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New nanoparticle-based diagnostic platform provides rapid detection of sepsis

Blood poisoning can be fatal. If you suffer from sepsis, you used to have to wait as much as 48 hours for laboratory findings. A new diagnostic platform as big as a credit card will now supply the analysis after as little as an hour. This system is based on nanoparticles that are automatically guided by magnetic forces.

22 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 22, 2010

Today's headlines include a number of reports regarding a new proposed rule by the Department of Health and Human Services that will require insurers to justify large premium hikes.

22 Dec 2010

URI, R.I. Hospital to offer medical physics degree

Students interested in physics and medicine will be able to combine disciplines to become medical physicists and enter an expanding field that offers multiple career opportunities and salaries that start with six figures.

21 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 21, 2010

Today's headlines reveal the health law challenges presented by the Senate's current deal to fund the federal government and from a antitrust suit in Michigan.

21 Dec 2010

Tips to find if a senior relative needs immediate medical attention

You're in from out of town and stop by to see Great Aunt Edna and Great Uncle Albert for the first time in a few years. But you become worried when you observe that the busy, meticulous couple of your youth is gone, replaced by a disheveled woman who won't get out of bed and a belligerent man who doesn't recognize you and thinks it is 1959.

21 Dec 2010

Aetna's ACO model improves health care quality, lowers cost of care

Three years ago Aetna began working with doctor groups, specialists and health care facilities to create a more personalized, connected and accountable way to provide health care. Today, Aetna's early accountable care organization model is improving health care quality and lowering the cost of care.

21 Dec 2010

Use of metaphors may help doctors to recruit low-income people for cancer clinical trials

The language that doctors use with low-income, rural patients can help determine whether these patients agree to participate in clinical trials testing new cancer treatments, a new study found.

21 Dec 2010

FMCNA recommends dialysis patients to take precautions during severe weather

Fresenius Medical Care North America, the nation's leading network of dialysis facilities, reminds dialysis patients to take precautions now so they are not caught off guard when severe weather hits in their home community.

21 Dec 2010

Lilly Endowment grants funds to Manchester College to establish School of Pharmacy

A small Midwest college that is producing alumni with sizeable reputations in the science world has received a $35 million grant from Lilly Endowment to launch a School of Pharmacy.

21 Dec 2010

Study examines treatment options for children diagnosed with ADHD

For doctors and parents to jointly decide how to attack pediatric conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), practical barriers to recommended health treatments need to be overcome, according to a study by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In considering their options, parents preferred their physicians to offer an unbiased presentation of all available treatments.

21 Dec 2010

Take charge of your medical tests

Whether you're healthy or ill, there are a variety of medical tests your health care team might recommend for you. A yearly checkup often includes routine tests such as blood sugar and cholesterol levels, vision and hearing assessments, tests for heart functioning and others used to monitor a chronic condition—such as a lung function test for those with asthma.

20 Dec 2010

PwC: Top Health Industry Issues of 2011

Health organizations will undergo a strategy makeover in 2011 as they react to new rules and payment models, continuing cost pressures and new customer demands, according to the Top Health Industry Issues of 2011, published today by PwC's Health Research Institute. But in a recent nationwide survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, PwC found that consumers don't fully understand or buy-in to all the changes.

20 Dec 2010

Researchers examine socio-economic consequences of hypersomnia

Danish sleep researchers at the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Institute for Health Services Research have examined the socio-economic consequences of the sleep disorder hypersomnia in one of the largest studies of its kind.

20 Dec 2010

Scientists suggest targeting ion channels could offer effective pain relief

University at Buffalo neuroscience researchers conducting basic research on ion channels have demonstrated a process that could have a profound therapeutic impact on pain.

20 Dec 2010

Today's Opinions: Cucinelli argues for quickly moving Va. case to the Supreme Court; Unraveling Medicaid leaves a big gap; Taking away a cancer treatment

It's hard not to laugh at the cries over the "injustice" of forcing people to buy coverage. Working Americans are already forced to buy health coverage - but for others. They can't choose not to pay the Medicare payroll tax. They can't even make a deal with the government, promising, "I will forgo all future Medicare benefits if I can be freed from the Medicare payroll tax" (Froma Harrop, 12/16).

17 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 17, 2010

Today's headlines highlight major health policy developments, including action in a Florida courtroom regarding the 20-state challenge to the health law and the Food and Drug Administration's curb on Avastin for the treatment of breast cancer.

17 Dec 2010

Home health, hospice patients need to have face-to-face encounter with physician: New Medicare rule

A new federal regulation issued by Medicare in November will create a crisis for approximately 4.5 million home health and hospice service patients. Starting on January 1, homebound elderly and disabled patients as well as hospice patients will now need to have a "face-to-face encounter" with a physician or nurse practitioner if they want to receive care under Medicare.

17 Dec 2010

Health inequalities still exist between England's richest and poorest

Significant health inequalities still exist between the country's richest and poorest according to the latest findings from the biggest annual survey of health in England, The Health Survey for England. The survey, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research and UCL and funded by The NHS Information Centre, shows that people in the lowest income households continue to experience much worse outcomes across key health measures than people in the highest income households.

17 Dec 2010

President signs one-year 'pay-fix'; Medicare tests competitive bidding for common medical equipment

The Kansas City Star reports on a new Medicare program that will apply competitive bidding to common medical equipment and supplies. Meanwhile, President Obama signed into law yesterday a one-year delay in Medicare payment cuts for physicians.

17 Dec 2010

Study: Biomarkers may aid in early diagnosis of breast cancer

Using a new, powerful method for rapidly screening molecules associated with disease, proteomics expert Joshua LaBaer and colleagues from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have identified a broad panel of 28 early predictors, or biomarkers, that may one day aid in the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

17 Dec 2010