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FDA: Adulterated Animal Feed Seized
At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. marshals today seized livestock and horse feeds stored under filthy conditions at the Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Inc., in Florence, Ky.

Blogs Comment On Planned Parenthood Ad Campaign, Sex-Selective Abortion, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "A Radical Notion: Women"s Health Care as Mainstream," Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: "To hammer ... home" the message that "Planned Parenthood and other essential community providers are the affordable, local access to basic preventive care that saves lives," the Planned Parenthood Action Center has introduced advertisements "educating the policy folks involved in fixing our health care system" about "why women"s health care needs to be taken care of in this mega-reform effort," Richards writes. She writes, "From cancer screenings to contraception to immunizations, the majority of women who go to women"s health care centers consider them their primary health care provider," adding, "In fact, more than 90% of what Planned Parenthood health centers do is preventive and primary care." According to Richards, "Essential community providers, including those who provide women"s health care, need to be part of any newly established health care system." She adds that "the three million patients who came to Planned Parenthood health centers last year can testify to it." Richards writes that "[f]amily planning and reproductive health care are unfortunately still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98% of women use contraception at some point in their lives -- there"s nothing more universal!" The "fact that women reproduce and, therefore, have different types of health care needs makes some folks on Capitol Hill go pale and start to sweat," Richards writes. She concludes, "Maybe one day we won"t need a special campaign to support women"s health," but "until then, Planned Parenthood is here to make sure women aren"t worse off after health care reform than before" (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 6/18).~ "The Role of Medical Education in Preserving Abortion Access," Our Bodies, Our Blog: In response to a recent Salon opinion piece that examined whether there will be a next generation of abortion providers, the blog post discusses a few organizations that are "working to increase access to (accurate) abortion-related training." The blog includes links to Medical Students for Choice -- a group that "does student organizing and advocacy to influence medical school curricula, workshops ... and lectures on abortion techniques" -- and The Ryan Program -- which offers "funding, technical expertise, curriculum, workshops and other res to support training opportunities in abortion and contraception for ob-gyn residents." The blog entry also highlights the work of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, which partners with members of the American Medical Student Association "to provide "project in a box" materials for medical students wanting to access and influence their schools" curricula on sexual and reproductive health" (Our Bodies, Our Blog, 6/18). ~ "Regulating Abortion May Be OK But Not To Avoid Sex-Selection," Marianne Mollmann, Huffington Post blogs: "Sex-selective abortion raises a multitude of overlapping ethical concerns regarding eugenics, population control and provider privilege or knowledge," according to Mollmann, advocacy director for the Human Rights Watch"s Women"s Rights Division. Mollmann writes that recent media reports indicating that sex-selective abortion occurs among some ethnic communities in the U.S. "has generated new discussion about what to do -- indeed what to think -- about the practice here." She continues that the "effect of abortion regulations depends on the context and motivation," adding that "[f]rom a human rights perspective, the regulation of medical procedures and interventions is legitimate and indeed often necessary so long as they are based on full respect for the full range of human rights." It is "perhaps tempting to hope that banning sex-selective abortions would safeguard the gender balance of future generations," but the "criminalization of abortion for whatever reason has in the past led only to underground and unsafe prac
News of the day
Molecule Helps Breast Cancer Cells To Survive In The Bone Marrow
Patients who survive an initial diagnosis of breast cancer often succumb to the disease years later when the cancer shows up in a different part of the body. Now, scientists have identified key signals that support the long term survival of breast cancer cells after they have spread to the bone marrow. The research, published by Cell Press in the July issue of the journal Cancer Cell, may lead to development of treatment strategies that decrease the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence in the bone and other organs.
Endocrinology

Bayer Presents Positive Phase II Data With Florbetaben Potential To Visualize Beta-Amyloid Plaques In Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, has presented positive data on a global Phase II study with the novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracer florbetaben (BAY 94-9172) at the International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD) in Vienna, Austria. This study showed that patients with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer÷´s disease could be differentiated from age-matched healthy volunteers (HVs) on the basis of florbetaben uptake pattern in the brain. Until now, the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer÷´s disease (AD) with current methods such as cognitive tests is still limited. Currently, a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer÷´s disease is only possible post mortem. The results of this study showed PET images with a high specificity of over 90 percent: More than 90 percent of the HVs had a negative florbetaben scan (i.e. no tracer uptake) in the relevant brain regions. The results also show a sensitivity of approximately 80 percent indicated by the clinical diagnosis, meaning that about 80 percent of the clinically suspected Alzheimer patients had positive florbetaben scans indicating the presence of beta-Amyloid plaques. This is in line with the results of studies comparing the clinical diagnosis with the definite post mortem histopathological diagnosis. "The data underline the potential of florbetaben as an important visual adjunct to existing clinical parameters in the diagnosis of dementia," said Kemal Malik, MD, member of the Board of Management and Head of Global Development at Bayer Schering Pharma AG. "There is a high medical need for an easy, non-invasive imaging technique that supports an early and precise diagnosis of dementia and especially of Alzheimer"s disease, allowing for optimized care and treatment options." With the development of florbetaben, Bayer Schering Pharma wants to contribute to diagnose AD in the future more precisely and at an earlier time during the course of the disease. In the blinded read of the images a high interreader agreement rate between three independent readers was observed. This indicates that the scans with the beta-Amyloid targeted PET tracer florbetaben are easy to visually assess and that this assessment is highly reproducible. Additional Phase II and pivotal Phase III global studies are under preparation to validate the potential shown by florbetaben in this Phase II setting. Start of the Phase III program is planned for end of 2009. About the Phase II Study This global Phase II, open-label, non randomized, multi-center study aims to evaluate the efficacy of florbetaben PET in vivo imaging in the detection/exclusion of cerebral beta-Amyloid plaques in patients with mild-to-moderate, probable AD (older than 55 years of age) compared with age-matched healthy volunteers. A total of 18 study centers in four countries (Australia, Germany, USA, and Switzerland) screened 213 individuals of whom 150 individuals were imaged with florbetaben receiving a single intravenous injection of the tracer. Reliable, high-quality images were obtained across multiple centers and camera types over a long time span. A 20-minute scan in this study provided optimal image quality. The florbetaben uptake pattern was visually assessed for all time points by three independent, nuclear medicine physicians blinded to the clinical diagnosis and all other clinical data. The co-primary efficacy variables were the sensitivity and specificity of the independent, blinded visual assessment of the images. As a secondary endpoint, the standard uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were also calculated using the cerebellar cortex as a reference region. The clinical diagnosis of AD served as the standard of truth, and was performed by the referring clinicians and based on internationally accepted and validated clinical criteria. The HVs were also carefully examined to include only those with a total lack of cognitive impairment. In addition, safety parameters were evaluated and various technical parameters assessed to define the optimal imaging procedure for further development (e.g. optimal imaging time points). About Florbetaben (18 F) Florbetaben is an inlicensed 18F-labeled PET tracer that specifically binds to beta-Amyloid plaques. These plaques consist of proteins that accumulate in the brain and are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer"s disease. As the aggregation of the beta-Amyloid protein in the brain is also a key target for new therapeutic treatments under development, florbetaben might also be able to support the development of these new treatment approaches. About Alzheimer"s Disease Alzheimer"s disease (AD) is a devastating neuro-degenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia. Most cases of Alzheimer"s disease affect people over the age of 60. It is a progressive disease that can lead to premature death. In 2006, estimates suggested that more than 26 million people worldwide were suffering from Alzheimer"s disease. By 2050, this number could reach more than 100 million. At present there is no cure for Alzheimer"s disease, but treatments for symptoms, combined with the right services and support, can make life better for the millions of people living with Alzheimer"s. Bayer HealthCare


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