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Thirteen Single-Payer Activists Settle Their Cases After Disrupting Hearing
Thirteen people charged with "disruption of Congress" for standing and shouting pro-single-payer system slogans during a health care reform committee hearing settled their cases, The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reports.
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Survey Finds Surgical Residents View Duty Hour Regulations As A Hindrance To Training
Results of a survey published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons show that a large subset of surgical residents consider duty hour regulations (DHR) a significant barrier to their surgical education and express a desire for flexibility to work longer hours than current restrictions allow.
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Blogs Comment On Planned Parenthood Ad Campaign, Sex-Selective Abortion, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "A Radical Notion: Women"s Health Care as Mainstream," Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: "To hammer ... home" the message that "Planned Parenthood and other essential community providers are the affordable, local access to basic preventive care that saves lives," the Planned Parenthood Action Center has introduced advertisements "educating the policy folks involved in fixing our health care system" about "why women"s health care needs to be taken care of in this mega-reform effort," Richards writes. She writes, "From cancer screenings to contraception to immunizations, the majority of women who go to women"s health care centers consider them their primary health care provider," adding, "In fact, more than 90% of what Planned Parenthood health centers do is preventive and primary care." According to Richards, "Essential community providers, including those who provide women"s health care, need to be part of any newly established health care system." She adds that "the three million patients who came to Planned Parenthood health centers last year can testify to it." Richards writes that "[f]amily planning and reproductive health care are unfortunately still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98% of women use contraception at some point in their lives -- there"s nothing more universal!" The "fact that women reproduce and, therefore, have different types of health care needs makes some folks on Capitol Hill go pale and start to sweat," Richards writes. She concludes, "Maybe one day we won"t need a special campaign to support women"s health," but "until then, Planned Parenthood is here to make sure women aren"t worse off after health care reform than before" (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 6/18).~ "The Role of Medical Education in Preserving Abortion Access," Our Bodies, Our Blog: In response to a recent Salon opinion piece that examined whether there will be a next generation of abortion providers, the blog post discusses a few organizations that are "working to increase access to (accurate) abortion-related training." The blog includes links to Medical Students for Choice -- a group that "does student organizing and advocacy to influence medical school curricula, workshops ... and lectures on abortion techniques" -- and The Ryan Program -- which offers "funding, technical expertise, curriculum, workshops and other res to support training opportunities in abortion and contraception for ob-gyn residents." The blog entry also highlights the work of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, which partners with members of the American Medical Student Association "to provide "project in a box" materials for medical students wanting to access and influence their schools" curricula on sexual and reproductive health" (Our Bodies, Our Blog, 6/18). ~ "Regulating Abortion May Be OK But Not To Avoid Sex-Selection," Marianne Mollmann, Huffington Post blogs: "Sex-selective abortion raises a multitude of overlapping ethical concerns regarding eugenics, population control and provider privilege or knowledge," according to Mollmann, advocacy director for the Human Rights Watch"s Women"s Rights Division. Mollmann writes that recent media reports indicating that sex-selective abortion occurs among some ethnic communities in the U.S. "has generated new discussion about what to do -- indeed what to think -- about the practice here." She continues that the "effect of abortion regulations depends on the context and motivation," adding that "[f]rom a human rights perspective, the regulation of medical procedures and interventions is legitimate and indeed often necessary so long as they are based on full respect for the full range of human rights." It is "perhaps tempting to hope that banning sex-selective abortions would safeguard the gender balance of future generations," but the "criminalization of abortion for whatever reason has in the past led only to underground and unsafe prac
Sexual Health

Consumers Making Effort To Buy Healthy Foods But Buyer Beware: "Zero" Isn't Always Zero

Americans trying to eat healthier are looking to nutrition labels to help make better choices at the grocery store. But consumers who take those labels at face value may find they"re not eating as healthy as they think. Nearly two-thirds of adults - 62% - make finding healthy foods a top priority when shopping for groceries, according to a recent nationwide survey of 2,100 adults conducted by Greenfield Online. Some 72% of consumers report reading nutrition fact labels and/or ingredient lists is the number one way they determine which foods to buy at the grocery store to stay healthy. And 61% of adults surveyed rank "zero grams trans fat per serving" as the most important statement they look for on the label for heart health. But consumers may be surprised to learn "zero" isn"t always zero when it comes to trans fat. Products labeled "zero grams trans fat" could contain up to .49 grams of trans fat per serving under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. That means consumers could easily - and unknowingly - exceed the American Heart Association"s recommended limit of no more than 2 grams of trans fat a day. "It"s easy to see how despite their best efforts, consumers eating foods labeled "zero" trans fat could exceed the daily limit before they even sit down to dinner," said Steve Hughes, CEO of Smart Balance, Inc., which commissioned the survey. Even seemingly insignificant amounts of trans fat can have a significant impact on health. The AHA reports trans fat has been shown to raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol, increasing the risk of coronary disease or stroke; and it has been associated with a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Adding just 4 grams of trans fat to your diet - about 2% of your daily calorie intake in a 2,000 calorie diet - can increase your risk of heart disease by 23%, according to the New England Journal of Medicine 1. The Journal reports one gram of trans fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease 15 times more than one gram of saturated fat. What Can Consumers Do to Determine Whether "Zero" Really Equals Zero? "The key is to look for "partially hydrogenated oil" in the list of ingredients. That"s a dead giveaway that there"s trans fat in the product no matter what it says on the package," said Alyse Levine, a registered dietitian. "Here"s a simple rule to follow - if you see "partially hydrogenated oil" listed on a product"s label, just put it back on the shelf and find another product that doesn"t," Levine added. "It"s also important to pay attention to serving size which can be much smaller than you think. If you"re eating multiple servings of the food, you may be consuming a significant amount of trans fat and putting yourself at risk for many negative health consequences," Levine said. Smart Balance CEO Steve Hughes believes the U.S. needs to take it a step further and ban trans fat altogether as Denmark has done, resulting in a 20% drop in heart disease. "It"s time consumers know the truth about trans fat and time the FDA takes action to protect their health by simply banning partially hydrogenated oil," Hughes said. "Partially hydrogenated oil has no nutritional value and poses a real health risk." "The good news is Americans are making healthier food choices a priority and they clearly recognize the dangers of trans fat. But unfortunately reading the fine print is necessary to ensure they"re not getting more trans fat and putting their health at greater risk than they bargained for," Levine said. Now more than ever, with 67% of those surveyed saying they are eating out less and cooking at home more in the past six months, the choices consumers make at the grocery store can make a real difference in their health. The "Healthy Shopping" Survey was conducted by Greenfield Online, Inc., a global research company that uses proprietary interactive technology to measure consumer attitudes. Greenfield surveyed 2,100 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older on April 20, 2009. The survey was commissioned by Smart Balance, Inc. 1 Medical Progress: Trans Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease" (April 13, 2006). By Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., M.P.H., Matijn B. Katan, Ph. D., Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.P.H., Meir J. Stempfer, M.D., Dr.P.H., and Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H. The New England Journal of Medicine. Smart Balance, Inc.


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