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High costs of cancer drugs may harm patients, say experts

The extremely high prices of recent cancer drugs "may be causing harm to patients," a large group of international leukemia experts warns.

3 May 2013

Loyola takes steps to educate children about sun safety

Having one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person's chance of developing melanoma later in life, yet less than one-third of all young people take the proper steps to protect their skin from excessive sun exposure, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

3 May 2013

Medicaid expansion: Where do states stand?

Stateline reports that seven states could still go either way on pursuing this element of the health law. Kaiser Health News examines Arkansas' approach, viewed by many as a "deal-making compromise" for some states.

3 May 2013

Five sudden signs and symptoms of stroke

Stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States. Each year an estimated 795,000 people in this country experience a stroke. That's approximately the equivalent of every man, woman and child living in Anaheim and Long Beach combined.

3 May 2013

UAB study evaluates crash risk for elderly drivers who always drive with pets

Senior drivers who always take a pet in the car are at increased risk for being involved in a motor vehicle collision, said University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers.

3 May 2013

Study shows culture of health model reduces employee health costs at PPG Industries

A comprehensive program focusing on "growing a culture of health" has led to a reduction in employee health costs at PPG Industries, according to a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

3 May 2013

Hospitals warn of lost jobs, patient services after proposed payment changes

Changes in how hospitals are paid make news in Minnesota -- where the state's largest health plan will delay a new payment system -- and Maryland -- where hospitals say a cut in pay to them will mean fewer jobs and patient services.

3 May 2013

GOP lawmakers offer Medicaid 'per capita cap' plan

The proposal was offered by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee.

3 May 2013

New study shows that exercise does not worsen pain associated with fibromyalgia

For many people who have fibromyalgia, even the thought of exercising is painful. Yet a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center shows that exercise does not worsen the pain associated with the disorder and may even lessen it over time.

3 May 2013

Concerns surround medical records privacy issues

The sharing of Americans' health information is set to explode in coming years, with millions of patients' medical records converted to electronic form and analyzed by health-care providers, insurers, regulators and researchers.

3 May 2013

Early rate requests from insurers provide few clues for small businesses attempting to determine costs

The Associated Press reports that, because many steps remain in the rate setting process, the initial rates announced by insurers do not offer "clarity."

3 May 2013

The Guardian examines new reports on nutrition spending

The Guardian examines two new reports on nutrition spending. "Ambitions to eradicate world hunger will not be realized if aid for basic nutrition remains at only 0.4 percent of total official development assistance (ODA), according to the research group Development Initiatives (DI)," the newspaper writes.

2 May 2013

Fluoride in drinking water and oral-care products prevents tooth decay, shows research

In an advance toward solving a 50-year-old mystery, scientists are reporting new evidence on how the fluoride in drinking water, toothpastes, mouth rinses and other oral-care products prevents tooth decay.

2 May 2013

First Edition: May 2, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about a new study detailing how expanded Medicaid access impacts beneficiaries' utilization of health care services and their overall physical health.

2 May 2013

May issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The May issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial examining policy coherence for improved medical innovation and access, a public health news roundup, several research papers on maternal and child health, and a review of 12-month antiretroviral therapy outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, among other articles (May 2013).

2 May 2013

To reach 'FP2020' goal, targets must be re-examined

Participants at the 2012 London Family Planning Summit "pledged $2.6 billion dollars in additional funding to achieve a worthy goal: provide 120 million new women who have 'unmet need' with family planning products and services by 2020 in 69 of the world's poorest countries," a movement dubbed "FP2020," Christopher Purdy, executive vice president of DKT International, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

2 May 2013

UNICEF, partners step up measles immunization campaign in Middle East; U.K. provides funding for WFP work in region

UNICEF and its partners "have stepped up vaccination campaigns in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey amid measles outbreaks in a region already struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of people affected by ongoing conflict in Syria," the U.N. News Centre reports (4/30).

2 May 2013

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Goosby to visit India this week

Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Health Diplomacy and the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, "is travelling to India this week to recognize the successful health partnership between the two countries, an official statement said," the Press Trust of India/Business Standard reports.

2 May 2013

PLOS 'Q&A' blog post highlights PLOS Medicine series

In the latest installment of the PLOS "Speaking of Medicine" blog's Q&A series, Pamela Collins, director of the Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health at the National Institute of Mental Health and "the corresponding author of a series of Policy Forum articles in PLOS Medicine that provides a global perspective on integrating mental health," answers questions "about some of the topics discussed in the new series, which will be published in PLOS Medicine weekly for the next five weeks, starting with the publication [on Tuesday] of a Policy Forum article discussing integration in research, policy, and practice."

2 May 2013

Survey: Half of U.S. plastic surgeons use social media platforms in their professional practice

Half of U.S. plastic surgeons are using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms in their professional practice, according to a survey in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

2 May 2013