| First Edition Cycling News for November 19, 2007
A war of words has erupted between American Jonathan Page and his Belgian Sunweb-Projob squad, with the outfit saying the cyclo-cross rider can't handle the pressure of a professional squad. Page was signed to a two year contract after his impressive second place finish at last season's World Championships, but has come under increasing pressure from the squad in recent races. The feud boiled over on the weekend with the squad sending its doctor around to Page's home in Oudenaarde to check if he was ill after the rider called in sick in the hours leading up to Saturday's GvA-trophy #3 in Hasselt. "Just a routine control," team manager Jurgen Mettepenningen told Cyclingnews of the reasons behind the visit. Page, who has failed to achieve the results his team was expecting to see this season, however didn't appreciate the doctor's visit.
Clinics far more than last resort
Griselda Ruiz is like thousands of seasonal cannery workers in Stanislaus County. She has employer-provided health insurance when she is sorting vegetables from late August to October, then hopes she doesn't get sick the rest of the year. The Modesto woman was stricken with diabetes when pregnant with one of her two children, and as often happens with gestational diabetes, the disease came back. As her diabetes escalated this past year, Ruiz bought medicine during two trips to Mexico. She sought help at the Golden Valley Health Center on Sixth Street in Modesto last summer after the pills ran out. At the clinic, a test showed her blood sugar was five times above normal and put her at risk of a stroke or going into a diabetic coma. Ruiz, 52, told Marlene Perez, the clinic's health educator, that she hadn't come in sooner because she was unaware of the nonprofit clinic's sliding fee scale.
On the march to defend sacked trade unionist Karen Reissmann
Trade unionists and health campaigners from across Britain demonstrated in Manchester on Saturday of last week to demand the reinstatement of nurse Karen Reissmann, who was sacked last month for speaking out against cuts and privatisation. The demonstration came at a crucial point in the dispute.Karen's appeal against dismissal is scheduled for 3 December. Unison, her union, is calling a day of solidarity two days later. Police say the Manchester march was attended by over 1,500 people. It was a sea of colour, with more than 50 banners from a wide range of unions, including Unite, CWU, FBU, NUT, PCS and RMT. Karen is chair of Unison's Manchester community and mental health branch and a member of the union's national health executive. Her sacking has sent a shockwave through Unison and beyond.
Aeolus Pharmaceuticals' AEOL 10150 Protects Lungs Against Mustard Gas
Aeolus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB:AOLS), announced that researchers from National Jewish Medical & Research Center have reported that Aeolus' lead compound, AEOL 10150 showed statistically significant protection of lung tissue in animals exposed to 2-chloroethyl-ethylsulfide (CEES; half-mustard). In a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health ("NIH") CounterACT program, AEOL 10150 was tested along with 19 other compounds to determine effectiveness in protecting lung tissue against edema and hemorrhage resulting from exposure to mustard gas.
AEOL 10150 was given to rats one hour after CEES exposure and again 6 hours later. Eighteen hours after exposure, lung edema and hemorrhage was assessed by changes in the bronchoalveolar lavage protein and red blood cell levels.
Parents, officials struggle over right to refuse vaccines
Marie Hansen of Spanish Fork says something changed the day she took her son Dylan to his 1-year-old doctor's appointment. Until then, Dylan had been successfully overcoming developmental problems caused by his low birth weight. But when he got his MMR and chicken pox immunization shots, he started crying uncontrollably and stopped breathing regularly. Doctors and nurses were eventually able to stabilize him, but Hansen says she never learned exactly what happened. She assumes it was a seizure, but all she really knows is that she soon realized something was wrong. "He just seemed really off the next week," Hansen said. "He didn't really run a fever or anything, he was just off. The best way I can describe it is that he kind of lost the spark in his eye. I can show you pictures and it's just night and day." Hansen is among a small but growing number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children, and according to the medical community, consequently increase the population's risk of disease.
UAW Workers At Ford Ratify 4-Year Contract
DETROIT -- United Auto Workers members have overwhelmingly ratified a contract with Ford. The deal sets lower pay for some newly hired workers and puts the company's huge retiree health care debt into a union-run trust. The UAW, which represents about 54,000 workers at Ford, said 79 percent of those voting favored the pact. Workers at General Motors and Chrysler have already ratified similar deals. But unlike those two automakers, the UAW didn't go on strike against Ford. .
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