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

Editorial, Opinion Piece Respond To Health Care Reform Issues
President Obama is "right to push for [health care] reform now, despite calls to postpone efforts solely on the economic recovery," a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial states. According to the editorial, cost-cutting initiatives proposed by industry groups earlier this week "may not amount to anything" because they are voluntary and "providers" past efforts at containing costs have failed every time." However, the groups" vow to reduce future health care spending by $2 trillion "shows how much fat and waste is in the system," according to the Inquirer. The editorial also states that the "most assured means of tamping down costs while providing greater access to health coverage could be through" a government-run public health insurance option. In addition, Obama "needs to warm to the idea of requiring that all Americans obtain health insurance," in order to spread out the cost of care, the editorial continues. The editorial concludes that "it"s encouraging that Obama doesn"t plan to let a couple of wars and a recession sidetrack him from his pledge to reform health care and expand coverage to all Americans" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/14). Opinion Piece

Health Overhaul Issues Fill The Sunday Talk Shows
Health experts and politicians filled Sunday talk shows as Obama administration officials push for reform.
News of the day
NHS Confederation Responds To Public Accounts Committee Report On NHS Funding
Nigel Edwards, the director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said, "The surpluses generated by the NHS over the 2007-2008 financial year are a testament to sound financial planning and an awareness on the part of everyone in the service of the need to spend public money carefully.
Public Health

Fragility Fractures And Osteoporosis

Low energy fractures of the proximal humerus indicate osteoporosis and it is important to direct treatment in order to prevent further fractures. Therefore, in this study the authors collected data from 79 patients with fractures of the proximal humerus in order to determine if current guidelines on measurement of bone mineral density at the hip and lumbar spine were adequate to stratify the risk and to guide the treatment of osteoporosis. The World Health Organisation defines osteoporosis by comparing the bone mineral density with that of a gender-matched, healthy young adult reference population. A T-score in women of less than -2.5 at any one of three skeletal sites, the femur, the lumbar spine or the distal radius is the WHO "gold standard" for diagnosing osteoporosis. However, the most common clinical method for assessing the BMD is dual-energy x-ray absorbtiometry of the central skeleton taken at the hip and lumbar spine. Therefore, the authors decided to analyse the sensitivity of these sites and the distal radius in diagnosing osteoporosis in accordance with WHO criteria. The results show that "there is a wide variation in the BMD when measured at different skeletal sites" and that when considering injuries to the upper limb, the BMD measured at the distal radius may represent the risk of osteoporotic humeral fractures better than that measured at the axial skeleton or lower limbs. This is because the distal radius has a large proportion of cancellous bone which is affected to a greater extent by age-related changes in the BMD. Therefore, the authors conclude that "measurement of the BMD at the hip and lumbar spine, if used alone, may underestimate the risk of osteoporosis in the upper limb" and that measurement of the BMD at the radius should not be omitted when osteoporosis is being investigated. Read the full text article. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery


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

© Copyright 2009