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The Government Of Canada Reaches Another Important Milestone With The Chemicals Management Plan
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Jim Prentice, Canada"s Environment Minister, today announced the release of the draft screening assessments and risk management scope documents for 18 substances assessed in Batch 6 of the Chemicals Management Plan. The Government has reached the halfway point in its commitment to assess approximately 200 high-priority substances as part of the Chemicals Management Plan.

NYC Law Makes It Easier To Press Charges Against Antiabortion Protesters Outside Clinics
A New York City law that will go into effect in July could make it easier for antiabortion-rights protesters to be arrested for restricting access to abortion clinics or harassing people trying to enter the facilities, the New York Times reports. Current law allows authorities to make arrests only if the person directly affected, such as a woman entering a clinic, is willing to press charges. However, the new law would allow third parties, such as clinic workers, to press charges if they witnessed the activity, the Times reports. New York City"s Dr. Emily"s Women"s Health Center and NARAL Pro-Choice New York spearheaded efforts to pass the legislation in response to antiabortion-rights demonstrators who target women on their way to clinics and attempt to persuade them to carry their pregnancies to term. Clinic workers report that the protesters also have harassed women as they left the subway or surrounded them as they walked to the clinic. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the law in April. Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, said the group is "not against people demonstrating. But there is a line between freedom of speech and harassment and bullying" (Bosman, New York Times, 6/6).
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Stopping Fatty Change In Heart Cells

Heart failure is one of the world"s most frequent causes of death - caused by conditions such as diabetes and obesity. With people who are overweight, the heart has to do more work in order to pump the blood through the circulatory system and this causes an increase in blood pressure. The heart itself becomes enlarged as the myocardial muscle cells increase in mass. To enable the heart to grow there also has to be an increased supply of energy and oxygen. However, the myocardial muscle cells suffer from a lack of oxygen and energy until such time as there are enough blood vessels to support the tissue. This is the critical moment in which the cells convert their metabolism. A healthy heart burns fat. But the abnormally enlarged heart cells burn sugar in the form of glucose because this form of energy is quickly available. The protein HIF1-alpha is responsible for this conversion to sugar combustion. This has been demonstrated in research work done by Jaya Krishnan from the group of Wilhelm Krek, Professor of Cell Biology at ETH Zurich. His research has just been published in the online journal "Cell Metabolism". Cells undergo fatty change and die off However, HIF1-alpha does not merely result in modified metabolism, it also activates other genes. One of the genes regulated by HIF1-alpha is known as PPARgamma. It causes the cardiac cells to produce and store fat. This results in the cells becoming fatty and dying off. Myocardial contraction is disrupted and this can lead to fatal heart failure. With HIF1-alpha, the researchers have identified a protein which has an effect that is not only of significance in connection with heart failure. This protein is in fact the most important catalyst that causes cells to convert glucose into fat. Healthy heart despite high blood pressure The researchers working around Krek have discovered an amazing fact mice lacking the corresponding gene, and by which HIF1-alpha is therefore ineffective, do not suffer from heart disease. And this does not change even if the mice have high blood pressure. Their hearts also do not enlarge under such conditions of pathologic stress unlike the hearts of normal mice. They burn fat instead of sugar and function like healthy hearts. At the same time, the research team has been able to provide an explanation for a phenomenon that is especially important to diabetics: some diabetics are given PPARgamma-promoting medicine to help muscles and other organs better respond to insulin. Clinical studies have shown that these patients have a higher risk of dying from heart failure. This research by Krishnan and Krek has shown why these drugs may be risky. Dream pill in the distant future In order to combat heart failure, a substance has to be found that binds itself to the protein HIF1-alpha in order to block it. It might be hard to locate a satisfactory antagonist to HIF1-alpha because the protein has no enzymatic docking site. Nevertheless, research is under way to develop a suitable molecule although Professor Wilhelm Krek does not think this will be quickly achieved. He is, however, convinced that with an effective remedy, the burden associated with this disease of civilization can be reduced. ETH Zuerich


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