Daily Briefing: Nearly Half of All Veterans Seeking Medical Assistance

 Veterans: More veterans have applied for disability benefits than ever before, reports Marilynn Marchione for the AP. Some 45 percent of the 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are asking for compensation.

Radioactive Fish: Cesium isotopes were detected in the meat of bluefin tuna off the coast of California, reports David Perlman for the San Francisco Chronicle. The level of radioactivity is far too low to threaten human health, but it does say something about the spread of nuclear material from the Fukushima reactors. On the flipside, perhaps fewer people will want to eat this over-fished species. 

Medical Data: Patients with implanted devices that regulate their hearts are campaigning for access to the data they are producing. As it stands, that information only goes to doctors, reports Amy Standen for NPR.

Addiction: The forthcoming version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders groups substance abuse with substance dependence, implying that the former leads to the latter, but that's controversial, writes Michelle Andrews for Kaiser Health News.

Online Communities: Researcher are finding that they can readily access populations with rare diseases by appealing to online communities, reports Gretchen Cruda-Kroen for NPR.

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Photo credit: US Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment via Flickr