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Paying For Health Care Overhaul May Fall Unevenly On States
"Some of the "bluest" states that propelled Obama into the White House are among those most likely to pay more in taxes to fund expanded health insurance coverage and make other changes to the system, analysts say," The Los Angeles Times reports. "People in states such as Illinois, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York have a higher share of wealthier taxpayers and residents who get generous healthcare plans through work -- and both sets of people may be tapped to raise money for the healthcare overhaul. Moreover, those states have less to gain from a national effort to expand health insurance coverage because their residents already are more likely to have insurance than are Americans as a whole. Those conclusions by a range of policy analysts may point to future tension in the healthcare debate: Though battle lines so far have been drawn largely in partisan terms, lurking regional divisions could fracture Congress even further."

Infiltrating Blood-Derived Macrophages Are Vital Cells Playing An Anti-inflammatory Role In Recovery From Spinal Cord Injury In Mice
Although macrophages are known as essential players in wound healing,
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Timeline For Health Legislation Slips As HELP, Finance Committees Hit Snags
Senators delayed work Wednesday on one health care reform bill and hit partisan roadblocks on another as key lawmakers insisted they are still on track to have a bill on the floor by the middle of summer, The Washington Post reports.
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Journal Of Vascular And Interventional Radiology: New Patient Radiation Safety Guidelines

"Society of Interventional Radiology 2009 Standards Division Guidelines" is the subject of a special supplement to the July issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. SIR-a national organization of physicians, scientists and allied health professionals dedicated to improving public health through disease management and minimally invasive, image-guided therapeutic interventions-provides a unique collection of new (such as radiation dose management) and previously published clinical practice guidelines developed since 2003 through its Standards Division. "The supplement includes "Guidelines for Patient Radiation Dose Management," a significant new document providing guidance on the safe use of fluoroscopy for interventional radiologists performing procedures on adult patients and children utilizing fluoroscopy. The safe use of fluoroscopy has always been a primary concern for interventional radiologists," said Michael S. Stecker, M.D., FSIR, an interventional radiologist and assistant professor at Brigham and Women"s Hospital in Boston, Mass. This radiation management guideline, tailored to interventional radiology practice, emphasizes the need for increased diligence to safely manage the risks of radiation exposure from such procedures as embolization (including chemoembolization for cancer); transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation for liver disease; and renal and/or visceral artery angioplasty and/or stent placement. "The value of medical imaging is great and the risks of radiation dose are generally negligible compared to the health benefits of having a needed procedure or treatment. However, there are times when a significant radiation dose may need to be administered, and this needs to be properly handled," said Stecker. Due to the scope of the project, the standardized guidelines were developed over the past two years and are for use both in the United States and internationally, having been created in collaboration with and endorsed by the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe. "SIR developed the guidelines collection to improve the quality of clinical care and published research relevant to the practice of interventional radiology," said Albert A. Nemcek Jr., M.D., FSIR, editor of JVIR, a peer-reviewed, monthly publication long recognized for its exceptional quality and influence as an academic and professional re. "Members of SIR"s Standards Division have continued to develop new content as well as to revise older documents as appropriate," added the interventional radiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. The 376-page collection guest-edited by John F. Cardella, M.D., FSIR, includes quality improvement guidelines, safety guidelines new from 2003, consensus documents, credentialing statements, policy and position statements and technology assessment documents. One new feature added since the 2003 supplement is emerging technologies articles; these state-of-the-art works are written by thought leaders in emerging topics, such as nanotechnology, genetic therapy and digital detectors in computed tomography. Also included are position statements, defining not only SIR"s position on a new technique or procedure, but also the societal position on such topics as the role of clinical associates in interventional radiology. There are several such collaborative documents with like-minded societies, adding strength to the collection, said Nemcek. In the supplement"s introduction, Cardella and his collaborating colleagues, Sanjoy Kundu, M.D., FSIR; Donald L. Miller, M.D., FSIR; Steven F. Millward, M.D., FSIR; and David Sacks, M.D., FSIR, offer the hope that "....these documents help you in optimizing the quality of care for patients, assuring consistency and comparability in the publication of clinical and basic science research, establishing quality assurance programs with action thresholds and learn about "new topics on the horizon" for interventional radiology." The Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, can be viewed online at http://www.jvir.org. For more information, contact Noemi C. Arthur, SIR director of publications and JVIR managing editor, by sending an e-mail to narthur@SIRweb.org or by calling (703) 460-5593. A yearly subscription to the journal is $404 for individuals and $561 for institutions. A free journal subscription is a benefit of SIR membership. More information about the Society of Interventional Radiology, interventional radiologists and how to find an interventional radiologist in your area can be found online at http://www.SIRweb.org. Society of Interventional Radiology


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