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First Skin Cancer Patients Treated With Electronic Brachytherapy (eBx) At University Of Wisconsin Riverview Cancer Center
Earlier this month the University of Wisconsin Cancer Center Riverview became the first medical facility in the world to treat patients with a breakthrough treatment of skin cancer. Located within Riverview Hospital, Wisconsin Rapids, the UW Cancer Center Riverview is the first to treat skin cancer patients with the FDA-cleared Axxent(R) Electronic Brachytherapy System from Xoft, Inc. Electronic Brachytherapy, eBx(TM) , delivers a high therapeutic dose to a cancer tumor while sparing nearby normal tissue by using a miniaturized X-ray rather than radioactive isotopes.
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The Sounds Of Learning: Studying The Impact Of Music On Children With Autism
In June 2009, newspapers reported that archaeologists in Germany had discovered a 35,000-year-old flute made of bird bone. It represented, one paper said, "the earliest known flowering of music-making in Stone Age culture." And we have been tapping our toes, humming along, singing and dancing ever since.
News of the day
Sotomayor Calls Roe 'Settled Law,' Says Health Of Woman Must Be Considered
During the second day of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said she views the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. as settled law reaffirmed by subsequent Supreme Court rulings, the Washington Post reports (Goldstein et al., Washington Post, 7/15). At Tuesday"s hearing, lawmakers pressed Sotomayor on her views regarding abortion rights and Supreme Court precedent, the New York Times reports. She told committee members that the contraception rights case that is the foundation for Roe was "the precedent of the court, so it is settled law." She also said the 1992 ruling in Casey v. Planned Parenthood "reaffirmed the core holding of Roe," adding, "That is the precedent of the court and settled law in terms of the holding of the court" (Savage, New York Times, 7/15). Sotomayor said that "there is a right of privacy" and that the Supreme Court "has found it in various places in the Constitution." She cited the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure and the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection of the law (AP/Yahoo! News, 7/14).Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Sotomayor if she considered the 2007 ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart an example of settled law. In the case, the court voted 5-4 to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The ruling was the first time since Roe that the court upheld an abortion restriction that made no exception for the health of the woman, the Times reports. In her response, Sotomayor said that "[a]ll precedent of the Supreme Court I consider settled law, subject to the deference the doctrine of stare decisis would counsel," although she did not address the health exception component of the Gonzales case.Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) later pressed Sotomayor to elaborate on her views on Gonzales. Feinstein noted that at least seven Supreme Court rulings prior to the 2007 case stated that abortion laws "cannot put a woman"s health at risk." She added that Gonzales "essentially removed this basic constitutional right for women." Feinstein asked Sotomayor, "When there are multiple precedents and a question arises, are all the previous decisions discarded, or should the court re-examine all the cases on point?" Sotomayor replied that she does not consider Gonzales to be a precedent making it settled law that health exceptions for abortion laws are constitutionally unnecessary. She said, "That was, I don"t believe, a rejection of its prior precedents," which are "still precedents of the court." Sotomayor added that the "health and welfare of a woman must be -- must be a compelling consideration." Feinstein pressed Sotomayor to clarify that she meant that it is still settled that abortion restrictions must have health exceptions. Sotomayor said, "It has been a part of the court"s jurisprudence and a part of its precedents. Those precedents must be given deference in any situation that arises before the court" (New York Times, 7/15).Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Sotomayor if the Constitution prohibits Congress or state legislatures "from defining life or regulating the rights of the unborn or protecting the right of the unborn in the first trimester?" Sotomayor began to cite the 14th Amendment to answer the question. Graham interrupted, asking, "[I]s there÷ anything in the document written about abortion?" Sotomayor said the "word "abortion" is not used in the Constitution, but the Constitution does have a broad provision concerning a liberty provision under the due process" clause (Holman, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 7/14).Graham also asked Sotomayor about her work with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which had submitted legal briefs in the past that supported public funding for abortion coverage for low-income women. Sotomayor served on the group"s board from 1980 to 1992. She said that she "wasn"t aware of what was said in those briefs." She noted that she had served on the board but was not a lawyer for the gro
Endocrinology

Risk Factors For Cardiovascular Disease Increasing In Younger Canadians Raise Concern About Future Rise In Heart Disease

The prevalence of heart disease and certain key risk factors - hypertension, diabetes, and obesity - are increasing in all age groups and most income groups in Canada found a new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj081629.pdf. This study, which looked at national data from 1994 to 2005, encompassed people aged 12 years and older sampling from Canadians of all socioeconomic and ethnic groups. Risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity increased most rapidly among younger people between 12 to 50 years of age. The increasing prevalence of heart disease in Canada is likely related to both earlier detection and better survival among those with cardiovascular disease. More Canadians are surviving their first heart attack. The prevalence of heart disease is rising fastest among Canadians of lower socioeconomic status, who also tend to have the highest cardiovascular risk profiles. This increase in risk factors in younger Canadians has significant health implications because it predisposes people to earlier onset heart disease. It can place greater burden on health care res as younger people may need longer, and perhaps more intense, treatment. The study found an estimated 1.29 million Canadians reported having heart disease in 2005, a 19.3% increase in men and 2.1% increase in women compared with 1994. Although people who were of lower socioeconomic status had the highest risk factor burden, hypertension prevalence nearly doubled and obesity increased over time in all socioeconomic groups. Diabetes is also increasing in almost all income groups, although the gap between the richest and the poorest is widening over time. The authors found that hypertension and diabetes are increasing most in those who were obese or overweight. "Projections suggest that the rising prevalence of obesity in the current generation of adolescents will increase the prevalence of coronary heart disease by 5 to 16% in 2035, and may for the first time in 2 centuries significantly reduce life expectancy in the 21st century," state Dr. Douglas Lee of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and coauthors. "This study has implications for all Canadians because the surveys were conducted in a representative sample of the Canadian population, including all ethnic groups," write the authors. "Our findings draw attention to risk factors in early adulthood, which predict cardiovascular disease of early onset and are associated with greater need for health care res in the last years of life." Interventions to encourage healthy eating, exercise and provision of preventative medications such as smoking cessation therapy in at-risk groups may help reduce widening disparities between the highest and lowest socioeconomic groups. The study was conducted by researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto; Queen"s University, Kingston, Ontario; University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Alberta; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Statistics Canada. It was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The declines in mortality associated with heart disease may be at an end, writes Dr. Annika Rosengren of Sahlgrenska Academy, Goteborg, Sweden in a related commentary http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj090911.pdf. The decline in rates for young people in England, Wales and the US has begun to level off and may also be happening in Canada. She argues for action that focuses broadly on societal changes to fight obesity such as healthy eating and exercise. Canadian Medical Association Journal


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