Health and Science
FAQs for Seniors on Health Care Reform
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has identified the top twelve facts that seniors should be aware of concerning the health reform law. A Harris poll entitled "Straight Talk" reveals that only 17% of seniors knew the correct answers to more than half the factual questions posed about these key aspects of new law and only 9% knew the correct answers to at least two-thirds of the questions. None of the 636 older adults interviewed for the poll knew the correct answers to all twelve of the factual questions.
Here are some examples of issues that were not clearly understood:
1. Only 14% of seniors knew that the law does not cut Medicare payments to doctors; 45% answered incorrectly and 41% said they did not know.
2. Only 24% of seniors knew that it is projected to extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund.
FDA Panel Wants Tougher Restrictions on Opioids; Painkiller abuse matches illegal drug abuse
"An FDA advisory committee voted 25-10 to reject the agency's proposed plan to prevent inappropriate prescribing, misuse, and abuse of extended-release opioid painkillers, saying the plan lacks the teeth to stem the 'public health crisis' of opioid addiction, overdose, and death."
"The agency's plan to put a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) in place would have required drug companies that make extended-release opioids to develop educational programs to guide physicians in patient selection, dosing, and patient monitoring. Prescribers were also to have been trained to counsel their patients on how to safely store and dispose of opioids."
The GAO Testifies About Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests
Misleading Test Results Are Further Complicated by Deceptive Marketing and Other Questionable Practices
Highlights of GAO-10-847T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives
In 2006, GAO investigated companies selling direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests and testified that these companies made medically unproven disease predictions. Although new companies have since been touted as being more reputable — Time named one company’s test 2008’s “invention of the year” — experts remain concerned that the test results mislead consumers. GAO was asked to investigate DTC genetic tests currently on the market and the advertising methods used to sell these tests.
A blonde's dark secret: How a seductive beauty changed into a demure lady, 300 years after she was painted.
The National Gallery in London is exploring the world of Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries. A painting acquired as a 15th-century work in 1923 was proven to be a 20th-century forgery after scientific analysis of the materials used.
Occasionally science also betrays the errors of past research. At the time of its purchase in 1845, A Man with a Skull was attributed to Hans Holbein. A recent analysis of the painting’s wooden panel support has shown that the work actually postdates the artist’s death.
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