Public Health News and Research

RSS

State highlights: Fewer visits to Texas women's clinics after planned parenthood exclusion; Minn. health spending growth slows

To stop Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving public financing, Texas' Republican leaders gambled that the state could operate a contraception and cancer-screening program for low-income women without tens of millions of federal dollars. But with the exclusion of about 40 Planned Parenthood clinics -- none of which performed abortions -- from the Texas Women's Health Program in 2013, records showed that claims for birth control and wellness exams dropped, as did enrollment numbers (Aaronson, 12/12).

16 Dec 2013

Diabetes most common among older men and those living in the South

About 8.8 percent of the privately insured population in 2012 had diabetes or was diagnosed as being at high risk for diabetes, up from 8.3 percent in 2011, but the rates of disease varied depending on age, gender and region of the country, says a new report from HCCI. In 2012, over one quarter of men between the ages of 55-64 and nearly one in 10 Southerners had diabetes or were at risk for diabetes.

16 Dec 2013

Iowa governor, feds shake hands on Medicaid expansion

The agreement follows the administration's announcement Tuesday that it would permit the state to charge modest premiums to enrollees making more than the federal poverty level. Meanwhile, in Arizona, Republican legislators opposed to Medicaid expansion take their case to court.

16 Dec 2013

Prescription drug misuse and driving after using drugs on the rise among Ontario students

Alcohol consumption and smoking among Ontario students in grades 7-12 is at an all-time low; however recreational use of over-the-counter drugs is on the rise. Prescription drug misuse and driving after using drugs also remain elevated according to the 2013 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

16 Dec 2013

NJHA's CEO wins FDR Visionary Award from March of Dimes

Betsy Ryan, Esq., president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association, today was presented with the FDR Visionary Award from the March of Dimes, New Jersey Chapter.

15 Dec 2013

Despite lower socioeconomic status, immigrants often in better health than their naturalized counterparts

Health disparities research has frequently focused on the "health immigration paradox", which finds that recent Latino immigrants are often in better health than their naturalized counterparts, despite lower socioeconomic status. Little previous research has focused on the health status of foreign-born people over the age of 50, who make up over a third of all immigrants.

13 Dec 2013

Bioethics Commission releases ethical recommendations to manage incidental and secondary findings

Researchers conduct a memory study, scan a participant's brain, and find more than they bargain for: a tumor. What do the researchers owe the participant? What does the participant want to know?

13 Dec 2013

Massachusetts residents have broader health insurance coverage, greater access to primary care

In 2006, Massachusetts was on the same brink that the entire nation is on today: the brink of expanding health insurance to cover far more people than before, through government-driven, market-based reform.

13 Dec 2013

Protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells that fight against bacteria

A protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells -- critical players in the body's fight against bacteria and other pathogens -- rendering them unable to protect against bacterial spread in the body, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS).

13 Dec 2013

Breast cancer survivors taking AIs may experience reduction in joint pain on exercising

Breast cancer survivors taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane experienced a reduction in joint pain if they exercised while on treatment, according to results presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

13 Dec 2013

State highlights: States scramble to change newborn screening programs; obesity rate flat; New York hospital charges vary considerably

States across the country are making significant changes to their newborn screening programs after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found that thousands of hospitals were sending babies' blood samples late to state labs that test for rare yet deadly genetic disorders. From keeping labs open on weekends to identifying problem hospitals and providing them with regular performance reports, dozens of health officials are reviewing and retooling their state-run programs (Gabler, 12/11).

13 Dec 2013

Unnecessary cesarean section rates rising at both rural and urban hospitals

Rates of unnecessary cesarean section and other potentially risky obstetric procedures show some significant differences between rural and urban hospitals in the United States, reports a study in the January issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

13 Dec 2013

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

Access to mental health care has become a prominent issue in Congress following mass shootings around the country. But a new study in JAMA Psychiatry, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, suggests that unless those in need of help have deep pockets, they might have a hard time finding a psychiatrist that will provide the needed services.

13 Dec 2013

Michigan to require separate abortion coverage on public and private policies

Michigan will join more conservative states in requiring residents who want health insurance coverage for abortions to buy an extra policy, after Republican legislators passed the law Wednesday over the objections of Democrats who pleaded for them to take the issue to voters instead.

13 Dec 2013

Vaccines for whooping cough contain 3 to 5 protective antigens

Vaccines for whooping cough contain three to five protective antigens, the presence of which are critical to the vaccine's effectiveness. But one of the antigens, pertactin, which had been present in almost all isolates of Bordetella pertussis in the US as late as 2010, is now absent from more than half of them, according to a paper published ahead of print in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology.

13 Dec 2013

Cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows provide more than taste of holiday spice

Cinnamon, nutmeg and marshmallows provide more than a taste of holiday spice or a sugar rush. They are the ingredients for recipes for trendy risky games played by many to disasterous consequences.

13 Dec 2013

U.S. health care system ranks 22nd in health care spending

A new study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and McGill University in Montreal reveals that the United States health care system ranks 22nd out of 27 high-income nations when analyzed for its efficiency of turning dollars spent into extending lives.

13 Dec 2013

Health expenditures show stronger link with gains in life expectancy for males than for females

Health care spending is a large - and ever increasing - portion of government budgets. Improving its efficiency has therefore become critically important. In the first-ever study to estimate health spending efficiency by gender across 27 industrialized nations, researchers discovered significant disparities within countries, with stronger gains in life expectancy for men than for women in nearly every nation.

13 Dec 2013

UCSF receives $15M grant to help three dozen countries eliminate malaria

UC San Francisco's Global Health Group has received a $15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a pioneering effort to help nearly three dozen countries eliminate malaria within their borders.

13 Dec 2013

Study shows many clinicians are unfamiliar with use of e-cigarettes with their young patients

The use of electronic cigarettes, battery operated devices that often look like cigarettes and deliver vaporized nicotine, is on the rise, including among minors. In a survey between 2011 and 2012, 10 percent of high school students reported ever using an e-cigarette.

13 Dec 2013

Public Health News and Research

State highlights: Fewer visits to Texas women's clinics after planned parenthood exclusion; Minn. health spending growth slows

Diabetes most common among older men and those living in the South

Iowa governor, feds shake hands on Medicaid expansion

Prescription drug misuse and driving after using drugs on the rise among Ontario students

NJHA's CEO wins FDR Visionary Award from March of Dimes

Despite lower socioeconomic status, immigrants often in better health than their naturalized counterparts

Bioethics Commission releases ethical recommendations to manage incidental and secondary findings

Massachusetts residents have broader health insurance coverage, greater access to primary care

Protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells that fight against bacteria

Breast cancer survivors taking AIs may experience reduction in joint pain on exercising

State highlights: States scramble to change newborn screening programs; obesity rate flat; New York hospital charges vary considerably

Unnecessary cesarean section rates rising at both rural and urban hospitals

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

Michigan to require separate abortion coverage on public and private policies

Vaccines for whooping cough contain 3 to 5 protective antigens

Cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows provide more than taste of holiday spice

U.S. health care system ranks 22nd in health care spending

Health expenditures show stronger link with gains in life expectancy for males than for females

UCSF receives $15M grant to help three dozen countries eliminate malaria

Study shows many clinicians are unfamiliar with use of e-cigarettes with their young patients

News Medical 2025: Healthcare Shifts That Mattered Most eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

Latest News