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What Is Endoscopy? What Is An Endoscope?
An endoscopy involves examining the inside of a person"s body using an endoscope. An endoscope is a medical device consisting of a long, thin, flexible (or rigid) tube which has a light and a video camera. Images of the inside of the patient"s body can be seen on a screen. The whole endoscopy is recorded so that doctors can check it again. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive diagnostic medical procedure. It is used to examine the interior surfaces of an organ or tissue.
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How Mitochondria Get Their Membranes Bent
Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells. Underneath their smooth surface they harbor an elaborately folded inner membrane. It holds a multitude of bottleneck like invaginations, which expand into elongated cavities (cristae). The narrow shape of the entrance or pore to the cristae ("crista junction") allows separation of the intracristal space and storage of molecules. Cytochrome c, for example, an important signaling protein in programmed cell death (apoptosis), is stored in this compartment. When apoptosis is triggered, the pores enlarge and cytochrome c is released into the cytosol. Thus, understanding of how the pore diameter and the shape of the inner membrane are regulated on a molecular basis is of great relevance to a better understanding of mitochondrial function in general. Recently, in cooperation with other research teams, the group of Prof. Andreas Reichert, who has been appointed as professor for Mitochondrial Biology to the Goethe University within the Cluster of Excellence Macromolecular Complexes in 2007, has identified two proteins linked in an antagonistic manner that are relevant for governing inner membrane structure.
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Blogs Comment On Supreme Court Decisions, Obama Administration, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Just Released: Gains and Losses for Women in 2008-09 Supreme Court Decisions," National Women"s Law Center"s "Womenstake": The Supreme Court"s 2008-2009 term, which concluded Monday, included "several crucial decisions that demonstrate the impact of the court on women"s lives," according to the blog post, which summarizes a new analysis from NWLC on the cases. For example, the blog post says that the rulings in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee and Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., increased employees" protections against discrimination in the workplace. However, the rulings in Ricci v. DeStetano -- which overturned an appellate court"s anti-discrimination ruling -- and AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen -- which "permitted AT&T to pay women lower pension benefits for the rest of their lives" -- were "not as positive," the blog entry says. NWLC Co-President Marcia Greenberger said that the Supreme Court "ignored the realities of the workplace and the intent of Congress and ruled against female workers" in AT&T v. Hulteen. Greenberger also said that such cases "underscore why every seat on the Supreme Court is of paramount importance to women," adding that it is "absolutely critical" that Supreme Court nominees have "a strong commitment to upholding and enforcing women"s basic legal rights and protections" ("Womenstake," National Women"s Law Center, 6/29).~ "Waldman and Saletan: Oh What a Fine Bromance!" Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: In a recent bloggingheads.tv chat on "common ground" in the abortion-rights debate, Slate columnist Will Saletan and Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steve Waldman "spent as much time as possible complimenting each other"s work" and "as little as possible on any real substance regarding reproductive health and choice issues," Jacobson writes. It is "clear that the Obama administration"s stated intention to create "a common ground platform"" on abortion rights has become "a full employment program for both Waldman and Saletan," she writes. Jacobson continues, "So perhaps the most striking thing about the conversation was that, in the end, they both effectively concluded that the common ground enterprise was a "just for show" political strategy," and that the "real strategies" necessary to reduce the need for abortion "are the very prevention programs least likely to be supported by the far right. (Revelation!)." She adds, "However, they came to this conclusion through the same faux-expert uninformed arguments that characterize their columns." During the "Will-interviews-Steve format," Saletan "revealed once again that there is no core philosophy or framework underlying his ever-shifting positions on choice and abortion," according to Jacobson. She adds that "Waldman, for his part, several times underscored what is clear from reading his work": that he "just throws things "out there" without considered thought" about what "might be good versus bad data, not understanding how to read evidence," and "oblivious or uncaring about the effects his free-form moralistic misinformation and opinions might actually have on an already polarized debate." According to Jacobson, "Public policies affecting sexual and reproductive health issues" should be "based first and foremost on public health and on promoting individual rights balanced by individual responsibilities," but "as anyone living on Planet Earth knows, sex and reproduction have become the front in a war waged by ultra-conservative religious and political forces for which Waldman serves as a paid flacky." She continues, "In fact, Waldman himself stated during the program: "I have a corporate interest in injecting religion into every debate."" Jacobson states, "Reading and watching this duo is like buying the OK! magazine version of the culture wars at the grocery store; they put whatever sells on the front cover, no matter the truth or consequences.
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Insight Into Early Schizophrenia May Aid Understanding Of Disease Development, Diagnosis And Treatment

Significant and widespread cognitive problems appear to exist in schizophrenia in its earliest phase, making it very hard for people with the disorder to work, study or be social, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association. Understanding the early and central role of cognitive problems may help clinicians to more accurately diagnose incipient schizophrenia by telling it apart from other neuropsychiatric disorders that also have cognitive problems, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It could also allow them to provide more appropriate treatment. Combining schizophrenia"s cognitive warning signs with family history and signs of worsening daily functioning may also aid early diagnosis. Should improved early treatments become available, early diagnosis could make it possible to ease or even prevent these problems. These were among the conclusions of a meta-analysis conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School and SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. The researchers examined 47 previously published, peer-reviewed studies of first-episode schizophrenia that involved 43 separate samples comprising 2,204 patients and 2,775 largely age- and gender-matched control participants. Results of this new analysis appear in the May issue of Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association. The psychologists sorted the studies" collective findings into10 areas of neurocognition, including general cognitive ability, attention, memory, and various verbal, motor and visuospatial skills. Among their main findings: * In the very first episode of schizophrenia, cognitive problems were already broad and serious. Early impairment approached or matched the severity of problems seen in patients who had been sick for a while. * People experiencing their first episode of schizophrenia had significantly worse performance on all cognitive measures than healthy controls who were largely matched for gender and age. * Patients struggled the most with processing speed and with verbal learning and memory, especially when encoding information. Although many psychiatric and neurological illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, affect processing speed, schizophrenia seems to disrupt it more profoundly. * Measured IQ and other cognitive abilities dropped the most between the high-risk period just before symptoms appear and the first acute phases. After that, these cognitive abilities were stable. This cognitive pattern, when combined with other signs such as clinical symptoms and family history, could suggest a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The first episode of schizophrenia, which is typically in the late teens or early 20s, brings "a sense of tremendous terror, trauma and shock, along with prominent cognitive disorganization, increasingly compelling unusual and/or paranoid thoughts, altered perceptions, and loss of insight," according to lead co-authors Raquelle Mesholam-Gately, PhD, and Anthony Giuliano, PhD. Popular images of schizophrenia focus on its auditory and visual hallucinations, and strange or distressing behaviors. However, as the authors noted, people with schizophrenia have experienced a high-risk period for a few months to two years before illness sets in, showing increased problems with daily living that foreshadow full-blown illness. Early intervention for cognitive problems might lessen their intensity and duration, allowing for a better prognosis, lower relapse rates, and better preservation of cognitive and social skills, and of family and social supports, according to the authors. The high-risk, or "prodromal," period is now a focal point for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Cognitive testing could also be useful for older children who have a family history of schizophrenia and emerging clinical symptoms. Doctors viewing cognitive impairments in a vacuum might think of something like ADHD, but the researchers said the new findings play up the importance of family history (schizophrenia has a genetic component) and better characterization of clinical or behavioral symptoms, especially around the age of peak risk. At this time, there are no effective treatments for cognitive problems in schizophrenia. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health recently sponsored two nationwide initiatives to develop assessment standards for cognition in schizophrenia and to evaluate medicines that may potentially treat its cognitive problems. They are called Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia, or MATRICS, and Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia, or TURNS. Article: "Neurocognition in First-Episode Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analytic Review," Raquelle I. Mesholam-Gately, PhD, and Anthony J. Giuliano, PhD; Kirsten P. Goff, PhD, Harvard Medical School and Private Practice, Kentfield, California; Stephen V. Faraone, PhD, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Larry J. Seidman, PhD, Harvard Medical School; Neuropsychology, Vol. 23, No. 3. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/neu233315.pdf Public Affairs American Psychological Association


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