Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Spend About $2,500 a Year in Health Care Costs
While insulin comprises a big part of diabetes expenses for children and adults, diabetes-related supplies can cost even more.
From the Jun 1, 2020 University of Michigan Health Lab News Release
“
Adults and children with type 1 diabetes will spend an average of $2,500a year out-of-pocket for health care – but insulin isn’t always the biggest expense – new research suggests.
While out-of-pocket costs for insulin was substantial, it accounted for just 18% of total out-of-pocket expenses for health care, according to the findings in JAMA Internal Medicine.
In fact, insulin accounted for less out-of-pocket spending than diabetes-related supplies, such as insulin pumps, syringes and continuous glucose monitors.”
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Removing barriers to high-value care
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“Several states and insurers imposed monthly caps on these [out-of-pocket] costs [for insulin] earlier in 2020. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just announced that many elderly Medicare beneficiaries will soon pay no more than $35 for a one-month supply of insulin. “
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More at the news release
Help for paying for diabetes medicine and supplies
- Needymeds – Diabetes Assitance programs
Companies, organizations, nonprofits - Extra Help (sometimes called the Low-Income Subsidy, LIS)
Medicare Part D assistance through the US Social Security Administration - GoodRx
Compare prices
GoodRx collects prices & discounts from over 60,000 U.S. pharmaciesPrint free coupons – Or send coupons to your phone by email or text message - Patient Advocate Foundation – Co-pay Relief
Provides direct financial assistance to qualified patients, assisting them with prescription drug co-payments their insurance requires relative to their diagnosis
Above note working? I will search for you.
Email me at jmflahiff at yahoo
[Research Journal] PLAID – People Living with and Inspired by Diabetes
PLAID (People Living with and Inspired by Diabetes) is an open access, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research journal focused on people living with and inspired by diabetes.
Via an email from someone who subscribes to this blog. (Thank you for sharing news about this!)
PLAID: People Living with and Inspired by Diabetes. It is kind of unique in that it is trying to bridge the gap between physicians and patients. It is trying to get conversations started as well as provide access to new research in the diabetes community. Here is the link to its website: http://theplaidjournal.com/index.php/CoM
[News release] Onion extract may improve high blood sugar and cholesterol
From the 6 March 2015 EurkAlert
The extract of onion bulb, Allium cepa, strongly lowered high blood glucose (sugar) and total cholesterol levels in diabetic rats when given with the antidiabetic drug metformin, according to a new study. The study results will be presented Thursday at The Endocrine Society’s 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
“Onion is cheap and available and has been used as a nutritional supplement,” said lead investigator Anthony Ojieh, MBBS (MD), MSc, of Delta State University in Abraka, Nigeria. “It has the potential for use in treating patients with diabetes.”
…
Global Health: Time to Pay Attention to Chronic Diseases
From the 1 Ju;ly 2014 blog post
…While infectious diseases remain a significant problem in the developing world, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases are now among the fastest growing causes of death and disability around the globe. In fact, nearly three-quarters of the 38 million people who died of chronic diseases in 2012 lived in low- or middle-income countries [1].
…
The good news is that many NCDs can be prevented by making lifestyle changes, such as reducing salt intake for hypertension, stopping smoking for cancer and heart disease, or venting cookstove fumes for lung disease. Other NCDs can be averted or controlled by taking medications, such as statins for high cholesterol or metformin for diabetes.
Related articles
The Mediterranean Diet and Diabetes Prevention?
Does the Mediterranean Diet reduce the risk of developing diabetes type 2?
A new study published in theAnnals of Internal Medicinesuggests that it might. The Mediterranean Diet has been extensively studied for its health benefits which include reducing heart disease, cancer, dementia, hypertension and stroke risks.Researchers studied 3,541 men and women without diabetes who ranged in age from 55 – 80 years old. They were however, at a high risk for heart disease. All participants were assigned to either a Mediterranean diet with 50 ml of extra – virgin olive oil (EVOO), a Mediterranean diet with 30 grams of mixed nuts, or a low-fat diet each day. Those consuming the Mediterranean diets were counseled by dietitians. All participants were not told to reduce their calories or to increase exercise.
After 4 years of follow-up, it was determined that 273 of the patients had developed diabetes type 2. Of these, 101 were from the low-fat group; 80 were from the Mediterranean diet with extra EVOO and 92 were from the Mediterranean diet with extra nuts. There were only slight changes in body weight, waist circumference, and physical activity between the groups.
The authors concluded: Following a Mediterranean diet is “palatable and sustainable”, therefore it could have public health implications for the prevention of diabetes.
There is no one particular Mediterranean diet, but can include diets that emphasize increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, beans and fish while decreasing consumption of red meats, processed meats, butter and sweets. A previous post of mine graphically shows how to eat a more Mediterranean-type diet. Enjoy!!
Related articles
Large olive tree – Portugal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Does the Mediterranean Diet reduce the risk of developing diabetes type 2?
A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that it might. The Mediterranean Diet has been extensively studied for its health benefits which include reducing heart disease, cancer, dementia, hypertension and stroke risks.
Researchers studied 3,541 men and women without diabetes who ranged in age from 55 – 80 years old. They were however, at a high risk for heart disease. All participants were assigned to either a Mediterranean diet with 50 ml of extra – virgin olive oil (EVOO), a Mediterranean diet with 30 grams of mixed nuts, or a low-fat diet each day. Those consuming the Mediterranean diets were counseled by dietitians. All participants were not told to reduce their calories or to increase exercise.
After 4 years of follow-up, it was determined that 273…
View original post 122 more words
Recipes for folks with diabetes which are also good for us all!
Folks with diabetes are advised to plan ahead and ..
- Limiting foods that are high in sugar
- Eat smaller portions, spread out over the day
- Be careful about when and how many carbohydrates you eat
- Eat a variety of whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables every day
- Eat less fat
- Limit use of alcohol
- Use less salt
Sensible advice for just about everybody.
Also, a healthy diet and a health diet can prevent diabetes from developing.
Here’s a few good resources for planning healthy meals and healthy eating in general
- Diabetes – Meal Planning
(Patient Education Institute) Also available in Spanish
Tasty Recipes for People with Diabetes and Their Families(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – PDF Also available in Spanish
- MyFoodAdvisor(American Diabetes Association)
- Keep the Beat: Heart Healthy Recipes from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Related articles
[News article] Why is type 2 diabetes an increasing problem?
Why is type 2 diabetes an increasing problem?.
From the 14th January 2014 ScienceDaily article
Contrary to a common belief, researchers have shown that genetic regions associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes were unlikely to have been beneficial to people at stages through human evolution.
Type 2 diabetes is responsible for more than three million deaths each year and this number is increasing steadily. The harmful genetic variants associated with this common disease have not yet been eliminated by natural selection.
To try to explain why this is, geneticists have previously hypothesized that during times of ‘feast or famine’ throughout human evolution, people who had advantageous or ‘thrifty’ genes processed food more efficiently. But in the modern developed world with too much food, these same people would be more susceptible to type 2 diabetes.
“This thrifty gene theory is an attractive hypothesis to explain why natural selection hasn’t protected us against these harmful variants,” says Dr. Yali Xue, lead author of the study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. “But we find little or no evidence to corroborate this theory.”
…
Related articles
[Reblog] Physicians discuss willingness to write prescriptions for health apps
From the 18th January 2014 at Scope (published by Stanford Medicine)
The mobile health market is rapidly growing, and it’s estimated that within five years 50 percent of mobile device users will have downloaded mobile health apps. While past surveys haveshown that patients are eager for doctors to recommend such apps, it remains unclear if physicians feel comfortable prescribing them.
Over on MedPage Today, writer Kristina Fiore explores the potential of physicians prescribing health apps, such as BlueStar, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and helps patients monitor diabetes. Several of the clinicians contacted for the story said they are open to the idea, assuming that patients are comfortable using the app and that data shows the app to be effective. From the article:
Sue Kirkman, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said a prescription app could be helpful, but its usefulness may be limited in that the patients “who want the app and are willing to enter data and respond to prompts may already be the more proactive ones.”
Kirkman added that she hopes potential insurer reimbursement for apps opens the door wider to support of reimbursement for self-management tools such as contact with diabetes educators.
“Right now, pretty much only face-to-face visits are covered, not the ongoing contacts by phone, fax, email, etc., that are really needed to help someone sustain behavior changes and self-manage their diabetes optimally,” she said.
Previously: Text message reminders shown effective in boosting flu shot rates among pregnant women, Texts may help people with diabetes manage care, Why physicians should consider patients’ privacy before recommending health, fitness apps and Designing a mobile app to help patients and doctors identify personalized food triggers
Photo by Intel Free Press
Related articles
Will Docs Write Rx for Apps?[Medpage Today]
Doctors can now write scripts for the first prescription-only app — but the question remains whether they’ll pick up a prescription pad to write for mobile technology.
The app, BlueStar, is a tracker for patients with diabetes. It analyzes logged blood glucose data and offers advice based on trends it detects — such as telling patients to adjust their diets based on sugar levels after meals. Clinicians also receive a report on their patients’ progress.
Parent company WellDoc just won $20 million in venture financing for the app, and the company has a track record of success with online disease management tools and applications. WellDoc’s argument is that better blood sugar control will lead to better patients outcomes, and, thus, less spending on healthcare in the long run.
Read entire article here
[Reblog] How Medicaid affects adult health — Study: Health insurance helps lower-income Americans avoid depression, diabetes, major financial shocks | Full Text Reports…
From the 10 January 2014 Full Text Report
January 10, 2014How Medicaid affects adult health — Study: Health insurance helps lower-income Americans avoid depression, diabetes, major financial shocks
Source: New England Journal of Medicine (via MIT)Enrollment in Medicaid helps lower-income Americans overcome depression, get proper treatment for diabetes, and avoid catastrophic medical bills, but does not appear to reduce the prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to a new study with a unique approach to analyzing one of America’s major health-insurance programs.
The study, a randomized evaluation comparing health outcomes among more than 12,000 people in Oregon, employs the same research approach as a clinical trial, but applies it in a way that provides a window into the health outcomes of poor Americans who have been given the opportunity to get health insurance.
“What we found was that Medicaid significantly increased the probability of being diagnosed with diabetes, and being on diabetes medication,” says Amy Finkelstein, the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and, along with Katherine Baicker of Harvard University’s School of Public Health, the principal investigator for the study. “We find decreases in rates of depression, and we continue to find reduced financial hardship. However, we were unable to detect a decline in the incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.”
Related articles
Smoking changes our genes
From the 17 December 2013 ScienceDaily article
The fact that smoking means a considerable health risk is nowadays commonly accepted. New research findings from Uppsala University and Uppsala Clinical Research Center show that smoking alters several genes that can be associated with health problems for smokers, such as increased risk for cancer and diabetes.
We inherit our genes from our parents at birth. Later in life the genetic material can be changed by epigenetic modifications, i.e. chemical alterations of the DNA the affect the activity of the genes. Such alterations are normally caused by aging but can also result from environmental factors and lifestyle.
In a study recently published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics the researchers have examined how the genes are changed in smokers and users of non-smoke tobacco. They could identify a large number of genes that were altered in smokers but found no such effect of non-smoke tobacco.
…
t has been previously known that smokers have an increased risk of developing diabetes and many types of cancer, and have a reduced immune defence and lower sperm quality. The results from the study also showed that genes that increase the risk for cancer and diabetes, or are important for the immune response or sperm quality, are affected by smoking.
…..
Related articles
[Magazine article] 1 In 10 People in the World Will Have Diabetes By 2035
http://www.idf.org/diabetesatlas/data-visualisations
From the 14 November 2013 Time article By Charlotte Alter @charlottealter
The International Diabetes Federation released a report Thursday that said that 10% of the global population will have diabetes by 2035.
The report, which was released on International Diabetes Day, said that 382 million people will have diabetes by the end of this year, and that 592 million will be diabetic by 2035, CBS news reports. Many of those millions will be living in developing countries.
The IDF report also estimates that the percentage of diabetic Americans will jump from 8% to 11% by 2035. One person dies from diabetes every six seconds, which amounts to 1.5 million annual deaths.
…
IDF points out that the number of people with diabetes, especially the Type 2 form, has increased in every country. The number of total diabetes cases have increased 4.4 percent over the last two years, now affecting more than 5 percent of the global population.
“We haven’t seen any kind of stabilizing, any kind of reversal,” Leonor Guariguata, an epidemiologist and project coordinator for IDF’s Diabetes Atlas, said to Businessweek. “Diabetes continues to be a very big problem and is increasing even beyond previous projections.”
According to the report, despite better treatments and improving education strategies, the battle to protect people from diabetes and its complications “is being lost.”
Dr. Juliana Chan, a professor of medicine and therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the BBC that in China, she feels the rising rates of diabetes are due to different genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors not helped by the fact that the country is becoming modernized rapidly.
China had the highest total number of citizens with the disease, with an estimated 98.4 million to be diagnosed by the end of 2013.
“It is typically an ageing disease, but the data shows that the young and middle-aged are most vulnerable. It is prevalent in obese people but emerging data suggests that for lean people with diabetes the outcome can be worse,” she explained.
…
Read more: 10% of World Population Will Have Diabetes By 2035 | TIME.com http://healthland.time.com/2013/11/14/1-in-10-people-in-the-world-will-have-diabetes-by-2035/#ixzz2ko5oErTU
Related articles
- One in Ten People Could Suffer from Diabetes by 2035, Reveals Report (medindia.net)
- Diabetes: Asia’s ‘silent killer’ (bbc.co.uk)
Why Some Fats Are Worse Than Others
diagram of a human digestive system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From the 29 August 2012 article at Medical News Today
All dietary fats are not created equal. Some types of fats have been linked to ailments like heart disease and diabetes, while others, like those often found in plants and fish, have well documented health benefits.
So why do our bodies respond so destructively to some fats but not others?
A new hypothesis described in latest issue of The Quarterly Review of Biologysuggests the answer may lie in how different fats interact with the microbes in our guts. According to researchers from the University of New Mexico and Northwestern University, some fats may encourage the growth of harmful bacteria in the digestive system. Our bodies have evolved to recognize those fats and launch an immune response to preempt the impeding changes in harmful bacteria. The result is low-levelinflammation that, over the long term, causes chronic disease.
“Although the inflammatory effects of [fats] are well documented, it is less well appreciated that they also influence bacterial survival and proliferation in the gastrointestinal tract,” write the researchers, led by Joe Alcock, of the University of New Mexico Department of Emergency Medicine and VA Medical Center.
Some fats – mostly unsaturated fats – actually have strong antimicrobial properties. They react chemically with bacterial cell membranes, weakening them. “If you expose unsaturated fats on bacteria, the bacteria have a tendency to lyse. The combination of long chain unsaturated fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids, and innate host defenses like gastric acid and antimicrobial peptides, is particularly lethal to pathogenic bacteria,” Alcock said. Saturated fats on the other hand generally lack those antimicrobial properties, and in fact can provide a carbon source that bacteria need to grow and flourish….
Related articles
- Saturated Fats encourage the growth and invasiveness of harmful microbiota: Unsaturated fats – actually have strong antimicrobial properties (engineeringevil.com)
- Why Some Fats May Cause Heart Disease (personalliberty.com)
Coffee- some cons
While I am a coffee lover, presently the indulgence is only 2 cups a day.
Came across 2 items recently that have reinforced why I limit my intake.
In my humble opinion, it really is scientifically challenging to say if coffee is good or bad because there are so many chemicals in coffee, each with associated side effects…
The items…
10 Reasons to Quit Your Coffee! (by Mark Hyman, MD at HuffPost Healthy Living, 7/1/12)
(via Amy Croan, MPH who I follow on Twitter. She authors the blog To Your Health..).
Excerpts
While there are many controversies about coffee’s role in the prevention of Parkinson’s disease to breast cancer, I’m mostly interested in the conversation relating to its effect on blood sugar metabolism. If you have read my latest book, The Blood Sugar Solution, then you already know how insulin resistance and inflammation are at the core of modern-day chronic diseases….
Here are 10 reasons why:
- The caffeine in coffee increases catecholamines, your stress hormones. The stress response elicits cortisol and increases insulin. Insulin increases inflammation, and this makes you feel lousy.
- Habituation to caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity, making it difficult for your cells to respond appropriately to blood sugar. High blood sugar levels lead to arterial deterioration and increased risk of mortality related to cardiovascular disease.
- Unfiltered coffee has the highest amount of beneficial antioxidants yet also leaks the most diterpenes into your system. These diterpenes have been linked to higher levels of triglycerides, LDL and VLDL levels.
- The helpful chlorogenic acids that may delay glucose absorption in the intestine have also been shown to increase homocysteine levels — an indicator for increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which tends to be elevated in diabesity.
- The acidity of coffee is associated with digestive discomfort, indigestion, heart burn, GERD and dysbiosis (imbalances in your gut flora).
- Addiction is often an issue with coffee drinkers and makes it really difficult to rely on the body’s natural source of energy. Ask any coffee drinker about how it feels to withdraw from coffee, and you will mistake their story for that of a drug addict’s…
- Associative addictions trend with coffee — who doesn’t immediately think of warm, frothy sweet cream and sugar when they picture coffee? Surely the business of coffee has inspired a culture addicted to the sugary, fatty tastes of what has become more of a meal than a drink! That morning latte is the epitome of food lacking nutrition density yet packing energy!
- 5-HIA, an organic acid and component of the neurotransmitter serotonin (the happy chemical) seen in the urine tends to be elevated in coffee drinkers, which means they may be at risk for lower levels of serotonin synthesis in the brain. Serotonin is necessary for normal sleep, bowel function, mood, and energy levels. It is a vicious cycle, as caffeine can disrupt sleep and promote anxiety and depression. We all know someone who tends to be tired, wired and over-caffeinated!
- Elevated urinary excretion of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium have been noted in coffee drinkers. An imbalance in your electrolyte status can lead to serious systemic complications.Constituents in coffee can interfere with normal drug metabolism and detoxification in the liver, making it difficult to regulate the normal detoxification process in the liver.
- Another issue to be aware of with coffee intake is how certain medications such as levothyroxine (thyroid) as well as tricyclic antidepressants are poorly absorbed, making symptoms curiously worse for patients.
As long as news keeps cranking coffee benefit stories, we’ll keep commenting on them (HealthNewsReview.org*** 7/2/2012)
Excerpts
CAFFEINE LINKED TO LOWER SKIN CANCER RISK – ABC NEWS
CAFFEINE IN COFFEE MAY HELP LOWER RISK OF SKIN CANCER – Fox News
Addendum on July 4:
None of these stories mentioned anything about:
- this was an observational study
- it showed a statistical association – not cause-and-effect
And the Fox and CNN stories didn’t have any independent perspective – only the researcher/author touting the study’s importance.
But the sun shines on HealthDay today because it included this simple and effective reminder:
“While the study uncovered an association between greater caffeine consumption and reduced risk of basal cell cancer, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.”
As always, we remind journalists and news consumers of our primer: Does The Language Fit The Evidence? – Association Versus Causation
Here are just some of our past blog posts about news coverage of supposed health benefits of coffee:
Coffee clichés and the tired old trend on observational study stories
Another coffee observational study – another round of misplaced emphasis
Story whips up confusion over coffee and breast cancer risk – hurts more than helps
Coffee & prostate cancer: Some news reports got it right. Others….
Coffee & stroke: what the study didn’t prove and what some stories got wrong
Another day, another slew of misleading media messages on observational study
CBS is wrong on coffee “lowering risk” of uterine cancer
Silly, unsupported headlines on coffee-tea & MRSA
Prevention Magazine: we said we’d be watching you and we are!
Wisdom of the crowds: news consumers tired of misinterpreted observational studies
**HealthNewsReview.org provides independent reviews of health stories which are based on high journalism standards of accuracy, completeness and balance. (See their toolkit for tips on how to understand studies, evaluate claims, analyze news coverage, and more)
English: A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto: Taso de kafo. Français : Photo d’une tasse de caffé Español: Taza de café (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Related articles
- Caffeinated Coffee May Lead to Vison Loss (medicalnewstoday.com)
- Drinking Coffee: More Good Than Harm? (medicalnewstoday.com)
- Does Caffeine Help You Live Longer? (everydayhealth.com)
- Are there health benefits in consuming coffee? (thehindu.com)
- Grounds for celebration (smh.com.au)
- Coffee gets better and better (toledoblade.com)
- Three daily cups of caffeinated coffee tied to 17% drop in risk for common skin cancer (cbsnews.com)
- Coffee could cut skin cancer risk (thechart.blogs.cnn.com)
- The Potential Cancer-Fighting Benefit Of Coffee (huffingtonpost.com)
- Caffeine Linked To Lower Skin Cancer Risk (science.slashdot.org)
- Caffeine may reduce risk of skin cancer: report (news.yahoo.com)
- The Case for Coffee: All the Latest Research to Defend Your Caffeine Addiction, in One Place (theatlantic.com)
- Bust out the coffee and chocolate – caffeine may help prevent skin cancer (eatocracy.cnn.com)
- Coffee, Tea and Bad Conduct (nlm.nih.gov)
- Coffee drinkers reassured about health risks (cbc.ca)
- FAQ about coffee, longevity, sugar and stupidity. And also vampires. (fox13now.com)
- Lowcountry Blend can enhance your workout! (sunocobeanteam.wordpress.com)
- The Blog Post That Starbucks Doesn’t Want You to Read (onehealthygirl.com)
- HealthWise: Why energy drinks starve your brain (gatestec.wordpress.com)
- Kick the Caffeine Craving (massageenvy.com)
- Coffee pros and cons (therealfoodchannel.com)
- 10 Coffee Myths You Think Are True (gabrielcatalano.com)
Dentists Could Screen 20 Million Americans For Chronic Physical Illnesses
From a December 2011 press release of New York University
An Opportunity to Identify Diabetes, Hypertension, and Other Chronic Diseases
Nearly 20 million Americans annually visit a dentist but not a general healthcare provider, according to an NYU study published today in the American Journal of Public Health.
The study, conducted by a nursing-dental research team at NYU, is the first of its kind to determine the proportion of Americans who are seen annually by a dentist but not by a general healthcare provider.
This finding suggests dentists can play a crucial role as health care practitioners in the front-line defense of identifying systemic disease which would otherwise go undetected in a significant portion of the population, say the researchers.
“For these and other individuals, dental professionals are in a key position to assess and detect oral signs and symptoms of systemic health disorders that may otherwise go unnoticed, and to refer patients for follow-up care,” said Dr. Shiela Strauss, an associate professor of nursing at the NYU College of Nursing and co-director of the statistics and data management core for NYU’s Colleges of Nursing and Dentistry.
During the course of a routine dental examination, dentists and dental hygienists, as trained healthcare providers, can take a patient’s health history, check blood pressure, and use direct clinical observation and X-rays to detect risk for systemic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. ……
Related articles
- Barbers: Cut, Shave, Lower Your Blood Pressure (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
- Dentists Could Screen 20 Million Americans For Chronic Physical Illnesses (medicalnewstoday.com)
Soda’s Evil Twin – The Dangers of Fruit Drinks (Infographic) [With Added Item on Environmental Degradation by Soda Manufacturer Processes]
From Jen Rs Web page (Twitter: jenicarhee)
Related articles
- [Environmenal effects of soda drink manufacturing overseas]
From the January 2012 newsletter item by the Mt. St. Agnes Theological Center for Women
Green NotesBad news for soft drink lovers…You might believe that your daily cola fix only poses a threat to your diet but, depending on your brand of choice, you could be terribly wrong. As major soft drink manufactures move their bottling plants over seas and into the developing world, many are engaging in irresponsible behaviors that harm the local environment and communities dependent on it.
Coca-Cola stands out as the worst offender, particularly in India. In the last decade, tens of thousands of farmers and their families have lost their livelihoods as Coca-Cola’s activities have dried out their wells and poisoned any alternate local water sources. The company has peddled potentially toxic product containing elevated levels of dangerous pesticides in drinks sold in India. The dangerous pesticides include DDT, Lindane, and Malathion. PepsiCo’s activities in India have been only marginally better. India’s parliament has banned Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products from all of its cafeterias and, as of 2007, ten thousand of its schools and colleges have followed suit.
In support of India’s efforts to force responsible practices from the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo corporations, our Center will no longer purchase or serve soft drinks from these companies. We hope you will do the same. For more information regarding the on-going protest movement against Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, check outwww.cokejustice.org andwww.indiaresource.org/news/2010/1044.html, or refer to Paul Hawken’s book, Blessed Unrest, which our Center will be discussing this April.
- Soda Has An Evil Twin, And His Name Is Fruit Drink! [Infographic] (jack.radio.com)
- How many lives could a soda tax save?
- Despite industry promises, Yale study finds unprecedented marketing of sugary drinks to youth (Robert Woods Foundation)
- The Dangers of Fruit Drinks: Soda’s Evil Twin (INFOGRAPHIC) (blippitt.com)
- Giving Up On Sugar? (foodworksblog.wordpress.com)
- 2 sugary drinks a day can boost heart disease, diabetes risk in women (news.bioscholar.com)
- Sugar-sweetened beverages may increase cardiovascular risk in women (eurekalert.org)
- Misleading Statistical Information in Ads: A Drug Ad Analyzed and Related Evaluation Resources (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
- Misleading information on health social sites (and tips on how to evaluate health/medical information) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
- Ethical Implications of the Use of Data and Statistics (lynnmunoz.wordpress.com)
- Information Designers (fusionfinds.wordpress.com)
- What are video infographics? (marketing.yell.com)
Global Obesity Pandemic – Lancet articles & related articles (including press coverage)
From the 26 August edition of The Lancet
This four-part Series critically examines what we know about the global obesity pandemic: its drivers, its economic and health burden, the physiology behind weight control and maintenance, and what science tells us about the kind of actions that are needed to change our obesogenic environment and reverse the current tsunami of risk factors for chronic diseases in future generations. …
Series Papers**The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environmentsBoyd A Swinburn, Gary Sacks, Kevin D Hall, Klim McPherson, Diane T Finegood, Marjory L Moodie, Steven L GortmakerHealth and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UKY Claire Wang, Klim McPherson, Tim Marsh, Steven L Gortmaker, Martin BrownQuantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweightKevin D Hall, Gary Sacks, Dhruva Chandramohan, Carson C Chow, Y Claire Wang, Steven L Gortmaker, Boyd A SwinburnChanging the future of obesity: science, policy, and actionSteven L Gortmaker, Boyd A Swinburn, David Levy, Rob Carter, Patricia L Mabry, Diane T Finegood, Terry Huang, Tim Marsh, Marjory L Moodie
Related articles
- Half of UK men could be obese by 2030 (guardian.co.uk)
- Government-led efforts targeting eating habits of children needed to curb worldwide obesity epidemic (eurekalert.org)
- The diabetes pandemic: 1 in 4 US adults now has diabetes (casesblog.blogspot.com)
- Obesity deterrents by governments called for (cbc.ca)
- Shocking report says half of Americans will be obese by 2030 (cbsnews.com)
Cell Phones Can Help Under-Developed Countries Manage Diabetes And Other Diseases
From a 17 May 2011 Medical News Today article
A new study by the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan suggests that mobile phones could help low-income patients across the globe manage diabetes and other chronic diseases. ..
…For this study, researchers took advantage of the broad penetration of cell phones in Latin America and paired them with low-cost internet-based phone calls. The service used a cloud computing approach so that the program can be provided from a central location to low income countries around the globe that lack a strong technological infrastructure.
To test the service, the researchers enrolled patients with diabetes from a clinic in a semi-rural area of Honduras. Patients received weekly, automated, interactive phone calls and overwhelmingly reported that the program helped them to improve their diabetes management and general health.
Over the six-week study, researchers saw a clinically important improvement in patients’ hemoglobin A1C, a measure of blood sugar control. The results are forthcoming in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. ….
Pediatrics Professor Calls Sugar Toxic in a Heavily Viewed 2009 YouTube Lecture
Excerpts from a 13 April 2011 New York Times article
On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology….
..by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”….
…The fructose component of sugar and H.F.C.S. is metabolized primarily by the liver, while the glucose from sugar and starches is metabolized by every cell in the body. Consuming sugar (fructose and glucose) means more work for the liver than if you consumed the same number of calories of starch (glucose). And if you take that sugar in liquid form — soda or fruit juices — the fructose and glucose will hit the liver more quickly than if you consume them, say, in an apple (or several apples, to get what researchers would call the equivalent dose of sugar). The speed with which the liver has to do its work will also affect how it metabolizes the fructose and glucose….
..If Lustig is right, then our excessive consumption of sugar is the primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have skyrocketed in the past 30 years. But his argument implies more than that. If Lustig is right, it would mean that sugar is also the likely dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be diseases of Western lifestyles — heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers among them….
This long article goes on to explain how it is believed that an excessive sugar intake leads to fatty livers and accompanying metabolic syndrome. The body, in its inability to use naturally produced insulin, sets the stage for diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer.
Related resources and articles
- Sugar and Health: Interview with UCSF professor Robert Lustig (kqed.org)
- High-fructose corn syrup: What are the health concerns? (Mayo Health)
- Dietary, lifestyle changes can significantly reduce triglycerides (American Heart Association)
- Sugar-sweetened drinks associated with higher blood pressure (American Heart Association)
- Does high-fructose corn syrup have the same affect on the body as regular sugar? (Medpedia answers)
Proteomics Research Heading Towards Personalized Treatments For Cancer, Diabetes And Inflammatory Diseases
NeoProteomics Inc., a biomarker development and software company, has secured an exclusive option agreement with Case Western Reserve University. The deal has potential to enhance various forms of treatment of cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases. Proteomics is the scientific next step in vital research of protein structures of biological systems. NeoProteomics, founded in 2006 in Cleveland near Case Western Reserve’s School of Medicine, focuses on biomarker identification and validation and seeks to spearhead the development of unique and improved analysis tools…..
Related Articles
New research suggests that obesity and diabetes are a downside of human evolution
New research suggests that obesity and diabetes are a downside of human evolution
New research in the FASEB Journal suggests that a gene called CMAH has been lost during the course of recent evolution, and may lead to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in humans
From the February 25 2011 Eureka news alert
As if the recent prediction that half of all Americans will have diabetes or pre-diabetes by the year 2020 isn’t alarming enough, a new genetic discovery published online in the FASEB Journal. *** provides a disturbing explanation as to why: we took an evolutionary “wrong turn.” In the research report, scientists show that human evolution leading to the loss of function in a gene called “CMAH” may make humans more prone to obesity and diabetes than other mammals.
“Diabetes is estimated to affect over 25 million individuals in the U.S., and 285 million people worldwide,” said Jane J. Kim, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, CA. “Our study for the first time links human-specific sialic acid changes to insulin and glucose metabolism and therefore opens up a new perspective in understanding the causes of diabetes.”
In this study, which is the first to examine the effect of a human-specific CMAH genetic mutation in obesity-related metabolism and diabetes, Kim and colleagues show that the loss of CMAH’s function contributes to the failure of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in overweight humans, which is known to be a key factor in the development of type 2 diabetes. This gene encodes for an enzyme present in all mammalian species except for humans and adds a single oxygen atom to sialic acids, which are sugars that coat the cell surface.
To make their discovery, the researchers used two groups of mice. The first group had the same mutant CMAH gene found in humans. These mice demonstrated that the CMAH enzyme was inactive and could not produce a sialic acid type called NeuSGc at the cell surface. The second group had a normal CMAH gene. When exposed to a high fat diet, both sets of mice developed insulin resistance as a result of their obesity. Pancreatic beta cell failure, however, occurred only in the CMAH mutant mice that lacked NeuSGc, resulting in a decreased insulin production, which then further impaired blood glucose level control. This discovery may enhance scientific understanding of why humans may be particularly prone to develop type 2 diabetes. Results may also suggest that conventional animal models may not accurately mirror the human situation.
“The diabetes discovery is an important advance in its own right. It tells us a lot about what goes wrong in diabetes, and where to aim with new treatments,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal, “but its implications for human evolution are even greater. If this enzyme is unique to humans, it must also have given us a survival advantage over earlier species. Now the challenge is to find the function of CMAH in defending us against microbes or environmental stress or both. This evolutionary science explains how we can win some and lose some, to keep our species ahead of the extinction curve.”
**For suggestions on how to get this article for free or at low cost click here
Related articles and Web sites
Related Articles
- Food Processing and Obesity (education.com)
- How Can an Unhealthy Diet Cause Diabetes? (brighthub.com)
- Diabetes (MedlinePlus) has links to overviews, basic information, health check tools, research findings, reference materials, and more
CDC Releases Estimates of Rates of Leisure-Time Physical Inactivity for all U.S. Counties
CDC Releases Estimates of Rates of Leisure-Time Physical Inactivity for
all U.S. Counties
County-Level Map for Leisure-Time Physical Inactivity, 2008
Estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Americans who live in parts of Appalachia and the South are the least likely to be physically active in their leisure time, and residents who are most likely to be active in their free time are from the West
Coast, Colorado, Minnesota and parts of the Northeast.
The 2004-2008 estimates, posted online at http://cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/inactivity.htm provide county-level estimates for leisure-time physical inactivity for all U.S.
Quality varies in social networking websites for diabetics
Quality varies in social networking websites for diabetics
Researchers make recommendations for improving sites, provide safety tips for users
From the February 8, 2011 Eureka news alert
Boston, Mass. – Nearly one-half of U.S. adults who use the Internet participate in social networks. While these increasingly include health-focused networks, not much is known about their quality and safety. In one of the first formal studies of social networking websites targeting patients, researchers in the Children’s Hospital Boston Informatics Program performed an in-depth evaluation of ten diabetes websites.
Their audit found large variations in quality and safety across sites, with room for improvement across the board. As reported online January 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association***, only 50 percent of the sites presented content consistent with diabetes science and clinical practice. Even fewer offered both scientific accuracy and patient protections such as safeguarding of personal health information, effective internal and external review processes and appropriate advertising.
For instance, seven of the ten sites did not allow members to restrict the visibility of their profiles. Five carried advertisements that were not labeled as such. And three sites went as far as to advertise unfounded “cures.”
“We saw that people are sharing incredible amounts of personal health information on these sites, including highly identifiable information,” says Elissa Weitzman, ScD, MSc, lead author on the study and an assistant professor in the laboratory of Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH. “They are eager to accelerate their understanding of the disease, obtain support, find treatments and see if their experience is common or different.”
“There is on the one hand an enormous focus in the U.S. on health information privacy,” Mandl adds. “But privacy in a social network is somewhat of an oxymoron. On the whole, these networks tend to be about exposing your information online.”
The team evaluated diabetes websites that appeared prominently in Google searches and allowed members to create personal profiles and interact with each other. They looked at four key factors:
- agreement of content with diabetes science and clinical practice standards,
- practices for auditing content and supporting transparency,
- accessibility and readability of privacy policies, and
- the degree of control members had over the sharing of personal data.
The average number of members per website was 6,707. Activity ranged widely among the sites, from over 100 new posts per day to less than 5 new posts per day.
The majority of sites studied did not include a “disclaimer” encouraging patients to discuss their care regimen with a healthcare provider. Many sites also missed opportunities to communicate essential diabetes information, such as the definition of “A1c”—a biomarker commonly used by diabetics to access blood glucose levels.
In addition to recommending improvements in these areas, the authors saw a need for increased moderation, for the credentials of moderators to be more visible and for periodic external review. Further, potential conflicts of interest—such as ties to the pharmaceutical industry—needed to be more clearly disclosed, and privacy policies easier to understand.
Diabetes is only one illness in the rapidly growing list for which there are online social networks with thousands of users. The researchers chose to study diabetes-related networks because they were among the earliest to emerge and remain among the most active. They and colleagues in the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program are further studying how these sites are used—how people choose to interact with them and how specifically they share their medical information. Last year, Mandl and Weitzman developed an application for the social networking website TuDiabetes that allows users to submit their A1c levels to be displayed in a worldwide map, as part of an effort to encourage diabetes management and inform public health efforts and research.
The two believe that the emergence of online health communities and their large number of participants reveal unmet needs for information and support of patients and families. “Social networking activity is clearly replacing or adding value that is missing in the standard healthcare system,” Mandl says.
“We sought to jump start a conversation about how to balance patients’ safety with their autonomy,” Weitzman says, “as we’re in an era where terrific levels of healthcare communication are happening outside of the usual channels.”
While the names of the 9 sites were not mentioned, the tables nicely summarized the extensive research done in the study.
The variables in the tables are valuable guide in determining if a social networking site provides good information, respects privacy, refers to users to health care professionals, is influenced by advertising, and more.
Below are the abbreviated tables
Table 1 Alignment of centralized content with diabetes science and clinical practice recommendations
Medical Alignment
1.Recommendation or ‘disclaimer’ to discuss regimen with healthcare provider
Clear central definitions, consistent with care standards
HbA1c
Prediabetes
2.Clear central information on clinical-practice recommendations
Routine checkups
Annual eye exams
3. Biannual HbA1c
4. Yearly flu vaccination
5. Annual lipid profile
6. Smoking cessation
Table 2 Safety practices for auditing content and supporting transparency and moderation of content
Quality of Information
External checks on editorial content
Evidence of outside audit of site content
Link to diabetes association on home page
Internal checks on user-generated content
Some form of forum moderation present
No of moderators available clearly marked
Credentials of moderators clearly stated
Evidence of professionally accredited moderators
Free of member-posted misinformation about a ‘cure’
Advertising content
Free of pharmaceutical advertising on home page
Clear distinction between editorial and advertising content
Free of deceptive advertising of ‘cure’ on site
*** For suggestions on how to get this article for free or at low cost click here.
For general guides to evaluating Web sites for health/medical information, try these
- Evaluating Internet health information (Penn State)
- Evaluating Medical Research Findings and Clinical Trials (Family Caregiver Alliance)
- A Consumer’s Guide to Taking Charge of Health Information (Harvard Center for Risk Alliance)
- Evaluating Health Information on the Internet (National Cancer Institute)
- Quackwatch: Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions (Stephen Barrett, M.D.)
Radiation Oncology Patient Web Site earns Web Health Award
From the December 15, 2010 Eureka news alert
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has received a 2010 Web Health Award for its patient-geared website, www.rtanswers.org.
The Web Health Awards is a national competition that recognizes high-quality electronic health information. Over 500 entries were submitted for the 2010 competition from a variety of health care professionals nationwide. The winners were selected by a panel of national electronic health information experts. [A complete listing of the winners may be found here ]
This year, ASTRO received a bronze award for RT Answers, a site designed specifically for cancer patients and their families, friends and caregivers. RT Answers began in 2004 as a way to explain to cancer patients and their families and friends how radiation therapy is used to treat cancer safely and effectively. Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be frightening and confusing, so physicians and other members of the radiation therapy treatment team created RT Answers as a one-stop site where patients can receive radiation therapy information.
Here are some highlights from the RT Answers Web site
- Online dictionary of words people may hear during their treatment
- Treatment information , including
- What to expect before, during, and after treatment
- Facts about cancer types most commonly treated with radiation as breast cancer and lung cancer
- Descriptions of members of the treatment team as radiation oncologists and dosimetrist
- Treatment types as External Beam Radiation Therapy
- Side Effects
Among other winners in the medical/health care fields for Summer 2010
(Flahiff’s note: I was disappointed in a few awardee sites [not listed below] some had pages with no content, some did not have an about page; keep in mind there is an entry fee of $58.00 for submissions)
- The Recovery Month (US Health and Human Services)”aims to promote the societal benefits of alcohol and drug use disorder treatment, laud the contributions of treatment providers, and promote the message that recovery from alcohol and drug disorders in all its forms is possible.”
Includes Recovery Resources for the public (they are also on Facebook, YouTube,and Twitter) - Home Safety Council has information on how to maintain a safe home in formats as fact sheets, guides, quizzes, videos, and interactive media
- Iowa Health System has links to health information (as an online health library and health videos) and a newsroom (with health care reform summaries)
- National Diabetes Education Program includes publications, resources, and fact sheets. One may do a tailored search with drop down menus (age, ethnicity, language, and diabetes status)
“Summaries for Patients” and other plain language summaries help patients and others understand medical studies and guidelines
Heard or read about research on a medical topic but not sure if the news is reliable? Looking for trusted information on a treatment or drug carefully reviewed by experts? Do scientific articles seem to contain good information, but they are hard to understand?
Not sure where to go next? You are not alone.
These plain language summaries are great places to start for medical and health information that has been rewritten for those of us who are not scientists or health care professionals. Much of the information is free, and often there are great links to reliable Web pages for additional information.
- Summaries for Patients are short plain language summaries of medical research and guides for doctors.
- Discover how researchers did the published study and what they found, including
- What the problem was and why it is studied
- Who was studied and why the study was done
- What the scientists found and what the limits of the study were
- Find overviews about clinical guidelines -official recommendations for doctors in treating patients
To locate a specific summary
- Go to Patient Information
- Follow the directions under the Summaries for Patients heading
- patientINFORM plain language summary Web sites are provided only by participating science and medicine publishers.
These summaries are provided to help patients or their caregivers more fully understand research results. They also provide links to the full text of many research articles.
Some full text articles are free. Others require a reduce-fee payment (much less than ordering from the publisher!).
(Always check to see if you can get the article for free or at even lower cost from your area public, medical, or academic library – most libraries will try to help anyone who contacts them directly)
Cochrane Summariesbeta
Independent high-quality evidence for health care decision making
- Cochrane Collaboration provides well researched reviews of the strongest evidence available about healthcare interventions (as drugs, medical tests, and medical procedures). Every available treatment/test has not yet been reviewed. However each review is conducted in depth by experts.
To find plain language and audio summaries of Cochrane Reviews
- Go to the Cochrane Reviews Home page and scroll down to Browse Free Summaries
- Click on a topic OR scroll down and click on All Summaries
- The All Summaries page will allow you to
- Search by entering words and short phrases (as headache, multiple sclerosis drugs, asthma acupuncture
- Browse by Health Topics (left column)
- Include only these in the search results
- Podcasts – audio summaries
- PEARLS – guidance and advice for real time decisions
Related Blog Items
- How to read a research paper (and also understand medical/health news items)
- HealthNewsReview.org – Independent Expert Reviews of News Stories (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
Cannot find a plain language summary with the above resources?
Consider asking a reference librarian for help at your local public, academic, or hospital library. Many academic and hospital libraries provide at least limited reference service to the public.
Call or email them for information about their services.
You may also contact me at jmflahiff@msncom. I will do my best to reply within 48 hours.
Number of Americans with Diabetes Projected to Double or Triple by 2050
Older, more diverse population and longer lifespans contribute to increase
As many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Excerpts from the press release
As many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One in 10 U.S. adults has diabetes now. The prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years due to an aging population more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, increases in minority groupsthat are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, and people with diabetes living longer, according to CDC projections published in the journal Population Health Metrics. Because the study factored in aging, minority populations and lifespan, the projections are higher than previous estimates.
The report predicts that the number of new diabetes cases each year will increase from 8 per 1,000 people in 2008, to 15 per 1,000 in 2050.
The report estimates that the number of Americans with diabetes will range from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 by 2050. That range reflects differing assumptions about how many people will develop diabetes, and how long they will live after developing the disease.
“These are alarming numbers that show how critical it is to change the course of type 2 diabetes,” saidAnn Albright, PhD, RD, director of CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation. “Successful programs to improve lifestyle choices on healthy eating and physical activity must be made more widely available, because the stakes are too high and the personal toll too devastating to fail.”
Proper diet and physical activity can reduce the risk of diabetes and help to control the condition in people with diabetes. Effective prevention programs directed at groups at high risk of type 2 diabetes can considerably reduce future increases in diabetes prevalence, but will not eliminate them, the report says…..
…..For information about diabetes visit www.cdc.gov/diabetes or the National Diabetes Education Program at www.yourdiabetesinfo.org. For a full copy of the report, visithttp://www.pophealthmetrics.com/content/8/1/29.
Mediterranean Diet May Trim Diabetes Risk
From a Reuters Health Information press release (October 14, 2010)
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Older adults who stick with a traditional Mediterranean diet rich in plant-based fats may help lower their risk of type 2 diabetes — even without counting calories or shedding weight, new research hints.
In a study of 418 older Spanish adults, researchers found that those instructed to follow a Mediterranean diet were less likely to develop diabetes over four years than those instructed to follow a low-fat diet — about 10 percent developed the disease, versus 18 percent in the low-fat group. And weight loss did not appear necessary to gain the benefit.
The findings, reported in the journal Diabetes Care, may sound too good to be true.
But they back up previous work by the same researchers showing that the Mediterranean diet, even without weight loss, appeared to curb the risk of metabolic syndrome — a collection of risk factors for diabetes that includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar and triglycerides.
However, even if the eating pattern brings benefits in the absence of weight loss, that does not negate the importance of regular exercise or calorie-consciousness, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association told Reuters Health.
For further information on diabetes, consider starting with the MedlinePlus topic Diabetes
For further information on the Mediterranean diet, consider starting with the Mayo Clinic Web page Mediterranean diet: Choose this heart-healthy diet option and the American Heart Association Web page Mediterranean diet.
Remember, consult with your (state licensed) health care practitioners if you have any health concerns, including diet changes.
About
This blog presents a sampling of health and medical news and resources for all. Selected articles and resources will hopefully be of general interest but will also encourage further reading through posted references and other links. Currently I am focusing on public health, basic and applied research and very broadly on disease and healthy lifestyle topics.
Several times a month I will post items on international and global health issues. My Peace Corps Liberia experience (1980-81) has formed me as a global citizen in many ways and has challenged me to think of health and other topics in a more holistic manner.
Do you have an informational question in the health/medical area?
Email me at jmflahiff@yahoo.com
I will reply within 48 hours.
This blog is a companion site to my Health and Medical News and Resources Web site with…
- Great places to start (locating health information)
- Links to help from others (as health care providers and support groups)
- Interactive tools (as health calculators and apps)
- Select related news sites and blogs
My professional work experience and education includes over 15 years experience as a medical librarian and a Master’s in Library Science. In my most recent position I enjoyed contributing to our library’s blog, performing in depth literature searches, and collaborating with faculty, staff, students, and the general public.
While I will never be be able to keep up with the universe of current health/medical news, I subscribe to the following to glean entries for this blog.
- Science Daily – Your source for the latest research news
- MedlinePlus email updates from the US National Institutes of Health
- Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce – a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries
- US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) news now with updates on the agency’s efforts to “improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans”
- Research Buzz, “news about search engines, digital archives, online museums, databases, and other Internet information collections since 1998”
- Scout Report, a “weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators”
- KevinMD.com -“Social Media’s leading physician voice”
- EurekAlert-Medicine and Health
Health and Medical News and Resources 
