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Daily Rounds: Perry's Health Cuts; Bachmann's Toll On Vaccination Rates; Stress And Breast Cancer; The Psychology Of Whole Foods

Gov. Perry Cut Funds For Women's Health In Texas : NPR (npr.org) "Over the last eight years, citing budget constraints, Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican-controlled legislature have dropped hundreds of thousands of mostly poor and working-class Texans from the rolls of government-sponsored insurance like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Nearly 6.5 million Texans are now uninsured even though the majority of them have full time jobs. Premiums in Texas' unregulated health insurance industry have soared by 105 percent over the last ten years according to the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. Texas employers have responded by raising employee deductibles, often dramatically or by dropping their coverage entirely."

One Statement from Bachmann, Two Steps Back for HPV Vaccine - NYTimes.com "During a debate last week for Republican presidential candidates and in interviews after it, Representative Michele Bachmann called the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer “dangerous.” Medical experts fired back quickly. Her statements were false, they said, emphasizing that the vaccine is safe and can save lives. Mrs. Bachmann was soon on the defensive, acknowledging that she was not a doctor or a scientist. But the harm to public health may have already been done. When politicians or celebrities raise alarms about vaccines, even false alarms, vaccination rates drop." (nytimes.com)

Link between stress and breast cancer aggressiveness probed - latimes.com More specifically, the researchers found that stressed women were 38% more likely to have cancers that were estrogen receptor-negative. These tumors do not respond to therapies aimed at cutting off estrogen, which means that drugs like Tamoxifen, raloxifene (Evista), Arimidex and others will not help. After taking into account things like the women’s age and the stage of their cancer when it was diagnosed, the women who were more stressed were still 22% more likely to have cancers that were estrogen receptor-negative. (Los Angeles Times)

How Whole Foods "Primes" You To Shop | Fast Company "The prices for the flowers, as for all the fresh fruits and vegetables, are scrawled in chalk on fragments of black slate--a tradition of outdoor European marketplaces. It's as if the farmer pulled up in front of Whole Foods just this morning, unloaded his produce, then hopped back in his flatbed truck to drive back upstate to his country farm. The dashed-off scrawl also suggests the price changes daily, just as it might at a roadside farm stand or local market. But in fact, most of the produce was flown in days ago, its price set at the Whole Foods corporate headquarters in Texas. Not only do the prices stay fixed, but what might look like chalk on the board is actually indelible; the signs have been mass-produced in a factory." (Fast Company)

Study: Whooping cough vaccination fades in 3 years - Boston.com "The whooping cough vaccine given to babies and toddlers loses much of its effectiveness after just three years — a lot faster than doctors believed — and that could help explain a recent series of outbreaks in the U.S. among children who were fully vaccinated, a study suggests. The study is small and preliminary, and its authors said the results need to be confirmed through more research. Nevertheless, the findings are likely to stir debate over whether children should get a booster shot earlier than now recommended. (boston.com)

This program aired on September 20, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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