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New method to easily identify cause of rare diseases

Sanford Health Children's Research Center researcher, Kyle Roux, PhD, has revealed a new method of research that will allow the cause of disease—particularly rare diseases—to become more easily identified.

23 Mar 2012

State highlights: Mass. enforcing individual mandate; Improving kids' dental coverage; Health 'navigators'

Getting the word out is half the battle, and the state is well into a $3 million media campaign ... [E]very adult must have insurance by December. If they don't and if the state determines that insurance was affordable for them, they will be fined $219 next year. The penalty increases substantially in 2009.

23 Mar 2012

Aternative pain medication without narcotics safe after sinus surgery

Patients who have undergone sinus surgery can safely take an alternative pain medication that does not cause the side effects of narcotics such as fentanyl and Vicodin, a Loyola University Health System study has found.

23 Mar 2012

U.N. SG calls for 'global solidarity' in fight against TB

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday during a visit to the Institute of Respiratory Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, "urged countries to step up their efforts to prevent tuberculosis (TB)" and "called for 'intensified global solidarity to ensure that the children and people of all the countries get medical support, so that they can breathe with health,'" the U.N. News Centre reports.

23 Mar 2012

Sixty-thousand Canadian teens go hungry to raise money and hunger awareness

As Canadians flock to movie theatres across the country for the much-anticipated Hunger Games motion picture release this weekend, more than 60,000 teens are preparing to go hungry to raise money and hunger awareness as part of World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, the largest teen hunger awareness campaign in the world.

23 Mar 2012

Bringing together NTD and WASH sectors of public health

In this post in the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog, Stephanie Ogden -- a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and neglected tropical disease (NTD) consultant with Emory's Center for Global Safe Water, Children Without Worms, and the International Trachoma Initiative -- writes about a partnership among these organizations.

23 Mar 2012

Md. launches health reform website for consumers; Calif. public option lives on

Maryland is launching a health care reform website to educate residents on how they can use benefits in the health law. In California, health reform already affects most residents while the state gets set to offer a version of its own "public option" to buy health insurance.

23 Mar 2012

Lancet editorial calls for TB control, elimination efforts to be on G20 agenda

In anticipation of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, commemorated on March 24, this Lancet editorial examines TB control and elimination efforts in 2012 and beyond. "Tuberculosis killed 1.45 million people in 2010 and about 500,000 people have drug-resistant disease," the editorial states, adding, "Despite a woeful funding gap in 2012 of $1.7 billion, tuberculosis incidence is falling (from 9.4 million in 2009 to 8.8 million in 2010)."

23 Mar 2012

Research roundup: Unequal 'culture of quality' in hospitals; Peer-support for stressed doctors

Comparison Of Hospital Performance In Trauma Vs Emergency And Elective General Surgery –This study compared outcomes of trauma patients and patients having either elective or emergency surgery in the same hospital. Researchers thought that "hospital performance reflected institutional culture, and, thus, would be similar across all services."

23 Mar 2012

Weight loss does not improve self-esteem in obese teen girls

Obese white teenage girls who lose weight may benefit physically, but the weight change does not guarantee they are going to feel better about themselves, according to a Purdue University study.

23 Mar 2012

Obese children with PNPLA3 and GCKR genetic variants more susceptible to fatty liver disease

New research found the genetic variant Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing protein-3 (PNPLA3) acting in conjunction with the glucokinase regulatory protein (GCKR) is associated with increased susceptibility to fatty liver disease in obese children.

23 Mar 2012

Uppsala University researchers identify promising biomarkers for ASD

An important step towards developing a rapid, inexpensive diagnostic method for autism has been take by Uppsala University, among other universities. Through advanced mass spectrometry the researchers managed to capture promising biomarkers from a tiny blood sample.

23 Mar 2012

Investigators identify proteins that may indicate fetus at risk for UTI-induced prematurity

Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have developed a mouse model in which a mother's urinary tract infection negatively affects the offspring, an occurrence anecdotally observed in humans. Using this first-of-its-kind model, they have identified proteins in the blood that may indicate whether such an infection might stunt fetal growth.

23 Mar 2012

State roundup: Union seeks $80M from N.Y. for health aides' insurance

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers lurch toward a budget deal, the state's largest health-care union is asking Albany for another bailout of its troubled insurance fund. The union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, is asking the state for $80 million more in Medicaid dollars so it can keep on providing health insurance to personal-care aides.

23 Mar 2012

Status checks on the health overhaul's implementation

A top Health and Human Services official told a congressional panel on Wednesday that his office is still figuring out how employers will be asked to determine their workers' health insurance status once the overhaul law goes into effect. The issue is important because beginning in 2014, companies with 50 or more full-time workers will be required to provide health insurance coverage or face paying a penalty.

23 Mar 2012

Longer looks: Health literacy's effect on costs

In many families, women are the health care decision makers. When children go for their checkups, we are often the ones who make the appointment and sit in the room holding their hand. When elderly parents see a new specialist, we are the ones carrying the folder with all their health information. ... In the past, this also meant that many women would take care of their own health last. By the time they got around to it, women found a system stacked against them. But thanks to the health care law, that's changed.

23 Mar 2012

Prenatal PAH exposure can lead to behavioral problems in children

Mothers' exposure during pregnancy to a class of air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) can lead to behavioral problems in their children.

23 Mar 2012

TAS2R38 and CD36 gene may play a role in fat perception

While high-fat foods are thought to be of universal appeal, there is actually a lot of variation in the extent to which people like and consume fat. A new study in the March issue of the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, reported that two specific genes, may play a role in some people's ability to taste and enjoy dietary fat.

23 Mar 2012

U.N.-backed campaign aims to vaccinate 111M children in 20 countries against polio over 4 days

"Some 111.1 million children below the age of five are to be vaccinated against polio in a synchronized campaign covering 20 countries in West and Central Africa starting on Friday," the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement on Wednesday, PANA reports.

23 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Health law's threat to individual liberty; Conflicting opinions on the constitutionality of the individual mandate

On Monday, the Supreme Court will begin an extraordinary three-day hearing on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. At stake are the Constitution's structural guarantees of individual liberty, which limit governmental power and ensure political accountability by dividing that power between federal and state authorities. Upholding ObamaCare would destroy this dual-sovereignty system, the most distinctive feature of American constitutionalism.

23 Mar 2012