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Call For 'Radical Overhaul' Of Funding Of Long-Term Care In The UK
A new model for the funding of long-term care for older people is needed in the UK, delegates at the Actuarial Profession"s Health and Care Conference in Glasgow heard today.

American Academy Of Pediatric Dentistry Releases New Perinatal And Infant Oral Health Guidelines
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), the recognized leader in pediatric oral health, announced new oral health guidelines for expectant mothers and infants following its 62nd Annual Session in Honolulu, Hawaii. The guidelines call for all pregnant women to receive counseling and oral healthcare during pregnancy, and also that infants receive an oral health risk assessment and oral care by their first birthday. These steps will contribute to optimal oral health for both mom and baby.
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HIV Prevention Efforts In Five African Countries Not Reaching At-Risk Groups, Report Says
National HIV prevention strategies in at least five African countries are not reaching the groups most at risk of infection, according to a report from UNAIDS and the World Bank conducted in conjunction with the national HIV/AIDS authorities of Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Uganda, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The study was conducted between 2007 and 2008 to determine how and where most HIV cases were occurring in each country. It also aimed to examine whether prevention programs and spending aligned with those findings. According to the report, most prevention initiatives are not based on evidence of the behaviors that spread HIV in the five surveyed countries. For example, most new infections in Lesotho occur because of concurrent sexual partnerships, both before and after marriage. However, the country does not have any prevention strategies aimed at concurrent partnerships, or couples who are married or in long-term relationships. In addition, the report found that in Mozambique, an estimated 19% of new HIV infections were spread through commercial sex work, 3% from injection drug use and 5% among men who have sex with men. According to the report, few programs in the country target sex workers, while none are tailored to IDUs or MSM. According to the report, spending on HIV prevention often is low in the surveyed countries. Lesotho spends 13% of its national HIV/AIDS budget on prevention, while Uganda spends 34%. Director of the World Bank"s Global HIV/AIDS Unit Debrework Zewdie said that the economic downturn makes it important to maximize the impact of HIV prevention investments. "These syntheses use the growing amounts of data and information available to better understand each country"s epidemic and response and identify how prevention might be more effective," she said. The report includes recommendations on how the surveyed countries can better implement evidence-based prevention efforts. It said that Lesotho should revise its prevention messages to address multiple concurrent partnerships and integrate the subject into future initiatives. In addition, Mozambique should focus condom promotion on groups such as sex workers, the report said. According to IRIN/PlusNews, the five-country program aims to enhance capacity to ensure that the countries can conduct similar studies in the future (IRIN/PlusNews, 5/27).
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Follow-Up Study Confirms Link Between Migraines And Reduced Breast Cancer Risk

The relationship between migraine headaches in women and a significant reduction in breast cancer risk has been confirmed in a follow-on study to landmark research published last year and conducted by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The new study found a 26 percent reduced risk of breast cancer among both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with a clinical diagnosis of migraines. The study appears in the July 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. It was led by Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., a breast-cancer epidemiologist and associate member of the Hutchinson Center"s Public Health Sciences Division. Li led the first-of-its-kind study linking migraines with breast cancer risk reduction that was published in the same journal last November. This time researchers found that the risk reduction remained statistically similar regardless of a woman"s menopausal status, her age at migraine diagnosis, use of prescription migraine medications or whether she avoided known migraine "triggers" such as alcohol consumption, smoking and taking hormone replacements. These triggers are also well-established breast cancer risk factors. Some key differences between this study and the initial one that discovered the link include: * The sample size was more than four times larger this time - more than 4,500 cases and controls versus about 1,000 each in the first study - and was more diverse geographically, drawing women from five metropolitan areas instead of only one. "From an epidemiological perspective, having a larger and more diverse study in its underlying population helps in replicating the finding," Li said. * The age range of women studied was wider this time, 34-64 years of age versus 55-74 years old. "We were able to look at whether this association was seen among both pre-menopausal and post menopausal women," Li said. "In breast cancer this is relevant because there are certain risk factors that are different between older and younger women. In this study we saw the same reduction in breast cancer risk associated with a migraine history regardless of age." * Researchers were able to ascertain whether women in the study had lifestyle behaviors that are known migraine triggers - alcohol consumption, smoking and taking hormone replacement therapy. Researchers posited that perhaps women who had migraines drank and smoked less and didn"t take hormone replacements. "But in this study we looked at women who never drank, never smoked and who also didn"t use hormones and found the same association within each of those groups, suggesting that the association between migraine and reduced breast cancer risk may be independent of those other factors and may stand alone as a protective factor," he said. What remains unknown is how migraine confers its apparent protection against breast cancer. "We know that migraine is definitely related to hormones and that"s why we started looking at this in the first place," Li said. "We have different ideas about what may be going on but it"s unclear exactly what the biological mechanisms are." In the meantime, research on migraines and breast cancer continues. Li and his colleagues are conducting a follow-up investigation among the women in the first study to determine the types, timing, intensity and severity of their migraines in hopes that the data may elicit additional clues. And, the research group has submitted a third study for publication that found that the association between migraine and reduced breast cancer risk holds up independent of whether women with migraine took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Earlier studies linked these medications to reduced breast cancer risk as well. Dean Forbes Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center


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