HIV/AIDS cases rise for women

According to the World Health Organization, AIDS is the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 15 and 44.
Originally, health officials thought HIV and AIDS mostly affected homosexual men. However, women have always suffered from the disease, too. A 2006 Centers for Disease Control report stated that young adults aged 13 to 29 accounted for the largest number of new HIV infections in the United States. Even though more men have HIV than women, women are catching up.
In fact, according to the CDC, if new HIV/AIDS infections continue at their current rate worldwide, women with HIV/AIDS may soon outnumber men.
"It's scary to know how young women are affected by this virus," PUC student Brittany Shepherd said. "No one ever thinks that HIV or AIDS can happen to them, but obviously it does."
Many people don't know or understand the difference between HIV and AIDS. According the CDC, HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. It is different from every other virus since it attacks the immune system. HIV finds and destroys a type of white blood cell that our immune system must have to fight diseases.
The CDC reports that AIDS is the final stage of HIV, meaning that the virus has weakened the immune system to the point to where it is difficult to fight diseases.
PUC Chronicle
Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN

Keeping Pacemakers Safe from Hackers

Manufacturers have started adding wireless capabilities to many implantable medical devices, including pacemakers and cardioverter defibrillators. This allows doctors to access vital information and send commands to these devices quickly, but security researchers have raised concerns that it could also make them vulnerable to attack.
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control have now developed a scheme for protecting implantable medical devices against wireless attacks. The approach relies on using ultrasound waves to determine the exact distance between a medical device and the wireless reader attempting to communicate with it.
The potential risks of enabling radio communication in implantable medical devices were first highlighted by Kevin Fu, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Washington. They showed how to glean personal information from such a device, how to drain its batteries remotely, and how to make it malfunction in dangerous ways. The two researchers stress that the threat is minimal now, but argue that it is vital to find ways to protect wireless medical devices before malicious users discover and exploit vulnerabilities.
ASM Newswire

Hofstra's School of Education, Health and Human Service Receives Accreditation from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council

Hofstra's School of Education, Health and Human Service Receives Accreditation from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council
The School of Education, Health and Human Services has received accreditation by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council ( TEAC ). The TEAC accreditation is effective between September 11, 2009 and September 11, 2014.
Dean David Foulk, Ed.D., said the TEAC encourages and rewards program innovation and creativity in its accreditation process.
"After our extensive preparation for the TEAC audit, the School of Education, Health and Human Services is honored to have earned this credential," said Dean Foulk. "This is validation of the quality of work being done at Hofstra University's School of Education, Health and Human Services that we are accredited by the same body as many other prestigious institutions regionally and nationally. This accreditation is the result of thorough and collaborative work on the part of faculty, staff and administrators in our School."
Among the other institutions that have TEAC accreditations are: New York University, Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University.
"The recent accreditation from TEAC confirms the School of Education, Health and Human Services and Hofstra's success in preparing competent, caring and qualified educators," said Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz. "This recognition demonstrates the quality programs we provide and the high caliber of our faculty and students."
Media Newswire

CDC reports 19 more children died of swine flu last week

That brings the total to 114 children deaths since the pandemic's start, compared with 40 to 50 in a normal flu season. On H1N1 vaccines, 'the gap between supply and demand is closing.'
Nineteen more U.S. children died from pandemic H1N1 influenza in the week ending Oct. 24, bringing the total to 65 since Aug. 30 and to 114 since the beginning of the pandemic in April, according to the newest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Two-thirds of those children had underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk for complications, CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden said in a Friday news conference. In a normal flu season, 40 to 50 children die, so the swine flu is affecting children much more severely than seasonal flu.
Comparable numbers are not available for adults because there are no similar reporting requirements for them. As of Tuesday, 12,466 laboratory-confirmed hospitalizations for swine flu and 530 deaths had been reported to the CDC, but those are likely to be significant underestimates, Frieden said.
Estimates released this week suggested that perhaps 800 Americans had died from swine flu by the end of July. Frieden said the agency hoped to have real-time estimates for the entire pandemic period available in the next couple of weeks. He said "many, many millions" of Americans now have been infected.
Supplies of vaccine for swine flu continue their slow growth. As of Friday morning, 26.1 million doses were available, an increase of 10.5 million since the previous Friday and 1.3 million more than were available Thursday. "There is not enough yet for all providers, but the gap between supply and demand is closing," Frieden said.
About half of the doses given out so far have gone to children, and most of the rest to young adults, he said. About 1% to 2% have gone to the elderly, he said.
The Los Angeles Times

Hundreds of schools closed as A/H1N1 flu cases multiple in U.S.

Sick students are suggested to stay at home, while city emergency rooms are also largely filled with students who are severely ill, according to news reports on Thursday.
According to U.S. Education Department, at least 351 schools were closed in last week -- affecting more than 126,000 students in 19 states. So far, about 600 schools were closed in this school year altogether.
"This is scary," said Kathryn Marchuk, a nurse whose son attends St. Charles East High School outside Chicago, which closed for three days last week after about 800 of its 2,200 students called in absent. "So many people are sick. It's just everywhere."
Many school officials said they were afraid the virus would spread faster if they stayed open. They feel shutting down is the only feasible option.
Despite the exceptional spreading speed of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the flu season, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Margaret Chan said a day before in a conference in Havana that the A/H1N1 pandemic would reach its natural end when enough people are immunized.
VietNamNet

EPA Finds Manganese Threat at 2 Schools

Regulators have found high levels of neurotoxic manganese in the air outside two schools in Ohio and West Virginia, the latest results of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to check for chemicals outside schools across the nation.
Government scientists have determined that long-term exposure to manganese can cause mental disabilities and emotional problems, especially in kids.
The preliminary results, to be released today, found average manganese levels at least 70% higher than what the EPA considers safe for long-term exposure outside Warren Elementary School in Marietta, Ohio, and Neale Elementary School in Vienna, W.Va. The schools are about 10 miles from each other.
USA Today

CDC Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of Higher Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year

This document provides guidance to help decrease the spread of flu among students, faculty, and staff of institutions of higher education (IHE) and post-secondary educational institutions during the 2009-2010 academic year. The guidance expands upon earlier guidance for these settings by providing a menu of tools that IHE and health officials can choose from based on conditions in their area. It recommends actions to take now (during this academic year), suggests strategies to consider if the flu starts causing more severe disease than during the spring/summer 2009 H1N1 outbreak, and provides a checklist for making decisions. Detailed information on the reasons for these strategies and suggestions on how to use them is included in the Technical Report. Based on the severity of 2009 H1N1 flu-related illness thus far, this guidance also recommends that students, faculty, and staff with flu-like illness remain home until 24 hours after resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.For the purpose of this guidance, IHE will refer to public and private, residential and nonresidential, degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions providing post-secondary education in group settings regardless of the age of their students. Portions of this guidance pertaining to dormitories and residence halls may serve as a useful supplement to residential (boarding) schools providing primary and secondary education, with adaptations as needed for their younger population. This guidance represents the CDC’s current thinking on this topic. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person or operate to bind the public.
CDC

Healthier US School Meals Boost Costs -Study

A report from the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academies, proposed updating school meal programs to meet nutritional needs and foster better eating habits, but recognized healthier, fresher ingredients would boost costs, especially at breakfast where fruit servings would increase.
"It will cost a little more," Virginia Stallings, a professor at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and chair of the group that conducted the study, said in an interview. "But this will be a very wise investment in children's health," she added.
Reuters

Medical Marijuana Proponents Breathe Easier Under New Guidelines

Feds Won't Prosecute Medical Marijuana Users if They Comply with State Laws
New Medical Marijuana Guidelines
Proponents of medical marijuana say the new policy is long overdue.
"What you have now, finally, after all these years is a federal government, which is not at war with its own states and not at war with suffering sick people in these states," Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, told ABC News. "It is the most positive and significant development on federal medical marijuana policy since the Carter administration."
But opponents have expressed concern that such a policy could also lead to more illegal drug use and sales. According to the Justice Department, marijuana distribution in the United States remains the single largest source of revenue for Mexican cartels.
ABC News

Overcrowding Impacts Nursing Students

Student enrollments in nursing programs in California have increased over the last few years, but shortage of well-trained nurses remains a problem because of budget cuts to higher education.
California colleges and universities will need to graduate more than 40,000 nurses within the next decade to meet projected demand, according to a report from the Legislative Analyst's Office.
However, because of the budget crisis, funds needed to expand or maintain nursing programs in state universities and community colleges are either cut or unchanged, said Sara Bachez, consultant for the Assembly Budget Committee.
The State Hornet
California State University

New Study Sees a Higher Rate of Autism: Is the Jump Real?

One in a hundred American children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That stunning new statistic was released on Monday by the Federal Government, officially revising the 2007 federal estimate of 1 in 150 children. The new number puts U.S. prevalence on par with reported rates in England, Japan, Sweden and Canada. It is based on two separate and very different government-funded research studies...
Time

More than 800 students have reported H1N1 symptoms since September 4th

Health officials confirmed that more than 800 students and more than 30 university employees had self-reported H1N1 symptoms, using either the self-reporting Web site or physically to CSU's Health Network.
The 845 students who have reported flu-like symptoms, a total recorded since the self-reporting flu function was activated on RAMweb Sept.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State University, CO