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Senate Republicans Ask For More Background On Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Wednesday sent a letter to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor requesting additional background information to supplement a committee questionnaire, CQ Today reports. The Republicans said that Democrats are rushing the nomination process by scheduling Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing to begin July 13 and that they need more information on the nominee. According to CQ Today, Democrats are unlikely to budge from their determination to confirm Sotomayor before the Aug. 7 recess, although Republicans might convince Leahy to postpone the hearing for a week in exchange for a GOP pledge not to delay a committee vote on Sotomayor for a week, as allowed under the panel"s rules (Perine, CQ Today, 6/10). Among their requests, Republicans asked that Sotomayor provide copies of the Yale Law Journal, for which she served as an editor, and that she elaborate upon her role with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt said that the Obama administration has made clear that it plans to provide additional information but that it has presented most of the information quickly to allow the Senate to begin its review (Herszenhorn, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/10). Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that the information requested is not "little itty-bitty matters" but "important" components of Sotomayor"s background. He added, "If we"re going to move forward in a record-breaking time frame, the least we can expect is complete and full answers to these questions." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member on the committee, said there is "a lot of irritation and discomfort" among Republicans "about the way it"s being handled." He added that he does not think Republicans want to filibuster the nomination but implied that they might use procedural tools to slow the process (CQ Today, 6/10).
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Adolescent Drinking Linked To Behavioural Problems
Teens who drink heavily are more likely than their peers to have behavioural and attention problems and suffer from anxiety and depression, a team led by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has reported.
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Scientists Link Elevated Insulin To Increased Breast Cancer Risk
Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer.
Endocrinology

Individuals At Risk For Developing Colon Cancer Identified By Researchers

A new study identifies a group of individuals at increased risk for developing colon cancer and holds the promise for developing new tailored cancer treatments. The study in this week"s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is by Sanford Markowitz, M.D., Ph.D., the Markowitz-Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and oncologist at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and colleagues. "The bottom line is that we have found an uncommon but potentially important group of individuals who are born with certain genetic mutations and are at increased risk for developing colon cancer," says Dr. Markowitz, who is also an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "This is yet another step towards identifying who is at increased risk for this deadly form of cancer and it may potentially allow us a greater ability to detect and treat, as well as develop therapies, for cancer." Dr. Kishore Guda, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Markowitz"s laboratory, is lead author on the study. Dr. Markowitz"s laboratory along with colleagues at Johns Hopkins Medical Center analyzed DNA from individuals who are born with mutations that cause defects in the pathways that put sugar groups on proteins. The normal process, called glycosylation, is used to synthesize mucus and is involved in many cellular activities. The individuals with this genetic defect appeared to develop colon cancer later in life. Data was from patients at UH Case Medical Center and Johns Hopkins. A defect in glycosylation is a hallmark of many cancers, but the reason for this defect has been unknown. This study discovered the presence of mutations in a group of enzymes, called GALNTs, which are required for normal glycoslylation. These mutations contribute to alterations in the glycosylation process, and in turn, to the development of colon cancer. "Our findings support the idea that defects in glycosylation, the process for making mucus, can contribute to tumor development," said Dr. Markowitz. "Knowing how these glycosylation enzymes malfunction and contribute to tumor formation may give us another target that can be potentially used to prevent the development of colon and other cancers. Certainly, individuals who have these mutations should be getting screening for colon cancer, so that the disease can be caught during the early stages when it is highly curable." Colon cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., accounts for 50,000 deaths annually. Alicia Reale University Hospitals Case Medical Center


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