Long-acting octreotide does not improve outcomes for patients with liver cancer compared to a placebo, according to the results of a new double blind study published in the January 2007 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the journal is available online via Wiley InterScience. [click link for full article]

Medicare’s new payment method for reimbursing physicians for prescription drugs under Part B has reduced spending, according to a report to Congress prepared by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

An obstetrician shortage in Iraq is causing many pregnant women in the country to forgo prenatal care, and nightly curfews, gun battles and spontaneous road closures in the country are forcing them to have caesarean sections or rely on local midwives for delivery services, the Washington Post reports. According to a December 2006 [click link for full article]

Health Care on the Hill — Democrats Set the Agenda,” [click link for full article]

The commencement of the Medicare prescription drug benefit’s second year has gone more smoothly than the first year as hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries are entering the program or changing plans, federal health officials and representatives of seniors and pharmacists said Wednesday, the [click link for full article]

The Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) has chosen Springer as the publisher of its new journal, Hepatology International. Springer will begin publishing the journal in March 2007. The peer-reviewed journal, featuring articles written by clinicians, clinical researchers, and medical professionals, is dedicated to research and patient care issues in hepatology. [click link for full article]

China’s Henan province on Monday banned the sale of drugs for medical abortions in coordination with the province’s efforts to maintain gender balance among infants, Xinhua/China Daily reports. [click link for full article]

Programs that provide low- and no-cost health insurance for children can bridge the gap between families that qualify for Medicaid and those who can afford private insurance or have employer-sponsored coverage, Reuters reports. About nine million children are uninsured but are in families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. According to Al Rohling of the [click link for full article]

Last year a primary care trust announced it would take smokers off waiting lists for surgery in an attempt to contain costs. In this week’s BMJ, two experts go head to head over whether smokers should be refused surgery.Denying operations is justified for specific conditions, argues Professor Matthew Peters from the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Australia. [click link for full article]

A new study on risk factors of new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) following liver transplant found that a history of obesity, impaired fasting glucose and hepatitis C infection (HCV) paired with the use of a particular immunosuppressant are associated with an increased risk of NODM. Since all of these factors can be detected prior to undergoing a transplant, treatment should be tailored to the patient’s risk. [click link for full article]