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Home blood pressure monitors can help people keep blood pressure in check

A recent research review has concluded that home blood pressure monitors can help people keep their blood pressure in check and possibly cut down on medication – as long as patients and their doctors put those home readings to good use. For years, Omron Healthcare, Inc. has reminded Americans how important home blood pressure monitoring is when it comes to reducing their risk of a heart attack or stroke, and truly wants people to take the news to heart in 2011.

19 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 19, 2011

Today's headlines and news coverage offer details about the House health law repeal debate, which started yesterday.

19 Jan 2011

MD Anderson experts create plan to guide women on healthy behaviors

"A woman's life changes at every decade and so does her body," says Therese Bevers, M.D., medical director of MD Anderson's Cancer Prevention Center. "And, just as a woman sets personal and work-related milestones, she also should set health goals for every stage of life."

19 Jan 2011

African American patients who are susceptible to hypertension may benefit from storytelling: New study

Controlling blood pressure is not only a medical challenge, but a social one as well. Because patients are required to strictly adhere to a treatment plan that may include medication, dietary restrictions and regular doctor visits, the ideas of wellness and health are also powerful parts of the social reinforcement needed for behavioral change.

19 Jan 2011

Loyola offers new, nonsurgical treatment for Dupuytren's contracture

Loyola University Health System is among the first centers to offer a new, nonsurgical treatment for Dupuytren's contracture, a debilitating condition that curls fingers toward the palm.

19 Jan 2011

Quality of care and reimbursements will go down under Healthcare Reform Act: Survey

The newly released 2011 Thomson Reuters - HCPlexus National Physicians Survey (NPS) links doctors' fears that their pay will go down under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called Healthcare Reform Act (HCRA), with their concerns that the quality of care will also deteriorate. The study includes responses from 2,958 doctors of varying specialties and practice types, from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

19 Jan 2011

Guardian online series explores global health worker issues

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

19 Jan 2011

Medical mistakes, doctor ratings gain state-level attention

In Wisconsin, the issue of access to reports on medical mistakes is part of a bill being considered in the state legislature. In Minnesota, physicians are seeking a delay to the plan to provide ratings based on cost and quality.

18 Jan 2011

Viewpoints: Next step after health law repeal effort; Refuting 'job-killing' claims; Mental health care

The continuing resolution that extended funding for the federal government until Mar. 4 gives us an opportunity to include language in the appropriations that fund the rest of this fiscal year — and must be passed to avoid a government shutdown. The language would prohibit any funds from being used to implement or enforce Obamacare (Rep. Steve King, 1/18).

18 Jan 2011

Studies offer insights into end-of-life directives

News reports focus on how doctors' religious beliefs and U.S. laws impact decisions made in end-of-life care.

18 Jan 2011

Hotspur announces successful completion of GPSCath Catheter in peripheral angioplasty surgery

Hotspur Technologies, announced today that Dr. Greg Sampognaro, Interventional Cardiologist at P & S Surgical Hospital in Monroe, Louisiana, successfully completed the first use of the GPSCath Balloon Dilatation Catheter in an intervention to treat a blocked peripheral artery.

18 Jan 2011

Media look at what's ahead for South Sudan

"This week's independence referendum in southern Sudan marks an apparent victory for U.S. foreign policy in east Africa - one that has secured for Washington a deeper advisory role in what is expected to be the birth of a new, impoverished nation," according to a Wall Street Journal article looking at the issues facing the U.S. in south Sudan after voting concludes.

18 Jan 2011

AHRQ reports 1 in 5 Americans have no usual source of medical care

Roughly 60 million people -- 1 in 5 Americans -- have no usual source of medical care, such as a family doctor or clinic, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

18 Jan 2011

Health Canada approves GORE VIABIL Biliary Endoprosthesis device

W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. today announced it has received approval from Health Canada for the Removable GORE VIABIL Biliary Endoprosthesis.

17 Jan 2011

Illegal breast & buttock implant woman busted

A woman from New York City was arrested on Friday with the charge of performing illegal breast and buttocks enhancement procedures in her home, sometimes charging more than $1,000 for injections of liquid silicone.

16 Jan 2011

Johns Hopkins' online tool helps seniors assess risk for dementia

A quick online assessment tool developed by Johns Hopkins researchers can help worried seniors find out if they are at risk of developing dementia and determine whether they should seek a comprehensive, face-to-face diagnosis from a physician, according to a new study.

14 Jan 2011

Roundup: Texas insurance exchange proposal; Ill. safety net hole; Iowa abortion decision

A key House GOP health policy writer has filed legislation to create a state-run health insurance exchange in Texas. A bill by Rep. John Zerwas, R-Katy, would create a Texas Health Insurance Connector, or simplified insurance market.

14 Jan 2011

pH Advantage adds Pyranase to facial skin care line

pH Advantage LLC recently added a new breakthrough product to its highly effective facial skin care line. Pyranase is clinically proven to reverse the signs of aging, reduce fine lines and wrinkles and improve the overall texture and appearance of the skin. Pyranase brings the proven effectiveness of a class of plant growth factor (cytokinin) in an enhanced and proprietary molecular formula.

14 Jan 2011

Unintended direct conflict between pharmaceutical marketing and public health

Drugs that pharmaceutical companies market most aggressively to physicians and patients tend to offer less benefit and more harm to most patients - a phenomenon described as the "inverse benefit law" in a paper from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

14 Jan 2011

Study finds racial disparities in weight-related counseling

When it comes to advising obese patients, blacks receive less weight reduction and exercise counseling from physicians than their white counterparts. This is according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who examined the impact of patient and doctor race concordance on weight-related counseling.

14 Jan 2011