Virginia to require vaccine for girls

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:24:54 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Thursday he would sign legislation requiring all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.
Virginia would become the second state to mandate the vaccine for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, and the first to do it through legislative action. Texas Gov. Rick Perry sidestepped the Legislature and ordered the shots for girls there, but lawmakers are considering overriding that order.

"I think it strikes the right balance," said Kaine, who wanted to make sure parents would have enough time to review the vaccine and allow them to opt out "without having to jump through hoops."

The requirement would go into effect for the 2009 school year. If parents want to opt out, they must review literature provided by their child's school, then sign a form.

The federal government approved Gardasil, the only vaccine on the market, in June and suggested it be given to females before they become sexually active.

For Lent parishes lighten up fish fry

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:02:03 GMT
By CONNIE MABIN, Associated Press Writer
MACEDONIA, Ohio - For years, Lent meant huge chunks of fried fish on Fridays for George Ehrman, a longtime parishioner at Our Lady of Guadalupe in this northeast Ohio town. But the dinner plate was decidedly lighter for Ehrman at a recent Friday fish fry in the bustling parish hall: grilled salmon packed with omega-3, fiber-rich rice pilaf and green beans.
"I was happy when I found out they were offering this for the first time," said Ehrman, whose health requires him to eat a low-salt, low-fat diet. "It's very tasty, too."

Parishes have long used the Roman Catholic abstention from meat on Fridays during the Lenten season to hold fish fries that bring people together and raise money. Now with more people trying to eat healthier food, many churches are offering lighter fare, including grilled shrimp, baked fish, fresh tuna and crispy, raw vegetables.

There's still plenty of battered cod, haddock and other types of seafood submerged in oil. And there still are servings of potato-stuffed pirogi, macaroni and cheese, french fries or other heavy side dishes on parish menus.

But reduced-fat Lenten menus are popping up across the nation.

Milwaukee's St. Florian Church lists "heart-healthy baked fish" alongside its famous beer-battered fillets. St. Ferdinand's in Florissant, Mo., near St. Louis offers baked cod and blackened Cajun-style fish. In Cincinnati, St. Paul's offers sauteed vegetables and tomato soup.

At St. Irenaeus in Oakmont, Pa., near Pittsburgh, the parish has added baked fish, fresh tuna and a salad bar. Like many restaurants, it stopped using artery-closing trans fats for frying. Volunteers change the deep fryer's oil after each batch and blot each piece of fried fish dry of extra grease.

"We really baby it," said Jeanne Kaus, who has volunteered for 25 years at the fry that draws 500 people a week. "We have a fresh salad bar and we have heart-healthy baked fish."

Does the baked stuff go over well?

"Oh gosh, yeah!" she said. "It just melts in your mouth."

Jananne Finck, who teaches nutrition and wellness at the University of Illinois Extension in Springfield Center, said that even with the healthier Lenten options many Catholics may feel married to tradition and opt for fried fish, particularly if they don't eat many fried foods at home.

That's OK, she said, as long as fried foods are a rare treat, diners skip fatty condiments such as tartar sauce, and portions are small.

"It's telling yourself even if you're served that, even if we grew up with, 'Clean your plate,' it's probably in our best interest to take some of that home," Finck said.

Paula Turocy, chairwoman of the athletic training department at the Duquesne University, a Catholic school in Pittsburgh, said worshippers who choose lighter menus during Lent might unexpectedly find themselves forming healthier habits by Easter.

"If this positive behavior can be maintained for six weeks, these new healthier behaviors can assist them in making a long-term commitment to improved health," she said.

At Our Lady of Guadalupe's fish fry, the Rev. David Trask tempted parishioners with huge slices of chocolate cake on a large silver tray, teasing that it had been cut an hour ago so surely some of the calories had disappeared by now.

Ehrman, who was cleaning his plate of salmon, reluctantly passed.

"It takes willpower," Ehrman said with a smile. "Especially when the pastor is pushing dessert."
___
Our Lady of Guadalupe: http://www.olg.cc/
Lent recipes: http://www.catholicmom.com/lent_recipes.htm

Experts weigh giving up on killing polio

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:02:31 GMT
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Nearly 20 years ago, the World Health Organization and its partners launched an ambitious program to eradicate polio by the end of the millennium. That deadline passed and another was missed in 2005 — and polio still strikes about 2,000 people a year, mostly children.
At a WHO meeting this week, some leading experts asked a grim question: Is it time to abandon the goal of eradication and focus instead on containing the disease? The answer, for most, was no — even though many had doubts.

"Many people wonder why we are spending all this time and effort on polio when there are much bigger problems," said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who headed WHO's smallpox eradication program in the 1970s. Smallpox is the only disease ever to have been eradicated.

There is no question the polio eradication program has reaped rewards: Since it began in 1988, the incidence of the disease has dropped by more than 99 percent. But with the number of polio cases at a virtual standstill for the last five years, some experts worry that the campaign by WHO and its partners — the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International and UNICEF — is running aground.

"Even if things quiet down in the countries where we have problems, there will be another area that bursts into flames," said Dr. Ellie Ehrenfeld, who sits on the WHO Advisory Committee for Polio Eradication.

"We are living in a different world where I'm not sure what eradication means anymore," said Ehrenfeld, who was not invited to Wednesday's meeting.

Critics of the eradication program note smallpox was wiped out in a decade, while the polio campaign is entering its 19th year. WHO is seeking a $575 million budget for polio eradication for 2007-2008.

In a speech to participants, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan urged participants not to give up.

"We are facing our best and perhaps our last chance to eradicate polio," she said, adding that leaving the job unfinished would squander the more than $5 billion invested so far because it would open the way for a resurgence of the disease.

The four polio-endemic countries — Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan — are also intent on ridding the world of the virus.

"We will spare no effort in eradicating polio," said Naresh Dayal of India's Ministry of Health and Welfare. This year, India will spend $286 million to fight the polio virus.

"While eradication is possible, we shouldn't even consider moving to a control strategy," said Dayal.

Others are not convinced.

"We cannot continue forever," said Dr. Isao Arita, another WHO smallpox veteran. "Everyone wishes WHO to accomplish the task but there is a limit."

For WHO, giving up on eradication would a crushing blow.

"There's an almost religious conviction that they must see this through," said Dr. Samuel Katz, an infectious diseases specialist at Duke University and co-inventor of the measles vaccine.

"But there are other things we could do that would be as beneficial to child health rather than spending another billion dollars in frustration," he said.

In the countries where polio occurs, there are many competing health priorities, including respiratory and diarrheal diseases, malaria and AIDS.
Some experts say that a polio containment policy wouldn't necessarily be radically different from an eradication policy, except that it would free up money for other health problems.
Tighter regulation in countries where polio occurs could help trap the virus, and international officials might adopt measures such as requiring proof of vaccination for travelers coming from polio-endemic countries.
WHO and its partners insist it is possible to eradicate polio, and that the only challenges are logistical.
Different problems plague the four endemic countries: In Nigeria, the weak health system coupled with a vaccine boycott in some areas gets the blame; in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the virus moves back and forth across the border where the official focus is on the war on terror; in India, children are often infected with other viruses, making the polio vaccine less effective.
Some experts think a different vaccine could help. The eradication campaign uses the oral vaccine because it protects entire communities. But while the oral vaccine is cheap and easy to administer, there is a downside: For approximately every 2.5 million doses, it causes one case of polio.
WHO is looking into the more expensive injectable polio vaccine, which uses an inactivated virus that cannot trigger polio. Results from the studies won't be available until next year.
WHO insists it is considering all options — except giving up on eradication.
"Any program would be negligent if it didn't check all the possibilities," said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top polio official, "but our partners didn't want to hear about a control strategy."

French government wants food warnings

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:03:00 GMT
By MARIE-LAURE COMBES, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Less fat, less sugar, less salt: Even the mostly svelte French are cracking down. Beginning Thursday, the government ordered food ads to carry cautions telling the French to stop snacking, exercise and eat more fruits and vegetables.
With processed snacks and fast food encroaching on France's tables and culinary traditions, health officials fear the nation's youth face a growing risk of obesity.

This from a nation where just slightly more than 9 percent of the 63.4 million citizens are obese and fewer than a third are overweight, according to government figures. In the United States, by comparison, one-third of adults are obese, about two-thirds are overweight. Several Mediterranean and Eastern European countries have similar statistics.

The ad restrictions fly in the face of the image of the trim and cuisine-conscious French, perpetuated by books like Mireille Guiliano's best seller "French Women Don't Get Fat." The book argues that the French can eat croissants and foie gras without ballooning because they take time to savor flavors and eat judiciously.

But the growth of processed snacks and ready-made meals with high fat, salt and sugar are changing that image.

And France and the World Health Organization are particularly worried about an obesity epidemic striking the young and bringing future health risks with it, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. WHO warns that 20 percent of children across Europe are overweight, their ranks swelling by 400,000 a year.

Other European countries have already taken measures along the lines of France.

Sweden and Norway forbid broadcast advertising aimed at children. Ireland imposed a ban on TV ads for candy and fast food and prohibits using celebrities and sports stars to promote junk food to kids. And Britain has adopted nutritional guidance for food packages.

France's new health guidance affects advertisements on television, radio and billboards and the Internet for processed, sweetened or salted food and drinks. The Health Ministry, which designed the measure, says it will help children "guide themselves" in making eating decisions.

Advertisers who refuse to run the messages will be fined 1.5 percent of the cost of the ad, to be paid to the National Institute for Health Education. They currently have a choice of four warnings, which Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said would be regularly updated to keep them effective:

"For your health, eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day."

"For your health, undertake regular physical activity."

"For your health, avoid eating too much fat, too much sugar, too much salt."

"For your health, avoid snacking between meals."

The messages could already be seen Thursday. A Coke ad seen on a billboard carried the message about eating fruits and vegetables.

Some French consumers welcomed the move, while others said they weren't enough.

"The companies should stop putting whatever they want in their products," said Fatiah Ghorab, shopping in central Paris on Thursday. "If the companies don't make an effort," the government's measures accomplish nothing, she said.

France's National Association of Food Industries has advised its members to affix the health messages "to show that the industry prefers information and education measures."
Some consumer groups have already criticized the new advertising effort, saying the health messages will only have a tiny impact and that consumers will ignore them after a couple of weeks.
The UFC-Que Choisir consumer group tested the impact of a similar effort in a study of 700 people and it showed that half failed to notice the message.

FDA warns migraine medicine makers

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:03:43 GMT
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The government said Thursday it had warned the world's largest maker of generic drugs and 19 other companies that they are illegally selling migraine medicines without federal approval.
The http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/wlcfm/recentfiles.cfm

WHO to examine circumcision recommendations in AIDS fight

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:49:26 GMT

GENEVA - The World Health Organisation is organising a meeting next week to examine possible recommendations on male circumcision, after trials showed the practice halved the risk of HIV infection, a spokeswoman said Friday.
The international meeting of scientists jointly organised with UNAIDS will take place on March 6 to 8 in Montreux, Switzerland, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told journalists, following the findings of three trials in recent years.

&;They will examine the consquences for policy ... On the basis of recommendation from the experts, a statement will be published,&; Chaib said.

The most recent mass trials in Kenya and Uganda, which were published in The Lancet, found that men who were uncircumcised were twice as likely to catch the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS compared with circumcised counterparts.

The publication in the peer-reviewed medical journal was tantamount to the medical community's de-facto validation of the findings. It added to previous trials in South Africa in 2005.

Recommendations from the UN's health agencies would carry additional moral as well as scientific weight, and formally enshrine circumcision's place in public health measures against AIDS worldwide.

&;It's very important for the experts to all meet in the same place to examine these three studies and to see whether or not there are recommendations to be made,&; Chaib explained.

&;It raises not only health questions, but also ethical, economic ones and the possibility of changes in health policy&; in affected countries, she added.

The WHO and UNAIDS have already welcomed the outcome of the trials in Kenya and Uganda.

&;Male circumcision has major potential for the prevention of HIV infection,&; said Kevin De Cock, director of the WHO's HIV/AIDS department, shortly after the publication.

Chaib said a formal WHO statement might not be published immediately after the meeting in Switzerland.

Type 1 diabetes linked to pancreatic cancer risk

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:24:22 GMT
By Michele Rizzo
NEW YORK - It is well known that people with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and now it seems that the risk extends to those with type 1 diabetes, researchers report. However, they point out that the risk is still very small.
Type 2 diabetes is associated with being overweight and is caused when the body becomes less responsive to the action of insulin, leading to high blood sugar levels. Type 1 diabetes arises, often in childhood, when the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are damaged, usually by an aberrant immune reaction.

To assess the risk of pancreatic cancer in people with type 1 and young-onset diabetes, Dr. Richard J. Stevens and colleagues from the University of Oxford, UK, reviewed findings from nine population-based studies.

The likelihood of developing pancreatic cancer was twice as high in subjects with type 1 or young-onset diabetes as in people without diabetes, the team reports in the British Journal of Cancer.

This increased risk is similar in magnitude to that seen with type 2 diabetes.

There are many theories about the link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer, Stevens said in an interview with Reuters Health and "our results help narrow these."

For example, he said, "they rule out a cancer-inducing role of the insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas, because in type 1 diabetes these cells have largely or entirely been destroyed."

Stevens stressed that "people with type 1 diabetes should not be overly concerned about pancreatic cancer." As he explained, "Pancreatic cancer is an extremely rare disease, and twice a tiny risk is still a tiny risk."

People with diabetes "should remain focused on the common complications of diabetes such as heart disease, eye disease and kidney disease, and the many measures -- including diet, exercise, and medication -- that can be taken to avoid them," Stevens concluded.

SOURCE: British Journal of Cancer, February 2007.

91 user(s) online 1 here 262 most online 1,588 Visitor(s) Today 3,812,647 Visits 11/01/2002