Marketing Consultants to the Overlooked Disabled Community

WASHINGTON - MedPage Today disclosed the monthly premium for basic Medicare drug benefits in 2009 is seen to average $28, up $3 from 2008, states the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.  Experts put the hikes for the most popular plans much higher.  Kerry Weems, CMS acting administrator, said "plans change their offerings from year to year.  Some beneficiaries may see significant premium increases/changes, such as reduced coverage in the gap, if they stay in the same prescription drug plan."  Although the $3 national average rise is a 12% hike, premiums for the 10 most popular plans will jump 31%, asserts Avalere Health, a consulting company.  The Wall Street Journal noted the Avalere analysis found the average premium hike for all plans would be 24%, reflecting a $7 increase from the 2008 average premium of $30.  UnitedHealth Group's AARP preferred plan will charge $37 a month, up 15.5% from 2008.  Humana's basic plan will charge $40.83 in 2009, up from $9.51 in 2006, when that plan was the cheapest available.

IOWA CITY, IA - The Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa College of Law and the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University noted MIT researchers are developing a wheelchair that responds to the user's verbal commands.  It’s programmed to "learn" the location of a building and take the user from one area to another without manual controls by the occupant.  To program the device, users take the wheelchair on a guided tour of the building and identify important objects along the way, such as "my room" or "the kitchen."  The prototype uses a WiFi system, requiring WiFi nodes throughout the building to detect signals.  Researchers are looking for ways to incorporate object detecting systems and mechanical arms to aid the occupants in picking up objects en route.

CHICAGO - If Autism advocates get their way, more states will follow Indiana's lead by requiring health insurers to cover intensive and costly behavior therapy for Autism.  In the past two years, six states - Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana - passed laws requiring such coverage, costing in some cases up to $50,000 a year per child.  The powerful advocacy group Autism Speaks has endorsed bills in New Jersey, Virginia, and Michigan and is targeting at least 10 more states in 2009, including New York, California, and Ohio.  Other states, including Illinois, have similar bills in the works but aren't working directly with Autism Speaks.  "This is the hottest trend in mandates we've seen in a long time," said J.P. Wieske, a lobbyist for an insurance coalition that argues these state requirements drive up insurance costs for everyone.  "It is hard to fight them."  For lawmakers, voting against these measures means voting against parents who are struggling to do the best for their children.  Parents tell moving stories about how behavior therapy works better than anything they've tried.  In two states, bills got nicknames like "Steven's Law" and "Ryan's Law," so voting against them was tough.

FLORENCE, ITALY - Multiple Sclerosis (MS) typically starts in young adulthood, but about 5% of cases start in childhood or teen years.  Kids with MS are at risk to exhibit low IQ scores and problems with memory, attention and other thinking skills, states a study in the journal Neurology.  "It's possible that MS can show an even more dramatic effect on the thinking skills and intelligence in children than in adults, since the disease might affect the brain at a time when it is still developing," said study author Dr. Maria Pia Amato, of the University of Florence.  For the study, 63 children 18 with MS were compared to 57 healthy children of similar ages.  The participants were given 17 tests to measure their overall intelligence, memory, language abilities, and other thinking skills.  Five of the children with MS had IQ scores under 70; none of the healthy children had a score under 70; 15 kids with MS had IQ scores 70-89 versus two of the healthy children.  About 30% of kids with MS also had language difficulties, which isn’t common in adults with MS.

BETHESDA, MD - The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) disclosed a 30% rixe in chronic kidney disease over the past decade prompted the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) to issue - for the first time - a separate report documenting the magnitude of the disease.  It affects an estimated 27 million Americans and accounts for more than 24% of Medicare costs.  Atlas of Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease is at www.usrds.org.  NIH director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni said, "The major focus on chronic kidney disease in this year's report acknowledges this disorder is a growing public health issue deserving of wider public awareness and intensified scientific investigation."

ROCHESTER, NY - HealthDay News noted 33% of parents of babies have a surprisingly low knowledge of child development, including basic concepts about what their children should know or how they should act, a study found.  For instance, many parents don't know one-year-olds can't tell the difference between right and wrong, and often don't cooperate or share when playing with other children.  The results are surprising because the parents who took part in the survey had young children, said lead author Dr. Heather Paradis, a pediatric fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center.  "They were watching or had just watched their kids go through this development, and they were probably the most knowledgeable of anybody."  Dr. Paradis and her team examined a survey of parents - 98.6% of whom were mothers - of more than 10,000 nine-month-old babies.  In the survey, parents were asked 11 questions designed to test their knowledge of a baby's development.

TORONTO - Anesthesiologist researchers developed a quick, cheap, and highly accurate scoring system to identify surgical patients who may have the potentially life-threatening condition of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).  STOP is a self-administered screening tool with four simple "yes/no" questions created by anesthesiologist Dr. Francis Chung and her team at the University of Toronto.  OSA is the most prevalent breathing disturbance in sleep and is characterized by repeated episodes of cessation of breathing due to a narrowing of the airway. 

The STOP test has four questions:
S:	Do you snore loudly?
T:	Do you often feel tired, fatigued, or sleepy during daytime?
O:	Has anyone observed you stop breathing during sleep?
P:	Do you have or are you being treated for high blood pressure?

If a patient answers "yes" to two or more questions, then he/she is ranked at high risk for OSA.  When added to other known risk factors for OSA - high body mass index, age over 50, large neck circumference and male gender - sensitivity for OSA was even greater.

ROCHESTER, MN - It’s wrong to assume fatigue or memory loss is an inevitable sign of aging.  They’re common symptoms of an underactive thyroid - which generally responds to treatment, notes the Mayo Clinic Health Letter.  The thyroid plays a significant role in overall health.  Its hormones are chemical messengers, helping to control body temperature, heart rate, muscle strength, cholesterol, memory, and even mood.  When a thyroid produces too much or too little of its hormones, chemical reactions in the body become unbalanced.  The earliest symptoms of an underactive thyroid, such as sluggishness and fatigue, too often are mistaken for simply getting older.  As hypothyroidism continues, other symptoms can include cold hands and feet, constipation, pale, dry skin, a puffy face, hoarseness, or unexplained weight gain.  Older people with an underactive thyroid may exhibit only one symptom, for example, memory loss or decreasing mental function.  The treatment of choice is the drug levothyroxine, which replaces a key missing hormone.  Periodic blood tests are needed to determine the proper dosage.

BETHESDA, MD – The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reported the best available treatment for chronic kidney disease from high blood pressure didn’t keep the disease from substantially worsening in about 25% of African-Americans studied, state results of a National Institutes of Health study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  The African- American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension (AASK) found the disease worsened substantially in about 25% of participants, even with very good blood pressure control and use of kidney-protecting medicines, currently the best available treatment.  This subgroup of patients either lost half their kidney function or reached kidney failure, also known as end-stage renal disease.  "Despite these sobering results, blood pressure control is still vital in kidney disease and in many other diseases," said NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, "but this research clearly signals the importance of preventing kidney disease, better understanding causes and finding better ways to manage it in the 26 million Americans who already have it."

ALBERTA, CANADA - A University of Alberta study of almost 600 of its graduates (20-29) tracked mental health symptoms for seven years post-graduation and looked at how key events like leaving home and becoming a parent were related to depression and anger.  Graduates showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms.  Expressed anger also declined over time after graduation, suggesting improved mental health.  Researchers found that while home may be a haven for young people in early adulthood, the longer they stay at home, or if they return home, the more likely they are to experience symptoms of depression.  This study shown younger participants were more depressed at times when they lived on their own, while older participants were more depressed while they lived with their parents.  "Some key events, such as leaving home, may throw emerging adults a little off-kilter, depending on the timing of the transition," said psychology professor Nancy Galambos.

HAIFA, ISRAEL - Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in very young children may cause some of the adverse cardiovascular health woes seen in older children and adults with OSA, say researchers, who presented findings at the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference in Toronto.  "OSA starts from the first year of life," says Dr. Aviv Goldbart, pediatric pulmonologist/sleep specialist who led the study at Ben-Gurion University’s Soroka Medical Center, "yet very little is known regarding the cognitive, cardiovascular, and other medical consequences."  The study is the first to look at the relationship between systemic inflammation and cardiovascular morbidity in children with OSA.  Researchers assessed 70 young children, 12-26 months, whose OSA was confirmed by polysomnography.  The children were scheduled to undergo adenotonsillectomy to remove enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

SAN DIEGO - Colonoscopists appear to do a better job spotting intestinal polyps early in their workday, a researcher told MedPage Today.  About 20% more polyps were found on average in the first case of the day versus later cases in a prospective study of 500 colonoscopies done at a large Veterans Affairs hospital, Dr.  Brennan M. Spiegel, of the University of California/Los Angeles, reported on Digestive Disease Week.  Yields fell progressively during the workday, he said, with the effect persisting after adjustment for potentially confounding variables, such as bowel preparation quality and the purpose of the procedure.  Because only 24 of the 500 were performed after 1 p.m., the findings weren’t merely a result of morning versus afternoon, Dr. Spiegel said.  "Providers may be most adept at detecting polyps at the beginning of an endoscopic work shift," he said.

NEW HAVEN, CT - The Los Angeles Times disclosed that for those who poured themselves a stiff cocktail at the end of an awful day, a spat, traffic ticket, or office crisis, it's official: You’re likely trying to distract yourself from negative emotions.  If this is how you tend to respond, you're more likely to be a man than a woman.  A Yale University study finds that under stress, women report more sadness/anxiety than men, but men report more craving for alcohol.  In a study for the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 27 women and 27 men - social drinkers - heard stories from their lives that were stressful, relaxing, or alcohol-related.  Then, they had their heart rate and blood pressure measured, and emotional state and craving for alcohol gauged.  When men's emotions were aroused, up went blood pressure and evidence of emotional unease, such as fidgeting and distressed looks.  Up went their professed desire for alcohol.  For women, sadness and anxiety rose, but versus men their increased alcohol craving was slight.

BETHESDA, MD - MedlinePlus noted that for men with diabetes, erectile dysfunction (E.D.) may foreshadow heart attacks, strokes, and even death, two studies show.  The conditions have similar features.  Heart disease develops when blood flow to the cardiac muscle is choked off, often because of fatty plaque build-up or clots in the arteries.  E.D. can occur when damage to blood vessels hinders the surge of blood needed to sustain an erection.  Both are common with diabetes, when high levels of blood sugar go through the vessels and cause damage.  Researchers in Hong Kong and Italy found (E.D.) may develop up to three years before heart disease in some diabetics, and those who have it may be at twice the risk for the deadly cardiac complications.  The findings were in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  Senior author Peter Chun-Yip, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, stated the study "strongly suggests" (E.D.) is a marker for heart disease and doctors should ask diabetics about it to identify those at high risk.

WATERTOWN, MA - Reuters Health noted research suggest adults who are obese or have less-than-ideal lifestyles may be more likely to have multiple, and more severe, urinary woes.  In a study of more than 5,500 men and women 30-79, research found 75% of women and 67% of men reported at least one urinary tract symptom - such as frequent trips to the bathroom overnight, difficulty emptying the bladder, and incontinence.  Obese adults were more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have multiple, more severe symptoms.  Smoking, lack of exercise, and heavy drinking were linked to more serious urinary problems.  Researchers led by Dr. John B. McKinlay, of the New England Research Institutes, report the findings in the journal BJU International.  The results are based on 5,506 Boston residents surveyed on 14 different urological symptoms, plus overall health.  Researchers were able to identify four "clusters" of urinary symptoms among women, and five among men.