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Surgeon General issues 'Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding'

Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin on Jan. 20 will issue "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding," which outlines evidence-based steps that all sectors of a community can take to remove obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies.

19 Jan 2011

Dextran-coated onto iron oxide nanoparticles can detect cholera toxin: Study

A complex sugar may someday become one of the most effective weapons to stop the spread of cholera, a disease that has claimed thousands of lives in Haiti since the devastating earthquake last year.

19 Jan 2011

UC San Diego receives two grants to expand TREDS program for older drivers

A team of experts from the School's Trauma Epidemiology and Injury Prevention Research Center has received two grants to expand the program, which focuses on interventions to assist older drivers who may be at risk for a crash due to age-related health impairments.

19 Jan 2011

CareCore National and D3 partner to accelerate implementation of cancer care pathways

To improve quality and contain rising costs in cancer care, CareCore National and D3, an affiliate of UPMC, have formed a new company to accelerate implementation of cancer care pathways.

19 Jan 2011

Health care reform should mend disconnect between USPSTF recommendations and Medicare coverage

Health care reform should be able to mend a disconnect that has existed between the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a task force charged by the government to review clinical preventive health services for older adults, and Medicare coverage for those services, a new UCLA-led study finds.

19 Jan 2011

American Heart Association documents commitment to improve heart and stroke-related public policy

The American Heart Association has, for the first time, published a statement, "American Heart Association and Nonprofit Advocacy: Past, Present, and Future," that documents the association's longstanding commitment to improve heart and stroke-related public policy.

19 Jan 2011

Loyola offers new, nonsurgical treatment for Dupuytren's contracture

Loyola University Health System is among the first centers to offer a new, nonsurgical treatment for Dupuytren's contracture, a debilitating condition that curls fingers toward the palm.

19 Jan 2011

Federal government requests oral arguments in Michigan appeal of health law challenge

In this case, which was brought by a conservative law center, the plaintiff is seeking to overturn a lower court decision that found the health overhaul to be constitutional.

19 Jan 2011

Quality of care and reimbursements will go down under Healthcare Reform Act: Survey

The newly released 2011 Thomson Reuters - HCPlexus National Physicians Survey (NPS) links doctors' fears that their pay will go down under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called Healthcare Reform Act (HCRA), with their concerns that the quality of care will also deteriorate. The study includes responses from 2,958 doctors of varying specialties and practice types, from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

19 Jan 2011

Molecular imaging procedure may detect beta-amyloid in brain, increase accuracy of AD diagnosis

Preliminary research suggests that use of a type of molecular imaging procedure may have the ability to detect the presence of beta-amyloid in the brains of individuals during life, a biomarker that is identified during autopsy to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA.

19 Jan 2011

WHO Director-General opens executive board session with calls for reform

Kicking off a nine-day annual WHO executive board meeting Monday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for the board to consider areas where the agency can redirect resources in a more targeted manner so as to achieve greater outcomes, Reuters reports.

19 Jan 2011

Researchers look at potential benefits, risks of exclusive breastfeeding during first 6 months of life

A review of existing studies on breastfeeding, published Thursday online in BMJ (British Medical Journal), suggests some findings that contradict the WHO's 2001 recommendation that mothers "exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of their infants' lives," Nature News reports (Gilbert, 1/14). Researchers who conducted the most recent review "said babies fed only breast milk could suffer iron deficiency and may be more prone to allergies" and they said mothers could stop breastfeeding as early as four months, Agence France-Presse writes.

19 Jan 2011

Guardian online series explores global health worker issues

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

19 Jan 2011

Daily Report's Global Health Conversations: U.N. Women

After years in the making, U.N. Women, the U.N.'s new agency devoted to gender equality and women's empowerment, officially got to work this month. The Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report's Jennifer Evans spoke with Letty Chiwara, head of U.N. Women's Africa Division, to discuss the agency's launch and the overlap between issues relating to women's health and their equality and empowerment.

19 Jan 2011

FDA approves Natroba for treatment of head lice infestations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Natroba (spinosad) Topical Suspension 0.9% for the treatment of head lice infestation in patients ages 4 years and older.

18 Jan 2011

PAM50 test is now available to classify breast cancer subtypes

ARUP Laboratories, a leading national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory and a leader in innovative laboratory research and development, today announced the availability of a new laboratory developed test designed to classify breast cancer into clinically significant molecular subtypes that are important for the management of the disease.

18 Jan 2011

New York Times examines Russia's 'inadequate fight' against HIV/AIDS

Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic "has defied worldwide trends, expanding more rapidly year by year than almost anywhere else," the New York Times writes in an article that examines how the country has become "one of the world's low points in the effort to fight the spread of HIV," in large part due to the government's failure to reach out to injecting drug users (IDUs) and sex workers - the groups "at the heart" of the epidemic.

18 Jan 2011

Former Senate majority leaders team up on health reform issues

In other health reform policy developments, Stateline reports on how Christian health co-ops are interacting with the health overhaul.

18 Jan 2011

Democrats' challenge: Finding perfect pitch for health overhaul message

With the health law repeal front and center this week, Democrats will attempt to refine their message on the measure's merits. The battle on the House floor could be a fresh opportunity to sell the sweeping legislation. To this end, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will issue a report today that quantifies the number of Americans who have preexisting conditions and would benefit from the law's protections.

18 Jan 2011

House vote on health repeal the first step in GOP re-do strategy

The politically charged Wednesday vote on repealing the health overhaul will mark the first step for Republicans in their effort to use a variety of legislative tools to undo the new federal health law. Meanwhile, almost immediately after the vote, House committees will begin considering targeted parts of health law. But some news outlets check the facts regarding a key part of the GOP argument against the measure — that it is a job killer.

18 Jan 2011