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Fewer deaths from cancer in the U.S.

According to a new report fewer Americans are dying of cancer even though the rates of new cancers remains the same.

7 Sep 2006

Hospitals, local governments have more work to do to prepare for disasters

Hospitals and local governments since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have been working to improve disaster preparedness and better equip their facilities to handle large surges of patients, though for "all the progress in improving readiness, experts warn that there is still a long way to go," the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Sep 2006

Calls for transparency in programs that rate physician quality

Transparency in the health care system "fosters trust, drives efficiency and advances quality" -- which "can be a good thing" for both patients and providers -- but programs that rate physician quality "need to be transparent too," Kenneth Peelle, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

6 Sep 2006

Mental health care in New Orleans remains the biggest hole in the safety net

Mental health care in New Orleans "remains the biggest hole in a safety net that was decimated" by Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

6 Sep 2006

New assessment shows continued serious fuel and water shortages at Lebanese health facilities

A newly-published assessment of health facilities in Lebanon shows that a quarter of those examined are not functioning due to physical damage, lack of staff or lack of accessibility, and that water and fuel shortages remain a serious concern.

6 Sep 2006

Lingering and longlasting effects of 9/11

According to a new report on the health effects of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, 70% of the rescue personnel and workers who responded to the disaster suffered from lung problems during and after the recovery efforts.

6 Sep 2006

Extensive Drug Resistant TB now a major threat

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the emergence of virulent drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) and is calling for measures to be strengthened and implemented to prevent the global spread of the deadly TB strains.

5 Sep 2006

Increased demand for assisted living creates waiting lists, higher prices for care

Increased demand for assisted living facilities has made waiting lists "increasingly common" and has led to higher prices, the Wall Street Journal reports.

5 Sep 2006

Bush Administration, Republicans 'refuse' to acknowledge success of VA Health System

The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system "is a stunning success -- but the [Bush] administration and the Republicans in Congress refuse to build on that success because it doesn't reflect their conservative agenda," columnist Paul Krugman writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

5 Sep 2006

Messy nappies may be sign of severe intestinal infection

Anyone who's ever cared for an infant or young child knows what it's like to change the occasional smelly, messy diaper.

5 Sep 2006

Record your electrocardiogram wearing a shirt

World Congress of Cardiology Report - A shirt capable of recording the electrocardiogram (electrical activity of the heart) has been developed and tested in a European research project (WEALTHY, Wearable Health Care System), funded by the European Community.

5 Sep 2006

Study highlights differences in Anthropometric characteristics between Asian and European population

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Results from a large scale international study assessing prevalence of abdominal obesity in over 170,000 people have previously confirmed that a high waist circumference is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) independently of body mass index (BMI) and age.

5 Sep 2006

Cardiovascular disease prevention program for Chile

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Fifty-five percent of the Chilean adult population is at risk of a cardiovascular event with a high rate of morbidity and mortality affecting mainly a productive population, between 35 and 74 years of age. This risk is 1.4 times greater for men.

5 Sep 2006

Uninsured Latino children more likely not to get medical care

Writing in the September issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Flores, one of the country's foremost experts on multicultural health care issues, sought to identify the risk factors for and consequences of being uninsured in Latino children.

5 Sep 2006

New rapid diagnostic tests for Neisseria meningitidis

Over a million people each year, most of them in the "meningitis belt" in Africa, contract bacterial meningitis, a potentially deadly infection of tissues that line the brain and spinal cord.

4 Sep 2006

New drug improves blood flow in diseased arteries

A new drug has been shown to improve blood flow in diseased arteries, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks, a Monash University study published today reveals.

4 Sep 2006

Record morbidity in Africa from Borreliosis, or relapsing fever

Borreliosis, or relapsing fever, is a disease provoked by bacteria of the genus Borrelia. Two of these are encountered in tropical Africa: Borrelia crocidurae in the Sahara and Sahel, Borrelia duttoni in East Africa.

4 Sep 2006

Improvements needed in China heart care

Inequitable and cost-inefficient allocation of scarce resources has been found to be a key problem in the management of heart attack and severe angina patients in China, according to the results of a study announced today at the World Congress of Cardiology in Barcelona, Spain.

4 Sep 2006

Women have a greater risk of death from long-term oxygen therapy compared with the men

Among patients on long-term oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), women are more likely to die from the disease than men.

4 Sep 2006

Eastern Europe, Middle East has highest rates of cardiovascular disease deaths

Eastern European and Middle Eastern patients with diseased blood vessels have the highest rates of heart attacks and strokes, and the highest rates of death from those conditions, compared with similar patients in other regions of the world.

4 Sep 2006