The McMaster satellite on UW's new campus will start with 14 students and grow to a complement of 84 within seven years. Physicians will be recruited to Waterloo Region to teach them and, overall, it's estimated that more than 450 students and residents would have medical training in Waterloo Region by 2012. These changes will have a noticeable effect in alleviating the shortage of physicians in this area, university officials told regional council on Wednesday.

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, the second-largest medical school in Ontario, produces doctors faster than other schools -- in three years rather than four. The first class in Kitchener will begin in September 2007 and graduate by the end of the decade.

"It makes sense to train medical students from the local area right here in their home community," said McMaster University President Peter George. "If we train them here, they will practice here. Simple as that."

"What a wonderful opportunity for the University of Waterloo to give back to the community by welcoming McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine to the Health Sciences Campus," said UW President David Johnston. "Combining our respective strengths, we contribute to the development of health sciences for Canada, and address the doctor shortage. Accessibility and quality of health care, so critical to the future well being of our community, will also be improved."

Anchored by UW's new School of Pharmacy and the medical school, the UW Downtown Kitchener Health Sciences Campus will include an optometry clinic and the Centre for Family Medicine, a residency program for students wishing to specialize in family medicine.

The innovative project builds on Kitchener's $30-million commitment and gift of land to the University of Waterloo. The Health Sciences Campus will attract a wide range of health professionals and address the need for expertise in health technology, health informatics, biosciences, population studies and biomedical engineering, while filling the urgent demand for more pharmacists and doctors in Ontario.

Among the benefits for the community in Waterloo Region:

* Locating a medical school in Waterloo Region will improve attraction and retention of doctors to an under-serviced community. It is widely known that a high percentage of physicians tend to practice where they are trained.

* McMaster University will offer its students a choice of campus based on preference and geographic background.

* The development of a primary care clinic and specialist clinics across the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) will improve community access to an integrated spectrum of health care services.

* UW is ready to collaborate with McMaster in several integrated teaching opportunities, including some joint learning with students in the School of Pharmacy, scheduled to open in September 2007. Others may include combined degrees in health informatics, public health, imaging and so forth.

* Waterloo Region has the largest Ontario cluster of hospitals that are not currently teaching hospitals, providing an ideal opportunity for practicums and experienced-based learning.

* A dynamic community with innovative thinking as its hallmark, along with a rapidly growing population, will allow for transformation of research advances and knowledge into health benefits, economic opportunities and improved health care.

TORONTO - Sixty nine Ontario doctors have signed onto a letter asking Premier Dalton McGuinty to stop the privatization of Ontario's hospitals through so called Public Private Partnerships, or P3s.

The McGuinty government has gone further than any other government in Canada in privatizing formerly public and non-profit hospital assets and services through P3s. There are at least 24 planned P3 hospital projects in Ontario, with 22 of them created entirely by the current government.

The release of this letter comes a week before the Ontario Health Coalition's Hamilton plebiscite (citizen-called referendum) asking Hamilton residents to vote to keep the four hospitals in Hamilton fully public and to reject P3 privatization. On Saturday March 25, more than 80 voting stations will open across Hamilton garnering tens of thousands of votes. The results will be released to the media on Monday, March 27.

Says Dr. Ted Haines, author of the letter:

"We looked at the peer-reviewed evidence in the most prestigious international medical journals. We informed the Premier that we are deeply concerned about the government's plans to impose privatized P3s on our hospitals. P3s have proved to cost more and to result in compromised services. Hospitals funded through P3s have almost invariably provided less capacity than the hospitals they are intended to replace.

"The funding mechanism promoted by the government's 'Alternative Funding and Procurement' is a version of a Private Public Partnership, or P3, in which for-profit consortia take over financing, construction, facility management, maintenance and some hospital services for long term deals stretching up to 40 years. The companies often seek additional revenue through commercial land deals on public hospital lands, and service charges or user fees for patients and their visitors. This for-profit health industry has an interest in two tier healthcare from which they can take profit, further increasing the cost of healthcare."

"We are reminding the Premier of the findings of the Romanow Commission that looked at all the evidence regarding these private hospital deals. Mr. Romanow found that there was no evidence that these hospitals are better or cheaper. Moreover, he found them to be inconsistent with the values of Canadians or with the tenets of the Canada Health Act.

"We are calling on the Premier to act in the public interest and use citizens' tax dollars responsibly. Hospital construction and services must be publicly funded and hospitals must remain fully publicly managed and serviced," concluded Dr. Haines.

The full letter is available on line at www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca and www.hwcn.org/link/mrg

Formal consultations with Canada's healthcare professionals have yet to occur. Rather than wait to be asked for their input, the physicians and pharmacists participating in this week's forum are taking their message to Ottawa.

The NPS is part of Canada's 10-year plan to strengthen the delivery of health care. Announced in September 2004, the NPS is initially mandated to address five significant areas:

- catastrophic drug coverage for Canadians with high medication costs or little or no coverage;
- accelerated access to expensive, breakthrough drugs;
- a single, national drug formulary to replace current provincial listings of drugs eligible for coverage;
- improved evaluations of "real-world" drug safety and effectiveness;
and
- purchasing strategies to obtain best prices for Canadians.

The doctors and pharmacists at next week's event will draw from their experiences with patients to voice their opinions on these components of the NPS - as well as put forward new priorities. Timely access to optimal therapy is central to the well-being of Canadian patients and their relationships with their physicians and pharmacists. This is the foundation of the Canadian healthcare system and should be a central part of any discussion of a proposed NPS.

The Ottawa Forum is hosted by The Medical Post and Pharmacy Practice, Canada's leading independent medical publications. Together, they have a 68-year history serving Canada's physicians and pharmacists.

WATERLOO -- A University of Waterloo researcher who participated in a major international study measuring the impact of smoking on air quality in Irish pubs around the world says the results made public today underscore the need for smoke-free laws to protect public health.

The study on air quality in Irish pubs found that indoor air pollution in authentic Irish pubs in Ireland, where a smoke-free law has been in effect for two years, is 91 per cent lower than in Irish pubs located in other countries and cities where smoke-free laws do not apply. The report is titled, How Smoke-free Laws Improve Air Quality: A Global Study of Irish Pubs.

Geoffrey Fong, a UW professor of psychology, coordinated the Canadian and Beijing part of the global study on air quality in Irish pubs located in 45 cities in 13 countries. Fifteen of the 45 Irish pubs were in smoke-free communities, while the other 30 were in smoking-permitted communities. Waterloo was one of the test sites.

Besides Fong, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and health authorities in Ireland collaborated on the global study that assessed air samples from a total of 128 "Irish pubs" in 15 countries in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

In March 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country to have a nationwide ban on indoor smoking in all public spaces, including restaurants and pubs. The policy provides an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of comprehensive smoke-free laws by comparing Irish indoor public spaces to public spaces elsewhere.

Despite claims that the law could have a negative economic impact, Ireland has seen no decline in business at pubs and restaurants. In fact, business in that sector has improved, according to the Central Statistics Office in Ireland

"This study demonstrates so clearly the power of smoke-free laws to reduce and eliminate a source of extreme hazard for the public," Fong said. "Tobacco smoke pollution is a leading cause of premature death."

He also said that it has been estimated that for every eight smokers who die of a smoking-related disease, one non-smoker dies of second-hand smoke. "People have very little idea how poisonous tobacco smoke is. It's far more than a mere inconvenience; it is very dangerous."

He added that improved ventilation within pubs is not a solution. "The ferocity of the ventilation required to reduce tobacco smoke to non-hazardous levels has been compared to a tornado. So claims that ventilation systems can significantly reduce health hazards of tobacco smoke are not accurate."

Fong said the comprehensive smoke-free law in Ireland has been a resounding success.

The presence of tobacco smoke in Irish pubs went from 98 per cent of pubs to about five per cent after the law. By comparison, tobacco smoke remained at 97 per cent of pubs in the United Kingdom.

As well, smokers supported the smoke-free law after its implementation, with 83 per cent of puffers saying that the smoke-free law in Ireland was "a good thing" or "a very good thing" for Ireland, and 64 per cent saying they supported "the total ban on smoking inside pubs."

"The Irish Pub study demonstrates at the global level both the successes of smoke-free laws and the challenges to health that still exist in countries that have not yet implemented smoke-free laws," Fong said.

Protection against exposure to tobacco smoke is one of the policies of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first international health treaty. The 120-plus countries that have ratified the FCTC now are obligated to pass laws that will indeed protect people against tobacco smoke in public places.

On May 31, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act will be implemented in the province, which will prohibit smoking in all enclosed workplaces and public places, including bars, restaurants, bingo halls and private clubs (such as legion halls). Still, smoking will be allowed on outdoor patios that do not have a roof.

"This is a significant advance in public health laws in Ontario," Fong said. "But the technical definitions of what a roof is will likely be a challenge for regulators and for owners of hospitality establishments. Beyond that challenge, there will still be restaurant and bar staff who will be exposed to significant levels of tobacco smoke."

TORONTO - A growing number of Canadians are researching health information on the Internet to diagnose their own medical conditions, says HealthInsider, a national survey by IBM.

IBM's latest health survey of 2,500 Canadians found of those who used the Internet to obtain health information, 37 per cent had done so in an attempt to diagnose themselves. This is a 48 per cent increase over 2003. Additionally, more than a quarter of those seeking health information looked to confirm or question their physician's diagnosis. The study also revealed the number of Canadians using the Internet to check the results of medical research, speak to others with the same health condition or to manage a health condition has increased since 2003.

"The Internet has become the main source of health information for approximately three in 10 Canadians," said Neil Stuart, a partner in IBM Business Consulting Services' healthcare practice. "In 2003, the Internet surpassed the physician as Canada's primary source for health information. Now we see a trend toward Canadians using physicians and the Internet equally, indicating online medical information is being used more prudently." While more Canadians are using the Internet for diagnostic purposes, the vast majority feel it is difficult to determine which information found online can be trusted and that the quality of medical information on the Internet needs to be improved, the study said.

The top criteria used to determine the validity of the health information on a particular Web site are: endorsement by a recognized expert or authority; an affiliation with a credible health organization (such as a medical school); or third-party content control (such as accreditation by the government).

Canadians use the Internet to get health information because it's convenient, with 44 per cent of respondents saying that it was "easy and simple to get health information online," and 30 per cent saying online information is "accessible 24 hours a day."

Other findings of interest:

- Those who use the Internet in Ontario are most likely to use it to get health information, and Saskatchewan Internet users are the least likely.

- Of the Canadians who obtained health information on the Internet, almost 50 per cent in BC and Ontario spoke with their doctors about the health information they found online, compared to 42 per cent in Alberta and 38 per cent in Saskatchewan

- While Internet use was highest among Canadians age 15-24, this group used the Internet the least to find health information

- Males and females reported similar rates of Internet use, but females were more likely to search for health information online

London School of Economics Validation: "High Probability of Underestimation" in Half-Billion Health Interventions 2000-2005, Valued at US$4.4 Billion, Recorded by IFPMA Survey

LONDON, UK, March 8 - The London School of Economics (LSE) Health & Social Care Unit today issued a formal Validation Report on the Health Partnerships Survey undertaken last year by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

The Health Partnerships Survey, unveiled in December 2005 by Dr. Daniel Vasella, IFPMA President and Chairman and CEO of Novartis, determined that, over the five years since the United Nations announced its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the 126 health partnerships created by the R&D pharmaceutical industry have provided enough health interventions to help up to 539 million people, or more than two-thirds the population of sub-Saharan Africa (1). In the process, the industry made available medicines, vaccines, equipment, health education and manpower worth US$4.38 billion (2), with the cost of donated medicines valued conservatively at their wholesale price.

The lead author of the report, Dr. Panos Kanavos, Lecturer in International Health Policy at the LSE, said "Having thoroughly reviewed the raw data and compared it with publicly available sources of information, our conclusion is that the IFPMA Survey is a conservative measure of the pharmaceutical industry's overall philanthropic effort to improve the health of people living in developing countries. Where contributions were difficult to value, they were excluded from the total, which therefore very probably underestimates the sector's combined contribution. For example, companies' investments in R&D into tropical diseases offering little or no commercial return was not counted."

He continued: "As far as we could discern, the Survey represents a first attempt by any industry to provide a global estimate of its role in the partnership to achieve the MDGs. It sets a standard to which other important industries might aspire, encouraging them to measure their commitment to the developing world."

The authors of the LSE report recommended that the IFPMA repeat the Survey on a regular basis, using a consistent methodology, to provide an up-to-date record of the industry's overall commitment to the MDGs. They also felt that the decision to exclude expenditure on R&D in neglected diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries helped to underestimate the overall industry contribution and that measurement of this R&D investment would be a welcome addition to future surveys.

(1) The survey measured the number of people potentially receiving help by counting (a) the delivery of sufficient medicine to cure one person of one disease, (b) the provision of a course of therapy sufficient to manage one disorder in one person for one year, (c) provision of sufficient vaccine to immunize one person against one disease for at least one year, or (d) delivery of a proven program of health education to one person. These metrics were used because, while companies know the number of doses they make available, they have a less precise view of the number of patients actually treated. The total number of people receiving health assistance may be reduced if individuals are treated more than once by the same program or receive help from more than one program, but this is very difficult to quantify.

(2) This valuation includes cash contributions, donated drugs, diagnostics and vaccines valued at wholesale price, and other in-kind contributions such as direct provision of health care services, education and training, and infrastructure development and support, for developing countries only (the 153 countries classified as low or medium income by the World Bank). It excludes the value foregone of drugs sold at preferential prices and assistance provided via long-term health development programs in other countries, as well as all industry emergency relief contributions to natural disasters in developed countries, as with Hurricane Katrina, or in developing countries, as with the Indian Ocean tsunami. It also excludes spending on R&D into neglected diseases, disproportionately affecting people in developing countries.

The World Bank said malnutrition is costing developing countries as much as three percent of their annual gross domestic products and called for a new push to combat the problem in pregnant women and children younger than two years old, reports The Wall Street Journal.

A new World Bank report issued Thursday entitled “Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development,” estimated lost productivity resulting from an undernourished population. According to the report, the effect is significant suggesting that Africa and the South Asian economies together are losing as much as $36 billion a year, or 3 percent of those regions’ 2003 GDPs, said Meera Shekar, Senior Nutrition Specialist in the World Bank's Human Development Network in Washington and lead author of the report.

The BBC (UK) writes the World Bank estimates that nearly 60 percent of children who die across the world each year from common diseases such as diarrhea and malaria could have survived had they not been malnourished in the first place. "Poor nutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide - a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death," said Jean-Louis Sarbib, Senior Vice President for human development at the World Bank. "It is intimately linked with poor health and environmental factors, and yet policymakers, politicians and economists often fail to recognize these connections," he added.

The Washington Post notes that in many countries where malnutrition is widespread, food production is not the limiting factor unless there is famine, according to the report. Rather, some of the most important factors stem from the fact that pregnant and nursing woman eat too few calories and too little protein, have untreated infections that lead to low birth weight or get too little rest. Mothers have too little time to take care of their young children or themselves during pregnancy and often discard their first breast milk in the first few days after birth which strengthens the child's immune system. In addition, mothers often feed babies food other than breast milk during their first six months even though exclusive breast milk is the best source of nutrients and gives the best protection against disease.

The New York Times writes the study notes that the irreversible damage malnutrition causes to children occurs by age two, long before they begin primary school, and the World Bank contends that efforts to combat this scourge must concentrate on the brief window of opportunity between gestation and age two, with a focus on teaching mothers to properly feed and care for babies and toddlers.

Agence France Presse adds that the problem is at its most severe in South Asia and not, as might be supposed, in Sub Saharan Africa. Rates of under-nutrition in children in India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan range from 38 to 51 percent, compared to 26 percent for countries in Sub Saharan Africa. "Nearly half of India's children are undernourished, compared with a quarter of those in Sub Saharan Africa," said Praful Patel, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. The report warned however, that malnutrition is on the rise in Sub Saharan Africa, and noted that since malnutrition and HIV/AIDS reinforce each other, the success of HIV/AIDS programs in Africa depends in part on paying more attention to nutrition.

The Times of India notes the report states that India has one of the world's worst rates of childhood malnutrition, a fact that keeps the country from developing even faster. “Twenty-six percent of children in the highest income bracket in India are underweight and 65 percent are anemic,” said Shekar. "Anaemic children perform less well in school, are more likely to drop out and have lower intellectual and physical productivity as adults. Everyone talks about how well India is doing in the IT industry. Imagine how much better it could do, if 65 percent of the richest and 88 percent of the poorest children were not anemic," the report said.

Reuters writes the report urged aid donors and development agencies to use their combined resources of aid, analysis and advocacy to persuade governments to move nutrition up the agenda. But it said funding for nutrition programs was woeful. It urged the development community to co-finance a grant fund that would complement a recent $3.6 million World Bank grant to boost understanding and research of nutrition in maternal and child health programs. Initial estimates suggested the costs to address micronutrient deficiencies in Africa was about $235 million, but it said more comprehensive global vitamin and iodized salt programs would likely cost more than $1 billion a year.

The New York Times notes that while many experts would agree with the Bank's assessment of the evidence on malnutrition, its policy recommendations are sure to be controversial at a time when the world is pushing to halve poverty in the coming decade and school feeding programs are often seen as part of the solution.

The following outlets also reported on the World Bank’s “Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development” study: EFE News Service (Spain), Liberation (France), Tages Anzeiger (Switzerland), The Associated Press, Business Week, Forbes, CBS News, MSN Money/CNBC, WJLA (NBC, Washington, DC), The LA Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Post Intelligence, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Orlando Sentinel, The Australian, Red Orbit, Salon.com, Harold News Daily, Bismark Tribune, Brocktown News, The Macon Telegraph, ElyTimes, Jackson News-Tribune, NewsDay, and News One (Canada).

Respondents Express Desire for Better Scheduling and Self-Service - Capabilities to Elevate Levels of Patient Care, Reduce Staff Turnover

TORONTO - Workbrain Corporation announced the results of its survey of attendees at the 2006 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference & Exhibition held Feb. 12 - 15, 2006 in San Diego, CA. The survey confirmed that respondents link automated scheduling and nurse self-service with improved patient outcomes. Respondents also expressed the need for greater visibility into the health and performance of their workforce with the ability to anticipate staffing needs and ensuring staff with the appropriate skillset are deployed in the departments that need them most.

Automated Scheduling Key to Reducing Nurse Burn-out and Medical Errors It is clear from the responses that maintaining top quality patient care remains a priority for hospitals. 85 percent of respondents believe that having the right skillset on the floor at the right time reduces overall medical errors. However, only 56 percent of respondents believe that their organization does a good job of having the right set of skills on the floor at the right time. This points to the need for hospitals to carefully schedule employees in accordance with the department's projected demand and manage optimal staffing by not only having the right number of employees, but also the right mix - a challenge for hospitals who rely on manual, paper-based scheduling processes. Automated scheduling systems enable healthcare organizations to match demand projections against staff availability to manage labor costs while improving patient care and reducing nurse burn-out.

Scheduling shift lengths that minimize medical errors is another concern for healthcare providers. In the Health Affairs article "The Working Hours of Hospital Staff Nurses and Patient Safety." the authors point out that "both errors and near errors are more likely to occur when hospital staff nurses work twelve or more hours at a stretch."(1) Automated scheduling enables healthcare organizations to staff more flexibly, offering shorter shifts to meet peak demand needs while potentially reducing medical errors.

Moreover, while 87 percent of respondents believe that the ability to accurately predict future staffing needs is an important component of their business strategy, only 47 percent of respondents indicated that their hospitals could currently predict these needs.

Self-Service Reduces Nurse Burn-out, Improves Employee Satisfaction 87 percent of respondents believe that nurse burn-out adversely affects patient outcomes. When asked to rate the factors that reduce nurse burn-out, 81 percent of respondents rated self-scheduling above reduced overtime or shorter shifts. Respondents also recognize the link between greater nurse autonomy and higher patient care, with 76 percent of respondents maintaining that care improves when nurses feel they have more control over their work life. Additionally, 85 percent of respondents felt that increased autonomy over scheduling would decrease turnover throughout the organization. And while self-scheduling topped the list of factors that positively impact nurse burn-out and reduce turnover, only 37 percent of respondents felt that their hospitals' self-service processes were sufficiently automated.

"The survey validates what we have known all along: allowing staff to manage their own schedule in accordance with hospital rules not only reduces employee turnover but also improves patient care - simultaneously addressing two big challenges for healthcare organizations of all sizes," said Jennifer Langer, senior director, healthcare solutions, Workbrain. "We work with leading healthcare organizations to ensure that Workbrain's healthcare- specific solutions like the Real-Time Self Scheduler improve patient care while boosting nurse satisfaction."

Workbrain for Healthcare helps innovative healthcare organizations budget, schedule, deploy and track their staff in alignment with quality care, patient satisfaction, financial performance and staff retention goals.

▪ Encouraging quality improvement through a continuous self assessment process

▪ Providing assurance to peers and the public that the organization has defined missions and objectives that are appropriate for the jurisdictions they serve

▪ Providing a detailed evaluation of the department and the services it provides to the community.

Background:

The Commission on Fire Accreditation International Inc (CFAI) is a non-profit corporation with a mission to promote excellence within the fire service through continuous quality improvement. That mission is achieved through a variety of ways including two programs which offer agency accreditation and chief fire officer designation, as well as other projects that enhance training, quality and information available to fire and emergency service agencies and personnel.

CFAI was formed in 1996 following a decade of development as a joint venture of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International City Management Association. The two organizations recognized the difficulties faced by local citizens, and elected and appointed officials, trying to measure fire service performance in the absence of universally recognized standards.

The accreditation process allows fire agencies to measure themselves against industry-wide benchmarks. Agencies that receive accreditation are required to undergo periodic review in order to maintain their accredited status

New Act Will Mean Better Coordinated Health Care Services For Ontarians

TORONTO - The McGuinty government is strengthening Ontario's health care system and responding to local health care needs by providing Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) with new powers through legislation, which received third and final reading yesterday, said Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman.

"Our government is building a health care system around the needs of communities and patients," Smitherman said. "This legislation will allow important health care decisions to be made at the community level by people who best understand the needs and priorities of community. We're moving toward a system that is better planned, coordinated and accountable."

After receiving Royal Assent, the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006, will give the 14 LHINs in the province the power to plan, integrate and fund local health services -- including hospitals, Community Care Access Centres, Community Health Centres, as well as home care, long-term care, mental health, addiction and community support services -- for their specific geographic areas.

"The Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO) supports the implementation of this meaningful and needed reform," said Dr. Jack Kitts, president of CAHO and The Ottawa Hospital. "LHINs will define Ontario's social landscape and enable changes on the ground, where patients receive care from Ontario's high-quality health providers."

The networks will allow local communities and health care providers to work together to identify local priorities, plan health services and deliver them in a more coordinated fashion. The government would continue to set strategic directions and provincial standards for high-quality, accessible health care.

"LHINs will break down the barriers faced by patients trying to find the health care services they need because those services will be better coordinated," Smitherman said. The minister also noted that the final version of the act includes a number of amendments.

"We've listened to organizations and individuals who have asked for changes to the legislation," Smitherman said. "We've responded with a number of amendments that clearly improve the Local Health System Integration Act." This initiative is part of the McGuinty government's plan to build a health care system that delivers on three priorities -- keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to doctors and nurses.

Soy protein, long known for its ability to help reduce the risk of heart disease in people with high cholesterol, is equally beneficial for heathy individuals, according to new research by a University of Guelph nutritional scientist.

The study by Prof. Alison Duncan was published this week in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It found that soy protein, regardless of how much isoflavones it contains, helps reduce blood fats and the chances of cardiovascular disease in healthy men. Isoflavones — non-nutritive, naturally occurring plant chemicals found in high concentrations in soy — are known to have protective functions against hormone-related disorders including certain forms of cancer.

“Many previous studies support the role soy protein plays in reducing serum lipids, but few have looked at the role isoflavones play, especially in the diets of healthy people,” Duncan said. “If we want to maximize the cardiovascular disease prevention potential of soy, it’s also important to study healthy individuals, especially healthy young men, because most studies have focused only on women or both women and older men.”

Duncan’s study included 35 healthy men (average age 28) who took three different supplements for periods of eight weeks: “regular” milk protein, soy protein with low isoflavone content, and soy with high isoflavone content. The supplements were given in random order and spaced with a one-month break in between to ensure accurate findings.

“We found that isoflavone content doesn’t seem to influence the outcome,” she said.

Duncan added that, with heart disease being the leading cause of death among North Americans, research has increasingly focused on prevention. Diet is among the top prevention strategies because it’s the easiest, most natural way to modify blood lipid levels.

“Incorporating soy into a balanced diet is increasingly being seen as a positive step towards better health,” she said. “This study shows that it’s never too early to start and that there are benefits even for people who are healthy.”

University of Waterloo Daily Bulliten reported that a university-wide committee is preparing a plan detailing how UW would cope in the face of a pandemic of the much-feared "bird flu" or a similar disease that might make large numbers of people sick at the same time.

"Most large organizations have been asked to prepare a pandemic plan," says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services), who's chairing the committee. "We're well into this," she added, saying that the plan will likely be approved and made public before the winter term is over.

The goal: "a plan for the university to deal with pandemic, if it arrives or when it arrives . . . how we will keep running and ensure that our students can complete their academics."

Committee members come from such departments as health services, the residences, the UW police, IST, co-op education and career services, human resources, plant operations and food services. Dean of science George Dixon represents academic interests and is the liaison with Deans' Council, the working body of top administrators. Federation of Students and Graduate Student Association leaders are also part of the group.

Governments have been preparing plans for major contagious disease attacks for almost two decades, but the issue has been given new urgency by the threat of bird flu -- also known as avian flu, H5N1, pandemic influenza or, more generally, Febrile Respiratory Illness (FRI). The Waterloo Region health department issued an update in November warning that "the threat of a pandemic is now at its highest level since 1968" and summarizing issues for health care and the local economy and community. Barbara Schumacher, director of health services at UW, is a member of the health department's "Community Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan Community Stakeholders" group.

TORONTO - Results of a recent public opinion poll show that 76 per cent of Ontarians are worried about new health service user fees and that they won't be able to afford needed medical care.

"The McGuinty government's Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) scheme will spawn new out of pocket costs for patients", say four health care unions critical of the proposed new health care delivery model.

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), the Service Employees International Union Local1.on (SEIULocal1.on), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) believe the plan will dismantle the public health system and facilitate increased private delivery of care, more user fees and increased travel time and expenses for patients.

In January 2006, OPSEU, and ONA commissioned a Vector Research poll to find out what Ontarians knew about LHINs, if they believed it enhanced local control, and if they were concerned about having to pay for their future health care. The poll was taken between January 10-21.

The McGuinty Liberals are in a hurry to push the controversial Bill 36 (LHINs legislation) into law and have given notice they intend to shutdown debate on the Bill today. Yet the public consultations on this massive health care reform have been woefully inadequate, say the unions. They are critical that the Liberals haven't been forthright with Ontarians about how health service delivery will change and how services will be privatized, rationed and re-distributed over the vast areas of the new regional networks. Poll results show 82 per cent of Ontarians know little or nothing about the LHINs.

The LHINs legislation outlines the Liberals' clear intention to merge and transfer clinical and support services out of public, not-for profit hospitals and into the "community sector" - including long-term care homes and new private clinics. The scope of services covered publicly in hospitals, is more comprehensive than in "the community".

Drugs and medical devices are key areas where new user fees may be introduced as health services are transferred out of hospitals. Patients could potentially pay for entire services out of pocket, which is permitted under the LHINs legislation (section 25.3 of the Act). And they will incur new travel costs to access health services that have been moved out of their community and centralized in one location to cut the government's health care costs.

This further delisting of health services under the LHINs is contrary to what the Liberals committed to after they delisted eye exams and physiotherapy in 2005. At that time the health minister assured Ontarians that the McGuinty government had no more plans to delist additional health services. The four unions representing nearly 200,000 health care and community- based social service workers vow to continue to oppose the McGuinty health service re-structuring plan, even if Bill 36 becomes law. A province-wide multi-media advertising campaign launched recently by the unions will also continue.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and dozens of government ministers are meeting Tuesday at a Paris conference to discuss France's once-ridiculed call for an international tax to fight poverty and disease in the developing world, reports The Associated Press.

Ministers and envoys from 95 countries are joining dozens of NGOs at the two-day meeting, which also will consider creating a new international fund under the International Finance Facility to help buy AIDS drugs for poor countries. French President Jacques Chirac, with strong backing from Brazil, for the last four years has championed the idea aimed at paying for global efforts against poverty and disease in poor countries, although the plan has drawn harsh criticism from airlines and tourism sectors. Seventy-nine countries expressed support for the international tax proposal at the United Nations in September, but only Chile has taken solid steps toward creating it.

Les Echos (France) notes that among those who have expressed interest, Brazil, India, Thailand, Germany and Madagascar are expected to announce the establishment of a similar tax during the conference. Paris hopes that this "pilot group" will induce other countries to take the step. About twenty countries are currently in the building block phase. In France, the new contribution of solidarity, approved by the French Parliament in December 2005, should raise EUR210 million per year. It will not enter into effect until July 1, 2006. Its amount will be one Euro per domestic and intra-European economy class tickets and four euros for international flights. The fee will be 10 times higher for business and first-class tickets.

The Financial Times (UK) writes that French officials say that between five and ten countries are expected to commit themselves to the scheme this week and that this number is likely to double in the medium term. The US will not be among the 95 countries taking part in this week's meeting of mainly finance and development ministers. Officials in Germany said that it was as yet undecided whether Berlin would pledge to introduce a ticket tax as Hans Eichel, the country's former finance minister, was in favor of the scheme, but the new government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has yet to take a stance. A decision in favor of a ticket tax by Europe's largest economy - and a key player in the international air travel business - would add momentum to the movement behind new financial instruments for development aid. French officials insist the tax would not create more bureaucracy and could be administered cheaply by an existing institution such as the World Health Organization or UNICEF and held in a trust fund by the World Bank.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale, World Bank Vice President for Human Development, Jean-Louis Sarbib, explained that the purpose of the conference was to investigate various financial instruments available so that each country can decide what works best given its various policies or politics. Sarbib said he would prefer a combination of instruments that would help reach the Millennium Development Goals.

Liberation (France) adds that Sarbib said the airline tax idea would "offer supplementary and sustainable income." The International Monetary Fund is meanwhile expected to discuss the tax in a report to be released soon. As for countries, 107 supported the idea of the tax in September 2004, but as soon as it was a question of applying it to plane tickets one year later, there were no more than 79. Chile has already started charging a tax of $4 on international flights: $2 toward development and $2 toward tourism. A Brazilian official said that they expect to announce their decision Tuesday. The French government is also discussing the idea with China who has expressed a real interest. Aside from Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius and Cong-Brazzaville are also in the building block stage.

Finally, in a commentary published in The International Herald Tribune, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, Guy Sebban, writes that the airline tax will not improve the lives of the poor. Rather, he writes, the tax will penalize the very people intended to profit from it and divert attention from proven methods of fighting poverty, such as lifting barriers to trade. According to Sebban, there is a better way to increase funds for crucial antipoverty initiatives: Remove barriers to trade, investment and entrepreneurship in an open market. More specifically, bring the WTO's Doha round of trade negotiations to a successful conclusion by the end of this year as the World Bank has repeatedly proved that open markets and economic liberalization are the straightest and most sure route to economic growth and development.

InResponse® supplement supports insulin function by reducing oxidative stress

Kitchener— Response Scientific/Canada Inc., announced last week that InResponse®, a patented antioxidant supplement clinically proven to promote healthy blood glucose levels and support insulin function, will now be available in stores in Canada. The supplement, under development since 1996, has been shown in two clinical trials to support blood glucose metabolism and promote healthy HbA1c (Glycated Haemoglobin) levels. The product is being rolled out through independent pharmacies and select natural products retailers and practitioners beginning in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

“Ideally we’d like to support independent businesses, and it just makes sense to start in our hometown before working our way across the country,” said Rosalind Horne, Vice-President.

InResponse is already available in Kitchener stores Full Circle Foods and Resto Health Foods. The product is also sold at Advanced Wholistic Centre in Waterloo, through Lu Lanzon who does natural health consultations to teach clients how to heal with herbs, vitamins, and homeopathy.

Control of blood glucose levels is a day-to-day concern for the close to two million of Canadians suffering from diabetes. According to Health Canada, approximately one third of these people are unaware they have the disease. Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases in Canada with more than 60,000 new cases yearly.

Testing of the product has included an open label clinical study on 90 patients conducted at major medical centers, and a 20-patient confirmatory, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical study at Duke University Medical Center. The studies showed that InResponse’s antioxidant formulation reduced blood glucose levels by as much as 20 percent after three months. The product has no known side effects or contraindications when used in conjunction with other blood glucose lowering agents.

InResponse was specifically cited in the January 2004 issue of the Journal of Investigative Medicine in a review article by Emmanuel C. Opara, Ph.D., Research Professor of Biomedical Science at the Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. Opara, who led one of the studies of InResponse while at Duke University Medical Center, has been published widely on the role of oxidative stress in diabetes, and the emerging concept of using antioxidant supplementation to help manage blood glucose levels and the associated complications of diabetes.

“It has been suggested that some degree of supplementation with certain vitamins and minerals would be worthwhile for the regulation of blood glucose levels in diabetic patients,” Dr. Opara commented. “This concept has been supported by the data that I obtained in the open label study with the InResponse formulation.”

Oxidative stress is the result of an imbalance of antioxidants within the blood stream, which causes blood glucose levels to rise above healthy levels. InResponse has a unique combination of proven antioxidant ingredients, in specific strengths, reducing the stress from the oxidative process. Reducing oxidative stress is important in the proper metabolism of insulin, and enables the body to utilize insulin more efficiently. Response Scientific, maker of InResponse, utilizes only pharmaceutical grade ingredients in the forms that are most bio-available.

“Today, many people are looking for ways to combine nutrition, exercise and other means to promote healthy blood glucose levels,” said Gregg Webster, President and CEO of Response Scientific. “InResponse offers a new tool – a nutritional supplement that is supported by sound science – for consumers who are trying to actively manage their blood sugar levels to promote their overall health.”

Psychological distress was strongly associated with death. Of those seniors reporting high levels of psychological distress in 1994/95, about 62% of men and 44% of women had died eight years later. This compares with 37% of men and 25% of women at lower levels of distress.

Chronic disease more important for men

Among senior men, psychological distress remained positively associated with mortality even when age, financial and family stress, education and marital status were taken into account. But the impact of psychological distress was no longer statistically significant when the study took chronic diseases into account.

Low education, widowhood risk factors

For both sexes, the likelihood of dying during the eight-year period was higher among seniors who had not completed secondary education, compared with those who had.

In men, but not women, source of income was also a predictor of death. Those who relied on government pensions, income supplements or social assistance were more likely to have died than those who had other sources of income.

Men who were widowed had higher odds of dying than did those who were married or living with a partner. The protective impact of marriage for men with respect to mortality has been widely observed.

As expected, the study found that several health-related behaviours were related to the likelihood of dying. For example, chances rose among those who used to smoke or who were physically inactive.

The study also found that seniors who were underweight in 1994/95 were almost twice as likely to have died during the eight-year period. This may be an indicator of poor health and advanced age.

The World Bank said it is working with its UN partners to swiftly approve programs to combat the spread of bird flu with newly committed donor funds, reports Reuters.

The World Bank move coincides with reports on Wednesday of a fresh outbreak of the deadly virus in China, and the first known outbreak in Africa, where World Organization for Animal Health said the disease had spread to poultry in northern Nigeria. In an interview with Reuters, World Bank Vice President for Operations and Policy, Jim Adams said, "There is money now and the challenge is for governments to put proposals on the table which we will respond to very quickly." He said the first proposed funding from the $2 billion multi-donor war chest (pledge during a donor conference in Beijing on January 18), being managed by the World Bank, would likely be approved for Kyrgyzstan on Thursday.

Discussions are also underway with Turkey, where four people died from the virus last month, to consider tapping about $30 million in donor aid and grant funding to strengthen the country's capability to detect and eradicate bird flu. Adams said other countries also likely to benefit soon were Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. A program in Vietnam could possibly be expanded, Adams said. He said the immediate priorities for the World Bank and UN agencies were to work with governments to identify their most pressing needs to tackle bird flu; to ensure transparency in how the funds are used; and to compile an international framework for monitoring the programs.

Adams said the aim was to ensure that programs and funding approval were not caught in unnecessary bureaucracy. "We have deliberately put in place a framework we think will make things a lot easier to get into the program," Adams said. "If circumstances change, obviously there has to be some adaptation, but I do think that we found in Kyrgyz Republic - and now in Turkey - we are finding this approach to be quite effective in allowing us to move forward in weeks, instead of months, in preparing and appraising projects," he said. "For us timing is very important to get there before the problem," he pointed out. Adams said he anticipated a follow-up meeting - probably in Europe - of international donors before the onset of summer in the Northern Hemisphere to assess the global situation.

Bloomberg adds that Africa, already grappling with an AIDS epidemic and famine, may prove the weakest link in a global effort to stem bird flu, scientists and government officials said at a conference in Beijing last month. Millions of birds flock to the Great Rift Valley, running 8,700 kilometers (5,400 miles) from Syria to Mozambique, between July and October on their way from northern Asia to South Africa. The World Organization for Animal Health said yesterday it will send a team to the village of Jaji in Nigeria's Kaduna state to help the government.

In an interview with Bloomberg World Bank spokesman, Phil Hay said "The World Bank has offered help to several other countries in the region, including Eritrea, Kenya, and Malawi [and that] besides "monitoring the situation in Nigeria, the World Bank is currently helping Mozambique to finance avian flu prevention, preparedness and containment activities."

The Associated Press notes that bird farms across the entire north of Africa's most-populous nation are now under quarantine and a special assessment team was traveling around the region Thursday, said Junaidu Maina, Director of Nigeria's livestock department. He didn't say to how many of Nigeria's 36 states were under the quarantine order. "The significance is that it's a completely new continent that we need to be looking at," Alex Thiermann, an expert for the World Organization for Animal Health, said of H5N1's arrival on the world's poorest continent. Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 600 million of the world's poorest people, is particularly ill-equipped to deal with a major health crisis. With weak and impoverished government institutions in regions where many people keep chickens for badly needed food, experts say any mass killings of the animals - often a first step in controlling bird flu - will be difficult to pull off.

In related news, Reuters writes in a separate piece that that EU governments may soon be able to request funding to vaccinate their poultry against bird flu in areas considered high risk, as a short-term measure to stop the disease spreading, officials said on Thursday. Until now, vaccination has been allowed only in limited circumstances and the European Commission, which monitors national programs to keep dangerous strains of bird flu out of Europe, has shied away from generalized preventive vaccination.

LONDON, Feb. 6 - Arrow Therapeutics, the London based antiviral drug discovery and development company, has announced that its lead Hepatitis C compound has entered full preclinical development.
Originating from Arrow's focused chemical library and optimised in