Month: April 2012
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State prescription drug databases like KASPER cut back doctor shopping and drug abuse, new study shows
Photo by iStockphoto Research from the University of North Carolina indicates drug databases like the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system do reduce doctor shopping and change prescribing behavior....
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Major newspapers publish reflections, reactions and details (including videos) on new law that will fight ‘pill mills’
Reflections on the new law to fight “pill mills” are in both of Kentucky’s major metropolitan newspapers today. The Courier-Journal, which rightly takes partial credit for focusing attention on the...
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Tonsillectomies not necessary much of the time; among $158 billion spent each year on unnecessary health care
Photo by Matthew Staver, Bloomberg Tonsillectomies are the most common procedure for children requiring anesthesia. “The only problem is there’s no evidence they work for most” kids, reports Sarah Cliff...
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Couple loses combined 347 pounds in 2 years, pretty simply; similar success stories are always compelling
“When Art and Betty Halcomb look at each other, they still have a hard time believing how much weight they have lost,” reports Nola Sizemore for the Harlan Daily Enterprise....
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Floyd County woman is Kentucky’s smoke-free advocate of year
For her work spreading the word about second-hand smoke and founding the coalition that ultimately helped Prestonsburg pass a smoke-free ordinance in 2009, Floyd County’s Jean V. Rosenberg was named...
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Measles is still around; rate in 2011 was highest in 15 years
Measles virus (Photo by Scott Camazine/CDC/Getty Images) In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared measles had been eliminated in the United States. But last year, the nation...
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Beshear OKs prescription bill, telling pill mills, ‘Get out of this state’
Saying it couldn’t get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to “Get...
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Nearly half of Kentuckians keep guns in their home, and 9 percent keep a gun loaded and unlocked
Forty-five percent of Kentucky adults keep a gun or other firearm in their home, and one-fifth of those (9 percent of the population) keep them loaded but unlocked, the 2011 Kentucky...
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Mayor will propose smoking ban in Hopkinsville, largest Kentucky city without one
The largest Kentucky city that has not banned smoking in public places may change that. Hopkinsville Mayor Dan Kemp’s proposal “fundamentally resembles Lexington’s ban,” reports Nick Tabor for the Kentucky...
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April 28 is National Drug Take-Back Day; three Kentuckians die each day from prescription drug abuse
April 28 is National Drug Take-Back Day, with Kentuckians encouraged to dispose of the expired, unused and unwanted drugs in their medicine cabinet at locations set up by law enforcement...