BETHESDA, MD—With the goal of increasing the number of human stem cell lines eligible for federal funding, the National Institutes of Health released new draft guidelines for federal funding of stem cell research last month.

WASHINGTON—A new patient scheduling system that the Department of Veterans Affairs has spent eight years and as much as $145 million developing is reportedly on the brink of failure.

WASHINGTON—Over the course of the next year, the House Veterans Affairs Committee will host a number of field hearings around the country inviting veterans to comment on what they see as the pressing needs within the Department of Veterans Affairs’ healthcare system. Committee chair Rep. Bob Filner, D.-Calif., told reporters at a press briefing last month that the committee and VA leaders plan to take a hard look at how care is distributed to veterans, especially underserved populations and those living in rural areas.

WASHINGTON—Imagine two soldiers: both experienced the exact same traumatic event while serving in theater.

WASHINGTON—AHLTA, the Department of Defense’s $4 million electronic medical record system, continues to be difficult for military physicians to use, according to top military health leaders who spoke at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing at the end of March.

THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HAS LAUNCHED its new “Returning Veterans” Web site—www.oefoif.va.gov—to welcome home veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with a social, veteran-centric Web site focusing on their needs and questions.

BETHESDA, MD—In August 2005 the one-two punch of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans’s levees resulted in massive destruction throughout the city’s infrastructure, including its health systems.

WASHINGTON—Mild traumatic brain injuries are being overdiagnosed in returning troops, according to a study by Army TBI researchers in the April 16, 2009, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

WASHINGTON—Donna J. Mazyck, a former high school nurse, recalled an experience in which a student asked her if she could weigh herself.

SILVER SPRINGS, MD—On April 25th, malaria activists observed World Malaria Day, a day marked to recognize the global efforts underway to provide effective control of malaria.