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New project to explore European diet and healthy ageing

People are living longer. Rising living standards, improved lifestyle and better education, as well as greater access to quality healthcare services has meant that we can expect to reach 78 years of age, an increase of six years compared to the 1980s. However, data also shows that Europeans live to just over 60 years without being limited in their day-to-day activities by ill-health or disabilities.

6 May 2011

Longer looks: States creating health compacts; IPAB under fire; is GOP redefining rape?

In late April, Colorado and Oklahoma became the latest states to vote on whether to join an interstate agreement with like-minded legislatures to put health care decisions more firmly into the hands of state governments.

6 May 2011

CJASN: Only few US medical students adopt nephrology as a career

Kidney disease affects 1 in 9 US adults, and by 2020 more than 750,000 Americans will be on dialysis or awaiting kidney transplant. Despite this growing health problem, every year fewer US medical students adopt nephrology as a career, according to a review appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

6 May 2011

UPMC signs affiliation agreement with Aetna to expand health plan access in Pittsburgh

Aetna and UPMC announced today that they have reached agreement on a contract that expands access to include all of UPMC's hospitals and affiliated physicians in Aetna's Western Pennsylvania network for the first time since 2001.

6 May 2011

Survey: Only 12% of black stroke patients call 9-1-1 after experiencing symptoms

Most African-Americans say they'd call 9-1-1 if stroke symptoms occurred — but few do, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

6 May 2011

Quinnipiac poll finds voters dislike GOP plans to revamp Medicare, Medicaid

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reports that, based on these results, Republicans have some selling to do, and The Washington Post gets back to basics with a primer on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

6 May 2011

Parents' work influences how often family meals are eaten outside of home

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans are spending about half their food budget in restaurants. As it is widely known, food prepared away from home, as compared to food prepared at home, is often higher in calories, saturated fat, and sodium.

6 May 2011

Despite expanded Medicare coverage racial disparities continue in colorectal cancer screening

Despite expanded Medicare coverage for colorectal cancer screening tests, lower rates still exist among blacks and Hispanics compared to other ethnic groups, according to research published in Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

6 May 2011

AHRQ finds 3 million hospital emergency visits for headaches during 2008

More than 3 million Americans went to hospital emergency rooms seeking relief from headaches and there were 81,000 hospitals admissions, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

6 May 2011

Kaiser Permanente awards $7.7 million as 217 grants during first quarter, 2011

Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest not-for-profit health care organizations, announced today that it has funded 217 grants nationwide, totaling approximately $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2011.

6 May 2011

Penn State nursing professor receives NIH grant to improve oral hygiene for dementia patients

People with dementia may soon have improved oral hygiene because of a National Institutes of Health $1.4 million, four-year grant to Rita A. Jablonski, assistant professor of nursing, Penn State.

6 May 2011

U.S. Army and VA team up to provide simulation-based training for medical staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of the Army are working together to provide cutting-edge simulation-based training for medical staff to enhance the quality of patient care at VA medical facilities across the Nation.

6 May 2011

Lawmakers question U.S. aid program to Pakistan in wake of Bin Laden's death

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) on Wednesday "urged a halt to an aid program for flood victims in Pakistan in the wake of revelations that slain al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden lived there unperturbed for years," Agence France-Presse reports.

6 May 2011

Opponents offer dire warnings about Medicaid block grant proposal

The plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to transform this program has been the subject of much of the concern. However, another alternative, this one offered by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and based on "global cap" for federal spending, is also getting negative reviews from Medicaid advocates.

6 May 2011