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Cedars-Sinai educational conference to focus on patient empowerment

Brain tumor patients, families and caregivers are invited to an educational conference that will focus on patient empowerment June 23 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

23 Jun 2012

Natural language processing programs can help measure colonoscopy quality

A new study shows that natural language processing programs can "read" dictated reports and provide information to allow measurement of colonoscopy quality in an inexpensive, automated and efficient manner.

23 Jun 2012

ULH hopes to help women at risk of PPD through new policy

Although 13 percent of new mothers experience postpartum depression (PPD) in the first year after childbirth, few women recognize the symptoms and seldom discuss their feelings with a health care provider. University of Louisville Hospital (ULH) hopes to change this statistic through a new policy to guide hospital-based perinatal nurses in caring for women with risk of PPD.

23 Jun 2012

International conference showcases breadth of research possible with zebrafish

It's clear where the black-and-white striped zebrafish got its name, but less obvious at first glance is what zebrafish has to do with biomedical research. Amazingly, it has biological similarities to humans, which are making this small freshwater fish an increasingly popular model organism for studying vertebrate development, genetics, physiology, and mechanisms of disease.

23 Jun 2012

Women discuss intersection of sustainability, environment and empowerment, reproductive health at Rio+20 side event

In this post on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Vicky Markham, founding director of the Center for Environment and Population (CEP), summarizes a Rio+20 side event that took place on Thursday, titled "Rio+20 and Women's Lives: A Cross-General Dialogue."

23 Jun 2012

NAPH honors Harris County Hospital District with 2012 Gage Award

The Harris County Hospital District has won the 2012 Gage Award for Improving Population Health for its Healthy Harvest, a program that coordinates farmers markets in healthcare centers to encourage patients to eat more fruits and vegetables.

23 Jun 2012

Poorer US citizens live 5 years less than affluent countrymen

Despite modest gains in lifespan over the past century, the United States still trails many of the world's countries when it comes to life expectancy, and its poorest citizens live approximately five years less than more affluent persons, according to a new study from Rice University and the University Colorado at Boulder.

23 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Berwick says health law puts system 'on the right track;' Mandate's effect overstated; Questions about Axelrod's ties

Obamacare is helping our nation achieve health care that is excellent, accessible to all and affordable. In the 17 months that I led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), I saw how this law is helping tens of millions of families and is finally putting our health-care system on the right track.

23 Jun 2012

‘Take home’ methadone maintenance therapy has added benefits

Patients who are given “take home” methadone maintenance treatment for opioid dependence are less likely to be admitted to hospital than those who do not, a study shows.

22 Jun 2012

Success in fighting malaria helping to fuel Africa's economic growth, Reuters reports

Reuters examines how the fight against malaria in Africa is helping to fuel the continent's economic growth. "

22 Jun 2012

U.S. journal Science publishes controversial H5N1 research

The U.S. journal Science on Thursday published the results of a controversial study in which researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands "identified five mutations apparently necessary to make the [H5N1] bird flu virus spread easily among ferrets, which catch the same flus that humans do," the New York Times reports (McNeil, 6/21).

22 Jun 2012

Examining the 'domino effect' of family planning

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Megan Averill and Tricia Petruney, senior technical officers with FHI 360's Global Health, Population and Nutrition Group, and Ward Cates, president emeritus at FHI 360, discuss the "domino effect" of family planning.

22 Jun 2012

Likely 'decision day' moves to next week

Indications are the Supreme Court's much-anticipated ruling on the health law may come on Wednesday or Thursday. However, the court is also scheduled to hand down decisions on Monday.

22 Jun 2012

Calif. budget cuts will move 880,000 kids to Medi-Cal managed care

Among a series of budget cuts to help California Gov. Jerry Brown close that state's budget deficit is a cut to a health care program for 880,000 low-income kids, who will be shifted to Medi-Cal after the state shutters its "Healthy Families" program.

22 Jun 2012

Abbott challenges copies of its biologic drugs

If the challenge succeeds, less-expensive versions of complex biologic drugs couldn't go on sale in the U.S. for years, and consumers may never have access to facsimiles of existing treatments such as Abbott's rheumatoid arthritis therapy Humira.

22 Jun 2012

Boehner: Don't gloat if Supreme Court strikes health law down

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has told fellow Republicans in a memo released Thursday to avoid "spiking the ball" if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law.

22 Jun 2012

Study: 5.6M new health care jobs by 2020

A new Georgetown University study says the health care sector will create 5.6 million new jobs by 2020, but most of them will require special education and training, leaving many unemployed workers out in the cold.

22 Jun 2012

Longer looks: Alzheimer's researcher turns to drug she helped invent

Given her relatively young age, Dr. Rae Lyn Burke didn't think much about her family history of Alzheimer's disease -- a grandmother and an aunt had suffered from it, but they were much older. Ironically, Burke was just in her late 50s when she started having her own symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's. Even more ironic is that Burke had been one of the key developers of the Alzheimer's drug bapineuzumab, which she now takes herself to reduce the progression of the disease in her own brain.

22 Jun 2012

The health law on the campaign trail

As the White House prepares for the upcoming high court health law ruling, President Barack Obama heads out to speak to Latino leaders. He is likely to speak about the overhaul -- a day after GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney pledged that he would do away with it.

22 Jun 2012

Life after the decision

Some organizations, such as Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, are preparing to celebrate if the Supreme Court finds the health law unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business, which is one of the law's challengers, is working on very official and strategic responses. Insurers are working on their images.

22 Jun 2012