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Mri Data Showing Tysabri® Promoted Remyelination Presented At The 61st Annual Meeting Of The American Academy Of Neurology
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) announced results of a study demonstrating that TYSABRI® (natalizumab) promoted regeneration and stabilization of damage done to the myelin sheath, as measured by advanced MRI technology. Damage to the myelin sheath causes the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Additional posters will also be presented during the Congress highlighting the ability of TYSABRI, in some patients, to improve physical function and patient reported outcomes on cognition, quality of life, and fatigue. TYSABRI is the first approved MS therapy with reported data suggesting that some of the signs of disease progression can be stopped. The strong efficacy profile demonstrated in clinical trials is enhanced further from these data and may help redefine success in MS.

Blogs Comment On Women's Health Disparities, Sotomayor Nomination, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Report: Higher Rates of Unintended Pregnancy, Abortion Among Women of Color," Sharon Camp, RH Reality Check: A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on health disparities between white women and women of color "provides further stronger evidence debunking claims" from antiabortion-rights advocates who "have long argued that high abortion rates among minorities are the result of supposed aggressive marketing by abortion providers to minority communities," Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes. In addition to identifying disparities in conditions like heart disease and cancer, the report documents "widespread disparities in access to health insurance and health screenings" and explores growing evidence of the association between social factors and health behaviors, access and outcomes, according to Camp. She continues that research from Guttmacher has consistently demonstrated that "rates among racial and ethnic minorities -- especially blacks and Hispanics -- are directly linked to their higher rates of unintended pregnancy, which in turn reflect pervasive health disparities more generally." Camp writes that the "fundamental question policymakers should be asking is not why women of color have high abortion rates, but rather what can be done to help them have fewer unintended pregnancies and achieve better health outcomes more generally," such as improved access to affordable contraception. Women"s dissatisfaction with health care providers, quality of service and the contraceptive methods themselves also are factors in contraceptive use, as are "[u]nstable life situations," which can make consistent use a low priority for some women, according to Camp. She writes, "By continuing to label abortion providers as "racists" and refusing to support expanded access to contraceptive services, antiabortion-rights activists are by no means part of the solution -- to high rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion among racial and ethnic minorities or to persistent and tragic disparities in health care generally" (Camp, RH Reality Check, 6/15).~ "What"s Next for Women"s Legal Rights in the Supreme Court?" Amy Matsui, Womenstake: Matsui, senior counsel for the National Women"s Law Center, examines several women"s rights issues "that we see peeking around the corner" of the next Supreme Court session. Matsui writes that "increasingly draconian abortion restrictions have begun to work their way through state legislatures." These restrictions include giving personhood rights to fetuses, mandates on the information women are given prior to abortion procedures and "outright abortion bans," she writes. Challenges to laws that expand protections for providers who deny health care services also "are likely to come before the courts," Matsui writes. Challenges to health care reform proposals also are likely, "specifically, the interaction of the federal statute that governs employee health care and pension plans ... and any new requirements for employers to provide health care coverage," according to Matsui. The Supreme Court has "obviously considered the underlying legal doctrines in these cases (the constitutional right to privacy, federal anti-discrimination statutes, Equal Protection guarantees and federal benefits statutes) in the past; some might say that there is a clear roadmap of where the Court should go in some of these cases," Matsui writes, concluding, "But when every vote counts on the Supreme Court, women should be watching what cases come next" (Matsui, Womenstake, 6/12).~ "Antiabortion Groups" Case Against Sotomayor," Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report"s "God and Country": "With no clear evidence for a pro-abortion-rights position in her judicial decisions, antiabortion groups" case against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor can be summed up in eight words: the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund," Gilgoff writes. From 1980 to 1992, Sotomayor sat on the l
News of the day
Individuals Genetically At Risk Of Developing Psychological Disorders Also Benefit The Most From Positive Environments
Certain individuals have long been regarded as particularly susceptible to developing behavioural and emotional problems when they experience negative environmental conditions, due to the fact that they carry so-called "vulnerability genes". Existing research suggests, for instance, that such "genetically vulnerable" individuals are most likely to become impulsive and hyperactive if their mothers smoked while pregnant, to behave anti-socially if subjected to child abuse, and to become depressed if exposed to many negative life events (e.g., divorce, unemployment). But a new evaluation of existing gene-by-environment interaction (GXE) research highlighting such genetic vulnerability to adversity challenges this traditional interpretation of existing evidence. Research published in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that those carrying "vulnerability genes" are not only more likely than others to be adversely affected by negative experiences but to also benefit more than others from positive environments, making them more malleable or plastic, not just vulnerable. This novel interpretation of old and new findings suggests that "vulnerability genes" might be better conceptualised as "plasticity or malleability genes" because carriers are more affected, for better and for worse, by positive and negative environmental conditions.
Oncology

Times Of Zambia/allAfrica.com Examines Maternal Mortality, Abortion

The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com examines abortion in Zambia and efforts to reduce maternal mortality. "Unsafe abortions are one of the top five causes of maternal mortality in Zambia," writes the newspaper, which adds they are one factor keeping the country from meeting the U.N. Millennium Development Goal target of reducing maternal mortality. "At the moment, Zambia"s maternal mortality rate stands at 591 for every 100, 000 live births and it is estimated that up to 30 percent of these result from unsafe abortion," according to Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com. In 1998, the health ministry introduced post-abortion care services. In collaboration with IPAS Africa Alliance, the government is now planning to introduce and expand services, which will also include the Government Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) program. The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports, "In this endeavour, the Government is encouraging integrated packages including CAC, which is an integration that seems to have scored some gains, especially as the country has managed to reduce maternal mortality so far." Next month, the government is expected to issue "standards and guidelines" to ensure that "women prevent unwanted pregnancies and those with unwanted, unintended, or risky pregnancies get appropriate services to prevent the occurrence of unsafe abortion and associated morbidity and mortality," according to the newspaper (Zulu, Times of Zambia, 6/8). Survey Examines Abortion In Kenya In Kenya, three out of 10 pregnancy-related deaths are the result of "botched abortions," according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the NGO Ipas, the Standard reports. Public hospitals spend more than 18 million shillings - or about $231,000 - to treat abortion-related complications, according to survey results. However, the numbers "could be much higher" and the financial cost could be "much bigger" because the survey only includes cases that were reported from public health facilities, B Kigen, the health ministry"s deputy head of the Division of Reproductive Health, said. According to Kigen, 1 percent of women who are treated for abortion complications in public hospitals die. Kigen said the government has launched a health worker training program on "proper abortion care." The WHO, UNPF, USAID and others are supporting "the programme [that] aims to address among other things post abortion care, strengthen family planning programmes especially targeting adolescent people in the reproductive age," he said (Okoth, Standard, 6/4). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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