UPI Health Business articles from November 2005

UPI Health Business archives from November 2005

Flu-drug supplies might double.
November 1, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush Tuesday announced the launch of PandemicFlu.gov, the "official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza." The announcement came as part...

Caregiving: The emotional toll.
November 1, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Part 3 of 3. A truckload of studies shows that being a caregiver is hazardous to a caregiver's health -- not just physical health but mental health as well. "The research indicates that caregiving (for the elderly)...

Bush unveils U.S. flu readiness plan.
November 1, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush has outlined a long-awaited national preparedness plan for pandemic influenza, asking Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency spending to boost the country's...

Preventive medicine grounds jet lag.
November 1, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Bright light and a little pill can prevent jet lag, say the authors of a study published Monday. "The findings are very practical," said Charmane Eastman, lead author of the study and...

Trials stopped early warrant skepticism.
November 1, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Clinicians should be skeptical of drug trials that are stopped before their scheduled end date, because they often show implausibly large benefits, a study released Tuesday suggests. ...

Dems cool on White House flu plan.
November 1, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Democrats reacted coolly to the White House's pandemic-flu readiness plan Tuesday, saying it does not go far enough to protect against an outbreak. Bush administration health officials...

Ped Med: Keeping toxins away from kids.
November 2, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- With potentially harmful pollutants infiltrating even a mother's womb, there appear to be few places where children can run and hide from threats to their health. At the University...

Security, privacy a health IT concern.
November 2, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Part 18 of a continuing series. Security and privacy have been cited for a couple of decades as reasons for not incorporating computerized personal medical records, but both technology and...

FluWrap: Import bans may spread disease.
November 2, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- During bird-flu strategy talks with China Wednesday, U.S. officials warned against bans on poultry imports, fearing that economic concerns could prevent affected countries from declaring...

Eat To Live: Organic foods may not be so.
November 2, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Buying organic food could be said to be a socially dividing act. It's priced so much higher than conventional food, with producers of necessity passing on their investment to the consumer, that not everyone can afford...

HHS releases pandemic-flu plan.
November 2, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The federal government's plan for dealing with a widespread outbreak of a deadly flu strain calls for heavy investments in improving vaccine production and taking other more immediate...

Officials prepare for Medicare Part D.
November 3, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Federal government officials said Wednesday that beneficiary confusion may prove the biggest hurdle to the successful rollout of Medicare's prescription-drug benefit plan, which is now only...

FluWrap: Money dominates flu fears.
November 3, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Fear of bird flu is turning out to be good financial news for some high-profile investors, including U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Between 1997 and 2001 Rumsfeld was chairman...

Caregiving: Benefits of caring for parents.
November 3, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN A reader of the previous series on the double standard for caregivers asked: If caregivers risk their physical and mental health as well as their finances to care for an elderly parent, is there anything positive about...

Sleep woes plague older adults.
November 3, 2005... Byline: LIZZIE WOZOBSKI WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Older Americans are sleeping less and are more concerned about this pattern than ever before, says a Gallup survey released Thursday. Almost half of those surveyed said they get less...

U.S. leads in medical errors -- study.
November 3, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. healthcare system has the highest rate of medical errors and out-of-pocket costs compared to six other countries, according to a survey released Thursday. But the new study...

Plavix for heart attacks could save lives.
November 3, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A British study released Thursday indicates combining the anti-clotting drug clopidogrel with aspirin to treat heart attacks could prevent thousands of deaths, recurrent heart attacks and...

Health-program cuts pass in Senate budget.
November 3, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate passed a sweeping budget bill Thursday approving more than $10 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years. The cuts mostly spare beneficiaries of...

Eat To Live: Vegetables as medicine.
November 4, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Once upon a time, about 25 years ago, we understood clearly that certain foods were really, really good for us. They were generally those foods we hated and we knew they were good for us because our grandmas told...

FluWrap: Three new Asian outbreaks.
November 4, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Avian influenza affected three Asian countries Friday, with confirmed outbreaks in China and Vietnam and indications of an outbreak in Japan. China has reported four incidences of bird...

Ped Med: Long arm of parental influence.
November 4, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ You're in good hands with parents, according to a series of studies showing mom and dad's involvement and influence can insure children for big health benefits. In a study that shows good citizenship can be good...

HealthWrap: Waist tells tale of heart risk.
November 4, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- When you look in the mirror, is an apple staring back at you? More precisely, is your waist-to-hip ratio higher than about 0.9? Too high and you're more prone to a heart attack, says a new...

Vioxx trials could be bad for industry.
November 4, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Legal experts predict Merck's win in the recent Vioxx case in New Jersey will likely mean fewer lawsuits for the company, but a pharmaceutical-industry analyst says the Vioxx trials may...

Health IT needs wiggle room -- official.
November 5, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Health officials say lawmakers should keep health-information laws flexible so the newly devised national health information-technology system has room to grow. That was the view...

The Age of Autism: Amish genes.
November 5, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- What do the experts say about the idea that genes could explain a lower rate of autism among the Amish? Well, two noted medical geneticists say it's entirely possible. One of them, in...

MD helpers might cut hospital readmission.
November 7, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- With hospital spending a major factor in burgeoning U.S healthcare costs, experts say that greater involvement by advanced-training nurses and physicians' assistants (PAs) in patient care following hospital discharge...

Eat To Live: Prince's U.S. organic tour.
November 7, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Prince Charles and Camilla, after a cozy visit to Washington, are now in the San Francisco area doing what the monarch-in-waiting likes best: getting back to his roots. Organic roots and other produce. It's 14...

FluWrap: China fears human case.
November 7, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Chinese officials have retracted earlier statements denying the role of avian influenza in the death of a 12-year-old girl last week and have asked the World Health Organization to...

AMA docs assail CMS reporting plan.
November 7, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN DALLAS, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Doctors demanded Monday that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid scrap a recently announced plan directing physicians to report quality patient-care measures voluntarily. Attendees at this...

HealthWrap: Strong values cut stress.
November 7, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Keeping your values -- what matters to you and why -- in the forefront of your mind seems to cut stress and may fortify you against physical illness. That's the intriguing finding of a study by UCLA psychologists...

Analysts split on J&J's Guidant buyout.
November 7, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Market analysts were split Monday on whether Johnson & Johnson can back out of its pending $25 billion deal to buy medical-device maker Guidant. Guidant announced Monday that it was...

French malaria vaccine shows promise.
November 7, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- French researchers said Monday their malaria vaccine looked promising in a phase 1 study but added that politics continue to stall a long-delayed phase 2 study. "The implementation of...

Caregiving: Do uniforms matter?
November 8, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN Does it matter to a patient what his or her doctor and nurse are wearing? Patients prefer that doctors wear white lab coats and ties, according to researcher Nathan Belkin. Patients prefer that nurses wear white,...

The Age of Autism: Concerned in Tennessee.
November 8, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Susan Lynn would like some information, please: What is the autism rate among people living in the United States right now who have never been vaccinated? If you have that data or know where to find it, kindly contact...

Experts downplay pandemic flu risk.
November 8, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The latest development to come from the global focus on a possible avian-influenza pandemic is that there may not be a pandemic after all. In direct contradiction to the recent warnings...

Flumist may benefit from flu-pandemic plan.
November 8, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The federal government's flu-pandemic preparedness plan may bode well for flu-vaccine manufacturers, and might particularly lift sales of the only inhaled flu vaccine currently on the...

Microchip can identify lethal flu strains.
November 8, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A microchip has been developed that can tell the difference between ordinary and lethal strains of influenza, such as avian flu H5N1, and its creators say it should be in laboratories within...

HealthWrap: Marriage, the true flu vaccine.
November 8, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Perhaps you've thought about stockpiling Tamiflu. Or avoiding birds of every feather. Or moving to a desert island. Nice tries -- but the best way to beat the flu may be a happy marriage. British researchers...

Ped Med: Tools to grow by.
November 9, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ Researchers are coming up with some inventive tools for predicting and promoting a child's physical and academic growth. A report in The Journal of Pediatrics describes a way to tell how tall a child will be when...

FluWrap: China warns of disaster.
November 9, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- China has warned of a potential disaster in the wake of an avian-influenza outbreak in the northeastern province of Liaoning. More than 6 million birds have been culled since the outbreak...

Eat To Live: Charcuterie worth time.
November 9, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON A friend just back from a tour of Europe went straight from the plane to the doctor. The problem? An unsettled stomach. "Montezuma's Revenge," some call it. She blamed it and a ruined holiday on "funky European food."...

Privacy groups challenge HIPAA protections.
November 9, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Federal law aimed at ensuring electronic health information remains secure might not be strong enough to do the job, privacy and patient advocacy groups are arguing. A primary goal of...

HealthWrap: Medical debt threatens homes.
November 9, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Medical bills are putting more families in debt to the point that that they can't afford to buy a house or risk losing it -- even if both spouses have insurance. "This report reveals that a new level of financial...

Biotech pushes bill to expand SBA grants.
November 9, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The biotech industry has intensified its pressure on Congress to pass legislation that would expand its access to government research grants. Biotech companies joined with patient and...

The Age of Autism: 'The facts say maybe'.
November 10, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A small text block on the cover of the current Columbia Journalism Review may be a lot bigger than it looks: "Drug Test. Q: Does thimerosal cause autism? A: The press says no; the facts say maybe." Thimerosal...

Caregiving: Flu-shot deja vu.
November 10, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN It was deja vu all over again when, without notice, one of the largest providers of flu shots canceled hundreds of public clinics at grocery and drug stores nationwide earlier this week. Maxim Health Systems, which...

China concerned, reports new outbreak.
November 10, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- As the World Health Organization summit in Geneva, Switzerland, came to a close, the global focus on avian influenza shifted to China, where officials Wednesday warned of potential disaster...

Study: Public misled by depression ads.
November 10, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The most commonly prescribed anti-depressants may be effective, but drug ads are misleading about how the drugs work, a new study suggests. The study, published in the December issue of the Public Library of...

Report offers tips to stem pandemics.
November 10, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A new report on disease outbreak-proofing America contains strategies ranging from the "last resort" option of quarantine to solutions as simple as advising people to wash their hands and...

Survey shows low backing for Medicare Rx.
November 10, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Just 20 percent of Medicare's 43 million seniors said in a survey Thursday that they will sign up for the program's prescription-drug benefit, suggesting low enthusiasm for the program...

National health IT system taking off.
November 11, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. health officials said this week they are completing a pilot test of a national health information network that in a few years will allow patients to go to a Web site and get...

Pediatricians 2nd biggest drug ad target.
November 11, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WHITEHOUSE, N.J., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Pediatricians are the second-biggest promotional target of top U.S. drug firms, including GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer, said a study released Friday. The...

Young and healthy most affected by H5N1.
November 11, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Amidst growing concern over China's ability to control outbreaks of avian influenza, a report published in the online journal Respiratory Research Friday revealed that an H5N1 pandemic may...

House bill cutting Medicaid stalls.
November 11, 2005... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A House budget bill that would cut the growth rate of the Medicaid program from 7.3 percent to 7 percent stalled on Capitol Hill this week. A vote on the contentious spending package...

Study gives tips for improving trials.
November 11, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Two groups of scientists on Friday released a study offering tips for improving the integrity, usefulness and safety of clinical-trial results, especially studies of new drugs. The study was inspired by the fate...

Ped Med: Preventing child health problems.
November 12, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- As early as the birth process, parents can take steps to help prevent health problems in their children, including AIDS, cavities or even death, scientists say. A review of studies...

Eat To Live: Food products we need?
November 12, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON Consider the following various announcements this week for the launches of new products. Nestle has filed patents in every major world market for a non-alcoholic "fermented coffee beverage" that, according to New...

The Age of Autism: Showdown in Santa Fe.
November 14, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A pediatrician had an appointment Monday with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy to deliver a blunt message: Its members need to warn state residents that the mercury in flu shots could be harmful to children -- or risk...

FluWrap: Ominous mutations reported.
November 14, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Vietnamese scientists say new research suggests that avian influenza has mutated into a form that could be transmissible between humans. The Ho Chi Minh Pasteur Institute has decoded 24...

GAO calls FDA actions on Plan B 'unusual'.
November 14, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A government report issued Monday calls "unusual" a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to deny approval of the Plan B morning-after pill for sale in drugstores. Last May the FDA's acting director of...

Same-day angioplasty cuts costs.
November 14, 2005... DALLAS, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A new approach that could turn angioplasty -- surgery aimed at clearing blocked arteries -- into a one-day affair could result in significant cost savings, Canadian researchers report. However, study findings...

HealthWrap: Fast ways to save lives.
November 14, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED It's taking less time to save lives these days -- and the life you save might be your own or the guy standing next to you. New research suggests a 25-minute CPR class is as good as the four-hour standard course, and...

CMS says no rush on Medicare drug plan.
November 14, 2005... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Amid reports that confusion over Medicare's prescription-drug benefit -- which begins enrollment Tuesday -- is scaring seniors away from the plan, government officials say there's no rush...

Pharma working with FBI to stop activists.
November 14, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The drug industry is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to thwart guerilla operations of animal-rights extremists seeking to stop biomedical research involving lab animals,...

Ped Med: Helping kids cope with disaster.
November 15, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ From deadly hurricanes to heartbreaking divorce, many children are forced to shoulder heavy burdens at a tender age, but there are ways to help lighten their load. With the media broadcasting and printing a...

FluWrap: Worries over Asia and Tamiflu.
November 15, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER Three new outbreaks of avian influenza have been reported in Vietnam. Thirteen Vietnamese provinces have now reported avian-flu outbreaks in the latest wave of the pandemic, although the last three appear to...

Health savings accounts catching on.
November 15, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Nearly half of U.S. businesses recently surveyed said they now have in place next-generation health plans like health savings accounts or would soon offer them. Of 316 employers polled, 43 percent said they...

New flu test out soon.
November 15, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The first diagnostic test that detects human respiratory viruses including bird flu could be ready for lab testing next month. The new test -- which can identify Parainfluenza and Influenza Virus A/B, including...

Myriad's Flurizan shows promise in phase 2.
November 15, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Myriad Genetics said Tuesday results of a phase 2 study indicate its drug Flurizan reverses the course of mild Alzheimer's disease. If the finding holds true in a large-scale phase 3...

Caregiving: Can clothes spread germs?
November 15, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN I don't think I'll ever look at a doctor's necktie the same way after reading the study that said half of neckties worn by medical personnel harbor bacteria that can cause disease. Researchers at the New York...

Dems blast Medicare Rx on its first day.
November 15, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Democrats attacked the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit Tuesday, the day the plan opened to sign-up by 43 million eligible beneficiaries. The plan began a six-month enrollment...

Study confirms lipid drugs' low risk.
November 16, 2005... Byline: ED SUSMAN DALLAS, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- While the study pitting Pfizer's anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor against Zocor's lipid-lowering therapy made headlines for its market implications, the trial also confirmed the pivotal role...

HealthWrap: Meditation feeds your head.
November 16, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Meditation appears to do more than calm you down: New research suggests people who meditate daily can thicken their cerebral cortex. That's the opposite of being "thick," because the cortex is central to memory,...

Groups urge patient control of records.
November 16, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- In the wake of polls showing most Americans have privacy worries as their personal health data goes electronic, consumer groups want lawmakers to ensure that the ultimate control over...

Endo's Lidoderm may compete for COX-2 void.
November 16, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Endo Pharmaceuticals is making a bid for its painkiller patch Lidoderm to fill some of the void left in the wake of the safety issues with COX-2 inhibitors that emerged last year. ...

Eat To Live: Peanuts given thumbs up.
November 16, 2005... Byline: JULIA WATSON The doctor told my 88-year-old father his nightly gin-and-tonic would kill him. "My age is going to kill me," responded my father. The same doctor voiced a similar concern over my 81-year-old mother's prandial two...

House: Don't require Ritalin in school.
November 16, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure Wednesday banning schools from requiring students to take Ritalin or other anti-hyperactivity drugs as a condition of...

HealthWrap: No decaf on roller coasters.
November 17, 2005... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Decaf coffee may be a heart-disease risk -- and if you already have heart disease, roller coasters definitely are. That's the upshot of two new studies. The second seems fairly obvious, but the first is...

New Asia outbreaks, multinationals prepare.
November 17, 2005... Byline: KATE WALKER WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- In the wake of Wednesday's confirmation that China has suffered its first human deaths from avian influenza, it was announced Thursday that two more outbreaks of the disease have been...

Congress mulls MD Medicare payment fixes.
November 17, 2005... WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. lawmakers said Thursday they want to fend off a planned 4.4-percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians, set for Jan. 1. But in the long term the legislators are mulling how to permanently...

Caregiving: Who will drive Miss Daisy?
November 17, 2005... Byline: ALEX CUKAN The question of "Who will drive Miss Daisy?" is compounded by the fact that often Miss Daisy has lived in the suburbs and plans to stay. In the past, when most people lived in cities, public transportation made it...

GOP revolt kills health spending in House.
November 17, 2005... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- House lawmakers defeated the government's major health funding bill Thursday, signaling a major rebellion among Republicans. The vote came on a conference report on a spending bill for...

FDA looks to move beyond black-box warning.
November 18, 2005... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A Food and Drug Administration official is calling for a new approach beyond black-box warnings to ensure physicians correctly prescribe drugs. The move comes in light of a new study...

Ped Med: Preventing injuries in children.
November 18, 2005... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ Warning: Sports fields, roadways and bathtubs may be injurious to your child's health. Each year, in those three settings, thousands of children suffer injuries, most of which could be averted with some...