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$1.85 million grant to study how digital games can improve players' health behaviors and outcomes

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced more than $1.85 million in grants for research that will offer unprecedented insight into how digital games can improve players' health behaviors and outcomes. With funding from RWJF's Health Games Research national program, nine research teams across the country will conduct extensive studies to discover, for example, how the popular dance pad video game Dance Dance Revolution might help Parkinson's patients reduce the risk of falling, how Wii Active might be most effectively implemented in high schools to help overweight students lose weight, how a mobile phone game with a breath interface might help smokers quit or reduce their tobacco use, or how facial recognition games might be designed to help people with autism learn to identify others' emotions.

From Evident Corporation - Life Sciences 6 Nov 2009

States struggle with immigrants' care and funding mental hospitals

News outlets report on a variety of health issues at the state level including immigrants' challenges when trying to access new care in Massachusetts and a proposal by employees to cut some services but keep open a mental hospital in Maryland.

6 Nov 2009

Tobacco companies attempt to block key provisions of new tobacco regulation law, federal judge rejects motion

In a clear victory for public health, a federal judge in Kentucky today rejected a motion by tobacco companies to block key provisions of the new law giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate tobacco products. Specifically, today's decision strongly supports the government's authority to prevent the industry from making health claims about its products without FDA approval.

6 Nov 2009

Study reiterates that U.S. health quality trails spending compared with other countries

"Despite spending more than twice as much as other developed countries, the United States still lags behind in terms of access and quality, an international survey said Wednesday," Agence France-Presse reports.

6 Nov 2009

Senators make health reform positions known

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that a "health care overhaul faces a tough sell among the Louisiana delegation:" "Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said the bill pending ... isn't aggressive enough in trying to curb rising health care costs. But she also said that doing nothing is not an option with so many Louisiana families and small businesses unable to afford health coverage.

6 Nov 2009

UCSF HIV researchers receive two NIH grants to improve health of HIV positive patients

UCSF HIV researchers have received two NIH grants of $1 million each to study the use of web-based, patient controlled personal health records to improve health and HIV prevention outcomes for HIV positive patients.

6 Nov 2009

New FDA program targets drug dosage errors

Federal Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg announced a new "Safe Use" program for drugs on Wednesday.

6 Nov 2009

Pelosi says House will pass health bill; measure gains AARP, AMA backing

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says she will have enough votes to pass Democratic health care legislation by Saturday. "The statement, however, is a tacit acknowledgement that she doesn't have them yet," The Hill reports.

6 Nov 2009

Rice University's new BRC awarded $2M NIH grant to develop an inexpensive test for oral cancer

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers in Rice University's new BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) a $2 million Grand Opportunity (GO) grant to develop a fast, inexpensive test for oral cancer that a dentist could perform simply by using a brush to collect a small sample of cells from a patient's mouth.

6 Nov 2009

Walls Street journal examines big pharma's 'growing interest' in emerging-market vaccine development, production

The Wall Street Journal examines "big pharma's growing interest in a corner of healthcare - emerging-market inoculations," in light of a recent move by Novartis to purchase an 85 percent stake in the Chinese vaccine maker Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. In the summer, drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA made a similar move to acquire a majority stake in India's Shantha Biotechnics, the newspaper notes.

6 Nov 2009

DOJ investigates alleged fraud by drugmakers; sanctions on wellcare lifted

"A $112 million settlement involving alleged drug kickbacks that the Justice Dept. announced with the nation's largest nursing home pharmacy and a generic drug manufacturer on Nov. 3 is part of a wide-ranging investigation of suspected Medicaid fraud by the pharmaceutical industry," Business Week reports. "Critics say the continuing probe, which involves Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and other major drugmakers, highlights what they describe as an industry practice of paying money to outfits that provide drugs to consumers, in return for preferential treatment."

6 Nov 2009

FDA: Sexual enhancement product "Stiff Nights" can dangerously lower blood pressure and is illegal

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers that Stiff Nights, a product marketed as a dietary supplement for sexual enhancement, contains an ingredient that can dangerously lower blood pressure and is illegal.

6 Nov 2009

Lack of evidence a problem for policymakers, doctors and patients

One category of medical mysteries that stumps expert doctors and policymakers alike falls under the heading: What works? News reports on two new studies - and one that was never completed - offer insight into that issue.

6 Nov 2009

Democrats must clear remaining hurdles on path to health vote

As House Democrats move towards a weekend vote, they must resolve a series of outstanding issues, The Hill reports. Blue Dog Democrats, a fiscally conservative voting bloc, said up to 30 of their members "are considering voting against the bill because of concerns that it will increase healthcare costs in its second 10 years."

6 Nov 2009

Patients should bring up financial concerns with their doctors in view of high health insurance costs

As health insurers require people to base more treatment decisions on out-of-pocket costs, physicians should learn to talk to patients about money, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

6 Nov 2009

Obama to visit House Dems Friday to rally support for Saturday health bill vote

"In a last-minute exercise of presidential hand-holding, President Obama plans to travel to Capitol Hill on Friday morning to meet with House Democrats, one day before they vote on his highest domestic priority: a bill to overhaul the nation's health care system," The New York Times reports.

6 Nov 2009

Malaria experts discuss eradication at MIM conference

In a session at the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, experts discussed the tools required to eradicate the disease and highlighted insecticide and drug resistance in some parts of the world, Xinhua reports. Researchers noted that resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) has been documented in western Cambodia and "has now also been reported in the west of Thailand and in eastern Myanmar," the news service writes (Ooko/Zhuoyun, 11/5).

6 Nov 2009

MSF calls for sustained commitment to global HIV/AIDS funding

During a press conference on Thursday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that the "global economic crisis and calls to commit funds to other health crises" threatened to undermine recent gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Associated Press reports. MSF "says money for other health issues should be given in addition to money for [HIV/]AIDS" (11/5).

5 Nov 2009

Consumers in search of saving money should reconsider prescription drug choices

Americans are increasingly scrutinizing their drug choices to find ones that work but don't break the bank. The Associated Press reports: "Last year pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 billion urging patients like you to 'ask your doctor' about their drugs. But if you want a prescription that won't empty your wallet, while still keeping you well, you might start asking your doctor about drugs you don't see on TV.

5 Nov 2009

Study: Public opinion on health care reform has echoes of 1994

"Americans' opinion of the health care proposals now before Congress is eerily similar to public sentiment about the Clinton health reform initiatives in 1994, according to an analysis published online yesterday in The New England Journal of Medicine - and that may not bode well for Democrats," The Boston Globe reports.

5 Nov 2009

Health Care News and Research

$1.85 million grant to study how digital games can improve players' health behaviors and outcomes

States struggle with immigrants' care and funding mental hospitals

Tobacco companies attempt to block key provisions of new tobacco regulation law, federal judge rejects motion

Study reiterates that U.S. health quality trails spending compared with other countries

Senators make health reform positions known

UCSF HIV researchers receive two NIH grants to improve health of HIV positive patients

New FDA program targets drug dosage errors

Pelosi says House will pass health bill; measure gains AARP, AMA backing

Rice University's new BRC awarded $2M NIH grant to develop an inexpensive test for oral cancer

Walls Street journal examines big pharma's 'growing interest' in emerging-market vaccine development, production

DOJ investigates alleged fraud by drugmakers; sanctions on wellcare lifted

FDA: Sexual enhancement product "Stiff Nights" can dangerously lower blood pressure and is illegal

Lack of evidence a problem for policymakers, doctors and patients

Democrats must clear remaining hurdles on path to health vote

Patients should bring up financial concerns with their doctors in view of high health insurance costs

Obama to visit House Dems Friday to rally support for Saturday health bill vote

Malaria experts discuss eradication at MIM conference

MSF calls for sustained commitment to global HIV/AIDS funding

Consumers in search of saving money should reconsider prescription drug choices

Study: Public opinion on health care reform has echoes of 1994

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

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