13 A surprise finding was that too much calcium was as dangerous as too little; daily dosages of 1500 mg and above were also associated with higher rates of all-cause mortality, including cardiovascular and ischemic http://www.selleckchem.com/products/CHIR-258.html heart disease. Numerous studies have found null effects of supplementation, to which is now added the negative effects of excessive doses of calcium in elderly women. Influenza, Pneumonia, and Pregnancy Yet another report has appeared confirming the value of inoculating pregnant women with the influenza vaccine. The report, from Argentina, demonstrated that widespread use of the H1N1 virus vaccine did not give rise to a greater risk for untoward pregnancy outcomes, with some evidence that vaccinated women were at lower risk than control subjects.

14 The researchers showed that vaccinated women have a lower likelihood of delivering a low birth weight or preterm infant or experience a stillbirth or neonatal death. Maternal outcomes were not significantly different, but in another study from the United States it was shown that women who contracted pneumonia had poorer obstetric results than those who were unaffected.15 The parameters included birth weight, prematurity, Apgar scores, and caesarean delivery rates. The message remains clear that all pregnant women should be vaccinated against the influenza virus, irrespective of the stage of pregnancy. Politics and Medicine Politics and medical matters are often at loggerheads; some strange examples follow. Plan B. The emergency contraceptive so aptly named in the United States has just been accepted as an overthe- counter medicine available to all ages.

It has been a political football for 12 years, being blocked by successive governing bodies to appease the electorate or radical elements to the right of sanity (JASS��s view). We hope that this enlightened decision will encourage other countries to follow suit.16 In Vitro Fertilization in Poland. The Catholic Church in Poland is seeking to have in vitro fertilization banned on the grounds that it creates monsters with psychological, social, and ethical burdens. Needless to say, they put forward no scientific evidence but it must be deeply worrying for any Polish Catholics who are seeking reproductive assistance.17 Coercive Mammograms. Women in Uruguay between the ages of 40 and 59 must have biennial mammograms to obtain the ��health card�� required to work.

This was the decree legislated by the president in 2006, and it��s still in place. There is no informed Batimastat consent or opting out; it is a rather draconian policy that is at last rightly being challenged.18 Sometimes politics and medicine make strange bedfellows. Footnotes These summaries are reproduced from the Journal Article Summary Service, a monthly publication summarizing clinically relevant articles from the recent world literature. Please see http://www.getjass.com or e-mail az.oc.bewm@tneklohta for more information.