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House members continue bickering over reform

Hope is fading in the House on voting on reform before the August recess as Democrats bicker over details, Roll Call reports: "Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Friday that Democratic leaders may push off the health care bill until September if they can't get it finished within the next two weeks."

28 Jul 2009

Senate Dems seek compromise on contentious health reform issues

A leading Democratic senator, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said Sunday Democrats would need Republican support to make ambitious proposals to overhaul the health system a reality, the Associated Press reports.

28 Jul 2009

As they debate health overhaul, politicians keep eye on 2010

"Fifteen months before the midterm congressional election, health care is appearing in candidate stump speeches and interviews - particularly by Republican challengers… running in districts recently claimed by Democrats," USA Today reports.

28 Jul 2009

Health care legislation's hurdles and potential impacts

Politico reports on key issues that could derail a final bill: "Even if House and Senate leaders manage to get the health care bills through their chambers, they will still face a contentious conference committee. Those negotiations will aim to produce one final bill that must be passed anew in each chamber.

28 Jul 2009

Health lobbying means cash infusion for candidates, TV stations

"Health care groups working feverishly to shape -- or kill -- an industry-wide reform bill are lavishing campaign cash on the politicians at the center of the debate," The Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune reports.

28 Jul 2009

Connecticut: small businesses struggle with soaring premiums, unintended consequences of old law

"Premiums for small employers have been rising by double-digit increases for a few years, and they don't have the negotiating power of larger employers," the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reports.

28 Jul 2009

Oregon hospital building boom slows down

"Oregon's hospital spending boom is winding to a close," as hospitals cut back on projects, Portland Business Journal reports. "Portland-area hospitals have opened, started construction on, or announced expansions costing at least $1.3 billion in the past 18 months. Projects include cancer treatment centers, cardiac units and pediatric care facilities.

28 Jul 2009

New Hampshire officials: need for mental health services increasing

In New Hampshire, Foster's Daily Democrat reports: "As unemployment statistics increase and the economic climate deteriorates, a large group of people who would otherwise likely not need mental health services are finding themselves at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviors and substance abuse, according (to) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."

28 Jul 2009

H1N1 could infect up to 2 billion people within next two years, WHO says

The WHO on Friday said the "H1N1 swine-flu virus could infect up to two billion people over the next two years - about one of every three people in the world," VOA News reports.

28 Jul 2009

Donors to reevaluate support for Myanmar's fight against HIV/AIDS

The AP/KTVZ.com examines how after years of strained relationships between the "military-run nation" of Myanmar and international donors that led to a large reduction in HIV/AIDS funding, donors are considering reinvesting in the country's HIV/AIDS programs.

28 Jul 2009

Asian pneumonia prevention organization calls for required pneumonia vaccine in India

The Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal Disease Prevention (ASAP) is calling for the pneumonia vaccine to become an official part of India's required list of immunizations, the Times of India reports.

28 Jul 2009

U.N. allocates $6 million emergency fund to address health problems in Ethiopia

The U.N.'s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) recently allocated $6 million to address several health challenges facing Ethiopia, IRIN reports.

28 Jul 2009

Gates Foundation donates additional $80 million to Indian HIV-prevention program, receives Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give an additional $80 million to Avahan, a foundation initiative launched in 2003 for HIV prevention programs in India, Bill Gates said on Thursday, the Seattle Times blog, "Business of Giving" reports.

28 Jul 2009

Research shows why HIV virus is so successful and so deadly

Retroviruses such as HIV that are already within cells are much more easily transmitted when they are next to uninfected cells than if they are floating free in the bloodstream.

28 Jul 2009

Discovery of potential treatment for spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the world. Ravindra Singh, associate professor in biomedical sciences at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, would like to see Spinal Muscular Atrophy lose its high ranking and even slide off the list altogether.

28 Jul 2009

Study finds few patients die from prostate cancer within 15 years of radical prostatectomy

Investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), along with collaborating teams at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Michigan, have completed the first large- scale, multi-institutional study of prostate cancer death after standard treatment to remove the prostate since PSA screening has become widely used as a method to screen for the disease.

28 Jul 2009

Scientists combine two nanoparticles into one tiny package

Nanoparticles are being developed to perform a wide range of medical uses - imaging tumors, carrying drugs, delivering pulses of heat. Rather than settling for just one of these, researchers at the University of Washington have combined two nanoparticles in one tiny package.

28 Jul 2009

Anemia increases risk of death in people aged 85 and older

Anemia in very elderly people aged 85 and older appears to be associated with an increased risk of death, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

28 Jul 2009

miR-21 molecule plays early and important role in nonsmoking lung cancer

The cause of lung cancer in never-smokers is poorly understood, but a study led by investigators at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and at the National Cancer Institute has identified a molecule believed to play an early and important role in its development.

28 Jul 2009

Gene expression patterns in cancer could aid early screening and prevention

Distinctive patterns of genes turned off - or left on - in healthy versus cancerous cells could enable early screening for many common cancers and maybe help avoid them, Medical College of Georgia scientists say.

28 Jul 2009