New Nutritional Labels Change Presentations On Serving Size, Added Sugar, Vitamin D and Potassium

Nutrition Labels Getting A Makeover by Jacque Wilson and Jen Christensen.  CNN.  February 27, 2014.

Four Biomarkers Associated With Death Within Five Years Identified

A Blood Test To Predict Imminent Death?  Would You Want To Take It?  by Melissa Healy.  The Los Angeles Times.

The article identifies the specific lipids, proteins and metabolities circulating in the blood.

Hand Sanitizer At Every Point Of Care Lacking In 20% Of Hospitals

1-In-5 Hospitals Don't Make Hand Sanitizer Available.  UPI.  February 28, 2014.

The study looked at compliance with the World Health Organization hand hygiene guidelines.

Plastic Surgery Trends: What's Up And What's Down

Necks, Butts Growth Areas For U.S. Plastic Surgeons by Mary Elizabeth Dallas.  Philly.com.  February 26, 2014.

Labiaplasty and Buttock Augmentation Show Marked Increase In Popularity.  The American Society For Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.  February 25, 2014.

Among the trends:  Butt augmentation procedures are up 16 percent from 2012.

Georgia Governor's "Outside The Box" Thinking On Cutting Hospital Expenses for Care For Sick Poor; Eliminate Requirement For ER Service

Time To Change The Rules On ERS, Deal Says by Greg Bluestein and Carrie Teegarden.  Tuesday February 25, 2014.  This article is available only with online subscription or in the physical newspaper.

Georgia's Deal:  Tighten ER Access by Steve Benen.  MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show.  February 26, 2014.

Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Jason Carter Responds To Healthcare Concerns

Carter:  "Reduce The Size Of Our Uninsured Population" by Andy Miller and Charles Craig.  Georgia Health News.

When Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's interview with Georgia Health News is published a link will be found here.

Keeping Your Balance: A Key To Health As You Get Older

Boost Your Balance;  Avoid Falls by Angela Chen.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 24, 2014.

Provides some  personal assessment methods as well as exercises that, in improving balance, will tend to preserve in old age.

Symptoms With Uncertain Cause Pose dilemmas For Doctors

Mystery Medical Symptoms Hit A surprising Number Of Patients by Andrea Peterson.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 24, 2014.

Interesting article that among other things addresses how to deal with the psychological dimensions of symptoms that have many have uncertain or apparently no cause.

Risk Maps Correlate Environmental, Health Data For Epidemic Early Warning

Early Warning System For Epidemics:  Risk Map Correlates Environmental Health Data.  Science Daily.  February 21, 2014.

(1)  Long-term there is the possibility that personalized risk maps could be established warning an individual whenever ________________________________.

8 Trends In The Changing Health Care World

The Changing Health Care World:  Trends To Watch In 2014 by Susan DeVore.  Health Affairs Blog.  February 10, 2014.

These trends are also summarize here.

Expansion of Medicaid Via "Private Option" Poses Funding Threat For Community Health Centers That Serve Poor

Health Centers See Threat From 'Private Option' Medicaid by Phil Galewitz.  Kaiser Health News.  February 21, 2014.

(1)  A private insurance option for Medicaid may pay community health centers far less thn they have received from __________________.

(2)  Federal law at present requires that community health centers be paid in relation to ------------_________________________.

(3)  From the perspective of health centers, they believe that they need higher reimbursements than private physicians because they will _______________________________________________.

(4)  The experience of Massachusetts suggest that many community health clinic patients will ______________________________ because they ________________________________.

Fourth Georgia Hospital Shuts Down As The State Continues To Refuse Medicaid Expansion

Fourth Georgia Hospital Shuts Down As The State Continues To Refuse Medicaid Expansion by Sy Mukherjee.  Think Progress.  February 18, 2014.

(1)  An increasing number of hospitals that serve poor and uninsured Americans are being forced to close in states which are _____________________________________.

(2)  About __________________ people in Wheeler County, where the latest hospital is shutting down are uninsured with over ________ percent of children in that county living in poverty.

(3)  Approximately __________________ working poor who live in states refusing Obamacare's Medicaid expansion will fall into a coverage gap due to states' refusal to expand Medicaid.  

(4)  Nearly _____________ Georgians fall in this coverage gap.

Evidence Grows That Sitting Is An Independent Risk Factor For Disability; Amount Of Time Spent Sitting Increases Risk No Matter The Time In Moderate Exercise

Dangers of .... Sitting?  Regardless Of Exercise, Too Much Sedentary Time Is Linked To Major Disability After 60.  Northwestern University.  February 19, 2014.

(1)  True or False:  This study proves that sedentary behavior causes disability.

(2)  True or False:  "(The study) draws attention to the face that this is a _________ problem."

(3)  What are five approaches to cutting down on sitting time?

Case Shows The Possible Vulnerability of Health-Care Providers

Nursing Homes Are Exposed To Hacker Attacks by Rachael King.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 18, 2014.

With the increasing use of electronic medical records, computer security becomes increasingly important.

The New Teamwork Approach To Medicine: A Case Study

The Doctor's Team Will See You Now by Laura Landro.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 17, 2014.

A family health practice is used to illustrate how a team-oriented approach is supplanting the one-on-one doctor-patient relationship.

Using Addictive Games For Neurological Improvement

Disruptions:  Using Addictive Games To Build Better Brains by Nick Bilton.  The  Bits Blog.  The New York Times.  February 16, 2014.

(1)  Among the potential conditions that might be effectively treated by video games are  __________________________________________________________.

(2)  The motivation to ______ something seems to be a strong component of addictive video games.

(3)  How do casinos encourage addictive behavior?

(4)  A 2007 University of Iowa study found that surgeons who played video games performed ______________________________.

(5)

The French Way Of Cancer Treatment

The French Way Of Cancer Treatment by Anya Schiffrin.  Reuters.  February 12, 2014.

This is a personal account contrasting the care one person received in the French and American healthcare systems.

As Childhood Obesity Becomes Worldwide Problem Kids Undergo Bariatric Surgery

As World's Kids Get Fatter, Doctors Turn To The Knife by Shirley S. Wang.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 14, 2014.

(1)  About ________% of U.S. school-age children were considered obese in 2010.  According to a 2013 research report, about __________% of Saudi children met the WHO criteria for obesity.

(2)  About ______% of the Saudi adult population has Type 2 diabetes compared with _______% in the United States.

(3)  In Kuwait ____________ of adult women are considered obese.

(4) A concern about this type of surgery is among young children, the ___________ is sensitive to nutrition and needs enough energy to mature properly.

Need For Global Regulation Of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Reflected In Concern For Indian Practices

Medicines Made In India Set Off Safety Worries by Gardiner Harris.  The New York Times.  February 14, 2014.

(1)  India's pharmaceutical industry supplies _______ pervcent of over-the-counter and generic prescription drugs consumed in the United States.

(2)  American regulators are scrutinizing Indian firms for __________________________.  

(3)  The World Health Organization estimated that ______________ drugs made in India are fakes.

(4)  There is a long-running effort to create a ______________________ to help scrutinize the growing flood of products coming into the United States.

(5)  _________ of the seafood consumed in the United states is imported.

(6)  The Federal Aviation Administration ____________ india's aviation safety ranking because __________________.

(7)  F.D.A's efforts to increase inspections in China have so far been ____________________.

Protests Of Efforts to Assist The Obamacare Sign Up Of Georgians Results In More Low-Key Effort

Navigator Program Tries To Avoid Controversy by Hyacinth Empinado.  Georgia Health News.  February 98, 2014.

Georgia's Exchange Enrollees Numbers Jump By 73%

State's Exchange Enrollees Now Exceed 100,000 by Andy Miller.  Georgia Health News.  February 12, 2014.  

Salaried Doctors At Hospitals: Strong Trend For Primary Care And Specialities

Apprehensive, Many Doctors Shift To Jobs With Salaries by Elisabeth Rosenthal.  The New York Times.  February 13, 2014.

(1)  Today ___________ percent of family doctors and pediatricians are employees rather than independent.

(2)  Why does hospital employment for doctors in hospitals not always result in cost savings?

Medical Leader Gains New Perspective On Healthcare---The Role Nurses Play

On Breaking One's Neck by Arnold Relman.  The New York Review of Books.  February 6, 2014.

The author is a Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Medical School and former editor of The New England Journal Of Medicine.

Obamacare Enrollment Efforts Receive Support From Mayors And Corporations

Corporate Backing Is Helping Obamacare Go Mainstream by Noam N. Levey.  The Los Angeles Times.  February 8, 2014.

Obamacare Enrollment:  Mayors Hold The Key by Kyle Cheney.  Politico.  February 9, 2014.

The Rise Of Medical Identity Theft In Healthcare

The Rise Of Medical Identity Theft In Healthcare by Michael Ollove.  Stateline.  February 7, 2014.

(1)  Medical-relate identity theft accounted for __________ percent of all identity thefts reported in the United States in 2013.

(2)  True or False:  Banking and finance-related identity thefts accounts for more identity thefts than medical ones,

(3)  Medical identity theft is done in order to illegally obtain _________________________________.
(4)  True or False:  A victim of medical identity theft has several means of recourse for recovery.

(5)  The theft of a computer or other electronic device is involved in ________________ of medical-related security breaches.

(6)  Two federal laws governing the confidentiality of medical records are ______________________________________________________.

Should Medicine Be A Business? Diverse Views Offer Perspectives

Sunday Dialogue:  Medicine As A Business.  Opinion.  Letters to the Sunday Review Section of the New York Times.  February 8, 2014.

Readers to the Times discuss whether pressure to increase profits has compromised doctors' ethics and their treatment of patients.

Cat Bites Present Unexpected Hazards

Cat Bites May Lead To Serious Infections, Hospitalizations by Mary Elizabeth Dallas.  HealthDay.  February 9, 2014.

(1)  When cats bite, their _________ can inject __________________ deeply into the skins and joints, increasing the risk for serious infection.

(2)  Cat bites can seed bacteria in the _____________________ where they can grow with relative protection from the blood and immune systems.

Strong Brand In Healthcare, Mayo, Partners With Georgia's WellStar Health System

WellStar Becoming A Mayo Partner by Andy Miller.  Georgia Health News.  February 6, 2014.

(1)  Healthcare partnerships are often a response to _________________________.

(2)  Last month ________________ formed an __________________ for the Atlanta area.

(3)  WellStar is taking a step to _____________ itself from its competitors in Atlanta.

Former Olympic Gold Medal Winner Eric Heiden Considers His Work As Physician As His Greatest Accomplishment

Eric Heiden:  Life After The Olympics by Alexandra Wolfe.  The Wall Street Journal.  February 7, 2014.

Heiden is now the physician for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team.

Hospital Employment Decline Reflects Shifts in Financing and Patterns Of Patient Care

Hospital Jobs In U.S. Decline For Second Straight Month by Caroline Chen.  Bloomberg.  February 7, 2014.

(1)  Job losses are reflection of an industry in flux as the ___________________________ takes effect,  reduced reimbursements for ____________ and shifts of care from ________ to _________.

(2)  Hospital jobs as a percentage of __________ in the health-care indsutry have fallen.

(3)  Outpatient care centers have seen __________ job growth.

Top 100 Drugs By Sales And Prescriptions

100 Top Selling Drugs Of 2013 by Megan Brooks.  Medscape.  January 30, 2014.

Listings by sales and prescriptions.

Calculating "Heart Age" Found To Be More Likely To Change Health Behavior

People Who Know Their "Heart Age" Make Greater Improvements To Their Heart Health.  Science Daily.  February 5, 2014.


(1)  Previous research has shown that Heart Age is more likely to be understood and ____________  to make positive changes than traditional % risk scores.

(2)  Now researchers have shown that using the Heart Age tool to raise awareness CVD disease  encourages people to ____________________.

Feeling Capability In An Artificial Hand

Artificial Hand Lets Amputee Feel Objects by Elizabeth Landau.  CNN.  February 6, 2014.

(1)  Measurement of tension in the _____________ of this bionic hand allowed the sensors to _________________.

(2)  To make certain that the electrical signal could be understood by the nervous system, the researchers used a computer _____________ to turn the signal into an impulse the sensory nerves could understand.

(3)  Longterm the researchers hope for a system that is completely ______________ and uses a small ________ instead of an algorithm.

90 Year Old Doctor With 35,000 Daughters

At 90, This Doctor Is Still Calling.  Opinion.  Nicholas Kristof.  The New York Times.  February 5, 2014.

Inspiring profile of Catherine Hamlin a gynecologist who has spent most of her life in Ethiopia caring for with a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula.

Variety Of Factors Contribute to High Cost For "Affordable Care" In Southwest Georgia

In Southwest Georgia, The Affordable Care Act Is Having Trouble Living Up To Its Name by Jordan Rau.  Kaiser Health News.  February 3, 2014.

(1)  Premium costs in Southwest Georgia have increased because of expensive _________ such as _______________.  In addition _______________ hospital system dominates the area.  In addition only __________ insurer is offering policies online and many physicians are ____________>

(2)  For those earning too much to qualify for federal subsidies in the online marketplaces, the premiums can be ___________.

(4)  In Southwest Georgia _____________ children live in poverty and ____________ people are obese.

(5)  According to the CEO of Georgia Regents Medical Center, there are many counties in Georgia that are ____________________.

A Third Generation Doctor Questions The Profession

A Third Generation Doctor Questions The Profession by Eric Whitney.  Kaiser Health News And NPR.  February 5, 2014.

Health Insurance Through Obamacare Projected To Give Options To Millions Now Compelled To Work For Coverage

Freeing Workers From The Insurance Trap.  The Opinion Page.  The New York Times.  February 4, 2014.

This opinion piece refutes the prevalent impression in political and media circles that the Congressional Budget Office found that Obamacare abolishes millions of jobs.  Not stated in the editorial is the obvious conclusion that a workforce without those working only for insurance would have more opportunities for others.

A Doctor Bridging Arts And Sciences

A Doctor Bridging Arts And Sciences.  Book Review:  Medicine's Michelangelo:  The Life And Art of Frank H. Netter, M.D by Francine Mary Netter.

How one man combined his own personal passion for the visual arts with his mother's determination that he become a physician.  The book highlighted here shows some of his work, "a true amalgam of advertising art's splashy in-your-face realism and medicine's scientific precision.  

Hospital Design and Signage Often Impede "Wayfinding," Increase Stress

A Cure For Hospital Design by Laura Landro.  Te Wall Strteet Journal.  February 3, 2014.

(1)  Many hospitals are borrowing strategies from __________________ to make it easier for people to get around--a process design experts call ______________.

(2)  Confusing layouts can result from years of _________________________________________.

(3)  "Progressive disclosure" means giving patients only_______________________________.

Death Of Philip Seymour Hoffman Points To Heroin Resurgence

'An Epidemic Of Heroin':  Hoffman Is A New Face Of Growing Problem by Brian Alexander.  NBC News.  February 3, 2014.

(1)  The number of heroin users in the U.S. nearly __________ in five years, to ____________ in 2012 from ____________ in 2007.

(2)  In 2010, the number of drug-induced deaths was ____________.

(3)  Heroin bypasses __________ activating the brain's _______________ directly.

(4)  Among the reasons that can lead to a flare up of drug addiction are ________________.

(5)  A new danger is that heroin now is laced with ________________, a powerful anesthetic.

Breath Analysis For Disease Diagnosis Advances With Laser Development

Diagnosis Just A Breath Away With New Laser That Advances Breath Analysis For Disease Diagnosis.  Science Daily.  January 31, 2014.

(1)  The breath of a person with diabetes contains _____________.

Why Does One Diet Work For One Person But Not Another? Genes May Be The Key

Scientists Find Genetic Mechanism Linking Aging To Specific Diets.  Science Daily.  January 27, 2014.

(1)  Individuals may be ______________ to thrive on different diets.

(2)  This suggests that people might be able to identify which diet would work best for them through ________________________.

Women and Pain: Why Are They More Likely To Suffer And Less Likely To Be Treated

Why Women Are Living In The Discomfort Zone by Judy Foreman.  The Wall Street Journal.  January 31, 2014.

Chronicles a long list of medical conditions from which women are likely to suffer more pain than men.  The article also proposes a series of possible explainations.

Drug To Treat Sleep Disorder In The Blind

FDA Approves Hetlioz To Treat Sleep Disorder In Blind Individuals by Jaleesa Baulkman.  University Herald.  February 1, 2014.

(1)  This drug is the first to treat the sleep disorder caused by a completely blind person's inability to __________________________________________________.

In Significant Development, Johnson & Johnson Agrees To Release Clinical Trial Data To Researchers

Johnson & Johnson Will Release Clinical Data To Researchers by Cheri Cheng.  Counsel  & Heal.  February 1, 2014.

(1)  This action is a significant reversal from when drug-manufacturing companies have been persistent in _________________________________.

(2)   Historically, companies have avoided publishing any negative _________________.

Rate Of Childhood Cancer Rises; Death Rates On Decline

About One In 285 Children Will Be Diagnosed With Cancer Before Age 20, new Report Says.   by James Fluere.  Science Recorder.  February 1, 2014.

(1)  It is predicted that in 2014 that ___________ new cases of cancer will be diagnosed with _________ deaths.

(2)  Children treated for many cancers have a high risk for _______________.

(3)  Unlike adult cancers, only a small percentage of childhood cancers have ______________________.

(4)  Detection of childhood cancers is difficult due to the similarity _____________________ to ___________.