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KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ACA still under a cloud after court ruling

The fate of the Affordable Care Act continues to be in doubt after a federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans.

19 Dec 2019

Gastroesophageal reflux disease may affect nearly a third of U.S. adults every week

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a digestive disorder that causes hearburn and other uncomfortable symptoms, may affect nearly a third of U.S. adults each week, and most of those who take certain popular medications for it still have symptoms, according to a new Cedars-Sinai study.

19 Dec 2019

Artificial 'inclusion bodies' developed for sustained release of therapeutic proteins

Precision medicine is becoming increasingly important, achieving to create more efficient personalized therapies for each patient and innovative pharmacological developments.

19 Dec 2019

New assessment quantifies the financial impact of Medicare Part D program

A new assessment of the Medicare Part D program based on a proposal from the West Health Policy Center finds that Medicare beneficiaries would save $29 billion if drug manufacturer rebates were used to reduce their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter through the Part D benefit - as long as these rebate savings are not also used to reduce Part D manufacturer liability.

19 Dec 2019

Federal appeals court strikes down portion of Obamacare

A federal appeals court panel in New Orleans has dealt another blow to the Affordable Care Act, agreeing with a lower-court judge that the portion of the health law requiring most people to have coverage is unconstitutional now that Congress has eliminated the tax penalty that was intended to enforce it.

18 Dec 2019

Suppressing MSUT2 gene may protect people from Alzheimer’s disease

In the wake of recent disappointments over clinical trials targeting amyloid plaque build-up in Alzheimer's disease, researchers are focusing more attention on misfolded tau protein, another culprit in brain diseases that cause dementia.

18 Dec 2019

Artificial sweetener derivatives show improved activity against tumor-associated enzymes

Saccharin received a bad rap after studies in the 1970s linked consumption of large amounts of the artificial sweetener to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Later, research revealed that these findings were not relevant to people.

18 Dec 2019

Border fight: Trump’s plan to import cheaper drugs from Canada faces hurdles

In a historic shift, the federal government Wednesday proposed allowing states to import drugs from Canada. Officials said they believe it can be done safely and save significant money for Americans.

18 Dec 2019

Vaping among teens doubles in a year says MTF report

The 45th Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey 2019 has revealed that teenagers are preferring e cigarettes more and more and there is an increased propensity of using nicotine and marijuana in their e cigarettes. The latest report titled, “Trends in Reported Marijuana Vaping among U.S. Adolescents, 2017-2019”, was released in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Dec 2019

Scientists use supercomputers to shed light on skin cancer formation mechanism

Skin cancer, particularly melanoma, which is the deadliest and most serious type of human skin cancer, begins as a small lesion or blemish. Usually, these blemishes start off as harmless accumulation of melanocytes, which give the skin its color. As the disease progresses, it can spread throughout the body.

18 Dec 2019

Study opens up new treatment possibilities for Wilms' tumor

As an embryo develops, its cells must learn what to do with the thousands of genes they've been equipped with. That's why each cell comes with a detailed gene-expression manual outlining exactly which genes should be switched on, to what extent, and when.

18 Dec 2019

Study provides insight into brain mechanisms underlying compulsive drinking

Compulsive drinking may be due to dysfunction in a specific brain pathway that normally helps keep drinking in check. The results are reported in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

18 Dec 2019

Researchers discover new way to supercharge protein production

Medicines such as insulin for diabetes and clotting factors for hemophilia are hard to synthesize in the lab. Such drugs are based on therapeutic proteins, so scientists have engineered bacteria into tiny protein-making factories.

18 Dec 2019

Scientists evaluate HIV/AIDS, diabetes and organ transplant drugs as possible therapies for Alzheimer's

More than ever before, Alzheimer's researchers understand that a variety of approaches will be needed - most likely used in combination - for effective treatment of the disease.

18 Dec 2019

Pregnant women living with HIV may not receive the recommended treatment

Pregnant women with HIV may not receive medications that are in line with current recommendations, according to a recent study.

18 Dec 2019

Study finds increased prevalence of marijuana and nicotine vaping among teens

Findings from the 2019 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey demonstrate the appeal of vaping to teens, as seen in the increased prevalence of marijuana use as well as nicotine vaping.

18 Dec 2019

A future approach to diabetes care

In Belize, where diabetes is rampant, patients need insulin every day to maintain proper blood sugar levels. But if people lack electricity or a refrigerator, they cannot store insulin at home.

18 Dec 2019

New standards needed for improving the design of clinical trials for MS patients

How can the perspectives of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) be given more consideration in clinical trials? This question was investigated and corresponding recommendations were developed by a working group of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, the Charité University Hospital Berlin, and the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.

17 Dec 2019

Radiation-induced brain damage: new study reveals the mechanism

Following radiation therapy to the head for brain tumors, more than 80% of patients who live six months at least after the treatment report a loss of some cognitive functions such as memory, thinking and related tasks. Now a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports shows why this happens, which in turn could pave the way to correct this damage and protect the brain in future patients.

17 Dec 2019

Nature’s own gene therapy

A brand-new technique of gene therapy was reported on December 16, 2019, in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. The scientists made use of the potential of human cells to produce biological nanoparticles chockful of edited genes, so that they could insert beneficial genes into people suffering from various disease processes.

17 Dec 2019