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Health Watch

By: MetroSoruce News

President Obama Wants To Include Republicans In Healthcare Reform

(Washington, DC) -- President Obama will continue to press for national healthcare reform. He talked about the issue in an exclusive interview with Katie Couric of CBS News. Obama said he wants to involve congressional Republicans to get their specific ideas as how the healthcare system can be improved and millions of more people covered. He added that by going step-by-step through the process, he believes the drive toward reform will be quicker than last year.

>>New Data Suggest Vaccine Safer Than H1N1

(Undated) -- Health officials are finding new evidence that it may be safer to get the H1N1 vaccine than to go without it. Last year, opponents of the vaccine said it was safer to get the virus than be vaccinated against it. However, fresh statistics released by the California State Department of Health show there has been one death for every ten-thousand Californians who have contracted the H1N1 virus. In contrast, just three of the 13-million Californians who've been inoculated against the pandemic flu have died. The figures from California are giving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a better understanding of the H1N1 vaccine's potential dangers. By now, more than 120-million doses of the vaccine have been distributed around the U.S. Just over 82-hundred cases of adverse reactions have been reported to the CDC. However, only six-percent were considered "serious." The other 94-percent were considered "non-serious" side effects, such as soreness at the injection site. The highest estimate for the overall death rate from the shot is about one in every four-point-three-million people vaccinated.

>>Nurse Accused Of Using Hepatitis C-Infected Needles Pleads Guilty

(Denver, CO) -- A Colorado nurse, accused of knowingly using hepatitis C-infected needles to steal pain medication, has pleaded guilty. Kristen Parker admitted Friday that she used the needles on patients from two Colorado Springs and Denver hospitals. U.S. Attorney spokesperson Jeff Dorschner says Parker decided she didn't want to head to trial. In January, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn rejected the plea agreement because prosecutors recommended a 20-year prison sentence. Blackburn can now sentence Parker to up to 30 years in jail. That will happen February 24th.

>>Study: Compound Could Completely Cure Severe Osteoporosis

(Chicago, IL) -- A cure for brittle bones may soon be as easy as popping a once-a-day pill. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York have rebuilt entire bones in rodents with severe osteoporosis. The team tested a molecule that blocks the production of serotonin in the guts of mice and rats. Serotonin's usually better known for being a chemical messenger for the brain. But the body also releases it in the gut to regulate bone formation. Researchers said there are a couple of chemicals that can scale back the body's production of serotonin. They picked one, tested it, and found that the mice and rats nearly crippled by osteoporosis regained all their bone density. The same molecule is already in safety trials in humans in a once-daily dose. The findings are published in the journal "Nature Medicine."

>>Report: Soft Drink Consumption Doubles Pancreatic Cancer Risk

(Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN) -- Consumption of two or more sugary soft drinks a week nearly doubles the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. That's the bottom line of a new report published in the journal "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention." Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly of all cancers, with just five-percent of those diagnosed with the disease still alive five years later. Researchers at the University of Minnesota believe high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, contributing to pancreatic cancer cell growth. The study followed more than 60-thousand people for 14 years. In that time, there were 140 cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed. The researchers discovered those who'd consumed two or more soft drinks a week had an 87-percent increased risk of developing the cancer, compared to those who consumed no soft drinks. There was no association noted with other beverages, such as fruit juice, and pancreatic cancer.

>>NFL Commissioner Goodell Talks Labor Deal, Concussions

(Miami, FL) -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed problems associated with concucssions. On the CBS program "Face the Nation," Goodell said said the league has been working on the health issue since the mid-1990s with a medical committee studying the effects of the injuries. He added equipment has improved and the NFL has, quote, "changed the culture and made sure that people understand they are serious" injuries.

>>CO Poisoning, Eleven People Overcome

(Prince George's County, MD) -- The Fire Chief in Prince George's County, Maryland, is warning about the dangers of using gas-powered generators indoors. Fire Chief Eugene Jones says it's "as dangerous as you can get" and must stop immediately. For two straight days, the fire department's been called to homes with extremely high levels of carbon monoxide due to gas generators inside the homes. They were being used because of power outages from the snowstorm. Eleven people with symptoms of CO poisoning were taken to area hospitals from the incidents in Landover Hills Saturday and Oxon Hill Sunday. Firefighters testing the air in the homes detected readings of at least 200 parts-per-million. Prolonged exposure at that level will lead to serious illness and death. A reading in the 35-to-40 range is considered unhealthy.

>>Nurse Shortage Recovers

(Grand Rapids, MI) -- Despite a once expected nurse shortage of 18-thousand in Michigan, local health experts say it might not be that bad. Chair of the West Michigan Nursing Advisory Council Shawn Ulreich says the medical community was bracing for a growing nurse shortage potentially jeopardizing the industry and the ability of hiring quality care. She says they've spent a lot of time and money attracting quality workers to minimize their chances of experiencing a critical shortage. Ulreich says while things are definitely getting better in the state, the medical community still has a ton of work to do. She also says the medical community still has a ton of work to do to ensure quality nurses keep coming into the state.

>>NY Governor: St. Vincent's Getting Additional Money To Make Payroll

(New York, NY) -- Saint Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan continues to get more money in loans in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. New York Governor David Paterson has announced the Greenwich Village hospital will receive an additional six-million dollars in loans to make payroll and keep the hospital going while officials try to come up with a plan to keep the hospital open. The 160-year-old facility is 700-million dollars in debt. A plan for Continuum Health Partners to buy the hospital, take on its debt, and eventually close the hospital and turn it into a health care facility was widely panned by hospital staff and New York City officials and was eventually dropped. The new loan is expected to help St. Vincent's remain open until the end of February.

>>EMU Students Await Results Of Tuberculosis Tests

(Ypsilanti, MI) -- Several students at Eastern Michigan University are awaiting the results today of tests for tuberculosis. The 15 people had close contact with one student who has the disease. A university spokesman says that the infected student lives off campus and is not taking classes this semester. But that student does hold a job in the food court. The tests on the larger group of students were conducted by the Washtenaw County Health Department.

>>State Prescription Drug Use Still Growing

(Portsmouth, OH) -- The Ohio Department of Health wants the state to crack down on "pill mills" that have sprung up across Ohio because of the prevalence of prescription drugs. New figures show that pharmacists across the state filled two-point-seven-million prescriptions in 2008 for high-powered painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet. Pharmacists also filled four-point-eight-million prescriptions for hydrocodone medications such as Vicodin. The health department and the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services have jointly formed a special panel on prescription-drug abuse in hopes of sending policy changes to Governor Ted Strickland's office as soon as March.

>>KU To Snuff Out Cigarette Sales

(Lawrence, KS) -- Beginning this summer, tobacco sales will not be allowed on campus at the University of Kansas. Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little made that announcement Friday. Gray-Little said the school is known for its research into human health, and the science on the damage caused by tobacco use is well-established. KU already bans smoking in all of its buildings.

Story Posted: Mon Feb 8 07:28:50 CST 2010
Created: Mon Feb 8 07:29:56 CST 2010

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