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Research roundup: Revamping public health law; Pay-for-performance

New Cardiac Surgery Programs Established From 1993 To 2004 Led To Little Increased Access, Substantial Duplication Of Services -- This study, using Medicare data from 1993-2004, finds that although the number of coronary artery bypass surgeries declined, 301 new cardiac surgery units opened.

24 Jun 2011

State highlights: Calif. insurance regulatory system criticized

The two-headed beast that regulates health insurance in California is under fire. For the first time in a decade, healthcare leaders in Sacramento are publicly asking whether it's time to junk overlapping bureaucracies that police health insurers and HMOs (Helfand, 6/23).

24 Jun 2011

Health law implementation progress, issues continue to draw attention

For starters, reports say the proposed rule for the measure's health exchanges is due out July 7. In addition, indications are that many public health provisions remain unfunded and movement toward electronic health records is still slow.

24 Jun 2011

As States approach new budget years, many will be cutting Medicaid

States have taken a variety of trims, from stopping payments for circumcisions in Colorado to reducing payments for rehabilitation services in Kansas to increased co-payments in California.

24 Jun 2011

Medical residents should work no more than 16 hours without sleep

A group of 26 of the nation's leaders in medicine, health care, patient safety, and research today called for sweeping changes in the design, supervision and financing of U.S. hospital residency care programs to protect patients from serious, preventable medical errors, and end dangerously long work hours for physicians in training.

24 Jun 2011

Disordered eating behaviors carried into young adulthood and beyond

Adolescents who diet and develop disordered eating behaviors (unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors and binge eating) carry these unhealthy practices into young adulthood and beyond, according to a study conducted by University of Minnesota researchers and published in the July 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

24 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 24, 2011

In today's headlines, reports that Republicans have quit the debt-ceiling negotiations and details about how the Supreme Court sided with drug makers in two decisions.

24 Jun 2011

Galileo's advanced visual analytics platform to be launched at BIO 2011 conference

Galileo Analytics announced today that it will debut Galileo Cosmos, Galileo's advanced visual analytics platform at the BIO 2011 conference in Washington, DC, providing a powerful new dimension to Galileo's suite of analytical tools and enhancing the company's ability to mine complex sets of de-identified health data.

24 Jun 2011

'Predatory' marketing pattern geared to lure young African Americans into becoming smokers

Tobacco companies increased the advertising and lowered the sale price of menthol cigarettes in stores near California high schools with larger populations of African-American students, according to a new study from the Stanford School of Medicine.

24 Jun 2011

Pfizer and Pain Therapeutics receive FDA Complete Response Letter for resubmission of REMOXY NDA

Pfizer and Pain Therapeutics, Inc. announced that a Complete Response Letter was received from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the resubmission to the new drug application (NDA) for REMOXY® (oxycodone) Extended-Release Capsules CII. Pfizer is working to evaluate the issues described in the Complete Response Letter and plans to have further discussions with FDA around them.

24 Jun 2011

Cocaine contaminated with livestock de-worming drug causes painful purpura

If the obvious reasons for avoiding recreational drug use aren't off-putting enough, physicians have yet another detrimental consequence to add to the list - crusty, purplish areas of dead skin that are extremely painful and can open the door to nasty infections.

24 Jun 2011

Sexually transmitted infection and reinfection rates 'unacceptably high' among adult film performers

Rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea infection among adult film performers in Los Angeles County are "unacceptably high," according to a paper in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

24 Jun 2011

Groups join forces to research new diarrheal therapies

The Center for World Health and Medicine, the University of Missouri-St. Louis Medicinal Chemistry Group, and the Institute for One World Health have joined forces "to develop safe and effective anti-diarrhea drugs …

24 Jun 2011

Anonymous donor makes generous gift for mesothelioma research

The UH Cancer Center has received a $3.58 million gift from an anonymous donor to support the mesothelioma research of Dr. Michele Carbone, director of the UH Cancer Center. Carbone and colleagues, who include Drs. Haining Yang and Giovanni Gaudino, have made a series of recent scientific breakthroughs that will lead to new ways to prevent and treat the disease

24 Jun 2011

Psychosocial stress may enhance lung-damaging effects of traffic-related pollution in children

Psychosocial stress appears to enhance the lung-damaging effects of traffic-related pollution (TRP) in children, according to new research from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.

24 Jun 2011

New report offers policy recommendations to combat early childhood obesity

A new national report offers policy recommendations to curb the high rates of obesity among America's youngest children.

24 Jun 2011

WA alcohol regulations sparks debate

According to the liquor industry tightening alcohol regulations by toughening availability of alcohol in Western Australia will only serve to push addicts and binge drinkers onto other drugs.

23 Jun 2011

Developing new antipoverty vaccines may eliminate world's neglected diseases, says Sabin president

Despite significant advancements in increasing distribution and development of vaccines against childhood killer diseases - including pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type B - global efforts to reduce the burden of infection from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has greatly lagged, argues Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) President Dr. Peter Hotez in an article for the June edition of Health Affairs.

23 Jun 2011

Sandia receives four R&D Magazine's 2011 awards

Sandia National Laboratories researchers - competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs - captured three prestigious R&D 100 Awards in this year's contest, and were cowinners of a fourth.

23 Jun 2011

New IOM report: Decades-old health laws need to be revised

Because strong evidence indicates that policies beyond the health sector have substantial effects on people's health, all levels of U.S. government should adopt a structured approach to considering the health effects of any major legislation or regulation, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine.

23 Jun 2011