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Section: Health

Health Disparities Can Be Skin Deep

About half of patients will have skin of color by 2050, the U.S. Census Bureau projects. Of the many ways this demographic change will affect American society, there is one medical implication that is not widely appreciated. Dermatologists and the primary care physicians who refer to them will be faced with cutaneous diseases that happen […]

August 16, 2017

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States With Legal Pot Crack Down on Smuggling

PORTLAND, Ore. — Well before Oregon legalized marijuana, its verdant, wet forests made it an ideal place for growing the drug, which often ended up being funneled out of the state for big money. Now, officials suspect pot grown legally in Oregon for medicinal and recreational purposes and other states is also being smuggled out, […]

August 16, 2017

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Doctor: Will I Have to Turn Children Away?

It has been 20 years since I’ve had to tell a mother she had no options for insuring her child. At the time, I had been treating a little boy who was born prematurely and required developmental therapies. He toddled over to me from across the waiting room, shouting my name to show that he […]

August 14, 2017

Big Data Yields Surprising Links Among Diseases

Using health insurance claims data from more than 480,000 people in nearly 130,000 families, researchers at the University of Chicago have created a new classification of common diseases based on how often they occur among genetically-related individuals. Researchers hope the work, published this week in Nature Genetics, will help physicians make better diagnoses and treat […]

August 14, 2017

Disease Kills Hundreds of N.M. Residents

Cerebral cavernous malformation is a genetic disease where blood cells clump together, weakening their walls and causing them to leak blood. When that happens in the brain, it leads to headaches, seizures and potentially death. The vast majority of the people who have the disease still live in the Land of Enchantment. Read More

August 14, 2017

Hospitals Limit Exposure to Opioids

President Donald Trump announced his intent to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency. Once that is official it would free up government officials to dedicate more people and resources for treatment. Carolinas HealthCare System is trying to curb the amount of opioid medicines patients are introduced to while in the hospital with alternative treatments. […]

August 14, 2017

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Study: Yes, Women’s Brains Are More Active Than Men’s

In the largest functional brain imaging study to date, the Amen Clinics (Newport Beach, CA) compared 46,034 brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging studies provided by nine clinics, quantifying differences between the brains of men and women. The study is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Lead author, psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen, […]

August 14, 2017

Report: VA Office Denies 90% of Gulf War Claims

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Veterans Affairs office in New Mexico during the 2015 fiscal year denied more than 90 percent of benefit claims related to Gulf War illnesses, marking the ninth-lowest approval rating among VA sites nationwide, according to a federal report. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Albuquerque office denied 592 of 640 Gulf […]

August 14, 2017

Obamacare Marketplaces Aren’t Collapsing, but They Aren’t Thriving

Typically by August, the state of the upcoming Obamacare enrollment season is pretty evident – that is, what health insurance rates will look like and how many insurers will participate in the marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act. But not this year. A picture of the 2018 marketplaces is slowly emerging — but everything […]

August 14, 2017

VA Healthcare Bill Becomes Law

President Donald Trump signed a large spending bill Saturday aimed at reforming the Veterans Healthcare Administration, fulfilling a central promise from his campaign. The bill, VA Choice and Quality Employment Act, received broad support from Democrats and Republicans in Congress on it way to Trump’s desk. In all, it allocated $3.9 billion in spending. The […]

August 14, 2017

Fighting for Our Lives

Republicans have now tried and failed three times to pass health care bills that would dismantle the Affordable Care Act — and potentially cut access to health care for millions. We’ve seen the introduction of hundreds of new reproductive health restrictions and insistent efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. In the midst of the GOP’s attack […]

August 9, 2017

Stressed? This Song Will Calm You Down

You’re restless, fatigued and tense. You’re preoccupied with worry and trying to control those intrusive thoughts, but nothing seems to work. But what if we told you that you could just put on your headphones and listen to a song and feel instantly better? We wouldn’t be lying. There is actually a song created specifically […]

August 9, 2017

Obesity Rates for Indian Children Level Off

The rates of obese and overweight American Indian and Alaska Native children were relatively stable between 2006 and 2015, suggesting that we may be turning the corner in dealing with this serious health threat, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health July 20. “We’ve been afraid in Indian country that […]

August 9, 2017

Oregon Covers Undocumented Children — If It Can Reach Them

Starting this summer, thousands of children in Washington County became eligible for health care coverage. The catch: Their parents are undocumented immigrants. That means, officials expect, that reaching out to these families will be difficult — thanks in large part to the level of rhetoric coming out of Washington, D.C. At the same time that […]

August 9, 2017

Some Texas Community Colleges to Offer Bachelor’s for Nursing, Teaching

DALLAS — Some Texas community colleges are expanding their curriculums to offer bachelor’s degrees and help meet the increased need for nurses and teachers. The 2017 Legislature approved letting community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in high-need areas like applied sciences, applied technology and nursing, The Dallas Morning News reports. Until now, few Texas community colleges […]

August 9, 2017

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Genetic Studies Makes Medicine More Precise — for White People

Every human on earth is unique — our genes are different, we eat different things, we live in different places. As a result, medical treatments tend to work differently on different people. Depending on your genes, a drug might cure your sickness — or it might cause a side effect that makes you sicker. In […]

August 9, 2017

Trump Stresses Law Enforcement in Opioid Crisis

President Trump emphasized the need for stepped-up law enforcement to combat the nation’s opioid problem Tuesday, an approach that is at odds with a report released last week by the special commission he appointed to address abuse. “Strong law enforcement is absolutely vital to having a drug-free society,” Trump told reporters from the clubhouse of […]

August 9, 2017

Digital Portals May Widen Health Disparities

Despite GOP insistence that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a disaster for the American people, the reality is quite different. Far from perfect, the ACA has delivered health coverage to 20 million more Americans, many of them low-income people of color. Further, efforts were made to reduce health disparities. A critical tool intended […]

August 9, 2017