Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – First-time jobless claims during the week ending Sept. 24 edged slightly below the critical 400,000 mark for the first time since Aug. 6, according to the United States Department of Labor.

Initial claims for unemployment compensation insurance benefits dropped by 37,000 to 391,000, down from 428,000 the prior week.

That was the lowest number of first-time jobless claims since the week of April 2 when there were only 385,000 first-time claims.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 417,000, a drop of 5,250 from the 422,250 a week earlier.

However, the figures for the total enrollment in all jobless programs for the week ending Sept 10, the latest week for which such data is available, was 6,984,897, which were up by 95,242 people from the prior week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Sept 17, the latest week for which that data is available, were in New York (+4,389), Georgia (+3,038), Pennsylvania (+2,483), Texas (+2,077) and Ohio (+2,014).

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San Diego, CA, United States (AHN) – High blood pressure has long been linked with a host of medical problems, including strokes. A study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology found that even slightly raised blood pressure is also a significant risk factor.

The researchers found that people whose blood pressure was above normal, a condition referred to a pre-hypertension, were 55 percent more likely to suffer a stroke when compared to people with normal blood pressure.

The study, conducted by doctors at the University of California, San Diego, involved 518,520 adults in 12 studies on blood pressure and stroke. The large number of people involved in the study, and the results, suggests that physicians might consider prescription drugs to alleviate pre-hypertension, as well as for other conditions such as pre-diabetes that can lead to stoke. Typically, doctors do not prescribe medication unless blood pressure is above 140/50.

The study also found that people below the age of 65 with pre-hypertension were 68 percent more likely to have a stroke than those without the condition. And, the risk for people with pre-hypertension increases dramatically as they get close to a high blood pressure condition.

Currently, one in three adults in the United States has pre-hypertension. Lifestyle changes can help to lower blood pressure, such as following a low salt diet, getting regular exercise and maintaining a normal body weight.

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Kansas City, MI, United States (AHN) – With the average national unemployment rate over 9 percent and layoffs ongoing across the country, Hallmark has taken sympathy on those who have lost their job. The greeting card company has created a line of sympathy cards to encourage those who have lost their job during these trying economic times and for the people close to them who want to show some support.

Hallmark often develops cards to deal with hardships. They have produced cards aimed at individuals who have suffered through such events as the Great Depression, the military draft and the loss of loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001.

The privately owned Missouri-based company said the idea for the cards came from customers looking for a card that addressed the topic that has hit so close to home for so many for several years now.

While the cards are not available at all of Hallmark’s 40,000 nationwide locations, they can be purchased on the company’s website.

A Hallmark spokesperson said the cards, that offer a bit of sympathy and support with a touch of humor, are selling well with sentiments such as “Don’t think of it as losing your job. Think of it as a time-out between stupid bosses.”

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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Rob L. Wagner (The Media – A power struggle usually ends with winners and losers. If a new religious textbook critical of Western culture is any indication of who is winning the role of guardian of young minds in Saudi Arabia, then Islamic conservatives are the clear victors.

In what amounts to a rebuke of a scholarship program under the aegis of none other than King Abdullah himself that sends thousands of young Saudis to foreign universities, a new secondary school textbook called Hadith argues that Western culture exposes students to corruption.

“The conservatives have the upper hand and have made sure that it’s their voice that says what is permitted in Islam,” Ehsan Ahrari, a Middle East analyst based near Washington, DC, told The Media Line “The conservatives have the loudest voice in making a persuasive argument within the Saudi context. Saudi Arabia is truly concerned about modernization in its educational institution, but even the king doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

The publication of the book comes at a sensitive time for Saudi Arabia as it struggles to scrub its textbooks of derogatory language of other religions and cultures. The Ministry of Education has made progress to eliminate some passages, including controversial definitions of jihad.

More than 100,000 Saudis have obtained King Abdullah Foreign Scholarships to pursue studies in universities in professional fields such as medicine, computer science, engineering courses and administration and finance. About 30 percent study in the U.S., 15 percent in Britain, 11 percent in Canada and 8 percent in Australia. Only about 6 percent study in a Muslim country, Egypt. Saudi Arabia has the largest number of citizens studying abroad of any country in the world.

The textbook, which warns students of democratic countries’ attempts to Westernize Muslim countries by advancing the United Nations’ human rights agenda, has received little attention in the media, where restrictive laws were passed in response to the Arab Spring. The Saudi government can levy fines and jail sentences for criticizing government institutions

As a result, few Saudis are willing to publicly criticize for the record the Ministry of Education. Religious conservatives, Ahrari says, are taking advantage of the chilling effect of those laws to broaden their power.

But the book has lit up the social media with complaints – mostly anonymous – that politics have no place in teaching hadith, sayings attributed the Prophet Muhammad. The authors are accused of attempting to politicize Islam by slipping criticism of the West into religious texts just as students are preparing to enter foreign universities.

Saudis have also expressed bewilderment that the Ministry of Higher Education, which administers the scholarship program, and the Ministry of Education, which published Hadith, do not have a shared strategic education plan.

However, Hadith has brought renewed scrutiny to how the ministry vets textbooks that contain political opinion. The controversy also renews focus on how much influence Saudi conservatives wield at a time when Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Ennahda Party in Tunisia are also flexing their political muscle.

The textbook details the “risks” scholarship students face. “A lot of them [student] have returned laden with the spirit of the West, breathe with its lungs and think with its mentality,” the book states. “They echo their Orientalist teachers in their own land and spread their ideas and theories with deep belief, increasing enthusiasm and eloquence so they become a burden on their society.”

“The percentage of those who survive from this influence is a very little one,” the book’s authors say.

Another section in Hadith, entitled “Westernization,” targets the United Nations. The section characterizes the international organization as a tool for “dominating” Western powers to apply political pressure on Muslim countries to adopt more aggressive human rights legislation. The West, the textbook argues, uses “the United Nations, the Security Council and its different committees, on weak countries, especially the Islamic ones. This is done for the sake of westernization under slogans such as reform, democracy, pluralism, liberation and human rights, in particular those related to women and religious minorities.”

In fact, some of the views expressed in Hadith are widely held by Saudis.

Maha A., a 33-year-old Jeddah native and university student studying in Newcastle, England, says the UN entry in the book is legitimate. She points to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as meddling in the Kingdom’s affairs and with sharia, or Islamic law. Saudi Arabia ratified CEDAW in 2000. “I have no problems with the way the United Nations is portrayed in the book,” she told The Media Line.

The schoolbook also warns of Western attempts to subvert Islamic culture by distributing “immorality” through the media. It considers the media tools to advocate Western values.

Turki Al-Dakheel, a journalist and presenter on Al-Arabiya television, complained in a column in the Arabic-language daily Al-Watan that the textbook’s “extremist” portions are not consistent with the changes taking place in the international community and in Saudi society.

“The same educational institutes that send students abroad also criticize the scholarship [program],” Al-Dakheel argues. “We should take out the mentality of disagreement from our curriculum in order to protect our students from being politicized or being slaves to one single notion.”

Ahrari, the Washington-based analyst, told The Media Line that the book’s content is less a challenge to King Abdullah and more of “classic bureaucratic” infighting in the Ministry of Education

A Saudi Ministry of Education official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the textbook, agreed. He told The Media Line that there are two factions in the ministry struggling to implement their ideology: Western-educated liberals and Saudi-educated conservatives.

Many of the ministry’s decision-makers hold postgraduate degrees in education from the U.S. and Britain. These supervisors often square off with mid- and upper-level managers educated in Islamic studies from Imam Mohammed Bin Saud University in Riyadh and other Saudi universities.

“There is a great debate between conservatives and liberals. The conservatives are in the minority, but they are very active,” says the official, although he notes the ministry’s policy requires moderation in texts.

The infighting is so intense, he says, that the ministry recently began publishing school textbooks without authors’ names to prevent accusations of extremism. Yet the anonymously authored books have also led to the lack of accountability within the ministry’s ranks for authors failing to adhere to moderation guidelines.

One 22-year-old Riyadh student studying in Britain says there is little merit in warning scholarship holders of the dangers in the West.

“Saudi students are already asked to attend a two-week course on Western culture. The scholarship program selects the highest qualified students to go abroad. If a student is weak in religion and cultural values, he won’t be studious and he won’t be allowed in the program,” Muhammad A. told The Media Line.

But the student also says that human rights issues advocated by the UN are consistent with the pillars of sharia. “Sharia talks of human rights and it’s no different than the United Nations’ human rights. It’s compatible, and there are no negative effects on Saudi Arabia,” he says.

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Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 134 disease outbreaks associated with recreational water, such as community pools, play-in fountains and other water play areas, from 2007-2008. That was 72 percent jump from the previous report and the largest number ever reported in a two-year period.

The outbreaks were responsible for at least 13,966 illnesses. Cryptosporidium, which causes a diarrheal disease and is relatively resistant to chlorine, was responsible for 60 of the 105 outbreaks health officials were able to confirm in a lab.

Some of the highest risk places to acquire a cryptosporidium infection are the public sprinklers and fountains that are becoming increasingly popular as play areas for children.

The CDC says that people ill with diarrhea should not swim and parents should be extra careful if their children are sick. The Center also advise not to swallow any water, not use toys that may cause water to be ingested, and to rinse off before getting into the water.

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Bangkok, Thailand (AHN Sports) – Francesco Ricci Bitti was re-elected to be the president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Friday and is already in the midst of the first possible crisis of his new term.

Bitti was asked about a strike by the players and he said he remains optimistic that it can be avoided.

“We are in discussion and we are open to listen to what they said,” Bitti said. “Normally in the past we had long negotiation but we found a solution. I believe we will find again another solution.”

Bitti was in Bangkok, where he was re-elected for a fourth term as president of the ITF. He will serve until 2015.

The strike talk has been voiced by top players recently and came to a head at the U.S. Open where weather wreaked havoc with the schedule and many top players, including defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain, were not happy about how it was handled.

World number four Andy Murray told the BBC Wednesday that he had held several talks with other players at the U.S. Open and they would further discuss the matter further at the Shanghai Masters early next month.

Murray said a strike was “a possibility” and added, “I know from speaking to some players they’re not afraid of doing that.”

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Washiington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Autism treatment advocates have won one legislative battle after another since 2007, most recently in California, which sent a bill to the governor this month mandating that insurers cover the disorder. Now more than half the states have such requirements, but that success could be in jeopardy as federal officials set new national standards for health coverage.

Insurers and employers argue that the laws increase health costs because treatment is often expensive and lasts years. But the advocates have prevailed by using federal data showing a growing number of children with the disorder, compelling stories about middle-class families struggling to afford treatment and testimony from celebrity parents of children with autism, including former pro football stars Dan Marino and Doug Flutie.

However, a provision in the 2010 health overhaul law gives the federal government authority to define “benefits” that will be offered on the health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, to individuals and small businesses starting in 2014. If states mandate a benefit, but it isn’t on the federal list, the states would be responsible for the cost of the coverage.

As a result, autism benefits and dozens of other state-required benefits, covering services and conditions such as infertility, acupuncture and chiropractic care, could be at risk. By the end of September, the Institute of Medicine is scheduled to recommend criteria the Department of Health and Human Services should use in determining the essential benefits package. HHS is expected to announce its decision by the end of the year.

“We do think states will be under enormous pressure to repeal benefits” not deemed essential, said Stephen Finan, senior director of policy for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. The society is concerned that the benefits package will not include all the cancer screenings that it has recommended.

“It will be a new day,” said Amanda Austin, a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business, which typically fights new insurance mandates because the costs will lead to higher premiums.

HHS faces a difficult balancing act: The more comprehensive the benefits package, the more it would cost insurers and their customers. Taxpayers would pay more, too, because the law provides government subsidies to help millions of people afford coverage.

Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars In Services

Most of the state laws covering autism require insurers to pay for behavioral analysis as well as physical and occupational therapy. These services can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, although many states put dollar limits on coverage.

Autism encompasses many disorders ranging from mild to severe that can affect a child’s behavior and ability to communicate. Applied behavioral analysis typically involves one-on-one counseling to teach children how to behave or act in different situations. Although parents and many clinicians consider it the most effective therapy for children with autism, the results are mixed in peer-reviewed research.

Insurers typically oppose state benefit mandates, saying they reduce their ability to control costs. In addition, they argue that autism is a development disorder that is best addressed by the educational system, not the medical system.

Parents worry the essential-benefits provision could reopen the debate over covering treatment for autism and spark another showdown with insurers.

“Fear runs through my mind,” said Ann Rounseville of Newton, Mass., whose son Luke, 4, has been able to get speech, occupational and behavioral therapy because of the insurance benefit that started this year.

“Without this coverage he would not be getting any of the extra therapy he needs,” said Rounseville, estimating the Massachusetts law has saved her family more than $10,000 since May.

Stuart Spielman, a lobbyist for Autism Speaks, the New York-based group that has led the push for coverage laws, said he’s confident HHS will include autism because the federal law lists behavioral health treatment in its broad outline of what should be considered essential. The law also spells out the need for emergency services, hospitalization, maternity care, prescription drugs and prevention.

It’s unclear how HHS will decide what to deem an essential benefit. The agency could declare a broad list of categories of treatments and services essential and leave the specifics to the states.

At the state level, autism treatment advocates have argued that the problem is too big – and too expensive for families – not to be covered by insurers. They also say providing treatment to young children can save money in the long run by reducing the later need for institutionalized care.

The state mandate laws typically only affect about half of people with health coverage because they do not apply to self-insured employers, typically large companies.

1 In 110 Children Affected

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 110 American children have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, including 1 in 70 boys. A Harvard University study in 2006 found that on average the annual care for a person with autism runs about $29,000 for medical costs and $38,000 for non-medical costs such as special education, camps and child care.

“The mandates have been a way for states to be doing something on a major issue without money coming out of the state treasury,” said Jack Pitney, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College in California. “It’s a cost borne by insurance companies who are not an object of a great deal of public affection.”

Insurers argue that the cost of autism coverage gets passed on to all their customers through higher premiums. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance, an insurer-backed group, estimates that autism mandates boost premiums from 1 percent to 3 percent.

Highmark, Pennsylvania’s largest private health insurer, says the autism mandate enacted in the state in 2009 increased premiums from 0.6 to 1 percent. Overall, the cost of employer-paid insurance for family coverage last year was $13,770, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent part of the foundation.)

Autism advocates point to lower estimates. They say data from the agency overseeing health benefits for South Carolina state employees shows that autism coverage added just 44 cents per member per month.

Richard Cauchi, program director of the health program of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said HHS has not yet said how it will determine the cost to states of keeping certain mandates. States may be required to pay the insurer or the enrollee.

Cauchi was surprised 16 states approved a variety of new mandates in 2011 given the uncertainty about future costs. Four of the states imposed autism benefits: Arkansas, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.

Until 2007, only Indiana required insurers to cover autism treatment. Today, 26 states do, not including California, where Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has not yet said if he will sign the bill, and New York, where a bill awaits the signature of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Autism advocates and other patient groups continue to press for more benefits laws. By 2014, Cauchi said, “There could certainly be a number of mismatches between what’s considered essential and what states have on their books.”

Wilson Cristancho of Miami hopes the autism treatment Florida requires remains part of his insurance. Before the law took effect in 2009, he said he piled up nearly $30,000 in debt for his son’s medical bills. The intensive therapy now paid for by his insurer has helped his son, Marc Anthony, 9, communicate and improve his hand-eye coordination.

“The mandate has had a huge impact on me and my family,” Cristancho said. “We don’t want to see it go away.”

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – Thousands of employees at southern California’s three largest grocery chains were set to begin voting Friday on a contract proposal that union officials said protects workers’ healthcare.

The United Food and Commercial Workers did not release details of the agreement but said the final proposal from Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons was a “win-win” for both employees and the companies.

Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons, which are owned by SuperValu, Kroger and Safeway respectively, said the settlement will continue to provide workers with “quality, affordable healthcare — while allowing us to be competitive in the marketplace.”

Fifty-percent plus one of the union’s 62,000 members must vote in favor of the tentative agreement for ratification.

The tentative agreement was reached after a 72-hour notice of contract cancelation from the union ended early Monday morning.

The notice of cancelation is a mandatory last step before a work stoppage, something both workers and the supermarket chains badly wanted to avoid due to a 2003 strike that lasted months and cost companies $2 billion.

Unemployment in California has also risen to 12 percent, the second-highest in the nation. Nonetheless, 90 percent of union members voted last month to authorize the union to call a strike if necessary. The vote prompted the grocery chains to agree to non-stop negotiations and a federal mediator to preside over the talks.

The labor dispute began eight months ago, and a contract that expired in March was repeatedly extended during collective bargaining.

According to the union, the chains refused to “adequately fund” their employee healthcare plan despite paying some of the lowest contributions in the past decade.

Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons have said workers need to share the rising costs of healthcare.

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St. Paul, MN, United States (AHN) – Minnesota has joined the federal government and other states in suing Education Management Corp., the nation’s second-largest for-profit college.

According to the lawsuit, two EDMC colleges, Argosy University and the Art Institutes International, collected government financial aid despite the company having given incentives to recruiters based on new student enrollments.

EDMC allegedly used a compensation matrix that involved giving admissions workers points depending on the number of recruited students. The points were then used to calculate the recruiter’s salary.

“Incentive payments by for-profit colleges to their recruiters are illegal because they can lead to a hard-sell atmosphere where students are sometimes hustled to enroll in expensive programs paid for by taxpayer-backed student loans, hurting both students who are trying to better themselves and taxpayers who must pick up the tab if the loans default,” state Atty. Gen. Lori Swanson said in a statement.

Minnesota is the sixth state to file a lawsuit against EDMC for obtaining student aid despite illegally giving bonuses to admissions workers.

The U.S. Justice Department also filed a complaint against the company last month, accusing it of providing commissions to recruiters and falsely certifying compliance with the law that prohibits such incentive compensation. EDMC allegedly obtained $11 billion in federal aid despite its practices.

The False Claims Act bans post-secondary schools from compensating admissions employees based on the number of students recruited, which results in the enrollment of unqualified students, and the pay out of federal grants and student loans.

Pittsburgh-based EDMC, which has about 148,000 students enrolled in more than 100 branches nationwide and in Canada, has denied the allegations.

Former Iowa state Atty. Gen. Bonnie Campbell, who serves as adviser and spokesperson for the company’s legal counsel, said last month the legal action from the “handful of states” is “flat-out wrong.”

“Federal regulations issued in 2002 permitted companies to consider enrollments in admission officer compensation, so long as enrollments were not the sole factor considered,” Campbell said.

“To ensure compliance… EDMC worked closely with outside experts in both human resources and education law to develop a plan that required consideration of five quality factors along with enrollment numbers to determine salaries,” she added.

Early this year, EDMC said it adopted its compensation system in 2003 “based on the advice of and good faith reliance on the opinion of outside counsel that [it] was lawful.”

The company added that it “has long maintained an uncompromising commitment to sound business principles with an emphasis on compliance with laws and regulations.”

The allegations against the company were made by Lynntoya Washington, who worked as a recruiter, and Michael Mahoney, a former training director for the company’s online education division.

The Justice Department decided to intervene in the case along with the states of California, Florida, Illinois and Indiana after investigating the whistleblowers’ claims.

The agency filed friend-of-the-court briefs and did not intervene in the whistleblower case against the University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit college, which agreed to pay $67.5 million to settle allegations of incentive compensation.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Common over-the-counter asthma inhalers will no longer be made or sold after the end of the year, the Food and Drug Administration announced this week.

The FDA released a statement saying people using epinephrine inhalers containing chlorofluorocarbons should plan now to get a replacement product because they will not be manufactured or sold after Dec. 31.

The inhalers, including the popular Primatene Mist, are being phased out to comply with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Countries that signed on to the agreement will no longer permit the sale of products containing chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.

Many inhaler makers have already changed their products to propellants other than CFCs. The most common is called hydrofluoroalkane.

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