Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

ANA And International Association Of Forensic Nurses Co-Publish First Standards For Forensic Nursing
The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the International
generic viagra online
L.A. Times, NYT Opinion Pieces Discuss International Women's Health Issues
The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times recently published opinion pieces examining issues related to international women"s health. Summaries appear below.~ Michelle Goldberg, Los Angeles Times: The solution to addressing issues of over-population and under-population in various parts of the world is "giving women more control over their fertility and their lives," Goldberg, author of "The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World," writes in a Times opinion piece. Goldberg says that both problems are "symptoms of countries" failures to meet women"s needs." Citing United Nations data, Goldberg writes that the world"s population is growing at an "unsustainable" rate of 78 million people annually, and it will probably continue to increase by 70 million or 75 million annually through 2020. Almost all of that growth will occur in developing countries, she says. "The ethical and effective way to counter rapid population growth is to bolster women"s rights and improve their access to family planning," as well as access to education, Goldberg writes, adding that "study after study has found that girls who go to school marry later and have fewer, healthier children." Meanwhile, some developed countries -- including Japan, Russia, Italy and Spain -- are seeing a decline in birth rates, a fact that some social conservatives are using "to argue for restrictions on women"s rights." According to Goldberg, "Fertility is reaching dangerously low levels in countries where social attitudes and institutions haven"t caught up with women"s desire to combine work and family. When faced with men who are unwilling to share domestic burdens, inflexible workplaces and day-care shortages, many women respond by having fewer children." However, "when societies make it possible for women to combine having children with pursuing their other ambitions, fertility rates are fine," Goldberg says. She adds, "Give women freedom and support, and they will find reproductive equilibrium, so that when societies do shrink or grow, they do so in a manageable way" (Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 5/17).~ Nicholas Kristof, New York Times: About 500,000 women "die annually from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth without attracting much interest because the victims are typically among the most voiceless people in the world: impoverished, rural, uneducated and female," Kristof writes in a Times opinion piece. He adds, "It"s no mystery how to save the lives of pregnant women; what"s lacking is the will and res." Kristof writes that Sierra Leone, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, "is now making progress with the help of the United Nations Population Fund." Former President George W. Bush cut off U.S. funding for UNFPA, but President Obama has restored the funding. Kristof adds that a bill (H.R. 1410) that would "establish American leadership in this area ... has attracted pathetically little attention." He continues that if the lives of women in West Africa "were a priority, there would be many simple ways to keep them alive," such as providing them with bed nets to help protect against malaria or iron tablets to fight anemia at a cost of "just a few dollars" (Kristof, New York Times, 5/17).
News of the day
The Official Journal Of The Association For Palliative Medicine To Be 'Palliative Medicine'
SAGE have announced that flagship medical journal Palliative Medicine is to become the official journal of the Association for Palliative Medicine.
Public Health

Results From 8 Late-Breaking Clinical Trials Presented At Heart Failure 2009

Results and updates from eight studies were presented during a late-breaking trials session at Heart Failure 2009. Reviewing them at a press conference, Professor John McMurray, President of the Heart Failure Association, described the trials" objectives and main implications. A multicentre study of a new inotropic drug (which increases the contraction and pumping of the heart), CK-1827452, found that it increases systolic function in stable heart failure patients - and was well tolerated in a proof of concept study. CK-1827452 is a new drug in a class known as Selective Cardiac Myosin Activators. Bigger trials are now needed to assess safety and effect on clinically meaningful endpoints. Pre-RELAX-AHF is another proof of concept study with an interesting new vasodilator drug (relaxin), a hormone produced by the ovaries and placenta during pregnancy which causes expansion of the cervix and uterus. Because relaxin also relaxes arteries and veins, it reduces the resistance to bloodflow in these vessels - and hence the work the heart has to do to pump blood through them. Results of this trial are encouraging and showed that relaxin given for 48 hours produce rapid and sustained improvement in breathlessness and other heart failure symptoms, with a favourable impact on clinical outcomes at 60 days. Again, bigger trials are now needed to assess safety and effect on clinically meaningful endpoints. CHANCE (Congestive Heart failure: A multidisciplinary Non-pharmacological approach for Changing in rE-hospitalisation and prognosis) is an important study from Russia looking at whether post-discharge non-pharmacological interventions by nurses and other health professionals could reduce the risk of hospital readmission. The study found that an approach of patient education and active follow-up (added to optimal medical care) decreased morbidity and mortality. This reinforces the findings of previous studies in other countries and suggests that organised multidisciplinary care is beneficial for patients with heart failure in a variety of healthcare systems. B-convinced is a multicentre French study designed to assess the effect of temporarily discontinuing beta-blockers in patients whose worsening heart failure leads to hospital admission. This reflects a frequent clinical dilemma - but results showed that during acute heart failure beta-blocker therapy should not be withdrawn. CHAT (Chronic Heart failure Assistance by Telephone) is a fascinating study looking at whether telephone intervention (with advice about symptoms, treatment, etc) might be helpful in reducing the risk of major heart failure events (hospital admissions/death) in patients living in rural areas (where organised multidisciplinary care is not available). Results from this randomised trial - performed in Australia - suggest that telephone support can significantly reduce mortality and hospitalisation rate in a rural and remote cohort. CIBIS-ELD (Cardiac Insufficiency Bisoprolol Study in Elderly) was designed to assess and compare the dose of two proven beta-blockers in elderly patients with heart failure (the elderly are often "underdosed" and there is always debate about whether one drug might be better tolerated than another). This study showed that it is indeed hard to achieve the target dose in elder patients, and that there was no difference in tolerability between the two (bisoprolol and carvedilol). Ex-DHF is an interesting study which looked at a neglected type of heart failure, diastolic HF (or HF with preserved ejection fraction). There are no proven treatments for this type of heart failure, and this study tested the value of exercise training. The results showed that this intervention improved exercise capacity, made patients feel better and, importantly, seemed to improve the abnormalities in the structure and function of the heart in these patients. SIGNAL-HF studied the very topical and important question of whether use of the biomarker NT-pro BNP as a guide to pharmacological treatment in primary care would lead to an improvement in patient outcomes. It didn"t - and this will be a controversial conclusion alongside a number of conflicting and unconvincing recent findings in this area. Late-breaking trials session, 1st June, 11.00-12.30. Heart Failure Congress 2009 is organised by the European Society of Cardiology and Heart Failure Association of the ESC, and takes place from 30 May to 2 June at the Palais Acropolis, Nice, France. * Information on the scientific programme for Heart Failure Congress 2009 is available at http://spo.escardio.org/Welcome.aspx?eevtid=31 ESC Press Office European Society of Cardiology


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009