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"Lancet 2010: There is a U-shaped relationship between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and mortality in people with diabetes, say researchers, meaning that intensive glucose-lowering therapy could be as harmful as uncontrolled hyperglycemia.\n\nWriting in The Lancet, Craig Currie and team (Cardiff University, UK) conclude that if their findings are confirmed, then diabetes guidelines may need to be revised to include a lower as well as an upper HbA1c threshold.\n\nCurrie's team used the UK General Practice Research Database from November 1986 to November 2008 to obtain data on two cohorts of patients aged 50 years and older with Type 2 diabetes.\n\nThe patients comprised 27,965 individuals whose treatment had been intensified from oral monotherapy to combination therapy with oral blood-glucose lowering agents, and 20,005 who had changed to insulin-containing regimens."

The HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced plans for spending its $300 million share of the $1.1 billion Congress appropriated for comparative effectiveness research (CER) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA or Recovery Act for short). AHRQ plans to solicit grant applications this fall and award grants and contracts by spring 2010. The $300 million must be encumbered by end of FFY 2010.

"ScienceDaily ( 2010) : For those who choose not to obtain anti-inflammatory resveratrol from grapes or wine, researchers have found that carvacrol, derived from six essential oils (thyme, clove, rose, eucalyptus, fennel, bergamot) can suppress inflammatory COX-2 enzyme activity in a similar manner to that of resveratrol.

Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease.\nSiri--Tirino, et al.; \nAm J Clin Nutrition; 2010 Jan 13. \nPMID: 20071648\ndoi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27725\n\nConclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is NO significant evidence that dietary saturated fat is associated with increased risk for CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat

*In West Chester, Community Volunteers in Medicine treated 332 patients in February, up 26% from February 2008. The cost of care was up 21%. At the same time, the clinic was about $100,000 behind in fundraising for its $1.8 million annual budget. *Ohio's 40 free clinics treated 56,000 uninsured patients in 2008, up from 43,000 in 2007. Marjorie Frazier, executive director of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics, expects the number to increase in 2009. In January, one clinic in Cleveland closed because it lacked funding. Ohio, one of the few states that helps pay for free clinics' operations, is cutting funding. Its two-year allocation for 2008 and 2009 was $2.1 million; for 2010 and 2011, proposed funding is $1.5 million. *California's 800 community health centers saw increases of up to 20% in uninsured patients in the past six months. The state, facing a $42 billion budget shortfall, is eliminating payments for some services for poor adults, including dental care. As a result, the centers will lay off 1,000 dentists and other staff, leaving as many as 400,000 people without dental care, says Chris Patterson, spokesman for the California Primary Care Association.

Blue Cross / Blue Shield in many states are under the Wellpoint umbrella. 

Antidepressants, despite their popularity, are no more effective than sugar pills for most people with mild or moderate depression. For severe depression, they're somewhat more effective, but far from a cure.