Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

SCOTUS Ruling Reversing Decision From Sotomayor's Court Not Expected To Affect Nomination
The Supreme Court"s 5-4 reversal of a decision endorsed by a three-judge appellate panel that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is attracting criticism from the judge"s conservative opponents but is not expected to have a significant effect on delaying her confirmation, the Washington Post reports. The appellate panel in 2008 upheld New Haven, Conn."s decision to discard a promotion test for firefighters after no blacks and only two Hispanics qualified for advancement after taking the test (Markon/Kane, Washington Post, 6/30). The panel"s ruling affirmed a lower court"s decision that the city had a right to discard the test based on a segment of civil rights law involving actions that have a "disparate impact" on minorities. A group of white and Hispanic firefighters who would have received promotions under the test sued, alleging reverse discrimination. Democrats and legal analysts said that Sotomayor was following legal precedent in the 2008 ruling and that it was the Supreme Court, which has the ability to exercise more discretion, that chose to make law by reversing the decision (Friedman, CongressDaily, 6/29). The Supreme Court typically reverses about 75% of the cases it reviews, according to legal experts. The court previously has reversed four of Sotomayor"s rulings and upheld three of her decisions, the Post reports. Tom Goldstein, a lawyer and founder of the SCOTUSblog Web site, said, "I don"t think it will persuade anybody who is inclined one way or another to change their views about Sotomayor" (Washington Post, 6/30). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "The main charge against Sotomayor is that she will be an activist judge, but this decision clearly shows that she won"t." He said that the results of the case "won"t change things a wit," adding that "in fact, it bolsters (the claim) that she is mainstream" (CongressDaily, 6/29). Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the New Haven case "sharpens our focus on [Sotomayor"s] troubling speeches and writings" that "indicate ... that personal experiences and political views should influence a judge"s decisions." He added that the issue "will clearly be the subject of questioning" at Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin on Monday (Phillips, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/29).

Boxers Holyfield, Retta To Participate In HIV/AIDS Charity Fight In Ethiopia
Boxer Evander Holyfield will fight Sammy Retta on July 26 in Ethiopia in an effort to raise money for HIV/AIDS organizations, Reuters India reports. Event organizers hope to raise between $5 million and $10 million from the fight. "I continue to strive to be the very best, but what got me to come here is" HIV/AIDS, Holyfield said, adding, "If we don"t find a cure to this, we"ll be extinct." According to Everton Boland -- CEO of Golden Globe, which is promoting the fight -- a significant portion of money raised will go directly to organizations addressing HIV/AIDS. Organizers said that a group established by African first ladies is the only recipient selected to date but they are considering others (Malone, Reuters India, 5/20).
News of the day
Despite Repeat Warnings, Skin Cancer Continues To Rise Among Women
Do you intend on getting a healthy tan this summer? You may want to rethink your plans. Tan skin is the body"s reaction to sun damage, along with freckles, wrinkles and brown spots. So unless your tan comes from a bottle, it"s probably not healthy.
Diagnostics

Caspase-8 Plays An Important Role In Proliferation And Invasion Of Cancer Cells

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have found that the Caspase-8 protein, long known to play a major role in promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis), helps relay signals that can cause cancer cells to proliferate, migrate and invade surrounding tissues. The study was published recently in the journal Cancer Research. The team of scientists, led by Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Cancer Center at Burnham, showed that Caspase-8 caused neuroblastoma cancer cells to proliferate and migrate. For the first time, Caspase-8 was shown to play a key role in relaying the growth signals from epidermal growth factor (EGF) that cause cell division and invasion. The researchers also identified an RXDLL amino acid motif that controls the signaling from the EGF receptor through the protein kinase Src to the master cell proliferation regulator protein, MAPK. This same signaling pathway stimulates neuroblastoma cells to migrate and invade neighboring tissues--a critical process in cancer metastasis. "Caspase-8 has a well defined role in promoting apoptosis, especially in response to activation of the so-called death receptors on the outside of cells," said Darren Finlay, Ph.D., first author on the paper. "Although Caspase-8 is involved in apoptosis, it is rarely deleted or silenced in tumors, suggesting that it was giving cancer cells a leg up in some other way. Our studies suggest that Caspase-8 does so by activating the MAPK pathway through Src." Using immuno-blot assays, the scientists showed that EGF signaling was absent in a cancer cell line that is deficient in Caspase-8 and that EGF signaling can be restored by reconstituting the cells with wildtype Caspase-8. Sequence homology studies helped to identify a RXDLL motif in the protein, a sequence that has been shown in other proteins to function in cell signaling. The researchers also used immune-blot assays to demonstrate that reconstituting the Caspase-8 deficient cells with Caspase-8 with mutations in the RXDLL domain did not result in EGF signaling. This suggests that Caspase-8 mediates signaling through the RXDLL domain. The scientists had previously shown in another study that Caspase-8 associates with Src, a protein known to be involved in cancer cell proliferation. In this study they showed that interruption in this association disrupts EGF signaling indicating that Caspase-8 exerts EGF signaling through Src. Cancer results from excessive cell division and reduced cell death. A number of cell death proteins are missing from human tumors, allowing cancer cells to ignore the cues that keep their growth in check. Cells that can evade apoptosis have a clear growth advantage. Because Caspase-8 is involved in programmed cell death, it would seem that reducing Caspase-8 in cancer cells would provide a growth advantage. However, this is rarely observed in human cancers. By providing a more complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in cancer cell proliferation and migration, these results point to Caspase-8 as a novel therapeutic intervention point for treating multiple types of human cancers. Josh Baxt Burnham Institute


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009