provides clean needles to injection drug users as part of an effort to curb the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases. Dianne Jacob, chair of the board, said, "I think it particularly sends a wrong message to our kids. It sends a message to our kids that as county government, if we gave out clean needles for illegal drug use, that we condone illegal drug use. And we don"t. And it"s wrong." She said government support should go toward drug use prevention and treatment. Steffanie Strathdee, head of the division of global public health at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, has examined several needle exchange programs across the world, and said, "It hasn"t been associated with more people starting drug use at earlier ages, etc., ò€¦ In fact, it"s consistently been associated with reductions in high-risk behavior. And so there"s really no reason not to support it on a broader scale" (Goldberg, 7/8). This series of articles was supported by a Kaiser Family Foundation mini reporting fellowship.
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The world-wide explosion of overweight people has been called an epidemic. The inflammatory nature of obesity is widely recognized. Could it really be an epidemic involving an infectious agent? In this climate of concern over the increasing prevalence of overweight conditions in our society, investigators have focused on the possible role of oral bacteria as a potential direct contributor to obesity.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service"s (HHS) Indian Health Service (IHS) announced $90 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for improved access to vital drinking water and wastewater services in the American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The funds will be invested in "shovel ready" infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country and to create jobs.
Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers have identified potential safety risks among methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients due to the quantity and accuracy of medical record documentation. Improved communication and coordination among substance use treatment and medical providers could mitigate and manage the potential adverse effects of methadone and interacting medications. The BMC study appears in the July issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.
As swine flu spreads across America, good data can make all the difference in controlling it.
The Derrick L. Davis Forsyth Regional Cancer Center at Forsyth Medical Center is participating in a national trial of the experimental drug Avastin to treat glioblastoma, a fast-growing tumor of the brain or spinal cord.
Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce that PM&R - The journal of injury, function and rehabilitation, the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), has been accepted for coverage by MEDLINE, just six months after its launch in January 2009.
One-in-five (21%) primary care trusts (PCTs) do not offer "clinical assessment
The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) said that the nomination by President Obama of Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., to be the next Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), represents "an excellent choice to provide leadership to the NIH."
Approximately ninety-one percent of dentists say patients complaining about dry mouth are taking multiple medications, according to a nationwide member survey conducted by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Dry mouth, or xerostomia, is caused by a decrease in salivary function. It affects approximately one in four Americans, placing more than 25 percent of people at risk for tooth decay. During the Academy of General Dentistry"s (AGD) 57th Annual Meeting & Exhibits in Baltimore, July 8-12, Cindy Kleiman, RDH, BS, will present a course, "Understanding the Oral-Systemic Connection: From Intensive Care to Long-term Care," in which she presents new information about dry mouth.
MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAPP) announced that it has received a notice of termination of the license agreement with AstraZeneca related to the company"s Unit Dose Budesonide (UDB) product candidate. The termination was received on July 8, 2009, effective immediately. All rights licensed to AstraZeneca in the agreement now revert to the company. MAP Pharmaceuticals plans to suspend development of UDB, which did not meet primary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial in children 12-months to eight years of age with mild asthma.
Life Spine announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given 510(k) marketing clearance to the FS3 Minimally Invasive Spinal System.
Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that Schering-Plough K.K., the company"s country operation in Japan, has received marketing approval for REMERON(R) /Reflex(R) (mirtazapine)15 mg Tablets for the treatment of major depressive disorder.(1) The product was developed jointly with Meiji Seika Kabushiki Kaisha, Ltd. Schering-Plough and Meiji Seika will market the product under the trade names, REMERON(R) and Reflex(R), respectively. REMERON is currently available in more than 90 countries worldwide.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announces that it filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health (DPH), calling for an urgent investigation into the ongoing use of dozens of narcotic infusion pumps at the University of California Irvine Medical Center that have a history of failure, thereby exposing patients to a dangerous overdose of narcotics.
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the national professional society of pharmacists, announces that nominations are now being accepted for the Association"s practitioner awards and honors. Presentation of these awards is scheduled for the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, DC, March 12-15, 2010. Nominations must be received at APhA headquarters by September 15, 2009. APhA"s awards recognition program is American pharmacy"s most comprehensive recognition program.
Pharmaceutical firm Biogen Idec announced that the American drug watchdog the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug PEGylated interferon beta-1a (BIIB017).
"In the face of mounting Republican opposition to its healthcare agenda, the Obama administration received a boost Wednesday, winning a preliminary agreement with leading hospital groups to cut federal payments to the industry over the next decade," The Los Angeles Times reports. "Under the plan, negotiated primarily by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), hospitals would accept $155 billion in cuts if the administration and its congressional allies succeeded in extending health insurance to tens of millions of people who are now without coverage. None of the hospital groups has signed a written agreement backing the cuts, nor is there any guarantee that the cuts will be included in versions of the healthcare legislation being developed by lawmakers other than Baucus" (Levey, 7/9).
"Long second shrift to other medical training, nursing education has taken on new relevance as the country faces a drastic shortage of nurses and a thin job market overall," The Dallas Morning News reports.
Changing Humanitarian Messaging Could Save More People
The Baltimore Sun"s blog "Picture of Health" features comments from Allison Agwu, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children"s Center, who discussed HIV awareness and testing among teenagers. According to the blog, Agwu said doctors and parents "need to do a better job talking frankly to teens about sex and the risk for HIV, particularly in a city like Baltimore with higher than average rates of the disease." The blog states, "There"s no easy way to combat this, Agwu admits. But engaging teens in a constant frank conversation about the disease is a start" (Brewington, 7/8).
Athletic injuries can derail any player"s ability to compete, but for a baseball pitcher his shoulder strength and control is critical. A new study to be presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine"s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, suggests that testing a pitcher"s shoulder strength through a series of exercises during the preseason may help create a focused strength training program to prevent serious injury during the season.
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.
UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Arlington have reached an agreement with Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. to develop a groundbreaking toolbox of magnetically controlled surgical instruments for minimally invasive surgery.
Revance Therapeutics, Inc. ("Revance") announces that RT001, a topical botulinum toxin type A, under investigation for the treatment of crow"s feet wrinkles, demonstrated efficacy and safety in a US Phase 2b clinical study. The randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-finding study showed efficacy versus placebo at primary and multiple secondary endpoints.
An alcoholic is a person who suffers from alcoholism - the body is dependent on alcohol. An alcoholic is addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism is a chronic (long-term) disease. People who suffer from alcoholism are obsessed with alcohol and cannot control how much they consume, even if it is causing serious problems at home, work and financially. Alcohol abuse generally refers to people who do not display the characteristics of alcoholism but still have a problem with it - these people are not as dependent on alcohol as an alcoholic is; they have not yet completely lost their control over its consumption.
Combat-related injuries have long plagued the military in part because of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Imagine being able to spray a compound fracture with microcapsules that deliver a drug to bolster the immune system, stopping infection before it starts.
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.
Whether having fun, staying in shape or pushing your physical capacity to the extreme, the summer is a great time to enjoy your physical health and move more. Swimming and training for or participating in a marathon or triathalon can be rewarding activities -- and can stay fun with the proper preparation and form. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) offers summer athletes the following safety tips.
22nd Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), 12 - 16 September 2009, Istanbul, Turkey
A study published recently on bmj.com concludes that an easy training program, based on a sequence of balancing movements, can be useful in cutting the risk of recurrent ankle sprains by 35 percent. This could reflect in huge savings in medical and lost productivity costs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Wednesday ruled that a 2007 Massachusetts law requiring antiabortion-rights protesters to stay at least 35 feet away from clinic entrances does not infringe on their free speech rights, the Boston Globe reports. The law updated a 2000 statute that established a floating buffer zone, which police and clinics said was difficult to enforce. The 2007 law set a fixed 35-foot buffer zone around any reproductive health care facility and barred anyone from entering or remaining in the zone unless they work at the clinic; are entering or leaving the facility; are public safety or other municipal officials; or are walking by. Five abortion-rights opponents filed the lawsuit in January 2008. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro rejected their claims in August 2008, ruling that the law did not regulate speech -- only the location where the speech could occur -- and that it was drafted in response to safety and law enforcement concerns. The protesters appealed the ruling.The appeals court said that the 2007 law responded to "repeated incidents involving violence and other unduly aggressive behaviors in the vicinity of reproductive health care facilities" and "represents a permissible response by the Massachusetts Legislature to what it reasonably perceived as a significant threat to public safety." The court also said that the law was "content-neutral," as it applies to all protesters regardless of their viewpoints. According to the court, the plaintiffs argued in their appeal that the law had a "content-neutral patina" masking a "more sinister reality" that the Legislature"s true motive was to curb abortion-rights opponents" speech.Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) in a statement said that she was "pleased that the 1st Circuit has upheld this important law, which enhances public safety and access to medical facilities, while preserving the right to engage in expressive activity on public ways and sidewalks near clinics." Tim Chandler, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said abortion-rights opponents "shouldn"t be penalized for expressing their beliefs." He added that the fund and its supporters were evaluating the "next legal step" (Finucane, Boston Globe, 7/10).
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "World Population Day 2009 -- Time To Finally Make Maternal Health a Priority," Sharon Camp, Huffington Post blogs: World Population Day on Saturday "serves as an urgent reminder that ... governments around the world must boost investments in global health," especially maternal health, despite the global economic recession, Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes. Efforts "have fallen short" to date as the "financial res and political will needed to promote maternal health have been lagging," Camp writes. She notes that the nations are "hardly any closer" to achieving the United Nations" Millennium Development Goals of reducing maternal deaths by 75% and achieving universal access to reproductive health services by 2015. A "critical shortcoming" of recent efforts to achieve the MDGs has been the "reluctance of some governments and advocates to accept that better maternal health cannot be achieved without acknowledging, committing and fully funding sexual and reproductive health services," Camp writes. In particular, "this includes contraceptive services to help women time and space pregnancies as well as treatment of septic or incomplete abortions," and "providing safe abortion services consistent with individual country law," according to Camp. However, there is "some good news," she writes, noting that "[n]ew momentum behind worldwide advocacy efforts may yield the res and political commitment needed to make a difference." Camp concludes, "It is precisely because res are scarce that they must be used wisely and efficiently in a way that serves both humanitarian and economic development goals. Investing in saving women"s lives fits this bill" (Camp, Huffington Post blogs, 7/9).~ "Proposed Amendments Would Deny Health Care to Women," Lois Uttley, RH Reality Check: In a blog post addressed to "Gentlemen of the Congress," Uttley asks if they have "forgotten about the women" in their lives as they work on crafting health care reform legislation. Uttley writes,"[S]ome of you are wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars proposing amendments that would deny health care" to several groups of people, including women. She writes that Republican Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) this week submitted amendments to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that would ban coverage for abortion services; protect health care providers and insurers from ""discrimination" for refusing to provide health care requested by their patients," including abortion and emergency contraception; allow federally qualified health centers to "not provide abortions and still get government grants"; and require that "[a]ny independent medical board appointed to determine the benefits that would be included in national health reform coverage would have to include "professional ethicists ... with specialty in rights of the life of the unborn."" Meanwhile, Democrats "are spending far too much time trying to win over colleagues who are never going to vote for health reform, no matter if you offer them abortion exclusions or new provider "conscience" laws or other provisions that would hobble health reform," Uttley writes. She continues, "Don"t forget that women are among the strongest supporters of moving quickly on health reform this year" because they are "grassroots experts on what is broken in the current health system," such as insurers" labeling of pregnancy as a "pre-existing condition," using "gender rating" in individual policies and excluding contraception coverage. She asks, "So what do women want?" Uttley provides a "list we"ve been compiling at Raising Women"s Voices for the Health Care We Need." Among the priorities, the list stresses that lawmakers should keep "moral values" out of the debate and that health insurance must be affordable, more simple to understand, fair, portable and universal (Uttley, RH Reality Check, 7/9).~ "Reports
"The Senate dealt a blow to the drug lobby Thursday by voting to permit people in the United States to order lower-cost drugs from Canada over the Internet," the Associated Press/Arizona Republic reports. The drugs in question are often made in the U.S., and then sold abroad for lower prices than at home because because of government policies in many other countries. The bill would make it legal to re-import those drugs more readily. The drug provision passed as an amendment to a Department of Homeland Security funding bill and was introduced by Republican Louisianna Sen. David Vitter (Taylor, 7/9).
"As the recession has cost more people their jobs and their health insurance, local hospitals have seen more patients show up with no way to pay," reports KUOW, a Washington State public radio station. "Hospitals in Washington are required to provide free care to anyone living below the poverty line, if they ask for it. But some hospitals give more freely than others."
The Washington Post reports: "Leaders of the world"s major economies pledged Friday to raise $20 billion over the next three years for food and agricultural aid to the world"s most impoverished countries." According to Obama administration officials, "the U.S. will contribute at least $3.5 billion over the next three years to the worldwide effort," which in addition to the funding, "hopes to better coordinate global food aid efforts and work through initiatives already in place in poor countries around the world, rather than creating new plans," the Washington Post reports (Fletcher, 7/10).
UroToday.com - At a glance one could assume that this study was solely empirical - on the contrary! Shock waves (SWs) seem to have a greater therapeutic potential than is assumed and understood today. Finally, the effect of SW cannot be explained by current models of thinking. The recently published SW model by Wess1 is a very promising and tremendous basic approach: SW could modify brain processes and pain storage patterns - both to be influenced therapeutically. We are going to follow these concepts by specific research investigating processes inside the brain during SW application. Possible reactions in the brain and changes under running Extracorporeal Shock Wave Treatment (ESWT) are presently the most promising approaches to understanding the working mechanisms of SW. We intend to apply SWs not only clinically, but also to enhance our knowledge by basic research about their therapeutic effects. The missing animal model for chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) does not contribute to simplifying the understanding of pathophysiological processes influenced by ESWT, in particular due to the fact that the knowledge about CPPS pathophysiology itself is very limited.
Researchers in the US found that the destructive cellular pathways that occur following traumatic brain injury are the same as those activated in
Taller men are able to earn more money than their shorter counterparts simply because taller people are perceived to be more intelligent and powerful, this according to a study published in The Economic Record by Wiley-Blackwell.
Sequel Systems, Inc. announced it supports the recommendations from the US. Department of Health and Human Services" Meaningful Use Workgroup for the definition of "meaningful use" as it pertains to electronic health records (EHR).