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Changing Paradigms In Hereditary Angioedema: A Focus On Timely Diagnosis And New Therapies
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an autosomal dominant disease affecting approximately 10,000 people in the United States. HAE causes recurrent attacks of intense localized edema involving the skin, airway, and visceral organs. While chronic therapy with attenuated androgens or plasmin inhibitors has been the mainstay of HAE therapy, many new therapies for prophylaxis and acute treatment are on the horizon. It is important for physicians to understand the signs and symptoms of patients who present with HAE and to be familiar with the conventional and emerging therapies available to treat them.

Investigation Urgently Needed Into Treatment Of Mentally Ill Immigration Detainees At California Facility, Editorial States
"Although the number of mentally ill immigration detainees" at the La Mesa, Calif.-based private psychiatric hospital Alvarado Parkway Institute "at any one time seems to range from as few as two to only five or so, their situation needs to be addressed quickly," a San Diego Tribune editorial states (San Diego Tribune, 5/19). Some disability rights lawyers and advocates for the mentally ill say that conditions at many of the private facilities, including API, violate state and federal laws governing treatment of mentally ill people. Ann Menasche, a lawyer with the legal advocacy group Disability Rights California, last month sent a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement claiming that after visiting API and interviewing detainees, she found that the conditions are "excessive, unjustifiable and punitive" (Kaiser Health Disparities Report, 5/18).According to the Tribune, "California"s strict patients" rights laws specify that psychiatric patients can have daily visitors, use the telephone, exercise, socialize and be free from restraint unless the chief of the facility determines that a specific individual is a threat to himself or others," but, according to Menasche, patients at API are being denied those rights. The editorial adds that the conditions Menasche describes "may sound appalling, but it is unclear whether they are proper for the circumstances," and an "independent probe by the state Department of Public Health ... is needed to determine whether the detainees are being treated properly" (San Diego Tribune, 5/19).
News of the day
South American Health Ministers Gather In Argentina To Discuss H1N1 Preparedness
The health ministers of six South American countries gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday to "coordinate defenses against" the H1N1 (swine flu) virus which has killed nearly 200 people in the region," the AFP/Google.com reports. Ministers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay used the meeting to voice concern over the rapid spread of the H1N1 virus in their countries, which are now in the southern hemisphere"s winter months, and discuss ways to share supplies to help prevent the spread of the virus. The article includes the individual strategies being taken by some South American countries (7/15).
Medical Devices

General Optical Council Highlights Importance Of Student Supervision, UK

The General Optical Council (GOC) is today reminding all optical businesses, students and supervisors to ensure their current arrangements for professional supervision of students meet the requirements outlined by the GOC, and examination or assessment bodies. This follows the recent Fitness to Practise (FTP) hearing involving Boots Opticians Ltd (a GOC-registered business); Trevor Burgess, a registered student dispensing optician; and Richard Simmons, a registered dispensing optician. On 26 June, an independent FTP Committee determined that Boots Opticians Ltd had failed to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent Trevor Burgess from dispensing spectacles to a patient under the age of 16. The Committee found that the fitness to practise of Boots Opticians Ltd was impaired, and imposed a fine of ÷£30,000. Trevor Burgess was given a formal warning. No sanction was imposed on Richard Simmons. GOC chief executive and registrar, Dian Taylor commented: "Supervision of students is essential for protecting patients and the public. This case highlights the importance of having proper supervision mechanisms in place, and ensuring those mechanisms are communicated to staff, and implemented at ground level". Dian Taylor added: "With appropriate supervision, students can develop the core competencies they need to practise safely, in a controlled, restricted environment. But without it, students may not know their limits, and the consequences can be potentially harmful to patients." By law, GOC-registered students (of both optometry and dispensing optics) must not carry out any of the following unless supervised by a GOC-registered professional: - Testing sight - Fitting contact lenses - Dispensing to children under 16, or to the visually impaired Business registrants are bound by the GOC"s Code of Conduct for business registrants. This is available from http://www.optical.org "Supervision" means that the supervisor must be on the same premises as the student they are supervising, and in a position to intervene at any time. Detailed guidance on supervision is published by ABDO and the College of Optometrists. Visit http://www.abdo.org.uk or http://www.college-optometrists.org General Optical Council


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