Archives: Morning Breakouts

At the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston on Monday, researchers "suggested the potential" of a gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir to reduce the risk of anal HIV transmission, TIME's "Healthland" blog reports. With previous trials showing the gel reduced HIV vaginal infection risk, "[r]esearchers have wanted to know whether the gel could protect against anal transmission of the virus, since the risk of infection from unprotected anal sex may be more than 20 times that of unprotected vaginal sex," according to the blog (Melnick, 2/28).

A group of nations are meeting in London this week to negotiate the Food Aid Convention (FAC), an "international agreement that governs food-aid commitments to hungry countries," the Globe and Mail reports. Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union and its member states, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the U.S. currently are included in the convention, which was last updated in 1999. Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa also would like FAC membership, according to the Globe and Mail.

In remarks to the National Governors Association, President Barack Obama signaled support for moving up to 2014 from 2017 the date when states could get waivers to create their own plans to reach the overhaul's coverage goals.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a patent dispute involved Standford University and a pharmaceutical company.

In its arguments for clarification from Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson, the administration said this step is necessary so that they know how to proceed in defending the law and implementing its provisions.

The measure, which would keep the federal government functioning until March 18, funds most programs at their current level. It does, however, trim $4 billion by targeting certain programs - but the health law is not "de-funded" in this plan. Still, governors are uneasy about the impact likely federal spending reductions will have on their budgets.

"House Republicans late Friday afternoon released a two-week continuing resolution [CR] that cuts more than $4 billion in federal spending," Roll Call reports (Stanton, 2/25). "Under the proposal, the law now keeping the government open would be extended two more weeks, until March 18 ... In the interim, House and Senate leaders would try to negotiate a broader plan to finance the government at reduced levels through Sept. 30," the New York Times reports. Republican leaders trimmed programs in education, transportation and other areas "that President Obama had previously sought to close down" (Hulse, 2/25). "The plan, scheduled to hit the House floor Tuesday, includes $1.24 billion in program terminations and $2.7 billion in earmark terminations, according to a summary provided by the House Appropriations Committee," CQ writes (Goldfarb/Young, 2/25).