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Hear! Hear! Texas Wines Fight Cancer Growth
It"s happy hour for Texas wineries.

Changes To HPA Pandemic Flu Media Updates, UK
Government"s announcement that the UK is moving to a new phase in the response to the current pandemic flu virus means there will be a change to the surveillance information that the Health Protection Agency will be able to provide to the media in future.
News of the day
Connecticut House Approves Two Health Insurance Pooling Bills
The Connecticut House on Wednesday approved two separate measures to expand health insurance pooling in the state, the Hartford Courant reports. The first measure would create a public health insurance pool open to all residents. The pool, intended to compete with rather than replace private insurance, would be based on the existing pool for state workers (Keating, Hartford Courant, 5/21). The bill will create a nine-member board of directors to investigate and recommend a plan to guarantee every resident health insurance. The bill also creates four committees that will work with the board and provide advice on electronic health records, medical homes, clinical care guidelines and preventive care. In addition, three task forces will examine obesity, tobacco use and care provider shortages (Stuart, CT News Junkie, 5/20).The cost of plan, known as SustiNet, could be a "sticking point" given the state"s $8.7 billion budget deficit over the next two years, the Courant reports The state Senate and Gov. Jodi Rell (R) will consider the plan next.The second measure would allow local governments, small businesses and not-for-profit groups join the state employee insurance plan. The bill would increase the current pool"s membership from 200,000 to an estimated 300,000. Juan Figueroa, a former state legislator and president of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said, "Both of these plans reduce costs and increase choice. The partnership (pooling) bill has features that SustiNet can build on. The two bills fit hand in glove." Democrats said the second bill would utilize economies of scale to lower costs. Steve Fontana (D), co-chair of the State House Insurance and Real Estate Committee, said, "The larger the pool you have, ... you reduce the volatility and the risk associated with that pool."Opponents say the pooling measure would affect only those who already have coverage. According to House Republican Leader Larry Cafero, "This bill does not solve that problem. If you don"t have it now, you"re not going to have it because of this" (Keating, Hartford Courant, 5/21).
Nutrition

Depression Medications May Reduce Male Fertility

As many as half of all men taking the antidepressant medication paroxetine (trade names Seroxat, Paxil) may have increased sperm DNA fragmentation -- a predictor of compromised fertility. Research led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center also found that the changes are reversible with normal levels of sperm returning after discontinuation of the drug. The study is currently published in the online edition of the journal Fertility & Sterility, and represents one of the first scientific investigations into the effect of antidepressants on sperm quality. "It"s fairly well known that SSRI antidepressants negatively impact erectile function and ejaculation. This study goes one step further, demonstrating that they can cause a major increase in genetic damage to sperm," says Dr. Peter Schlegel, the study"s senior author. "Although this study doesn"t look directly at fertility, we can infer that as many as half of men taking SSRIs have a reduced ability to conceive. These men should talk with their physician about their treatment options, including non-SSRI depression medications." Dr. Schlegel is chairman of the Department of Urology and professor of reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and urologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The study followed 35 healthy male volunteers who were given paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), for five weeks. The drug was used because of its relatively short half-life and because it has previously shown to exert the strongest effect in delaying ejaculation. DNA fragmentation, defined as missing pieces of genetic code in the sperm DNA, was measured using an assay called deoxyuride-50-triphosphate biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL). Results showed that the percent of participants with abnormal DNA fragmentation rose from less than 10 percent to 50 percent while taking the drug. DNA fragmentation, the authors note, is known to correlate with poorer fertility and pregnancy outcomes, even when techniques such as in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection are applied. It has also been linked with an increased risk for birth defects. The study also confirmed the effect of SSRIs on sexual function, with more than a third of study participants reporting significant changes in erectile function and almost half reporting ejaculatory difficulties. Normal levels of both sexual function and DNA fragmentation returned one month after discontinuation of the drug. Sperm volume, concentration, motility and morphology were not significantly changed by SSRI therapy -- although previous research by the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell team has shown SSRIs to affect these measures in some men. What accounts for these findings -- more specifically, how does the drug affect the sperm? Lead author Dr. Cigdem (Cori) Tanrikut explains that while the exact mechanism isn"t understood, the evidence points to the drug slowing sperm as it travels through the male reproductive tract from the testis to the ejaculatory ducts. Sperm gets "hung up," she says, allowing it to get old and its DNA damaged. "Our main clue is that DNA integrity was quickly restored once the study participants stopped taking the drug. This would have taken much longer had sperm production been affected," says Dr. Tanrikut, who is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and led the study while completing a fellowship in male reproductive medicine and microsurgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. She is currently adjunct assistant professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. "This is a new concept for how drugs can affect fertility and sperm," notes Dr. Schlegel. "In most cases, it was previously assumed that a drug damaged sperm production, so the concept that sperm transport could be affected is novel." "An estimated half of all infertility is related to problems on the man"s side," continues Dr. Schlegel. "It is our hope that this research can improve couples" chances for conception, and potentially better our ability to create drugs that won"t get in the way." Co-authors included Drs. Margaret Altemus and Darius A. Paduch of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell; and Dr. Adam S. Feldman of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The study was supported with help from the Frederick and Theresa Dow Wallace Fund of the New York Community Trust. Depression affects approximately 10 percent of American men over their lifetimes. Antidepressant medications are the most common form of treatment, with almost 233 million prescriptions written in 2007. The most common drug therapy used are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). While the current study looked at healthy, non-depressed individuals, it is known that untreated depression or anxiety alone can affect fertility. Recent research has shown that for both pregnant women with untreated major depression and for those who were taking SSRIs throughout their pregnancy, more than 20 percent of infants were delivered preterm. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center


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