Today's Globe: health coverage gains, cancer blogs, blood from stem cells, UMass Memorial turnaround, bacteria in pandemic flu, prescription data mining threat

Nearly three-quarters of previously uninsured Massachusetts residents now have medical coverage under the state's landmark campaign to extend health insurance to virtually all Bay Staters, according to a report released yesterday by Governor Deval Patrick's administration.

A growing number of cancer patients are turning to the Internet to discuss their disease, keeping friends and family updated, and connecting with other patients, according to oncology social workers and psychologists.

Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology Inc., the Worcester stem cell company that is running out of cash, reported yesterday that they have created large numbers of red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells.

Nearly three years after its heart surgery program was suspended, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester now ranks among the safest in the country, according to federal figures released today.

Bacterial pneumonia might have killed most people during the 1918 flu pandemic, and antibiotics could be as crucial as flu drugs to fight a new pandemic, US researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

After years of steady growth, businesses that gather prescription data and sell the information to pharmaceutical companies are fighting against laws in three New England states to keep prescribing information out of their hands.