Hormonal Testing and Pharmacologic Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians
Source: Archives of Internal Medicine
The evidence regarding the utility of hormonal blood tests in identifying and affecting therapeutic outcomes for treatable causes of ED was inconclusive. The evidence demonstrated clinical benefit associated with the use of PDE-5 inhibitors regardless of the cause (such as diabetes, depression, or prostate cancer) or baseline severity of ED. The magnitude of benefit increased with severity of ED. Higher doses of sildenafil and vardenafil were associated with a modestly greater magnitude of benefit with respect to erectile function; however, this was not true for tadalafil. Overall, PDE-5 inhibitors were relatively well tolerated and were associated with mild or moderate adverse events. The incidence of adverse events did not significantly differ among the various PDE-5 inhibitors. Evidence was insufficient to determine whether PDE-5 inhibitors are associated with an increased risk for NAION.
Uninsured Adults With Chronic Conditions or Disabilities: Gaps In Public Insurance Programs
Source: Health Affairs
Among nonelderly U.S. adults (ages 25-61), uninsurance rates increased from 13.7 percent in 2000 to 16.0 percent in 2005. Despite the existence of public insurance programs, rates remained high for low-income people reporting serious health conditions (25 percent across years) or disabilities (15 percent). Residents of southern states had even higher rates (32 percent with health conditions, 22 percent with disabilities). Those who did not belong to a federally mandated Medicaid eligibility category were about twice as likely as others to be uninsured overall, and uninsurance among this group increased more rapidly over time. These regional and categorical differences reflect gaps in current policy that pose challenges for incremental health reform.
New GAO Report (PDF)
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Defense Critical Infrastructure: Actions Needed to Improve the Identification and Management of Electrical Power Risks and Vulnerabilities to DOD Critical Assets
+ Full Report
Nieman Guide to Covering Pandemic Flu
Source: Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
This Web site is a one-stop resource for reporters, editors and newsroom managers trying to navigate the complex and at times confusing details of the flu story. Most of the information is relevant for any influenza pandemic, extending beyond the 2009 H1N1 virus.
It is written and edited by journalists, for journalists.
Financial Regulation and Supervision after the Crisis: The Role of the Federal Reserve
Source: Federal Reserve Board (Chairman Ben S. Bernanke at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 54th Economic Conference, Chatham, Massachusetts)
The theme of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Economic Conference this year–reevaluating regulatory, supervisory, and central banking policies in the wake of the crisis–is certainly timely. Not much more than a year ago, we and our international counterparts faced the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression. Fortunately, forceful and coordinated policy actions averted a global financial collapse, and since then, aided by a range of government programs, financial conditions have improved considerably. However, even though we avoided the worst financial and economic outcomes, the fallout from the crisis has nonetheless been very severe, as reflected in the depth of the global recession and the deep declines in employment both here and abroad. With the financial turmoil abating, now is the time for policymakers to take action to reduce the probability and severity of any future crises.
Although the crisis was an extraordinarily complex event with multiple causes, weaknesses in the risk-management practices of many financial firms, together with insufficient buffers of capital and liquidity, were clearly an important factor. Unfortunately, regulators and supervisors did not identify and remedy many of those weaknesses in a timely way.1 Accordingly, all financial regulators, including of course the Federal Reserve, must take a hard look at the experience of the past two years, correct identified shortcomings, and improve future performance.
Supervisors in the United States and abroad are now actively reviewing prudential standards and supervisory approaches to incorporate the lessons of the crisis. For our part, the Federal Reserve is participating in a range of joint efforts to ensure that large, systemically critical financial institutions hold more and higher-quality capital, improve their risk-management practices, have more robust liquidity management, employ compensation structures that provide appropriate performance and risk-taking incentives, and deal fairly with consumers. On the supervisory front, we are taking steps to strengthen oversight and enforcement, particularly at the firmwide level, and we are augmenting our traditional microprudential, or firm-specific, methods of oversight with a more macroprudential, or systemwide, approach that should help us better anticipate and mitigate broader threats to financial stability.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Polar Bear Critical Habitat (PDF; 58 KB)
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (DoI)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a proposal to designate critical habitat for the polar bear, and will open a 60-day public comment period on the measure. The critical habitat proposal identifies habitat in three separate areas or units: barrier island habitat, sea ice habitat and terrestrial denning habitat.
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The total area proposed for designation would cover approximately 200,541 square miles and is found entirely within the lands and waters of the United States. Barrier island habitat includes coastal barrier islands and spits along Alaska’s coast, and is used for denning, refuge from human disturbances, access to maternal dens and feeding habitat, as well as travel along the coast. Sea ice habitat is located over the continental shelf, and includes water 300m and less in depth. Terrestrial denning habitat includes lands within 32 km (about 20 miles) of the northern coast of Alaska between the Canadian border and the Kavik River and within 8 km (about 5 miles) between the Kavik River and Barrow.Polar bears evolved for life in the harsh arctic environment, and are distributed throughout most ice-covered seas of the Northern Hemisphere. They are generally limited to areas where the sea is ice-covered for much of the year; however, they are not evenly distributed throughout their range. They are most abundant near the shore in shallow-water areas, and in other places where currents and ocean upwelling increases marine productivity and maintains some open water during the ice-covered season.
+ FAQ (PDF; 67 KB)
+ Additional polar bear information
OSHA’s new letter of interpretation requires that construction workers wear high-visibility warning garments
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
High-visibility warning garments are required safety attire for highway and road construction workers according to a new letter of interpretation recently released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“Highway construction workers should not suffer serious or fatal injuries simply because they could not be seen,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. “Requiring the use of reflective vests is essential to help prevent workers from being injured or killed.”
HHS Releases Update of “Understanding Breast Changes: A Health Guide for Women”
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the HHS National Institute of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) has released its updated booklet in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Understanding Breast Changes: A Health Guide for Women. The guide addresses the concerns of women who notice a breast change or get an abnormal mammogram finding. It explains important next steps in testing, diagnosis, and treatment when breast changes are found.
Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Local Education Agencies From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007-08 – First Look
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
This First Look presents selected findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies (LEAs) in the United States and the territories in the 2007-08 school year, using data from the Local Education Agency Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system.
+ Full Report (PDF; 290 KB)
EU ready for wireless broadband on GSM frequencies
Source: Europa Press Releases/Official Journal
The path has been cleared today for a new generation of mobile services in Europe with the publication in the EU’s Official Journal of new measures that allow 3G phones to use GSM frequencies. This follows the European Parliament and Council of Ministers’ agreement, in July ( IP/09/1192 ), to modernise European legislation – the GSM Directive – on the use of the radio spectrum needed for mobile services. The new EU measures will foster stronger competition on Europe’s telecoms market and make it easier for operators to provide faster, pan-European services such as mobile internet alongside today’s GSM services. They will also boost the roll-out of wireless broadband services, one of the drivers of the EU’s economic recovery.
” In harsh economic times, Europe’s mobile industry got today a clear signal of strong support from policy makers. The new EU rules published today allow the re-farming of the radio spectrum in the GSM band for new mobile services, strengthen competition and save the mobile industry up to € 1.6 billion in capital costs, ” said Viviane Reding, EU Telecoms Commissioner. ” With decisions like this, Europe ensures that we will keep our competitive edge in wireless services .”
The new EU rules form part of the European Commission efforts to offer more spectrum opportunities for wireless communications. The measures published today open the “GSM” radio spectrum band to more advanced wireless communication devices. A new Decision and a Directive modernising the 1987 GSM Directive , have been printed in the EU’s Official Journal, becoming EU law and must now be applied in all 27 EU countries.
The new rules also make it easier to adapt spectrum allocation in the 900 MHz frequency band to allow even newer 4 th generation high-speed broadband technologies to be deployed. Consumers’ existing handsets will continue to work without problems, but they can also use new technologies to access high-speed broadband services.
+ Direct link to Directive (PDF; 733 KB)
+ Direct link to Decision (PDF; 736 KB)
NCAA Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity, EA Sports, and the Video Game Industry (PDF; 899 KB)
Source: Entertainment and Sports Lawyer
The Keller v. Electronic Arts, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Collegiate Li- censing Company1 class action complaint filed in May in the Federal District Court in San Francisco received considerable fanfare2 among academic and legal practi- tioners, as well as controlled skepticism among intercollegiate athletic governing bodies and video game industry executives. As the factual scenario and class action prospects have been forecasted in prior scholarship,3 this contribution will: (1) briefly pose related intercollegiate athletics amateurism policy considerations; (2) review major intellectual property theory points; (3) summarize the crucial questions for the court and each party, posing several possible answers; and (4) conclude with future research directions, with the embedded promise of forthcoming elaborate manuscripts on the same stream.
Managing Electronic Waste: Issues with Exporting E-Waste (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists/Secrecy News)
Although there may be limited data regarding how e-waste is managed, the consequences of export to countries that manage it improperly are becoming increasingly evident. In particular, various reports and studies (by the mainstream media, environmental organizations, and university researchers) have found primitive waste management practices in India and various countries in Africa and Asia. Operations in Guiyu in the Shantou region of China have gained particular attention. Observed recycling operations involve burning the plastic coverings of materials to extract metals for scrap, openly burning circuit boards to remove solder or soaking them in acid baths to strip them for gold or other metals. Acid baths are then dumped into surface water. Among other impacts to those areas have been elevated blood lead levels in children and soil and water contaminated with heavy metals.
The impacts associated with e-waste exports have led to concerns from environmental organizations, members of the public, and some Members of Congress.
MoneyGram to Pay $18 Million to Settle FTC Charges That it Allowed its Money Transfer System To Be Used for Fraud
Source: Federal Trade Commission
MoneyGram International, Inc., the second-largest money transfer service in the United States, will pay $18 million in consumer redress to settle FTC charges that the company allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers to bilk U.S. consumers out of tens of millions of dollars. MoneyGram also will be required to implement a comprehensive anti-fraud and agent-monitoring program.
The FTC charged that between 2004 and 2008, MoneyGram agents helped fraudulent telemarketers and other con artists who tricked U.S. consumers into wiring more than $84 million within the United States and to Canada – after these consumers were falsely told they had won a lottery, were hired for a secret shopper program, or were guaranteed loans. The $84 million in losses is based on consumer complaints to MoneyGram – actual consumer losses likely are much higher.
The FTC charged that MoneyGram knew that its system was being used to defraud people but did very little about it, and that in some cases its agents in Canada actually participated in these schemes. According to the FTC’s complaint, MoneyGram knew, or avoided knowing, that about 131 of its more than 1,200 agents accounted for more than 95 percent of the fraud complaints it received in 2008 regarding money transfers to Canada; a similarly small number of agents was responsible for more than 96 percent of all fraud complaints to the company in 2006.
+ Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. MoneyGram International, Inc.
+ Money Transfers Can Be Risky Business
Poverty in the United States: 2008 (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists/Secrecy News)
In 2008, 39.8 million people were counted as poor in the United States—an increase of 2.6 million persons from 2007, and nearly the largest number of persons counted as poor since 1960. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 13.2%; up from 12.5% in 2007, and the highest rate since 1997. The recent increase in poverty reflects the worsened economic conditions since the onset of the economic recession in December 2007. Many expect poverty to rise further next year, and it will likely remain comparatively high even after the economy begins to recover. The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2008 if its pre-tax cash income for the year was below $22,025. This report will be updated on an annual basis, following release of U.S. Census Bureau annual income and poverty estimates.
Supporting data are based on the following: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008; Current Population Report No. P60-235, September 2009; and unpublished Census Bureau tables, available on the internet at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html.
Two New/Updated CRS Reports — Government and Politics (PDFs)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists/Secrecy News)
+ Presidential Terms and Tenure: Perspectives and Proposals for Change
Although the length of the presidential term was decided after spirited debate at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the 22nd Amendment provides term limits for the President, proposed constitutional amendments that would alter these provisions are occasionally introduced in Congress. One proposal, which would lengthen the President and Vice President’s terms to six years, was introduced frequently through the 103rd Congress. Some six-year term amendments proposed limiting the President to a single term, while others allowed for two terms, or no limit at all. Another category of amendment, which continues to be introduced in most Congresses, would repeal the 22nd Amendment. H.J.Res. 5, introduced in the 111th Congress by Representative José E. Serrano, falls into this category. H.J.Res. 5 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, but no further action has been taken to date.
A number of the appointments made by President Barack Obama to his Administration or by Cabinet Secretaries to their departments have been referred to, especially by the news media, as “czars.” For some, the term is being used to quickly convey an appointee’s title (e.g., climate “czar”) in shorthand. For others, it is being used to convey a sense that power is being centralized in the White House or certain entities.
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This report provides brief background information and selected views on the role of some of these appointees and discusses selected appointments in the Obama Administration. Additionally, it discusses some of the constitutional concerns that have been raised about presidential advisors.
International pact needed to prevent organ trafficking, UN-backed study says
Source: United Nations and the Council of Europe
A new, binding international treaty is needed to prevent trafficking in organs, tissues and cells (OTC), protect victims and prosecute offenders in this exploitation of the deeply impoverished, according to a joint study launched today by the United Nations and the Council of Europe.
It calls for the prohibition of financial gain from the human body or its parts as the basis of all legislation on organ transplants, adding that organ donation should be promoted to increase availability, with preference given to OTC donation from the deceased.
+ Trafficking in organs, tissues and cells and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of the removal of organs (PDF; 1.23 MB)
Hat tip: UN Pulse
Improving Effectiveness and Outcomes for the Poor in Health, Nutrition and Population
Source: World Bank
The World Bank Group’s support for health, nutrition, and population (HNP) has been sustained since 1997—totaling $17 billion in country-level support by the World Bank and $873 million in private health and pharmaceutical investments by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through mid-2008. This report evaluates the efficacy of the Bank Group’s direct support for HNP to developing countries since 1997 and draws lessons to help improve the effectiveness of this support.
Hat tip: UN Pulse
