UPI Health Business articles from December 2005

UPI Health Business archives from December 2005

Caregiving: One nurse makes a difference.
December 1, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN The United States faces a shortage of nurses of some 1.1 million in the next 15 years, but such reports don't hit home until you or someone you care about hits the buzzer in the hospital and no nurse appears. ...

HealthWrap: The changing face of AIDS.
December 1, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED The AIDS epidemic officially turns 25 next year, counting from the first report from the Centers for Disease Control in June 1981. On this World AIDS Day it's worth taking a moment to reflect on how the epidemic has...

New bird-flu outbreaks as blogs fear FEMA repeat.
December 1, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Romania has announced further outbreaks of avian influenza among birds in Periprava, a village in the Danube River Delta. The small village, which lacks road access and is easily...

Once often not enough in back surgery.
December 1, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Researchers said Thursday that osteoporosis is an area where repeat procedures are often necessary, which can drive up Medicare costs. But for now, doctors say they are unsure how to correct the...

Wyeth awarded $32 M for HIV vaccine.
December 1, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Wyeth said Thursday it was awarded a five-year, $32 million contract from the National Institutes of Health to develop an HIV vaccine, joining an already crowded field of vaccine...

Dialysis drug is cost effective, study.
December 2, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A recent study suggests that sevelamer, sold as Renagel by Genzyme, Cambridge, Mass.,-- and a relatively pricey therapy -- is actually cost-effective because it appears to reduce heart...

Ped Med: Holiday food for the ages.
December 2, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The traditional Christmas dinner may seem a bit dated, but there is no expiration date for including foods that are good for you on the menu. Apples, onions and cranberries fill the...

Thai scientist fears human-to-human cases of bird flu.
December 2, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Thai health officials have expressed concern that the country's two latest confirmed victims of avian influenza may be the beginning of the much feared human-to-human transmission. Dr....

FDA panel backs patch for ADHD.
December 2, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- An expert panel Friday unanimously backed the approval of the first skin patch for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but urged regulators to discourage its use as a...

X-rays fail to pinpoint avian flu -- study.
December 2, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN CHICAGO, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Aside from the dearth of treatments to battle avian-flu virus H5N1, the bug is also proving elusive for physicians to diagnose from a standard X-ray, researchers said Friday. Radiologists...

Mesh graft treats spine fracture.
December 2, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN CHICAGO, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Researchers can use bone material from cadavers, a tiny mesh pouch and radiological precision to create a new repair system for traumatic back fractures, said a study released Friday. The new...

Eat To Live: Watch those grande calories.
December 3, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON More than 100 journalists were given a baby panda preview this week at Washington's National Zoo. Between squeals, an impressive number of the media's best, up at dawn for the viewing, sustained themselves with sips...

Eat To Live: Dangers in leafy greens.
December 5, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Last month Robert E. Brackett, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, sent a worried letter to California companies growing, packing, processing or shipping fresh and fresh-cut lettuce and leafy...

Does Boston bid for Guidant doom J&J?
December 5, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- In the wake of Boston Scientific's surprise attempt to wrest cardiac device maker Guidant away from buyer apparent Johnson & Johnson, market analysts appear split on whether it is time for...

Europe further affected, U.S. prepares for bird flu.
December 5, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Six villages in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula were quarantined over the weekend following reports of avian-influenza outbreaks. Tests confirmed the presence of an H5 strain of avian...

HealthWrap: Alcohol gets mixed reviews.
December 5, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED If you wait for the latest research before deciding whether to have a nightly drink, pay heed: Alcohol might not improve your overall health, but it could help your waistline. That seems counterintuitive, doesn't...

Bird flu unlikely to be boon for industry.
December 5, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Cel-Sci Corp. said Monday it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Institutes of Health to test its anti-infective drug Cel-1000 against the H5N1 strain of bird flu in...

States say flu preparedness funds lacking.
December 6, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Federal plans relying heavily on cities and states to prepare for a potentially devastating flu pandemic have left many local officials worried that they won't be able to pay for...

Ped Med: 'Tis the season for colds.
December 6, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- 'Tis the season to be jolly, but winter's dropping temperatures raise the not-so-merry possibility of being waylaid by nasty colds and flu before the fun begins. Surveys show young...

Caregiving: Nurses' salaries not enough.
December 6, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Part 3 of 5. The ongoing nursing shortage has resulted in nurses getting increasingly higher salaries with more and more benefits. Median annual earnings of registered nurses were $48,090 in 2002, with the middle 50...

Cells can grow after spine injury -- study.
December 6, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Recovery from spinal injury may have gotten a step closer as researchers at the University of California say they have achieved post-injury nerve-cell regeneration in lab animals. The...

Merck's Gardasil likely to be blockbuster.
December 6, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Merck's cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil -- expected to hit the market next year -- could rake in sales of $2 billion or more if Merck can capitalize on its lead over GlaxoSmithKline's...

Possible human transmission of bird flu investigated.
December 6, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- There has been further debate concerning the possible instances of human-to-human avian-influenza transmission suspected by some scientists in Thailand and Indonesia. The suspected cases...

Report says food ads hurt kids' health.
December 6, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Billions of dollars worth of junk food and restaurant marketing targeted at children is damaging their health and must be curbed, an Institute of Medicine report concluded Tuesday. The...

Nurses bid for shifts online.
December 7, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Inspired by commercial Web sites such as Priceline.com and eBay, St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, N.Y., helped address its nursing shortage and saved $1 million a year by using an online...

Eat To Live: TV ads make children hungry.
December 7, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON The Institute of Medicine has just established what most parents know for themselves: Food advertising on television can make children crave junk food. U.S. food companies have long argued that a link between TV...

The Age of Autism: 'A pretty big secret'.
December 7, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED CHICAGO, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- It's a far piece from the horse-and-buggies of Lancaster County, Pa., to the cars and freeways of Cook County, Ill. But thousands of children cared for by Homefirst Health Services in...

Firms say they'll keep retiree Rx benefits.
December 7, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Nine out of ten large U.S. employers who already offer prescription drug coverage to retirees won't drop the benefits when the government starts paying for medicines in January, according...

New bird-flu outbreaks reported in Ukraine.
December 7, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Avian-influenza outbreaks have been reported in six more Ukrainian villages. Following Tuesday's announcement of the imposition of a state of emergency covering the affected autonomous...

WTO TRIPS agreement could benefit generics.
December 7, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The World Trade Organization's move to make it easier for developing countries to obtain generic versions of patented drugs will likely have scant impact on Big Pharma, but it could be a...

CEO survey: Uninsured straining hospitals.
December 8, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- In a recent survey, the nation's hospital CEOs say they are worried that the financial pressure of treating the nation's increasing number of uninsured is putting essential services such as...

HealthWrap: 'Serious risks' in 12 Rx's.
December 8, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Consumer Reports, the independent ratings-and-recommendations publication, is just out with a list of 12 drugs it says have "known or suspected serious risks" patients weren't warned about....

Caregiving: 20 percent of nurses have left.
December 8, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Part 4 of 5. Some 20 percent of U.S. nurses have left the profession, and 55 percent of nurses surveyed by their professional association said they would not recommend the career to others. Not only were fewer...

China reports fifth human case of bird flu.
December 8, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- China announced Thursday that a 31-year-old woman is the country's fifth confirmed human case of avian influenza. The woman fell ill Oct. 30 and was treated in hospital until Nov. 29,...

AstraZeneca's Casodex may get boost.
December 8, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A new analysis of the Early Prostate Cancer trial may restore physician confidence in AstraZeneca's prostate cancer treatment Casodex, the analyst firm Datamonitor said in a report issued...

Report says bird flu could cost 5% of GDP.
December 8, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A flu pandemic like the one threatened by avian flu pandemic could cost the United States economy as much as $675 billion in just a few weeks, a congressional report concluded Thursday. ...

Is China hiding avian influenza?
December 9, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- There is growing concern that China may not be as open in its reporting of avian-influenza outbreaks as originally believed. Guan Yi, a virologist from the University of Hong Kong, was...

Ped Med: Traveling with toddler in tow.
December 9, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- If you plan on stirring from the house this holiday season, there are steps you can take to help the small children you bring along stay quiet as a mouse during the trip. Mayo...

Eat To Live: 'Whole grain' gets scrutiny.
December 9, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON The Food and Drug Administration this week caused its own version of sticker shock by rejecting General Mills' request to label their cereal, bread and other related products as a "good source" or even "excellent...

HealthWrap: Older, maybe not better.
December 9, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED The image of the healthily aging baby boomer -- savvier about nutrition and lifestyle than their so-last-century elders -- is in trouble: Half of the oldest boomers have high blood pressure, and nearly that many are...

Analysts back Lilly's rosy forecast.
December 9, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Eli Lilly said Friday it was in a unique position to deliver sustained growth, and analysts seem to agree with the company's rosy assessment. "I think they have one of the better...

Survival gain seen with breast-cancer drug.
December 9, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Researchers said Friday that, for the first time, a newer breast-cancer treatment appears to offer a survival advantage over tamoxifen, the gold standard of treatment for a generation. ...

Herceptin OK as upfront cancer drug.
December 9, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Despite a troubling interaction that can injure some patients' hearts, doctors said that the breast-cancer drug Herceptin should be used as a frontline agent in combination with other potent...

FluWrap: Canada given all-clear.
December 12, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The two Canadian farms that tested positive for an H5 strain of avian influenza in November have now been given the all-clear. Seventy thousand birds were culled in response to the...

Report: U.S. health improvements stagnate.
December 12, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The overall health of Americans and their medical system continued a years-long stall in 2005, while the nation continues to lag behind dozens of others in basic healthcare measures, a...

Resistant bugs to boost Rx sales -- analyst.
December 12, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- An analyst firm said Monday that the increasing prevalence of drug-resistant pathogens will significantly drive the sales of antibacterial agents, including Pfizer's Zyvox,...

Ill. governor touts state's child coverage.
December 12, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich touted his state's new children's health program in Washington Monday, urging other governors moving to cut Medicaid to alter their priorities. ...

Eat To Live: Kellogg changes to new soy.
December 12, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON When you're the world's leading producer of cereal as well as a leading producer of convenience foods -- with sales last year of almost $10 billion -- you can exert a certain influence upon farmers. In response to...

HealthWrap: Kids' cancer tied to infection.
December 12, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A troubling new British study suggests "minor, common illnesses" could trigger cancer in susceptible children. The study, by a team of British researchers, examined childhood-cancer statistics and found that...

IT-related deaths highlight tech needs.
December 13, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Patient deaths at the University of Pittsburgh Children's Hospital blamed on a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system point to the troubling possibility that electronic healthcare...

Caregiving: A tale of one city.
December 13, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Two nationally top-ranked hospitals -- Albany Medical Center and St. Peter's Hospital -- are located a stone's throw from each other in Albany, N.Y. Each had a nursing shortage, and each chose an innovative way to have...

Ped Med: Christmas plants may pose risk.
December 13, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Mistletoe and holly may make the house look jolly, but they can also make children sick if swallowed, poison officials warn. "Plants and products usually not seen or available...

HealthWrap: Cocaine link to Parkinson's?
December 13, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A new study links cocaine abuse to a higher risk of Parkinson's disease -- raising the possibility of a drug-fueled increase in the disorder over the next two decades. The study found that cocaine alters nerve...

New flu fears in three countries.
December 13, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Indonesia Tuesday confirmed its ninth human death from avian influenza. The victim, who died in Jakarta last month, was a 35-year-old man who was confirmed to have been in contact with sick...

Big Pharma to increase licensing deals.
December 13, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Big Pharma is likely to increasingly turn to creative licensing deals in the coming years in order to overcome poor growth outlooks, analysts said Tuesday. Many of the top 20...

Lawmakers may only half fund flu effort.
December 13, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Republican lawmakers negotiating a pandemic flu preparedness plan are pushing to provide only half the money this year that President Bush has asked for to fund it, aides and industry...

Eat To Live: Why do women fear food?
December 14, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON The worst time of the year for women is almost upon us. All those parties, all those presents -- it should be fun, shouldn't it? Yet the next two or three weeks of seasonal festivities represent instead a fight to...

CostRx: High premiums killing specialties.(Interview)
December 14, 2005... WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- CostRx is a UPI column that looks at the rising cost of healthcare, various factors that are contributing to the high cost and possible solutions. The first installment of CostRx features an interview with...

Small hospitals face tough IT road.
December 14, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Small hospitals -- or those with fewer than 100 beds, and thus fewer resources -- say they are worried whether they'll be able to comply with new federal rules on electronic transmission of...

Patient info programs guard docs from suit.
December 14, 2005... NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Patient-information programs create an electronic "trail" to help guard doctors and hospitals from post-surgery lawsuits. Increasingly popular programs such as Expectation Management and Medical Information...

Viagra Medicare coverage passes House.
December 14, 2005... WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A House bill that preserves Medicare/Medicaid coverage for impotence drugs like Viagra and Cialis narrowly passed a floor vote Wednesday. The final vote was 215 in favor and 213 opposing, with six...

The Age of Autism: Question of the year.
December 14, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED This was the year Big Media pitted parents against experts over whether vaccines cause autism -- and decided the experts are right. But they may have forgotten to ask an embarrassingly obvious question. In its new...

H5N1 in Ukraine, human cases in SE Asia.
December 14, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Test results from a number of the dead birds found in Ukraine Wednesday confirmed that the birds were infected with H5N1. Eleven of the 25 villages affected by outbreaks were found to be...

Pharma, biotech alliances expected to rise.
December 14, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Strategic alliances between pharmaceutical and biotech companies will become increasingly necessary, and the deals could garner the companies billions of dollars, according to a new...

Ped Med: Check toy list twice for safety.
December 15, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Santas stuffing Christmas stockings should check their lists twice for toy safety and age-appropriateness, experts urge. Toy-related injuries peak during the holidays, and parents...

Caregiving: Leadership key to nurses.
December 15, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Changing leadership style and hospital culture could help keep some 20 percent of licensed nurses from walking away from the profession. "Outside of better pay, retaining nurses comes down to how they are treated,"...

FluWrap: China confirms 6th human case.
December 15, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER China has confirmed its sixth case of avian-influenza infection in humans. A 35-year-old man from east China began reporting flu-like symptoms Dec. 4 and was confirmed to be ill with H5N1 Thursday. Also...

Alnylam, Sanofi flu candidates gain steam.
December 15, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Alnylam said it plans to file an IND on a potential pandemic flu treatment in 2006, earning it an "outperform" rating from at least one analyst. At the same time, Sanofi-aventis said...

Experts support Merck's shingles vaccine.
December 15, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel backed the approval of the first shingles vaccine Thursday, but for a narrower group of patients than the manufacturer had sought. ...

Device ups mobility after cord injury.
December 15, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A new device developed at the University of Toronto is helping people with spinal cord injuries walk again, researchers said this week. The device's developers say thy are testing its...

HealthWrap: Dementia disaster looms.
December 16, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Moore's Law is the maxim that computing power grows exponentially, doubling every two years. Now there's a grim corollary from the medical world: The number of people suffering from dementia is expected to roughly...

Eat To Live: U.S. and U.K. dispute fiber.
December 16, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON The United States and Europe have been at odds again this week, though you wouldn't have known if you don't follow the health press. The argument this time is over fiber and whether consumption reduces the risk of...

Merck as comeback kid? Wall Street reacts.
December 16, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A greater emphasis on technology to cut drug development times and a focus on under-treated diseases are key components of Merck's comeback plan unveiled earlier this week, but some Wall...

Vaccine prevents genital cancers.
December 16, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- An experimental vaccine now before the Food and Drug Administration for review appears to be 100-percent effective in preventing vaginal cancer, vulvar cancer and genital warts in women who...

The Age of Autism: The story so far.
December 17, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Part 1 of 3. In February, we began this ongoing series of articles on the roots and rise of autism. Now, at the end of the year, here's a summary of our story so far: -- Something happened among children born in the...

Breast cancer drug may work in lung cancer.
December 19, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Breast cancer drug Anastrozole, sold as Arimidex, may also inhibit the growth of lung cancer, say researchers at University of California at Los Angeles in the December 15 issue of Cancer...

The Age of Autism: Missing in Mississippi.
December 19, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED In this -- the second of three parts recounting our reporting on autism since the start of the year -- we revisit the first child ever diagnosed with the disorder. On a sweltering late August morning we climbed the...

Eat To Live: U.K. call for sweetener ban.
December 19, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Last week in Britain's House of Commons a Member of Parliament, the Liberal Democrat Roger Williams, demanded the emergency banning of aspartame. This artificial sweetener is used in 6,000 products, from sodas,...

U.N.: Avian-flu battle is being lost.
December 19, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- David Nabarro, avian-flu coordinator for the United Nations, said Monday that the world is "losing the battle" in regard to avian flu in birds. "We are losing the battle against this...

Drugs promising in C. difficile infection.
December 19, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Doctors took an off-the-shelf antibiotic, found that it worked in controlled tests in animals and now see a possible last resort in patients suffering from relapses from the newest microbial...

HealthWrap: Paging Dr. Death -- stat!
December 19, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Most people go to the hospital in hopes of getting better, but one Swiss hospital will now help you die there. The university hospital in Lausanne, which previously had made people check out before checking out, so...

Decline in teen drug use ends.
December 19, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Teens' likelihood of using drugs and cigarettes stayed mostly flat 2005, suggesting that some gains seen since the beginning of the decade may be abating, a government report showed...

New software eases ICU glucose checks.
December 19, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Dutch researchers said this week they have developed software that keeps glucose levels stable in intensive care hospital patients, thereby helping to protect the patients from developing...

New Glaxo drug rubs out skin infections.
December 20, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- GlaxoSmithKline researchers this week rolled out a new weapon against resistant microbes that cause some of the more troubling and dangerous skin infections. In a series of scientific...