Experimental Hormone Reduces Visceral Fat in HIV Patients - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today

CROI: Experimental Hormone Reduces Visceral Fat in HIV Patients - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today: "LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27 -- An experimental synthetic hormone significantly reduces visceral fat in patients treated for HIV, Harvard researcher said here.

Compared with placebo, the growth hormone releasing analog TH9507 reduced visceral fat by about 20%, Steven Grinspoon, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, reported at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. "

Discrimination: a threat to Public Health

When issues involving human rights are discussed in Sweden, the focus tends to be on the position in other countries. The emphasis in the Discrimination – a threat to public health report is on the situation in Sweden, in particular on ways in which people feel they are discriminated, the extent to which this applies, and how these experiences are related to the human health.
Discrimination in society means that people do not have equal prerequisites for achieving good health on equal terms. The prerequisites differ, due to gender, ethnic background, religion, other beliefs, disability and sexual orientation. Discrimination has negative consequences in the form of greater ill-health and higher costs for society as a result of absence from work due to ill-health, increased demands on health-care services, and an unutilised labour-force reserve.
This report is a key source of expertise in systematic efforts to counter discrimination and improve public health, and constitutes a warning-bell for decision-makers at the national, regional and local levels because it sheds light on strong correlations between discrimination and ill-health, and indicates
that people experience a considerable degree of discrimination.
The report also points to future possibilities of investigating the incidence of discrimination in a more systematic manner than today. Further studies can provide crucial information and help to ensure that more effective measures are taken to counter all forms of discrimination, thus improving public health.

Inflammation overload: It could be a sign of trouble ... American Medical News

AMNews: March 5, 2007. Inflammation overload: It could be a sign of trouble ... American Medical News: "The evidence is strong for a link between atherosclerosis and inflammation, and it is building for diabetes, with new studies in search of treatment options.
By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. March 5, 2007.



Inflammation in the body is a good, protective and healing mechanism -- except when it isn't. In other words, the white blood cells that hurry to the site of infection and injury actually might be possible harbingers of trouble ahead.
Investigators are examining the cascading series of events initiated by long-term inflammation that, they suspect, may culminate in such serious chronic illnesses as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's."

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is currently finalizing its Fourth Assessment Report 'Climate Change 2007'. The reports by the three Working Groups provide a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the current state of knowledge on climate change. The Synthesis Report integrates the information around six topic areas. More"

Healthpromotionethics - Conference 2007

Healthpromotionethics - Conference 2007: "Hosted by the Institute for Law, Ethics & Society (In Rem) at Ghent University and co-organized by the departments of Public Health at Ghent University and at the Free University of Brussels and by the Flemish Insitute for Health Promotion (VIG).
The conference is co-sponsored by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE).
If you would like to receive email alerts with updates about the conference, send an email to hans.donckers@ugent.beThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it and type 'subscribe email alert HPE' in the body of the message. "

Wikiquote - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikiquote - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. It is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the goal of the project is to produce collaboratively a vast reference of quotations from prominent people, books and proverbs, and to give details about them.
Initially the project was created in English, but in July 2004, more languages were added."

Citoyens de la Terre : The Paris Conference for Global Ecological Governance - English

Citoyens de la Terre : The Paris Conference for Global Ecological Governance - English: "At the instigation of the President of the French Republic, a conference for global ecological governance has been held in Paris on 2-3 February 2007 with more than 200 participants from 72 countries.
“We all know that uncontrolled human activity is bringing about a sort of slow collective suicide. Disaster can only be averted if nations can come together to support jointly agreed commitments. Let us create a United Nations Environment Organization, the expression of the world’s ecological conscience, with the means to assume this responsibility, the forum in which we take common action for future generations. France will be hosting an international conference next year to bring together all those who want to make progress on this project, which is crucial to the future of the planet”.
Extract from the speech of Mr Jacques CHIRAC, the President of the French Republic to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 19th 2006."

Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas -- Waters and Stafford 315 (5815): 1122 -- Science

Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas -- Waters and Stafford 315 (5815): 1122 -- Science: "
Science 23 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5815, pp. 1122 - 1126
DOI: 10.1126/science.1137166Prev |
Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas
Michael R. Waters1* and Thomas W. Stafford, Jr.2 The Clovis complex is considered to be the oldest unequivocal evidence of humans in the Americas, dating between 11,500 and 10,900 radiocarbon years before the present (14C yr B.P.). Adjusted 14C dates and a reevaluation of the existing Clovis date record revise the Clovis time range to 11,050 to 10,800 14C yr B.P. In as few as 200 calendar years, Clovis technology originated and spread throughout North America. The revised age range for Clovis overlaps non-Clovis sites in North and South America. This and other evidence imply that humans already lived in the Americas before Clovis. "

Manual de Redação da PUCRS

Manual de Redação da PUCRS: "A idéia de disponibilizar via on-line um Manual de Redação surgiu na GERÊNCIA DE WEB, setor responsável pela criação e manutenção de programação visual e eletrônica do site da PUCRS, e viabilizou-se com o suporte teórico-prático do Prof. Me. Gilberto Scarton, assessor especial para assuntos da Língua Portuguesa, desta Gerência, e da Profa. Dr. Marisa Magnus Smith, Coordenadora de Língua Portuguesa do Setor de Vestibulares, ambos da Faculdade de Letras. Foi decisivo, para o sucesso do empreendimento, o apoio das Pró-Reitorias de Administração, de Ensino de Graduação e de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação.

A GERÊNCIA DE WEB caracteriza-se, assim, não apenas como um portal de interação entre a Universidade, a comunidade acadêmica e o público externo, mas também como uma agência permanentemente atenta às novas necessidades que o fortalecimento da imagem da Instituição e a comunicação com seus vários públicos impõem, um imperativo para o enfrentamento de novos desafios, tanto internos quanto externos."

Religion, Conscience, and Controversial Clinical Practices

Background There is a heated debate about whether health professionals may refuse to provide treatments to which they object on moral grounds. It is important to understand how physicians think about their ethical rights and obligations when such conflicts emerge in clinical practice.

Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a stratified, random sample of 2000 practicing U.S. physicians from all specialties by mail. The primary criterion variables were physicians' judgments about their ethical rights and obligations when patients request a legal medical procedure to which the physician objects for religious or moral reasons. These procedures included administering terminal sedation in dying patients, providing abortion for failed contraception, and prescribing birth control to adolescents without parental approval.

Results A total of 1144 of 1820 physicians (63%) responded to our survey. On the basis of our results, we estimate that most physicians believe that it is ethically permissible for doctors to explain their moral objections to patients (63%). Most also believe that physicians are obligated to present all options (86%) and to refer the patient to another clinician who does not object to the requested procedure (71%). Physicians who were male, those who were religious, and those who had personal objections to morally controversial clinical practices were less likely to report that doctors must disclose information about or refer patients for medical procedures to which the physician objected on moral grounds (multivariate odds ratios, 0.3 to 0.5).

Conclusions Many physicians do not consider themselves obligated to disclose information about or refer patients for legal but morally controversial medical procedures. Patients who want information about and access to such procedures may need to inquire proactively to determine whether their physicians would accommodate such requests.