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Report outlines role of health departments, community coalitions in regulating alcohol outlet density

Regulating alcohol outlet density, or the number of physical locations in which alcoholic beverages are available for purchase in a geographic area, is an effective strategy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and associated harms.

15 Apr 2013

Health exchange cost estimates go up

Meanwhile, uncertainty continues about the premium price tags consumers will pay if they purchase health insurance from these online marketplaces. Also, debate heats up about how the Obama administration hopes to offset the set-up costs.

15 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 12, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about a new study measuring how the health law has expanded young adults access to care.

12 Apr 2013

Manchester study gives full picture of falls in people with rheumatoid arthritis

One in three people with rheumatoid arthritis, regardless of their age, will fall once or more times a year, according to a new University of Manchester study.

12 Apr 2013

UAB study: Southern region of US not the fattest part

It goes against popular belief, but a recent study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) shows that the southern region of the United States is not the fattest part of the country.

12 Apr 2013

Church members view health ministry as more desirable source of health information

African Americans who believe their church is responsible for promoting health in their members and the community are also more willing to attend church-based health fairs, according to a new study in Health Promotion Practice.

12 Apr 2013

Sanofi launches large-scale production of artemisinin for malaria

Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true.

12 Apr 2013

Stigma of mental illness, a public health concern

An international study found that despite widespread acceptance that mental illness is a disease that can be effectively treated, a common "backbone" of prejudice exists that unfairly paints people with conditions such as depression and schizophrenia as undesirable for close personal relationships and positions of authority.

12 Apr 2013

Australian, Singapore researchers join hands to combat disease-causing bugs

The fight against a number of significant infectious diseases in the Asia-Pacific region has been given a boost through a new research collaboration between the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.

12 Apr 2013

Mayo CEO's expansion comments draw Minn. lawmaker criticism; Other state marketplace news

Comments from the Mayo Clinic's CEO that the organization's proposed expansion in Minnesota could happen elsewhere are drawing criticism from Minnesota lawmakers.

12 Apr 2013

Baylor University study shows acute dose of alcohol may cause greater impairment in elderly

An acute dose of alcohol may cause greater impairment in coordination, learning and memory in the elderly than in young people, according to a study by Baylor University.

12 Apr 2013

Experts launch new strategy to eradicate polio by 2018

Hundreds of scientists, doctors and other experts from around the world launched the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication today, declaring that an end to the paralyzing disease is achievable and endorsing a comprehensive new strategy to secure a lasting polio-free world by 2018.

12 Apr 2013

Newly characterized adenoviruses can cause severe human infections

The ongoing dance between a virus and its host distinctly shapes how the virus evolves. While human adenoviruses typically cause mild infections, recent reports have described newly characterized adenoviruses that can cause severe, sometime fatal, human infections.

12 Apr 2013

Longer looks: Global obesity, health care cost transparency, a medical puzzle

Getting your appendix out can cost between $2,000 and $180,000. Hip replacements run from $10,000 to more than $100,000. Hospitals, we have also learned, frequently mark up the price of cotton swabs and routine X-rays by 300 or 400 percent, with most patients oblivious to the reason their health care bills are so large.

12 Apr 2013

FDA requests budget of $4.7 billion to protect, promote public health

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting a budget of $4.7 billion to protect and promote the public health as part of the President's fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget.

12 Apr 2013

Obama budget would replace SGR formula, boost Medicaid, mental health

Among the changes included in the president's 2014 budget blueprint are the elimination of the SGR formula to set Medicare physician payment rates, and funding boosts for mental health and food and drug safety. The proposal also delays funding cuts to hospitals that treat the uninsured.

12 Apr 2013

New tool to identify air travelers with infectious disease developed

Researchers have developed a simple new tool to help governments worldwide decide whether to screen airplane passengers leaving or arriving from areas of infectious disease outbreaks.

11 Apr 2013

Disease burden from air pollution underestimated, U.N. reports

"Air pollution is an underestimated scourge that kills far more people than AIDS and malaria and a shift to cleaner energy could easily halve the toll by 2030, U.N. officials said on Tuesday" at a conference in Oslo focusing on new development goals for the post-2015 development agenda, Reuters reports.

11 Apr 2013

Experts to discuss changes to medical ethics paradigms proposed by bioethics colleagues

Experts from across disciplines at Johns Hopkins will hold a symposium on Thursday, April 11, 2013 to discuss changes to medical ethics paradigms as proposed by their own bioethics colleagues in a recent, groundbreaking publication.

11 Apr 2013