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San Francisco Chronicle examines health insurance claim denials

The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday examined how "[e]ach year, thousands of Californians find themselves at odds with their health insurers over whether they, as patients, should get the treatment their doctors prescribed."

24 Jun 2008

Health Minister accuses the AMA of being protectionist

Relations between the Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) do not appear to be improving.

24 Jun 2008

FDA approves Kinrix - combination vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Kinrix [Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis Adsorbed and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine], the first combination vaccine to offer protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot.

24 Jun 2008

Neurological assessment of older adults: A crystal ball to the future

Standard neurological exams of older adults are good predictors of future brain health and quality of life. These tests should become part of the physician's routine examination of older adults say faculty from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research in an editorial in the June 23, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

24 Jun 2008

Neurological assessment of older adults should become routine examinations

24 Jun 2008

Symptom screening plus CA125 blood test improves early detection of ovarian cancer

Women's reports of persistent, recent-onset symptoms linked to ovarian cancer - abdominal or pelvic pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and abdominal bloating - when combined with the CA125 blood test may improve the early detection of ovarian cancer by 20 percent, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published online today in CANCER.

24 Jun 2008

Warning on fecal coliform in flooded areas of Iowa

Flood water samples taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the city limits of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Hamburg, and Burlington, Iowa, showed numbers of fecal coliform bacteria exceeding the health-based level of concern. The level of concern is 200 colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters (ml).

23 Jun 2008

New findings show obesity-related complications improve six months following gastric banding procedure

Teenagers' obesity-related medical complications improve just six months after laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, according to outcomes data presented this week.

19 Jun 2008

New approach for assessing and managing patients with sepsis

Each year over a million people suffer from sepsis, a condition caused by an infection spreading through the body. If sepsis develops into severe sepsis then the death rate can rise to nearly 30 - 50%, equalling the number of deaths caused by a heart attack.

17 Jun 2008

American Medical Association members say 'secret shoppers' should not be used to gauge quality at physicians' offices

Using "secret shoppers" to evaluate the way physicians manage relationships with patients could get in the way of providing needed care to actual patients, according to more than 12 doctors who testified before an American Medical Association panel, the Chicago Tribune reports. AMA on Sunday held its annual House of Delegates meeting in Chicago.

17 Jun 2008

Combined PET and CT could be valuable noninvasive tool for determining stages of ovarian cancer

Combined positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scanning of patients in the early stages of ovarian cancer can enable physicians to determine whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes without having to perform surgery, according to researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 55th Annual Meeting.

16 Jun 2008

Patient access, broadband connected, report says

Adoption of health information technology will help patients gain access to care; however, roadblocks such as the costs and expertise required to buy and operate the technology are making adoption in medical settings slower than desired. Further challenging some regions of Pennsylvania is limited access or affordable pricing for true high-speed broadband telecommunication networks to connect health care professionals.

16 Jun 2008

Cancer-detecting nanoparticles

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be a doctor's best friend for detecting a tumor in the body without resorting to surgery. MRI scans use pulses of magnetic waves and gauge the return signals to identify different types of tissue in the body, distinguishing bone from muscle, fluids from solids, and so on.

15 Jun 2008

Australian Government oddly excludes AMA again on health plans - AMA negative about plans to ease GP shortage

Government plans to expand the roles of health professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and dieticians, to help address the shortage of doctors, has not surprisingly evoked a negative response from the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

11 Jun 2008

AHF to Dr. Fauci and the CDC: "show us the AIDS numbers"

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is calling for the immediate release of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) latest HIV incidence numbers, after Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) referred to them while in attendance at the United Nations' 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York this week. The US largest AIDS organization and operator of free AIDS treatment clinics in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, also called for massive scale-up of HIV testing throughout the nation.

11 Jun 2008

CMS to launch Medicare pilot project that will provide physicians with incentives to use health IT

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Tuesday announced the 12 cities and states that have been chosen to participate in a $150 million Medicare pilot program to encourage physicians to use electronic health records, CQ Today reports.

11 Jun 2008

News on complementary and alternative medicine in Australia often inaccurate

Research into the news reporting of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Australia, has revealed that much of the information the public receives through the media is inaccurate or incomplete.

11 Jun 2008

Government and nurses call for a major shake-up of Australia's health system

Plans by the federal government to address the dire shortage of general practitioners by making better use of other health professionals is in some ways in line with calls from the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) for a major reform to the way health services are funded and delivered.

11 Jun 2008

Philadelphia Inquirer examines health care price transparency issue

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday examined the issue of "price transparency," in which hospitals and health systems make their charges for treatments more apparent.

10 Jun 2008

Sen. Grassley issues report on conflict-of-interest probe into improper payment disclosures by three Harvard psychiatrists

Three well-known psychiatric researchers from Harvard Medical School may have violated federal and educational institution regulations by failing to properly disclose drug industry payments and other conflicts of interest, according to an investigation report published last week by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in the Congressional Record, the Wall Street Journal reports (Armstrong, Wall Street Journal, 6/9).

10 Jun 2008

Doctor News and Research

San Francisco Chronicle examines health insurance claim denials

Health Minister accuses the AMA of being protectionist

FDA approves Kinrix - combination vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot

Neurological assessment of older adults: A crystal ball to the future

Neurological assessment of older adults should become routine examinations

Symptom screening plus CA125 blood test improves early detection of ovarian cancer

Warning on fecal coliform in flooded areas of Iowa

New findings show obesity-related complications improve six months following gastric banding procedure

New approach for assessing and managing patients with sepsis

American Medical Association members say 'secret shoppers' should not be used to gauge quality at physicians' offices

Combined PET and CT could be valuable noninvasive tool for determining stages of ovarian cancer

Patient access, broadband connected, report says

Cancer-detecting nanoparticles

Australian Government oddly excludes AMA again on health plans - AMA negative about plans to ease GP shortage

AHF to Dr. Fauci and the CDC: "show us the AIDS numbers"

CMS to launch Medicare pilot project that will provide physicians with incentives to use health IT

News on complementary and alternative medicine in Australia often inaccurate

Government and nurses call for a major shake-up of Australia's health system

Philadelphia Inquirer examines health care price transparency issue

Sen. Grassley issues report on conflict-of-interest probe into improper payment disclosures by three Harvard psychiatrists

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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