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Vote For School Lunch Claims Victory! SNA Marketing Campaign Honored With ASAE Summit Award
The School Nutrition Association"s 2008 National School Lunch Week Campaign, "Vote for School Lunch - Presidential Edition," was honored by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) with a 2009 Summit Award. The award will be presented to SNA during the 10th Annual Summit Awards Dinner, September 29, 2009 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.
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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).
News of the day
HIV Transmission Safely Reduced In Babies, Mothers By ART Therapy
Giving daily antiretroviral syrup to breastfeeding infants or treating their HIV-infected mothers with highly active antiretroviral drugs is safe and effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast milk, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill investigators has found.
Cardiovascular

Smoking, High Blood Pressure And Diabetes In Mid-life Can Lead To Dementia

Middle aged people who smoke, have high blood pressure or diabetes are far more likely to develop dementia in later life, suggests research published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. People should consider modifying their lifestyle in mid-life to avoid developing dementia, claims the US research. Dementia is a growing public health problem affecting older people in developed countries. In the US, where the research took place, estimates show that one in six people older than 70 have dementia. Estimates are that the number of people with dementia will grow threefold by 2050, compared with 2000. Previous studies have shown that the presence of cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking increase the risk of developing subsequent dementia, but have often failed to show the relationship. Researchers from the universities of Minnesota, North Carolina and John Hopkins and the University of Mississippi Medical Center studied more than 11,000 people aged 46-70 who were participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study in 1990-92. People underwent a physical examination and cognitive testing at that time and they were followed up until 2004 to see how many were hospitalised with dementia. After following their progress, the researchers identified 203 cases of hospitalisation with dementia. Smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes were all strongly associated with dementia in white participants and African-Americans. The results showed that rates of hospitalisation with dementia increased exponentially with age in men and women and in different ethnic backgrounds. Overall, African-Americans had a two and a half times higher rate of hospitalisation than white people and African-American women in particular had the highest rates of all. Current smokers were 70% more likely than those who had never smoked to develop dementia, people with high blood pressure were 60% more likely than those without high blood pressure, and people with diabetes were more than twice as likely than those without diabetes to develop it. No association was found between people who were obese/overweight and dementia in later life. The authors say the results suggest that smoking cessation and prevention or control of high blood pressure and diabetes starting in midlife may have the added benefit of decreasing dementia hospitalisation risk. They conclude: "Our results emphasise the importance of early lifestyle modification and risk factor treatment to prevent dementia." "Risk of dementia hospitalisation associated with cardiovascular risk factors in midlife and older age: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study." J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2009; doi 10.1136/jnnp.2009.176818 Journal Of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry


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