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Call For Public Debates On Future Uses Of Stem Cells Lead By Bioethicists
More than 40 scientists, bioethicists, lawyers and science journal editors are calling on their colleagues, policy makers and the public to begin developing guidelines for the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm, even though such use may be a decade or more away.
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New HIV/AIDS Initiative In Tanzania Aims To Increase Condom Availability
Condom vending machines will be unveiled on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as part of a six-year pilot HIV prevention initiative in the country, Tanzania"s The Citizen reports. Daniel Crapper of Population Services International said, "We are working very hard to ensure that condoms are widely available to the people." About 100 machines -- at a cost of about 380,000 Kenyan shillings, or $350 -- will be installed in various bars in Dar es Salaam. The project also will be carried out in Morogoro, Iringa and Mbeya before being rolled out to other regions across the country, according to Crapper. "Bars and night clubs are in our targets because they have the highest risk of unsafe sex, especially when people get drunk," Crapper said, adding, "This will enable condoms to be available almost daily." He noted that the condoms will be offered at a lower cost compared with some retail outlets and that the new initiative will not interfere with condom distribution systems throughout the country. According to The Citizen, the condoms will be available for purchase from the vending machines for 100 shillings, or about $1. John Wanyancha, PSI"s HIV/AIDS program manager, said that the project"s leaders focused on targeting areas with high HIV/AIDS rates after research revealed that inaccessibility to condoms at night was a major challenge in efforts to curb the spread of the disease. He noted that about 324 million condoms have been distributed in Tanzania since 2001 (Mbani, The Citizen, 5/15).
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Appeals Court Upholds Massachusetts Law Establishing Protest-Free Zone Around Abortion Clinics
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Wednesday ruled that a 2007 Massachusetts law requiring antiabortion-rights protesters to stay at least 35 feet away from clinic entrances does not infringe on their free speech rights, the Boston Globe reports. The law updated a 2000 statute that established a floating buffer zone, which police and clinics said was difficult to enforce. The 2007 law set a fixed 35-foot buffer zone around any reproductive health care facility and barred anyone from entering or remaining in the zone unless they work at the clinic; are entering or leaving the facility; are public safety or other municipal officials; or are walking by. Five abortion-rights opponents filed the lawsuit in January 2008. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro rejected their claims in August 2008, ruling that the law did not regulate speech -- only the location where the speech could occur -- and that it was drafted in response to safety and law enforcement concerns. The protesters appealed the ruling.The appeals court said that the 2007 law responded to "repeated incidents involving violence and other unduly aggressive behaviors in the vicinity of reproductive health care facilities" and "represents a permissible response by the Massachusetts Legislature to what it reasonably perceived as a significant threat to public safety." The court also said that the law was "content-neutral," as it applies to all protesters regardless of their viewpoints. According to the court, the plaintiffs argued in their appeal that the law had a "content-neutral patina" masking a "more sinister reality" that the Legislature"s true motive was to curb abortion-rights opponents" speech.Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) in a statement said that she was "pleased that the 1st Circuit has upheld this important law, which enhances public safety and access to medical facilities, while preserving the right to engage in expressive activity on public ways and sidewalks near clinics." Tim Chandler, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said abortion-rights opponents "shouldn"t be penalized for expressing their beliefs." He added that the fund and its supporters were evaluating the "next legal step" (Finucane, Boston Globe, 7/10).
Cardiovascular

Gene Variant That Increases Ovarian Cancer Risk Discovered

By searching millions of DNA variations in the genomes of thousands of women with and without ovarian cancer, scientists have discovered a previously undetected region of DNA which when altered, can increase a woman"s risk of developing ovarian cancer by 40 per cent. The hope is that this will one day lead to a reliable screening test for a disease that currently has a high mortality rate because it is difficult to detect early. The study was conducted by an international research team that included UK scientists from University College London (UCL), the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, and the University of Cambridge, and is published in the 2 August online issue of Nature Genetics. Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, where around 6,800 new cases are diagnosed every year, which is a rate of about 130 women a week finding out they have the disease. However, ovarian cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women in the UK, where it kills around 4,300 women every year. The human genome, the DNA-coded blueprint of how to make a human being, has more than 10 million genetic variants, of which just a small number will increase a woman"s chance of getting ovarian cancer. Scientists already know that variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes significantly increase a woman"s chances of getting ovarian cancer, but these are rare and account for less than 5 per cent of ovarian cancers. Senior author Dr Simon Gayther of UCL said this study identified a significant new variant and there is real hope that as more are found: "We can start to identify the women at greatest risk and this could help doctors to diagnose the disease earlier when treatment has a better chance of being successful." Gayther and his gynaecological cancer research team"s work is supported by funds from Cancer Research UK and The Eve Appeal charity. For the study the scientists analysed 2.5 million variations in DNA base pairs from the genomes of 1,810 women with, and 2,535 women without ovarian cancer in the UK. DNA base pairs are like letters of the words that spell out the genetic code. Strips of DNA base pairs (the "words" if you like) are called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Small alterations in the coding of particular SNPs, akin to "spelling errors" in words, link to ovarian cancer risk. After eight years of searching, Gayther and colleagues found an SNP on chromosome 9 that was uniquely linked to ovarian cancer. Each of us has 23 pairs of chromosomes, each "copy" in the pair comes from one biological parent. In collaboration with the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) they confirmed the finding in another group of 7,000 women with ovarian cancer and 10,000 women without the disease. The samples came from women all over the world. The scientists estimated that: *Women carrying that particular version of the SNP on both copies of chromosome 9 have a 40 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who do not carry it on either copy of chromosome 9. *The risk for women carrying both copies is 14 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000. *About 15 per cent of women in the UK have both copies of the variant. *Women with only one copy of the variant have a 20 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who have none. * The risk for women carrying only one copy is 12 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000. *About 40 per cent of women in the UK have one copy. David Lammy, the Member of Parliament for Tottenham and Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, had particular reason to be interested in this research because it included a DNA sample from his mother, Rose Lammy, who died of ovarian cancer last year. She carried both copies of the DNA variant that Gayther and colleagues identified. Lammy said the study brings us a step closer toward earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer, when treatment is more likely to succeed. He told the media: "I am pleased that Mum"s sample was included in this study." "We now know the fact that she had this altered DNA meant that her lifetime risk had risen from 10 in 1,000 to 14 in 1,000, an increase of 40 per cent compared to those women who don"t carry this DNA variation," he added. Other related articles *What Is Ovarian Cancer? "A genome-wide association study identifies a new ovarian cancer susceptibility locus on 9p22.2." Honglin Song, Susan J Ramus, Jonathan Tyrer, Kelly L Bolton, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj et al. Nature Genetics, Published online: 2 August 2009. DOI:10.1038/ng.424 UCL News. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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