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New York Attorney General: Some college health plans violate state regulations

An investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office into health insurance plans offered to college students found that most plans "pay out far less in benefits than they collect in premiums," sometimes in violation of state regulations.

12 Apr 2010

NCI renews SWOG's operating grants for six years

Noting that the organization's research "has touched the lives of virtually every adult cancer patient in this nation," the National Cancer Institute has renewed the Southwest Oncology Group's operating grants for six years, with a total funding package over that period expected to exceed $120 million.

12 Apr 2010

Researchers investigate effects of nanoparticles on yeast

Nanoparticles are already widely used in everyday products such as cosmetics, textiles, dyes, and paints. It is quite possible that these minute fragments of matter may in future not only come to play a crucial role in medicine and pharmacology, but also in the food and biotechnology industries. The latest research currently being conducted in India has shown that nanoparticles can promote the growth of fungi and even assist plant growth.

12 Apr 2010

Wireless technology and data systems transforming health care

News outlets report on the way that health information technology is changing the practice of medicine.

12 Apr 2010

U-M Medical School researchers earn $366M in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2009

University of Michigan Medical School physicians and scientists earned more than $366 million in National Institutes of Health research funding in federal fiscal year 2009, according to NIH data. In all, the School's faculty brought in more than $435 million in research funding from all sources in U-M fiscal year 2009.

12 Apr 2010

S. thermophilus CRL 1190-fermented milk effective in therapeutic treatment of chronic gastritis: Research

Gastritis produced by acetyl-salicylic acid consumption is a common disorder worldwide. The use of probiotics has been proposed to ameliorate different gastrointestinal tract diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, etc. However, little attention has been paid to the use of probiotics in gastric disease.

12 Apr 2010

Study finds overall increase in developing country domestic health spending, some countries have reduced health budgets as donor funding increases

Researchers on Friday released a study in the Lancet that found while "[m]ost countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East doubled their health budgets," countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have trimmed their health spending as donors have boosted their health aid, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Apr 2010

Pfizer discloses payments to doctors

In Pennsylvania, the payments suggested that "[p]harmaceutical company money continued flowing to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors last year, despite a restrictive two-year-old policy designed to limit drug company influence, and reflecting the struggle academic medical centers face in distancing doctors from drug companies," the Pittsburgh Business Times reports

12 Apr 2010

Remediable conditions influence health, development and growth of young children

Pediatric researchers from Boston Medical Center, in partnership with other Children's HealthWatch investigators in Minneapolis, Little Rock, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, have found that the cumulative effects of crowded and unstable housing and uncertain supplies of food and heat act together to decrease the chances of normal growth and development and good physical health among infants and toddlers.

12 Apr 2010

New TIVR telephone system to teach pain management skills to patients with arthritis

Joan Broderick, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stony Brook University, has received a $606,000 grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

12 Apr 2010

Study pioneers phenotyping of human metabolome

The old excuse, "I am only overweight because of my genes," is suddenly gaining credibility as researchers uncover ever more evidence that the way our bodies digest and process nutrients in the food we eat is different for every person. The budding discipline of metabolomics strives to investigate these differences in a scientific manner.

12 Apr 2010

Elmendorf: Health reform will reduce deficit, warns of fiscal crisis

In remarks to reporters Thursday, Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf warned of a looming budget crisis that "cannot be solved through minor tinkering." The nation's "unsustainable" spending could increase the national debt from $7.5 trillion at the end of 2009 to 20.3 trillion in 2020, when the debt would total 90 percent of gross domestic product, Elmendorf noted (Allen, 4/8).

12 Apr 2010

IHME researchers advocate greater transparency in financial reporting

The commitment to health by country governments in the developing world has grown dramatically over the last two decades, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School.

12 Apr 2010

Scientists discover and block pathway responsible for link between stress, anxiety and depression

Scientists at The University of Western Ontario have discovered the biological link between stress, anxiety and depression. By identifying the connecting mechanism in the brain, this high impact research led by Stephen Ferguson of Robarts Research Institute shows exactly how stress and anxiety could lead to depression.

12 Apr 2010

Aetna faces Medicare sanctions

Health insurer Aetna announced Friday it will suspend "marketing to and enrollment of new members to its Medicare plans for the elderly because of sanctions imposed by the U.S. government," Reuters reports.

12 Apr 2010

Health reform effects on Tricare still being discussed

"Defense officials insist that the new national health care reform law has no direct effect on Tricare — but some analysts say indirect effects eventually may surface. ... military advocacy groups say the law's potential interaction with the complex family of Tricare plans over the longer term is vague, and could lead to future cost or coverage encroachment on the valuable benefit that serves 9.6 million beneficiaries."

9 Apr 2010

Top state health officials confused over national reform's effects on states

Stateline.org reports on confusion over health care reform at a quarterly meeting with top state health officials in Washington, D.C.: "The session exemplifies the overwhelming sense of confusion among state lawmakers and health care officials around the country as they scramble to figure out what exactly health care reform means for their governments, their citizens and, not least of all, their budgets.

9 Apr 2010

Mass. judge could rule on health insurer dispute by Monday

"Lawyers for health insurers and the state sparred in court yesterday over regulators' rejection of 235 proposed rate increases, and a judge said he would decide by Monday whether the companies will be allowed to charge the higher prices." The insurers are arguing that the state's insurance commissioner overstepped his authority in rejecting the 235 of 274 requests to increase premiums (Weisman, 4/9).

9 Apr 2010

MaxCyte, Medinet agree to amend License, Development and Supply Agreement

MaxCyte, Inc., and Medinet Co. Ltd., announced today that they have agreed to amend their License, Development and Supply Agreement for expansion of Medinet's right to use MaxCyte's cell loading technology in Asia Pacific markets.

9 Apr 2010

Today's opinions and editorials

In its most frightening version to date, the new Big Lie about health care reform is that it will require the Internal Revenue Service to hire "16,500 armed bureaucrats" to enforce the coming requirement that those who can afford it must purchase insurance (Eric Zorn, 4/8).

9 Apr 2010