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Insurers charging companies more if workers have unhealthy lifestyles

A Towers Watson survey found that the percentage of employer-sponsored policies that impose lifestyle-related financial penalities have doubled in the last two years.

19 Nov 2011

Bonuses tied to Medicare Advantage's star system reward insurers on quality marks

For the first time, a government-backed quality rating will have a financial meaning to health insurance companies looking to attract millions of older Americans to privately run Medicare coverage next year.

14 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 13, 2011

In today's headlines, a report about how Mitt Romney's health law waiver plan would work -- states could skirt some of the measure's biggest requirements, but it's still not a complete repeal.

13 Oct 2011

Roundup: San Diego launches new HIV testing effort; Study finds economy hurt by Mass. health law; Texas schools turning to safe sex curriculum

The Centers for Disease Control says 20 percent of Americans with HIV don't know they're infected, and those people are responsible for about half of all new infections. A new effort in San Diego is trying to reduce those numbers by making HIV testing more widespread.

17 Sep 2011

Princeton researchers match images of brain activity with complex thought

In an effort to understand what happens in the brain when a person reads or considers such abstract ideas as love or justice, Princeton researchers have for the first time matched images of brain activity with categories of words related to the concepts a person is thinking about. The results could lead to a better understanding of how people consider meaning and context when reading or thinking.

2 Sep 2011

Child’s food preferences could be determined in womb: Study

According to the latest research from Monell Chemical Senses Center mothers can influence a baby's palate and food memories before it is born. The study finds that what a woman eats during her pregnancy shapes the baby's food preferences later in life.

10 Aug 2011

New fluorescent tool can track mysterious workings of cellular RNAs

The ability to tag proteins with a green fluorescent light to watch how they behave inside cells so revolutionized the understanding of protein biology that it earned the scientific teams who developed the technique Nobel Prizes in 2008.

30 Jul 2011

Viewpoints: Confronting 'giant' Medicare choices; first lady's anti-obesity campaign; Calif. insurance rules

Sometimes life presents you with a basic philosophical choice. Americans are going to have to confront a giant one over the next several years. It starts in the wonky world of Medicare. ... Democrats have much greater faith in centralized expertise. ... [Republicans] have much greater faith in the decentralized discovery process of the market.

8 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Political impact of Ryan plan; would VA health system work for all?; Calif. insurance rates

Representative Paul Ryan is rebutting critics of his plan to turn Medicare into a "premium support" program, pointing to two existing programs that he says prove his approach would be better for beneficiaries. Don't believe it. The two programs he cites as prototypes — the insurance program for members of Congress and the Medicare prescription drug program — differ in critical respects from his proposal to sharply limit federal spending. The losers will be the beneficiaries who have to pay more.

1 Jun 2011

Modified Atmosphere Packaging can retain polyacetylenes levels in carrots

Polyacetylenes are natural products found in certain plants that have been related to a reduction in the risks of developing diseases such as certain types of cancers and other important diseases.

24 Mar 2011

Protalix: New data from taliglucerase alfa, oral GCD trials to be presented at Lysosomal Disease Network Symposium

Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc., announced today that new clinical data from the switchover trial of taliglucerase alfa in Gaucher disease patients and preclinical data on oral enzyme glucocerebrosidase (oral GCD) will be presented today at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Lysosomal Disease Network: WORLD Symposium 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

19 Feb 2011

State roundup: Mass. cost control plan advances; Texas Senate's abortion bill vote; Miami's public hospital crisis

The governor of Massachusetts proposed changes on Thursday to the state's comprehensive healthcare program, one often seen as a prototype for national reforms, to attempt to bring rising costs under control. The plan would give the U.S. state more authority to scrutinize fees paid to hospitals and doctors, reform the current standard by which healthcare providers are compensated and enact medical malpractice reform.

19 Feb 2011

Higher fruit and vegetable intake lowers risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease

A European study investigating the links between diet and disease has found that people who consume more fruit and vegetables have a lower risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease - the most common form of heart disease and one of the leading causes of death in Europe.

19 Jan 2011

FDA stops operations of N.Y.-based beverage company

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice today filed a complaint for permanent injunction against a Jamaica, N.Y.-based beverage company to prevent it from processing and distributing juice and other products.

14 Jan 2011

Carrots and plums for better looks!

Researchers at St Andrews and Bristol universities have found that carrots and plums could make one more attractive in just two months. They found that these fruits and vegetables contain pigments called carotenoids that color the skin within two months making a person more attractive and healthy.

9 Jan 2011

Tips to encourage children to eat vegetables, fruits

In a new study, children who ate the most vegetables and fruits had significantly healthier arteries as adults than children who ate the fewest. Here are 10 tips to encourage your children to eat more vegetables and fruits.

30 Nov 2010

Halloween treats can expand waistline and decrease productivity

Watch out for that post-Halloween sugar crash on Monday, as well-meaning co-workers bring in buckets and bowls of leftover candy. Too many leftover Halloween treats can expand your waistline and decrease your productivity, said Loyola University Health System registered dietitian Brooke Schantz.

30 Oct 2010

Vegetable consumption decreases risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer in African-American women

Investigators from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have reported that African American women who consume more vegetables are less likely to develop estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than women with low vegetable intake. The study results, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, were based on data from the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), a large follow-up study of 59,000 African American women from across the U.S. conducted by investigators at the Slone Epidemiology Center since 1995.

13 Oct 2010

FDA files complaint for permanent injunction against Brooklyn Juice Company

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice today filed a complaint for permanent injunction against a Brooklyn juice company to prevent it from processing and distributing juice products.

8 Oct 2010

Group Health gets $2 million to study value-based insurance

The effectiveness of Total Health, a unique benefits program for Group Health Cooperative employees, is the subject of a four-year study that the federal Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently funded. It's part of a trend to integrate care, insurance, and wellness programs and base them on research findings. The goal is to help people stay healthier and control health care costs.

6 Oct 2010