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New EPI Healthcare Study By June O'Neill Shows Uninsured 'Crisis' Wildly Overestimated
The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new study which shows that the widely employed estimate of 47 million uninsured Americans is a misleading representation of the problem. The study, authored by Drs. June and David O"Neill of Baruch College and City University of New York, shows that more than 43 percent, or 18 million, of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 could likely afford health coverage and are actually "voluntarily uninsured." June O"Neill served as Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 1995-1999.
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Taiwan Rolls Out Plans To Boost Fertility Rates
Targeting the issue of low birth rates, the Taiwanese government implemented the Mega Warmth Social Welfare Program (MWSWP) in 2006 after its fertility rates dipped lower than most industrial nations.
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Generation Of A Severe Memory-Deficit Mutant Mouse By Exclusively Eliminating The Kinase Activity Of CaMKIIalpha
Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CaMKII alpha) is an enzyme that adds phosphates to a variety of protein substrates to modify their functions. CaMKII alpha is enriched in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, and is believed to be an essential mediator of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity and memory functions. However, the causative role of the enzymatic activity of CaMKII alpha in such processes has not been demonstrated yet, because this enzyme has multiple protein functions other than the kinase activity. A Japanese research group, led by Dr Yoko Yamagata of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan, has successfully generated a novel kinase-dead mutant mouse of the CaMKII alpha gene that completely and exclusively lacks its kinase activity. They examined hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behavioral learning of the mouse, and found a severe deficit in both processes. They reported their findings in the Journal of Neuroscience, published on June 10, 2009.
Mental Health

Heart Failure Patients With Cognitive Impairment Have Higher Mortality Risk

"There are data in the literature suggesting an increased mortality in patients with chronic heart failure who are additionally suffering from cognitive decline", said Dr. Clotilde Balucani (Perugia, Italy) at the current meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS). This major meeting in European neurology is gathering more than 2,900 experts from all over the world in Milan. Dr. Balucani and her colleagues are presenting a study funded by a research grant of the ENS. The French-Italian research team analyzed data from three studies involving a total of 896 patients suffering from cardiac insufficiency, half of whom were cognitively impaired. Heart failure is associated with a high mortality rate even among patients not cognitively impaired: 17,9 % (after 6 months), 25,6 % (after 12 months) und 68,2 % (after 60 months). The mortality rate was even much higher in heart failure patients with cognitive impairment, with rates of 35,6 %, 40 % and 96.3 %. "Data are yet too scarce to identify whether this is just the result of an increased morbidity in patients with cognitive impairment or if there is a direct causal relationship due to undertreatment or poor compliance," adds Dr. Balucani who would like to see more research in this area. Abstract: ENS abstract O119: Balucani et al, Does cognitive impairment influence outcome in congestive heart failure? A systematic review. European Neurological Society


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