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China softens on one-child policy

Zhang Weiqing, head of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, announced that the government will reduce fines for low-income couples who violate the country's one-child-per-family policy, the Washington Post reports (Fan, Washington Post, 1/24).

28 Jan 2007

Voluntary HPV vaccination programs can work with 'informed and sensitive health education'

There is "no reason" why a voluntary human papillomavirus vaccination program that is "based on an informed and sensitive health education campaign ... would not work," Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy writes in an opinion piece.

28 Jan 2007

One-fifth of women in India experience menopause by age 41

About one in five women residing in India are likely to experience menopause by the age of 41, according to a study conducted by Bangalore, India-based Institute for Social and Economic Change, London's Times reports.

28 Jan 2007

More than 1 million fewer U.S. women received mammograms since 2000

The percentage of U.S. women ages 40 and older who reported receiving a mammogram declined from 76.4% in 2000 to 74.6% in 2005, according to a report published in the Jan. 26 edition of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007

Uterine artery embolization is as effective as hysterectomy and myomectomy

Uterine artery embolization, a less-invasive treatment for uterine fibroids, is as effective as hysterectomy and myomectomy, according to a study published in the Jan. 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007

North American Menopause Society releases guidelines saying HRT beneficial for younger women

The North American Menopause Society on Thursday released a revised position statement that said the benefits of short-term hormone replacement therapy for treatment of menopausal women likely outweigh the risks for younger women, the Wall Street Journal reports.

28 Jan 2007

Advocates should focus on long-term strategy to fight HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS advocates should focus on developing a long-term strategy for the fight against the pandemic, Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Richard Feachem said on Wednesday during a satellite meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Reuters Health reports.

28 Jan 2007

Thailand plans to break antiretroviral patents

Thai Public Health Minister Mongkol Songkhla plans to break patents on an antiretroviral drug and a drug for heart disease by issuing compulsory licenses to produce lower-cost versions, Ministry of Public Health spokesperson Suphan Srithamma announced on Thursday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

28 Jan 2007

New program in Vietnam to provide youth with HIV/AIDS education

The Danish International Development Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Voice of Vietnam radio on Wednesday launched a radio program that aims to educate young people in the country about HIV/AIDS, the Vietnam News Brief Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

New York hospitals and clinics would lose $350 million per year under Medicaid rule recently proposed

Under the proposed rule, state Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers operated by local governments could not exceed actual costs.

28 Jan 2007

Washington State Health Committee recommends coverage of undocumented immigrants' children

The Washington state House Health Care and Wellness Committee on Wednesday recommended approval of a bill (HB 1071) that would expand a state health insurance program to include undocumented immigrant children, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports.

28 Jan 2007

A plasminogen-activating protease specifically controls the development of primary pneumonic plague

The deadly attack of the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague is significantly slowed when it can't make use of a key protein, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Science.

28 Jan 2007

Cellular mechanism linked to inflammation and cancer

A team led by biochemists at the University of California, San Diego has found what could be a long-elusive mechanism through which inflammation can promote cancer. The findings may provide a new approach for developing cancer therapies.

28 Jan 2007

Molecular mechanism behind aggregation of amyloid beta peptide due to anesthetics

Inhaled anesthetics commonly used in surgery are more likely to cause the aggregation of Alzheimer's disease-related plaques in the brain than intravenous anesthetics say University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in a journal article published in Biochemistry.

28 Jan 2007