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| Today's OpEds: Congressional Dealmaking, Cutting 'Honchos Pay,' Controlling Costs |
| Congressional Deals: Watching The Sausage Making Politico Legislators need pork to make things happen, especially in an age when chronic obstruction has so weakened the legislative process that policy breakthroughs are almost impossible. This does not excuse all kinds of deal making, nor should we ignore that deals sometimes go too far (Julian E. Zelizer, 3/10). Health Care Reform's Sickeningly Sweet Deals The Washington Post Skipping through the Candy Land of the health-care bill, one is tempted to hum a few bars of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." What a deal. For dealmakers, that is...
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| GSK To Offer Flexible Drug Pricing In Middle-Income Countries |
| Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) "plans to bolster earnings by selling to more people in middle-income countries after cutting prices in the world's poorest nations," Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports. "Our strategy is to grow our business in middle-income countries by increasing the volume of products we sell," GSK Chief Executive Andrew Witty said by e-mail, according to the news service...
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| Also In Global Health News: WFP In Somalia; Ugandans Displaced By Landslides; Polio Vaccination Campaign In Nigeria; Famine In Chad |
| Nearly 50% Of Food Aid Sent To Somalia Never Makes It To People In Need "As much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted from needy people to a web of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local United Nations staff members, according to a new Security Council report," the New York Times reports. "The report, which has not yet been made public ...
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| Destroying Cancers By Exploiting Their Architecture |
| After making a diagnosis of cancer, clinicians have a number of treatment options. Most of these involve coordinating multiple attacks on the tumor using an arsenal of cancer-killing therapies. Chemotherapy, where toxic drugs are used to specifically kill cancer cells, is a very powerful weapon in this arsenal. It is extremely effective in treating some cancers, such as testicular cancer and Hodgkin's Disease, but works poorly in other cancer types...
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| Link Between Brain Chemical And Cognitive Decline In Schizophrenia |
| In one of the first such studies involving human patients with schizophrenia, researchers at UC Davis have provided evidence that deficits in a brain chemical may be responsible for some of the debilitating cognitive deficits - poor attention, memory and problem-solving abilities - that accompany the delusions and hallucinations that are the hallmarks of the disorder. The study, published online in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests an important avenue of inquiry for improving cognitive function in the more than 2 million Americans who suffer from schizophrenia, according to Jong H...
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| MBL Scientists Identify Driving Forces In Human Cell Division |
| If you can imagine identical twin sisters at rest, their breath drawing them subtly together and apart, who somehow latch onto ropes that pull them to opposite sides of the bed - you can imagine what happens to a chromosome in the dividing cell. Understanding the forces that drive chromosome segregation - a crucial aspect of human development and some diseases, including cancer - is the goal of an international group of researchers who collaborate each summer at the MBL...
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| Texas Earthquake Study Cites 'Plausible Cause' |
| A study of seismic activity near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by researchers from Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Austin reveals that the operation of a saltwater injection disposal well in the area was a "plausible cause" for the series of small earthquakes that occurred in the area between Oct. 30, 2008, and May 16, 2009. The incidents under study occurred in an area of North Texas where the vast Barnett Shale geological formation traps natural gas deposits in subsurface rock...
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| NYT Editorial Calls On Abortion-Rights Supporters 'To Make Their Voices Heard' |
| In the "three years since the Supreme Court's conservative majority abruptly departed from precedent to uphold a federal ban on a particular method of abortion, ... foes of reproductive freedom are pressing new attacks on women's rights and health," a New York Times editorial states. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) "has signed a bill (HB 462) that would criminalize certain behavior by women that results in miscarriage," the editorial notes. It adds, "The measure exempts lawful abortions, and particularly worrisome language about 'reckless' acts has been removed...
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| W.Va. House Panel Approves Bill Requiring Information About Ultrasounds Before Abortions |
| The West Virginia House Health and Human Resources Committee on Monday voted 16-9 to approve a bill (HB 4517) that would require physicians to give women the opportunity to view an ultrasound image at least one hour before performing an abortion, the Charleston Gazette reports. According to the Gazette, the rule would only apply to cases where ultrasound technology already is being used. The Senate passed the bill last week (Knezevich, Charleston Gazette, 3/8). The bill now proceeds to the House Judiciary Committee (AP/Charleston Gazette, 3/8)...
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| Research Shows Removing Healthy Breast Does Not Improve Breast Cancer Survival, NYT Columnist Writes |
| Recent studies show that more women with cancer in one breast are opting for removal of both breasts, even though removal of the healthy breast does little to improve survival rates, New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope writes. In 2006, roughly 6% of women who underwent surgery for breast cancer chose to remove both the cancerous and healthy breasts, a procedure known as contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, Pope says...
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