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Lobbyists push lawmakers to act quickly on Medicare physician payment rate fix

Physician groups are pushing members of Congress to work quickly on passing legislation to avert a 10% Medicare physician reimbursement rate cut scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2008, The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 10/31).

31 Oct 2007

No benefit from biomedical knowledge for millions

Millions of Dutch people will not benefit from the biomedical knowledge which is being acquired.

31 Oct 2007

Fibromyalgia pain caused by neuron mismatch

The unexplained pain experienced by patients with fibromyalgia is the result of a mismatch between sensory and motor systems, new research suggests.

31 Oct 2007

Children would need different medical care in wake of dirty bomb

If terrorists were to attack with a dirty bomb, medical authorities should be prepared to treat children differently than adults because their developing bodies would absorb and respond to the radiation exposure in distinct ways, according to a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

31 Oct 2007

Aggregation propensity, amyloid peptide toxicity and Alzheimer disease

Cells have evolved multiple mechanisms to ensure proper folding, but a number of molecular and biophysical events - such as changes in pH or temperature, mutations, and oxidation - can disrupt a protein's native shape.

31 Oct 2007

One in seven Americans over the age of 70 suffers from dementia

About 3.4 million people, or 13.9 percent of the population age 71 and older, have some form of dementia, the study found. As expected, the prevalence of dementia increased dramatically with age, from five percent of those aged 71 to 79 to 37.4 percent of those age 90 and older.

31 Oct 2007

Smoked salmon dip recalled because of Listeria contamination

The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. has alerted retailers and the public over food suspected of being contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

30 Oct 2007

Deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson's makes some act irrationally

An implantable brain device meant to help Parkinson's disease patients better control their movements, has been found to have some worrying side-effects.

29 Oct 2007

5% of MRSA patients in U.S. died

One of every 20 (or 5 percent) of the roughly 368,600 patients treated in U.S. hospitals in 2005 for Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, died, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

25 Oct 2007

Cognitive performance in long-term abstinent elderly alcoholics

In a new study comparing elderly abstinent alcoholics with light- or nondrinking peers, the recovering alcoholics generally demonstrated equal or superior cognitive functioning to those who were not alcoholic.

24 Oct 2007

The financial burdens of overweight and obesity among elderly Americans

What many Americans eat and how little they exercise could wind up costing them - and American taxpayers - some serious money. Moreover, the overweight and obese may lose months from their lifespans.

24 Oct 2007

Physical therapy in ICU can reduce hospital stays

The results of the first study to show the effectiveness of early physical therapy in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) were presented by a researcher from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center at the national meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.

24 Oct 2007

A better education means dementia comes later but when it does it's faster

According to new research a high level of education delays a decline in memory as people age, but once the decline begins it occurs faster.

24 Oct 2007

In the event of a bird flu pandemic more vaccine will be ready

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revised it's estimate of how much bird flu vaccine could be available were a pandemic scenario to unfold.

24 Oct 2007

New flu pandemic plans for U.S.

In the event of a flu pandemic in the United States new government plans detail who will be the first to get vaccinated.

24 Oct 2007

Zinc can help nursing home residents who are susceptible to pneumonia

When elderly nursing home residents contract pneumonia, it is a blow to their already fragile health.

22 Oct 2007

Stanford seeks volunteers for flu vaccine study

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are looking for adults and children to participate in three studies that will help them better understand how the flu vaccine works in people of different ages.

22 Oct 2007

Spending more for lung cancer treatment did not substantially increase patients' lives

A new study finds that survival for elderly patients with lung cancer has changed little despite large increases in healthcare expenditures for lung cancer treatment.

22 Oct 2007

The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction

In spring 2005 a large European research and training network was established to investigate the causes and implications of poor sleep from a medical as well as from a social point of view. This EU-financed sleep research project, “The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction”, is coordinated by Dr. Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen (Stenberg) MD, PhD, at the University of Helsinki, Institute of Biomedicine.

22 Oct 2007

Improvements in survival after dialysis in the elderly

The majority of patients starting dialysis as a result of chronic kidney disease are 65 years or older at the time of their first treatment, and many are over 75 years.

22 Oct 2007