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House set to vote on bill banning sex-selection abortions

The legislation would make it a federal crime to carry out an abortion based on the gender of the fetus. Anti-abortion advocates say the bill's sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., got the vote scheduled "as a concession" for agreeing not to try to attach it to the Violence Against Women Act.

1 Jun 2012

Poll: A third of women fear efforts to control reproductive rights

According to a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than four in ten women have taken action in response to recent dustups on women's reproductive health issues.

1 Jun 2012

Medicare official sees Medicare Advantage enrollment continuing to grow

A top Medicare official predicted Wednesday that the private Medicare Advantage program will continue to grow at double-digit rates, although payment reductions in the program are included in the health care overhaul law.

1 Jun 2012

WHO hopes to host second meeting on issues related to 'dual-use' research

"The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes to hold a meeting late this fall to discuss 'dual-use' research issues raised in the controversy over publication of two studies involving lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility, a WHO official said," CIDRAP News reports.

1 Jun 2012

Health law jobs, cost controls and the mandate play in minds of state leaders

Health law issues are reverberating in states around America as leaders consider what the law means for them -- especially if it stands after a Supreme Court review.

1 Jun 2012

Feds announce effort to slash inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes

An estimated 40 percent of nursing home residents with dementia receive the drugs, which are approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

1 Jun 2012

Opinion pieces, editorial discuss significant decline in child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

The following summaries of two opinion pieces and an editorial explore a recent paper published by the World Bank discussing significant declines in infant and under-five mortality in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa.

1 Jun 2012

Zinc supplementation in young children with serious infections significantly lowers risk of treatment failure

Treating young children with suspected serious bacterial infection with zinc in addition to standard antibiotics significantly reduces the likelihood of treatment failure, according to new research published Online First in The Lancet. In 2010, worldwide, infections were responsible for nearly two-thirds of deaths in children under 5, with around two-fifths of deaths occurring within the first month of life.

1 Jun 2012

Tentative deals forged in ill., Providence, R.I., to save money on retiree pensions, health care

Officials report accords with public employees restricting pension increases in order to keep the programs solvent. Both deals also involve changes to retiree health care programs..

1 Jun 2012

Large-scale, coordinated effort needed to stop increase in HIV transmission among MSM in China

HIV transmission in China is increasing faster among men who have sex with men (MSM) than in any other population, a trend that "cannot continue," a group of researchers working in China write in a Nature commentary, adding, "Policymakers, public health researchers, clinicians, educators, community leaders and other stakeholders in China must come together to educate everyone, and gay men in particular, about HIV prevention and treatment -- before any more people become infected as a result of ignorance and fear."

1 Jun 2012

Senate field hearing probes whether Accretive Health's bill collection practices violated patient privacy

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who convened the hearing, questioned whether thousands of Minnesotans who trusted their health records to Minnesota's Fairview and North Memorial hospitals, suffered privacy breaches. The hearing follows an investigation by Minnesota's attorney general into the relationship between Accretive Health and Fairview.

1 Jun 2012

Target of 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025 a 'rallying call' for global health community

Member states at the 65th session of the World Health Assembly, which concluded last week, "agreed to adopt a global target of a 25 percent reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases [NCDs] such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases by 2025."

1 Jun 2012

On 'World No Tobacco Day,' WHO calls on national leaders to stand together against tobacco industry 'attacks'

"On World No Tobacco Day (31 May), WHO is calling on national leaders to be extra vigilant against the increasingly aggressive attacks by the industry which undermine policies that protect people from the harms of tobacco," a WHO press release reports, noting that nearly six million people die of tobacco-related illnesses each year and tobacco is a leading preventable cause of illness and death worldwide.

1 Jun 2012

Seriously ill children administered zinc in addition to antibiotics respond better, more quickly to treatment, study shows

"In a newly released clinical study, conducted in India" and published in the Lancet on Thursday, "hundreds of seriously ill infants who received zinc -- an essential micronutrient for the immune system and human growth -- as well as antibiotics, responded better and more quickly to treatment than those who did not," IRIN reports.

1 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Bishops' request for contraception exemption may push legal precedent; Maine's experiment on health care

43 Roman Catholic organizations have filed lawsuits challenging a ... regulation that requires employers or their health insurers to offer birth control coverage to workers. The plaintiffs say that complying with the regulation would violate their religious freedom.

1 Jun 2012

N-of-One develops unique knowledge integration platform for oncologists

N-of-One, Inc., provider of Diagnostic Strategy Roadmaps and Treatment Strategy Roadmaps for personalized cancer care, announced today that the company has developed a unique knowledge integration platform to enable care providers and patients to make informed decisions about diagnostic and treatment strategy.

1 Jun 2012

State roundup: Federal judge rejects Calif. request to end oversight of prison health care; States push prescription drug databases; Medicare drug benefit at issue in Utah Senate race

A federal judge rejected a request by California prison officials Wednesday to regain control of inmate health care, which has been under court-supervised receivership for six years, and said the state must first show it can provide adequate medical treatment. ... The current receiver, Clark Kelso, has reported improvements in the prisons' medical staff and facilities, and said a "turnaround plan" he proposed for the system in 2008 is about 80 percent complete.

1 Jun 2012

Counseling sessions with community pharmacist lead to better medication adherence

A new Walgreens study has found that patients starting high cholesterol (statin) medication for the first time who participated in enhanced face-to-face counseling sessions with a community pharmacist demonstrated better medication adherence than those that did not participate in the sessions.

31 May 2012

First Edition: May 31, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about various health-related measures currently on the move in Congress.

31 May 2012

Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday weekly theme is PMTCT

"The Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday theme for this week is prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)," an e-mail alert from USAID reports, noting, "PMTCT provides HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services for the whole family and is the most effective way to create an HIV-free generation."

31 May 2012

Health Care News and Research

House set to vote on bill banning sex-selection abortions

Poll: A third of women fear efforts to control reproductive rights

Medicare official sees Medicare Advantage enrollment continuing to grow

WHO hopes to host second meeting on issues related to 'dual-use' research

Health law jobs, cost controls and the mandate play in minds of state leaders

Feds announce effort to slash inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes

Opinion pieces, editorial discuss significant decline in child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

Zinc supplementation in young children with serious infections significantly lowers risk of treatment failure

Tentative deals forged in ill., Providence, R.I., to save money on retiree pensions, health care

Large-scale, coordinated effort needed to stop increase in HIV transmission among MSM in China

Senate field hearing probes whether Accretive Health's bill collection practices violated patient privacy

Target of 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025 a 'rallying call' for global health community

On 'World No Tobacco Day,' WHO calls on national leaders to stand together against tobacco industry 'attacks'

Seriously ill children administered zinc in addition to antibiotics respond better, more quickly to treatment, study shows

Viewpoints: Bishops' request for contraception exemption may push legal precedent; Maine's experiment on health care

N-of-One develops unique knowledge integration platform for oncologists

State roundup: Federal judge rejects Calif. request to end oversight of prison health care; States push prescription drug databases; Medicare drug benefit at issue in Utah Senate race

Counseling sessions with community pharmacist lead to better medication adherence

First Edition: May 31, 2012

Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday weekly theme is PMTCT

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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