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U.S., Russia Sign Agreement To Cooperate On Health Goals
The White House announced on Monday that the U.S. and Russia have signed on to a "memo of understanding" to cooperate on several public health and medical science projects, ModernHealthcare.com reports. The agreement calls for USAID and other scientific research institutions to work on specific health goals with Russian institutions, including the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Rhea, 6/6).
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Extending The Life Of An Appetite-Suppressing Peptide
The peptide alpha-MSH works in a region of the brain known as the hypothalamus to suppress appetite. A team of researchers, at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, and the University of California Davis, has provided new insight into the way in which levels of the active form of alpha-MSH are regulated in mice. Specifically, genetic and biochemical analysis performed by the team, led by Sabrina Diano and Craig Warden, indicated that the protein PRCP is expressed in the hypothalamus and breaks down the active form of alpha-MSH, generating a slightly smaller peptide that does not suppress food intake. Importantly, administration of PRCP inhibitors to both normal and obese mice reduced their food intake. Further, mice lacking PRCP had increased levels of the active form of alpha-MSH in the hypothalamus and were leaner and shorter than normal mice; they also did not get obese when fed a high-fat diet. The authors suggest that these data are the first step in identifying PRCP as a candidate drug target for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related disorders. Although Richard Palmiter, at the University of Washington, Seattle, also raises this intriguing possibility, he cautions that any drug would need to penetrate the brain.
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Health Insurance Premiums For Families Topped $12,000 A Year In 2008

The cost of insuring a family of four with an employer-sponsored health plan in the United States averaged $12,298 in 2008, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The federal agency"s new data for private industry further showed that the annual premium for covering an employee and one family member, known as an "employee-plus-one" plan, averaged $8,535, while the annual premium for a plan that only covered the employee averaged $4,386. Almost 20 million of the 62.5 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had family plans, while about 11 million had employee-plus-one plans. The 31.5 million remaining workers had single-coverage plans. AHRQ"s 2008 private-industry data also showed that: -- Nationally, workers enrolled in family plans last year contributed an average of $3,394 toward the cost of their premiums, compared with $2,303 for an employee-plus-one policy and $882 for a single-coverage plan. -- Across all states, workers in Florida contributed the most for a family plan ($4,412) while Indiana workers contributed the least ($2,472); for employee-plus one plans New Hampshire workers contributed the most and Idaho workers the least ($3,005 and $1,736 respectively); and for single coverage, New Hampshire workers again contributed the most ($1,264), and workers in Hawaii contributed the least ($451). -- For about 22 percent of workers with single-coverage plans, their employers paid the entire premium amount. In contrast, employers paid the entire premiums for just 11 percent of workers with family plans and 9 percent of those with employee-plus-one plans. AHRQ, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works to enhance the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care in the United States. The data in this AHRQ News and Numbers summary are taken from the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a of detailed information on employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and costs at the national, state, and metropolitan area levels. For more information, go to MEPS Statistical Brief 251: Employer-Sponsored Single, Employee-Plus-One, and Family Health Insurance AHRQ


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