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Amgen Grant To Study Treatments For Older Leukemia Patients Received By Loyola Fellow
Dr. Aileen Go of Loyola University Health System, who is studying treatment options for older leukemia and lymphoma patients, has won a prestigious Amgen Foundation Fellowship grant.

Crohn's Disease: Case Western Reserve Researchers Identify Links Between Inflammatory Disease Genes
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine identified a novel link between ITCH, a gene known to regulate inflammation in the body and NOD2, a gene which causes the majority of genetic Crohn"s Disease diagnoses. ITCH, when malfunctioning, causes widespread inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, gastritis, uncontrolled skin inflammation, and pulmonary pneumonitis. Derek Abbott, M.D., Ph.D., and his team of researchers found that ITCH also influences NOD2-induced inflammation. These findings, published in the August 11th issue of Current Biology, suggest a common pathophysiology exists between multiple inflammatory diseases. The unexpected finding of the interaction between these genes offers the possibility of a new drug target, which would be effective in treating Crohn"s disease - a chronic disorder causing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
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Notre Dame Controversy, Supreme Court Selection Test Obama's 'Balancing Act,' NYT Reports
The New York Times on Friday examined how two events -- controversy surrounding President Obama"s upcoming commencement speech at University of Notre Dame on Sunday and the selection of a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter -- are testing the "delicate balancing act" the president has pursued on abortion rights. Notre Dame"s invitation to Obama to deliver the commencement speech and receive an honorary degree has sparked ongoing protests from abortion-rights opponents, and Obama is now forced to decide whether he will recognize this opposition in his address on Sunday. According to Anita Dunn, the president"s communication adviser, Obama likely will "make reference to the controversy" in his speech but will not "allow it to become the focus of a day that"s actually supposed to be about the graduates." Meanwhile, the pending Supreme Court vacancy has "galvanized backers of abortion rights," according to the Times. Although both sides expect that Obama will select a nominee who supports abortion rights, advocates "are taking no chances," the Times reports.Obama has attempted to present a nuanced approach to abortion-rights issues and expressed that he intends to form consensus around reducing unintended pregnancies and promoting adoption. In addition, his policy moves to date have attempted "to straddle the abortion divide" by creating a dialogue with religious conservatives, avoiding contentious legislative fights and taking a gradual approach to reversing the policies of former President George W. Bush, the Times reports. Obama has named abortion-rights supporters to head jobs, such as his nomination of Dawn Johnsen, a former legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, to lead the Justice Department"s Office of Legal Counsel. He also repealed the "Mexico City" policy, which prohibited federal funding for international groups that provide abortion services or information; lifted some limits on embryonic stem cell research; proposed decreasing funding for abstinence-only sex education; and took action to rescind the Bush administration"s HHS provider "conscience" rule allowing health care workers to refuse to provide services they find morally or religiously objectionable. However, the president has stepped away from some abortion-related issues, including the Freedom of Choice Act, which would effectively codify Roe v. Wade. Although Obama said in a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood that he would sign the bill if elected president, he said in a press conference last month that it is not his "highest legislative priority."Meanwhile, Obama"s top domestic policy adviser, Melody Barnes, is convening a series of meetings with leaders from both sides of the abortion rights debate to discuss policy ideas, with an aim of drafting recommendations by late summer. David Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Mercer University who has participated in the talks, said the president is signaling to moderate Catholics and evangelicals that "he clearly knows what the bright red lines are and is trying to avoid stepping over them." However, some religious conservatives and abortion-rights opponents who have not been included in the discussions contend that "Obama is trying to have it both ways," according to the Times. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said coming to a consensus would entail the president advocating for restrictions such as parental consent requirements for minors and bans on certain abortion procedures. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who opposes abortion rights, called Obama"s strategy "[m]oderate rhetoric, hard-left policies."Polls show that U.S. residents remain "deeply conflicted" over abortion rights, with support declining over the years, the Times reports. About 60% of U.S. residents believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases in a 1995 poll; a recent Pew Research Center poll showed the number declined to 46% (Stolberg, New York Times, 5/15).
Public Health

New Surgical Technique Shows Promising Results For Patients With Cervical Cancer

A new surgical technique could allow surgeons to perform a radical hysterectomy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer-with fewer complications, reduced morbidity, and a lower risk of local tumour recurrence than current surgical methods, according to an Article published Online first and in the July edition of The Lancet Oncology. The technique, called total mesometrial resection (TMMR), is a modified version of the traditional radical hysterectomy and involves more accurate, anatomically based resection of the cancer to prevent damage to the pelvic autonomic nervous system and to minimise surgical trauma. For over 100 years radical hysterectomy has been the standard surgical treatment for early-stage cervical cancer. However, the procedure has a relatively high rate of tumour recurrence and many patients experience postoperative bladder and bowel dysfunction because of damage to the autonomic nerve system. In addition, postoperative radiotherapy-given as part of standard treatment-can have considerable unpleasant side-effects. Current surgical practice is to remove the pelvic tissue adjacent to the tumour along with the cervix because of the risk of it harbouring cervical cancer. However, it has been suggested that local tumour spread may be restricted to the M̿llerian compartment (fallopian tubes, uterus, and proximal, middle vagina and their embryologically defined mesotissues) for relatively long phases in its natural course, and that the removal of the complete M̿llerian compartment in early-stage disease could improve local tumour control while reducing surgery-associated morbidity. To improve on traditional radical hysterectomy and to show that the early stages of tumour growth are confined to the M̿llerian compartment, Michael H̦ckel and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of TMMR without radiotherapy, in 212 patients with early-stage cervical cancer between 1999 and 2008 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. In this study, they report the histopathological tumour stages, resection margins, local recurrence, surgical morbidity, and 5-year outcomes of these patients. Overall, findings showed recurrence-free survival of 94% and 5-year survival of 96%, with low treatment-related disease. At a median follow-up of 41 months only 10 patients had a recurrence of their cancer. In addition, although 63% (134 patients) had high-risk histopathologic factors such as positive lymph-nodes and large tumour size, the overall recurrence rate was only 5%. This is considerably better than the 28% overall recurrence rate seen in similar patients treated with the normal surgical technique of radical hysterectomy. Indeed, the 5-year survival in patients with positive lymph-nodes was 91%, compared with previous reports in similar patients of 68-78%. Importantly, 132 (63%) patients had no treatment-related complications, 75 (35%) had grade 1 complications, just 20 (9%) of patients experienced grade 2 complications, and no grade 3 or 4 complications were reported. The authors say that: "Based on historical controls, TMMR without adjuvant radiation has the potential to improve survival by 15-20%." They conclude by calling for further evaluation of the technique with multi-institutional controlled trials. Link to article The Lancet Oncology


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