Ask the Experts: Health Information Technology  6/30/2005
Kaiser Family Foundation Broadcast Studio, Washington, D.C.

Jill Braden Balderas, managing editor of kaisernetwork.org, talks to David
Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology,
HHS, Winston Price, M.D., FAAP, president, National Medical Association and Dean
Rosen, director of health policy, office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,
M.D. (R-Tenn.) about improving the nation's health technology infrastructure.

View webcast now:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=1462


Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Senate leader seeks moratorium on ads for new prescription drugs
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050701/a_frist01.art.htm
06/30/2005 - Updated 11:57 PM ET

By Kathy Kiely
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician, is calling on the
pharmaceutical industry to curtail the multibillion-dollar advertising campaigns
used to peddle prescription drugs directly to consumers. His move puts one of
the most powerful lobbies in town on notice that the Senate's top Republican
expects curbs on drug ads in print and television.

In a speech prepared for delivery today, the Tennessee senator blames drug ads
for contributing to rising health care costs. He's seeking a two-year moratorium
on advertising for new drugs and a government audit to determine how drug ads
have affected the way Americans are treated for illness.

"Drug advertisements are fuel to America's skyrocketing prescription-drug
costs," Frist says in remarks prepared for delivery in the Senate. "They create
an artificial demand. And they drive up our nation's overall health care costs."

The ads have increased since 1997, when the government eased rules to make
television ads possible. Pharmaceutical companies spent $4.1 billion advertising
drugs last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The Food and Drug
Administration is supposed to review promotional material but has only 40
staffers to check more than 30,000 pieces of material a year. Frist is calling
for more resources for advertising reviews.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, an industry trade
group, has promised to come up with an advertising code of conduct. Former
representative Billy Tauzin, R-La., head of the industry group, said drug
advertising "is a free-speech issue" but acknowledged that these ads are due for
some change.

Frist believes the code should include a moratorium on ads for drugs that have
been on the market less than two years. The Government Accountability Office
study that Frist is requesting could be used as the basis for legislation to
impose federal restrictions if Frist is not satisfied with the industry's
voluntary measures.

Frist, a heart and lung transplant surgeon before he entered politics, is
reacting in part because of concerns from fellow physicians, said Frist
spokesman Nick Smith. Frist plans to retire from the Senate at the end of 2006.
He has not ruled out a 2008 White House bid.

=================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Subject: FDA MedWatch - Public Health Advisory: Suicidality in Adults Bein g
Treated with Antidepressant Medications


  MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

  In response to recent scientific publications that report the possibility
of
  increased risk of suicidal behavior in adults treated with antidepressants,
  the FDA has issued a Public Health Advisory to update patients and
  healthcare providers with the latest information on this subject. Even
  before the publication of these recent reports, FDA had already begun the
  process of reviewing available data to determine whether there is an
  increased risk of suicidal behavior in adults taking antidepressants. The
  Agency has asked manufacturers to provide information from their trials
  using an approach similar to that used in the evaluation of the risk of
  suicidal behavior in the pediatric population taking antidepressants. This
  effort will involve hundreds of clinical trials and may take more than a
  year to complete.

  Read the complete MedWatch 2005 Safety summary, including links to the FDA
Talk Paper, Public Health Advisory and Drug Information Page, at:

  http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#antidepressant

  --------


Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group
>

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIH News

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
http://www.nida.nih.gov/

National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 22, 2005

ADULT ANTISOCIAL SYNDROMES COMMON AMONG SUBSTANCE ABUSERS

Data from a recent epidemiologic survey of more than 43,000 U.S. adults show
that antisocial syndromes -- marked by little concern for the rights of
others and violations of age-appropriate societal rules -- are more common
among people with substance abuse disorders than those without these
disorders.

The study by researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National
Institutes of Health, is published in the June 2005 issue of "The Journal of
Clinical Psychiatry".

"The strong and significant association between substance abuse or addiction
and conditions such as antisocial personality disorder, conduct disorder,
and adult antisocial behavior, suggests that prevention and treatment
strategies need to apply an integrated approach," says NIDA Director Dr.
Nora D. Volkow. "By also treating antisocial syndromes, particularly those
that develop in adolescence or persist over time, we may be able to
substantially reduce substance abuse and addiction."

Antisocial personality disorder, conduct disorder, and adult antisocial
behavior are characterized by differing degrees or severity of lying,
impulsivity, physical aggression, reckless disregard for one's own safety
and the safety of others, indifference regarding pain inflicted on others,
destructive behavior, and stealing.

"This is the first time in which we see that virtually every single drug
abuse disorder is associated with an antisocial personality disorder," says
Dr. Wilson Compton, Director of NIDA's Division of Epidemiology, Services,
and Prevention Research. "We also observed stronger links between the
antisocial syndromes and specific substance abuse or addiction in women
compared to men, and drug addiction was more likely than abuse to be linked
with these psychiatric conditions."

The scientists from NIDA and NIAAA examined data from the 2001-2002 National
Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a
representative survey of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population
aged 18 years and older. "The NESARC is the largest study ever conducted of
the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders among U.S. adults," said Dr.
Bridget Grant, Chief, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biometry, NIAAA, and
NESARC principal investigator.

The analysis showed lifetime prevalence of 3.6 percent of adults diagnosed
with antisocial personality disorder, 1.1 percent with conduct disorder only
and more than 12 percent with adult antisocial behavior only while the
lifetime prevalence for any drug abuse disorder was 10.3 percent. Lifetime
prevalence of alcohol use disorders was 30.3 percent. The most common drug
abuse disorders involved marijuana, followed by cocaine, amphetamines,
hallucinogens, opioids, sedatives, tranquilizers, and inhalants.

In addition, the scientists calculated the odds ratios-an estimation of the
relative risk-of having a particular antisocial syndrome and a specific
substance abuse disorder. They found that for antisocial personality
disorder and adult antisocial behavior the odds of having a substance abuse
disorder were very high overall, and were higher for women than for men.

For antisocial personality disorder the odds ratios were most striking for
tranquilizer dependence, sedative dependence, marijuana dependence, inhalant
abuse, and hallucinogen dependence. For adult antisocial behavior the odds
ratios were highest for sedative abuse, amphetamine abuse, alcohol use
disorders, cocaine dependence, and hallucinogen abuse.

Results of other investigations have pointed to impairments in executive
decision-making as a fundamental characteristic in substance abuse disorders
that may be associated with impaired development of certain brain structures
and function. Therefore, the authors speculate that substance abuse
disorders and antisocial personality syndromes share common underlying
physiologic features that may be related to the same neural systems involved
in decision-making.

Previous research using the same NESARC data showed that almost 48 percent
of people who abused drugs also had at least one personality disorder.

"Future studies will be necessary to uncover the genetic and environmental
mechanisms involved in the progression of these co-occurring conditions and
how possible interactions may relate to drug abuse and addiction
vulnerability," says Dr. Volkow.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National
Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA
supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to
ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its
implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of
drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be
found on the NIDA home page at http://www.drugabuse.gov.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
conducts and supports approximately 90 percent of the U.S. research on the
causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse,
alcoholism, and alcohol problems and disseminates research findings to
general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research
information and publications are available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research
Agency" -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational
medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for
both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
programs, visit www.nih.gov.

##


===========================================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

  National Institute of
  Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
  http://www.niehs.nih.gov/

  A ROLE FOR PUBLIC AND SCIENTISTS IN NIEHS RESEARCH PLAN

  A new leader at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  (NIEHS) says members of the public, including all scientists, should help
  direct the future of research on how the environment influences human
  health, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register. The NIEHS, an
  environmental health research arm of the National Institutes of Health, set
  up a website for responses to six questions critical for defining a new
  strategic plan.

  Within a week of assuming his new role as the Director of NIEHS, Dr. David
  A. Schwartz announced plans to involve researchers and the community in a
  strategic planning process. NIEHS will use information obtained to
determine
  the most effective ways to study environmental toxins and human health.

  "Almost every complex disease, from diabetes, to obesity and heart disease,
  to many cancers, is, in part, caused by exposures from the environment,"
  said Dr. Schwartz. "NIEHS is uniquely poised to improve the health of this
  nation. We are not limited by any one organ, system or disease -- we can
use
  the breadth of our knowledge on environmental exposures to understand and
  intervene in the disease process. We can use science to reduce morbidity,
  extend longevity and improve an individual's quality of life."

  The strategy is expected to focus on four elements: basic research, human
  health and disease, global environmental health, and training.

  "Having these four areas serve as our backbone will allow us to
  strategically focus on funding the best science that will have the greatest
  impact on human health," said Dr. Schwartz. "Having a transparent,
inclusive
  and candid process will allow us to work together to identify new
  opportunities, establish research priorities, determine the best ways to
  translate our findings to the field and the public."

  To officially kick off the strategic planning process, the Institute posted
  a notice in the Federal Register today. "This will ensure that not only
  researchers, but members of the public, and those from other disciplines
who
  may not be as familiar with NIEHS, are aware of the priority setting
  process, and are provided with an opportunity to provide input," Dr.
  Schwartz said.

  A new user friendly page has been developed on the NIEHS website
  (www.niehs.nih.gov/external/plan2006/home.htm) to allow easy access to
  individuals who would like to provide input via the Internet. Initially,
the
  Institute is especially interested in responses to six critical questions,
  including:

  -- What are the disease processes and public health concerns that are
  relevant to environmental health sciences?

  -- How can environmental health sciences be used to understand how
  biological systems work, why some individuals are more susceptible to
  disease, or why individuals with the same disease may have very different
  clinical outcomes?

  -- What are the major opportunities and challenges in global environmental
  health?

  -- What are the environmental exposures that need further consideration?

  -- What are the critical needs for training the next generation of
  scientists in environmental health?

  -- What technology and infrastructural changes are needed to fundamentally
  advance environmental health science?

  Responses to these questions will be compiled and will be used by a
  Strategic Planning Group, which will include members of the NIEHS Advisory
  Council, to develop a brief document outlining the Institute's goals over
  the next five years. The NIEHS is also soliciting nominations for the
  planning group. A draft document is expected to be available for public
  comment this fall.

  The full text of the notice can be found in today's edition of the Federal
  Register,
  http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov
/2005/05-12129.htm. NIEHS, a component of the National Institutes of Health,
supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research
Agency" -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primaryFederal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and
rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit
www.nih.gov. ##

Jun 16, 2005 11:58 ET

                   Financial Times and Scientific American to Publish

                   NEW YORK, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Times and
Scientific American will publish their first ever special collaborative report
on June 20, 2005 entitled, "The Future of Stem Cells". This specially targeted
in-depth report will reach a combined circulation of over 800,000 across the US,
Europe, and Asia, with additional distribution at the BIO 2005 Annual
International Convention in Philadelphia next week.


                   "The complexity of the science and the rapid proliferation of
business, ethical and political issues pose a challenge for anyone wishing to
stay well informed on this vital subject. This is why we believe that stem cells
represent an ideal opportunity for an editorial collaboration between the
Financial Times and Scientific American," says Lionel Barber, US managing
editor, Financial Times and John Rennie, editor in chief, Scientific American.


                   The FT/Scientific American stem cell report will address
issues of public health, economics, ethics and the vast scientific ramifications
of this extraordinary emerging science. The news community, business executives,
researchers and politicians alike will benefit from this discussion as each
holds a unique stake in the course of future action.


                   Not since the discovery of antibiotics has the scientific
community been so excited about a new frontier. Stem cell research now has the
potential to yield invaluable findings in the areas of cell and tissue
regeneration and disease therapy. In addition, human stem cells may hold promise
for testing new drugs and could yield information about the complexities of
human development. Now with US and international collaboration, recognizing the
potential and promise of stem cell research seems closer than ever.


                   Representing the best of global business, science, and policy,
readers of the Financial Times and Scientific American rely on each publication
for its unique analysis and insight. Industry leaders value FT Special Reports
for their in-depth analysis and valuable international perspective. These
targeted editorial sections are required reading and reference for executives on
a wide-range of vertical industries, countries, and emerging markets. Standing
at the intersection of science, technology, business and public policy,
Scientific American resonates with authority and credibility, reporting from a
unique and sophisticated perspective on topics of great importance.


                   The format and size of this Special Report will be the same as
that of Scientific American and will be inserted into all four global editions
of the FT newspaper, and will be available on FT.com in addition to appearing in
the July issue of Scientific American magazine.


                   For more information on the Financial Times or this Special
Report, please visit http://www.ft.com/




======================================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

Qualitest Pharmaceuticals and FDA notified healthcare professionals and
consumers of a voluntary nationwide recall of AccuSure Insulin Syringes 1cc,
28 Gauge 1/2 Inch, distributed between October 2004 and June 2005. There may
be 1cc syringes which are mislabeled as 1/2 cc syringes on the plastic inner
wrap holding 10 individual syringes, which could potentially result in
confusion by the patient or caregiver, resulting in an incorrect dose or
amount being administered.

Read the complete MedWatch 2005 Safety summmary, including a link to the
firm press release, at:

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#accusure

=======================================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

----- Original Message -----
From: "NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)" <olib@...>

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
>
> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
>
> NIH News
>
> > PANEL CALLS FOR A NEW LOOK AT TREATMENTS COMMONLY USED FOR CHRONIC
> > INSOMNIA
> NIH STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE PANEL ALSO RECOMMENDS BROADER USE OF COGNITIVE
> AND
> BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES
>
> Many of the medications widely used to manage chronic insomnia have not
> yet
> been rigorously evaluated for long-term use, according to an independent
> scientific panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health.
> This is a critical consideration because for many patients, insomnia can
> persist for decades. The panel also stressed that many chronic insomnia
> sufferers could benefit from currently underused behavioral and cognitive
> therapies.
>
> The panel was concerned that many of the drugs now used to treat insomnia,
> such as antidepressants and antihistamines, have not been approved for
> this
> indication; their efficacy in treating chronic insomnia has not been
> proven.
> Even those medications that have been approved for insomnia are approved
> only for short-term use, leaving chronic sufferers with few proven
> options.
> The panel noted that newer benzodiazepine receptor agonist medications
> have
> been developed that have fewer and less severe adverse effects than other
> medications, and show promise for long-term use, but this requires further
> evaluation. The panel also expressed concern that many insomnia sufferers
> self-medicate with alcohol, despite the numerous risks involved and the
> clear evidence that alcohol actually has a negative overall effect on the
> quality of sleep.
>
> Research indicates that behavioral methods such as relaxation training can
> be effective to treat insomnia when combined with cognitive therapies
> specifically targeted at anxiety-producing beliefs and erroneous beliefs
> about sleep and sleep loss. Moreover, this approach is unlikely to carry
> adverse side effects, and its benefits may be longer lasting than
> pharmacological interventions. There are few practitioners trained in
> these
> therapies, however.
>
> Alan Leshner, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the American Association
> for
> the Advancement of Science and chair of the conference panel explained,
> "we
> know that patients can struggle for years with insomnia, and we know that
> they use a variety of over-the-counter and prescription drugs to deal with
> it. Unfortunately, we found insufficient evidence to recommend most of
> these
> treatments for long-term use. There's a clear need for more research to
> fill
> this gap."
>
> The panel's full statement discusses the specific challenges facing this
> area of research and recommends a variety of studies to help clarify the
> disorder's underlying mechanisms, natural history, the interaction between
> insomnia and other conditions, and the comparative risks and benefits of
> various therapies.
>
> The panel released its findings this morning, following two days of expert
> presentations and panel deliberations. Full text of the panel's draft
> state-of-the-science statement will be available late today at
> http://consensus.nih.gov. The final version will be available at the same
> Web address in three to four weeks. Statements from past conferences and
> additional information about the NIH Consensus Development Program are
> also
> available at the Web site, or by calling 1-888-644-2667.
>
> The 12 members of this State-of-the-Science panel were nominated for
> selection by peers who were confident that these individuals' areas of
> expertise would significantly contribute to the process of critically
> examining scientific evidence on insomnia. The panel included educators,
> researchers, statisticians, and practitioners in neuroscience,
> anesthesiology, sleep disorders, geriatric medicine, psychology,
> psychiatry,
> epidemiology, health services research, nursing, and community medicine.
>
> In addition to the presentations of conference speakers, the panel
> considered a comprehensive systematic literature review prepared by the
> University of Alberta Evidence-Based Practice Center, under contract with
> the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
>
> The panel's statement is an independent report and is not a policy
> statement
> of the NIH or the Federal Government. The NIH Consensus Development
> Program,
> of which this conference is a part, was established in 1977 as a mechanism
> to judge controversial topics in medicine and public health in an
> unbiased,
> impartial manner. NIH has conducted 119 consensus development conferences,
> and 25 state-of-the-science (formerly "technology assessment")
> conferences,
> addressing a wide range of issues.
>
> The conference was sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of
> Research (OMAR) and the National Institute of Mental Health. Cosponsors
> included the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
> the
> National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of
> Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Nursing
> Research, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute on
> Alcohol
> Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Office of
> Research on Women's Health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
>
>
> The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research
> Agency" -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
> the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary
> Federal
> agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational
> medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for
> both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
> programs, visit www.nih.gov.
>
> ##
>
============================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

  NIH News

  National Institute of
  Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  http://www.niaid.nih.gov

  News Advisory

  THE THREAT OF AVAIN GLOBAL PANDEMICS
  Council on Foreign Relations -- DC On-The-Record Meeting
  International health officials are warning that a deadly avian influenza
  virus may soon spread rapidly, overwhelming unprepared health systems in
  rich and poor countries alike. As a call to action, the July/August issue
of
  Foreign Affairs includes a special set of articles on the threat of global
  pandemics. In collaboration with Nature magazine, Foreign Affairs has
  provided this coverage to assist the efforts of the Royal Institution World
  Science Assembly.


  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research
  Agency -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
  the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary
Federal
  agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational
  medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for
  both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
  programs, visit www.nih.gov.

  ##

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

  NIH News

  National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
  http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

  National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
  http://www.genome.gov/


  NIH "ROADMAP" GRANTS WILL ESTABLISH NINE SCREENING CENTERS IN SEVEN STATES

  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced it is awarding
$88.9
  million in grants to nine institutions over three years to establish a
  collaborative research network that will use high-tech screening methods to
  identify small molecules that can be used as research tools. Small
molecules
  have great potential to help scientists in their efforts to learn more
about
  key biological processes involved in human health and disease.

  "This tremendous collaborative effort will accelerate our understanding of
  biology and disease mechanisms," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., NIH
Director.
  "More importantly, it will, for the first time, enable academic researchers
  to explore novel ideas and enable progress on a broad front against human
  disease."

  For example, the broad-based screening effort will eventually enable
researchers to explore the hundreds of thousands of proteins believed to be
  encoded by the approximately 25,000 genes in the human genome. To date,
only
  a few hundred human proteins have been studied in detail using small
  molecule probes.

  Certain small organic chemical compounds, also referred to as small
  molecules, can be valuable tools for understanding the many important
  cellular events involved in health and disease, which is key to identifying
  possible new targets for diagnosis, treatment and prevention. To date, most
  useful small molecules have been found serendipitously. The molecular
  libraries screening program is an effort by NIH to take an efficient,
  high-throughput approach toward the discovery of many more useful
compounds.


  The Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network is being developed
through
  the NIH Roadmap for medical research. Specifically, the network is part of
  the Roadmap's "New Pathways to Discovery" initiative, which has set out to
  advance the understanding of biological systems and build a better
"toolbox"
  for medical researchers in the 21st century. The network is funded by all
of
  the institutes of the NIH and co-administered by the National Institute of
  Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Human Genome Research Institute
  (NHGRI) on behalf of NIH. The operation of the network will be overseen by
a
  project team made up of staff from NIH's 27 institutes and centers.

  Data generated from the high-throughput assays conducted at the screening
  centers will be made available to researchers in both the public and
private
  sectors through the PubChem database (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/),
  created and managed by the National Library of Medicine at NIH. The
  network's first screening center, the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC),
  was established in June 2004 by the NHGRI's intramural program to jumpstart
  the roadmap effort. Another critical component of the network is the
  Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository, located in San Francisco at
  Discovery Partners International, a drug discovery research firm. The
  repository houses the collection of small molecules that will be used for
  screening by the centers. Already, the repository has acquired nearly
  100,000 compounds that are being utilized by the NCGC.

  "This new Screening Centers Network will be the engine of discovery in the
  NIH Roadmap Molecular Libraries initiative," said NIMH Director Thomas R.
  Insel, M.D. "Using the compounds from the Molecular Libraries Small
Molecule
  Repository and supported by the informatics capabilities of PubChem, the
  MLSCN should provide researchers with many new chemical tools to explore
how
  cells function at the molecular level."

  "This collaborative screening effort will enable academic and government
  researchers to contribute in a much more vigorous way to an understanding
of
  the mechanisms of disease, and even to the identification of potential
  targets for new therapies. Central to this effort are the databases
  supporting the network, which will allow us to tie together data from
  diverse fields of science in ways not previously brought to bear on
  important health problems," said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins, M.D.,
  Ph.D.

  The nine institutions receiving grants as part of the Molecular Libraries
  Screening Centers Network (MLSCN) are:

  -- Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York; James Rothman,
  Principal Investigator; MLSCN Center at Columbia University
  -- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Raymond Dingledine, Principal
  Investigator; Emory Chemistry-Biology Center in the MLSCN
  -- Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, Alabama; Gary Piazza, Principal
  Investigator; Southern Research Molecular Libraries Screening Center
  (SRMLSC)
  -- The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, California; John Reed, Principal
  Investigator; San Diego Chemical Library Screening Center
  -- The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California; Hugh Rosen,
  Principal Investigator; Scripps Research Institute Molecular Screening
  Center
  -- University of New Mexico Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Larry
  Sklar, Principal Investigator; New Mexico Molecular Libraries Screening
  Center
  -- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Scott Diamond,
  Principal Investigator; The Penn Center for Molecular Discovery
  -- University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; John
  Lazo, Principal Investigator; University of Pittsburgh Molecular Libraries
  Screening Center
  -- Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; C. David Weaver, Principal
  Investigator; Vanderbilt Screening Center for GPCRs, Ion Channels, and
  Transporters

  ABOUT NIH
  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research
  Agency -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
  the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary
Federal
  agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational
  medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for
  both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
  programs, visit www.nih.gov.

  ABOUT THE NIH ROADMAP FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
  The NIH Roadmap is a series of new initiatives designed to pursue major
  opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single NIH institute
  could tackle alone but which the agency as a whole can address to make the
  biggest impact possible on the progress of medical research and to catalyze
  changes that will serve to transform new scientific knowledge into tangible
  benefits for public health. Additional information about the NIH Roadmap
can
  be found at its Web site, www.nihroadmap.nih.gov.

  ABOUT NIMH AND NHGRI
  NIMH and NHGRI co-lead the Molecular Libraries Roadmap Initiative and are
  among the 27 institutes and centers at NIH. NIMH works to reduce the burden
  of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain,
  and behavior. Additional information about NIMH can be found at its Web
  site, www.nimh.nih.gov. NHGRI supports the development of resources and
  technology that will accelerate genome research and its application to
human
  health. Information about NHGRI can be found at its Web site,
  www.genome.gov.

  ##
=======================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

Attn: Internet/CIS protection experts

Scipolicy received a request form the editor of another journal to post a call
for a relevant expert or journalist to write an article on the state of
protecting articles and publications on the Internet.

Contact:
Norman M. Goldfarb
Managing Partner, First Clinical Research
Chairman, MAGI, the Model Agreement Group Initiative
Editor, The Journal of Clinical Research Best Practices
ngoldfarb@... - http://www.firstclinical.com/
T 650.465.0119 - F 509.471.2815
"Clinical Research Best Practices Consulting"

Best,

Stephen

==========================================================

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
>
> Bristol-Myers Squibb and FDA notified healthcare professionals of
> revisions
> to the WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS/Pregnancy and Information for Patients, and
> PATIENT INFORMATION sections of the prescribing information for Sustiva
> (efavirenz), indicated in the treatment of HIV-1 infection. The revisions
> are a result of four retrospective reports of neural tube defects in
> infants
> born to women with first trimester exposure to Sustiva, including three
> cases of meningomyelocele and one Dandy Walker Syndrome. As Sustiva may
> cause fetal harm when administered during the first trimester to a
> pregnant
> woman, pregnancy should be avoided in women receiving Sustiva. An
> antiretroviral pregnancy registry has been established to monitor fetal
> outcomes of pregnant women exposed to Sustiva.
>
> Read the complete MedWatch 2005 Safety summary, including links to the
> Dear
> Healthcare Professional letter and revised label, at:
>
> http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#Sustiva
>
=============================================================

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
> National Institute of
> Diabetes and Digestive
> and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
> http://www.niddk.nih.gov/
>
> National Eye Institute (NEI)
> http://www.nei.nih.gov/
>

> DIABETIC RETINOPATHY OCCURS IN PRE-DIABETES
>
> Diabetic retinopathy has been found in nearly 8 percent of pre-diabetic
> participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), according to a
> report
> presented today at the American Diabetes Association's 65th Annual
> Scientific Sessions. Diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to vision loss,
> was also seen in 12 percent of participants with type 2 diabetes who
> developed diabetes during the DPP. No other long-term study has evaluated
> retinopathy in a population so carefully examined for the presence or
> development of type 2 diabetes.
>
> "These findings reinforce the recommendation that patients with newly
> diagnosed type 2 diabetes should be screened for retinopathy," said Emily
> Chew, M.D., of the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes
> of Health (NIH) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
> which funded the study. "We advise good control of blood glucose, blood
> pressure, and cholesterol as well as regular eye exams."
>
> "Previous studies have not accurately defined when type 2 diabetes begins,
> so our understanding of the onset of diabetic eye disease has been
> limited.
> Now we know that diabetic retinopathy does occur in pre-diabetes. We're
> also
> seeing it early in the course of diabetes -- within an average of 3 years
> after diagnosis," noted Richard Hamman, M.D., DrPH, professor and chair,
> Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado
> School of Medicine, and vice chair of the DPP. "This adds to our
> understanding of the development of retinopathy and suggests that changes
> in
> the eye may be starting earlier and at lower glucose levels than we
> previously thought."
>
> Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than
> normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. The condition is
> sometimes called "impaired fasting glucose (IFG)" or "impaired glucose
> tolerance (IGT)," depending on the test used to diagnose it. People with
> pre-diabetes have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart
> disease, and stroke.
>
> Diabetic retinopathy, which begins with changes in the small vessels in
> the
> back of the eye, often leads to loss of vision. Regular eye examinations
> to
> diagnose retinopathy are recommended for patients with diabetes because
> treatment with laser photocoagulation can often prevent blindness in more
> advanced cases. Diabetic retinopathy is still the most common cause of
> blindness in adults. (For more information about diabetic retinopathy, see
> NEI's "Diabetic Retinopathy: What you should know"
> http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/diabetic/retinopathy.asp).
>
> "Certain retinopathy lesions are considered indicative of the presence of
> diabetes because they are the first retinal changes to develop in this
> disease," explained Dr. Hamman. "Although the retinopathy seen in the DPP
> participants was at a very early stage and did not affect vision, eye
> changes typical for diabetes were found in 8 percent of our study
> population
> before they developed diabetes. These observations may lead diabetes
> experts
> to reconsider the diagnostic thresholds used to define diabetes, which are
> based on levels of blood glucose associated with the development of eye,
> nerve and kidney complications of diabetes."
>
> DPP study chair David Nathan, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital,
> pointed out that the retinopathy results are based on a random sample of
> only 12 percent of DPP participants, all of whom had impaired glucose
> tolerance, a form of pre-diabetes, when the study began. "These initial
> findings confirm what other studies have suggested. The complications of
> diabetes may begin before diabetes is diagnosed, at least by the
> current-day
> standards," he explained. "Ideally, an expanded study of the remaining 88
> percent of DPP Outcome Study participants might enable us to define more
> appropriate diagnostic thresholds."
>
> About 18.2 million Americans have diabetes, a group of serious diseases
> marked by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body's
> ability to produce and/or use insulin. Diabetes can lead to severely
> debilitating or fatal complications, such as heart disease, blindness,
> kidney disease, and amputations. It is the fifth leading cause of death by
> disease in the United States. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for up to 95
> percent of all diabetes cases, involves insulin resistance -- the body's
> inability to properly use its own insulin. It usually occurs in overweight
> adults, but it has increasingly been seen in obese children and teens in
> recent years.
>
> About 40 percent of U.S. adults ages 40 to 74 -- 41 million people -- have
> abnormal blood glucose levels without having diabetes. Many will develop
> type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. (In the DPP, about 10 percent of
> participants in the placebo group developed diabetes each year.) Once a
> person has type 2 diabetes, the risk of heart and blood vessel disease is
> 2
> to 4 times that of people without diabetes.
>
> DIABETES PREVENTION PROGRAM
> The Diabetes Prevention Program was a major clinical trial in 3,234 people
> with impaired glucose tolerance. The study's main results were announced
> in
> 2001 and reported in the Feb. 7, 2002 issue of the "New England Journal of
> Medicine": Losing 5 to 7 percent of body weight through diet and a modest,
> consistent increase in physical activity (e.g., walking 5 days a week 30
> minutes a day) lowered the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent.
> Treatment with metformin, an oral drug commonly used to treat diabetes,
> reduced the chances of developing diabetes by 31 percent.
>
> The DPP was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive
> and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and co-funded by other components of the NIH,
> the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Indian Health
> Service. The American Diabetes Association provided additional funding.
> Sources of corporate support included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Parke-Davis,
> Merck and Company, Merck Medco, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Sankyo, Lifescan,
> Lipha Pharmaceuticals, Slimfast, Nike, and Health-O-Meter.
>
> About 90 percent of DPP participants continue to be followed closely in
> the
> DPP Outcomes Study to examine the longer-term impact of the original
> treatment interventions. All participants are given access to quarterly
> lifestyle group sessions, while those in the original intensive lifestyle
> group have access to additional lifestyle activities to help them stay on
> track. The participants originally assigned to metformin therapy continue
> to
> have access to the drug.
>
> RETINOPATHY FINDINGS
> Three hundred two, or about 12 percent, of the DPP Outcome Study
> participants who had not developed diabetes during the study, and 588 of
> 876
> participants who had developed diabetes, were selected to participate in
> the
> retinopathy study, funded by the NEI. To detect diabetic retinopathy, an
> evaluation of the fundus (inner lining of the eye) was performed with a
> special camera that provides a detailed look at the retina. Small changes
> in
> the vessels, called microaneurysms and hemorrhages, signal the development
> and degree of retinopathy severity.
>
> Participants with pre-diabetes and retinopathy typically had a small
> number
> of microaneurysms in the eye characteristic of early, mild retinopathy
> that
> is not yet linked to vision loss. Those who had developed diabetes in the
> previous 1 to 5 years had slightly more severe retinopathy. Higher average
> blood glucose levels and higher blood pressure were associated with the
> risk
> of developing retinopathy in the new-onset diabetic patients, similar to
> previous findings in people with longstanding diabetes who develop
> retinopathy.
>
> In its "Be Smart About Your Heart: Control the ABCs of Diabetes" campaign,
> the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) (www.ndep.nih.gov/),
> jointly
> sponsored by the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and
> 200 partner organizations including the American Diabetes Association
> (ADA),
> encourages people with diabetes to control their blood glucose as well as
> their blood pressure and cholesterol. By keeping all three as close to
> normal as possible, people with diabetes can live long, healthy lives.
>
> NDEP's "Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent Type 2 Diabetes" campaign gives
> tips on lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
>
> "Make the Link! Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke," is a joint initiative
> of the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org/makethelink) and
> the
> American College of Cardiology (www.acc.org), which works to increase
> awareness of the link between diabetes and heart disease and help educate
> physicians and people with diabetes about how to reduce those risks.
>
> The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research
> Agency" -- is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
> the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary
> Federal
> agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational
> medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for
> both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
> programs, visit www.nih.gov.
>
> ##
>
> This NIH News Release is available online at:
> http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jun2005/niddk-12.htm.
>
> To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to
> http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress&A=1.
>
==================================================================>
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
>
> NIH News
>
> National Library of Medicine (NLM)
> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
>
> $3.68 MILLION GRANT TO BOOST PUBLIC HEALTH "INFORMATICS"
> New National Library of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
> Partnership Will Develop More Public Health Information Experts
>
> Bethesda, Maryland -- Without strong systems for gathering, using, and
> sharing information, federal, state and local public health offices cannot
> adequately detect disease outbreaks, notify the public of emerging health
> problems or promote sound health practices. Recognizing the importance of
> this issue, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) will administer a $3.68
> million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to develop
> tomorrow's public health leaders in the science of public health
> informatics.
>
> Public health informatics is the practice of integrating state-of-the-art
> computer technology for managing knowledge and information to enhance the
> work of public health professionals and others. The Foundation for the
> National Institutes of Health will receive the money from RWJF. The
> National
> Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health, will
> administer the grant program. NLM has a longstanding history of training
> the
> country's biomedical informatics researchers and professionals.
>
> The program funds educational training sites at four universities --
> Columbia University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the
> University of Utah, and the University of Washington. Students at the
> sites
> will receive training in basic information science and public health
> principles, focused preparation in applying informatics to public health
> problems, and on-site experience with public health agencies. All four
> sites
> currently host informatics training programs supported by NLM, and the new
> public health program, which begins July 1, 2005, will build on this
> existing base of experience.
>
> "The health of our communities is threatened if we cannot effectively
> analyze and share critical information among public health agencies,
> hospitals and community health providers," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D.,
> M.B.A., president and chief executive officer of the RWJF. "This
> collaboration will help prepare new leaders to be the architects of
> sophisticated information systems that can help public health officials
> respond to emergencies and save lives."
>
> Graduates of the program are expected to pursue a variety of career
> tracks.
> Some will enter directly into governmental public health agencies, while
> others will conduct research and train future generations of public health
> information professionals.
>
> The grant will support program development at the selected training sites
> as
> well as stipends, tuition and other trainee expenses. "In this day and
> age,
> no public health agency can work in isolation," said Donald A.B. Lindberg,
> M.D., director of the National Library of Medicine. "Through this program
> we
> will help put information sharing at the center of efforts to connect all
> public health agencies."
>
> "Informatics can help us make a huge impact on public health through
> disease
> surveillance," said Charles Friedman, Ph.D., senior scholar and leader of
> this initiative in the NLM Division of Extramural Programs. "By
> integrating
> health data from a range of sources -- including hospitals, clinics, and
> pharmacies -- and applying sophisticated analysis tools, we'll be able to
> detect disease outbreaks early, potentially saving lives and preventing an
> enormous amount of suffering."
>
> The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy
> devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all
> Americans.
>
> The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health was established by
> the
> United States Congress to support the mission of the National Institutes
> of
> Health -- improving health through scientific discovery.
>
> The National Library of Medicine, the world's largest library of the
> health
> sciences, is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S.
> Department of Health and Human Services.
>
> University Contacts:
>
> Columbia
> Marilyn Castaldi,
> Chief Communications Officer,
> mlc2120@...,
> 212-305-3900
>
> Hopkins
> Gary Stephenson,
> Associate Director for Media Relations,
> gstephenson@...,
> 410-955-5384
>
> Utah
> Christopher Nelson,
> Health Sciences Public Affairs,
> christopher.nelson@...,
> 801-581-7387
>
> Washington
> Pam Sowers,
> sowerspl@...,
> 206-685-4232
>
> ##
>
===================================================

The above is an excellent commitment but only a drop in the bucket compared
to the huge investment needed to modernize informatics and train staff up
and down the ranks in the US health establishment.

I expect a lot more advancements will be forthcoming in medical informatics
(as opposes to administrative and financial systems) since, arguably,
medical informatics is more or just as important than stem cell research in
the implication for better health and longer life.

Best,

Stephen

Dear Members,

Bibliographic Informatics Division of NIC has opened up a New Resource
for authors of scholarly research articles. Here they can self-archive
their articles in the field of Biological, Medical and Allied Sciences.

It is named it as OpenMED@NIC and available from the URL
http://openmed.nic.in . It is compliant with the "Open Archive
Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvasting" (OAI-PMH Version 2).

Its site, http://openmed.nic.in, describes it as:


"OpenMED is an open access archive for Medical and Allied Sciences.
Here authors / owners can self-archive their scientific and technical
documents. For this they need to register once in order to obtain a
user id in OpenMED system. However no registration is required for
searching the archive or viewing the documents.

OpenMED is a discipline based International Archive. It accepts both
published and unpublished documents having relevance to research in
Medical and Allied Sciences including Bio-Medical, Medical
Informatics, Dental, Nursing and Pharmaceutical Sciences. These could
be preprints (pre-refereed journal paper), postprints (refereed
journal paper), conference papers, conference posters, presentations,
technical reports/departmental working papers and theses. In case of
non-English documents, descriptive data [Author, Title, Source etc.],
abstract and keywords must be in English. Submitted documents will be
placed into the submission buffer and would become part of OpenMED
archive on their acceptance.

The aim of OpenMED is to provide free service to academics,
researchers, and students working in the area of Medical and Allied
Sciences. We expect it to promote self-archiving and open access to
papers / scholarly publications in these fields."

Thanks

Sukhdev Singh,
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/indmedtraining/

National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/default.htm

VARIANT PRION PROTEIN CAUSES INFECTION BUT NO SYMPTOMS
Finding Could Have Implications for Alzheimer's Disease

Abnormal prion proteins are little understood disease agents involved in
causing horrific brain-wasting diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in
people, mad cow disease in cattle and chronic wasting disease in deer and
elk. Now, new research suggests that a variant form of abnormal prion
protein -- one lacking an "anchor" into the cell membrane -- may be unable
to signal cells to start the lethal disease process, according to scientists
at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), part of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of
Health.

"This work provides novel insights into how prion and other
neurodegenerative diseases develop and it provides tantalizing clues as to
how we might delay or even prevent such diseases by preventing certain
cellular interactions," notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

A paper describing the research was released online today by the journal
"Science". RML virologist Bruce Chesebro, M.D., directed the project. Other
key co-authors from the Hamilton, MT, RML laboratory include Richard Race,
D.V.M., and Gerald Baron, Ph.D. Their collaborators included Michael
Oldstone, M.D., and Matthew Trifilo, Ph.D., of The Scripps Research
Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Eliezer Masliah, M.D., of the University of
California, San Diego (UCSD).

Drawing on experimental concepts first developed at RML a decade ago, the
research team exposed two groups of 6-week-old mice to different strains of
the agent that causes scrapie, a brain-wasting disease of sheep. Within 150
days of being inoculated with the natural form of scrapie prion protein, all
70 mice in the control group showed visible signs of infection: twitching,
emaciation and poor coordination. In contrast, the scientists observed 128
transgenic mice -- those engineered to produce prion protein without a
glycophosphoinositol (GPI) cell membrane anchor -- for 500 to 600 days and
saw no signs of scrapie disease. Subsequent electron microscopic
examinations at UCSD, however, confirmed that they produced amyloid fibrils,
an abnormal form of prion protein, and that they even had brain lesions.
More remarkably, according to Dr. Chesebro, the diseased brain tissue
resembled that found in Alzheimer's disease rather than in scrapie.

Chesebro mentions two theories as to why the transgenic mice did not show
symptoms of illness despite being infected:

The host cell might require the GPI anchor to receive the "toxic signal"
from the abnormal prion protein
The plaques might be less toxic than the non-plaque form of prion protein
clumps
In either case, more time might be required to produce disease due to the
reduced toxicity, Dr. Chesebro says.

"There was so much about this research that surprised us and gave us ideas
to pursue," says Dr. Chesebro. "First, the mice didn't get sick. That's very
significant. Second, the dense accumulations of scrapie plaque in the brain
resembled the plaque seen in Alzheimer's, but it wasn't toxic," which might
support more recent concepts about plaque in Alzheimer's patients.
"Previously, most researchers thought plaques were the toxic component of
Alzheimer's that kills neurons, and many treatments focus on removing the
plaques. But what if the plaques are inert, as they were in this research?
What if only small clumps are toxic?"

If this hypothesis proves correct, Dr. Chesebro says, the ongoing research
could eventually alter scientists' views on preventing prion diseases,
shifting emphasis away from stopping the production of prion protein clumps
and toward preventing interactions with prion protein anchored to cells, or
learning to direct abnormal prion protein accumulations to specific parts of
the brain where they will not produce symptoms.

"Abnormal prion protein by itself may not be rapidly lethal -- in these mice
it wasn't," Dr. Chesebro says.

To view an image that shows how abnormal prion proteins also appear as
plaques in the brains of scrapie-infected mice expressing anchorless prion
proteins, please visit http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jun2005/niaid-02.htm.

NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and
applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis,
malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also
supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including
autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available
on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference: B Chesebro et al. Anchorless prion protein results in infectious
amyloid disease without clinical scrapie. "Science". DOI:
10.1126/science.1110837.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

The Food and Drug Administration notified consumers and healthcare
professionals of a nationwide recall of all manufactured drugs (mostly
generic prescription drugs, including drugs containing acetaminophen) from
Able Laboratories of Cranbury, NJ, because of serious concerns that they
were not produced according to quality assurance standards. Able
Laboratories has ceased all current production.

FDA recommends that people who have been taking drugs produced by this firm
speak with their health care provider or pharmacist to obtain a replacement
drug product. Consumers should continue taking the medication until they
have spoken with their health care provider. FDA has provided a list with
the names of the recalled drugs and their imprint codes, marks (usually
letters and numbers) found on the surfaces of drugs.

Read the 2005 safety summary, including a link to the FDA News Release, at:

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#Able

===================================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yesterday, (5-27-05), the Viagra story made the national news. We first posted
an advisory about it to the group on 05-05-05 (copy below).

In the past several years we have had numerous events reported on the
Scipolicy-L and CounterTerrorism-L groups be picked up and run by national news
days or weeks later. In fact we have had some exclusive announcements reported
later by others.

If you come upon items that are appropriate for publication and especially any
early advisories or exclusive news breaks please forward them to us:
editor@....

Happy Memorial Day and beginning of summer vacation season.

Best,

Stephen

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

   ----- Original Message -----
   From: News@...
   To: Scipolicy-L@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 10:42 PM
   Subject: Viagra may cause Blindness by provoking NAION


         Viagra may cause Blindness by provoking NAION
         Mar 31, 2005, 10:57
         http://www.rxpgnews.com/article_859.shtml

         "Viagra regulates a chemical in the body to constrict the arteries. This
constriction may cut off the blood flow to the optic nerve, especially in people
with a low cup to disk ratio, where the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled provoking NAION"



   By University of Minnesota..., Ophthalmologists at the University of Minnesota
say that a condition that causes permanent vision loss has been diagnosed in a
small group of men who have taken the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. The
condition, nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), described as "stroke
of the eye," occurs when blood flow is cut off to the optic nerve, which injures
the nerve and results in permanent vision loss.

   Seven patients, aged between 50 and 69 years, had typical features of NAION
within 36 hours after ingestion of Viagra for erectile dysfunction. Seven
similar cases have been previously reported.

   "For years, we've known that some men who take Viagra will experience
temporary color changes in their vision and see things as blue or green," said
Howard Pomeranz, M.D., associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of
Minnesota Medical School. "NAION is a much more serious condition because it can
lead to permanent vision loss."

   All of the patients had at least one arteriosclerotic risk factor, including
hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, or hyperlipidemia. All of the
patients also had a low cup to disk ratio, which is a way doctors measure the
small circular indentation where the optic nerve connects to the eyeball. The
low cup to disk ratio means that the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled together into the small space in the back of the eye.

   "Viagra regulates a chemical in the body to constrict the arteries. This
constriction may cut off the blood flow to the optic nerve, especially in people
with a low cup to disk ratio, where the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled provoking NAION," says Pomeranz.

   The onset of NAION within hours after ingestion of Viagra in 14 patients
supports an association between the use of the drug and NAION. Based on the fact
that 14 cases of NAION have now been reported soon after the use of Viagra, the
researchers believe that ophthalmologists should ask all men with NAION about
the use of Viagra, and recommend that patients with a history of NAION in one
eye be cautioned that Viagra may increase the risk of NAION in the fellow eye.

   ========================================
   Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
   Editor and Publisher
   SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
   Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
   Telephone:  610-660-0220
              Fax:  610-660-0120
   Website: http://Scipolicy.net
   E-mail: editor@...
   and
   Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
   Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
   Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
   Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIH News

National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/default.htm

SCIENTISTS OBSERVE INFECTIOUS PRION PROTEINS INVADE AND MOVE WITHIN BRAIN
CELLS

Scientists for the first time have watched agents of brain-wasting diseases,
called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), as they invade a
nerve cell and then travel along wire-like circuits to points of contact
with other cells. These findings will help scientists better understand TSE
diseases and may lead to ways to prevent or minimize their effects. TSE, or
prion, diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats; chronic wasting disease
in deer and elk; mad cow disease in cattle; and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in
humans.

Under the direction of Byron Caughey, Ph.D., at the Rocky Mountain
Laboratories (RML) and Marco Prado, Ph.D. at the University of Minas Gerais
in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the team performed the research in laboratory
cultures using a rodent-adapted form of scrapie protein and cells taken from
the central nervous system of mouse and hamster brains. The proteins were
first "branded" with fluorescent dyes so they could be easily tracked.

The work also revealed that a similar trafficking process might occur with
the key plaque-forming protein in Alzheimer's disease, which is not a TSE
but a different type of degenerative brain disease, according to Gerald
Baron, Ph.D., one of the lead RML researchers. RML, located in Hamilton, MT,
is part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
of the National Institutes of Health. The new report appears in the May 25
issue of "The Journal of Neuroscience."

"These findings offer intriguing leads toward developing therapies to stop
the spread of TSE and possibly other degenerative brain diseases," says
NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. "Potentially, it may be possible to block
the pathways that prions use to invade cells, their exit to other cells or
their replication within the cells."

Those are precisely some of the next experiments the RML group is pursuing,
along with trying to move the fluorescent tracking method from laboratory
cell cultures to live mice and hamsters. Along with Drs. Caughey, Prado and
Baron, other key researchers involved in the project included Kil Sun Lee,
Ph.D., RML, and former RML employee Ana Cristina Magalhães, Ph.D., also from
the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Dr. Baron explains that throughout
his seven years at RML, he and others have contemplated how to use
fluorescent tracking to learn more about TSEs, but they struggled to develop
an effective method to do so.

"When I started working on TSEs, I thought about them as being similar to
intracellular bacterial pathogens -- something that replicates within an
animal or human host cell," says Dr. Baron. "I wanted to know how such a
pathogen binds to the host cell, and how it enters, replicates and spreads
to other cells."

Dr. Baron says researchers have tracked infectious prion protein moving
through other parts of animal bodies up to the brain, but no one had ever
tracked the protein movement within animal brain cells. One of the most
difficult aspects of the experiment, he says, was finding a way to
fluorescently tag the TSE prion proteins without altering them -- while
still allowing researchers to identify the prions as they penetrated the
cells and spread within the long projections that nerve cells develop to
send signals to other nerve cells.

"This was difficult from a technical aspect because the scrapie pathogen is
largely a corrupted form of a host cell protein," Dr. Baron said. "It can be
hard to detect the corrupted prion protein in living infected cells and
distinguish it from its normal counterpart."

He explains that once researchers learned how to mark the prion proteins,
they added them to a culture of nerve cells and then began watching and
taking photo images with a confocal microscope. Confocal microscopy uses
laser light to scan many thin sections of a fluorescent sample, resulting in
a clean three-dimensional image. The painstaking job of analyzing and
deciphering about 1,000 different images primarily belonged to Dr. Magalhães
-- who filled a file cabinet drawer with CDs containing microscopic images.
The effort resulted in striking photos that, when put into a video format,
show prion protein moving within cells, then along narrow cellular
projections called neurites and ultimately into close proximity with
adjacent cells.

Other areas the research group plans to explore include:

-- Exactly where within nerve cells does scrapie infection occur, and how
does this happen?

-- How and why do large masses of infectious prion protein attach to host
cells and become broken into smaller units so that they can invade the cell
interior?

-- What types of chemical messages are sent between neurites from one cell
to another that allow infectious prions to transfer between cells?

-- What happens to the infectious prion protein once it is transferred to
another cell?

-- How do the many different possible pathways that lead into cells
determine what happens to prion protein; some pathways could lead to
digestion by the cell, others lead to transfer -- and presumably infection
--  in adjacent cells.

"This has been pretty amazing -- certainly a new approach for our field,"
Dr. Baron says.

NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and
applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis,
malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also
supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including
autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Reference: A Magalhães et al. Uptake and neuritic transport of scrapie prion
protein coincident with infection of neuronal cells. "The Journal of
Neuroscience" 25 (21):5207-16 (2005). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0653-05.2005.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

##

FDA MedWatch - FDA Talk Paper issued to notify the public about potential harm
associated with dextromethorphan (DXM) abuse, including five deaths in
teenagersMedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting
Program
FDA issued a Talk Paper to notify the public about the abuse of dextromethorphan
(DXM), an ingredient found in many over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold
remedies. The agency is working with other health and law enforcement
authorities to address this serious issue and warn the public of potential harm,
after five recently reported deaths of teenagers that may be associated with the
consumption of powdered DXM sold in capsules.

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#Dextromethorphan
--------

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group

----- Original Message -----

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/106/108089.htm

New Treatments Wow Cancer Doctors

         Drugs that target lung and breast cancer and new approaches to prostate
cancer therapy took center stage this week as about 25,000 specialists gathered
for the largest cancer meeting of the year.


             By Charlene  Laino
             WebMD Medical News  Reviewed By Brunilda  Nazario, MD
             on Wednesday, May 18, 2005
             Drugs That Target Tumors Draw Praise at Gathering of Experts






       This story is part of WebMD's coverage of the 41st Annual Meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology. Other stories include:

       Femara Beats Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer | Avastin Improves Survival in
Lung Cancer | Statin Drugs Linked to Reduced Cancer Risk | Regular Alcohol
Intake Ups Breast Cancer Risk | Evista May Help Prevent Endometrial Cancer |
Hormone May Prevent Prostate Cancer | Aspirin Prevents Colon Cancer Return |
Low-Fat Diet May Cut Return of Breast Cancer | Hormonal Contraceptive Fights Hot
Flashes | Exercise May Cut Risk of Colon Cancer's Return | Pill Fights Deadly
Blood Cancer






             More From WebMD


              Prostate Cancer: New Treatments, Coping Tips

              Could You Be at Risk for Stomach Cancer?

              Get the Latest Cancer Headlines Delivered




May 18, 2005 (Orlando, Fla.) -- Drugs that target lung and breast cancer and new
approaches to prostate cancer therapy took center stage this week as about
25,000 specialists descended upon this central Florida city for the largest
cancer gathering of the year.

Also grabbing headlines were simple lifestyle interventions. Not only can they
help ward off disease, but, for the first time, changes in lifestyle were shown
to help people who already have cancer, too. Steps such as cutting fat in the
diet

cutting fat in the diet

and exercising more were shown to reduce the risk of cancer's recurrence.

The so-called targeted therapies, which attack the nuts and bolts of tumor
growth while leaving healthy tissue relatively unscathed, had doctors reeling at
the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

A typically cautious group, doctors used words like "stunning" to describe the
results.

It's not that targeted therapies like Avastin and Herceptin haven't been
discussed at previous conferences. It's just that "this meeting is a watershed
event," says Len Lichtenfeld, MD, deputy chief medical officer of the American
Cancer Society.

"We're now beyond proof of principle and have the proof that the drugs really
work for many common cancers. This research will change the standard of care,"
he tells WebMD.

Robert J. Mayer, MD, director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, agrees. "Targeted therapies have now
been shown to have clear benefit in lung, breast, and colon cancers," he tells
WebMD.

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4    Next: Extending the Lives of Lung Cancer Patients

============================================================

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

INTERNATIONAL TEAM DETERMINES GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN OF LEPROSY

Leprosy likely originated in East Africa and spread to Asia and Europe
before being imported into West Africa by explorers, report scientists in
this week's issue of "Science". The findings enrich the historical
understanding of leprosy's global migration and contradict a commonly held
view that leprosy spread to West Africa directly from East Africa, say the
researchers.

The international team of investigators, who identified rare genetic
variations among strains of the bacterium that causes leprosy, included
Patrick J. Brennan, Ph.D., of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Dr.
Brennan is a grantee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

"Using modern genetic techniques, these researchers uncovered clues to the
origin of a disease that, since ancient times, has been one of the most
stigmatizing," notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Their findings
may help public health officials better track and treat leprosy, which
remains a significant problem in some parts of the world today."

The research team included scientists from institutions in the United
States, France and seven other countries. Led by Stewart T. Cole, Ph.D., of
the Institut Pasteur in Paris, the investigators scanned the genetic
material of "Mycobacterium leprae", the bacterium that causes leprosy, for
tiny variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNPs,
pronounced "snips," are variations in a single "letter" of DNA's four-letter
code. Scientists can use SNPs to trace the lineage of an organism, in this
case "M. leprae", and to develop a picture of how leprosy spread from its
point of origin. The team looked for SNPs in 171 clinical specimens of "M.
leprae" taken from people infected with the bacterium. The specimens came
from 21 countries representing five continents.

Four types of SNP appeared in the samples, but their distribution was not
random. Instead, the investigators discovered a fairly close correlation
between SNP type and geographic location of the leprosy patient. Type 2,
predominant in a small region of East Africa and Central Asia, is the rarest
and oldest, the scientists believe. Type 1, present in Asia and the Pacific
region, represents the eastward migration of leprosy, while type 3, seen in
Europe, North Africa and the Americas, is the form that migrated west. The
most recently evolved, type 4, is predominant in West Africa. Because type 4
leprosy is more closely related to type 3 than it is to either type 1 or 2,
the researchers concluded that North Africans or Europeans probably brought
the disease to West Africa.

Compared with other disease-causing organisms, "M. leprae" has very few SNPs
-- only one in every 28,400 letter pairs. The rarity of SNPs is an
indication of extreme genetic stability: all the strains of leprosy
throughout the world are essentially identical.

The discovery of the four SNP types could help health officials better
understand leprosy in present day human populations, says Christine
Sizemore, Ph.D., of NIAID's Division of Microbiology and Infectious
Diseases. Aggressive therapy with multiple drugs has helped drive down the
number of registered leprosy cases around the world, notes Dr. Sizemore.
However, despite drug treatment, the number of new cases of leprosy detected
each year has stayed the same or risen. The new understanding of the genetic
makeup of the leprosy bacterium will allow clinicians to characterize at a
molecular level the "M. leprae" strain infecting a leprosy patient, which
will show whether the patient has a new infection or if the previous
infection was incompletely treated and has returned. This, in turn, will aid
efforts to fully treat patients so that the bacteria are completely
eliminated.

NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and
applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis,
malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also
supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including
autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reference: M Monet et al. On the origin of leprosy. "Science" 308 (2005)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1109759.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

##

This NIH News Release is available online at:
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2005/niaid-12.htm.

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From Ruined Credit to Bankruptcy, Uninsured Patients are Paying Far Too High a
Price for Hospital Care; ACORN, Access Project Call on Hospitals and the AHA to
Tell the Public About Available Free and Reduced Cost Care

5/12/2005 10:45:00 AM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON, May 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Hospitals are reluctant to share with the
public their policies for providing free and reduced cost care, known as
"charity care," found new studies by ACORN and the Access Project that will be
released on Thursday, May 12, 2005. The result of this failure to communicate
their policies is that many low and middle income, uninsured or under- insured
people, are having their lives ruined by crushing medical debt. Over a year ago,
the American Hospital Association issued charity care guidelines for hospitals
across the country, but in city after city people are visiting hospitals and
finding that they are not following the guidelines.

On Thursday, May 12th low and moderate income families -- members of the
community group ACORN -- will share their painful stories of sky-high hospital
bills and how this has affected their lives all over the country.

A year and a half ago Congress was looking into how hospitals around the country
have been billing uninsured people. And the AHA came out with guidelines saying
that hospitals should have a policy and make that policy known. Despite this
scrutiny, ACORN and the Access Project have found that it is still almost
impossible to find out from hospitals what their charity care policies are.

During this study the Access Project and ACORN both called hospitals nationwide
and asked them where an individual could find their hospitals charity care
policies and other questions based on specific AHA guidelines.

"Our neighbors need somewhere to go and receive proper medical care, so many
people delay going to hospitals because they think that they can't afford it,"
said ACORN National President Maude Hurd. "Community organizations must be
included in this process, because it is our families whose physical and
financial health is endangered when seeking health care can mean a collection
agency coming to repossess a car or seize someone's home."

------

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income
families, with over 175,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood
chapters in 80 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and
won victories on issues of concern to our members. Their priorities include:
better housing for first time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage
workers, more investment in communities from banks and governments, and better
public schools. They achieve these goals by building community organizations
that have the power to win changes -- through direct action, negotiation,
legislation, and voter participation. ACORN is an acronym, and each letter
should be capitalized. ACORN stands for the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN's website is at http://www.acorn.org.

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/


====================================================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

MRL Inc. and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a voluntary worldwide
recall of 597 AED20 Automatic External Defibrillators manufactured between
February and July of 2004. The AED20 may display a "Defib Comm" error
message during use resulting in a failure of the device to analyze the
patient's ECG and deliver the appropriate therapy which prevents the
defibrillator from resuscitating a patient. The company has received 12
related complaints with this specific group of AED20's, including one
instance which may have prevented patient resuscitation.

Read the complete MedWatch 2005 Safety summary, including the link to the
firm press release, at:

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#MRL


Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

FDA Public Health Notification: MRI-Caused Injuries in Patients with
Implanted Neurological Stimulators




Issued: May 10, 2005

This is to remind radiology personnel and physicians that serious injury or
death can occur when patients with implanted neurological stimulators undergo
MRI procedures, and to recommend preventive actions.

Background

The FDA has received several reports of serious injury, including coma and
permanent neurological impairment, in patients with implanted neurological
stimulators who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures. The
mechanism for these adverse events is likely to involve heating of the
electrodes at the end of the leadwires, resulting in injury to the surrounding
tissue. Although these reports involved deep brain stimulators and vagus nerve
stimulators, similar injuries could be caused by any type of implanted
neurological stimulator, such as spinal cord stimulators, peripheral nerve
stimulators, and neuromuscular stimulators.

Recommendations

If you are a physician who implants or monitors patients with implanted
neurological stimulators:

   a.. Explain to the patient what MRI procedures are and stress that they must
consult with the monitoring physician before having any MRI exam to find out
whether it can be performed safely.
If you are a radiologist or health care professional who uses MRI equipment:

   a.. All patients should be carefully screened for any implanted devices prior
to performing an MRI procedure, even if the implanted device has been turned
off. Also question patients about previously implanted devices that have been
removed. Leads, or portions of leads, often remain in the body after pulse
generators are removed, and these may act as an antenna and become heated.
   b.. If the patient does have an implanted neurological stimulator, consider
consulting with the referring physician to discuss other imaging options. For
some implanted neurological stimulators, certain MRI procedures are
contraindicated and cannot be performed.
   c.. If an MRI procedure is to be performed on a patient with an implanted
neurological stimulator, be sure to review the labeling for the specific model
that is implanted in the patient, with particular attention to warnings and
precautions. The radiologist may need to consult with the implanting or
monitoring physician for this information. Also note and follow any instructions
exactly for MRI imaging that may be in the labeling for the implant, including
information on types and/or strengths of MRI equipment that may have been tested
for interaction with the particular implanted device. The radiologist may need
to consult with the device implant manufacturer for this information.
Reporting Adverse Events

FDA requires hospitals and other user facilities to report deaths and serious
injuries associated with the use of medical devices. If you suspect that a
reportable adverse event has occurred involving a patient with an implanted
device who has undergone an MRI procedure, you should follow the reporting
procedure established by your facility.

We also encourage you to report adverse events related to MRI and medical
devices that do not meet the requirements for mandatory reporting. You can
report these directly to the device manufacturer. You can also report these
events to MedWatch, the FDA's voluntary reporting program. You may submit
reports to MedWatch by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088; by FAX at 1-800-FDA-0178; by
mail to MedWatch, Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD
20857-9787; or online at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.

Getting More Information

If you have questions about this notification, please contact Nancy Pressly,
Office of Surveillance and Biometrics (HFZ-510), 1350 Piccard Drive, Rockville,
Maryland, 20850, Fax at 301-594-2968, or by e-mail at phann@.... You
may also leave a voice mail message at 301-594-0650 and we will return your call
as soon as possible.

FDA medical device Public Health Notifications are available on the Internet at
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/safety.html. You can also be notified through email on
the day the safety notification is released by subscribing to our list server.
To subscribe, visit: http://list.nih.gov/archives/dev-alert.html.

         Sincerely yours,



       Daniel G. Schultz, MD
       Director
       Center for Devices and Radiological Health
       Food and Drug Administration


Updated May 10, 2005



Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Viagra may cause Blindness by provoking NAION
       Mar 31, 2005, 10:57
       http://www.rxpgnews.com/article_859.shtml

       "Viagra regulates a chemical in the body to constrict the arteries. This
constriction may cut off the blood flow to the optic nerve, especially in people
with a low cup to disk ratio, where the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled provoking NAION"



By University of Minnesota..., Ophthalmologists at the University of Minnesota
say that a condition that causes permanent vision loss has been diagnosed in a
small group of men who have taken the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. The
condition, nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), described as "stroke
of the eye," occurs when blood flow is cut off to the optic nerve, which injures
the nerve and results in permanent vision loss.

Seven patients, aged between 50 and 69 years, had typical features of NAION
within 36 hours after ingestion of Viagra for erectile dysfunction. Seven
similar cases have been previously reported.

"For years, we've known that some men who take Viagra will experience temporary
color changes in their vision and see things as blue or green," said Howard
Pomeranz, M.D., associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of
Minnesota Medical School. "NAION is a much more serious condition because it can
lead to permanent vision loss."

All of the patients had at least one arteriosclerotic risk factor, including
hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, or hyperlipidemia. All of the
patients also had a low cup to disk ratio, which is a way doctors measure the
small circular indentation where the optic nerve connects to the eyeball. The
low cup to disk ratio means that the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled together into the small space in the back of the eye.

"Viagra regulates a chemical in the body to constrict the arteries. This
constriction may cut off the blood flow to the optic nerve, especially in people
with a low cup to disk ratio, where the blood vessels and nerves are tightly
bundled provoking NAION," says Pomeranz.

The onset of NAION within hours after ingestion of Viagra in 14 patients
supports an association between the use of the drug and NAION. Based on the fact
that 14 cases of NAION have now been reported soon after the use of Viagra, the
researchers believe that ophthalmologists should ask all men with NAION about
the use of Viagra, and recommend that patients with a history of NAION in one
eye be cautioned that Viagra may increase the risk of NAION in the fellow eye.

========================================
Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Three Boston-Area Researchers Receive Funding to Pursue New Treatments and Cures
for Lymphoma

5/3/2005 6:02:00 AM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK, May 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF),
the nation's largest lymphoma-focused voluntary health organization, announced
$1.3 million in new research grants to eight leading research institutions
throughout the U.S. Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer and the third most
common cancer of childhood. More than 1,260 new cases of lymphoma will be
diagnosed in Massachusetts this year and approximately 430 people will die from
the disease. Nearly 500,000 Americans have some form of lymphoma.

In Boston, the 2005 LRF research grants will be awarded to Jennifer R. Brown,
M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Ann S. LaCasce, M.D., Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute, and Frank Rosenbauer, Ph.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center. Drs. Brown and LaCasce will each receive $225,000 for a three-year
Clinical Investigator Career Development Award. This prestigious annual award
allows top fellows and scientists at the nation's leading academic institutions
to develop and manage clinical trials. Dr. Rosenbauer will receive $105,000 for
a two-year Fellowship. LRF's annual fellowship grants permit the uninterrupted
development of promising leads and help attract the nation's best scientific
talent to careers in lymphoma. The goal is to ensure that breakthroughs are
quickly transformed into viable treatment options.

"We're very enthusiastic about this year's grant awards and the promise they
hold for breakthroughs in the treatment of lymphoma," said Joseph Bertino, MD,
Chairman of LRF's Scientific Advisory Board. "By funding both well established
researchers and relative newcomers to the field of lymphoma, we greatly broaden
the scope of our research portfolio and thus our likelihood of success for
finding a cure," he added.

Project Descriptions

Genetic Alterations in Families with Multiple Lymphoproliferative Malignancies
-- At the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, approximately 6-9 percent of the
patients with non- Hodgkin's lymphoma also have a parent, sibling, or child with
lymphoma. Unfortunately, little research to date has shed light on why multiple
members of a family may develop the disease. The goal of Dr. Brown's project is
to identify and characterize families that do have multiple members affected by
lymphoma, study the nature of the lymphomas themselves to see if they have
unique features, and ultimately identify genes that may have contributed to the
development of lymphoma in these families. Dr. Brown's work will hopefully lead
to more targeted therapies to treat lymphoma and the development of new
screening and prevention methods.

Targeting NF-kB in Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma- Mediastinal large B-cell
lymphoma (MLBCL) is a rare type of lymphoma that predominantly affects young
women. Recent evidence has shown that MLBCL shares a number of characteristics
with another lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, which also affects the same patient
population. Current therapy for both diseases involves multi-drug chemotherapy
combined with radiation and this may have long-term side effects for young women
including secondary cancers, particularly breast cancer, and heart disease. By
further studying a pathway in the tumor cells called the NF-kB pathway, which
appears to be critical for tumor cell growth and survival in both diseases, Dr.
LaCasce and her team hope to develop less toxic and more effective treatment
options.

Molecular pathogenesis of T-cell lymphomas induced by deletion of a PU.1 gene
cis-element-Blood cell development is controlled by a group of specific nuclear
proteins, and their abnormal expression can cause cancer. Dr. Rosenbauer and his
team recently engineered mice with a deletion of a key regulatory DNA- element
of the gene that encodes PU.1, which is a nuclear protein essential for the
maturation of several white blood cell types. This work led to the discovery of
a novel role for PU.1 in normal blood cell development and tumorigenesis, and
how it may trigger T-cell cancer. Dr. Rosenbauer's project will further utilize
this mouse model to study the molecular mechanisms of how the PU.1 gene affects
T-cell development and causes cancer, and how the gene is regulated. Such data
may lead to new therapy strategies to better cure human lymphoma.

Lymphoma Facts

There are more than 30 subtypes of lymphoma, consisting of 5 types of Hodgkin's
lymphoma (also known as Hodgkin's disease) and over 25 types of non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is the most common cancer of the
lymphatic system. Since the early 1970's, incidence rates for non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma have nearly doubled. The overall five-year survival rate is only 59
percent. Of the nearly 500,000 Americans with lymphoma, approximately 332,000
have this form. Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a less common form of lymphoma.
Researchers know it is a cancer which arises from an abnormal lymphocyte (white
blood cell). The overall five-year survival rate is 85 percent. Of the 500,000
Americans with lymphoma, approximately 142,000 have Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Hodgkin's lymphoma occurs mainly in young adults, with a peak occurrence between
ages 16 and 34. Older patients, especially those over age 55, may also develop
HL.

Some promising research areas for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are: new antibody
treatments which act like guided missiles that zero in on specific targets
(antigens) on the lymphoma cells; vaccine treatments to stimulate the immune
system to attack the lymphoma; profiling tumors by examining the
finger-print-like pattern expressed by genes, thus aiding in prognosis and
development of new treatments; testing new therapies that are biologically
targeted to unique abnormalities specific to certain lymphomas.

Some promising areas for Hodgkin's lymphoma are determining the exact role of
viruses in causing HL; new antibody treatments similar to those for NHL; and
less toxic and decreased amounts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy (which are
being explored due to the high cure rate of HL and long-term toxic effects of
these treatments).

The mission of the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is to eradicate lymphoma
and serve those touched by the disease. The Foundation is the nation's largest
lymphoma-focused voluntary health organization devoted exclusively to funding
lymphoma research and providing patients and healthcare professionals with
critical information on the disease. To date, LRF has funded more than $24
million in lymphoma research. 91 cents of every dollar raised goes to research
and education programming. People affected by lymphoma can receive free
personalized information tailored to their diagnosis, help with finding a
clinical trial, and easy-to-understand information on lymphoma, current
treatments, and promising research. Please call 800-500-9976, email
helpline@..., or visit the website http://www.lymphoma.org.

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


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U.S. AIDS Policy: More Harm Than Good, Says Brazil

5/3/2005 2:42:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON, May 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In an unprecedented move, the Government of
Brazil yesterday refused a $40 million grant from the United States to fight
AIDS, saying its ideological conditions were too severe.

Nearly 700,000 individuals are inflicted with HIV/AIDS in Brazil, many of whom
are living in poverty. The Bush Administration's grant would have imposed
scientifically unverifiable, ideological clauses, such as one that asks the
country to officially condemn prostitution. Signing such a clause would have
impeded AIDS interventions within Brazil, which orchestrates open relationships
with prostitutes, homosexual men, intravenous-drug users and other high-risk
groups in order to fight the pandemic.

"It is a simple fact that in order fight AIDS, it's crucial to work with the
populations that face the greatest risk. It would be a gross human rights
violation to deny them life-saving assistance based on moral grounds." said
Atila Roque, executive director of ActionAid USA, and himself a Brazilian.
"That's why we should praise the Brazilian government's decision, which will
help to raise the stakes of international debate concerning the Bush
Administration's ideological influence over foreign aid policies."

Added ActionAid International USA policy analyst, Rick Rowden, "HIV/AIDS needs
to be battled through a public health approach which requires close working
relationships with the most vulnerable communities. You can't have a cooperative
working relationship with, say, prostitutes' associations that starts off with a
blanket moral condemnation of them. You might think you've taken the moral high
ground, but that is not the same thing as an effective anti-HIV/AIDS strategy.
From this point on, the U.S. is going to need to decide if it is going to be
moralistic or effective."

According to Dr. Paul Zeitz, DO, MPH, director of the Global AIDS Alliance, "In
turning down the US grant, the Government of Brazil is actually protecting
people at risk by ensuring science- based preventions are implemented rather
than ideologically-based preventions that have no basis in scientific reality.
This is a phenomenal development by Brazil, a sovereign government which is
finally standing up against policies that are doing more harm than good."

Interestingly, there are no Federal laws within the United States banning
prostitution. As a result, prostitution is legally condoned within some Nevada
counties. According to a 10-year UCLA study, the occurrence of AIDS within
condoned rather than condemned brothels is significantly lower than that of the
general population.

States Almir Pereira Jr, program coordinator for HIV/AIDS at ActionAid
International Brazil, "more than the refusal of accepting the US grant, the
Brazilian government's attitude represents its commitment towards maintaining a
democratic and progressive AIDS program, as opposed to the conservative vision
of the United States. Unfortunately, it seems that the US policy is taking
advantage of the great poverty and high vulnerability of developing nations to
impose its conservative agenda as a condition for the countries to receive the
financial aid they desperately require."

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


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Denver Federal Appeals Court to Hear Roadless Rule Argument; Fate of Federal
Rule Protecting Tens of Million Acres Hangs in Balance

5/3/2005 5:06:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News Advisory:

WHO: Earthjustice attorney Jim Angell, attorneys for the state of Wyoming

WHAT: Oral argument in federal Roadless Rule case

WHERE: 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Courtroom 3, 18th and Stout, Denver

WHEN: Wednesday, May 4, 9 a.m.

WHY: On Tuesday, May 3, Forest Service officials were telling reporters to
standby for the release of a Bush administration replacement to the Clinton era
roadless rule. Nonetheless, arguments are scheduled to go forward tomorrow
morning at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver over the legitimacy of
the Clinton roadless rule. This visionary forest protection originally called
for the protection of 58.5 million acres of large blocks of unroaded forests and
grasslands that belong to all Americans. The State of Wyoming, which is
defending a Wyoming federal district court's ruling striking down the roadless
rule, argued to the Tenth Circuit that the court should dismiss the case because
a replacement rule would soon be forthcoming from the Bush administration. So
far the appeals court has not accepted that argument but indications are the
Bush administration may attempt to avoid a legal ruling by releasing its
replacement rule as soon as this week. Regardless of Bush administration
actions, Earthjustice attorney Jim Angell will defend the landmark forest
protection measure Wednesday morning at the court of appeals in Denver.

Angell said, "We're trying to protect the kind of natural forest areas where we
miraculously re discovered the ivory-billed woodpecker last week after 60 years
of no sightings. Furthermore, EPA professionals have tried to warn the
administration that their roadbuilding and clearcutting plan for our national
forests will cause water pollution problems for many small communities around
the nation. Unfortunately these professionals have been silenced by high
political appointees in the Bush administration."

Earthjustice will continue working to protect America's last great undisturbed
areas of our national forests. Angell noted, "In contrast to the roadless rule
adopted to widespread public acclaim in 2001, it looks like the Bush
administration plans to thumb its nose at the American public and the law with
its new logging plan that hasn't had a single public hearing, no scientific
scrutiny, and was resoundly rejected by the public during the comment period."

The original Roadless Rule garnered more than 2 million comments in favor,
received strong scientific support, and was the subject of an unprecedented 600
public hearings. By contrast, more than 1.7 million Americans spoke out against
the replacement Bush forest destruction plan.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

PCMA Raises Serious Concerns About Cost Consequences of Patent Extension
Provisions In Project BioShield II Act

5/3/2005 5:12:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON, May 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Mark Merritt, president and chief executive
officer of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), issued the
following statement in response to the introduction of S. 975, the Project
BioShield II Act of 2005:

"As policymakers work to develop countermeasures to bioterrorism, it is
essential that they take into account the human and economic effects these
proposals would have on the current health care marketplace. For example, the
Project Bioshield II Act contains patent extension provisions that are sharply
at odds with bipartisan efforts to reduce health care costs, to expand access to
coverage for the uninsured, and to implement a workable and cost-effective
Medicare prescription drug benefit.

"Based upon an initial review of the legislation, PCMA has serious concerns that
patent extension provisions contained in the proposal could have the unintended
consequence of increasing prescription drug costs for consumers and purchasers
throughout the entire health care system, including in the commercial
marketplace and in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

"As this debate continues, PCMA looks forward to reviewing this proposal in
greater detail and in assessing its impact on prescription drug costs for
consumers and purchasers throughout the entire health care system."

"PCMA believes that a strong national defense policy should and must include
efforts to develop new countermeasures to help combat the threat of
bioterrorism. PCMA applauds Senators Hatch, Lieberman, and Brownback for their
longstanding efforts to address this critically important national issue."

-------

PCMA is the national association representing America's pharmacy benefit
managers (PBMs). PBMs administer prescription drug plans for 200 million
Americans with drug coverage provided through large employers, health plans,
unions, state and federal- employee benefit plans, and Medicare Advantage health
plans.

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

Stephen  Miles Sacks, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
SCIPOLICY-The Journal of Science and Health Policy
Box 504, Haverford, PA 19041
Telephone:  610-660-0220
            Fax:  610-660-0120
Website: http://Scipolicy.net
E-mail: editor@...
and
Owner/Moderator ResearchEvaluation-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator ThePayoff-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator Scipolicy-L Discussion Group
Owner/Moderator CounterTerrorism-L Discussion Group


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