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ER could be a good place to identify undiagnosed eating disorders among teens

Could the emergency room be a good place to spot undiagnosed eating disorders among teens, and help steer them to treatment? A new study from the University of Michigan suggests that could be the case.

20 Nov 2012

A closer look into the meningitis outbreak's unwitting enablers

Randall Kinnard's legal clients had steroids injected into their backs last summer for a wide range of reasons. ... Now the 25 -- or their survivors -- have engaged Mr. Kinnaird, one of Nashville's leading lawyers, to sue the New England Compounding Center.

20 Nov 2012

Injured patients with high blood alcohol levels less likely to die in hospitals

Injured patients were less likely to die in the hospital if they had alcohol in their blood, according to a study from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health -- and the more alcohol, the more likely they were to survive.

20 Nov 2012

Washington Post examines polio eradication efforts in Pakistan

The Washington Post reports on polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, writing, "[O]verall trends in Pakistan, where nearly 30 million children have been vaccinated in recent years, are encouraging."

20 Nov 2012

MSF clinic helping to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone

Some pregnant women in Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, must travel more than 50 miles for health care services, but a Medecins Sans Frontieres clinic and ambulance service established in a remote region has helped reduce maternal mortality in the area by 61 percent, Al Jazeera reports.

20 Nov 2012

Primordial deploys new RealTime system at NYU Langone

Primordial, a leading vendor of workflow applications for the medical imaging market, announced today the first two deployments of Primordial RealTime -- a real-time Electronic Whiteboard and Operational Tracking Platform -- at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York and Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC.

20 Nov 2012

GOP governors welcome extension on health exchange decision

Last week was marked by a flurry of state-level activity related to the health law's insurance exchanges: News outlets run down which states have decided to develop their own marketplaces and which will defer to the federal government. A number of states, many with Republican state executives, are still seeking more information.

20 Nov 2012

Commitment, teamwork needed to control, eliminate NTDs by 2020

The focus of the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases: Translating the London Declaration into Action conference, which took place November 16-18 in Washington, D.C., was "how we can work together to put the right systems in place and implement the change needed" to control or eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020, Simon Bush, director of NTDs at Sightsavers, writes in the Huffington Post U.K.'s "Impact" blog.

20 Nov 2012

Uninsured patients could be twice as likely to die after brain cancer surgery

Uninsured patients who undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor could be twice as likely to die in the hospital as those who have the same operation but are privately insured, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. In teaching hospitals, where most neurosurgical procedures take place, those with government-subsidized insurance in the form of Medicaid were found in the same study to have rates of survival closer to those who are privately insured.

20 Nov 2012

Most African countries not on track to achieve MDGs, U.N. officials say

"Most African countries are lagging behind in achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] and will not make as much progress in health, nutrition and sanitation as had hoped, U.N. officials said" on Thursday, the Associated Press/ABC News reports.

20 Nov 2012

Aging care: Hospices seek better image; New nursing home database released

People often have one regret about hospice care: that they didn't get it sooner. The hospice system has been caring for terminally ill patients and their families for decades; 42 percent of the 2.4 million Americans who died last year were under hospice care at the end. Now, hospices across the country are trying to rebrand and reposition themselves to reach patients earlier and erase the idea that turning to hospice is akin to "giving up."

20 Nov 2012

New international food assistance convention to take effect on January 1

"A new international food assistance convention will come into force on January 1 next year after the European Union ratified it this week, but critics say it lacks teeth," AlertNet reports.

20 Nov 2012

Global development partners meet in Washington to discuss NTD control efforts

"'Hundreds of millions of children and adults in Africa live at risk of disfigurement, impaired development, blindness, and even death from seven major preventable so-called neglected tropical diseases [NTDs], including river blindness, elephantiasis, trachoma, and various types of intestinal parasites,' said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the opening of a November 16-18 conference in Washington D.C.: Uniting to Combat NTDs: Translating the London Declaration into Action," the World Bank reports in an article on its webpage.

20 Nov 2012

World Toilet Day aims to break taboos, encourage construction of clean toilets

World Toilet Day, recognized annually on November 19, "aims to break the taboo around loos and basic hygiene," the Guardian reports. The newspaper continues, "Some 57 countries are seriously off-track to meet the target within Millennium Development Goal [MDG] seven to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation; around 2.5 billion people lack access to a clean toilet."

20 Nov 2012

John Templeton Foundation to continue and extend meditation research project

The John Templeton Foundation has awarded a grant of $2.3 million over three years to continue and extend the Shamatha Project, the most comprehensive investigation yet conducted into the effects of intensive meditation training on mind and body.

20 Nov 2012

When it comes to surgery, businesses increasingly want workers to shop around

It's all part of a growing movement by employers fed up with wildly different price tags for routine operations. In response, businesses are showering workers with generous incentives - including waiving deductibles or handing out $2,500 bonuses - to steer them to these top-performing providers offering bargain prices.

20 Nov 2012

Drug shortages a new way of life in providing care; Lawmakers call for investigation

As health care facilities struggle to keep inventories of key medicines, some are resorting to risky practices. Meanwhile, six members of Congress seek GAO probe of pharmaceutical contracting so see if it has hurt generic drugmakers and added to shortages.

20 Nov 2012