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House Democrats to open hearings amid controversy over finances, public plan

"House Democrats are pushing forward with a partisan health care bill even as a key Senate Democrat labors to achieve an elusive bipartisan compromise on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority," The Associated Press reports.

23 Jun 2009

Lawmakers look for new taxes, cuts to pay reform bill

Lawmakers are considering deductions on medical expenses, value-added taxes, spending cuts and other options to foot the reform bill.

23 Jun 2009

Dodd stretched thin on finance and health roles

Critics are saying that Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., cannot handle his role in financial regulatory reform while he sits in for ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy on the House's health committee, Politico reports.

23 Jun 2009

Senators debate public plan, co-ops for health overhaul

Senators crafting health reform legislation are debating a number of issues ahead of the revelation of proposal including the inclusion of a cooperative as an alternative to a government-run public plan, Politico reports.

23 Jun 2009

Obama team ready to start health reform rally

The White House launches a media blitz this week to coincide with the shrinking timeline for getting a health reform package passed in the Senate, Roll Call reports.

23 Jun 2009

Insurance industry groups lay down reform marker

America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the two largest insurance industry groups, released a letter today that "laid down a marker on health care, warning in stark terms that a proposed government insurance plan would dismantle the employer coverage Americans have relied on for a half century and overtake the system," the Associated Press reports.

23 Jun 2009

Obama 'very optimistic' about health care overhaul, public plan 'makes sense'

President Barack Obama today at a news conference said a public plan is "an important tool to discipline insurance companies," but he didn't answer a question on whether he would veto a bill that did not include a public plan option, saying it was too early in the process to "draw lines in the sand," Reuters reports.

23 Jun 2009

1.02 billion starving people worldwide, U.N. says

For the first time, the number of chronically hungry people worldwide is greater than 1 billion, according to a recent U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statement, the Financial Times reports (Blas, Financial Times, 6/19).

23 Jun 2009

PAHO board to discuss 'revolving fund' vaccine system

PAHO's board this week is set to discuss "a long-standing system that makes vaccines affordable to middle-income Latin American countries" because of growing concerns that the policy "deters manufacturers from offering deeper discounts on such products to the world's least developed countries," the Financial Times reports.

23 Jun 2009

African scientists ask developed countries for greater investment in African research

The Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) issued a statement (pdf) asking developed countries to establish training programs that would allow African students to stay in Africa or other developing countries in effort to curb the "tide of African talent leaving the continent's universities," CNN reports (Wong, CNN, 6/22).

23 Jun 2009

H1N1 spread continues worldwide; first death in Asia confirmed

The H1N1 (swine flu) virus has now infected more than 52,000 people, leaving 231 dead, the WHO said Monday, AFP/Washington Post reports.

23 Jun 2009

World Bank Report predicts contracting global economy will hurt poorest countries

The World Bank released a report Monday, projecting "a 2.9 percent contraction in global GDP this year, as rich countries contract by 4.5 percent," the Wall Street Journal reports.

23 Jun 2009

Merck partners with non-profit for neglected diseases initiative

The pharmaceutical company, Merck, announced Monday it was partnering with the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in an effort to improve treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTD), the AP/CNBC reports.

23 Jun 2009

Number of Polio cases in Nigeria decreases, some states still showing low immunizations rates

The number of polio cases in Nigeria has gone down from 799 in 2008 to 353 this year, according to the country's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Africa Science News Service reports.

23 Jun 2009

Federal Minister for Health to launch Australia’s first national maternity surveillance system

Australia is one of the safest places to give birth, yet women continue to suffer serious illness as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. A new national initiative led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) aims to improve the understanding of rare and severe conditions in pregnancy.

23 Jun 2009

Clinical trial raises hope for Australian diabetics to be insulin free

A clinical trial for a new treatment for type 1 diabetes which potentially eliminates the need for daily insulin injections will commence in New Zealand by Australian company Living Cell Technologies (LCT).

23 Jun 2009

Scientists block Ebola infection in cell-culture experiments - could lead to first therapy

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered two biochemical pathways that the Ebola virus relies on to infect cells.

23 Jun 2009

Strong link between high body mass index, pancreatic cancer

In reviewing the weight history of pancreatic cancer patients across their life spans, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have determined that a high body mass index in early adulthood may play a significant role in an individual developing the disease at an earlier age.

23 Jun 2009

New biomarker predicts brain tumor's response to cediranib therapy

A report in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, highlights a new biomarker that may be useful in identifying patients with recurrent glioblastoma, or brain tumors, who would respond better to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, specifically cediranib.

23 Jun 2009

Woman's placenta new source for harvesting stem cells

A groundbreaking study conducted by Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to reveal a new avenue for harvesting stem cells from a woman's placenta, or more specifically the discarded placentas of healthy newborns.

23 Jun 2009