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Roundup: Md. to release cancer control plan; funding cut at Texas mental health centers

Maryland health officials plan to release today their newest plan to control cancer, a set of diseases responsible for one in four deaths in the state. The officials say the plan to be used by health care providers, policy makers, communities and individuals is ambitious, aiming to save some 1,200 more people a year. Now, about 10,000 Marylander die a year from all kinds of cancer.

27 Jul 2011

Viewpoints: The effects of the debt debate; Medicare's birthday; N.Y. drug plan

In the scramble to cut the nation's debt burden, President Obama, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans have proposed squeezing money out of Medicare by changing the way it pays for prescription drugs.

27 Jul 2011

NY Times: 10 states will be subject to insurance rate reviews by feds

The Obama administration will soon take over the review of health insurance rates in 10 states where it says state officials do not adequately regulate premiums for insurance sold to individuals or small businesses.

27 Jul 2011

FUJIFILM announces commercial availability of Synapse version 6.0

FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A. today announced the commercial availability of version 6.0, the latest version of the company's Synapse RIS and Synapse TeleRIS applications.

26 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 26, 2011

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "In the controlled chaos of an hospital emergency department, ensuring that patients are pain-free and can make informed choices about their care often takes a back seat to assessing and stabilizing them and moving them through the system as fast as possible.

26 Jul 2011

Superdrug, Orabrush to market tongue cleaner in 500 locations across the UK

Orabrush today announced that Superdrug will begin carrying the Orabrush tongue cleaner in 500 locations across the United Kingdom. Recently awarded UK's Best For Personal Care by Verdict Research, Superdrug is the UK's second-largest beauty and health retailer.

26 Jul 2011

Western Dental Services to inaugurate new facility in Gilroy

Western Dental Services, Inc., California's neighborhood dentist and one of the nation's leading dental health maintenance organizations, is opening a family dentistry, specialty and orthodontics office in Gilroy, on July 30 -- during the city's famous Garlic Festival.

26 Jul 2011

Physician-targeted education campaign reduces outpatient antibiotic use in Quebec

Antibiotic overuse and resistance have emerged as major threats during the past two decades. Following an outbreak of Clostridium difficile infections, which often result from antibiotic use, health care professionals in Quebec, Canada targeted physicians and pharmacists with an education campaign that reduced outpatient antibiotic use, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online.

26 Jul 2011

Rwandan government pushing for sanitation facilities in every household

Rwanda "is one of only four countries in Africa which look set to achieve Millennium Development Goal 7 to ensure environmental sustainability, which includes halving the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation," Inter Press Service reports in an article examining hygiene and sanitation in the country.

26 Jul 2011

East Africa famine highlights need for better science communications

The drought in the Horn of Africa "emphasizes the gap between our rapidly increasing ability to predict disasters, thanks largely to advances in science and technology, and our capacity to generate the political will to carry out effective mitigation strategies," according to a SciDev.Net opinion piece by editor David Dickson.

26 Jul 2011

The evolution of hospice from its charitable roots to big business

As hospice care has evolved from its charitable roots into a $14 billion business run mostly for profit, patients ... and their families have paid a steep price, according to lawsuits and federal investigations.

26 Jul 2011

Canadian Red Cross announces significant contribution to support relief efforts in Horn of Africa

The Canadian Red Cross has committed $1 million to support relief efforts in Kenya and Somalia. This money will be used to support the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Somali Red Crescent in their efforts to help provide immediate life-saving assistance and help people recover their livelihoods.

26 Jul 2011

Gridlock continues despite push to reach debt-ceiling deal

Democratic and Republican leaders are preparing their own backup plans as possibilities for a bipartisan approach appear increasingly dim. Both political and policy-oriented differences are making the process difficult. Medicare, Medicaid, other entitlement programs and even Tricare are in play. All the while, the deadline continues its approach.

26 Jul 2011

Conference to discuss autism research and awareness in Bangladesh, South East Asia

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh, the Centre for Neurodevelopment & Autism in Children, and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hosted the first regional conference titled "Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities in Bangladesh and South East Asia."

26 Jul 2011

UH student receives prestigious 2011 Ima Hogg Scholarship for Mental Health

Ana Luisa Laws, a second-year student in the master of social work program at the University of Houston (UH) Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW), is one of five outstanding graduate students in Texas to receive the prestigious 2011 Ima Hogg Scholarship for Mental Health.

26 Jul 2011

Britain, Australia urge international community to assist in drought relief

Andrew Mitchell, Britain's international development secretary, and Kevin Rudd, Australia's foreign minister, describe their countries' responses to the drought and famine in East Africa in an Independent opinion piece.

26 Jul 2011

Preventing bioterrorism worldwide

Around the globe, many nations are realizing that the potential for bioterrorism isn't just about the U.S., officials say. And because an intentional introduction of bacteria, a virus or a toxin could happen anywhere, the World Organization for Animal Health is issuing a paper aimed at prevention.

26 Jul 2011

House GOP, Senate Dems unveil rival debt-ceiling plans

With the clock ticking toward the Aug. 2 deadline, details of the two very different plans emerged. Significant savings in the House GOP plan would be squeezed for government entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, while the Senate Dems' approach would leave Medicare unchanged.

26 Jul 2011

Symposium on early childhood dental disease

Leaders in medicine and dentistry will meet in Seattle July 28-29 to discuss a new approach in the fight against childhood dental disease: enlisting family physicians and pediatricians.

26 Jul 2011

Book on human papilloma virus

A pair of oncologists in the Program in Women's Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island recently co-authored a pocket-sized guide to the human papilloma virus (HPV) so physicians can make more accurate diagnosis and plan more effective treatment for women with the virus.

26 Jul 2011