Eighty-three percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition, such as congestive heart failure, Alzheimer’s disease or diabetes. Two-thirds of Medicare spending is incurred by the 9.5 million beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions. These percentages suggest that the Medicare program needs to address chronic conditions rather than the acute, episodic illnesses that have been the focus of the Medicare program since it began in 1966.

The Medica

Golfers with low-back pain may be helped by a University of Pittsburgh research study, the findings of which may assist clinicians in designing appropriate back-specific exercise programs for golfers to prevent or rehabilitate low-back injury.

The findings are being shown today with a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, July 14-17, at the Keystone Resort in Keystone, Colo.

“More than 30 percent of golfers h

News tips from the Harvard Health Letter

As the population ages, a growing number of people become more vulnerable to extreme summer heat. In 2003, a heat wave was blamed for 14,800 deaths in France. The July issue of the Harvard Health Letter offers tips for the elderly to beat this summer’s heat. In addition to heading for the air conditioning, staying out of the sun, and wearing loose, light clothes:

Review your Medications

Painkillers, for exa

A new study found that the drug used to treat osteoporosis, when used in combination with calcium and vitamin D, can prevent the additional bone loss that commonly occurs after liver transplants. The treatment also helped stabilize bone loss in patients who already had osteoporosis, and helped improve their bone mineral density (BMD).

The results of this study appear in the August 2005 issue of Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liv

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have announced an important biological breakthrough that could offer new hope in the fight against liver cancer.

Professor John Mayer and Dr Simon Dawson, in collaboration with colleagues at Japan’s Kyoto University, have discovered the function of a new liver oncoprotein — or cancer causing protein — which could be the first step to finding effective new treatments for the deadly illness.

The research, published today in the

Insulin, a hormone long recognized as a generator of fat, also keeps fat in the liver under control, according to a new study in the July issue of Cell Metabolism. The newly discovered role for insulin may explain how an organ frequently flooded with the fat-building hormone normally stays trim and also suggests new dietary strategies and treatments to avoid fatty liver, a growing healthcare epidemic, said the researchers.

Insulin produced by the pancreas allows cells to take up glucose

Researchers have determined that a gene present in mouse cells limits the number of times that a cell can divide. The gene is involved in a process, called senescence, which is thought to ensure that aging cells do not pass on harmful mutations.

The researchers said the gene, known as SIRT1, suppresses longevity, and may play a role in regulating the aging process. But they caution against interpreting the results too broadly, because dividing mouse cells in culture are an imper

UF Genetics Institute researcher finds way to explore role of microRNAs in specific tissue

University of Florida researchers have learned how to selectively shut down a flyweight-sized genetic molecule that packs a heavyweight punch, a discovery that may help doctors better understand cancer, birth defects and other health problems. The finding, which will be reported this week in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, deals with tiny strands of genetic mate

One of the longstanding challenges in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives is the continuous regeneration of molecules called cofactors that permit the synthesis through inexpensive and environmentally friendly biocatalytic processes.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Universite Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, has developed a microreactor that efficiently regenerates cofactors through enzyme-catalyzed react

The numbers of overwintering waterbirds at Lake Constance, a large lake on the borders of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, have increased fourfold since the early 1960s, with a daily average of 162 500 waterbirds from September to April as shown by a study published in the august issue of Freshwater Biology. This massive increase coincides with the major expansion of zebra mussels in the lake, originating in the Caspian-Aral basin, and a major pest in Europe and North America.

The ma

Roughly 15 percent of genes are expressed differently among males of same species

Scientists working with salmon have found that gene expression in the brain can differ significantly among members of a species with different life histories. Their study indicates that roughly 15 percent of Atlantic salmon genes show differential expression in males who migrate from their freshwater birthplaces to mature in oceans versus those who do not leave the freshwater environment to mature.

Few studies compare the effects of different drug regimes in pregnant women, and many of the best studies were conducted in Southeast Asia, where malaria transmission rates are low, says researcher Lois Orton of the University of York in England. “Reliable research about the benefits and harms of treatments for malaria in pregnant women is scarce,” Orton says.

The review appears in the July issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international o

Camera-guided surgery through small incisions works better than conventional surgery for colon cancer and related diseases, at least in the short term recovery, a new review of previous studies confirms. In the long term, researchers found no difference between the two.

Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin analyzed 25 randomized controlled trials in which the laparoscopic method – or “keyhole” surgery — was compared with the conventional method, in which a lar

Authors urge caution in JAMA article: High dose nutrient supplementation may have more adverse consequences than anticipated

In a special communication piece that appears in the July 20th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and the Center&

Overweight people may benefit most

A new study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight.

The study – the first of its kind to measure the effects of yoga on weight – appears in the July/August issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the s

Emory University researchers have proposed a new design for HIV vaccine trials in animals that would more closely mimic how humans are exposed to the virus – potentially giving AIDS researchers a more effective tool in developing successful treatments to prevent HIV infection.

In the Emory study, the researchers, using computer simulations, developed an experimental design in which animals are repeatedly exposed to low doses of HIV (similar to how humans are exposed and infecte