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New Study Shows Similar Benefits, No Additional Risks For Seniors Who Have Gastric Bypass
Morbidly obese seniors, age 65 and over, who had laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery lost nearly 76 percent of their excess weight after two years and had low complication rates and short hospital stays comparable to younger surgical patients, according to a new study presented today at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

Drug That Targets Vasculature Growth Attacks Aggressive Thyroid Cancer
A medication that helps stop the growth of new blood vessels has produced dramatic benefits for some patients with aggressive thyroid cancer, research from Mayo Clinic indicates.
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Democratic Female Senators Praise Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Several Democratic female senators on Wednesday took to the floor in a series of speeches praising Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and highlighting her judicial qualifications, the Boston Globe"s "Political Intelligence" reports. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) -- a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- was joined by Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).In her address, Klobuchar said that Sotomayor"s experience "particularly resonated with me," adding that Sotomayor "understands the law is not just some dusty book in your basement" and that its interpretation has consequences. McCaskill said that Sotomayor is a nominee with "integrity, grit, intellect and the ability to pass judgment in the most difficult intellectual challenges that face a Supreme Court justice."According to "Political Intelligence," the floor speeches came after Klobuchar and others praised Sotomayor"s nomination at Monday"s annual convention of the left-leaning legal organization the American Constitution Society. In her speech, Klobuchar defended Sotomayor against conservative critics who have questioned the nominee"s temperament, citing complaints that Sotomayor was impatient with unprepared lawyers. Klobuchar said that she is "hoping that we would get to a point in this country where we could be appointing and confirming as many as rough and to-the-point female judges as we have appointed male judges" ("Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 6/24).
Diagnostics

Funding Allocated For Hospice Care, Wales

Health Minister Edwina Hart announced the allocation of ÷£4million Assembly Government funding for hospices and palliative care services across Wales. Just over half of the total, ÷£2.1 million, will help fund the clinical palliative and end-of-life care services provided by 18 hospices throughout Wales and ÷£1.9 million will be spent on NHS palliative care services. The allocations for independent and NHS care services are based on recommendations of an expert group headed by Baroness Ilora Finlay, a consultant in palliative care. The group aims to provide a fairer funding system for hospices. Part of the funding will be dedicated to the expansion of the Cancer Network Information System Cymru, a computerised clinical record to enable health professionals quick access key information to monitor and care for patients. One of the other key areas in development is out-of-hours services and the aim to make seven-day-a-week care more widely available and fairly distributed across Wales. Extra support will be made available to patients at home as part of a managed clinical network. Work is ongoing to ensure services are consultant-led, with support from multidisciplinary teams including specialist palliative care nurses and other health professionals, with consultants on NHS contracts. Edwina Hart said: "For people with progressive and life threatening conditions, good quality palliative care services are vital. I wish to ensure that the level of care provided, at what is a very distressing time, is the very best possible and people have access to services consistently across Wales." Baroness Finlay added: "The Government"s support for palliative care services in Wales is crucial for the further development of high-quality services across the whole of Wales. This ensures that patients and family needs can be met and the quality life improved even as the end approaches. "It is vital that we move to a change of work patterns in order to put the patient at the centre of their care. Most patients" care is delivered by GPs, nurses and hospital teams, but they need to be able to have the back-up and support of excellent specialist services wherever the patient is in Wales." Notes Baroness Finlay and the Palliative Care Implementation Board have been leading on the implementation of the Sugar Report (by the Wales Palliative Care Planning Group, led by Viv Sugar, Chair of the Welsh Consumer Council), published in July 2008. The funding model aims to ensure fairness of service provision across Wales, recognising rurality, poverty and areas of ageing populations as well as the higher mortality rates in Wales than in England. Current levels of Local Health Board funding to services should not be decreased without consultation with the Implementation Board; it is not replaced by any allocation of central Welsh Assembly Government funds. CaNISC Cancer Network Information System Cymru, or simply CaNISC, is an online computer system holding information from a patient"s interactions with health professionals and was launched as a national service in April 2009. It aims to make sure the most important and relevant information is available to health professionals at all times and in all places, helping to provide the best possible care to patients. Information is entered into CANISC by cancer units and centres. Entry can be online during clinical interactions, electronic by integration with other IT systems, or following data collection using specific forms. This summary electronic case record is available at all times and covers both emergency and elective care. Some trusts are also using locally-held systems to gather cancer information, but the National Assembly for Wales has now agreed to back CANISC as it is developed to meet the majority of cancer information needs and becomes the single system for Wales. Developing CANISC as a national system will bring improvements to the gathering and recording of cancer information which will ultimately improve the quality of care for the patient. Welsh Assembly Government


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