Hiccups News and Research

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Hiccups refer to involuntary spasms of the diaphragm – the main muscle involved in breathing – followed by rapid closure of the vocal cords. This produces a distinctive “hic” sound at the top of the windpipe.

International consensus panel reviews new diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

New diagnostic criteria were introduced this week for neuromyelitis optica, now called neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, which is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that is sometimes mistaken for multiple sclerosis.

9 Jul 2015

National survey shows that most women don't know risks or symptoms of stroke

A national survey released today by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center shows that most women don't know the risks or symptoms females face when it comes to having a stroke.

28 Apr 2015

Study examines new Ebola Prediction Score

Abdominal pain, fever and unexplained bleeding - which are commonly believed to indicate infection with the Ebola virus -- are not significantly predictive of the disease, according to the results of a study examining a new Ebola Prediction Score published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Derivation and Internal Validation of the Ebola Prediction Score for Risk Stratification of Patients with Suspected Ebola Virus Disease").

8 Apr 2015

New study sheds light on linguistic characteristic of autistic children

A new study by a linguistics professor and an alumnus from The University of Texas at Austin sheds light on a well-known linguistic characteristic of autistic children — their reluctance to use pronouns — paving the way for more accurate diagnostics.

6 Apr 2015

Rhode Island Hospital physician comes up with new diagnostic tool for Ebola virus

Adam C. Levine, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital who treated Ebola-infected patients in Liberia last year, used his field experience to create a tool to determine the likelihood that patients presenting with Ebola symptoms will actually carry the virus.

6 Apr 2015

Ebola more likely to be fatal for young children

Ebola progresses more quickly and is more likely to be fatal for children under five, according to new research. An international group of scientists led by Imperial College London and the World Health Organization analysed data on Ebola cases in children under 16 during the current outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, comparing them to cases in adults.

27 Mar 2015

Insurers, exchanges gird for next open enrollment

Officials say they are expecting glitches, but most do not expect the crippling technical problems that afflicted last year's open enrollment period.

4 Sep 2014

Open Payments website plagued by delays, difficulties

The site, which is supposed to make transparent payments between drugmakers and physicians, is slated to be made public by Sept. 30. But as the deadline nears, the pharmaceutical industry is pressing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to be more transparent in explaining what's going on with the database.

28 Aug 2014

HHS says marketplace customers can automatically renew their plans

The announcement says people getting subsidies will be allowed to renew for 2015 without filing an application or going back on healthcare.gov. But consumer advocates caution that may not be the best option for those customers.

27 Jun 2014

Conservatives push for GOP alternative to health law

Conservatives put pressure on House GOP leaders to adopt their own health-care plan as an alternative to the health law. And in Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argues on the campaign trail that if residents like their health exchange they can keep it -- even if Republicans repeal the law.

30 May 2014

Skip health coverage and the penalty may exceed expectations

The notion that, during its first year, the penalty for not getting health insurance is relatively small is not entirely accurate. News outlets also report on how the health law is affecting retiree health care, insurers' rate-setting processes, pregnant women's coverage and provider networks.

13 Mar 2014

Texas hospital officials criticize proposal to limit Obamacare navigators

Texas hospital officials and Democrats complained about proposed state legislation to impose greater training requirements and fees on navigators, while a Florida group gets a grant for outreach to Hispanics.

7 Jan 2014

First Edition: January 7, 2014

Today's headlines include a range of reports about state developments related to the health law's online marketplaces as well as details regarding the latest Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' figures on health costs.

7 Jan 2014

For the health law, are the first days the hardest ones?

News outlets take a look at how the health law's implementation is working out on the ground during these first days of January.

6 Jan 2014

First Edition: January 3, 2014

Today's headlines include coverage of a new study examining how Oregon's ER usage increased after expanding Medicaid.

3 Jan 2014

Reviews mixed for 'fixed' health care website

Some said the Monday's healthcare.gov relaunch -- marked by heavy traffic -- was "rocky" and "bumpy," but administration officials maintained the user experience was much smoother as a result of fixes.

4 Dec 2013

The political challenge for health law supporters: proving the health law is a success, rather than an SNL skit

For vulnerable House Democrats, the task of blunting criticism of the overhaul is especially important. Meanwhile, House Republicans have a plan to keep playing offense on the issue, with a number of votes planned this week.

13 Nov 2013

First Edition: October 31, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the Obama administration's efforts to recover from health law implementation hiccups and challenges.

31 Oct 2013

Healthcare.gov's technical problems persist even as some hiccups are fixed

For instance, the troubled healthcare.gov was recovering Monday from an outage caused by one of the companies supporting the site.

30 Oct 2013

State-run marketplaces rebounding from opening snags

Politico Pro examines how the marketplaces operated by states compare to the federally run operation. Other outlets look at some of the individual issues in states.

15 Oct 2013