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How Maternal Nutrition Affects Fetus
Timeframe before conception may be linked to disease later in life

Scientists Identify Gene Vital To Early Embryonic Cells Forming A Normal Heart And Skull
New research from Cincinnati Children"s Hospital Medical Center highlights the critical role a certain gene and its protein play during early embryonic development on formation of a normal heart and skull.
News of the day
Sotomayor Signals Support For Roe V. Wade In Meetings With Senators
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in conversations with senators has indicated her support for Roe v. Wade, even if she has not explicitly stated that she supports abortion rights, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. According to the AP/Yahoo! News, Sotomayor is "following a time-honored tradition" among nominees of assuring senators that she will not aim to impose a certain agenda, while also avoiding firm commitments on how she might rule on certain issues -- such as abortion rights -- if they come before the court. In questioning Sotomayor, senators hope to obtain assurances that she will honor certain precedents, such as Roe, which allows them to justify their votes for her to their constituents, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center said, "There"s always a bit of a parlor game that develops in terms of what precisely words said by nominees mean."Because Sotomayor has never directly ruled on the key issues in Roe, advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate have speculated over her views on constitutional privacy rights. White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs has said that President Obama and Sotomayor discussed her "views on unenumerated rights in the Constitution and the theory of settled law." The AP/Yahoo! News reports that Gibbs" comments indicate that Sotomayor would be unlikely to overturn Roe, which supporters consider "settled law." Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), both of whom support abortion rights, said they spoke with Sotomayor about her position during private meetings and were pleased with her answers. Feinstein said that Sotomayor is "a woman who is well-steeped in the law and well-steeped in precedent, and I believe that she has a real respect for precedent." Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), an opponent of abortion rights, said that when he privately asked Sotomayor whether she believed a fetus should have any constitutional rights, she responded that she had never considered the issue (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Yahoo! News, 6/18).
Nutrition

ASHP, ASHP Foundation Launch Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the ASHP Foundation today announced the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI), the next major step in the evolution of pharmacy practice in hospitals and health systems. The PPMI will build on the landmark work of the Hilton Head conference, held by ASHP in 1985. The Hilton Head conference brought together a group of visionary pharmacists who helped establish the concept that the practice of pharmacy is a clinical profession and that the role of pharmacists in health systems should be focused on direct care of patients as part of multidisciplinary care teams. "Nearly 25 years after the Hilton Head conference, this vision has yet to be fully achieved," said ASHP President Kevin J. Colgan, M.A. "Pharmacy practice must continue to grow and evolve to reflect the advances in pharmacists" training and direct patient care roles, advances in technology, payer and regulator requirement, and demands for seamless care." A joint project of ASHP and the ASHP Foundation, the PPMI will be comprised of three components, including a summit to be held in 2010, a social marketing campaign to promote change, and demonstration projects. ASHP is currently seeking funding for these key activities. "Today"s environment makes this program critical for the future of the profession," said Colgan. "The pressures of an aging workforce and population, escalating costs, and health care provider shortages mean that health-system pharmacists must analyze and prepare for changes in the practice model that guides medication use in hospitals and health systems." ASHP"s Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative will: 1. Create a framework for a pharmacy practice model that ensures provision of safe, effective, efficient, accountable, and evidence-based care for all hospital/health system patients; 2. Determine patient care-related services that should be consistently provided by departments of pharmacy in hospitals and health systems and increase demand for pharmacy services by patients/caregivers, healthcare professionals, healthcare executives, and payers; 3. Identify the available technologies to support implementation of the practice model, and identify emerging technologies that could impact the practice model; 4. Support the optimal utilization and deployment of hospital and health-system pharmacy res through development of a template for a practice model which is operational, practical, and measurable; and 5. Identify specific actions pharmacy leaders and staff should take to implement practice model change including determination of the necessary staff (pharmacy leaders, pharmacists, and technicians) skills and competencies required to implement this model.) "This Initiative reflects a powerful movement from within our membership," notes Colgan. "The need for this Initiative kept surfacing in a variety of member groups within ASHP, including our policy-making Councils and our membership Sections, as well as during strategic planning for ASHP"s Leadership Agenda. Members are recognizing the need to take a holistic approach to redefining, reconstructing, and reinventing the practice model in light of technology advancements, the changing landscape of health care, and the growing patient care role of pharmacists." To learn more, visit http://www.ashp.org/ppmi. About ASHP For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society"s 35,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP"s Web site, http://www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, http://www.SafeMedication.com. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists


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