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Study finds vitamin D is critical in human immune response to tuberculosis

"Vitamin D is needed to activate the immune system's response to tuberculosis (TB)," a finding that "could lead to new treatments for the lung disease," researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) said in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Agence France-Presse reports.

14 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 14, 2011

In today's headlines, more status report on the super committee's deficit-reduction deliberations.

14 Oct 2011

Aid donors, NGOs should ensure development work benefits disabled people

In this post in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog," Tim Wainwright, CEO of ADD International, writes, "It puzzles me why so much of mainstream development's resources, research, campaigning efforts and attention ignore disabled people," which account for one in seven of the world's population, or one billion people.

14 Oct 2011

Survey measures what Americans know about the U.S. foreign aid budget

This post in Population Services International's (PSI) "Healthy Lives" blog reports the results of a "survey of 507 Americans [administered] at the end of September [that] sought to capture what, exactly, Americans know about the foreign aid budget."

14 Oct 2011

Medical panels continue to wrestle with conflict-of-interest issues

Financial conflicts abound on medical panels that set practice guidelines. ... Researchers found conflicts of interest were prevalent among experts who served on 14 U.S. and Canadian panels that came up with guidelines for the treatment of diabetes and high cholesterol between 2000 and 2010. All told, 52 percent (or 150 of 288 people) had financial conflicts of interest.

14 Oct 2011

India faces nutrition crisis despite growing prosperity

India's Hindustan Times reports on "a striking contrast between rising economic prosperity and stagnating rates of malnutrition" in Mumbai, where "80,000 children ... are malnourished, according to government data, a statistic that makes Mumbai the most malnourished city in India."

14 Oct 2011

Compelling Hope Symposium to explore new approaches for nerve and paralysis injury

Located at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey, the Center for Treatment of Paralysis and Reconstructive Nerve Surgery will host the second annual Compelling Hope Symposium on Saturday, November 5th at the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

14 Oct 2011

'Doc fix' dilemma makes debt panel's job more difficult

According to Reuters, sources indicate panel members are interested in taking on this Medicare issue, but doing so would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and complicate their efforts to find federal budget savings. Meanwhile, in related news, AHIP - America's Health Insurance Plans - is lobbying the committee regarding an approach to debt reduction that involves coordinating care for dual eligibles.

14 Oct 2011

Health IT incentives may not always work as intended

About half of the first batch of federal dollars meant to encourage doctors and hospitals to switch to electronic records went to providers who were converts to the technology long before the stimulus program was announced, an iWatch News analysis suggests.

14 Oct 2011

WFP says millions in Yemen going hungry, warns of 'serious humanitarian situation'

"The U.N. World Food Programme [WFP] said Wednesday that more Yemenis were going hungry because of rising food prices and severe fuel shortages brought about by months of political unrest," Agence France-Presse reports.

14 Oct 2011

Legislation news: Obama promises to veto anti-abortion bill

The House is expected to pass an abortion-related bill today, but like other similar legislation, it is not likely to make progress in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, a number of other health-related measures and subjects are moving on both sides of the Capitol, including a rural health proposal and another related to a health tax credit aimed at easing the contractor tax compliance burden. Lastly, two Senate Democrats expressed concerns about the Prevention Trust Fund's advisory panel.

14 Oct 2011

Employees face new choices, costs and benefits this open enrollment season

This month kicks off open enrollment season, when many of us dread the annual confrontation with our employer health benefits plan. ... Here are some tips - from experts such as Consumer Reports' Nancy Metcalf and from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners - for consumers who are making decisions on employer-sponsored health plans.

14 Oct 2011

Reuters: Medicare Part B premiums going up, cuts into Social Security COLA

After two years without an inflation adjustment, the Social Security Administration is expected to announce a 2012 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of more than 3 percent next week. That would be a sizable raise in this economy, and very welcome news to seniors hit hard by rising costs, slumping home equity and very low returns on fixed-income investments. But the good COLA news will come with a nasty kicker.

14 Oct 2011

Detailing how Romney's health law waivers would work

Politico reports on how GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's health law waiver plan would work - states could skirt some of the measure's biggest requirements, but it's still not a complete repeal. Meanwhile, news from the campaign trail indicates that Romney is facing attacks from GOP rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry as well as from the White House. And, as Herman Cain, another GOP candidate, picks up momentum, details of his 9-9-9 economic plan are emerging -- including the fact that it would eliminate payroll taxes that pay for Medicare and Social Security.

14 Oct 2011

Conrad: Efforts to repeal health law via budget procedures would be 'misusing' the rules

Also in the news, media outlets report on a range of issues related to the health law's implementation, including accountable care organizations, essential benefits and an HHS warning about a fake website related to the measure's pre-existing condition insurance plan.

14 Oct 2011

World Food Prize symposium examines link between food security and health, poverty efforts

KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog reports on the World Food Prize symposium and Borlaug Dialogue taking place in Iowa this week, where "about 1,000 people, including many former heads of state and top agricultural policy folk, are gathered together to talk about … how to feed the planet's growing population."

14 Oct 2011

Medicaid waivers, enrollment problems plaguing states

More than a dozen House Democrats from California met recently with Medicaid boss Donald Berwick to warn him that Gov. Jerry Brown's request for deep cuts to the state/federal program would devastate healthcare providers and their patients, The Hill has learned. Brown, a Democrat, has put the Obama administration in a tough spot with his request to cut the state's Medicaid program by $1.4 billion to help plug a $26.6 billion budget gap.

14 Oct 2011

Malaria drops from first to third cause of infant mortality in Africa, RBM executive director says

"Over the past three years, malaria passed from first to third cause of infant mortality in Africa, Awa Coll-Seck, executive director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership [RBM], said Tuesday in Paris," Afrique en ligne reports.

14 Oct 2011

Lower-income, urban dads encourage exercise and healthy diet for their children

Lower-income, urban dads are involved in their children's health and encourage them to exercise and eat healthy foods, reports a new study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. But these same dads may also give their kids the wrong dose of medicine and may be uncomfortable handling emergency medical care for their children.

14 Oct 2011

IRIN reports on efforts to increase access to contraceptives, curb population growth in Madagascar

IRIN reports on women's efforts to curb population growth in Madagascar, "one of 12 developing countries receiving support to improve access to contraceptives through the U.N. Population Fund's (UNFPA) Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security."

14 Oct 2011