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Cayman Airways Launches Non-Stop Service Between Dallas and the Cayman Islands

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Cayman Airways has announced the launch of non-stop service from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Grand Cayman to commence this June. Effective June 23, 2012 September 2, 2012, Cayman Airways will operate weekly service from Dallas to Grand Cayman on Sunday and from Grand Cayman to Dallas on Saturday, starting at $399.

Just in time for the summer season, the introduction of this flight route allows Dallas and Texas residents an easy escape from the hustle of everyday life to head to the Cayman Islands for some fun in the famed turquoise waters and white sandy beaches. Visitors can also take advantage of Cayman's affordable summer promotion, Cayman Summer Splash, enjoying 5th night free accommodations including a $100 resort credit. Business class service is available.

Dallas, TX - Grand Cayman

Flight

Departure

Arrival

Frequency

KX 321

9:00am

1:00pm

Intergenerational Challenges

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

08-05-2012 15:27 The several generations alive today have had and will continue to have divergent experiences regarding human genetic and reproductive technologies. What are the key generational differences regarding encounters with and perspectives on these technologies - and technology in general? How do these differences inform ideas about families, identities, privacy and regulation? How do other issues, including environmental protection, economic well-being, global peace, reproductive rights and human rights, intersect with various generations' concerns about human biotechnologies? And what values and concerns are held in common regardless of generational differences? Panelists Magdalina Gugucheva (Council for Responisble Genetics), Sujatha Jesudason (Generations Ahead), Jesse Reynolds (Center for Genetics and Society) and Joe Stramondo (Michigan State University) discuss these topics at the 2010 Tarrytown Meeting. The discussion is moderated by Ruha Benjamin (Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Boston University), and Introduced by Judy Norsigian (Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves). The Tarrytown Meetings bring together people working to ensure that human biotechnologies and related emerging technologies support rather than undermine social justice, equality, human rights, ecological integrity and the common good. Find out more about the Tarrytown Meetings here: To find more videos, check out the Tarrytown YouTube ...

Interview with Bill McKibben: Talking Biopolitics – Video

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

08-05-2012 18:14 Environmental activist and author Bill McKibben talks about why he wrote Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (2003), how it was received, and what this experience might tell us about communicating and organizing in support of practices and policies addressing human biotechnology, both domestically and internationally. Bill also shares his thoughts about ways in which the issues of climate change and human biotech can be understood as facets of a single dynamic involving the technological manipulation and transformation of the natural world, including plants, animals, humans and ecosystems. Bill is interviewed by Center for Genetics and Society associate executive director Marcy Darnovsky. Talking Biopolitics is a series of live web-based conversations and webinar presentations with distinguished thought leaders. We ask questions - and take yours - about how we can put our vision of a new biopolitics on the public radar. The series is organized by the Center for Genetics and Society to accompany the Tarrytown Meetings. The Center for Genetics and Society is a nonprofit information and public affairs organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of the new human genetic and reproductive technologies. We work with a growing network of scientists, health professionals, civil society leaders, and others. Find out more about the Center for Genetics and Society here: The Tarrytown Meetings bring together ...

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Interview with Bill McKibben: Talking Biopolitics - Video

Teva Appoints Michael Hayden as President of Global Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA - News) today announced that Dr. Michael R. Hayden, will join the company as the President of Global Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, based in Israel. In this new role, Dr. Hayden will lead all research and development for Teva, thus combining the efforts of two world-class teams focused on the development of both brand and generic medicines.

Dr. Hayden is currently Killam Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia, and Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine. He is also the founder and Director/Senior Scientist of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. He is a preeminent expert in genetics and personalized medicine and is one of the worlds leading experts on Huntingtons disease. Dr. Hayden has extensive experience in all aspects of drug development from target identification, to all stages of clinical development through to drug submission to the various regulatory agencies around the world.

Dr. Jeremy Levin, Tevas incoming President and Chief Executive Officer stated, We are delighted to have Michael join us as our Chief Scientific Officer. He brings to Teva world-renowned experience and knowledge in scientific and clinical research coupled with deep knowledge of discovery and development of medicines. His deeply innovative approach and very strong leadership capabilities make him a true asset for Teva, our customers and the patients we serve.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Hayden said: I am thrilled to be leading Tevas world-renowned R&D organization and to be working under Dr. Jeremy Levin's leadership. We have a tremendous opportunity to redefine the way we traditionally develop medicines by focusing on research and development as a whole, and not by how the product will be commercialized.

Dr. Hayden has founded three biotechnology companies: NeuroVir; Aspreva Pharmaceuticals; and Xenon Genetics Inc. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Killam Prize and the Canada Gairdner Wightman award in 2011; the Order of Canada in 2010; Order of British Columbia in 2009; Canada's Health Researcher of the Year in 2008 and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Canadian Society of Clinical Investigation in 1998.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA - News) is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's leading generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,300 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva's branded businesses focus on CNS, oncology, pain, respiratory and women's health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 46,000 people around the world and reached $18.3 billion in net revenues in 2011.

Tevas Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This release contains forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on managements current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products, competition for our innovative products, especially Copaxone (including competition from innovative orally-administered alternatives, as well as from potential generic equivalents), competition for our generic products (including from other pharmaceutical companies and as a result of increased governmental pricing pressures), competition for our specialty pharmaceutical businesses, our ability to achieve expected results through our innovative R&D efforts, the effectiveness of our patents and other protections for innovative products, decreasing opportunities to obtain U.S. market exclusivity for significant new generic products, our ability to identify, consummate and successfully integrate acquisitions (including the acquisition of Cephalon), the effects of increased leverage as a result of the acquisition of Cephalon, the extent to which any manufacturing or quality control problems damage our reputation for high quality production and require costly remediation, our potential exposure to product liability claims to the extent not covered by insurance, increased government scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe of our agreements with brand companies, potential liability for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation, including that relating to the generic version of Protonix, our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks, the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement, any failures to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations, governmental investigations into sales and marketing practices (particularly for our specialty pharmaceutical products), uncertainties surrounding the legislative and regulatory pathway for the registration and approval of biotechnology-based products, adverse effects of political or economical instability, major hostilities or acts of terrorism on our significant worldwide operations, interruptions in our supply chain or problems with our information technology systems that adversely affect our complex manufacturing processes, any failure to retain key personnel (including Cephalon employees) or to attract additional executive and managerial talent, the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers, variations in patent laws that may adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products in the most efficient manner, potentially significant impairments of intangible assets and goodwill, potential increases in tax liabilities, the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, environmental risks and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2011 and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Teva Appoints Michael Hayden as President of Global Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer

Teva appoints Canadian genetics expert to head R&D

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) CEO Dr. Jeremy Levin, who took up his post today, has wasted no time in making a top appointment.

Yesterday Teva announced that Dr. Michael Hayden is joining the company as president of global R&D and chief scientific officer, based in Israel. In this new role, Dr. Hayden will lead all Teva's R&D.

Dr Levin said, "We are delighted to have Michael join us as our chief scientific officer. He brings to Teva world-renowned experience and knowledge in scientific and clinical research coupled with deep knowledge of discovery and development of medicines. His deeply innovative approach and very strong leadership capabilities make him a true asset for Teva, our customers and the patients we serve.

Dr. Hayden said: I am thrilled to be leading Tevas world-renowned R&D organization and to be working under Dr. Jeremy Levin's leadership. We have a tremendous opportunity to redefine the way we traditionally develop medicines by focusing on R&D as a whole, and not by how the product will be commercialized.

Dr. Levin replaced CEO Shlomo Yanai today. Yanai stepped down after five years in the job. Two senior executives announced their departure yesterday, corporate VP global branded products Kevin Buchi and senior VP R&D Lesley Russell. When Dr. Levin was appointed it was expected that he would attempt to strengthen Teva's R&D and prepare the company for the day after Copaxone's patent expires.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - http://www.globes-online.com - on May 9, 2012

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Teva appoints Canadian genetics expert to head R&D

Tilghman reflects on DNA study

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

President Shirley Tilghman and biology professor David Botstein recounted tales of their involvement as young scientists in the Human Genome Project and gave their opinions on hot topics in molecular biology in a talk Tuesday afternoon.

The talk, titled Speaking of Genetics ... Five Years Later was led by author Jane Gitschier, a professor at the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of California San Francisco, who first interviewed Tilghman and Botstein separately in 2006 for the journal PLoS Genetics. Gitschier also incorporated interviews with them into her own book published in 2010 called Speaking of Genetics: A Collection of Interviews.

Tilghman and Botstein said in the interview that they first met in Phillip Leders laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., in the mid- 1970s. At the time, Tilghman was working as a postdoctoral student with molecular biology professor Lynn Enquist on cloning a single gene from the mouse genome coding for a piece of the hemoglobin protein, which transports oxygen in red blood cells.

Botstein and Tilghman met again as the youngest members of the Alberts Committee, a committee of scientists arranged by the National Academy of Sciences and Bruce Alberts to weigh the pros and cons of sequencing the human genome. Both recalled initial concerns about moving forward with the Human Genome Project, which completed sequencing in 2006.

What many of us who worked with model organisms were concerned about was going ahead and focusing on only sequencing the human genome, Tilghman said. My concern in the beginning was the narrow thinking about the project, she added.

Tilghman explained that at the time of the committee, the difficulty of sequencing DNA by hand led to concerns about not addressing the genomes of model

organisms such as E. coli and C. elegans, which are commonly used in biological research.

One of the amusing things about [the Human Genome Project report] is that I ended up writing the sequencing chapter. As it turned out, I was the only one who actually knew how to sequence DNA. The others hadnt got their hands dirty in years, Tilghman said.

Botstein also noted the difficulty of sequencing DNA and the funding problems that the project encountered.

My concern was that [sequencing the human genome] would do to biology the same thing the space shuttle did to planetary astronomy, which would be to eat up all the funds and siphon money away from other projects, Botstein said.

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Tilghman reflects on DNA study

Ancient migrations tracked through DNA

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

HUDDERSFIELD, England, May 8 (UPI) -- DNA analysis has provided new insights into how human beings repopulated Europe as the Ice Age relaxed its grip and retreated, researchers say.

Writing in the American Journal of Human Genetics, scientists said research shows the Near East was a major source of replenishment when huge areas of European territory became habitable again about 19,000 years ago.

Previously, it had been thought humans survived in two areas when the Ice Age, or Last Glacial Maximum, descended on Europe about 26,000 years ago: an area roughly coinciding with northern Spain/southern France, and a region of the Ukrainian plains.

In a study, researches at the University of Huddersfield in Britain analyzed mitochondrial DNA from Europeans who belong to two major lineages known to have originated in the Middle East and thought to have migrated to Europe in the Neolithic age, about 9,000 years ago.

But the analysis showed humans belonging to those genetic groups actually migrated to Europe much earlier than previously believed, as the Ice Age drew to a close.

"The end of the Last Glacial Maximum allowed people to recolonize the parts of Europe that had been deserted and this expansion allowed increase of human populations," archaeo-genetics research Maria Pala said.

Archaeo-genetics -- which combines archaeology with genetics to learn about the early history of humans and how they colonized the planet -- has important lessons to teach humanity, she said.

"It helps us to reevaluate the perception of our identity," she said. "We are highly focused on identifying ourselves as Italians, British or whatever, but by analyzing DNA we discover that originally, not such a long time ago, we came from a common source."

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Ancient migrations tracked through DNA

Refugees from the Ice Age: How was Europe repopulated?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

ScienceDaily (May 8, 2012) Scientists have used DNA analysis to gain important new insights into how human beings repopulated Europe as the Ice Age relaxed its grip.

Dr Maria Pala, who is based at the University of Huddersfield -- now a key centre for archaeo-genetics research -- is the lead author of an article in the latest issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics which shows how the Near East was a major source of replenishment when huge areas of European territory became habitable again, up to 19,000 years ago.

Until the new findings, it was thought that there were two principal safe havens for humans as the Ice Age, or Last Glacial Maximum, descended, approximately 26,000 years ago. They were a "Franco-Cantabrian" area roughly coinciding with northern Spain/southern France, and a "Periglacial province" on the Ukrainian plains.

Now Dr Pala and her colleagues have greatly added to this picture by analyzing large quantities of mitochondrial DNA from Europeans who belong to two major lineages -- who share a common genetic ancestor -- named J and T. It is known that these haplo-groups originated in the Middle East and until the latest research it was thought that they migrated to Europe in the Neolithic age, approximately 9,000 years ago.

The research project outlined in the American Journal of Human Genetics presents evidence that humans belonging to the J and T haplo-groups actually migrated to Europe much earlier than previously believed, as the Ice Age drew to a close.

"The end of the Last Glacial Maximum allowed people to recolonize the parts of Europe that had been deserted and this expansion allowed increase of human populations," says Sardinian-born Dr Pala, who begun research into the topic while at the University of Pavia in Italy.

She later relocated to the UK and is now a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, where archaeo-genetics research -- in newly equipped laboratories -- is headed by

Professor Martin Richards, a leader in a field of science which combines archaeology with genetics to learn about the early history of humans and how they colonized the planet.

In addition to purely scientific challenges and discoveries, Dr Pala believes that archaeo-genetics has important lessons to teach humanity.

"It helps us to reevaluate the perception of our identity. We are highly focused on identifying ourselves as Italians, British or whatever, but by analyzing DNA we discover that originally, not such a long time ago, we came from a common source."

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Refugees from the Ice Age: How was Europe repopulated?

Body-Altering Mutations In Humans and Flies

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

I became a science writer, circa 1980, because I didnt think flies with legs growing out of their heads my PhD research had much to do with human health or biology. So when I spied the words A Human Homeotic Transformation way down on the Table of Contents in the May issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, I was as riveted as a normal person would be getting a copy of People with a celebrity on the cover.

Of Homeotic Mutations and The X-Files

Mutations in four genes give the fly in the lower right an extra pair of wings (Credit: FlyBase)

A homeotic mutation mixes up body parts, so that a fly grows a leg on its head, antennae on its mouth, or sports a double set of wings. Designation of body parts begins in the early embryo, when cells look alike but are already fated, thanks to gradients of morphogen proteins that program a particular region to elaborate particular structures. Mix up the messages, and a leg becomes an antenna or, as in the AJHG article, a child develops two upper jaws, instead of an upper and a lower.

I once knew the homeotic mutants of Drosophila melanogaster intimately, as I archaically mapped their genes. Shortly after I left Thom Kaufmans lab at Indiana University (where I penned a fruit fly romance novella, in addition to my thesis), post-doc Matt Scott and fellow grad student Amy Weiner were homing in on the homeobox, a 180-base-sequence that encodes a protein part that binds other proteins that turn on sets of other genes crafting an embryo, section by section.

Soon, homeoboxes turned up in all manner of genomes, affecting the positions of petals, legs, and larval segments, the genes mysteriously arrayed on their chromosomes in the precise order in which theyre deployed in development. Homeotic mutants even starred in an episode of the The X-Files.

Homeotic mutations cause a few human diseases. In lymphomas, white blood cells detour onto the wrong lineage, and in DiGeorge syndrome, the missing thymus and parathyroids and abnormal ears, nose, mouth, and throat echo the abnormalities in Antennapedia, the legs-on-the-head fly in the photo. Extra and fused fingers and various bony alterations also stem from homeotic mutations.

Alas, no human homeotic seemed as compelling to me as a double-winged fly until I saw photos of the tiny faces of the children with upper lower jaws.

Two Upper Jaws

3D CT scan of child with ACS. Lower jaw is small and malformed (left); same aged child with normal jaw (middle); lower jaw of child with ACS inverted over upper jaw of normal skull (right). (Credit: Image courtesy of Seattle Childrens).

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Body-Altering Mutations In Humans and Flies

Concerns About Health Care Disclosure Act

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

By Phil Gregory, WBGO News Trenton. May 9, 2012

Listen to Report

Doctors and Republican lawmakers at Statehouse news conference (photo by Phil Gregory/WBGO News)

A proposed Health Care Disclosure Act is intended to make sure New Jersey residents know whether their medical care is covered in their insurance network plan. Some provisions of the bill are meeting with resistance.

The measure would require doctors to make three good faith efforts to collect payment from patients for out-of-network services and keep those financial records for seven years. Ira Monka, a family practice physician in Cedar Knolls, says that would be a hardship.

Were checking their health not their financial wealth. We want to take care of patients and not have to deal with paperwork that adds to the burden and cost of delivering simple family practice care.

Assembly Republican Conference Leader Dave Rible also opposes that requirement.

Its almost like this is the doctors collection law or the doctors penalization act because these guys are just trying to survive. These men and women who are working very hard to stay here in the state, were chasing them out with this legislation.

The primary sponsor of the measure, Democrat Gary Schaer, says the goal is to increase transparency about patients medical care costs.

When you go to have an elective procedure you should have the right know whether all of the people involved in that surgery, the anesthesiologist, the pathologist, the radiologist, whether theyre in network or out of network. There are financial consequences you want to be aware of.

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Concerns About Health Care Disclosure Act

BP settlement includes money for health care

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

Published: Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 12:47 a.m.

Health care in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes could be improved with $50 million in grant money included in the BP oil spill settlement.

The settlement, which includes grants for five years of services, includes millions to launch a Primary Care Capacity Project aimed at expanding and improving access to health care in coastal communities after the BP oil spill. The project is expected to begin this summer.

The Primary Care project will be led by the Louisiana Public Health Institute and the Alliance Institute, both New Orleans-based nonprofits, and will focus on improving health care in Terrebonne, Lafourche, Cameron, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes, and New Orleans.

This is work that (Louisiana Public Health Institute) has done for years in Louisiana and is founded upon the notion that many communities across these states don't have sufficient capacity for primary care. These coastal communities, because of their location, are vulnerable to natural phenomenon and industrial risks like the oil spill, said project leader Eric Baumgartner.

Improving environmental health expertise is of great importance to many local residents who fear that diseases linked to oil and chemical exposure have gone undetected since the spill.

Environmental health is a field that looks at the effect of disasters, chemical exposures and other events on human health.

Susan Felio Price, co-owner of the Price Brothers Shipyard in Chauvin, said her husband became ill at the family's drydock after cleaning boats that were still contaminated with oil from the spill.

It started with a rash but soon he was vomiting every day for months, she said. He's been hospitalized three times and is still doing poorly.

It's so hard, she said. I've been advocating and fighting for people and then something like this happens to my husband.

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BP settlement includes money for health care

Health care law's prevention money called 'slush fund'

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

After weeks of debate over whether the Prevention and Public Health Fund, created by President Obamas health care law, affects womens health, Republicans are airing additional complaints about the pool of money and how states and communities have used the fund to support a string of questionable initiatives.

The future of the fund, which got $1 billion this year and is slated to get $1.25 billion in 2013, has been a hot topic on Capitol Hill, where congressional Republicans want to kill it and use the money to pay for an extension of student-loan interest-rate subsidies, while Democrats have vowed to defend it as a key part of Mr. Obamas health care legacy.

In fact, Mr. Obama has vowed to veto House Republicans student-loan bill because it eliminates the prevention fund, claiming that Republicans are trying to force Democrats to choose between backing students and supporting womens health.

Last week, he told high school students in Northern Virginia that Republicans are only going to prevent the student loans from doubling if they can cut things like preventative health care for women instead.

The argument that slashing the prevention fund would hurt womens health has been widely debunked over the past week, but Republicans are honing in on the money stream for other reasons as well.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Rep. Darrell E. Issa of California, the top Republicans on the Senate and House oversight committees, are questioning whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using some of the funds properly. They said the healthy living money is being used to pay for campaigns to change state laws, which could violate federal rules against using taxpayer dollars for lobbying.

While I strongly support the wellness and prevention mission of the CDC, Miss Collins said last week, I also support the safeguards Congress has put in place on the use of federal funds to protect against the misuse of tax dollars. Every dollar spent on inappropriate or illegal activities is a dollar that didnt go toward saving lives and improving health.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, Florida Republican, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee, during a hearing Wednesday questioned the funds spending to promote recreational destinations, intergenerational urban gardening and community bike-sharing programs around the country.

Money from one of the funds anti-obesity campaigns, Mr. Stearns said, was provided to Kauai, Hawaii, to develop remote school drop-off sites to encourage students and staff to walk farther distances to school entrances.

Perhaps [the Health and Human Services Department] is telling Congress that we should eliminate mass transit as part of our war against obesity, he said. Incredibly, this same program also funded free pet spaying and neutering. While a laudable goal, the Department of Health and Human Services should focus its limited resources on human health.

Health care law's prevention money called 'slush fund'

State House targets health care costs

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

SPRINGFIELD State retirees may have to begin paying a portion of their health insurance premi-ums under a plan approved by the Illinois House Wednesday.

The proposal, which is one piece of Gov. Pat Quinns controversial overhaul of state employee benefits, affects as many as 114,000 former state workers, their dependents and survivors.

The measure, which advanced to the Senate for further debate on a 74-43 vote, is designed to chip away at the nearly $800 million cost to provide retirees with free health insurance premiums. It would affect former state employees, including lawmakers, judges and university workers.

It would give the Quinn administration the power to set how much retirees would pay toward their premiums. The plan could allow former employees earning less in retirement to pay lower rates than their more well-heeled pensioners.

The health insurance issue is just one piece of an overhaul of state finances that could include scaling back employee pensions, cutting Medicaid costs and closing state facilities.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, urged lawmakers to vote yes, suggesting that it will be just the first of many hard votes in the coming weeks.

If we cant do this, what in the world are we going to be able to do? Madigan asked.

State Reps. Dan Brady of Bloomington and Mike Bost of Murphysboro, both of whom represent thousands of former state and university workers, said they were conflicted about the proposal, but ended up voting in favor of it.

Folks realize were up against a wall, Bost said.

Members voting no included state Reps. Adam Brown of Decatur, Bill Mitchell of Forsyth, Rich Morthland of Cordova, Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg, David Reis of Willow Hill, Chapin Rose of Mahomet, Keith Sommer of Morton and Pat Verschoore of Milan.

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State House targets health care costs

Health-care costs per retired couple: $240,000

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

Health-care bills were expected to rise more slowly after the passage of Obama's health-care program, according to Fidelity's projection last year. Now, costs are rising again.

Couples retiring this year can expect their medical bills throughout retirement to cost 4 percent more than those who retired a year ago, according to an annual projection released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments.

The estimated $240,000 that a newly retired couple will need to coverhealthcareexpenses reflects the typical pattern of projected annual increases. The Boston-based company cut the estimate for the first time last year, citing President Barack Obama'shealthcareoverhaul. Medicare changes resulting from that plan are expected to gradually reduce many seniors' out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs.

But Fidelity says overallhealthcarecost trends are on the rise again, so it's raising its cost estimate from last year's $230,000 figure.

"As long ashealthcarecost trends exceed personal income growth and economic growth,healthcarewill still be a growing burden for the country as a whole and for individuals," says Sunit Patel, a senior vice president forbenefitsconsulting at Fidelity, and an actuary who helped calculate the estimate.

However, this year's 4 percent rise is relatively modest. Annual increases have averaged 6 percent since Fidelity made its initial $160,000 calculation in 2002.

The projections are part of Fidelity'sbenefitsconsulting business. The study is based on projections for a 65-year-old couple retiring this year with Medicare coverage. The estimate factors in the federal program's premiums, co-payments and deductibles, as well as out-of-pocket prescription costs. The study assumes the couple does not have insurance from their former employers, and a life expectancy of 85 for women and 82 for men. The estimate doesn't factor in most dental services, or long-termcare, such as the cost of living in a nursing home.

This year's estimate could change significantly. Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to strike down part or all of the 2010healthcarelaw, including its centerpiece requirement that nearly all Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty.

If the ruling requires significant changes, Fidelity may update its estimate, Patel said.

Although its focus is expandinghealthcareaccess to people under age 65, the law also is intended tobenefitmany retirees by gradually closing what's known as the 'doughnut hole' coverage gap in the Medicare drugbenefit.

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Health-care costs per retired couple: $240,000

Strategies for Patient- and Family-Centered Business Models

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

BETHESDA, Md., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Now is an important time to be involved in improving health care. Demanding times require inspired leadership, innovative solutions, and enduring partnerships to bring about change. With ever-increasing economic challenges and the ongoing threat of budget cuts facing health care organizations, now is the time to invest in cost-saving, patient- and family-centered strategies that will produce measurable outcomes for your hospital, health system, or organization.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120510/CG04922)

The 5th International Conference on Patient- and Family-Centered Care: Partnerships for Quality and Safety, June 4-6, 2012, in Washington, DC, offers more than 100 timely, cutting-edge sessions addressing a variety of topics to help you develop important initiatives to improve your organization's bottom line and yield positive outcomes for safety, quality, and patient satisfaction. The conference will highlight partnerships with patients and families at all levels of health care.

A sampling of a few sessions that support a patient- and family-centered business model of care include:

Influencing Change and Improving Quality with Patient and Family Advisors

Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre's culture changed because of patient- and family-advisors, and they will share how you can change your culture, too.

Patient- and Family-Centered Care: From the Boardroom to the Bedside

Additionally, Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre representatives will discuss howpatient- and family-centered care became their blueprint for system-wide change and why their Patient- and Family-Centered Care Corporate Strategy Development proved to be just the right model.

The Family Voice: Involving Families in the Drive to Improve the Transition from Outpatient to Inpatient Care

Learn how Johns Hopkins created a multidisciplinary team, including parents, to improve the transition between outpatient chronic care and inpatient acute care for cystic fibrosis patients.

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Strategies for Patient- and Family-Centered Business Models

New Baltimore woman indicted on fraud charge can't leave country

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

By Mitch Hotts For The Voice

Checarol Robinson, 41, of New Baltimore, had hoped the court would waive a condition of her bond, which restricts her travel to southeast Michigan until the criminal case is resolved.

Isnt one of the conditions of the bond that you will not leave the country? Im not going to interfere with this, said U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Mona Majzoub at an arraignment hearing at the federal courthouse in Detroit.

Defense attorney James Lawrence acknowledged the travel restrictions as part of the conditions that allowed his client to remain free on a $10,000 unsecured bond pending trial.

Before she was indicted earlier this year she made plans to celebrate her first wedding anniversary with her husband in Aruba, Lawrence said in court.

The judge declined to overrule the bond condition but did agree to allow pre-trial services officials to review the matter and possibly come back with a waiver.

Robinson is one of 22 people named in a federal grand jury indictment on Medicare fraud charges that was unsealed last week by the U.S. Attorneys Office.

She faces charges of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud for her alleged role in a $20 million scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting phony claims for psychotherapy services.

According to the indictment, Robinson was director of P&C Adult Day Care Center on Van Dyke in Detroit and took part in the scheme since 2006 along with Lousia Thompson, who owned several adult foster care facilities in Detroit. The indictment alleges the two submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for services that were not performed or not needed. They would then pocket the payments, the indictment states.

Also Tuesday, Sachin Sharma and his wife, Dana, both of Shelby Township, were formally arraigned on similar but unrelated health care fraud charges in federal court. Continued...

New Baltimore woman indicted on fraud charge can't leave country

YPSILANTI: Health care fraud scam took in more than $58 million in false Medicare billings; one resident named in …

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

By Mitch Hotts of Journal Register News Service

Twenty-two people in southeastern Michigan, including one Ypsilanti resident,were charged Wednesday in a health care fraud scam that took in more than $58 million in false Medicare billings from foster homes and home health care services, according to federal authorities and unsealed court documents.

The defendantsinclude owners and operators of companies, social workers, office employees and patient recruiters who are accused of submitting phony claims for services that were never rendered or not needed, officials said at a news conference in Detroit. Forty-five-year-old Ypsilanti resident Badar Ahmadani was one of those named in the indictment.

The schemes are vast and broad and cover a large geographic swath, said Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Federal law enforcers on Wednesday morning served search warrants at nine locations including Madison Heights and Shelby Township and seized 14 bank accounts as they arrested 17 suspects. Three others are fugitives and two have made arrangements to surrender.

According to an unsealed grand jury indictment, the defendants allegedly paid patient recruiters to obtain identification information from health care beneficiaries and used the information to bill Medicare and then pocket payments that were paid out.

Among those named in the indictment in a $23 million scam are Sachin Sharma, 36, and Dana Sharma, 29, of Shelby Township. The two owned Reliance Home Care, LLC on Dequindre in Madison Heights, and Sachin Sharma is also listed as owner of First Choice Home Health Care Services on Dequindre in Madison Heights, along with Associates in Home Care on Mound Road in Sterling Heights and Haven Adult Day Care Center in Detroit.

Court documents allege Sachin Sharma and two other defendants would pay kickbacks and bribes to recruiters for information on Medicare beneficiaries that would be used to bill Medicare for home health care, infusion therapy or psychotherapy services that were either not provided or not medically necessary.

Investigators said the recruiters would receive up to $200 for each beneficiary they provided. The recruiters searched homeless shelters and soup kitchens to find people with Medicare cards and obtain their information which was used for fake billings. In some cases, the recruiters would offer narcotic painkillers as a bribe to the people holding the cards.

Access to health care in U.S. worsens, study finds

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

WASHINGTON Having trouble finding a doctor?

You're not alone.

Tens of millions of adults under age 65 both those with insurance and those without saw their access to health care worsen dramatically over the past decade, according to a study abstract released Monday.

The findings suggest that more privately insured Americans are delaying treatment because of rising out-of-pocket costs, while safety-net programs for the poor and uninsured are failing to keep up with demand for care, say Urban Institute researchers who wrote the report.

Overall, the study published in the journal Health Affairs found that one in five American adults under 65 had an "unmet medical need" because of costs in 2010, compared with one in eight in 2000. They also had a harder time accessing dental care, according to the analysis based on data from annual federal surveys of adults.

"For decades, Americans have been facing costs rising well above wage levels," said Lynn Quincy, senior policy analyst for Consumers Union, a nonpartisan group. "These are real families. ... It's very concerning."

The 2010 health care law, which will expand health coverage to 30 million people starting in 2014, won't necessarily solve all those access problems, the study said. That's because the law, which is under review by the Supreme Court, may not alter the trend toward private insurance policies with larger deductibles and higher co-payments or address some of the barriers within public coverage. While the law does increase payments temporarily to primary care doctors who see people covered by Medicaid, it will not force more doctors into the program, or require states to provide dental coverage to adults.

Quincy noted that the law does offer several new strategies, such as new payment methods to control rising costs, which could help improve access, but there's no guarantee they will work.

The study underscores what's at stake in the law's coverage expansion: People with private or public health insurance have significantly better access to care than the uninsured. If the law is overturned or scaled back, "we would be likely to see further deterioration in access to care for all adults uninsured and insured alike," it concludes.

The percent of adults with private insurance who reported an "unmet medical need" doubled to 10 percent from 2000 to 2010, while those who delayed seeking care because of cost rose from 4 percent to 7 percent in the same period, according to the study.

Access to health care in U.S. worsens, study finds

Advanced genetic screening method may speed vaccine development

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

Public release date: 9-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University

Infectious diseasesboth old and newcontinue to exact a devastating toll, causing some 13 million fatalities per year around the world.

Vaccines remain the best line of defense against deadly pathogens and now Kathryn Sykes and Stephen Johnston, researchers at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, along with co-author Michael McGuire from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are using clever functional screening methods to attempt to speed new vaccines into production that are both safer and more potent.

In a recent study appearing in the journal Proteome Science, the group used high-throughput methods to identify a modulator of immune activity that exists naturally in an unusual pathogen belonging to the Poxviridae family of viruses.

Parapoxvirus infection causes immune cell accumulation at the site of infection; direct screening in the host for this biological activity enabled the isolation of an immunomodulatorlabeled B2. Indeed, B2 by itself causes immune cell accumulation at the site of skin injection. When added to a traditional influenza vaccine, B2 improves the vaccine's protective capacity. Furthermore, the immunomodulator also demonstrated the ability to shrink the size of cancerous tumors, even in the absence of any accompanying specific antigen.

In the past, the process of vaccine discovery involved the random selection of naturally attenuated strains of viruses and bacteria, which were found to provide protection in humans. Examples of this approach include the use of vaccinia to protect against smallpox and attenuated mycobacterium bovis (BCG) to protect against tuberculosis.

In recent years, many vaccines have been developed using only selected portions of a given pathogen to confer immunity. These so-called subunit vaccines have several advantages over whole pathogen vaccines. Genetic components that allow a given pathogen to elude immune detection for example may be screened out, as well as any factors causing unwanted vaccine side effects. Through careful screening, just those elements responsible for eliciting protective immune responses in the host can be extracted from the pathogen and reassembled into an effective, safer subunit vaccine.

In practice, the process of narrowing the field of promising subunit candidates from the whole genome of a pathogen has often been time consuming, laborious and perplexing. In the current study, their earlier-developed strategy, known as expression library immunization, is extended to develop a scheme to find the protein-encoding segmentsknown as open reading frames (ORFs)from a pathogenic genome that have any biological function of interest.

This simple, yet powerful technique uses the host's immune system itself to rapidly reduce any pathogenic genome (viral, fungal, bacterial or parasitic) to a handful of antigens capable of conferring protection in the host.

New Genetic Discoveries and Treatment for Hepatitis C [Viewpoint]

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Danzig

Michael Pacanowski, PharmD, MPH; Shashi Amur, PhD; Issam Zineh, PharmD, MPH Author Affiliations: Genomics Group, Office of Clinical Pharmacology, Office of Translational Sciences, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is a prototype for personalized medicine. Combination therapy with peginterferon alfa plus ribavirin was the standard of care for more than a decade. Greater understanding of the disease and determinants of treatment response have improved sustained virologic response (SVR) rates from less than 10% with interferon alfa in the 1990s to more than 80% with contemporary triple therapy regimens that include direct acting antivirals (DAAs) (Figure). Patient-specific factors such as viral genotype and early on-treatment responses are considered in therapeutic individualization. New approaches to search the human genome for predictors of drug response led to the discovery that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the host IL28B gene are among the strongest predictors of response to peginterferon alfa and ribavirin. This Viewpoint discusses the evolution of CHC pharmacogenetics, its real-time incorporation into recent regulatory science evaluations, and its application in future drug development.

cDNA indicates complementary

Excerpt from:

New Genetic Discoveries and Treatment for Hepatitis C [Viewpoint]

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