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Waterways Polluted With Antibiotics, Antimicrobials And Antifungals
Antibiotics, antimicrobials and antifungals are seeping into the waterways of North America, Europe and East Asia, according to an investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Authored by Université de Montréal and Environment Canada researchers, the review found that consumption of anti-infectives for human and agriculture use contributes to their release into the environment and even into drinking water.

MabThera Receives Positive Opinion In Europe For Treating Patients Whose Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Returns
Roche announced that the European Union"s Committee on Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) has issued a positive recommendation for the use of MabThera (rituximab) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Physicians will soon be able to prescribe MabThera, the first monoclonal antibody therapy approved for previously untreated CLL, in combination with chemotherapy to patients who have been treated for the disease but whose cancer has returned or have not appropriately responded to therapy.
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Sen. Grassley Pushes For Exclusion Of Abortion Coverage In Health Care Reform Legislation
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have been privately negotiating over how their panel"s version of health reform legislation will address abortion coverage, Newsweek reports. According to Newsweek, Grassley has been pushing to include measures that would prohibit what he considers "taxpayer-subsidized abortion."Earlier this month, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Raising Women"s Voices and other women"s health advocates intensified efforts to ensure that abortion access was treated like access to all other services in health care reform, according to Newsweek. The article points out, "Though usually publicly debated in the language of personal liberty and morality, abortion is a medical procedure performed by a doctor. It"s currently covered by most private insurance plans and existing government programs, at least under some circumstances. This expanded federal oversight and use of federal dollars raises several thorny issues." Grassley is urging that federally regulated and subsidized plans be prohibited from covering the procedure. Lawmakers also could weigh whether religious organizations -- such as Catholic hospitals or health plans -- could opt out of the coverage.Jill Kozeny, Grassley"s spokesperson, said the senator "is opposed to mandating abortion coverage in health care legislation." According to his office, "At one point during the recent negotiations, there was a (compromise) solution that didn"t work out." Grassley -- who is known as a staunch opponent of abortion rights -- said in March, "I take a view that there is almost anything compromisable in public affairs. Abortion is about the only issue I know of that"s not compromisable."Baucus" office declined to comment on the legislation, citing "longstanding Finance Committee policy not to discuss the specifics of ongoing negotiations." Erin Shields, Baucus" press secretary, noted that the lawmaker has a 100% approval rating from NARAL. She added, "He has always fought for a woman"s right to choose and will continue to do so."According to Newsweek, the House"s and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee"s proposals do not specify covered benefits, instead leaving the decision to an independent commission or the HHS secretary. A recent National Women"s Law Center poll found that 62% of participants would oppose a provision excluding abortion and family planning coverage (Feder, Newsweek, 7/14).
Sexual Health

Mystery Of Potentially Fatal Reaction To Smallpox Vaccine Unlocked By La Jolla Institute

Researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have pinpointed the cellular defect that increases the likelihood, among eczema sufferers, of developing eczema vaccinatum, a severe and potentially fatal reaction to the smallpox vaccine. The research, conducted in mouse models, was funded under a special research network created by the National Institutes of Health in 2004. The network is working toward the development of a new smallpox vaccine that could be administered to the millions of Americans who suffer from atopic dermatitis, a chronic, itchy skin condition commonly referred to as eczema. The La Jolla Institute"s Toshiaki and Yuko Kawakami, M.D.s, Ph.D.s., a husband and wife scientific team, led the research group which found that activity levels of Natural Killer (NK) cells played a pivotal role in the development of eczema vaccinatum in the mice. The activity of the NK cells, which are disease fighting cells of the immune system, was significantly lower in the mice that developed eczema vaccinatum than in normal mice that also received the smallpox vaccine. This knowledge opens the door to one day developing therapies that could potentially boost NK cell activity in eczema sufferers. "Since atopic dermatitis affects as many as 17 percent of children in the U. S. and since eczema vaccinatum carries a fatality rate of 5-10 percent, therapies that prevent or treat eczema vaccinatum successfully are crucial should the need for mass vaccination against smallpox arise in response to bioterrorism," said Harvard pediatrics professor Raif S. Geha, M.D., chief of immunology at Boston Children"s Hospital and a principal investigator in the NIH funded network investigating eczema vaccinatum. "The discovery of the Kawakami team, who are participants in the NIH network, is an important step towards this goal." People with active atopic dermatitis (eczema), or who have outgrown atopic dermatitis, and the people they live with currently cannot receive smallpox vaccinations because of the risk of eczema vaccinatum. While uncommon, eczema vaccinatum can develop when atopic dermatitis patients are given the smallpox vaccine or come into close personal contact with people who recently received the vaccine. It is estimated that a significant portion of the U.S. population is currently not eligible for smallpox vaccination. "This discovery answers an important question that has long eluded the scientific community, "why people with atopic dermatitis were susceptible to developing eczema vaccinatum upon receiving the smallpox vaccine, while the general population was not," said Mitchell Kronenberg, the La Jolla Institute"s president & scientific director. "It marks a significant advance toward the goal of ensuring that everyone can one day be protected against the smallpox virus." The finding was published in the online version of the Journal of Experimental Medicine in a paper entitled, "Inhibition of NK cell activity by IL-17 allows vaccinia virus to induce severe skin lesions in a mouse model of eczema vaccinatum." La Jolla Institute scientist Shane Crotty, Ph.D., also contributed to the study. Regarded as the deadliest disease ever known to man, smallpox was officially eradicated worldwide in 1980 and routine vaccinations against the disease ended in the U.S in 1972. However, bioterrorism concerns have arisen over recent years regarding the deliberate distribution of the smallpox virus, which might make smallpox vaccinations once again necessary. Such concerns led to the creation of the Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN), a consortium of medical and research institutions nationwide developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The network, which provided grant funding for the Kawakami"s studies under NIH contact N01-AI40030C, was launched in 2004 with the goal of developing a new smallpox vaccine that would be safe for atopic dermatitis sufferers. It includes three consortiums, involving data, clinical testing and animal studies, of which Drs. Kawakami and the La Jolla Institute are members. The Animal Studies Consortium was created to establish animal models of atopic dermatitis and investigate their immune responses to vaccinia - the virus used in smallpox vaccine. Drs. Kawakami were invited to join the consortium due to their creation of a new, more effective atopic dermatitis mouse model in 2004. In their study, Drs. Kawakami showed that eczema-infected mice had higher levels of IL-17 cells, which are known to inhibit NK cell activity. "This higher level of IL-17 cells slowed down the ability of the NK cells to kill the vaccinia virus," said Yuko Kawakami, noting people with atopic dermatitis are also known to have higher numbers of IL-17 producing cells. "This led to the development of eczema vaccinatum when these mice received the smallpox vaccine." Drs. Kawakami tested their theory by stimulating more NK cell activity in the eczema-infected mice. The higher activity led to the elimination of the eczema vaccinatum infection. "We are very excited by these findings, " said Toshiaki Kawakami. "Developing a safer smallpox vaccine is the most important thing in this field." Bonnie Ward La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology


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