UPI Health Business articles from March 2006

UPI Health Business archives from March 2006

U.S. failing in fight against obesity.
March 1, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The United States government has been gripped by policy paralysis in dealing with the obesity epidemic, which costs the country more than $117 billion a year in medical costs and...

Ped Med: Expanding the ADHD criteria.
March 1, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 1 (UPI) -- With each update of the official manual of mental illnesses, the criteria for diagnosing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have evolved, expanded and enlarged. By 1994 ADHD...

Suspected avian-flu death in Jakarta.
March 1, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, March 1 (UPI) -- An 11-year-old Indonesian boy has died in Jakarta of what is believed to have been avian influenza, Indonesian doctors announced Wednesday. The boy, from West Java, had been treated...

Eat To Live: Taste of India for Bush.
March 1, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON DELHI, India, March 1 (UPI) -- So, along with talks about geopolitics and nuclear reactors during his visit to India, will President Bush be facing Kadi Chhokanwali? Will he confront Bela Rajasthani or Missi Roti? ...

Analysis: Tysabri review finds no more PML cases.
March 1, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Elan and Biogen Idec's Tysabri may get a boost from an independent committee's review of more than 3,000 people that found no additional cases of the potentially fatal disorder that...

Analysis: Stem cells stabilize Huntington's disease.
March 1, 2006... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Transplanting embryonic neuronal tissue into the brains of patients with Huntington's chorea has resulted in six years of stable disease, as well as motor and cognitive improvement, say...

Analysis: U.S. mental healthcare gets a D.
March 1, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The nation's state mental-health services -- the main source of care for most Americans suffering from serious mental illness -- deserve a D grade, a report issued Wednesday said. In...

The Age of Autism: Pay no attention.
March 2, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED There's a Steely Dan album called Pretzel Logic that could be the theme song of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it struggles with concerns over vaccines and autism. At least in our view, it is a...

Caregiving: Pataki not down for the count.
March 2, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 2 (UPI) -- New York Gov. George Pataki surprised reporters at a news conference Tuesday to explain that, "As Mark Twain said, 'Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.' "I've seen the reports...

Congress shies from more Medicare cuts.
March 2, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Congress is giving a chilly reception to a federal advisory panel's recommendation to slow the growth of Medicare's payments to hospitals next year. The panel recommended this week...

Analysis: Beyond hype over low-fat study.
March 2, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Since the federal Women's Health Initiative published findings in February reporting that low-fat diets -- at least in post-menopausal women -- may not protect against breast or...

GSK otitis vaccine's market unclear.
March 2, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- A novel vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline could help prevent middle-ear infection in children under 2 -- an age group where the disease is most prevalent and other vaccines have...

FDA: Two-thirds of studies not 'initiated'.
March 3, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical manufacturers have not "initiated" nearly two thirds of the studies they've pledged to regulators to perform looking at the safety of drugs already on the U.S. market,...

Eat To Live: Nutrigenomics, the new food?
March 3, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Are you eating according to the latest trends? Recent surveys reveal some pretty riveting new food-consumption patterns. Sales of organic foods and drinks are soaring, up 19 percent in...

Healthcare 'ceasefire' possible, senators.
March 4, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Progress on healthcare is possible, but party leadership on both sides is getting in the way, two moderate senators said this week. Compromise-minded members of Congress "get caught in...

Brain chemical could pump up heart disease.
March 4, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- For the first time, researchers have found that lower amounts of a mood-regulating chemical in the brain is associated with early signs of heart disease, the No. 1 killer of men and...

SSRIs face next-generation replacement.
March 4, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- A study released Saturday could pose more bad news for the beleaguered anti-depressant field, but some analysts think the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors market has run its course...

Illegals straining U.S. healthcare, states.
March 6, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- The approximately 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States have increasingly come under fire for straining the nation's healthcare safety net. At a recent meeting In...

Ped Med: The social challenges of youth.
March 6, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 (UPI) -- The road to adulthood often is strewn with thorny social issues that, handled improperly or ignored, can leave a child with a painful, even deadly, sting, scientists say. During...

Analysis: Remicade works for psoriasis.
March 6, 2006... Byline: BRUCE SYLVESTER SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 (UPI) -- Remicade (infliximab) -- a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions -- appears to produce sustained and...

Analysis: Close SSRI monitoring urged.
March 6, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- A Food and Drug Administration analysis released Monday of 23 studies that confirms a link between anti-depressants and an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children...

Eat To Live: Want to reduce food safety?
March 6, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- And in the food-safety category, the food Oscar goes to Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and 226 other representatives from both parties get big boos. Rogers...

Indonesian boy dies of suspected H5N1.
March 6, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, March 6 (UPI) -- A 10-year-old Indonesian boy who died in Central Java over the weekend is believed to have had avian influenza. The boy, from Boyolali, fell ill two weeks ago after having come...

Study: Anorexia not a 'disorder of choice'.
March 6, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Anorexics have often shouldered the blame for their illness, but new research suggests that a combination of genes and neuroticism may drive them to self-starvation. Among...

Analysis: Allergy patients not complying.
March 7, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN MIAMI, March 7 (UPI) -- If you were a patient who was prone to near-fatal food-allergy reactions that could strike without warning and you could save your life by carrying and using a device the size of a pen, would you...

Analysis: Baxter stem-cell drug advances.
March 7, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Baxter said Tuesday it has initiated the first U.S. phase 2 trial of an adult stem-cell therapy, a signal the field is progressing closer to market. Baxter joins several other...

Caregiving: Most presidents hid illness.
March 7, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 7 (UPI) -- (Part 1 of an occasional series on presidential caregivers). How much the public should know about the president's health has been a question since George Washington. Most decided to hide...

Analysis: Toxins tangled in states' rights.
March 7, 2006... Byline: HEATHER FARRELL WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- After five years, Congress still has not passed legislation to ratify international agreements that regulate dangerous chemicals. And its current effort has split over states' rights....

Incentive plan targets neglected diseases.
March 8, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- In a new plan unveiled by economists Tuesday, drug companies would have a ripe incentive -- to the tune of a voucher worth more than $300 million -- to fight neglected diseases in...

Caregiving: Dana Reeve.
March 8, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 8 (UPI) -- Almost every news report on the death of Dana Reeve of lung cancer pointed out that she was never a smoker. Would it be any less a tragedy for a 44-year-old widow of a 13-year-old son...

Eat To Live: To let our kids die first?
March 8, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- There's a global epidemic going on and we're not paying it much effective attention. By 2010 almost half the children of North and South America will be overweight. So will one in five...

Analysis: Cloned dog is real deal.
March 8, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Snuppy, the Afghan hound unveiled last year by disgraced Korean scientist Woo Suk Hwang as the world's first cloned dog, is genuine and was indeed created using cloning techniques, two...

Analysis: Kill all the lawyers, cut costs?
March 8, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Medical-malpractice reform remains a major piece of the puzzle in stemming skyrocketing healthcare costs and the first order of business in meaningful tort reform should be to "take...

Analysis:Top hospitals overtreat, study.
March 8, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- At some of the nation's best hospitals, patients pay too much for care that doesn't actually help, an influential researcher said Wednesday. "You don't get any more effective care by...

Interview: Tips to bring up baby safely.
March 9, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- The nursery is freshly painted, the booties are bought, and now you're waiting for the bundle of joy to arrive. But what about the glass cleaner under the sink, or the cords...

Ped Med: Sweets no treat for kids' health.
March 9, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 (UPI) -- Recipe for good health: choose foods heavy on nutrients, light on saturated fats and sugars, add variety, sprinkle with a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, mix with a dash of daily...

Analysis: 'Designer' antibiotics coming?
March 9, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- Scientists have made the naturally occurring antibiotic nisin in a test tube for the first time -- a breakthrough one outside researcher says could aid the search for blockbuster...

Reeve's death highlights lung-cancer woes.
March 9, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- The story of Dana Reeve, actor Christopher Reeve's widow who succumbed to lung cancer Monday, accentuates the woefully underfunded status of the disease in the United States,...

Analysis: Drugs added to cancer guidelines.
March 9, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 9 (UPI) -- Doctors from the nation's top hospitals added expensive molecular agents to guidelines aimed at treatment of patients with advanced lung cancer. The long-term goal, experts say, is to...

HealthWrap: MS vaccine in the works.
March 9, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A vaccine to slow down the devastating effects of multiple sclerosis is about to get tested for the first time on U.S. patients. The vaccine's manufacturer, PharmaFrontiers, will study the drug's effect on 100...

Analysis:Feds advance pay for performance.
March 9, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- Pay-for-performance in Medicare is getting closer to becoming reality, but an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report released Thursday said the mostly nonprofit organizations best equipped to...

Eat To Live: Eating well in a vacuum.
March 10, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Back in the early 1990s, at a crowded event-dinner in Washington, I sat next to a French entrepreneur of extreme Gallic charm. He prodded the rubber chicken on his conveyor belt-catered...

Ped Med: Views vary over nature of ADHD.
March 10, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 10 (UPI) -- More than two decades after its formal recognition as a mental illness in the official manual of psychiatric disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder continues to have an...

Pollution ups hospital time for elderly.
March 10, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Older adults exposed to air pollution for as little as one day are more likely to check into hospitals for heart and respiratory conditions, according to a sweeping national study...

Analysis:Pregnancy and breast cancer.
March 10, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 10 (UPI) -- Doctors announced Friday the first guidelines for the treatment of pregnant women who find that they also have breast cancer. "We have been reluctant to tackle this guideline," said...

Analysis:Thalidomide shows promise for ALS.
March 10, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Celgene and Pharmion's thalidomide got another boost Friday with the release of preclinical research suggesting the drug might improve survival of patients with Lou Gehrig's disease. ...

Analysis: Cashing in on healthcare trade.
March 13, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Surgical safaris and medical vacations are the first rumblings of a new phenomenon: global trade in healthcare services. Medical tourism -- where U.S. patients flock to exotic locales...

Eat To Live: New labeling law dismays.
March 13, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Thirty-nine attorneys general oppose it. The Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America have criticized it. But nevertheless, on March 9 the U.S. House of Representatives passed...

HeathWrap: Heartbreaking developments.
March 13, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Let's get the bad news out of the way: It looks like Plavix doesn't help prevent cardiovascular events in high-risk patients -- and neither do B vitamins. The Plavix study was designed to see if adding the drug,...

High-dose statins reverse heart disease.
March 13, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN ATLANTA, March 13 (UPI) -- Doctors said Monday that high doses of a powerful cholesterol-lowering drug -- AstraZenenca's Crestor (rosuvastatin) -- appear to actually reverse the buildup of blockages in arteries that cause...

FluWrap: In bed with Charlie the Tuna?
March 13, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, March 13 (UPI) -- In a speech made over the weekend Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt emphasized the need to prepare for the consequences of a possible avian-influenza outbreak that could...

Analysis: Supergen drug tested for MDS.
March 13, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- SuperGen's investigational drug decitabine increases disease-free responses in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and could become the new standard of therapy for this disorder, say...

Memory up in smoke with long marijuana use.
March 13, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Smoking marijuana long term could make your memory and other cognitive skills go -- quite literally -- to pot. In a new study of long-term users people who smoked at least one...

Analysis: Biodegradable stents promising.
March 13, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN ATLANTA, March 13 (UPI) -- German doctors reported Monday they have successfully used biodegrable metal stents - tiny coils that prop open blood vessels in the body - giving doctors and patients an alternative to...

Analysis: Tailoring drugs to Third World.
March 14, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Almost all medical research takes place in industrialized countries. Laboratories churn out drugs to cure the ailments of the modern world -- obesity, for example -- that cost tens or...

HealthWrap: The heart-disease dilemma.
March 14, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Indisputably good news has emerged from the cardiologists' convention this week in Atlanta: A study shows the anti-cholesterol drug Crestor reversed the effects of atherosclerosis in patients with evidence of coronary...

Caregiving: Sabres show how it's done.
March 14, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 14 (UPI) -- (Part 1 of 3) One day after Lindy Ruff, the coach of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, revealed his 11-year-old daughter Madeleine has an unidentified mass on her brain, the team said it is...

Analysis: GSK enters blood-thinner wars.
March 14, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- GlaxoSmithKline's blood-thinner Arixtra reduces the risk of death and recurrence of heart attack without an increased risk of bleeding and strokes, according to a major study released...

Obesity may weigh down gains in mobility.
March 14, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- America's seniors are freer and more mobile than ever before, according to a new report on the country's aging, yet experts warn an explosion of obesity could overwhelm these...

Analysis: New drugs lower blood pressure.
March 14, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN ATLANTA, March 14 (UPI) -- Researchers reported Tuesday that a new drug to fight the worldwide epidemic of high blood pressure appears effective in early tests. The drug, called aliskiren, interrupts one of the major...

Analysis: Vendors vie for health IT market.
March 14, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- There's no question that healthcare IT is on the Bush administration's agenda, and vendors are positioning themselves to cash in. Two years ago, in his State of the Union address, the...

Ped Med: Genes at work in ADHD.
March 15, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (UPI) -- Scientists looking for the underpinnings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder say they've found evidence of genes at work. Family and adoption studies "provide compelling...

HealthWrap: 'Like the Elephant Man'.
March 15, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Trialing experimental drugs on humans carries obvious risks, which is why patients sign multi-page consent forms listing scary outcomes. But a clinical trial in Great Britain has just gone wrong beyond anyone's worst...

Analysis: What that mad cow means.
March 15, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to them, but what federal officials have...

Analysis: Senate backs Part D bargaining.
March 15, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- The Senate on Wednesday approved giving the federal government the power to bargain with pharmaceutical manufacturers for lower prices under the Medicare prescription drug program. The vote, which came as part...

Analysis: Plavix slowed by so-so trial.
March 15, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN ATLANTA, March 15 (UPI) -- Since clopidogrel fist made waves by showing that it was a better than aspirin in a 1997 study,everything had been coming up roses for the heart drug known as Plavix, developed by sanofi-aventis...

Analysis: Americans may lack basic care.
March 15, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Most patients--regardless of class and race--receive about half of basic recommended care, according an article by the RAND Corporation published in the New England Journal of Medicine. ...

FluWrap: Research ramps up in heartland.
March 16, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, March 16 (UPI) -- Wisconsin looks set to be the United States' front line in the battle against a possible avian-influenza pandemic, with two avian-influenza research programs taking root in the state....

Caregiving: Athletes as caregivers.
March 16, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 16 (UPI) -- (Part 2 of 3). When Rob Ray was a Buffalo Sabre he was known as one of the toughest NHL hockey players of the 1990s, combining physical play with a lethal fighting ability. So some might...

Eat To Live: Toasting St. Patrick.
March 16, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- In the past four weeks leading up to this coming Friday, Americans will have knocked back 54.25 million pints of Guinness. That's according to the company's owners, who say that each year...

Statins could prove beneficial for MS.
March 16, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- It's been a grand-slam week for cholesterol-lowering drugs. On the heels of Tuesday's report that Crestor prevents heart disease, a new animal study suggests Lipitor could also...

Analysis: Broad privacy law urged.
March 16, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- As plans for a national medical records database inch forward, any new federal privacy law must reach all data handlers. That's what health policy experts told a U.S. House health...

Analysis: Senate backs NIH funding boost.
March 16, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- The Senate voted Thursday to add $2 billion to the National Institutes of Health research budget in a move proponents called a large-scale rejection of budget cuts called for by President...

Analysis: Pharma warms to FDA pick.
March 16, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- The Bush administration's nomination of Andrew von Eschenbach to head the Food and Drug Administration will be a win for industry if he's confirmed by the Senate, analysts told United...

Analysis: AMA warning on Medicare cuts.
March 16, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Proposed reductions in the rates Medicare pays doctors could cause them to stop accepting new Medicare patients and decrease seniors' access to healthcare, the American Medical Association...

Eat To Live: Oats, the cool hot breakfast.
March 17, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- If you're one of those people anxious to be in the swim in all things, know that you may be eating the wrong breakfast. Sales of cold cereals rose by 13 percent between 2000 and 2005....

Ped Med: The skinny on ADHD contributors.
March 17, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (UPI) -- Nutritionists are convinced that, just like everyone else, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are what they eat. Specifically, the specialists have their eye...

Analysis: Does fed policy hurt pain drugs?
March 17, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Several pain specialists charged Friday that the Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to crack down on misuse of pain medications, such as Oxycontin, is making physicians reluctant...

The Age of Autism: Mercury creeps back in.
March 17, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- New calculations suggest children today can be exposed to more than half the mercury that was in vaccines in the 1990s, even though manufacturers began phasing it out in 1999. Adjusted...

Analysis: Aricept shows cancer benefit.
March 17, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Aricept, which reduces the short term memory loss, mood problems and fatigue of Alzheimer's disease, also relieves these symptoms when they are caused by radiation therapy for brain cancer say researchers in the...

Eat To Live: Put the function into food.
March 20, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands, March 18 (UPI) -- Moored on a diving holiday off a jewel of an island, I watch a fellow guest reach past the galley's miniature string hammock that holds the boat's supply of...

FluWrap: Deadly strain divides.
March 20, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, March 20 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers announced Monday that the much-feared H5N1 strain of avian influenza has in fact split into two strains. "Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct...

Analysis: More care for caregivers? study.
March 20, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- More care is needed for the 44 million Americans who care for others, said a recent study by the American Association of Retired Persons. As the population ages, a growing number of...

Initiative pushes clear ADHD drug message.
March 20, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Amid roiling debate over the Food and Drug Administration's suggestion that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs carry a black-box warning, the National Consumers League...