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The overall economy added 243,000 jobs last month — with the health-care sector continuing to show strength — while the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.

As the WSJ reports, that’s the lowest the jobless rate has been since Feb. 2009. (Here’s the full report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

The health-care industry added 30,900 jobs in January, following a revised increase of 17,600 jobs the previous month. (Originally the government reported a larger December gain of 22,600 jobs in ..read more

Questioning the Use of a Genetic Test: A review of previously published research appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a genetic test for patients taking the anti-clotting drug Plavix doesn’t identify people at greater risk for a heart attack or other cardiac event, the WSJ reports. The FDA, which declined to comment on the study, last year put a black box warning on Plavix, cautioning about reduced effectiveness of the drug in ..read more

Easing Heart Fears?: Research published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests no increased risk for serious heart problems in adults stemming from drugs to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, the WSJ reports. While a study author notes the research doesn’t prove the drugs are safe, it could — especially when combined with a recent study that produced similar findings in children — ease worries about heart risk.

Standard Practice?: There’s limited research on the benefits ..read more

Gene Therapy Advance: Researchers reported online in the New England Journal of Medicine that they saw success in using gene therapy to treat hemophilia B, with four of six patients making enough of a crucial blood-clotting factor to skip their usual protein injections and the other two requiring injections less frequently, the WSJ reports. Scientists said more studies need to be done before the treatment becomes standard; meantime, researchers plan to study the gene-therapy method in the ..read more

A new online tool to prepare patients for surgery and other invasive procedures aims to reduce the stress and anxiety that accompanies many medical decisions.

Boston-based Health Dialog today launched HD Care Compass, a web and mobile site with patient guides on what to expect before, during and after seven major procedures, including cardiac catheterization, breast biopsies and knee replacement surgeries.  The guides provide tips such as  what to do if you suddenly fill sick while a doctor is guiding a ..read more

The problem of antibiotic resistance tends to reach public consciousness in a scattershot manner — when ground turkey is recalled because it’s tainted with salmonella that can’t be treated by common drugs, for example. But it’s hard to get a comprehensive picture of the extent to which certain infections have become impervious to treatment.

Now, Extending the Cure, an antibiotic-resistance policy effort based at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, has developed a web-based tool to illustrate the problem ..read more

More heart-attack patients now than five years ago are getting a potentially life-saving procedure to open blocked arteries within the recommended time  frame, a new study shows.

The so-called “door-to-balloon” time refers to how long it takes for heart attack patients who need an angioplasty  — an opening of the blocked artery using a catheter — to receive one once they’ve gotten to the hospital. The recommendation is to get the procedure within 90 minutes.

Every minute is precious, because the longer ..read more

Viagra Protection: A federal judge ruled yesterday that a Pfizer patent on the erectile-dysfunction treatment Viagra is valid and enforceable, protecting the blockbuster drug against generic competition until 2019, the WSJ reports. Teva Pharmaceutical had proposed a generic version of the drug, arguing that certain claims of that 2019 Pfizer patent were invalid, the paper says.

Cheap Screening: Hospitals are advertising inexpensive low-dose CT scans for current and former smokers on the heels of a government study that ..read more

Dire Straits: A new report from Moody’s says that nonprofit hospitals have been squeezed by a drop in elective surgeries and by state Medicaid cuts, and stand to be pressured even further by Medicare cuts stemming from the health-care overhaul law and future deficit-reduction efforts, the WSJ reports. A review of 401 hospitals financial results from 2010 finds only 4% revenue growth, the lowest since Moody’s started tracking these stats 20 years ago, with 20% running a loss on an ..read more

Ask anyone who’s spent time in the hospital — patients get a lot of blood taken over the course of their stay.

A blood test can provide crucial information that can’t be gotten any other way. But sometimes there may be a downside. A study of heart-attack patients just published online by the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that blood loss from diagnostic tests is associated with acquiring anemia in the hospital. And anemia — a decrease in the red blood ..read more