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FAO to test new food security measurement tool

"The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is about to start testing a new way of measuring food security, which it hopes will provide a more timely and precise picture of hunger around the world," AlertNet reports.

15 Mar 2013

Stakeholder associations offer limited support for 'Enroll America' efforts

CQ HealthBeat reports that insurers, hospitals and trade groups are offering only "limited interest" in the campaign to educate Americans about the health law's coverage expansion. Meanwhile, other supporters are backing the grassroots effort to keep the Obama administration's agenda -- including the Medicaid expansion -- on track.

15 Mar 2013

Expert offers eight tips to help avert winter slips and falls

We all followed the "spring forward" adage as daylight savings time began but due to icy, wintery conditions, many have continued to "spring forward" due to tumbles on the ice.

15 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 15, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about President Barack Obama's third day of Capitol Hill visits in pursuit of progress on the budget.

15 Mar 2013

Food security, development strategies must make empowering women 'a priority'

"Development actors may agree on the need to empower women, but it is hard to mobilize resources, and to target these resources, when the goal in question is so broad and diffuse," Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, states in an opinion piece in the Guardian's "Global Development Professionals Network."

15 Mar 2013

Previously unknown cell discovered in the urethra of mice

A recent study conducted by a group of German scientists revealed the presence of a previously unknown cell in the urethra of mice. These chemosensory cholinergic brush cells are in close contact to sensory neurons that express cholinergic receptors.

15 Mar 2013

Study shows race and geographic area play important roles in patient with chronic kidney disease

Race and geographic area play important roles in determining whether a patient with chronic kidney disease receives optimal care before developing kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

15 Mar 2013

Weekend reading: Humanizing hospitals, splurge of health data and huge sodas

Every week reporter Ankita Rao selects interesting reading from around the Web.

15 Mar 2013

Study: Novel strategy could lead to universal influenza vaccine that can provide long-lasting protection

Seasonal epidemics of influenza result in nearly 36,000 deaths annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Current vaccines against the influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for proteins on the outside of the virus, specifically the hemagglutinin protein.

15 Mar 2013

South Sudan hospital sees influx of kala azar, malaria patients

VOA News examines an influx of patients suffering from kala azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, and malaria in a South Sudan hospital, writing, "The pediatric ward at the main hospital in Bentiu is overcrowded and under-staffed as an unusually high number of children suffering from kala azar and malaria have been brought in for treatment."

15 Mar 2013

Promising studies for Parkinson's to be presented at 65th AAN meeting

Three studies released today present possible positive news for people with Parkinson's disease. The studies, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013, report on treatments for blood pressure problems, the wearing-off that can occur when people have taken the main drug for Parkinson's for a long time, and for people early in the disease whose symptoms are not well-controlled by their main drugs.

15 Mar 2013

UnitedHealth faces mental health parity legal challenge

Health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group has been sued in a class action for alleged violations of federal and state parity laws that mandate coverage for mental health claims on a level comparable to medical and surgical benefits.

15 Mar 2013

American Journal of Public Health publishes special issue on mental health stigma

In a historic first, the American Journal of Public Health has devoted an issue to covering stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses, a topic that traditionally is under-researched and under-reported.

15 Mar 2013

Cultural preferences for sons dampens contraception usage

While poverty and under-education continue to dampen contraception use in Nepal, exacerbating the country's efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, researchers say another, more surprising factor may be more intractable: Deeply held cultural preferences for sons over daughters.

15 Mar 2013

Brown fat cells protective against obesity and diabetes

Brown fat is a hot topic, pardon the pun. Brown fats cells, as opposed to white fat cells, make heat for the body, and are thought to have evolved to help mammals cope with the cold. But, their role in generating warmth might also be applied to coping with obesity and diabetes.

15 Mar 2013

Fast-progressing hearing impairment linked to fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Rapid hearing loss in both ears may be a symptom of the rare but always-fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and should be considered a reason for clinicians to test for the disorder.

15 Mar 2013

U.S. must advocate for international agreement to address gender violence

"Having passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in Congress, despite attempts to block it by extreme conservatives, the United States has demonstrated its commitment to ending gender-based violence at home and can now support the world's efforts to do the same," contributor Chloë Cooney writes in the RH Reality Check blog.

15 Mar 2013

Senate Dems block effort to undo health law

The tea-party-led effort, which was defeated 52-45, attempted to add language to a government spending bill that would repeal the law's funding.

15 Mar 2013

New hunt for intrinsic mechanism linked to schizophrenia

Since the 1960s, psychiatrists have been hunting for substances made by the body that might accumulate in abnormally high levels to produce the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. In particular, there was a search for chemicals that might be related to the hallucinogens phencyclidine (PCP) or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which could explain the emergence of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia.

15 Mar 2013

University of Toronto study shows parental divorce linked to smoking initiation in children

Both daughters and sons from divorced families are significantly more likely to initiate smoking in comparison to their peers from intact families, shows a new analysis of 19,000 Americans.

15 Mar 2013