Veterans Affairs News and Research

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Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss health care proposals during online debate

Advisers to the two major presidential candidates during an online debate on the Wall Street Journal Web site discussed the effect that their health care proposals would have on the employer-sponsored health insurance market, the Journal's "Health Blog" reports.

13 Aug 2008

Experimental drug turns lab mice into long-distance runners

Trying to reap the health benefits of exercise? Forget treadmills and spin classes, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies may have found a way around the sweat and pain. They identified two signaling pathways that are activated in response to exercise and converge to dramatically increase endurance.

31 Jul 2008

Commonly used diabetes monitoring test could identify millions of people with undiagnosed diabetes

A blood test currently used as the gold standard for monitoring people already under care for diabetes may have far wider use in identifying millions with undetected diabetes, a team led by a Johns Hopkins physician suggests.

31 Jul 2008

New biomarker for early cancer detection? Research reveals that 'microRNA' may fit the bill

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have discovered that microRNAs - molecular workhorses that regulate gene expression - are released by cancer cells and circulate in the blood, which gives them the potential to become a new class of biomarkers to detect cancer at its earliest stages. Muneesh Tewari, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues describe their findings in the July 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

29 Jul 2008

Veterans' hotline averted more than 1,200 suicides in first year

More than 22,000 veterans have called a veterans suicide hotline since its launch in July 2007, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, according to government data to be released on Monday, the AP/Baltimore Sun reports.

29 Jul 2008

Nuclear stress test detects problems in left ventricle

A less invasive test commonly used to diagnose coronary disease also may be used to detect one of the leading causes of heart failure, say researchers at the Medical College of Georgia.

14 Jul 2008

An automated wearable artificial kidney

Two researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have developed a design for an automated, wearable artificial kidney, or AWAK, that avoids the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis.

10 Jul 2008

Researchers identify brain cells related to fear - paves way for more effective PTSD treatments

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that in any given year, about 40 million adults (18 or older) will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, including debilitating conditions such as phobias, panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is estimated that nearly 15 percent of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan develop PTSD, underscoring the urgency to develop better treatment strategies for anxiety disorders.

10 Jul 2008

Liver protein fetuin-A linked to type 2 diabetes in seniors

The presence of a protein expressed by the liver which inhibits insulin action may identify individuals more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a new study led by a researcher from the UCSD School of Medicine, to be published July 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

9 Jul 2008

Post-traumatic stress disorder causes early death from heart disease

Vietnam veterans who experienced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were twice as likely to die from heart disease as veterans without PTSD, a new Geisinger study finds.

8 Jul 2008

Multiple vaccinations have not caused ill health in UK soldiers in Iraq

Multiple vaccinations have not been a cause of ill health in UK service personnel deployed to Iraq, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

30 Jun 2008

Senate panel approves $153.1 billion for discretionary spending in labor-HHS-education bill for FY 2009

The Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Tuesday by voice vote approved a $631 billion fiscal year 2009 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, CQ Today reports.

26 Jun 2008

Social Security officials call for social security numbers to be removed from Medicare ID cards

Social Security Administration officials have requested that CMS take immediate action to issue beneficiaries new membership cards that do not include their Social Security numbers to address concerns regarding identity theft, the New York Times reports.

24 Jun 2008

Nearly one in five patients experiences chest pain one year after having a heart attack

One of the main goals of in-hospital treatment and outpatient care after heart attack is to relieve angina (or episodic chest pain), according to background information in the article. The prevalence and treatment of chest pain one year after heart attack are largely unknown.

24 Jun 2008

Radiation therapy prolongs life in men with recurrent prostate cancer

Men whose tumors recur after prostate cancer surgery are three times more likely to survive their disease long term if they undergo radiotherapy within two years of the recurrence. Surprisingly, survival benefits were best in men whose new tumors were growing fastest, according to results of a 'look-back' study of 635 men by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions researchers reported June 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

17 Jun 2008

Health care disparities found for female veterans

Female veterans do not receive the same quality of outpatient care as male veterans at about one-third of the 139 Department of Veterans Affairs facilities that offer it, according to a report released on Friday by VA, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

17 Jun 2008

The risk of death by age, sex, and smoking status in the U.S.

Researchers have updated charts that show an American's risk of dying from a given cause over the next ten years, based on age, sex, and smoking status. The charts will be published online June 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

11 Jun 2008

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report feature highlights recent blogs

While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics.

11 Jun 2008

CQ's Carey discusses Democratic, GOP Medicare proposals, VA mental health bill, health care IT measure

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses Senate Democratic and Republican measures to halt a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees; Senate legislation involving veterans' mental health; and a House bill that encourages greater adoption of electronic health records in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

10 Jun 2008

Congressional Democrats move to impose new limits on specialty hospitals

The New York Times on Sunday examined how Democrats -- who for years "have been trying to stop the proliferation of doctor-owned hospitals in the belief that they drive up costs by encouraging doctors to order more procedures" -- have moved to "impose new restrictions on these for-profit hospitals" as part of a Senate supplemental war appropriations bill, although they have "carved out exemptions for a few institutions represented by influential senators and well-connected lobbyists."

10 Jun 2008

Veterans Affairs News and Research

Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss health care proposals during online debate

Experimental drug turns lab mice into long-distance runners

Commonly used diabetes monitoring test could identify millions of people with undiagnosed diabetes

New biomarker for early cancer detection? Research reveals that 'microRNA' may fit the bill

Veterans' hotline averted more than 1,200 suicides in first year

Nuclear stress test detects problems in left ventricle

An automated wearable artificial kidney

Researchers identify brain cells related to fear - paves way for more effective PTSD treatments

Liver protein fetuin-A linked to type 2 diabetes in seniors

Post-traumatic stress disorder causes early death from heart disease

Multiple vaccinations have not caused ill health in UK soldiers in Iraq

Senate panel approves $153.1 billion for discretionary spending in labor-HHS-education bill for FY 2009

Social Security officials call for social security numbers to be removed from Medicare ID cards

Nearly one in five patients experiences chest pain one year after having a heart attack

Radiation therapy prolongs life in men with recurrent prostate cancer

Health care disparities found for female veterans

The risk of death by age, sex, and smoking status in the U.S.

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report feature highlights recent blogs

CQ's Carey discusses Democratic, GOP Medicare proposals, VA mental health bill, health care IT measure

Congressional Democrats move to impose new limits on specialty hospitals

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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