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Longer looks: Alzheimer's researcher turns to drug she helped invent

Given her relatively young age, Dr. Rae Lyn Burke didn't think much about her family history of Alzheimer's disease -- a grandmother and an aunt had suffered from it, but they were much older. Ironically, Burke was just in her late 50s when she started having her own symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's. Even more ironic is that Burke had been one of the key developers of the Alzheimer's drug bapineuzumab, which she now takes herself to reduce the progression of the disease in her own brain.

22 Jun 2012

Ads take issue with health law

News outlets report on various ad campaigns designed to criticize the Democrats' health law.

22 Jun 2012

State roundup: Exchange details; N.Y. same-sex lawsuit

States starting to turn the corner on their Great Recession budget woes are taking the cautious approach, socking away millions of dollars in rainy day funds rather than restoring spending for education, health care and social services. At least 21 states, including Arizona, Michigan and Ohio, are putting parts of their surpluses into reserves.

21 Jun 2012

TigerText adds 7 new hospice organizations

TigerText, the #1 leader in secure, real-time messaging, has expanded its HIPAA compliant mobile messaging platform to a new healthcare segment, hospice providers, and today announced the addition of 7 new hospice organizations to its growing list of healthcare customers.

20 Jun 2012

Calif. programs reach out to give care to undocumented, uninsured

In California and North Carolina, local programs that help undocumented workers and the uninsured get care -- often without using federal funds -- are detailed.

19 Jun 2012

Calif. Dems balking on more Medicaid cuts; Big jump in Minnesota Medicaid rolls

Democratic legislative leaders announced Wednesday that they plan to move forward with their proposal to address California's $15.7 billion deficit even though Gov. Jerry Brown hasn't signed off on the plan. ... Democrats refused to cut an additional $1.2 billion on programs for the poor, particularly the welfare-to-work program CalWORKS; childcare; In-Home Supportive Services, which provides care for the sick and disabled in their homes; low-cost health insurance known as Healthy Families; and Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.

15 Jun 2012

Longer looks: Battling HIV in Washington; Adderall use among U.S. high schoolers

On a recent day not far from Capitol Hill and the White House, about a dozen HIV outreach workers toting bright yellow duffle bags stuffed with condoms and prevention information stood outside of the Anacostia Metro station. ... After a couple of hours, they had handed out hundreds of packs of condoms -- and had persuaded 21 people to take an HIV test with an oral swab in a Chevy van parked nearby. "You have to know your status, man. I'd rather be safe than sorry," said Alvern Harris, 25, as he waited for his results.

15 Jun 2012

HCMS, ACOEM announce important expansion to Blueprint for Health

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) and the HCMS Group have announced an important expansion to their "Blueprint for Health" - a free internet-based calculating tool that helps employers better comprehend and analyze the impact of medical costs, absence, and work impairment among their employees.

5 Jun 2012

Health law jobs, cost controls and the mandate play in minds of state leaders

Health law issues are reverberating in states around America as leaders consider what the law means for them -- especially if it stands after a Supreme Court review.

1 Jun 2012

$CDC report finds states spend only a fraction of tobacco funds to fight smoking$

CDC report finds states spend only a fraction of tobacco funds to fight smoking

The study says states collected $244 billion from tobacco settlement payments between 1998 and 2010, and used about $8 billion of that for anti-smoking campaigns.

25 May 2012

Report: Employer-based health insurance shows decline

A new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that employment-based health coverage has taken steps back after a brief uptick.

24 May 2012

AAPA honors Portsmouth physician assistant with Humanitarian PA of the Year Award

When Jack Gardner, PA-C, of Portsmouth, N.H., left a successful business career 12 years ago to become a physician assistant, he did not anticipate the number of lives he would touch as he pursued his dream to provide medical care to those in need.

22 May 2012

Huffington Post series of opinion pieces examines NGO priorities for G8

The Huffington Post is running "a series of blogs by leading NGOs to call attention to a range of issues that should be raised at the G8 summit at Camp David in rural Maryland from May 18-19," according to the news service. The following summarizes some of the posts published this week.

18 May 2012

MDG Health Alliance introduced at GBCHealth Conference

The MDG Health Alliance, an innovative new private sector organization created and led by eminent business leaders to tackle urgent global health problems, was introduced today in the United States at the GBCHealth Conference.

17 May 2012

Colleagues In Care, IBM partner to help improve healthcare delivery in Haiti

IBM today announced it is helping improve healthcare delivery in Haiti through its collaboration with 'Colleagues In Care' Global Health Network.

17 May 2012

Safer indoor sex work spaces promote health and safety of street-involved women

Safer indoor sex work spaces provide important and potentially life-saving benefits to sex workers including reduced exposure to violence and HIV and improved relationships with police, according to a study published by the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the University of British Columbia.

11 May 2012

Viewpoints: Diabetes, future health ills & the GOP; Debate on FDA OTC plan; Sen. Brown's daughter's health insurance

A study of diabetes in overweight and obese youngsters bears an ominous warning about future health care trends in this country. It found that Type 2 diabetes, a new scourge among young people, progresses faster and is harder to treat in youngsters than in adults. ... Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, are bent on dismantling health care reforms that could greatly assist in curbing the obesity epidemic.

8 May 2012

State roundup: Calif. fight over group homes for seniors; New agency proposed to police disabled care in NY; Conn. retiree health plan expansion could endanger protections

Neighbors were already concerned about the growing number of group homes for the elderly and recovering addicts in the area, many of them for profit. A Times analysis found 24 licensed facilities offering residential care for the elderly within a mile of the proposed project and three more waiting for state approval. It is one of several such clusters that have emerged in Los Angeles County -- including parts of the San Fernando Valley and South Bay -- where families can afford fees that run into thousands of dollars per month. Large swaths of the county's less affluent areas have no such facilities.

8 May 2012

MicroRNAs in breast cancer play a role in development of resistance to tamoxifen

Many breast cancer patients are treated with a drug called tamoxifen. The substance blocks the effect of estrogen and thus suppresses the growth signals of this hormone in cancer cells. When resistance to the drug develops, tumor cells change their growth program: They change their behavior and shape, become more mobile and also adopt the ability to invade surrounding tissue. Scientists working with PD (Associate Professor) Dr. Stefan Wiemann of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now also observed these changes in tamoxifen resistant breast cancer cells.

5 May 2012

Lay health workers can make a great contribution to care but they need to be cared for

Sixteen years after apartheid the public health system in South Africa continues to be plagued by health worker shortages. "But lay health workers can make a great contribution to care", says Karen Daniels at Nordic School of Public Health. But they also need greatly to be cared for. Here thesis explores how ordinary people trained to assist in health care is an option to tackling this crisis.

3 May 2012