CHIP News and Research

RSS

At last the culprit in Autism is revealed

An international team of scientists have discovered two new genetic links that may predispose children to develop autism.

19 Feb 2007

Sen. Baucus says he would attach SCHIP funding to Iraq war spending if needed

Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday said that if a consensus cannot be reached with Republicans on a stop-gap spending measure for SCHIP, a spending provision for the program will be attached to an Iraq supplemental bill set to be discussed in late March or early April, CongressDaily reports.

19 Feb 2007

Largest collection of autism DNA

Preliminary findings from the largest genome scan ever completed in the history of autism research are being published in Nature Genetics. University of Pittsburgh researchers with a consortium of scientists from across the world contributed to this landmark research endeavor through the Autism Genome Project.

18 Feb 2007

Protein Hsp90 tangles with Alzheimer's disease

Mayo Clinic researchers have now shown that a drug that inhibits the function of the protein Hsp90 reduces brain levels in mice of the protein tau, the abnormal accumulation of which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

18 Feb 2007

Biochip allows genes to express themselves

Biochip platforms that work as artificial cells are attractive for medical diagnostics, interrogation of biological processes, and for the production of important biomolecules.

13 Feb 2007

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association opposes reduction in reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans

Alissa Fox, vice president of legislative and regulatory policy for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, on Friday said that additional reductions in reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans "would be a disaster" for the program, CQ HealthBeat reports.

7 Feb 2007

John Edwards releases universal health coverage plan

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Monday proposed a universal health coverage plan that would raise taxes and impose health insurance mandates on employers, the Washington Post reports.

7 Feb 2007

Most of Medicare and Medicaid savings in Bush's budget proposal come from reducing growth in Medicare provider payments

The "lion's share" of the Medicare and Medicaid savings over five years proposed in President Bush's fiscal year 2008 budget proposal comes from limits on annual inflation adjustments for reimbursements to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers for Medicare, amounting to $39.5 billion, CQ HealthBeat reports.

7 Feb 2007

$700 billion for Health and Human Services in 2008

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released details of the President's FY 2008 budget request to Congress for the department.

5 Feb 2007

Self-assembling nanostructures of DNA

Wouldn't it be great if we could get computer chips to grow on trees? Or at least use the specific bonds of DNA molecules to get nanostructures to grow themselves right in the test tube?

5 Feb 2007

Rapid and label-free nanomechanical detection of biomarker transcripts in human RNA

Researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute in Basel have developed a rapid method to detect the activity of a gene involved in controlling tumor growth.

18 Dec 2006

MChip to detect H5N1

Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed an inexpensive "gene chip" test based on a single influenza virus gene that could allow scientists to quickly identify flu viruses, including avian influenza H5N1.

14 Nov 2006

Latest food scare - Salmonella in Hershey chocolate bars

In the latest food scare to hit North America confectionary and biscuits by Hershey Canada have been recalled because they may be tainted with salmonella.

13 Nov 2006

Texas Comptroller calls for immediate end to social services contract citing mismanagement

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday said a five-year contract with an Accenture LLP group that administers enrollment for Medicaid, the state's SCHIP program and other social services "must be ended" because of mismanagement, the Houston Chronicle reports.

30 Oct 2006

Lab-on-a-chip nanoscale array monitors cellular processes

Researchers at Tel-Aviv University in Israel have developed a lab-on-a-chip device that can incorporate enzymes and even living cells in a nanoscale array capable of monitoring electrochemical reactions.

30 Oct 2006

Pennsylvania House approves bill to expand SCHIP program

The Pennsylvania House on Tuesday voted 176-19 to approve a compromise bill that would expand eligibility for the state's SCHIP program to thousands more children, the AP/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

26 Oct 2006

Implantable chip to establish new nerve connections in brain area that controls movement

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) are working on an implantable electronic chip that may help establish new nerve connections in the part of the brain that controls movement.

24 Oct 2006

Lower employer health insurance coverage fuels rising number of uninsured

The decline in the number of employers offering health insurance has led to a rise in the percentage of U.S. residents who are uninsured, according to two issue papers released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, CQ HealthBeat reports.

22 Oct 2006

New Purdue biochip may speed drug development

Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.

20 Oct 2006

U.S. consumers' health care concerns

USA Today on Monday published three articles addressing U.S. consumers' health care concerns as part of a week-long series titled "Prescription for Change," which examines possible improvements to the U.S. health care system.

16 Oct 2006