WASHINGTON – What if my blood sugar’s too high today? Is it time for my blood pressure pill? With nagging text messages or more customized two-way interactions, researchers are trying to harness the power of cell phones to help fight chronic diseases.

“I call it medical minutes,” says Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hospital in the nation’s capital.

He’s testing whether inner-city diabetics, an especially hard-to-treat population, might better control their blood sugar — and thus save Medicaid dollars — by tracking their disease using Internet-connected cell phones, provided with reduced monthly rates as long as they regularly comply.

Consider Tyrone Harvey, 43, who learned he had diabetes seven years ago only after getting so sick he was hospitalized for a week, and who has struggled to lower his blood sugar ever since. In May, through a study Katz began with nearby Howard University Hospital’s diabetes clinic, Harvey received a Web-based personal health record that he clicks onto using his cell phone, to record his daily blood sugar measurements.

If Harvey enters a reading higher or lower than preset danger thresholds, a text message automatically pings a warning, telling him what to do. And at checkups, doctors will use the personal health record, created by Indiana-based NoMoreClipboard.com, to track all his fluctuations and decide what next steps to advise.

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PARIS (Reuters) –
President Nicolas Sarkozy denied allegations on Tuesday that his party received illegal campaign donations in cash from France’s richest woman via the current labor minister, Eric Woerth.

The allegation was made by a former bookkeeper for Liliane Bettencourt, main shareholder in the cosmetics giant L’Oreal, and raised pressure on Sarkozy to bring forward a reshuffle of his government, battered by sleaze allegations.

The bookkeeper, named only as Claire T., told the news website Mediapart she had been involved in withdrawing 150,000 euros ($200,000) in cash to be given to Woerth in unmarked envelopes as a donation to Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign.

Claire T.’s lawyer confirmed that she had given a statement to police on Monday making the allegation. Bettencourt’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sarkozy said Woerth was a victim of calumny “without the slightest reality” and he wished people would take more interest in big issues such as health care and pensions rather than in “those who create scandals.”

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