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E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney March 8, 2010 06:48 AM

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Nearly 2,500 nursing home residents in Massachusetts were given powerful antipsychotic drugs last year that were not intended or recommended for their medical condition, a practice that is more common here than in most other states, according to a Globe analysis of federal data.

Here in Virginia, the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama’s health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance.

Amos Winter, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at MIT, has invented a new wheelchair called the Leveraged Freedom Chair - leveraged because it is powered by hand levers.

The virus that causes AIDS can hide in the bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness, according to new research that could point the way toward better treatments for the disease.

"The Food and Drug Administration has done far too little to avoid conflicts of interest among those who serve on its scientific panels and advisory boards," a Globe editorial says. "The latest example came last Monday, when the agency appointed to a tobacco advisory committee two scientists who have financial ties to companies that sell smoking cessation products."

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About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

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