Australian Broadcasting Corporation: News Online March 18, 2008 New research into marketing by pharmaceutical companies has found that doctors and psychiatrists are being influenced by the branding of antidepressant drugs. Source: PsycPORT.com | 18 Mar 2008 | 5:26 pm
Africa is facing the "worst TB epidemic since the advent of the antibiotic era," Richard Chaisson, director of the Center for Tuberculosis Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Neil Martinson, deputy director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, write in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 3:00 pm
The Oklahoma House on Wednesday voted 51-50 to reject a bill (HB 2628) that would have required parental consent before children could receive sex education in public schools, the AP/Muskogee Phoenix reports. Currently, Oklahoma school districts send "opt out" forms to parents of children enrolled in classes that provide sex education. Rep. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 3:00 pm
The Pennsylvania House on Wednesday voted 114-18 to give preliminary approval to a bill (SB 1137) that would expand the state's adultBasic program to residents with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The proposal -- crafted by House Democrats and called Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care -- is intended to serve as an alternative to Gov. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 3:00 pm
Study finds no evidence to back a theory linking autism to the leaking of damaging proteins from the gut. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 17 Mar 2008 | 2:33 pm
Customized care, or concierge medicine, is "drawing the ire of some health insurance companies," which have dropped coverage or withdrawn support of the practice, the Houston Chronicle reports. According to the Chronicle, in concierge medicine, which is a "relatively small movement" in the U.S. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 2:00 pm
Asthma is the reason that in 2006, there were an estimated 12.8 million lost school days in children and 10.1 million lost work days in adults. It is the cause for two million annual emergency room visits, and it costs Americans almost $20 billion in healthcare costs every year. It currently affects 23 million Americans, and about 7 million children are among those. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 2:00 pm
A Florida House committee on Thursday passed a measure (HB 513) that bill that defines life as beginning at conception for the purpose of prosecuting violent acts against pregnant women, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (Hafebrack, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3/12). Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 2:00 pm
Ten radio stations in Ghana recently launched a pilot project that aims to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS through a soap opera, the Accra Mail/AllAfrica.com reports. The project is funded by the Ghana AIDS Commission under the National Innovation Program. It is implemented by the Centre for Development Communication. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 2:00 pm
A study of consecutive patients seen in an anxiety-disorders clinic found that 33% met criteria for adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Medscape Medical News Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 17 Mar 2008 | 1:51 pm
A fundamental overhaul of the support given to workers who are off work through illness is needed, a government adviser says. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 17 Mar 2008 | 1:26 pm
It all started with the flush of an automatic toilet. The terrifying sound marked the beginning of a two-year nightmare for Sarah Teres as she desperately tried to potty train her daughter Molly. Two years later, the girl was still in diapers. At wits end, Teres enrolled Molly in the Toilet Training School at Children's Hospital Boston
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday approved by voice vote bills related to the reauthorization of the Healthy Start program and a second measure related to Down syndrome, CQ HealthBeat reports. The Healthy Start program directs federal funding for prenatal care to areas of the country with high infant mortality rates. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 1:00 pm
Many cases of sexually transmitted infections are not being detected in the U.S. because of a lack of testing among men who have sex with men, health officials said Wednesday at a scientific meeting in Chicago, the New York Times reports. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 12:00 pm
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday voted 18-3 to approve a bill (S 2731) to reauthorize the U.S. global HIV/AIDS program, the AP/Google.com reports. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 17 Mar 2008 | 12:00 pm
The government strategy for cutting drug-related crime is criticised in a report by the UK Drug Policy Commission. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 17 Mar 2008 | 9:14 am
Aetna plans to provide the service, SmartSource, free to its customers, saying it wants to help people manage their own health care. Source: NYT > Health | 17 Mar 2008 | 8:32 am
Hospitals have begun installing Internet systems with dedicated shopping channels, to help patients pick up goods they will need for their recuperation. Source: NYT > Health | 17 Mar 2008 | 5:43 am
Congress may finally heed calls to allocate more money to the Food and Drug Administration for inspections of overseas drug plants. Source: NYT > Health | 17 Mar 2008 | 4:05 am
Melody Petersen has written an angrily illuminating book on drug-related corporate malfeasance and patient peril. Source: NYT > Health | 17 Mar 2008 | 3:09 am
A drug to tackle two of the leading causes of blindness is a step closer after successful experiments in mice. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 17 Mar 2008 | 12:37 am
Male fertility problems are determined in the womb, research from the University of Edinburgh suggests. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 17 Mar 2008 | 12:37 am
Long periods of use of a corticosteroid spray do not slow growth in children as young as 2 years with perennial rhinitis. Medscape Medical News Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 16 Mar 2008 | 9:13 pm
St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 16, 2008 Mar. 16--WASHINGTON --As the Iraq war ends its fifth year, a dominant legacy of the conflict has turned out to be the human toll on those who have fought it. Source: PsycPORT.com | 16 Mar 2008 | 5:26 pm
The Hartford Courant, Connecticut March 16, 2008 Mar. 16--From a distance, the more than 11,000 state residents who have returned from war in the past five years have disappeared seamlessly into the Connecticut landscape -- back to colleges, spouses, civilian or military jobs. Source: PsycPORT.com | 16 Mar 2008 | 5:26 pm
