Vision Loss Increases Linked To Diabetes | Women's Health News ...

You know all-too-well that straining to read a dinner menu can be, alas, just part of getting older. But for a growing number of us, the culprit for changes in vision might actually be more serious.

Visual impairment is on the rise among American adults, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, collected in 1999-2002 and 2005-2008, and found that rates of visual impairment increased a whopping 21 percent between those two periods.

Obvious factors, like advancing age or lack of health insurance, play a role in deteriorating vision. But the standout contributor to the soaring rates is actually diabetes, says lead study author Fang Ko, MD, a resident at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute.

High blood sugar levels can cause blood vessels in the eyes to grow abnormally, resulting in leakage and swelling. ?Fluctuating blood glucose levels can lead to cataracts as well as glaucoma,? Ko says. In serious cases, patients can wind up with scarring of the retina (the tissue in the back of the eye that processes incoming light and images) or even retinal detachment.

The good news? Whether diabetic or not, there are simple steps you can take to safeguard your vision.

Get your eyes checked?regularly Annual eye exams can spot trouble early, but up to a third of adults admit they haven?t had one in the last year, says Ko. Younger adults are especially at risk, because they tend to assume their vision is fine unless they notice major changes. ?The key is to get checked before something goes wrong,? Ko says. ?That way, your doctor can identify early signs of potential problems and address them before they lead to visual impairment.?

Keep blood sugar in check If you have diabetes already, take steps to maintain stable blood glucose levels, which will help prevent blood vessel damage in your eyes, Ko says.?(The right diet is vital to stable glucose, so consider adding these 14 Healthy Foods For Diabetics to your diet.)

Watch for serious symptoms Often, diabetes-related eye problems don?t show warning signs until the condition is severe. But blurred vision, trouble seeing at night, shadows or missing areas of vision, and floaters (tiny particles drifting inside the eye) can all indicate early stages of problems.

photo: Hemera/Thinkstock

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Source: http://blog.womenshealthmag.com/thisjustin/is-this-why-you-cant-see/

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Virginia Social Services Seeks Input from Parents for Family Needs ...

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) is seeking input from parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers for the Virginia Early Childhood Needs Assessment Family Survey.

The online survey will ?capture families" views on early childhood care and education? for the Early Childhood Advisory Council.

The goal of the survey is to help identify the most critical needs for funding programs and services for children and their families in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

All responses to the survey are anonymous and participation is voluntary. The website states the survey will take an estimated 20 minutes to complete.

James Madison University is conducting the survey on behalf of the VDSS.

Source: http://mclean.patch.com/articles/virginia-social-services-seeks-input-from-parents-for-family-needs-survey-f79d91e9

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House Republicans sharply divided on 'fiscal cliff' deal (Los Angeles Times)

FDA approves 1st new tuberculosis drug in 40 years

(AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.

The agency approved J&J's pill, Sirturo, for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications. However, the agency cautioned that the drug carries risks of potentially deadly heart problems and should be prescribed carefully by doctors.

Roughly one-third of the world's population is estimated to be infected with the bacteria causing tuberculosis. The disease is rare in the U.S., but kills about 1.4 million people a year worldwide. Of those, about 150,000 succumb to the increasingly common drug-resistant forms of the disease. About 60 percent of all cases are concentrated in China, India, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Sirturo, known chemically as bedaquiline, is the first medicine specifically designed for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. That's a form of the disease that cannot be treated with at least two of the four primary antibiotics used for tuberculosis.

The standard drugs used to fight the disease were developed in the 1950s and 1960s.

"The antibiotics used to treat it have been around for at least 40 years and so the bacterium has become more and more resistant to what we have," said Chrispin Kambili, global medical affairs leader for J&J's Janssen division.

The drug carries a boxed warning indicating that it can interfere with the heart's electrical activity, potentially leading to fatal heart rhythms.

"Sirturo provides much-needed treatment for patients who have don't have other therapeutic options available," said Edward Cox, director of the FDA's antibacterial drugs office. "However, because the drug also carries some significant risks, doctors should make sure they use it appropriately and only in patients who don't have other treatment options."

Nine patients taking Sirturo died in company testing compared with two patients taking a placebo. Five of the deaths in the Sirturo group seemed to be related to tuberculosis, but no explanation was apparent for the remaining four.

Despite the deaths, the FDA approved the drug under its accelerated approval program, which allows the agency to clear innovative drugs based on promising preliminary results.

Last week, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen criticized that approach, noting the drug's outstanding safety issues.

"The fact that bedaquiline is part of a new class of drug means that an increased level of scrutiny should be required for its approval," the group states. "But the FDA had not yet answered concerns related to unexplained increases in toxicity and death in patients getting the drug."

The FDA said it approved the drug based on two mid-stage studies enrolling 440 patients taking Sirturo. Both studies were designed to measure how long it takes patients to be free of tuberculosis.

Results from the first trial showed most patients taking Sirturo plus older drugs were cured after 83 days, compared with 125 days for those taking a placebo plus older drugs. The second study showed most Sirturo patients were cured after 57 days.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-31-FDA%20Approval-Tuberculosis/id-e579644bede1499e96b5c844e971e6e5

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Father of Conn. school gunman claims body

FILE - This undated file photo circulated by law enforcement and provided by NBC News, shows Adam Lanza. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people. Connecticut Medical Examiner Wayne H. Carver II told the Hartford Courant that the remains of Adam Lanza were claimed several days ago by someone who wanted to remain anonymous. (AP Photo/NBC News, File)

FILE - This undated file photo circulated by law enforcement and provided by NBC News, shows Adam Lanza. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people. Connecticut Medical Examiner Wayne H. Carver II told the Hartford Courant that the remains of Adam Lanza were claimed several days ago by someone who wanted to remain anonymous. (AP Photo/NBC News, File)

FILE - This undated file photo circulated by law enforcement and provided by NBC News, shows Adam Lanza. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people. Connecticut Medical Examiner Wayne H. Carver II told the Hartford Courant that the remains of Adam Lanza were claimed several days ago by someone who wanted to remain anonymous. (AP Photo/NBC News, File)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? The father of the gunman who killed 26 people in a Connecticut school shooting has claimed his son's body.

A spokesman for the family said Monday that Peter Lanza claimed the remains of Adam Lanza. He didn't say when the remains were claimed.

The 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14. He also killed his mother in their Newtown home before going on the rampage and then committing suicide.

A private funeral was held earlier this month in New Hampshire for his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was divorced from Peter Lanza.

Peter Lanza lives in Stamford, Conn., and is a tax director at General Electric.

Police have not offered a motive for the killings.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-31-School%20Shooting-Gunman's%20Remains/id-45da1fa20f664a24a8dbaf72c7223205

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Syria says rebels attack gas pipeline

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's state news agency said a "terrorist group" blew up a natural gas pipeline in the country's oil-rich east on Monday.

The government refers to the rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad as terrorists.

The news agency said the blast Monday some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Deir el-Zour caused the loss of around 1.5 million cubic meters of gas. It quoted an Oil Ministry official as saying the station fed electricity plants and a fertilizer factory and that engineers were repairing the leak.

Rebels have repeatedly targeted Syria's oil infrastructure in an effort to sap government finances. Last week, they reported seizing the al-Tanak oil field, also in eastern Syria.

Anti-regime activists say more than 45,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. Since then, it has evolved into a full-scale civil war with scores of armed groups across the country fighting regime forces.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-regime activist group, said rebels were clashing with government forces near a number of military bases in the country's north as well as in the central city of Homs and in suburbs southeast of the capital Damascus.

Rebels have made gains in recent months though few expect the war to end soon.

An international plan to end the civil war with a cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government has gone nowhere, mostly because both sides still seek a military victory.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-rebels-attack-gas-pipeline-113549693.html

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'Fiscal cliff' disputes remain as deadline nears

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House and Senate Republicans sorted through stubborn disputes over taxing the wealthy and cutting the budget to pay for Democratic spending proposals as Monday's midnight deadline for an accord avoiding the "fiscal cliff" drew to within hours.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke repeatedly Sunday to Vice President Joe Biden, a former Senate colleague, in hopes of settling remaining differences and clinching a breakthrough that has evaded the two sides since President Barack Obama's November re-election. In one indication of the eleventh-hour activity, aides said the president, Biden and top administration bargainer Rob Nabors were all working late at the White House, and McConnell was making late-night phone calls as well.

Unless an agreement is reached and approved by Congress by the start of New Year's Day, more than $500 billion in 2013 tax increases will begin to take effect and $109 billion will be carved from defense and domestic programs. Though the tax hikes and budget cuts would be felt gradually, economists warn that if allowed to fully take hold, their combined impact ? the so-called fiscal cliff ? would rekindle a recession.

"There is still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the Senate ended an unusual Sunday session. "There is still time to reach an agreement, and we intend to continue negotiations."

The House and Senate planned to meet Monday, a rarity for New Year's Eve, in hopes of having a tentative agreement to consider. Yet despite the flurry of activity, there was still no final pact.

"This whole thing is a national embarrassment," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Monday on MSNBC, adding that any solution Congress would swallow at this late stage would be inconsequential. "We still haven't moved any closer to solving our nation's problems."

In a move that was sure to irritate Republicans, Reid was planning ? absent a deal ? to force a Senate vote Monday on Obama's campaign-season proposal to continue expiring tax cuts for all but those with income exceeding $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Attached to the measure ? which the GOP seemed likely to block ? would be an extension of jobless benefits for around 2 million long-term unemployed people. The plan was described by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat.

The House and Senate met Sunday ready to debate an agreement or at least show voters they were trying. But the day produced alternating bursts of progress and pitfalls, despite Senate chaplain Barry Black's opening prayer in which he asked the heavens, "Look with favor on our nation and save us from self-inflicted wounds."

In one sign of movement, Republicans dropped a demand to slow the growth of Social Security and other benefits by changing how those payments are increased each year to allow for inflation.

Obama had offered to include that change, despite opposition by many Democrats, as part of earlier, failed bargaining with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, over a larger deficit reduction agreement. But Democrats said they would never include the new inflation formula in the smaller deal now being sought to forestall wide-ranging tax boosts and budget cuts, and Republicans relented.

"It's just acknowledging the reality," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said of the GOP decision to drop the idea.

There was still no final agreement on the income level above which decade-old income tax cuts would be allowed to expire. While Obama has long insisted on letting the top 35 percent tax rate rise to 39.6 percent on earnings over $250,000, he'd agreed to boost that level to $400,000 in his talks with Boehner. GOP senators said they wanted the figure hoisted to at least that level.

Senators said disagreements remained over taxing large inherited estates. Republicans want the tax left at its current 35 percent, with the first $5.1 million excluded, while Democrats want the rate increased to 45 percent with a smaller exclusion.

The two sides were also apart on how to keep the alternative minimum tax from raising the tax bills of nearly 30 million middle-income families and how to extend tax breaks for research by business and other activities.

Republicans were insisting that budget cuts be found to pay for some of the spending proposals Democrats were pushing.

These included proposals to erase scheduled defense and domestic cuts exceeding $200 billion over the next two years and to extend unemployment benefits. Republicans complained that in effect, Democrats would pay for that spending with the tax boosts on the wealthy.

"We can't use tax increases on anyone to pay for more spending," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

Both parties also want to block an immediate 27 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors who treat Medicare patients. Republicans wanted to find savings from Obama's health care bill as well as from Medicare providers, while Democrats want to protect the health care law from cuts.

Both sides agree that a temporary 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax was likely to expire. That reduction ? to 4.2 percent ? was initiated by Obama two years ago to help spur the economy and has meant $1,000 annual savings to families earning $50,000.

A senior defense official said if the spending cuts were triggered, the Pentagon would soon begin notifying its 800,000 civilian employees to expect furloughs ? mandatory unpaid leave, not layoffs. It would take time for the furloughs to be implemented, said the official, who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the preparations

___

Associated Press writers David Espo, Julie Pace, Robert Burns and Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiscal-cliff-disputes-remain-deadline-nears-082407825--politics.html

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