Hispanics in Massachusetts are less likely than whites to have visited a physician in the last year, according to a survey that was funded by the Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Springfield Republican reports. The survey also found that Hispanics were about twice as likely as whites to visit an emergency department for a nonemergency condition. The survey, which was conducted last fall, included 4,041 adults ages 18 to 64 in Massachusetts. Overall, the survey found that people living in western Massachusetts had more difficulty accessing health services than people living in other areas of the state, in part because of a shortage of primary care physicians. While the survey found that nearly all state residents have health insurance, more than 25% of residents in four western counties reported that providers either would not accept their insurance or were not accepting new patients. The survey did not find significant differences across the state in the ability of residents to pay medical bills. In addition, the survey did not find any evidence that health care costs are more of a burden to Hispanics and blacks than to whites (McAuliffe, Springfield Republican, 5/28).
Dialysis takes hours of kidney disease patients" time several days a week, so why not do it at night while sleeping? Overnight dialysis is more convenient for some patients and offers significant benefits over shorter daytime treatments, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that overnight dialysis is a viable alternative for patients with irreversible kidney disease,
particularly in dialysis clinics where there are constraints on time and res. Dialysis removes waste products such as phosphate and urea from the blood, usually in three to five hours of treatments three days a week. Unfortunately, even this difficult schedule may not be frequent enough to maintain many patients" health. Some clinics offer an alternative: three weekly overnight dialysis sessions lasting six hours or more. 
Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) announced the initiation of two new clinical trials of ALKS 33, an oral opioid modulator for the potential treatment of addiction and other nervous system disorders. Study ALK33-004 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to examine the ability of ALKS 33 to block the effects of an opioid following a single oral dose of ALKS 33 in healthy, non-dependent, opioid-experienced subjects. Study ALK33-003 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to evaluate
the pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of multiple doses of ALKS 33 in healthy volunteers. The initiation of these studies follows the successful completion of a phase 1 dose escalation study of ALKS 33 in healthy volunteers. Alkermes expects to report data from both ALK33-004 and ALK33-003 in the second half of calendar 2009. 
A man who used a forged document to obtain an NHS bursary and train as a mental health nurse has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for fraud at Sheffield Crown Court (18 May 2009) after a joint investigation by NHS Counter Fraud and the UK Border Agency. Ignatius Dube pleaded guilty to seven charges, receiving 21 months imprisonment for each, to run concurrently. The total value of the fraud was ÷£70,683.60 of which ÷£56,296.52 was defrauded from the state: the bursary
of ÷£18,980.76 and ÷£37,315.76 in asylum benefits. The remaining amount of ÷£14,387.50 was in earnings whilst he was employed with recruitment agencies. In September 2006, Dube provided a forged Home Office letter to Sheffield Hallam University, which falsely stated he had been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK from June 2004. In fact he had been refused asylum, and his appeal against the decision was dismissed in April 2005*.
The 62nd World Health Assembly opened in Geneva, as officials from 193 member countries began their annual review of the activities of the World Health Organization and set new priorities for the future. In her address to the Assembly, the WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, noted that the world was facing multiple crises, including the current financial crisis and global economic downturn. In addition to this, it also faced the prospect of the first influenza pandemic
of this century. She said that the world today was more vulnerable to the adverse effects of an influenza pandemic than it was in 1968, when the last pandemic began. The increase in air travel, meant that any city with an international airport was at risk of an imported case. Global economic interdependence amplified the potential for economic disruption.