Catholic business owners win temporary halt to Obama birth control mandate

Reuters – Fri, Jul 27, 2012 (Reuters) - A Colorado business owned by a Catholic family does not have to comply with President Barack Obama's new healthcare mandate that private employers provide employees with insurance coverage of birth control, a Colorado federal judge ruled on Friday.

District Judge John Kane in Denver temporarily blocked the government from the enforcing the contraception requirement against the religious owners of Hercules Industries Inc, a private manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment.

The ruling only affects this plaintiff but opens the door for any company to seek relief on religious grounds. Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services argued that a temporary exemption for Hercules would interfere with the government's ability to implement the law. But Kane was not persuaded.

"This harm pales in comparison to the possible infringement upon (the Newland family's) constitutional and statutory rights," the judge wrote. He noted that the government had already created numerous exceptions for religious employers, exempting over 190 million health plan participants.

The law posed an imminent harm to the company's owners by forcing them to support contraception, sterilization and abortion in violation of their religious beliefs or face steep fines, Kane said.

Members of the Newland family, which owns Hercules, sued in April, challenging the provision that is part of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Roman Catholic bishops and many Republican lawmakers oppose the provision. The Catholic Church launched a campaign against it from Sunday Mass pulpits across the country. Catholic Church doctrine opposes artificial contraception but most American Catholics do not adhere to church policy.

Hercules provides a self-insured group plan for its 265 full-time employees that does not cover birth control, sterilization or abortion-inducing drugs. But the new regulation would require Hercules to provide such coverage by November 1, the ruling said.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius expressed disappointment with the decision in a statement.

"This lawsuit was not brought by a religious organization. Rather, it was brought by a for-profit commercial enterprise whose purpose is to sell HVAC equipment," she said, adding that healthcare decisions should be between women and their doctors, not their employers.

"Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith," Matthew Bowman, a lawyer for Hercules with the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement.

More than 20 lawsuits are pending around the country against the birth control mandate, brought by organizations including the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University of America and the Archdiocese of New York.

On July 17, another federal judge in Nebraska dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by seven states, two Catholic individuals and three Catholic non-profit institutions, finding that the plaintiffs did not face any immediate harm from the law.

(Reporting by Terry Baynes in New York; Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker)

(This story was corrected to fix the name of family to Newland instead of Newman)

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Weight Control Can Cut Women's Diabetes Risk, Study Shows

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Diabetes: Tighter control of blood sugar prevents nerve condition, but at what risk?

ScienceDaily (June 13, 2012) — Aggressive control of blood sugar levels in diabetes can help to prevent a painful condition affecting patients' nerves, according to a new systematic review in The Cochrane Library. However, the review suggests that optimal target levels need to be established to prevent serious complications.

See Also:Health & MedicineDiabetesNeuropathyPersonalized MedicineHormone DisordersDiet and Weight LossBirth ControlReferenceBlood sugarDiabetic dietHyperglycemiaDiabetes mellitus type 2

People with diabetes control their blood sugar levels through insulin injections, diet and drugs, to compensate for their bodies producing too little insulin (type 1 diabetes) or becoming resistant to insulin (type 2 diabetes). Up to half of people with diabetes develop a disabling condition called diabetic neuropathy, which affects nerves in the feet and legs, making them feel tingly, numb, painful or weak. It is possible to prevent neuropathy by strict control of blood sugar levels through a number of ways including different insulin regimens and diet modification, but evidence for the effects of this approach, known as enhanced glucose control, has not been systematically reviewed until now.

The results analysed in the review are drawn from six studies investigating the risk of neuropathy in people who received enhanced glucose control treatments including extra insulin injections, antidiabetic drugs, and diet changes. The review looked at evidence in type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately. In two studies involving 1,228 people with type 1 diabetes significantly fewer people developed neuropathy each year with enhanced glucose control treatment compared with routine care. In four studies involving 6,669 people with type 2 diabetes the reduction in new cases of neuropathy was small and not statistically significant.

"Overall, this evidence suggests that a more aggressive approach to controlling sugar levels can be effective in delaying the onset of neuropathy in diabetes," said lead author of the review, Brian Callaghan, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, US. "The results also highlight the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The less dramatic effect of enhanced glucose control in type 2 diabetes may indicate that other factors, besides high glucose levels, may be important in causing nerve damage in these patients."

However, the risk of adverse effects associated with the treatment, including hypoglycaemia, was higher with enhanced glucose control. The researchers say further research is needed to optimise target levels for safe treatments that will both prevent neuropathy and minimise serious side effects.

"Although these results show clear benefits for preventing neuropathy in people with diabetes, they should be weighed against potential adverse effects," said Callaghan. "Future studies must establish target levels for glucose control that will balance benefits and side effects."

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Birth Control Linked to Heart Attack, Stroke

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Birth Control That Uses Combined Hormones Raises Heart Risk: Study

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Birth Control That Uses Combined Hormones Raises Heart Risk: Study

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Sandoz recalls some Introvale birth control pills

Reuters – 17 hrs ago (Reuters) - Novartis AG's unit Sandoz is voluntarily recalling 10 lots of its generic Introvale birth control pills after a consumer recently reported a packaging flaw.

Sandoz said in a post on its website on Tuesday that it decided on the recall after a consumer reported that white placebo tablets were mistakenly placed in the wrong row of a 13-row card.

"While the white placebo tablets can be clearly distinguished from the peach-colored active tablets, the risk of an unintended pregnancy for a patient taking the wrong tablet over several days cannot be excluded," Sandoz said, noting it is not aware of any adverse events stemming from the flaw.

The lot numbers involved in the recall are: LF00478C, LF00479C, LF00551C, LF00552C, LF00687C, LF00688C, LF00763C, LF00764C, LF00765C and LF01261C. These lots were distributed only in the United States between January 2011 and May 2012, Sandoz said.

If a patient finds a white placebo tablet in any position other than the 13th and final row, for the 13th week, she should immediately start using a non-hormonal form of contraception, according to a notice sent out on Wednesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

(Reporting By Phil Wahba; editing by Andre Grenon)

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Targeting the Brain's Appetite Control Switch

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Scientists in search of the control switch for the brain’s dinner bell have a new clue. Researchers studying mice at Columbia University Medical Center found that when they messed with a certain protein that is found in the brains of mice – and humans – the rodents’ appetite and metabolism changed.

Dr. Domenico Accili, the leader of the study, whose findings were published today in the journal Cell, said the protein seems to be intimately involved in regulating food intake, and provides an intriguing target in the never ending search for a drug to regulate how much people eat.

The protein,  called Gpr17,  controls how the brain’s cells respond to insulin, one of the chief hormones involved in hunger and metabolism. When Accili and his team injected a drug to activate GPr17, the rodents’ appetites increased; injecting a chemical to turn Gpr17 off made the mice eat less.

Accili said controlling this protein in the brains of humans may be more than just a pipe dream. Many drugs currently on the market work by acting on the family of proteins to which Gpr17 belongs. The difference is those drugs, such as asthma medicines and blood thinners, don’t cross from the bloodstream into the brain.

“If we were able to tweak those medications so they cross into the brain, they could probably have positive effects against weight gain and help us control appetite,” Accili said.

Accili said his team would work next on redesigning the drugs they injected into the rodents’ brains so that they cross from the bloodstream into the brain.

Dr. Charles Clark, a professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, said knowing more about this protein would  no doubt help scientists learn more about appetite control in the brain and may even lead to the development of new drugs to fine-tune feelings of hunger. But overcoming hunger’s deep-rooted spot in human evolution won’t be so easy.

 ”Control of weight is too integral and too important

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Every Human Is Different ! Plan Your Weight Control

A diet program that can help you lose the weight, that includes, vitamins, proteins, minerals.

You got to follow a realistic plan, which it won't create food cravings, or deprive what our bodies required to replenish.

As a personal thought! A have witness a great turn in organics supplements,which have help people lose weight, there are some weight management programs out there that go by your individual person. And they work just fine!

Because this programs don't deprive your body of the needed nourishment of micro-nutrients, or Macro-nutrients, at the same time they keep the diet fun by helping you with recipes that are easy to cook, and with an exercise plan that wont kill you.!

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Weight Control And Weight Loss Tips

May 23, 2012 by admin

The important question to ask yourself however is, why allow yourself to become overweight? Knowing the dangers of being overweight, you should take every step to ensure that you do not necessarily increase your weight to an unmanageable level. The actual goal to lose weight naturally is not simply to look good. It’s mainly for health reasons. We would not like diabetes; hypertension, stroke, and other associated illness pull us down, right?

1. Drink lots of water. The standard intake of water is at least 8 glasses of water every single day. Drinking water might remain hydrated. Elevated water intake can accelerate your metabolic process because a not properly hydrated body slows down your own metabolic program. As soon as your metabolic process slows down, you will start putting on the weight.

2. Research any potential diet pill or supplement thoroughly before you take it and check with your doctor. Read all of the ingredients and any other literature that comes with the product. Do further research on the active ingredients to find out if they are natural products or drugs or chemicals.

3. Develop a plan to enjoy these foods in small portions, combined with increased activity (suggest an after-dinner group walk perhaps), space out high-indulgence foods over two to three days with leftovers or doggie bags, or prepare side dishes with a few recipe substitutions to serve at home or bring as a guest.

4. Exercise can greatly enhance weight loss strategies, but when starting any exercise program care is necessary. You should always consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Also, try to avoid taking on more than you can handle. Overexertion is a common cause of injury, and can even lead to death if there is an underlying condition.

5. Rather than carry around an image of sweets, alcohol, rich or greasy foods, maintain the weight control mindset with a different visual. Create a new story and picture yourself on that deck or patio, passing on the cheese tray and moving towards the fresh fruit platter; accepting a small glass of wine or light beer versus a mixed drink, filling a plate up with a shrimp appetizer before diving into the meal.

6. It’s a biological fact that calories in your body are transformed into fat, and if you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in through food. An average person will burn between 1000 and 2000 calories per day just from being alive. This natural process of burning calories can be augmented with other natural strategies to help you burn the fat, such as exercise and eating food that is low in calories. As long as you ensure that the amount of calories that you take in through food and drink are less than the amount that you burn through the day both naturally and through exercise, you’ll be able to achieve fast, natural weight burning without struggling to remember to take diet pills, weight loss teas or any of the other fad diets that are out there.

Weight Loss

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Clarins Sunscreen for Face Wrinkle Control Cream SPF 50+ 2.7 Oz

High protection for the face protects skin from the appearance of wrinkles and sun-induced age spots. This lightweight comfortable cream ensures an even, long-lasting tan.

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CDC report: More teen girls use best birth control

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US adds clot risks to some birth control labels

US adds clot risks to some birth …

US health authorities on Tuesday ordered revised labels on some types of birth control including German pharmaceutical giant Bayer's Yaz pills to advise of a possibly higher risk of blood clots.

"Women who use birth control pills with drospirenone (like Yaz) may have a higher risk of getting a blood clot," said a new Yaz label on the US Food and Drug Administration website.

"Some studies reported that the risk of blood clots was higher for women who use birth control pills that contain drospirenone than for women who use birth control pills that do not contain drospirenone."

However, the regulatory agency pointed out that studies have shown mixed results.

"The studies reviewed did not provide consistent estimates of the comparative risk of blood clots between birth control pills that contain drospirenone and those that do not," the FDA said in a statement.

"The studies also did not account for important patient characteristics (known and unknown) that may influence prescribing and that likely affect the risk of blood clots," it added.

"For these reasons, it is unclear whether the increased risk seen for blood clots in some of the epidemiologic studies is actually due to drospirenone-containing birth control pills."

Drospirenone is a synthetic progestin which can suppress ovulation and thereby prevent pregnancy either when used alone or in combination with an estrogen component.

There are 11 approved versions of such pills on the US market, including names such as Gianvi, Loryna, Ocella, Safyral, Syeda, and Zarah.

In December, a panel of experts that advises the FDA urged stronger labeling on drospirenone-containing pills, voting 21-5 that the current labels did not adequately reflect the risks and benefits.

The panel was divided on the question of whether the benefits of such pills outweighed the risks, with 15 saying "yes" and 11 saying "no."

The pills have been marketed on the basis they help alleviate premenstrual symptoms, reduce acne and cause less weight gain than competitors. They have also been the focus of numerous lawsuits.

Two recent studies in the British Medical Journal found that drugs like Yaz and Yasmin increase the risk of serious blood clots three-fold or two-fold compared to earlier-generation oral contraceptives.

The European Medicines Agency concluded last year that such birth control pills carry a higher risk of venous thromboembolism and that warning labels should be updated accordingly.

However, it noted the overall risk of blood clot from any birth control method remains small and stopped short of advising women to stop taking pills containing drospirenone.

Yaz is the second biggest selling product made by Bayer, with $1.56 billion in global sales.

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US adds clot risks to some birth control labels

"US health authorities on Tuesday ordered revised labels on some types of birth control including German pharmaceutical giant Bayer's Yaz pills to advise of a possibly higher risk of blood clots. (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)" title

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US adds more on clot risk to some birth control pills

Reuters – 6 hrs ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators are adding information to the labels on a popular class of birth control pills that includes Bayer AG's Yaz and Yasmin, to show they may raise the risk of blood clots.

All common birth control pills increase a woman's chances of getting potentially fatal blood clots.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that some studies showed the danger may be even higher for more recent pills that contain the compound drospirenone, a synthetic hormone.

"The revised drug labels will report that some epidemiologic studies reported as high as a three-fold increase in the risk of blood clots for drospirenone-containing products ... whereas other epidemiological studies found no additional risk," the FDA said in a statement.

The FDA's own study found that 10 in 10,000 women taking pills with drospirenone would get a blood clot per year, compared with about six in 10,000 women taking older contraceptives.

A clot in blood vessels can prove fatal if it breaks loose and travels to the lungs, heart or brain.

To put the risk into perspective, the FDA added that the risk of blood clots from pregnancy is even higher than any risk from birth control pills.

The announcement comes after an advisory committee of outside experts to the FDA voted in December for a label revision for pills with drospirenone, calling for clearer information about their risks and benefits.

The experts stopped short of agreeing that these pills' risks outweighed their benefits, since some studies found the pills did not increase blood clot risks.

In January, the Project on Government Oversight, a U.S. watchdog group, urged the FDA to hold a new vote about the birth control pills after a study showed four of the FDA's advisers had ties in the past to makers of pills containing drospirenone.

The FDA said past ties to industry are usually not considered conflicts under the law.

During the December panel meeting, some women's advocacy groups called for the pills to be taken off the market, as the studies that viewed pills favorably were industry-funded.

The consumer groups and patients shared tearful stories about sudden deaths or life-changing disabilities they or their loved ones suffered from blood clots, which they believed were caused by Yaz or Yasmin.

Yaz, a reformulated version of Yasmin, remains one of the U.S. top-selling contraceptives. Bayer had $374 million in Yaz sales in 2010, according to data from IMS Health. Sales of Yaz have slipped in recent years, after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Watson Pharmaceuticals launched generic versions.

Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women's Health Network, who testified at the December meeting, said that a simple label change would not necessarily protect women from blood clots.

"I fear that if the FDA holds another public hearing three years from now, there will be a new group of women telling sad stories about the harm done to their health by clots," she said on Tuesday.

Most common contraceptive pills combine the hormones estrogen and progestin to help block ovulation and sperm. But they also increase the chance of a woman getting blood clots compared to not taking pills, particularly as she ages.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov in Washington and Anand Basu in Bangalore; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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FDA details blood clot risk on birth control pills

Federal health regulators said Tuesday they are adding labeling to Yaz and other newer birth control pills emphasizing that the drugs may be more likely to cause blood clots than older contraceptive pills.

The labeling will apply to Bayer's Yaz, its predecessor Yasmin and similar drugs containing the manmade hormone called drospirenone, which mimics the naturally occurring female hormone progesterone. The drugs are among the best-selling contraceptives in the U.S., due to marketing emphasizing their ability to clear up acne and other hormone-related issues.

The FDA said the new labeling will detail recent studies suggesting drospirenone-containing pills carry a slightly higher risk of blood clots than other birth control pills. The risk of blood clots with either group of drugs is still very rare.

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Certain Birth Control Pills May Carry Higher Blood Clot Risk: FDA

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US adds clot risks to some birth control labels

"US health authorities on Tuesday ordered revised labels on some types of birth control including German pharmaceutical giant Bayer's Yaz pills to advise of a possibly higher risk of blood clots. (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)" title

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Health Tip: Control Portion Sizes at Home

HealthDay – 1 hr 1 min ago (HealthDay News) -- Limiting the amount of food you eat is key to losing weight and maintaining weight loss.

The Cleveland Clinic suggests how to control portion sizes at home:

Serve your food on smaller dishes.Serve smaller portion sizes, and skip second helpings.Pack leftovers in single-serving containers. Freeze any leftovers.Always dish out a serving, rather than eating right out of a carton.Keep food not yet served away from where you're eating.

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Depo-Provera Birth Control Might Raise Breast Cancer Risk

HealthDay – 2 hrs 26 mins ago WEDNESDAY, April 4 (HealthDay News) -- There appears to be a link between an injectable form of progestin-only birth control, best known as Depo-Provera, and an increased risk of breast cancer in young women, new research suggests.

For the study, researchers compared more than 1,000 Seattle-area women, aged 20 to 44, who were diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 900 women without breast cancer.

Recent use of the injectable contraceptive (formally called depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate or DMPA) for a year or longer was associated with a 2.2-fold increased risk of invasive breast cancer, the study found.

This increased risk appeared to fade within months after women stopped using the contraceptive, and women who used the contraceptive for less than a year or who had stopped using it more than a year earlier did not have any increased risk of breast cancer, according to the findings published online and in the April 15 print issue of the journal Cancer Research.

"Although breast cancer is rare among young women and the elevated risk of breast cancer associated with DMPA appears to dissipate after discontinuation of use, our findings emphasize the importance of identifying the potential risks associated with specific forms of contraceptives given the number of available alternatives," study leader Dr. Christopher Li, a breast cancer epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues wrote.

"In the United States, many women have numerous options for contraception, and so it is important to balance their risks and benefits when making contraceptive choices," Li noted in a news release from the research center.

While the study uncovered an association between Depo-Provera and raised breast cancer risk, it could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Commenting on the study, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, a gynecologic oncologist and pelvic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, "This study further confirms that some types of progestins are not healthy for the breast. For women who are at elevated risk to develop breast cancer based on family history, or even age, this type of contraception may not be a good choice for them."

But another expert cautioned that the study did have its limits.

Dr. Freya Schnabel, director of breast surgery at NYU Clinical Cancer Center in New York City, noted that the women in the study who seemed at highest risk of developing breast cancer while on Depo-Provera were those with a family history of the disease or women who had never had children (another known risk factor).

Furthermore, she said, "the study did not include information about all breast cancer risk factors in the participants, and this is a real limitation of the analysis which could impact on the results. Also, the mechanism by which the progesterone would increase risk only in current users is not clear."

According to Schnabel, all of this means that "more detailed studies are needed to clarify the relationship between this contraceptive method and risk of breast cancer."

The research was funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.

More information

Planned Parenthood has more about the birth control shot.

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