Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Ads Highlight Different Aspects Of Health Reform Debate
A coalition of union and liberal groups began running television ads designed to get "the attention of one particular television viewer: Sen. Kay Hagan," The Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record reports.

White House Budget Chief Says Issue Of Abortion Coverage In Health Reform Still Under Debate
In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said that he is "not prepared to say explicitly" whether health care reform legislation would prohibit the use of federal tax revenue to fund abortion coverage, the New York Times reports. Orszag"s statement came in reply to a question asking whether he was prepared to say that "no taxpayer money will go to pay for abortions." Orszag said, "It"s obviously a controversial issue, and it"s one of the questions that is playing out in the debate" (Pear/Liptak, New York Times, 7/20).Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who also appeared on "Fox News Sunday," said, "No matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn"t ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life." Gregg added, "I would hate to see the health care debate go down over that issue. We do really need health care reform, and it has to be substantive. ... So hopefully we won"t get ourselves wrapped around the wheel of abortion in this debate" (FoxNews.com, 7/19). According to the Times, there is an ongoing behind-the-scenes debate over handling abortion coverage in health overhaul legislation. The debate affects both the public insurance plan the legislation would create and private insurers, who would receive tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to expand coverage for low- and moderate-income U.S. residents. A provision in the House health reform bill (HR 3200) calls for a federal advisory committee to advise the HHS secretary on an "essential benefits package" that most insurers would be required to provide. Abortion-rights opponents want abortion coverage excluded from the package, while abortion-rights advocates say the decision should be left to medical professionals. House committees working on health reform legislation have rejected Republican amendments that would have restricted abortion coverage. The Hyde Amendment, first enacted in 1976, prohibits the use of federal Medicaid money for abortion services. However, abortion-rights opponents argue that federally subsidized coverage of the uninsured would not be subject to the existing restrictions. The National Right to Life Committee issued an analysis of the House bill, stating, "There is no doubt that coverage of abortion will be mandated, unless Congress explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of federal authority to define "essential benefits."" According to the group, even if the HHS secretary did not require abortion coverage, "federal courts would interpret the broadly worded mandatory categories of coverage to include abortion" (New York Times, 7/20).
News of the day
Brits Abroad Leave Depressed Friends At Home
New research reveals Brits prefer to rearrange or cancel their summer holiday than go with a friend who has mental illness. The British would prefer to go on their summer holiday with a friend who has a criminal record than go with a friend who has a mental health problem, a new survey as part of the Time to Change campaign [1] has found.
Oncology

The Risk Factors For Sporadic Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in China. Although the association between the epidemiological factors and sporadic colorectal cancer has been studied, the relation between smoking, alcohol drinking, family history of cancer, body mass index (BMI) and sporadic colorectal cancer still remains uncertain. So it is important to investigate the role of these factors in the development of sporadic colorectal cancer. A research team led by Professor Jian-Ping Wang from the Gastrointestinal Institute of Sun Yat-Sen University addressed this question. Their study was published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. They conducted a hospital-based case-control study from July 2002 to December 2008 in Guangzhou city. There were 706 cases and 723 controls with their sex and age (within 5 years) matched. An unconditional logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between smoking, alcohol drinking, family history of cancer, BMI and sporadic colorectal cancer. They found that current alcohol drinking and greater BMI (ò‰¥ 24.0 kg/m2) are the independent risk factors for colon and rectal cancer, while former alcohol drinking and positive family history of cancer are the independent risk factors for colon cancer in southern Chinese. Their findings may contribute to the prevention and control of sporadic colorectal cancer. However, because of the uncontrolled bias in selection participants and retrospective design, their findings need to be further evaluated in well-designed larger epidemiological studies with different ethnic populations. Reference: Wei YS, Lu JC, Wang L, Lan P, Zhao HJ, Pan ZZ, Huang J, Wang JP. Risk factors for sporadic colorectal cancer in southern Chinese. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15 (20): 2526-2530. Correspondence to: Jian-Ping Wang, Professor, MD, Gastrointestinal Institute of Sun Yat-Sen University, Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Yuancunerheng Road 26, Guangzhou 510655, Guangdong Province, China. Lai-Fu Li World Journal of Gastroenterology


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009