Myriam Makeba, ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, recently vowed to support the efforts of Congolese charity Alpi, which provides food security and helps women living with HIV/AIDS reintegrate into society, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

Nearly one-third of state legislatures have approved or are considering cuts to health care programs for low-income children, the elderly, people with disabilities and others to address state budget deficits, according to an Associated Press analysis of all 50 states, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.

Several senators in a letter last week asked CMS to reconsider a decision to delay implementation of the second phase of a pilot program that provides disease management services to Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Liver hepatocarcinoma is a highly vascularized cancer, and more and more research is focused on the molecules controlling angiogenesis. In 2001, two novel peptides, known as prokineticin 1/EG-VEGF (PK1/EG-VEGF) and prokineticin 2/Bv8 (PK2/Bv8), were identified, as having potent angiogenic activities. The angiogenic potential of these two peptides during human hepatocellular carcinoma progression was evaluated.

Wilson’s disease is a severe inherited metabolic disorder, which is associated with intracellular copper overload and multiple organ involvement. Main cardiac manifestations in Wilson’s disease include arrhythmias and cardiac failure. Recently, researchers at the Ankara Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital and in Ankara University Faculty of Medicine investigated P wave dispersion (PWD) as a non-invasive marker of intra-atrial conduction disturbance in patients with Wilson’s disease.

Aerobic exercise significantly decreased the chemical imbalances that can lead to heart disease and stroke in postmenopausal women according to a study in the spring issue of the Journal of Women and Aging.Estrogen is known to reduce the chemical imbalances that can lead to cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke in postmenopausal women.

Black and Hispanic adults with diabetes, as well as those with lower incomes, are less likely than whites or those with higher incomes to monitor their blood glucose levels, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention,

The Virginia Assembly on Thursday adopted a $77 billion fiscal year 2008-2009 state budget that restores funding to the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

The Maryland Senate on Friday approved a $31.2 billion fiscal year 2009 budget that reduces funding for the state’s stem cell research program to $5 million, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) allocated $23 million for the program in his budget proposal.

Without “immediate reforms to the way our government pays physicians under Medicare, we can expect a major decline in the number of physicians available and an ever higher spike in the cost of care,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) writes in a Houston Chronicle opinion piece.