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Brain Injury Association of Canada asks "Where is Canada's injury prevention strategy?"

The Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC) is asking Canadians to speak with political candidates and elected members of Parliament about the lack of development of a national injury prevention strategy. The 2008 federal election period is a most opportune stage to bring this need forward for discussion.

6 Oct 2008

Burst appendix or stomach flu?

A young child arrives at the emergency room after several days of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea and is sent home with a diagnosis of viral gastritis and treatment for the symptoms. The child seems better for a while, only to return to the ER with worse symptoms and a ruptured appendix, a life-threatening complication of appendicitis.

6 Oct 2008

Health workers cannot refuse to provide treatment to HIV-positive people, India's Supreme Court rules

A panel of India's Supreme Court on Wednesday approved instructions from the country's Centre Party that health care workers in all government and private hospitals cannot refuse medical treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS, The Hindu reports.

5 Oct 2008

Medical student gender and self-confidence: Females underestimate their abilities and males tend to overestimate theirs

Despite performing equally to their male peers in the classroom and the clinic, female medical students consistently report decreased self-confidence and increased anxiety, particularly over issues related to their competency. A new study published in the September 2008 issue of Patient Education and Counseling found that female medical students also appeared less confident to patients.

5 Oct 2008

Raised risk of prostate cancer in Black men

Black men living in England are three times more likely to get prostate cancer than White men and tend to be diagnosed five years younger, researchers have found.

2 Oct 2008

Kill the tobacco industry, or it will keep killing

This month in Rio de Janeiro, the global tobacco industry's annual conference features a special session on what many are seeing as its Armageddon: plain, generic packaging. All packs are identical except for the brand name, printed in standard font. No colours, no logos, no box variations. Nothing but the brand and the health warning.

2 Oct 2008

Don't ask, don't tell doesn't work in prenatal care

While obstetrical care providers are doing a good job working with their patients on smoking cessation, they are not doing as well on abuse of other substances that can harm a woman's unborn baby. A new study appearing in the September 2008 issue of the journal Patient Education and Counseling reports that patients don't volunteer information about substance abuse unless specifically queried.

30 Sep 2008

Plastic surgeons call for shake-up of cosmetic surgery in Australia

The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has called for a ban on cosmetic surgery on teenagers.

30 Sep 2008

Doctors raise stakes about presidential candidates' health care plans

A Delaware County physician says health care is too important of an issue in the upcoming presidential election, and that the candidates should have a forum to talk about their vision for the future of health care.

25 Sep 2008

Antidepressants can affect male fertility

Researchers in the United States have linked commonly used antidepressants to a reduction in some men's fertility.

25 Sep 2008

Out of Iraq emerges hope for those with the severest of head injuries

There may be more hope than has been recognized for some people with severe brain injuries, according to a U.S. neurosurgeon who earlier this year spent four months in Iraq treating soldiers and civilians. Jason Huang, M.D., this week presented his results from his experience in Iraq at the annual meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Orlando, Fla.

24 Sep 2008

One week radiation treatment for breast cancer as effective as standard 6 to 7 week course

A new type of radiation treatment rapidly speeds up treatment for some breast cancer sufferers.

24 Sep 2008

Massachusetts lawmakers pass legislation to attract more primary care physicians to state as wait times for appointments increase

The average wait time for an appointment with a primary care physician in Massachusetts this year increased to 36 days from 34 days in 2007, according to an annual study by the Massachusetts Medical Society, the AP/Boston Herald reports (AP/Boston Herald, 9/22).

24 Sep 2008

New York Times examines new surveillance measures in WHO's world malaria report 2008

The New York Times on Tuesday examined the data collection methods used in the World Malaria Report 2008, which was released last week by the World Health Organization (McNeil, New York Times, 9/23).

24 Sep 2008

Family history of brain tumours increases the risk

New research has found that people with a family history of cancerous brain tumours appear to have higher risk of developing the same kind of tumours.

23 Sep 2008

Medicare Part B premiums in 2009 will not increase for most beneficiaries

CMS on Friday announced that monthly outpatient care premiums for about 95% of Medicare recipients will remain at $96.40 in 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/20).

22 Sep 2008

CMS to suspend competitive acquisition program for medications covered under Medicare Part B

A CMS official last week said that the agency on Jan. 1 will suspend the Competitive Acquisition Program, launched in 2006 to supply certain medications to physician offices, because of "contractual issues" related to proprietary data, CQ HealthBeat reports.

16 Sep 2008

Parents of dying newborns need clearer explanation of options

Parent-doctor discussions about whether to maintain or withdraw life support from terminally ill or severely premature newborns are so plagued by miscommunication and misunderstanding that they might as well be in different languages, according to a small but potentially instructive new study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center reported in the September issue of Pediatrics.

15 Sep 2008

2% of U.S. medical students plan to become primary care physicians, study says

Two percent of medical students in a survey said they planned to go into general internal medicine, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, USA Today reports.

11 Sep 2008

Rep. Stark prepared to introduce legislation this week to spur nationwide adoption of electronic health records

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) this week plans to introduce a bill intended to encourage nationwide adoption of electronic health record technology that will include a provision to impose penalties on health care providers who fail to do so, CQ Today reports.

11 Sep 2008

Doctor News and Research

Brain Injury Association of Canada asks "Where is Canada's injury prevention strategy?"

Burst appendix or stomach flu?

Health workers cannot refuse to provide treatment to HIV-positive people, India's Supreme Court rules

Medical student gender and self-confidence: Females underestimate their abilities and males tend to overestimate theirs

Raised risk of prostate cancer in Black men

Kill the tobacco industry, or it will keep killing

Don't ask, don't tell doesn't work in prenatal care

Plastic surgeons call for shake-up of cosmetic surgery in Australia

Doctors raise stakes about presidential candidates' health care plans

Antidepressants can affect male fertility

Out of Iraq emerges hope for those with the severest of head injuries

One week radiation treatment for breast cancer as effective as standard 6 to 7 week course

Massachusetts lawmakers pass legislation to attract more primary care physicians to state as wait times for appointments increase

New York Times examines new surveillance measures in WHO's world malaria report 2008

Family history of brain tumours increases the risk

Medicare Part B premiums in 2009 will not increase for most beneficiaries

CMS to suspend competitive acquisition program for medications covered under Medicare Part B

Parents of dying newborns need clearer explanation of options

2% of U.S. medical students plan to become primary care physicians, study says

Rep. Stark prepared to introduce legislation this week to spur nationwide adoption of electronic health records

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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