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Research examines racial and ethnic differences in strokes

Blacks who survived a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain had higher blood pressure than whites a year later, according to a study published today in the journal Stroke. The finding might help explain why blacks have a greater risk of suffering a second stroke than whites.

17 Aug 2012

'Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs' likely to be cost effective for both NHS and wider society

Specialised group yoga classes could provide a cost-effective way of treating patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain, according to the UK's largest ever study of the benefits of yoga.

17 Aug 2012

Springer publishes Principles of Research Methodology: A Guide for Clinical Investigators

How do you teach medical research? How do you design a good study or develop a workable hypothesis? How do you shape research to improve patient care? These and many more questions are addressed in an authoritative textbook detailing the clinical research process, written by researchers and clinicians at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and other institutions.

17 Aug 2012

Longer looks: A jack-of-all-trades surgeon takes care of Nantucket; Psychiatrist's controversial effort to use brain scans to diagnose mental problems

Dr. Tim Lepore, 67, is a jack-of-all-trades general surgeon, tending to the 10,000 full-time residents of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket and to the many thousand more rich and famous summer-dwellers. Dr. Lepore has dealt with everything from poison ivy and tick-borne illnesses to narcolepsy and toe tourniquet syndrome (when a mother's hair wraps around a baby's toe, cutting off circulation). He counsels alcoholics, and allows patients to barter for health care. He once accepted oatmeal cookies from an immigrant worker who had no money for treatment.

17 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 16, 2012

In this Kaiser Health News video, Insuring Your Health columnist Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about what you can do when insurance only covers a portion of an ambulance bill.

16 Aug 2012

Kessler Foundation to present recent findings in spinal cord injury research at ASCIP conference

Scientists from Kessler Foundation are presenting recent findings in spinal cord injury research during Beyond Boundaries: the 2012 Conference of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP).

16 Aug 2012

Surgeons perform two TAVR procedures at Toledo Hospital

Minimally invasive surgery is one of the biggest trends in health care as a safer alternative to major surgery. One of the newest procedures, approved this year by the Food and Drug Administration, is Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR).

16 Aug 2012

Medicare politics by the numbers?

The budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., assumed the same amount of Medicare savings as President Obama's health care law. News outlets report that both presidential campaigns are accusing the other of undermining the insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and attempt to separate fact from fiction.

16 Aug 2012

The life span of baby boomers

Most retirement plans and federal budget projections assume baby boomers -- those Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- will live significantly longer than their parents have. That is a logical assumption, given health care improvements, new drugs and the long 20th century experience of ever-rising life expectancies.

16 Aug 2012

Florida is ground zero in battle for seniors' votes

Florida's 29 electoral votes appear to be among the most sought-after prizes as both campaigns craft their Medicare messages to woo the state's older voters.

16 Aug 2012

Universal health coverage achieved by Mexico in less than a decade

Mexico has achieved universal health coverage in less than ten years, with more than 50 million previously uninsured Mexicans enrolling on a public medical insurance scheme since 2004.

16 Aug 2012

IRIN examines expected surge of doctors in Ethiopia

"Ethiopia is preparing for a flood of medical doctors within 'three to four years,' an influx meant to save a public health system that has been losing doctors and specialists to internal and external migration," IRIN reports.

16 Aug 2012

HCA's profit trail: Billing, staffing and ER care changes

HCA's robust profit growth has raised the value of the firms' holdings to nearly three and a half times their initial investment in the $33 billion deal. The financial performance has been so impressive that HCA has become a model for the industry.

16 Aug 2012

Study examines environmental and biological impacts on children with cleft lip and palate

Children with cleft lip and/or palate encounter different challenges throughout the course of their development. Both environmental and biological factors play a role, and can affect speech, academic performance, and behavior. Research has shown varying influences, including the type of cleft, gender, and age, affecting outcomes.

16 Aug 2012

Medicare debate reverberates in House and Senate races

The New York Times reports that with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to be his running mate, the fight to control Congress may face a new twist.

16 Aug 2012

Obama team sees opportunity in Ryan's record on abortion

News outlets report that the policy positions taken on abortion and contraception issues by Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate pick, could widen the so-called gender gap.

16 Aug 2012

Achieving AIDS-free generation worth more than Olympic gold

In this post in Huffington Post's "Healthy Living" blog, John-Manuel Andriote, a journalist and author living with HIV, asks, "For all of us living with HIV infection -- Oct. 27 will mark seven years since my own diagnosis -- the question we face daily, hopefully more consciously and deliberately than most, is how shall we live, knowing as we do that we will most assuredly die one day?"

16 Aug 2012

Poor families fear they are forgotten in Medicaid expansion debate

The Associated Press looks at the dilemma for many poor people who had expected to get health coverage under the 2010 federal law.

16 Aug 2012

WFP appeals for $48M in food aid for Malawi; Britain gives $4.7M

"The U.N.'s World Food Programme [WFP] said Tuesday it needs $48 million in food aid for about 11 percent of Malawi's population who will face hunger due to bad crops," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Aug 2012

U.S. military medical team supports Botswana HIV prevention efforts

In an article on the U.S. Department of Defense webpage, the American Forces Press Service reports on how a U.S. military medical team is helping the Botswana Defense Force "to promote Botswana's national program of education, HIV screening and male circumcision surgeries to stem what's become a national epidemic," according to Army Col. Michael Kelly, an Army Reserve surgeon deployed in Botswana from the Army Reserve Medical Command in Washington.

16 Aug 2012