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Family Of Murdered Abortion Provider Tiller Announces Permanent Closure Of Clinic
The family of murdered Kansas abortion provider George Tiller announced on Tuesday that his Wichita clinic will not re-open, leading some abortion-rights advocates to voice concern about access to the procedure, the New York Times reports. Tiller was one of a handful of abortion providers who performed the procedure in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and women for decades have traveled to the clinic from across the U.S. and other countries. The clinic, Women"s Health Care Services, also was Kansas" only clinic outside the Kansas City area (Davey, New York Times, 6/10). The Tiller family said in a statement that the clinic will be "permanently closed" effective immediately. The family also said it does not plan to be involved "in any similar clinic" but will "honor Dr. Tiller"s memory through private charitable activities" (Slevin/Stein, Washington Post, 6/10).While abortion-rights advocates expressed empathy for the family, some added that they also are concerned that the clinic"s closure could have devastating effects for women who learn of fatal health problems late in their pregnancies, the Times reports. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, "It is unacceptable that antiabortion intimidation and violence has led to the closing of Dr. Tiller"s clinic." She added, "Not only have we lost a fearless defender of women"s fundamental health and rights in Dr. Tiller"s murder, but the closing of his clinic leaves an immediate and immense void in the availability of abortion" (New York Times, 6/10). Suzanne Poppema, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and a retired ob-gyn who performed abortions, said that abortions later in pregnancy would still be available, including through university hospitals that do not advertise the service. The closing is "not going to stop people who want to provide the service, but it will slow them down," she said. Marla Patrick, Kansas coordinator for the National Organization for Women, said abortion-rights advocates are working to open another Wichita-based clinic that provides abortions later in pregnancy (Bello, USA Today, 6/10). The AP/Yahoo! News reports that Kansas state law permits abortion after 21 weeks" gestation only if continuing the pregnancy would endanger the woman"s life or cause a "substantial and irreversible impairment" of a major bodily function, which courts have interpreted to include the mental health of the woman (Hegman/Hanna, AP/Yahoo! News, 6/9).According to the Times, some abortion-rights advocates had hoped other abortion providers would take over Tiller"s work at the clinic. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider who also worked with Tiller, said he is "currently exploring every option to be able to continue to make second- and early, medically indicated third-trimester abortions available." Warren Hern, a Colorado abortion provider who performs procedures later in pregnancy, said, "Where does it end? The antiabortion fanatics got exactly what they wanted" (New York Times, 6/10). According to the Wall Street Journal, abortion-rights opponents" response to the closure was "subdued." Some expressed concern that antiabortion-rights extremists would think that violence "gets results where legal protest doesn"t," the Journal reports (Simon, Wall Street Journal, 6/10). Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said that while the group is "thankful" that the clinic is closed, they "wish it would have come through the peaceful, legal channels that we were pushing" (New York Times, 6/10).Broadcast CoverageMSNBC"s "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Tuesday reported on the clinic"s closure and included a discussion with Susan Hill, president of the National Women"s Health Organization, about violence against abortion providers and an increase in the hostility of protesters outside abortion clinics since Tiller"s murder (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 6/9). NPR"s "All Things Considered" on Tuesday also reported on the clinic"s closure ("All Things
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Data Suggests Proton Pump Inhibitors Can Induce Acid-Related Symptoms In Healthy Adults
Treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for eight weeks induces acid-related symptoms like heartburn, acid regurgitation and dyspepsia once treatment is withdrawn in healthy individuals, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.
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Even While Considering Major Overhaul, Democrats Expand Government Role In Public Health
"As if hedging their bets on health reform, Democrats are emphasizing smaller but still significant health-related investments this year, from food safety and community health centers to a greater emphasis on rooting out abuses in Medicare and Medicaid," Politico reports. "It"s a far cry from the more ambitious government-backed insurance option proposed by President Barack Obama and House Democrats. But it does add up to a major expansion of the government"s role in public health - and one that shows a greater willingness to add personnel to regulate and administer programs."
Cardiovascular

Gene Variant That Increases Ovarian Cancer Risk Discovered

By searching millions of DNA variations in the genomes of thousands of women with and without ovarian cancer, scientists have discovered a previously undetected region of DNA which when altered, can increase a woman"s risk of developing ovarian cancer by 40 per cent. The hope is that this will one day lead to a reliable screening test for a disease that currently has a high mortality rate because it is difficult to detect early. The study was conducted by an international research team that included UK scientists from University College London (UCL), the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, and the University of Cambridge, and is published in the 2 August online issue of Nature Genetics. Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, where around 6,800 new cases are diagnosed every year, which is a rate of about 130 women a week finding out they have the disease. However, ovarian cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women in the UK, where it kills around 4,300 women every year. The human genome, the DNA-coded blueprint of how to make a human being, has more than 10 million genetic variants, of which just a small number will increase a woman"s chance of getting ovarian cancer. Scientists already know that variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes significantly increase a woman"s chances of getting ovarian cancer, but these are rare and account for less than 5 per cent of ovarian cancers. Senior author Dr Simon Gayther of UCL said this study identified a significant new variant and there is real hope that as more are found: "We can start to identify the women at greatest risk and this could help doctors to diagnose the disease earlier when treatment has a better chance of being successful." Gayther and his gynaecological cancer research team"s work is supported by funds from Cancer Research UK and The Eve Appeal charity. For the study the scientists analysed 2.5 million variations in DNA base pairs from the genomes of 1,810 women with, and 2,535 women without ovarian cancer in the UK. DNA base pairs are like letters of the words that spell out the genetic code. Strips of DNA base pairs (the "words" if you like) are called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Small alterations in the coding of particular SNPs, akin to "spelling errors" in words, link to ovarian cancer risk. After eight years of searching, Gayther and colleagues found an SNP on chromosome 9 that was uniquely linked to ovarian cancer. Each of us has 23 pairs of chromosomes, each "copy" in the pair comes from one biological parent. In collaboration with the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) they confirmed the finding in another group of 7,000 women with ovarian cancer and 10,000 women without the disease. The samples came from women all over the world. The scientists estimated that: *Women carrying that particular version of the SNP on both copies of chromosome 9 have a 40 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who do not carry it on either copy of chromosome 9. *The risk for women carrying both copies is 14 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000. *About 15 per cent of women in the UK have both copies of the variant. *Women with only one copy of the variant have a 20 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who have none. * The risk for women carrying only one copy is 12 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000. *About 40 per cent of women in the UK have one copy. David Lammy, the Member of Parliament for Tottenham and Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, had particular reason to be interested in this research because it included a DNA sample from his mother, Rose Lammy, who died of ovarian cancer last year. She carried both copies of the DNA variant that Gayther and colleagues identified. Lammy said the study brings us a step closer toward earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer, when treatment is more likely to succeed. He told the media: "I am pleased that Mum"s sample was included in this study." "We now know the fact that she had this altered DNA meant that her lifetime risk had risen from 10 in 1,000 to 14 in 1,000, an increase of 40 per cent compared to those women who don"t carry this DNA variation," he added. Other related articles *What Is Ovarian Cancer? "A genome-wide association study identifies a new ovarian cancer susceptibility locus on 9p22.2." Honglin Song, Susan J Ramus, Jonathan Tyrer, Kelly L Bolton, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj et al. Nature Genetics, Published online: 2 August 2009. DOI:10.1038/ng.424 UCL News. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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