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Competitive marketplace key to successful U.S. health care system

The U.S. health care system "is in need of serious reform, but the solution is not Cuban-style socialized medicine, as Michael Moore advocates in his new film 'Sicko,'" HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

10 Jul 2007

Democrats work to reauthorize, expand SCHIP while Bush administration tries to limit program growth

Congressional efforts to reauthorize SCHIP, which expires on Sept. 30, are "intensifying," but the Bush administration "has taken several steps to slow momentum for expansion of the program," the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 7/9).

10 Jul 2007

Health care 'staking claim to center stage' on national agenda

Health care "is rising on the national agenda, but at least four things need to happen for this debate not to end in failure in the new Congress in 2009, as the last debate did in 1994," Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

10 Jul 2007

Delays in cancer diagnosis for children remain poorly understood

Though delays in the diagnosis of cancer in children are short and attributable to clinical presentation and healthcare system complexity, the impact of such delays on prognosis remains unclear, according to a new study.

10 Jul 2007

Use of sleeping pills in hospital leads to dependence for many seniors

A new study has produced some worrying results regarding the use of sleeping pills in the elderly.

10 Jul 2007

Study targets pharmacists to help diabetes sufferers

A new Wesley Research Institute project aims to make it much easier for people to manager their Type 2 Diabetes by using community pharmacists.

9 Jul 2007

Simple bladder cancer test

University of Florida researchers have identified a set of proteins that appear to signal the presence of bladder cancer, a discovery they hope will lead to a simple, fast and noninvasive test that can detect the disease early.

9 Jul 2007

Should soft tissue sarcomas be treated at high volume centres?

Soft tissue sarcomas -rare tumours of the connective tissue- should be treated at the few centres which see most cases, in order to give patients the best chance of good outcomes, concludes an analysis of sarcoma management in Florida, published in the Annals of Surgery last month.

9 Jul 2007

OncoLife web-based cancer survivorhip care plan

A team of cancer specialists from OncoLink.org, the award-winning cancer Web-based resource of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has launched OncoLife, the first and only individualized plan-of-care based on the national Institute of Medicine's recommendations for adult cancer survivors.

4 Jul 2007

Live donors have genuine concerns with insurance problems

According to a new review in American Journal of Transplantation, people who donate their kidney or part of their liver to help someone else may themselves encounter difficulty with life and health insurance, despite insurance companies saying otherwise.

4 Jul 2007

Antidepressants not linked to birth defects

Two research studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine found taking SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), anti-depression drugs, during pregnancy did not significantly increase the overall risk for most birth defects.

4 Jul 2007

Bacteria from mouth found in the amniotic fluid of some pregnant women

A study appearing in the July issue of the Journal of Periodontology found bacteria commonly found in the mouth and associated with periodontal diseases in the amniotic fluid of some pregnant women.

4 Jul 2007

Increase in prescription drug cost sharing associated with lower rates of drug treatment, adherence

A review of previous studies indicates that an increase in prescription drug cost sharing is associated with a decrease in drug spending and use of pharmacies; and for some chronic conditions, higher cost sharing is associated with greater use of expensive medical services, according to an article in the July 4 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

4 Jul 2007

AMA sics drug salesmen on doctors charge groups at annual meeting

The big topic at the American Medical Association's annual meeting this summer was not Michael Moore's Sicko but the AMA's sic-ing drug salesmen on doctors by selling its database.

3 Jul 2007

Popular snack food involved in latest food scare in the U.S.

In the latest food scare to hit the United States consumers are being warned not to eat a popular snack food because of contamination from Salmonella.

2 Jul 2007

Young adult smokers are highly motivated to quit

Despite tried and true methods to quit smoking, young adults do not take advantage of these proven smoking cessation treatments that can double their chances of quitting, University of Illinois at Chicago public health researchers report.

29 Jun 2007

Therapeutic value of meditation unproven

There is an enormous amount of interest in using meditation as a form of therapy to cope with a variety of modern-day health problems, especially hypertension, stress and chronic pain, but the majority of evidence that seems to support this notion is anecdotal, or it comes from poor quality studies, say Maria Ospina and Kenneth Bond, researchers at the University of Alberta/Capital Health Evidence-based Practice Center in Edmonton, Canada.

29 Jun 2007

Inhaled insulin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Inhaled insulin, taken before meals, can improve blood glucose control for people with type 2 diabetes who have not had good results with short-acting injected insulin that is taken in addition to the baseline insulin administered throughout the day and night, according to a new review of the body of published research.

29 Jun 2007

War and forced displacement have reduced the transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Conflict, forced displacement, and wide-scale rape have not increased the prevalence of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, conclude the authors of an Article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

29 Jun 2007

FDA cautions on Veggie Booty snack food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat Veggie Booty snack food, marketed by Robert's American Gourmet, due to possible contamination with Salmonella Wandsworth, bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illness.

29 Jun 2007