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May 16, 2005

The link between physical activity and ovarian cancer

While the benefits of physical activity in reducing colon and breast cancer are well established, results of studies on exercise and ovarian cancer have been inconclusive. Because ovarian cancer has such a poor prognosis, it is even more important to identify modifiable lifestyle factors that could prevent it. A new study, published online May 16, 2005 in the International Journal of Cancer, the official journal of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), found that regular moderate recreational and work-related physical activity may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. The study is available via Wiley InterScience at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ijc.

Full Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/jws-tlb050905.php

May 09, 2005

American Public Health Association Calls for Swift Response to Rising Number of Uninsured Americans

Washington, D.C., April 27, 2005 - As a national supporter of Cover the Uninsured Week, the American Public Health Association (APHA) today expressed alarm that 45 million Americans -- 15.6 percent of the total U.S. population -- lack insurance coverage of any kind for an entire year. Eight out of 10 uninsured Americans either work or are in working families, according to federal data.

Full Article: http://www.apha.org/news/press/2005/uninsured.htm

April 25, 2005

Government Issues 12 New Food Pyramids

WASHINGTON - The government flipped the 13-year-old food pyramid on its side Tuesday, added a staircase for exercise and offered a dozen different models, all aimed at helping Americans trim their waistlines.

Dubbed "MyPyramid," the new graphic interprets the food groups as rainbow-colored bands running vertically from the tip to the base: Orange for grains, green for vegetables, red for fruits, a yellow sliver for oils, blue for milk products and purple for meats and beans. Preferred foods such as grains, vegetables and milk products have wider bands.

Full Article: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20050419/ap_on_he_me/fit_food_pyramid

April 21, 2005

FDA Asking for Public Comment on Food Label Changes

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today asked for public comment on two proposals to improve the appearance and content of the nutrition label to help consumers make better-informed weight management decisions. The proposals focus on providing practical serving size information and increasing the prominence of calories on the food label.

The proposals are direct responses to the recommendations contained in the FDA's Obesity Working Group (OWG) report entitled "Calories Count." The OWG final report made short and long-term recommendations that are based on the scientific fact that weight control is mainly a function of caloric balance.

Full Aritcle: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2005/NEW01170.html

March 31, 2005

Cultural and social factors influence prostate cancer treatment

Researchers say social and cultural factors play a significant role in patients' prostate cancer treatment decisions. A new study published in the May 1, 2005 issue of CANCER (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds non-medical variables, such as marital status, high school education, and race/ethnicity may play a larger role in patients' treatment decisions than previously believed.

Full Aricle: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/jws-cas032305.php

Research documents disparities, but solutions remain elusive

A series of studies and reports recently released in two health care journals provide overwhelming evidence for something on which many physicians and doctor organizations already agree: Minority patients appear to be getting worse care and having worse outcomes than white patients with the same health problems


Full Article: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/04/04/prl20404.htm

American Public Health Association Chides the House for Its Passage of Budget Resolution that Calls for Draconian Cuts to Medicaid

Washington, D.C., March 18, 2005 -We are greatly disappointed that the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday failed to follow the Senate's lead in shielding the Medicaid program from debilitating cuts. The roughly $20 billion in reductions over five years approved by the House are more than double the administration's proposed cuts over the same time period, greatly jeopardizing the security of the source of primary and preventive health care for 50 million of our nation's citizens.

Full Statement: http://www.apha.org/news/press/2005/med_cuts.html

March 21, 2005

Florida Physicians to Write Prescriptions for Patient Information

DUNEDIN, Fla.--After a doctor sees a patient, he or she often prescribes medications. But what if a doctor also wants to direct a patient to up-to-date, reliable, consumer-friendly information about a health concern? Under a pilot program to be launched in Florida on Feb. 14, physicians from six counties are being encouraged to refer their patients to MedlinePlus, a consumer health site of the National Institutes of Health.

The American Medical Association Foundation (AMAF) and the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation have teamed up with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), an arm of the National Institutes of Health, to encourage Florida physicians to point patients to first-rate online health information in NLM's MedlinePlus database (www.medlineplus.gov), and Fisher Center Foundation's Web site (www.alzinfo.org). The pilot program, called the "Information Rx" project, will be launched in six Florida counties with a demonstration hosted by Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-FL).

Full Article: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/press_releases/rx_florida05.html

March 16, 2005

Harvard Study: Half of U.S. Bankruptcies Caused by Medical Bills

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Illness and medical bills caused half (50.4 percent) of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published today as a Web Exclusive by the journal Health Affairs. The study estimates that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans annually -- counting debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children.

Full Article: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=42456

March 14, 2005

Sens. Hagel, Durbin, and Co-Sponsors Introduce the Public Health Preparedness Workforce Development Act of 2005

U.S. Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) recently introduced the Public Health Preparedness Workforce Development Act of 2005, created to ensure that the United States has a well-trained public health workforce that can effectively respond to terrorist events, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health threats and emergencies.

Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce News Updatehttp://www.phpartners.org/news.html

February 25, 2005

Kids at risk for obesity need early attention

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For children, obesity often begins in preschool, suggesting that pediatricians need to act early to prevent and treat excess weight in childhood, new research shows.

Furthermore, referring kids who have already gained too much weight to a pediatric endocrinologist does little to help them shed excess pounds.

These findings suggest that obese children need more than a visit to the doctor in order to lose weight, study author Dr. Teresa Quattrin told Reuters Health."

...

"The medical records showed that 4 out of 5 children became obese before their sixth birthdays, and came to the endocrinologist an average of 4 years after gaining weight."

Full Article: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2005/02/24/eline/links/20050224elin018.html

February 20, 2005

New Research Solutions for Overcoming Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health

David Williams

Hidden biases in data and analytical methods may obscure important insights needed to close the gap in persistent U.S. racial and ethnic disparities in health, said David Williams of the University of Michigan on February 2 in Snyder Auditorium.


Full Article: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/feb18/research.html

Study: Young adults can be motivated to eat fruits, veggies

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Young adults can be motivated to eat more servings of fruits and vegetables if they are exposed to tailored, practical messages about nutrition, a University of Wisconsin-Madison nutritional scientist announced today (Feb. 20) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C.

"Even though young adults are incredibly busy, they still want to know what they can do to improve their health," says Susan Nitzke, a professor at UW-Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Nitzke is the lead investigator of a multistate collaborative project that aimed to improve fruit and vegetable consumption among economically disadvantaged young adults.

Full Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/uow-sya021405.php

February 14, 2005

Morbidly obese pay nearly twice as much for health care

CINCINNATI--Health-care costs for morbidly obese adults are nearly twice those of people considered to be of normal weight, says a study led by University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers.

The study found that medical expenditures for morbidly obese adults in the year 2000 were 81 percent more than for normal-weight adults, 65 percent more than overweight adults, and 47 percent more than obese adults.

Full Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/uoc-mop021105.php

February 03, 2005

Public interest advocates question NIH Enhanced Access policy

Thursday, February 3, 2005 (Washington, DC) – Public interest supporters of the NIH Enhanced Public Access Plan today declared the just-announced policy falls short of their expectations and long-standing recommendations. In a letter addressed to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt, the Alliance for Taxpayer Access outlined its key concerns with the NIH plan:

Full Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/wc-pia020305.php

February 01, 2005

Tighter Ethics Rules Announced at NIH

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer

February 1, 2005, 4:20 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- The National Institutes of Health banned its scientists from working as consultants for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and similar businesses, a step officials hope will end controversy over paid consulting arrangements by some of its doctors.

"Nothing is more important for NIH than preserving the public's trust," NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni said Tuesday.

Full Article: http://www.newsday.com/news/health/sns-ap-nih-ethics,0,6416863.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

January 29, 2005

Health Plan Bans Cox-2 Painkiller

A large US managed health care organization, Kaiser Permanente, has banned the dispensing of the Cox-2 inhibitor arthritis painkiller Bextra, because it may heighten the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Full Article: http://www.healthtalk.ca/vioxx_bextra_012905_37883.php

January 20, 2005

Medical errors linked to 20 Minn. deaths

By MARTIGA LOHN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Twenty patients died in Minnesota hospitals during a 15-month period because of medical errors or oversights including falls, faulty medical equipment and administering the wrong medication, the state Health Department said in a new report.

The report, released Wednesday, documented 99 serious errors between July 1, 2003 and Oct. 6, 2004. Minnesota is the first state to report its mistakes under standards developed by the National Quality Forum, a Washington-based nonprofit. New Jersey and Connecticut also adopted the standards, which are being considered elsewhere.

Read more...Seattle Post

January 16, 2005

New Tool Assesses Home Health-Care Programs

SUNDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDayNews) -- A new tool to assess the quality of home health care for the elderly and people with disabilities has been developed by an international team that includes University of Michigan researchers.

The tool is designed to be used by consumers, government and home-care agencies to improve home care and to provide useful feedback about it.

The assessment is based on 22 indicators that look at processes such as administering flu vaccine, providing physical or occupational therapy, and reviewing patient medication and outcomes. Details about the assessment tool appear in the current issue of The Gerontologist.

Read more...ajc.com Health

January 12, 2005

Americans spent less on healthcare in 2003

Posted on : 2005-01-11| Author : Helen Steele
News Category : Health

The healthcare expenditure of Americans is increasing at a rate that is outpacing overall economic growth by nearly 3 percentage points. Although the figure is more than previous years, it is still the lowest annual increase seen in seven years. These findings were made by a group of researchers from the National Health Statistics Group which also runs Medicare and Medicaid.

Read more...EARTHtimes.org

January 10, 2005

HHS Maintains Lead Federal Role for Emergency Public Health and Medical Response

09 Jan 2005

USA - HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced that under the new National Response Plan released today by the Department of Homeland Security, HHS will continue to lead the federal government in providing public health and medical services during major disasters and emergencies.

"HHS will continue to work closely with all our partners to protect the health of the American public," Secretary Thompson said. "The National Response Plan will help strengthen crucial working relationships between federal, state, local and tribal officials, and the private sector concerned with public health issues during disasters or terrorist attacks."

Read more at...Medical News Today

January 03, 2005

Medicare: Incompetence-Based Bureaucracy

Posted By: News-Medical in Healthcare News
Published: Monday, 3-Jan-2005

In 2002, the General Accounting Office (GAO), now known as the Government Accountability Office, published a study revealing that 85 percent of the time Medicare customer service representatives (CSRs) gave the wrong answer to questions posed by physicians regarding the proper way to bill Medicare so as to obtain payment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) promised to take steps to remedy the problem.
After reviewing the 2002 study, I concluded two years ago that a monkey could answer Medicare policy questions as accurately as a Medicare bureaucrat. Today, after examining the results of the GAO’s follow-up study, published in July 2004, I felt compelled to find a more appropriate comparison and test subject. My search ended when a creature from the family Bufonidae volunteered his services. Covered in warts, and an avid promoter of the low-carb, bug-and-fly diet, he might, I felt, have the right stuff to participate in my GAO-like study.

Read more...News-Medical.Net

Link between fast food, weight gain, and insulin resistance

Posted By: News-Medical in Medical Research News
Published: Monday, 3-Jan-2005

Researchers have shown a correlation between fast food, weight gain, and insulin resistance in what appears to be the first long-term study on this subject.
The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study by Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor in epidemiology, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Obesity Program at Children's Hospital Boston, reported that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The results of this 15-year study will be published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Lancet.

Participants who consumed fast food two or more times a week gained approximately 10 more pounds and had twice as great increase in insulin resistance in the 15-year period than participants who consumed fast food less than once per week.

Read more...News-Medcal.Net

December 23, 2004

Patient protection laws don't favor health providers

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Despite critics who say patients' bills of rights laws are actually designed to protect health care providers, new research published in the current issue of the American Journal of Medicine found just the opposite.
"There is little evidence these laws have much impact on providers' economic concerns," said Mark Hall, J.D., professor of law and public health at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Hall reviewed managed care patient protection laws in the 48 states that have enacted them and also surveyed state regulators about law content. Commonly known as patients' bills of rights, these laws are aimed at restraining the perceived excesses of managed care, including "gate-keeping," or denying insurance payment for medically necessary treatment and restricting patients' choice of physicians Critics of the laws, however, say they actually provide protection to providers. Hall's research was designed to assess the validity of these claims by evaluating the laws' impacts.

Read more...EurekAlert.com

December 21, 2004

Australia leads the way in new screening technology for babies

Posted By: News-Medical in Healthcare News
Published: Tuesday, 21-Dec-2004
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Australia is one of the first countries in the world to implement new screening technology across all States that will help detect an increased number of diseases in newborns.
Department of Health A/Director General Dr Neale Fong said the technology, tandem mass spectrometry, which was introduced in WA this month, was the biggest step forward in newborn screening in the past 35 years.

"This new innovation has been pioneered in Australia and increases the detection at birth of inheritable disorders from four to over 20," he said.

All babies will be tested for free at birth for the early signs of treatable disorders by the WA Newborn Screening Program at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children.

Read more...News-Medical.Net

December 17, 2004

New UCLA study develops links between socioeconomic status and poor health

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown a connection between health and socioeconomic status (SES), demonstrating higher instances of heart disease, cancer and other evidence of poor health in those lower in the economic scale. The question is why, and how early in life these effects begin taking shape.

Eurekalert.com

December 15, 2004

NHLBI statement on oral contraceptive study

From Barbara Alving, M.D., Director of the Women's Health Initiative and Acting Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
A Women's Health Initiative (WHI) review of a recent abstract on the effects of oral contraceptive use on cardiovascular disease has found flaws in both the design and interpretation of the WHI data used in the study. The October presentation of the abstract at the annual scientific meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine – and subsequent media coverage – may have created the impression that OC use is linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the WHI review of the abstract shows no evidence that OC use is linked to lower risk of CVD.

The abstract used information provided by WHI participants at baseline when they first joined the study. Such analyses are limited and considered exploratory and they should not be used to reassure women about OC use. There is a large and reputable body of higher scientific evidence linking current OC use to future increases in risk of stroke and heart attack, especially in older women and in smokers. The abstract bears no relationship to the findings from the WHI clinical trials of hormones, which showed that postmenopausal hormone use clearly does not reduce, and in fact may increase the risk for CVD.

Contact: NHLBI Communications Office
nhlbi_news@nhlbi.nih.gov
301-496-4236
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Eurekalert.com

December 01, 2004

World's First Public Health Treaty To Take Effect: Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Set to Become International Law Despite Years of Intense Lobbying by Tobacco Giants

Press Release Source: Corporate Accountability International

Tuesday November 30, 12:51 pm ET
Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) Applauds Countries That Stood Up to Tobacco Industry; Urges US to Reverse Direction and Ratify Quickly

BOSTON, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first public health and corporate accountability treaty, has been ratified by 40 countries and is now set to take effect. According to its implementing provisions, the treaty becomes binding international law after the 40th country ratifies. The landmark was reached when Peru ratified the treaty today.

"This is a tremendous victory for corporate accountability and public health that will undoubtedly save millions of lives," says Kathryn Mulvey, Executive Director of the US-based Corporate Accountability International. "This treaty demonstrates that working together, the nations of the world and their NGO allies can limit the influence of giant corporations. Attempts by Philip Morris/Altria and the rest of the tobacco industry to prevent an effective treaty from entering into force have proved futile."

Yahoo! Finance

November 28, 2004

Report: Global Shortage of Health Workers Could Thwart Campaigns Against Disease

Nov 27, 2004 Washington

The world is suffering an acute shortage of doctors, nurses, and other health workers, according to a global group of health leaders. They say overburdened health workers on the front lines of survival are losing the fight against diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

A new report blames feeble national health systems for the rollback of spectacular gains made over the last century in human survival. The authors are with the Joint Learning Initiative, an independent network of more than 100 health leaders from institutions such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and universities and government public health agencies globally.

PolitInfo.com

November 25, 2004

Study finds mental health needs of older adults substantially underserved

The Gerontological Society of America

Individuals aged 65 and older are unlikely to receive needed mental health treatment in the United States, according to a recent national study by researchers at Texas A&M University. Drawing upon data from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, the researchers found that older adults were three times less likely than younger adults (individuals aged 18-64) to receive outpatient mental heath care. Only 2.5% of older adults throughout the nation reported utilizing any outpatient mental health treatment in the year prior to the survey, compared to seven percent of younger adults. Although older adults were found to have lower rates of mental illness than their younger counterparts, even those with serious mental illness (SMI) were highly unlikely to receive treatment. Only one in ten older adults with SMI received any outpatient mental health care, a rate substantially lower than that for younger adults.

Eurekalert

November 24, 2004

Study: More than half of adult diabetics obese

Friday, November 19, 2004 Posted: 9:47 AM EST (1447 GMT)

ATLANTA, Georgia (Reuters) -- An increasing number of American adults diagnosed with diabetes are obese, making it more likely they will suffer heart disease, vision damage and other health problems, U.S. officials said Thursday.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 54.8 percent of diabetics over the age of 19 were obese between 1999 and 2002. That compared with 45.7 percent in the same age group between 1988 and 1994.

CNN Health

November 20, 2004

Vioxx Recall Sparks Health Safety Concern, Doctors Say

Sat Nov 20, 2004 09:33 AM ET

By Toni Clarke and Bill Berkrot
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The recent Vioxx withdrawal and testimony from an FDA insider accusing the agency of failing to protect public health are fueling such heightened concern over drug safety that valuable medicines could be kept from patients, doctors said on Friday.

In a congressional hearing to investigate the recall of Merck & Co. Inc.'s arthritis drug Vioxx, a senior Food and Drug Administration safety official on Thursday accused the agency of being "incapable of protecting America."

Reuters Health

Study examines nature and prevalence of errors in patient care

Cites complex and distracting work environment
PHILADELPHIA – A University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing study provides the first detailed description of the nature and prevalence of errors by hospital staff nurses. During a 28-day period, 393 registered nurses kept a detailed journal of their errors and prevented errors, referred to as near-errors. Thirty percent of the nurses reported at least one error during the 28-day period, and 33 percent reported a near-error. Although the majority of errors and near-errors were medication-related, the nurses also reported a number of procedural, transcription and charting errors.
"Given the prevalence of other types of errors, an exclusive focus on medication administration errors, often a typical practice, may miss many important and potentially hazardous situations," said Ann E. Rogers, an associate professor in Penn's School of Nursing.

Eurekalert

November 19, 2004

WHO: African nations face crisis because of health worker shortage

By: E. EDUARDO CASTILLO - Associated Press

MEXICO CITY -- African countries are facing a health crisis because they lack enough medical personnel to attend to the sick, a top international health official told a summit of government ministers and researchers Thursday.

Tim Evans, the World Health Organization's assistant director-general, said Africa only has 0.8 health workers for every 1,000 people, way below the minimum of 2.5 health workers needed to "provide essential health care."

Developed countries have between 10 and 15 health employees for every 1,000 people, while Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia have between 2.5 and four workers.

"That gives some sense of the magnitude of the crisis," he said.

Ministers and experts meeting this week in Mexico were trying to find ways to increase the number of doctors and nurses in Africa.

Evans said the dearth of personnel can result in a lack of basic care and deaths that could have been prevented.

The few health workers in Africa are at risk of being recruited to developed nations, some of which also have their own health worker shortages.

nctimes.com

November 18, 2004

Who calls for better research

BY MICHAEL O BOYLE/The Herald Mexico
El Universal
Jueves 18 de noviembre de 2004
Nuestro mundo, página 1


While spending on health has tripled over the last 20 years, poor countries are not reaping the benefits, experts warn.


Poorly managed health systems and the lack of skilled professionals are undercutting international efforts to fund better health care in developing nations, a top health official said Wednesday.
"We need to wake up to these problems," said World Health Organization (WHO)Assistant Director General Tim Evans in an interview on the sidelines of an international conference in Mexico City. "Health systems are a binding constraint on progress."

Dozens of health ministers, officials from 55 countries and hundreds of researches and representatives of aid organizations are gathered here through Saturday for two parallel conferences on improving health research.

Evans said it was the first time ministers had gathered expressly to discuss health research at a summit.

El Universal (The Herald)

November 17, 2004

U.S. Launches Giant Study on Children

Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government researchers launched the biggest-ever study of children on Tuesday, saying they will track 100,000 children from birth through age 21 to see what makes kids sick.
The study, being launched at 96 centers, will follow the children as they grow up, looking at their environments, behavior, family and genetics.

"Together the children from these 96 locations will represent the face of all of America's children," the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which is sponsoring the study, said in a statement.

Reuters Health

November 13, 2004

UN agencies urge fight against childhood obesity to prevent diabetes



11 November 2004 – With more than 22 million children under the age of five either obese or overweight, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that they risk developing diabetes and must be helped.

Excess weight can also lead to heart disease, cancer and stroke, WHO warned in a press release issued jointly with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

"Tracking childhood obesity now is a highly effective way of preventing diabetes in the future," said Dr. Catherine Le Gales-Camus, WHO Assistant Director-General for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, in the lead up to World Diabetes Day, marked on 14 November.

Article form UN News Centre

October 28, 2004

CDC Advisers Recommend FluMist for Kids


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - MedImmune's FluMist nasal vaccine should be included in the U.S. government's Vaccines for Children program, expanding its distribution to children over the age of 5 and teens, federal advisers said on Thursday.

MedImmune said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting in Atlanta had expanded its recommendations on FluMist to include children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 for the 2004-05 season. The vaccine, a weakened version of the influenza virus dripped into the nose, was previously recommended for healthy adults aged 18 to 50.

Article from Reuters Health

October 22, 2004

Health Care Summit

By Grace-Marie Turner

The State Policy Network, under Tracie Sharp's expert leadership, is holding its 12th annual meeting in Austin this week, with the first day featuring a health care summit (which I chaired).

Health care is a front-line issue for the leaders of state-based think tanks from around the country attending the meeting. They heard presentations on consumer-directed health care, Medicaid reform, medical malpractice, and evidence-based medicine, and took a visit to the Heart Hospital of Austin.

Article from the Galen Institute


Trends: The Impact Of Obesity On Rising Medical Spending

Thorpe KE, Florence CS, Howard DH, Joski P.

the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, in Atlanta.

Obese people incur higher health care costs at a given point in time, but how rising obesity rates affect spending growth over time is unknown. We estimate obesity-attributable health care spending increases between 1987 and 2001. Increases in the proportion of and spending on obese people relative to people of normal weight account for 27 percent of the rise in inflation-adjusted per capita spending between 1987 and 2001; spending for diabetes, 38 percent; spending for hyperlipidemia, 22 percent; and spending for heart disease, 41 percent. Increases in obesity prevalence alone account for 12 percent of the growth in health spending.

PMID: 15496437

U of M students, faculty, and staff may access this article through the following link

Flu vaccine crisis teaches lessons

Recommendations to head off a similar situation in the future
Thursday, October 21, 2004 Posted: 12:02 PM EDT (1602 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The flu vaccine shortage has set off a scramble to find ways to prevent any repetition of this year's calamity, which has restricted shots to those most at risk.

The recommendations range from the mundane -- extending the vaccination season through the winter -- to the monumental -- spending millions more on research and guaranteeing that the government buys unused flu vaccine to stabilize the volatile market.

Article from CNN.com

CDC urged to combat obesity

Health group wants task force, nutrition plan and campaign

By Nanci Hellmich / USA TODAY

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A new report by a national health advocacy group calls state and national policies ineffective tools in the war against obesity.

The Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., went a step further this week and recommended that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention become the nation's "command and control center" to manage the crisis.

Article from the Detroit News: Health

Vaccine Shortage Highlights Need for Government Involvement in Public Health

Newswise — What does the flu vaccine shortage have in common with the September 11 terrorist attacks? They are both the consequence of America’s aversion to “big government,” says Swarthmore College economist Mark Kuperberg.

The way to avoid future repeats of the vaccine shortage, Kuperberg argues, is government action on two fronts: one, extending to flu vaccine manufacturers the protection afforded to makers of childhood vaccines under the National Vaccine Compensation Fund and, two, mechanisms similar to those used in agriculture that protect manufacturers from getting stuck with unused supplies.

Article from newswise

October 20, 2004

Biodiversity losses threaten world's 900 million rural poor, UN says

18 October 2004 – An unprecedented loss of biodiversity has reduced the amount of food available to the world's 900 million rural poor and should receive widespread attention, UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said today.

"Given the growing interdependence among countries and expanding trade in agricultural goods and services, maintaining biodiversity for food security is as much a global priority as a local one," she said at a commemoration in New York of World Food Day.

Article from UN News Centre