Health Care News and Research

RSS

First Edition: October 21, 2010

Today's headlines include news about how opponents of the health law are steering the educational efforts that surround it, as well as poll results that suggest continued Republican inroads at the polls.

21 Oct 2010

MEDEC urges Ontario government to develop strategy for PET scanning technology

On behalf of its Medical Imaging Sector, MEDEC, Canada's Medical Technology Companies, is calling on the Ontario government to develop a comprehensive strategy for the deployment of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scanning technology across the Province.

21 Oct 2010

Covidien helps sustain transportation program for low-income women needing prenatal care

One of the obstacles faced by low-income women needing quality prenatal care is a lack of transportation. The average pregnant woman needs to visit the doctor 14 times during those nine months, which can be a significant financial burden for some.

21 Oct 2010

Cardinal Health Foundation to award $1 million grant to help U.S. hospitals

The Cardinal Health Foundation today announced that, for the fourth consecutive year, it will award more than $1 million in grant funding to help U.S. hospitals, health systems and community health clinics improve the efficiency and quality of care.

21 Oct 2010

National Staging Initiative to standardize cancer stage information across Canada

Canadians can expect to benefit from more targeted investments in cancer screening and treatment as a result of a first-of-its-kind initiative that is standardizing the collection of cancer stage information across Canada. The initiative marks a change that cancer experts have wanted for more than 20 years, and that will help cancer system decision-makers to target areas of greatest need in cancer control.

21 Oct 2010

Empire announces launch of Patient Centered Medical Home pilot

For many people with chronic health conditions, it can be tough to navigate through the complex healthcare system. Mary, a 65 year old woman with several conditions including diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, visits specialists for each of these conditions - an endocrinologist, rheumatologist and cardiologist - in addition to her primary care physician.

21 Oct 2010

FDA asks manufacturers to add new warnings to labeling of prostate cancer drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today asked manufacturers to add new warnings to labeling of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, a class of drugs primarily used to treat men with prostate cancer.

21 Oct 2010

SO2 emission raise health concerns

Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's big island has been erupting on its east rift since 1983. But, in March 2008, an additional eruption vent opened at the volcano's summit, resulting in about triple the amount of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) emissions drifting to the local community of Ka'u, raising health concerns over the risks associated with exposure to "vog," as the islanders refer to this volcanic air pollution.

21 Oct 2010

Study finds feasibility of CTC in remote health centers where optimal colonoscopy is limited

Computed tomography colonography (CTC) - otherwise known as virtual colonoscopy - is feasible in remote health centers where optimal colonoscopy is limited, according to a study in the November issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

21 Oct 2010

Team effort involving providers and parents needed to address rise in pediatric obesity rates

Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in the US. Furthermore, the key to successful treatment is a team effort involving providers and parents.

21 Oct 2010

Effects of breast cancer do not end after chemotherapy

For some women, the effects of breast cancer, the most common cancer affecting women, do not end when they leave the hospital. Now, researchers in the University of Missouri School of Health Professions have studied the lives of breast cancer patients following chemotherapy and found that their environments and available support systems help determine the quality of their lives.

21 Oct 2010

Rep. Xavier Becerra receives CHA's Health Care Champion Award

Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-31) is being honored for his continuing efforts to expand access and improve the quality and safety of patient care by the California Hospital Association (CHA).

21 Oct 2010

LSUHSC receives NIH grant for research on cancer and infectious diseases

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans has been awarded $12 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on diseases like prostate and stomach cancers, lymphoma and leukemia, dengue fever, tuberculosis, and herpes infections, as well as to support the development of academic research scientists.

21 Oct 2010

Seven million people in Pakistan still without shelter since flooding, U.N. says

Nearly three months after major floods hit large portions of Pakistan, at least seven million people are still without shelter, Stacey Winston, a U.N. spokesperson, said at a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Oct 2010

West, Central African floods kill 377; situation in Benin especially worrying, U.N. says

Floods in west and central Africa have killed 377 people and affected almost 1.5 million people since the start of the rainy season in June, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Oct 2010

SciDev.Net examines plans for India-S. Africa HIV vaccine research project

SciDev.Net reports on an HIV vaccine research collaboration between researchers from India and South Africa to launch by the end of 2010.

21 Oct 2010

Internet searching for health info growing, but not dominant

People still prefer to gather information related to personal health from sources other than the Internet, according to a survey by the Pew Internet Project in association with the California HealthCare Foundation.

21 Oct 2010

More groups challenge Democrats on health issues as GOP lays out repeal clues

Procedural motions that Republicans filed during the healthcare reform debate offer the best insights into which provisions of the law the party wants to repeal first, a top staffer for a senior House Republican told The Hill.

21 Oct 2010

Report finds shortage of Mass. physicians is getting worse

The Boston Herald: "The state's physician shortage is getting worse -- with many practices closed to new patients and a critical need for doctors in key specialties, according to a Massachusetts Medical Society report released today. ... The most acute need is for primary-care physicians who practice family or internal medicine. The study called the shortages in those two key areas 'critical.'

21 Oct 2010

Hormone therapy increases breast cancer mortality risk, study finds

Hormone treatment after menopause, already known to increase the risk of breast cancer, also makes it more likely that the cancer will be advanced and deadly, a study finds.

21 Oct 2010