Only 1 in 4 Americans With HIV Have Virus Under Control: CDC

HealthDay – Fri, Jul 27, 2012 FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Among the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, just one in four has the virus under control, U.S. health researchers say.

In a report presented Friday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the problem applies to patients of all ages, races and ethnic groups, but especially to young people and blacks.

"This is the first time that we have ever looked at the outcome of continuum of care across all patient groups," said CDC epidemiologist Irene Hall. "And what we found is that, overall, too few people with HIV have viral suppression." People with viral load suppression are healthy and less likely to transmit the virus to others.

"Only if we get everyone under regular care for HIV/AIDS can we recognize the full benefits of treatment and prevention," said Hall, chief of the HIV incidence and case surveillance branch in the CDC division of HIV/AIDS prevention.

For the report, Hall and her colleagues pored through 2009 data collected by the CDC, which included rates of HIV testing, patient participation in the health care system, continuity of care for HIV, treatment prescribed, and the patient's viral load status in terms of suppression.

Overall, about 82 percent of all those infected with HIV know their status, meaning that more than 200,000 Americans now infected with HIV are not aware of their condition.

Two-thirds of the nation's HIV patients do have some relationship with a care provider, the report indicates, and more than one-third (37 percent) receive continuous HIV care, while one-third are treated with antiretroviral therapy.

But just over one-third of black patients were found to have ongoing care, compared with 37 percent to 38 percent of Latinos and whites. Similarly, just a little over one in five black patients was found to have viral load suppression, compared with 26 percent of Latinos and 30 percent of whites.

Blacks infected with HIV were the least likely to find out they were infected in the first place and the least likely to get any care for HIV, Hall added.

Younger HIV patients were also much less likely than older patients to know their HIV status and to obtain routine care, Hall said.

Suppression rates were also poorer among younger patients, with just 15 percent of those aged 25 to 34 having their virus under control compared with 36 percent among those aged 55 to 64.

No significant differences were seen between males and females in terms of diagnosis, treatment or disease control.

For now, the report authors can only theorize about what lies behind these differences in HIV care.

"Our study did not look at the reasons for why people are not in care, or are not prescribed

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Only 1 in 4 Americans With HIV Has Virus Under Control: CDC

HealthDay – Sat, Jul 28, 2012 FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Among the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, just one in four has the virus under control, U.S. health researchers say.

In a report presented Friday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the problem applies to patients of all ages, races and ethnic groups, but especially to young people and blacks.

"This is the first time that we have ever looked at the outcome of continuum of care across all patient groups," said CDC epidemiologist Irene Hall. "And what we found is that, overall, too few people with HIV have viral suppression." People with viral load suppression are healthy and less likely to transmit the virus to others.

"Only if we get everyone under regular care for HIV/AIDS can we recognize the full benefits of treatment and prevention," said Hall, chief of the HIV incidence and case surveillance branch in the CDC division of HIV/AIDS prevention.

For the report, Hall and her colleagues pored through 2009 data collected by the CDC, which included rates of HIV testing, patient participation in the health care system, continuity of care for HIV, treatment prescribed, and the patient's viral load status in terms of suppression.

Overall, about 82 percent of all those infected with HIV know their status, meaning that more than 200,000 Americans now infected with HIV are not aware of their condition.

Two-thirds of the nation's HIV patients do have some relationship with a care provider, the report indicates, and more than one-third (37 percent) receive continuous HIV care, while one-third are treated with antiretroviral therapy.

But just over one-third of black patients were found to have ongoing care, compared with 37 percent to 38 percent of Latinos and whites. Similarly, just a little over one in five black patients was found to have viral load suppression, compared with 26 percent of Latinos and 30 percent of whites.

Blacks infected with HIV were the least likely to find out they were infected in the first place and the least likely to get any care for HIV, Hall added.

Younger HIV patients were also much less likely than older patients to know their HIV status and to obtain routine care, Hall said.

Suppression rates were also poorer among younger patients, with just 15 percent of those aged 25 to 34 having their virus under control compared with 36 percent among those aged 55 to 64.

No significant differences were seen between males and females in terms of diagnosis, treatment or disease control.

For now, the report authors can only theorize about what lies behind these differences in HIV care.

"Our study did not look at the reasons for why people are not in care, or are not prescribed

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Tyrosine Helps Maintain Mental Ability Under Stress

Tyrosine, a simple amino acid Building blocks of peptides and protein and have multiple roles of function in life including muscle function, growth, detoxification and metabolic pathways, and neurotransmitter function., is the precursor for several important neurotransmitters, including dopamine1 and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters help you have drive, alertness, and motivation – giving you horsepower to get things done. Tyrosine also helps make thyroid hormone, coenzyme Enzyme in its most active form that assists with biochemical transport and is considered an active constituent. Q10, and melanin skin pigmentation. A unique form of tyrosine, n-acetyl-l-tyrosine, is more soluble, very easy to absorb, and readily crosses the blood brain barrier.

Just as a carpenter needs 2-by-4-inch lumber and plywood before building anything, so it is that your brain needs tyrosine before it can make norepinephrine and dopamine – a fact that has been well established for 30 years2. Researchers found that simple use of tyrosine could help with depression3. This is rather interesting, since inflammation and other factors are significant in blocking mood. The fact that a simple nutrient precursor could be of any help at all in boosting neurotransmitters in people who don’t feel good represents a first line and fundamental approach to mood boosting. Animal studies help confirm the anti-stress effects of tyrosine4, showing that tyrosine can prevent inappropriate weight loss from stress. The nature of the findings led the researchers to conclude that “Tyrosine might be a potential therapy for cognitive and mood problems associated with the maintenance of a reduced body weight in the treatment of obesity.”

Tyrosine offsets fatigue and stress, helping to keep your brain alert and more functional. A variety of human studies show that tyrosine boosts mental performance under stress. Tyrosine was shown to prevent mental performance decline that is associated with sleep deprivation5. Under conditions of highly stressful training6 tyrosine was shown to improve cognitive performance and lower blood pressure. Tyrosine offset the effects of cold temperatures7 (another form of stress) on cognitive performance – meaning it might help you function better in the winter.

Tyrosine is a basic nutritional building block for nerve transmission involving alertness, drive, and motivation. The supplemental use seems especially important under stress, which is a test of neurotransmitter function. Since a loss of dopamine results in inappropriate food cravings and the risk for addiction, maintaining basic dopamine status during times of stress not only helps cognitive performance but is also likely to reduce the risk for “quick fix” brain stimulants that are generally unhealthy.

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Referenced Studies:

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Hospitals for Poor May Struggle Further Under Health Care Reform

HealthDay – 2 hrs 1 min ago TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that so-called "safety-net" hospitals that serve the poor do a worse job overall than other hospitals, a potentially big problem as health care reform boosts the number of people who have insurance and more choice about where they can go for care.

Medicare used to give these hospitals extra payments for taking care of poor people. But under health care reform, they'll get less of that funding and more for how they perform on a variety of measurements, including how patients rate them.

"Our results suggest that safety-net hospitals are struggling on this important metric. As a result, safety-net hospitals are likely to get penalized under the new payment scheme," said Paula Chatterjee, a medical student at Harvard School of Public Health. "Given that safety-net hospitals are already financially stretched, even small losses can be potentially devastating for these hospitals."

At issue are hospitals that serve poor people, often including those who don't have health insurance. According to the study, they tend to be sicker than other patients and have less trust in the health care system.

Under health care reform, the federal government punishes hospitals that perform poorly on a variety of measures by not giving them some Medicare payments.

The researchers studied 3,096 hospitals and examined answers that patients gave to surveys about their experiences at the hospitals. The safety-net hospitals -- 769 of the total -- were slightly less likely than other hospitals to be in urban areas (many are in rural parts of the country), much more likely to serve Medicaid patients and more likely to have fewer nurses per patient.

The safety-net hospitals had the lowest overall rating among patients and ranked a bit lower in the patient perception of things such as communication with medical staff and management of their condition.

"Safety-net hospitals are a critical part of our health care system. They provide care to everyone, irrespective of the patient's ability to pay. The new payment scheme, which ties part of the hospital payments to how those hospitals do on patient-reported scores, is laudable in its goals," Chatterjee said. "Our paper says that under the new scheme, safety-net hospitals are likely to do poorly. We need new strategies to help these hospitals improve."

What could be done? Chatterjee said Medicare should work with hospitals to help them do a better job of caring for patients. "Given the challenges of caring for a relatively poor population and the low reimbursement rates, we suspect that many hospitals have not been able to focus on optimizing patient experience," she said. "It's time to help these hospitals do so."

In a commentary, Dr. Katherine Neuhausen, a physician at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Mitchell Katz, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, wrote that the federal government should try to help the hospitals instead of adding pressure. One way to do that, they write, is to give more money to the hospitals that perform well instead of penalizing those that don't.

The study appeared online July 16 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

More information

To compare the quality of hospitals, try the federal government's Hospital Compare website.

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Oxytokin Takes Away All Dark Circles Under My Eyes

April 13, 2012 by adminRemoving dark circles under my eyes took me a lot of money and also trial and error. I tried many products but none of them worked so well on me. I still had the dark circles and I hate it. I needed to remove it if I do not want people think I am an old woman. It was the time when I was introduced to Oxytokin. This cream solved my problems.

For about 13 days after the first time I used the Oxytokin, I realized that there was a significant improvement on my eyes. Color of the dark circles was already brighter. This cream tried to remove it gradually. The best part of it was that the cream removed the wrinkles too. My eyes did not look puffy, but firmer and healthier. This cream does not only work only on dark circles under eyes.

Within a month and a week, I already got back my perfect eyes. I did not find any dark circles under my eyes. Besides, there was no puffiness or sagging and wrinkles to on the areas. I look a lot younger now. Even though I already have no dark circles, I still use the cream to treat my skin.

Skin Care

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Have Younger Skin in Under a Month

Recent CommentsMr WordPress on Hello world!ArchivesMarch 2012February 2012January 2012December 2011November 2011October 2011September 2011August 2011July 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011Alexa RankCategoriesAnti AgingDentalFitnessHair LossSkin CareUncategorizedWeight LossMetaLog inEntries RSSComments RSSWordPress.org You are here: Home > Anti Aging > Posted in Anti Aging

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