Archive for October, 2008

Oral Cancer Risks

Oct 31, 2008 No Comments by

Oral cancer kills one American every hour, largely due to late detection. It used to be known as a disease of older men with histories of heavy smoking or drinking. But today’s oral cancer victim is often younger and female. Oral cancer among people in their 40’s nearly doubled from 1973-2004, and researchers think they know why.

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Improving Patients’ Health Through Online Self-Management

Oct 29, 2008 No Comments by

A change in lifestyle can make all the difference for a patient who is at risk for cardiac disease, but behavioral changes are often not sustained over the long-term. Community Cardiovascular Hearts in Motion, with incorporation of the Wellness Record, is attempting to change that.

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Physician and Hospitals Get a Grade

Oct 27, 2008 No Comments by

HealthGrades announced today that Yahoo! has selected the company as the exclusive provider of physician and hospital quality information for Yahoo! Health. HealthGrades’ physician quality reports and hospital ratings will be integrated into a variety of Yahoo! Health consumer health tools, including a new Yahoo! Health Physician Directory.

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New Study for Alzheimer’s

Oct 24, 2008 No Comments

A new placebo-controlled study in 410 patients suffering from mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia has demonstrated the efficacy of EGb 761. Like the majority of dementia patients encountered in everyday clinical practice, the patients in the study suffered from both cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depressed mood, anxiety, irritability or aggression. During the observation period of 24 weeks, EGb 761 improved both cognitive functioning and neuropsychiatric symptoms of the patients significantly.

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Medicaid Spending Projected to Rise Much Faster Than the Economy

Oct 22, 2008 No Comments

Under current law, spending on Medicaid is expected to substantially outpace the rate of growth in the U.S. economy over the next decade, according to a new annual report released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Individuals with Disabilities Will Struggle to Meet High Costs and Debt

Oct 20, 2008 3 Comments

For the more than 8.5 million individuals relying on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or awaiting a decision on their application for benefits, the 5.8 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase in Social Security payments for 2009 will certainly ease concerns, according to Allsup, a provider of Social Security disability, financial and healthcare-related services to people with disabilities. While the COLA has not been this high in more than 25 years, Allsup believes beneficiaries will not be overly optimistic about the increase.

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News for Stem Cells

Oct 17, 2008 No Comments

Angioblast Systems announced this week a successful initial safety results following commencement of the world’s first clinical trial to use allogeneic adult stem cells obtained from an unrelated, universal donor to treat patients with congestive heart failure.

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Stanford Study Reveals Worms’ Nervous System Shown to Alert Immune System

Oct 15, 2008 No Comments

The nervous system and the immune system have something in common. Each has evolved to react quickly to environmental cues. Because the nervous system is able to detect some of these cues—say, a characteristic odor signaling a pathogen’s presence—at a distance, it sometimes can sense trouble earlier than the immune system, which has to wait until the pathogen invades the organism.

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Survey Shows Americans Adopting Healthier Lifestyles

Oct 13, 2008 No Comments

More than half of Americans (51%) believe there are good things about the current health care system, but major changes are needed, according to the 2008 EBRI Health Confidence Survey. The survey was released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald and Associates Inc., and was underwritten by the Principal Financial Group.

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How Efficient is Your Hospital?

Oct 10, 2008 No Comments

This week, StatCom announced the findings of the 2008 National Survey on Patient Flow Challenges and Technologies, an independent, nationwide survey of more than 200 healthcare executives. According to the findings, the overwhelming majority of U.S. healthcare executives (89%) reveal their facility has poor patient flow.

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