Last week, I implored you to urge your congressional members to Support Biomedical Research in the Economic Stimulus Package. The message was clearly received as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which President Obama signed today, includes $10 billion USD for biomedical research into cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. The stimulus bill also includes significant support for updating U.S. healthcare systems and over a billion dollars for evidence-based medicine research.
Support Biomedical Research in the Economic Stimulus Package
February 11, 2009 | by
This week, Congress is working to reconcile biomedical research funding differences in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. According to ProPublica, the Senate bill would spend substantially more on biomedical research than the House bill (10 billion vs. 900 million USD).
It is imperative that you urge your congressional members to support biomedical research as a critical driver of our economy. Here’s why: the biotechnology industry is a major driver of the U.S. economy and has been for the past 30 years [1]. Federal granting agencies have “shovel-ready” projects that will promote economic growth today — those research projects will help fight disease and improve the quality of life for everyone in America tomorrow.
Health Highlights – February 10th, 2009
February 10, 2009 | by
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.
- Colours affect mental performance, with blue boosting creativity | BPS Research Digest
Which color do you like: red or blue? The BPS Research Digest blog reviews a recent study that assesses the contrasting effects of the colors red and blue on mental performance.
- State of Health In the United States, 2008 | Open Medicine Blog
Dean Giustini examines the 20 specific health indicators proposed by the Institute of Medicine to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans.
- Probiotics | Science-Based Medicine
Dr. Mark Crislip provides an exposition on the science and spin of probiotics.
- How to Find a Good Doctor … An Expert Doctor Tells You How | ThePatientReport.com
The Patient Report.com documents a New York Times article that provides a quick education on how to search for a doctor.
- How Alternative Medicine Fails Us | Sciencebase Science Blog
David Bradley asks to a pharmaceutical science expert to comment on a post criticizing an herbal remedy and reader comments.
Health 2.0 Highlights: February 9th, 2009
February 9, 2009 | by
- Improving Your Medical Literacy | The Decision Tree
Decreased mortality is one of a number of benefits of health literacy. While health 2.0 empowers the next-generation of healthcare consumers, we shouldn't forget about the other half of the problem.
- PeRSSonalized Medicine | Webicina.Com
A free tool that lets you create your own "medical journal" and read the latest news and articles in one personalized place.
- Hospital Social Network List | Found In Cache
Ed Bennet catalogs 150 U.S. Hospitals that use YouTube, Facebook or Twitter (includes links to each resource).
- 140 Health Care Uses for Twitter | phil baumann online
What is healthcare doing with micro-sharing platforms such as Twitter? Phil Baumann has 140 suggestions.
- Twitter Doctors, Medical Students and Medicine related | Medical Student Blog
The Medical Student Blog provides a comprehensive list of doctors, medical students and medicine-related tweets and blogs/websits.
Clearing Up Concerns Over Vicks VapoRub
February 6, 2009 | by
A new study raised concerns recently over safety of the popular ointment Vicks VapoRub in young children. Wake Forest University researchers report that the salve, which is used to relieve symptoms of cough and chest congestion, may actually stimulate mucus production and airway inflammation in infants and toddlers [1]. However, the results are far from conclusive as the study was based on the case of a single child and 15 animals. Moreover, many of the results of the study have been incorrectly reported by the media.
