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UNFPA calls family planning an 'essential human right,' says meeting unmet need could save more than $11B annually

In its annual State of the World Population 2012 report, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday "called family planning an 'essential human right' and urged the world's nations to help meet the needs of 222 million women in developing countries," The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports.

16 Nov 2012

No link between asthma and poor educational performance

Research led by Queen Mary, University of London has found that having asthma is not linked to poorer scores in national school examinations. In contrast, ethnicity and social deprivation were associated with poorer educational outcomes in the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE.

16 Nov 2012

Longer looks: A dentist tries to clear his debt; Bringing mental health services to the marines; Learning to laugh in the doctor's office

His jaw clenched beneath a blue surgeon's mask, Opanin Gyaami jerks his right arm and pulls out a prize: the decayed tooth of patient Larry Butler, also known as state prison inmate J22312. By the time he is done, Gyaami's smock and mask are spotted with the inmate's blood. He gently pats Butler on the shoulder and wishes him well.

16 Nov 2012

ACOEM provides tools and resources to help employers manage diabetes

In recognition of November as National Diabetes Month, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) is providing tools and resources to help employers identify and respond to the impact of diabetes on worker health and productivity.

16 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Obama must tell allies that entitlements can't be excluded from fiscal deal; Medical device tax will thwart innovation

As bipartisan negotiations over avoiding the "fiscal cliff" draw nearer, many of President Obama's core Democratic supporters are urging him to fix the debt through defense cuts and tax increases rather than by tackling Social Security, Medicare and other federal entitlement programs. It's a reprise of progressive resistance to the entitlement trims Mr. Obama contemplated during the abortive debt-reduction negotiations with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) last year.

15 Nov 2012

Survey reveals increase in use of EMRs among U.S. primary care physicians

Two-thirds (69%) of U.S. primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records (EMRs) in 2012, up from less than half (46%) in 2009, according to findings from the 2012 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey, published as a Web First online today in the journal Health Affairs. Primary care physicians in the U.S.-the only country in the study without universal health coverage-stand out in the survey for reporting that their patients often cannot afford care (59%).

15 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 15, 2012

Today's headlines include the latest details on states' decisions about pursuing health exchanges as well as other political and policy developments.

15 Nov 2012

U.S. bishops promise to continue fight against health law's birth control mandate

Cardinal Dolan, the nation's top bishop, made clear that the Roman Catholic church will not comply with the Obama administration requirement regarding contraception coverage and will continue to fight it.

15 Nov 2012

Number of polio cases worldwide reaches record low, but experts say challenges remain

"The number of polio cases worldwide reached a record low in 2012, giving experts confidence that the disease can finally be eradicated, according to presentations made at" the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) in Atlanta on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports (11/13).

15 Nov 2012

Objections from India bar experts calling for global treaty against fake drug trade from WHO meeting

"A group of experts calling for a global treaty to stop the lethal trade in fake medicines has been barred from attending a World Health Organization meeting, highlighting deep divisions that are blocking progress on the subject," Reuters reports (Hirschler, 11/13).

15 Nov 2012

Have water throughout the day to prevent dehydration

Many people may have heard that on average our body weight is around 2/3 water of which 2.5 litres are lost daily. We get around 1 litre of water we need from our food but to balance the total loss the rest needs to be from the drinks we have. It's recommended to drink around 1.2 litres per day which is the equivalent of 8 x 150ml glasses.

15 Nov 2012

States wrestle with health exchange decisions

Even as state officials decide whether they will set up online insurance markets or allow the Obama administration to do it for them, some wonder if the federal government is up to the task. Decisions about the health law's Medicaid expansion are also on governors' minds.

15 Nov 2012

Report provides recommendations for action on TB among children

In a guest post on the Global Health Technology Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog, Mandy Slutsker, senior project associate with the ACTION Partnership, describes a new report that calls for increased efforts to fight tuberculosis (TB) among children worldwide (Lufkin, 11/13).

15 Nov 2012

Small Business Subcommittee chair presses for answers about health IT-related injury

Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., says she has been waiting for the Department of Health and Human Services to respond to her questions for five months.

15 Nov 2012

Money spent on presidential campaigns could go far in fighting NTDs

Noting that an estimated $2 billion was spent on the U.S. presidential campaigns, Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, writes in the Huffington Post "Healthy Living" blog, "Many of us in the global health community can only look upon that $2 billion figure in awe because of the potential for those dollars to be repurposed to immediately and dramatically improve the lives of the poorest people who suffer from disease."

15 Nov 2012

Simple ways to reduce risk of lung cancer

More than an estimated 160,000 people in the United States will die from lung cancer this year, making it the country's leading cause of cancer death. According to the National Cancer Institute, it surpassed breast cancer as the number one killer in women back in 1987. It causes more deaths than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined, according to the American Lung Association. Bruce Johnson, MD, the director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, sorts out the facts about lung cancer and offers simple ways to reduce risk.

15 Nov 2012

Joint U.N. assessment finds better harvests in DPR Korea but warns undernutrition persists among 2.8M vulnerable people

"There has been an increase in staple food production in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the second year running, but undernutrition persists for nearly three million people, according to a new United Nations assessment released" Monday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

15 Nov 2012

Female athletes more likely to suffer serious ACL knee injuries than males

Female athletes are far more likely than males to suffer serious ACL knee injuries.

15 Nov 2012

Roundup: Disparity in states' fiscal health; Ark. Medicaid shortfall threatens care; Mich. Blue Cross pushes to become nonprofit

Factors such as growing unfunded pension liabilities and burgeoning fixed costs related to programs like Medicaid are weighing down weaker states, while stronger states are benefiting from improved business conditions and strong employment growth, he said. A closer look at some specific metrics shows this fiscal disparity.

15 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Voters want Medicare protected in 'grand bargain;' Increases in taxes can't cover the 'fiscal cliff'; Kids' health needs more attention

As the ranking member on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, let me simply state the hard truth. To avoid the fiscal cliff and to get our budget deficit and the national debt under control, we need to do three things simultaneously: cut spending, increase revenue and have the courage to put everything on the table in a responsible, bipartisan manner.

15 Nov 2012

Healthcare News

UNFPA calls family planning an 'essential human right,' says meeting unmet need could save more than $11B annually

No link between asthma and poor educational performance

Longer looks: A dentist tries to clear his debt; Bringing mental health services to the marines; Learning to laugh in the doctor's office

ACOEM provides tools and resources to help employers manage diabetes

Viewpoints: Obama must tell allies that entitlements can't be excluded from fiscal deal; Medical device tax will thwart innovation

Survey reveals increase in use of EMRs among U.S. primary care physicians

First Edition: November 15, 2012

U.S. bishops promise to continue fight against health law's birth control mandate

Number of polio cases worldwide reaches record low, but experts say challenges remain

Objections from India bar experts calling for global treaty against fake drug trade from WHO meeting

Have water throughout the day to prevent dehydration

States wrestle with health exchange decisions

Report provides recommendations for action on TB among children

Small Business Subcommittee chair presses for answers about health IT-related injury

Money spent on presidential campaigns could go far in fighting NTDs

Simple ways to reduce risk of lung cancer

Joint U.N. assessment finds better harvests in DPR Korea but warns undernutrition persists among 2.8M vulnerable people

Female athletes more likely to suffer serious ACL knee injuries than males

Roundup: Disparity in states' fiscal health; Ark. Medicaid shortfall threatens care; Mich. Blue Cross pushes to become nonprofit

Viewpoints: Voters want Medicare protected in 'grand bargain;' Increases in taxes can't cover the 'fiscal cliff'; Kids' health needs more attention

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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