UPI Health Business articles from February 2006

UPI Health Business archives from February 2006

Eat To Live: Smart Super Bowl snacking.
February 1, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON This coming Super Bowl Sunday 86 million Americans slouched in front of the television will eat 30 million pounds of snacks. Will one of these Super Snackers be you? Potato-chip consumption, the most popular choice...

Analysis: Is Blair's plan Rx or PR?
February 1, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's controversial plans to reform Britain's ailing National Health Service by "listening to consumers" have come under attack, despite his decision to double...

Ped Med: Is childhood a mental problem?
February 1, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- For diagnosticians assessing a child's state of mental health, the separation of the sick from the well requires scrupulous care. Few mental-health issues fire up as much debate as...

Interview: Demystifying deja vu.
February 1, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Most people have experienced deja vu, the strange sensation that an event is repeating itself. These fleeting impressions usually last no more than a few seconds. But for a small...

Plan B: Walgreens pharmacist flap dissected.
February 1, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Four Illinois pharmacists who say they were fired by the Walgreens drugstore chain because they refused to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception have filed suit against the company....

HIV microbicides gaining pharma's interest.
February 1, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Cellegy has granted a licensing agreement to CONRAD to research and develop its patented microbicides for the prevention of HIV, including Savvy, which is in phase 3, and a treatment...

Dems rally against Bush healthcare plan.
February 1, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- House and Senate Democrats held a rally outside the Capitol Wednesday, criticizing Bush for what he mentioned in the State of the Union Address--health savings accounts--and what he did not...

House barely backs Medicare, Medicaid cuts.
February 2, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The House gave final approval to a $39.5 billion budget-cutting package Wednesday after late defections from several moderate Republicans nearly scuttled the bill. The bill puts the...

In Indonesia, 2 more flu deaths suspected.
February 2, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Indonesia has suffered two more avian-influenza fatalities, local tests indicate. Although official confirmation of the results from the World Health Organization has yet to come,...

The Age of Autism: New test of gold salts.
February 2, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A Columbia University scientist plans to test whether gold salts improve the functioning of "autistic mice" -- a step toward finding whether they could help children with autism. Dr. Mady Hornig of Columbia's...

Gene found for severe allergic disease.
February 2, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Cincinnati researchers have identified the gene that causes a devastating allergic condition in children. Eosinophilic esophagitis, an emerging, often misunderstood disease, is...

Caregiving: Nursing turnover is costly.
February 2, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Too many companies -- and according to some nurses too many hospitals -- waste the talent of their staff by using the old command-and-control leadership methods of Soviet Union-era Communist...

Tamiflu, Relenza could get boost this year.
February 2, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Federal officials Thursday reiterated their call not to use adamantane drugs this flu season, saying additional data indicates there is an alarmingly high prevalence of influenza strains...

Medicare Part D plan CEO defends plans.
February 2, 2006... WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- It's too early to judge whether Medicare Part D prescription drug plans are a success, according the CEO of a large health insurance company. "History tells us anytime you launch a program like this you're going...

Less H5N1 virulence in Turkey?
February 3, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The low fatality rate among Turkish sufferers of avian influenza is triggering questions about the virulence of the virus. The possibility that the H5N1 virus might "trade" some of...

Lawmakers grill CMS chief on Part D.
February 3, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- With Medicare's Part D drug benefit one month out from a clumsy debut, some new problems are emerging beyond the fiasco of the automatically switched "dual-eligibles" to include the...

Eat To Live: Caviar for Valentine's Day.
February 3, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON When the United Nations banned imports of caviar from the Black and Caspian seas until the countries involved provide information about the sustainability of their sturgeon catch, gourmands with deep pockets despaired....

Analysis: Welfare reforms to force sick to work?
February 3, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The British government wants to reduce the welfare rolls by getting the able-bodied and able-minded back to work. But that may not be so simple: Already, the idea has reignited old...

Analysis: More Medicare cuts coming in '07.
February 3, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Further proposed cuts to Medicare spending are expected when President Bush releases his fiscal 2007 budget Monday, Republican and Democratic congressional aides said Friday. "On the...

Analysis: States sue on Medicare clawback.
February 3, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The attorneys general of California and at least four other states have said they will sue the federal government over the so-called clawback provision of the Medicare Part D drug benefit,...

New clues on bipolar causes, treatments.
February 3, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- New research on bipolar disorder has revealed both a biological basis for the illness in the brain, as well as possibilities for new treatments. In the first study, scientists at...

Analysis: Breast-implant data doubted.
February 3, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A women's health group cautioned against the likely return of silicone breast implants to the U.S. market Friday, warning that companies have not conducted long-term safety studies in...

Eat To Live: Worth the salt.
February 6, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON Fastidious consumers seeking top-of-the-line ingredients often neglect one simple item for their discriminating scrutiny: salt. Even those on restrained budgets may discover that, like owning a decent bottle of olive...

FluWrap: 17th avian-flu death in Indonesia.
February 6, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Indonesia reported its 17th death from avian influenza this weekend. The 38-year-old woman died in hospital in Bandung, West Java, on Saturday night. It is unclear whether she had...

HealthWrap: Newborns face SSRI withdrawal.
February 6, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED When pregnant women take anti-depressants their newborns are likely to feel symptoms of withdrawal, according to the second study in a week to look at the impact of such medications in expectant mothers. Researchers...

Analysis: SSRIs' risk to infants.
February 6, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is facing more bad news this week with the release of a study indicating that pregnant women's use of...

Study: Twins also share Alzheimer's.
February 6, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- In the largest twin study conducted on Alzheimer's disease to date, researchers have found strong patterns of heritability in the illness, yet they warn that lifestyle factors still...

Analysis: Bush budget cuts Medicare, more.
February 6, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- President Bush proposed $36 billion in Medicare cuts Monday as part of a 2007 budget aimed at curbing spending of federal entitlement programs. The cuts come amid a $2.8 trillion...

Analysis: AIDS virus attacked inside & out.
February 6, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN DENVER, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Researchers unveiled Monday a host of experimental drugs designed to target different mechanisms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) - the virus that causes AIDS. At the premier U.S. meeting...

Caregiving: Managers who can't let go.
February 7, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- In addition to patient care, physician job satisfaction can affect relationships among doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, according to John Beasley, family medicine...

HealthWrap: Children are depressing.
February 7, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Got kids? Then get ready to be miserable every single day for the rest of your life. That's overstating matters, but new research does suggest that people with children (otherwise known as parents) have...

Low-fat diets don't halt cancer, stroke.
February 7, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A major eight-year research effort has found women who eat a low-fat diet do not cut their chances of getting certain cancers and cardiovascular disease, but researchers stress there...

Analysis: Firms advance anti-bacterials.
February 7, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Bacterial infections are a major problem in hospitals, but two companies -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and Optimer -- are making progress in their efforts to develop treatments to counter...

Analysis:Pay for performance still sketchy.
February 7, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- If, as set forth in President Bush's consumer-driven healthcare vision, patients are to make healthcare decisions based on quality and cost, they will require accurate, easy-to-understand...

Analysis: Probing to find source of AIDS.
February 8, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN DENVER, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The work was gross, smelly and messy, but when the scientists were finished their dirty work was rewarded with a gem of research: the origin of the virus that causes AIDS. A quarter of a...

Ped Med: Counting ADHD cases.
February 8, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Everyone's talking about an ADHD epidemic, but no one really knows the actual numbers of children affected and how, or if, they differ over time. The subject of thousands of studies...

Report: Depression draining U.S. economy.
February 8, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Depression is wreaking havoc on American productivity, accounting for $83 billion in costs to society each year, according to a report released Wednesday. The first comprehensive...

Analysis: AstraZ's stroke drug promising.
February 8, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A major study indicates AstraZeneca's neuroprotective agent NXY-059 -- the first one to reach phase 3 -- reduced the amount of disability in patients who had suffered an ischemic stroke,...

Analysis:Healthcare good investment, execs.
February 8, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- President Bush's vision for healthcare includes taking employers out of the picture, but providing health benefits to employees is not necessarily bad for employees or the bottom line,...

Analysis:Drug hits key part of HIV virus.
February 8, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN DENVER, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Doctors said Wednesday that they are impressed by a new class of drug that destroys the virus that causes AIDS by attacking one of its key functions. In early trials, two of these experimental...

Analysis: Tough road for anti-HIV gel.
February 9, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- It's being billed by some as a miracle preventative against the deadly HIV virus, a medical next big thing on the level of the polio vaccine and penicillin: a vaginal gel or cream that for...

H5N1 infection spreads to Africa.
February 9, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Bird flu has hit Africa, and it may have been there for some time. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) confirmed Wednesday that samples taken from the thousands of...

Analysis: ADHD drug risks won't hurt sales.
February 9, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration's report linking attention deficit disorder drugs to deaths and other serious problems probably won't have much impact on the sales of these medications,...

The Age of Autism: Doctors for mercury.
February 9, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- As doctors and health authorities fight state bans on mercury in vaccines and keep giving it to kids and pregnant women, one fact stands out: their certainty. The image of pediatricians...

Eat To Live: A health nut's birthday.
February 9, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON Peanuts are ancient fare. They've been found in archeological sites dating back to around 800 B.C. So in the general scheme of things, Planter Peanuts' 100th birthday this year is an almost kindergarten event. ...

Analysis:Medicare HMOs might not last.
February 9, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Part of the Republican Medicare privatization strategy is the revival of managed care plans, known as HM0s. And so far, growth has materialized. But even heavy government subsidies might...

Analysis:Surprise vote urges ADHD warnings.
February 9, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- In an unexpected move Thursday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel urged regulators to place strong new warnings on drugs used to treat millions of patients with...

Ped Med: Diagnosing attention deficits.
February 10, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Diagnosing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder can be fraught with frustrations. For one thing, there are too few specialists trained and experienced in the intricately...

Analysis: Migraine pipeline looks promising.
February 10, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The headache and migraine field has become a hot area of development, and currently more than 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies have products in the pipeline, according to data...

New research could take blame off obesity.
February 10, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A growing body of obesity research focusing on human adenoviruses and brain hormones may prove that being fat is not your fault. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin,...

Analysis: States get Part D payback relief.
February 10, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- States' total obligations to the federal government under the clawback provision of the new Medicare Part D drug benefit will be $700 million less than expected, Health and Human Services...

Analysis: HIV strain has higher death rate.
February 10, 2006... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Some strains of the AIDS virus are much more aggressive than others, and knowing the viral strain is a far more accurate predictor of death than viral load, said researchers from Johns...

Eat To Live: Loving food all year.
February 13, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LONDON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Possibly the most loving action you can take this coming Valentine's Day is to establish rules you continue to follow for the rest of the year when producing food for your loved ones. Jack...

FluWrap: Bird flu hits Western Europe.
February 13, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Reports of avian-influenza outbreaks in poultry came from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania, Greece and Italy this weekend, marking the disease's arrival in Western Europe. H5N1 was...

Caregiving: How many nurses per patient?
February 13, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Several states are considering bills to mandate certain nurse/patient ratios to ensure minimum nurse staffing in hospitals, but these measures are not supported by the American Hospital...

Analysis: Trials to spur vaccine immunity.
February 13, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Vaccine makers are likely to see immunity from lawsuits by the time they move new avian flu countermeasures into clinical trials, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said...

Analysis:Heart polypill not cost-effective.
February 13, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- The polypill, a hypothetical concept that could dramatically slash the risk of heart disease and stroke, may be financially unfeasible, according to a new analysis. Researchers in the...

Low-carb diet promising for weight loss.
February 14, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Low-carbohydrate diets, the embattled alternative to low-fat eating, have gotten a new boost: a new study has found low-carb diets help people shed pounds more quickly than low-fat...

Analysis: Health IT awaiting patients.
February 14, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Patients can already use information technology to store and transport their records, find the best doctor and compare costs, but the trick is getting patients and physicians to take part,...

The Age of Autism: Snoozeweeklies.
February 14, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED The nation's top two newsweeklies have just weighed in on the problems of boys and the decline in science literacy. Both abjectly failed to address a crucial part of the picture: the impact of environmental toxicity on...

Analysis: Less than 1/4 hospitals paperless.
February 14, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Less than one-quarter of U.S. hospitals currently have operational electronic health records, considered a cornerstone of reducing medical errors and costs, according to the latest survey of...

Caregiving: Fighting a culture of fear.
February 14, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The American Hospital Association magazine recently asked hospital presidents what they would do if their most prominent cardiac surgeon became increasingly disrespectful to nurses and...

Health Wrap: No breath of fresh air.
February 14, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL 'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A new study has taken the wind out of previous research on asthma and its relationship to chronic illnesses, showing that asthmatics have higher risks for serious diseases such as...

Analysis: Lab-made human collagen promising.
February 14, 2006... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Collagen -- the glue of the human body -- has been chemically synthesized in a university laboratory, and its developers think it will be able to solve problems in both medicine and...

Eat To Live: Europe, WTO in food fight.
February 15, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON RYE, England, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- This week a preliminary ruling on biotech crops was issued by the World Trade Organization that could prevent national and local governments from setting their own environmental and human...

Ped Med: Drawing the ADHD line.
February 15, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- With a murky border separating ADHD from normal development, it can be difficult to see where typically childish proclivities cross the boundary into abnormality. Most often, the...

Analysis: Sanofi Acomplia keeps weight off.
February 15, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A major study released Tuesday indicates Sanofi-Aventis' weight-loss drug candidate Acomplia can help obese adults lose weight and keep it off for at least two years. The findings,...

Eat To Live: Spuds -- a complete food.
February 15, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The poor potato has had such a bad rap. It's one of the most complete foods around, yet we're frightened of eating it. According to the Idaho Potato Exposition, citing the U.S....

Deadly hookworm may have met its match.
February 15, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- In a hushed laboratory in downtown Washington, Peter Hotez squints through a microscope at what he calls the great infection of mankind. Under the lens, thousands of tiny...

Bird flu crosses further into Europe.
February 15, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Germany is the latest country to report a case of avian influenza in birds as the virus continues its spread across Europe. Two dead swans found on the Baltic Sea island of Rugen...

Analysis: Do ED drugs have heart benefit?
February 15, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Erectile-dysfunction medications, such as Bayer's Levitra and Pfizer's Viagra, are showing promise as heart-attack treatments. A preclinical study released this week indicates Levitra...

Analysis:Patentee motive is target of bill.
February 15, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The label of Pravigard Pac, a drug used to prevent heart disease, specifically says it should not be taken by anyone under age 18. But that did not stop the medication's manufacturer...

Analysis:Dems seek coup on Medicare woes.
February 16, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Congressional Democrats said Wednesday they will move to publicize problems with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, in an apparent effort to capitalize politically on seniors'...

CostRx: Everyday low healthcare?
February 16, 2006... WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Discount powerhouse Wal-Mart is increasingly facing charges that the company's "everyday low prices" come at the cost of a struggling workforce, and that it has allegedly out-of touch social policies. For...

The Age of Autism: Jabbing the MMR.
February 16, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED For two countries that share a common heritage and -- mostly -- a common language, the differences between the United States and Britain can be striking. We drive on different sides of the road; Americans call...

Caregiving: Coast Guard got it right.
February 16, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- At a Senate hearing this week, the Coast Guard rescue of some 33,000 people after Hurricane Katrina was mentioned again and again. In fact, while both sides of the aisle lambasted the...

Analysis:Protein Sciences fast on flu shot.
February 16, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Protein Sciences said Thursday it has developed a commercially viable cell-based method for producing influenza vaccines against potential pandemic strains, such as the deadly bird flu,...

Abandoned kids recover in foster homes.
February 16, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Getting abandoned infants out of orphanages and into foster care can reverse mental and physical deficits -- almost normalizing growth by the time the child is ready for elementary school, a...

Analysis: Fast flu vax lacks market.
February 16, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- In the event of a flu epidemic, the death toll will be largely determined by how quickly and precisely a vaccine can be manufactured. Using current technology, it takes months to produce a...

Ped Med: ADHD in the very young.
February 17, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Discerning behavior that portends attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder presents challenges during the highly volatile first years of life. "The range of symptoms is greatest in...

Eat To Live: Know your whole grains.
February 17, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON Just one month ago, companies and think tanks thought they had found a way to signal to the confused general public just which foods contain whole grains and what kind they are. It's not easy to distinguish between...

Analysis:FASgen's TB drug shows benefits.
February 17, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- FASgen's experimental tuberculosis treatment looks promising in preclinical studies and could be the first compound with the ability to treat patients with latent infection. The...

Fountain of youth within reach?
February 17, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE ST. LOUIS, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The day when people retire at 85 and live well into their 100s may be on the horizon, thanks to promising research in anti-aging therapies, researchers said Friday. In animal...

Analysis: Stroke costs outpace payments.
February 17, 2006... Byline: CHARLENE LAINO KISSIMMEE, Fla., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Medicare payments to hospitals for stroke care are lagging far behind the costs, which may imperil the care of stroke victims in the future, researchers report. "As baby boomers...