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FAO launches water management framework at World Water Week opening ceremony in Sweden

At the opening ceremony of World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "launched a framework that will help combat food insecurity by providing methods to better manage water resources in agriculture and reduce waste," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Adding a middle man to Medicare; Circumcision wars; Who is an extremist on abortion?

Bear in mind that health expenses will still have to be mainly paid for by some kind of insurance; that's in the nature of medical care, with its high but unpredictable cost. So what we're doing here is replacing government insurance with a program that gives people money to buy private insurance - that is, adding an extra layer of middlemen.

29 Aug 2012

Ethiopian government working to improve access to clean toilets, safe water for people living with HIV

PlusNews examines how a lack of access to clean toilets, safe drinking water, and "information on the prevention of common opportunistic infections means many Ethiopians living with HIV continue to contract easily preventable diseases."

29 Aug 2012

Hispanic children often have undiagnosed developmental delays, autism

Hispanic children often have undiagnosed developmental delays and large numbers of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic children who first were thought to have developmental delay actually had autism, researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found.

29 Aug 2012

March of Dimes emergency preparedness tips for pregnant women and new parents

Pregnant women evacuating their homes in advance of Hurricane Isaac should be sure to bring their medication, including their prenatal vitamins, as well as their medical records and their health care providers' emergency contact number.

29 Aug 2012

VA report shows improvement in gender disparities in 12 out of 14 HEDIS measures

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a report that shows improvement in gender disparities in 12 out of 14 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures in VA since 2008.

29 Aug 2012

Small, ingestible sensor can track patient medication intake, activity levels; Technology to be tested for TB treatment

The FDA last month approved for use a small ingestible sensor that, when embedded into a pill, can help "keep track of whether a patient is taking their medicine on time," Reuters reports.

29 Aug 2012

State roundup: Ohio sets plan for people on both Medicaid and Medicare; Minn. asks feds for money-saving Medicaid changes

Ohio is one step closer to implementing changes aimed at better coordinating medical care for some of the state's sickest and most expensive patients. Gov. John Kasich's administration wants to streamline the way health care is delivered to Ohioans enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare. The state submitted a plan this spring to the federal government to better coordinate care for almost 114,000 so-called "dual-eligible" individuals living in seven urban regions.

28 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 28, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about new polling insights regarding the presidential campaign and Medicare, as well as what might become of the House of Representatives.

28 Aug 2012

Abbott receives CE Marking for ARCHITECT testosterone assay

Abbott announced today CE Marking (Conformite Europeenne) for a testosterone assay with improved sensitivity and clinical utility.

28 Aug 2012

Refrigerating coal-plant emissions would reduce levels of dangerous chemicals in air

Refrigerating coal-plant emissions would reduce levels of dangerous chemicals that pour into the air -- including carbon dioxide by more than 90 percent -- at a cost of 25 percent efficiency, according to a simple math-driven formula designed by a team of University of Oregon physicists.

28 Aug 2012

Obama, Romney trade more Medicare barbs

President Barack Obama went on the Medicare attack, using his weekly address to challenge Republican charges that he cut Medicare. Obama also launched a new ad saying that the Romney-Ryan ticket would end Medicare as it exists today. But the Romney campaign has Medicare messages of its own.

28 Aug 2012

HHS makes official a one-year delay for ICD-10

As expected, physicians will not need to start using a new and controversial set of diagnostic codes called ICD-10 until October 1, 2014, a year later than originally scheduled, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.

28 Aug 2012

Taliban undermining efforts to control polio in Pakistan

"It seems public health is the latest casualty of Pakistan's fight against homegrown militants and extremist groups," Huma Yusuf, a columnist for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, writes in this post in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog, highlighting a recent ban on polio immunization campaigns by the Taliban.

28 Aug 2012

Poll: Economy trumps Medicare, women's health issues

As delegates to the Republican National Convention gather in Tampa, a new poll finds GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama neck-and-neck. Romney will use the week to introduce himself to American voters, but news outlets warn against expecting much substantive policy to emerge from the speeches.

28 Aug 2012

Herceptin® (trastuzumab) delivery methods: an interview with Dr Gustavo Ismael

Approximately 20% of all breast cancer patients have overexpression of HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2), resulting in a more aggressive phenotype, and a poor prognosis.

28 Aug 2012

Abortion issues emerge as distraction for Republicans

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney charges Democrats with trying to exploit comments made by Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin for political gain.

28 Aug 2012

South Sudan refugee health situation 'alarming,' U.N. warns

"The situation of 170,000 Sudanese refugees living in camps and settlements across South Sudan's Unity and Upper Nile states is alarming and there are worries about an outbreak of cholera, U.N. refugee agency officials said on Friday," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

28 Aug 2012

The links among Paul Ryan's policies, politics and personality

Paul Ryan is famously a man with a plan. The Wisconsin Republican has pushed for budgets that radically change tax codes and entitlement programs and boil away much of the federal government.

28 Aug 2012

States consider names, logistics for health insurance exchanges

California officials ponder how to brand the new marketplaces to create consumer buzz, while Connecticut officials move ahead with plans to launch next year.

28 Aug 2012