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Stem Cell Research Progress - cells that become part of the pancreas or part of the bile duct
Researchers from Cincinnati Children"s Hospital Medical Center have discovered that a specific gene - Sox17 - plays an important role in directing cells to become part of the pancreas or part of the bile duct (used in the digestion of food).
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Blogs Comment On Health Reform Legislation, Maternal Mortality, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ ""Operation Rescue" Founder Warns of "Violent Convulsions" if Health Bill Doesn"t Ban Abortions," Ian Millhiser, Think Progress: Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry is "probably the first public figure to raise terrorism as a potential response to a health bill which allows Americans to keep the same access to reproductive care that they currently enjoy," Millhiser writes in a blog post responding to Terry"s warning "that his supporters may engage in violent acts of terrorism unless Congress prohibits abortion services from being covered in the new health reform legislation." According to Millhiser, Terry recently said that there are some people ""who will be tempted to acts of violence"" and that ""history will hold those in power responsible for the violent convulsions that follow"" the legislation. Millhiser writes that many conservative policymakers are "pushing a poison pill amendment" to Congress" reform bill that would prohibit the coverage of abortion services in plans offered within a national health insurance exchange. He notes that 71% of U.S. residents oppose an amendment that would "cut off women"s access to reproductive care" (Millhiser, Think Progress, 7/20).~ "Gestation Is a Life-Changing Experience for Women," Jessica Grose, XX Factor: Grose"s post responds to Francis Kissling"s recent Salon opinion piece discussing the ""new pro-lifers."" According to Grose, this movement "seeks to make bearing and raising children easier, and reducing abortion that way." She continues, "It almost sounds reasonable to pro-choice Kissling, except for one thing: making bearing children "easier" doesn"t acknowledge how gestation can change a woman"s life." According to Kissling, the ""new pro-lifers barely acknowledge the difficulties of childbirth,"" and the movement ""denies the reality that even in modern Western culture, in the high-tech U.S., every woman who agrees to be pregnant still risks dying if the pregnancy goes awry."" Kissling also wrote that the ""new antiabortionists want to use their rosy view of pregnancy as the frame for public policy, and that is where they become indistinguishable from the old antiabortion movement. For both groups, women are passive participants in gestation."" Grose writes that "many of the new pro-lifers don"t support efforts to bring contraception to women who don"t have access to it," an issue that is "likely to come back in a big way in the next few months as the administration"s new health plan is debated" (Grose, XX Factor, 7/20).~ "Thanks, Abstinence-Only Education!" Feministing: "Thanks to a decade of misinformation and masquerading as sex education, teens are having the same amount of sex, using contraception less and getting pregnant more," a Feministing blog entry states. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that trends in reproductive and sexual health of U.S. teens and young adults ""have flattened, or in some instances may be worsening."" According to the blog entry, "We"re reaping what we"ve sowed." Although President Obama"s 2010 budget proposal includes cuts in abstinence-only education funding, "de-funding these programs is not enough," the blog says. It adds, "We have to undo the damage that"s been done to young people and support real solutions." The blog concludes, "The purity-pushers are not going anywhere, but this is about more than politics, ... it"s about our health and futures" (Feministing, 7/20).~ "Human Rights Resolution Spotlights Disparities in Maternal Health Care in the U.S.," Ximena Andion Ibanez et al., RH Reality Check: A "vast majority" of pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths are "preventable and can therefore be understood to reflect widespread indifference to the rights of the world"s poorest women," Ibanez writes in a blog post co-authored by Center for Reproductive Rights Deputy Director Laura Katzive and Michelle Movahead, an attorney at the ce
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Today's Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
Comparative-Effectiveness Research - Implications of the Federal Coordinating Council"s Report The New England Journal Of Medicine
Diagnostics

Link Between Extreme Glucose Levels In Diabetic Patients With Heart Failure And Increased Risk Of Death

Compared with patients with moderately controlled glucose levels, diabetic patients who have heart failure and either too high or too low glucose levels may be at increased risk of death, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report published in the current issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology. To determine average glucose levels in the blood over a two to three month period, doctors measure glycosylated hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein in the blood that is bound to the sugar glucose). In general, higher levels have been associated with increased risk of heart disease, said Dr. David Aguilar, assistant professor of medicine - cardiology at BCM. "Most doctors try to keep glucose levels of those with diabetes as low as they can to lower the risk of complications such as eye problems, kidney disease or the development of heart disease," said Aguilar, senior author of the study. "However, we found that in diabetic patients with heart failure, glucose levels slightly higher than what are normally recommended had the lowest risk of death." Researchers at BCM and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston identified 5,815 veterans with heart failure and diabetes who were receiving treatment at VA medical centers across the nation. They followed the patients for two years, dividing them into five categories based on their glycosylated hemoglobin levels. Most medical professionals recommend levels at 7 and below as the target for optimal health for diabetic patients. However, the results of the study of diabetic patients with heart failure showed that those with levels 7.1 to 7.8 had the lowest rate of death. Those patients at both ends of the spectrum had the higher death risks. "This doesn"t mean that diabetic patients with heart failure should change their target goal for glucose levels," Aguilar said. "The results could simply be telling us that the glycosylated hemoglobin levels are a marker for other risks that are contributing to increased risk of death, but not necessarily the cause of the problem." Aguilar said the correlation needs to be further investigated to confirm the findings and see what other factors could be contributing to the mortality rate. The research is supported by a V.A. Health Services Research and Development Service grants and a National Institutes of Health Mentored Career Development Award. Other researchers who took part in this study include, Drs. Biykem Bozkurt, Kumudha Ramasubbu and Anita Deswal, all from the Winters Center for Heart Failure Research and Section of Cardiology, and the Department of Medicine at BCM. Deswal is also at the Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies at the Michael E. DeBakey V. A. Medical Center in Houston. Graciela Gutierrez Baylor College of Medicine


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