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Developing World Health Care Solutions Help Some U.S. Programs
The Wall Street Journal examines how some U.S.-based health care programs are improving their treatment capabilities by learning from strategies used in developing countries. "When doctors running the AIDS clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham wanted to increase the number of patients who showed up for treatment, they turned to an unusual place for help: southern Africa," Wall Street Journal writes. By using an AIDS clinic in Zambia as a model, the Alabama clinic was able to decrease its no-show rate "from 31% in 2007 to 18% through June 2009."
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Majority Of U.S. Residents Support Confirming Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor, Poll Finds
Sixty-two percent of U.S. residents want Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to be confirmed, and 55% say she is "about right" on a liberal-to-conservative scale, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, the Post reports. For the survey, pollsters randomly surveyed a national sample of 1,001 adults by telephone between June 18 and June 21. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.The poll found that about three-fourths of abortion-rights supporters want Sotomayor to be confirmed, compared with less than half of abortion-rights opponents. According to the poll, six in 10 U.S. residents would want the new Supreme Court justice to vote to uphold Roe v. Wade. Most Republican men would want the next Supreme Court justice to vote to overturn Roe, while Republican women were split about evenly on the issue, the poll found. The poll also found that support for Sotomayor"s confirmation was equal between men and women. In addition, nearly eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents said they supported Sotomayor"s confirmation, compared with 36% of Republicans. The poll found that most Republicans deemed Sotomayor a "more liberal" nominee than they would prefer. Among Republicans, those self-identifying as conservative Republicans were largely opposed to Sotomayor"s confirmation, with more than seven in 10 conservative Republicans saying she is too liberal. Sotomayor received support from Republicans self-identifying as moderate or liberal, with fewer than four in 10 saying she is too liberal. However, about one in five who opposed Sotomayor"s confirmation said that she is not liberal enough. The poll also found that among the 33% of U.S. residents who said that Sotomayor"s gender plays a role, more than twice as many said that is a positive attribute as opposed to a negative attribute (Cohen/Barnes, Washington Post, 6/28).Sessions Requests More InformationSenate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (Ala.) on Friday sent a letter to the White House requesting additional information on Sotomayor, the New York Times" "The Caucus" reports. According to Sessions, the Obama administration has yet to provide members of the committee with information about a number of cases that Sotomayor brought to trial while working as a district attorney in New York. In addition, Sessions requested information regarding a case that Sotomayor argued on appeal. He also requested information about her work with Latino Justice PRLDEF, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin July 13. Republicans have criticized the schedule, saying it gives them insufficient time to review Sotomayor"s record. Democrats have said that Republicans are seeking to create unnecessary delays and noted that the timeline is similar to that of past nominees (Herszenhorn, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/26).
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SnoreSling™ Introduced: Millions Of Sleep Apnea And Snoring Sufferers May Now Have A Non-Invasive, Comfortable Remedy
Dr. SleepGood, Inc. has announced the release of the SnoreSling™, a non-invasive fabric product that could help millions of sleep apnea and snoring sufferers, as well as their bed partners, finally get a good night"s rest.
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Lower Cancer Risk For Obese Women Who Underwent Weight-Loss Surgery

An article published Online First and in the July edition of The Lancet Oncology indicates that weight-loss surgery known as bariatric surgery could be linked to a reduction in cancer risk in obese women, but not in obese men. The risk of developing different types of cancer is linked to obesity and a high body mass index (BMI). In fact, in the US, about 14 percent of cancer deaths in men and 20 percent in women are directly related to being overweight or obese; makeing it the most preventable cause of cancer besides smoking. But it is still unknown if treatment to reduce obesity can lower cancer incidence. A study was designed in 2007 to assess the effect of long-term weight loss on disease and death rates, called The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study. Findings showed that bariatric surgery was linked to reduced overall mortality. The study found that cancer was the most common cause of death, but it was unable to assess death due to specific causes. Lars Sjē¶strē¶m and his team used data from the ongoing SOS study to look into bariatric surgery and whether it is associated with reduced overall occurrence of cancer. The researchers also evaluated the effects of altered body weight and caloric consumption on cancer incidence. The SOS study assessed 2,010 obese patients who underwent weight-loss surgery in comparison with 2,037 obese patients who received standard treatment, which varied between advanced lifestyle advices to no treatment at all. Between 1987 and 2001, patients aged 37 to 60 years were recruited from twenty five surgical departments and four hundred and eighty primary health-care centers across Sweden. They were monitored for an average of 10.9 years and regularly assessed to detect cancer. Results indicated that weight-loss surgery was related to a considerable decrease in cancer occurrence of 42 percent in obese women. This was not the case in obese men. For over a decade, conventional treatment led to an average weight increase of 1.3 kg, while surgery resulted in a sustained average weight reduction of 19.9 kg. For both sexes combined, the number of first-time cancers was lower in the surgery group than in the standard treatment group (117 cases versus 169 cases). This represents 33 percent less probability in the surgery group to develop cancer. In women, the number of first-time cancers was considerably inferior in the surgery group than in the standard treatment group (79 cases versus 130 cases). This represents 42 percent less probability in the women having weight-reduction surgery to develop cancer. On the other hand, surgery had no effect on cancer occurrence in men, with 39 cases in the standard treatment group versus 38 cases in the surgery group. Additional research pointed out there was no correlation between fewer cancer occurrences and weight loss or lower energy intake. As a result, the authors say the favorable effects of weight-loss surgery on cancer could be the result of different processes other than weight-loss or decreased energy intake, and need further examination. They write in conclusion: "In our study, the significant reduction in overall cancer incidence in the female surgery group emanated from a variety of cancer types, indicating a broad effect of bariatric surgery." In an associated note, Dr Andrew G Renehan, of the Department of Surgery, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, UK, remarks: "The cancer-prevention effects of bariatric surgery seem limited to women, an observation reinforcing the importance of studying mechanisms separately by sex. For the SOS cohort, the absence of effect in men might simply reflect small sample numbers. For women, the greatest cancer-prevention effects from weight reduction are likely to be for post-menopausal breast and endometrial cancers, two hormone-sensitive malignancies, the effects of which might manifest within a decade. By contrast, the effects of weight reversal might take much longer to become apparent for other obesity-related cancers, such as colon, rectal, and kidney cancers, which are numerically more common in men." "Effects of bariatric surgery on cancer incidence in obese patients in Sweden (Swedish Obese Subjects Study): a prospective, controlled intervention trial" Lars Sjē¶strē¶m, Anders Gummesson, C David Sjē¶strē¶m, Kristina Narbro, Markku Peltonen, Hans Wedel, Calle Bengtsson, Claude Bouchard, Bjē¶rn Carlsson, Sven Dahlgren, Peter Jacobson, Kristjan Karason, Jan Karlsson, Bo Larsson, Anna-Karin Lindroos, Hans Lē¶nroth, Ingmar Nē¤slund, Torsten Olbers, Kaj Stenlē¶f, Jarl Torgerson, Lena M S Carlsson, for the Swedish Obese Subjects Study DOI:10.1016/10.1016/S1470-2045 (09)70159-7 The Lancet/oncology Written by Stephanie Brunner (B.A.) Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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