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Varian's RapidArc Radiotherapy Technology Enables Pioneering Cancer Treatments At Top Dutch Oncology Center
Doctors in the Netherlands have developed new ways to perform radiosurgery on benign acoustic tumors using fast and precise RapidArc(TM) radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). This is among the findings in several papers published by the team at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.
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Supreme Court Should Be 'Reined In' To Return Power To Legislative Branch, NYT Columnist Writes
Although Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor"s confirmation hearings are more than a month away, "it"s easy to predict how they will go," New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes. Douthat predicts that Senate Judiciary Committee members "will attempt to divine Sotomayor"s position on a variety of controversial topics," such as abortion rights, and in "a series of polite, evasive answers, the nominee will feign a studious neutrality on almost every issue that could come before her during what"s likely to be decades as one of the most powerful women in the world." According to Douthat, the "deeper stakes" that likely will be ignored are that "Sotomayor will be joining a high court that"s gradually become a kind of extra legislative body." He cites research from Harvard Law School professor Jed Shugerman showing that the court over roughly the past 50 years has invalidated both state and federal statutes at an unprecedented rate. Douthat also points to data from Evan Caminker of the University of Michigan showing that in one eight-year period, the court invalidated 16 federal laws in 5-4 votes, something that occurred only 25 times in the previous two centuries. Douthat writes that "settling so many vexing controversies with 5-to-4 votes -- effectively making Anthony Kennedy the nation"s philosopher king -- is an awfully poor way to run a republic."Douthat continues that the "modern court"s most enduringly controversial power grabs -- with Roe v. Wade leading the way -- were usually the work of liberal justices" but that "in practice, the main divide between liberal and conservative judges tends to be over the responsibilities of the federal government, not judicial activism per se." He writes, "There are bipartisan ways that the Court could be reined in, and the legislative branch reinvigorated," including the idea of a supermajority rule that would require a 6-3 vote to overturn federal legislation. This idea "might spur the court toward greater consensus, and perhaps greater modesty as well," according to Douthat. Another possibility would be to implement 12-year term limits, he says. Douthat concludes that these suggestions would not "reduce the Supreme Court"s power directly, but it would help us see the court for what it has become -- a deeply political institution, as fallible as any other, and answerable, when all is said and done, to us" (Douthat, New York Times, 6/2).
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Application Of Innovative Laser Research Could Lead To Earlier Bone Disorder Diagnosis
A new laser technique that could lead to bone disorders being diagnosed earlier is to be tested in a hospital for the first time. The study, which it"s hoped will pave the way for future clinical trials, will apply a revolutionary approach known as SORS (Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy), to examine specific substances in non see-through surfaces deeper than has previously been possible, without damaging the surface. The research team hope ultimately that the method can be used both to detect and screen for early signs of diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
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Radiofrequency Ablation Is Effective Treatment For Barrett's Esophagus

A landmark clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher concludes that radiofrequency ablation is an effective treatment for dysplasia in people with Barrett"s esophagus, a condition that can lead to deadly gastrointestinal cancer. "These results show there is a substantial difference between treatment with radiofrequency ablation and a placebo or "sham" treatment," said Nicholas Shaheen, M.D., principal investigator of the study, associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Gillings School of Public Health and director of UNC"s Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing. "It"s a strongly positive finding." The study is published in the May 28, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Barrett"s esophagus is a condition in which repeated acid reflux causes the cells that normally line the esophagus to be replaced by a different type of cell, similar to those normally found in the intestines. This process is called intestinal metaplasia. By itself Barrett"s is not a life-threatening problem, but a small percentage of people with Barrett"s will develop esophageal adenocarcinoma, an especially deadly form of cancer. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a non-invasive technique that uses thermal energy, or heat, to destroy cells, is very effective at destroying abnormal cells in the esophagus. The new UNC-led study is the first randomized trial to evaluate radiofrequency ablation for treating dysplasia, a more advanced stage of Barrett"s esophagus in which the abnormal cells acquire precancerous traits. The RFA system used in the study uses thermal energy provided by a set of electromagnetic coils on the surface of a balloon, Shaheen said. "The balloon is placed in the area of the esophagus where the offending cells are and the balloon is inflated. Energy is then passed through the electromagnetic coils and, because we know how far apart the coils are spaced and how much energy is being put through them, we get a very reliable depth of burn, such that you can kill the abnormal cells on the inner surface without damaging the whole organ." In the study, 127 people were randomized to receive either radiofrequency ablation or a simulated, "sham" version of the procedure at one of 19 participating medical centers. Among those with low grade dysplasia who received radiofrequency ablation, 90.5 percent were free of dysplasia 12 months after treatment, compared to 22.7 percent in those who received the sham procedure. Among those with high grade dysplasia, 81 percent who received radiofrequency ablation had complete eradication of intestinal metaplasia, compared to 19 percent in the sham group. Overall, 77.4 percent of study participants treated with RFA had complete eradication of intestinal metaplasia, compared to 2.3 percent in the sham group. There was also less progression towards disease in the RFA group, 3.6 percent vs. 16.3 percent, and significantly more sham subjects developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, 9.3 percent vs. 1.2 percent. The study concluded that RFA demonstrated a high rate of eradication of dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia and that these changes reduced the risk of progression towards dysplasia and the risk of developing cancer. Funding for the study was provided by BARRX Medical Inc., which manufactures the HALO360 radiofrequency ablation system used in the study, the Investigator-Sponsored Study Program of AstraZeneca and a grant from the National Institutes of Health. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine


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