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CBO: Federal health spending to double over the next decade

In its budget and economic outlook, the Congressional Budget Office projects an 8 percent annual increase in health spending between 2012 and 2022, mainly because of an aging U.S. population and rising treatment costs. The analysis includes a bigger pricetag for a permanent fix to the Medicare physician payment formula.

2 Feb 2012

High beta-amyloid levels may affect brain performance in healthy adults

High levels of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain that is associated with Alzheimer's disease may affect brain performance even in healthy adults, according to a study published in the February 1, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Feb 2012

Rethinking government approach to GHI

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance" blog, Connie Veillette, director of CGD's rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, highlights two recent posts by CGD's Amanda Glassman and Nandini Oomman on the future of the Global Health Initiative.

2 Feb 2012

Researchers identify mechanism that leads to ischemia-reperfusion damage

For patients with incurable pulmonary conditions, a lung transplantation is the only available treatment option. However, suitable donor organs are scarce, and even getting them to prospective recipients is not easy. As Professor Alexander Dietrich of the Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at LMU explains, "An isolated lung which is no longer perfused with blood can become so severely damaged that it is no longer functional. This so-called ischemia-reperfusion injury is one of the major problems in the field of lung transplantation."

2 Feb 2012

GSK CEO speaks about new NTD public-private partnership

In her "Global Health Blog," Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley speaks with GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty about the year-long efforts to bring together the heads of more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies in a large public-private initiative to control or eliminate neglected tropical diseases.

2 Feb 2012

Scientists establish HCV infection in liver-like cells derived from iPSCs

Hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause inflammation and organ failure, has different effects on different people. But no one is sure why some people are very susceptible to the infection, while others are resistant. Scientists believe that if they could study liver cells from different people in the lab, they could determine how genetic differences produce these varying responses. However, liver cells are difficult to obtain and notoriously difficult to grow in a lab dish because they tend to lose their normal structure and function when removed from the body.

2 Feb 2012

Nursing homes, hospitals warn against reimbursement cuts

As the House and Senate conferees continue to hold meetings to reach an agreement to extend the payroll tax break and the Medicare "doc fix," health care interests are offering input into the process and making pleas to ward off what they say would be deep and damaging spending reductions.

2 Feb 2012

Researchers reveal how antipsychotics affect metabolism by SMAD3 activation

In a paper published January 31 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) reveal how antipsychotic drugs interfere with normal metabolism by activating a protein called SMAD3, an important part of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) pathway.

2 Feb 2012

Collapse of Global Fund would stall global health efforts

"The Global Fund's drive to ensure sustainability and efficiency means that it may not be able to meet its commitments to combat disease, says Laurie Garrett," a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, in Nature's "World View" column.

2 Feb 2012

NHLBI's The Heart Truth to showcase Red Dress Collection 2012 on Feb. 8

As part of American Heart Month, on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI's) The Heart Truth campaign, with the support of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), will showcase its signature event, the Red Dress Collection 2012 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

2 Feb 2012

National Science Advisory Board explains decision to censor bird flu research

"Details of a genetically altered strain of the deadly avian flu virus are 'a grave concern' to public safety and should be kept under wraps," the 23-member National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity declared Tuesday "in a letter released by the journals Science and Nature," CNN reports.

2 Feb 2012

Sugar should be controlled to protect public health: UCSF

Sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health, according to a team of UCSF researchers, who maintain in a new report that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

2 Feb 2012

State roundup: Mass. lawmakers fight Medicare charges

A Monterey County hospital district, which came under fire last year for giving its chief executive one of the largest public pensions in California history, announced this week that several other top officials are receiving generous retirement packages.

2 Feb 2012

Oxford Nanopore CTO to present at AGBT conference in Florida

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. announces that Clive G Brown, Chief Technology Officer, will present at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference in Marco Island, Florida, on 17th February 2012 at 11.40am (EST) / 4.40pm (GMT).

From Oxford Nanopore Technologies 2 Feb 2012

Study: Safety net ERs not at disadvantage in 'pay-for-performance' programs

Safety net hospital emergency departments are not at a disadvantage in terms of meeting the terms of proposed length-of-stay measures for patients both admitted and discharged, according to a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2 Feb 2012

Medtronic initiates enrollment in IMPROVE HF Bridge Study

Medtronic, Inc. today announced the initiation and first patient enrollment in a clinical study that will evaluate gaps in the implementation of evidence-based treatment guidelines among chronic heart failure patients post-hospital discharge.

From Medtronic 2 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Debt estimates and Medicare plans; Sen. McConnell on fate of health law

Debt projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office illustrate three fiscal paths: dangerous, dumb and smart. ... President Obama has called for a balanced solution but has neither proposed serious tax reform nor adequately outlined the ways in which he would get entitlement spending, particularly Medicare, under control. The position of most Republicans, on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress, is wildly less responsible.

2 Feb 2012

Study shows stalled growth in extended-wear lens prescribing

After more than a decade on the market, extended-wear (EW) contact lenses still haven't caught on among patients and eye care professionals, reports the February issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

2 Feb 2012

House to vote today to wipe CLASS Act off the books

Though the Obama administration has made clear that it is not proceeding with efforts to implement this long-term care insurance program, the White House and most Democrats are still opposed to its repeal.

2 Feb 2012

Intra-arterial technique of stem cell transplantation may enhance functional recovery from TBI

Experiments in brain-injured rats show that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, where they greatly enhance functional recovery, reports a study in the February issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

2 Feb 2012