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State round-up: Penn. Medicare advantage; N.J. cuts immigrant care; Hospitals face hardships

Independence Blue Cross has lost 30 percent of its Medicare managed-care members in the region this year in the wake of federal government rate cuts as its major competitors saw enrollment gains. The cuts came after the Philadelphia insurer eliminated some product offerings for senior adults and raised rates for others.

17 Apr 2010

Role of race and health insurance status in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment

Researchers at The GW Cancer Institute, with funding from the National Cancer Institute, examined the effect of race and health insurance status on diagnostic and treatment delays over a 5-year period, with initial screenings going back 12 years, and found that race may play a larger role than previously thought when it comes to optimal diagnosis and treatment of black women with breast cancer.

17 Apr 2010

Health sciences professionals meet to discuss public health care issues

Members of the Health Sciences Association, the health care union that represents health sciences professionals who deliver diagnosis, treatment and recovery in BC's hospitals and communities, is meeting this weekend at its 39th annual convention in Vancouver.

17 Apr 2010

TruthAboutGardasil.org: Governments need to suspend HPV vaccinations/programs

The global outrage at reports of injustices inflicted on the children of India from unethical trials and experimentation of HPV vaccines in socially disadvantaged groups extends to women and children worldwide subjected to similar violations.

16 Apr 2010

Diagnosis errors have put patient health in danger: NPSA study

The study, which was conducted by the NHS' National Patient Safety Agency, analysed over a thousand cases where cancer had been misdiagnosed or indentified late over a 12-month period.

16 Apr 2010

UDH to participate in Abbott's new PLEX-ID BPEP

Abbott today announced that the Utah Department of Health is one of five sites in the United States to participate in Abbott's new PLEX-ID Biopreparedness Evaluation Program, which involves Abbott, the Association of Public Health Laboratories and five state public health labs.

16 Apr 2010

ASH to conduct complimentary screenings in NYC

In the wake of the Institute of Medicine's report on hypertension highlighting it as a 'neglected disease' and urging a more focused and collaborative approach to reduce its prevalence, the American Society of Hypertension, Inc. (ASH), will hold its annual complimentary blood pressure screenings and hypertension counseling in at-risk communities across New York City.

16 Apr 2010

New proposals to protect children and young people from tobacco-related harm

New proposals to protect children and young people from tobacco-related harm have been unveiled by the Welsh Assembly government.

16 Apr 2010

Melamine concentrations in eggs do not exceed FDA limits

Eggs from chickens that consumed extremely high levels of melamine in their feed still did not contain levels of the potentially toxic contaminant that exceeded U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits.

16 Apr 2010

Seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves: Researchers

An analysis of hospitalization records for adults age 65 and over found that seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves, peaking earliest in western states such as Nevada, Utah, and California and working its way east. New England states such as Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire tend to have the latest peak in seasonal flu, according to public health researchers at Tufts University in Boston.

16 Apr 2010

Sexual minorities more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder

A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Children's Hospital Boston has found that gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who have ever had a same-sex sex partner are one-and-a-half to two times as likely to experience violent events, especially in childhood, than the general population.

16 Apr 2010

Illinois' tobacco tax would bring in $297.6M in new revenue, reduce youth smoking

A new poll released today finds that 74 percent of Illinois voters support raising the tobacco tax by $1 per pack to cut the state's budget deficit and reduce youth tobacco use.

16 Apr 2010

GeoViz methods help users visualize the pattern of how disease spreads

Disease statistics buried within patient records or detailed in newspaper clippings can be sorted and organized to depict geographic patterns, allowing the discovery of trends that were previously overlooked, according to a Penn State geographer.

16 Apr 2010

FDA grants marketing clearance for Cambridge Heart's MTWA OEM module

Cambridge Heart, Inc., today announced that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin marketing its Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) OEM module. The MTWA OEM module is designed to work with existing cardiac stress test platforms distributed by other manufacturers. This FDA 510(k) clearance allows Cambridge Heart to begin marketing the MTWA OEM module integrated with the Q-Stress line of stress systems manufactured by Cardiac Science Corporation, Inc..

16 Apr 2010

Private insurers seek to help states manage Medicaid expansion

The Wall Street Journal reports on plans by the health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. to issue a report Thursday on managed care strategies that "it says will help cash-strapped states solve budget problems and doctor shortages that hobble the government health-care programs for the poor."

16 Apr 2010

To ban or not to ban trans fats

Now it is doctors too who have joined the move towards banning trans fats from food. Trans fats are hydrogenated solid fats that are found in deep fried foods, margarine, bakery products, fast foods etc. they are used because they are cheap and keep better. However it has long been known that these fats are bad for the heart leading to heart attacks, strokes and high blood cholesterol etc.

16 Apr 2010

Moving is the best medicine for arthritic pain

The burden of arthritis is greater for African Americans and Hispanics, despite lower prevalence among these groups according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report published in the May issue of Preventing Chronic Disease.

16 Apr 2010

Low income and lack of health insurance result in fewer rate of colorectal cancer screening

High out-of-pocket costs, lack of health insurance and limited access to care contribute to a relatively low rate of colorectal cancer screening in the United States, according to a new systematic review by researchers at the RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center.

16 Apr 2010

International experts discuss threats posed by ticks and fleas

As experts from around the world met in New York this week they discussed the need for greater understanding of the threat posed by ticks, fleas and sand flies. Leading scientists called on veterinarians and dog-owners around the world to take action to protect dogs and humans from potentially lethal diseases.

16 Apr 2010

Swiss epidemiologist calls for more quality studies on malaria control measures

Despite wide acclaim as a successful policy there is currently almost no quantitative evidence showing how well spraying the walls of people's homes with mosquito-killing insecticide really works against malaria.

16 Apr 2010