Discover the Science of Health
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The Washington Post is reporting that the decade-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which expires in September and was expected to be renewed and possibly expanded, is held up in Congress. The debate is the proper role of government in healthcare.
The $5 billion dollar program annually helps 6.6 million low-income, uninsured American children see doctors when they’re sick. Both the U.S. House and Senate are proposing deals to expand the program and increase funding over the next five years, proposals the President characterizes as attempts to enlarge the federal role of healthcare and reduce private insurance coverage for some children.
Spinal muscular atrophy legislation, “The SMA Treatment Acceleration Act”, will soon be introduced in both the U.S House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
What is spinal muscular atrophy?
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive (meaning the disorder is inherited by receiving one gene from both mother and father) neuromuscluar disorder that affects motor neurons of the spinal cord and brainstem. Motor neurons are responsible for supplying electrical and chemical messages to muscle cells. Without proper input from motor neurons, muscle cells don’t function properly and become much smaller (atrophy), producing symptoms of muscle weakness and affecting the ability to swallow, breath and move limbs.
Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.
David at The Good Human writes about aspartame, it’s FDA approval and it’s health effects.
Although it’s a short post, H G Stern writes about one cool tool … Find Your Doc.
Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata writes about a Wall Street Journal report on heavy metal food contamination in China.
Konstantinos at the Life Sciences Blog writes about an alternative theory for cancer. Indeed, aneuploidy (meaning the duplication or loss of one or more chromosomes) is a common characteristic in virtually all cancers.
Berci at ScienceRoll shows us NextBio, a web-based scientific data search engine that looks incredibly cool. If you search PubMed frequently (like I do), you’ll have to give the demo a spin.
Insect repellent and sunscreen don’t mix. The Beauty Brains explain why.
