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WHO Reviews Antiretroviral Recommendations For Pregnant, Breastfeeding Women With HIV
The World Health Organization is reviewing its 2006 guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV-positive pregnant and breastfeeding women because of new evidence that prolonged use can cut the risk of mother-to-child transmission, Reuters reports. Current guidelines recommend that these women receive a short-course antiretroviral regimen. However, a new study released at an international AIDS conference on Wednesday shows that a stronger regimen over a prolonged period significantly lowers the risk of mother-to-child transmission.The study examined 824 pregnant women in Burkina Faso, Kenya and South Africa who received either the standard antiretroviral regimen or a combination of three antiretrovirals. The combination regimen was administered during the last trimester and for a maximum of six months during breastfeeding, according to study leader Tim Farley of WHO"s Department of Reproductive Health. Farley said women who received the combination regimen during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding had a 42% lower risk of transmitting HIV to their infants than women given the standard course.Farley added, "The results of this study show an almost twofold reduction in the risk of HIV transmission during the breastfeeding period and also [show] there is no short-term toxicity" to the women or their infants. He said that participants will be monitored for any long-term health effects. WHO is expected to release the updated recommendations by the end of the year (Roelf, Reuters, 7/21).
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Breast Cancer Drug Trastuzumab (Herceptin) Shows Unprecedented Survival In Aggressive Stomach Cancer
Data from the ToGA study presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida showed that adding trastuzumab to standard chemotherapy (capecitabine [Xeloda®] or intravenous 5-FU and cisplatin) prolongs the lives of patients with this aggressive cancer on average by nearly 2.7 months to 13.8 months, a 26% increase in survival. Advanced gastric (stomach) cancer is associated with a poor prognosis; the median survival time after diagnosis is approximately 10 months with currently available therapies.[i]
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UAB Total Joint Replacement Research Collaboration Supported By New NIH Funding
Newly announced National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding will expand the reach of ongoing University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) research into a unique nanostructured coating to improve the performance and longevity of total joint replacement components. The broadened UAB research opportunity is funded by a four-year, $790,931 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant through the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).
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Medicare Tapped For Savings To Cover Reform Costs, Again

In his weekly Internet and radio address Saturday, President Obama announced a plan to cut $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next decade as a way to raise money for overhauling the health care system and covering millions of the uninsured, the Los Angeles Times reports. The largest savings include "increased efficiencies in the system," cuts to subsidies paid to hospitals for treating the uninsured, cuts to prices the government pays for prescription drugs for seniors. The paper adds: "the proposal -- which includes potential cuts to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other providers -- also underscores the political delicacy of the administration"s search for money for a massive healthcare overhaul that could cost more than $1.2 trillion over the next decade" (Levey, 6/15). "The cuts come on top of Medicare and Medicaid revisions Obama requested earlier this year in his fiscal 2010 budget proposal; together with those cuts the White House is now proposing a total of $622 billion in Medicare and Medicaid revisions over 10 years, most of it from Medicare," CQ Politics reports. "White House Budget Director Peter R. Orszag said the cuts Obama identified are a way of showing how an overhaul could be financed while the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees write draft bills. Combined with earlier cuts, Orszag said the administration has now identified nearly $950 billion worth of savings," according to CQ (Bettelheim, 6/14). The cuts would knock out over $100 billion in direct subsidies to hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports. "After agreeing in May to contribute to a $2 trillion reduction in health spending over 10 years, the hospital industry is now bristling at the prospect of more givebacks," the Journal reports. The American Hospital Association said its concerned the administration would point to the cuts before Congress mapped out is plan to expand coverage, which would relieve the need for subsidies (Adamy and Rockoff, 6/15). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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