US researchers said that undiagnosed cases of celiac disease, where the immune system has a strong adverse reaction to the protein found in wheat and other grains, appear to have increased dramatically in the last 50 years. They also found, over a 45 year follow up, that people with undiagnosed celiac disease have a nearly four-fold increased risk of premature death from any cause.

Politico's Blog "Under the Radar" explores the HHS' recent decision to revise documents submitted to the Federal Register regarding a change in HIV-related immigration policy.

In an effort to encourage medical professionals to provide services to low-income rural populations in India, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced an initiative that will significantly raise the salary of "doctors, specialists and para-medical staff" who elect to work in "rural, particularly far-flung and inaccessible areas," the Hindu reports.

President Barack Obama pitched his health reform proposal Wednesday at a town hall meeting in Annandale, Va., asking the public and Congress to deliver on health care reform. The Associated Press reports that Obama put "a human face" on health care reform by hugging a cancer patient, but gave few new details on his health care reform plans.

Democrats on a key Senate committee are readying a plan that has a government-run insurance option and a $750-per-worker annual fee on larger companies that do not offer coverage to its employees, The Associated Press reports. "In a letter outlining the details, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

While CNN reports that the American Medical Association's new president, J. James Rohack, is open to a government-funded health insurance option, others report that the system the AMA now endorses is not a public plan, but the heavily managed private plan that federal employees participate in.

"A year into a new effort to expand health coverage, recession-weary Marylanders are flocking to the state's Medicaid program in numbers far greater than expected, costing the state $50 million more in the process," The Baltimore Sun reports.

Doctors and nurses consider job security and the differences between primary care and specialties when choosing their career paths.The Business Courier of Cincinnati reports on an increase in nursing: "The recession has people craving a safe harbor, and nursing is probably the closest thing to it.

A Georgia law (HB 388) that took effect on Wednesday allows state residents to "adopt" embryos created for fertility treatments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Gould Sheinin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/1).

Over-the-counter remedies for menopause symptoms are growing in popularity among some women who fear potential risks from prescription hormone replacement therapy, the New York Times reports.