Health & Wellness
Carol Ann Campbell and Susan K. Livio
The Star-LedgerThu, 16 Oct 2008 21:06 UTC
Some 300 people, many of them parents and children, marched outside the Statehouse today to protest mandatory children's vaccinations, a simmering issue that has bubbled over since New Jersey began requiring babies and children in day care to get flu shots.
The marchers pushed for a bill to allow children to skip some, or all, vaccines required by New Jersey. Many parents said their children were injured by vaccines, or that vaccines cause autism, a neurological disorder on an inexplicable rise. The link between autism and vaccines has been disproven by recent studies.
"Governor Corzine," speaker Louise Kuo Habakus said as she addressed the crowd. "Are you the one with the courage to lead us through this health care crisis? If so, give us vaccination choice. The parents of New Jersey are moving ahead with or without you."
California - Emergency room patients can no longer be stuck with the bill when hospitals or physicians disagree with insurance companies on their fees.
Under new state rules that take effect today, hospitals and physicians are barred from billing patients for the balance of emergency care not covered by insurers.
But the relief for patients may not last long. Hospitals and physicians are protesting the rules in court. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court is set to hear another "balance billing" challenge next month.
And another court test may come sooner in a challenge by hospital chain Prime Healthcare Services Inc. of Victorville.
In a study of Christian church members who approached their church for help with a personal or family member's diagnosed mental illness, researchers found that more than 32 percent were told by their pastor that they or their loved one did not really have a mental illness.
The problem was solely spiritual in nature, they were told.
Here's the thing: Other studies have found that clergy, and not psychologists or other mental health experts, are the most common source of help sought in times of psychological distress.
A new study reveals that specific types of bacteria in the intestine trigger the generation of pro-inflammatory immune cells, a finding that could eventually lead to novel treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other diseases.
The study by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers is published in the October 16 issue of the journal Cell Host and Microbe. The new finding adds to the growing body of research showing that the kinds of bacteria in our intestine, and in our stomach, have an impact on our health.
"There is more and more evidence that gut flora have a tremendously important influence on human health," says Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., chief of the mucosal immunology unit in the laboratory of parasitic diseases at the National Institutes of Health "If some set of microbes induces a specific immune response, this points to a way to manipulate the immune system," says Dr. Belkaid. "This new study is the first report that has associated a defined set of gut flora with the induction of specific immune cells."
A new study sheds light on the lives of teenage boys who abuse their girlfriends. In their own words, the young men often describe facing challenges such as growing up with troubled family lives, having little or no support when they began to fail at school, and witnessing violence in their own homes and communities.
The study advocates broadening the view of abusive behaviors within dating relationships to explore the myriad environments - school, home and community - that affect boys' lives and actions.
"Until now, we did not have much information on young men who hurt their partners," said Elizabeth Miller, the study's senior author and an assistant professor of pediatrics at UC Davis Children's Hospital. "This is a critically important piece of the puzzle in terms of designing meaningful prevention and intervention programs to prevent adolescent relationship violence."
To monitor the multiple sclerosis attacking Ann Pietrangelo's central nervous system, her doctor recommends an annual MRI. Last year, the 49-year-old Winchester, Va., woman had to pay a $3,000 co-payment to get the imaging done.
This year, she's skipping the test. Even with insurance, it's more than her budget can tolerate, especially with the roller coaster on Wall Street devouring her retirement savings.
"I'm doing everything I can to avoid going to the doctor," she said.
From Park Avenue dental offices to the Arlington Free Clinic, the global economic crunch is forcing a growing number of Americans to scale back on medical care. Consumers are attempting their own form of triage, pushing off seemingly less-urgent services in the hope that their financial health will improve. But the danger, say physicians, is that the short-term savings may translate into more severe long-term health implications.
It started when I was six weeks pregnant," says Lara Basini, 28, a Bristol midwife. "I'd be in a shop and suddenly feel like there were 100 magnets dragging me to the floor. It was like being hit by a stun gun." Her dizzy episodes worsened, until she was bedridden, unable to care for her new baby. It would be a scary and debilitating three years before she was given a correct diagnosis.
Balance disorders are among the 10 most common conditions seen by GPs and over half of us will experience one at some point. While a spot of room spin may sound minor, the reality can be anything but.
People with autism-related disorders are less likely to make irrational decisions, and are less influenced by gut instincts, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. The study adds to the growing body of research implicating altered emotional processing in autism.
© University of California - Los Angeles
Functional MRI brain scans show how searching the Internet dramatically engages brain neural networks (in red). The image on the left displays brain activity while reading a book; the image on the right displays activity while engaging in an Internet search.
UCLA scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings demonstrate that Web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.
The study, the first of its kind to assess the impact of Internet searching on brain performance, is currently in press at the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and will appear in an upcoming issue.
Women start careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top echelons.
This gap matters not only because the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also because the world has an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. All men and women with the brains, the desire and the perseverance to lead should be encouraged to fulfill their potential and leave their mark.
With all this in mind, the McKinsey Leadership Project--an initiative to help professional women at McKinsey and elsewhere--set out four years ago to learn what drives and sustains successful female leaders. We wanted to help younger women navigate the paths to leadership and, at the same time, learn how organizations could get the best out of this talented group.
