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Research-based tip sheets provide details on breast cancer

Throughout October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, experts from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its clinical care partner, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, are offering a series of weekly research-based tip sheets regarding a variety of topics related to breast cancer, including breast cancer prevention, screening and early detection, treatment, and survivorship.

11 Oct 2010

Philadelphia paramedics plan to sue over health coverage; healthcare merger seeks to lower costs in wash

The city's paramedics are planning to sue over Mayor Nutter's efforts to keep them out of the firefighters union. The dispute goes back to a ruling by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board last month that gave the city the right to shift paramedics out of the firefighters union.

11 Oct 2010

BARDA awards $4.2 million contract to Menssana Research to develop breath test for radiation exposure

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in the US Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Menssana Research Inc., a company with research facilities in the NJIT Enterprise Development Center, a contract for $4.2 million to develop a breath test for radiation exposure. If the contract is exercised with options, it could total $22.84 million.

11 Oct 2010

Minn. medical groups resist as Pawlenty shuts out Obama health plan

Minnesota medical groups have asked federal officials to review their comments and those of state officials about the health overhaul's implementation directly after Gov. Tim Pawlenty refused to send the suggestions on behalf of the state, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The groups include associations representing the state's health plans, hospitals and doctors.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers pinpoint more obesity costs in workplace

One hidden cost of obesity is lost productivity in the workplace a problem with a price tag as high as $73.1 billion, according to a new study, Agence France-Presse reports.

11 Oct 2010

FDA warns of harmful stimulant in Slimming Beauty capsules

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today advised consumers who have Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules not to use the product. FDA warns that Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient sibutramine, a prescription-only drug which is a stimulant. Sibutramine is not listed on the product label and could harm consumers, especially those with cardiovascular conditions.

11 Oct 2010

ESC pleased with European Health Award recognition for Chronic Disease Alliance

The European Society of Cardiology is delighted to see the European Health Award 2010 handed to the Chronic Disease Alliance at the 13th European Health Forum held in Gastein 6 - 9 October 2010.

11 Oct 2010

Doctors, med students face higher risks of suicide

News outlets report on workforce issues for doctors, including elevated suicide risk and hesitance to e-mail with patients.

11 Oct 2010

Research roundup: Examining comparative effectiveness research and changes in Medicare Part D

Health Affairs: The Potential Impact Of Comparative Effectiveness Research On The Health Of Minority Populations -- This is part of a collection of reports this month on comparative effectiveness research. Studies that compare how different treatments work is a focus of the new health law because advocates believe it could help hold down costs.

11 Oct 2010

CDC, national leaders issue recommendations to standardize testosterone tests

The use of testosterone assays for patient care and research is on the rise as new research links testosterone to a variety of diseases and conditions. Although the assays are heavily used, discrepancies and inaccuracies in measurements resulting from the various assays are widespread.

11 Oct 2010

Democrats still wonder: Run on health reform or against it?

The Fiscal Times reports that some Democrats are trying to decide whether they should run for re-election on health reform or against it. "A new poll suggests it's not so clear-cut, and some Democrats seem to agree.

11 Oct 2010

UH researchers receive grant to develop Blue Scale device to track heart failure

As more and more medical care is provided in the home, health specialists say it is critical for people to be able to monitor themselves and make informed judgments about their health. A group of researchers in the Abramson Center for the Future of Health at the University of Houston (UH) received a $250,000 pre-seed grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) for a system that assesses cardiac function in the home and alerts the user to the need for intervention.

11 Oct 2010

Abbott to withdraw Meridia medicine from the U.S. market

Abbott will voluntarily withdraw Meridia (sibutramine) from the U.S. market at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

11 Oct 2010

Flu season looking 'typical,' CDC says

Flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, where the flu season is ending, has been 'typical,' the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. All three types of flu that normally circulate are present, although the H1N1 'swine flu' strain that caused last year's pandemic has replaced the seasonal H1N1 strain that circulated before 2009.

11 Oct 2010

IPS examines water, sanitation MDG Targets

Inter Press Service looks at the U.N. Human Rights Council's (HRC) endorsement of water and sanitation as a basic human right last week, and the reality that water and sanitation have remained two of the most neglected sub-texts of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which came under scrutiny at the MDG summit in September.

11 Oct 2010

Aetna, other insurers develop plans to help cut costs

Health insurer Aetna Inc. is developing plans to pay a major San Diego medical group enhanced fees for providing extra services to keep patients healthier, and to share any resulting cost savings.

11 Oct 2010

Administration's waivers of health law raise questions about 'mini-med' plans

The White House on Thursday defended granting waivers to some employers from a key provision of the new health care law, saying it was the best way to keep people insured until the law fully takes effect.

11 Oct 2010

Are 'mini-med' plan waivers a good idea?

Kaiser Health News staff writer Andrew Villegas asks two experts with differing views whether it was a good idea for the Obama administration to grant one-year waivers to about 30 insurers, employers and union health plans to continue offering what are dubbed "mini-med" insurance plans.

11 Oct 2010

Opinions: Learning to live with malaria; U.S. food aid policy; foreign aid reform

Recent discoveries of a possible wild reservoir for humankind's most malignant malaria, some 130 years after the discovery of the malaria parasite, could mean that it will be impossible to eradicate malaria,Sonia Shah, the author of The Fever, How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years,observes in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece.

11 Oct 2010

Political Ads, rhetoric on health law heating up races in Alaska, Nevada, Pennsylvania

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller said this week that his family took benefits years ago from Medicaid and a state program for low-income children and pregnant women despite his criticism of entitlement programs, The Associated Press reports.

11 Oct 2010