WASHINGTON - Americans get the worst healthcare and pay the most versus five other rich nations, a Reuters report stated.  Britain, Germany, Australia, and Canada provide better care for less money, Commonwealth Fund found.  "The U.S. healthcare system ranks last [versus] five other nations [in] quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes," the non-profit group stated.  It studies healthcare issues.  Canada rates second worst, Germany was highest, followed by Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.  "The U.S. isn’t getting value for money spent on healthcare," Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis said.  The group shows consistently the U.S., the only one of the six nations without universal healthcare, scores more poorly on many measures.  The U.S. system is an uncoordinated conglomeration of employer-funded care, private health insurance, and government programs.  It leaves about 45 million people with no insurance, U.S. agency estimates from 2005 show, and many studies have shown most of these people don’t get preventive services that not only keep them healthier, but also cut long-term costs.  Davis said U.S. 2004 per capita health spending was $6,102 versus Germany’s $3,005, Canada’s $3,165, New Zealand’s $2,083, Australia’s $2,876, and Britain’s $2,546.

WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, D.C. noted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) will hold its Education and Workforce Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington on Sept. 24-26 (www.uschamber.com/icw/strategies/icwsummit.htm).  More than 400 leaders in business, education, and workforce development will discuss issues vital to U.S. competitiveness.  Visit the Web site for agenda and registration.

BALTIMORE - More than 26 million people globally were seen having Alzheimer’s disease in 2006, found a study led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  They found Alzheimer’s global prevalence will exceed 106 million by 2050; 43% of those with Alzheimer’s will need care equal to a nursing home.  The findings were published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.  "We face [an] epidemic of Alzheimer’s as the world’s population ages," said lead author Dr. Ron Brookmeyer, biostatistics professor and chair of the Master of Public Health Program at Bloomberg.  "By 2050, one in 85 persons worldwide will have Alzheimer’s.  However, if we can make modest advances in preventing Alzheimer’s or delay progression, we could have a huge global public health impact."  Interventions that could delay the onset by as little as one year would reduce prevalence by 12 million cases in 2050.

WASHINGTON - Most sunscreens on the U.S. market either fall short of claims or contain unsafe ingredients, states an environmental watchdog group told MedPage Today.  In an analysis of 785 different products, the Environmental Working Group found 84 of those with a sun-protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher didn’t give users the protection they boasted.  "Only 16 products are safe and effective, blocking ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B radiation, remaining stable in sunlight, and containing few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards," the group reported.  More than half contained unstable ingredients that can break down under sunlight, leaving the user unwittingly exposed, and many products make unsupported claims about efficacy or stability, authors asserted.  The group posted its findings on a Web site, including products it found to be acceptable and unacceptable.  "EWG conducted this research because the FDA failed to do so," said Jane Houlihan, EWG vice president/research.

CHICAGO - The U.S. healthcare system is "a dysfunctional mess" and politicians who insist otherwise look ignorant, stated a prominent National Institutes of Health ethicist, the Associated Press noted.  "If a politician declares the U.S. has the best healthcare system in the world, he or she looks clueless rather than patriotic or authoritative," Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  He said the U.S. spends $6,000 per person per year on healthcare, more than 16% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, and more than any other country.  He said U.S. average life expectancy of 78 ranks 45th in the world, behind Bosnia and Jordan, and the U.S. infant death rate is 6.37 per 1,000 live births, higher than that of most developed nations.  Dr. Emanuel proposes phasing out Medicaid, Medicare, and employer-sponsored health insurance.  He would have Americans get a basic package of insurance, choose their insurer, and buy upgraded coverage.  The program would be funded by a value-added tax of about 10% on businesses.

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Inquirer noted for years doctors urged older men with early-stage, low-risk prostate cancer to "watch and wait" - skip treatment until tests showed cancer was growing aggressively.  A study at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania suggests there is a significant benefit from treating men over 65 surgically or with radiation therapy.  The study was in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  "We found men who had either a radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy within six months of their prostate cancer diagnosis were 30% less likely to die than those who didn’t undergo treatment," said Dr. Yu-Ning Wong, medical oncologist at Fox Chase and study lead author.  Using several national cancer databases, Dr. Wong and her colleagues examined the overall survival of 44,630 men with low- and intermediate-stage prostate cancer.  The patients, aged 65-80, were diagnosed with the disease 1991-1999.  Doctors reported that over a 12-year period, 37% of the men with prostate cancer who took the watchful-waiting approach died versus 24% of those who chose treatment.

BRAINERD, MN - HealthDay News stressed hours online can take a toll on your eyes.  "An increasing number of people use the computer huge numbers of hours during the day," said Dr. Kerry Beebe, an optometrist and American Optometric Association (AOA) spokesman.  "It seems particular visual demand can be tough to handle if there's anything less than perfect going on with your visual system."  Studies show eyestrain and other vision problems can occur in up to 90% of people using video display terminals at work, AOA states.  The most common symptoms are eyestrain, blurred vision, double vision, excessive tears, dry eyes, and excessive blinking or squinting.  Visual woes can bring physical problems such as headaches and neck or shoulder pain.  Radiation from a VDT has nothing to do with symptoms; that's a common myth, said Dr. Jeffrey Weaver, director of the AOA's clinical care group.

SAN ANTONIO - The Good Bytes Cafe has stained concrete floors, jars of scones and a small bank of computers in the corner, making it much like any Internet cafe.  The computers - with a joystick mouse, magnifying software, and equipment allowing people to point and click with their eye movements - make Good Bytes one of just a handful nationwide specifically designed for disabled users.  The cafe is a first for Goodwill Industries, the nonprofit best known for selling used clothing and furniture at its thrift stores.  "We're the first, but we won't be the last," said Rebecca Helterbrand, marketing vice president for Goodwill of San Antonio.  Goodwill has long had job centers to help disabled residents find work, but surveys found 70% of the area's disabled are unemployed and 60% don't have computer skills, she said.  Due to the tie between joblessness and lack of computer skills, Goodwill wanted to build something that would give more disabled people access to assistive technology.  The cafe, funded with a $125,000 grant from San Antonio-based AT&T Inc., will be supported by food sales and will double as a location to train disabled food service workers, she said.  Good Bytes doesn’t charge for access to the technology.

WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted the "Health and Well-Being of Children in Rural Areas: A Portrait of the Nation 2005" has national and state data on the health status, healthcare use, and risk factors experienced by infants, children, and adolescents (birth to 17) who reside in rural areas.  The chartbook draws from an analysis of parent reports from the National Survey of Children's Health, supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).  Measures included oral, physical, and mental health; healthcare utilization and insurance status; and social well-being.  Aspects of the environment (family structure, poverty level, parental health and habits, and community surroundings) were assessed.  The chartbook has data on infants', children's, and adolescents' health and healthcare by location and major demographic characteristics (age, sex, race and ethnicity, and family income).  The appendix has data on the survey sample and methodology.

IRVINE, CA - SeniorSource e-zine stated a discovery was made in Alzheimer's disease.  One factor in the cause is said to be stress.  Professor of neurobiology and behavior Frank LaFerla and his scientific team at the University of California made the discovery using genetically-modified mice.  The team injected the mice for seven days with a compound similar to the stress hormones in humans.  The protein beta-amyloid increased in the brain 60 times.  This protein is one main cause of plaques in the human brain.  Plaques are one if the two lesions that cause Alzheimer's.  Scientists noted higher levels of Tau protein.  Tau leads to tangles that are the other brain lesion symptom of Alzheimer's.  The findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.  Heart disease, sleep disorders, weight gain, diabetes, and many other common ailments have all been found to have links to stress, or are improved when stress is reduced.  Stress can be reduced, and add many other positive benefits to daily living.

NEW HAVEN, CT - MedPage Today noted older Americans are flocking to gastroenterologists due to Medicare's all-beneficiary coverage of colonoscopy screening.  That pays off in earlier colon cancer detection, a study found.  Colonoscopy is up nearly sevenfold since Medicare changed the rules in 2001 to cover all fee-for-service beneficiaries for screening, noted Dr. Cary Gross, of Yale Medical School, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  There has been a significant shift to colon cancer being detected in the earliest stage, Dr. Gross and colleagues stated.  To see if the policy changes were having the intended effect, the team analyzed Medicare data on colonoscopy use 1991-2003.  To seek a shift in cancer stage at diagnosis, the team checked data on nearly 45,000 people diagnosed 1992-2002 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Medicare-linked database.  Colonoscopy rose from an average of 285 per 100,000 beneficiaries before screening was covered to 889 per 100,000 after coverage was given to high-risk patients.  The proportion of patients diagnosed with stage I disease rose from 22.5% before coverage began to 25.5% after coverage was given to high-risk patients.  The figure was 26.3% after reimbursement was extended to all, the study found.