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Health Affairs Study Finds No Link Between Cost, Quality Of Care
Quality of care is not linked to the cost of care, according to a study published last week on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, CQ HealthBeat reports. For the study, researchers from Dartmouth College and Harvard University analyzed the health care bills of chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries in their last two years of life who received end-of-life care from 2,172 unidentified hospitals. The patients had one of three common conditions: heart attack, pneumonia or congestive heart failure. The study -- sponsored by the National Institute on Aging -- looked at common quality indicators at a hospital-by-hospital level instead of regional level (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 5/22). Researchers compared the data with some of the quality measures reported on the HHS Hospital Compare Web site (Goldstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 5/21). The study found that among the one-fifth of hospitals that spent the least, the cost of end-of-life care was $16,059 on average. In comparison, the cost of end-of-life care at the top 20% of highest-spending hospitals was $34,742 on average. The study also found no link -- or even evidence against a link -- between spending and the quality indicators. The researchers noted that the results might be skewed because the quality indicators they used might penalize hospitals that treat sicker patients. In addition, the study used process-of-care measures instead of patient outcomes. According to CQ HealthBeat, the findings of the study could have an effect on the debate over health care reform legislation because lawmakers and President Obama both have said that a reform plan must be able to control costs and expand access to high-quality, affordable health care (CQ HealthBeat, 5/22).

People Who Bike Or Walk To Work Are More Fit, Less Fat Than Drivers
Trying to get fit but can"t work it into your daily schedule? Incorporating even relatively short bouts of exercise into a daily commute appears to deliver significant rewards, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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St. Petersburg Times Examines Work Of Paul Farmer, Potential Candidate For USAID, State Department Position
The St. Petersburg Times examines the work of Paul Farmer - "the Harvard-educated doctor who, starting in Haiti, built a multinational organization on the radical idea that poor patients deserve the same care as rich ones" and is reportedly being considered for a high-level job with USAID or the State Department. The newspaper reports that though it"s "not a sure thing, even his candidacy indicates how far the international aid establishment has come around to Farmer"s way of thinking, health care experts say."
Sexual Health

A Potential Drug For Liver Carcinoma

Looking for efficient anti-tumor drugs is a hot research area. Chrysin (5,7-dihydroxy flavone), a natural widely-distributed flavonoid, has been reported to have many different biological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-virus, antidiabetogenic activity and clear anxiolytic effect. However, Chrysin is limited in its clinical application because of its modest absorption in the intestine and rapid in vivo glycosylation. To improve the biological activity of chrysin, a number of its derivatives have been prepared for biological testing. 5-allyl-7-gen-difluoromethylenechrysin (ADFMChR) is one of them. A research team led by Dr. Jian-Guo Cao from China investigate the anti-tumor effect of ADFMChR in vitro. Their study was published on May 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. In their study, HepG2 cells and L-02 cells were cultured and the inhibitory effect of ADFMChR on their proliferation was measured by MTT assay. The apoptosis of HepG2 cells was determined by flow cytometry using propidium iodide fluorescence staining. The influence of ADFMChR on the proxisome proliferator-activated receptor í³ (PPARí³), NF-íºB, Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression of HepG2 cells were analyzed by Western blotting. They found that ADFMChR significantly inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, with little effect on growth of L-02 cells. Western blotting analysis revealed that after 24 h of treatment with 3.0, 10.0, 30.0 í¼mol/L ADFMChR, PPARí³ and Bax protein expression increased but Bcl-2 and NF-íºB expression decreased in HepG2 cells; however, pre-incubation with 10.0 í¼mol/L GW9662, a blocker of PPARí³, could efficiently antagonize and weaken the regulatory effect of 3.0, 30.0 í¼mol/L ADFMChR on PPARí³ and NF-íºB protein expression in HepG2 cells. This finding may provide a molecular basis for the clinically observed cancer-preventive effects of ADFMChR and new clues for research about pharmaceutical prevention and cure of human liver carcinoma. Reference: Tan XW, Xia H, Xu JH, Cao JG. Induction of apoptosis in human liver carcinoma HepG2 cell line by 5-allyl-7-gendifluoromethylenechrysin. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(18): 2234-2239 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/15/2234.asp Correspondence to: Dr. Jian-Guo Cao, Laboratory of Medicine Engineering, Medical College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410006, Hunan Province, China. Lai-Fu Li World Journal of Gastroenterology


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