Healthcare Concerns

Archive for July, 2011

More than a million people in the UK are estimated to be addicted to prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines. But with withdrawal symptoms similar to those experienced by heroin addicts, those who find themselves addicted are calling for more help and a change in the way the drugs are prescribed.

Josh has tried to stop taking the drug many times.

"Please help us. Give us some support. Don't abandon us now."

You can hear more on Face the Facts: Prescribed Addiction on BBC Radio 4 at 1230 BST, on Wednesday, 27 July, repeated at 2100 BST on Sunday, 31 July, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

The first antibody which can fight all types of the influenza A virus has been discovered, researchers claim.

Experiments on flu-infected mice, published in Science Express, showed the antibody could be used as an "emergency treatment".

It is hoped the development will lead to a "universal vaccine" – currently a new jab has to be made for each winter as viruses change.

Virologists described the finding as a "good step forward".

Many research groups around the world are trying to develop a universal vaccine. They need to attack something common to all influenza which does not change or mutate.

It has already been suggested that some people who had swine flu may develop 'super immunity' to other infections.

Scientists from the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill and colleagues in Switzerland looked at more than 100,000 samples of immune cells from patients who had flu or a flu vaccine.

They isolated an antibody – called FI6 – which targeted a protein found on the surface of all influenza A viruses called haemagglutinin.

Sir John Skehel, MRC scientist at Mill Hill, said: "We've tried every subtype of influenza A and it interacts with them all.

"We eventually hope it can be used as a therapy by injecting the antibody to stop the infection."

Professor Antonio Lanzavecchia, director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland, said: "As the first and only antibody which targets all known subtypes of the influenza A virus, FI6 represents an important new treatment option."

When mice were given FI6, the antibody was "fully protective" against a later lethal doses of H1N1 virus.

Mice injected with the antibody up to two days after being given a lethal dose of the virus recovered and survived.

This is only the antibody, however, not the vaccine.

A vaccine would need to trigger the human body's immune system to produce the antibody itself.

Sir John said the structure of the antibody and how it interacted with haemagglutinin had been worked out, which would help in the search for a vaccine, but that was "definitely years away".

Professor John Oxford, a virologist at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "It's pretty good if you've got one against the whole shebang, that's a good step forward."

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Story By: by Jordan Rau, Christopher Weaver and Jessica Marcy

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) is surrounded by reporters at the Capitol Friday after a briefing on the debt ceiling.

Hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and state health programs could survive a brief pinch if the Washington debt ceiling deadlock leads the government to stop paying Medicare and Medicaid bills. But if an impasse were to drag on for more than a few weeks, health care providers could be unable to pay their staffs or even face insolvency, according to health care experts and former government officials.

Even as the Tuesday deadline for a deal between President Barack Obama and Congress approaches, much of the implications of a worst-case scenario remains speculative. The Treasury Department hasn’t signaled how it would prioritize which government bills to pay.

Few health care providers have made any doomsday plans, but the uncertainty is making many edgy. “It’s not a matter of planning right now because there’s too much unknown,” says Cheryl Phillips, senior vice president for advocacy for LeadingAge, an association of 5,600 not-for-profit home health agencies, nursing homes and other organizations that work with seniors. She says that many of their members have very limited operating margins, so a stop in payment could quickly be destructive.

There’s no precedent for this kind of fiscal crisis, although Medicare providers have experienced short-term delays in the past when Congress made last-minute changes to Medicare reimbursement rates, says Gail Wilensky, who ran Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled, under President George H.W. Bush.

“I’m sure it irritated the providers, but it didn’t affect the beneficiaries,” Wilensky says, noting that despite delays that sometimes stretched for several weeks, business continued as usual. “In the short term, there should be little to no effect.”

Others believe financial pain could come rapidly for some. Philadelphia lawyer John Reiss, who advises hospitals, doctors and medical device makers for the firm Saul Ewing, says his clients are “dumbfounded” by the ongoing deadlock but still assume that there’ll be a deal before it’s too late.

If not, he says some facilities have enough cash to last for several months, but “there are some hospitals surviving on six or seven days cash on hand and those places are going to be in trouble.”

The effect on state budgets could also be dramatic. Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, says that in the “worst-case scenario, Aug. 2 comes around with no deal, Medicaid is not going to shut down.” But if the bond markets melt down, states could face higher interest rates on money they’ve already borrowed from investors, making it even harder for states to pay their share of Medicaid, which is generally about half, he says.

How quickly states feel the pain depends on their schedule for Medicaid payments. Rhode Island gets paid every two weeks, and it was just paid yesterday, says Fred Sneesby, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Human Services. The next scheduled payday is Aug. 12. California, though, is paid every week.

Former Medicare administrator Thomas Scully, who worked under President George W. Bush, says if there is a default, the Obama administration’s political decisions will determine how quickly health care payments are shut off. “They’re either going to shut down Medicare and Social Security first or last,” he says. “If they want to provoke a crisis they would quit paying hospitals and doctors and quit sending out Social Security checks.”

A halt to Medicare payment would be especially painful, according to Donna Shalala, who was Health and Human Services Secretary under President Bill Clinton. Medicare pays its claims within two weeks, which is faster than many private insurers, she says. “The health care system is very dependent on Medicare payments, because they come very quickly,” she says. “If they’re not reimbursing, that would create problems for the entire industry – hospitals, doctors, everyone. It is not a happy scene.”

Kaiser Health News staff writers Julie Appleby, Mary Agnes Carey, Juan E. Gastelum, Peggy Girshman, Shefali S. Kulkarni and Bara Vaida contributed to this story.

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

In Bradford's Lister Park, hundreds of families are getting ready for a summer picnic.

"The fact they are speaking to so many mums across the whole area and compiling all of the data and using it for the future health of babies, I just thought it was a really important study so I was quite excited to be involved."

By lunchtime, more than a thousand people have gathered in the park where stalls promote everything from the Bradford Bulls rugby league side to how to practise good teeth-cleaning.

At the centre of it all, chatting to parents and children, is Professor John Wright, the man in charge of the project.

"Bradford's got some major health problems. We have some of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, we have high levels of childhood asthma, childhood obesity, and we have a diabetes epidemic that is happening in this city as we talk.

"So what we wanted to do was to set up a study to understand what the causes of this were and in particular the early origins of these diseases, as they track through to adulthood.

"The more we understand about adult health the more we understand how important the early origins of illness are.

"There is particular interest in the first origins of early development of disease – in the womb and the first couple of years of life – and these seem to predict who gets sick later on in life."

The Born in Bradford families reflect the city's ethnic diversity and around half of them are from an Asian background, a community that has some distinct health problems.

For example, around a quarter of Asian adults in Bradford are diabetic, while another quarter are pre-diabetic, putting them at high risk of developing the disease.

Battul Agha is one mother for whom diabetes is a serious worry.

Her son Rayan is one of the Born in Bradford children, but his mum says diabetes has already affected the family.

"I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant but generations have got it – my children's grandparents, my own grandparents, my mum, some uncles have even developed it.

"So therefore we are particularly cautious about the children's health and what we feed them. We try and give them as much exercise as we can – lots of outdoor time and a healthy lifestyle."

So now the last families have been recruited, the hard work for the researchers begins.

Over the coming years they will track lives of thousands of children across Bradford and hope to provide some clues about the illnesses that affect many more millions of adults.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

NHS managers are abusing the system by making patients wait longer for treatment, the health secretary says.

"Too many PCTs have been operating in a cynical environment where they can game the system – and in which political targets, particularly the maximum 18 week waiting time target, are used to actually delay treatment.

"When GPs, specialist doctors and nurses are making the decisions, as they will under our plans, they will plan care on the basis of the clinical needs of patients and their right to access the best service, including the least possible waiting time."

The effect of minimum waiting times is two-fold. Firstly, it can be used to save money if treatment is knocked into the next financial year.

And private health firms seeing NHS patients have argued it erodes their competitive advantage. Since 2006 patients have had a right to choose where they go for treatment including private hospitals given official approval.

They tend to be able to see people more quickly than NHS centres and therefore making patients wait longer negates one of their selling points, some firms have argued.

The CCP report also looked at a whole host of other anti-competitive and patient unfriendly practices being employed by NHS trusts.

As well as introducing minimum waiting times, these included giving local NHS hospitals guaranteed levels of treatment, rationing the range of treatments private hospitals could provide to the NHS and capping the number of patients that could go outside the local area.

PCTs had argued the measures were needed to protect local hospitals.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Much of what all governments do concerns trying to change our behaviour – but what is the best way to do that?

The government has favoured the "nudge" – persuading rather than telling people to change their behaviour.

But Baroness Julia Neuberger, chair of a Lords' committee which has just published a report on the issue, explains why it has concluded that nudge alone will not work.

The move to introduce higher alcohol pricing is a good example of how legislation can be used to change our behaviour by changing our environment.

Businesses also have a huge effect in shaping our environment.

The government is also trying to "nudge" businesses to behave differently, through voluntary agreements rather than regulation.

But we were unimpressed by the agreements that have been reached so far under the public health responsibility deal.

So we have urged the government to base agreements on the evidence about what will work to change behaviour, rather than what the businesses are happy to accept.

In particular, we recommend that they take steps to ensure that traffic-light nutritional labels are used on all food packaging and that they extend the restrictions on marketing unhealthy products to children.

Some supermarket chains agree with us on traffic-light labelling, and have shown that it does change behaviour.

If government can't achieve these changes through voluntary agreement, they should use regulation instead, or as well.

Obesity is a major societal problem which requires urgent action.

The same is true of other behaviours damaging to health, like binge drinking.

The government cannot wait and see if "nudging" us, or "nudging" businesses, is going to pay off.

They must act now in the light of what science tells us about how to change behaviour.

And, for the most important problems facing us at the moment, the science says that "nudging" won't be enough.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Washington (CNN) — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that tried to block funding of stem-cell research on human embryos.

A federal appeals court in April lifted a previous injunction on continued funding, and U.S. District Chief Judge Royce Lamberth has now agreed with the Obama administration that the lawsuit brought by two scientists should be dismissed.

The 38-page decision is a victory for supporters of federally funded testing for a range of diseases and illnesses.

The field of embryonic stem-cell research has been highly controversial, because in most cases the research process involves destroying the embryo, typically four or five days old, after removing stem cells. These cells are blank and can become any cell in the body. Because of the destruction of embryos, most opponents believe this is moral issue. Supporters of the research point to the potential for saving lives.

The White House applauded the decision.

"While we don’t know exactly what stem cell research will yield, scientists believe this research could treat or cure diseases that affect millions of Americans every year," said Stephanie Cutter, a deputy senior advisor to the president. "That’s why President Obama has long fought to support responsible stem-cell research."

Legislation passed in 1996 prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars in the creation or destruction of human embryos "for research purposes." Private money had been used to gather batches of the developing cells at U.S.-run labs.

The current administration had broken with the Bush White House and issued rules in 2009 permitting those cells to be reproduced in controlled conditions and for work on them to move forward.

Obama officials have been at odds with many members of Congress over whether the National Institutes of Health research actually causes an embryo’s destruction, as prohibited by the Dickey-Wicker Act.

In opposing the lawsuit, the government had argued that an extensive list of research projects outlined by the government health research agency would have to be shelved if the courts blocked further funding.

The plaintiffs have the option of now taking their case back to the appeals court, and perhaps then to the U.S. Supreme Court for review on the larger constitutional questions.

Some scientists believe embryonic stem cells could help treat many diseases and disabilities because of their potential to develop into many different cell types in the body.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had lifted an injunction imposed last year by Lamberth, who said at the time all embryonic stem-cell research at the National Institutes of Health amounted to destruction of embryos, in violation of congressional spending laws. The three-judge appeals panel concluded that "the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded" the law does not ban research using embryonic stem cells.

Taking that as his cue, Lamberth said the appeals court decision left him no choice but to dismiss the suit.

"The NIH reasonably interpreted the (Obama) executive order to demand new guidelines that would govern the funding of responsible and scientifically worthy embryonic stem-cell research projects, and had it adopted the views of the commentators who categorically objected to such funding and banned it altogether, its rule would have violated the law," Lamberth said.

The case began with a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health by scientists opposed to the use of embryonic stem cells, working with a group that seeks adoptive parents for human embryos created through in vitro fertilization, including the nonprofit Christian Medical Association.

Embryonic stem-cell research differs from other kinds of stem-cell research, which don’t require embryos. The ruling does not deal with separate research on adult stem cells, which remains permissible under federal law.

When the injunction was first issued by Lamberth in August, Ron Stoddart, executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, another of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said he supported adult stem-cell research that doesn’t require destroying embryos.

"Frequently people will say, ‘Why are you opposed to stem-cell research?’ and of course our answer is, ‘We’re not,’" Stoddart said. "We’re opposed to the destruction of the embryos to get embryo stem cells."

Some stem-cell scientists said Wednesday’s ruling would offer a measure of certainty that such expensive research, often years in development, can continue.

"Much more work needs to be done to determine which kinds of stem cells will lead to future scientific and medical advances," said Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Stem Cell Biology. "This ruling also allows the NIH to continue funding research based on scientific merit rather than having courts influence the distribution of funds among scientific disciplines."

When President George Bush first approved federal funding of human embryonic stem-cell research in 2001, 64 existing stem-cell lines that were created before August 9, 2001, qualified for federal funding. But of those, only 21 actually were usable for scientists. Bush later rescinded the funding.

Under the Obama administration’s rules, at least 75 stem-cell lines qualify for federal funding, according to the National Institutes of Health.

NIH has invested more than $500 million in human embryonic stem-cell research.

Scientists conducting such research say continued federal funding is necessary, because they would have greater flexibility to work collaboratively within labs, across labs and around the world on the latest treatments and breakthroughs.

Supporters of embryonic stem-cell research say their studies have shown promise to treat a range of debilitating conditions including diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancers, and spinal cord injuries.

The case is Sherley v. Sebelius (1:09-cv-1575).

Originally Published On: www.cnn.com – Original Article Here

(Health.com) — Laura Finlayson, 40, from Westwood, New Jersey, just couldn’t seem to shake her persistent cough. It lingered for months and was so violent that she ended up in the emergency room with bruised ribs.

Then she found out it was asthma, most likely triggered by a bout of pneumonia. She decided to take matters into her own hands. She started training to become a runner, lost 25 pounds, strengthened her lung function and now has her symptoms almost completely under control.

In August 2008, I developed a nasty case of pneumonia. I just couldn’t seem to get better. Doctors gave me antibiotics and then even more antibiotics, but they couldn’t get the symptoms under control.

Gov. Christie in the hospital

My coughing was so bad that people in my office were scared of me; one coworker even asked me if I had been checked for tuberculosis. Months passed, and in October I was still coughing as badly as I had in the summer.

It got so bad that I actually ended up in the emergency room because doctors thought I may have broken my ribs from coughing so hard. It turned out that my ribs were bruised.

Health.com: Can’t stop coughing? 8 possible reasons

By the beginning of November, I had seen a pulmonologist. He gave me a lung function test and told me my asthma was completely out of control. I was shocked.

My first reaction was, "But I don’t have asthma!" The doctor said, "You do now!" He told me that some people can develop asthma after having a bad lung infection.

I had never heard of anyone developing asthma as an adult before, so the diagnosis came as a surprise. So did my first asthma attack. Kids who grew up with it know what it feels like, but for me it came out of nowhere. It felt like my chest was in a vise; the pressure on both sides felt like someone was crushing my chest.

‘I was on so many steroids I could be a New York Yankee’

My breathing was horrible when I was first diagnosed. I was wheezing so loudly at night, it would wake me up. I couldn’t exert myself in any way without getting short of breath.

They treated me with so many steroids, I used to say they should make me an honorary Yankee. (That’s just my joke, though; I know the inflammation-fighting drugs used to treat asthma are corticosteroids, a class of drug completely different from the anabolic steroids sometimes abused by athletes.)

Health.com: 10 best cities for people with asthma

After the corticosteroids helped improve my lung function, my doctor prescribed Symbicort, a kind of drug called a bronchodilator. It is taken in an inhaler and helps relax airway muscles. I now use it twice a day. I also take the allergy medicine Allegra-D in the morning to make sure I don’t get congested during the day. If I get even a little bit congested, it makes my asthma worse.

At night I also take Singulair, a pill that helps prevent asthma symptoms by blocking the chemicals the body releases in response to asthma triggers. If I get sick, doctors will put me right back on prednisone, a powerful corticosteroid, to prevent my asthma from flaring up.

I have to take my bronchodilator inhaler with me everywhere, just in case of emergencies. I have one in the car, one in my desk, one in my purse, and one in my gym bag. I have to use it before I exercise and when I feel an asthma attack coming on.

Health.com: Surprising triggers of lung trouble

A half-marathon helped me regain my health

This was all a bit overwhelming, and it took me a long time to feel like myself again. I was feeling down — I had been sick for six months, and I was completely out of shape.

I woke up on New Year’s Day and decided to take my asthma into my own hands. It wasn’t about losing weight, but about committing myself to achieving a goal. I saw a training program in a magazine for a half-marathon and signed up for it. I knew, even if I had to walk, that I would finish that race.

The first week started light; I could only walk for nine minutes and jog for one minute. But I figured it would be a good way to get back into shape as well as to take control of my lung function. I was determined to kick that asthma out of me. I had an attack or two in the beginning of my training and my pulmonologist was worried I was trying to push myself too far, too fast. He suggested I take it easy. But that’s not really my personal style.

I was so nervous about the race that I ended up adhering to every training recommendation. The result? I felt great going into the race. The day was incredibly hot for April. Event organizers were hosing us off with fire hoses as we ran through New York City’s Central Park.

Health.com: Star athletes with asthma

I used my emergency inhaler before the race, as I do before any exercise, but I never had to use it during the race — even though I had it with me the whole time, just in case. Afterwards, a friend said, "Don’t you feel so proud of yourself?" I did, but at the same time, I didn’t really think it had been as hard as I thought!

I’m not ready to stop my medications

Everyone thought I was insane, but I’ve kept up with the running. Since my first half-marathon, I’ve run three 10Ks and a four-mile race.

Running is definitely helping to control my asthma, although the medicines play a huge role as well. My lung strength and function is improving, but my doctor is not at all inclined to take me off any medications. However, I rarely have asthma attacks now.

I do have asthma triggers beside exercise. Seasonal allergies, particularly in the spring, can cause trouble. Even though I’m on a lot of medicine to control the allergies, when I get congested, the mucus drips into my chest and causes breathing difficulties.

Health.com: 20 ways to stop allergies

I also react very strongly to specific allergens, like cats, or air pollutants, like secondhand smoke. I was recently in Detroit, where they still allow smoking indoors. I was in a casino for about 20 minutes before I had to go back to my hotel room; I was coughing so hard I threw up.

Despite these periodic breathing problems, I feel great. Mostly I’m happy that I’ve taken control of my health and my fitness. I’ve lost about 25 pounds and dropped a few sizes.

I’ve taken control of my own life by trying to build up my lung strength and function. There’s only so much the medicine can do. I can’t just sit back and wait for a cure.

Copyright Health Magazine 2010

Originally Published On: www.cnn.com – Original Article Here

Los Angeles (CNN) — Nadya Suleman on Thursday blamed the creation of the "Octomom character" that she has become synonymous with in part on a California fertility specialist who, she said, had her sign a consent form while she was drugged.

The California woman said she did not mean to have eight children in January 2009, in addition to the six she already had. But while she admitted she did want more children, she insisted she was in no condition to understand a form Dr. Michael Kamrava put in front of her before implanting 12 embryos.

"He wrote something, he gave it to me to sign," Suleman told HLN’s Dr. Drew Pinsky on Thursday night. She said she was then on "a cocktail of drugs" including Valium at the Beverly Hills doctor’s office because her uterus was contracting. "I signed it, and I didn’t read it."

Kamrava lost his California medical license July 1 after state officials ruled that he committed "gross negligence" with "repeated negligent acts, for an excessive number of embryo transfers" into Suleman in 2008, the state’s medical board wrote. The same report determined that the doctor felt the implantation was driven "by the patient’s wishes."

During a hearing for the doctor last October, it was revealed Suleman still has 29 frozen embryos in storage. Contrary to some reports, though, the 36-year-old woman insisted Thursday that she doesn’t want any more children.

That said, the single mother — who said she has been celibate for 12 years, and had all 14 children by in vitro fertilization — admitted that she chose to have children in part to address her emotional baggage.

"Is it fair to have a bunch of kids help solve your emotional issues? Of course not," she said.

"With children, I feel so safe in my predictable world. They will never leave me. Kids love you, unconditionally."

Suleman admits that she has a host of problems, including anxiety, panic attacks, hyperactivity and obsessive compulsive disorder. "My brain and body are racing constantly," she added, noting she exercises extensively and only gets two hours of sleep a night.

But expressing regret for contributing to "this mess (that) has deleteriously affected my kids," Suleman said that she’s now speaking out in part to refute having been made into what she called a "parody without permission."

"I have the spotlight, I know it’s my responsibility (for my kids) to brush it away and get rid of the Octomom character," she said.

With no steady income and expenses of over $18,000 a month, Suleman has struggled to get by raising her children. She has previously hosted a yard sale at her La Habra, California, home to deal with the hardship, and had reportedly signed on to be on the HDNet reality TV show "Celebridate."

And now, Suleman said she is grateful for money she gets from media interviews, especially with overseas outlets.

She also claims to have received "hundreds of death threats," some targeting her children, as well as a few female stalkers.

"I am hated in my hometown," she said.

Still, Suleman said that despite the difficulties she feels things are improving. And despite her admitted anxiety, paranoia and continued efforts to shield her children — barring any television or Internet in the house — she is most at peace at home.

"I feel safest at home with my kids," she said. "And I want to be only there, that’s my favorite time at night, in my pajamas playing Twister."

Originally Published On: www.cnn.com – Original Article Here

Story By: by Michelle Andrews

Growing pains aren’t just physical maladies. At least 20 percent of children need mental health services, but often they fall through the cracks at schools, which are often poorly equipped to give them the help they need.

Schools that have health centers on site are the exception. Three-quarters of these clinics provide not only primary care but mental health services as well. Many also provide dental care.

They’re often located in urban or rural areas that are considered medically underserved. But unfortunately, they’re all too rare. Only about 1,900 of all the 133,000 K-12 schools in the country have these comprehensive clinics on site.

The centers got a recent boost when the Department of Health and Human Services said it would award $95 million in grants to 278 school-based health center programs to build, renovate or equip clinics. The health care law appropriated $200 million in funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2013; another round of grants is expected to be announced next summer.

In May, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to defund the section of the health law that created those clinics, but the Democratically-controlled Senate has not considered the bill.

The grants will allow the programs to increase the number of patients they serve to 1.2 million, a more than 50 percent jump from the current 790,000. Some of the grant money will be aimed specifically at improving mental health services, according to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, an advocacy organization. In Maryland, for example, a new building will be constructed for North Dorchester High School’s health center that will contain video-conferencing equipment for students who need off-site psychiatry services.

“The things that kids need help with are frequently social and behavioral,” says Linda Juszczak, executive director of the NASBHC. “Mental health services are absolutely critical.”

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here