Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) — They're some of the most commonly use drugs around the world to treat heartburn and acid reflux.
Though they're considered safe, some of us may be at risk.
The drugs are called PPI's or proton pump inhibitors.
They're advertised in papers, the web and on TV.
Though short term use may not be an issue, long term use, especially in postmenopausal women may create a problem.
The problem is bone fractures, and it can make the risk of fractures in these women even worse.
Helaine Castaldi has reflux, which is stomach acid squirting up into her esophagus.
She was given Nexium; one of the most commonly used drugs to stop acid production in the stomach.
So Helaine Googled Nexium because she has osteoporosis and is on several other drugs.
She got a surprise.
“The side effects, bone fractures, wrist fractures, hip fractures,” Castaldi said.
It's not news to medical people.
A study of chronic use of this drug family called PPI's done in 1982 found that hip fracture risk increased by 35% after taking PPI's for two years, 42% after four years, and 55% after six to eight years.
It's not news, but not commonly known to many users.
“Especially older women who have a risk for osteoporosis, these medications increase their risks,” said Lis Ganjhu, D.O., St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.
Helaine was a heavy smoker until just a few years ago, and a recent article found that women who smoke and take PPI's have a higher risk of osteoporosis than non smokers.
PPI's include Aciphex, Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec and Protonix.
Acid blocking drugs can cause bone problems by blocking calcium absorption, by changing stomach hormones, and by changing how bones are formed and broken down.
Some PPI's are sold over the counter.
Dr. Ganjhu says there may be other ways to control acid, such as stopping smoking, weight loss, avoiding fatty foods, and using liquid antacids as needed.
She adds that not using the PPI's for reflux has risks too like esophageal cancer and scarring of the esophagus.
But Helaine remains concerned about the drugs.
“The osteoporosis is enough to worry about, but if the medication is going to rush that, than that's a worry for me,” Castaldi said.
Bone strengthening measures such as walking or running, getting enough daily calcium and vitamin D are all things to do if you have to take PPI's regularly.
If you're taking the over the counter PPI's for persistent heartburn and haven't seen your doctor yet, now's the time.
—
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(Copyright ©2012 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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PPI's and osteoporosis risk for women
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Womens Health News | Permalink
Published: Wed, February 15, 2012 @ 12:00 a.m.
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho
The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting.
Curious Republicans now pack his rallies. Supporters have funneled nearly $4 million to his formerly empty campaign account over the past seven days. And his staff is plotting an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in Romney’s native Michigan and beyond.
But things don’t look so strong just beneath the surface.
Santorum is underfunded and outmanned. He’s still lacking in organization, a month and a half into the primary season. And, after he won three contests in a single day last week, his opponents — on the right and the left — have begun their own efforts to tear him down.
An upbeat Santorum declared, “We’re building,” in a brief interview in Tacoma, Wash., on Tuesday before heading to Idaho for campaign events. “We’ve got a great volunteer base. In some states, we’re going to have staff. Other states we aren’t. We’re going to use volunteers.”
The former Pennsylvania senator has surged to a virtual tie with Romney in nationwide polling after his surprising sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. But, as Franklin suggests, his popularity may have less to do with who he is than who he isn’t. Santorum is not Romney. And with Newt Gingrich’s recent decline, that’s enough for some conservatives — at least for now.
Santorum had 30 percent support to 28 percent for Romney in a national poll released this week by the Pew Research Center. But the same poll said 31 percent of all adults had never heard of or couldn’t rate him. That’s a significantly higher number than for Romney, Gingrich or Ron Paul. Even among Republicans, one in five told Pew they didn’t know enough about Santorum to rate him.
Romney and others are working to make sure that changes.
The long-time front-runner for the nomination, Romney has deployed surrogates such as a former Santorum Senate colleague, Jim Talent of Missouri, to attack Santorum’s support for earmarks in Congress. The conservative Club for Growth has been equally critical. And Romney has been aggressive on the campaign trail, suggesting in recent days that Santorum and Gingrich represent the kind of overspending Washington insiders the tea party abhors.
At the same time, left-leaning groups such as the Center For American Progress and Emily’s List are going after Santorum’s comments on women. A staunch social conservative, Santorum has been critical of women serving in combat and sometimes in the workplace.
“Sadly, the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root,” reads a passage in Santorum’s book. “The radical feminists succeeded in “undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”
“These things that Rick Santorum is attacking are broadly supported by women and American families,” said Tara McGuinness of the Center for American Progress. “It isn’t 1952. Most American families have two working parents.”
On Tuesday, Santorum began running ads on Fox News Channel in Michigan. It was a signal to supporters — and to donors — that he planned to contest the state where Romney grew up and his father served as governor.
Look for Santorum to emphasize his message on manufacturing revival, especially in hard-hit Michigan. He plans a Thursday economic speech in Detroit, and his advisers see an opening to use Romney’s words against him — especially Romney’s 2008 New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Sensing vulnerability, Romney tried to pre-empt that in an op-ed Tuesday in The Detroit News.
He argued that the government should sell its share in automakers and return the profits to taxpayers.
Read more from the original source:
How strong is Santorum support?
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
BOISE, ID — The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting.
Curious Republicans now pack his rallies. Supporters have funneled nearly $4 million to his formerly empty campaign account over the past seven days. And his staff is plotting an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in Romney's native Michigan and beyond.
But things don't look so strong just beneath the surface.
Santorum is underfunded and outmanned. He's still lacking in organization, a month and a half into the primary season. And, after he won three contests in a single day last week, his opponents — on the right and the left — have begun their own efforts to tear him down.
An upbeat Santorum declared “We're building” in a brief interview in Tacoma, Wash., on Tuesday before heading to Idaho for campaign events. “We've got a great volunteer base. In some states we're going to have staff. Other states we aren't. We're going to use volunteers.”
His challenges were on display this week in Tacoma, where hundreds of supporters waited on cold, wet cement stairs in the dark to see the Republican presidential candidate with whom they're barely familiar.
“I don't know a lot about him, except I know he's more conservative than some of the other candidates like Mitt Romney,” said Tanya Franklin, a 54-year-old airline reservationist, who says she'll probably vote for Santorum in her state's March 3 caucuses.
The former Pennsylvania senator has surged to a virtual tie with Romney in nationwide polling following his surprising sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. But, as Franklin suggests, his popularity may have less to do with who he is than who he isn't. Santorum is not Romney. And with Newt Gingrich's recent decline, that's enough for some conservatives — at least for now.
Santorum had 30 percent support to 28 percent for Romney in a national poll released this week by the Pew Research Center. But the same poll said 31 percent of all adults had never heard of or couldn't rate him. That's a significantly higher number than for Romney, Gingrich, or Ron Paul. Even among Republicans, one in five told Pew they didn't know enough about Santorum to rate him.
Romney and others are now working to make sure that changes.
The long-time front-runner for the nomination, Romney has deployed surrogates such as a former Santorum Senate colleague, Jim Talent of Missouri, to attack Santorum's support for earmarks in Congress. The conservative Club for Growth has been equally critical. And Romney has been aggressive on the campaign trail, suggesting in recent days that Santorum and Gingrich represent the kind of overspending Washington insiders the tea party abhors.
At the same time, left-leaning groups such as the Center For American Progress and Emily's List are going after Santorum's comments on women. A staunch social conservative, Santorum has been critical of women serving in combat and sometimes in the workplace.
“Sadly the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root,” reads a passage in Santorum's book. “The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”
“These things that Rick Santorum is attacking are broadly supported by women and American families,” said Tara McGuinness of the Center for American Progress. “It isn't 1952. Most American families have two working parents.”
Santorum says he's not going to sit back and just take such shots.
On Tuesday, he began running ads on Fox News Channel in Michigan. It was a signal to supporters — and to donors — that Santorum planned to contest the state where Romney grew up and his father served as governor.
Look for Santorum to emphasize his message on manufacturing revival, especially in hard-hit Michigan. He plans a Thursday economic speech in Detroit, and his advisers see an opening to use Romney's words against him — especially Romney's 2008 New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Sensing vulnerability, Romney tried to pre-empt that in an op-ed Tuesday in The Detroit News. He argued that the government should sell its share in automakers and return the profits to taxpayers.
At the same time, Santorum's advisers are bracing for an onslaught from Romney. They were largely spared in the last trio of states — Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.
“We fully expect his search-and-destroy methods to be put on display. That's his M.O.: instead of focusing on his own record, their first inclination is to tear down his opponent,” said Hogan Gidley, Santorum's communications chief.
But there are limits to what Santorum's little team can do.
He refuses to hire a pollster and pledges to campaign from his gut. He has brought on veterans from Mike Huckabee's orbit, including the top spokeswoman for Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid and Michele Bachmann's 2012 race. Other aides, too, are coming aboard as Santorum's strategy meetings have grown from just one state to a handful of competitive races.
Yet he lacks a headquarters to have those meetings. Often, Santorum's top aides confer over conference calls or Skype.
The disorganization caused problems at the Tacoma event, which was held at an outdoor venue adjacent to a camp site of the local Occupy protesters. Lacking the staff to handle such logistics on his own, Santorum had left the planning to the state GOP.
A confident Santorum took the stage as supporters chanted, “We pick Rick!”
“You have very good taste. Thank you,” Santorum responded.
But in a matter of minutes, his supporters were overshadowed by shouting from liberal protesters who packed the event. Two were dragged away by police in the midst of his speech.
A week after his trio of victories, Santorum said he's raised nearly $4 million since then and expects to hit that mark soon.
Romney, by contrast, averaged more than $2 million a week over the last three months of 2011. Santorum raised less than $1 million over the entire quarter.
It's unclear how long Romney will wait to take an anti-Santorum message to the airwaves. His allies with the Restore Our Future super PAC already have bought time in several states and plan to go after Santorum aggressively.
Romney aides point to three vulnerabilities beyond Santorum's support for some earmarks.
They note that Santorum was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the federal circuit court in 1998. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate, to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.
Santorum also faced criticism during the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary campaigns for opposing right-to-work legislation, an issue Romney aides expect to re-emerge.
They also expect Santorum's endorsement of then-Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter over Rep. Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP Senate primary to become an issue. Santorum said in a video appeal for Specter, a social moderate, that the senior Republican senator was “with us on the votes that matter.” In 2009, Specter changed his party affiliation to Democrat.
Gingrich won't make things easier for Santorum either.
Despite falling in the polls, the former House speaker says he's the strongest Romney alternative.
The National Review, an influential conservative magazine, published an editorial calling on Gingrich to step aside and endorse Santorum. But Gingrich this week called the article “silly” and said he had no intention of abandoning the race.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Rick Santorum revels in sudden support
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
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Ellen Painter Dollar: 5 Tips for People of Faith Considering Reproductive Technology
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
1:00 AM
But his lack of name recognition, funding and campaign organization pose long-term challenges.
By Steve Peoples / The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho. — The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting.
click image to enlarge
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum poses for a photo with supporters after speaking at a rally Tuesday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
The Associated Press
DESPITE HIS RECORD, TEA PARTY SUPPORTERS RALLY AROUND SANTORUM
Supporters of the tea party movement, the grass-roots conservatives who've been relentless in demanding tough, lean budgets, are rallying behind Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum – but Santorum's record suggests he's hardly one of them.
His support among tea party Republicans is surging, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, which labels him the clear favorite of the influential group.
Yet while Santorum was a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007, he was hardly the kind of fiscal conservative whom movement followers crave.
“His record contains more than a few weak spots that make us question if he would resist political expediency when it comes to economic issues,” said an analysis from the Club for Growth, which promotes fiscal conservatism.
Added Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, “There are places you can say yes and places you can say no” as to whether Santorum is a rock-solid fiscal conservative.
The former senator, Meckler said, is “a relatively average Republican. His votes change from year to year depending on whether it's an election year. I'd say he's a relative conservative on taxes.”
Santorum's fiscal record is certainly more conservative than that of most lawmakers, and he's consistently supported major tax-cut legislation. But his record has some blemishes from the purist-conservative perspective.
Santorum most angered conservatives with his backing of the expensive 2003 Medicare prescription-drug program, which is expected to cost about $68 billion this year alone. Santorum told CNN last year that his Medicare vote was a mistake because the program wasn't paid for.
His vote for the 2005 highway bill – a $284 billion measure that was loaded with earmarks, including the infamous Alaska “Bridge to Nowhere” – also outraged conservatives.
Santorum has been a consistent supporter of earmarks, the local projects that members of Congress insert into legislation. Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates that in Santorum's 12 years in the Senate and four in the House of Representatives, he got at least $1 billion in projects.
“He's not in the pantheon of great earmarkers, but he certainly played the game,” said Steve Ellis, the group's vice president.
In addition, Santorum voted many times to raise the federal debt ceiling and for Amtrak funds.
“By most standards, he's a conservative. The problem is this isn't the (normal election) year by most standards. This is the year that Republicans are looking for purity,” said Terry Madonna, the director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Pennsylvania's Franklin & Marshall College.
“They want a candidate who has no flaws, no transgressions, no walk-backs for true conservatism. That's the nature of the debate right now. A lot of conservatives are afraid that they'll elect another appeaser who'll sell out the true conservatives and the conservative movement.”
– McClatchy Newspapers
Curious Republicans now pack his rallies. Supporters have funneled nearly $4 million to his formerly empty campaign account over the past seven days. And his staff is plotting an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in Romney's native Michigan and beyond.
But things don't look so strong just beneath the surface.
Santorum is underfunded and outmanned. He's still lacking in organization, a month and a half into the primary season. And, after he won three contests in a single day last week, his opponents have begun their own efforts to tear him down.
An upbeat Santorum declared “We're building” in a brief interview in Tacoma, Wash., on Tuesday before heading to Idaho for campaign events. “We've got a great volunteer base. In some states we're going to have staff. Other states we aren't. We're going to use volunteers.”
His challenges were on display this week in Tacoma, where hundreds of supporters waited on cold, wet concrete stairs in the dark to see the Republican presidential candidate with whom they're barely familiar.
“I don't know a lot about him, except I know he's more conservative than some of the other candidates like Mitt Romney,” said Tanya Franklin, a 54-year-old airline reservationist.
The former Pennsylvania senator has surged to a virtual tie with Romney in nationwide polling following his surprising sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. But, as Franklin suggests, his popularity may have less to do with who he is than who he isn't. Santorum is not Romney. And with Newt Gingrich's recent decline, that's enough for some conservatives – at least for now.
Santorum had 30 percent support to 28 percent for Romney in a national poll released this week by the Pew Research Center. But the same poll said 31 percent of all adults had never heard of or couldn't rate him. That's a significantly higher number than for Romney, Gingrich or Ron Paul. Even among Republicans, one in five told Pew they didn't know enough about Santorum to rate him.
Romney and others are now working to make sure that changes.
The longtime front-runner for the nomination, Romney has deployed surrogates such as a former Santorum Senate colleague, Jim Talent of Missouri, to attack Santorum's support for earmarks in Congress. The conservative Club for Growth has been equally critical. And Romney has been aggressive on the campaign trail, suggesting in recent days that Santorum and Gingrich represent the kind of overspending by Washington insiders that the tea party abhors.
At the same time, left-leaning groups such as the Center For American Progress and Emily's List are going after Santorum's comments on women. A staunch social conservative, Santorum has been critical of women serving in combat and sometimes in the workplace.
“Sadly the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root,” reads a passage in Santorum's book. “The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”
“These things that Rick Santorum is attacking are broadly supported by women and American families,” said Tara McGuinness of the Center for American Progress. “It isn't 1952. Most American families have two working parents.”
Santorum says he's not going to sit back and just take such shots.
On Tuesday, he began running ads on Fox News Channel in Michigan. It was a signal to supporters that Santorum planned to contest the state where Romney grew up and his father served as governor.
Look for Santorum to emphasize his message on manufacturing revival. He plans a Thursday economic speech in Detroit, and his advisers see an opening to use Romney's words against him – especially Romney's 2008 New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Sensing vulnerability, Romney tried to pre-empt that in an op-ed Tuesday in The Detroit News. He argued that the government should sell its share in automakers and return the profits to taxpayers.
At the same time, Santorum's advisers are bracing for an onslaught from Romney. They were largely spared in the last trio of states – Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.
“We fully expect his search-and-destroy methods to be put on display. That's his M.O.: instead of focusing on his own record, their first inclination is to tear down his opponent,” said Hogan Gidley, Santorum's communications chief.
But there are limits to what Santorum's little team can do.
He refuses to hire a pollster and pledges to campaign from his gut. He has brought on veterans from Mike Huckabee's orbit, including the top spokeswoman for Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid and Michele Bachmann's 2012 race. Other aides, too, are coming aboard as Santorum's strategy meetings have grown from just one state to a handful of competitive races.
Yet he lacks a headquarters to have those meetings. Often, Santorum's top aides confer over conference calls or Skype.
The disorganization caused problems at the Tacoma event, which was held at an outdoor venue adjacent to a camp site of the local Occupy protesters. Lacking the staff to handle such logistics on his own, Santorum had left the planning to the state GOP.
A confident Santorum took the stage as supporters chanted, “We pick Rick!”
“You have very good taste. Thank you,” Santorum responded.
But in a matter of minutes, his supporters were overshadowed by shouting from liberal protesters who packed the event. Two were dragged away by police in the midst of his speech.
A week after his trio of victories, Santorum said he's raised nearly $4 million since then and expects to hit that mark soon.
Romney, by contrast, averaged more than $2 million a week over the last three months of 2011. Santorum raised less than $1 million over the entire quarter.
It's unclear how long Romney will wait to take an anti-Santorum message to the airwaves. His allies with the Restore Our Future super PAC already have bought time in several states and plan to go after Santorum aggressively.
Romney aides point to three vulnerabilities beyond Santorum's support for some earmarks.
They note that Santorum was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the federal circuit court in 1998. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate, to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.
Santorum also faced criticism during the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary campaigns for opposing right-to-work legislation, an issue Romney aides expect to re-emerge.
They also expect Santorum's endorsement of then-Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter over Rep. Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP Senate primary to become an issue. Santorum said in a video appeal for Specter, a social moderate, that the senior Republican senator was “with us on the votes that matter.” In 2009, Specter changed his party affiliation to Democrat.
Gingrich won't make things easier for Santorum either.
Despite falling in the polls, the former House speaker says he's the strongest Romney alternative.
The National Review, an influential conservative magazine, published an editorial calling on Gingrich to step aside and endorse Santorum. But Gingrich this week called the article “silly” and said he had no intention of abandoning the race.
The rest is here:
Santorum welcomes sudden support
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
ASSOCIATED PRESS February 14, 2012 6:20PM
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, speaks at a rally, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
storyidforme: 25773075
tmspicid: 9370269
fileheaderid: 4298894
BOISE, Idaho. (AP) — The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting.
Curious Republicans now pack his rallies. Supporters have funneled nearly $4 million to his formerly empty campaign account over the past seven days. And his staff is plotting an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in Romney’s native Michigan and beyond.
But things don’t look so strong just beneath the surface.
Santorum is underfunded and outmanned. He’s still lacking in organization, a month and a half into the primary season. And, after he won three contests in a single day last week, his opponents — on the right and the left — have begun their own efforts to tear him down.
An upbeat Santorum declared “We’re building” in a brief interview in Tacoma, Wash., on Tuesday before heading to Idaho for campaign events. “We’ve got a great volunteer base. In some states we’re going to have staff. Other states we aren’t. We’re going to use volunteers.”
His challenges were on display this week in Tacoma, where hundreds of supporters waited on cold, wet cement stairs in the dark to see the Republican presidential candidate with whom they’re barely familiar.
“I don’t know a lot about him, except I know he’s more conservative than some of the other candidates like Mitt Romney,” said Tanya Franklin, a 54-year-old airline reservationist, who says she’ll probably vote for Santorum in her state’s March 3 caucuses.
The former Pennsylvania senator has surged to a virtual tie with Romney in nationwide polling following his surprising sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. But, as Franklin suggests, his popularity may have less to do with who he is than who he isn’t. Santorum is not Romney. And with Newt Gingrich’s recent decline, that’s enough for some conservatives — at least for now.
Santorum had 30 percent support to 28 percent for Romney in a national poll released this week by the Pew Research Center. But the same poll said 31 percent of all adults had never heard of or couldn’t rate him. That’s a significantly higher number than for Romney, Gingrich, or Ron Paul. Even among Republicans, one in five told Pew they didn’t know enough about Santorum to rate him.
Romney and others are now working to make sure that changes.
The long-time front-runner for the nomination, Romney has deployed surrogates such as a former Santorum Senate colleague, Jim Talent of Missouri, to attack Santorum’s support for earmarks in Congress. The conservative Club for Growth has been equally critical. And Romney has been aggressive on the campaign trail, suggesting in recent days that Santorum and Gingrich represent the kind of overspending Washington insiders the tea party abhors.
At the same time, left-leaning groups such as the Center For American Progress and Emily’s List are going after Santorum’s comments on women. A staunch social conservative, Santorum has been critical of women serving in combat and sometimes in the workplace.
“Sadly the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root,” reads a passage in Santorum’s book. “The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”
“These things that Rick Santorum is attacking are broadly supported by women and American families,” said Tara McGuinness of the Center for American Progress. “It isn’t 1952. Most American families have two working parents.”
Santorum says he’s not going to sit back and just take such shots.
On Tuesday, he began running ads on Fox News Channel in Michigan. It was a signal to supporters — and to donors — that Santorum planned to contest the state where Romney grew up and his father served as governor.
Look for Santorum to emphasize his message on manufacturing revival, especially in hard-hit Michigan. He plans a Thursday economic speech in Detroit, and his advisers see an opening to use Romney’s words against him — especially Romney’s 2008 New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Sensing vulnerability, Romney tried to pre-empt that in an op-ed Tuesday in The Detroit News. He argued that the government should sell its share in automakers and return the profits to taxpayers.
At the same time, Santorum’s advisers are bracing for an onslaught from Romney. They were largely spared in the last trio of states — Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.
“We fully expect his search-and-destroy methods to be put on display. That’s his M.O.: instead of focusing on his own record, their first inclination is to tear down his opponent,” said Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s communications chief.
But there are limits to what Santorum’s little team can do.
He refuses to hire a pollster and pledges to campaign from his gut. He has brought on veterans from Mike Huckabee’s orbit, including the top spokeswoman for Huckabee’s 2008 presidential bid and Michele Bachmann’s 2012 race. Other aides, too, are coming aboard as Santorum’s strategy meetings have grown from just one state to a handful of competitive races.
Yet he lacks a headquarters to have those meetings. Often, Santorum’s top aides confer over conference calls or Skype.
The disorganization caused problems at the Tacoma event, which was held at an outdoor venue adjacent to a camp site of the local Occupy protesters. Lacking the staff to handle such logistics on his own, Santorum had left the planning to the state GOP.
A confident Santorum took the stage as supporters chanted, “We pick Rick!”
“You have very good taste. Thank you,” Santorum responded.
But in a matter of minutes, his supporters were overshadowed by shouting from liberal protesters who packed the event. Two were dragged away by police in the midst of his speech.
A week after his trio of victories, Santorum said he’s raised nearly $4 million since then and expects to hit that mark soon.
Romney, by contrast, averaged more than $2 million a week over the last three months of 2011. Santorum raised less than $1 million over the entire quarter.
It’s unclear how long Romney will wait to take an anti-Santorum message to the airwaves. His allies with the Restore Our Future super PAC already have bought time in several states and plan to go after Santorum aggressively.
Romney aides point to three vulnerabilities beyond Santorum’s support for some earmarks.
They note that Santorum was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the federal circuit court in 1998. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate, to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.
Santorum also faced criticism during the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary campaigns for opposing right-to-work legislation, an issue Romney aides expect to re-emerge.
They also expect Santorum’s endorsement of then-Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter over Rep. Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP Senate primary to become an issue. Santorum said in a video appeal for Specter, a social moderate, that the senior Republican senator was “with us on the votes that matter.” In 2009, Specter changed his party affiliation to Democrat.
Gingrich won’t make things easier for Santorum either.
Despite falling in the polls, the former House speaker says he’s the strongest Romney alternative.
The National Review, an influential conservative magazine, published an editorial calling on Gingrich to step aside and endorse Santorum. But Gingrich this week called the article “silly” and said he had no intention of abandoning the race.
Continue reading here:
Rick Santorum revels in sudden support — but how deep?
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
BOISE, Idaho — The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting.
The rest is here:
Santorum revels in sudden surge
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
BOISE, Idaho – The latest Republican presidential contender to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting that will establish him as the conservative challenger to Mitt Romney. But things don't look so strong for the former Pennsylvania senator just beneath the surface.
Three new polls show Santorum, coming off a stunning sweep of three state contests last week, has pulled even with presumed front-runner Romney in the race to challenge President Barack Obama in the November election.
The shift in the polls for Santorum continues the startling swings in a contest that has been notable for its instability. It also comes during a lull in state-by-state voting and in the debates that have kept candidates in the public eye.
Republican voters have been unable to coalesce around one candidate as both the most electable against Obama and sufficiently conservative to win strong backing from the party's tea party and evangelical Christian base voters. Santorum claims he is the leading conservative in the race, while Romney has been pitching himself to conservative voters who have doubts about his former, more moderate, positions on key social issues such as abortion.
A saving grace, perhaps, for Romney is that his level of support in the polls has held roughly steady while a series of challengers, Santorum being the most recent, have enjoyed a tie with or lead over the former Massachusetts governor.
Curious Republicans now pack Santorum's rallies. Supporters have funneled nearly $4 million to his formerly empty campaign account over the past seven days. And his staff is plotting an aggressive strategy to challenge Romney in Romney's native Michigan and beyond.
But Santorum is underfunded and outmanned. He's still lacking in organization, a month and a half into the primary season. And, after he won three contests in a single day last week, his opponents — on the right and the left — have begun their own efforts to tear him down.
An upbeat Santorum faced more than 1,000 people in a Boise, Idaho, high school auditorium Tuesday night and said his ideas would carry him through.
He said he's someone “who can overcome the disadvantages of money and media attention and still be in a position to win. Ideas matter.”
But his challenges were on display the day before in Tacoma, Washington state, where hundreds of supporters waited on cold, wet cement stairs in the dark to see the Republican presidential candidate with whom they're barely familiar and he was heckled by liberal protesters from a nearby Occupy encampment.
Santorum has surged to a virtual tie with Romney in nationwide polling following his surprising sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. But his popularity may have less to do with who he is than who he isn't. Santorum is not Romney. And with Newt Gingrich's recent decline, that's enough for some conservatives — at least for now.
A New York Times/CBS News poll released Tuesday showed Santorum with 30 per cent support among Republican voters, three points ahead of Romney but within the survey's margin of error.
The new poll essentially mirrors results in surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Gallup organization.
The Pew results released Monday showed Santorum two points up with 30 per cent support. Gallup showed Romney maintaining a two-point lead with 32 per cent support. Both results were within the surveys' margins of error.
Both Pew and Gallup showed Santorum shooting up 14 points from a month ago.
Romney and others are now working to raise questions about Santorum's record as a lawmaker.
The long-time front-runner for the nomination, Romney has deployed surrogates such as a former Santorum Senate colleague, Jim Talent of Missouri, to attack Santorum's support for special projects for his home state in Congress. The conservative Club for Growth has been equally critical. And Romney has been aggressive on the campaign trail, suggesting in recent days that Santorum and Gingrich represent the kind of overspending Washington insiders the small government, anti-tax tea party movement abhors.
At the same time, left-leaning groups such as the Center For American Progress and Emily's List are going after Santorum's comments on women. A staunch social conservative, Santorum has been critical of women serving in combat and sometimes in the workplace.
“Sadly the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root,” reads a passage in Santorum's book. “The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”
“These things that Rick Santorum is attacking are broadly supported by women and American families,” said Tara McGuinness of the Center for American Progress. “It isn't 1952. Most American families have two working parents.”
Santorum says he's not going to sit back and just take such shots.
On Tuesday, he began running ads on Fox News Channel in Michigan, which along with Arizona hold the next primaries on Feb. 28. It was a signal to supporters — and to donors — that Santorum planned to contest the state where Romney grew up and his father served as governor.
“We think we can plant our flag there and do well,” Santorum said.
Santorum's advisers are bracing for an onslaught from Romney.
“We fully expect his search-and-destroy methods to be put on display. … instead of focusing on his own record, their first inclination is to tear down his opponent,” said Hogan Gidley, Santorum's communications chief.
But there are limits to what Santorum's little team can do.
He refuses to hire a pollster and pledges to campaign from his gut. He has brought on more experienced campaign aides, yet he lacks a headquarters in which they can meet. Often, Santorum's top aides confer over conference calls or Skype. He intends to rely on volunteers in some states.
Gingrich won't make things easier for Santorum either.
Despite falling in the polls, the former speaker of the House of Representatives insists he's the strongest Romney alternative and hopes to revive his sputtering candidacy yet again in the 10-state Super Tuesday contests of March 6 when a handful of Southern states hold races.
___
Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Boise, Idaho, Philip Elliott in Washington and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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Santorum revels in sudden rise in Republican race, but he lacks money and organization
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Traditional Surrogates | Permalink
FRIDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) — Breast-feeding reduces the risk of obesity in children born to mothers with diabetes during their pregnancy, a new study indicates.
Researchers followed 94 children of diabetic mothers and 399 children of non-diabetic mothers from birth until age 13.
It's known that children of diabetic pregnancies are at increased risk for obesity. The Colorado School of Public Health researchers wanted to assess how breast-feeding affected the growth of body-mass index (BMI), an indicator of childhood obesity.
The study found that children of diabetic pregnancies who were breast-fed for at least six months had a slower BMI growth as they grew older than those who were breast-fed for less than six months. The study found similar results in children of non-diabetic pregnancies.
The study was published online recently in the International Journal of Obesity.
“Breast-feeding support represents an important clinical and public health strategy to reduce the risk of childhood obesity,” study author and epidemiologist Tessa Crume said in a University of Colorado Denver news release.
The findings offer another reason to encourage and support mothers to breast-feed for at least six months, the time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the release said.
“We can work with pediatricians, obstetricians and the public health community to give these women targeted support immediately following birth,” Crume said.
— Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: University Colorado Denver, news release, Feb. 8, 2012
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When Mom Has Pregnancy Diabetes, Breast-Feeding Curbs Child Obesity
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Pregnancy | Permalink
Gaby Rodriguez was a 17-year-old high school honor student in Yakima, Wash., when she hit upon an imaginative senior project on teen pregnancy. She would declare she was pregnant. In the months that followed, as she bulked up with a home-made prosthesis, she would log the reaction of friends, family and classmates to her condition.
Rodriguez got approval from her teacher and principal, even the schools superintendent. Only her mother, boyfriend and one or two intimates were in on the ruse. In April, after six and a half months, she came clean during a school assembly, where she passed out index cards on which she had recorded remarks she had overheard and had students read them aloud.
Then she pulled the pregnancy bump from beneath her pullover. “I’m fighting against those stereotypes and rumors,” she said, “because the reality is I’m not pregnant.” She was warmly applauded by her fellow students, and lavishly praised by her teachers.
After the local paper, the Yakima Herald-Republic, broke the story, it became a minor sensation, and was widely reported here and abroad. Rodriguez did celebrity turns on ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today Show. She’s writing a book. By the time she formally presented the results of her experiment in May, she was no longer speaking to reporters, on instructions of her literary agent. A Lifetime Channel movie, The Pregnancy Project, starring Alexa Vega as Rodriguez, debuted last month.
I had missed this affair until I got an e-mail from a former colleague, Harris Meyer, an award-winning journalist and ex-city editor at the Yakima paper. Meyer was alarmed by the generally uncritical way in which the media had embraced Rodriguez’s project which, he noted, rested on a sweeping deception. It was “a case of unethical human experimentation,” he wrote, “ill-conceived and potentially dangerous.”
The media did swoon. “I admire her so much,” her principal said on Good Morning America. “Her courage, her creativity, her strength.” The segment ended: “Gaby plans to present her findings to community leaders to help young women fight stereotypes and find the same quality she discovered along the way—courage.”
Precisely what “stereotypes” she was battling aren’t clear. The comments she related expressed little more than the dismay and disappointment you’d expect from the friends of a talented student who’d done something very foolish.
Meanwhile, six of her seven siblings were left believing her pregnancy was real, as did her hapless boyfriend’s parents, who thought he was the father, his five brothers and sisters and everybody but Rodriguez’s best friend. All were part of what the Yakima paper called “a social experiment.”
Now, there has indeed been distinguished experimentation that relied on deception. A famous instance was Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1961 experiment that tested obedience to authority. Students recruited to help run a “scientific study of memory” administered what they believed were electrical shocks to unseen people in another room who flubbed exam questions.
But the students had been deceived: they weren’t helpers, they were the test subjects, and the memory study was a sham. The real experiment was designed to see just how much pain they would inflict if ordered, whatever the screams next door.
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Sex, lies and the pregnancy that never was
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Pregnancy | Permalink
Sydney, Feb 15 (IANS) Women with low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy are twice as likely to give birth to children who may face difficulties with speech.
The study, the largest of its kind, looked at Vitamin D concentrations during the pregnancies of more than 740 women, whose children were followed up regularly until 17 years.
Andrew Whitehouse, associate professor at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, who led the study, said the finding was significant, as Vitamin D levels among women have decreased steadily over the years, the journal Paediatrics reports.
“The developing baby is completely reliant on the mother for its Vitamin D levels and what we have shown is that this might have an impact on the child's brain development,” Whitehouse said, according to a Telethon Institute statement.
Whitehouse said the findings had significant implications in that it could provide an early intervention to prevent some language difficulties.
“We would now like to explore whether Vitamin D supplements in pregnancy could reduce the risk of language problems for children.”
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Low Vitamin D levels during pregnancy may affect kid's speech
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Pregnancy | Permalink
“Sometimes I talk about it, sometimes I don’t, but when I need to, I have a place to go.”
Read more: Local, Health, Special Section, Religion, News, Tori Greving, Angel of Hope, Savanah Herold, Ryan Herold, Angela Herold, SIDS, Infant Death, Miscarriage, Effects of Miscarriage, Multiple Miscarrages, Miscarriage and Grief, Grieving a Miscarriage, Stillborn Babies, Burying Stillborn Babies, March of Dimes, Women Grieve Miscarriage, Women Grieve Stillborns, Share, Share Pregnancy and Infancy Loss Support Group, Miscarriage Support Group, Grieving a Baby, Newborn Death, Losing a Child, Death of a Child, Hope, Palmyra Angel, Flower City Park
National SHARE office Angel of Hope garden at St. Charles, Mo.
PALMYRA, MO. — “It dawned on me that I’m supposed to help other people who are going through this.” –Tori Greving, mother of Madelynn, who died in her mother’s womb at 37½ weeks pregnant.
The response to recent columns focusing on the grief of miscarriage, stillbirth and early infant death has been enormous. Scores of women shared their own stories, or said they just couldn’t imagine such a loss.
Tori has lost three children to miscarriage. She has two other children and she's six months pregnant. Her experiences motivated her to do something to help. Tori visited a park in St. Charles where a statue is dedicated as a symbol of hope to all people who have lost a child. She attended a memorial service there where families lit candles to remember their loved ones.
“The first time we went there it hit me that other people had been through this. You feel so alone for awhile, and then you see other people have been there too. It’s just a healing thing,” she told me.
That’s when Tori started her efforts to bring an Angel of Hope statue to Flower City Park in Palmyra. After several years of fundraisers, her group is about half-way to its goal of raising $14,500 for the memorial. A majority of the remaining cost Tori hopes to earn by selling memorial bricks. These solid granite stones are engraved with a personal message. Click here to learn more.
The fundraising effort has brought together other families who have lost loved ones. People like the Herold family of Palmyra whose daughter Savanah Marie died at six days old.
“It lets you know you’re not alone. I carry a lot of it by myself. Sometimes I talk about it, sometimes I don’t, but when I need to, I have a place to go,” Savanah’s mother Angela Herold told me. You can read her story here.
The Angel of Hope originally started with a group called SHARE, which offers pregnancy and infancy loss support. A chapter meets in Quincy. The Quincy SHARE group and the people behind the Angel of Hope efforts expand their focus to include all people who’ve lost children, no matter the age.
We’ll leave our final words on the grief of losing a child for Lisa. Her story of burying seven miscarried children started this series and the offer of healing hope.
“If someone offers help, take it, don’t push it away. If you need help, ask for it … I feel better knowing that when I die, I’m going to see my children again.”
Take care ~Sarah D.
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God's little angels offer hope
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Miscarriage | Permalink
The Rottenstein Law Group, which represents clients with claims stemming from the side effects caused by the antidepressant Zoloft, has learned that drugs in the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor class of antidepressants can make a man who is taking SSRIs temporarily infertile.
New York, NY (PRWEB) February 15, 2012
SSRIs including Zoloft can decrease a man's sperm count by as much as 50 percent, according to a Feb. 6, 2012, article that appeared on Fox.com. The antidepressants in the SSRI class can also impair the function of a man's sperm by changing its shape and impairing its ability to move independently, the article states. These effects can become evident within thirty days of starting an SSRI regimen and they can have a major impact on a male SSRI user's fertility after just three months of SSRI use.
While the infertility that SSRIs can cause male users doesn't seem to be permanent, it can take a while for a man’s sperm to return to normal even after he has stopped taking SSRIs.
“[T]he situation is reversible and corrects itself once the medication is discontinued,” according to Fox News. “However, it takes 64 days for sperm to fully develop, and a man may not see his levels return to normal in less than three months.”
RLG’s Zoloft Lawsuit Information Center, at http://www.zoloftsertralinebirthdefects.com, has features that allow for easy sharing, including links for automatic posting on Facebook and Twitter, specifically to enable visitors to spread the word about Zoloft and the dangers of the drug. The Rottenstein Law Group, a personal injury firm, encourages visitors to link to its sites from their own blogs and websites to spread information about defective medical products and dangerous drugs.
About THE ROTTENSTEIN LAW GROUP
The Rottenstein Law Group is a New York-based law firm that represents clients in dangerous drug lawsuits. The firm was founded by Rochelle Rottenstein, who has more than two decades of experience as a lawyer, to represent clients hurt by d
Contact:
The Rottenstein Law Group, LLP
Rochelle Rottenstein, Esq.
1259 Veeder Drive
Hewlett NY 11557
(212) 933-9500 (office phone)
(212) 933-9980 (facsimile)
rochelle(at)rotlaw(dot)com
http://www.rotlaw.com
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Rochelle Rottenstein, Esq.
The Rottenstein Law Group, LLP
(212) 933-9500
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Rottenstein Law Group Learns of SSRI Antidepressants' Potential to Cause Male Infertility
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Infertility News | Permalink
Texas State Softball Head Coach Ricci Woodard knows about tough love. She is a mother, after all.
The woman entering her twelfth season at the helm of the softball program has experienced a lot in her tenure, but nothing has had as big of an impact on her as the adoption of two young boys, Joey and Alex.
“It changed my approach to life,” Woodard said. “It has made this more of a job instead of my life. We’ve won multiple conference championships in a row since I adopted them, so maybe it has helped me learn how to separate my job and my life.”
Since Woodard was named head coach in 2000, the softball team has never placed lower than third place. The Bobcats have appeared in three straight National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments and won five Southland Conference regular-season titles.
Assistant Coach Patti Brun has been with the Bobcats for six seasons, and noticed a change in Woodard from the time she started with the program and after the adoption.
“Some former players have said they think she is so much softer now,” Brun said. “But it has changed her perspective. It used to be much tougher in the day-to-day operation. Now, the little things don’t matter as much.”
While the little things may matter less, the big picture is still very much in Woodard’s mind.
“What I look back and see is all the second-place finishes we had that could have been first place finishes,” Woodard said. “And that’s not a knock on the players.The only way the team is not successful is if they don’t push themselves to the next level. This year, this team has the ability to do something special.”
Chandler Hall, senior pitcher and outfielder, is a big reason for the team’s recent successes, and has played for Woodard her entire college career.
“To me the greatest thing about Coach Woodard is how much she actually cares about each player,” Hall said. “She constantly checks on me on and off the field to see how I’m doing, and at the end of the season she tells me how much she appreciates me.”
The Bobcats have big expectations for this year as they look to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament and earn national recognition. Their schedule opened against several national powerhouse programs. Woodard knows that to be the best, you have to beat the best.
“For us to go to the next level, we have to beat (Texas, Baylor, and Texas A&M),” Woodard said. “We break it down. Focus on winning this game, this inning, this pitch.”
Even though her focus remains on the game of softball, Woodard said she likes to keep things in perspective.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the passion of this game, and maybe I was too passionate and forcing things,” Woodard said. “Now that I’m a little more relaxed in my coaching, the players are more relaxed in their play. Maybe I’m not as intimidating anymore. Adding kids to my life changed my life.”
View the discussion thread.
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Adoption affects head coach, team
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Adoption | Permalink
Texas State Softball Head Coach Ricci Woodard knows about tough love. She is a mother, after all.
The woman entering her twelfth season at the helm of the softball program has experienced a lot in her tenure, but nothing has had as big of an impact on her as the adoption of two young boys, Joey and Alex.
“It changed my approach to life,” Woodard said. “It has made this more of a job instead of my life. We’ve won multiple conference championships in a row since I adopted them, so maybe it has helped me learn how to separate my job and my life.”
Since Woodard was named head coach in 2000, the softball team has never placed lower than third place. The Bobcats have appeared in three straight National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments and won five Southland Conference regular-season titles.
Assistant Coach Patti Brun has been with the Bobcats for six seasons, and noticed a change in Woodard from the time she started with the program and after the adoption.
“Some former players have said they think she is so much softer now,” Brun said. “But it has changed her perspective. It used to be much tougher in the day-to-day operation. Now, the little things don’t matter as much.”
While the little things may matter less, the big picture is still very much in Woodard’s mind.
“What I look back and see is all the second-place finishes we had that could have been first place finishes,” Woodard said. “And that’s not a knock on the players. The only way the team is not successful is if they don’t push themselves to the next level. This year, this team has the ability to do something special.”
Chandler Hall, senior pitcher and outfielder, is a big reason for the team’s recent successes, and has played for Woodard her entire college career.
“To me the greatest thing about Coach Woodard is how much she actually cares about each player,” Hall said. “She constantly checks on me on and off the field to see how I’m doing, and at the end of the season she tells me how much she appreciates me.”
The Bobcats have big expectations for this year as they look to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament and earn national recognition. Their schedule opened against several national powerhouse programs. Woodard knows that to be the best, you have to beat the best.
“For us to go to the next level, we have to beat (Texas, Baylor, and Texas A&M),” Woodard said. “We break it down. Focus on winning this game, this inning, this pitch.”
Even though her focus remains on the game of softball, Woodard said she likes to keep things in perspective.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the passion of this game, and maybe I was too passionate and forcing things,” Woodard said. “Now that I’m a little more relaxed in my coaching, the players are more relaxed in their play. Maybe I’m not as intimidating anymore. Adding kids to my life changed my life.”
View the discussion thread.
Read more here:
Adoption affects life, coaching style
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Adoption | Permalink
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Pet owners that boarded their pets at Purple Hearted Puppies had until midnight to claim their pet but only a few people contacted officials.
“There were several people actually looking for dogs that had been missing for a period of time,” said Adoption Coordinator, Deneen Balistere.
The Baldwin County Humane Society, also know as BARC, said considering the number of animals it's taken in, it is right at it's limit, but are it's ready for the long haul.
“We have processed, since January 26, 73 foster applications, 80 dog adoption applications and five cat adoption applications,” said Sonja Presley, Baldwin County Humane Society Executive Director.
All of the applications were submitted for a Summerdale pet. Even though requests are flooding in for the abused animals and dozens of donations have been mailed to the office.
Officials still need about a month to prep the animals for new families, and they have to be the right families.
“Just because you see it on TV, it's cute and cuddly; we want to make sure it's the right energy match in your household,” Presley said.
Rescue officials said, the abused pets will need a special home, and they will take their time to find the right match. Baldwin County Humane Society said it will be updating it's site with pictures and profiles of each pet soon. Saturday, Febuary 18 BARC! will hold it's first fundraiser for the Summerdale animals.
The Mystic Krewe of K-9 Kritters Royalty will be chosen Saturday, February 18, 2012, at the fifth annual fundraiser for the Baldwin County Humane Society (BARC!) at Magnolia by the Gulf Small Animal Clinic, 19930 Baldwin County 6 in Gulf Shores.
Donation of $20 per family goes towards medical care for the 58 dogs and 51 cats who defied the odds and survived mass animal cruelty at the Purple Hearted Puppies shelter in Summerdale and the Dueitt’s residence in Robertsdale.
Registration is at 10 a.m.; costume judging starts 11 a.m. Parade participants will be scored on costume creativity, originality, behavior and showmanship.
Royalty crowned will be King, Queen, Prince, Princess and Court Jester. Judges will also select Honorable Loyal Royal canines to be part of the Krewe.
Each member of the royal court will walk in the Gulf Shores Mardi Gras parade Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at 10 a.m. Dr. Lee Ann McGill, the owner of the only veterinary clinic in Gulf Shores, has been selected as the Grand Marshall and wants the Mystic Krewe of K-9 Kritters to lead the parade with her.
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Adoption process begins for abused pets
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Adoption | Permalink
Natalie and Anthony Consolo wanted to expand their family. But not this much and not so fast.
Natalie is due to have quadruplets — three girls and one boy — sometime in the next two weeks. And the Ogden-area couple didn’t use fertility methods to conceive, according to Natalie’s mother.
When they were told at their first ultrasound they were going to have four babies, not one, “Natalie just laughed. She thought it was a joke,” said her mother, Linda Edmonson.
Once the babies are born, the couple will have five children under the age of 2: Their daughter, Dorothy, turns 2 on April 1.
And they’ve been married only three years.
“They wanted to have a nice-sized family,” said Edmonson, who left her San Jose home to take care of Dorothy because Natalie, 30, was hospitalized in early January. “They didn’t plan on it being this quickly.”
Quadruplets are rare but not unheard of: In the past five years, four sets of quads have been born in Utah. Twins are much more common: Nearly 800 sets are born a year.
The chances of spontaneously having quadruplets — meaning without in vitro fertilization [IVF] or fertility drugs — is 1 in nearly 572,000, said obstetrician C. Matthew Peterson, chairman of the University of Utah’s obstetrics and gynecology department, who is not involved in Natalie’s care.
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Quadruplets would also be unusual for women receiving IVF: Guidelines limit the number of embryos transferred because having multiple births can be difficult for the mother and babies. Guidelines recommend one or two embryos for women under age 35. In the majority of reproductive clinics, data show, the average number of embryos transferred for women over age 40 is three.
Natalie is on bed rest at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, where doctors will induce her if she doesn’t go into labor in the next two weeks. They don’t want her to be pregnant past 33 weeks gestation, said Edmonson, who said Natalie is too uncomfortable to give interviews. “She is not feeling well. … She’s huge and uncomfortable.”
Physician Cara Heuser, the specialist taking care of Natalie, said she’s been amazed that the pregnancy is going so well. With higher-order multiple births, babies are at risk of not growing large enough. But all four are the size of a single baby at 31 weeks gestation.
“Can you imagine? They’re probably all in the 3 to 4 pound range,” Heuser said. “It’s been a big challenge keeping her comfortable. There’s four 4-pound babies in there, plus the placentas and the fluid. … She’s really been quite a trooper.”
Natalie has a massage therapist and physical therapist, an air mattress and rigging to help her get in and out of bed. Mothers carrying four babies can gain from 40 to 100 pounds.
The babies have a daily ultrasound to monitor their heart rates and activity levels. The births will be by Caesarean section and will be coordinated with the hospital’s newborn intensive care units, which will need to have four teams on hand.
The potential risks to the mother and the babies are too high to keep the pregnancy going much longer, Heuser said. Such risks include maternal high blood pressure and even death.
While Heuser can’t predict how the babies will do developmentally, she said the expected outcomes are “generally quite good.”
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Utah mom to have quadruplets – and no fertility drugs were used
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Fertility | Permalink
VANCOUVER – Adoption laws don't apply to people who were born using donated sperm or eggs and want to learn the identity of a biological parent, says a British Columbia government lawyer attempting to overturn a judge's decision.
Leah Greathead told the Appeal Court of B.C. on Tuesday that a lower court erred in a ruling that favoured a woman who was conceived in 1982 at a Vancouver fertility clinic with the help of a sperm donor.
Olivia Pratten sued the province last year because records pertaining to egg and sperm donors can be legally destroyed after six years, meaning people like her don't have the same rights as adopted children to learn about their biological fathers.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Elaine Adair sided with Pratten last May, giving the B.C. government 15 months to amend its Adoption Act and saying Pratten and others who are deprived of their genetic backgrounds suffer psychological harm.
Adair also ordered a permanent injunction against the destruction of donor records, but the government appealed the ruling.
“When you look at what the Adoption Act actually provides and what Ms. Pratten is seeking, she is seeking something wholly different,” said Greathead, who represents the Attorney General's Ministry.
“It's obvious, I say, that she is not seeking the benefit that is prescribed in the Adoption Act, which is access to an adoption order or access to an original registration of birth,” she said.
“There was no constitutional requirement in 1996 when the Adoption Act was amended to also include gamete (sperm) donors in the provisions.”
Greathead said some information is collected about biological parents by adoption agencies and the government when it handles adoptions and that people can access it when they turn 19, unless the biological parent doesn't want it disclosed.
Joe Arvay, Pratten's lawyer, said donor offspring have the same needs as adopted people when it comes to learning about their backgrounds and should be treated equally.
Appeal Court Justice Mary Saunders told Arvay that his complaint didn't appear to be about the Adoption Act but the lack of a donor registry to provide offspring with biological information, “and that's what you want changed.”
Arvay said doctors who inseminate women with sperm should acquire donor information and preserve it for children to access later and that it doesn't have to be included in a birth registry.
“The question is whether this is a case where the court is within its legal jurisdiction to tell the government what to do,” said Appeal Court Justice Rita Levine, one of three presiding judges.
Pratten spent a decade trying to learn her biological father's identity, only to discover that records with that information had been destroyed by her mother's fertility specialist, Dr. Gerald Korn, who retired in 2004.
When Pratten turned five, her mother wrote to Korn in an effort to learn the identity of the sperm donor and continued her efforts for several years.
Pratten said Korn told her the donor was six feet tall and had brown eyes but then provided different information.
When Pratten turned 19 and went to see Korn, she said he scribbled some information on a piece of paper, telling her the donor was 5 feet 10 inches tall and had green eyes.
“It was like a rap sheet for a prison person,” she said, adding Korn told her: “Don't worry dear, I did a verbal medical check. He was healthy.”
Pratten now anticipates the case will go before the Supreme Court of Canada and that ultimately, the country will catch up to other jurisdictions around the world in banning anonymity for people who donate eggs or sperm.
She said the current law doesn't take into account the best interests of the children who are born with the help of donors and that fertility clinics aren't legally obligated to keep records beyond the required time period.
“They're so focused on just getting the woman pregnant that they forget that there's a child at the end who has to deal with the way this is done,” she said.
Last June, then-attorney general Barry Penner said the province was appealing the B.C. Supreme Court decision because it raised “important constitutional principles that extend beyond this particular case.”
“Ultimately, we're appealing the decision because we are concerned that it could limit the government's ability to provide programs that respond in tailored ways to particular groups of people,” he said in a statement.
Pratten said that if the government is concerned that the number of donors will drop if donor anonymity is no longer permitted, that hasn't happened elsewhere, including in the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden.
Shelley Deacon, who filed an affidavit in the case, said outside court that she was conceived at the same clinic as Pratten in 1980 and that she wants to know about her genetic information for the sake of her two children.
“Even if our records were destroyed, we need to fight for others,” she said Tuesday.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. was also named in Pratten's lawsuit.
Susan Prins, spokeswoman for the college, said the outcome of the case will determine if bylaws are changed on whether donor records should be kept indefinitely.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly stated donor conception is covered under the Adoption Act.
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B.C. argues in appeal that sperm donor information should stay shielded
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Egg Donors | Permalink
CAMILLE BAINS The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012 9:33PM EST Last updated Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012 10:03PM EST
Adoption laws don't apply to people who were born using donated sperm or eggs and want to learn the identity of a biological parent, says a British Columbia government lawyer attempting to overturn a judge's decision.
Leah Greathead told the Appeal Court of B.C. on Tuesday that a lower court erred in a ruling that favoured a woman who was conceived in 1982 at a Vancouver fertility clinic with the help of a sperm donor.
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Olivia Pratten sued the province last year because records pertaining to egg and sperm donors can be legally destroyed after six years, meaning people like her don't have the same rights as adopted children to learn about their biological fathers.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Elaine Adair sided with Ms. Pratten last May, giving the B.C. government 15 months to amend its Adoption Act and saying Ms. Pratten and others who are deprived of their genetic backgrounds suffer psychological harm.
Judge Adair also ordered a permanent injunction against the destruction of donor records, but the government appealed the ruling.
“When you look at what the Adoption Act actually provides and what Ms. Pratten is seeking, she is seeking something wholly different,” said Ms. Greathead, who represents the Attorney General's Ministry.
“It's obvious, I say, that she is not seeking the benefit that is prescribed in the Adoption Act, which is access to an adoption order or access to an original registration of birth,” she said.
“There was no constitutional requirement in 1996 when the Adoption Act was amended to also include gamete (sperm) donors in the provisions.”
Ms. Greathead said some information is collected about biological parents by adoption agencies and the government when it handles adoptions and that people can access it when they turn 19, unless the biological parent doesn't want it disclosed.
Joe Arvay, Ms. Pratten's lawyer, said donor offspring have the same needs as adopted people when it comes to learning about their backgrounds and should be treated equally.
Appeal Court Justice Mary Saunders told Mr. Arvay that his complaint didn't appear to be about the Adoption Act but the lack of a donor registry to provide offspring with biological information, “and that's what you want changed.”
Mr. Arvay said doctors who inseminate women with sperm should acquire donor information and preserve it for children to access later and that it doesn't have to be included in a birth registry.
“The question is whether this is a case where the court is within its legal jurisdiction to tell the government what to do,” said Appeal Court Justice Rita Levine, one of three presiding judges.
Ms. Pratten spent a decade trying to learn her biological father's identity, only to discover that records with that information had been destroyed by her mother's fertility specialist, Dr. Gerald Korn, who retired in 2004.
When Ms. Pratten turned five, her mother wrote to Dr. Korn in an effort to learn the identity of the sperm donor and continued her efforts for several years.
Ms. Pratten said Dr. Korn told her the donor was six feet tall and had brown eyes but then provided different information.
When Ms. Pratten turned 19 and went to see Dr. Korn, she said he scribbled some information on a piece of paper, telling her the donor was 5 feet 10 inches tall and had green eyes.
“It was like a rap sheet for a prison person,” she said, adding Dr. Korn told her: “Don't worry dear, I did a verbal medical check. He was healthy.”
Ms. Pratten now anticipates the case will go before the Supreme Court of Canada and that ultimately, the country will catch up to other jurisdictions around the world in banning anonymity for people who donate eggs or sperm.
She said the current law doesn't take into account the best interests of the children who are born with the help of donors and that fertility clinics aren't legally obligated to keep records beyond the required time period.
“They're so focused on just getting the woman pregnant that they forget that there's a child at the end who has to deal with the way this is done,” she said.
Last June, then-attorney general Barry Penner said the province was appealing the B.C. Supreme Court decision because it raised “important constitutional principles that extend beyond this particular case.”
“Ultimately, we're appealing the decision because we are concerned that it could limit the government's ability to provide programs that respond in tailored ways to particular groups of people,” he said in a statement.
Ms. Pratten said that if the government is concerned that the number of donors will drop if donor anonymity is no longer permitted, that hasn't happened elsewhere, including in the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden.
Shelley Deacon, who filed an affidavit in the case, said outside court that she was conceived at the same clinic as Ms. Pratten in 1980 and that she wants to know about her genetic information for the sake of her two children.
“Even if our records were destroyed, we need to fight for others,” she said Tuesday.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. was also named in Ms. Pratten's lawsuit. Susan Prins, spokeswoman for the college, said the outcome of the case will determine if bylaws are changed on whether donor records should be kept indefinitely.
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Anonymity of egg or sperm donors at centre of appeal
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Egg Donors | Permalink
Published: Feb. 14, 2012 at 5:06 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he'll let a bill that would repeal the White House's hot-button birth control mandate be brought up for a vote.
Reid had criticized Senate Republicans for offering what he called “extraneous” amendments to the Senate's transportation bill but then said he had agreed to a vote on contraception mandate, The Hill reported.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., sponsored an amendment that would allow employers to opt out of healthcare mandates they find immoral.
The Health and Human Services Department issued an interim rule mandating health insurance plans for employees of Catholic hospitals and other religiously affiliated institutions include coverage for birth control, sterilization and other preventive services, raising the hackles of Catholic church leaders and members of the Republican Party.
Obama announced on Friday a modification to the rule, saying women will have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services, but if a women's employer objects to birth control for religious reasons, then the insurance company will be required to offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge.
Blunt said he looked forward to debating his amendment and wanted to make sure it was attached to “a bill the president has to sign.”
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Birth control mandate repeal will get vote
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Birth Control | Permalink
The fight over the Obama administration's rule requiring that all employers provide birth control coverage to their workers, including religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and charities, is the kind of dispute Washington likes best.
Why?
The dispute stirs up ardent partisans on both sides with much less impact on those in the middle, providing an opportunity for groups on both the left and the right to raise money to motivate their supporters without undergoing huge political risk. Two new polls released Tuesday provide evidence for that.
The Pew Research Center looked at who has been following the debate and what they think of it. The key finding: “This issue has attracted much more attention from people at either end of the political spectrum than those in the middle.”
Among those surveyed, only a third reported hearing “a lot” about the issue, with 29% saying they had heard “a little” and 38% saying they had either heard nothing or didn't know. Among those who identify as tea party Republicans, however, 65% of those surveyed said they had heard a lot about the issue. On the other side of the aisle, liberal Democrats were twice as likely to report having heard a lot about the issue as conservative or moderate Democrats (43% versus 21%).
Predictably, the most partisan Americans not only are paying more attention, they also have the most polarized views on the issue. Among liberal Democrats, for example, 72% say that religious employers should be required to offer contraceptive coverage the same way other employers do, while among Republicans who support the tea party, 82% favor giving religious institutions an exemption from the rule.
In the country as a whole, those opposing views tend to cancel each other out. So among all Americans who reported having heard about the issue, opinion was almost evenly divided, with 44% backing the administration's position that all employers must provide birth control coverage and 48% favoring an exemption for employers affiliated with a religious institution. Those who identify themselves as independents were less likely to report having heard about the controversy. And among those independents who had heard about, opinion was almost evenly divided, with 48% backing the rule and 46% favoring an exemption for religious employers.
Although the Catholic bishops have been the strongest opponents of the Obama administration's rule, Catholics were only somewhat more likely to favor an exemption than the public at large, 55% to 39%. The biggest opposition came from white, evangelical Protestants, who are a key Republican constituency. They favored an exemption by 68% to 22%.
Women aged 18-49 — the group most likely to actually use birth control — opposed an exemption by 53% to 40%. That group is of keen political interest to the Obama campaign. Overall, men tended to oppose the coverage requirement, while women favored it.
The survey of 1,501 adults was conducted from Wednesday to Sunday. President Obama moved to shift the rule slightly Friday, winning the support of some key Catholic leaders, although not the bishops. That shift had little impact on public opinion, the survey indicated.
Meantime, Gallup looked at whether Catholics' views of Obama had changed over the last couple of weeks. They haven't — at least not in a statistically significant way. Four weeks ago, an average of 45% of Catholics said they approved of the job Obama has been doing. This week, 46% did. In the intervening two weeks, the approval number had ticked up as high as 49%, but all those changes are within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for the Catholic sample.
Over time, it's possible the issue could begin to weigh more heavily on how Catholics view Obama, but so far, the impact has been minimal.
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Birth control debate riled few beyond parties' bases
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Filed under Birth Control | Permalink
Pregnancy. It’s not the sexiest nine-month period of our lives — but that doesn’t mean a girl can’t fantasize. So here’s our gift to you, complete with gratuitous photos of Ryan Gosling, David Beckham, Taylor Kitsch and more. You’re welcome.
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http://www.ivillage.com/rss/0,,643958,00.xml
Posted on February 14, 2012 | Filed under Pregnancy | Permalink
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