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Workers with no healthcare protecting Kaiser Permanente facilities

In the heart of California's leading healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, an increasing number of security officers report they either don't have health insurance or can't afford the plan for their families.

7 May 2008

Medical research is essential to improving the economy and bettering lives

Health care in the United States is expensive, but its funding is crucial because it also is a major contributor to the economy and can better lives, according to an essay appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). Because of the cost of health care, this is not time to shrink the budget at the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research that leads to potentially curative therapy.

7 May 2008

Impact of round-the-clock, rapid oral fluid HIV testing of women in labor

Can HIV transmission in pregnancy in low income settings be prevented with round the clock rapid testing in labor?

6 May 2008

New saliva-based HIV test gives results in 20 minutes!

The usual waiting period for the results of a HIV test can seem like an eternity, especially in emergency situations where results are needed immediately. Also it requires a blood sample, which is invasive and often painful. Recognizing the urgent need for a faster and less invasive diagnostic method, Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, from Marina Klein's research team at the MUHC has just finished testing a new saliva-based test that gives results in approximately 20 minutes! She describes her findings in an article that will appear in the May 6th, 2008 issue of PLoS Medicine.

6 May 2008

Intensive training for medical staff in Latin American hospitals reduces serious complication of pregnancy

An intensive educational program for physicians and midwives involving 19 hospitals in Argentina and Uruguay dramatically reduced the rate of postpartum hemorrhage, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

1 May 2008

Better-educated women have healthier average weight

A new comparison of multi-national data, released this month, reveals that highly educated women have a healthier average weight than less educated women, but that the meaning of "healthier" changes according to a nation's relative wealth. In countries where malnutrition is prevalent, better-educated women weigh more. But in wealthier countries - with rapidly growing rates of obesity - better-educated women weigh less.

30 Apr 2008

FDA official says agency cannot ensure safety of all medications sold in U.S.

Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA, on Thursday at a Senate hearing said that the number of medication ingredients manufactured abroad limits the ability of the agency to ensure the safety of all treatments sold in the U.S., CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 4/24).

26 Apr 2008

Proposed rules to revise family and medical leave act prompt debate over law

The Bush administration appears "intent on putting its stamp" on the Family and Medical Leave Act through rules that would increase restrictions, but the proposals face "fierce" opposition, the Washington Post reports.

24 Apr 2008

Newark Star-Ledger examines effect of Wal-Mart generic drug discount program on pharmaceutical industry

The Newark Star-Ledger on Tuesday examined how analysts say the "overall impact" of Wal-Mart Stores' generic prescription drug program on the pharmaceutical industry "has been relatively small" (Cohen/Fitzgerald, Newark Star-Ledger, 4/22).

24 Apr 2008

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association response to New York Times article on biotech medicine costs

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) issued the following statement today regarding a story to be published in tomorrow's New York Times.

18 Apr 2008

Common hassles at work hamper sleep

Common hassles at work are more likely than long hours, night shifts or job insecurity to follow workers home and interfere with their sleep.

17 Apr 2008

American Chemistry Council calls on FDA to update review of Bisphenol A

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) today sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach requesting FDA to update its review of the safety of bisphenol A in food contact applications.

17 Apr 2008

Study shows factors influencing premature infant survival, disability

Based on observations of more than 4,000 infants, researchers in an NIH newborn research network have identified several factors that influence an extremely low birth weight infant's chances for survival and disability. The findings offer new information to physicians and families considering the most appropriate treatment options for this category of infants.

17 Apr 2008

Sydneysiders consider class action over radiation poisoning

A class action against the New South Wales (NSW) government over alleged radiation poisoning is being considered by the relatives of a number of Sydney residents who died of cancer in the 1970s.

14 Apr 2008

Obesity costs U.S. companies $45 billion annually in medical expenditures and work loss

The rate of obesity in the United States has doubled in the last 30 years, and those extra pounds weigh on companies' bottom lines, according to a new report from The Conference Board.

10 Apr 2008

Healthcare providers who discuss intimate piercings earn patients' trust

On April 2, 2008, UC San Diego Medical Center-Hillcrest celebrated the opening of an expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) designed for the 24-hour specialized care of premature infants and newborns with complications.

4 Apr 2008

First comprehensive database of microorganisms known to live in the mouth

Scientists know more today than ever before about the microbes that inhabit our mouths.

26 Mar 2008

Australia's seniors to be moved out of hospitals

The Rudd government has promised funding to enable elderly patients to be moved out of high-care hospital wards.

25 Mar 2008

A road map to safer pain control, cost savings during colonoscopies

At a time when several U.S. health insurers have discontinued payment for use of the sedative propofol during most screening colonoscopies, physicians at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an alternative way to administer the drug could both save millions of health care dollars and provide a safer way to deliver optimal pain relief.

12 Mar 2008

New insights into what happens on a molecular level during photosynthesis

In a technical advance that could allow researchers to watch cells as they act during the process of photosynthesis, scientists have developed a method that extends the power of fluorescence-mediated bio-imaging to see discrete pigments inside live cells of bacteria.

6 Mar 2008