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Media outlets examine how maternal health, efforts to reduce global poverty will be central to next week's MDG Summit

Media outlets continued to look ahead to next week's U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit, with a focus on two of the central themes to be addressed at the meeting - maternal health and poverty.

17 Sep 2010

Democratic candidates spend more on ads against than for health reform

Politico: Democratic candidates are spending three times more — nearly $1 million — in advertising against health reform than for it. "Since the beginning of Congress's August recess, Democratic candidates have poured $930,000 into ads deriding the health overhaul but just $300,000 in pro-reform spots, according to Evan Tracey at Kantar Media."

17 Sep 2010

Study finds no link between asthma and tooth decay

There is no apparent link between asthma and tooth decay, according to a study published in the September 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers suggest DASH-style diet reduces kidney stone formation

Certain key ingredients of a diet designed to prevent high blood pressure can ward off kidney stones, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest how low-fat dairy products and/or plants may have potent kidney stone-fighting properties.

17 Sep 2010

Waxman says controversial Medicare bidding program for medical equipment should proceed

CQ HealthBeat: "House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman said Wednesday that a controversial Medicare bidding program that would cut the costs of medical equipment such as wheelchairs and oxygen supplies should go forward under tight scrutiny. Waxman said ... he takes seriously the concerns of suppliers and some patients' groups that service and access to supplies could be undermined by the money-saving program, but said there is no evidence so far of that happening based on limited early tests of the approach."

17 Sep 2010

Rural hospitals in Minnesota contribute to insurance premiums for poor patients

News outlets report on rural hospitals in Minnesota, a new insurer contract for a Florida hospital and possible restrictions on a pending for-profit hospital system in Massachusetts.

17 Sep 2010

Seattle uses global lessons to help local poor with health care

The Seattle Times: "Seattle is known for taking its health expertise to the developing world. Now some fruits of that work are coming back to address health issues locally.

17 Sep 2010

Scripps Research Institute receives grant to develop DNA sequencing technology

Scripps Research Institute Professor Reza Ghadiri, Ph.D., has been awarded a four-year, $5.1 million grant as part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to spur the development of the next generation of DNA sequencing technologies, which could enable biomedical researchers and health care workers to routinely sequence a person's DNA.

17 Sep 2010

Ways and Means leaders introduce fraud prevention efforts

The Hill: Leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee have offered a bipartisan bill to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to exclude corporate executives from Medicare if their companies were convicted of fraud. "The bill, introduced by Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Wally Herger (R-Calif.), would also give the HHS Office of the Inspector General the ability to exclude parent companies that may be committing fraud through shell companies."

17 Sep 2010

LigoCyte to enroll 98 subjects in first clinical trial for bivalent IM norovirus vaccine

LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals company focused on the development of innovative vaccine products, announced today that it has initiated the first clinical trial for its bivalent intramuscular (IM) norovirus vaccine candidate, marking the fourth human clinical trial in the Company's norovirus virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine program.

17 Sep 2010

Haitian Prime Minister cites rebuilding progress, lack of aid

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive "insisted Tuesday that progress is being made in his devastated homeland despite the trickle of international aid," the Miami Herald reports.

17 Sep 2010

Continuing care retiring communities receive increased scrutiny

The New York Times: "For middle- and upper-income retirees who had the money, it was almost a no-brainer in recent years to choose living in a continuing-care retirement community. They could move, as the need arose, from independent living to assisted care to skilled nursing care — all without leaving the community."

17 Sep 2010

AdvaMed fights back against increased FDA scrutiny

A report issued Wednesday by the industry's main trade association Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) "found that there were 101 of the most serious kinds of recalls of medical devices from Jan. 1, 2005 to May 1, 2010, a record that AdvaMed senior executive vice president David Nexon called 'remarkable' considering the number of devices on the market," CQ HealthBeat reports.

17 Sep 2010

KHN column: GOP 'Repeal and replace' strategy lacks merit

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "It will force a lot of people to pay higher premiums.

17 Sep 2010

Today's Opinions: Repeal, constitutionality and the cost curve

And it will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal debt. No, I am not talking about the health care reform law. I'm talking about the Republican proposals to repeal it (Jonathan Cohn, 9/16).

17 Sep 2010

First Edition: September 16, 2010

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "It will force a lot of people to pay higher premiums. It will lavish subsidies on the private insurance industry. It will put life-and-death decisions in the hands of bureaucrats. And it will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal debt" (Kaiser Health News).

17 Sep 2010

HFSA to discuss 'Designing the Medical Home for Heart Failure Patients' at Scientific Meeting

The 14th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) will feature a discussion titled "Designing the Medical Home for Heart Failure Patients." Contributors Dr. Mary Norine Walsh and Dr. Larry A. Allen will describe treatment and care strategies in the medical home model and how they impact both patients and caregivers.

16 Sep 2010

Survey reveals physicians’ misperception on misuse, abuse of opioids

Findings from a new national survey, sponsored by the American Pain Foundation, reveal misperceptions among physicians regarding the misuse and abuse of opioids. The results come in light of government statistics to be released today looking at the broader U.S. population, showing 2009 rates of nonmedical use of these products nationwide.

16 Sep 2010

Abbott issues statement in response to FDA's mixed vote for weight loss medication sibutramine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today held an Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee to review the results of SCOUT and the weight loss medication sibutramine (sold as Meridia® in the United States).

16 Sep 2010

BioResonator signs new orders for glaucoma diagnostic product distribution

BioResonator signs new orders with several new distributors. As of one month, the company has the official CE approval required to sell their products throughout the European Union.

16 Sep 2010