Studies Look At Colorectal Cancer And Lead Exposure In Blacks, Teen Pregnancy Among Hispanics

The following summarizes recent news coverage of studies related to minorities. Colorectal cancer: Colorectal cancer death rates are higher for blacks than whites in the South, according to a recent CDC study, the Rockford Register Star reports.

Pennsylvania Court Rules Lay Midwife Can Continue Home Birth Practice

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled 5-2 on Friday that a Lancaster County, Pa.-based midwife was not practicing medicine without a license by assisting at home births, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The ruling lifts a cease-and-desist order from the State Board of Medicine against midwife Diane Goslin.

Gulf Coast Area Children Who Lived In Trailer Units At Risk For Long-Term Illnesses, Experts Say

Tens of thousands of Gulf Coast area children who lived in trailer units provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 might have increased risk for long-term health problems, according to physicians and federal health officials, the AP/Denver Post reports.

JAMA Editorial, Commentary Discuss Effect Of Medical Spending On Health Outcomes, Preventive Health Efforts

"Spending on Medical Care: More Is Better?" Journal of the American Medical Association: The JAMA editorial by Gerard Anderson and Kalipso Chalkidou of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health discusses studies that have examined whether increased spending on health care leads to better health outcomes.

Reported Cases Of PTSD In Soldiers Up 50 In 2007, According To Defense Officials

The number of U.S. service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder increased by nearly 50% from 2006 to 2007, according to Pentagon data released on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. Nearly 40, 000 soldiers who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007 have been diagnosed by the military as having PTSD (Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 5/28).

Childhood Obesity Growth Appears To Have Leveled Off, But Racial Disparities Remain, Study Finds

Minority children continue to have some of the highest obesity rates, according to a new study that indicates the decades-long growth in childhood obesity in the U.S. appears to have leveled off, the Washington Post reports.

San Francisco Mayor Rejects Proposed Budget Cuts To HIV AIDS Services

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently rejected proposed cuts to HIV/AIDS services in his fiscal year 2009 budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

China's One-Child Policy To Exempt Parents Whose Children Were Killed During Earthquake

Chinese officials from Sichuan province on Monday announced that parents whose children were killed, severely injured or disabled during the May 12 earthquake in the region would be exempt from the country's one-child-per-family policy, the New York Times reports (Jacobs, New York Times, 5/27).

Medicare Beneficiaries Report Similar Levels Of Satisfaction With Health Care Regardless Of Variations In Spending, According To Study

Variations in regional Medicare spending do not affect beneficiaries' perceptions of the care they receive, according to a study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Bloomberg/Tennessean reports.

Wealthy Nations Should Meet Commitments Made To Developing Countries, Global Fund Executive Director Kazatchkine Says

Wealthy nations should meet their commitments to help developing countries despite the slowing global economy, Michel Kazatchkine -- executive director of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- said on Tuesday, Reuters reports..