The study population included all Oregon families enrolled in the federal food stamp program at the end of January 2005 with children who were also presumed eligible for publicly funded health insurance. Both programs require a household income of less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level and proof of a child’s U.S. citizenship. Of the 8,636 questionnaires sent, 2,681 were returned. About 25 percent of those responding reported gaps in coverage during the previous year.
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The research team from the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Granada (UGR), together with the Department of Radiology at the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada, have designed a portable and low-cost device which can measure the ionizing radiation someone is exposed to, for example, during radiotherapy.

Ionizing radiations play a vital role in the treatment and diagnosis of malignant neoplastic illnesses as well as in the diagnosis of other pathologies. However, according to Manuel Vilches Pacheco from the Medical Physics and Radiology Department at the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada, “the potential harm ionizing radiations can cause means that, in order to obtain clinical benefits and reduce the onset of unwanted adverse effects as much as possible, they must be used under strict quality control”.
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American researchers are suggesting that antidepressant drugs may possibly lengthen a person’s lifespan.

The researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle have come up with this possibility following research with nematode worms which are a very basic life form. In the study the tiny worms were exposed to as many as 88,000 chemicals drug compounds before four drugs were found that extended life span by 20 to 30 percent.

One of these drugs was Mianserin, which belongs to a class of drugs known as tetracyclic antidepressants, which proved to be the most effective in that it extended the lifespan of the worms by almost a third. The drug apparently mimics the effects on the body of the only known animal long-life regime - virtual starvation.
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (D, Del.) last month unveiled a plan to reduce the number of uninsured people by expanding federal health programs, offering a national insurance plan for catastrophic illnesses, and boosting funding and coverage for preventive care.

Biden would improve access to health insurance by expanding eligibility for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to 300% of the federal poverty level, by allowing those 55 and older to enroll in Medicare and by letting the public buy coverage in SCHIP or federal employee health plans with sliding-scale premiums.

He also would require uniform billing and claim systems, and establish a panel to compare the effectiveness of medical devices, technology, treatment protocols and the management of chronic diseases.

President Bush told lawmakers Oct. 30 he would not sign a reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program with a tobacco tax increase, further widening the gulf on SCHIP between the president and Democratic and Republican SCHIP bill supporters.

The last two versions of the $60 billion reauthorization measure would raise $35 billion by increasing federal cigarette taxes by 61 cents, to $1. The Senate adopted the latest SCHIP measure 64-30 on Nov. 1, one week after the House passed it 265-142. The bill, like its predecessor, faces a presidential veto, despite revisions that would limit SCHIP eligibility to 300% of the federal poverty level and phase out coverage of adults in one year instead of two. SCHIP funding will run out on Nov. 16 unless new legislation is passed. At press time, House and Senate lawmakers were negotiating on a new SCHIP bill in an attempt to reach a veto-proof two-thirds majority in both chambers.