UPI Health Business articles from March 2007

UPI Health Business archives from March 2007

Analysis: Trading away debt, disease.
March 1, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Soon, some developing countries will be able to cash in their debt for healthcare -- and better financial health. To finance the $50 billion-per-year gap between global health needs and...

Analysis: AIDS cuts 16 years off life.
March 1, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN LOS ANGELES, March 1 (UPI) -- On average, people who become infected with the virus that causes AIDS lose about 16 years of life, researchers said this week. And if a person delays getting early treatment for human...

Racial healthcare gap persists.
March 1, 2007... Byline: REBECCA PEARSEY WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The racial healthcare gap is increasing disease and mortality because of the unhealthy lifestyles and environments many ethnic minorities face today, experts said this week. Brian...

Eat To Live: Are food agencies healthy?
March 1, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Remember the contaminated spinach health scare? How many of you are still suspicious enough of the stuff that you haven't gone back to buying it? Another incident has so far involved...

Ped Med: Aiming to detect autism early.
March 1, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 1 (UPI) -- In a good-news, bad-news mix for autism, researchers report early diagnosis of the neurodevelopmental disorder has been shown to be effective -- yet elusive. Despite a growing body...

Analysis: Street sours on Barr.
March 1, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Barr's fourth-quarter figures beat Wall Street's expectations, but its 2007 forecast disappointed, and analysts are skeptical about the company's near-term future. Analysts were...

Analysis: Device, drugs bust leg clots.
March 2, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN SEATTLE, March 2 (UPI) -- Doctors said Friday that combining treatment with a device and potent clot-busting drugs can break apart and remove life-threatening blockages in leg veins. The minimally invasive procedure...

Analysis: Wall Street split on Amgen.
March 2, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Reeling from a spate of negative headlines about Aranesp, Amgen held a teleconference with investors this week to help stifle growing concerns about the drug, but not all analysts were...

Analysis: No easy fix for Medicare payment.
March 2, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- There is little support for the current Medicare physician payment system, but changing it will be a complicated, long-term process, a U.S. government commission said Thursday. The...

Eat To Live: Grasshoppers for dinner.(Recipe)
March 2, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Last night for dinner I had grasshopper tacos. What did you eat? The experience hasn't turned me into a full-fledged fan of acridophagy, or the consumption of grasshoppers, locusts and...

Caregiving: Keeping restaurants honest.
March 2, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 2 (UPI) -- Call it the caregiver's food paradox: No one deserves a meal cooked by someone else more than a caregiver, but no one can afford it least. I'm not talking about the money, I'm talking about...

Stressed moms, genes may cause shy kids.
March 5, 2007... Byline: ANTHONY ROTUNNO WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Shyness in children might in part stem from a certain stress-related gene that's activated by living with stressed mothers, according to a new study. Children can have either the...

Eat To Live: Atkins diet back on top.
March 5, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- A friend getting ready for beach season has just gone back onto the Atkins Diet. How so last century. Hasn't she heard of the Zone? The GI diet? A mutual acquaintance swears by the Ornish...

Analysis: Off-label use common in kids.
March 5, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Nearly 80 percent of hospitalized children receive drugs that have been approved only for adults, according to the largest-ever study to look at off-label use in the pediatric setting....

Analysis: New stents save legs.
March 5, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN SEATTLE, March 5 (UPI) -- A new generation of thinner catheters and small, more flexible stents -- tiny stainless-steel mesh coils that prop open endangered blood vessels -- appear able to save the legs of patients with...

Analysis: Report stirs Medicare HMO debate.
March 5, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Medicare private managed-care plans, known as Medicare Advantage, are unfairly favored over traditional Medicare, according to a highly influential commission. The privately administered...

Project uses DNA to trace ancestry.
March 6, 2007... Byline: REBECCA PEARSEY WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- With a simple swipe of the inside of the cheek, scientists can now determine what part of the world a person's ancestors came from. "Each of us contains within us our own genealogies...

Prescription-painkiller abuse on the rise.
March 6, 2007... Byline: JESSICA BRAUNSCHWEIG BETHESDA, Md., March 6 (UPI) -- Teenagers and young adults are abusing prescription drugs in staggering numbers, and the crippling effects of this addiction must be addressed head-on, experts said Monday. ...

HealthWrap: Blood tests for mental health?
March 6, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ Simple blood tests may be able to detect panic and other mental disorders and predict susceptibility to nicotine addiction, according to new research. In a study published Tuesday in the online edition of the...

Caregiving: Surviving hospitals -- Part 1.
March 6, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 6 (UPI) -- This week Congress is holding hearings on the conditions encountered by U.S. veterans recovering from injuries at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but perhaps it is also time...

Analysis: Band-Aid surgery aids fertility.
March 6, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN SEATTLE, March 6 (UPI) -- Doctors said they can relieve pain due to faulty veins in a minimally invasive procedure that is recommended to overcome male infertility. "We were successful in closing off these veins --...

Analysis: New call for FDA openness.
March 6, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Two researchers Tuesday urged a change in U.S. Food and Drug Administration policies to allow the scientific community access to pharmaceutical manufacturers' clinical trial data in order...

Analysis: SCHIP expansion worries states.
March 6, 2007... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- While the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program enjoys widespread support, state health officials say they are worried that the "new improved"...

Analysis: Depression not color blind.
March 7, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- African-Americans have a lower reported rate of depression, but their symptoms last longer and are more severe, according to a new study. Treatment that is poor in quality or lacking...

Analysis: Medicare likely to get Band-Aid.
March 7, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Members of the U.S. House of Representatives seem no more optimistic about Medicare physician payment reform than their Senate counterparts, based on the tone of a House hearing held this...

Eat To Live: French join fight against fat.
March 7, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON RYE, England, March 7 (UPI) -- Bad news for the food-labeling business, just as the French are buying into it. You thought "French Women Don't Get Fat?", as Mireille Guiliano's book claims? Pas vrai, apparently. Not...

Outside View: Marketing is making us fat.
March 7, 2007... Byline: DEBORAH COHEN WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Connor McCreaddie, an 8-year-old British boy who weighs about 200 pounds, made headlines recently when social workers considered taking him into protective care, which would prevent him...

Media catches up to UPI's reports on vets.
March 7, 2007... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Recent reports on healthcare problems facing wounded U.S. soldiers may be giving some readers a sense of deja vu. That's because UPI broke the story of substandard medical treatment and...

Analysis: Birth and rebirth in New Orleans.
March 7, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- After Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans is in the midst of a rebirth -- but advocates are struggling to make it a good place to give birth. The destruction of the city's health...

Analysis: Superbugs driving blockbusters.
March 7, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- The emergence of multi-drug-resistant superbugs as a global health concern appears to be propelling antibacterial drugs to blockbuster status, according to an analyst report issued...

Newer anti-psychotic meds tested.
March 8, 2007... CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 8 (UPI) -- Schizophrenics not responding to the older anti-psychotic drug perphenazine did better on a newer drug, quetiapine, say U.S. scientists. The research was part of the ongoing Clinical Antipsychotic Trials...

Callisto's leukemia drug in phase 1 trial.
March 8, 2007... NEW YORK, March 8 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Callisto said Thursday it launched a phase 1 trial of L-Annamycin involving children and young adults with leukemia. The trial, which was initiated at The Children's Hospital in Denver, involves...

Depressed elderly risk early death.
March 8, 2007... LIVERPOOL, England, March 8 (UPI) -- A British study showed 41 percent of elderly people with depression are often readmitted to the hospital with other illnesses. "The project has shown depression is common in older people with physical...

Many doctors address women's sleep issues.
March 8, 2007... NORTHBROOK, Ill., March 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. survey has found many physicians are knowledgeable about women's sleep issues and how to actively manage sleep problems. The survey of 364 pulmonary/critical-care physicians -- identified as being...

Poll: Women over 40 less interested in sex.
March 8, 2007... NEW YORK, March 8 (UPI) -- U.S. women over age 40 have less interest in sex, according to a new survey. The national Prevention/Roper poll, which questioned more than 2,000 women over the age of 20, also found women feel more confident...

Interview: Clay Walker talks about his MS.
March 8, 2007... Byline: REBECCA PEARSEY WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Every hour, one more person is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable neurological disease that can lead to blurred vision, slurred speech or paralysis. The disease affects...

Analysis: Hollis-Eden to endure stock nuke.
March 8, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Hollis-Eden shares plunged nearly 30 percent Thursday after the U.S. government rejected its Neumune for treating radiation sickness in the event of a terrorist attack, but some analysts...

Analysis: Should vets get private care?
March 8, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Amid the recent scandal over shoddy medical treatment at the Walter Reed Army hospital and with an increasingly overwhelmed veterans' healthcare system, some advocates say veterans should be...

Analysis: Lawmakers split on bio-generics.
March 9, 2007... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- Key Republicans and Democrats said Thursday they'll work together to find a way to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate generic biologics. A group of...

Eat To Live: Healthier: organic or local?
March 9, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON RYE, England, March 9 (UPI) -- Poor Prince Charles. He always seems to be the butt of someone's joke. Disparaged as a "tree hugger," he has done a massive amount to support organic farming across Britain. And he's...

Ped Med: Autism tough to treat.
March 9, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 (UPI) -- More than 60 years after it was first identified, autism remains mystifying and stubbornly difficult to treat. Because the severity of symptoms and ostensible causes vary widely,...

Pregnant women fail to relieve back pain.
March 12, 2007... ST. LOUIS, March 8 (UPI) -- Less than 10 percent of pregnant women with musculoskeletal back pain were satisfied with the symptom relief they obtained, a U.S. study found. The study, published in the Journal of Manipulative and...

Analysis: New warnings on anemia drugs.
March 12, 2007... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new warnings for anemia drugs Friday, acting on evidence that they can worsen tumors and increase the risk of death in some patients. FDA...

Ped Med: Timing key to treating autism.
March 12, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 12 (UPI) -- When it comes to treating autism, timing is everything, or at least a major part, specialists say. Children with the neurodevelopmental disorder must be taught what comes...

Caregiving: Surviving hospitals -- Part 2.
March 12, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 12 (UPI) -- All organisms and all organizations need a feedback loop to survive, but it's never a good sign when the feedback loop ends up to be a televised congressional hearing -- as a recent Walter...

Analysis: Is New Jersey killing Medicare?
March 12, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- It is no secret that some states cost Medicare a lot more than others, a fact that raises concern in light of the program's current budget crunch, but doing something about it will not be...

Analysis: Amgen's Aranesp gets hit again.
March 12, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Amgen's anemia line got more bad news as Aranesp and Epogen were hit with black-box warnings about an increased risk of death and tumor growth in certain situations. Although this...

Poll: Most U.S. women not sleeping enough.
March 12, 2007... Byline: REBECCA PEARSEY WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- A typical night for Deborah Wischow means waking up three hours after an early bedtime and waiting to see if sleep will return. "You're not asleep, but you're not really awake,"...

Hospitals, non-profits: Hold the trans fat.
March 13, 2007... Byline: REBECCA PEARSEY WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- The movement against trans fats -- already energized by the U.S. decision in 2006 to label packaged foods containing the fat -- is trickling into restaurants and cafeterias. The...

Street Pulse: BioSante betting on boomers.
March 13, 2007... WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- United Press International interviewed Stephen M. Simes, CEO of BioSante, on the pharmaceutical company's strategies for going after two potentially lucrative markets that are poised to explode as baby boomers age:...

HealthWrap: Exercise a memory-booster.
March 13, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ Exercise can keep both your muscles and your memory from sagging with age, new research shows. Scientists from Columbia University Medical Center in New York City say they have found working out targets the...

Eat To Live: Cocoa, the new life-extender?
March 13, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON RYE, England, March 13 (UPI) -- When they are not talking about the sonic rise in house prices, the English mutter about the collapse of the National Health Service. Newspapers trumpet the latest victim of the...

Analysis: Merck's vaccine on solid ground.
March 13, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Despite some groups' efforts to block legislation at the state level that would make Merck's cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil mandatory for adolescent girls, the vaccine's uptake will...

Analysis: Quality matters in kid care.
March 13, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Amid the debate about covering the nation's 9 million uninsured children, the importance of quality coverage may be lost, experts said this week. "Our system needs more than just an...

Analysis: Database urged for FDA safety.
March 13, 2007... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan this week urged the agency to overhaul its system for monitoring the safety of the U.S. drug supply. McClellan, who...

Analysis: Children's health meanders ahead.
March 14, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) this week continued on its halting path toward reauthorization. About 60 advocates rallied outside the Capitol in favor of...

Caregiving: The caregiver insomniac.
March 14, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 14 (UPI) -- It's one of the caregiving paradoxes: Few people need sleep more than caregivers, but they are often part of the 30 million Americans who suffer from insomnia. Three years ago, when my...

Eat To Live: Overfishing hurts industry.
March 14, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON RYE, England, March 14 (UPI) -- Down on the quay in Rye on the south coast of England, Bill the Fish is hauling in his nets. Once he's sorted his night catch into different boxes, he'll wheel them up in the early...

Analysis: Weekend no time for heart attack.
March 14, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., March 14 (UPI) -- If you are rushed to the hospital on the weekend with a heart attack, your chance of getting aggressive, life-saving treatment is less and your chance of dying is greater, doctors...

Analysis: Abbott pulls drugs from Thailand.
March 14, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- AIDS activists and other groups are protesting Abbott's surprising decision to stop launching new medicines in Thailand, but so far the company is remaining steadfast in its position....

Analysis: Clinton bill to cover all kids.
March 15, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., unveiled legislation to cover all 9 million uninsured U.S. children Wednesday. "This plan is practical and fiscally...

Ped Med: Behavior therapy for autism.
March 15, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (UPI) -- As autism treatments go, behavioral therapies enjoy the greatest popularity and most established reputation -- yet, for the most part, the science behind them is modest, researchers...

Analysis: Sleep warnings' impact minor.
March 15, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- New warning labels on insomnia treatments, including the top sellers of Sanofi-aventis' Ambien line and Sepracor's Lunesta, probably won't result in a major drop in sales, according to...

Report: College substance abuse rampant.
March 15, 2007... Byline: JANELLE ZARA WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- More college students are abusing illegal substances, including an enormous increase in the rate of drinking, says a new report. Nearly 1.8 million, or 22.9 percent, of full-time...

Analysis: New ovarian cancer protocol.
March 15, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 15 (UPI) -- The nation's top cancer doctors Thursday endorsed treating women with ovarian cancer with a procedure in which the woman's abdomen is flooded with anti-cancer drugs. "We had...

Analysis: Caveat emptor in health reform.
March 15, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Some of the nation's top health policy experts have a message for voters: Any candidate who says covering the uninsured will not break the bank is lying. "Anyone who thinks you can...

Eat To Live: Nutrients to protect the eyes.
March 16, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON LONDON, March 16 (UPI) -- My grandmother's eyes were so dry they were alarmingly red. She wore dark glasses so as not to frighten her young grandchildren. We didn't know it, but she suffered from a disease that this...

Caregiving: Delta Burke on diabetes.
March 16, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 16 (UPI) -- Actress and diabetic Delta Burke, perhaps best known for her role as straight-talking Suzanne Sugarbaker on the TV show "Designing Women" (1986-1993), says now she wants to so some...

Hassle-free ways to eat more vegetables.
March 16, 2007... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Americans still aren't eating enough fruits and vegetables, a new U.S. government report says. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found about 32 percent of...

Analysis: Kids' programs feel the squeeze.
March 16, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Entitlement programs are crowding out federal spending on children, a new study says. "Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are growing so fast they are going to pretty much eat away...

Analysis: Guides check cancer drug costs.
March 16, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 16 (UPI) -- Doctors suggested Friday that a giant step to solving the problem of how to pay for soaring costs of new anti-cancer drugs would be for clinicians to follow recognized treatment...

Analysis: Race gap in life expectancy down.
March 16, 2007... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- The gap in life expectancy between African-Americans and has narrowed, according to a study to be published next week. Researches said the study points to some progress in mitigating...

Ped Med: Autism therapies vary.
March 19, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 (UPI) -- Although many parents select the highly structured applied behavioral analysis as a treatment for their autistic children, some prefer a bit more flexibility. They favor such...

Eat To Live: Purple grape juice healthiest.
March 19, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 19 (UPI) -- Spring hasn't come yet to Edinburgh, where the winds howl around the Castle. Still, workers lunch outside in the weak sunshine at the sandwich shops, which are now as much a part...

Interview: Actress Kazan speaks out on DVT.
March 19, 2007... Byline: JANELLE ZARA WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Lainie Kazan, the famed Broadway songstress and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" actress, nearly hit a career roadblock in the 1970s when she was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a blood...

Analysis: Sanofi's Acomplia to top Xenical.
March 19, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Despite Sanofi-aventis' recent delays in getting Acomplia approved in the United States, an analyst report predicts the drug will top Roche/GlaxoSmithKline's Xenical as the gold standard...

Analysis: Big reform best, study says.
March 19, 2007... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Comprehensive federal healthcare reform would more effectively cover the uninsured, according to a report released Monday, but the more piecemeal approach involving states is more likely to...

Analysis: NIH blasts Bush on stem cells.
March 20, 2007... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- The head of the National Institutes of Health broke with the White House Monday, calling limits on embryonic stem cell research set by President Bush "shortsighted" and suggesting the...

Analysis: Rethinking TB treatment.
March 20, 2007... Byline: ED SUSMAN WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., March 20 (UPI) -- Researchers suggested Monday that long-held beliefs on why it takes a long course of treatment to eradicate tuberculosis may be incorrect. However, doctors caution that no...

Report: Stagnant NIH funding a setback.
March 20, 2007... Byline: JESSICA BRAUNSCHWEIG WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- The United States' position as a global leader in biomedical research may change if National Institutes of Health funding is not immediately increased, says a new report released...

HealthTips: Allergies, ticks, face lifts.
March 20, 2007... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SPRING BRINGS ALLERGIES Spring is in the air, and so is pollen, which can spell misery for allergy sufferers. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology reports one-fifth of U.S. residents experience...

Analysis: New laws for pharma payments?
March 20, 2007... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Laws in two states requiring disclosure of pharmaceutical company payments to physicians are failing to have their intended effect and may need to be strengthened, according to a study...

Eat To Live: Farmed or wild salmon?
March 21, 2007... Byline: JULIA WATSON EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 21 (UPI) -- Some alarming news for brunch fans: Wild Scottish salmon have lost up to one-third of their body weight in the last 10 years. This means more will be required to cover the cream...

Caregiving: Is Grandma drinking?
March 21, 2007... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., March 21 (UPI) -- A recent report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York found the rate of college students who drink at least 10 times a month was up 25...