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Terry O'Neill Elected New "National Organization for Women" President
The National Organization for Women on Saturday during its annual conference elected Terry O"Neill as the group"s new president, the Indianapolis Star reports. O"Neill succeeds Kim Gandy, who has served two four-year terms as NOW president. The group has grown to include about 500,000 advocate members since its founding in 1966.During the conference, participants discussed a number of women"s rights issues, including same-sex marriage, equal pay and health insurance affordability. O"Neill raised the issue of "conscience" clauses, which allow health care workers to refuse to provide information or services on moral or religious grounds. O"Neill said, "Conscience clauses, where pharmacists refuse birth control sales because it"s against their conscience, must go. Guess what? Women have a constitutional right to birth control," adding, "There is no constitutional right to be a pharmacist" (Jacobs, Indianapolis Star, 6/21).O"Neill served as NOW"s vice president for membership from 2001 to 2005. She most recently served as chief of staff for a county council member in Montgomery County, Md. O"Neill in a prepared statement said that she is "honored and eager" to lead NOW (AP/Google.com, 6/21).
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Greater Risks For Patients With Heart Attacks Posed By Crowded Emergency Departments
Patients with heart attacks and other forms of chest pain are three to five times more likely to experience serious complications after hospital admission when they are treated in a crowded emergency department (ED), according to a new study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. The authors say that this dramatic difference in rates of serious complications underscores the need for action on the part of hospital administrators, policymakers and emergency physicians to find solutions to what has been termed "a national public health problem." More than six million patients per year come to U.S. emergency departments with chest pain.
News of the day
Eighth International Conference On Bipolar Disorder To Be Held In Pittsburgh, June 25 To 27
Nearly 1,000 researchers, clinicians and mental health advocates are expected to attend the Eighth International Conference on Bipolar Disorder, June 25 to 27, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The event is held only once every two years and is the largest meeting of its kind solely devoted to bipolar disorder, a disease that affects almost six million Americans.
Diagnostics

Higher Risk Of Cataract Surgery With The Use Of Drugs To Reduce Blood Pressure

A research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Ophthalmology suggests certain types of drugs prescribed to lower blood pressure seem to increase the risk of corrective cataract surgery. Cataracts cause blurred vision, and if left untreated can lead to blindness. They cloud over the lens at the front of the eye. In order to produce a sharp image, the lens must be transparent for light to pass through to the retina at the back of the eye. Around a third of the UK population over the age of 65 has a cataract in one or both eyes. Approximately 300,000 corrective procedures are carried out each year. During five to ten years Australian researchers tracked the eye health of over 3,500 people. When the study began between 1992 and 1994, all participants were at least 49 years old. There was confirmation of a borderline association between the use of beta blockers and calcium channel blockers, and the risk of cataract. Both of them are classes of blood pressure lowering drug. For two other types of drug used to lower blood pressure, diuretics (water pills) and ACE inhibitors, no such connection was found. The researchers studied influential factors, such as age, smoking, and use of steroids, which are known to increase cataract risk. They found that ACE inhibitors and beta blockers considerably predicted the likelihood of cataract surgery. The likelihood for individuals taking beta blockers to undergo cataract surgery was 61 percent. And for those taking ACE inhibitors to lower their blood pressure, the likelihood was 54 percent. Patients taking beta blockers for conditions other than high blood pressure were more than twice as likely to have the procedure. The authors remark there has been argument that high blood pressure itself could be responsible for the development of cataracts, but the evidence to verify this has been inconsistent. According to experimental research, beta blockade could have an effect on the lens transparency by modifying the proteins and altering the delicate cellular balance of the lens. "Use of antihypertensive medications and topical beta-blockers and the long-term incidence of cataract and cataract surgery" G L Kanthan, J J Wang, E Rochtchina, P Mitchell Online First Br J Ophthalmol 2009; doi 10.1136/bjo.2008.153379 British Journal of Ophthalmology Written by Stephanie Brunner (B.A.) Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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