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Republicans attack health law, call for Senate repeal vote; Obama to defend law in SOTU

News outlets previewed the President's State of the Union address and discussed how the health law repeal vote might fare in the Senate.

24 Jan 2011

MGH research sheds light on mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.

24 Jan 2011

Rotavirus vaccine significantly cuts child hospitalizations, study says

Developing and developed countries that require children to be vaccinated against rotavirus "have significantly reduced the number of children admitted to hospitals with the disease, a report showed on Thursday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 1/20).

24 Jan 2011

Sen. Barrasso calls for Senate to move on health repeal

Following House passage of the healthcare repeal, a Republican senator used the GOP's weekly address to urge the upper chamber to scrap the law. "Ask yourself - are you better off or worse off now that the healthcare law has been on the books for almost a year?" Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said. Barrasso said the new House Republican majority had "kept its promise" to voters by advancing a repeal of the healthcare law. "Now it's the Senate's turn," he said.

24 Jan 2011

CT scans can help physicians to diagnose abdominal pain, reduce health care costs

The use of CT scanning to evaluate abdominal pain in emergency departments can help physicians arrive at a diagnosis quickly and decisively. A study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and appearing in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology also finds that information provided by CT scans changed treatment plans for almost half the patients studied and significantly reduced probable hospital admissions.

24 Jan 2011

Los Angeles Society of Pathologists honors LA BioMed researcher with Lifetime Achievement Award

The Los Angeles Society of Pathologists, Inc. presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Samuel W. French, MD, a principal investigator at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, on Jan. 15.

24 Jan 2011

College of Osteopathic Medicine receives grant to develop training program for medical students

Nova Southeastern University's medical school, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, recently received a $2.3 million federal grant to develop an academic curriculum to train medical and other students in the health professions to better meet the needs of patients in a changing national health care system.

24 Jan 2011

Tips for parents to prevent infant abduction

What can parents do to prevent an infant abduction from occurring? Here are some tips that Sharon M. Rossi, R.N.C., M.S., director of Women's and Children's Services at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, says every parent needs to know and follow.

24 Jan 2011

Bluecross awards UTHSC $2,912,751 grant to promote patient safety

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has been awarded a $2,912,751 grant from the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation to fund its "Promoting Patient Safety Through Teamwork-Focused Interdisciplinary Simulations Program."

24 Jan 2011

CHIL receives $23.7 NIFA grant to prevent young child obesity

The Children's Healthy Living Program for Remote Underserved Minority Populations in the Pacific Region recently received $23.7 in funding from the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

24 Jan 2011

HIMSS establishes new Latino Initiative to focus on health IT needs

With the Hispanic population as the nation's largest minority, HIMSS announces the establishment of a new HIMSS Latino Initiative to focus on health IT needs for the rapidly growing Hispanic/Latino market.

23 Jan 2011

HMS receives ONC-ATB certification for electronic health record

Healthcare Management Systems, announced today it has received certification from Drummond Group, an Authorized Testing and Certification Body of the Office of the National Coordinator.

23 Jan 2011

Kaiser Permanente's 2010 charitable contributions top $35 million

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, the area's largest not-for-profit health plan and care provider, announced today that its 2010 charitable contributions topped $35 million. Approximately $25 million was used for direct medical care and insurance coverage for uninsured and underserved residents of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and another $10 million in grants, donations, and sponsorships went to organizations that support the health of the region.

21 Jan 2011

Medicare warnings, entitlement cuts draw attention

Meanwhile, KQED reports on efforts to coordinate coverage for baby-boomers who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid.

21 Jan 2011

Looking beyond repeal vote, House Republicans plan their own health bills

The House GOP moved forward Thursday with targeted measures to advance their own version of health legislation. Four committee chairmen outlined plans to develop specific plans to kill or replace certain elements of the health law. A bill to permit interstate sales of health insurance is among the specific proposals on the table, and a group of conservative Republicans also unveiled a fiscal plan that would stall health law implementation efforts by defunding them.

21 Jan 2011

USC School of Medicine to host the first World Congress of Ultrasound in Medical Education

Ultrasound is a valuable tool that allows doctors to diagnose and treat patients quickly and accurately. It's been around for decades, but there has been revolutionary change in the technology in recent years, making the machines smaller, cheaper and smarter.

21 Jan 2011

Possible hospital merger in Mass. could accelerate trend toward consolidation

News outlets also report on another hospital merger as well as how a Minnesota psychiatric hospital gathered the necessary funds and support to be built.

21 Jan 2011

Three Senate Dems urge Boehner to move quickly to delete health law reporting requirement

Though it is generally accepted that the GOP repeal effort is finding little-to-no traction among Senate Democrats, some of these lawmakers are urging House GOP leaders to move fast to undo a small health law provision that requires business to file certain tax forms. The provision, which is not directly related to health care, is a revenue raiser for the sweeping overhaul, but has been very unpopular in the business community.

21 Jan 2011

Anti-depressants are passing into waterways and affecting fish

Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish. The findings are internationally significant as the city's sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities, and moreover, it is reputed to be the third largest treatment system in the world.

21 Jan 2011