1. Cultural activities – 7/30 – 8/01 -TECRO
2. Youth Leadership Training July 31- Aug 1, 2008 free for high school and college students
3. Drugs to Build Bones May Weaken Them -- NYT article on Fosamax and related bone drugs

Cultural activities – 7/30 – 8/01 (10:30 – 12:00) at TECRO

華府華僑文教服務中心為擴大服務大華府地區僑胞，特別規劃 7 月 30 日（星期三）至 8 月 1 日（星期五）上午 10 時 30 分至 12 時（每次教學 1 個半小時，共 3 次），在該中心舉辦民俗技藝教學活動，由僑務委員會特別選派具專業且有海外教學經驗的老師前來本地教學。

（一）Chinese Knot class
民俗藝術課程：蘇春美老師畢業於國立台北師院，目前任職於台北市長春國小，這次她將教習同學們做結繩藝術〈平安項鍊、鼠來運轉、創意杯墊〉、創意剪紙、童玩〈風車 DIY 及單槓小子〉、摺紙、棉紙印染、創意燈籠、吸管藝術造型點頭龍等民俗藝術課程。

（二）Chinese Dance
民族舞蹈課程：莊文音老師畢業於國光藝校及香港演藝學院舞蹈系，目前任職於台北縣樹林國小，這次她安排同學們學功夫舞（威震寰宇），學習基本功夫步伐、功夫套路、鐵扇的運用及舞蹈排練；宮廷舞（格格舞），以絲巾的用法、格格走路姿態、長穗扇的用法排練；民俗舞（鳳揚花鼓、太平鼓），以鼓點打法及絲巾基本練習做為舞蹈排練；原住民舞（迎賓舞），以基本舞步及身體協調練習來排舞。

（三）Yo-Yo Class
扯鈴技藝課程：鄧明杰老師畢業於台北大學，曾任國內多項民俗比賽、扯鈴裁判，目前任職於台北市老松國小，2006 年曾至美西擔任民俗體育課程老師，專長為扯鈴教學。

歡迎大家踴躍報名參加（每班 25 人，額滿為止），如需詳細課程及費用資料，請於上班時間（週二至週日上午 10 時至下午 6 時）電洽華府華僑文教服務中心，電話： (301) 869-8585 ，或 E-mail: cctecro@verizon.net。

Youth Leadership Training July 31- Aug 1, 2008

OCA is a national Asian Pacific American organization headquartered in Washington DC with 51 chapters and about 30 college affiliates nationwide dedicated to advancing the social, political and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. We advocate for social justice and fair treatment, promote civic participation and provide leadership training for youth and college students.

The OCA National Convention will feature two days of workshops and discussion geared towards APIA high school students. Students will explore leadership, empowerment, and identity within the APIA community. Both days are free.

	Youth Leadership Day (Thursday, July 31),
	Youth Day (Friday, August 1),
	College Leadership Day (Thursday, July 31),
	College Day (Friday, August 1).

Youth Leadership Training: Thursday July 31, 2008
This is a full day of workshops on creating and developing a shared vision, empowerment in the APA community, leadership development and organizing. It is also a chance to meet other engaged student leaders in your area!

Youth Day, Sponsored by McDonalds: Friday August 1, 2008
Youth day will be a series of workshops with possible topics focus on media, politics, communication, education, activism, and career choices in the APIA community.

Exhibit / Career Fair- Friday August 1, 2008
An opportunity to meet with recruiters from Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and other non-profit organizations about career opportunities for APIAs. Learn about job opportunities, submit your resume, and get on the spot interviews.

*Both days will be from 9a.m.- 5p.m.
*Breakfast and Lunch will be provided

Hilton Washington
1919 Connecticut Avenue, Washington D.C. 20009

FMI: Contact Douglas Lee at dlee@ocanational.org or 202 223 5500
Douglas Lee OCA - Senior Program Manager

If you will need transportation contact Ginny Gong at ginny.gong@montgomerycountymd.gov. or call ginny's cell phone 240-876-2450. Based on this information, transportation will be scheduled.

Drugs to Build Bones May Weaken Them -- NYT article on Fosamax and related bone drugs

By TARA PARKER-POPE
New questions have emerged about whether long-term use of bone-building drugs for osteoporosis may actually lead to weaker bones in a small number of people who use them.

The concern rises mainly from a series of case reports showing a rare type of leg fracture that shears straight across the upper thighbone after little or no trauma. Fractures in this sturdy part of the bone typically result from car accidents, or in the elderly and frail. But the case reports show the unusual fracture pattern in people who have used bone-building drugs called bisphosphonates for five years or more.

Some patients have reported that after weeks or months of unexplained aching, their thighbones simply snapped while they were walking or standing.

"Many of these women will tell you they thought the bone broke before they hit the ground," said Dr. Dean G. Lorich, associate director of orthopedic trauma surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and the Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. Lorich and his colleagues published a study in The Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma last month reporting on 20 patients with the fracture. Nineteen had been using the bone drug Fosamax for an average of 6.9 years.

Last year, The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery published a Singapore report of 13 women with low-trauma fractures, including 9 who had been on long-term Fosamax therapy.

The doctors emphasize that the problem appears to be rare for a class of drug that clearly prevents fractures and has been life-saving for women with severe osteoporosis. Every year, American adults suffer 300,000 hip fractures.

Merck, which makes Fosamax, says it will study whether the unusual fracture pattern is really more common in bone-drug users. Arthur Santora, Merck's executive director for clinical research, noted that the fracture accounted for only about 5 or 6 percent of all broken hips, while drugs like Fosamax reduced the risk for the other 95 percent.

The fracture pattern did not emerge in placebo-controlled studies of bone drugs. But those studies have lasted only three to five years, although follow-up studies of the drug users have lasted longer. Now that the fracture pattern has been identified, researchers expect more doctors to publish reports.

"I have several similar patients myself," said Dr. Susan M. Ott, associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington. "Prior to these recent articles, there were a few cases here and a few cases there, but they are kind of starting to add up."

Bones are in a constant state of remodeling — dissolving microscopic bits of old bone, a process called resorption, and rebuilding new bone. After age 30 or so, a woman's bones start to dissolve faster than they can be rebuilt, and after menopause she may develop thin, brittle bones that are easily broken. Bisphosphonates, including Fosamax, Procter & Gamble's Actonel and GlaxoSmithKline's Boniva, slow this process.

But some experts are concerned that microscopic bone cracks that result from normal wear and tear are not repaired when the bone remodeling process is suppressed. A 2001 study of beagles taking high doses of bisphosphonates found an accumulation of microscopic damage, though there was no evidence that their bones were weaker.

Last September, the medical journal Bone reported on a study of 66 women, financed by Eli Lilly, that showed an association between Fosamax use and an accumulation of microdamage in bones.

In January 2006, the medical journal Geriatrics published an unusual autobiographical case report. Dr. Jennifer Schneider, a 59-year-old physician from Tucson, wrote that she was riding a New York City subway when the train lurched. "I felt a crack and I fell," she recalled in an interview. "I knew I'd fractured my femur."

Dr. Schneider, who had been taking Fosamax for seven years, said she had had pain in her thigh, but X-rays and scans had not found a problem.

In recent years, another rare side effect has been associated with bone drugs: osteonecrosis of the jaw, in which a patient's jawbone rots and dies. Most victims are cancer patients taking a potent intravenous form of the drug, but a small number of cases from ordinary users have been reported.

Notably, studies suggest there is little extra benefit in taking the bone drugs more than five years. Dr. Lorich says that doctors should monitor the bone metabolism of long-term users and that some patients may want to consider taking time off the drugs. When fractures do occur, surgeons need to be alerted about long-term drug use, because the fracture may require more aggressive treatment and be slower to heal.

Dr. Ott says the focus should be on using bone drugs only in patients with a fracture risk of at least 3 percent over the next 10 years. (An online fracture risk tool is at www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX.)

"Too many of these people are not getting adequate treatment that definitely is beneficial," Dr. Ott said. "My major caution is that the bisphosphonates should not be used in people who don't have a high risk of fracture."

CLSC Principal, Emily Lee 校長 張郁梅