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First Edition: May 11, 2010

Today's coverage includes more details regarding how the new health law moves forward with efforts to provide health insurance coverage to young adults.

11 May 2010

Baby names parents most regret

According to a study by http://www.bounty.com, one in five parents REGRET the names they have chosen for their children and 19 per cent of folk are fed up with the sheer number of other children sharing the same moniker.

11 May 2010

Napp introduces new alcohol-free hand sanitizer

Soft & Shield Hand Sanitizer and Moisturizer is a new alcohol-free hand sanitizer that contains ingredients that soften, smooth and moisturize the skin. As an added benefit, the Soft & Shield Hand Sanitizer and Moisturizer forms an invisible protective barrier that covers the outer layer of the skin to protect for up to four hours against harmful germs and bacteria.

11 May 2010

Pathway Genomics personal genetic testing kits to be sold at Walgreens

Pathway Genomics, a U.S.-based genetic testing company, today announced that Pathway's personal genetic testing kits will be available at Walgreens. Starting in mid-May the Pathway Genomics Insight™ Saliva Collection Kit will be sold at many of Walgreens' nearly 7,500 stores nationwide (with the exception of New York, due to a New York state law). The Insight™ Saliva Collection Kit will retail in the $20 to $30 price range.

11 May 2010

Gene variations may increase risk of developing schizophrenia: Study

By analyzing the genomes of patients with schizophrenia, genetics researchers have discovered numerous copy number variations—deletions or duplications of DNA sequences—that increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. Significantly, many of these variations occur in genes that affect signaling among brain cells.

11 May 2010

New multicenter trial achieves 71% survival in AML children

More individualized therapy and better supportive care helped push the survival for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to 71 percent three years after diagnosis, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators and reported in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology. The survival rate of 71 percent is 20 percent better than previously reported U.S. rates and is similar to the success achieved in a 2009 Japanese study, said Jeffrey Rubnitz, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Oncology department.

11 May 2010

Coverage of young adults will raise premiums; Workers can deduct cost of adding children to insurance

The provision of the new health law that allows families to keep young adults on their policies up to age 26 "will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans, the government said in an estimate released Monday," The Associated Press/New York Times reports. HHS "released estimates of the costs and benefits of the requirement as part of a regulation directing employers and insurers how to carry it out.

11 May 2010

U.S., Haitian partners meet to discuss elections as Haitian parliamentary terms expire

In an article examining elections in Haiti and their impact on the country's recovery from the January 12 earthquake, the Miami Herald writes that Canada, the U.S., the Organization of American States, the U.N. and other partners have "dispatched top lieutenants [to Port-au-Prince] for a Monday meeting" with President Rene Preval to discuss elections.

11 May 2010

Global efforts to combat HIV and AIDS confront changes as funding priorities shift

The New York Times detailed the current funding challenges facing the global effort to combat HIV and AIDS, using the country of Uganda as an example. "Uganda is the first and most obvious example of how the war on global AIDS is falling apart." Although this nation has made significant advances in what "some doctors call a 'golden window' for treatment," clinics are now routinely turning people away.

11 May 2010

Improving newborn care in first month of life essential for reducing child mortality

Improving newborn care in the first month of life is essential for reducing child deaths in developing countries, according to a global update on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) released today in the World Health Statistics 2010.

11 May 2010

St. Jude’s Volunteen Program offers hands-on learning experience for teenagers

They have glue on their fingers and smiles on their faces; crayons spread before them and kids crowded around them. It's all part of a day's work for the Volunteens of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

11 May 2010

Health Reform news: Grandfather clause could mean some lose benefits

Kaiser Health News: Millions of people could end up losing some benefits of the new health law because of the interpretation of "grandfathered."

11 May 2010

Folic acid supplement may improve blood flow in young amenorrheic runners

A study led by sports medicine researcher Anne Hoch, D.O. at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee has found that oral folic acid may provide a safe and inexpensive treatment to improve vascular function in young female runners who are amenorrheic (not menstruating).

11 May 2010

Dyslexic children may have structural differences in brain region, says study

Children with dyslexia often struggle with reading, writing, and spelling, despite getting an appropriate education and demonstrating intellectual ability in other areas.

11 May 2010

Vigorous physical activity in childhood strengthens hip bones

Researchers from Southhampton and Cambridge Universities in the UK have presented evidence that vigorous physical activity in young children results in stronger hip bones. The results were presented at the World Congress on Osteoporosis (IOF WCO-ECCEO10) in Florence, Italy.

11 May 2010

'Striking improvements' toward MDG targets, progress is unequal, WHO report says

The WHO's annual health statistics report, released Monday, found that global efforts aimed at achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets have led to "striking improvements" among goals related to child health, maternal mortality, malaria and HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.

11 May 2010

Consumers, officials work to sort out new health law

For at least one state, implementing health reform is starting to appear easier said than done. The Daily Record, a Baltimore legal newspaper, reports, "Maryland's new Health Care Reform Coordinating Council held its first meeting last week, resolving to find the best way to implement provisions of the landmark federal health care overhaul.

11 May 2010

CVS calls on FDA to suspend use of contaminated rotavirus vaccines

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened a panel of experts to review recent findings that rotavirus vaccines given to infants in the U.S., Rotateq, produced by Merck Pharmaceuticals and Rotarix produced by GlaxoSmithKline, are contaminated with DNA from pig viruses PCV1 and PCV2. On March 22nd the FDA Commissioner asked doctors to suspend use of the Rotarix vaccine due to the contamination. Upon additional testing, Rotateq was also found to be contaminated.

10 May 2010

First Edition: May 10, 2010

Today's health policy headlines include the feature coverage of aspects of health reform implementation, including how "gradfathering" will be defined in regulations and the latest details on the early retiree reinsurance program.

10 May 2010

Integrated NextGen platform to be implemented at Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., and leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced it has executed an agreement with Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center to deploy NextGen® EHR, NextGen® Practice Management and electronic dental records from Quality Systems.

10 May 2010