Public Health
Vitamin D Improves Exercise Outcomes in Patients with COPD
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Vitamin D supplements may help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) get more from their pulmonary rehabilitation programs, according to a study conducted by researchers from Belgium.
The study results will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver.
“Our study shows that high doses of vitamin D supplementation on top of a standard rehabilitation program improve the outcome in terms of exercise capacity and respiratory muscle strength,” said Miek Hornikx, physiotherapist and doctoral student in the department of pneumology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium.
Federal agency seeks Medicaid savings with better care
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A small percentage of people account for a huge share of Medicaid healthcare program costs and U.S. officials on Wednesday announced a drive to save money while improving care for these patients.
The initiative will focus on coordinating care of people who receive health coverage under both the Medicaid program for the poor and the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
These 9.2 million “dual eligibles” tend to have multiple chronic illnesses and 43 percent have a mental impairment. They represent only 15 percent of Medicaid enrollees but account for about 40 percent of the spending, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the programs.
400,000-plus women raped in Congo yearly: study
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More than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year, according to a study by U.S. researchers published Wednesday, but the United Nations has expressed doubt over the findings.
Congo, which has a population of around 60 million, has endured decades of conflict, characterized by the use of brutal sexual violence against civilians, with mass rapes still regular in the largely lawless eastern provinces.
The study, which used nationwide data collected by the government between 2006 and 2007, found that on average 1,100 women were raped every day in the vast central African country.
Lessening the Dangers of Radiation
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For diagnosing head and neck ailments, tests that use radiation are always less desirable than those that don’t. Otolaryngologists have a wide range of techniques available to them, including CT or “CAT” scans, MRI and ultrasound. CT uses significant radiation and MRI a lower amount, but ultrasound is a non-invasive, non-radiating technique. It does not require injection of radioactive contrast material and has no side effects.
Now, a new study by Tel Aviv University exploring the efficacy of expensive and invasive CT scans has found that, in some cases, they don’t offer a clinical advantage over a simple, inexpensive ultrasound procedure.
In his study, Dr. Michael Vaiman of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine compared the efficacy of CT versus ultrasound scans for locating vertebral arteries in the throat, an important assessment that must be completed before a surgeon operates in the neck area of the body.
Vitamin D deficiency in pneumonia patients associated with increased mortality
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A new study published in the journal Respirology reveals that adult patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have Vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D is known to be involved in the innate immune response to infection.
The team of researchers at Waikato Hospital and the Universities of Waikato and Otago, measured vitamin D in the blood samples of 112 adult patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia during the winter at the only acute-care hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Red Cross delivers first relief aid to Deraa
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Aid workers from the Red Cross and Red Crescent on Thursday delivered their first emergency relief supplies to the southern Syrian city of Deraa, cradle of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a spokesman said.
The one-day visit granted by Syrian authorities coincided with an announcement that its army units have begun to leave Deraa, but residents described a city still under siege.
A convoy of two trucks carrying drinking water and two trucks with food and first aid materials accompanied the team of 13 experts from the Syrian Red Crescent and International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said.
House Republicans back away on Medicare overhaul
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Congressional Republicans on Thursday backed away from a contentious plan to overhaul Medicare that President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats have turned into a weapon against them for next year’s elections.
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp said his panel will not advance a Republican proposal to privatize Medicare for future retirees because it stands no chance of getting passed by the Democratic-led Senate. But Camp said the powerful tax-writing committee will act on any compromise reached on a deficit reduction plan.
“I’m interested in finding a way forward that will get signed into law,” Camp told reporters at an event sponsored by Health Affairs, a health policy journal.
Nonprofit Health Organizations Increase Health Literacy Through Social Media
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As the presence of social media continues to increase as a form of communication, health organizations are searching for the most effective ways to use the online tools to pass important information to the public. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that nonprofit organizations and community groups appear to be more actively engaged in posting health information and interacting with the public on Twitter than other types of health-related organizations, such as health business corporations, educational institutions and government agencies.
“Twitter may be more appealing to nonprofit organizations because it creates a barrier-free environment that allows these organizations to share important information through real-time exchanges without significant efforts,” said Hyojung Park, a doctoral candidate at the Missouri School of Journalism. “Unlike business organizations such as pharmaceutical companies, nonprofit health organizations and advocacy groups may suffer from lack of funding, staff, and other resources in developing and implementing communication strategies for health intervention and promotion programs. Thus, it is likely that nonprofit organizations and support groups recognize the rapid growth of Twitter and its value as an inexpensive but highly effective communication tool.”
In her study, Park explored how health-related organizations use Twitter, which is a popular social media outlet, to promote health literacy in society and to raise awareness of their brands and manage their images.
Rare deep-sea starfish stuck in juvenile body plan
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Columbus, OH – A team of scientists has combined embryological observations, genetic sequencing, and supercomputing to determine that a group of small disk-shaped animals that were once thought to represent a new class of animals are actually starfish that have lost the large star-shaped, adult body from their life cycle.
In a paper for the journal Systematic Biology (sysbio.oxfordjournals.org), Daniel Janies, Ph.D., a computational biologist in the department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University (OSU), leveraged computer systems at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) to help support his contention that class-level status of Xyloplax does not reflect their evolutionary history.
“Although Xyloplax does not represent a new class, it an even more interesting animal now because it represents a rare example of how natural selection can shape the whole the life cycle,” he explained. “By omitting the large adult stage, Xylopax found how to make a living in the nooks and crannies of sunken timbers on the deep-sea floor.”
Movement + academics = success
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When schools cut physical education programs so students can spend more time in the classroom, they may be missing a golden opportunity to promote learning, according to research to be presented Sunday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver.
The study adds to growing evidence that exercise is good not only for the body but also the mind. It also shows that physical education and academic instruction need not be mutually exclusive.
Researchers Kathryn L. King, MD, and Carly J. Scahill, DO, pediatric residents at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital, led by William S. Randazzo, MD, FAAP, and James T. McElligott, MD, sought to determine how implementing a daily physical activity program that incorporated classroom lessons would affect student achievement. First- through sixth-graders at an academically low-scoring elementary school in Charleston, S.C., took part in the program 40 minutes a day, five days a week. Prior to initiation of the program, students spent 40 minutes per week in physical education classes.
Washington governor vetoes medical pot licensing bill
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Washington’s governor on Friday vetoed most provisions of bill to establish state licensing for cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana, saying she did not want to put state employees at risk of federal prosecution.
Governor Christine Gregoire said she was swayed by a legal opinion issued earlier this month by federal prosecutors threatening to crack down not only on dispensary owners and growers but on state regulators enforcing the proposed law.
The Democratic-controlled legislature passed the bill in response to a recent proliferation of storefront dispensaries that are neither explicitly permitted nor banned under the 1998 voter-approved state law legalizing pot for medical purposes.
U.S. envoy: Gaddafi troops raping, issued Viagra
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The U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.
Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context of increasing reports of sexual violence by Gaddafi’s troops.
“Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded,” a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was first reported by a British newspaper.
Lawmakers in 2 states pass new abortion restrictions
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Legislators in both Indiana and Florida passed sweeping abortion restrictions on Wednesday.
The Indiana House passed a bill, already approved by the Senate, that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and cut funding to Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
If the bill is signed by Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana will become the fifth state to ban late-term abortions based on the contested idea that a fetus feels pain at this point.
Report names U.S. cities with foulest, cleanest air
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The nation’s 25 most smoggy cities improved air quality over the last year, but half the nation’s residents still live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to an American Lung Association report released on Wednesday.
Weighing the pluses and minuses in U.S. air quality over the past year, the “State of the Air 2011” report concluded that the U.S. Clean Air Act, the federal law aimed at limiting pollution in the nation’s skies, is working.
“The progress the nation has made cleaning up coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions and other pollution sources has drastically cut dangerous pollution from the air we breathe,” Lung Association President Charles Connor said in a statement.
The most dramatic improvement has been controlling ozone, commonly known as smog. The report found all 25 cities most polluted by ozone had cleaner air than they did last year.
White House announces plans to reduce prescription drug abuse
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President Barack Obama’s administration unveiled on Tuesday a plan to fight what it calls a prescription drug abuse epidemic.
Between 2002 and 2009, the number of Americans aged 12 and older abusing pain relievers increased by 20 percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“Unintentional drug overdose is a growing epidemic in the U.S. and is now the leading cause of injury death in 17 states,” Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Thomas Frieden was quoted as saying in a statement from the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
