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Short coverage lapses limit children's access to health care services

Children's access to health care suffers when they spend any time-even a few months-without health care coverage, according to a new study appearing in the February 2009 issue of Medical Care Research and Review.

27 Jan 2009

Health IT associated with better outcomes, lower costs

Patients at Texas hospitals that have automated some aspects of their health information systems appear to have fewer complications, lower death rates and reduced costs, according to a report in the January 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Jan 2009

Increasing potassium intake reduces blood pressure

Most people know that too much sodium from foods can increase blood pressure.

27 Jan 2009

New treatment for latent form of tuberculosis

Patients who are infected with the latent form of tuberculosis (TB) show no symptoms and are not contagious, yet they pose the biggest challenge when it comes to controlling the disease.

23 Jan 2009

Healthcare will be a headache for Obama

Among industrialised nations, the US spends well over twice the per capita average on health care and soaring health costs are expected to reach 20 per cent of Gross Domestic Product by 2015.

23 Jan 2009

Morbidity rates increased substantially after Hurricane Katrina

In the year following Hurricane Katrina, the health of survivors 65 and over declined nearly 4 times that of a national sample of older adults not affected by the disaster, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

23 Jan 2009

Study links smoking with most male cancer deaths

The association between tobacco smoke and cancer deaths - beyond lung cancer deaths - has been strengthened by a recent study from a UC Davis researcher, suggesting that increased tobacco control efforts could save more lives than previously estimated.

21 Jan 2009

Physicians counsel their overweight type 2 diabetes patients to lose weight - many not listening

Physicians say they are counseling their overweight type 2 diabetes patients to lose weight, but patients say that the message is not getting through, according to a new survey announced today by the Behavioral Diabetes Institute.

21 Jan 2009

Oral steroids ineffective treatment for wheezing in children

A new study from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry has found that a common treatment for wheezing in preschool children is no more effective than a placebo.

21 Jan 2009

Women who suffer abuse at the hands of a loved one may not be so quick to talk about it

However, their facial injuries speak volumes. Newly released research in the January/February issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, shows women who are victims of intimate partner violence tend to have different patterns of facial injury than women who experience facial trauma from other causes.

21 Jan 2009

WHO receives funds for children's medicines research with UNICEF

WHO has received US$ 9.7 million in grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work with UNICEF to conduct crucial research in children's medicines, with the aim of increasing the number of child-size medicines designed and formulated specifically for children.

21 Jan 2009

Victims of intimate partner violence display distinct patterns of facial injury

Women who are victims of intimate partner violence tend to have different patterns of facial injury than women who experience facial trauma from other causes, according to a report in the January/February issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2009

Study examines racial disparities in survival among patients diagnosed with lung cancer

Disparities in survival among black patients diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer are not seen when patients are recommended appropriate treatment, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery.

19 Jan 2009

Cream containing tretinoin associated with death in clinical trial, but relationship does not appear causal

Patients using a cream containing tretinoin, a retinoid commonly used to treat acne and other conditions, appeared more likely to die than those using a placebo in a clinical trial that was halted early as a result, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology.

19 Jan 2009

Stroke telemedicine assessed

Stroke telemedicine is a lifesaving practice that deserves further advancement, Mayo researchers write in the January 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

19 Jan 2009

Study looks at hospital at-home programs

For select patients, hospital at home treatment produces similar outcomes to inpatient care at similar or lower costs, found a study by researchers from the United Kingdom and Italy to be published in CMAJ.

19 Jan 2009

Survivorship care after breast cancer, call for more action

As the nation's growing population of breast cancer survivors ages, many patients will likely develop common chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, and they'll need specialized care to balance those problems with the late effects of cancer therapies they received.

19 Jan 2009

Opinion piece, editorial examine qualification of potential surgeon general nominee gupta

Two newspapers recently published an opinion piece and an editorial on the qualifications of Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and chief medical correspondent at CNN, whom President-elect Barack Obama reportedly seeks to nominate as the next U.S. surgeon general. Summaries appear below.

19 Jan 2009

SCHIP Bill passes Senate Finance Committee

By a 12-7 vote, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved SCHIP reauthorization and expansion legislation that could add four million children to the program, the AP/Boston Globe reports (AP/Boston Globe, 1/16).

19 Jan 2009

House passes SCHIP reauthorization, expansion bill; Senate to act soon

The House on Wednesday voted 289-139 to approve a bill (HR 2) renewing and expanding SCHIP to about four million additional children, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 1/15).

19 Jan 2009