SPRINGFIELD ? As Illinois prison officials grapple with shrunken budgets, overcrowding and the governor?s plans to close some facilities, they also are dealing with disturbing reports of recent violence in state prisons that have injured guards and an inmate, and a case where two prisoners reportedly overdosed on heroin, The Associated Press has learned.
Among the incidents in the past six weeks, a Stateville Correctional Center inmate was stabbed nine times in a dispute and an inmate stabbed a guard at another maximum-security lockup in Pontiac, according to Department of Corrections information and interviews after the AP received tips.
Prison workers and their union believe the incidents represent an uptick of trouble inside Illinois penitentiaries, which many say have been overcrowded and understaffed for years.
Some cite the incidents to bolster the case against Gov. Pat Quinn?s plan to close the Tamms supermax prison in far southern Illinois, which is reserved for troublemakers from other prisons. Lawmakers critical of the governor have predicted that taking away the Tamms threat will embolden instigators of violence and gang leaders.
State corrections officials reject any connection between the Tamms decision and behavior in other lockups, and insist the prison population can be managed safely and securely. But the incidents also worry prison reform advocates, including some who support the closing of Tamms for other reasons.
?People are stressed. Inmates are stressed. Staff is stressed,? said John Maki, executive director of the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group. ?If the governor is going to close facilities, it needs to be coupled with significant reform to reduce the prison population.?
The state could not immediately produce statistics to show whether the half dozen incidents represent an increase. Union officials said they are trying to compile their own numbers.
Following up on tips, the AP turned up a number of violent or drug-related incidents in the past six weeks, including a June 3 incident where two inmates at the maximum-security Menard prison in far southern Illinois attacked a guard, an incident first reported by the (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan.
Trying to publicize the incidents no doubt might help the campaign to keep Tamms open, raising questions about how to punish disorderly inmates with no threat of Tamms isolation.
But the AP was notified of a number of previously unreported incidents by sources other than AFSCME officials, who were initially unaware themselves of some of the cases.
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents most corrections workers, said the union is trying to catalogue all recent assaults because of ?the administration?s troubling failure to acknowledge the seriousness of these threats? while Quinn moves forward with plans to close Tamms, a women?s prison at Dwight and three halfway houses.
The state has taken some steps to reduce prison population. Quinn recently signed a law creating a new program for releasing well-behaved inmates early. He halted a similar program in 2009 after reports that it was being used to shuffle prisoners out within weeks.
The loss of that early-release option had worsened crowding ? there are 48,369 inmates in a system designed for about 33,000 ? and some experts warned that Illinois could get entangled in a California-style lawsuit forcing an inmate population reduction.
Kayce Ataiyero, a Corrections spokeswoman, pointed out the prison population is down from just over 49,000 last fall ?and we believe that the current population can be managed safely and securely.? She declined to comment on whether Corrections? projections that the population will hit 49,000 again by January 2013 are still accurate. Those projections were made in April.
?The Department?s primary focus has been and will continue to be the safe and secure operation of the prisons,? Ataiyero said. ?There is absolutely no connection between the announcement of the closure of Tamms and inmate behavior or the occurrence of incidents in the other prisons.?
There are 44 hours, 30 minutes remaining to comment on this story.
ScienceDaily (July 9, 2012) ? A new study suggests that echocardiography be included as part of screenings to help identify student athletes with heart problems that could lead to sudden death.
The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study, to be presented July 1 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Echocardiography, suggests adding a modified echo to the current practice of taking an EKG, getting a family history and having a physical exam.
"EKG is a good tool, but may not be sensitive enough to catch problems that could lead to sudden death," says Michelle Grenier, MD, a physician at the Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute and one of the investigators of the study. "We found that an abbreviated echo is a fiscally responsible addition that will yield useful information when screening student athletes for structural heart disease and cardiomyopathies- heart muscle diseases that are the major cause of sudden death in athletes."
Screening for risk of sudden death in athletes has long been a topic of controversy, in part because it is expensive and time consuming. Her study, however, indicates that a shortened echo may increase the sensitivity of finding heart defects in competitive athletes.
As part of an ongoing study, Dr. Grenier and colleagues at Cincinnati Children's recruited 85 teen athletes for a screening that included a health questionnaire, physical exam, EKG and a 15-image, modified echo that took nine minutes, on average, to obtain. Echoes that were considered abnormal were referred for a complete echo, where they were read by a cardiologist not involved in the study.
Ten of the participants (12 percent) had abnormal echoes when read in real-time and were referred for further assessment. These 10 participants had a normal history, physical exam and EKG. All preliminary diagnoses were later substantiated. The researchers found no additional heart problems, and all 10 echoes were later confirmed to be abnormal.
"The number of patients with asymptomatic, congenital heart disease was higher than expected, but the rate of cardiomyopathy -- the main cause of sudden death in athletes -- is probably closer to the published rate," says Dr. Grenier. "Our goal is to provide useful information to care providers, who may then better counsel athletes and their families on full participation in sports.
"The cost-effectiveness and impact on reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death aren't yet known, but the impact on quality of life in reassurance of cardiac health during exercise is priceless," she says.
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Community health centers compare well with private practices, Stanford researcher findsPublic release date: 10-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Ipaktchian susani@stanford.edu 650-725-5375 Stanford University Medical Center
STANFORD, Calif. Government-funded community health centers, which serve low-income and uninsured patients, provide better care than do private practices, a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found.
Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and colleagues at University of California, San Francisco looked at the actions physicians took when patients visited private practices versus the actions that were taken at community health centers, also referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers and FQHC Look-Alikes, both of which receive government support.
Their study is to be published online July 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Stafford is the senior author.
The results of the study are particularly encouraging given that the Affordable Care Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld June 28, depends on community health centers to provide services to previously uninsured patients.
"If community health centers are going to be taking up some of the new demand, we can be confident that they're giving relatively good care," Stafford said.
Stafford and his colleagues analyzed records of 73,074 visits to private practices, FQHCs and FQHC Look-Alikes. Both FQHCs and Look-Alikes receive enhanced Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement; FQHCs also receive government grants. The researchers acquired the records from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which the National Center for Health Statistics gathered between 2006 and 2008.
They evaluated the physicians' adherence to professional and federal guidelines for 18 measures, which included treatments for specific diseases, screening for certain conditions, and diet and lifestyle counseling. "We looked at fairly common conditions that are seen in primary care," said lead author L. Elizabeth Goldman, MD, of the UC San Francisco.
The researchers found that community health center physicians performed as well as their private practice colleagues in 13 of the 18 measures. For the remaining five measures use of ACE inhibitors for congestive heart failure, use of beta blockers, use of inhaled corticosteroids for adult asthmatics, blood pressure screening and avoidance of electrocardiograms in low-risk patients the community physicians followed recommendations a higher percent of the time.
Given that patients at community health centers have more health and socioeconomic challenges and therefore take up more physician time, said Stafford, "The fact that community health centers look better is perhaps surprising."
"On the other hand, having worked in community health centers, I can see how it makes sense," he added. "These are centers where physicians are not as profit-driven and many have incentives more in line with providing quality care."
Stafford added that the government has provided the centers with technology that helps manage patient care, which may explain their superior performance. And they are generally larger than private practices: "Having a number of colleagues helps you develop better practices. In a solo practice, you have rare opportunities to debate the best way to practice medicine."
When the researchers adjusted the data so that the patients' characteristics were statistically equal, the community health center physicians performed better on three additional measures: aspirin for congestive heart failure, statins for congestive heart failure, and avoidance of benzodiazepine, which has serious long-term side effects, for depression. (The statistical adjustment did not alter the balance in the other previous measures, and if anything, the magnitude of the difference increased in favor of the community physicians.)
###
The study was funded by awards from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In addition to Stafford and Goldman, other researchers from UC San Francisco and Johns Hopkins Medical School contributed to the study.
Information about Stanford's Department of Medicine, which also supported this work, is available at http://med.stanford.edu/medicine.
The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.
PRINT MEDIA CONTACTS: Ruthann Richter at (650) 725-8047 (richter1@stanford.edu) and Susan Ipaktchian at (650) 725-5375 (susani@stanford.edu)
BROADCAST MEDIA CONTACT: M.A. Malone at (650) 723-6912 (mamalone@stanford.edu)
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Community health centers compare well with private practices, Stanford researcher findsPublic release date: 10-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Ipaktchian susani@stanford.edu 650-725-5375 Stanford University Medical Center
STANFORD, Calif. Government-funded community health centers, which serve low-income and uninsured patients, provide better care than do private practices, a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found.
Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and colleagues at University of California, San Francisco looked at the actions physicians took when patients visited private practices versus the actions that were taken at community health centers, also referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers and FQHC Look-Alikes, both of which receive government support.
Their study is to be published online July 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Stafford is the senior author.
The results of the study are particularly encouraging given that the Affordable Care Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld June 28, depends on community health centers to provide services to previously uninsured patients.
"If community health centers are going to be taking up some of the new demand, we can be confident that they're giving relatively good care," Stafford said.
Stafford and his colleagues analyzed records of 73,074 visits to private practices, FQHCs and FQHC Look-Alikes. Both FQHCs and Look-Alikes receive enhanced Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement; FQHCs also receive government grants. The researchers acquired the records from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which the National Center for Health Statistics gathered between 2006 and 2008.
They evaluated the physicians' adherence to professional and federal guidelines for 18 measures, which included treatments for specific diseases, screening for certain conditions, and diet and lifestyle counseling. "We looked at fairly common conditions that are seen in primary care," said lead author L. Elizabeth Goldman, MD, of the UC San Francisco.
The researchers found that community health center physicians performed as well as their private practice colleagues in 13 of the 18 measures. For the remaining five measures use of ACE inhibitors for congestive heart failure, use of beta blockers, use of inhaled corticosteroids for adult asthmatics, blood pressure screening and avoidance of electrocardiograms in low-risk patients the community physicians followed recommendations a higher percent of the time.
Given that patients at community health centers have more health and socioeconomic challenges and therefore take up more physician time, said Stafford, "The fact that community health centers look better is perhaps surprising."
"On the other hand, having worked in community health centers, I can see how it makes sense," he added. "These are centers where physicians are not as profit-driven and many have incentives more in line with providing quality care."
Stafford added that the government has provided the centers with technology that helps manage patient care, which may explain their superior performance. And they are generally larger than private practices: "Having a number of colleagues helps you develop better practices. In a solo practice, you have rare opportunities to debate the best way to practice medicine."
When the researchers adjusted the data so that the patients' characteristics were statistically equal, the community health center physicians performed better on three additional measures: aspirin for congestive heart failure, statins for congestive heart failure, and avoidance of benzodiazepine, which has serious long-term side effects, for depression. (The statistical adjustment did not alter the balance in the other previous measures, and if anything, the magnitude of the difference increased in favor of the community physicians.)
###
The study was funded by awards from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In addition to Stafford and Goldman, other researchers from UC San Francisco and Johns Hopkins Medical School contributed to the study.
Information about Stanford's Department of Medicine, which also supported this work, is available at http://med.stanford.edu/medicine.
The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.
PRINT MEDIA CONTACTS: Ruthann Richter at (650) 725-8047 (richter1@stanford.edu) and Susan Ipaktchian at (650) 725-5375 (susani@stanford.edu)
BROADCAST MEDIA CONTACT: M.A. Malone at (650) 723-6912 (mamalone@stanford.edu)
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, not pictured, at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Clinton announced that President Barack Obama had designated Afghanistan as a "major non-NATO ally" shortly after arriving in the country for talks with Karzai. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, not pictured, at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Clinton announced that President Barack Obama had designated Afghanistan as a "major non-NATO ally" shortly after arriving in the country for talks with Karzai. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, walks with President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai to a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul Saturday July 7, 2012. The Obama administration on Saturday declared Afghanistan the United States' newest "major non-NATO ally," an action designed to facilitate close defense cooperation after U.S. combat troops withdraw from the country in 2014 and as a political statement of support for Afghanistan's long-term stability. (AP Photo//Brendan Smialowski, Pool)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, unseen, at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Clinton announced that President Barack Obama had designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally shortly after arriving in the country for talks with Karzai. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)
TOKYO (AP) ? International donors will pledge $16 billion in aid for Afghanistan over the next four years in hopes of stabilizing the country after most foreign combat troops return home, a U.S. diplomat said Sunday, but the money will come with conditions to ensure it doesn't fall victim to rampant Afghan corruption and mismanagement.
The announcement was expected later Sunday at a Tokyo conference attended by about 70 countries and organizations. The American official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke ahead of the event on condition of anonymity and said $4 billion per year would be promised from 2012 through 2015.
The U.S. portion is expected to be in the decade-long range of $1 billion and this year's $2.3 billion. Officials declined to outline the future annual U.S. allotments going forward, but the Obama administration has requested a similarly high figure for next year as it draws down American troops and hands over greater authority to Afghan forces.
The total amount of international civilian support represents a slight trailing off from the current annual level of around $5 billion, a number somewhat inflated by U.S. efforts to effect a "civilian surge" for Afghan reconstruction, mirroring President Barack Obama's decision in 2009 to ramp up military manpower in the hopes of routing the Taliban insurgency.
Still, it is a large sum of cash designed to allay fears that Afghanistan will be abandoned when NATO and other international soldiers leave the country.
It will come with conditions, as well, with the donors' meeting in Japan expected to establish a road map of accountability to ensure that Afghanistan does more to improve governance and finance management, and to safeguard the democratic process, rule of law and human rights ? especially those of women.
Foreign aid in the decade since the U.S. invasion in 2001 has led to better education and health care, with nearly 8 million children, including 3 million girls, enrolled in schools. That compares with 1 million children more than a decade ago, when girls were banned from school under the Taliban.
Improved health facilities have halved child mortality and expanded basic health services to nearly 60 percent of Afghanistan population of more than 25 million, compared with less than 10 percent in 2001.
But donors have become wary of corruption-busting pledges that have not always been delivered. Some highly placed Afghan officials have been investigated for corruption but seldom prosecuted, and some of the graft investigations have come close to the president himself.
The stakes for Afghan President Hamid Karzai are high as he faces international weariness with the war and frustration over his failure to crack down on corruption more than a decade after the U.S. invasion that ousted the Taliban.
Afghanistan has received nearly $60 billion in such aid since 2002. The World Bank says foreign aid makes up nearly the equivalent of the country's gross domestic product.
Those funds, which are needed for basic services such as health care, education and infrastructure, are expected to sharply diminish after international troops withdraw even as the country faces continued threats from the Taliban and other Islamic militants.
The $4 billion in annual civilian aid for comes on top of $4.1 billion in yearly assistance pledged last May at a NATO conference in Chicago to fund the Afghan National Security Forces from 2015 to 2017.
Clinton, who briefly visited the Afghan capital on Saturday before heading to Tokyo, had breakfast with Karzai and acknowledged that corruption was a "major problem."
"We're working hard with our Afghan partners to address this problem here in Afghanistan, knowing that it's much broader than Afghanistan by promoting greater transparency, the rule of law, good governance, working hard to prevent fraud, waste and abuse," she told reporters.
"We're working with the Afghanistan ministries, governors, local leaders who are committed to delivering services to their people, improving their lives," Clinton added. "We take seriously any allegations of corruption that involve U.S. funds."
Clinton also declared Afghanistan as the newest "major non-NATO ally" of the United States, a gesture of political support for the country's long-term stability and aimed at solidifying close defense cooperation after American combat troops withdraw in 2014.
"We see this as a powerful commitment to Afghanistan's future," Clinton said. "We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan."
___
Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 10-Jul-2012
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PowerPoint document may be the computer application accustomed to make delivering presentations. It is definitely an advanced type of preparing media presentations. Several businesses require this particular format to provide their suggestions, financial data and reports inside a noteworthy method. You may work professionalism with this file structure. 