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Denver Post Examines Efforts To Establish Needle-Exchange Programs In Colorado
The Denver Post on Friday examined efforts to establish needle-exchange programs in Colorado to reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitis C among injection drug users. According to the Post, 185 cities in Colorado have needle-exchange programs, but legislation that would have legalized needle exchanges statewide did not advance in the Legislature this year. "The issue is more complex than it perhaps first appears," Evan Dreyer, a spokesperson for Gov. Bill Ritter (D), said, adding that "law enforcement and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment both expressed serious reservations" about a proposal that would have legalized needle-exchanges statewide. A coalition of public health officials, treatment providers and advocates are increasing efforts to establish a needle-exchange program in Denver, the Post reports. The Denver Drug Strategy Commission in February recommended that Mayor John Hickenlooper consider a pilot needle-exchange program, DDSC Director Karla Maraccini said. The commission is looking at different programs to develop a model following Hickenlooper"s request for additional research. However, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has concerns that a local needle-exchange program would violate state law, according to Morrissey"s spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough. Eric Brown, a spokesperson for Hickenlooper, added, "Anything in contradiction to city or state law would have to be carefully considered." Proponents of needle-exchange programs say they prevent HIV and hepatitis C, but opponents say they condone injection drug use. Mark Thrun, director of HIV prevention for Denver Public Health, said, adding that needle-exchange programs prevent IDUs from "getting these chronic, potentially fatal diseases" and give public health workers "an opportunity to link them into treatment; and it lessens the economic burden on the already overburdened health care system." Thrun noted that several studies have found that needle-exchange programs do not encourage or prolong injection drug use and make IDUs more likely to seek treatment. In addition, a 2005 CDC study found that 86% of exchange programs make treatment referrals and that more than 80% offer counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.Nancy Steinfurth, executive director of the Hep C Connection, noted that an estimated 10% of HIV cases and 70% of hepatitis C cases are transmitted through needles (Auge, Denver Post, 5/15).
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New Report Finds American Obesity Rates Climb Again - Fruits & Vegetables Important To Combating Obesity
Adult obesity rates did not decrease in a single state over the past year, but rather increased in 23 states. Also, the percentage of obese and overweight children is now at or above 30 percent in 30 states.
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The American Diabetes Association Celebrates The Recognition Of Gary Branham And John Griffin
The American Diabetes Association, the nation"s leading health organization in the fight to stop diabetes, is pleased to announce that the National Employment Lawyers Association has honored Gary Branham, who successfully fought discrimination based on diabetes, as one of three "Workplace Heroes & Heroines." The award honors those who have made a difference in the evolution of employee rights, and advancing equality and justice in the American workplace during the past twenty years. (For more information on this award, see http://www.nela.org.)
Nutrition

Normal Development Of Cells With Abnormal Numbers Of Nuclei

Most of our cells contain a single nucleus that harbors 46 chromosomes (DNA and protein complexes that contain our genes). However, during normal postnatal development, liver cells containing two nuclei, each of which have 46 chromosomes, appear. These cells, which are known as binucleated tetraploid hepatocytes, arise in all mammals as a result of failure of the cellular process cytokinesis (the process by which the bulk of a cell, excluding the nucleus, divides to form two "daughter" cells). New insight into the failure of this process has now been provided by Chantal Desdouets and colleagues, at Institut Cochin, France, who have identified a cellular signaling pathway that leads to cytokinesis failure and the formation of binucleated tetraploid hepatocytes in rodents. Initial analysis revealed that weaning triggered the initiation of cytokinesis failure and formation of binucleated tetraploid hepatocytes in rats. Follow up studies in mice and rats indicated that the aspect of the suckling-to-weaning transition that controls the initiation of cytokinesis failure is the increase in insulin levels that occurs upon weaning. Further in vitro analysis, using pharmacological inhibitors, determined the signaling pathway by which insulin controlled cytokinesis failure. Future studies will investigate whether the deregulation of the insulin signaling pathway observed in various metabolic diseases alters the number of binucleated tetraploid hepatocytes in the liver ploidy profile and whether this has a role in disease. TITLE: The insulin/Akt pathway controls a specific cell division program that leads to generation of binucleated tetraploid liver cells in rodents AUTHOR: Chantal Desdouets Institut Cochin, Universitç© Paris Descartes, Paris, France. View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=38677 Karen Honey Journal of Clinical Investigation JCI online early table of contents: June 15, 2009


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