Special HOA with U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell – Video

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Special HOA with U.S. Secretary of Health Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell
The Affordable Care Act, also known as the health care law, was created to expand access to affordable health care coverage, lower costs, and improve quality and care coordination for all Americans...

By: Elianne Ramos AKA ergeekgoddess

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Special HOA with U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell - Video

Health Care: A Trillion Dollar Industry In The Making

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How many times is a trillion dollar industry created? Not very often. After all, a trillion of anything is a very large number. To put it in perspective, only the largest 15 countries in the world had a Gross Domestic Product greater than $1 trillion in 2013.

However, no less an authority than McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Companypredictsthat health care spending in China will reach $1 trillion by 2020, up from $350 billion today. The Chinese government is even more aggressive, predicting that spending in the countrys health care sector will top $1.3 trillion by the end of this decade. Even at that level, though, health care spending will be one-third that of the United States, and only $1,000 per person,comparedto $8,915 per person in America. While Chinas health care industry will show tremendous growth in the coming years, it will still only be a fraction of what it will ultimately become when it reaches $1 trillion in 2020.

Two factors are at work driving health care spending in China. With rising per capita incomes, Chinas increasingly affluent consumers are demanding the latest in medical treatment and services. At the same time, changing diets and air and water pollution are causing a rise in the incidence of cancer, heart, diabetes and other chronic diseases among Chinas population. Both are creating new opportunities for pharmaceutical, medical device, hospital management and companies that provide a wide range of health-care products and services.

A number of years ago, I took a group of my Chinese managers to the United States for a week of meetings. Although we had a busy schedule, we did manage to free up an afternoon in the middle of our stay for them to kick back and do some sightseeing. Instead of asking to visit some well-known sights in the area as I expected, however, they told me they wanted to use their time off to go to a shopping mall. As we pulled into the parking lot and they got off the bus, every one of them made a beeline for the drug store to buy vitamins! That told me two things. First, it told me that when people make more money, they want to live longer. Second, the actions of my Chinese managers told me they didnt trust what they could find in China.

Health care is one of the last big industries in China to open up to foreign investment and technology and the timing could not be better. In addition to rising demand for the best available treatment from newly affluent consumers, China is facing new challenges as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases afflict more of its population.

According to areportby the World Health Organization (WHO), China accounted for over three million newly diagnosed cases of cancer, almost 22 percent of the global total, and 2.2 million cancer deaths, 27 percent of the worlds total, in 2012. In addition to being hard hit by cancer, the WHO also estimates that approximately 230 million Chinese currently suffer from cardiovascular disease, and that annual cardiovascular events will increase by 50 percent between 2010 and 2030 based on population aging and growth alone. The incidence of diabetes tells a similar story. Almost one-in-three global diabetes sufferers today is in China, with approximately 114 million adultsafflictedby the disease.

In order to combat these growing health issues, many of Chinas 22,000 hospitals will need to be substantially upgraded or replaced in the coming years. In addition, the Chinese government is counting on foreign-owned hospitals, the ownership of which was previously highly restricted or forbidden, to fill some of the void. The governments goal is to increase private hospital service contribution to 20 percent of the total hospital service value by 2015, from less than 10 percent currently.

In August of this year, China announced a pilot project whereby overseas investors can establish wholly foreign-funded hospitals, either by acquisition or greenfield, in seven of its cities and provinces. As a result, private equity and other substantial investors are actively searching for new investment opportunities in hospitals and companies with the latest in health care technology.

Whether it is hospital management, the establishment of specialty clinics, pharmaceuticals, the providing of higher technology medical devices, or a wide range of other health care products or services, Chinas health care industry a trillion dollar industry in the making will constitute one of the largest markets in the world.

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Health Care: A Trillion Dollar Industry In The Making

Catholic Bishops Vote to Revise Rules for Health Care Partnerships

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With Catholic health systems expanding, stricter rules could have implications for reproductive and maternity care across the country.

With Catholic health systems expanding, stricter rules could have implications for reproductive and maternity care across the country.

by Nina Martin ProPublica, Nov. 11, 2014, 10:17 a.m.

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Update, Nov. 12: On Tuesday, the bishops conference overwhelmingly voted to pursue a revision of the directives pertaining to mergers and partnerships. The vote was 213 to 2 with one abstention.

The medical field is advancing so rapidly, its very important for us to address these issues as well [as] for the sake of our people, said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, according to the Washington Times. Its not something thats adversarial.

Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, said revisions were needed because Catholic health initiatives have expanded to include buying physicians practices and more. It makes it really very important for us to do the best we can to illuminate Catholic principles in cooperation, he said in the Times story.

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The 2011 merger of the two remaining hospitals in Troy, N.Y., had many potential benefits and one huge hurdle.

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Catholic Bishops Vote to Revise Rules for Health Care Partnerships

Sterilization deaths show India's health care ills

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NEW DELHI (AP) The women were poor, from villages in central India where the promise of a few dollars is all but impossible to resist. Many had babies so young they were still nursing at their mothers' breasts.

The deaths of 12 women after they underwent sterilization procedures this week have raised serious ethical questions about India's drive to curb a booming population by paying women who get sterilized. The deaths also exposed the dangerous lack of oversight in India's $74 billion health care industry.

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Sterilization deaths show India's health care ills

Study to Assess if Knowing About Genetic Risk For Kidney Disease Changes a Person's Lifestyle

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Newswise (NEW YORK November 10) The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinais Institute for Personalized Medicine is launching a study designed to learn whether patients, who are aware of their genetic predisposition to chronic kidney disease, are more inclined to engage in proactive lifestyle modification with their primary care physician.

Chronic kidney disease affects about 26 million American adults. Many studies have shown that African Americans are up to seven times more likely than any other population to develop high blood pressure and subsequent complications, such as kidney disease. A large fraction of the kidney disease disparity is attributable to variations, or differences, in a single gene called apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1). In Mount Sinais specialized laboratory, variations in the APOL1 gene can be identified with a simple blood test.

Erwin Bottinger, MD, Director, Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of the studys Principal Investigators. Many patients do not have their blood pressure adequately controlled to minimize the risk for complications such as kidney disease. We will test whether sharing genetic risk information with patients and alerting their doctors through a patient's electronic health record, will achieve better control of blood pressure to reduce kidney disease risk.

Dr. Bottinger and Co-Principal Investigator Carol Horowitz, MD, MPH, are seeking to enroll approximately two thousand African American participants with hypertension for their year-long study: Genetic testing to Understand and Address Renal Disease Disparities (The GUARDD Study). Funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) the study will be conducted in a network of community health centers and primary care facilities in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx, affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicines Institute for Family Health and at primary care facilities of The Mount Sinai Health System.

At the first study visit, all study participants will be asked to complete medical and family health histories, blood pressure, height, and weight measurements. If eligible, each individual will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 will have blood drawn for genetic testing and return within 4 weeks later to discuss the results with a member of the research team. They will also be given printed information to share with their primary care physician. Those participants will return after 3 months and 12 months for a blood pressure check and to complete follow-up surveys.

Individuals in Group 2 will receive the genetic testing until the end of the study but will be asked to return at 3 and 12 months for the same measurements as those in Group 1. Primary care providers for patients enrolled in the study will also receive the results of the APOL1 genetic test and information about the test through alerts in the patients electronic medical record.

We are translating the latest scientific developments for both patients and their primary care physicians, says Dr. Horowitz. While we cant guarantee results, we are hopeful participants who know they carry the APOL1 gene variant will engage in proactive behaviors, under their doctors supervision to forestall renal failure often associated with hypertension.

Neil Calman, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Family Health, and Professor and Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at Mount Sinai said, Armed with this genetic information, African Americans with high blood pressure who carry variations in this gene will be able to focus on the management of their high blood pressure with their primary care providers, helping to prevent the onset of the devastating effects of kidney failure.

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Study to Assess if Knowing About Genetic Risk For Kidney Disease Changes a Person's Lifestyle

Pinot Noir grapes owe a debt to ancient viruses

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Next time you pour a glass of wine, raise a toast to the 30-million-year-old viruses that have contributed to the genetic make-up of modern grapes.

A team of UQ-led plant scientists has discovered that the Pinot Noir grape variety owes a significant part of its genetic heritage to ancient plant viruses.

In a study published in Nature Communications, Dr Andrew Geering and colleagues have mapped the presence of 30-million-year-old viruses in Pinot Noir DNA.

Viruses are usually a curse to farmers because of the damage they cause to crops, but this study also suggests they play a vital evolutionary role.

Dr Geering, a plant pathologist at the UQs Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, said most flowering plant species, even the most primitive ones, contain sequence signatures of viruses in their genetic material.

Animals can move to avoid threats but because plants are anchored to the ground they are obliged to adapt to environmental pressures, such as those brought about by drought or grazing, using novel strategies.

Plants cope with such threats by acquiring new biochemical pathways or growth habits.

Pulling new genetic material from the environment, such as from viruses that infect the plant, means evolution can be sped up considerably.

Much like humans, plants are regularly exposed to harmful chemicals or radiation, which can cause damaging and heritable mutations to their genes which, if left unrepaired, could be lethal to their descendants.

Fortunately, there are special mechanisms to repair these mutations. Its during this repair procedure that foreign DNA such as that originating from viruses can be inserted into the plants own genetic code, much like using putty to fill a crack in the wall.

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Pinot Noir grapes owe a debt to ancient viruses

Gene Therapy for Inherited Disorders – Gerard Wagemaker – Video

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Gene Therapy for Inherited Disorders - Gerard Wagemaker
Gene therapy will be of great significance for patients with hereditary disorders and society at large, says Gerard Wagemaker EU project: HIGHLIGHT (http://www.youris.com/Health/Video_Interviews/G...

By: European health innovation transfer network

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Gene Therapy for Inherited Disorders - Gerard Wagemaker - Video

The joy of not being sold anything – the future of advertising. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard – Video

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The joy of not being sold anything - the future of advertising. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard
This is a brief excerpt from my keynote at the Guardian Advertising Summit in London, in October 2013; see http://youtu.be/RfDPkpsasI4 to view the entire vid...

By: Gerd Leonhard

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The joy of not being sold anything - the future of advertising. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard - Video

The advertising of the past: tempting and terrorizing. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard (excerpt) – Video

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The advertising of the past: tempting and terrorizing. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard (excerpt)
This is a short excerpt from my keynote at the Guardian Advertising Summit in London, in October 2013; see http://youtu.be/RfDPkpsasI4 to view the entire video (25 minutes) Thanks to The...

By: Gerd Leonhard

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The advertising of the past: tempting and terrorizing. Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard (excerpt) - Video

Merkel Marks Berlin Wall Anniversary: German Chancellor says yearning for freedom brought Wall down – Video

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Merkel Marks Berlin Wall Anniversary: German Chancellor says yearning for freedom brought Wall down
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that it was the irrepressible yearning for freedom that brought the Berlin Wall tumbling down 25 years ago. Merkel #39;s...

By: UKRAINE TODAY

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Merkel Marks Berlin Wall Anniversary: German Chancellor says yearning for freedom brought Wall down - Video

USA’s Freedom Turns to Joke – Border Patrol Checkpoint, Ajo, Arizona – Video

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USA #39;s Freedom Turns to Joke - Border Patrol Checkpoint, Ajo, Arizona
USA #39;s Freedom Turns to Joke - Border Patrol Checkpoint, Ajo, Arizona, 8 November 2014, Comedy in America, Reverse Psychology, http://outpost81.com/noise_passby_backup_driver.jpg.

By: Robert Trudell

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USA's Freedom Turns to Joke - Border Patrol Checkpoint, Ajo, Arizona - Video