济南{阴囊}湿疹(济南睾丸下) (今日更新中)

NANJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- At a time when almost every commodity in China is getting more expensive, the dwindling cost of medicine is a rarity.Zhang Jinkui, a hypertension patient, buys medicines from the community health center of his neighborhood in Changzhou, a city in east China's coastal Jiangsu Province.His prescription list includes Aspirin Enteric-coated tablets, down to 1.4 yuan from 4.7 yuan (0.7 U.S. dollars) per unit, and Fosinopril Sodium Tablets, down to 41.39 yuan from 51.6 yuan per unit.Both drugs are found on the essential drug list unveiled in 2009. The list names the 307 most common western and traditional Chinese medicines, which are heavily subsidized so hospitals can sell them at cost price.A consumer buys medicines with the help of a retailer at a pharmacy in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province, March 28, 2011.All essential medicines are listed by their generic names, and drug producers compete to supply essential medicines through public procurement.Due to a long history of low government funding for state-run hospitals, which often covers only 10 percent of the hospitals' operating costs, doctors have generated income for hospitals by aggressively prescribing expensive, and sometimes unnecessary, medicines and treatments.The essential medicine system and the reform of publicly funded hospitals, two pillars of China's health reform, are designed to address high medical costs and low accessibility of medical services.In April 2009, China kicked off health reforms aimed at correcting these long-standing problems facing China's health system and easing public grievances.Two years later, the essential medicine system has reduced drug prices, but still fails to please hospitals, patients and drug producers.The system requires government-funded grassroots health clinics, including urban community health centers and rural clinics, to prescribe only essential medicines and to sell these medicines at cost price, rather than with the previous 15 percent mark-up.Such policies have brought hard times to grassroots health clinics, especially in cash-strapped areas.Song Wenzhi, a public health professor at Peking University, said "Grassroots health clinics, without the expertise to perform operations and other treatments, rely heavily on selling drug," adding that these hospitals have found themselves scraping by due to the zero percent mark-up policy.Wang Zhiying, Vice Director of the People's Hospital of Anxiang County in the city of Changde, Hunan Province, said four grassroots hospitals in Changde tested the essential medicine system as pilot projects, but the zero percent mark-up policy took away 60 to 70 percent of the hospitals' revenue.Wang was quoted by "Health News," a newspaper run by China's Ministry of Health, as saying that, due to financial difficulties, the county government had not yet channeled the 8 million yuan (1.2 million U.S.dollars) in support funds into the hospitals' accounts, resulting in the resignations of many doctors.The essential medicine system covers 60 percent of government-funded grassroots hospitals and drug prices have fallen by an average of 30 percent, said Sun Zhigang, Director of the Health Reform Office under the State Council, or China's Cabinet.According to the health reform plan for 2011, the essential medicine system will cover all government-sponsored health institutions at the grassroots level by the end of the year and drugs will be sold there at a zero percent mark-up.Song Wenzhi said the key will be the commitment of local governments to health reform and their financial input. This way, essential medicines can benefit the public without bankrupting grassroots health institutions."That would be a great sum of money." said Song, citing his own studies. "There are roughly 5,000 government-funded hospitals in China. One third of them make profits, one third barely break even, and still one third rely heavily on government subsidies."To maintain the poorest hospitals, central and local level governments would need to invest 15 billion yuan (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) each year, according to Song's estimate.

LOS ANGELES, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States could soon be faced with an epidemic of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ( NAFLD), one of the major contributing factors of chronic liver disease (CLD), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reported Saturday.If the current rates of obesity and diabetes continue for another two decades, the prevalence of NAFLD in the U.S. is expected to increase by 50 percent in 2030, AAAS said.The prediction is based on pre-existing clinical survey data over a 10 year period (1988-1994, 1999-2004 and 2005-2008), which included 39,500 adults from three survey cycles, according to the AAAS.Over the three cycles, the prevalence of NAFLD doubled from 5. 51 percent to 11 percent respectively. Furthermore, during the first survey cycle (1988-1994) 46.8 percent of all CLD's was related to NAFLD but by 2005-2008 this had increased to 75.1 percent. In addition, the prevalence of obesity and diabetes, the two key risk factors for NAFLD also steadily increased."If the obesity epidemic is anything to go by, the U.S. NAFLD epidemic may have a ripple effect worldwide," said Mark Thursz, Vice Secretary of the European Association for the Study of the Liver. "It is imperative that health systems continue to drive effective educational programs to reinforce awareness among the general public to alert them of the risks of obesity and promote the importance of diet and exercise."Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is fast becoming one of the top concerns for clinicians due to the obesity epidemic and it's potential to progress to advanced liver disease which significantly impacts on overall liver-related mortality, Thursz said in remarks published by AAAS' website EurekAlert.org.NAFLD, considered as one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, is the term used to describe fat build-up in liver cells in people who do not drink alcohol excessively. The disease is the most common persistent liver disorder in Western countries with an estimated overall prevalence of 20-30 percent, according to AAAS.NAFLD encompasses a spectrum of liver disease associated with insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity and as such people most at risk of NAFLD are those who are obese, have insulin resistance associated with diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have agreed to expand their joint efforts to overcome international development challenges such as food security, climate change, and energy and environmental management.NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah signed a five-year memorandum of understanding on Monday, at NASA Headquarters. The agreement formalizes ongoing agency collaborations that use Earth science data to address developmental challenges, and to assist in disaster mitigation and humanitarian responses. The agreement also encourages NASA and USAID to apply geospatial technologies to solve development challenges affecting the United States and developing countries."Technologies for NASA missions have long improved life here on Earth. Together with USAID, we'll meet even more sustainable development challenges here on the ground, solving problems for the world community," Bolden said in a statement. "As we explore space, we'll also be exploring solutions to important health, nutritional and safety challenges in developing countries."The agencies will continue collaborations to stimulate innovative science and technology solutions to international development challenges by using Earth science data, research results, computer models, visualization applications and remote- sensing techniques.USAID is the lead federal development agency implementing U.S. development efforts through field-based programs and projects around the world. NASA has broad experience with Earth science research, development of Earth science information products, and technology applications."Through our partnership with NASA, we can apply the latest, cutting-edge technology to deliver meaningful results for people in developing countries in areas like health, food security and water," Shah said. "It's a prime example of our efforts to use the power of science and technology to tackle today's pressing development challenges."Since 2003, NASA and USAID have worked together building and expanding the SERVIR program, which allows people in developing regions to use Earth observations for addressing challenges in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, climate change, disaster response, weather forecasting, and energy and health issues.The agencies also collaborate on the LAUNCH program, which supports science and technology innovators in the nonprofit and private sectors. The program's goal is improving innovations to achieve greater impact on sustainability issues.

SEOUL, April 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea has downgraded its alert level for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) one notch as the disease has practically come to an end, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Tuesday.The ministry said that it lowered the alert level from "orange" to "yellow," the second-lowest status in the four-tiered alert system, as no additional burial of livestock has occurred in three weeks after the last case in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, on March 21.The country dropped the alert level from the highest level of " red" to "orange" on March 24.The highly contagious animal disease, first confirmed on Nov. 29, has forced the country to cull more than 3.47 million livestock, mostly pigs and cattle, resulting in losses of 3 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).The ministry, meanwhile, said that 670 animal quarantine experts will continue to decontaminate livestock farms once every week and keep close watch to see if any animals become sick.

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has ordered a "serious investigation" into two kinds of bath products that reportedly gave children skin diseases.The order came after recent reports accused the body wash and lotion used by bathhouse chain Tian Po Po Xi Jiu Tang, or, literally, "Grandma Tian's Bathhouse," in southwest China's Sichuan Province of having "caused severe body damages," according to a SFDA statement released Tuesday.The bathhouse chain, with a history of some 70 years, was first established in Sichuan's capital Chengdu and was listed as a part of the city's Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.The licensed bathhouse claimed to use bath products developed by its own Chinese herbal medicine recipes that protected children from various skin ailments and other diseases, such as eczema, colds, and constipation.However, an unknown number of children suffered pustular psoriasis, a chronic skin irritation characterize by raised bumps, after washing at the bathhouse chain and using the two products, according to reports.Sichuan's provincial food and drug administration bureau previously deemed the two products to be "fake drugs" based on an initial investigation by the local police and food and drug authorities, the statement said.The SFDA urged local food and drug supervision departments across the country to monitor and check the two products sold by the bathhouse chain within their regions, and vowed to punish any violations of laws and regulations.

来源：资阳报