Health News

Exercise Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk In White Men

Date: Feb-12-2013
Exercise reduces the risk of prostate cancer in white men. Working out can also lower the chance of developing more severe forms of the cancer in Caucasian males who have the disease. However, African-American men do not experience the same advantages from exercising. The finding came from a new study conducted by the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society...

Health Care Fraud, Record $4.2 Billion Recovered In 2012, USA

Date: Feb-12-2013
Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice say that a record-breaking $4.2 billion were recovered as a result of joint efforts to address health care fraud in 2012. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder issued a report which showed that for every dollar the US government spent on health care-related fraud and abuse investigations over the last 36 months, it got $7.90 back. This is a record over a three-year period since the HCFAC (Health Care Fraud and Abuse) Program began sixteen years ago...

Premium Costs For Public Health Insurance Affect Coverage

Date: Feb-12-2013
Requiring individuals to pay a premium for public health insurance coverage can counteract the coverage effects of expanding eligibility for public health insurance programs to higher income families. That is the finding of a study by a team of researchers from Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Columbia University published in the journal Health Services Research...

Study Examines Vascular Injury, Beta-Amyloid Deposition And Cognition

Date: Feb-11-2013
JAMA Neurology Study Highlights In a study of elderly patients, Natalie L. Marchant, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues suggest there is no evidence that vascular brain injury (VBI) increases the likelihood of beta-Amyloid (Aβ) deposition, a diagnostic criterion for Alzheimer disease. � Researchers sought to examine the relationship between neuroimaging measures of VBI and brain Aβ deposition and their associations with cognition...

Study Examines Medicaid Drug Selection Committees, Potential Conflicts Of Interest

Date: Feb-11-2013
An analysis of policy documents from Medicaid programs, suggests that current policies to manage conflicts of interest (COIs) of members of Medicaid drug selection committees are not transparent and vary widely, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. � It is important to manage COI for formulary drug selections or reimbursement to ensure that products are selected based on evidence and with minimal bias and to protect against pharmaceutical industry influence, according to the study background...

Emergency Department Crowding May Be Associated With Acute Coronary Syndrome-Induced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

Date: Feb-11-2013
JAMA Internal Medicine Study Highlights According to a research letter reporting the findings of a study by Donald Edmondson, Ph.D., and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, emergency department (ED) crowding may be associated with acute coronary syndrome (ACS)-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. � The symptoms are a risk factor for ACS recurrence and mortality, and a known contributor to poor quality of life, patient satisfaction and increased medical utilization, according to the study...

Trial Compares Ways To Elicit Patient Values About Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening

Date: Feb-11-2013
Michael Patrick Pignone, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical in October 2011 in which men underwent a values clarification task and then chose the most important attribute for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. � Men must consider how they value different potential outcomes to make good decisions about PSA screening, according to the study. The trial included 911 men (ages 50 to 70 years) from the United States and Australia who had average risk for prostate cancer...

Broken Bones Mended With Stem Cells And Plastic

Date: Feb-11-2013
New bone tissue grown from patients' own stem cells that attach themselves to an implanted, rigid lightweight plastic "scaffolding" which gradually degrades and is replaced as new bone grows, could soon be healing shattered limbs, according to a new research report. The degradable polymer material is the result of a seven-year collaboration between the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh. The researchers report their work in a paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials...

Stem Cell Discovery Gives Insight Into Motor Neurone Disease

Date: Feb-11-2013
A discovery using stem cells from a patient with motor neurone disease could help research into treatments for the condition. The study used a patient's skin cells to create motor neurons - nerve cells that control muscle activity - and the cells that support them called astrocytes. Researchers studied these two types of cells in the laboratory. They found that a protein expressed by abnormalities in a gene linked to motor neurone disease, which is called TDP-43, caused the astrocytes to die...

24 Genes Responsible For Short-Sightedness Identified

Date: Feb-11-2013
Researchers from King's College London have identified 24 new genes that are responsible for causing myopia, a very common eye disorder also known as short-sightedness. The finding, published in Nature Genetics, finally reveals the genetic causes of the condition; this is very promising and could finally be the basis for future treatment of the disorder. There is currently no cure for myopia, a condition which affects 30 percent of Westerners and up to 80 percent of Asians...