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Manipulating hormone-producing cells in the brain may help control blood sugar levels

Manipulating a group of hormone-producing cells in the brain can control blood sugar levels in the body - a discovery that has dramatic potential for research into weight-loss drugs and diabetes treatment.

10 Aug 2012

GOP governors respond to CMS signs of flexibility regarding Medicaid expansion

CQ HealthBeat reports that some Republican state executives were not impressed with the decision by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials to allow states that proceed with expansion plans now to scale back their Medicaid programs later.

10 Aug 2012

New subtype of Ewing sarcoma discovered

A new study of the genetic makeup, or genome, of Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes children, teenagers, and young adults, has produced multiple discoveries: a previously unknown sarcoma subtype, genetic factors related to long-term survival, and identification of a genetic change between the primary and metastatic stages of the disease that could lead to better, more targeted treatment.

10 Aug 2012

Blog examines success of community-led sanitation program in Afghanistan

In this post in Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog, Abdul Qawi Qadiri, WASH coordinator for Baghlan Province in Afghanistan, writes about how a community-led program in the village of Baghalak has helped to reduce the incidence of infectious illnesses, particularly diarrheal diseases.

10 Aug 2012

Molecular missteps disrupt brain function in adult-onset muscular dystrophy

The molecular missteps that disrupt brain function in the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy have been revealed in a new study published by Cell Press. Myotonic dystrophy is marked by progressive muscle wasting and weakness, as well as excessive daytime sleepiness, memory problems, and mental retardation.

10 Aug 2012

VOA examines impacts of U.S. drought on global food security

VOA News examines the impacts of drought in the U.S. on global food security. "More than half the United States is experiencing the dual problems of too little rain and temperatures that are too high," the news service writes, adding, "Shenggen Fan, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute [IFPRI], said that's not only driving up prices, but contributing to price volatility as well."

10 Aug 2012

Plausible way to manipulate beneficial microbes in purified drinking water

Contrary to popular belief, purified drinking water from home faucets contains millions to hundreds of millions of widely differing bacteria per gallon, and scientists have discovered a plausible way to manipulate those populations of mostly beneficial microbes to potentially benefit consumers. Their study appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

10 Aug 2012

Sustaining focus on global hunger critical to improving transparency, accountability in fight against malnutrition

"Malnutrition is easily neglected by parents, communities and governments," Lawrence Haddad, director of the Institute of Development Studies, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog," adding, "The signs are not visible until very acute, the impacts are felt long after the food and infection cycle has played out -- and far beyond electoral cycles -- and the causes are often mistakenly attributed to something else."

10 Aug 2012

Doctors may underestimate importance of small set of risks that vex patients

Most informed consent disputes involve disagreements about who said what and when, not stand-offs over whether a particular risk ought to have been disclosed. But doctors may "routinely underestimate the importance of a small set of risks that vex patients" according to international experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.

10 Aug 2012

Philippines appeals for aid following widespread flooding in Manila

"Philippine authorities appealed Thursday for help in getting relief to two million people affected by deadly floods in and around the capital, warning that evacuation centers were overwhelmed," Agence France-Presse reports (Morella, 8/9).

10 Aug 2012

New technology for healthcare based on aviation security system

Researchers in the North West are investigating whether tools pioneered in aviation security can be used to help prevent complications after surgery.

10 Aug 2012

New York Times blog examines gap in surgical care in developing world

In this post in the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog, journalist Sarika Bansal reports on a gap in surgical care in developing countries, writing, "It is conservatively estimated that 56 million people in sub-Saharan Africa -- over twice the number living with HIV/AIDS -- need a surgery today," but, "across the developing world, surgical care often does not reach those who need it."

10 Aug 2012

Boys are little more susceptible to both bad and good exposures

A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health found that, at age 7, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures.

10 Aug 2012

African leaders, international community must act on commitments made at London family planning summit

In this UNFPA opinion piece, Babatunde Osotimehin, U.N. under-secretary-general and UNFPA executive director, and Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, reflect on last month's London Summit on Family Planning, where "leaders from 18 African countries made unprecedented commitments -- financially and politically -- to strengthen their family planning programs,"

10 Aug 2012

Breakthrough vaccine against deadly Nipah virus

A major breakthrough in the development of a highly effective vaccine against the deadly Nipah virus has been reported by a team of federal and university scientists. The results of their study, "A Hendra virus G glycoprotein subunit vaccine protects African green monkeys from Nipah virus challenge," will appear in Science Translational Medicine online.

10 Aug 2012

In Colorado, Obama focuses on women's health issues

Campaigning in the western swing state, President Barack Obama said his opponent, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, would take women's health care back to the 1950s.

10 Aug 2012

Less sleep leads to more offspring in male pectoral sandpipers

During the breeding season, polygynous male pectoral sandpipers that sleep the least sire the most young. A team of researchers headed by Bart Kempenaers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen has now discovered this extraordinary relationship.

10 Aug 2012

Even during August break, congressional health policy concerns draw headlines

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., is working to build support for new legislation to expand Medicare's nursing home coverage while Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., notes problems within the Indian Health Service. All the while, the health law's contraception coverage mandate continues to trigger disputes.

10 Aug 2012

New life for forgotten technique in detecting resistant tuberculosis

Scientists of the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine have breathed new life into a forgotten technique and so succeeded in detecting resistant tuberculosis in circumstances where so far this was hardly feasible. Tuberculosis bacilli that have become resistant against our major antibiotics are a serious threat to world health.

10 Aug 2012

IOM panel examines the promise and reality of telemedicine

Institute of Medicine experts find that the continued integration of telemedicine into the health care system will face challenges in the years ahead.

10 Aug 2012