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updated February 7, 2007

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Pandemic Influenza planning checklists for state & local government, business, individuals & families, childcare & preschool, schools K-12, colleges & universities, home health care, medical offices & clinics, emergency medical services, faith-based & community organizations, media, long-term care.

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Features

Rhode Island Proves that Good Things Come in Small Packages
The RI State Health Laboratories is highlighted in the January-February 2007 issue of Lab Matters.

Rhode Island Influenza Activity
View the weekly chart of influenza activity in Rhode Island.

Office of Families Raising Children with Special Health Care Needs hands
The Office of Families Raising Children with Special Health Care Needs ensures family-centered, community based, systems of services for children and youth with special health care needs through infrastructure building, training and technical assistance, and collaboration with families, other state agencies, heath plans, and community agencies.

Public Health Emergencies
Make a Kit. Make a Plan. Stay Informed. Read this booklet, follow its recommendations and keep it in a handy location—just in case. Now available in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, French, Cambodian, Hmong and Laotian.

Health and Medical Headlines

NY Times Health
Yahoo Health
CDC
NIH
WHO

NY Times Health

Second Opinion: Girl or Boy? As Fertility Technology Advances, So Does an Ethical Debate

If people want to choose their baby?s sex before pregnancy, should doctors help?

Essay: About That Mean Streak of Yours: Psychiatry Can Do Only So Much

Some mentally ill patients can be mean or bad just like anyone else, and this is not a problem for psychiatry to fix.

In Rigorous Test, Talk Therapy Works for Panic Disorder

The research is one of the most significant steps in a small but growing effort to study how psychodynamic therapy works, and for whom.

Yahoo Health

FDA approves non-prescription diet pill (AP)

AP - Dieters got a new tool Wednesday to help them take off the extra pounds — the first government-approved nonprescription diet pill. The Food and Drug Administration said the fat-blocking weight-loss pill orlistat, which has been available by prescription, can be sold in a reduced-strength version over the counter.

Study: Moral beliefs may sway docs' care (AP)

AP - A disturbing number of doctors do not feel obligated to tell patients about medical options they oppose morally, such as abortion and teen birth control, and believe they have no duty to refer people elsewhere for such treatments, researchers say.

Insurers' ratings for doctors draws ire (AP)

AP - A less confident physician might have been humbled by the letters Dr. Mike Kelly received last year from two insurers.

CDC

NATIONAL BLACK HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY

February 7 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Nearly half of the more than 1 million Americans estimated to be living with HIV in the United States are African Americans...

HHS UNVEILS TWO NEW EFFORTS TO ADVANCE PANDEMIC FLU PREPAREDNESS

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in cooperation with departments and agencies across the Federal Government, today announced two new efforts designed to improve state...

Small Changes in 1918 Pandemic Virus Knocks Out Transmission

Small Changes in 1918 Pandemic Virus Knocks Out Transmission Research Provides Clues for Assessing Pandemic Potential of New Influenza Viruses...

NIH

Federally Funded Research on Cochlear Implants, Genetics of Hearing Loss, Hair Cell Generation Featured at ARO Conference in Denver - February 7, 2007

Current research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health, will be featured at the 2007 Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO).

NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow to Discuss New Data Showing Similarities in the Processes Underlying Craving for Food and Drugs - February 7, 2007

At the 2007 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a component of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Nora D. Volkow will take part in a symposium featuring world-renowned neuroscientists presenting the recent advances in brain-imaging that have revolutionized our understanding of addiction as a chronic disease.

Horse Genome Assembled - February 7, 2007

The first draft of the horse genome sequence has been deposited in public databases and is freely available for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the globe, leaders of the international Horse Genome Sequencing Project announced today.

WHO

Cellulose sulfate microbicide trial stopped

A Phase III study of the candidate microbicide* cellulose sulfate to prevent HIV transmission in women has been stopped prematurely because of a higher number of HIV infections in the active compared with the placebo group. The study was sponsored by CONRAD and conducted in Benin, India, South Africa and Uganda. A second study on the same product sponsored by Family Health International conducted in Nigeria has also been stopped because of the safety concerns in the first trial. This is a disappointing and unexpected setback in the search for a safe and effective microbicide that can be used by women to protect themselves against HIV infection. Cellulose sulfate was one of four compounds being evaluated in large-scale studies of effectiveness among women at high risk of HIV infection.

WHO revives efforts to eliminate forgotten disease

A neglected disease with a nearly forgotten name is making a comeback following a global control programme that almost eradicated it more than 40 years ago. Yaws, a disease which eats away at the skin, cartilage and bones of its victims (mostly children), is re-emerging in poor, rural and marginalized populations of Africa, Asia and South America.

WHO Executive Board reappoints Regional Director

The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board, currently holding its 120th session in Geneva, has reappointed Dr Hussein A. Gezairy as Regional Director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO).

In the News

Single Case of Neisseria Meningococcemia Confirmed, Health Department Asks Attendees of Recent East Providence Funeral to Call the Health Information Line for Antibiotics Media Release: February 5, 2007

Health Department Surveillance System Identifies Case of Hepatitis A; Department Acts Quickly to Respond and Determines no Risk to the Public Media Release: January 25, 2007

HEALTH Presents Community Partnership Award to Dr. Greigstone Yearwood Media Release: January 18, 2007

HEALTH Presents Community Partnership Award to Cranston RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) Media Release: January 18, 2007

Food Recall Notices from the FDA

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