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African-American women's magazines more likely to encourage fad diets

Magazines catering to African-Americans may be falling short in their efforts to educate readers about weight loss, a new University of Iowa study suggests.

16 Jan 2008

Patient with AIDS finds heart-assit device is an option when transplant is not

Josh Bristow was in the late stages of heart failure when he came to the Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Aug. 25, 2007.

28 Dec 2007

Bush asks Democrats to send military construction-VA appropriations B

President Bush on Saturday in his weekly radio address asked congressional Democrats to send him the fiscal year 2008 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill (HR 2642) in honor of Veterans Day, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Riechmann, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/11).

12 Nov 2007

Improving hospital safety rating tools

In a bid to clean up misleading institutional safety comparisons and go further to fix safety problems, Johns Hopkins experts are proposing standard guidelines to be used as hospital safety rating tools.

6 Nov 2007

Bayer Pharmaceuticals agrees to a marketing suspension of Trasylol

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that, at the agency's request, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. has agreed to a marketing suspension of Trasylol, a drug used to control bleeding during heart surgery, pending detailed review of preliminary results from a Canadian study that suggested an increased risk for death.

5 Nov 2007

Raid of WellCare prompted by Medicaid fraud concerns

A recent raid by federal and state authorities on Tampa, Fla.-based health insurer WellCare was prompted by allegations that the company inflated mental health care spending so it could keep funds it should have refunded to the state's Medicaid program, according to a person familiar with details of the investigation, the Wall Street Journal reports (Won Tesoriero/Francis, Wall Street Journal, 11/3).

5 Nov 2007

Neural stem cells may help to restore memory after brain damage

In the study, mice with brain injuries experienced enhanced memory -- similar to the level found in healthy mice -- up to three months after receiving a stem cell treatment. Scientists believe the stem cells secreted proteins called neurotrophins that protected vulnerable cells from death and rescued memory.

31 Oct 2007

Speed plays crucial role in breaking protein's H-bonds

Researchers at MIT studying the architecture of proteins have finally explained why computer models of proteins' behavior under mechanical duress differ dramatically from experimental observations.

31 Oct 2007

Step toward mapping the human decision-making process

The brain, the human supercomputer, might work more like an assembly line when recognizing objects, with a hierarchy of brain regions separately absorbing and processing information before a person realizes what they are seeing, according to new research conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Oct. 31 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

31 Oct 2007

Key findings for all veterans seen in depression and suicide study

The largest and most up-to-date study of suicides among depressed veterans provides important new data that may help guide screening and treatment for all veterans.

31 Oct 2007

Veterans' suicide study yields key findings

The largest and most up-to-date study of suicides among depressed veterans provides important new data that may help guide screening and treatment for all veterans.

30 Oct 2007

Discovery of new peptide communication factor in bacteria

Discovery by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers of a new communication factor that enables bacteria to "talk to each other" and causes their death could have significant consequences leading to development of a new class of antibiotic medications.

29 Oct 2007

New egg-specific gene, JY-1 offers clues to infertility

A newly identified gene that controls embryo development in cows may someday offer clues into the cause of infertility in women.

29 Oct 2007

Hunger influenced by leptin hormone

Researchers at UCLA have determined the brain circuits involved in hunger that are influenced by a hormone called leptin.

29 Oct 2007

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report reports on Presidential campaigns related to health care

Forty-six percent of U.S. adults who responded to a recent survey conducted by Scripps Howard and Ohio University said that Democrats were more likely to improve access to health care than Republicans, Scripps Howard/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The survey, which included responses from 811 adults nationwide collected from Sept 24. to Oct. 10, has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

29 Oct 2007

UnitedHealth concurs with House panel that access to dental care lacking for child Medicaid beneficiaries in Maryland

UnitedHealth Group Senior Vice President Judah Sommer in a letter to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy agreed with a panel finding that thousands of Maryland children enrolled in the company's Medicaid plan were unable to receive dental care after initially denying the claims, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 10/25).

29 Oct 2007

What is a critical lab value? it depends, Hopkins researchers find

When it comes to lab tests, interpreting the clinical importance of an out-of-range result depends on how much experience a physician has, suggests research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

28 Oct 2007

Vaginal reconstruction not needed for most inter-sex females

Dispelling a common myth, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center say vaginal reconstruction should be a matter of preference for most teens or adult women born with a type of inter-sex condition marked by the presence of both female and male genitals.

28 Oct 2007

Survival of newborns with abdominal holes differs according to hospital

A newborn's chance for surviving a low-risk version of a condition called gastroschisis varies greatly by hospital, according to a study by Johns Hopkins surgeons. Babies with the condition have a hole in their abdomen near the umbilical cord.

28 Oct 2007

Possible biomarker for colon cancer in people under 50

An abnormality of chromosomes long associated with diseases of aging has, for the first time, been linked to colon cancer in people 50 years old and younger, an age group usually considered young for this disease.

28 Oct 2007