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House Democrats set to move bill after accord with Blue Dogs, Liberals objecting

House Democrats on Wednesday made a deal with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on a health reform bill that "would reduce the overall cost of the package and ensure more funding for rural hospitals, concessions that could allow the Energy and Commerce Committee to finish its consideration of the legislation," The Washington Post reports.

30 Jul 2009

Machine designed to reduce infections and cut back on expensive "disposables"

Johns Hopkins experts in applied physics, computer engineering, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, microbiology, pathology and surgery have unveiled a 7-foot-tall, $10,000 shower-cubicle-shaped device that automatically sanitizes in 30 minutes all sorts of hard-to-clean equipment in the highly trafficked hospital emergency department.

30 Jul 2009

Short-term complications after bariatric surgery for extreme obesity low

Short-term complications and death rates were low following bariatric surgery to limit the amount of food that can enter the stomach, decrease absorption of food or both, according to the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-1). The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. Results are reported in the July 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Jul 2009

Myths of the public health plan

It's a critical week in Congress on the health care reform front, and members are ramping up the rhetoric for one of the sticking points -- a government-run health insurance plan that would "compete" with private insurers.

30 Jul 2009

U.S.-China talks expected to include collaboration on fighting infectious disease

China's Deputy Health Minister Yin Li on Tuesday said that public health cooperation between China and the U.S. can improve the health of both countries and be strategically significant to world peace and development, Xinhua/China View reports (7/29).

29 Jul 2009

Latin America accounts for two-thirds of all confirmed H1N1 deaths

Health officials are growing increasingly concerned over the impact the H1N1 (swine) flu is having on populations living in Latin America, a region "which accounts for around two-thirds of the 816 confirmed deaths so far from the disease," the AFP/channelnewsasia.com reports. "The outlook is especially unsettling for the estimated 380 million people grappling with winter in South America, where the A(H1N1) virus is speedily propagating," the news service writes.

29 Jul 2009

No evidence for superior nutritional content of organic produce

There is no evidence that organically produced foods are nutritionally superior to conventionally produced foodstuffs, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

29 Jul 2009

Sunbeds confirmed as cancer risk

Sunbeds have been put in the highest cancer risk category by the international body charged with evaluating potential cancer hazards.

29 Jul 2009

In a flu pandemic 1 in 6 health workers will not report for work

With hospitals around Australia struggling to cope with the added burden of swine flu cases researchers say 1 in 6 health workers will not report in for work in a flu pandemic.

28 Jul 2009

Many health won't report in during flu pandemic

A study conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that approximately 16 percent of public health care workers will not report for work in a pandemic flu emergency, regardless of the severity.

28 Jul 2009

Majority of health care leaders support public health care option

By a wide margin, health care leaders believe that individuals should have a choice of public and private health plans, and strongly support other central components of health reform such as innovative provider payment reform and a national insurance health exchange with strong standard-setting authority.

28 Jul 2009

Cost effectiveness study looks at potential value of new genetic test for guiding chemotherapy treatment

For the 29,000 patients in the United States with metastatic colorectal cancer, chemotherapy with irinotecan is a standard treatment that has been shown to improve survival. But for more than one in 10 of these patients, a variation in their DNA means that this treatment could result in a severe reduction in their white blood cell count, leading to a high risk of bacterial infection and possible subsequent death.

27 Jul 2009

NHS on the cards for an ailing Australian health system

A new report is recommending a Federal takeover of the Australian public health and dental system - the report by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) says the health system is under strain and in need of a new prescription.

27 Jul 2009

Scientists say each person with swine flu will infect two others

Scientists in New Zealand who have been examining the spread of the new H1N1 flu (swine flu), say the virus appears more infectious than previously thought and a person who becomes ill with the new strain will on average infect almost two others.

27 Jul 2009

Potential malaria transmission-blocking vaccine

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have for the first time produced a malarial protein (Pfs48/45) in the proper conformation and quantity to generate a significant immune response in mice and non-human primates for use in a potential transmission-blocking vaccine.

26 Jul 2009

Cause of colic

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston say one organism discovered during their study may unlock the key to what causes colic, inconsolable crying in an otherwise healthy baby.

24 Jul 2009

Delays could overwhelm hospitals in the event of airborne anthrax attack

A large attack on a major metropolitan area with airborne anthrax could affect more than a million people, necessitating their treatment with powerful antibiotics. A new study finds that in order for a response to be effective, quick detection and treatment are essential, and any delay beyond three days would overwhelm hospitals with critically ill people.

24 Jul 2009

1 in 6 public health workers would not report to work during a pandemic flu emergency

The findings are a significant improvement over a 2005 study conducted by the same research team, in which more than 40 percent of public health employees said they were unlikely to report to work during a pandemic emergency. The new study suggests ways for improving the response of the public health workforce. The results are published in the July 24 edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

24 Jul 2009

FDA authorizes emergency use of another test for H1N1 flu virus

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a another diagnostic test for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, whose spread has caused the virus to be characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

24 Jul 2009

Copper could be used to inhibit swine flu

A leading microbiologist from the University of Southampton has told a conference that his research has found copper is effective in inhibiting the influenza A H1N1 virus.

23 Jul 2009