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New research shows how metabolism and physiology are connected to diet

Sometimes you just can't resist a tiny piece of chocolate cake. Even the most health-conscious eaters find themselves indulging in junk foods from time to time. New research by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School raises the striking possibility that even small amounts of these occasional indulgences may produce significant changes in gene expression that could negatively impact physiology and health.

30 Mar 2013

Parents, officials in Pakistan working to bring polio vaccine to areas under militant control

"Parents and officials are going to great lengths to immunize children after militants imposed a ban on polio vaccinations in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan Agency," with some parents "traveling long distances to get their children vaccinated" or "smuggling the vaccine back home," IRIN reports.

30 Mar 2013

Kessler Foundation scientists awarded grant to study emotional processing deficits in MS

Helen Genova, PhD, and Jean Lengenfelder, PhD, were awarded a $40,000 grant to study disorders of emotional processing in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

30 Mar 2013

Kerry announces $51M in additional humanitarian aid for Sahel region

"[T]he United States has announced an additional $51 million in humanitarian aid to the people of the Sahel -- a belt up to 1,000 kilometers wide that spans Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea -- bringing its total aid to $520 million" in FY 2012, Devex's "Pennsylvania Ave." blog reports.

30 Mar 2013

Investment in women's health important for global development

"Throughout my tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and on the Committee on Appropriations, I have had the opportunity to help shape U.S. development assistance. And I am proud of the United States' leadership in providing support and funding for critical global health initiatives that both save lives and strengthen our position in the world," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) writes in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

30 Mar 2013

Researchers identify new gene that provides new insight on Perrault syndrome

Researchers from Manchester Biomedical Research Centre at Saint Mary's Hospital and the University of Manchester have identified a new gene, which increases our understanding of the rare inherited disorder Perrault syndrome.

From The University of Manchester 30 Mar 2013

Tenn. governor refuses to expand Medicaid

Gov. Bill Haslam said he wants to expand health insurance coverage for low-income residents, but "on his own terms" by enrolling large numbers in private insurance plans.

30 Mar 2013

Mount Sinai experts to educate families on identifying signs, symptoms of ASD

The latest report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one out of 50 school-aged children has an autism spectrum disorder.

30 Mar 2013

Radiology trainees face earning challenges

For years, medical students who chose a residency in radiology were said to be on the ROAD to happiness. The acronym highlighted the specialties - radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and dermatology - said to promise the best lifestyle for doctors, including the most money for the least grueling work. Not anymore.

30 Mar 2013

Cytori receives patent for methods of treating renal diseases using ADRCs

Cytori Therapeutics received US Patent No. 8,404,229 (the '229 patent) for methods of treating renal diseases using adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs).

30 Mar 2013

Physicians react to new N.D. abortion laws

Physicians on both sides of the abortion argument disagree on whether restrictions such as the hospital privileges requirement are medically necessary or whether they instead intrude upon patients' rights (Pittman, 3/27).

30 Mar 2013

Correctional policies discourage released inmates from seeking methadone therapy, researchers say

Methadone treatment for opioid dependence remains widely unavailable behind bars in the United States, and many inmates are forced to discontinue this evidence-based therapy, which lessens painful withdrawal symptoms.

30 Mar 2013

Federal court weighs Calif. progress on mental health care for prisoners

California's bid to end court oversight of the care it gives about 33,000 mentally ill inmates was heard Wednesday by a federal judge who voiced concern that he had only days to weigh thousands of pages of contradictory claims and issue a decision (St. John, 3/27).

30 Mar 2013

Viral protein hijacks cellular machinery and grabs the wheel

Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a component of the herpesvirus that "hijacks" machinery inside human cells, allowing the virus to rapidly and successfully invade the nervous system upon initial exposure.

30 Mar 2013

Capsules: Tight Medicaid eligibility leads to more adults delaying care; Audit finds shortcomings in Minn. verifications of income, other information

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Ankita Rao reports on research related to tight Medicaid eligibility and the incidence of delayed medical care: "The research letter in the March 28 issue of the journal found this number to vary significantly across the country and to be lower in places with less restrictive eligibility criteria for Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income citizens" (Rao, 3/27).

30 Mar 2013

Study examines dialysis survival among racial and ethnic subgroups

Among kidney failure patients on dialysis, Hispanics tend to live the longest and Whites the shortest, with Blacks' survival time in between these two, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

29 Mar 2013

Global community failing to address health inequalities

"The goal of the WHO -- amplified ... in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- is to ensure the attainment by the entire world's people of the highest possible level of health," Calum Macpherson, director and vice president of the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation, writes in a Devex opinion piece.

29 Mar 2013

HeCN celebrates Doctor's Day on March 30

HEALTHeCAREERS Network (HeCN), the only single-source healthcare recruiting solution for providers and job seekers, is honored to celebrate Doctor Day on March 30. This week honors the 700,000 physicians across the U.S. and their role in healthcare.

29 Mar 2013

Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement Act introduced in Senate

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) last week introduced the Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement Act, which "would set standards for humane conditions [in prisons globally], require the Secretary of State to report on prison conditions in at least 30 countries receiving U.S. assistance or under U.S. sanctions, engage governments in recognizing and remedying human rights abuses behind bars and open the door to foreign aid to assist in bringing improvements,"

29 Mar 2013

Diarrhea incidence higher in dry seasons, study shows

"Diarrhea, killer of 1.5 million children annually, is likely to become more prevalent in many developing countries as the climate changes, a report says,"

29 Mar 2013