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Hospitals seek to consolidate in Ga., Wis. and N.Y.; Other state hospital news

Hospitals in Atlanta, Wisconsin and New York are consolidating or partnering more closely with others in a bid to reduce costs and save themselves. In other hospital news, small California hospitals market back surgery to patients and a Minnesota hospital faces a "patient abuse" crisis.

10 Feb 2012

Children with multiple psychosomatic symptoms more likely to experience physical abuse

Children who display multiple psychosomatic symptoms, such as regular aches and pains and sleep and appetite problems, are more than twice as likely to be experiencing physical abuse at home than children who do not display symptoms, according to a study in the March edition of Acta Paediatrica.

10 Feb 2012

University of Haifa study to shed new light on DCD

Children showing difficulty carrying out routine actions, such as getting dressed, playing with particular types of games, drawing, copying from the board in school and even typing at the computer, could be suffering from developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and not necessarily from ADHD or other more familiar disorders, points out Prof. Sara Rosenblum of the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa, whose new study set out to shed new light on DCD.

10 Feb 2012

Farmers markets at medical centers may improve public health

Farmers markets at medical centers may contribute to greater wellness in surrounding communities while adding public health value to a market's mission, say Penn State College of Medicine researchers who have developed and evaluated a market created at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

10 Feb 2012

ACC: New community-wide collaboration to reduce impact of chronic diseases

A new community-wide collaboration to reduce the impact of chronic disease and empower patients is generating impressive early results, leaders of the Accountable Care Community (ACC) initiative said today. The Akron-based Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) is leading the initiative with its founding institutional members and more than 60 public and private community partners.

9 Feb 2012

Low-glycemic-index foods can improve dietary habits of people with Type 2 diabetes

A specific goal to eat a set number of daily servings of low-glycemic-index foods can improve dietary habits of people with Type 2 diabetes, according to new research.

9 Feb 2012

India's ownership over polio eradication program contributed to success

"The key to India's success" in going a full year without recording a case of polio "was to take ownership of the problem and the solution, allowing for locals to learn from the expertise of the international community while not becoming dependent" on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international donors, William Thomson, a research assistant at the U.S. Naval War College, writes in The Diplomat's "India Decade."

9 Feb 2012

Roundup: State legislatures consider nursing home, insurance exchange bills

Even as Massachusetts business and government leaders celebrate the most modest premium rate hikes in years for small employers and individuals, speakers at a health insurance seminar here yesterday warned that the main trend restraining bigger increases - fewer people seeking health care in the past year - already may be changing.

9 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Political furor on contraceptive policy; Confusing estimates of Medicare's costs

The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

9 Feb 2012

Study reveals widening gap in suicide rates between Scotland and England & Wales

A new study has revealed the widening gap in suicide rates between Scotland and England & Wales due to a large extent to the number of young Scottish men taking their lives.

From The University of Manchester 9 Feb 2012

First study to examine how changes in fitness and fatness affect heart health

Good news for active adults fighting the battle of the bulge. Exercising and getting fit may protect your heart, even if you have a few extra pounds, according to a study published in the Feb. 14 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

9 Feb 2012

Higher blood levels of lead, cadmium may delay pregnancy in couples

Higher blood levels of cadmium in females, and higher blood levels of lead in males, delayed pregnancy in couples trying to become pregnant, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other academic research institutions.

9 Feb 2012

Breast-fed children less likely to develop obesity

Children of diabetic pregnancies have a greater risk of childhood obesity, but new research from the Colorado School of Public Health shows breastfeeding can reduce this threat.

8 Feb 2012

RV5 vaccination does not increase risk of intussusception in infants

Although some data have suggested a possible increased risk of intussusception (when a portion of the small or large intestine slides forward into itself, like a telescope) after administration of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in infants, an analysis that included almost 800,000 doses administered to U.S. infants found no increased risk of this condition following vaccination, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.

8 Feb 2012

Debate continues over needle/syringe exchange programs

Matt Fisher, a research assistant at the Center for Strategic & International Studies' Global Health Policy Center, summarizes the ongoing debate in Congress over needle and syringe exchange programs (NSEPs) in this post on the SmartGlobalHealth.org blog.

8 Feb 2012

ACR, AdMeTech and ESUR to expedite development of standards for MR PI-RADS

To improve early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, ACR, AdMeTech Foundation and ESUR have formed a joint effort to expedite development of standards for the Magnetic Resonance Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (MR PI-RADS) modeled after a successful effort in breast cancer care

8 Feb 2012

Communities with small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations

Counties and parishes with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations - with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes - than do those that rely on large companies with "absentee" owners, according to a national study by sociologists at LSU and Baylor University.

8 Feb 2012

Ten innovative public health demonstration projects to receive SAHM grants

The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) will award grants to fund ten innovative public health demonstration projects addressing barriers to vaccination among adolescents. The funding for the projects is supported by a grant to SAHM from Merck & Co. Inc.

8 Feb 2012

Southern Medical Journal now available for the iPad

In keeping with its mission of helping physicians to provide the best possible care to patients in an era of rapidly changing medical practice, the Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is now available for the iPad.

8 Feb 2012

Umbilical cord cleaning with chlorhexidine reduces infant's risk of infection

Cleansing a newborn's umbilical cord with chlorhexidine can reduce an infant's risk of infection and death during the first weeks of life by as much as 20 percent, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

8 Feb 2012