Posted 9:27 pm Sunday, December 23, 2012
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Health buzz from twitter, facebook and the web
Using HIV to treat cancer. Doctors are using a disabled form of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to reprogram the immune system to kill cancer cells in patients. The method, developed at the University of Pennsylvania, has been tried on 12 patients at different facilities. Seven of the patients had a good response. Three are in complete remission, including a 7-year-old girl, who has been cancer-free for eight months.
Guns rights and the Affordable Care Act? The Affordable Care Act has a section, called the “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights,” which states that the health care law’s wellness programs can’t require participants to give information about guns in their home.
According to Kaiser Health News, it also “keeps the Department of Health and Human Services from collecting data on gun use and stops insurance companies from denying coverage or raising premiums on members because of gun use.”
However, the law does not prohibit doctors from inquiring about gun ownership in a patient’s home. Since the shooting in Newtown, Conn., the need to review gun laws have resurfaced, including addressing it as a public health threat.
Carbon monoxide safety. Following the recent deaths of a 50-year-old Tyler woman and a 49-year-old Tyler man from an apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, local emergency officials are urging people to buy a carbon monoxide detector. According to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, more than 400 Americans die of carbon monoxide poison each year. In addition, more than 20,000 go the emergency room and more than 4,000 are hospitalized due to the poison. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas.
Guns rights and the Affordable Care Act? The Affordable Care Act has a section, called the “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights,” which states that the health care law’s wellness programs can’t require participants to give information about guns in their home.
According to Kaiser Health News, it also “keeps the Department of Health and Human Services from collecting data on gun use and stops insurance companies from denying coverage or raising premiums on members because of gun use.”
However, the law does not prohibit doctors from inquiring about gun ownership in a patient’s home. Since the shooting in Newtown, Conn., the need to review gun laws have resurfaced, including addressing it as a public health threat.
Carbon monoxide safety. Following the recent deaths of a 50-year-old Tyler woman and a 49-year-old Tyler man from an apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, local emergency officials are urging people to buy a carbon monoxide detector. According to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, more than 400 Americans die of carbon monoxide poison each year. In addition, more than 20,000 go the emergency room and more than 4,000 are hospitalized due to the poison. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas.
