UPI Health Business articles from July 2006

UPI Health Business archives from July 2006

Eat To Live: High holidays for hot dogs.
July 3, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 3 (UPI) -- The frenzy that accompanies the World Cup football series every four years must gladden the hearts of food manufacturers, particularly in Britain. A German police officer on duty...

Analysis: Medicare for Bill Gates?
July 3, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- Medicare should use more means testing so that taxpayers are not subsidizing the healthcare of the wealthy, two former Senate adversaries say. "When you have a $10 trillion debt like our...

Yoga benefits for cancer patients studied.
July 3, 2006... Byline: AMBIKA BEHAL NEW DELHI, July 3 (UPI) -- Suggestions that the ancient Indian practice of yoga can favorably impact the health of cancer patients has taken a new direction with a recent collaboration between Indian and American...

Analysis: Medicaid and the mentally ill.
July 3, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- A new, expedited process allowing states to alter their Medicaid benefits packages could have serious implications for the mentally ill individuals who depend on the program, advocates warn....

Analysis: Now, a Human Variome Project.
July 3, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- Scientists are embarking on a $100 million global effort called the Human Variome Project that seeks to catalog gene variations linked to disease with the hope it will lead to treatments...

Few complete anti-HIV post-rape therapy.
July 3, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN Few adolescent victims of sexual assault complete treatment that can protect them from developing the sexually transmitted virus that causes AIDS. Researchers looking over the charts of individuals who reported to...

Cancer and embryonic genes similar.
July 3, 2006... WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- Lung cancer cells and developing lung cells in embryos turn many of the same genes on and off, U.S. researchers report. They also say the genes involved can tell doctors who will survive. Hongye Liu, Isaac...

Eat To Live: Strawberries with taste.
July 5, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 5 (UPI) -- Shoppers disappointed to discover, once they get them home, that their supermarket peaches have the texture of toweling and their strawberries are indistinguishable from radishes will...

Caregiving: Fireworks and PTSD.
July 5, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., July 5 (UPI) -- Memorial Day may be the beginning of summer, but Independence Day is the unofficial beginning of firecracker season, which can be hard on military veterans, the elderly and pets. Many...

Analysis: Anti-psychotics sales to decline.
July 5, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- The anti-psychotics market is likely to turn to novel drugs being developed by AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott in the coming years, according to an analyst report issued Wednesday....

Analysis: Chemo ups gastric cancer odds.
July 5, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN BOSTON, July 5 (UPI) -- Attacking stomach cancer with anti-cancer drugs before and after surgery can dramatically increase the chances that patients will survive at least five years, researchers reported Wednesday. ...

Slower development in kids linked to DDT.
July 5, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- In utero exposure to the pesticide DDT and its byproduct, DDE, are associated with slower neurodevelopment in early childhood, a study has found. The children of mothers exposed...

Analysis: Stem-cell passage expected.
July 6, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Advocates both for and against embryonic-stem-cell experimentation say they expect a bill repealing President Bush's limits on the research to pass when the Senate soon takes up debate on...

Analysis: Abbott/AstraZeneca in lipid deal.
July 6, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Abbott and AstraZeneca have engaged in a deal to develop a Crestor/TriCor combination pill, but analysts are split on what the deal will mean for Abbott, with some seeing it as positive...

I.D. requirements cause stir in Medicaid.
July 6, 2006... Byline: JESSICA TAYLOR WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- No passport or birth certificate? That could mean no Medicaid coverage for many Americans due to regulations that took effect Saturday. The new requirements are the result of a...

HealthWrap: Pot, the 'gateway drug'.
July 6, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER LE BUGUE, France, July 6 (UPI) -- A study published by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology has shown that the common assumption of cannabis as a "gateway drug" has its basis in science. Researchers who gave rats...

The Age of Autism: Anna's last days -- 1.
July 6, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- On April 26 a Scottish child named Anna Duncan attended a party where two children had chickenpox. Nine days later she got her routine measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Four days after that...

Analysis: Can Mass. plan stay solvent?
July 6, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Rapidly rising healthcare costs threaten to bankrupt the universal coverage plan recently enacted in Massachusetts, a new study says. "Massachusetts healthcare is addicted to more money...

Analysis: See you in health court?
July 7, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- Bankruptcy cases are referred to bankruptcy court. Labor disputes are settled before a special labor court. Now, a growing chorus of voices is calling for the establishment of a health court...

Eat To Live: Nuts about healthy diets.
July 7, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 7 (UPI) -- At the night farmers' market in the tiny hamlet of Audrix in the Dordogne, the chief of police holds out his plate for a helping of grilled goat cheese on a salad of leaves and walnuts...

Finding mental-health help online.
July 7, 2006... Byline: MARA GORDON WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- When a woman whose online alias is LonelyLittleGl struggled last month with her craving for alcohol, she turned to her online journal for support. The twentysomething Californian posts...

Analysis: Flu hits more kids.
July 7, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN BOSTON, July 7 (UPI) -- This October Dr. Katherine Poehling of Nashville will call her children's pediatrician and ask when the new influenza vaccine is going to be available. She'll make the appointment to have her...

Analysis: Animal activist turns down FBI.
July 7, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- An extremist animal-rights group that has targeted pharmaceutical and research labs said Friday the FBI invited one of its representatives to speak at agency headquarters, but the activist...

Your ticket to healthy travel.
July 8, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Conn., July 7 (UPI) -- Ah, summer vacation. It's the mind, body and soul's escape from the rat race of daily life. But in the quest for a perfect getaway, your health can easily take a back seat....

Analysis: CMS eases ID rule for some.
July 10, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- Medicaid has relaxed new citizenship documentation requirements for about 8 million seniors and beneficiaries with disabilities, but a lawsuit that alleges the new rules are an undue burden...

Eat To Live: Ice cream by decree, degree.
July 10, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 10 (UPI) -- In the shadow of the ancient French bridge that strides the wide expanse of water where the River Dordogne meets the River Vezere is a modest restaurant serving Perigord salads...

HealthWrap: All-in-one pill for HIV.
July 10, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- A quarter-century after the first cases were reported -- and a decade after the first multi-dose regimen brought real hope -- a once-daily pill to combat AIDS is on the horizon. The pill...

Analysis: Genentech's Q2 looks strong.
July 10, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Genentech is slated to announce its second-quarter earnings Tuesday, and analysts expect the biotech firm to post figures in-line with Wall Street's expectations as well as a strong...

Analysis: Gene blip drives CHF therapy.
July 10, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- A single, but common difference in a person's genetic makeup appears to determine if that individual will respond to life-saving therapy for heart failure, the disease in which the heart...

Cancer, tobacco guides aim to educate.
July 10, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- The American Cancer Society released new, encyclopedia-like resource guides Monday to educate the public about tobacco use and cancer, the United States' second-leading cause of...

Analysis: Part D and nursing homes.
July 11, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- To ease the administrative burden of the Medicare Part D drug benefit on nursing homes and other long-term-care providers, long-term changes are needed, industry leaders told congressional...

FluWrap: China clamps down.
July 11, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER LE BUGUE, France, July 11 (UPI) -- In a case eerily reminiscent of the George Orwell novel "1984," a Chinese farmer who reported outbreaks of avian influenza in his region has been imprisoned for three-and-a-half years....

Caregiving: Empathy in animals, people.
July 11, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., July 11 (UPI) -- McGill University researchers have shown that mice have a capacity for empathy, previously suspected but unproven even among higher primates. This will not come as a complete surprise...

Steep learning curve for HPV vaccine?
July 11, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- A new vaccine protecting against viruses responsible for cervical cancer, which becomes available this fall for adolescent girls, may face difficulties integrating into existing...

Analysis: Antiarrhythmics market to triple.
July 11, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- The antiarrhythmics market is expected to triple in the next five years and be dominated by three products from Cardiome, Sanofi-Aventis and P&G Pharma, according to an analyst report...

States increase newborn screenings in 2006.
July 11, 2006... Byline: LISA CHUN WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- States have doubled the rate of screening infants for a variety of disorders since 2005, according to a report from the March of Dimes released Tuesday. Roughly 64 percent of newborns in...

Lung-cancer deaths differ by gender.
July 11, 2006... Byline: United Press International WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- A new study released Tuesday by the Journal of American Medical Association concluded that though women are more susceptible to lung cancer once diagnosed, they tend to outlive...

Analysis: Senate clears narrow Rx imports.
July 11, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- The Senate Tuesday cleared an amendment allowing individuals to import prescription drugs from Canada, though some supporters predicted the measure would die in conference with the House....

Analysis: Kids' health a national priority.
July 12, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- The 9 million U.S. children who lack health insurance are too many, and it is time to do something about it, advocates said at the recent launch of a national awareness campaign. With a...

Ped Med: Depression treatment choices.
July 12, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, July 12 (UPI) -- When it comes to treating depression, it's a matter of different strokes for different folks, specialists say. No remedy will suit all patients, and no patient will gain benefits...

Eat To Live: Sincerest form of fattening.
July 12, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 12 (UPI) -- The tourist traveling through France can expect to stop at pretty well any restaurant of a certain type and find a French onion soup and a coq au vin on the menu. You can generally...

Cold-hearted climate deadly for seniors.
July 12, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Persistent cold weather and elevated humidity may contribute to a high rate of heart-attack deaths in elderly Greeks, according to new research. A study comparing 2001 death...

Analysis: FDA OK's daily 3-in-1 HIV drug.
July 13, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. government announced the approval of the first three-drug combination pill for HIV/AIDS patients Wednesday. The drug is the first chance for patients to take medication in the...

Analysis: Mixed reults on raloxifene study.
July 13, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN BOSTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Eli Lilly's osteoporosis drug Evista (raloxifene) does not appear to offer heart protection in postmenopausal women with a history of heart problems or who at high cardiac risk -- and the drug may...

Analysis: Cancer drug pipeline on the rise.
July 13, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Hundreds of novel anti-cancer agents have entered clinical trials in the first six months of this year, according to a report released Wednesday by a firm that tracks drug development....

HealthWrap: Peril in lonely-hearts club.
July 13, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER LE BUGUE, France, July 13 (UPI) -- People living alone are at a greater risk of heart disease than those living with partners, a Danish study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has found. ...

Caregiving: Yes, women have more empathy.
July 13, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., July 13 (UPI) -- If the world had more children raised solely by fathers, would there be a lot less empathy? Some studies indicate that when it comes to empathy, women seem to have it all over men. ...

Weight loss can reduce breast-cancer risk.
July 13, 2006... Byline: MEGHAN A. O'CONNELL WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Weight gain is related to an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, while weight loss lowers the chance of developing the disease after menopause, a new study...

Analysis: Atripla likely to boost Gilead.
July 13, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Gilead could get a boost from the Food and Drug Administration's recent approval of Atripla, their triple combination pill for treating HIV infection, analysts said Thursday. Atripla...

Analysis: Beyond medical tort caps.
July 14, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Whether the issue of medical malpractice reform is addressed via new strategies -- like so-called health courts and "early offer"settlements -- or through repackaged, more palatable...

Analysis: Lawmakers mull Medcaid reform.
July 14, 2006... Byline: LISA CHUN WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- The Senate Committee on Aging is examining possibilities to reform Medicaid, which many committee members said must change to adapt to current trends. Sen. Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., said...

Analysis: Adult stem-cell utility doubted.
July 14, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- As the Senate nears a vote on a bill that would expand embryonic stem cell funding, a group of scientists argue that adult stem cells have not proven as useful in treating disease as some...

Eat To Live: Teach parents to feed kids.
July 14, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 14 (UPI) -- With summer holidays in full swing, children's friends come to stay. We've just entertained what felt like half a school-full. They enthusiastically ate and drank us out of house and...

Ped Med: Anti-depressant pros and cons.
July 14, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 (UPI) -- The use of anti-depressants in children raises support and skepticism. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a newer class of the drugs, are seen by most mainstream...

The Age of Autism: Anna's last days -- 2.
July 14, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- The death of a 17-month-old Scottish girl named Anna Duncan has come at an inopportune moment for Britain's health authorities. Late last month 30 top scientists warned in an open...

Analysis: Senate stem cell debate set.
July 14, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- Lawmakers are expected to support repealing President Bush's limits funding of embryonic stem cell research when the Senate takes up a series of bills beginning Monday. Backers of the...

Analysis: Lawmakers lax on counterfeiting.
July 17, 2006... Byline: LISA CHUN WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The problem of drug counterfeiting is taking on crisis proportions, health-policy experts said late last week, but U.S policymakers are not giving the issue the attention it deserves. ...

Analysis: Diabetes-Alzheimers link clearer.
July 17, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN MADRID, July 17 (UPI) -- The ever-growing link that ties development of Alzheimer's disease -- the fatal disorder that robs people of their memories and then their lives -- to a history of diabetes received further...

Blacks face higher colon-cancer threat.
July 17, 2006... Byline: DAVID GRANT WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The second-most-deadly form of cancer in the United States has a ubiquitous ally: meat. Now a new study suggests risk for colorectal cancer in African-Americans rises when an individual...

Eat To Live: Cadbury under microscope.
July 17, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 17 (UPI) -- For any budding novelist and foodie out there, I offer a new line in themes: the food-chain detective. One plot that doesn't need inventing is what has just happened to Cadbury...

Older patients happier with docs.
July 17, 2006... Byline: MARA GORDON WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Visiting the doctor may be less and less troublesome the older you get: Older patients are generally more satisfied with their physicians, according to a new survey from the healthcare...

Analysis: A Vioxx vindication?
July 17, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Merck's win in a New Jersey case involving Vioxx last week may be an indication the company's liability over the withdrawn drug may be less than initially anticipated, according to some...

Analysis: Bush threatens stem cell veto.
July 17, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The White House Monday formally threatened to veto legislation that would overturn President Bush's limits on funding for embryonic stem cell research as senators began two days of debate...

Analysis: A novel year for Novartis?
July 18, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- Novartis reported a solid first half of the year Monday, and analysts expect the company to continue to do well, in large part due to the anticipated launches of its diabetes drug Galvus...

Analysis: Diabetes drug sales to double.
July 18, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- The market for diabetes therapies will more than double to $35 billion in the coming years, with both big pharma and small-cap companies coming out as the winners, according to an analyst...

Ped Med: Drug warning sparks debate.
July 18, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, July 18 (UPI) -- It's been nearly two years since a strong warning of increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors was slapped onto antidepressant labels, but there's still disagreement about the...

HealthWrap: Federally funded fiction?
July 18, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER LE BUGUE, France, July 18 (UPI) -- A new study released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., asserts federally funded pregnancy crisis centers have been providing misleading and factually incorrect information to...

Analysis: Diabetes' fast, furious spread.
July 18, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- Along with high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles, the ways of the West are leaving people in developing countries with an insidious legacy: diabetes. Globally, nearly 6...

Analysis: Alzheimers disease meets hi-tech.
July 18, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN MADRID, July 18 (UPI) -- Computers, motion sensors, home-to-hospital video cameras and other devices could help patients with early stages of dementia maintain safe, independent living longer. At the same time, the...

Analysis: Stem cell bill passes.
July 18, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- The Senate voted to greatly expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research Tuesday, even as lawmakers prepared for President Bush to quickly veto the measure. The issued an...

FluWrap: Numbers increase in SE Asia.
July 19, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER LE BUGUE, France, July 19 (UPI) -- Thai authorities have announced two suspected cases of avian-influenza infection in a pair of sisters hospitalized earlier this week, local media has reported. The sisters, from...

Eat To Live: Health from the stinking rose.
July 19, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON LE BUGUE, France, July 19 (UPI) -- Last night, with chilled aperitifs of local rose wine, we celebrated the season's new garlic. We spread slowly roasted cloves on toasted slices of baguette bread and covered them with...

CostRx: HSAs: A test of time?
July 19, 2006... WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- In the wake of a congressional hearing on ways to make the controversial consumer-driven, health savings account (HSA) more palatable to consumers and increase HSAs' uptake in the marketplace, United Press...

Caregiving: Majority of caregivers men.
July 19, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., July 19 (UPI) -- Perhaps the most startling finding of a new study is that more men than women are caregivers -- and more men are leaving full-time jobs to take care of a spouse, parent or partner. ...

Analysis: J&J's modest Q2 gains disappoint.
July 19, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- Johnson & Johnson Tuesday reported a 4.7-percent increase in second-quarter net sales, but analysts said they weren't satisfied and expected better from the healthcare giant. "One...

Analysis: Prostate drug for Alzheimer's?
July 19, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN MADRID, July 19 (UPI) -- Voyager Pharmaceutical Corp.'s investigational drug -- commonly used to treat prostate cancer -- received mixed results Wednesday from its phase 2 study in the treatment of men and women with...

Analysis: Bush blocks stem cell bill.
July 20, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- President Bush used the first veto of his presidency to reject a bill from Congress expanding federally funded medical research using embryonic stem cells. The veto came less than a...

Analysis: Alzheimer's patch advancing.
July 20, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN MADRID, July 20 (UPI) -- Sometimes a patch is a better way to fix a problem, and the devastating brain disorder Alzheimer's disease is no exception, said researchers at an international Alzheimer's forum this week. ...

Food industry uses Internet to reach kids.
July 20, 2006... Byline: SARA GORECKI WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Food companies are finding new, engaging ways to advertise to children through the Internet amid growing concern that can lead to poor health and higher levels of obesity. A new study...

CostRx: A 'paternalistic device'.(Interview)
July 20, 2006... WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- In Part 2 of an interview with United Press International, John C. Goodman, president of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis and sometimes referred to as the "father of the health savings account...

World's youth: No smoking in public.
July 20, 2006... Byline: MEGHAN A. O'CONNELL WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Youth worldwide support a ban on smoking in public areas, which would reduce the harmful impact of secondhand smoke, concludes a new Global Youth Tobacco Survey report. This...

HealthWrap: Autism and Alzheimer's.
July 20, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER BRIGHTON, England, July 20 (UPI) -- In what promises to be a fascinating development in the world of autism research, California scientists have discovered a discrepancy in the brains of men and boys with autism and...

Analysis: Strong Q2 expected from Gilead.
July 20, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Gilead is set to release its second-quarter report Thursday, and analysts expect strong numbers from the company that will be driven by its HIV franchise. Michael King, an analyst...

Analysis:No G8 accord on new health funds.
July 20, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The G8 summit participants agreed on global health goals in principle, and even agreed that more funding is needed -- but they could not, however, find a mechanism for producing the funding...