Blog viagra in deutschland

The European Association of Urology (EAU) regularly organises regional meetings in Europe, such as the upcoming North Eastern European Meeting (NEEM). These are platforms where new clinical or experimental work from the region is presented to an international audience. Young urologists are especially invited to participate.

The 3rd NEEM meeting will take place in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Szczecin, Poland. Professor Andrzej Sikorski (Szczecin, PL), chairman of the meeting “We were happy to receive 108 highquality abstracts, a great contribution from dedicated researchers from all over the region. There were contributions from countries within the region, such as Lithuania, Poland and Russia, but also from countries further away, such as Turkey. This proves the NEEM is truly international”.

On Friday, 11 September the meeting starts with an update on Penile Surgery, followed by Early diagnosis of prostate cancer risks and benefits in the afternoon. New data on the subject are presented by Prof M. Graefen, Hamburg (DE).

Poster sessions on Prostate Cancer, BPH and Prostate Biopsy and Bladder cancer are organised in the morning and the subjects Overactive bladder, Incontinence, Prostatitis and Renal disease are covered in the afternoon.

The day is concluded by a debate entitled Androgen supplementation in aging males chaired by Prof B. Darewicz, Bialystok (PL) and a lecture sponsored by GE Healthcare on Improving TURB with fluorescence cystoscopy

The Saturday programme looks equally promising with Prostate cancer the burden of treatment including a presentation about the management of ED by Prof Sikorski as the main subject in the morning, followed by the Stateoftheart lecture What the urologist needs to know in female stress incontinence delivered by Professor Walter Artibani, Padua (IT). The programme is continued with poster sessions (External genital and Stones and Reconstruction) and completed with a debate on chemoprevention of prostate cancer, chaired by Prof Graefen, Hamburg (DE). The benefits are defended by Prof Marberger, Vienna (AT) and the risks are highlighted by Professor Artibani, Padua (IT)

The regional meetings are accredited within the EUACME programme by the European Board of Urology in compliance with the EBU/UEMS regulations.

For more information, please go to neem.uroweb.org or regionalmeetings@uroweb.org.

Source
Lindy Brouwer

LIVALO (pitavastatin) may have the potential for fewer drugdrug interactions, versus other statins, as evidenced by a new study that evaluated the effects of itraconazole, an antifungal medication, on the pharmacokinetics of LIVALO in healthy volunteers. The data were presented by Kowa at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Many statins currently prescribed in the United States, such as atorvastatin and simvastatin, are metabolized by the cytochrome P450 system, particularly through the 3A4 pathway. Strong inhibitors of this pathway, such as itraconazole and grapefruit juice, can influence drug exposure levels that may result in other clinical complications, such as hospitalizations due to severe muscle problems.(1)

“Many patients taking statins require additional medications to address other cardiovascular risk factors or comorbid diagnoses, which can result in drugdrug interactions and subsequent noncompliance,” said Peter P. Toth, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Preventive Cardiology, Sterling Rock Falls Clinic, Ltd. “While statins are the mainstay of dyslipidemia management, there is still an unmet need among these patients who take multiple medications. These data suggest that LIVALO is a clinically effective and welltolerated statin that has less potential for these types of interactions.”

The openlabel study was conducted to determine the potential pharmacokinetic interaction of itraconazole (200 mg), an antifungal agent that strongly inhibits CYP3A4, on the pharmacokinetics of LIVALO (4 mg). The secondary objective assessed the safety of LIVALO 4 mg with the addition of itraconazole. Eighteen healthy males (aged 18 to 55 years) received LIVALO 4 mg once daily on days 1 and 8, and itraconazole 200 mg once daily on days 5 to 9. The results of this study showed that itraconazole did not increase plasma concentrations of LIVALO or its main metabolite pitavastatin lactone, potentially reducing the incidence of adverse events.

Additionally, LIVALO was shown to be well tolerated both as monotherapy and when combined with itraconazole and was not associated with any moderate or severe adverse events or clinically relevant changes in laboratory, vital or physical signs or ECG. No subjects withdrew from the study.

“This study suggests that, compared with other commonly prescribed statins, LIVALOs metabolic route may offer a favorable tolerability profile when administered with drugs that inhibit CYP3A4,” said Roger E. Morgan, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Kowa Research Institute. “Combined with LIVALOs safety and efficacy profile, the low incidence of drugdrug interactions represents a benefit in the longterm treatment of patients with dyslipidemia.”

These results support previous LIVALO studies showing that grapefruit juice did not have a significant effect on plasma concentrations (

There has been much debate about the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and sleep. Three new studies in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology explore GERDs effect on sleep quality and the healthcare system as well as how a widely prescribed sleeping pill may mask the disease. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

GERD is a commonly occurring condition in the U.S., with more than 40 percent of the population experiencing the disease. It develops when the reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications. Heartburn and acid regurgitation are characteristic symptoms of this disease. Published literature estimates that approximately 75 percent of patients with heartburn experience nighttime GERD symptoms. Nocturnal acid reflux may be especially damaging because acid exposure is of longer duration and has been associated with complications of esophagitis, including Barretts esophagus and cancer.

Study Suggests Sleeping Pill May Worsen Reflux Symptoms

The widely prescribed sleepinducing hypnotic zolpidem (Ambien®) suppressed nocturnal arousals and awakenings in response to acid reflux events and increased the duration of each esophageal acid reflux event in healthy individuals and patients with GERD.

“As many as 15 percent to 30 percent of patients with disturbed sleep may have undiagnosed GERD. If the effect of blunted arousals or awakenings by sleep aids is substantiated, this would suggest caution in the use of sleep aids without first considering GERD as a cause in patients with complaints of disturbed sleep,” said Anthony J. DiMarino Jr., MD, of Thomas Jefferson University and lead author of the study.

A total of eight controls and 16 GERD patients were enrolled in a randomized, doubleblind, placebocontrolled study. They were given zolpidem or placebo on separate nights; the number of reflux events and refluxassociated arousals or awakenings was recorded.

“The drug had the effect of enabling subjects to sleep through reflux events, thereby increasing nocturnal acid exposure. This suggests that hypnotic use by GERD patients could lead to increased risk for complicated disease. In fact, nocturnal reflux is the leading cause of Barretts esophagus, a recognized cause of esophageal cancer,” added Dr. DiMarino.

Researchers found that acid refluxing at night resulted in sleep arousal 89 percent of the time in participants (with and without GERD) given placebo but only 40 percent in those given zolpidem. In controls given placebo, acid reflux events lasted approximately one to two seconds; in controls given zolpidem, they lasted roughly three to 30 seconds. In GERD patients given placebo, the acid reflux events lasted about 20 to 55 seconds as compared to about four to eight minutes with zolpidem. With zolpidem, reflux events lasted approximately seven to 15 minutes when no arousal occurred and 30 to 68 seconds when an arousal was recorded.

GERD Nighttime Symptoms Are Prevalent, Have Negative Effects on Sleep Quality

Nighttime GERD symptoms interfere with patients falling and staying asleep, and result in considerable economic burden and reduction in healthrelated quality of life (HRQOL).

“These sleep difficulties result in substantial costs to the healthcare system by increasing provider visits. There is a greater loss of productivity to the employer and poorer HRQOL to the patient,” said Susan C. Bolge, PhD, of Consumer Health Sciences and corresponding author of the study. “Appropriate management of GERD must include treatment of nighttime symptoms, which affect both difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep.”

Researchers obtained data from a patientreported survey conducted in 2006 among the general U.S. population. Respondents who experienced GERD symptoms at least twice in the past month were categorized as GERD patients and were subclassified into groups based on nighttime symptoms and sleep difficulties.

Of 11,685 survey respondents with GERD, 88.9 percent experienced nighttime symptoms, 68.3 percent sleep difficulties, 49.1 percent difficulty falling asleep and 58.3 percent difficulty staying asleep. These sleep difficulties were associated with a poorer HRQOL.

Sleep difficulties were also associated with greater use of healthcare resources (0.9 additional provider visits), loss of work productivity (5.5 percent decrease) and increased impairment of daily activities (10.9 percent increase). This increased use of healthcare resources and loss of work productivity contributes to increased economic burden of GERD.

Data Indicate Association between GERD and Sleep Problems

This large, populationbased, crosssectional, casecontrol study indicates a doseresponse link between sleep problems and GERD that might be bidirectional, i.e. sleep problems may influence the development or increase the severity of GERD and GERD may influence the development or increase the severity of sleep problems.

“The interplay between sleep problems and GERD seems complex, but our finding of a link between the two cannot be dismissed. This finding may be of clinical relevance since a separate randomized controlled trial showed that sleep problems were improved after GERD therapy,” said Catarina Jansson, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet and lead author of the study. “Our finding may also explain the reduced work productivity associated with GERD.”

The study was based on two large health surveys performed in the Norwegian county NordTrondelag from 1984 to 1986 and 1995 to 1997. GERD was assessed in the second survey, which included 65,333 participants (70 percent of the countys adult population). The 3,153 individuals who reported severe reflux symptoms constituted the cases, and the 40,210 individuals without reflux symptoms constituted the controls.

In models adjusted for age, sex, tobacco smoking, obesity and socioeconomic status, positive associations were observed between presence of insomnia, sleeplessness, problems falling asleep and risk of GERD. These associations were attenuated after further adjustments for anxiety, depression, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, stroke and gastrointestinal symptoms, but remained statistically significant.

Source
Alissa J. Cruz

The introduction of prostateantigen screening, or PSA, has resulted in over 1 million additional men over the last 23 years being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer most of whom were likely overdiagnosed, researchers reported in a new study published online August 31 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Overdiagnosis has been associated with early diagnosis in prostate cancer, but there have been no previous national estimates of its magnitude.

Using data from the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., MPH, of the White River Junction VA and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice., and Peter C. Albertsen, M.D., of the University of Connecticut, examined agespecific prostate cancer incidence rates to determine the excess (or deficit) in the number of American men diagnosed and treated in each year after 1986. PSA screening was introduced in 1987.

According to the study, an additional 1.3 million men were diagnosed that would otherwise have never been diagnosed absent screening and more than 1 million have been treated since 1986.

“Given the considerable time that has passed since PSA screening began, most of this excess incidence must represent overdiagnosis,” the authors write. “All overdiagnosed patients are needlessly exposed to the hassle factors of obtaining treatment, the financial implications of the diagnosis, and the anxieties associated with becoming a cancer patient…”

The increased diagnosis has been most dramatic among younger men more than tripling since 1986 in men aged 5059 (from 58.4 to 212.7 per 100, 000) and more than a sevenfold increase in men under age 50 (from 1.3 to 9.4 per 100,000).

In an accompanying editorial, Otis W. Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, discusses how screening practices for prostate cancer have surged over the last 20 years, despite little evidence that it has saved lives.

According to Brawley, the highly pushed earlydetection message has skewed public opinion and delegitimized the questions concerning screening, causing many men to be overdiagnosed. Mortality has decreased since the early 1990s, the editorialist points outs, but reasons for this decline are unclear.

“We desperately need the ability to predict which patient has a localized cancer that is going to metastasize and cause suffering and death and which patient has a cancer that is destined to stay in the patients prostate for the remainder of his life,” he writes.

Source
Steve Graff

The World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF) and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) are proud to announce the first ever prospective study to assess the hidden cost of endometriosis to society and to women with the disease.

13 centres in ten countries kickoff the EndoCost study with a goal to identify areas which can be addressed for improvement and subsequent reduction in cost from a very prevalent yet largely unknown disease, which affects women during the prime of their lives.

Endometriosis affects an estimated 1 in 10 women during their reproductive years. An average diagnostic delay of up to 12 years, coupled with “hit and miss” treatments, has put an estimated cost to society in the United States alone at $22 billion a year higher than the cost of migraine and Crohns disease. There are no comparable data yet in Europe, which WERF and ESHRE now seek to address.

Endometriosis is the biggest cause of infertility and chronic pelvic pain in women. All treatments have side effects and there is no known cure. Yet, there is a lack of government funding given to research into a cure or even a long term treatment.

28year old Lisa Gellert has suffered from endometriosis for nine years. “I have seen numerous doctors, and finally had surgery where none of the disease was removed. Despite having supposedly had treatment I still live in pain and take several days off every month because I am incapacitated”, said Gellert.

WERF chief executive, Lone Hummelshoj worries what mismanagement such as Gellerts is costing national healthcare systems. But, it is not about healthcare systems alone according to Hummelshoj “A large proportion of women with endometriosis have to take time off work every month either due to severe symptoms, or because of doctors appointments and treatment regimes. This has a profound effect on society, but most certainly also on the women themselves, whose personal cost both financially and emotionally is substantial. The effect on relationships, not least when fertility becomes an issue, must not be underestimated either! The EndoCost study will be the first ever to investigate this direct and indirect cost, at a societal and personal level. We hope the results will spur national governments on to take endometriosis seriously and invest in research to prevent the next generation of women having to suffer during the prime of their lives the way this generation has”, said Hummelshoj.

Results from the EndoCost study are expected to be published during the second quarter of 2010.

See also endometriosisfoundation.org/endocost.php

Source
Hanna Hanssen

The following summarizes selected womens healthrelated blog entries.

~ “The Abortion Distortion Setting the Record and John Boehner Straight on the Capps Amendment,” Jessica Arons, Huffington Post blogs Arons director of the Center for American Progress Womens Health and Rights Program writes that a GOP Leader Alert released Tuesday by Rep. John Boehner (ROhio) “contains numerous distortions” about the Capps Amendment. The alert included a “tag line that reads Despite Democrats Claims, the Capps Compromise was Just for Political Cover,” and includes quotes from an Associated Press article “that do not support the contentions made in the alert itself,” Arons writes. She adds, “Note to Boehner Neither of these quotations actually says that abortion coverage would be paid for with government money” because “under the Capps Amendment, it wouldnt.” She explains, “In fact, a federal plan or a federally subsidized private plan that covers abortion would be required … to use money from private premiums to pay for abortion care.” Arons includes several arguments health reform proponents can use to refute false claims about abortion coverage in the proposals. She also notes that the Capps Amendment “is meant to be a compromise” and that the abortion issue “is a red herring” that opponents are using to derail a health overhaul they never wanted to succeed. During the debate over health reform, there has been “a lot of intentional blurring of the lines,” and while “many opponents of health care reform seem allergic to the facts, … the public deserves more,” Arons writes. She concludes, “Yes, this is a controversial topic and deserves vigorous debate, but lets have a dialogue that is based on actual facts, not hyperbole, misinformation and outright distortions” (Arons, Huffington Post blogs, 8/26).

~ “The Abortion Question,” Michelle Andrews, New York Times “Prescriptions” Andrews writes, “Whether health care legislation pending in Congress will cover abortion services and if so, how those services would be paid for is proving predictably divisive.” However, if the Capps Amendment were to become law, “coverage probably wouldnt change much at all,” Andrews says. According to Andrews, “Insurers who sell policies to individuals and some small businesses through a national insurance exchange … would not be required to offer abortion coverage.” She continues, “Neither would they be prohibited from offering it,” which “would be true both for private plans and for any governmentrun plan offered in the exchange.” Andrews writes, “This approach is consistent with the way that the private insurance market currently handles abortion coverage. Its up to insurers and employers to decide whether their plans will pay for abortion services.” She also notes that Medicaid coverage of abortion would be unchanged and “continue to be restricted by the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used to provide abortion services except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the womans life” (Andrews, “Prescriptions,” New York Times, 8/27).

~ “Why Hasnt RU486 Changed the Game?” Lynn Harris, Salons “Broadsheet” Recent research from the Guttmacher Institute shows that although mifepristone “has at the very least become an integral part of the abortion landscape,” it has not changed what is “possibly the most important aspect of legal abortion access to the procedure in the first place,” Harris writes. Although advocates thought that approval of the medication would increase the numbers of providers by enabling private physicians to prescribe the drug without drawing the attention of antiabortion protesters “it was largely those who already provided abortion who added mifepristone to their practice, not new doctors getting into the game,” according to Harris. Physicians “cant just add” the drug to their practice because of training, liability and state regulations on abortion services, “not to mention lingering stigma and yes, fear,” Harris says. Mifepristone also “made its debut at a time when broadly speaking the antiabortion movement had just begun to take some of its business from the sidewalks to state courts and legislatures, where specious and cruel laws could restrict abortion more effectively than signs and rosaries,” she continues. Although mifepristone “has not substantially changed the game,” the Guttmacher research “should serve as a reminder that when it comes to abortion, theres the debate, and theres the reality,” Harris writes, adding that the “debate shifts here, and the terrain shifts there, but the bitter pill is this despite certain victories … so many women, right now, remain able to exercise their legal right to abortion only with unacceptable difficulty, or not at all” (Harris, “Broadsheet,” Salon, 8/26).

~ “Should the CDC Push Circumcision?” Emily Bazelon, Double Xs “XX Factor” As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers recommending routine circumcision as a way to reduce the spread of HIV, Bazelon writes she “still think[s] neutrality on circumcision is the way to go.” Although studies have shown “stunning” results in reduced HIV transmission among circumcised South African men, the finding “says little about the United States, where the risk of contracting HIV is low for most people,” according to Bazelon. She adds, “Which is why the American circumcision debate probably will never be settled by science.” Physicians at CDC who advocate circumcision for infants “talk about this as one more tool in the toolbox of AIDS prevention,” Bazelon writes, saying that such “rationale works for me, personally.” However, “I dont think it really makes sense as medical policy,” she continues, concluding that CDC “shouldnt push circumcision on American parents who dont want it until the agency has a better answer than, hey, it might help here, too it just might” (Bazelon, “XX Factor,” Double X, 8/27).

~ “Randall Terry Ejected From Rep. Morans Town Hall,” Matt Corley, Think Progress Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry on Tuesday was “kicked out” of a townhall meeting hosted by Rep. Jim Moran (DVa.) and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) “after he interrupted and accused Democrats of murdering babies,” Corley writes. According to Corley, Terry in July “warned that his supporters might engage in violent act of terrorism unless Congress prohibits abortion services from being covered in the new health reform legislation.” Terrys “injection of violent rhetoric into the health care debate continued recently as he staged protests where he stabbed baby dolls,” Corley writes. The blog entry includes a summary of Terrys recent protests (Corley, Think Progress, 8/26).

~ “The HPV Double Standard,” Feminists for Choice On the issue of the human papillomavirus vaccine, the “argument against getting teen girls vaccinated was always the same if we get them vaccinated for a sexually transmitted disease now, it will encourage promiscuity,” a Feminists for Choice blog entry states. The blog asks, “What is so wrong with protecting your daughters against a disease, whether or not its transmitted sexually?” The blog adds, “I have an easy solution to making sure teen girls know that this vaccine wont protect them from everything sexually. Its called education and communication.” It also notes that the maker of the vaccine is seeking approval for use in men, but there is little controversy over whether it would encourage promiscuity in boys. The blog states, “The fact is, vaccinating both genders from this virus helps all of our youth,” so “instead of complaining about how girls will become sluts and whores with this vaccine, teach them the value of not having sex until theyre absolutely ready” (Feminists for Choice, 8/27).

~ “Screwed by Science,” Amy Benfer, Salons “Broadsheet” Benfer asks, “Why is there no male birth control pill?” She includes a link to a Science Progress article that “argues that we would have solved this problem decades ago, if not for social factors that have effectively made contraception a womans problem while simultaneously denying men the same option to control their fertility.” According to Benfer, in U.S. culture, “Women take on a greater burden for preventing pregnancy, while men can only hope their partner did so.” She continues, “What would solve this problem is a longacting reversible contraceptive, or LARC, for men.” However, progress has been delayed by lagging scientific research on LARCs and outdated gender ideologies such as the notion that men “cannot be trusted to be honest about birth control” or that men “wouldnt put up with the kind of unpleasant side effects that women take for granted.” Benfer writes, “We need more funding for research, untainted by outmoded gender assumptions” to help correct men and womens “unequal control over their sexual autonomy” (Benfer, “Broadsheet,” Salon, 8/28).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Womens Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Womens Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Though most Americans are familiar with completing a questionnaire about their family health history when visiting health care providers, an independent panel was convened by the National Institutes of Health this week to critically assess exactly what we know and what we need to learn about how this process relates to improving health. The conference focused on the use of family history in the primary care setting for common diseases such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, and heart disease. The panel has released their findings in a statement that is available at consensus.nih.gov.

Reporting a positive history of a family disease or condition to a health care provider could prompt a range of next steps, from lifestyle changes including diet and exercise to referral to genetic services or other specialists. The panel perceived a need to approach their assessment from a balanced perspective, appreciating the potential for both benefits and harms of obtaining and acting upon family history information. Their statement recognized the longstanding use and intuitive appeal of this relatively simple and noninvasive tool to try to improve health outcomes for atrisk individuals. The collection of a family history may also foster productive relationships between individuals and their clinicians. At the same time, theoretical harms, such as overtreatment and patient anxiety, should be taken into account. The panels findings and recommendations were aimed primarily at the research and health professional communities, rather than the public at large, and intended to inform the research agenda rather than influence current clinical practice.

“Given the unprecedented proliferation of genomic information, it is imperative to clarify the role of family history in improving health,” said Panel Chair Dr. Alfred O. Berg, a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle. “Additionally, increased emphasis on personalized medicine and electronic health records creates a fascinating opportunity to maximize the value of this information responsibly.”

The panel recognized that family history has an important role in the practice of medicine and may motivate positive lifestyle changes, enhance individual empowerment, and influence clinical interventions. The panel found that it is unclear how this information can be effectively gathered and used in the primary care setting for common diseases. Additional research is needed to understand how the routine collection of family history will lead to improved health outcomes. To help address these gaps, the panel outlined several research recommendations in three categories the family health information to be collected, the optimal way to collect and use it, and the outcomes of this tool for diagnosis and engagement with individuals and family members.

Individuals interested in recording their familys health history can visit hhs.gov/familyhistory, a tool provided by the Office of the Surgeon General.

The panels complete updated draft stateofthescience statement is available at consensus.nih.gov. The conference was sponsored by the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Human Genome Research Institute along with other NIH and Department of Health and Human Services components. This conference was conducted under the NIH Consensus Development Program, which convenes conferences to assess the available scientific evidence and develop objective statements on controversial medical issues.

The 16member conference panel included experts in the fields of family medicine, population health, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, health economics, epidemiology, biostatistics, genetic counseling, medical genetics, nursing, health informatics, endocrinology, behavioral science, ethics, health services and outcomes research, and a public representative. A complete listing of the panel members and their institutional affiliations is included in the draft conference statement.

In addition to the material presented at the conference by speakers and the comments of conference participants presented during discussion periods, the panel considered pertinent research from the published literature and the results of a systematic review of the literature. The systematic review was prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Evidencebased Practice Centers (EPC) program, by the McMaster University Evidencebased Practice Center. The EPCs develop evidence reports and technology assessments based on rigorous, comprehensive syntheses and analyses of the scientific literature, emphasizing explicit and detailed documentation of methods, rationale, and assumptions. The evidence report on family history and improving health is available at ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/famhimptp.htm.

The panels statement is an independent report and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the federal government. The NIH Consensus Development Program was established in 1977 as a mechanism to judge controversial topics in medicine and public health in an unbiased, impartial manner. NIH has conducted 119 consensus development conferences, and 30 stateofthescience (formerly “technology assessment”) conferences, addressing a wide range of issues. A backgrounder on the NIH Consensus Development Program process is available at consensus.nih.gov/backgrounder.htm.

The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The Nations Medical Research Agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.

Source
Kelli Marciel

US neurologists who analyzed brain scans of elderly people discovered that being overweight is linked to brain tissue loss, or what one researcher described as “severe brain degeneration”.

The study was the work of senior author Dr Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and lead author Cyrus A. Raji, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues, and is to be published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, of which an early view is available online.

We already know that obesity is linked to an increased risk of several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. And now Thompson and colleagues have added another to the list loss of brain tissue.

They found that obese people had on average 8 per cent less brain tissue compared to people of normal weight , while overweight people had 4 per cent less.

They defined obese as having a BMI over 30, overweight in the range 25 to 30, and normal weight 18.5 to 25.

(BMI stands for body mass index, the most widely used standard measure of obesity. It equals the ratio of a persons weight in kilos to the square of their height in metres).

Thompson described 8 and 4 per cent as “a big loss of tissue”.

“It depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimers and other diseases that attack the brain,” he said.

“But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimers if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control,” he added.

For the study he and his colleagues looked at brain images from 94 people aged 70 and over who had taken part in an earlier study called the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study.

All the participants were healthy and none was cognitively impaired when assessed five years after the scans were taken.

The researchers converted the scans into 3D images using a high resolution method called “tensorbased morphometry” that shows a detailed anatomy of the brain.

With these images they were able to do things like examine the grey matter and the white matter and determine which parts of the brain were most affected.

They found that the obese participants had lost brain tissue in areas of the brain that are important for planning and memory (the frontal and temporal lobes), attention and executive functions (the anterior cingulate gyrus), longterm memory (the hippocampus), and movement (the basal ganglia).

Overweight participants showed brain loss in the basal ganglia, the corona radiata, the white matter, and the parietal lobe.

The findings were unaffected by taking into account age, gender and race.

Thompson said that when they looked at the scans

“The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of those who were lean, and in overweight people looked 8 years older.”

According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 300 million people worldwide whose BMI puts them in the obese category.

The National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Center for Research Resources, and the American Heart Association paid for the study.

“Brain structure and obesity.”
Cyrus A. Raji, April J. Ho, Neelroop N. Parikshak, James T. Becker, Oscar L. Lopez, Lewis H. Kuller, Xue Hua, Alex D. Leow, Arthur W. Toga, Paul M. Thompson.
Human Brain Mapping, Early view, accessed 27 August 2009.
DOI 10.1002/hbm.20870

Source UCLA News.

Written by Catharine Paddock, PhD

After the near total failure of the annual long rains in Many parts of Kenya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for more than US$230 million to provide emergency food assistance over the next six months to 3.8 million Kenyans affected by deepening drought and continued high food prices.

“Red lights are flashing across the country,” said Burkard Oberle, WFP Kenya Country Director. “People are already going hungry, malnutrition Is preying on more and more young children, cattle are dying we face a huge challenge and are urging the international community to provide us with the resources we need to get the job done.” WFP is currently assisting 2.6 million droughtaffected Kenyans With general food distributions. The Kenyan government will support the new caseload of 1.2 million people until the end of October. In order to feed all 3.8 million people for the next six months, WFP and the Kenyan government will require strong support from donors in the weeks ahead.

Many parts of the country have now experienced three or even Four consecutive failed rainy seasons and conditions are expected to deteriorate further over the coming months. According to the governmentled long rains assessment, the main maize harvest is projected to be 28 percent lower than the fiveyear average. Pasture and water for livestock is dwindling rapidly.

Some of the worst affected Kenyans have been pushed to the edge and Are struggling to survive. Many are adopting extreme coping strategies, such as reducing the number of meals each day, eating cheaper and less nutritious foods, migrating to urban centres and taking on massive debt.

Acute malnutrition rates among children under five are over 20 percent in some areas well above the 15 percent emergency threshold.

Pastoralist communities are particularly affected. As food prices Remain 100 to 130 percent above normal, prices for their livestock most of Them in poor condition have been heading in the opposite direction. The sale of one goat used to buy a 90 kilogramme bag of maize, now it might require as many as four goats in some areas.

Most pastoralists have been forced to migrate large distances with Their cattle in a desperate search for pasture, leaving their wives and children without access to milk normally such a vital part of their diet.

WFP will also expand its school meals programme by 100,000 to reach Nearly 1.2 million children across the worst affected areas. The government Of Kenya is also providing school meals to about half a million more Children under their own school meals programme.

School meals are an effective social safety net for hardhit communities, providing vital assistance to hungry children and ensuring they can continue their education. WFP has continued to provide school meals to over a million children in Kenya in August during the holidays, following a request by the government.

“Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya, but right now Conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade,” said Oberle. “WFP is aiming to help almost 1 in every 10 Kenyans to cope with this serious crisis but we cant do it without money.”

A “heated battle” has developed between New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who is seeking reelection in November, and Republican challenger Chris Christie over mammography coverage under Christies health insurance proposal, the Newark StarLedger reports. According to the StarLedger, the debate began when Christie posted a video on his Web site proposing that lowcost insurance plans be exempt from state mandates that require coverage of certain benefits. Christie said the new option would appeal to “young people” who “may not need the chance to have every type of procedure thats available in the medical world.”

Corzine and his supporters say Christies proposal trivializes the importance of statemandated coverage for medical screenings, including mammograms. According to Corzines supporters, the proposal would undo a state law requiring insurers to pay for mammograms for women younger than age 40 who have a family history of breast cancer. In a statement, Corzine said that Christies proposal would allow barebones plans to forgo mandatory coverage for 24hour maternity stays a requirement stemming from a law that Corzine’s running mate, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D), sponsored. About twothirds of New Jersey residents with health insurance are unaffected because they are covered by selfinsured and federally regulated plans not subject to state mandates, according to the StarLedger.

In a followup video responding to the criticism, Christie called Corzine “a liar” and described how a mammogram helped save his mothers life by detecting a cancerous tumor. Christie said later, “Because I want to offer people other options that they knowingly can either pursue or not pursue, that does not make me anti any of the mandates that are covered under the insurance policies now. He added, “I am trying to get people to say if they want less expensive coverage that has less mandates, they should have the option to pick it. No one is going to be required to do it.”

Brigid Harrison, a Montclair State University political science professor, said the feud between Corzine and Christie over the mammogram issue helps define the differences in their approaches to health policy. “One person advocates for a mandatefree insurance system and one doesnt,” Harrison said. She added that focusing on mammogram coverage “enables Corzine to remind women voters, who tend to lean Democrat anyway, there is a difference between him and Christie” (Livio, Newark StarLedger, 8/23).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Womens Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Womens Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.