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Discovery Of Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea And Weight Gain
According to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain.
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Advocates Eager To Learn More About Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor's Abortion-Rights Views
Abortion-rights groups on Wednesday offered their support for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor but said that they were eager to learn more about her views on abortion rights, an issue on which she has made few major rulings in her time as a judge, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, groups on both sides of the abortion-rights debate tend to believe that Sotomayor would uphold Roe v. Wade because she was nominated by President Obama, who supports abortion rights. However, when asked on Tuesday if Obama questioned Sotomayor about her views on abortion rights before the nomination, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said that the president "did not ask that specifically." In addition, none of her rulings has directly dealt with the underlying issues of constitutional privacy that are the foundation for the Roe decision, according to the Times. The abortion-related cases Sotomayor has handled in the past have "turned on other legal issues," rather than privacy, and they have resulted in rulings in favor of abortion-right opponents, the Times reports. For example, in 2002, she wrote an opinion upholding the Bush administration"s "global gag rule" policy banning federal funding of international groups that offer abortion information or services. "The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the antiabortion position over the pro-choice position and can do so with public funds," Sotomayor wrote in the opinion. In 2004, she said that antiabortion-rights protesters were permitted to sue police who they claimed used excessive force in stopping a demonstration at a clinic. Sotomayor also has ruled on several immigration cases related to people fighting deportation orders to China over its family planning policies, the Times reports. Because of the limited information on Sotomayor"s abortion-rights views, advocates have stressed that senators ask questions about her views during her confirmation hearing. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan in a letter to supporters urged them to press senators to ask Sotomayor about privacy rights. Keenan wrote, "Discussion about [Roe] will -- and must -- be part of this nomination process. As you know, choice hangs in the balance on the Supreme Court as the last two major choice-related cases were decided by a 5-to-4 margin" (Savage, New York Times, 5/28). Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that she would be surprised if an Obama nominee did not support abortion rights but added that "other presidents have been surprised before" when their nominees" views did not align with their assumptions. Northup said that "no one has been able to give us an assurance" of Sotomayor"s views on abortion rights, adding that she would be "very concerned if the question is not asked and answered during the Senate hearings." Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal said, "What we know about [Sotomayor] we like, but I don"t know that answer on abortion rights" (Savage/Nicholas, Los Angeles Times, 5/28). The New York Times reports that more about Sotomayor"s views on abortion rights could come to light if a past writing on the subject surfaces, as was the case during Justice Samuel Alito"s confirmation process. Steven Waldman, editor in chief of beliefnet.com, said, "Everyone is just assuming that because Obama appointed her, she must be a die-hard pro-choice activist, but it"s really quite amazing how little we know about her views on abortion" (Savage, New York Times, 5/28). Thomas Goldstein, a leading appellate attorney and founder of scotusblog.com, said that the "fact that she hasn"t gone off on these sorts of questions" on contentious topics like abortion rights and gay marriage, "I think shows that honestly she"s not a dyed in the wool liberal." He added that there are issues on which Sotomayor could prove to be more conservative than retiring Justice David Souter (Lerer, Politico, 5/27).According to the Washington Post, many antiabortion-rights supporters are critic
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New Statistical Method Shows Importance Of Dialysis Dose
A new approach to statistical analysis may be better suited to study the relationship between higher "dose" of dialysis and survival time for patients with advanced kidney disease, according to an upcoming paper in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
Mental Health

Skin And Skin Structure Infections Are The Second Most Common Diagnoses For Which An Antibiotic Is Used In The Hospital Setting

Arlington Medical Res (AMR), a provider of premier market intelligence for the pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging industries, finds that for the July - December 2008 time period, skin and skin structure infections continue to be the second most common diagnoses for which an antibiotic is used in the hospital setting. Antibiotic use for these infections is up 3 percent compared to the January - June 2008 time period. Lower respiratory infections continue to rank first with 29 percent of therapy courses even though this represents a 4 percent decrease from the previous audit period. The newly released U.S. edition of The Hospital Antibiotic Market Guide also finds that skin and skin structure infections are most commonly treated empirically while just under one-third are documented. Vancomycin, cefazolin, piperacillin/tazobactam and clindamycin, all in injectable form, are routinely used to treat these infections regardless of the intent -- empiric or documented. "Among the documented courses to treat MRSA associated skin and skin structure infections, vancomycin (45 percent of therapy courses) is used more often followed by clindamycin (17 percent of therapy courses) and linezolid (16 percent of therapy courses)," stated Joyce Wedemeyer, product director at AMR. The Hospital Antibiotic Market Guide now includes an executive level dashboard that allows the user to manipulate and download data to analyze indications or diagnoses, examine specific antibiotics and their usage across all indications and specialties and study prescribing patterns by physician specialty. Why Pharmaceutical Companies Need this Information The Hospital Antibiotic Market Guide enables pharmaceutical companies to monitor patient shares, costs, infectious disease prevalence and the clinical use of antibiotics in acute care hospitals. In addition, pathogen-level details are available for those inpatient antibiotic drug courses associated with positive microbiological culture results. About The Hospital Antibiotic Market Guide The Hospital Antibiotic Market Guide is the industry"s most comprehensive audit of inpatient antibiotic usage covering acute care hospitals in the United States, Italy, Germany, France, U.K. and Spain. The information in the audit is abstracted directly from hospital documents from a panel of demographically representative acute care hospitals of all sizes. The U.S. data is published twice a year and the European data is published once a year. About AMR AMR serves the market intelligence needs of the pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging industries. Research includes clinical inpatient databases that directly link anti-infective drug with indication/procedure, formulary and stocking status tracking studies, drug purchasing audits and diagnostic imaging procedure volume/contrast media usage audits. AMR is a Decision Res, Inc. company. About Decision Res, Inc. Decision Res, Inc. is a cohesive portfolio of companies that offers best-in-class, high-value information and insights on important sectors of the healthcare industry. Clients rely on this analysis and data to make informed decisions. All company, brand or product names contained in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Arlington Medical Res


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