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Cigna provides data on cost, quality of services to web site

Cigna, which last year began to post cost and quality information for inpatient services performed at hospitals on a Web site for members, this week added data for outpatient services performed at stand-alone surgical centers, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (Perotin, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/20).

22 Sep 2006

Hispanics in 'new growth communities' face greater barriers to health care

Hispanics in smaller, more rural communities have greater barriers in accessing care than do Hispanics in larger communities, according to a report released on Thursday by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Bradenton Herald reports.

22 Sep 2006

Serious knife injuries are increasing

Serious knife injuries are increasing, say trauma experts at the Royal London Hospital in a letter to this week's British Medical Journal.

21 Sep 2006

SUMO1 gene implicated in cleft lip and palate defects

Researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health report in the current issue of the journal Science that a much-studied gene called SUMO1, when under expressed, can cause cleft lip and palate, one of the world's most common birth defects.

21 Sep 2006

New understanding of how cells defend themselves

Biologists at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) have unveiled a new twist in a metabolic pathway that cells use to defend themselves against toxins made by disease-causing bacteria.

21 Sep 2006

Insulin receptor stops progression of Alzheimer's disease

Stimulation of a receptor in the brain that controls insulin responses has been shown to halt or diminish the neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease, providing evidence that the disease can be treated in its early stages, according to a study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School.

21 Sep 2006

Low birth weights lower quality of life

Babies with very low birth weights tend to have a much lower quality of life when they are three or four years old, according to a study published in the latest issue of the UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.

21 Sep 2006

Here's egg in your eye: a prospective study of blunt ocular trauma resulting from thrown eggs

As the party conference season gets under way in the UK, research in Emergency Medicine Journal shows that lobbing raw eggs at people as a harmless form of protest or prank can actually result in serious eye injury.

21 Sep 2006

Study reveals white blood cells can both hurt and help transplanted kidneys

In an example of biological irony, the same white blood cell chemistry known to damage kidneys used for transplants may also help prevent such damage, according to a federally funded study in genetically engineered mice at Johns Hopkins.

21 Sep 2006

Unpleasant memories from intensive care

"Being cared for in an intensive care unit (ICU) can never be an especially positive experience. But at any rate it should not mean that the care improves the patient's physical condition only to leave him or her with severe mental problems!"

20 Sep 2006

Some Alabama abortion clinics facing difficulties finding local physicians to provide backup services

Some abortion-rights advocates in Alabama say it has become increasingly difficult for abortion clinics to find local physicians who will serve as backups for abortion providers because of fears they will be targeted and harassed by abortion-rights opponents, AP/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports.

20 Sep 2006

GSK seeks regulatory approval in U.S., Europe for Tykerb

GlaxoSmithKline on Monday said it has submitted its experimental breast cancer drug Tykerb, which is taken orally, for FDA approval and plans to file for approval in Europe in the fourth quarter of this year, Reuters reports.

20 Sep 2006

Health IT legislation should allow portability for electronic health records

"Steps are now under way to bring ... lifesaving" electronic health records to all hospitals and physician offices in the U.S., but "Congress is considering a bill that would make it harder to allow your information to follow you throughout your health care treatment," former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Brailer writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

20 Sep 2006

Aromatase inhibitors improve survival of advanced breast cancer patients compared to tamoxifen

Aromatase inhibitors improve the survival of advanced breast cancer patients compared to standard hormone therapies like tamoxifen, a researchers report in the September 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

19 Sep 2006

Outpatient thyroid surgery appears to be safe for the majority of patients

"This is a logical benefit of doing less-invasive surgical techniques," says Dr. David Terris, chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery. "Now patients are able to go home the same day they have surgery."

19 Sep 2006

Nicotinamide may help people with multiple sclerosis

Researchers have found a possible way to protect people with multiple sclerosis (MS) from severe long-term disability: increase nervous-system levels of a vital compound, called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), by giving its chemical precursor - nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3.

19 Sep 2006

FDA fines American Red Cross $4.2 million over blood safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that the American Red Cross (ARC) is being fined $4.2 million for failure to comply with requirements under Federal laws and FDA regulations relating to the collection of blood products.

19 Sep 2006

House panel passes bill to require electronic health records for FEHBP members

The House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 4859) that would authorize the Office of Personnel Management to require health insurers to establish two forms of electronic health records for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, CongressDaily reports.

18 Sep 2006

HIV-positive Batwa in Democratic Republic of the Congo have little access to treatment

Although HIV prevalence among the Batwa, or pygmies, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is estimated to be lower than the rate for the entire country, "little help is available" for HIV-positive Batwa because of the community's poverty, undernutrition, "social isolation" and lack of health care services, PlusNews reports.

18 Sep 2006

GSK to supply antiretroviral drugs to Russia at discounted price

GlaxoSmithKline has announced it would supply 90,000 packs of its antiretroviral drugs Combivir, Epivir and Ziagen to Russia at discounted prices by the end of 2006, the AFP/Yahoo! U.K and Ireland reports (AFP/Yahoo! U.K and Ireland, 9/15).

18 Sep 2006