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Tiller's Patients, Not Critics, Should Be Ones To 'Define His Memory,' Opinion Piece Says
In a "portrayal that defied logic," George Tiller -- the Kansas abortion provider who was murdered last month -- has been depicted "on Web sites, TV and radio talk shows and in legislative hearings as the reckless "abortionist," willing to euthanize babies close to birth just so the mother could fit into a prom dress or attend a rock concert," Barbara Shelly, a member of the Kansas City Star editorial board, writes in a Star opinion piece. She asks, "Would someone in the third trimester of pregnancy travel to the heart of Kansas and pay a $6,000 fee just to fit into a size six party dress?" Shelly adds that the "overwhelming majority of the 250 to 300 women a year" that sought abortions from Tiller in the second and third trimesters had planned their pregnancies. She profiles a Missouri college professor, pregnant with twins, who traveled to Tiller"s clinic with her husband to obtain an abortion after an amniocentesis revealed that neither fetus would survive and that she faced potentially life-threatening complications if the pregnancy continued. Shelly writes that the woman and others like her went to Tiller "heartbroken and afraid, carrying fetuses with malfunctioning kidneys, missing organs and syndromes certain to cause death in the womb or soon after birth." A smaller number were survivors of rape and incest, including young girls, according to Shelly. The "prom queen who talked her way into a late-term abortion" is a "creation of Tiller"s enemies," Shelly writes, concluding that the "real people" affected by his death are the "thousands who wrote the notes that now serve as a memorial wall to a fallen physician. They are the ones who should define his memory" (Shelly, Kansas City Star, 6/9).
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Smoking Linked To Brain Damage, New Study
Research led by scientists in India suggests there is a direct link between smoking and brain damage whereby a compound in tobacco that turns
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Exposure To Audible Television Has Implications For Language Acquisition And Brain Development
In a new study, young children and their adult caregivers uttered fewer vocalizations, used fewer words and engaged in fewer conversations when in the presence of audible television. The population-based study is the first of its kind completed in the home environment, guided by lead researcher Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children"s Research Institute and professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. "Audible Television and Decreased Adult Words, Infant Vocalizations, and Conversational Turns" was published in the June 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Public Health

ASGT 12th Annual Meeting: Incorporate Gene Therapy To Make Stem Cell Treatment Safer, More Effective

Gene therapy should be used in tandem with stem cell therapy to enhance the reliability of stem cells, provide an opportunity to limit adverse effects and increase treatment success, according to research presented at the American Society of Gene Therapy"s 12th Annual Meeting, May 30. "Stem cell therapy offers enormous potential to treat and even cure serious diseases. But wayward stem cells can turn into a runaway train without a conductor," said Ronald G. Crystal, MD, chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "This is an issue that can be dealt with and we have the technology to do that in the form of gene therapy." The challenges with stem cells are unique - once a transplant is performed, the cells go to work on their own, leaving the therapist without control of the therapy"s outcome. Gene therapy, however, provides a means for predetermining, and controlling, how the implanted stem cells will react in the patient. After implantation, stem cells multiply and differentiate into new types of cells. This ability is what gives them their unique potential as medical treatment. But problems arise when the cells differentiate incorrectly, multiply excessively, migrate to new areas of the body or form tumors. By modifying the genetic code of these cells prior to transplantation, researchers can program the cells to prevent adverse effects or self-destruct should they go awry. A couple of recent events have cast a new urgency on this research. In January, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first human trials using embryonic stem cells and, in March, the Obama administration reversed an earlier policy restricting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Scientists believe these steps will lead to accelerated development of stem cell therapies. Stem cells hold promise for treating a host of common diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson"s disease, cancer and others. The American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT) 12th Annual Meeting is the world"s largest scientific meeting surrounding the latest developments in gene and cell therapy, attended by nearly 2,000 researchers from around the world and featuring 60 scientific presentations. ASGT


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