Medical News

RSS

Hospital executives weigh benefits, risks of health reform

Hospital executives are balancing their hopes that expanded coverage will provide a windfall for facilities now burdened by uncompensated care with their fears that government intervention, such as the possible creation of a public insurance option, could cut into their revenues, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

10 Sep 2009

Annual convention of electrologists to focus on the subject of establishing relationships with physicians

Electrologists will gather in Las Vegas at the Flamingo Hotel on October 9-11, 2009 for the largest annual gathering of electrology professionals from all over the USA, Europe and Asia: The American Electrology Association (AEA) Annual Convention and Exhibitor’s Showcase. This year, the convention focuses on a subject of great importance to both practitioners and patients: getting the attention of physicians.

10 Sep 2009

Higher rate of motor vehicle crashes in MHE patients

A recent study by Jasmohan Bajaj, M.D., and colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University and McGuire VA Medical Center found that patients with cirrhosis of the liver who developed minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) had a 16% rate of motor vehicle crashes compared to only 4% of those without MHE over one year.

10 Sep 2009

Poison control centers to receive $24.5 million in grants from HRSA

The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced $24.5 million in grants to support the work of 55 poison control centers across the country.

10 Sep 2009

Elsevier announces new publishing partnership with CCHSE

Elsevier, world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce a new publishing partnership with the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE). The College's official journal, Healthcare Management Forum (HMF), will be published by Elsevier beginning in 2010.

10 Sep 2009

Federal judge finds New York State discriminated against mentally ill

The New York Times reports: "New York State discriminated against thousands of mentally ill people in New York City by leaving them in privately run adult homes, which effectively replaced state-run psychiatric hospitals more than a generation ago but turned out to be little more than institutions themselves, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday."

10 Sep 2009

Clinical study investigates laboratory and clinical implications of proton pump inhibitor drugs

Fears about the cancer causing effects of the second most prescribed group of drugs in the Western world have been put to rest, following the largest ever study into their use.

10 Sep 2009

Obesity experts call on policymakers to adopt obesity recommendations

The Obesity Society and other steering committee members of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, and two former US Surgeons General, join together today to develop effective recommendations to urge policymakers to act on the inclusion of obesity as the largest and most urgent driving factor in healthcare reform.

10 Sep 2009

Childrens' cognitive development could be impacted due to undetected vision problems: Study

A new report by The Vision Council, Making the Grade? finds state laws regarding vision assessments for children entering school are inconsistent, impeding children's ability to succeed in school.

10 Sep 2009

Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct with adults is higher according to a study

Baylor University's School of Social Work today announced that findings from the nationwide study of the prevalence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct (CSM) with adults have been accepted for publication later this year in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

10 Sep 2009

Plant extract could lead to new drug development for H1N1

Scientists in China have discovered that roots of a plant used a century ago during the great Spanish influenza pandemic contains substances with powerful effects in laboratory experiments in killing the H1N1 swine flu virus that now threatens the world.

10 Sep 2009

Miracles of the immune system discussed at the 2nd European Congress of Immunology

"I think it will not surprise you if I say that the immune system is one of our most important organ systems. Its relevance is obvious if only for the fact that it has been reinvented several times throughout the evolution of life," says Professor Andreas Radbruch, President of the German Society of Immunology and Director of the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, Berlin. He lectured about the miracle of our immune system at the Opening Press Conference of the 2nd European Congress of Immunology.

10 Sep 2009

Merck's GARDASIL receives approval from FDA Advisory Committee

Merck & Co., Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee agreed that efficacy, immunogenicity and safety data from clinical trials in males support the use of GARDASIL® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] in boys and men 9 through 26 years of age for the prevention of genital warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11.

10 Sep 2009

Newspapers examine drought, famine in East Africa

According to Canada's National Post, a humanitarian coalition "warns East Africa faces 'a perfect storm of crop failures, a multi-year lack of rain, conflicts and political turmoil,' which now threatens 20 million people with severe hunger." Fighting in Somalia has driven 1.55 million people to internal camps outside the capital of Mogadishu as well as refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where the unsanitary conditions of one camp led Oxfam to label it "barely fit for humans."

10 Sep 2009

Three genes linked to Lou Gehrig's disease

Michigan Technological University researchers have linked three genes to the most common type of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), generally known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

10 Sep 2009

President Obama's renewed call for comprehensive healthcare reform welcomed by CNA/NNOC

The nation's largest union and professional association of registered nurses tonight welcomed the renewed call by President Obama for comprehensive healthcare reform.

10 Sep 2009

Democratic leaders say reform bill is progressing

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are calling for Democratic unity on health care overhaul after a meeting with President Obama yesterday that they say "re-energized" them.

10 Sep 2009

Methodist Health System to implement Webmedx's transcription and content management system

Webmedx, the fourth largest medical transcription service provider in the U.S. and a premier supplier of clinical documentation technology, today announced that Methodist Health System of Dallas (Methodist) has signed an agreement to implement Webmedx's Transcription Outsourcing Service and Enterprise(TM) software solution. A web-native system for transcription and content management, the platform will support Methodist's transcription needs and interface with the organization's electronic health record (EHR).

10 Sep 2009

Promega unveils Maxwell 16 Viral Total Nucleic Acid Purification Kit

Promega announces the release of the Maxwell 16 Viral Total Nucleic Acid Purification Kit which, among other labs, currently serves the OCA Hospital in Mexico for H1N1 clinical research.

10 Sep 2009

Baucus: Committee will move ahead with bill regardless of Republican support

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., "said Wednesday that he will push ahead with a comprehensive health care reform bill with — or without — Republican support and start a committee markup the week of Sept. 21," Politico reports.

10 Sep 2009