Health Costs Negatively Affecting Those Who Need It Most

healthnews.com — If report cards were issued to countries for their health care system—the U.S. would not be on the principal’s “A” list. Compared with other industrialized nations, the U.S. comes in last when it comes to preventing deaths through appropriate medical care, despite spending more than twice as much on each person. The increase in premature births throughout the country recently earned the U.S. a “D” rating in the first annual Premature Birth Report Card from the March of Dimes. And millions of Americans with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes aren’t getting the care they need because they lack health insurance, putting them at high risk for complications. But a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund really puts things into perspective. read more...

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Study: 12 percent of Indian deaths due to alcohol

news.yahoo.com — Almost 12 percent of the deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related — more than three times the percentage in the general population, a new federal report says. The report released Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found 11.7 percent of deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol-related, compared with 3.3 percent for the U.S. as a whole. read more...

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DNA Helps Trace History of Human Migration

health.yahoo.com — An analysis of human DNA has provided new information about how ancient people shared knowledge that helped advance civilization, say Stanford University researchers. They found that animal-herding methods arrived in southern Africa about 2,000 years ago on a wave of human migration, rather than by movement of ideas between people. The discovery improves understanding of how early cultures interacted and how societies learned to adopt advances. The study was published in the Aug. 5 advance online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "There's a tradition in archaeology of saying people don't move very much; they just transfer ideas through space. We know that humans had to migrate at some point in their history, but we also know humans tend to stay put once they get someplace," study co-senior author Joanna Mountain, consulting assistant professor of anthropology, said in a Stanford news release. Instead of using archaeological evidence alone in an attempt to determine whether humans migrated, "all of sudden, with genetics, you can actually address that question," Mountain said. read more...

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