Insights

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Radiation Worries:</strong> As if you didn’t have enough to worry about with all the controversy over whole-body airport security scanners, the New York Times’ Walt Bogdanich and Jo Craven McGinty examine possible <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/23scan.html?ref=health">radiation risks for children and teens</a> in the wake of lucrative dental diagnostic technologies both old and new.</p>

<p>New York City has launched an advertising campaign against soft drinks and sugar, which brings to mind a time when the <a href="http://www.healthaliciousness.com/blog/Senate-Considers-New-Nationwide-… was considering a nationwide tax on all sugared drinks</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62JMfv0tf3Q">Here</a&gt; is their first video from the campaign of a man eating sugar packets.</p>

<p>I went to needle exchange to hang out. You may be asking yourself what a soccer mom from the burbs is doing perched on a folding chair in the parking garage of 101 Grove on a dark November night, surrounded by syringes. I was there as a guest observer because I’m working on a series of articles a

<p>At 18 years old, my mother took me to play bingo at a local American Indian reservation. It was a bare hall, lined with long rows of tables and filled with mostly middle aged women. My mother bought eight cards - 4 for her and 4 for me. The woman next to me had 32 cards enclosed in a perimeter of lucky trinkets. I remember thinking, "she's got a problem". The woman listened intently, then marked her cards quickly and with conviction. At several points, I lagged behind in marking my cards. My mom was no better. We were novices. The woman next to us looked annoyed.

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Hospital Charges</strong>: BNET’s Ken Terry <a href="http://www.bnet.com/blog/healthcare-business/why-some-hospitals-make-th… the complexities</a> behind a new study showing “why some hospitals make the big bucks.” (Hint: It’s market power, not excellent care.)</p>

<p><img src="/files/u47/Medical_Transcription.jpg" width="230" height="225" style="float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;" />Medical boards all across the country let doctors get away with fakery on their resumes.</p> <p>But not South Dakota.</p>

<p>An <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cnf/2009/00000005/00000004/ar…; title="Nutrient Content of Lettuce and its Improvement">article</a> in Current Nutrition &amp; Food Science has pointed out that "open leaf" type <a href="http://www.healthaliciousness.com/vegetables/lettuce.php&quot; title="Information on Lettuce">lettuces</a> such as romaine are much richer in nutrients than crisp head types, like ice-berg. The main reason for this difference is the ability of the leaves to absorb light, and thereby synthesize more vitamins.

Here’s what we’re checking out today:

<strong>Painkillers:</strong> Popular (and highly addictive) painkillers Darvon and Darvocet – prescribed to an estimated 10 million Americans in 2009 – <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-1120-fda-darvon-we… be pulled from the market</a> because they have been linked to potentially fatal heart rhythm problems, reports Andrew Zajac for the Los Angeles Times.

<p>Doctors looking for a business model to help them stay profitable in tough economic times should consider the sure-fire plan cooked up by <a href="http://www.relianthospice.com/">Reliant Hospice</a> in Columbia, South Carolina.</p>

<p>Today's <em>Daily Briefing </em>is a bit behind schedule but is all about pushing health and health care forward.</p> <p><strong>Politics:</strong> Politico's Glenn Thrush has a <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html">great lead here</a>: "A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in."</p>