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Democratic Female Senators Praise Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Several Democratic female senators on Wednesday took to the floor in a series of speeches praising Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and highlighting her judicial qualifications, the Boston Globe"s "Political Intelligence" reports. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) -- a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- was joined by Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).In her address, Klobuchar said that Sotomayor"s experience "particularly resonated with me," adding that Sotomayor "understands the law is not just some dusty book in your basement" and that its interpretation has consequences. McCaskill said that Sotomayor is a nominee with "integrity, grit, intellect and the ability to pass judgment in the most difficult intellectual challenges that face a Supreme Court justice."According to "Political Intelligence," the floor speeches came after Klobuchar and others praised Sotomayor"s nomination at Monday"s annual convention of the left-leaning legal organization the American Constitution Society. In her speech, Klobuchar defended Sotomayor against conservative critics who have questioned the nominee"s temperament, citing complaints that Sotomayor was impatient with unprepared lawyers. Klobuchar said that she is "hoping that we would get to a point in this country where we could be appointing and confirming as many as rough and to-the-point female judges as we have appointed male judges" ("Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 6/24).

Meridian Bioscience Receives FDA Clearance For New Rapid Campylobacter Test
Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO) announced that it has received FDA clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a new rapid test for Campylobacter, ImmunoCard STAT!® CAMPY. This new test provides fast and accurate detection of Campylobacter bacteria, one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness and the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness in the United States. Approximately 20 million stool culture tests are conducted each year in the U.S. to detect the illness, known as Campylobacteriosis. Campylobacter is most often transmitted by poorly cooked poultry or person-to-person contact.
News of the day
HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group Calls For Condom Use In Los Angeles County Adult Film Industry; County Response To HIV Cases Questioned
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) on Thursday called on Los Angeles County health officials to require that condoms be used in the adult film industry or shut down production in light of a recent report that a number of people at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIMHF) clinic have tested positive for HIV since 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports. The group also criticized the county"s response to cases of HIV in the adult industry. Michael Weinstein, president of AHF, said, "L.A. County public health officials have been asleep at the switch with regard to monitoring HIV and STD prevention and testing in the region"s porn industry." Other questions have been raised regarding the county"s role in the notification of partners of those who test positive for HIV, according to the Times (Los Angeles Times, 6/19).
Cardiovascular

Cancer Vaccines Led To Long-Term Survival For Patients With Metastatic Melanoma, Study Shows

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian announced promising data from a clinical study showing patient-specific cancer vaccines derived from patients" own cancer cells and immune cells were well tolerated and resulted in impressive long-term survival rates in patients with metastatic melanoma whose disease had been minimized by other therapies. The study entitled "Phase II Trial of Dendritic Cells Loaded with Antigens from Self-Renewing, Proliferating Autologous Tumor Cells as Patient-Specific Anti-Tumor Vaccines in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma," was published in the June 2009 issue of Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals and was sponsored by Hoag Hospital Foundation. "There is continued interest in developing new therapies for melanoma patients with recurrent or distant metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis because there are no systemic therapies that can be relied upon to cure them," said Robert O. Dillman, M.D., F.A.C.P., executive medical and scientific director at the Hoag Cancer Center and lead investigator for the study. "Patients with metastatic melanoma are at high risk for additional metastases and death." During the study, 54 patients with regionally recurrent or distant metastatic melanoma were injected with a vaccine that included each patient"s own immune cells (dendritic cells) and 500 micrograms of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an immune stimulator, three times a week and then monthly for five months for a total of up to eight injections. The patient"s dendritic cells were obtained from their peripheral blood and mixed with a cell culture of the patient"s own melanoma cells that had been self-renewing and proliferating in the laboratory. The patient-specific vaccine is designed to stimulate the patient"s immune system to react against tumor stem cells or early progenitor cells that can create new depots of cancer throughout the body. Data showed that the projected five-year survival rate is 54% at a median follow up of 4.5 years (range 2.4 to 7.4) for the 30 surviving patients. Although not a direct comparison, the results are superior to those observed following vaccination with irradiated tumor cells in 48 melanoma patients in a previous trial (64 vs. 31 months, p=.016). Eight patients in the dendritic cell vaccine study experienced remarkable long-term, progression-free survival after completing the vaccine therapy, even though they had widely metastatic disease and/or repeated appearance of new metastases despite various therapies. The vaccine treatment was well-tolerated, with most patients experiencing mild skin irritation and redness at the injection site. "The one-year and projected five-year survival rates of 85% and 54%, respectively, are remarkable for melanoma patients with documented metastatic disease," said Dr. Dillman. "This study is extremely encouraging and shows the potential these types of personalized cancer vaccines have for patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma." Kelly Smith Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian


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