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Large Abdominal Wall Lipoma Causes Bowel Obstruction
Proteus syndrome is a complex disorder associated with varied, disproportionate, asymmetric overgrowth of many body parts and unregulated adipose tissue. The overgrowth seen in Proteus syndrome is progressive and difficult to manage. Patients with Proteus syndrome require repeated treatment for the progressive overgrowth of tissue over a long period. Aggressive treatment may cause severe functional and cosmetic consequences, so surgical intervention is often delayed until it is absolutely necessary.
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Mayo Clinic Study Continues To Refine Most Effective Methods To Predict Alzheimer's Disease
A new Mayo Clinic study found that the clinical criteria for mild cognitive impairment is better at predicting who will develop Alzheimer"s disease than a single memory test. This is one more piece of information to aid in the identification and early treatment of individuals most likely to develop Alzheimer"s disease. This study will be presented at the Alzheimer"s Association International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease on July 14 in Vienna.
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Wall Street Journal Examines Patients' Confusion Over Coverage Of Preventive Exams
As employers increasingly offer no-cost preventive care as a means of controlling health costs, some people under such plans are being charged for services not deemed preventive by the insurer, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 72% of large employers in 2009 cover 100% of preventive care -- such as physicals, colonoscopies or mammograms -- for employees, an increase from 55% of large companies in 2008. The Journal reports that the charges often result from billing errors or from a physician"s office being unaware of an insurer"s procedures. Charges that are the result of billing errors often can be reversed. However, others -- such as a test or treatment not being defined by the insurer as preventive -- force some patients to "wage a protracted battle" to get the charges reversed, according to the Journal. When unexpected charges appear on patients" bills, physicians and employers often receive complaints but they have little control over how insurers classify treatments. The Journal reports that patients can prevent being charged for preventive services by checking with their insurer before seeking care; asking for specific, covered screenings and treatments at physicians" offices; reviewing explanation of benefits forms supplied by insurers; asking supervisors at insurers to review disputed claims; and seeking help from employees in company human re departments (Wilde Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 5/21).
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Opinion Piece Examines Abortion-Rights Opponents' Response To Connection Between Recession, Abortion

In response to recent news reports from Reuters, the Associated Press and other media outlets tying the recession to an increase in demand for abortion, the antiabortion-rights community is arguing that women are "choosing their own material comfort over the life of their unborn children" -- an interpretation that is "wrong on several accounts" -- Double X contributor Anna Murphy Paul writes in an opinion piece."No one wants her most intimate decisions to be driven by money," but, at the same time, "opting not to have a child you can"t afford to raise can be a realistic and responsible -- if painful -- choice, one often based on taking good care of the kids you already have" Murphy Paul says. She continues, "Nor is the intrusion of economic concerns on childbearing a phenomenon of this recession, or even the loosening of sexual mores over the past half-century; historically, financial hardship has been an ever-present motivation for ending a pregnancy."Murphy Paul cites the results of a 2005 Guttmacher Institute survey that found that nearly three-fourths of respondents said that the reason they decided to have an abortion was that they "could not afford a baby right now," which was the second-most common reason. The report found that the top reason for having an abortion was that children would interfere with women"s education, work or ability to care for dependents, all "concerns that are also largely economic in nature," Murphy Paul writes. She notes that at the time the study was published, "the Dow was still riding high, and the housing bubble seemed it would never pop." Murphy Paul adds that a 1987 Guttmacher survey on the same subject produced results "almost identical" to the 2005 survey.However, "to hear the pro-life activists tell it, women aren"t really struggling with difficult choices -- they just don"t want to give up the luxuries to which they"ve become accustomed," Murphy Paul writes. Abortion-rights opponents promote offers of counseling and no-cost infant supplies provided through "pregnancy re centers" to support women who choose not to have an abortion, but such centers often provide misleading information or offer little assistance beyond the first few months after birth, she says."Pro-life activists are surely right about one thing: It"s tremendously sad when a woman decides that she can"t bring into the world a child whom under better circumstances she would have welcomed," Murphy Paul continues. However, the "harsh rhetoric about selfishness and irresponsibility help far less than an acknowledgement of -- and lasting aid with -- the true costs of raising a child," she writes. According to Murphy Paul, in "the absence of such help, the most responsible act is to face economic reality head-on. For some women, that may mean abortion" (Murphy Paul, Double X, 5/15). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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