OCT News and Research

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Doctors agree on need to change Medicare pay, but not how

Doctors widely believe that the Medicare payment system is unfair, but they disagree about how to fix it, according to a recent study, MedPage Today reports. "While physicians generally support changing how Medicare reimburses doctors, most don't support payment reforms that would reduce their own incomes, according to survey results published in the Oct. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Oct 2010

Survey highlights emotional impact of psoriasis on school children

Almost half of children with psoriasis surveyed by the National Psoriasis Foundation report being bullied at least once in the last six months. The Psoriasis Foundation surveyed parents of kids with psoriatic disease and found that 44 percent of children have been bullied by their peers, and 38 percent of kids say the abuse was a direct result of their disease.

26 Oct 2010

Examining genetic material of egg cells may inform about embryos health

Fertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) require a couple and the doctor to place the risky bet that the multiple eggs they choose to fertilize will produce an embryo that will thrive in the uterus. Researchers cannot biopsy eggs directly because that would destroy them, but a new discovery by professors at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital could lead to new insights about how eggs develop and ultimately inform judgments about how the embryos they produce will fare. The idea is to examine the genetic material the egg cells discarded when they were first forming, to see which genes they were expressing.

26 Oct 2010

Doctors, nurses and urgent care centers address increasing demand

The (Lynchburg, Va.) News and Advance reports on doctor shortages in Virginia: "Attracting more physicians to the area, and keeping them, is a challenge that has become more urgent. So much so that Centra is in the midst of creating a formal Physician Recruiting Office, where staff will work to convince physicians to consider coming to Lynchburg for their residency or to practice.

26 Oct 2010

Calif. budget comes in the nick of time for health centers; LA. Gov. announces cuts in health care funding

With some California community health centers just weeks or days away from laying off staff or reducing their hours, the state adopted its latest-ever annual budget on Oct. 8.

26 Oct 2010

Safety tips to reduce risk of lead exposure

With more than 2,700 children having elevated blood lead levels in 2009, the Department of Health today reminds parents to test young children for lead exposure, especially during National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, Oct. 24-30.

25 Oct 2010

Research Roundup: U.S. life expectancy ratings; Medicare Advantage outlook; Should advanced cancer patients have routine screening tests?

Health Affairs: What Changes In Survival Rates Tell Us About US Health Care -- Proponents of changes in the U.S. health system have often pointed to studies that find health outcomes in this country are worse than other developed nations, even though the United States "spends well over twice the median expenditure of industrialized nations on health care, and far more than any other country as a percentage of its gross domestic product." Others point to high rates of smoking, obesity and traffic fatalities.

25 Oct 2010

NIH awards $3.9M for Fanconi anemia research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a three-year, $3.9 million grant to Children's Hospital Boston researchers and their colleagues to develop a therapy to treat Fanconi anemia, a fatal genetic blood disease.

25 Oct 2010

Fred Hutchinson Center offers research-based tip sheets for breast cancer survivors

Throughout October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, experts from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its clinical care partner, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, are offering weekly research-based tip sheets regarding breast cancer prevention, screening and early detection, treatment and survivorship.

25 Oct 2010

UCI scientists receive CIRM grants to improve stem cell treatments

UC Irvine scientists will receive grants totaling $9.35 million to help create stem cell treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, Huntington's disease and traumatic brain injury.

25 Oct 2010

Childhood cancer survivors at increased risk of gastrointestinal problems

People treated for cancer when they were children have a higher-than-average risk of gastrointestinal problems - some mild, some quite severe - in the years following treatment, according to a study to be presented at the 42nd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) in Boston on Sunday, Oct. 24.

25 Oct 2010

Vancomycin beneficial for managing patients hospitalized with cellulits

Patients admitted to the hospital for the common bacterial skin infection cellulitis should be treated as a first line of defense with the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin rather than other antibiotics such as penicillin, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

25 Oct 2010

Researchers find evidence that A. gambiae mosquito is evolving into two strains, could present challenges for malaria control efforts

The Anopheles gambiae mosquito, one of the major carriers of the malaria parasite in Sub-Saharan Africa, is evolving in two directions, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Science, Scientific American's Observations blog reports.

25 Oct 2010

Aid agencies threaten to leave Afghanistan as President Karzai orders private security firms to dissolve

Companies and aid organizations implementing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.-funded projects here say they are preparing to leave Afghanistan unless President Hamid Karzai amends a decree that outlaws their private security protection, the Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Oct 2010

72% of patients misdiagnosed with pneumonia upon readmission : Study

Patients were misdiagnosed with pneumonia at an alarming rate when they were readmitted to the hospital shortly after a previous hospitalization for the same illness, according to two Henry Ford Hospital companion studies.

25 Oct 2010

Study on H1N1 virus to be presented at IDSA annual meeting

The 2009/2010 Influenza A (H1N1) is one of several viruses responsible for respiratory-related infections. A new study from Rhode Island Hospital examined patients with viruses and found distinguishing characteristics of the H1N1 virus in how it affects respiratory illness. Their findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America to be held in Vancouver, Canada on Friday, Oct. 22.

25 Oct 2010

Research on worms may help develop ways to maintain fertility in humans

Princeton scientists have identified genes responsible for controlling reproductive life span in worms and found they may control genes regulating similar functions in humans. The work suggests that someday researchers may be able to develop ways to maintain fertility in humans, allowing women who want to delay having children to preserve that capacity and extend their reproduction, and to prevent maternal age-related birth defects.

25 Oct 2010

Parents more likely to be dissatisfied with informed consent process in children’s clinical trials

Compared with adult cancer patients, parents of children with cancer were more likely to be dissatisfied with the informed consent process for participating in clinical trials, according to a study from Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center. The findings will be presented at the 42nd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) in Boston on Saturday, Oct. 23.

22 Oct 2010

AACR to host special conference on colorectal cancer

The American Association for Cancer Research will hosts its first special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy from Oct. 27-30, 2010, at the Loews Hotel, Philadelphia.

22 Oct 2010

U.N. reports explore issues facing women worldwide

Two U.N. reports released on Wednesday examine the conditions faced by women around the world, the New York Times reports (MacFarquhar, 10/20). The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics report, which is published every five years, offers a compilation of "the latest data documenting progress for women worldwide in eight key areas: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty," according to a U.N. Statistics Division press release.

22 Oct 2010