Med Discounts

Volcanologist Sarah Fagents from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa had an amazing opportunity to study volcanic hazards first hand, when a volcanic mudflow broke through the banks of a volcanic lake at Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand. Fagents and colleagues were there on a National Science Foundation…

Many patients with incurable advanced colorectal cancer could be offered a more gentle treatment strategy starting with a single chemotherapy drug, as an alternative to current standard initial combination chemotherapy, without compromising their survival. These are the conclusions of authors of two separate Articles published in The Lancet. They believe their results challenge…

An analysis based on computerized simulation models suggests that the lifetime risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure from a computed tomography (CT scan) coronary angiography varies widely, with the risk greater for women and younger patients, according to a study in JAMA. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in men and women in the…

Inadequate ventilation and overcrowding may contribute to the high incidence of lower respiratory tract lung infections in young Inuit children. Dr. Tom Kovesi and colleagues collected data on respiratory health and indoor air quality for 49 Inuit children under 5 years of age in the Baffin Region of Nunavut. They found that lower respiratory tract infection was significantly…

Venous thrombosis (VTE), the formation of blood clots in a vein, is a major health problem for hospitalized patients in the United States. In the short term, VTE can lead to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), typically in the legs, and pulmonary embolism (PE), which occurs when a piece of the blood clot migrates into an artery of the lungs. Evidence implicates PE in up to 10 percent…

The Wall Street Journal on Friday published two letters to the editor in response to a July 19 article about Medicaid. In the article, the Journal reported that many state Medicaid programs, “straining under surging costs, are balancing their budgets by freezing or reducing payments to doctors” — moves that have prompted a number of physicians to end participation in the programs ( [click link for full article]

House legislation (HR 3162) that would expand and reauthorize SCHIP and make revisions to Medicare will need to be revised to meet pay/go rules before it can be considered by the full chamber, CongressDaily reports (Johnson, CongressDaily, 7/27). [click link for full article]

The International Center for Health Outcomes and Innovation Research (InCHOIR), a joint initiative of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Department of Surgery at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, has received a $23 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to serve as the Data Coordinating Center for a newly established Cardiothoracic Surgery Investigations Network. [click link for full article]

New Jersey’s total health care liabilities for current and future public employees total $69 billion, according to a report by consulting firm Aon delivered to the State Health Benefits Program commission on Thursday, the [click link for full article]

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on Wednesday proposed an extension of a provision included in last year’s homeland security spending bill that allows U.S. residents to bring back lower-cost prescription medications from Canada without the drugs being seized by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers, the [click link for full article]