Featured Content:
March 11, 2010
Fast-growing spending on imaging tests in Massachusetts gives a closeup view to the many-sided question of whether improved technology is really worth the extra cost.
The facts, as laid out by the Boston Globe this morning: Spending on MRIs, mammograms, and other imaging tests for privately insured Massachusetts residents jumped 20%, or $214 million, between 2006 and 2008, according to consultants hired by the state. Doctors ordering more tests was one reason for the added spending.
Digital mammography was another prime driver as some insurers pay more for these breast-screening tests and hospitals have invested upward of $400,000 for such new machines… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
Fast-growing spending on imaging tests in Massachusetts gives a closeup view to the many-sided question of whether improved technology is really worth the extra cost.
The facts, as laid out by the Boston Globe this morning: Spending on MRIs, mammograms, and other imaging tests for privately insured Massachusetts residents jumped 20%, or $214 million, between 2006 and 2008, according to consultants hired by the state. Doctors ordering more tests was one reason for the added spending.
Digital mammography was another prime driver as some insurers pay more for these breast-screening tests and hospitals have invested upward of $400,000 for such new machines… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
Researchers have new insight into the relationship between Parkinson’s disease and smoking. Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. A new study published in the March 10, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that smoking for a greater number of years may reduce the risk of the disease, but smoking a larger number of cigarettes per day may not reduce the risk.
“These results could guide the development of studies on various tobacco components with animal models to help understand the relationship between smoking and… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
Getting children involved in finding ways to become more physically active can not only make them more aware of local recreational opportunities, but can even help increase their own physical activity.
That’s the result of a study examining the role of seven national parks in contributing to the health of today’s youth. The study was conducted by researchers from a variety of disciplines at North Carolina State University and other U.S. universities and funded by the National Park Service.
The researchers developed pilot programs aimed at increasing the awareness of health benefits from participating in recreational activities at national parks and increasing… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. A new study shows that it’s how many years of smoking a person has under their belt—rather than how much they smoke every day—that matters.
“Smoking is bad for you and no one should advocate smoking just for prevention of Parkinson’s,” Dr. Honglei Chen of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, one of the study’s authors, emphasized in comments to Reuters Health. But the findings could help researchers who are trying to figure out the underlying cause of the disease… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
People sensitive to the taste of fat tend to eat less of it and are less likely to be overweight, according to Australian research that found human tongues can detect fatty tastes.
Researchers at Deakin University, working with colleagues at the University of Adelaide among others, found that fat was the sixth taste people can identify in addition to the five others – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein-rich.
In a statement, Deakin researcher Russell Keast said the findings build on previous research in the United States that used animal models to discover the taste for fat. Go to Source… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
An experimental thyroid drug reduces cholesterol without the troublesome side effects experienced by some people on statins, according to a study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. An international team of investigators at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Karolinska University Hospital and Institute, and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research tested a substance called Eprotirome in patients with high cholesterol.
Following 189 people with high cholesterol over a three-month period, they observed that it lowered cholesterol levels without the classic thyroid risks to the heart and bone, The study was supported by Karo Bio in Sweden, a company… Continue reading
March 11, 2010
Ah, school cafeteria lunches. …
They might have pleasant memories for you, of peeling back the silver foil and taking a whiff of that sweet-smelling warm hamburger bun (or maybe a whiff of those “Li’l Smokies” – remember those?).
But school lunches – and their degradation into unhealthy fat- and sugar-powerhouses for our kids – were part of the topic First Lady Michelle Obama addressed in her keynote speech to the National PTA at the annual PTA conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday.
Improving school lunches is one element of a four-pronged approach the First Lady is launching in her new “Let’s Move!” campaign… Continue reading
