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Laser technology lowers manufacturing cost of artificial joints and arterial stents

Researchers are developing technologies that use lasers to create arterial stents and longer-lasting medical implants that could be manufactured 10 times faster and also less expensively than is now possible.

16 Sep 2009

Wisconsin town offers low cost, quality care model

A Wisconsin clinic offers a better model that provides high-quality care and saves the federal government money. CQ HealthBeat reports on the Marshfield Clinic where nurses are readily available, doctors offer coordinated care to manage chronic conditions, and staff follows best practices based on convincing data.

16 Sep 2009

Poll: Majority of doctors support public option

"Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance," NPR reports.

16 Sep 2009

Study shows 29 percent patients experienced angina chest pain once a week

The world's largest quality of life study of chronic angina patients has revealed that almost one in three experience frequent chest pain, which affects their daily life.

16 Sep 2009

Urgent vaccine requirements for treating epidemic diseases voiced at ECI 2009

As a result of dominant media coverage of new epidemic threats such as swine influenza, other infection risks receive less public attention than they deserve. "We would like to bring to everybody's attention that the infectious diseases with the most severe consequences continue to be old acquaintances such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and hepatitis C. About six million people worldwide die of these diseases every year," says Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Stefan H. E. Kaufmann, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, at the 2nd European Congress of Immunology ECI 2009.

16 Sep 2009

Checking in with Dr. Abraham Verghese on the importance of the bedside manner

Kaiser Health News' Jessica Marcy talked with Dr. Abraham Verghese about a range of issues related to health reform and the practice of medicine. Verghese, a senior associate chair at Stanford University's School of Medicine and a best-selling author, spoke about "how medical educators are addressing the shortage of primary care physicians and the 'battle of stories' in the health care reform debate" (Marcy, 9/15).

16 Sep 2009

Cardiac MRI exams gain prominence in the medical imaging market

Developments in imaging technology and software continue to help cardiac MRI exams gain prominence in the medical imaging market by meeting the demand for faster scan times and the ability to view areas of the body that were previously deemed impossible to image, according to "Medical Imaging Markets: MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and Ultrasound" by healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information.

16 Sep 2009

Hazelden and Dartmouth PRC sign publishing partnership

Hazelden, a nonprofit organization, and the Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center (PRC)-both leaders in the research and development of evidence-based practices-have announced a partnership to develop a variety of resources for the mental health and addiction treatment industries.

16 Sep 2009

University presidents examine schools' roles in global health

Five university presidents came together on Monday at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health's inaugural annual meeting to examine universities' role "in the rapidly-emerging arena of global health and how global health fits into the well-established set of departments, centers and schools" at each university, Inside Higher Ed reports.

16 Sep 2009

Research study indicates presence of two stable bacterial ecosystems in the gut

Small-bowel transplant patients with an ileostomy -- an opening into their small bowel -- have a very different population of bacteria living in their gut than patients whose ileostomy has been closed, researchers from UC Davis and Georgetown University Medical Center have found. The results are published online Sept. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

16 Sep 2009

Obama to meet with sub-Saharan African leaders next week

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice announced Monday that President Obama will host a luncheon for leaders of sub-Saharan African countries next week during the ministerial meeting of the U.N. General Assembly "to promote economic and social development," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

16 Sep 2009

Costs, partisan battles move center-stage in health care debate

As health reform progresses in Congress, President Obama may have to wade into a partisan debate of the most divisive issues, including Medicaid expansion, illegal immigration and abortion.

16 Sep 2009

Opinion piece calls for enhanced U.S.-Russia health collaboration

While legislators in Moscow attempt to reform the Russian health system in a way that is "strikingly similar" to the reform process in the U.S. and "[g]iven the importance of the U.S.-Russia relationship ... our two countries have a historic opportunity to expand our health collaboration and, in so doing, improve our diplomatic ties," former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

16 Sep 2009

CIDRAP summit to address employee protection measures during H1N1 pandemic

Business and healthcare leaders looking to fast-track preparedness for the H1N1 pandemic are gathering with infectious disease experts and Fortune 500 planners this month to determine how best to protect their employees and preserve their operations.

16 Sep 2009

Workers face higher costs for employer-sponsored insurance

Kaiser Health News reports that "employers struggling with the steady rise of health insurance costs -- which in 2009 increased 5 percent to an average of $13,375 for family coverage -- are passing on more of the expense to their workers through higher deductibles and co-payments, according to survey released today." The survey was by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust (Galewitz and Villegas, 9/15).

16 Sep 2009

Study reveals effectiveness of cognitive testing by telephone in elderly individuals

Cognitive testing by telephone in elderly individuals is generally as effective as in-person testing, according to a new study by Effie M. Mitsis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and part of Mount Sinai's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The study will appear in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

16 Sep 2009

Breaking it down: A comparison of major health care plans in Congress

The Associated Press offers a look at the major health care plans pending in Congress, including the House Democratic bill, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, the Baucus plan and the House Republican outline, plus President Obama's proposal.

16 Sep 2009

Insurers fail to keep up with speech technology, deny funding for devices that multi-task

Insurance companies push speech-impaired patients, like one New York woman with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, to buy expensive computers featuring text-to-speech software by refusing to pay for alternative devices, the New York Times reports. Furthermore, they insist on blocking all other capabilities of the proprietary machines they do cover.

16 Sep 2009

PsoriasisDX Genetic Test for Psoriatic arthritis launched

The first genetic test for Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is being launched today by PsoriasisDX, LLC, a subsidiary of molecular dermatology research and development innovator PharmaGenoma, Inc. PsA is a progressive irreversible joint disease associated with psoriasis. It is estimated that 20% to 40% of psoriasis patients will eventually develop PsA.

16 Sep 2009

NIMH awards Genomas an SBIR Grant to develop MRI DNA biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disease

Genomas(R), a biomedical company advancing DNA-Guided medicine, today announced the award of a 3-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant totaling $1.4 Million. The grant, entitled MRI DNA Biomarkers for Neuropsychiatric Disease, was awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

16 Sep 2009