Statins and Diabetes: What You Should Know

"Lifestyle changes such as eating healthy and being active are an important part of managing diabetes. But your doctor may also prescribe a combination of medicines to help you manage your diabetes and reduce the risk of complications. Because heart disease is one of the most common complications of diabetes, taking statins to lower your cholesterol levels can be key to preventing heart disease and stroke.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people in the United States, especially among White, Black, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people. While heart disease and stroke can affect anyone, people with certain health conditions, like diabetes, are at higher risk. People with diabetes are twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke compared to people without diabetes. And the longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to have heart disease. This is because over time, high blood sugar can damage the blood vessels and nerves that control your heart.

A common cause of heart disease for people with diabetes is plaque (cholesterol deposits) that builds up in the arteries. When plaque continues to build, your arteries narrow, making it harder for blood to flow to your heart. This can cause heart muscles to weaken, which can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. For this reason, your doctor may prescribe a statin (blood cholesterol-lowering medicine) to reduce your risk of heart disease.

About half of people who are taking medicine to manage their high blood cholesterol are using a statin. While statin use is highly recommended to lower the risk of heart disease, research shows that younger adults, women, and people without insurance are less likely to receive a statin prescription. Compared with non-Hispanic White people, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic people have lower rates of cholesterol management. Further, women and Black adults are less likely to use statins. It’s important to know your risk for heart disease and stroke and to talk to your health care professional about all possible treatment plans.

What Are Statins?

Statins are a type of cholesterol-lowering medicine that reduces the amount of cholesterol made in the liver. Statins also help remove LDL (“bad”) cholesterol that’s already in the blood and raise your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. They can also:

• Reduce the buildup of plaque on the walls of your arteries.
• Stabilize plaque so that it doesn’t break off and block blood flow to the heart or brain.
• Decrease swelling in the walls of your arteries.
• Decrease the chance of blood clots forming.

There are several types of statins, each with different dosage levels and intensity (strength). A statin prescription will be based on your individual factors. These include your blood cholesterol levels, your risk for heart disease, and your tolerance of a specific statin. Your health care team will work with you to determine the best type and dosage to reduce your risk of heart disease and manage your diabetes..."
Statins and Diabetes 

Family Caregivers: Information on the Family and Medical Leave Act

"When you need to take time off from work to care for a family member, the Family and Medical Leave Act is here to help. 

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees are entitled to unpaid, job-protected leave to provide care for a family member, including:

• Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition or for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
• Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

This webpage provides resources to help family caregivers understand and exercise their rights to job-protected leave under the FMLA.

 

Guides for Employees

• How To Talk to Your Employer About Taking Time Off For Family And Medical Reasons. This guide provides information on how to talk to your employer about taking job-protected leave for family or medical reasons under the FMLA.
• The Employee’s Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act (PDF). This plain language booklet answers common FMLA questions and clarifies who can take FMLA leave and what protections the FMLA provides.
• The Employee’s Guide to Military Family Leave (PDF) Guía de Cumplimiento bajo la FMLA (PDF).."
  Family and Medical Leave Act 

Tally of Electoral Votes for the 1800 Presidential Election

"Because the Constitution did not distinguish between President and Vice-President in the votes cast by the Electoral College, both Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr received 73 votes in the election of 1800. The House of Representatives cast thirty-five ballots over five days to break the tie and finally, on February 17, 1801, on the thirty-sixth ballot, the House elected Thomas Jefferson to be President.."
Electoral votes in 1800 

Foreign Legal Gazettes in the Law Library of Congress

"The Law Library of Congress has been collecting foreign official gazettes since the mid-nineteenth century and maintains one of the largest collections of these sources in the world. Official gazettes are primary sources of law published by national governments to disseminate new legislation, regulations, and decisions of governmental bodies. These publications may also contain other information including the text of international agreements, court decisions, official announcements, and government notices. For countries with civil law systems, the official gazette often serves as the sole source of the authoritative texts of laws until updated codes are published. In most countries, a law enters into force on the date of publication in the official gazette.

The Law Library’s gazette collection includes current, historical, and subnational jurisdictions. The two dashboards (desktop External and mobile External) represent an interactive, geographic index of the gazette collection owned by the Law Library of Congress. Users can explore the collection via an interactive map, or use the dropdown menus to search and filter results. Each row represents a different record in the catalog and users can see specific holdings information by clicking on the Library Catalog link for that record. The collection represented in the dashboard is content owned by the Law Library of Congress meaning the “digital” filter in the search will yield only content that has been digitized by the Library and not gazettes in commercial databases or free online collections. Please refer to the Law Library's Guide to Law Online for gazettes that are freely available online. The dashboards are updated regularly to edit records and add additional jurisdictions.

For Law Library of Congress legal gazette holdings, please refer to the Foreign Legal Gazette Guide External, and for legal gazettes that are freely available online, please refer to the Law Library's Guide to Law Online. If you have questions about the collection, or need research assistance, please Ask a Librarian..."
Foreign Legal Gazettes 

Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, February 2023

"The debt limit—commonly called the debt ceiling—is the maximum amount of debt that the Department of the Treasury can issue to the public or to other federal agencies. The amount is set by law and has been increased or suspended over the years to allow for the additional borrowing needed to finance the government’s operations. On December 16, 2021, lawmakers raised the debt limit by $2.5 trillion to a total of $31.4 trillion.1 On January 19, 2023, that limit was reached, and the Treasury announced a “debt issuance suspension period” during which, under current law, it can take well-established “extraordinary measures” to borrow additional funds without breaching the debt ceiling.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that, if the debt limit remains unchanged, the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted between July and September 2023—that is, in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year. The projected exhaustion date is uncertain because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from CBO’s projections. In particular, income tax receipts in April could be more or less than CBO estimates. If those receipts fell short of estimated amounts—for example, if capital gains realizations in 2022 were smaller or if U.S. income growth slowed by more in early calendar year 2023 than CBO projected—the extraordinary measures could be exhausted sooner, and the Treasury could run out of funds before July.

If the debt limit is not raised or suspended before the extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully.2 As a result, the government would have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both.."
Federal debt 

National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA): Crime Guns - Volume Two

"The National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA) is a comprehensive examination of commerce in firearms in the United States and the diversion of firearms to illegal markets. Produced by a team comprised of ATF subject-matter experts, academics from a variety of disciplines specializing in research relating to firearms, and other law enforcement professionals, the NFCTA is designed to provide the public, researchers, and policymakers with analysis of data lawfully collected by ATF as part of its regulatory and law enforcement missions to inform the dialogue on firearm law and policy. To ensure comprehensive analysis, the NFCTA is being produced in several volumes. In May 2022, ATF published Volume I, Firearms in Commerce. Volume I presents data, information, and analysis specific to the manufacture, import, export, and sale of firearms by the regulated firearms industry in the United States. This second volume of the NFCTA, Crime Gun Intelligence and Analysis, focuses on data, information, and analysis relating to crime guns recovered by law enforcement during domestic and international investigations. Importantly, ATF accesses this data and information pursuant to specific statutory authorities and within the restrictions set by Congress to protect the privacy of lawful firearms owners.

The information that ATF relies upon to execute its law enforcement mission of protecting the public from firearm-related violence is derived from several sources. Collectively known as “Crime Gun Intelligence” (“CGI”) these sources include crime gun trace results derived from records that federal law requires federal firearms licensees (FFLs) to maintain about firearms they manufacture and distribute; ballistics data and analysis generated by ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN); and investigative information developed by ATF agents, other federal law enforcement agencies (LEAs), and local, state, territorial, tribal, and international law enforcement partners. Using these information sources, ATF routinely generates bulletins for law enforcement and industry, and issues public safety advisories for all citizens. This Volume of the NFCTA, however, represents the first comprehensive report incorporating crime gun information from the full range of sources used by ATF in more than twenty years. Advancements in ballistic analytical technology and information processing during this period have enhanced ATF’s capacity to support law enforcement efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute those who use firearms to commit violent offenses and the traffickers who illegally divert those crime guns to criminals. Volume II describes in detail the sources of information that constitute CGI, and how CGI is leveraged to promote effective investigation of firearm-related violence.."
Firearms assessment 

EPA Announces New Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFAS Chemicals, $1 Billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding to Strengthen Health Protections

"Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released four drinking water health advisories for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the latest action under President Biden’s action plan to deliver clean water and Administrator Regan’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. EPA also announced that it is inviting states and territories to apply for $1 billion – the first of $5 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant funding – to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants in drinking water, specifically in small or disadvantaged communities. These actions build on EPA’s progress to safeguard communities from PFAS pollution and scientifically inform upcoming efforts, including EPA’s forthcoming proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for PFOA and PFOS, which EPA will release in the fall of 2022.

“People on the front-lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long. That’s why EPA is taking aggressive action as part of a whole-of-government approach to prevent these chemicals from entering the environment and to help protect concerned families from this pervasive challenge,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are also investing $1 billion to reduce PFAS and other emerging contaminants in drinking water.”

“Today’s actions highlight EPA’s commitment to use the best available science to tackle PFAS pollution, protect public health, and provide critical information quickly and transparently,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox. “EPA is also demonstrating its commitment to harmonize policies that strengthen public health protections with infrastructure funding to help communities—especially disadvantaged communities—deliver safe water.”.."
PFaS in Drinking Water 

Dental Sealants Can Improve Students’ Oral Health

"Learn how a school dental sealant program can help your students keep a healthy smile.

Cavities (tooth decay) are the most common chronic diseases of childhood in the United States. Untreated cavities can cause pain and infections that lead to problems eating, speaking, playing, and learning. These problems can affect a child’s quality of life, performance at school, and success later in life.

The good news is cavities are preventable and schools can help. Dental sealants protect the chewing surfaces of the back teeth by covering them with a protective shield that can prevent cavities for many years. School sealant programs are an effective way to reach millions of children with this intervention, helping them stay healthy and ready to learn..."
Dental programs in schools 

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 - 2025

"We are pleased to present the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. This edition marks the first time the Guidelines provide recommendations by life stage, from birth through older adulthood.

Each stage of life is distinct and has unique needs that affect health and disease risk. Early food preferences influence food and beverage choices later. And the science has evolved to focus on the importance of a healthy dietary pattern over time. The science also shows it’s never too late to start and maintain a healthy dietary pattern, which can yield health benefits in the short term and cumulatively over years. This new edition of the Dietary Guidelines includes specific recommendations for all life stages, now including infants and toddlers, and pregnant and lactating women. We are excited this is the first edition to provide guidance for every life stage.

This edition of the Dietary Guidelines is grounded in robust scientific reviews of the current body of evidence on key nutrition and health topics for each life stage. We thank the 20 distinguished scientists on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for their expertise and dedication in conducting an independent scientific review that was characterized by more transparency and public participation throughout the process than ever before. The Committee’s work culminated in a comprehensive scientific report on the current state of nutrition science and provided advice to the Departments for our development of this 9th edition of the Dietary Guidelines. The Committee also included important considerations for future research, such as a need to reconsider the Dietary Reference Intakes. The U.S. and Canadian Dietary Reference Intake Steering Committees are currently developing plans to re-examine energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate–the timeline for these macronutrient reviews has not been established. USDA and HHS are looking forward to jointly funding the work to help guide our Departments’ research agendas in the coming years..."
Dietary Guidelines 2020-2025 

Food Irradiation

"Food irradiation is a food safety process that uses radiation to kill germs that can cause food poisoning (foodborne illness). Food irradiation is safe, and its safety and efficacy have been endorsed by various federal agencies and intergovernmental organizations. It does not change the texture or appearance of food and does not make food radioactive.

Food irradiation is also used to extend the shelf life of foods and control for insects. This page contains questions and answers you may have about food irradiation for food safety.

How does food irradiation work?

Food irradiation works by exposing food products to ionizing radiation. Food irradiation is considered a “cold” method, meaning it does not use heat to kill germs. Other food safety processes that you may be more familiar with, like pasteurization and canning, use heat.

The irradiation process happens after a food is produced and packaged. Food enters a chamber where it is exposed to a specific amount of radiation. The radiation penetrates the food and kills germs or prevents them from multiplying, and it does not linger in the food. Irradiation is one more protective step, but it does not replace other food safety measures.."
Food Irradiation