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Singer Elton John Calls For Increased HIV/AIDS Education, Care
Singer Elton John on Tuesday at the 2009 Bio International Convention in Atlanta called for renewed efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. John, founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, addressed an audience that included CEOs of organizations working to develop HIV/AIDS therapies and vaccines. He called on governments and institutions to increase their focus on education, especially among young people; access to medical treatment; and needle-exchange programs (Poole, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/19)."There are long-standing stereotypes and prejudices that inhibit our efforts to combat AIDS," John said, adding, "I am asking for your leadership." According to John, CDC estimates that one in every three new HIV cases occurs among people younger than age 30, a statistic that he said has not received adequate attention. "It is unfathomable and unconscionable that we are not making a bigger effort to educate this demographic about HIV/AIDS with creative materials and up-to-date information," John said, adding, "Our failure to do so is costing lives" (Turner, AP/PennLive.com, 5/19). John also noted a recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that the number of Americans who believe HIV/AIDS is an urgent health problem has declined to 6% currently from 44% in 1995. Bob McNally, CEO of GeoVax Labs, said John"s message is that "just not enough is being done" and that "people continue to die from the disease." He added that John "spurred the audience towards being advocates" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/20).
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Swissmedic Grants Debiopharm Marketing Authorisation For Moapar(R), A New Therapeutic Avenue For The Treatment Of Sexual Deviations
Debiopharm Group (Debiopharm), a Swiss-based global biopharmaceutical group of companies with a focus on the development of prescription drugs that target unmet medical needs, announced that the Swiss agency for therapeutic products, Swissmedic, has issued a marketing authorisation for Moapar(R) 11.25mg, the first 3-month injectable formulation, prescribed for a reversible reduction of serum testosterone to the level of castration in adult men suffering from sexual deviations. Developed by Debiopharm, Moapar(R) contains a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist analogue.
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Blue Cross And Blue Shield Of North Carolina 'Double-Crossing' Obama With Attack Ads, Krugman Says
"Less than two weeks" after health industry interest groups pledged to work with President Obama on health reform, "the double-crossing is already well under way" as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina prepares a series of ads criticizing a public plan option that might be included in health reform legislation, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes. Krugman says, "The medical-industrial complex has called the president"s bluff," adding, "It polished its image by showing up ... and promising cooperation, then promptly went back to doing all it can to block real change." According to Krugman, "The insurers and the drug companies are, in effect, betting that Obama will be afraid to call them out on their duplicity." He concludes, "It"s up to Obama to prove them wrong" (Krugman, New York Times, 5/22).
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Stable Marriage Is Linked With Better Sleep In Women

Being stably married or gaining a partner is associated with better sleep in women than being unmarried or losing a partner, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Results show that women who were stably married or who had gained a partner during the eight years of the study had better sleep than women who were unmarried or who had lost a partner over the course of the study follow-up. According to the study"s lead author, Wendy Troxel, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, women who were stably married had the highest quality sleep measured objectively and subjectively, and these results persisted even after controlling for other known risk factors for sleep, including age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and depressive symptoms. "Women who had "gained" a partner over the eight years of the study had similar subjective sleep quality as compared to the stably married women; however, after looking at specific objective sleep measurements we discovered that these women had more restless sleep than the always married women," said Troxel. "We speculate that these findings may reflect a "newlywed effect" or simply the fact that these women may be less adjusted to sleeping with their partner than the "stably married" women." The study gathered data from 360 middle-aged African American, Caucasian, and Chinese women drawn from the Study of Women"s Health Across the Nation, with a mean age of 51 years. Participants reported their current relationship status at annual visits. In-home polysomnographic (PSG) sleep studies were conducted over three successive nights 6 to 8 years after baseline. Subjects also wore wrist activity monitors, which provide a behavioral measure of sleep-wake patterns, for approximately one month. Researchers examined the association between women"s relationship histories and their sleep by analyzing the sleep differences between women who were stably married, stably unmarried, or those who experienced a relationship transition (gaining or losing a partner) over the study follow-up period. Troxel presented related findings at SLEEP 2008, showing that marital happiness may lower the risk of sleep problems in Caucasian women, while marital strife may heighten the risk. "The current findings dovetail with our previous work, suggesting that relationship stability as well as quality may be important protective factors for women"s sleep," said Dr. Troxel. Abstract Title: The Ups and Downs of Marriage: A Bumpy Road for Sleep? Presentation Date: Wednesday, June 10 Category: Behavior, Cognition & Dreams Abstract ID: 1248 Kelly Wagner American Academy of Sleep Medicine


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