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CBO's updated estimate of health law costs could be released this week

Meanwhile, news outlets report on varying aspects of the implementation of state-based health exchanges -- including the assistance provided to state officials by Michael O. Leavitt, an adviser to GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and head of a health care consulting company.

23 Jul 2012

First Edition: July 23, 2012

In this Kaiser Health News video, Greg Millett, a senior policy advisor in the Office of National AIDS Policy, tells Joanne Silberner that the president's National HIV/AIDS Strategy has improved coordination among federal agencies and that the 2010 health law will improve access to care for those living with HIV/AIDS.

23 Jul 2012

Low-calorie sweeteners play an important role for healthy, active people

The International Sweeteners Association (ISA) draws attention to a growing number of experts supporting the message that low calorie sweeteners play an important role for healthy, active people. Used in more than 6,000 products around the world, low calorie sweeteners can significantly reduce the energy density of foods and beverages when used as a substitute for sugar.

23 Jul 2012

Novartis receives FDA approval for Afinitor to treat HER2-negative breast cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Afinitor (everolimus) for use in combination with Aromasin (exemestane) to treat certain postmenopausal women with advanced hormone-receptor positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

21 Jul 2012

1M Yemeni children face severe malnutrition, contribute to 62M people worldwide in need of humanitarian aid, U.N. says

"One million Yemeni children face severe malnutrition within months as families struggle to pay for food in one of the Arab world's poorest countries, the U.N. World Food Programme has warned," Reuters reports.

21 Jul 2012

Peace Corps Volunteers provide HIV/AIDS prevention, awareness

Carrie Hessler-Radelet, deputy director of the Peace Corps, discusses the agency's work in HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support in an AIDS.gov blog post. "Last year alone, 52 percent of all Peace Corps Volunteers engaged in such work in communities overseas," she writes, noting, "In 2013, through the Global Health Service Partnership, we look forward to placing doctors and nurses as adjunct faculty in training institutions in Africa."

20 Jul 2012

Gains in child health, education threatened by increase in malnutrition, Save the Children report says

"More children survived past their fifth birthday and attended school at the end of the 2000s than a decade before, but a rise in acute malnutrition could undermine these unprecedented gains," according to a report released Thursday by Save the Children, AlertNet reports.

20 Jul 2012

Brain study assesses effect of fat on the processing of flavour perception

A joint study carried out by The University of Nottingham and the multinational food company Unilever has found for the first time that fat in food can reduce activity in several areas of the brain which are responsible for processing taste, aroma and reward.

19 Jul 2012

ScinoPharm to offer commercial manufacturing of topiramate API for VIVUS' Qsymia

ScinoPharm announced today that its Tainan, Taiwan Facility will provide commercial manufacturing of topiramate active pharmaceutical ingredient ("API") for VIVUS' Qsymia, a new drug for the treatment of obesity approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration on July 17, 2012.

19 Jul 2012

Mu-opioid receptors put brakes on appetite

Activation of mu-opioid receptors in the nerves of the portal vein walls triggers a gut–brain neural circuit that leads to feelings of satiety, researchers report in Cell.

17 Jul 2012

Researchers identify cannabinoid-making pathway

U of S researchers have discovered the chemical pathway that Cannabis sativa uses to create bioactive compounds called cannabinoids, paving the way for the development of marijuana varieties to produce pharmaceuticals or cannabinoid-free industrial hemp.

17 Jul 2012

Novel molecular mechanism responsible for most important symptom of major depression

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have laid bare a novel molecular mechanism responsible for the most important symptom of major depression: anhedonia, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure.

12 Jul 2012

Blog posts respond to GHI office closure

In a joint message released by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby, CDC Director Thomas Frieden, and Global Health Initiative (GHI) Executive Director Lois Quam last Tuesday, the Obama administration announced the closure of the GHI office, writing that the office's work is being "elevated" to the State Department's new Office of Global Health Diplomacy.

11 Jul 2012

Fatal outcome from HFMD is rare, says LUHS pediatric infectious disease specialist

A mysterious disease that has killed nearly 60 children in Cambodia has been identified by the World Health Organization as enterovirus 71. This virus is one among a family of viruses that cause a variety of illnesses, including a common childhood illness called hand, foot and mouth disease, but Andrew Bonwit, MD, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Loyola University Health System, says a fatal outcome from such illness is rare.

11 Jul 2012

Salt content in UK takeaway meals ‘alarmingly high’

The level of salt in hot takeaway meals from small independent outlets in the UK should be reduced to minimize adverse health consequences, say researchers who found that levels were disturbingly high.

10 Jul 2012

Nearly 3.8M California adults are food insecure: New policy brief

An estimated 3.8 million California adults - particularly those in households with children, as well as low-income Latinos - could not afford to put adequate food on the table during the recent recession, according to a new policy brief by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

10 Jul 2012

Researchers use metal complexes to modify peptide hormones

Researchers at the RUB and from Berkeley have used metal complexes to modify peptide hormones. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report for the first time on the three-dimensional structure of the resulting metal-peptide compounds.

9 Jul 2012

Biological mechanisms behind appetite-suppressing effects of proteins

Frequently recommended in weight-loss diets, dietary proteins have proven effectiveness thanks to their appetite-suppressing effects. A team led by Gilles Mithieux, Director of Inserm's Unit 855 "Nutrition and the Brain" in Lyon, has managed to explain the biological mechanisms behind these properties.

7 Jul 2012

Food insecurity in Africa's Sahel

Isobel Coleman, senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative, examines the "massive food crisis ... brewing in Africa's Sahel" in this post on CFR's "Democracy in Development" blog.

6 Jul 2012

Peptides block MORs and curb appetite

Feeling full involves more than just the uncomfortable sensation that your waistband is getting tight. Investigators reporting online on July 5th in the Cell Press journal Cell have now mapped out the signals that travel between your gut and your brain to generate the feeling of satiety after eating a protein-rich meal. Understanding this back and forth loop between the brain and gut may pave the way for future approaches in the treatment and/or prevention of obesity.

6 Jul 2012