Lawmakers ask who knew what about bomb suspect

BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.

Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.

"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.

Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."

Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.

Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

A memorial service was scheduled Wednesday for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, who authorities said was shot to death by the Tsarnaev brothers three days after the bombings. Vice President Joe Biden was expected to speak.

Funerals were held Tuesday for Collier and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Martin, a schoolboy from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, the youngest of those killed by blasts near the marathon finish line, was laid to rest after a family-only funeral Mass.

"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."

The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.

He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.

In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks, and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.

The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia.

Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by a Muslim convert known only as Misha.

After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.

Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.

In other developments:

? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.

? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.

? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."

? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.

? Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, was scheduled to reopen to the public at 3 a.m. Wednesday. It had been closed since the bombings.

? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.

___

Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-ask-knew-bomb-suspect-064344186.html

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Cryogenic machining enables guaranteeing safety of aeronautic sector parts

Public release date: 24-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Irati Kortabitarte
i.kortabitarte@elhuyar.com
34-943-363-040
Elhuyar Fundazioa

CIC marGUNE, the Cooperative Research Centre for High-Performance Manufacture, is coordinating a line of research on cryogenic machining for developing the safety of parts for the aeronautic sector. This machining method has less impact on the environment than conventional methods. Moreover, it considerably enhances the useful life of safety parts and reduces costs. CIC marGUNE is working in collaboration with the High-Performance Manufacturing Group at the Higher Engineering School in Bilbao (UPV/EHU), Tecnalia and the University of Mondragon.

Cryogenic machining involves employing refrigerant gas in the process of machining. CIC marGUNE is coordinating a line of research on cryogenic machining, in which the UPV/EHU, Tecnalia and the University of Mondragn are participating. The aim of the line of research is to guarantee a clean manufacturing process and, moreover, to contribute to the safety of parts in the aeronautics sector.

Machining is a process of manufacturing parts though the elimination of material (swarf). The cutting fluids used in most machining operations producing swarf have two aims: on the one hand, lubricating the cutting zone and, on the other, refrigeration, i.e. eliminating the heat in the cutting zone so as not to affect the machined surface. But these fluids are harmful to the environment and for persons there are a hundred illnesses associated with this kind of lubricant.

To solve these problems presented by conventional machining methods, one of the principal alternatives that is being currently investigated is cryogenic machining - an innovative method of refrigerating the cutting tool and the critical points of the part during machining, thanks to the use of a very cold refrigerant gas, which can be liquid nitrogen or CO2.

Both liquid nitrogen and CO2 are basic and cheap products but, moreover, "CO2 can be applied externally to an already existing machine, without the need for any modification to the equipment, greatly saving on investment", according to Mr Franck Girot, coordinator of the CIC marGUNE research line. "There are already proof that the technology functions and so it is a research line directly related to our companies, and which may well arrive on to the market shortly".

Greater safety at lower cost

Safety parts for the aeronautic, automobile, railway, etc. sectors are currently being worked on. Sectors in which parts or components to be machined have to have a certain quality and, above all, not have surface damage, given that a break in a part is generally due to surface defects. This is why, "for these types of applications, cryogenic machining is a guarantee of avoiding such defects" stated Mr Girot. "This is an increasingly more controlled topic, especially in the aeronautic sector", he added. Each part undertaken has specific monitoring so as to know under what conditions the machining has been carried out and, at the same time, to guarantee that the part is not going to break during its life cycle due to surface defects.

Mr Girot highlighted that, in comparison with conventional machining systems, refrigeration of the cutting area which suffers the highest temperature during the process, avoids changes in the microstructure of the tool. This results in enhancements, often notable ones, in certain performance parameters of the materials; outstanding in this respect the increase in the life of the parts of between 50 and 100 %, in the resistance to wear and tear, in fatigue life, etc.

Moreover, "it is a process totally friendly to the environment, given that no kind of waste or dumping arises", stated Mr Girot. The cryogenic gases are obtained from other processes, and, thus, is a reuse of the gases, which otherwise would have to be eliminated without such benefit. During the machining of the parts, the fluid evaporates rapidly and returns to the atmosphere in a natural manner. The part is left completely clean of impregnations from the cutting fluids and do not produce any waste which might contaminate the machine tool, the swarf or the workplace. This is of major economic importance.

The system can work at higher speeds than those of conventional machining machines. Thus, productivity is increased and work of a higher quality is obtained, resulting in a reduction in the costs of producing the parts.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Irati Kortabitarte
i.kortabitarte@elhuyar.com
34-943-363-040
Elhuyar Fundazioa

CIC marGUNE, the Cooperative Research Centre for High-Performance Manufacture, is coordinating a line of research on cryogenic machining for developing the safety of parts for the aeronautic sector. This machining method has less impact on the environment than conventional methods. Moreover, it considerably enhances the useful life of safety parts and reduces costs. CIC marGUNE is working in collaboration with the High-Performance Manufacturing Group at the Higher Engineering School in Bilbao (UPV/EHU), Tecnalia and the University of Mondragon.

Cryogenic machining involves employing refrigerant gas in the process of machining. CIC marGUNE is coordinating a line of research on cryogenic machining, in which the UPV/EHU, Tecnalia and the University of Mondragn are participating. The aim of the line of research is to guarantee a clean manufacturing process and, moreover, to contribute to the safety of parts in the aeronautics sector.

Machining is a process of manufacturing parts though the elimination of material (swarf). The cutting fluids used in most machining operations producing swarf have two aims: on the one hand, lubricating the cutting zone and, on the other, refrigeration, i.e. eliminating the heat in the cutting zone so as not to affect the machined surface. But these fluids are harmful to the environment and for persons there are a hundred illnesses associated with this kind of lubricant.

To solve these problems presented by conventional machining methods, one of the principal alternatives that is being currently investigated is cryogenic machining - an innovative method of refrigerating the cutting tool and the critical points of the part during machining, thanks to the use of a very cold refrigerant gas, which can be liquid nitrogen or CO2.

Both liquid nitrogen and CO2 are basic and cheap products but, moreover, "CO2 can be applied externally to an already existing machine, without the need for any modification to the equipment, greatly saving on investment", according to Mr Franck Girot, coordinator of the CIC marGUNE research line. "There are already proof that the technology functions and so it is a research line directly related to our companies, and which may well arrive on to the market shortly".

Greater safety at lower cost

Safety parts for the aeronautic, automobile, railway, etc. sectors are currently being worked on. Sectors in which parts or components to be machined have to have a certain quality and, above all, not have surface damage, given that a break in a part is generally due to surface defects. This is why, "for these types of applications, cryogenic machining is a guarantee of avoiding such defects" stated Mr Girot. "This is an increasingly more controlled topic, especially in the aeronautic sector", he added. Each part undertaken has specific monitoring so as to know under what conditions the machining has been carried out and, at the same time, to guarantee that the part is not going to break during its life cycle due to surface defects.

Mr Girot highlighted that, in comparison with conventional machining systems, refrigeration of the cutting area which suffers the highest temperature during the process, avoids changes in the microstructure of the tool. This results in enhancements, often notable ones, in certain performance parameters of the materials; outstanding in this respect the increase in the life of the parts of between 50 and 100 %, in the resistance to wear and tear, in fatigue life, etc.

Moreover, "it is a process totally friendly to the environment, given that no kind of waste or dumping arises", stated Mr Girot. The cryogenic gases are obtained from other processes, and, thus, is a reuse of the gases, which otherwise would have to be eliminated without such benefit. During the machining of the parts, the fluid evaporates rapidly and returns to the atmosphere in a natural manner. The part is left completely clean of impregnations from the cutting fluids and do not produce any waste which might contaminate the machine tool, the swarf or the workplace. This is of major economic importance.

The system can work at higher speeds than those of conventional machining machines. Thus, productivity is increased and work of a higher quality is obtained, resulting in a reduction in the costs of producing the parts.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/ef-cme042413.php

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Firefox OS Developer Phones Sold Out After First Few Hours On Sale, But More Are On The Way

Geeksphone, the smartphone OEM startup based out of Madrid, put the first Firefox OS developer phones on sale early this morning, offering the Keon for $119 and the more powerful Peak for $194. Both devices are the first hardware to be offered with Firefox OS on board, and both devices are now listed as "Out of stock," just a few hours after first going on sale.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/v4hTzBqr65Q/

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Spotbros Launches API To Let Companies Build Mini Apps For Its Mobile Messaging Platform

Mobile messaging app Spotbros, backed by ex-Nokia President and CEO Olli Pekka Kallasvuo, has announced the launch of an API to enable companies to build mini apps for its messaging client so that they can use the platform to engage with and provide various services to customers -- not dissimilar to Kik's recently announced "Cards" feature.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gQpTqLG2Arg/

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Radioactive bacteria nuke pancreatic cancer in mice

In the fight against a silent killer, you've got to resort to dirty tactics.

Pancreatic cancer is deadly because it tends to spread, or metastasise, to other parts of the body before symptoms appear. In previous work in mice, Claudia Gravekamp of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York had shown that weakened listeria bacteria colonise tumour tissue but not healthy tissue. What's more, the bacteria seem to home in on the metastatic tumours.

To take advantage of this, her team have now armed the bacteria with a radioactive payload ? attaching the isotope rhenium-188 to the listeria using a type of antibody.

They seeded mice with human pancreatic tumours and then injected them daily with the souped-up bacteria for a week, giving them a week off before four more days of injections. A few days later, there were on average 90 per cent fewer metastatic tumours in this group than there were in untreated mice, and the average weights of original pancreatic tumours had decreased by 64 per cent.

A week later, the animals' livers and kidneys had completely cleared the radioactive bacteria from their systems, with no damage to either organ.

Gravekamp thinks the radiation affected metastatic tumours most because cells there were still rapidly multiplying, leaving their chromosomes more open to damage than those in healthy tissues or in the original tumour. The bacteria also play a part by producing reactive oxygen molecules that again damage the tumour's DNA.

If the approach progresses to clinical trials, says Gravekamp, the idea would be to cut out the original tumour, then clear the rest with radioactive listeria. The next step is to test this strategy in mice, as well as other isotopes such as phosphorus-32, which could be incorporated into the cell wall of the bacterium, removing the need for the antibody tether.

"The results from this fascinating approach are encouraging, but we can't tell whether it would be safe or effective until trials are carried out in patients," says Nell Barrie, science communications manager at Cancer Research UK. "But progress is urgently needed, so new approaches like this deserve further investigation."

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1211287110

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Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2b11528c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn234160Eradioactive0Ebacteria0Enuke0Epancreatic0Ecancer0Ein0Emice0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Voice-to-text just as dangerous to drivers as texting: study

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Using voice to send text messages while driving is just as dangerous as texting with fingers, with driver response times significantly delayed no matter which method was used, a study released on Tuesday showed.

The study by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University was the first to compare voice-to-text and traditional texting on a handheld device in an actual driving environment.

"In each case, drivers took about twice as long to react as they did when they weren't texting," Christine Yager, who headed the study, told Reuters. "Eye contact to the roadway also decreased, no matter which texting method was used."

The research involved 43 participants driving along a test track without any electronic devices present. The same participants then drove while texting and again while using a speech-to-text device.

Yager said speech-to-text actually took longer than traditional texting, due to the need to correct errors in the electronic transcription.

"You're still using your mind to try to think of what you're trying to say, and that by proxy causes some driving impairment, and that decreases your response time," Yager said.

The biggest concern is that the driver felt safer while using voice-to-text applications instead of traditional texting, even though driving performance was equally affected, she said.

This may lead to a false belief that texting while driving using spoken commands is safe when in reality it is not, Yager said.

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association says 6.1 billion text messages per day were sent in the United States in 2012. Some 35 percent of drivers admit to reading a text or email while driving in any given month, while 26 percent admitted to typing one, according to data from AAA, a national drivers' organization.

"Every day, new technologies come out, and it is important to educate the public that even these seemingly new distractions are still distractions, and it will help people be safer when they get into the vehicle," Yager said.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/voice-text-just-dangerous-drivers-texting-study-050754422.html

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After age 18, asthma care deteriorates

Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Cameron
david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School

It is widely accepted that medical insurance helps older adults with chronic health problems to receive better care. But what about young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, a demographic that also tends to have the lowest levels of health insurance coverage?

In what may be the first study to measure health care utilization patterns among young adults with chronic health problemsin this case asthmaa team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that losing health insurance was a significant predictor of deteriorating patterns of health management. Other social factors, including leaving school and losing adult supervision, also contributed to the deterioration.

"This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care that they need," said Kao-Ping Chua, a staff physician in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital who led the study. "But it also points to the importance of addressing other socially-mediated factors in this population."

J. Michael McWilliams, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital was the senior author of the study, to be published April 22 in Pediatrics.

"Aside from the lack of financial protection, uninsurance poses fewer health risks to young adults than for older adults because they are generally healthy," McWilliams said. "But for young people with asthmaor other conditions amenable to medical careit's important to understand and address the barriers to care."

The researchers used nationally representative data from the 1999 to 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, looking at a sample of 2,485 individuals between the ages of 14 and 25. The researchers investigated how an individual's age related to having a regular care provider, visiting that provider at least once per year, using asthma medications, and visiting the emergency room.

They found that while adolescents under age 18 were more likely to utilize primary care and preventive measures, young adults over age 18 were more likely to use the emergency room and have problems accessing medical care and medications because of cost. Losing insurance explained 32 percent of the decline in use of primary care and 47 to 61 percent of the increase in cost-related access problems.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act health reform law, young people whose parents have private insurance will be eligible to remain covered on their parents' policies until they are 26. The news is not so good for many low-income young people whose parents may be uninsured or receive public assistance. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the ACA could not require states to expand their Medicaid coverage, many states have decided not to expand coverage, and one of the key groups that will likely be left out is low-income young adults.

"We may continue to see particularly poor asthma care for many young adults in states that don't expand their Medicaid programs," McWilliams said.

But increasing insurance coverage alone is not the answer, the researchers said. Health professionals who provide care for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses like asthma have to think about patients who are aging out of their practice, the researchers said.

"Young people with asthma need to work with their care providers to create transition plans from pediatric to adult care that take into account their medical and social history," Chua said.

###

This research was supported by the Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship (AHRQ NRSA 5T32HS00063-17), the Beeson Career Development Award Program (National Institute on Aging K08 AG038354 and the American Federation for Aging Research) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Clinical Scientist Development Award #2010053).

Written by Jake Miller

Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Cameron
david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School

It is widely accepted that medical insurance helps older adults with chronic health problems to receive better care. But what about young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, a demographic that also tends to have the lowest levels of health insurance coverage?

In what may be the first study to measure health care utilization patterns among young adults with chronic health problemsin this case asthmaa team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that losing health insurance was a significant predictor of deteriorating patterns of health management. Other social factors, including leaving school and losing adult supervision, also contributed to the deterioration.

"This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care that they need," said Kao-Ping Chua, a staff physician in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital who led the study. "But it also points to the importance of addressing other socially-mediated factors in this population."

J. Michael McWilliams, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital was the senior author of the study, to be published April 22 in Pediatrics.

"Aside from the lack of financial protection, uninsurance poses fewer health risks to young adults than for older adults because they are generally healthy," McWilliams said. "But for young people with asthmaor other conditions amenable to medical careit's important to understand and address the barriers to care."

The researchers used nationally representative data from the 1999 to 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, looking at a sample of 2,485 individuals between the ages of 14 and 25. The researchers investigated how an individual's age related to having a regular care provider, visiting that provider at least once per year, using asthma medications, and visiting the emergency room.

They found that while adolescents under age 18 were more likely to utilize primary care and preventive measures, young adults over age 18 were more likely to use the emergency room and have problems accessing medical care and medications because of cost. Losing insurance explained 32 percent of the decline in use of primary care and 47 to 61 percent of the increase in cost-related access problems.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act health reform law, young people whose parents have private insurance will be eligible to remain covered on their parents' policies until they are 26. The news is not so good for many low-income young people whose parents may be uninsured or receive public assistance. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the ACA could not require states to expand their Medicaid coverage, many states have decided not to expand coverage, and one of the key groups that will likely be left out is low-income young adults.

"We may continue to see particularly poor asthma care for many young adults in states that don't expand their Medicaid programs," McWilliams said.

But increasing insurance coverage alone is not the answer, the researchers said. Health professionals who provide care for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses like asthma have to think about patients who are aging out of their practice, the researchers said.

"Young people with asthma need to work with their care providers to create transition plans from pediatric to adult care that take into account their medical and social history," Chua said.

###

This research was supported by the Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship (AHRQ NRSA 5T32HS00063-17), the Beeson Career Development Award Program (National Institute on Aging K08 AG038354 and the American Federation for Aging Research) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Clinical Scientist Development Award #2010053).

Written by Jake Miller

Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/hms-aa1041713.php

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