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Cost of health insurance claims expected to climb 10% over next year

The cost of health insurance claims is expected to rise, according to a new report, but insurers say they are getting tougher when negotiating prices with hospitals.

16 Sep 2010

A consumer's guide to the health law, six months In

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "By Sept. 23, the six month anniversary of the enactment of the health overhaul, many of the law's provisions will be in effect.

16 Sep 2010

FDA updates dosing recommendation for Valcyte medication

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals of updated dosing recommendations for Valcyte (valganciclovir) oral tablets and solution used by children and adolescents receiving a kidney or heart transplant.

16 Sep 2010

Researchers investigate antimicrobial activity of Aganocide compounds against H1N1

Fears over the influenza A virus (H1N1; sometimes referred to as swine flu) have motivated researchers to investigate the antimicrobial activity of the Aganocide compounds against viruses. In a study presented at this year's Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a team led by Professor Markus Nagl, MD of Medical University of Innsbruck and including D. Debabov, PhD and K. Hybiske, PhD of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals evaluated the in vitro virucidal activity of three compounds: N-chlorotaurine, a compound produced by human phagocytes; and two NCT analogs, NVC-612 and NVC-422.

16 Sep 2010

Businesses, consumers sort out health law as changes approach

Though an array of health overhaul provisions will go into effect on Sept. 23, many consumers won't see the changes until their health plans reset on Jan. 1, Kaiser Health News reports.

16 Sep 2010

Scientists reveal techniques to extend organ transplant life

Experts from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Transplantation at King's College London, based at Guy's Hospital, have revealed exciting new scientific developments for people with an organ transplant, intended to help prevent rejection of the new organ and extend its life.

16 Sep 2010

Doctors demonstrate the true impact of vaccination

With Children Back in School, Doctors Clear up Confusion and Demonstrate the True Impact of Vaccination

16 Sep 2010

New sperm freezing technique may be a boon for IVF

A new improved method of freezing and storing sperm for future use in infertility treatment has arrived as a boon for couples wanting babies.

16 Sep 2010

NIH awards grants to map human brain's connections in high resolution

The National Institutes of Health today awarded grants totaling $40 million to map the human brain's connections in high resolution. Better understanding of such connectivity promises improved diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.

16 Sep 2010

Australians young at heart: Survey

According to a new survey that included more than 1,200 people nationwide and 12,000 globally by healthcare company Bupa, Australians when compared to other countries felt younger at heart.

16 Sep 2010

Study determines physician’s potential rationalization to accept gifts

Sunita Sah, M.B.Ch.B., B.Sc., M.B.A., M.S., and George Loewenstein, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, conducted a study to determine whether reminding resident physicians of the sacrifices made to obtain training, as well as suggesting this as a potential rationalization, increases self-stated willingness to accept gifts from industry.

16 Sep 2010

Researchers investigate nonanalytical reasoning conditions for diagnostic errors

Silvia Mamede, M.D., Ph.D., of Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands and colleagues investigated whether recent experience with clinical problems provokes availability bias (overestimation of the likelihood of a diagnosis based on the ease with which it comes to mind) resulting in diagnostic errors and whether reflection (structured reanalysis of the case findings) counteracts this bias.

16 Sep 2010

Johns Hopkins offers sources who can answer queries on prostrate cancer

September 19-25 is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Week. If you are planning a story on prostate cancer, a disease that's diagnosed in more than 200,000 American men each year, please consider calling on experts from the Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute.

16 Sep 2010

Researchers develop ChIP Enrichment Analysis to identify drug targets, biomarkers

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new computational method that will help streamline the analysis of gene expression experiments and provide scientists with a better mechanistic understanding of the differences between diseased and normal cells. The new database and software, called ChIP Enrichment Analysis (ChEA), will revolutionize how researchers identify drug targets and biomarkers.

16 Sep 2010

Calm men preferred by women: Study

According to a new study, women prefer calm men to stressed ones. Researchers at the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland found that women were more attracted to calm, collected men with lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol coursing through their systems, than men who are chronically stressed. The study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal. The researchers also found that there was no clear association between attractiveness and high levels of testosterone as was thought before.

16 Sep 2010

Today's Opinions: Health law repeal and Insurance Hikes on minds of Americans

Until Congress or the courts discard ObamaCare's mandates, price controls, and new entitlement spending, there is literally nothing that can arrest this downward spiral of rising costs and deteriorating quality (Michael Cannon, 9/14).

16 Sep 2010

ABCB4 gene causes bad cholesterol to accumulate in blood: Research

Scientists at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in San Antonio have found a gene that causes high levels of bad cholesterol to accumulate in the blood as a result of a high-cholesterol diet.

16 Sep 2010

NPS Pharmaceuticals intends to offer public offering of common stock

NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it intends to offer and sell approximately $41,290,000 of its common stock in an underwritten public offering.

16 Sep 2010

Merus to initiate trading of shares on Canadian National Stock Exchange

Merus Labs International Inc. is pleased to announce that effective at the open of market on Thursday, September 16, 2010, Merus' shares will begin trading on the Canadian National Stock Exchange ("CNSX") under the trading symbol MR. The shares will be quoted on the CNSX in Canadian currency.

16 Sep 2010

LifePoint Hospitals authorizes new stock repurchase program

LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors, at a regularly scheduled meeting, has authorized a new stock repurchase program that will allow for repurchases of up to $150 million of its common stock over the next 18 months.

16 Sep 2010