Posts Tagged ‘MEDICARE’
Don’t Forget about Ballot Measures on Election Day:
Use this map to find your state’s election website and learn about ballot measures in your area.
Image description: A cloud forms as an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft accelerates up to supersonic speed. Aircraft flying this fast push air up to the very limits of its speed, forming what’s called a bow shock in front of them. Similar bow shocks are also found in a variety of forms in space, and new research suggests they may contribute to heating of the material around them. Learn more about plasma waves from NASA.
Photo by Ensign John Gay, U.S. Navy.
Researchers have found 71 new human genes associated with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) that affect the small and large (colon) intestines of nearly 2.5 million people worldwide. This study brings the total number of known genes associated with IBD to 163.
People have increasing opportunities to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up or diminish test recipients’ demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a study performed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues at other institutions.
Older adults who drank coffee — caffeinated or decaffeinated — had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee, according a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP.
In an ongoing clinical trial, a paralyzed woman was able to reach for and sip from a drink on her own — for the first time in nearly 15 years — by using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm. The trial, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, is evaluating the safety and feasibility of an investigational device called the BrainGate neural interface system.
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an opinion that upholds the Affordable Health Care Act
This includes the individual mandate for coverage. The case challenged the constitutionality of several parts of the law, including the rule that most people in the U.S. must get health coverage. We will continue to carry out provisions of the law by thoughtfully implementing the new requirements for customers and members. We will also continue to look for ways to address increasing costs that are crippling our health care system, including: · Advancing our partnership with primary care physicians announced earlier this year that we believe will substantially improve quality and member health, and potentially reduce the trend in overall medical costs by as much as 20% by 2015. · Coordinating patient care through the use of IBM-Watson technology to promote evidence-based health care and ensure that millions of Americans receive the most effective courses of treatment. We look forward to continuing our efforts to work with policymakers and other key stakeholders to build a health care delivery system that provides security and affordability to all Americans.
Common variants of the ApoE gene are strongly associated with the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, but the gene’s role in the disease has been unclear. Now, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that in mice, having the most risky variant of ApoE damages the blood vessels that feed the brain.
On May 1, 2012, six NIMH grantees were among the 84 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a private, non-profit organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to advancing science and promoting its uses for the greater good.
A project that maps dopamine circuits in the prefrontal cortex through optogenetic manipulation was given top honors in this year’s annual Addiction Science Awards at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) — the world’s largest science competition for high school students. The awards were presented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Friends of NIDA, a coalition that supports NIDA’s mission. The Intel ISEF Addiction Science Awards were presented at a ceremony Thursday night at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
May is Healthy Vision Month. You can help to protect your vision by getting comprehensive eye exams, which can detect glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, and other diseases that have no warning signs. Based on your eye health, family history, and age, your doctor can recommend how often you should get a comprehensive eye exam.
The National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium has selected 11 health professional schools as designated Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). The CoEPEs will act as hubs for the development, evaluation, and distribution of pain management curriculum resources for medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy schools to enhance and improve how health care professionals are taught about pain and its treatment. Twenty institutes, centers and offices at NIH are involved in the consortium.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy, a screening test for colorectal cancer that is less invasive and has fewer side effects than colonoscopy, is effective in reducing the rates of new cases and deaths due to colorectal cancer, according to research sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. In a study that spanned almost 20 years, researchers found that overall colorectal cancer mortality (deaths) was reduced by 26 percent and incidence (new cases) was reduced by 21 percent as a result of screening with sigmoidoscopy. These results appeared online, ahead of print, on May 21, 2012, in the New England Journal of Medicine, and were presented at Digestive Disease Week, a scientific conference.
Inhaling concentrated saline (salt water) mist does not reduce how often infants and young children with cystic fibrosis (CF) need antibiotics for respiratory symptoms, according to findings from a clinical trial sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Insel discusses the dynamics of data sharing in research.
Poor quality antimalarial drugs lead to drug resistance and inadequate treatment that pose an urgent threat to vulnerable populations, according to a National Institutes of Health study published May 22 in The Lancet Infectious Diseasesjournal. Emergence of malaria strains that are resistant to artemisinin drugs on the Thailand-Cambodia border make it imperative to improve the drug supply, stressed the authors.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the completion of the first complete human genome sequence — the genetic blueprint of the human body — the Smithsonian Institution will open a high-tech, high-intensity exhibit in 2013. The exhibit is a collaboration of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health.