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Frail older adults more likely to report food insufficiency

A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity - scientifically categorized as "frail" - are five times more likely to report that they often don't have enough to eat, defined as "food insufficiency," than older adults who were not frail.

6 Nov 2012

Growing concern in Asia over resistance to artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines

"Growing resistance to a key anti-malarial drug derived from a shrub used in traditional Chinese medicine is threatening to roll back gains made in combating the disease," according to experts attending a U.N.-sponsored malaria conference that concluded on Friday in Sydney, Australia, the U.N. News Centre reports.

6 Nov 2012

UnitedHealthcare, MARS Advertising to design and open 30 MedicareStore sites across the U.S.

MARS Advertising, Inc., a leading retail marketing agency has partnered with UnitedHealthcare to design and open more than 30 MedicareStore sites across the United States in support of the company's inaugural National Medicare Education Week, which will seek to encourage beneficiaries and caregivers to learn more prior to the Medicare Open Enrollment Period.

6 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Romney, Obama offer details of their plans; The 'passionate supply-sider' who taught Paul Ryan; Medicare plan has not 'doomed GOP'

All presidential elections matter. This one matters a great deal. It matters to the senior who needs medical care but, thanks to ObamaCare, can't find a doctor who is taking new Medicare patients. ... This election is about them. It is about all of us. ... It is about the education of our children, the value of our homes, the take-home pay from our jobs, the price of the gasoline we buy, the choices we have in our health care.

5 Nov 2012

Scientists encourage genetic data sharing

Incomplete access to private databases containing vital genetic information may hinder the development of personalized medicine, say researchers.

5 Nov 2012

Humana to acquire Metropolitan Health Networks

Humana Inc. and Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Humana will acquire Metropolitan in a transaction valued at approximately $850 million plus transaction costs.

5 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 5, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about the final round of polls, forecasts regarding which party will control the House and Senate and analysis of how campaign-trail messages have been playing during the election season's final hours.

5 Nov 2012

House Republicans appear to have thwarted Democratic attack on Medicare

Attacking Paul Ryan's Medicare plan - once seen as the most potent weapon in House Democrats' campaign arsenal - is turning out to be a dud. Democratic leaders have hit Medicare harder than any other issue for more than a year, even calling Ryan's plan a "majority-maker."

4 Nov 2012

Mobile health care centers in India reduce infant and maternal mortality

Infant mortality has fallen by half, and the number of women who died from complications during pregnancy and childbirth by three-quarters. This is the result of a four-year health care project in one of India's poorest districts.

4 Nov 2012

Mass. adopts stricter rules, penalties for compounding pharmacies

The emergency regulations will allow the state to monitor contamination and the volume of medicines being made.

3 Nov 2012

Blog series on global AIDS blueprint interviews NIH investigator

As part of its "Blueprint" series discussing the creation of a U.S. global AIDS blueprint called for by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in July, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog features an interview with Rochelle Walensky, a member of Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications (CEPAC) and the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the NIH/DHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents.

3 Nov 2012

November issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The November issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial examining the need for a new model for pharmaceutical research, a public health news roundup, a research article examining parental perceptions surrounding polio immunization activities in Karachi, Pakistan, and a paper on the use of evidence to support healthy public policy, among others.

3 Nov 2012

Legislation planned to tighten oversight of compounding pharmacies

Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., will introduce legislation requiring compounding pharmacies to meet the sterility, record-keeping and manufacturing standards faced by large drug makers.

3 Nov 2012

USAID to triple financial support for PAHO/WHO Regional TB Program

According to a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO joint press release, USAID "has tripled its financial support for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Regional Tuberculosis Program, which seeks to prevent 15,000 deaths from tuberculosis in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next five years and reduce the incidence of this disease."

3 Nov 2012

WHO reports on global diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination efforts

"Four in five children (83 percent) worldwide received the recommended three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine during infancy in 2011, according to new data released in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and in the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER)," a WHO media note reports.

3 Nov 2012

Blog reports on meeting of world's largest HIV vaccine research network

KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog reports on a meeting of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), "the world's largest HIV vaccine research network," held in Seattle this week. "We actually don't know what the agenda is," HVTN Executive Director Jim Kublin said during a lecture, titled "Scientific Agenda, the Next Seven Years," according to the blog.

3 Nov 2012

Companies, college challenging health law's contraception coverage mandate

One Michigan company won an injunction from a district court judge, as another company and a Texas college file lawsuits.

3 Nov 2012

Health insurance news: Cigna earnings climb, small businesses drop coverage

The Bloomfield, Conn., managed-care company significantly boosted its full-year adjusted earnings guidance after posting better results than Wall Street expected. The company Thursday also announced a restructuring plan that includes reducing the size of its global workforce about 4%, affecting 1,300 workers amid a mix of layoffs and hiring. Cigna continued a streak of "beat and raise" third-quarter reports for large health insurers.

3 Nov 2012

'Details of implementation' critical to reaching goal of AIDS-free generation

Noting the progress made since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the upcoming recognition of World AIDS Day on December 1, Ronald Valdiserri, deputy assistant secretary for health, infectious diseases at the Department of Health and Human Services, writes in a Public Health Reports opinion piece, "We would do well to keep in mind the following caution. No matter the elegance of the controlled trial, the statistical significance of the results, or the superiority of the science, we must confront this inevitable reality: We will never be able to take full advantage of our progress in HIV clinical and prevention science until we develop and sustain the human, organizational, and structural capacities necessary to implement these new scientific breakthroughs."

3 Nov 2012

'Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS' March and Rally to be held on Nov. 3 in Centennial Park

Hundreds of advocates and community leaders are expected to participate in the "Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS" March and Rally this Saturday, November 3, 2012 beginning at 1:00 pm in Centennial Park.

3 Nov 2012