Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Here’s our daily round-up of news and resources for your work and pleasure:</p> <p><strong>ScienceBlogs:</strong> If you’ve been following the ScienceBlogs/PepsiCo debacle, it’s over: ScienceBlogger PZ Myers reports that the blog network <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/pepsico_has_been_expelled.ph… “expelled” Pepsi’s “Food Frontiers” blog</a>.</p>

<p>By now, you've probably <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jul/07/scienceblogs-bloggin… about the controversy</a> over <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/">ScienceBlogs</a>&#039; decision to launch a blog sponsored and written by PepsiCo. ScienceBloggers <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/users/palmd">Dr.

<p>Here’s what we’re reading today at ReportingonHealth:&nbsp;</p> <p>"You could nominate Gandhi to be head of CMS and that would be controversial right now." That gem of a quote, from a CBS News story on <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009850-503544.html">Donald Berwick’s recess appointment to run Medicaid and Medicare</a>, &nbsp;comes courtesy of Tom Scully, who held that job under President George W. Bush.</p>

<p>How will health reform affect the nation’s emergency rooms? The AP’s Carla K. Johnson provides a glimpse of the future in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR20100… story</a>, and it’s crowded. She writes:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.</em></p>

<p><img src="/files/u47/The_Clash.jpg" width="91" height="127" style="float: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" />I’ve been thinking lately about what we can learn from culture clashes within groups of people living with various diseases. Patient groups aren’t monoliths, but sometimes they’re covered as if they are. Journalists don’t always distinguish between people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, for example. That’s a bigger deal than you might think.</p>

<p>As patients, we tend not to think much about generic medications, except to appreciate that they’re a lot cheaper than brand name drugs.</p> <p>That’s why this <a href="http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2010/06/top-10-ge… of top 10 lifesaving generic medications</a> by <a href="http://drpullen.com/">Dr. Ed Pullen</a> of Puyallup, Wa. was such an interesting read, particularly in this recession. Pullen offers some historical context:</p>

<p><img src="/files/u47/West_Nile_Virus_-_Insect_Trap.jpg" alt="Insect Trap West Nile Virus" width="240" height="180" style="float: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" />Well, that’s a relief. Last year’s West Nile virus season <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5925a1.htm?s_cid=mm5925a1_w"… out to be the mildest in eight years</a>, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and this summer promises the same.</p>

<p>The number of obese American children <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100628_Study_finds_childhood_… be declining slightly</a>, but adults? Not so much. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65S4PJ20100629?feedType=RSS&amp;f… new report</a> finds more grownups getting fatter in 28 states, a hefty number of them in the South.</p> <p>Here’s an excerpt from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65S4PJ20100629?feedType=RSS&amp;f…’s Reuters’ story</a>:</p>

<p>It’s a dismal day for diabetes drugs, with new research showing that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR20100… raises the risks for heart disease and stroke</a> and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487039641045753346501552142… side effects reported for taspoglutide</a>, an experimental diabetes drug from Roche that was expected to be a huge seller. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The email press release I just received on <a href="http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR10-041.aspx">an new epidemic of whooping cough in California</a> is a jaw-dropper:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>The state is on pace to suffer the most illnesses and deaths due to pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in 50 years.</em></p>