Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles
Benefits Of Grapefruit

Blogs Comment On Planned Parenthood Ad Campaign, Sex-Selective Abortion, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "A Radical Notion: Women"s Health Care as Mainstream," Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: "To hammer ... home" the message that "Planned Parenthood and other essential community providers are the affordable, local access to basic preventive care that saves lives," the Planned Parenthood Action Center has introduced advertisements "educating the policy folks involved in fixing our health care system" about "why women"s health care needs to be taken care of in this mega-reform effort," Richards writes. She writes, "From cancer screenings to contraception to immunizations, the majority of women who go to women"s health care centers consider them their primary health care provider," adding, "In fact, more than 90% of what Planned Parenthood health centers do is preventive and primary care." According to Richards, "Essential community providers, including those who provide women"s health care, need to be part of any newly established health care system." She adds that "the three million patients who came to Planned Parenthood health centers last year can testify to it." Richards writes that "[f]amily planning and reproductive health care are unfortunately still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98% of women use contraception at some point in their lives -- there"s nothing more universal!" The "fact that women reproduce and, therefore, have different types of health care needs makes some folks on Capitol Hill go pale and start to sweat," Richards writes. She concludes, "Maybe one day we won"t need a special campaign to support women"s health," but "until then, Planned Parenthood is here to make sure women aren"t worse off after health care reform than before" (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 6/18).~ "The Role of Medical Education in Preserving Abortion Access," Our Bodies, Our Blog: In response to a recent Salon opinion piece that examined whether there will be a next generation of abortion providers, the blog post discusses a few organizations that are "working to increase access to (accurate) abortion-related training." The blog includes links to Medical Students for Choice -- a group that "does student organizing and advocacy to influence medical school curricula, workshops ... and lectures on abortion techniques" -- and The Ryan Program -- which offers "funding, technical expertise, curriculum, workshops and other res to support training opportunities in abortion and contraception for ob-gyn residents." The blog entry also highlights the work of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, which partners with members of the American Medical Student Association "to provide "project in a box" materials for medical students wanting to access and influence their schools" curricula on sexual and reproductive health" (Our Bodies, Our Blog, 6/18). ~ "Regulating Abortion May Be OK But Not To Avoid Sex-Selection," Marianne Mollmann, Huffington Post blogs: "Sex-selective abortion raises a multitude of overlapping ethical concerns regarding eugenics, population control and provider privilege or knowledge," according to Mollmann, advocacy director for the Human Rights Watch"s Women"s Rights Division. Mollmann writes that recent media reports indicating that sex-selective abortion occurs among some ethnic communities in the U.S. "has generated new discussion about what to do -- indeed what to think -- about the practice here." She continues that the "effect of abortion regulations depends on the context and motivation," adding that "[f]rom a human rights perspective, the regulation of medical procedures and interventions is legitimate and indeed often necessary so long as they are based on full respect for the full range of human rights." It is "perhaps tempting to hope that banning sex-selective abortions would safeguard the gender balance of future generations," but the "criminalization of abortion for whatever reason has in the past led only to underground and unsafe prac
generic viagra online
'Invading' Bacteria In DNA
Call it advanced warfare on the most elemental of levels.
News of the day
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).
Public Health

New Study Uncovers Mode Of Action Of Enzyme Linked With Several Types Of Cancer

Scientists at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universitçİ de Montrçİal have discovered a key mechanism used by cells to efficiently distribute chromosomes to new cells during cell multiplication. Published in the journal Molecular Cell, the study is the first to demonstrate that this mechanism relies on the polo kinase, an enzyme implicated in several cancers. Inhibiting this mechanism could be key to developing effective therapies to treat cancer. Each human cell contains, in its nucleus, all the coding instructions necessary to direct the cell"s activities. A complete set of those instructions is referred to as a genome. Cancer cells are capable of altering their genome in order to promote uncontrolled growth. "Cancer cells achieve this by gaining or losing specific chromosomes, or by inducing structural defects in their genome," explains Damien D"Amours, Principal Investigator at IRIC and director of the study, "We discovered that the polo kinase, overexpressed in a broad range of human tumours, tells the chromosomes exactly when to condense during cell division." Misregulation of the polo kinase is associated with cancers, thereby suggesting a link between defects in chromosome condensation and the formation of tumours. "Pharmaceutical companies and independent researchers are already working on the development of new cancer drugs to inhibit the activity of the polo kinase," points out Damien D"Amours, "Understanding this enzyme"s mode of action should enable us to control it. Such knowledge may reveal itself to be key in developing effective therapies to treat cancer." In a preview article commissioned by Molecular Cell, world leader in chromosome dynamics Tatsuya Hirano, of the Riken Advanced Science Institute in Japan, qualifies the research as a tour de force study that will help address outstanding questions in the field. Carolyne Lord University of Montreal


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

İ Copyright 2009