Exposure to phthalates, a common chemical found in everything from plastics to soaps, already has been connected to reproductive problems and now, for the first time, is linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center. [click link for full article]

The non-partisan Pennsylvania Medicaid Policy Center (PMPC) has released its Faces of the Pennsylvania Medicaid Program report. The report is an easy-to-understand and comprehensive look at the structure and reach of the Medicaid program in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. [click link for full article]

On the battlefield, a soldier’s hearing can be permanently damaged in an instant by the boom of an explosion, and thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq have some permanent hearing loss. But what if soldiers could take a pill before going on duty that would prevent damage to hearing?Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests a medicinal form of hearing protection may someday be a possibility. A group headed by Jianxin Bao, Ph.D. [click link for full article]

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are harnessing two new, non-invasive techniques to look more closely inside the working lungs - leading to early detection of diseases, like emphysema, before it becomes evident in other modes of imaging. [click link for full article]

If you find yourself having to resuscitate someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest you should bear in mind that chest compressions are more important for the patient than mouth-to-mouth, say researchers from Surugadai Nihon University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. According to this latest study, the patient has a much greater chance of recovering without brain damage if you follow this advice. [click link for full article]

A small but telling study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center reveals an ominous trend: more than expected, obesity shadows Baltimore’s homeless children and their caregivers, putting them at high risk for heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, among other conditions.”Not long ago, homeless people were undernourished. [click link for full article]

The problem of efficiently delivering drugs, especially those that are hydrophobic or water-repellant, to tumors or other disease sites has long challenged scientists to develop innovative delivery systems that keep these drugs intact until reaching their targets.Now scientists in the University at Buffalo’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have developed an innovative solution in which the delivery system is the drug itself. [click link for full article]

The amount and formulation of an adult heart drug given to children with congenital heart failure varies widely across the UK, reveals a survey published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.The discrepancies suggest that children might not be getting the most effective dose for their condition, and that they may also be being put at risk, say the authors. [click link for full article]

Reports of squalor at a US military hospital show how out of touch America’s elites really are, argues a leading US professor in this week’s BMJ.According to several recent reports in the Washington Post, seriously wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital are housed in rodent infested facilities with holes in the ceilings and paint peeling off the walls right in the nation’s capital, less than six miles from the White House. [click link for full article]

Respironics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RESP) today announced that it has formed an agreement with The State University of New York (SUNY) and New York University School of Medicine (NYU) to utilize the I-neb Adaptive Aerosol Delivery (AAD(R)) System for clinical evaluation of aerosolized Interferon Gamma for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). The clinical trial will take place over a two-year time period. [click link for full article]