From BBC News:

DNA evidence suggests cellular ageing is more advanced in adults with no qualifications compared with those who have a university degree.

Experts think education might help people lead more healthy lives.

The British Heart Foundation said the London-based study, in journal Brain, Behaviour and Immunity, reinforced the need to tackle social inequalities.

The connection between health and socioeconomic status is well established.

Those from poor backgrounds are more likely to smoke more, take less exercise and have less access to good quality healthcare, compared with more wealthy people.

But the new study suggests that education might be a more precise determinant of a person's long term health rather than their current income and social status.

The researchers suggest that education may enable people to make better decisions that affect their long term health.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, from University College London, who led the study, said: "Education is a marker of social class that people acquire early in life, and our research suggests that it is long-term exposure to the conditions of lower status that promotes accelerated cellular ageing."

Keep reading.

Labels: cellular aging, DNA

From Time Magazine: With the advent of new genetic tests, it's increasingly easy to gauge whether you're predisposed to developing certain conditions — diabetes, say, or breast cancer. For adults, that knowledge can be simultaneously overwhelming and empowering. For children, the ramifications of such predictions are especially controversial, which is why professional groups — the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in particular — have come out against genetic testing of children for adult-onset diseases.

Yet a new study published today in the AAP-affiliated journal Pediatrics finds that parents who were offered the option of genetic testing for themselves said they would also like to test their children. The 219 parents surveyed indicated they believe that the risks of testing their children for eight adult-onset conditions — colon, skin and lung cancer; heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis — outweigh the benefits.

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“We told parents in the study that there are no known health benefits to these tests because we were trying to almost discourage these tests,” says McBride.

The study is part of a larger look at the public's attitudes toward genetic testing by the NHGRI, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Although no kids were actually tested as part of the study, researchers are concerned that less-than-perfect test results in the real world could spark negative emotions among parents and children.

Read entire article.

Labels: adult-onset diseases, children, genetic testing, genetics

Should women be held criminally liable for their pregnancies? Read what happened to one woman who tried to commit suicide while pregnant.

From The Daily Beast:

Bei Bei Shuai was so depressed last Christmas, she chose a punishing way to die: rat poison. When her friends swooped in and saved her life, the Chinese restaurant owner’s story might have ended happily, except for one detail about Shuai's condition: she was 33 weeks pregnant.

While Shuai survived the suicide attempt, her fetus ultimately did not. The state of Indiana responded not with continuing mental health services, but by incarcerating the 34 year-old on charges of murder and attempted feticide. Today, a judge will determine if she’ll be released on bail.

The case is something out of a Margaret Atwood novel. Medical groups have unanimously railed against the state's actions as being punitive and counter to public health goals, since they may deter at-risk women from seeking care. And the American Civil Liberties Union argues the charges are unconstitutional: “If a woman can be criminally prosecuted for those acts or omissions (or medical conditions) that pose a threat to her health while pregnant, then the state’s control over her life would be limitless,” says the group's amicus brief.

But the state of Indiana is not persuaded by such arguments. And based on the emotional testimony of Shaui's friend Sui Mak at a bail hearing last week, you might wonder if the prosecutor has a shred of compassion, let alone an understanding of criminal justice.

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arion Country Chief Trial Deputy David Rimstidt defended his office's actions. “She attempted suicide and that resulted in the death of a fetus that was born and lived for a few days and then died,” he said. “So she's being charged with the crime against the viable fetus, and the child that was born, and not against herself.” The last statement explains why she was charged with both attempted feticide and murder.

Holding a woman criminally liable for the outcome of her pregnancy is a radical interpretation of the law, legal experts told The Daily Beast. “Indiana does not prosecute people for attempted suicide,” said Indiana University law professor, medical doctor, and former state representative David Orentlicher. “So now this prosecutor is saying, ‘If you're suicidal, you better not get pregnant, because you might get thrown in jail.’ That to me is a very important constitutional problem.”

I encourage you to read the entire article. Let us know what you think.

Labels: feticide, fetus, Margaret Atwood, murder, pregnancy

From Reuters:

Doctors have begun testing human embryonic stem cells on a patient for the first time, Geron Corp. said on Monday.

Geron has the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration license to use the controversial cells to treat people, in this case patients with new spinal cord injuries. Following are some facts about stem cells:

* Stem cells are the body's master cells, the source of all cells and tissue, including brain, blood, heart, bones and muscles.

* Embryonic stem cells come from days-old embryos and can produce any type of cell in the body.

* Scientists generally harvest embryonic stem cells from embryos left over after in-vitro fertilization attempts at fertility clinics. They can also be produced using cloning technology. Geron worked with IVF surplus embryos.

* Scientists hope to harness the transformational qualities of stem cells to treat a variety of diseases, including injuries, cancer and diabetes.

* Geron's cells will be used to treat patients with recent spinal cord injuries in the hope the cells can help heal the damaged nerves before disability becomes permanent.

* The issue has been controversial because some people believe the destruction of any human embryo is wrong.

Read more.

Labels: embryo, embryonic stem cell, spinal cord, stem cells

From the BBC:

A Vatican official has said the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to British IVF pioneer Robert Edwards is "completely out of order".

Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said the award ignored the ethical questions raised by the fertility treatment.

He said IVF had led to the destruction of large numbers of human embryos.

Nearly four million babies have been born using IVF fertility treatment since 1978.

Mr Carrasco, the Vatican's spokesman on bio-ethics, said in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) had been "a new and important chapter in the field of human reproduction".

But he said the Nobel prize committee's choice of Prof Edwards had been "completely out of order" as without his treatment, there would be no market for human eggs "and there would not be a large number of freezers filled with embryos in the world", he told Italy's Ansa news agency.

"In the best of cases they are transferred into a uterus but most probably they will end up abandoned or dead, which is a problem for which the new Nobel prize winner is responsible."

Read more.

Labels: embryos, in vitro, IVF, Nobel Prize, Robert Edwards, test tube babies

From FoxNews.com:

Robert Edwards of Britain won the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for developing in-vitro fertilization, a controversial breakthrough that ignited sharp criticism from religious leaders but helped millions of infertile couples in the last three decades have children.

Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950s. He developed the technique — in which egg cells are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb — together with British gynecologist surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.

On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first baby born through the groundbreaking procedure, marking a revolution in fertility treatment.

"(Edwards') achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the medicine prize committee in Stockholm said in its citation.

"Approximately 4 million individuals have been born thanks to IVF," the citation said. "Today, Robert Edwards' vision is a reality and brings joy to infertile people all over the world."

Read more.

Labels: embryo, in vitro, Louise Brown, Nobel Prize, Robert Edwards, test tube babies

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Labels: administrivia, Blogger

The Chicago Tribune
Without a vote to spare, Democrats pushed their healthcare legislation over its first obstacle on the Senate floor Saturday, as the chamber voted to begin formal debate of a sweeping measure to guarantee medical coverage for all Americans.

The 60-39 vote backed by all 58 Democrats and two independents - overcame a Republican-led filibuster designed to block consideration of the bill and it kept up momentum behind President Obama's top legislative priority.

Although it was only procedural, the dramatic balloting during which Senators voted from their desks in front of a packed gallery of spectators also set the stage for a historic healthcare debate that is expected to begin after Thanksgiving and consume the Senate for the remainder of this year.

"You cannot wish away a great emergency by closing your eyes and pretending it doesn't exist," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor just before the vote. "There is an emergency and it exists, and it exists now. The right response to disagreement is not dismissal. It's discussion. … Let us debate our differences."

Continue reading.

Labels: healthcare reform, Obama, President Obama, Senate

Washington Post

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) appeared Saturday to secure the 60 votes needed to move an $848 billion health-care reform bill to the Senate floor for debate, as the last two holdouts in his Democratic caucus said they will not join in a Republican filibuster.

After days of indecision, Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (La.) declared that they will vote to advance the bill despite reservations. Reid now expects all 60 members of his caucus to vote yes at 8 p.m. Saturday, clearing the way for amendment deliberations to begin after the Thanksgiving recess.

Reid is aiming for final passage before Christmas. The House has already passed its version of the bill.

In announcing her support for bringing the bill to the Senate floor, Lincoln told her colleagues: "The truth is this issue is very complex. There is no easy fix and it's imperative that we build on what's already working in health care in America."

Continue reading.

Labels: Abortion, abortion rights, Catholic Church, healthcare reform