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Enterologics to acquire BioBalance from NYHC

Enterologics, Inc. announced today that it is acquiring all the shares of The BioBalance Corporation and its subsidiary BioBalance LLC from New York Health Care, Inc.

17 Jun 2011

Civil unrest creates serious health implications in South Sudan

BMJ reports on the health affects of civil unrest in South Sudan, which will become the world's newest country on July 9.

17 Jun 2011

Budget talks continue; options to reduce entitlement program spending gain traction

A report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission bolstered some of the options to squeeze billions in savings from Medicare — options currently under consideration in the budget negotiations being led by Vice President Joe Biden. In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports the Medicaid is facing significant cuts in the emerging budget deal.

17 Jun 2011

Loyola employee donates kidney to complete stranger, saves her own life

When Dorothy Jambrosek, 47, decided to donate a kidney to a stranger, she didn't realize that her goodwill would save her own life. After undergoing a series of tests required to give a kidney, doctors discovered that Jambrosek had precancerous lesions in her breast that could become cancerous.

17 Jun 2011

Lawmakers clash over franked mail that criticized House GOP plan for Medicare

Some Democratic House members who have had constituent mailings held up because of proposed GOP revisions to soften the message are accusing the Republican majority of censoring their mail. GOP leaders counter that the Dems are abusing their franked mail privileges to send out political attacks on the Ryan plan to revamp Medicare.

17 Jun 2011

Hospital prices up, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics

Consumer prices for hospital services increased 0.8 percent in May after a 0.7 percent climb the prior month, show seasonally adjusted figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May 2010, the agency's index of consumer hospital prices increased 0.5 percent.

17 Jun 2011

With stimulus money soon to run out, Medicaid benefits are about to drop

Even though unemployment has gone up, the increased federal Medicaid match will expire at the end of the month. As a result, benefits will likely be cut for many. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that children with Medicaid are far more likely than those with private insurance to be turned away by medical specialists or be made to wait more than a month for an appointment.

17 Jun 2011

'Ultrawideband' technology for real-time health diagnosis

New research by electrical engineers at Oregon State University has confirmed that an electronic technology called "ultrawideband" could hold part of the solution to an ambitious goal in the future of medicine - health monitoring with sophisticated "body-area networks."

17 Jun 2011

G20 agriculture ministers should focus on small farmers to address food price volatility

"When the G20 Ministers of Agriculture develop an action plan to address food price volatility and its impact on the poor, they should focus on both urgent actions and the vital role of smallholder farmers," Shenggen Fan, director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, writes in an Inter Press Service opinion piece.

17 Jun 2011

Disaster preparedness to be incorporated into UK development programs, DFID report says

"Preparing a country for disaster will become a core part of the UK government's development programmes around the world to ensure a faster and more efficient response to major disasters," the Department of International Development (DFID) said on Wednesday in an official response to Lord Paddy Ashdown's independent review of humanitarian disasters that was issued in March, the Guardian reports.

17 Jun 2011

UHN, Toronto Rehab receive Board approval for integration

The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (Toronto Rehab) and University Health Network (UHN) Boards of Directors today gave final approval to the integration of Toronto Rehab with UHN today which is the final step in a process that began in April, 2011.

17 Jun 2011

Most US counties are falling behind in life expectancy

While people in Japan, Canada, and other nations are enjoying significant gains in life expectancy every year, most counties within the United States are falling behind, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

17 Jun 2011

ASEAN members sign new action plan to fight dengue

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday as part of an event marking ASEAN Dengue Day signed a new action plan aimed at fighting dengue in the region, the Jakarta Post reports.

17 Jun 2011

Japan to evacuate pregnant women, children at risk of high radiation levels outside of evacuation zone

"Japan plans to ask pregnant women and children to move away from radiation 'hotspots' that were found far away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the government said on Thursday, reflecting new anxieties about the spread of radioactivity," Reuters reports.

17 Jun 2011

G20 should examine larger food issues

"The inefficiencies in food production, transport and wastage are not only hazardous from a financial and environmental perspective; they are equally tragic on a moral level," independent consultant and writer Cynthia Schweer writes in a post on Foreign Policy Blogs.

17 Jun 2011

Instability and global food prices

In this report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies, part of its Global Forecast 2011, Johanna Nesseth Tuttle writes, "As food prices have risen - to a new, all-time high in 2011 - it is clear that, although we are not inevitably destined for instability as a result of declining food stocks, without serious commitment and focus we will be hard-pressed to manage the dramatic increase in food production that will be needed to meet global demand".

17 Jun 2011

$New report: Only minority of high risk patients receive treatment to prevent fractures$

New report: Only minority of high risk patients receive treatment to prevent fractures

In Europe, a serious treatment gap is leaving millions of people at high risk of fragility fractures. The findings were revealed in 'Osteoporosis: Burden, health care provision and opportunities in the EU', a landmark report prepared by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) in collaboration with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations.

17 Jun 2011

More money needed to fight health issues

"I can't help worrying that, as donors slap themselves on the back over their generosity [shown through pledges to the GAVI Alliance] …, their feelgood factor will turn into a warm glow of satisfaction at having played out their part. Problem solved," Sarah Boseley writes on the Guardian's "Global Health Blog."

17 Jun 2011

NPR: Medical errors in outpatient settings may exceed those in hospitals

It's been a dozen years since the Institute of Medicine shocked the public by estimating that as many as 98,000 people were dying annually because of medical mistakes in the nation's hospitals. But results from a study published in this week's JAMA suggest that outpatient care may be just as hazardous to your health.

17 Jun 2011

HHS announces funding opportunity for national networks of community-based organizations

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a funding opportunity for national networks of community-based organizations to apply for more than $4 million in cooperative agreements.

17 Jun 2011