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Pick Of Benjamin For Surgeon General Puts Primary Care In Spotlight
The new surgeon general is expected to focus on primary care.
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New Severe Asthma Treatment, Bronchial Thermoplasty, Uses Radiofrequency Energy To Improve Patient Quality Of Life
Chronic asthma sufferers may find new relief in a simple, minimally invasive outpatient procedure known as bronchial thermoplasty, which uses controlled radiofrequency-generated heat to treat the muscles of the airways, preventing them from constricting and narrowing. The study, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), marks the most recent phase of investigational trials of the Alair System, the device used in the bronchial thermoplasty procedure. If approved, it would become the first non-pharmaceutical therapy to effectively treat severe asthma.
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Governments Should Increase Efforts To Reduce Stigma, Improve Access To HIV Services Among MSM, UNAIDS Executive Director Sidibe Says
Governments worldwide should take action to eliminate stigma and discrimination against men who have sex with men, women who have sex with women and transgender people and improve their access to HIV services, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said recently, the Stabroek News reports. Sidibe added that governments also should create social and legal environments that respect human rights and ensure universal access to HIV prevention and treatment.According to the News, Sidibe in the statement said that the "failure to respond effectively has allowed HIV to reach crisis levels in many communities of men who have sex with men and transgender people." Efforts to reverse the spread of the virus among vulnerable populations must be evidence-based, grounded in human rights and support efforts to decriminalize same-sex sexual contact, he added, noting that more than 80 countries prohibit same-sex behavior. According to the News, UNAIDS and the United Nations Development Program have launched a campaign that aims to increase access to HIV services among MSM and transgender populations. UNAIDS estimates that in some regions HIV prevalence among MSM is more than 20 times higher than among the general population. In addition, HIV prevention services only reach 10% to 30% of MSM, the News reports. The UNAIDS plan outlines several factors that hinder access to HIV services for MSM, including an unwillingness of governments and donors to invest in services for MSM and fear of stigma and discrimination. Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said, "Countries must be rigorous in monitoring the evolution of their epidemics and recalibrate their HIV programming to respond to the needs of those most at risk," adding that programs targeting MSM "must be based on local epidemiological and social realities to be effective" (Stabroek News, 5/17).
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Tool For Fast Pandemic Detection To Fight Swine Flu

In a joint effort by national laboratory-, university- and private-sector institutions, researchers are developing new tools for rapidly characterizing biological pathogens that could give rise to potentially deadly pandemics such as Influenza A (H1N1). The first tool, an automated genotyping system, is a joint effort between Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health, and Agilent Technologies. This system will be utilized in the Global Bio Lab at UCLA and will use high-throughput technology for automated global-public-health surveillance. The automated genotyping system, built to specification by Agilent Technologies, was delivered to Los Alamos in late May for verification of design and capability testing. The $1.7 million BioCel Automation System was designed in collaboration by Los Alamos and UCLA researchers, and professionals at Agilent"s automation solutions division, previously known as Velocity11. The system will be able to automatically determine the genetic sequence of viruses such as influenza hundreds of times faster than any other method available today. By using this system and future high-throughput tools in pandemic response mode, public-health officials will be able to rapidly and reliably determine the strain of a virus, allowing more time for mitigation or containment strategies to be employed if necessary. Moreover, these BioCel systems will also be useful in research mode for monitoring animal populations for the emergence of new and potentially deadly pathogens before the pathogens are able to infect humans. The UCLA Global Bio Lab will become part of the High Throughput Laboratory Network (HTLN), which, when built out, will provide an international and interconnected capacity that provides uniformity in testing methods - reducing the potential for errors or confusion arising from variable testing methodologies currently used. "As the recent outbreak of the swine flu shows, we need to do a much more extensive and thorough job of surveillance," said Dr. Tony Beugelsdijk, leader of the HTLN project at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "This program will provide the world with the tools for this task." Current genetic identification methods require lots of time and manpower. The new genotyping system features two robots and the ability to fully sequence 10,000 or more influenza viruses per year. This makes it much faster and more reliable than current methods, and reduces the amount of manpower necessary to process a large number of samples. "This system is the next-generation tool to rapidly and accurately test and identify biological pathogens in mass quantities of samples," said Nick Roelofs, vice president and general manager of Agilent Life Sciences Solutions Unit. "Capable of performing tests 100 times faster than any current method, it will provide reliable, real-time data to the global health community. Given current health concerns about the swine flu, the system addressees an immediate and vital need in the public health arena." Later this summer the system will be delivered to UCLA, where researchers will operate the system for public health research and surveillance, and train others to use the new tool. If necessary, the system has surge capacity and the ability to test samples in response to a pandemic should the need arise. "The automated genotyping system will vastly increase the speed and volume by which influenza samples are analyzed," added Dr. Scott Layne, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health. "The pace of emerging infectious disease outbreaks in the world is increasing and demands new kinds of technologies be created and applied. These technologies will help us to safeguard public health and save lives." LANL and UCLA researchers are currently determining protocols for culturing and screening processes that can be used with the high-throughput laboratory. Establishing such protocols is the next step toward making the Global Bio Lab at UCLA fully operational. The Global Bio Lab at UCLA is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and the California Office of Homeland Security and is being developed in partnership between Los Alamos and UCLA. James Rickman DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory


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