Long term care insurance may not seem like headline news or talk-show fare, but Denise Gott pursues the topic with passion and flair. "I'm on a mission to wake up America," she says. Her message is now appearing on CNN newscasts in the nation's airports and broadcasts on Delta Air Line flights. Gott is Chairman of the Board of LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP) -- http://www.ltcfp.com -- one of the nation's largest and most experienced long-term care insurance agencies. [More]

Older adults who have alcohol dependence problems drink significantly more than do younger adults who have similar problems, a new study has found. [More]

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have uncovered the genetic identity of a cellular receptor for the immune system's first-response antibody, a discovery that sheds new light on infection control and immune disorders. [More]

Medidata Solutions, Inc., a leading global provider of hosted clinical development solutions, today announced that it filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed public offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock of the company. [More]

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world's leading cancer centers, has collaborated with the Discovery Health Channel to produce a program profiling three patients with metastatic breast cancer and their healthcare team as they customize each patient's treatment regimen to their individual tumor type and health status. [More]

Toxic dust: Toxins in coal-tar-based sealcoats in parking lots may be the culprit in contaminated house dust, according to a USGS study. PAHs - or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - are large molecules found in oil, coal and tar deposits, and can have toxic effects. [More]

The Department of Health today began providing free H1N1 flu shots to members of priority groups that did not have previous access to the vaccine. [More]

For the protection of frontline health care and emergency medical workers at high risk of infection, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a compliance directive to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize or eliminate high to very high risk occupational exposures to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus. [More]

Samuel Gladding is no Scrooge, but he is on a mission to redefine what it means to be "happy" during the holidays. As a licensed professional counselor with a specialty in family counseling and chair of the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University, Gladding says research shows that it is the pressure to be happy that often leads to sadness and even depression during the holidays. [More]

We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines. [More]

"Many Americans have a very limited understanding of the basic facts about diabetes, as well as the serious consequences for health that accompany the disease," commented Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, President, Health Care & Education, American Diabetes Association, in a media alert. She blames the problem on a combination of factors including denial of the disease and promotion of inaccurate information or myths surrounding diabetes. [More]

The Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation (DSRTF) announces the identification of a new potential therapeutic strategy to address cognitive decline and improve cognition in Down syndrome. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine on November 18, 2009 by DSRTF-supported researchers, Drs. Ahmad Salehi, William Mobley, and colleagues at Stanford and UCSD Schools of Medicine. [More]

The US government reported Monday that one in seven Americans struggled to get enough food to eat. This startling statistic highlights the difficulties of older adults who are rapidly aging into poverty. [More]

Three of the largest Front Range health care organizations are taking an unprecedented leap forward in health care reform by improving care for more than a million Coloradans with an interconnected electronic patient record exchange system. [More]

The estimated 4.6 million Americans involved in the equine industry may be at risk of developing respiratory symptoms due to poor air quality in horse barns, according to a questionnaire study undertaken earlier this year by investigators at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. [More]