The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday by voice vote approved a foreign aid spending bill that would allow the federal government to give contraceptives but not money to international groups barred from receiving U.S. aid because of their abortion policies, the AP/Forbes reports (Taylor, AP/Forbes, 6/13). [click link for full article]

An international team of researchers, led by Emory University clinician scientists, has found evidence that people suffering from moderate to severe cases of restless legs syndrome (RLS) are at significantly increased risk for developing hypertension.slRLS, a common and debilitating sleep disorder, adversely affects the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. The study findings were conducted by scientists at Emory University with colleagues at deCODE Genetics, Inc. [click link for full article]

Black heart attack patients are less likely than their white counterparts to receive advanced medical treatment, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Des Moines Register reports. For the study, researchers from the [click link for full article]

Patients with advanced-stage cancer experience very poor sleep quality and often have troubling staying awake, says Emory University researcher Kathy Parker, PhD, RN.Preliminary findings from the cancer sleep study were presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) convened in Minneapolis. [click link for full article]

The Senate Finance Committee by the end of June will mark up a bill that would reauthorize and expand SCHIP, according to committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), CongressDaily reports. Baucus said he met on Monday with committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to discuss providing as much as $50 billion to reauthorize and expand the program. [click link for full article]

Researchers trying to understand why high school-age boys are involved in serious delinquency more often than girls have found that males are exposed to higher levels of risk factors and lower amounts of protective factors.A new study of more than 7,800 high school sophomores from 40 suburban and rural communities in seven states examined 22 risk and protective factors associated with serious delinquency. [click link for full article]

Two new studies in the June issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP) suggest that periodontal diseases are a threat to women of all ages due to hormonal fluctuations that occur at various stages of their lives.One study looked at 50 women who were between the ages of 20 to 35 with varying forms of periodontitis. [click link for full article]

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a “black box” warning on various allergy and asthma medications. “Black box” warnings are precautionary statements about possible severe side effects of…

“The American College of Physicians (ACP) strongly supports Congressional efforts to provide Medicare and all stakeholders within the health care community with improved access to information about the relative strengths and weaknesses of various clinical products, procedures and services,” David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president of the ACP, told the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health today. Dr. [click link for full article]

Recognising that Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) kills almost half of the population of Europe and costs the EU 169 billion euros annually, the European Heart Health Charter was conceived by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Heart Network with the support of the European Commission and WHO Regional Office for Europe. [click link for full article]