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Long-Distance Brain Waves Focus Attention
Just as our world buzzes with distractions - from phone calls to e-mails to tweets - the neurons in our brain are bombarded with messages. Research has shown that when we pay attention, some of these neurons begin firing in unison, like a chorus rising above the noise. Now, a study in the May 29 issue of Science reveals the likely brain center that serves as the conductor of this neural chorus.

Experts Urge Increased Education About Diabetes During Pregnancy
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Diabetes Association next month plan to launch a joint campaign designed to raise awareness about pregnancy-related risks from diabetes, USA Today reports. An increasing number of women are either beginning pregnancies with existing Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes -- known as pre-gestational diabetes -- or developing gestational diabetes, according to Sue Kirkman, vice president of clinical affairs for ADA. Kirkman said that diabetes increases the risk for miscarriage, delivery complications, maternal health problems and birth defects. However, these risks can be reduced through preconception counseling, controlling blood sugar and maintaining a healthy weight, she said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost five of every 1,000 women ages 18 to 44 have diabetes. The majority of these women have Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, USA Today reports. Denise Charron-Prochownik, an associate professor of health promotion at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center School of Nursing and Graduate School of Public Health, said that pre-conception education for women with existing diabetes should begin as early as age 13 but that "it"s not happening."Helain Landy, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University Hospital, said that gestational diabetes occurs in about 4% of pregnant women. Landy said, "From an epidemiological standpoint, that is a lot." Florence Brown, co-director of the Joslin Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center"s Diabetes and Pregnancy Program, said that many women with gestational diabetes are unaware that they are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease later in life and have children who develop diabetes (Brophy Marcus, USA Today, 7/6).
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Advanced Melanoma: Vaccine Shows Therapeutic Promise
A vaccine for one of the most lethal cancers, advanced melanoma, has shown improved response rates and progression-free survival for patients when combined with the immunotherapy drug, Interleukin-2, according to researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Public Health

Seminar Series Looks At Women's Health In The 21st Century

A series of free seminars, one in Belfast, has been organised to raise awareness of women"s health and rights in a 21st century where new biomedical techniques allow surrogate motherhood, test-tube babies, organ transplants and other medical developments. The series of four events begins on 27 May with a day-long workshop at the University of Warwick which looks at governance - the ways that health treatments and procedures have regulated women"s lives and how women have responded. The seminar will examine the benefits and harm of such treatments. The feminist movement in the 20th century looked at medical treatments in terms of women having legal and personal rights over their own bodies. The Warwick seminar on governance looks more at how the latest biomedical developments affect their sense of self. The speakers are Professor Mary Rawlinson of Stony Brook University, US, Professor Emily Jackson, of the London School of Economics, and Professor Sally Sheldon, of the University of Kent. Other events in the series include a seminar on 9 -11 September at Queen"s University Belfast, looking at the significance for women of the latest medical procedures concerned with disabilities and ageing. Two other events are planned for 2010, to be held at the universities of Lancaster and Liverpool in January and September. The event series, which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is entitled "Retheorising Women"s Health: Shifting Paradigms and the Biomedical Body", is not only for academics but also for nurses and doctors and others interested in the issues. All the events are free, and some places still remain. Contact Professor Deborah Lynn Steinberg at D.L.Steinberg@warwick.ac.uk regarding the Warwick event and Dr Azrini Wahidin regarding the Belfast event, at a.wahidin@qub.ac.uk The Belfast event also includes a one-day conference on the rights of people with disabilities, organised in honour of the late Professor Eithne McLaughlin, who worked at Queen"s in this field. The British Sociological Association"s mission is to represent the intellectual and sociological interests of its members. British Sociological Association


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