Clinicians should carefully weigh the risks and benefits of when to administer platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (Gp IIb/IIIa) inhibitors for patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing invasive treatment, according to a study in JAMA. [click link for full article]

“Trends in the States 2006,” Guttmacher Institute: The analysis finds that 29 states last year passed 62 laws related to reproductive health and rights. States enacted 26 abortion-related measures and 11 contraception-related measures, according to the analysis (Guttmacher Institute [click link for full article]

Researchers have developed a more accurate way to predict the risk of developing cardiovascular disease among women, according to a study in the February 14 issue of JAMA.”In the decade between 1956 and 1966, investigators in Framingham, Mass. [click link for full article]

Johns Hopkins cardiologists are calling for an expansion of the criteria widely used by physicians to detect and assess a postmenopausal woman’s chances of developing cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death among women in the United States.In an editorial appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) online, Roger Blumenthal, M.D. [click link for full article]

Malawi on Wednesday launched a four-year, $2 million partnership with the World Health Organization and the European Union that aims to reduce by 75% the country’s maternal and infant mortality rates by 2015, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Chris Kang’ombe, principal secretary of Malawi’s [click link for full article]

The National Governors Association in a recent letter to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt recommended that the Bush administration make several revisions to the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, CQ HealthBeat reports. In the letter — signed by New Jersey Gov. [click link for full article]

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday announced a $10 million donation to the Friends of the Global Fund Africa to help combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria on the continent, Nigeria’s This Day reports. [click link for full article]

A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. [click link for full article]

The following highlights recent news of state actions on human papillomavirus vaccine legislation. Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline’s HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. [click link for full article]

UroToday.com- Traditional wisdom taught in urological residency has been that healthy octogenarians with bladder cancer may be offered radical cystectomy without a significantly increased incidence of postoperative complications. While these patients may leave the hospital at a reasonable time, however, few studies have specifically evaluated the long-term survival and quality of life of these patients after cystectomy. [click link for full article]