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Second Language Represented In Different Part Of Brain, Single Case Study Suggests
A single case study from Israel of a bilingual man who suffered damage to one part of his brain suggests that a person"s first and second language
new payday loan lenders
Some Small Businesses Must Cut Employee Health Benefits Or Lay Off Workers Amid Economic Recession
Small businesses increasingly are eliminating their employee health coverage plans because of rising health care premiums and declining revenue attributed to the current economic recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. About 10% of small companies are considering ending their employee health coverage plans over the next year, compared with 3% of small businesses in 2005, according to a recent survey by the National Small Business Association. In 2008, 38% of small companies offered health coverage, compared with 41% in 2007 and 61% in 1993, according to NSBA. According to a Hewitt Associates survey, 19% of all U.S. businesses plan to halt providing health care benefits to their employees in the next three to five years.A rise in health care coverage premiums has contributed to employers eliminating plans, according to the Journal. Premiums for single policies increased by 74% for small businesses from 2001 to 2008, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to Scott Krienke, senior vice president of product lines for Assurant Health, health insurance premiums for small businesses increase by 8% to 16% annually on average, with smaller firms often having the highest increases. According to the Journal, many employers are choosing to eliminate health coverage instead of eliminating jobs or closing down their business. Some businesses have chosen instead to shift more health care costs to workers, change health insurers, switch prescription drug plans to encourage employees to purchase more generic drugs or offer employees wellness plans that encourage healthy habits as a strategy to reduce health care costs, the Journal reports (Mattioli, Wall Street Journal, 5/26).
News of the day
The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative And Crucell Announce Collaboration To Test New Adenovirus-based Malaria Vaccine Approach
The US-based PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP), and Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, Nasdaq: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) today announced a collaboration to accelerate development of a promising type of malaria vaccine. Through funding from the USAID MVDP, the partners will conduct studies to determine the effectiveness of Crucell"s novel prime-boost vaccine approach against the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. This approach uses Crucell"s proprietary recombinant adenoviruses (a type of virus associated with the common cold and other mild respiratory infections) to deliver a malaria antigen to the immune system.
Public Health

Relationship Between Bone Density And Erosion In Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, affects almost three percent of people over age 65. RA patients experience pain, functional limitations and two forms of disabling bone disease: focal erosions and osteoporosis. After five years of disease, up to 50 percent of RA patients show evidence of focal erosions and RA doubles the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. A new study examined the relationship between these two RA-related processes, in the hopes of providing insight into the underlying pathophysiology of RA-related bone disease. The study was published in the June issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. Led by Daniel H. Solomon of Brigham and Women"s Hospital in Boston , the study involved 163 postmenopausal women with RA, none of whom were taking osteoporosis medications. Participants underwent bone density scans of the hip and spine, as well as X-rays of the hand to determine if they had bone erosions. The results showed that hip bone mineral density (BMD) correlated with bone erosion, but the relationship was not statistically significant after adjusting for clinical factors such as age, BMI and use of oral glucocorticoids used to treat RA. The relationship did appear stronger, however, in patients with early RA. "Our findings suggest that the relationship between focal erosions and generalized osteoporosis is complicated and modified by many aspects of RA and other factors," the authors state. They point out that with longer disease duration, other variables such as the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), disease activity and markers of inflammation may dilute the relationship between focal erosions and hip BMD. As to why there was a stronger relationship between hip BMD and erosions than with spine BMD, there are several possible explanations. It"s possible that the inflammation underlying RA affects the hip more than the spine or that the effects are more apparent at the hip, which may more closely relate to joint mobility and overall functional status. Several prior studies have examined the bone manifestations of RA, but the current study is one of the only ones to date that has focused on the relationship between two skeletal manifestations of the disease. The authors note that almost all participants were taking DMARDs, which may blunt the relationship between erosions and BMD. Also, patients were not currently taking glucocorticoids or osteoporosis medications but may have in the past, which might have had an effect on the results. Supplemental vitamin D use may also have had an unforeseen effect. "It may be that the presumed association between erosions and BMD is most relevant with regard to patients with severe or early untreated RA," the authors conclude. This could become increasingly important as more bone-directed treatments become part of RA treatment protocols. For example, data from trials of a monoclonal antibody directed at a molecule important in bone metabolism suggest that it may be effective at improving BMD and reducing progression of erosion. Since focal erosions and osteoporosis may be manifestations of a similar inflammatory response, further studies may clarify important roles of inflammation in both of these processes in RA. Article: "The Relationship Between Focal Erosions and Generalized Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis," Daniel H. Solomon, Joel S. Finkelstein, Nancy Shadick, Meryl S. LeBoff, Carl S. Winalski, Margaret Stedman, Roberta Glass, M. Alan Brookhart, Michael E. Weinblatt, Ellen M. Gravallese, Arthritis & Rheumatism, June 2009. Sean Wagner Wiley-Blackwell


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