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California Budget Committee Votes To Reduce Proposed Cuts To HIV/AIDS Programs
A joint legislative budget committee in California on Monday rejected a number of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger"s (R) proposals to cut funding from some state programs to address the state"s $24.3 billion deficit, including a plan to cut $80.1 million from HIV/AIDS programs, the Sacramento Bee reports (Wiegand/Sanders, Sacramento Bee, 6/14). The committee voted to reduce the $80.1 million proposal, which would affect a number of HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment services, by roughly $50 million, to $33.5 million, according to the Los Angeles Times (Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times, 6/15).
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Blogs Comment On Tiller's Murder, Supreme Court Nomination
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "The Murder of Dr. Tiller, a Foreshadowing," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: Page writes, "For those who would like to think" that the "murder in church of Dr. George Tiller ... is an isolated incident, here"s the horrifying news: You are wrong." She continues, "The pattern is clear and frightening." According to Page, there were several murders of abortion providers and even more attempted murders during the administration of former President Clinton, the first president to support abortion rights. However, during the Bush administration, "not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders," save for a single bombing of an abortion clinic, according to Page. She writes that Tiller"s murder occurred five months into the administration of President Obama, the nation"s second president who supports abortion rights. Page adds, "One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric, are abundant." According to Page, "The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power." She adds, "The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, antiabortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts." Page continues that abortion-rights opponents "will put out carefully worded press statements condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, as became routine for them during the Clinton years." Page concludes, "But unless the rhetoric they choose from now on becomes careful too -- they may be the enablers of murder and terror" (Page, Birth Control Watch, 5/31).~ "Where Will Women Go Now?" Kate Harding, Salon"s "Broadsheet": "If any good can come of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, ... perhaps it"s the opportunity to have a conversation about the reality of termination in the second and third trimesters," Harding writes. She adds, "Anti-choice activists often cast late-term abortions as the murder of a viable baby at the whim of a woman who doesn"t wish to be inconvenienced, carried out by a doctor who looks at her and sees only cartoon dollar signs." According to Harding, "such misinformation and outright lies about procedures that are in fact rare and only performed when medically necessary are what led anti-choice activists to call Tiller "America"s Doctor of Death" and accuse him of running a "murder mill."" The "reality" is that Tiller helped "women in absolutely desperate circumstances, when almost no one else would," Harding writes, adding, "Since the news of Dr. Tiller"s murder broke, personal narratives from people who used his services have been appearing around the Web." Harding talked to Susan Hill, president of the National Women"s Health Foundation, which referred girls and women to his clinic. Hill said, "We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller." Harding reports that these included "women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses and rape victims so young they didn"t realize they were pregnant for months." According to Harding, "The trauma of receiving such a diagnosis is only compounded by the difficulty of obtaining a late-term abortion." Harding asked Hill "where women who need late-term abortions can go now," and says that Hill"s "response was bleak." Hill added that she doesn"t know where she will send "those really tragic cases"(Harding, "Broadsheet," Salon, 6/1). ~ "How I (and Other "Pro-Life" Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller"s Murder," Frank Schaeffer, Huffington Post blogs: "My late father and I share the blame (with many others) for the murder of Dr. George Tiller," Schaeffer writes, adding, "Until I got out of the r
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The Mystery Of Why HIV Patients Are More Susceptible To TB Infection Solved By Harvard Scientists
A team of Harvard scientists has taken an important first step toward the development of new treatments to help people with HIV battle Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection. In their report, appearing in the July 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology they describe how HIV interferes with the cellular and molecular mechanisms used by the lungs to fight TB infection. This information is crucial for researchers developing treatments to help people with HIV prevent or recover from TB infection.
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HHS Secretary Sebelius Announces Senate Confirmation Of Assistant Secretary For Preparedness And Response Dr. Nicole Lurie

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Dr. Nicole Lurie as the next Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS. Dr. Lurie, an internationally recognized leader in public health, most recently served as co-director of the RAND Corporation Center for Domestic and International Health Security, senior natural scientist and professor of policy analysis at the RAND Corporation. Dr. Lurie has spent the last several years working with HHS, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and state and local health departments on pandemic influenza preparedness and other public health issues. Previously, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health at HHS. She has a long history in the health services research field, primarily in the areas of access to and quality of care, managed care, mental health, prevention, public health infrastructure and preparedness and health disparities. "Dr. Lurie brings a wealth of experience to HHS at a critical time for our nation," said Secretary Sebelius. "Her knowledge and expertise will be essential to ASPR and to the entire Department as we continue to develop and implement an action plan for a coordinated national response to the H1N1 virus." The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) was established under the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 to improve the nation"s preparedness and response to natural and man-made disasters. The ASPR serves as the Secretary"s principal advisory staff on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies such as pandemic influenza. ASPR also coordinates interagency activities between HHS, other federal agencies, state, tribal, territorial, and local officials responsible for emergency preparedness and response. A brief biography is included below: In addition to serving as Senior Natural Scientist and the Paul O" Neill Alcoa Professor of Health Policy at the RAND Corporation, she directed RAND"s public health and preparedness work as well as RAND"s Center for Population Health and Health Disparities. She has previously served in federal government, as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; in state government, as Medical Advisor to the Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Health; and in academia, as Professor in the University of Minnesota Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Lurie attended college and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed her residency and MSPH at UCLA, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. She served as Senior Editor for Health Services Research, on editorial boards and as a reviewer for numerous journals. She has also served on the council and was President of the Society of General Internal Medicine, on the board of directors for the Academy of Health Services Research, and on multiple other national committees. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the AHSR Young Investigator Award, the Nellie Westerman Prize for Research in Ethics, the Heroine in Health Care Award, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine"s Distinguished Alumni Award, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Lurie continues to practice clinical medicine in the health care safety net in Washington, DC. HHS


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