Of course you’re getting wizard rock this week. The sound quality isn’t the best, but the below is a performance of Harry and the Potters at the Carnegie Library* of Pittsburgh. The song is “The Foil,” by Harry and the Potters.

*Which is awesome – I visited the main branch on Forbes while I was in Pittsburgh for my library science grad school. It seemed like a really pleasant place to spend time.

At Our Bodies Our Blog today, I have a post on Resources for Evaluating Health News, including links to resources that grade and critique medical journalism. There’s also a bit about conflicts of interest in medical journalism education (i.e., drug companies sponsoring “education” of journalists about treatments they make money off of).

Thanks to Nikki D (eagledawg) for sharing it with others via Twitter, and shamsha, sevinfo, HS_Librarian, wwdove17, and WSUSpokane for further retweeting. I love it when the libraryland folks appreciate a post.

There have been new approvals for generic, one-pill, and OTC access for 17-year-olds related to Plan B that – to me, at least – make figuring out what is available to who (whom? I never get that right) kind of confusing. For example, there’s a new generic version, but women 18 and older can’t officially have it yet, but they maybe could as an off-label prescription. Yesterday at Our Bodies Our Blog, I went over the new approvals and products, and included a handy (I hope) table in an attempt to clarify the availability issue for the current situation. Head on over and take a look.

On a semi-related note, I keep meaning to take a photo of the instructions that come with my oral contraceptive, instructions that fold out to the size of a person. I have a graduate degree, and there are things in there I’m not sure I’m interpreting correctly. Hmph.

RH Reality Check has a heart-stopping headline on a sensitive topic: How Are Your Orgasms, Mom?

…

Whew, have you recovered yet?

I’m just being a little silly because the idea of older adults – even our parents – having sex is an idea that most of us would probably rather avoid. Hey, I joke when I’m uncomfortable – you? It’s certainly not something many of us (in my estimation) have gotten comfortable thinking or talking about. That’s why the above-linked post is so awesome.

The post, by Ann Whidden of the National Sexuality Resource Center, begins:

My mom turns sixty-nine this fall, and she recently asked if I could turn my communications expertise to a more familial project: updating her personal profile on a popular dating site. As she gears up to meet men for Coke dates in the mall, I geared up for how to have “the talk” that I never got from her. How do I cover the basics, like condom use and STI prevention that I wished I’d heard from her as a teen-and how do I cover topics like vaginal dryness, communication, and pleasure (topics I would have liked, but maybe not from mom)? I wish to be as bold as masturbation guru Betty Dodson, who, the story goes, once asked her mother, “How are your orgasms?”

Kudos to Ann for thinking about breaking down the barriers to open communication that many of us have. Ann also cites what I think is a very important statistic, and one that nobody ever seems to know/believe/take me seriously about:
15% of new HIV/AIDS cases are in people over 50 years of age
No, there haven’t historically been a huge percentage of HIV+ people who were older. However, as the CDC notes, people over 50 are not only 15% of new cases, but also 24% of persons living with HIV/AIDS (increased from 17% in 2001), 19% of all AIDS diagnoses, 29% of persons living with AIDS, and 35% of all deaths of persons with AIDS.

Regarding the new infections in older adults – These are people who did not grow up with HIV. They did not grow up with HIV awareness in their schools. Now, of course I can’t speak for what older people know about HIV. I know there is a lot of concern about the fact that they did not grow up learning about it, and may not be as up on safer sex practices as some younger folk. So if, like Ann, you have an older adult in your life who could use some information, follow her example and think about what you can perhaps provide.

And I am one of those nerds. You can watch a ton of coverage related to Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings on the site.

In the “Highlights,” you can hear Patrick Leahy regulate in response to an outburst – apparently one of those involved in the outburst was “Jane Roe” (Norma McCorvey), who is now an anti-choice activist.

Go get sucked down a blog rabbithole with all of the “pit to distress” posts of late, on obstetric providers who allegedly push pitocin on laboring women in an attempt to make the fetus “prove” itself – by coming out vaginally or forcing a c-section for fetal distress. Start with Unnecesarean, Keyboard Revolutionary, and NursingBirth. Those starting points also include links to various other posts on the topic. Relatedly, RealityRounds has written a guide for nurses to refusing physician orders.

PhD in Parenting is talking about drinking while breastfeeding.

Abortion Pill Study Suggests Way to Limit Infection – from the New York Times, on reducing infection associated with medical abortion by avoiding the off-label vaginal administration and providing antibiotics. As the piece notes, and as I wrote about some time ago, Planned Parenthood changed their protocol to avoid vaginal administration and add an antibiotic after a few deaths a few years ago in which route of administration was suspected as potentially associated. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine reviews infection rates since the protocol change and finds significant reductions in the already small rate of serious infection with the new protocol.

The FDA is planning to warn doctors about potential interactions between tamoxifen (commonly prescribed for breast cancer) and antidepressants, as women on both may be more likely to have their cancer return (see this piece in the Wall Street Journal). DoubleX has a first-person account from a breast cancer survivor about her experience and learning of this potential interaction. As a search of the American Cancer Society site reveals, researchers have been asking preliminary questions about a potential interaction since at least 2003, and again in 2005.

RH Reality Check is talking crisis pregnancy centers, and giving birth in chains.

Sweet Machine at Shapely Prose points to an AskMen.com advice column on subtly telling a woman she’s getting fat, which reads like a manual for emotional manipulation and abuse.

Renee has lots of good links as usual. Among them, this post on gendered food. I can’t tell you how many times waitstaff have tried to give me the (male) spouse’s salad.

And also, this post on a children’s book from 1970 with some seriously outdated and head-exploding gender stereotypes. I kind of hope this is some kind of hoax, but I’m afraid to look.

From Bonnaroo, just down the road from me, just a few weeks ago, Ani D does Manhole. Couple o’ f-bombs at the start.

That’s: “Ladies, calling a gal fat to insult her is old and busted. You’re better off hurting my feelings by telling me I kern too tightly,” via @theogeo

From Our Bodies Our Blog:
Female Condom to be Reintroduced in Uganda, United States

ACOG Issues New Practice Bulletin on Continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring

And Christine has this cool one on subverting the magazine rack: One Easy Way to Be Beautiful (Just the Way You Are)

From the “Executive Appointments” section of the local City Paper:

Two from Vanderbilt-Ingram named to ‘Dream Team’

Two members of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center community have been tapped to join an international “Dream Team” of cancer researchers. Professor Carlos Arteaga and patient advocate Patricia Lee will be part of the project that will seek to further breast cancer research and help tailor treatments to individual patients. Arteaga joins five other principal researchers from around the United States and Europe in the initiative.

The program, funded by Stand Up To Cancer, a charitable initiative of the Entertainment Industry Foundation will receive roughly $15 million for its three-year term.

Patricia Lee is one of my fellow medical librarians. Congrats, Patty!