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Baucus Expects New Taxes On Worker's Benefits To Be Part Of Reform
Senators will likely pay for at least a portion of the expected $1 trillion-plus health reform price tag by taxing employer-provided health benefits that are significantly more expensive than the basic plan for federal employees, which costs $13,000 a year for a family, the Washington Post reports. A new tax on the benefits, which are now exempt, is "perhaps the best way to raise money for an overhaul of the health care system," Sen. Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which must find a way to pay for the bill, told reporters (Montgomery, 6/10).
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Care For School Children With Diabetes May Be Improved By Telemedicine
Type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic childhood disease. The management of this serious medical condition includes regular fingerstick glucose measurements, multiple daily injections of insulin, and frequent insulin dose adjustments. Because children spend a great deal of their time in school, school nurses often supervise medical decisions and diabetes care. Some researchers believe that the use of telecommunication technology may make diabetes care easier for some children. A new study soon to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics explores the effectiveness of telemedicine in helping school nurses and children manage diabetes care.
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The Mood Of Depressed People Improves With Weight Loss
Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), July 28 - August 1, 2009, the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that after a 6-month behavioral weight loss program, depressed patients not only lost 8% of their initial weight but also reported significant improvements in their symptoms of depression, as well as reductions in triglycerides, which are a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The results of this study highlight the need for further research into the effects of weight loss in individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders.
Cardiovascular

Ethics Review Of Research In The Context Of Humanitarian Relief Work

Two articles published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine highlight the need for, and the practicalities of, getting appropriate ethical review of research done in the context of humanitarian relief. An article by Doris Schopper and colleagues describes the functioning of the Mç©decins Sans Frontiç¨res (MSF) independent ethics review board (ERB) and the framework used for ethics review by this board. The board, set up in 2001, currently comprises seven members from around the world, all independent of MSF. In 2008, the last full year of operation, the board reviewed 23 proposals covering a range of topic and study designs. As well as providing an overview the article describes some specific challenging ethical issues encountered by the board since its inception. In concluding the article, the authors say: "International humanitarian organizations such as MSF will be faced with even more complex health problems in the future as the global environment changes. Research to devise and test new interventions will remain an important part of MSF"s agenda, and will most probably increase. As this happens, a major concern will be to ensure that communities in which such research takes place are empowered to become true partners and that vulnerable individuals and groups are effectively protected The ethical oversight provided by the MSF ERB will be crucial in addressing these challenges." The editorial, written by the PLoS Medicine editors, discusses more generally the problems that can arise when research is done in such settings, and notes that ethical oversight of such research needs to be rigorous, but also pragmatic, and suggests what the role of journals should be. As the editorial notes, by supporting initiatives such as the MSF research ethics board, journals can help to address these ethical challenges, at the same time as ensuring that the research they publish adheres to accepted ethical standards. Article By Schopper and Colleagues: Funding: No funding was received for this work. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Citation: "Research Ethics Review in Humanitarian Contexts: The Experience of the Independent Ethics Review Board of Medç©cins Sans Frontiç¨res." Schopper D, Upshur R, Matthys F, Singh JA, Bandewar SS, et al. (2009) PLoS Med 6(7): e1000115. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000115 PLoS Medicine


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