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Stem Cell 'Daughters' Lead To Breast Cancer
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have found that a population of breast cells called luminal progenitor cells are likely to be responsible for breast cancers that develop in women carrying mutations in the gene BRCA1.
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Murdered Abortion Provider Tiller Held Strong In Face Of Constant Threats, Ms. Editor Says
While most people who commit violent acts against abortion providers are "characterized as lone nuts," they actually are often associated with "extremist" antiabortion-rights groups, Ms. editor Michele Kort writes in the magazine"s Summer 2009 issue. These groups "track the whereabouts" of providers and "deliver white-hot rhetoric that paints someone like" murdered abortion provider George Tiller "as a murderer rather than a healer," Kort says. Extremists within the antiabortion-rights movement have "even promoted the assassinations of abortion providers as "justifiable homicides,"" leaving the ""lone nuts" ... as good as licensed to kill," she adds. According to Kort, one in five abortion clinics is the target of repeat violence annually. Since the early 1990s, nine doctors and clinic workers have died as a result of violent attacks, Kort states.Tiller, who was shot to death on May 31 in the foyer of his Wichita, Kan., church, "also faced a concerted attack" in Kansas courts, Kort continues. The legal efforts against Tiller included two grand jury investigations resulting from citizen petition drives led by Operation Rescue and other antiabortion-rights groups. Kort notes that neither jury found any basis for indictment against Tiller. In addition, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline in 2004 subpoenaed Tiller"s patient records, which Kort writes was "supposedly to determine if he hadn"t reported statutory rapes of pregnant girls under 16." The court dismissed the criminal charges Kline filed in the case. Paul Morrison, the current Kansas attorney general, in 2006 "surprisingly" charged Tiller with 19 misdemeanors for failing to get a second opinion on some abortion procedures, Kort states. She also comments, "After nearly two years of legal proceedings, the jurors in the case delivered a resounding "not guilty" in just 25 minutes."The legal issues were "exhaustive and expensive" for Tiller, according to Kort. She adds that Dan Monnat, Tiller"s attorney in Wichita, said that Tiller ""held up like a soldier"" during the legal battles. Kort reports that Tiller"s friends "worried about him" nonetheless. Susan Hill -- who operates several abortion clinics and referred patients needing the procedure later in pregnancy to Tiller -- said he once told her that he would not retire because "I can"t leave these women. There"s no one else for them."Kort also profiled Miriam Kleiman, a woman who had an abortion at Tiller"s clinic after her fetus was diagnosed with a severe brain malformation at 28 weeks" gestation (Kort, Ms., Summer 2009).
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Dental Health Advocates Want To Sink Teeth Into Health Care Reform
The Washington Post reports many oral health professionals worry that dental issues have "a tenuous place at best in the national debate" regarding an overhaul of the health care system. Still, they emphasize that dental health is an integral part of health care and note the special burden untreated dental issues have on poor children. The paper also notes that "closing the gap between the worlds of dental care and medical care, with their separate histories and cultures, and their separate finance and delivery systems would be a formidable task."
Diagnostics

Vitamin D May Halt Lung Function Decline In Asthma And COPD

Vitamin D may slow the progressive decline in the ability to breathe that can occur in people with asthma as a result of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) proliferation, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The group found that calcitriol, a form of vitamin D synthesized within the body, reduced growth-factor-induced HASM proliferation in cells isolated from both persons with asthma and from persons without the disease. The proliferation is a part of process called airway remodeling, which occurs in many people with asthma, and leads to reduced lung function over time. The researchers believe that by slowing airway remodeling, they can prevent or forestall the irreversible decline in breathing that leaves many asthmatics even more vulnerable when they suffer an asthma attack. "Calcitriol has recently earned prominence for its anti-inflammatory effects," said Gautam Damera, Ph.D., who will present the research at the American Thoracic Society"s 105th International Conference in San Diego on Wednesday, May 20. "But our study is the first to reveal the potent role of calcitriol in inhibiting ASM proliferation." The experiments were conducted with cells from 12 subjects, and the researchers compared calcitriol with dexmethasone, a corticosteroid prescribed widely for the treatment of asthma. Although, dexmethasone is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, the researchers found that it had little effect on HASM growth. Dr. Damera and his colleagues found calcitriol inhibits HASM in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximum inhibitory effect of 60 percent ÷± 3 percent at 100nM. As part of the University of Pennsylvania"s Airway Biology Initiative, the researchers are planning a randomized control trial of calcitriol in patients with severe asthma and expect to have data from the trial in about a year"s time. With its anti-inflammatory qualities and its ability to inhibit smooth muscle proliferation, Dr. Damera said, calcitriol may become an important new therapy, used alone or in combination with already prescribed steroids, for treating steroid-resistant asthma. Dr. Damera and his colleagues have also conducted experiments to determine the mechanism by which calcitriol retards HASM proliferation. They believe the vitamin works by inhibiting activation of distinct set of proteins responsible for cell-cycle progression. The investigators have also conducted experiments to determine whether calcitriol, which is currently used to treat psoriasis, could be an effective therapy for COPD. Although preliminary, their data shows that calcitriol appears to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine secretions in COPD. As with asthma, the researchers believe, calcitriol may also have the added benefit of slowing, if not stopping, the progression of airway remodeling. Others in the field believe calcitriol may also have the potential to inhibit the development and growth of several types of cancer. American Thoracic Society (ATS)


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