- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Medicare Prescription Drug Program Not
Properly Monitored, Report Says

The U.S. government agency charged with overseeing the Medicare
prescription drug program has done very little to check whether the
insurance companies administering the plans to 24 million Americans are
doing their jobs, the [...]

- SATURDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) — With the start of school
here, the American Lung Association is advising parents of children with
asthma to follow a simple checklist to ensure this sometimes debilitating
disease doesn't hinder their child's academic year.

Almost 11 percent of school-age children have asthma. Annually, these
students miss some 13 million days in [...]

A woman pushes a stroller with as a child wears a face mask near a children's hospital in Beijing in May 2008. An outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is looming in Singapore, the Straits Times reported Saturday quoting health ministry officials.(AFP/Frederic J. Brown)

SINGAPORE (AFP) -
An outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease [...]

Australian police and welfare officials were Saturday searching for a couple who went into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, officials said.(AFP/File/Don Emmert)

SYDNEY (AFP) -
Australian police and welfare officials were Saturday searching for a couple who went into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him [...]

Anti-abortion supporter, Kevin Gouro prays along a fence decorated with roses outside the home of the Democratic National convention in Denver on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Bill Ross)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -
A fight over abortion between
Mexico's federal government and the capital's leftist lawmakers
goes to the Supreme Court next week, with the attorney general
urging judges to [...]

Australian police and welfare officials were Saturday searching for a couple who went into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, officials said.(AFP/File/Don Emmert)

SYDNEY, (AFP) -
A couple have fled their home in Australia and gone into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated [...]

A couple have fled their home in Australia and gone into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, a report said(AFP/File/Don Emmert)

SYDNEY (AFP) -
A couple have fled their home in Australia and gone into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, [...]

A couple have fled their home in Australia and gone into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, a report said(AFP/File/Don Emmert)

SYDNEY (AFP) -
A couple have fled their home in Australia and gone into hiding with their two-day-old son to avoid having him forcibly vaccinated against hepatitis B, [...]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -
Singapore is on the verge of a hand,
foot and mouth disease outbreak, the Straits Times reported on
Saturday, quoting government health officials.

The paper said 553 people were afflicted with the virus
last week, up from 415 the week before. Last week's figure was
just 12 fewer than the Health Ministry's official “epidemic
level.”

Hand, foot and [...]

Das krampflösende Mittel Baclofen hat sich in einer neuen Studie als wirksames Mittel zur Förderung der Abstinenz bei Patienten mit alkoholischer Leberzirrhose erwiesen (The Lancet 2007, 370: 1915-192). Dabei scheint das Medikament das suchthafte Verlangen nach Alkohol zu verringern.
In der Untersuchung wurden 30 von 42 Patienten abstinent und blieben es über die gesamte 12-wöchige Therapiephase. [...]