Democratic lawmakers are seeking to use legislation that would reauthorize SCHIP, which will expire on Sept. 30, as an “opening to turn it into another giant middle-class health care entitlement,” a Wall Street Journal editorial states. According to the editorial, Democratic lawmakers have proposed to increase federal funds for SCHIP by $50 billion to $60 billion over five years in part because 18 states this year expect a combined $900 million deficit for the program. [click link for full article]

Infant formula and other baby foods that provide permanent protection from obesity and diabetes into adulthood could be on shop shelves soon, reports Lisa Melton in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.The foods, under development at the Clore Laboratory at the University of Buckingham, will be supplemented with leptin, the hunger hormone. Those who take the foods early in life should remain permanently slim. [click link for full article]

The beetle’s back and the crab’s shell owe their toughness to a common compound called chitin that now appears to trigger airway inflammation and possibly asthma, UCSF scientists have found.Insects, molds and parasitic worms - all common sources of allergies or inflammation — produce billions of tons of chitin a year. Humans and other mammals lack chitin, but we do have specialized enzymes to break it down. The scientists wondered why. [click link for full article]

Researchers compared population estimates of overweight and obesity across sexual orientation groups using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. The study sample of almost 6,000 women found that lesbians were more likely to be overweight and obese, putting themselves at higher risk for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. [click link for full article]

United Kingdom - Sanofi Pasteur MSD has submitted cross protection data to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) to update the licence for the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil®. The new data come from large phase III clinical studies, including more than 17,000 womena), b), and show that Gardasil® provides benefits against pre-cancerous and potentially pre-cancerous cervical lesions caused by additional virus types not directly targeted by the vaccine. [click link for full article]

The Commonwealth Government will provide $590,000 to the Hunter Medical Research Institute for research into the effects of maternal asthma and the growth and survival of infants.Asthma is Australia’s most widespread chronic health problem. It affects more than two million Australians, a quarter of whom are children. The research will examine the effects of asthma on unborn babies. [click link for full article]

Figures released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that there has been a 26 per cent decrease in the mortality rate from breast cancer among women aged 50 to 69 years between 1990 and 2004.The report, BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report 2003-2004, indicates that the rate is down from 68.5 per 100,000 women in 1990 to 50.9 in 2004, an average decrease of 2.1 per cent a year. [click link for full article]

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is also associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction or heart attack. While rates of several cardiovascular risk factors were also increased in study participants infected with HIV, the increased incidence of heart attack was beyond what could be explained by risk factor differences. [click link for full article]

Dietitians of Canada welcomes the release today of comprehensive, evidence-based guidance on obesity prevention and treatment. Obesity Canada, who led the development of the practice guidelines, engaged many experts, including dietitians. “Health professionals responsible for counseling individuals and their families about weight reduction and prevention of obesity will benefit from these evidence-based approaches,” says Dr. [click link for full article]

Dozens of women in Southwest China recently have reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies, NPR’s “Morning Edition” reports. Some women from the region’s Guangxi Province say they were forced to have abortions because they were unmarried, while other women were married and pregnant with their second child (Lim [1], “Morning Edition,” NPR, 4/23). [click link for full article]