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In Women With DCIS, Protein Predicts Development Of Invasive Breast Cancer: Penn Study
Women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who exhibit an overexpression of the protein HER2/neu have a six-fold increase in risk of invasive breast cancer, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The results, published in the May issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, may help clinicians distinguish between DCIS that requires minimal treatment and DCIS that should be treated more aggressively.
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Army Study Improves Ability To Predict Drinking Water Needs
When soldiers leave base for a 3-day mission, how much water should they bring? Military planners and others have long wrestled with that question, but new research from the Journal of Applied Physiology may now provide them an accurate answer.
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'New And Improved Antiabortion Movement' Still Ignores Needs Of Women, Salon Opinion Piece States
A "new set of antiabortion actors" who are "anti-war, anti-capital punishment, pro-environment "pro-lifers"" have "emerged as the face of a new and improved antiabortion movement," Salon columnist Frances Kissling writes. Although these advocates supported President Obama in the 2008 election, they "suffer from the same lack of understanding of women"s nature and identity as do old-line anti-abortionists," Kissling writes. She notes that this group has "already decided that a political effort to make abortion illegal is hopeless, which helps the pro-choice cause." According to Kissling, "Taking legality off the table" increases the prospects for "rational public discourse about all the factors at play in women"s decisions not to continue pregnancy and not to become mothers," but "[w]e are ... far from common ground between the new anti-abortionists and the pro-choice advocates."Members of this new group believe that data suggesting that many women decide to have abortions for financial reasons prove that "better economic support" for pregnant women "will result in more continued pregnancies and more women embracing motherhood," Kissling writes. In addition, they "assert that if adoption policies were friendlier," more women would choose adoption over abortion, according to Kissling. "But facts have little place in their strategy," as the policies they support "are already in place in much of Europe," and "few women who face unintended pregnancies in those countries opt out of abortion," Kissling writes. She adds, "Something much deeper influences a woman"s decision about what to do when she is pregnant and does not want to become a mother -- and the new anti-choicers don"t seem to have a clue about what this might be." For this group, "the outcome [of pregnancy] -- the new person -- is obviously so much more valuable than whatever short-term loss or pain the women might experience," Kissling writes. Therefore, they believe it is "not asking much of a woman who faces an unwanted, difficult or unintended pregnancy to shift the plan she had for this time in her life and continue the pregnancy," according to Kissling.Kissling lists four "positions taken by the new antiabortionists [that] illuminate this flawed thinking." The first is "[d]enying the "need" for abortion," she writes. Secondly, their "same sense of pregnancy as no big deal influences the new antiabortionists" unwillingness to embrace contraception," Kissling says. She adds that "[i]f we really understood what it meant for women to consent to becoming mothers, we would want them to be able to meet their moral obligation to their own identity by avoiding becoming pregnant." The third position is an attempt to make "sex sacred," Kissling writes, adding that if "creating new life is sacred, then we want men and women to have the tools necessary to fulfill the obligation to create life responsibly and not create it when they cannot -- or choose not to -- bring it to fruition." The fourth position is "[r]edefining adoption," Kissling continues. She asks whether adoption is "now a process of finding children for needy parents," adding, "Might it not be more generous of us as a society to work harder to make it possible for women to keep their children if they so wish?"Kissling writes that the "challenge to the new antiabortionists" is whether "women"s perspectives on the meaning of pregnancy and motherhood will be considered in their project" or if "their ethical frame will remain focused on the fetus." She asks, "How many of these women"s decisions will the new antiabortionists be able to say "yes" to?" Kissling concludes, "So far it seems that it is far more than abortion that is a stumbling block to common ground" (Kissling, Salon, 7/20).
Sexual Health

Healthy Vision Month Focuses On Refractive Eye Errors

May is Healthy Vision Month, which in 2009 focuses on the 60 percent of Americans who have refractive vision problems. Most Mississippians are at greater risk for neglecting their eye care because they don"t have vision insurance, pointed out Jackson ophthalmologist Connie McCaa, M.D., Ph.D. The most common vision problems are "refractive errors" - which can be corrected with glasses, contact lens, or LASIK laser vision treatment (a type of refractive surgery). Neglected eye problems can lead to poor performance in school, poor work performance, dangerous driving, and diminished quality of life. An ophthalmology exam also may detect hidden diseases of the eye, diabetes and circulatory problems. "In study after study, Americans says vision is their most valued of the five senses," McCaa noted. "They also rate loss of eyesight as a 10 on a scale of one to 10, according to the National Eye Institute. "To preserve sight, May is the time of year we remind people to get regular checkups from their local ophthalmologist," McCaa added. "We also know that there are 11 million Americans who have untreated refractive errors - which easily can be corrected to restore perfect, or near-perfect vision." There are four types of refractive errors, which are caused by flaws in the cornea that covers the front of the eye. The types, defined by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AA0), are: - Myopia (nearsightedness): Close objects look clear, but distant objects are blurry. - Hyperopia (farsightedness): Distant objects look clear, but close objects are blurry. - Astigmatism: Vision is blurred for both near and far objects. - Presbyopia: The eyes gradually lose the ability to change focus from distance to near (a condition which often begins at about age 40 and affects reading). Many people will have one or more of these refractive errors. "The important thing to remember that such refractive errors are correctable, unless there is another underlying eye problem," said McCaa, a cornea and refractive surgery specialist with 14 years of LASIK experience. "We provide LASIK laser vision correction, as do other ophthalmologists around Mississippi. Other corrective options are eyeglasses or contact lens, which eye doctors statewide also offer." Healthy Vision Month in May is a national observance in the federal government"s Healthy People 2010 campaign. The 2009 goal of reducing uncorrected visual impairment due to refractive errors includes promoting eye exams. The AAO has guidelines about how often you need an eye exam. The need for eye exams, of course, doesn"t change for Mississippians without vision insurance. Only 17 percent of U.S. employers report offering vision insurance, although studies show that employers gain as much as $7 in productivity and other assets for every $1 spent on vision coverage, according to The Vision Council. Needy Americans who cannot afford an eye exam may contact the AAO"s Eye Care America program to see if they qualify for a free eye exam by a local ophthalmologist in their area. To see if you qualify, call 1-800-222-3937 or go to http://www.aao.org/eyecare/care/ on the Web. For more information on eye care, please consult these Web links: - American Academy of Ophthalmology - Connie McCaa, M.D., Ph.D. - AAO online Eye Disease Simulators American Academy of Ophthalmology and Connie S. McCaa, M.D., Ph.D.


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