UroToday.com - The moderated poster session on Traumatic and Reconstructive Urology was chaired by Reynaldo Gomez from Santiago Chile. It consisted of 25 posters on a variety of topics. Some highlights of the session included:Poster 2 by Richard Santucci from Detroit was entitled The Burden of Male Urethral Stricture Disease in the USA. The poster involved an epidemiologic and economic review of the diagnosis of urethral stricture disease which had a lifetime incidence of 0. [click link for full article]

Twelve primary healthcare centers (PHC), designed to provide essential medical care to people in underdeveloped urban and rural areas in the Dhi Qar and Muthanna provinces, will open by June 2007, according to Gulf Region South (GRS) District officials. Construction on 55 facilities in the nine southern provinces halted when the primary contractor, Parson’s Corp. [click link for full article]

The New York City Health Department today announced that, in the past three weeks, more than 13,000 enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR) have completed a follow-up survey about their physical and mental health after 9/11. The Health Department urges all remaining enrollees to complete the re-survey as this is the first opportunity for enrollees to inform the Registry about their physical and mental health since 2004. [click link for full article]

The incidence of stroke in the U.S. over the past 50 years has declined, although the severity of stroke has not, according to a study in the December 27 issue of JAMA.Stroke continues to be a major public health concern, with more than 750,000 new strokes occurring each year in the United States. It is the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer and the leading neurologic cause of long-term disability, according to background information in the article. [click link for full article]

In a joint statement released today, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Heart Association (AHA) summarize the evidence supporting lifestyle and medical interventions that can help to prevent the development of heart disease in people with diabetes. [click link for full article]

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY LEAVITTWhen the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released the Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan Part I, a year ago, I noted: ⬜We are better prepared today than we were yesterday, and we will be better prepared tomorrow than we are today.⬝ Indeed, we are better prepared this year than we were one year ago - and, by continuing to implement the plans we have outlined, we will continue to improve our readiness into the future. [click link for full article]

A new report from the Health Protection Agency shows that the number of people newly diagnosed with hepatitis C has increased; from 2,116 in 1996, to 7,580 in 2005. New figures also show that testing for hepatitis C has increased overall, for example, in GP surgeries’, testing has increased by almost 60 per cent between 2002 and 2005.The latest estimates on the number of adults infected with hepatitis C showed there were around 231,000 in 2003. [click link for full article]

Canada�”s New Government is one step closer to finalizing compensation to individuals infected with hepatitis C from the blood system prior to January 1, 1986, and after July 1, 1990.The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, said today that the federal government and plaintiffs�” counsel have concluded the final settlement agreement which will now proceed to the Courts for scrutiny and approval. [click link for full article]

Most postmenopausal women who took the osteoporosis drug alendronate for 5 years and then stopped did not have an increased risk for nonvertebral fractures in the next 5 years, suggesting the medication has a lasting effect, according to a study in the December 27 issue of JAMA.Osteoporosis is common among postmenopausal women. [click link for full article]

The FSA (Food Standards Agency) is consulting on different options for increasing young women’s intake of folate, a B vitamin, to reduce the number of pregnancies in the UK affected by neural tube defects such as spina bifida. [click link for full article]