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Study: Hearing and sight are deeply intertwined

Our senses of sight and hearing work closely together, perhaps more than people realize, a new UCLA psychology study shows.

9 Dec 2011

House hearing on malaria progress, challenges

This post in the "Malaria Policy Center" blog describes a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, titled "Fighting Malaria: Progress and Challenges," that was held on Monday.

8 Dec 2011

Lawmakers debate value of cameras in the courtroom

A Democratic senator dismissed those fears Tuesday, saying cameras would not cheapen the high court's proceedings. "I'm trying to picture Ruth Bader Ginsburg turning into Judge Judy. I just don't think it's going to happen," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said during a hearing on the subject Tuesday.

8 Dec 2011

Consumer advocates, other watchdog groups urge congress to leave broker regs alone

The organizations want Congress to maintain the medical loss ratio rule's current classification of broker fees as administrative expenses. Also in the news, during a Tuesday hearing, House Republicans attacked the work of an economist Democrats have quoted in an argument related to the health law's tax credits.

8 Dec 2011

State roundup: Aetna suing over Mich. BCBS hospital deals; ACLU threatens Ohio abortion suit

The latest challenge was a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Detroit's federal court by insurance giant Aetna, one of the nation's largest health plans, with 35 million members. The suit alleges a violation of federal antitrust laws, claiming the Blues raised rates for Michigan consumers over the last four years and used the money to reward hospitals with higher payments if they charged Blues' competitors the same or higher rates.

8 Dec 2011

Senators say burden on Express Scripts and Medco to show merger would benefit consumers, competition

Sen. Herb Kohl on Tuesday told Express Scripts and Medco executives that the burden was "squarely" on them to show that their proposed $29 billion merger would benefit consumers and competition, not just the corporate bottom line.

8 Dec 2011

Senate hearing focuses on merger of two big drug benefit managers

Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions are seeking to combine operations, but some senators have raised concerns about the effect on consumers.

7 Dec 2011

Legislative update: A range of congressional health measures draw attention

New legislation was introduced to make drug price gouging a federal crime. Also, a measure is pending that seeks to make the upcoming Supreme Court term "must-see TV." The abortion battle will heat up again in a hearing scheduled today over the Prenatal NonDiscrimination Act.

7 Dec 2011

Fake, poor-quality drugs boosting malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia, U.S. experts say

"Fake or poor quality malaria drugs are boosting resistance in parts of southeast Asia, a problem that is likely to worsen unless tighter regulations are adopted, U.S. experts said Monday" at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, Agence France-Presse reports.

7 Dec 2011

Purdue, GE Healthcare and Notre Dame announce commercial availability of Veo CT scan

Demonstrating their shared legacy of innovative research and commitment to patient-centered medical technology, the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University and GE Healthcare have announced the commercial availability of a new CT scanning technology, called Veo-, that enables physicians to diagnose patients with high clarity images at previously-unattainable low radiation dose levels.

7 Dec 2011

Communication break down in warning parents about their overweight children

A new analysis of national survey data finds that less than one-quarter of parents of overweight children recall ever being told by a doctor or other health care provider that their children were overweight.

6 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Premium support disadvantages; GOP candidates & the individual mandate; Stop fight over high court recusals?

Republican politicians are touting the virtues of market competition and calling for a "premium support" plan that would give beneficiaries a set amount of money to shop among private plans for their own insurance. What they do not say is that private plans have long been more costly than traditional Medicare and have shown far less ability to slow spending.

5 Dec 2011

Veterans' access to mental health services remains a concern

Access questions and concerns are deepening as more men and women end their tours of duty and need therapy upon returning to the U.S. In other news, NPR reports on the debate surrounding the costs of military retiree benefits.

5 Dec 2011

British American Tobacco buckles up to fight plain packaging legislation

British American Tobacco (BAT) has challenged the High Court against the cigarette plain packaging legislation. BAT argues the ban is invalid because the federal government is trying to acquire valuable intellectual property without compensation. BAT lodged the writs launching its challenge in the High Court Sydney registry on Thursday. The date for hearing is likely to be no earlier than the second quarter of next year.

4 Dec 2011

CDER, Shire enter agreement for ProAmatine clinical trial to treat symptomatic orthostatic hypotension

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that it has reached an agreement with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct additional clinical trials to confirm the clinical benefit of ProAmatine (midodrine HCl), a medicine approved in 1996 under Subpart H for the treatment of symptomatic orthostatic hypotension (SOH).

3 Dec 2011

Foster children on Medicaid are overly medicated, says report

A study of five states found that foster children are more likely than other kids to be given mind-altering drugs, including antipsychotics and antidepressants.

3 Dec 2011

New insight into why aminoglycoside antibiotics cause deafness

Peter Steyger's research on hearing is very personal. That's because Steyger - a research scientist with the Oregon Hearing Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University - is deaf. Now Steyger has published groundbreaking research that is as personal as it gets. The study gives scientists new insight into why a specific class of antibiotics causes deafness - the same class of antibiotics that caused Steyger's deafness as a child in England 48 years ago. The study was published this month in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Publishing Group.

2 Dec 2011

World AIDS Day marks progress, but much work remains

News reports detail emerging strategies to prevent infection, but also examine lagging treatments and the populations that continue to have the highest incidence rates.

2 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 1, 2011

In today's headlines, Republicans in Congress advance plan to charge wealthy beneficiaries more for Medicare in order to cover the costs of the proposaed payroll tax extension.

1 Dec 2011

House Committee expected to vote Wednesday to repeal CLASS Act

The Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to approve, along party lines, a measure to repeal the long-term care insurance program. Meanwhile, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is being pressed to lift his hold on legislation to fund children's hospitals. He has been blocking the measure's progress because he still hopes to add an amendment that would expand it to children's psychiatric hospitals.

1 Dec 2011