Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Blood Test Shows Statistically Significant Association With Alzheimer's Disease (AD), May Predict Conversion Of Mild Cognitive Impairment To AD
Dr. Zsuzsanna Nagy of the University of Birmingham presented data from a clinical study, funded by Cytox Limited, demonstrating that a simple blood-based biomarker discriminated between patients with Alzheimer"s disease (AD) and control subjects. The findings were statistically highly significant, and the test discriminated between the two groups with 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity. The results also showed that 40% of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients tested had the same test results as AD patients. Follow up study of MCI patients enrolled in an earlier study found that the test allowed early identification of those MCI patients who later developed dementia. The results were presented at the 2009 Alzheimer"s Association International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD 2009), held in Vienna, Austria.

Meningitis Is A Serious Threat To Hajj / Umrah Travellers
Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK a National Hajj Specific and charitable organisation warned British Hajj that they are at risk of infections including meningococcal disease because of crowded conditions at ceremonies, accommodation sites and on public transport.
News of the day
Battles Over Insurance Reform Afflict House Dems
"House liberals are offended that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) mocked their threats to oppose a Democratic healthcare bill, saying leaders are underestimating their frustration over a deal cut with centrist Blue Dogs," The Hill reports. "Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Monday expressed outrage at the comments and said her group is being "laughed at." Woolsey is the author of a letter signed by 60 fellow House liberals vowing to vote against a deal cut with the Blue Dogs ... Woolsey said the signers of the letter plan to "remind leadership" of the group"s support for a "robust public option." "Robust" to liberals generally means similar to Medicare. Liberals are irritated leaders granted Blue Dogs" concessions that prevent the public option from using Medicare rates for reimbursement. They believe that will make care too expensive for many people" (Soraghan and Allen, 8/3).
Medical Devices

Health Centers Get $850 Million For Infrastructure Improvements

First Lady Michelle Obama visited a Washington, D.C. community health center Monday afternoon to announce the release of $851 million for the expansion and rehabilitation of clinics around the country, The New York Times reports. Obama"s visit focused attention on preventable disease like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure that disproportionately affect African Americans and Latino Americans. "Mrs. Obama called Unity Health Care"s Upper Cardozo Center, and clinics like it, a "vital component" of the health care system, places where millions of poor and uninsured people receive preventive care and medical care and avoid costly visits to local emergency rooms" (Swarns, 6/29). Every clinic that applied for the capital-improvement dollars will receive at least $200,000, Obama said, according to The Associated Press: "The stimulus law set aside about $2.5 billion for free and low-cost health clinics. Two earlier sets of grants awarded just under $500 million to health centers" (Metzler, 6/29). The dollars include $109 million for 500 health centers in California to purchase equipment, improve clinic facilities and implement health information technology into record-keeping, The San Francisco Chronicle reports: "This is the third set of health grants provided through stimulus funds. California centers have already received $63 million in funds" (Colliver and Zito, 6/30). Utah will get $6 million for its clinics, The Salt Lake Tribune reports: ""This is a real leap of faith for the feds," said Dexter Pearce, executive director of Community Health Centers Inc. "It"s a testament to the power of the community health movement." One out of every 18 people in the country gets health care through community clinics, Pearce said, making it the largest health care system in the nation. But patients at these clinics are usually low income, and 40 percent nationally have no health insurance. Of the 31,000 patients Pearce serves in the Salt Lake Valley, roughly 15,000 are uninsured" (Maddocks, 6/29). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009