A California health department pamphlet on sexually transmitted diseases is under investigation after concerns were raised about the graphic nature of sections on gay sex. 

According to FOX40 in Sacramento, the pamphlet on STD symptoms includes anatomically correct male stick figures engaged in sexual acts, as well as explicit language. Print-shop workers complained to the state printer about the issue, which is now being investigated at the state health department. 

“It’s almost like a how-to manual to have gay sex,” one print worker told FOX40. 

The worker said he has no problems with the purpose of the manual, but was concerned the language and images went too far. 

“The language used — they’re using the F-word, you know? and male sex organs using the C-word and the D-word,” he said. 

Anita Gore, the deputy director of public affairs for the State Department of Public Health, told FOX40 that procedures designed to review materials were “breached.” 

Click here to read more at FOX40.

Schizophrenia currently affects more than 2 million people in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health website. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Community Mental Health Center of Lancaster County hope to improve early care for people diagnosed with schizophrenia by participating in a treatment study designed by NIMH.

The center will be just one of 35 locations nationwide to host NIMH’s Recovery after an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Project (RAISE ETP).

Mary Sullivan, director of RAISE ETP in Lincoln, stressed the importance of early treatment.

“Many people, when they start experiencing the symptoms (of schizophrenia), don’t go for treatment or help for over a year,” she said.

Doctors categorize symptoms into positive, negative and cognitive, according to NIMH. They include hallucinations, movement disorders, thought disorders, little interaction, problems focusing or paying attention and working memory problems.

Schizophrenia often shows up between the ages of 19 and 21.

“The role of UNL and the center is to be a community-based site for the study,” said Travis Parker, deputy director of the Community Mental Health Center of Lancaster County.

“We’re hoping what the outcomes of this study will demonstrate is that for people with schizophrenia, receiving treatment in a timely manner will decrease negative outcomes and improve the quality of life for the individual,” he said.

The center was created about 40 years ago. Parker estimated it helps about 6,000 people a year, 10 percent of whom deal with a disorder related to schizophrenia.

“It’s often a troubling and confusing time in that person’s life,” he said. “It can take a long time before that person or a person in their life decides they need help.”

Sullivan noted that Lincoln was considered for the project due to UNL’s psychology department and a well-respected lab for serious mental illnesses. The university formed the serious Mental Illness Research Group in the 1980s, currently led by Will Spaulding, a professor of psychology.

“Lincoln was chosen as a site for RAISE ETP based, in part, on the fine working relationship between the psychology department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Community Mental Health Center of Lancaster County,” Sullivan said.

Participants of the study volunteer to be assessed and receive individual treatment based on their strengths and specific problem areas.

The goal of the project is to get people the help they need as soon as possible and decrease the stigma associated with having a mental disorder, according to Sullivan.

“The RAISE Project will help people build on their strengths and the special assessments will help us focus on specific problem areas,” she said.

REDBRIDGE: Health trust leading TB fight

10:21am Thursday 2nd December 2010

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HEALTH bosses in Redbridge have taken action against a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) in the capital.

last year 3,376 new cases of TB were reported in London and Londoners now account for the largest number of cases in the UK making up 39 per cent of the country’s total last year.

in Redbridge, the caseload has risen from 58 in 2000 to 159 in 2008.

Gladys Xavier, deputy director of public health for NHS Redbridge, said: “The figures are relatively low but we can’t be complacent, despite meeting London’s TB standards of care.

“The biggest obstacle we face is educating people about the facts and reassuring them that TB is completely treatable.

“There is still a stigma attached to the name.”

Redbridge PCT has invested in a TB service which fast-tracks patients with symptoms through diagnosis and treatment.

A full course of medication takes six months.

The trust has taken on two more caseworkers to work in the community, alongside a dedicated hospital team, offering outreach work, screening, education, TB clinics and home visits.

TB is a bacterial infection which usually affects the lungs but can affect almost any part of the body.

it can be spread when someone with the infection coughs and another person breathes in the bacteria.

However, prolonged contact with the person is usually needed, and most cases can be successfully treated with antibiotics.

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