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Take The Swine Flu Threat Seriously - British Hajj/Umrah Pilgrims Are Warned
Saudi Arabia"s warning to elderly Muslims, pregnant women and children against undertaking Hajj/Umrah pilgrimage this year in view of rapidly spreading swine flu worldwide sent a shock wave amongst Muslim community in Britain.

Blogs Comment On Supreme Court Pregnancy Leave Ruling, Obama's Notre Dame Speech, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Peaceful Revolution: Another Blow to Women," Debra Ness, Huffington Post blogs: The Supreme Court"s ruling this week in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen "dealt a serious and painful blow to working women and the families who rely on their retirement benefits," Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, writes. The ruling "affects a limited number of people," and it "would be easy to ignore them -- easy, but terribly wrong," Ness continues. "This ruling sends a terrible message about whether discrimination will bring penalties and costs, and whether the courts will address the ongoing effects of prior discrimination," she writes. Ness notes that the ruling "couldn"t come at a worse time," adding, "In today"s grim economic climate, women and their families cannot afford to see their retirement benefits kept lower by discriminatory workplace policies that should have been remedied decades ago." Ness writes that it is "sobering that, at a time when negative stereotypes about pregnant women clearly persist, we have a Supreme Court that doesn"t stand firm for equal rights and equal opportunity." She concludes, "It"s a good reminder of what"s at stake with the Supreme Court nomination President Obama is about to make" (Ness, Huffington Post blogs, 5/21).~ "This Week in Religion and Politics," Sarah Posner, American Prospect"s "The FundamentaList": When "viewed in the context of Obama"s entire faith-based outreach project, the events" surrounding the University of Notre Dame"s commencement ceremony "highlighted how he has embraced traditionalist, conservative religion -- to the detriment of sexual and reproductive justice," Posner writes. President Obama has "focused his outreach efforts" to reduce the need for abortion "on more conservative religious groups" and "claims to honor their position on moral issues," Posner writes. However, "when the dust settles on the Notre Dame controversy, he"ll have to figure out what to do with the policy advice he has sought" from the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, she continues. Posner adds, "How Obama reacts to that advice will demonstrate whether the council is mere window dressing to shore up support from swing constituencies or whether Obama will yield to conservative religious dogma on reproductive-health issues." Meanwhile, Christian conservatives have been "making hay of the findings" of recent Pew and Gallup polls that found more U.S. residents identifying with "pro-life" positions and using the data to argue "that Obama"s position is out of touch with the majority of Americans," Posner writes. However, as bloggers at The Monkey Cage and FiveThirtyEight have pointed out, the polls are not representative of most U.S. residents" views on abortion rights, she writes. "Because of that deception on reproductive rights, it"s more important than ever for the president to lay the moral groundwork for his own position -- not just to recognize the moral qualms of abortion opponents," Posner says (Posner, "The FundamentaList," American Prospect, 5/20).~ "Meghan McCain Preaches What She Practices," Willa Paskin, Slate"s "XX Factor": Meghan McCain -- Sen. John McCain"s (R-Ariz.) daughter -- "acquitted herself quite admirably" on Monday"s episode of Comedy Central"s "The Colbert Report" by "defending her core position" that the Republican Party "needs to appeal to younger voters, and it can only do so by getting liberal on social issues," Paskin writes. On the show, McCain said, "I think it"s not realistic for this generation to be just plain abstinent, I think we need to have sex education with condoms and birth control. ... I would never practice anything I didn"t preach." Paskin also includes a video clip of McCain"s appearance (Paskin, "XX Factor," Slate, 5/19).~ "Skill the Messenger," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin"s (R) 18-year-old daughter Bristol -- who was
News of the day
Physicians Offer Practical Tips On Preventing Strokes And Their Lasting Effects
It takes less than a minute for a stroke to change a person"s life forever, but taking the time to make a few simple lifestyle adjustments and finding out how to recognize an attack when it happens can save thousands of lives.
Nutrition

HITSP Begins Harmonization Process For Use Of Electronic Health Records In Clinical Research

The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP), a cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors that works to ensure the interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs) in the United States, has begun work to identify global standards to support "core research data element exchange," specifically, a common set of information that can readily be exchanged between EHRs and clinical research systems. As administrator of HITSP, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) appreciatively acknowledges thirty-five organizations that have contributed their financial support to make this work effort possible, including: -- Abbott -- Accenture -- BioClinica, formerly Phoenix Data Systems -- Biogen Idec -- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Cleveland Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative at Case Western Reserve University -- Case Western Reserve University -- Cleveland Clinic -- MetroHealth System -- University Hospitals -- Critical Path Institute -- Deloitte Consulting LLP -- Digital Infuzion -- Duke University -- Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Duke Clinical Research Institute -- Eli Lilly and Company -- Genentech, Inc. -- Genetic Alliance -- Genzyme -- GlaxoSmithKline -- Greenway Medical Technologies -- HP -- JSS Medical Research Inc. -- McDougall Scientific Ltd. -- Medidata Solutions Worldwide -- MedXview -- Nextrials, Inc. -- Numoda Corporation -- Oracle -- Outcome -- Partners HealthCare -- Perceptive Informatics, a subsidiary of PAREXEL International -- PharmaNet Development Group, Inc. -- Pfizer -- Quintiles -- Schering-Plough Research Institute -- Target Health Inc. "On behalf of ANSI, I thank these organizations for their generosity and forward thinking," said Frances Schrotter, ANSI senior vice president and chief operating officer. "These contributions have made it possible for HITSP to begin working toward a sustainable, interoperable infrastructure through which healthcare advances clinical research and in turn informs clinical care." In addition to the contributions from the clinical research community, six U.S. federal agencies have demonstrated their support, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Research Res, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services. The initiative began late last year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested that ANSI convene a workgroup of experts to prioritize a value/use case for standards harmonization in this area. Co-chairs Dr. Rebecca Kush, president and CEO of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC), and Dr. Gregory Downing, director of the Initiative on Personalized Health Care at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are leading the workgroup effort. At an initial meeting in Washington, DC on November 10, 2008, the workgroup identified the need for a common set of information that can readily be exchanged between EHRs and clinical research systems to support research activities on a global scale. With the initial priority "core research data element exchange" value case identified, HITSP convened a workgroup of technical experts and stakeholders in the clinical research space on June 9-11, 2009, in Arlington, Virginia. The final goal is to produce a streamlined electronic standards implementation guide that outlines the standards, how they support clinical research, and how they fit with existing HITSP guidelines -- termed "Interoperability Specifications" -- that are already in use within the clinical care environment. "We are deeply appreciative of the many organizations who have committed their support and active participation to this initiative," said Dr. Kush. "Our work will help to streamline and enhance clinical research within the healthcare setting, providing the means to better assess such areas as efficacy, effectiveness and safety for the benefit of patients, investigators, clinicians, technology and service providers, and researchers alike." About HITSP Operating under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HITSP is administered by ANSI in cooperation with strategic partners including the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) and Booz Allen Hamilton. About ANSI ANSI is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute represents the diverse interests of more than 125,000 companies and organizations and 3.5 million professionals worldwide. The Institute is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and is a U.S. representative to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). ANSI currently has offices in New York City and Washington, DC. American National Standards Institute


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