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Arizona, North Carolina Legislatures Take Action On Abortion, Sex Education Measures
The following summarizes news coverage on women"s health-related legislation in Arizona and North Carolina. ~ Arizona: The Arizona Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Wednesday voted 4-3 to approve a bill (S.B. 1206) that would place several restrictions on abortion rights and allow pharmacists or other health care providers to refuse to distribute emergency contraception based on religious or moral objections, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The state House passed an identical bill in March. The measure would impose a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortion procedures and mandate that doctors inform women about risks and alternatives. It also would toughen an exisiting parental consent requirement for minors seeking abortion. The bill requires an in-person consultation before the 24-hour waiting period, which would increase costs for women who are forced to travel to a clinic twice, according to Planned Parenthood of Arizona President Bryan Howard. The Legislature approved bills with similar restrictions in recent years, but the measures were vetoed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). Current Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has said she supports mandatory disclosures and a 24-hour waiting period (Billeaud, AP/Arizona Daily Star, 6/10).~ North Carolina: The North Carolina Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee this week approved a bill (S. 221) that would require all public school systems to offer information on the use of contraceptives to students in grades seven through nine, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports. The information would be presented as part of a larger reproductive health education program that would maintain the abstinence-only education curricula currently taught at nearly all of the state"s 115 school districts. Parents would be permitted to prevent children from participating in the classes with contraceptive information. The measure is a revised version of state House-approved legislation (H.B. 88) that would have required schools to teach two separate abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education tracks. If the full state Senate passes the new bill, the two chambers will meet to negotiate a compromise (Robertson, AP/Raleigh News & Observer, 6/11).

New Survey Shows Americans Strongly Support Guaranteed Dental Coverage In Healthcare Reform
Nearly 2 in 3 U.S. adults (63%) think that it is important that dental coverage is part of an overall health reform package, and 40 percent say it is very important, according to a new public opinion survey commissioned by Oral Health America. The survey, sponsored by the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation, and conducted by Harris Interactive(R), was released today at the launch of National Smile Month, the largest independent international campaign promoting good dental care including brushing, regular dental visits, and healthy food choices as well as the need for effective oral healthcare policies.
News of the day
Insurers 'Spinning' Some Data To Shape Reform
Insurers sometimes cherry-pick facts to make their case against certain aspects of reform efforts, including a public plan, The Washington Post reports.
Cardiovascular

New Strategy May Be Valid Alternative To Traditional Antibiotics

Certainly there is strength in numbers, but only if those numbers can effectively communicate with one another. Now, a new study finds that administration of a novel small molecule which effectively disrupts a key bacterial communication process protects an animal host from infection. The research, published by Cell Press in the July 31st issue of the journal Molecular Cell, may lead to more effective treatments for bacterial infection that won"t encourage growth of treatment resistant bacteria. Bacteria use a process called "quorum sensing" to communicate information about population density and to synchronously engage in group behaviors that promote bacterial pathogenesis. "Quorum sensing allows bacteria to collectively carry out tasks that would be unsuccessful if carried out by an individual bacterium acting alone," explains senior study author Dr. Bonnie L. Bassler from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. During the process of quorum sensing, bacteria communicate via chemical signals called autoinducers. Autoinducers bind to receptors, called LuxR-type proteins, located inside the bacteria, or to receptors called LuxN proteins located in the bacterial membrane. In an earlier study, Dr. Bassler and colleagues discovered a class of small molecules that prevented a key autoinducer called acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) from binding to LuxN. Although LuxN and LuxR are not structurally similar, Dr. Bassler"s team hypothesized that since both bind to AHLs, both may respond to the small molecule antagonists. In the current study, the researchers demonstrated that the small molecule previously shown to block LuxN-type receptors is also a potent antagonist of LuxR receptors. This finding was somewhat surprising as these proteins are not evolutionarily related and exhibit vast differences in receptor localization, structure and signaling mechanisms. Importantly, the most potent antagonist protected nematode worms from quorum sensing-mediated killing by Chromobacterium violaceum, a human pathogen that frequently infects people through lacerated skin. "Our results make a strong case and provide compelling evidence that an anti-quorum-sensing strategy is a valid alternative to traditional antibiotics and that there is merit to pursuing the clinical relevance of such strategies," offers Dr. Bassler. The work is also significant in that treatments based on disruption of quorum sensing interfere only with bacterial signaling and not growth, potentially minimizing the sometimes devastating development of bacteria that are resistant to treatment. The researchers include Lee R. Swem, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD; Danielle L. Swem, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD; Colleen T. O"Loughlin, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY; Raleene Gatmaitan, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY; Bixiao Zhao, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Scott M. Ulrich, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY; and Bonnie L. Bassler, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD. Cathleen Genova Cell Press


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