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An in-depth look at how a Medicaid block grant would work

Kansas Health Institute News published a package of stories detailing how the block grant concept works, the pros and cons of this approach, and the history of such proposals.

4 May 2011

House Republicans continue health law defunding push

More bills will move through the House this week designed to strip funding from specific provisions of the health law. The Obama administration has made clear its opposition - even threatened vetoes.

4 May 2011

Study: 15% of U.S. nursing homes receive infection control deficiency citation per year

Fifteen percent of U.S. nursing homes receive deficiency citations for infection control per year, according to a new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

4 May 2011

Scientists discover new mitochondria regulation mechanism

Scientists have discovered a new component of mitochondria that plays a key part in their function. The discovery, which is presented in the journal Cell Metabolism, is of potential significance to our understanding of both inherited and age-related diseases.

4 May 2011

New reports predict impending doctor shortage

In addition, researchers find that where there are more family physicians, readmission rates are lower.

4 May 2011

Yale, Debiopharm partner to develop and commercialize Debio 1036 for inflammatory diseases

Debiopharm Group, a global biopharmaceutical development specialist that focuses on serious medical conditions and particularly oncology, and Yale University, a premier university with a long tradition of both basic and clinically directed biomedical research, announce an exclusive worldwide license agreement concerning the development and commercialization of Debio 1036, a first-in-class inhibitor for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

4 May 2011

ChipDX identifies gene expression signature in early-stage breast tumors

ChipDX LLC, a New York-based molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine research company, has discovered a gene expression signature present in the cells of early-stage breast tumors that indicates the chance of the tumor recurring within 10 years.

4 May 2011

FDA clears Sectra's digital mammography system

Women in the US will now have the same opportunity as million of European women already have; to undergo mammography with significantly lower radiation dose. This is the result of FDA's clearance of the Swedish IT and medical technology company Sectra's digital mammography system, Sectra MicroDose Mammography.

4 May 2011

Save the Children releases annual global mother's index

Afghanistan is "the worst place to be a mother, with women having a life expectancy of 45 years - the world's lowest - and one of every 11 women dying in childbirth," according to Save the Children's annual State of the World's Mothers report, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

4 May 2011

New book on the myth of junk DNA

Forty years ago scientists discovered that more than 95% of our DNA does not encode proteins. Since then the non-protein-coding portion was labeled "junk" and attributed to molecular accidents that have accumulated in the course of evolution.

4 May 2011

Global climate change could increase future heat wave mortality

Global climate change is anticipated to bring more extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves that could impact human health in the coming decades.

4 May 2011

New online tool can help evaluate and improve emergency communications

Leveraging Israel's experience in dealing with crises on a daily basis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher, Dr. Zvi Reich, has launched a new online tool to help and evaluate and improve crisis preparedness and emergency communications.

4 May 2011

U.N. Commission releases recommendations aimed at improving accountability on women's and children's health

The U.N. Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health on Monday concluded a meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and announced a new set of recommendations aimed at improving the accountability of women's and children's health programs in the developing world, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

4 May 2011

New nano-vault delivery system can fight cancer

UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, harnessing the body's natural defenses to fight disease growth.

4 May 2011

New research sheds light on origins of cryptococcal fungal infection

New research has shed light on the origins of a fungal infection which is one of the major causes of death from AIDS-related illnesses. The study, published today in the journal PLoS Pathogens, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the BBSRC, shows how the more virulent forms of Cryptococcus neoformans evolved and spread out of Africa and into Asia.

4 May 2011

NCPA explains how PBM tools can reduce costs in Texas, other states

Texas and other states across the country could save billions in Medicaid without limiting access by transitioning to a more efficient and affordable pharmacy benefit model being used in Medicare and the commercial sector, the National Center for Policy Analysis announced in a new white paper, "Increasing the Cost-Effectiveness of Medicaid Drug Programs."

4 May 2011

FTC, FDA take action on unproven STD drug products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission today announced a joint effort to remove products from the market that make unproven claims to treat, cure, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

4 May 2011

New MIT drug-delivery nanoparticle could target any type of tumor

MIT chemical engineers have designed a new type of drug-delivery nanoparticle that exploits a trait shared by almost all tumors: They are more acidic than healthy tissues.

4 May 2011

Fat stem cells may help develop new regenerative therapies for cardiovascular disease

Stem cells extracted from body fat may pave the way for the development of new regenerative therapies including soft tissue reconstruction following tumor removal or breast mastectomy surgery, the development of tissue-engineered cartilage or bone, and the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

4 May 2011

Opinions: U.S. development aid, commitment to women; R&D partnerships and development

Once again, Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers report has ranked Afghanistan, where one in 11 women die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, the worst place in the world to be a mother, which "is not surprising," Ret. Army Col. John Agoglia, who served as director of the Counterinsurgency Training Center-Afghanistan in Kabul from 2008-2010, writes in a Politico opinion piece.

4 May 2011