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First Edition: April 28, 2011

Today's headlines feature reports about the varying public responses to plans for the budget and Medicare as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's intent to bring the House-passed Ryan budget up for a vote.

28 Apr 2011

WellPoint offers health coaches for employees to resolve clinical issues

Most of us agree, there have been times we've needed a coach. Our closets are a mess and our bank account(s), even more so. Marital bliss is far from effortless, and our own teenage angst was a walk in the park compared to what we're currently living with.

28 Apr 2011

Aetna first quarter operating earnings is $560.2 million for 2011

Aetna today announced first-quarter 2011 operating earnings of $560.2 million, or $1.43 per share, a per share increase of 46 percent over 2010.

28 Apr 2011

Experts to teach athletic trainers, medical providers on sports head injuries

Top experts from around the country will be at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill later this week to teach athletic trainers and medical providers how to prevent deaths and serious injuries among high school and college athletes.

28 Apr 2011

AVEO reports total revenue of $133.6 million for first quarter 2011

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reviewed key first quarter accomplishments and reported consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2011.

28 Apr 2011

Rising food prices could push millions in Asia into poverty, ADB report says

Rising food prices could force 64 million Asians into extreme poverty and damage the region's economic growth this year, according to a report released on Tuesday from the Asian Development Bank, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Apr 2011

Aetna enters agreement to procure Prodigy Health Group

Aetna today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Prodigy Health Group, the nation's largest independent third party administrator of self-funded health care plans.

28 Apr 2011

Address global hunger to strengthen security, FAO director general candidate says

The world must address hunger to strengthen security worldwide, Franz Fischler, a former EU agriculture commissioner from Austria who is a candidate to lead the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

28 Apr 2011

Justices question Vermont's effort to restrict drug data mining

During Tuesday's oral arguments, the justices suggested that the state law, which restricts pharmaceutical marketers' ability to obtain data on doctor prescribing habits, may violate free-speech rights.

28 Apr 2011

Health effects of Chernobyl nuclear crisis remain unknown 25 years after incident

Though it has been 25 years since a disastrous explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine sent radioactive material into the air, affecting Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the rest of the world, "experts are still debating the long-term health effects of the disaster," the Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog reports.

28 Apr 2011

Study finds increase in implementation of evidence-based therapies for myocardial infarction

In an analysis of data from a coronary care registry in Sweden, between 1996-2007 there was an increase in the prevalence of use of evidence-based invasive procedures and pharmacological therapies for treatment of a certain type of heart attack, and a decrease in the rate of death at 30 days and one year after a heart attack for these patients, according to a study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.

28 Apr 2011

Educating communities about evidenced-based beneﬁts of music therapy

As Lori Gooding, University of Kentucky's music therapy director, walks into Joshua Diven's patient room at Kentucky Children's Hospital (KCH), the 3-year-old's face lights up. This is the second time that Gooding and Shane Swezey, a music therapy intern, have visited Diven in the past four days. Gooding has also worked with Joshua on previous visits to KCH.

28 Apr 2011

CMA and AFN call federal leaders to modernize Canada Health Act

The Canadian Medical Association and the Assembly of First Nations today called on federal leaders to commit to defending and modernizing the Canada Health Act and enhancing the health of First Nations peoples across Canada.

28 Apr 2011

Report on U.S. food aid recommends ways to improve quality

A report on the quality of U.S. food aid released on Tuesday "has identified improvements experts hope will make relief campaigns more effective at fighting hunger," CNN reports.

28 Apr 2011

Current savings fall short of what will be needed to meet retiree health costs

States are on the hook for about $600 billion in retiree health benefits promised to public employees — but they've set aside only about $31 billion, or around 5 percent, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

28 Apr 2011

Detailing the 'Village Movement' in senior living

KQED: 'Village Movement' Trend in Senior Living Leads Agenda at Aging Conference.

28 Apr 2011

Pfizer announces global launch of new child nutrition products

Pfizer Inc. today announced the global launch of its new advanced GOLD range of child nutrition products, developed to meet the changing nutritional and feeding needs of young children. The GOLD range of infant and follow-on formulas, and growing-up milks provides the right balance of high-quality nutrients needed to support ideal health, growth and development in growing children.

28 Apr 2011

Non-communicable diseases responsible for more than half of deaths worldwide, WHO report says

Chronic and non-communicable illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, are at epidemic proportions and cause more deaths worldwide than all other diseases combined, the WHO said in a report released Wednesday, Reuters reports.

28 Apr 2011

Frailty increases exponentially with age throughout adult life span

The prevalence of frailty, which is linked to earlier death, increases throughout adulthood as people age and not just after age 65, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Relatively good fitness levels at all ages were predictive of lower mortality and less reliance on health care services.

28 Apr 2011

IAHF, Global Bridges launch tobacco treatment training for Mexico health care providers

Global Bridges, a healthcare alliance for tobacco dependence treatment based at Mayo Clinic, and its regional partner, the InterAmerican Heart Foundation in Dallas, Texas, announced today the first of a series of training courses for health care providers in Latin America on how to successfully treat tobacco users.

28 Apr 2011