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Members of MAPRx coalition urge supercommittee to protect Part D program

Writing on behalf of millions of Medicare beneficiaries with chronic health conditions who rely on Part D for their essential medications, 26 members of the Medicare Access for Patients Rx (MAPRx) coalition sent a joint letter urging members of the joint deficit panel ("supercommittee") to reject proposals to increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing, raise coinsurance, and freeze income thresholds as they seek ways to reduce federal spending.

30 Sep 2011

Researchers use fMRI to examine patterns of brain activation in patients with chronic pain

Cognition is known to influence pain perception. As a result, several mind-body and psychological therapies are commonly used to treat chronic pain. A new study from the October issue of Anesthesiology analyzed whether two of the most commonly applied strategies involve different brain systems.

30 Sep 2011

Patients with chronic hepatitis C less likely to take medications over time

Patients being treated for chronic hepatitis C become less likely to take their medications over time, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

30 Sep 2011

Initiative pays primary-care docs for coordinating Medicare patients' care

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday a new initiative created by the health law that will ask physicians to focus on patients with chronic conditions. The program will be tested in five to seven markets across the country.

30 Sep 2011

APhA encourages patients to discuss with pharmacist about pain and medications

In honor of Pain Awareness Month, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) encourages patients to have an open discussion with their pharmacist about their pain and the medications they take for pain.

30 Sep 2011

FDA approves NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System to treat ALS

An electronic system that stimulates the nerve of the diaphragm muscles has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

30 Sep 2011

Enrollment begins in Boston Scientific's vagal nerve stimulation trial for heart failure

Boston Scientific Corporation has enrolled the first patients in its NECTAR-HF (NEural Cardiac TherApy foR Heart Failure) clinical trial. NECTAR-HF is a prospective, randomized, international clinical feasibility study designed to assess preliminary safety and efficacy of chronic vagal nerve stimulation in heart failure patients.

30 Sep 2011

Children of obese mothers more likely to have asthma or wheezing in their teenage years

The children of mothers who are overweight or obese when they become pregnant are more likely to have asthma or wheezing as teenagers according to a team of researchers including Swatee Patel from the University of Greenwich.

30 Sep 2011

CVS Caremark, Dovetail Health partner to prevent avoidable hospital readmissions

Industry research finds that one in five seniors are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, representing a prevalent and costly issue for health plan sponsors. Moreover, it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of adverse health events that take place after hospital discharge are related to medication management issues.

29 Sep 2011

South Sudan facing chronic food shortages, U.N. agencies say

U.N. agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), are warning that South Sudan, the world's newest nation, "will face chronic food shortages next year due to internal and border insecurity, erratic rains and a huge influx of returnees from the North," IRIN reports.

29 Sep 2011

Tobacco companies deliberately kept findings of cancer-causing radioactive particles from the public

Tobacco companies knew that cigarette smoke contained radioactive alpha particles for more than four decades and developed "deep and intimate" knowledge of these particles' cancer-causing potential, but they deliberately kept their findings from the public, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.

29 Sep 2011

Plausible way to circumvent drug resistance in breast cancer cells

Breast cancer cells that mutate to resist drug treatment survive by establishing tiny pumps on their surface that reject the drugs as they penetrate the cell membrane - making the cancer insensitive to chemotherapy drugs even after repeated use.

29 Sep 2011

Intensive blood glucose control therapy provides no added benefit against cognitive decline in older diabetics

Intensive control of blood sugar levels beyond standard targets provides no additional protection against cognitive decline in older people with diabetes than standard treatment, according to a national study coordinated by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

29 Sep 2011

Gallup, Healthways reveal new data on chronic disease burden of UK

Gallup, the global polling organization, and Healthways, the worldwide leader in well-being improvement, today jointly revealed new data showing that chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes and cancer are costing the UK economy 21.6 billion pounds a year in lost productivity.

29 Sep 2011

Heavy smoking linked with chronic musculoskeletal pain in women

Kentucky women who smoke heavily may experience more chronic musculoskeletal pain, suggests a new study led by University of Kentucky researchers.

29 Sep 2011

National Partnership for Women & Families, ACP commend Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative

The American College of Physicians (ACP) and the National Partnership for Women & Families joined today to commend the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the announcement of the new Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative.

29 Sep 2011

HHS awards prevention funds with Community Transformation Grants

News outlets report on local winners, how they will use these new resources to promote healthy living and disease prevention and how the funding is sometimes at odds with their leaders' opposition to the health law.

29 Sep 2011

Study reports positive effect of RESPeRATE on CHF patients

InterCure Ltd., a medical device company publicly traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, today announced that European Journal of Heart Failure, a peer reviewed medical journal of the European Society of Cardiology, published the results of a 72-patients, randomized, controlled study which demonstrated that device-guided respiratory modulation with RESPeRATE applied at the home setting can significantly relieve symptoms of heart failure in elderly patients.

29 Sep 2011

AASLD publishes updated practice guidelines on hepatitis C

On Monday, September 26, 2011, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases published online at its journal Hepatology's website an update to its practice guidelines for hepatitis C – "An Update on Treatment of Genotype 1 Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection: 2011 Practice Guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases."

29 Sep 2011

Prototype drug shows promise against chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Pre-clinical research has generated some very promising findings about a prototype drug for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

29 Sep 2011

Chronic News and Research

Members of MAPRx coalition urge supercommittee to protect Part D program

Researchers use fMRI to examine patterns of brain activation in patients with chronic pain

Patients with chronic hepatitis C less likely to take medications over time

Initiative pays primary-care docs for coordinating Medicare patients' care

APhA encourages patients to discuss with pharmacist about pain and medications

FDA approves NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System to treat ALS

Enrollment begins in Boston Scientific's vagal nerve stimulation trial for heart failure

Children of obese mothers more likely to have asthma or wheezing in their teenage years

CVS Caremark, Dovetail Health partner to prevent avoidable hospital readmissions

South Sudan facing chronic food shortages, U.N. agencies say

Tobacco companies deliberately kept findings of cancer-causing radioactive particles from the public

Plausible way to circumvent drug resistance in breast cancer cells

Intensive blood glucose control therapy provides no added benefit against cognitive decline in older diabetics

Gallup, Healthways reveal new data on chronic disease burden of UK

Heavy smoking linked with chronic musculoskeletal pain in women

National Partnership for Women & Families, ACP commend Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative

HHS awards prevention funds with Community Transformation Grants

Study reports positive effect of RESPeRATE on CHF patients

AASLD publishes updated practice guidelines on hepatitis C

Prototype drug shows promise against chronic lymphocytic leukemia

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

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