A new research program called the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program (MEPREP) will fund research to study the effects of prescription medications used during pregnancy. The program is a collaboration among the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and researchers at the HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERT), Kaiser Permanente’s multiple research centers and Vanderbilt University.

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FDA, Health Organizations to Study Safety of Medications Taken During Pregnancy

Budget Request for FY 2010 Before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations The President’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget request for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the National Institutes of Health includes $127,241,000, which is $1,770,000 more than the comparable FY 2009 appropriation of $125,471,000.

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2009 Director’s Testimony

Progressive resistance exercise training (known as PRT) can increase muscle mass and preserve physical functioning in people with HIV. In light of evidence that the dietary supplement creatine can enhance PRT-related benefits in athletes and improve muscle function in patients with muscle-wasting conditions, a recent NCCAM-funded study investigated creatine’s effects on PRT results in a group of HIV-positive men. The researchers were affiliated with the University of California at San Francisco and Santa Cruz, San Francisco General Hospital, Northern California Institute for Research and Education, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Thessaly (Greece)

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Study Finds Creatine Does Not Enhance Strength-Building Effects of Resistance Training in HIV Patients

Feature Stories New Campaign Encourages Open Communication About CAM A new campaign from NCCAM, which offers free educational materials, is encouraging dialogue between patients and their health care providers about CAM use. A Walk in the Botanical Research Centers “Garden” Visit the NIH Botanical Research Centers “garden” to find out how Russian tarragon, prunella (self-heal), borage oil, and other botanical and dietary supplement ingredients are being examined to prevent and treat diseases and conditions.

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CAM at the NIH - July 2008

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched Time to Talk , an educational campaign to encourage patients—particularly those age 50 or older—and their health care providers to openly discuss the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine, such as herbal supplements, meditation, naturopathy, and acupuncture. According to a national consumer survey conducted by NCCAM and AARP, almost two-thirds of people age 50 or older are using some form of CAM, yet less than one-third of these CAM users talk about it with their providers

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Time To Talk About CAM