NASA Astronauts on Space Station to Speak Live with Dallas Students

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NASA astronauts on the International Space Station will speak with students and faculty from the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG Magnet) at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center in Dallas at 12:15 p.m. EST (11:15 a.m. CST) Thursday, March 5.

The 20-minute Earth-to-space call will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Students will have the opportunity to speak with Expedition 42 station commander Barry Butch Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts. Prior to the space chat, the students will spend time learning more about research aboard the station with Roderick Heelis and John Hoffman, two distinguished researchers from the physics department at University of Texas-Dallas.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, will join the TAG Magnet students and participate in the conversation from the school.

Media interested in covering the event must contact Yinka Robinson in Johnsons office at 202-226-3393 orOlayinka.Robinson@mail.house.gov. The Dallas Independent School Districts Townview Center is at 1201 East Eighth Street, Suite 302.

Wilmore and Virts are among six space station crew members currently in orbit. The pair recently completed three spacewalks to begin outfitting the station for the arrival of commercial crew spacecraft in 2017.

This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASAs education strategy to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching and learning in the United States. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides them with a unique, live experience of space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space.

The exact time of the downlink could change.

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NASA Astronauts on Space Station to Speak Live with Dallas Students

NASA spacecraft nearing its second stop dwarf planet Ceres

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AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA This Feb. 19, 2015 image shows the swarf planet Ceres provided by NASA, taken by the agency's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers). It shows that the brightest spot on Ceres has a dimmer companion, which apparently lies in the same basin, seen at center of the image. Dawn is preparing to rendezvous with the largest object in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, scheduled to go into orbit Friday, March 7 after a three-year journey. Dawn is about 590 miles (950 kilometers) in diameter.

PASADENA, Calif. A NASA spacecraft is preparing to rendezvous with the largest object in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

The Dawn craft is on target to slip into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on Friday after a three-year journey. It'll be the second stop for Dawn, which earlier visited the asteroid Vesta.

Dawn has been snapping pictures of Ceres as it nears the Texas-sized object. Sharper images are expected in the coming months as Dawn spirals closer to Ceres' surface.

Launched in 2007 and powered by ion propulsion, Dawn is the first craft to target two space rocks to learn about the solar system's evolution.

Dawn studied Vesta, the second massive object in the asteroid belt, from 2011 to 2012 and beamed back more than 30,000 images.

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NASA spacecraft nearing its second stop dwarf planet Ceres

My drug-filled nanospheres heal at the speed of light

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Our bodies have a habit of scattering medicine to the wrong places, so Adah Almutairi is targeting diseases with light-activated nanoparticles

What medical challenge does your nano-engineering address? Biology operates at the nanoscale, so materials designed at that size can respond better to disease. Right now, we have very little control of where, when and how drugs act in the body. We want these processes to work precisely, so that there are no off-target drug effects.

How are you improving drug targeting? One way is by making materials that respond to inflammation, which underlies lots of major diseases. First we string together molecules called ketals to create polymers, which we build into nanoscale containers that resemble balls of tangled yarn. In trials with mice, we've filled these with drug molecules that the spheres release when inflammation flares up, and stop releasing when it subsides.

What size are these balls? A blood vessel in your thumb is about 1 millimetre across. A single blood cell is about a thousand times thinner. And finally, our nanoparticle is one-thousandth the size of a blood cell.

How can inflammation trigger drug release? The start of inflammation involves the build-up of reactive oxygen species and acidic by-products of metabolism. When there's no acid, the spheres are as stable as a rock, but when they encounter acid, the spheres release their contents.

Can you tell me about the nanospheres you made that open when hit with light? For those we use a similar release mechanism to that of our inflammation model, but we harness near-infrared light rather than acidity to break open the spheres in exactly the right locations. Near-infrared has a useful mix of properties: it can penetrate tissue while keeping a straight path, so it can be precisely targeted.

Have you tried these on people yet? Yes, we started with back-of-the-eye diseases. For these conditions you need regular drug injections into your eye. It's very invasive, and the more injections you have, the greater your risk of scarring and retinal damage. You also need a skilled surgeon: not just anyone can poke you in the eye. So there's a big need for a single injection that releases therapeutics over time. We began using our nanospheres to encapsulate a small molecule that treats age-related macular degeneration. When you shine light into the eye, you release a dose of the drug. The spheres can stay in place for a year before safely degrading.

How else could these nanospheres be used? We want to do the same thing with diabetes. So instead of someone with the disease having to stab themselves with insulin when they finish a meal, we want them to be able to just shine light on their abdomen or arm. Another thing is light-activated sunscreen. It wouldn't do the chemistry to protect your skin when you apply it, but only when you go into the sun. That would be smarter than having to reapply sunscreen willy-nilly.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Nanohealing at light speed"

Materials chemist and engineer Adah Almutairi is director of the Center for Excellence in Nanomedicine and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where her team explores novel material properties

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My drug-filled nanospheres heal at the speed of light

Photo First: Light Captured as Both Particle and Wave

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Its one of those enduring Zen koans of science that weve all grown up with: Light behaves as both a particle and a waveat the same time. Einstein taught us that, so were all generally on board, but to actually understand what it means would require several Ph.D.s and a thorough understanding of quantum physics.

Whats more, scientists have never been able to devise an experiment that documents light behaving as both a wave and a particle simultaneously. Until now.

Why Should We Care About Quantum Computing?

Thats the contention of a team of Swiss and American researchers, who say theyve succeeded in capturing the first-ever snapshot of lights dual behavior. Using an advanced electron microscope one of only two on the planet at the EPFL labs in Switzerland, the team has generated a kind of quantum photograph of light behaving as both a particle and a wave.

The experiment involves firing laser light at a microscopic metallic nanowire, causing light to travel as a wave back and forth along the wire. When waves traveling in opposite directions meet, they form a standing wave that emits light itself as particles. By shooting a stream of electrons close to the nanowire, the researchers were able to capture an image that simultaneously demonstrates both the wave-nature and particle-nature of light.

Extraordinary Beauty Of The NanoArt World: Photos

This experiment demonstrates that, for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics and its paradoxical nature directly, says lead researcher Fabrizio Carbone of EPFL, on the labs project page. The study is to be officially published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

The image provided is shown above, issued with the following caption from EPFL: Energy-space photography of light confined on a nanowire, simultaneously showing both spatial interference and energy quantization. If you find it all a little hard to unpack believe me, Im entirely sympathetic the team has also released this rather friendly companion video:

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Photo First: Light Captured as Both Particle and Wave

Moore & Associates – Attorneys and Councelors at Law

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a law firm committed to excellence

Established in 1984, Moore & Associates offers a litigation team that has successfully represented clients in large and complex civil cases. Over the last 20 years we have developed an extensive network of specialists to help our attorneys; including actuaries, forensic accountants, and finance and evaluation professionals. Moore & Associates has extensive experience in commercial litigation.

Our clients have the confidence in knowing that their matters will always be handled by one of the firm's experienced attorneys. Through the efficient use of attorney resources and legal technology, we are able to handle client cases in a very cost-effective manner. Our firm utilizes a team litigation approach, with our entire staff handling different aspects of our large, complex cases.

We strive to always provide the best representation for our clients. We seek to fully understand our clients needs and objectives, to be responsive, and provide comprehensive services. We measure our success by the outcomes we obtain for our clients. We provide quality service, creative expertise, proven process and a dedicated professional staffing order to achieve this success. We are a law firm that is committed to excellence.

The lawyers of Moore & Associates are experienced civil litigation attorneys who can help you analyze and enforce your rights. Our office is in Eugene, Oregon and we have associated with law firms in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Sacramento while working on cases across the nation.

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Moore & Associates - Attorneys and Councelors at Law

Experimental & Molecular Medicine – Nature Publishing …

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Experimental & Molecular Medicine (EMM) is Koreas first biochemistry journal and is relaunched as an Open Access, fully peer-reviewed international journal devoted to publishing the latest and most important advances in genetic, molecular and cellular studies of human physiology and diseases. The journal aims to communicate the improved clinical benefits for human health from the experimental and translational research performed using molecular tools. Areas that are covered include, but are not limited to, cancer biology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular diseases, genetics and genomics, gene therapy and stem cells and regenerative medicine.

In March 2014, EMM published a special feature on Mucosal Immunity and Vaccines with a series of reviews providing an overview of current understanding in this area and covering a range of key topics including regulatory T cell vaccination, antigen targeting to M cells, mucosal mast cells and the role mucosal dendritic cells play in shaping mucosal immunity.

Volume 47, February 2015 ISSN (online): 2092-6413

2013 Impact Factor 2.462* 54/122 Medicine, Research & Experimental 176/291 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Editor-in-Chief: Dae-Myung Jue

*2013 Journal Citation Reports Science Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2014)

A key regulatory protein provides a potential new therapeutic target for difficult-to-treat breast cancer. Around 10-20% of breast cancers are known as triple-negative because they don't show any of the three markers commonly found in breast cancer cells and don't respond well to common therapies. A team led by Yeon-Sun Seong and Insoo Bae from Dankook University in South Korea and Georgetown Univiersity in U.S. treated triple-negative breast cancer cells with PI-103, a drug known to block a key pathway regulating cell division and tumor formation. The researchers observed a decrease in the expression of -TrCP1, a subunit of a larger protein complex involved in ubiquitin proteasome pathway. Experimentally reducing levels of -TrCP1 was sufficient to slow the growth of the breast cancer cells. These results raise the possibility of inhibiting -TrCP1 in novel ways to combat triple-negative breast cancer.

An anti-rheumatic drug can protect hearing in mice from the damage wrought by platinum-containing chemotherapeutic agents. A research team led by Raekil Park of the Wonkwang University College of Medicine in Iksan, South Korea, investigated whether bucillamine, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, can lessen the degree of hearing loss caused by the cancer chemotherapy drug cisplatin. In cisplatin-treated mice, bucillamine led to better scores on a standard hearing test. Bucillamine also reduced cisplatin-induced sensory hair cell loss in cochlear explants grown in a lab dish. The researchers analyzed the molecular response using a mouse auditory cell line treated with cisplatin. They observed that bucillamine lowered the activity of proteins involved in cell death, suppressed the generation of damaging free radicals, and increased the expression of various proteins involved in detoxification.

Special Feature on Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)

It has been 50 years since Michael Anthony Epstein and Yvonne Barr discovered Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) particles in cell lines cultured from tumor tissue from a Burkitt lymphoma. Since the initial discovery of the virus, more than 20,000 scientific papers on the characteristics, functions and oncogenic mechanisms of viral genes, the spectrum of EBV-associated diseases, and treatment of patients have been published. Experimental & Molecular Medicine contains six review articles that provide an overview of our current understanding of Epstein-Barr virology and oncogenesis and of EBV-associated neoplasm.

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Experimental & Molecular Medicine - Nature Publishing ...

Johns Hopkins Researchers Identify Key to Tuberculosis Resistance

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Released: 27-Feb-2015 4:00 PM EST Embargo expired: 2-Mar-2015 11:00 AM EST Source Newsroom: Johns Hopkins Medicine Contact Information

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Newswise The cascade of events leading to bacterial infection and the immune response is mostly understood. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the immune response to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis have remained a mystery until now. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have now uncovered how a bacterial molecule controls the bodys response to TB infection and suggest that adjusting the level of this of this molecule may be a new way to treat the disease. The report appears this week as an advance online publication of Nature Medicine.

We unraveled part of the cat-and-mouse game that plays out when TB bacteria infect human cells. The microbes release a small piece of DNA that resembles viral DNA, and this tricks the human cells to react as if they were responding to a virus instead of a bacterium; this may explain in part why the human immune response is often unable to combat TB, says William Bishai, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research Laboratory and corresponding author on the paper. The exciting part is that with the knowledge of this molecular trickery, we may be able to come up with better drugs and vaccines for TB tools that are sorely needed.

After tuberculosis bacteria infect a host, the bacteria release a molecule called c-di-AMP into the hosts cells. Those cells have built-in early detection systems that recognize these foreign molecules and start an inflammatory response, which then leads to a complex reaction to combat the infection. The research team first measured c-di-AMP levels in the bacteria and found that its levels increase when the bacteria are actively multiplying.

To determine if c-di-AMP is indeed altering the host immune response, the researchers infected mouse immune cells with TB bacteria engineered to make different levels of c-di-AMP and compared how much of an immune response the cells mounted by measuring levels of INF-beta protein. They found that the more c-di-AMP released into the mouse cell, the higher the INF-beta levels.

But, according to Bishai, INF-beta levels may not reveal the whole picture of what transpires during infection. So they then looked at how well the bacteria themselves grow when releasing different amounts of c-di-AMP into the cells theyve infected. The bacteria making the highest levels of c-di-AMP, it turns out, showed the slowest growth rates.

Others had suggested that molecules of the same class as c-di-AMP can trigger autophagy, when a cell chews up and disposes of its insides, says Bishai. So we set out to see if overproducing c-di-AMP was causing the infected host to eat the TB bacteria. Using cells marked with glowing proteins, the researchers saw under microscopes that cells infected with TB bacteria making high levels of c-di-AMP indeed underwent more autophagy than those with lower levels of c-di-AMP.

The team then examined whether differences in c-di-AMP could alter the severity of the disease in mice. Infection with normal bacteria causes death at about 150 days, whereas infection with bacteria engineered to overproduce c-di-AMP led to longer survival times 321 days.

We still dont know if altering c-di-AMP levels can be linked to different outcomes in humans with TB, but this study does suggest that it would be well worth looking into, says Bishai. The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grant numbers AI037856, AI097138 and AI036973), and Bishai is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Other authors on the paper include Bappaditya Dey, Ruchi Jain Dey, Laurene S. Cheung, Supriya Pokkali, Ph. D., Haidan Guo and Jong-Hee Lee, Ph.D.

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Future Medics Website Launches to Support UK Medical School Entry

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York, UK (PRWEB UK) 2 March 2015

Application to UK Medical schools is becoming more straightforward and inclusive thanks to Dr Tom Milligan, a GP Partner in East Yorkshire, founder of Future Medics. The membership site provides video based teaching on all aspects of medical school entry, as well as motivational apps that help students complete their preparation.

Medical students enjoy the highest average pay of any graduates as well as having a 99.4% chance of being in full time education or employment at 6 months after graduation. No wonder there is stiff competition to win a university place! Recent revelations from the Medical Schools Council however, confirm that over half of UK secondary schools had not provided a single medicine applicant in the past 3 years. The abolition of the school careers service in 2013 has also created an additional need for clear and accessible information and support for all.

Our aim was to remove the barriers to medical school entry by making the inside knowledge on applications more available to students from any background says founder Dr Tom Milligan. By learning about the application process, students can tailor their experiences to improve their chances in the process. The site boasts over 45 educational videos as well as a reflective diary and practice UKCAT questions. We include support for all aspects of medical school entry.

Dr Tom Milligans interest in helping prospective medical students was honed by his experiences teaching medical students and sitting on university interview panels for Medical School entry. Educational theory and business support is offered by Founding Partner, Karina Milligan. My background in teaching and business help me offer support to students and their families. Additional information is provided by a myriad of experts ranging from medical school selectors to communication experts, senior doctors, simulated patients and a psychologist. Weve worked hard to pull together the best resources possible to help students get in to Medical School. We were conscious of lots conflicted information thats out there at the moment and really wanted to create something that was not only informative but also practical, offering students skills that will serve them well beyond the application process.

The site has taken 3 years in development. 6th Form students were involved in the site design at all stages. Collaboration with 6th Form students in the process ensures the students needs are well met says Karina.From that, we knew how important it was for students to feel a part of the process and not just dictated to, so we looked to provide something thats much more interactive, using motivational techniques throughout designing the course. This means that students take ownership for their work and success.

Future Medics has recently collaborated with students at Nottingham Widening Access to Medicine and has provided free places to students in that scheme. It is really important for Future Medics to provide support for disadvantaged students too, so that the people coming into medicine reflect the populations that they serve. One of our main motivators has been about widening access to medicine.

Future Medics launches on 2nd March 2015 and is a membership website supporting aspiring doctors with all aspects of medical school entry. Membership costs 100 for the first year and 20 for additional years. Those wishing to find out more can take a free trial of all parts of the site at http://futuremedics.co.uk. The team at Future Medics are excited to get started in helping students to reach their goals. Were really proud of the site and so grateful to everyone that has been a part of helping us to achieve this. We cant wait to see Future Medics grow and support aspiring doctors, whatever their background.

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Future Medics Website Launches to Support UK Medical School Entry

Apostle Islands ice caves opening draws 11K

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Updated 10:55 a.m. | Posted 7:38 a.m.

Despite slippery conditions and a new fee, 11,200 people took in Wisconsin's Lake Superior ice caves over the weekend.

Ice formations around the caves are not as large as they were last year but are especially colorful, said Julie Van Stappen, chief of planning and resource management for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

"The ice formations still are really beautiful," Van Stappen said. "The cool thing is that each year it's a little different it's unique."

Parked cars lined up for more than two miles on either side of the access point on Meyers Beach Road, and about 2,000 people had started the walked across the ice by 11 a.m. on Saturday, the park service said.

The ice is also very slippery. Park officials recommend that visitors wear ice cleats or use ski polls to avoid falling down. They also warn that it's colder on the ice than it is on land.

"This year we haven't had much snow," Van Stappen said. "The walk out there, there's a lot of bare ice in fact there are people ice skating out there."

Officials are watching conditions on the ice to ensure that it's staying locked in and maintaining about 10 inches of thickness.

Warmer weather this winter delayed the opening of the caves. During last year's cold and long winter, more than 138,000 people visited the caves. It was the first time they'd been accessible to the public in five years.

"When the water starts getting really cold and icing up, you have waves splashing up and into the caves, that creates icicles and formations from the bottom," Van Stappen said. "Then there's also seepage that comes out of the pre-Cambrian sandstone cliffs."

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Apostle Islands ice caves opening draws 11K

Seychelles: Rare Dugong Is Sighted in Seychelles At Aldabra

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By Hajira Amla

Victoria When travelling through the Seychelles archipelago of 115 islands, scattered throughout the warm, tropical waters of the western Indian Ocean, seafarers might consider themselves fortunate to witness a whale lumbering gracefully through the sea or a pod of dolphins frolicking in the waves.

But for a group of conservationists working in the remote far-flung atoll of Aldabra, located in the westernmost reaches of the archipelago, they were recently treated to an almost mythical sight - a dugong speeding playfully through the atoll's waters.

Around two hundred years ago, the dugong, otherwise known as the sea-cow, was a common sight throughout the Seychelles when the archipelago was first discovered by European explorers.

The rotund, peaceful creatures which primarily graze on seagrass were a common sight around the other islands in the archipelago, and the northernmost Bird Island was once known as Ile aux Vaches as testament to the large numbers of dugongs which gathered there to breed.

Sadly, the dugongs were hunted to extinction in the Seychelles by seafarers eager to exploit them for their meat and oil.

Since those days, the dugongs have not been back to the islands, but in 2001, dugongs were suddenly sighted around the wild, uninhabited western atoll of Aldabra, where up to 150,000 giant tortoises roam freely on the hard, sun-baked land.

The public trust which manages the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aldabra, the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), believes that the dugongs frequenting the atoll travelled north-west from Madagascar, which lies a scant 426 kilometres away.

Speaking to SNA via email, SIF communications officer Rowana Walton said that East Africa and Madagascar still have healthy dugong populations, but added that it was unknown whether the dugongs were permanently resident at Aldabra or if they migrate periodically between these areas.

"Aldabra provides a safe refuge for dugongs and has extensive seagrass beds where they can feed and reproduce," she said. "Dugongs may have been present and unrecorded on Aldabra for a long time but they seem to be increasing now."

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Seychelles: Rare Dugong Is Sighted in Seychelles At Aldabra

New Genetic Syndrome Found, Arising From Errors in 'Master Switch' During Early Development

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Newswise Philadelphia, March 2, 2015 Analyzing a puzzling multisystem disorder in three children, genetic experts have identified a new syndrome, shedding light on key biological processes during human development. The research also provides important information to help caregivers manage the disorder, and may offer clues to eventually treating it.

This syndrome illuminates a very important pathway in early human developmenta sort of master switch that controls many other genes, said study leader Ian D. Krantz, M.D., co-director of the Individualized Medical Genetics Center at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Krantz, a medical geneticist, is an attending physician in CHOPs comprehensive human genetics program.

Krantz is the senior author of the study, published online today in Nature Genetics. His co-study leader is Katsuhiko Shirahige, Ph.D., of the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Tokyo, also the home institution of first author Kosuke Izumi.

The investigators named the disorder CHOPS syndrome, with the acronym representing a group of symptoms seen in the affected children: cognitive impairment and coarse facies (facial features), heart defects, obesity, pulmonary involvement, short stature and skeletal dysplasia (abnormal bone development).

The central research finding is that mutations in the gene AFF4 disrupt a crucial group of proteins called the super elongation complex (SEC). The SEC controls the transcription process by which DNA is copied into RNA, enabling genes to be expressed in a developing embryo. The timing of this biological process is tightly regulated, so anything that interferes with this timing can disturb normal development in a variety of ways.

Because the SEC involves such a crucial process in cell biology, it has long been a focus of study, particularly in cancer, said Krantz. CHOPS syndrome is the first example of a human developmental disorder caused by germline mutations in the SEC.

Originating in the embryo, germline mutations are passed along to every cell in a developing organism, with harmful effects in multiple organs and biological systems. The mutated AFF4 gene produces mutated proteins, which then accumulate and cause a cascade of abnormalities in other genes controlled by AFF4.

AFF4 has a critical role in human development, regulating so many other genes, said Krantz. When it is mutated, it can damage the heart and skeleton, and lead to intellectual disability, among other effects.

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Powell: Taming retiree health care

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Robert Powell, Special for USA TODAY 11:47 a.m. EST March 2, 2015

Robert Powell(Photo: Josh T. Reynolds, for USA WEEKEND)

Good news: Recurring, predictable out-of-pocket health care expenses remain somewhat stable over the course of retirement.

The bad news: Non-recurring unpredictable expenses such as surgery, hospitalizations, and nursing home care increase with age, tend to be more expensive, and, in the absence of a plan to manage those costs, can wreak havoc on a household's finances, according to research just published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonpartisan research institute based in Washington, D.C.

"Health care is one of the key components of retirement expenses, and is the only part of household expenditures that increases with age," Sudipto Banerjee, a research associate at EBRI and author of the report, said in a release. "While some of these costs are more predictable, others are uncertain, and for many people these expenses spike toward the end of life when resources are slim. To successfully manage your resources in retirement, a good plan may include separate preparations for each."

In its research, EBRI found that average, annual out-of-pocket health care costs for a household between 65-74 years old was $4,383 in 2011, which accounted for 11% of total household expenses. But out-of-pocket health care expenses rise for households ages 85 and above to $6,603 a year, or 19% of total household expenses.

On the go? Listen to Robert Powell's interview with Sudipto Banerjee in the audio player below:

The average annual expenditure for recurring health care expenses doctor visits, dentist visits and usage of prescription drugs among the Medicare eligible population was $1,885. According to EBRI, assuming a 2% rate of inflation and 3% rate of return, a person with a life expectancy of 90 would need $40,798 at age 65 to fund his or her recurring health care expenses. This does not include expenses for any insurance premiums or over-the-counter medications, EBRI noted.

But it's the non-recurring and unexpected health-care costs overnight hospital stays, overnight nursing-home stays, outpatient surgery, home health care and usage of special facilities that must be managed.

Nursing-home stays, for instance, can be very expensive, according to EBRI. For people ages 85 and above, the average and the 90th percentile of nursing-home expenses were $24,185 and $66,600 during a two-year period, respectively.

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Powell: Taming retiree health care

Study: Health care 'super-utilizers,' cost ratio uneven

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Pennsylvanians who are more frequently admitted to the hospital claim a disproportionate amount of public health money, according to a recent study by a state health cost-tracking agency.

Research published in February by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, or PHC4, shows patients admitted into a hospital five times or more between July 2013 and June 2014 comprised only 3 percent of total inpatient admissions.

But those 3 percent ate up 14 percent or $545 million of all inpatient Medicare claims payments and 17 percent or $216 million of all inpatient Medicaid claims payments.

It comes down to access.

Patients who lack health insurance or a primary care physician, especially those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, often dont get regular care to effectively manage their symptoms.

Richard Martin, M.D., department director for Geisigners community practices in Lackawanna and Monroe counties, said its a lack of regular maintenance that leads to catastrophe in the form of emergency room visits, followed by longer stays in the hospital.

Many of these people just dont have insurance, he said. So they wait until an illness becomes more significant that they end up in the emergency department.

Experts blame a flawed health care system, saying the burden, at least in part, falls on doctors to offer preventive and follow-up care patients need to stay out of the hospital bed and a few steps ahead of their illnesses.

While it may seem these so-called super-utilizers are taking more than their fair share of public health resources, many health care professionals in the region are quick to caution against throwing accusations.

I dont think it would be fair to say, well, these people are abusing the system; these people are feeding at the trough inappropriately, said Justin Matus, Ph.D., associate dean at Wilkes Universitys Sidhu School of Business.

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Study: Health care 'super-utilizers,' cost ratio uneven

A smarter way to budget for retirement health-care costs

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T.J. Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Kaiser Family Foundation's 2014 Employer Health Benefits report says that rate increases are slowing from recession highs that ran far above inflation rates.

A new report suggests that people approaching retirement look at health-care expenses in later life in terms of recurring and nonrecurring services, and it offers some numbers that can be helpful in crafting a retirement budget.

Health care represents the second-largest budget item (after housing costs) for retirees. But planning for those expenses can be challenging, given increasing life expectancy and the possibility that medical bills can increase substantially with age.

A good way to think about such bills might be to separate the more predictable expenses from the less predictable oneswhich is how the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., frames the issue in a recently published report.

Based on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a survey of U.S. households age 50-plus, EBRI defines predictableor recurringexpenses as doctor visits, prescription-drug use and dentist services. All three have high usage, and that usage is consistent across different age groups.

By comparison, less predictableor nonrecurringevents include overnight hospital stays, overnight nursing-home stays, home health care, outpatient surgery and special facilities.

EBRIs findings: Recurring health-care costs appear to remain stable throughout retirementand across all age groups. Among the Medicare-eligible population (age 65-plus), the average, annual out-of-pocket expenditure for recurring health-care expenses, according to EBRI, was $1,885.

If we assume a 2% rate of inflation and 3% rate of return on savings, a person with a life expectancy of 90 would need almost $41,000 (to be exact: $40,798) at age 65 to fund his or her recurring health-care expenses through end of live. (Note: That figure doesnt include other recurring expenses like insurance premiums or over-the-counter medications.)

With nonrecurring expenses, the math is trickier; thats because, by definition, both the usage and intensity of usage of these types of services are very uncertain, the report states. Here, instead of providing a single figure needed at retirement, EBRI looks at specific services.

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A smarter way to budget for retirement health-care costs

Encore: A smarter way to budget for retirement health-care costs

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A new report suggests that people approaching retirement look at health-care expenses in later life in terms of recurring and nonrecurring services, and it offers some numbers that can be helpful in crafting a retirement budget.

Health care represents the second-largest budget item (after housing costs) for retirees. But planning for those expenses can be challenging, given increasing life expectancy and the possibility that medical bills can increase substantially with age.

A good way to think about such bills might be to separate the more predictable expenses from the less predictable oneswhich is how the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., frames the issue in a recently published report.

Based on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a survey of U.S. households age 50-plus, EBRI defines predictableor recurringexpenses as doctor visits, prescription-drug use and dentist services. All three have high usage, and that usage is consistent across different age groups.

By comparison, less predictableor nonrecurringevents include overnight hospital stays, overnight nursing-home stays, home health care, outpatient surgery and special facilities.

EBRIs findings: Recurring health-care costs appear to remain stable throughout retirementand across all age groups. Among the Medicare-eligible population (age 65-plus), the average, annual out-of-pocket expenditure for recurring health-care expenses, according to EBRI, was $1,885.

If we assume a 2% rate of inflation and 3% rate of return on savings, a person with a life expectancy of 90 would need almost $41,000 (to be exact: $40,798) at age 65 to fund his or her recurring health-care expenses through end of live. (Note: That figure doesnt include other recurring expenses like insurance premiums or over-the-counter medications.)

With nonrecurring expenses, the math is trickier; thats because, by definition, both the usage and intensity of usage of these types of services are very uncertain, the report states. Here, instead of providing a single figure needed at retirement, EBRI looks at specific services.

Case in point: nursing-home stays. For individuals ages 85 and older, the average and the 90th percentile of nursing-home expenses were $24,185 and $66,600, respectively, during a two-year period.

Equally important, the report looks at the use of health-care services in, roughly, the 12 to 24 months preceding to examine the extent of backloading in health-care expenses. Among the findings: More than 50% of people in every age group above 65 received in-home health care from a medically trained person before death, according to EBRI. For individuals age 85-plus, 62.3% had overnight nursing-home stays before death, and 51.6% were living in a nursing home before death.

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Encore: A smarter way to budget for retirement health-care costs