Medical News

RSS

Queensland Health and Cancer Council in fight over access to cancer data

Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson is again embroiled in yet another crisis which will leave Queenslanders doubting his ability to deal with the job.

20 Apr 2008

New Australian legislation on the way to ban flavoured cigarettes and regulate use of solariums

As a result of an agreement between state and federal health ministers, the sale of flavoured cigarettes will be banned in Australia.

20 Apr 2008

Report examines how social, economic factors contribute to health disparities in Alameda County

Higher rates of illness among low-income individuals and people of color in Alameda County, Calif., can be attributed to social, economic, transportation, housing, education and other inequalities, according to a report released on Thursday by the Alameda County Public Health Department, the Oakland Tribune reports.

18 Apr 2008

300,000 soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression

Nearly one in five, or about 300,000, soldiers who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan has post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression -- illnesses that could cost the U.S. as much as $6.2 billion over two years in care, lost productivity and lost lives through suicide, according to a RAND report released on Thursday, the Washington Post reports (Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 4/18).

18 Apr 2008

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association response to New York Times article on biotech medicine costs

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) issued the following statement today regarding a story to be published in tomorrow's New York Times.

18 Apr 2008

Sen. Grassley sends letter to Merck requesting explanation of recent JAMA reports

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent a letter to Merck Chief Operating Officer Richard Clark requesting the company explain a recent report that found the company used employees or paid consultants rather than the physicians listed as lead authors to write several published studies of the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx, CQ HealthBeat reports.

18 Apr 2008

Draft legislation aimed at overhauling FDA would require more inspections, change user fees

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday released draft legislation that would make broad regulatory changes to FDA and increase funds for the agency, CQ Today reports.

18 Apr 2008

Requiring more frequent eligibility checks for California Medicaid will affect children's coverage, increase costs

A plan by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) that would require most Medi-Cal beneficiaries to complete eligibility forms four times per year, rather than annually, will affect children the most and will not save the state money in the long run, according to a report commissioned by the California Endowment, the Sacramento Bee reports.

18 Apr 2008

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines Democratic Presidential candidates' health care plans

Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) have both proposed health care plans that would "build on the existing health care system" to make affordable coverage available to the uninsured, but they differ on whether an individual insurance mandate is necessary to expand coverage to all U.S. residents, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

18 Apr 2008

New Democrat coalition, New York City officials announce proposal for Federal health care IT program

Members of the New Democrat Coalition on Tuesday announced a proposal that would use a New York City health care information technology program as a legislative template for a federal program, CQ HealthBeat reports.

18 Apr 2008

Drug company coalition to push for looser rules on off-label marketing

Representatives of health care marketing firms, patient advocacy groups and pharmaceutical companies this week are in Washington, D.C., to express support for loosening rules regarding drug companies' ability to market medications for off-label uses, the Wall Street Journal reports (Mundy, Wall Street Journal, 4/18).

18 Apr 2008

Florida Senate passes Gov. Crist's plan to expand health coverage to uninsured residents

The Florida Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) that aims to reduce the ranks of the state's 3.7 million uninsured residents, the Miami Herald reports (Caputo, Miami Herald, 4/17).

18 Apr 2008

NEJM article examines U.S. physician shortage

In this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, national correspondent John Iglehart examines efforts by medical schools to enroll and train more physicians, as well as the lack of action by the federal government and private health insurance industry to address concerns about physician shortages in the U.S.

18 Apr 2008

Advocate calls on media in Ethiopia to be more sensitive when reporting on HIV/AIDS

Media outlets in Ethiopia should be more sensitive when reporting on or about people living with HIV/AIDS because some of the language used has been improper, Sonya De Masi, resident adviser at Internews Network, said on Monday during a media workshop, the Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.

18 Apr 2008

North Carolina should not ignore 'legal, moral' responsibility to provide HIV testing, treatment to inmates

Although some civil rights groups that are "pressing" the North Carolina Legislature to pass a bill that would mandate HIV testing for prison inmates might be overstating HIV prevalence in prisons, their "point shouldn't be missed" because the "fact is, consensual and forced sex behind bars ... helps spread the disease," a Raleigh News & Observer editorial says.

18 Apr 2008

HIV/AIDS prevention strategies for Ukraine discussed at Canadian forum

HIV/AIDS experts from Ukraine and Canada attended a forum in Winnipeg, Canada, on Thursday to discuss the epidemic in the former Soviet state, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.

18 Apr 2008

Papua New Guinea's National Research Institute to monitor, study behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS

Papua New Guinea's Department of Health recently gave the country's National Research Institute the authority to begin a three-year program that will monitor and study the behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS, Papua New Guinea's The National reports.

18 Apr 2008

Guardian examines detention of 11 HIV-positive people in China

London's Guardian on Friday examined the detention of 11 HIV-positive people in China and the country's response to HIV/AIDS (Branigan, Guardian, 4/18).

18 Apr 2008

New technique for improving medical diagnosis for cancer patients

Researchers from the UPM's School of Computing and another researcher from Holland’s Radboud University Nijmegen have published an article in the Decision Support Systems journal proposing a technique for improving decision making in medical environments.

18 Apr 2008

Urgent action needed against global food crisis

Life scientists from the developing world told their European colleagues at the EAGLES Food Symposium, held this week at the New Library of Alexandria (Egypt), that they are dismayed and even horrified at the persistent failure of Europe to deploy its life sciences effectively in the fight against hunger. Our Asian, African and Latin American colleagues have said that they simply cannot understand why that on the continent of Darwin and Pasteur, the voices of science and reason have been devalued.

18 Apr 2008

Medical News

Queensland Health and Cancer Council in fight over access to cancer data

New Australian legislation on the way to ban flavoured cigarettes and regulate use of solariums

Report examines how social, economic factors contribute to health disparities in Alameda County

300,000 soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association response to New York Times article on biotech medicine costs

Sen. Grassley sends letter to Merck requesting explanation of recent JAMA reports

Draft legislation aimed at overhauling FDA would require more inspections, change user fees

Requiring more frequent eligibility checks for California Medicaid will affect children's coverage, increase costs

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines Democratic Presidential candidates' health care plans

New Democrat coalition, New York City officials announce proposal for Federal health care IT program

Drug company coalition to push for looser rules on off-label marketing

Florida Senate passes Gov. Crist's plan to expand health coverage to uninsured residents

NEJM article examines U.S. physician shortage

Advocate calls on media in Ethiopia to be more sensitive when reporting on HIV/AIDS

North Carolina should not ignore 'legal, moral' responsibility to provide HIV testing, treatment to inmates

HIV/AIDS prevention strategies for Ukraine discussed at Canadian forum

Papua New Guinea's National Research Institute to monitor, study behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS

Guardian examines detention of 11 HIV-positive people in China

New technique for improving medical diagnosis for cancer patients

Urgent action needed against global food crisis

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

Latest News