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Health Buzz: Tumors After Stem Cell Injections and Other Health News

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:30:12 +0000

, according to a new report in the journal
. The child had a rare, deadly brain disease called ataxia telangiectasia, or A-T. The disease can lead to degeneration of a region of the brain; most people with A-T die by their teens or early 20s. The boy had traveled to Russia at age 9, when he was injected with fetal neural stem cells in his brain and spinal cord, the Associated Press reports. He received two additional sets of injections at ages 10 and 12. By age 13, the boy needed a wheelchair for his A-T, and he was experiencing headaches. The tumors in his brain and spinal cord were discovered soon after that. A test of the tissue found that the tumors were caused by the fetal cells.
Treatments involving stem cells, such as a
, are still viewed as experimental, yet some researchers believe they may help certain medical problems. Consider these
for certain diseases. Also, human stem cells now can be
, without using embryos or eggs.
Electronic Medical Records: Will Your Privacy Be Safe?
Electronic medical records have become a national goal, a way to
used in most medical settings today, Bernadine Healy reports. President Obama has made revamping the medical system a top priority, with the national electronic medical record first up in healthcare reform. Indeed, the economic stimulus package assigns billions of dollars to that effort. In light of public sensitivity, this major jump-start for centralized records comes with provisions to further strengthen privacy laws.
While electronic medical records are being touted as part of the key to an efficient healthcare system in the future, some doctors have been
.
Stressed Out? Find a Great Deal at a Spa
is not a word that traditionally has been associated with the spa industry. Yet, people looking for relief from the stress brought on by their shrinking portfolios will find that spas nationwide are
, Lindsay Lyon reports. “I’ve been in the spa industry 30 years, and I have never seen so many deals and so many good deals . . . unprecedented deals,” says Susie Ellis, president of SpaFinder.com, a website that helps people research and book visits at more than 5,000 day, resort, and destination spas worldwide. Many vacation spas, Ellis says, are lowering room rates, tossing extra services or meals into their overnight packages, allowing a free guest, or slashing the package price of midweek stays, for example.
Looking for an escape? Here are
at spas around the country. If visiting a spa isn’t in your budget, check out these
.
—January W. Payne
rom USNews.com
Need Care? Scan the Rankings:

Oak Cliff baby, brain damaged after injury, taken off life support

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:18:48 +0000

Oak Cliff baby, brain damaged after injury, taken off life support
09:29 PM CST on Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Darlene Diles spent the first 17 days of her life in her mother’s care She spent the remaining days of her life hooked to tubes and machines On Tuesday afternoon, Darlene’s “It was a hard decision, but I’d rather for her to just go like that The decision came four days after a Dallas County juvenile district The judge’s ruling came against the wishes of Brown. Her involvement in “She expressly stated she didn’t want Mr. Michael Diles to make that Contacted on Wednesday, N’Duka said that her client had not authorized After Friday’s hearing, family members and court-appointed advocates “The hospital has expressed concerns that someone is going to need to Diles, who works as battery technician, said he has five other children. “She was just a darling,” Diles said. “She smiled On Jan. 30, Darlene stopped breathing. According to a doctor’s report Brown said that Darlene cried afterward and that she tried to feed her Once there, Brown’s mother tried rescue breathing at the instruction of The doctor reported that he found no skull fracture or scalp swelling It wasn’t the first time Brown had been implicated in a case of abuse. In that case, Brown told authorities that she yanked the infant’s arm as A funeral for Darlene Diles had not yet been scheduled late Wednesday. Diles said he held his daughter for a while after she was taken off life “I went back to the hospital after she passed, and held her for about an before an injury on Jan. 30 left her with severe brain damage.
inside Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where doctors blamed her head injury on child abuse.
father decided to allow doctors to take her off life support. The 35-day-old baby died several hours later in her grandmother’s arms, he said.
than have to suffer the rest of her life,” said the father, Michael Diles, 39. “They said she would never have been able to walk, talk, open her eyes or hear or anything.”
court judge granted Diles the right to participate in decisions about his daughter’s medical care. He and the mother, 19-year-old K.C. Denise Brown, were not married and split up before Darlene’s Jan. 13 birth.
her daughter’s injuries is under investigation, but she has not been charged with any crime.
decision,” Brown’s court-appointed attorney, Angie N’Duka, told the judge during a hearing Friday. She said her client spoke to her from Terrell State Hospital. Brown is being treated there after having suicidal thoughts following her daughter’s injuries.
her to speak publicly about the case.
attended a meeting on Darlene’s continued life support.
make a medical decision on what is going to be in the best interest of the baby,” one of advocates wrote in a status report.
He said that he remained on good terms with Brown and visited their infant daughter regularly.
a lot.”
filed in court, Brown said she accidentally dropped her daughter on the kitchen floor of her southeast Oak Cliff apartment.
but soon realized the infant wasn’t breathing. The report says Brown then called her mother, who came over to help.
a 911 operator until paramedics arrived.
consistent with a fall. Instead, he found internal head injuries consistent with being shaken, court records say.
In 2006, she lost custody of Darlene’s half sister – who was no more than a month old – after that infant suffered a broken arm and other injuries.
she slipped from her grasp, court records say. The other injuries were left unexplained. That daughter, now 2, was placed with a relative.
Her father said arrangements would be handled by Lott’s Mortuary in Dallas.
support, and again after she died.
hour when she didn’t have no tubes or nothing on her,” he said.

Two seized after drugs operation

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:46:59 +0000

Two people have been arrested after drugs worth thousands of pounds were seized in Aberdeen.
Crack cocaine with a street value of about £14,000 was recovered by police in the Torry area.
A 44-year-old local woman and a 37-year-old man from Birmingham were detained.
A Grampian Police spokesperson said they were expected to appear from custody at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

LA County rehired convicted rapist after firing him

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:50:23 +0000

The Times reported Saturday that Beasley — whose name became public when he appealed his initial termination — was hired by county officials a decade ago despite disclosing his convictions for rape.
Beasley pleaded no contest to raping two women under color of authority while on duty and in uniform as an LAPD officer in the early 1990s. His actions cost the city of Los Angeles $290,000 in civil settlements for his victims.
Beasley’s initial firing came a month after The Times first reported that an audit had found widespread criminal histories among workers at Martin Luther King Jr.- Harbor Hospital.
His second firing came just hours after details of his case were discussed at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
What board members did not know at the time was that even as they met to publicly address his employment history, Beasley was at work at the East L.A. clinic, which provides primary and specialty services for 21,000 patients annually.
It was not until late Tuesday afternoon that Health Services Interim Director John Schunhoff learned that Beasley was still working for the county and ordered him fired again, Molina said.
In the letter terminating Beasley in August, Christopher Arevalo, then-interim chief executive at King-Harbor, said his very employment “may very well potentially expose the county to liability and unnecessary scrutiny . . . and could jeopardize our health facilities’ licensing/accreditation.”
Arevalo — who acknowledged in the letter that Beasley had no documented disciplinary problems in his record — said that county officials had repeatedly erred in overlooking Beasley’s criminal history. In addition to issues with his criminal history, the letter noted that Beasley had worked for several days in July 2008 despite having let his license as a radiological technologist expire.
County officials said Wednesday that Beasley returned to the county through an outside contractor who provides temporary employees. Los Angeles County’s chief executive, William T Fujioka, declined to name the agency.
“I have a three-person team over there investigating,” Fujioka said, declining to provide additional details. “I have to get all the facts together before I start talking about this.”
Molina said the investigation would focus on the outside contractor who provided Beasley’s name to the county for temporary employment, the county officials who apparently failed to ensure that his criminal history was checked and security officials who may have issued him a badge to enter the Roybal clinic.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich said, “County staff who knowingly approve hiring without criminal background checks — in direct violation of the procedures adopted by the Board of Supervisors — are jeopardizing the public’s safety and should be fired.”
It was not immediately clear if Beasley disclosed his criminal history to the agency that placed him in the county health center. It was also not clear when he began working at Roybal.
Beasley’s attorney, Marvin Mathis, declined to respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In an earlier interview, he said Beasley was pursuing an appeals procedure to be reinstated to his permanent position with the county because of his positive work evaluations.
“It’s just a tragedy. He was a go-to person for the department. They knew about his history. Every time he was promoted or transferred, he filled out an application and disclosed it. There was a discussion each time,” Mathis told The Times.

‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius in Hospital After Boating Accident

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:27:21 +0000

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — South Africa’s
, a
double amputee who made history by winning an appeal to allow him
to compete against able-bodied athletes, was admitted to a
Johannesburg hospital last night after he was injured in a
boating accident.
“At this point he’s in a critical but stable position in
intensive care,” Amelda Swartz, a spokeswoman for the Millpark
Hospital said today. It was too early to say whether he would
make a full recovery, she said.
Pistorius uses carbon-fiber prosthetics that have gained him
the nickname “Blade Runner.” He was born without his fibula,
the smaller of the two bones in the lower legs, and had both
limbs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. He had
taken up running as a teenager to recover from a rugby injury.
The 22-year-old, who has broken more than 25 Paralympic
records, won a court ruling in May that overturned a ban on him
competing against able-bodied athletes. While he failed to
qualify for the Beijing Olympics last year, he took three gold
medals in the
.
.
Last Updated: February 22, 2009 09:53 EST

Phoenix Fitness in Albion has new owner after 18 years

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:01:12 +0000

ALBION — Judy Christopher remembers the naysayers 18 years ago when she and her husband Gene opened Phoenix Fitness in Albion. Many people doubted the small town could support a health club.
But the community has been supportive, with about 150 members who have access to the gym on East Bank Street 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a key-pad system. Customers enter the code and the doors open at all hours of the day.
The Christophers are retiring from the business and they have sold the club and the building at 17 East Bank St. to David and Donna Gates of Albion. They are established business owners in the community. Mr. Gates for 23 years has run the Charisma martial arts school on Main Street. He and his wife also ran Kafana Gourmet Coffee for seven years until 2003, when a road reconstruction project in the downtown forced Kafana to close.
“I’m happy it’s Albion people who are involved in the community,” Mrs. Christopher said about the new owners, who are both nurses.
Phoenix Fitness will remain mostly unchanged, Mrs. Gates said. Her husband intends to offer Tai Chi classes in the second floor at Phoenix Fitness.
The second floor also will continue to be used for Silver Sneakers classes for senior citizens on Tuesdays and Thursdays. About 50 people are involved in that program.
The Christophers also help coordinate the annual 5-kilometer and 5-mile running races during the Strawberry Festival. Those races, moved to the third Saturday morning in June this year, typically draw about 200 entrants.
The Christophers also will continue to operate 4 C’s Marina at Point Breeze.
“We want some more free time,” said Mrs. Christopher, who serves on the board for Swan Library and also is active with the Albion Main Street Alliance. “This will free up time to do some other things.”
She said her customers have become friends, and sources of motivation over the years. Many have come in and lost weight and become much more physically active and healthy.
She likes the name of the health club. She and her husband started it when Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital closed and ended cardiac rehab in Albion. Albion Medical Arts also closed about two decades ago.
“A phoenix is the rising again from the ashes,” she said. “Here you can renew yourself.”
The Christophers wanted a place for people to maintain and build up their strength following cardiac rehab. The business gradually grew, with the Christophers adding more programs and equipment.
“We’ve had steady growth,” Mrs. Christopher said. “The club is strong and it’s going well.”
Mrs. Gates said the Christophers created an open environment for people at all levels to feel comfortable exercising. That atmosphere will continue, she said.
She already has met many of the faithful club members, and Gates said she is impressed with their determination.
“There’s been some inspirational stories,” she said. “The people come in here and it’s very welcoming. That’s one reason why we were happy to take over the business.”

4 Students Taken To Hospital After School Bus Wreck

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:40:25 +0000

UNION COUNTY, Fla. – Four students in Union County were rushed to an area hospital on Wednesday after a pickup truck driver rear-ended their school bus.
The wreck took place at about 3:15 p.m. after school on State Road 121 just south of Raiford.
Union County Sheriff’s deputies said a pickup truck driver failed to stop at an intersection and rear-ended the bus.
Four of the students onboard the bus were take to Lake Butler Hospital as a precaution.
Some of the remaining students were picked up by their parents at the scene of the crash and the other students on the school bus were immediately loaded onto another bus and taken to their homes.
Several school staff members were on scene to assist parents, according to the sheriff’s office.
The 16-year-old driver of the pickup truck was taken to Shands Gainesville Medical Center, but is expected to be OK.
The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating the crash. There was no word on whether any charges would be filed.

Man Taken to Hospital Hours After Stabbing

admin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:15:22 +0000

A man was taken to the hospital around 1 Thursday Morning after being stabbed sometime yesterday.
A man was taken to the hospital around 1 Thursday Morning after being stabbed sometime yesterday.

Police and Rescue crews responded to 102 Oak Street in the City of Syracuse just after 1 in the morning. Onondaga County 911 tells CBS 5 they received a call for a man who was stabbed in the back the day before and was now in need of medical attention.

Other details of the stabbing are not yet known as the investigation continues.

Hospital back to normal after cold cuts power

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:11:42 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS – Power has been restored at St. Francis
Hospital on Indianapolis’ far south side after a power outage
forced the hospital to stop accepting patients for several hours.
St. Francis spokesman Joe Stuteville said the hospital returned
to normal operations shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday after operating
on backup power.
Indianapolis Power & Light spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers
says a line failure cut electricity to customers on the city’s far
south side about 8:30 p.m. She said the outage was related to the
extremely cold weather.
was 12 below zero.

Health IT after Daschle: Phil Bredesen

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:21:31 +0000

This week I have decided to discuss what we cold expect from potential replacements for former Senator Daschle. On my blog, www.healthitpolitics.com, I talk about the Governor of Kansas. Here I discuss Phil Bredesen, Governor of Tennessee.
Healthcare is a signature issue for Gov. Bredesen. He focused mostly on Medicaid reform and covering the uninsured. His first attempt at reform of Medicaid, (TennCare) included full enrollment but limits on benefits. His alternate reform included full coverate for children but some reductions for some adults. He also has focused on stamping out fraud, having managed care organizations assume more risk, removing legal constraints on reform and he has pushed for the use of Health It for disease management and cost-reduction.
He also created CoverTN to provide converage to the uninsured. This program includes some prescription drug benefits, programs for small businessess and a high-risk pool for sick individuals.
So what can we expect from “Secretary” Bredesen. I think he will agree with President Obama’s idea of coverage for everyone. However, I think Gov. Bredesen also believes that everyone cannot get everything in terms of coverage and there will need to be limits. So the President Obama’s idea of citizens having access to Congress’s health plan may not come to fruition. There also in another irony: the high-risk pool for sick individuals was actually part of John McCain’s Healthcare proposal! Based on his experiene with legal constraints, I also think that Gov. Bredesen may advocate tort reform.
In terms of Health IT, Gov. Bredesen seems to view Health IT as a tool, a means to end, rather than an end in and of itself. Since Tennessee took part in the NHIN, we can expect authorization and funding of the NHIN. However, I think all Health IT funding will have to be justified with results.
As I said in my other blog, the idea of a Governor in charge of HHS is reassuring. The experience of a governor provides insight into delivering healthcare results while balancing budgets.