Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday announced a new policy that seeks to reduce the stigma for military personnel who seek mental health treatment, the Washington Post reports (Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 5/2). Under the policy, military personnel will no longer have to disclose any service-related treatment that they have received when they apply for security clearance. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 1:00 pm
FDA on April 28 sent a warning letter to Merck officials informing them that agency investigators discovered manufacturing deficiencies at the company's vaccine plant in West Point, Pa., the Wall Street Journal reports. The vaccines produced there include Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine, as well as certain childhood vaccines (Loftus, Wall Street Journal, 5/1). Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 1:00 pm
"Health IN the Economy," Kaiser Family Foundation: The essay by Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman looks at the implications of the economy rising and health care falling as political issues in polls of the public. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 1:00 pm
China reported a jump Monday in the number of children sickened with hand, foot and mouth disease, saying more than 9,700 cases have been reported. At least 24 deaths in the central... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 May 2008 | 12:55 pm
Millions of New Yorkers are having trouble finding fresh and affordable food within walking distance of their homes, according to a recent city study. Source: NYT > Health | 5 May 2008 | 12:01 pm
CMS on Thursday released a proposed rule that would reduce Medicare reimbursements for skilled nursing facilities by a net 0.3% in fiscal year 2009, CQ HealthBeat reports. Under the rule, Medicare reimbursements for SNFs would decrease by $770 million, or 3.3%, in FY 2009. However, a proposed Medicare market-basket reimbursement update of 3.1% would offset most of the decrease, CMS said. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 12:00 pm
Canadian government officials committed a "serious breach of international scientific standards" by intervening in an independent scientific review of the supervised drug-injection facility Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to an article recently published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports (Picard, Toronto's Globe and Mail, 5/2). Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 12:00 pm
The House on Thursday voted 414-1 to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a bill (HR 493) to prohibit insurers and employers from discriminating against individuals based on genetic information that shows a predisposition to certain conditions, including breast cancer, the New York Times reports. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 12:00 pm
"We can no longer be silent" about the rising sexually transmitted infection rates in the U.S., particularly in the black community, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) writes in a Seattle Medium opinion piece, noting the findings of a recent study that found that one in four teenage girls has an STI. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 12:00 pm
It is a common belief that the water quality of the Charles River and other lakes, streams and rivers is at its worst after a large rainfall because of pollutants carried by runoff. However, a recent study completed by researchers at Northeastern University in Boston found high concentrations of E. colibacteria in the Charles River after a long period of no rain. Ferdi Hellweger, Ph.D. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 11:00 am
A person with dilated cardiomyopathy has an enlarged and stretched heart cavity, usually too weak to pump normally; most people will go on to develop heart failure. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 11:00 am
A process of self-digestion called autophagy prompts the maturation of red blood cells. Without a protein called Nix, the cells would not effectively rid themselves of organelles called mitochondria and consequently become short-lived, leading to anemia, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears online in the journal Nature. Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 May 2008 | 11:00 am
The total number of fat cells in the body remains the same throughout adulthood, researchers in Sweden reported. Source: NYT > Health | 5 May 2008 | 10:28 am
Results on the hypoxia inhalation test (also known as the hypoxia altitude simulation test) predict how patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will respond during air travel, researchers from New Zealand report in the April issue of Chest. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 4:28 am
Interleukin (IL)-6, C-reactive protein, and macroalbuminuria are significant predictors of congestive heart failure, independent of obesity and other established risk factors, according to new findings from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 4:27 am
HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) levels correlate with lower extremity performance in older nondisabled individuals, according to a report in the April Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 4:25 am
Isolation of the entire posterior left atrium improves the outcomes of patients who undergo the Cox maze procedure, the gold standard surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation, according to a report in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery for April. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 4:25 am
State officials say they are still receiving complaints of high-pressure sales tactics that have led some beneficiaries to sign up for unsuitable policies. Source: NYT > Health | 5 May 2008 | 4:18 am
In in vitro studies, adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum to endothelial cells activates the Rho kinase pathway. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:43 am
Co-administration of oxytocin and ergometrine is no better than oxytocin alone for decreasing blood loss during emergency caesarean delivery, according to Canadian researchers. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:40 am
An emtricitabine-based antiretroviral regimen is safe and effective in pediatric patients infected with HIV, according to a report in the April issue of Pediatrics. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:38 am
Calcium plus vitamin D3 supplementation does not reduce the risk of diabetes, according to findings from the Women's Health Initiative. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:17 am
Two independent research teams have identified several genetic polymorphisms shared by ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:15 am
If gang violence was an infectious disease, how would you stop it? A Chicago epidemiologist thinks he has the answer. Source: NYT > Health | 5 May 2008 | 3:11 am
Pediatricians have identified specific criteria for safe, early discharge from the emergency department (ED) of small children with bronchiolitis. Reuters Health Information Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 May 2008 | 3:10 am
More than 70 employees at state mental hospitals in Texas have been fired since 2005 over accusations of brutal beatings and other physical abuse, according to a newspaper report on Sunday. Source: NYT > Health | 5 May 2008 | 3:10 am
Electromagnetic fields from incubators may be interfering with newborn babies' heart rates, claim researchers. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 4 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
No amount of dieting will alter the number of fat-hoarding cells in our bodies, research has suggested. Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 4 May 2008 | 10:55 pm
For millions of people with employer health insurance, premiums and co-payments have increased quickly while coverage has become less extensive. Source: NYT > Health | 4 May 2008 | 6:03 pm
Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, lived long enough to see his drug brought back into the lab to study as a therapeutic agent. Source: NYT > Health | 4 May 2008 | 5:47 pm
Associated Press May 04, 2008 CHICAGO - American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom, according to a comparison based on a new U.K. study. Source: PsycPORT.com | 4 May 2008 | 2:58 pm
Associated Press May 04, 2008 DALLAS - Employee disciplinary records show abuse and neglect are systemic in mental hospitals in Texas, which has worked over the past year to revamp its juvenile prison system because of similar allegations, according to a report published Sunday. Source: PsycPORT.com | 4 May 2008 | 2:58 pm
