Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Summer.
Financial assistance for people with Medicare with low or moderate incomes is available through the Medicare Savings Programs. Yet many people who could use these benefits are unaware that they exist or are reluctant to apply for them. This brief describes efforts that you can undertake to increase awareness about the Medicare Savings Programs and to help your clients apply for these programs.
Data from the Census Bureau's Annual Report on Poverty show that 37.4 million Americans--two million more than the previous year--had no health insurance during 1992. The proportion of people with no health insurance also increased from 14.1 percent in 1991 to 14.7 percent in 1992. This is the largest annual increase--both in the number of people and the proportion of the population lacking health care coverage--since 1987, the first year for which comparable data are available. In 1987, the Census data show, 31 million people--12.9 percent of the population--were not covered by health insurance. Both the number of people and the proportion of the population without health insurance have increased each year since 1987. Not all of the changes from one year to the next were statistically significant. Between 1991 and 1992, however, the increases both in the number of people without insurance and the proportion of the population lacking insurance were statistically significant. The Bureau reported that 36.9 million Americans were poor in 1992, which represented the largest number of poor people in 30 years. Among the poor, 28.5 percent had no health insurance in 1992. Lack of insurance was not limited to the poor, however. Of those without insurance in 1992, more than 70 percent were above the poverty line.
The receptor-binding, immunological and biological properties of synthetic-gene human epidermal growth factor (EGF), produced by recombinant techniques in yeast have been compared with those of mouse submaxillary gland EGF and partially purified EGF from human urine and milk. The three forms of human EGF produced parallel concentration curves in radio-receptor assays using AG2804 Simian virus 40-transformed human lung fibroblasts and iodinated mouse or recombinant human EGF. Equivalent receptor-binding activities of urine and milk EGF were equipotent with recombinant human EGF in an homologous radioimmunoassay using recombinant human EGF antiserum with 125I-labelled recombinant human EGF, while none of the preparations was effective in competing for binding of 125I-labelled mouse EGF to mouse EGF antiserum. Urine, milk and recombinant human EGF stimulated protein synthesis and inhibited protein degradation in cultured AG2804 fibroblasts with identical potency. On a weight basis, mouse EGF was equipotent with recombinant human EGF in competitive binding to cell receptors and in effects on protein synthesis or protein degradation in AG2804 fibroblasts. It is concluded that recombinant human EGF is indistinguishable from the natural growth factor from urine or milk and shares similar biological properties with mouse EGF.