Results from the first-ever global quantitative survey on unmet needs in asthma treatment, demonstrate significant discrepancies between physician and patient assessments of current asthma treatment on issues that may affect health outcomes, including medication side effects, patient education and physician-patient communication.

G. Walter Canonica MD, says, "Ongoing physician-patient communication is essential in treating chronic conditions such as asthma, and the GAPP Survey reveals there is much room to improve this dialogue in every country we studied. One place to start is in the area of side effects, where results demonstrate significant disconnections between physicians and patients

The U.N. says the AIDS crisis in Africa is getting worse. The United Nations said more than 3 million people across the continent have been infected with HIV this year -- the highest in any single year. Speaking at an international conference on AIDS in Nigeria, the U.N.'s Peter Piot said young people account for nearly half of the new infections. That leaves Africa with "an unprecedented AIDS crisis," Piot said.

He said there is an urgent need for more prevention and treatment programs. AIDS has killed about 40 million people worldwide, most of them in Africa. An estimated 2.4 million people died of HIV-related illness on the continent in 2005. More than 3 million Africans were newly infected with HIV in 2005 -- more than in any previous year for the continent, and representing 64 percent of all new infections globally, according to UNAIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa has about 10 percent of the world's population but 60 percent of people living with HIV

Merck and Co.'s announcement Monday that it will trim 7,000 jobs brings the number of announced cuts in the pharmaceutical industry to 24,396 this year, a 150 percent increase from last year, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc.

The announcement comes as the company faces the loss of patent protection for its cholesterol drug Zocor in 2006 and is facing thousands of liability lawsuits from its recalled painkiller Vioxx

Merck and Co.'s announcement Monday that it will trim 7,000 jobs brings the number of announced cuts in the pharmaceutical industry to 24,396 this year, a 150 percent increase from last year, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc.

The announcement comes as the company faces the loss of patent protection for its cholesterol drug Zocor in 2006 and is facing thousands of liability lawsuits from its recalled painkiller Vioxx

It its first global study of the issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports on Thursday that one in six women worldwide is a victim of domestic violence.

The WHO says many of those battered do not report the crime, with some of them being victimized while pregnant, reports Reuters