Archives

Today's show looks at how soldiers returning from Iraq are being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Their numbers are up, and the type of care they get depends on whether they're active duty personnel or National Guard soldiers. We'll talk with Dr. Andrew Pomerantz, the head of medical services at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont.

We'll also talk about presidential dollar coins that, if President Bush signs Senator John Sununu's bill, could come into general circulation in 2007. Dave Bowers has been a serious coin collector for most of his life; he's with American Numismatic Rarities in Wolfeboro and will give us the long and short of what it takes to introduce coins into our pockets and cash registers.

The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant wants to increase the temperature of the water it releases into the Connecticut River. That could make part of the river warmer by one degree. That may not sound like a lot, but some worry that this could hurt local fish populations. We'll talk with a biologist to find out whether one degree should really cause much concern. Shay's guest is Keith Nislow. He's a Research Fisheries Biologist for the federal Forest Service.

Later in the show we look at autism. A group of studies has refuted the suggestion that a childhood vaccine is causing the condition in some children. Researchers and experts in developmental disorders related to the central nervous system are uncertain why there's an increase in the number of autistic diagnoses. We'll talk with geneticist Dr. John Moeschler of Dartmouth Medical School about where the science and study of autism is today.

World AIDS Week concludes today.

Events around the globe brought attention to the needs of the millions of people living with AIDS and HIV.

Health officials and politicians proclaimed greater fiscal commitments to battling the disease.

Yet New Hampshire is facing the potential of losing nearly all its federal funding to care for people living with AIDS and HIV.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Kerry Grens reports.

Chronic diseases are a major source of rising health care costs.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate the annual outlay for treating diabetes alone to be one hundred billion dollars.

Fifty eight thousand people in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with diabetes.

And hospitalizations from the illness have skyrocketed in recent years.

But doctors are finding ways to cut down on costs of treating chronic disease, by seeing patients in bulk.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Kerry Grens has more.

Dr. Susan Lynch, a pediatrician, is using her new prominence as First Lady to draw attention to a growing health concern in the Granite State--overweight kids. We'll talk with Dr. Lynch about her interest in the problem, and what's going on in New Hampshire schools, communities and homes to address the issue. We will also hear from Tamara Martin, Chairperson of the New Hampshire Healthy Schools Coalition; Sandy Van Scoyoc, President of the H and H Foundation; and Jane Slaton, Principal at Andover Elementary School.