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Finance Committee Seeks To Trim Cost Of Bill
"A draft proposal in the Senate to overhaul the nation"s health-care system would require most people to buy health insurance, authorize an expansion of Medicaid coverage and create consumer-owned cooperative plans instead of the government coverage that President Obama is seeking," the Washington Post reports. The proposal, a preliminary version of legislation being shaped by the Senate Finance Committee, also contained "an array of coverage provisions that were drastically scaled back from earlier versions, as lawmakers seek to shrink the bill"s overall cost."

"Social Care Reform But At What Cost?": A National Autistic Society Response To The Care And Support Green Paper, UK
The National Autistic Society, urged that new reforms should not be allowed further marginalise people with disabilities, including autism, in a bid to fulfil a black hole in social care funding.
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Environmental Factors Instruct Lineage Choice Of Blood Progenitor Cells
The research team led by Dr. Timm Schroeder, stem cell researcher at Helmholtz Zentrum MÃønchen, has developed a new bioimaging method for observing the differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) at the single-cell level. With this method the researchers were able to prove for the first time that not only cell-intrinsic mechanisms, but also external environmental factors such as growth factors can control HPC lineage choice directly. The findings, published in the current issue of the prestigious journal Science, provide an essential building block for understanding the molecular mechanisms of hematopoiesis and are an important prerequisite for optimizing therapeutic stem cell applications.
Oncology

New Drug For Muscular Dystrophy Promises Benefit Without Risk Of Infection

A new drug being studied for the treatment of muscle degenerating diseases has shown promising results. According to a study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, Debio 025 is as effective as current drugs but, crucially, does not cause unwanted immunosuppressive effects. Bethlem Myopathy and Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (UCMD) are muscle wasting diseases caused by deficiencies in collagen VI, a component of connective tissue. Patients are usually diagnosed at birth and suffer from muscle weakness that worsens over time. UCMD patients often also suffer respiratory failure, which is complicated by lung infections. Although the drug cyclosporin A (CsA) offers some benefit for these patients, its long term use may be undesirable because it interacts with calcineurin, an important immunoregulatory protein. "Long-term treatment with CsA is risky because it suppresses the immune system, making patients more susceptible to life-threatening lung infections," says Paolo Bernardi, who led the team at the University of Padova in Italy. "Our findings suggest Debio 025 may provide a safer alternative". In the study, mice suffering from a muscle-wasting disease similar to human muscular dystrophy were protected when treated with Debio 025. The researchers studied muscle cells from mice given the drug for five days and found decreases in numbers of abnormal muscle fibres similar to those reported in studies of treatment with CsA. They were also able to show that Debio 025, although related to CsA, was not targeting calcineurin. "This drug has no effects on the immune system and therefore could be used for prolonged periods of time without increasing risk of infection. We should be able to treat children affected by these forms of muscular dystrophy and possibly slow down or even stop the progression of the disease," says Bernardi. Jennifer Beal Wiley-Blackwell


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