Health & Safety

A technique called optogenetics is being used in the laboratory to observe and control what brain circuits are doing in real time.

Experimental Tool Uses Light To Tweak The Living Brain

8:09am December 30, 2013

by Jon Hamilton

An experimental technique called optogenetics is starting to change the way researchers look at the brain. The tool allows them to switch entire brain circuits on and off using light, and may help figure out what's going wrong in brain ailments from epilepsy to depression.

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Helping Families Have The Most Difficult Conversation

11:35am December 28, 2013

The Conversation Project is encouraging families to discuss their end-of-life preferences before it's too late. Founder Ellen Goodman speaks with NPR's Linda Wertheimer about helping people initiate these conversations, and why they are so important.

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Administration Extends Health Insurance Deadline Again

7:24am December 25, 2013

A midnight deadline to sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act that starts Jan. 1 has been extended by a day. The White House describes the extension as an effort to accommodate people in different time zones.

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Health & Safety

Moral Monday Protestors Demand Medicaid Expansion

1:15am December 23, 2013

N.C. Moral Monday activists make a final push to gain Medicaid expansion.

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Oregon is still using paper applications to enroll people in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Health & Safety

How An Obscure Government Code — 834 — Became Big In 2013

10:28pm December 21, 2013

by Elise Hu

The fate of insurance coverage for millions rests on a form called the 834, the government code for electronic files. It's a number that would never have become a big deal had HealthCare.gov rolled out smoothly in the fall.

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When Benta Odeny was diagnosed with HIV, she started to protect her husband Daniel from the virus by taking antiretroviral medications. The same drugs also helped her give birth to an HIV-negative daughter, Angelia.

HIV Treatment Keeps A Family Together And Growing In Kenya

5:17pm December 19, 2013

by Gregory Warner

When a Kenyan woman was diagnosed with HIV, she thought it meant the end of her marriage and her hopes to have children. But with the help of HIV therapy, Benta Odeny not only protects her husband from the virus, but she also has a healthy, HIV-negative daughter.

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Health & Safety

Beating the Holiday Blues

1:28am December 19, 2013

by Keri Brown

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Health & Safety

GlaxoSmithKline To Stop Paying Doctors To Promote Its Drugs

12:31am December 18, 2013

by Yuki Noguchi

GlaxoSmithKline says it will stop paying doctors to speak on its behalf at conferences and will also stop paying for doctors to attend conferences where marketing takes place. The company is also changing the way it compensates its global sales force. Some of the changes will go into effect by early 2015, others will take a bit longer.

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Health & Safety

Another Setback for Targacept

11:05am December 17, 2013

Winston-Salem based Targacept has been dealt another blow.

Dr. Tim Ihrig, a palliative care physician, treats Augie Avelleyra, 93, at his home in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Doctor Helps Iowa Couple Face Illness On Their Own Terms

10:49am December 17, 2013

by Jenny Gold

Dr. Tim Ihrig has almost become a member of the Avelleyra family. He's helping Augie and Phyllis, who've been married 60 years, lead the best lives they can under trying health circumstances. When Phyllis was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, Ihrig asked what she wanted from the rest of her life.

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