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Navitar Optics Used In Military Applications For Over Sixty Years
Navitar, Inc."s cutting edge optical technology dates back over 60 years when the company"s founder, David Goldstein, pioneered his way into the optics industry. Originally forming Elgeet Optical in 1946, Goldstein set out to make innovative optics for the most revolutionary applications and industries. His decision to develop and manufacture optical technologies for Military applications was fundamental in establishing the Navitar name brand. Today, Navitar continues to develop product lines to meet changing technological advancements and is one of the most recognized and respected names in the optics industry.
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Researchers Develop Vaccine Candidate That Is Successful In Blocking Simian Version Of HIV
Researchers have successfully blocked SIV, the simian version of HIV, using a new technique that could help lead to the development of an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine, the reports. The research, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, was led by Phillip Johnson, chief medical officer at the Children"s Hospital of Philadelphia. The team also included scientists from Nationwide Children"s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the New England Primate Research Center in Boston.Johnson and colleagues developed a genetically altered virus that carried the vaccine candidate and injected it into the muscles of monkeys. The vaccine prompted the muscles to produce a protein that is designed to bind to SIV and prevent it from infecting cells (Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18). After treating nine monkeys with the vaccine candidate for one month, the researchers injected them with SIV. Six monkeys were not administered the vaccine candidate before being injected with SIV. None of the immunized monkeys developed AIDS, while three showed indications of SIV infection. Researchers detected high concentrations of the proteins in their blood one year later. All six non-immunized monkeys became infected with SIV, and four died during the trial (Schmid, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). The DNA used in the carrier virus can deliver DNA into the cells of both monkeys and humans, according to the Inquirer. Johnson said that the results of the trials were so encouraging that he plans to request approval from FDA to begin clinical trials in humans, the Inquirer reports. However, he said that there is "no guarantee that things that work in monkeys will work in humans," adding that an HIV/AIDS vaccine could be 10 years away (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18). Recent HIV/AIDS vaccine failures prompted the researchers to try a different route that involved "bypassing the natural immune system that was the target of all previous HIV and SIV vaccines candidates," Johnson said. "Some years ago I came to the conclusion that HIV was different from other viruses ... and we might not ever be able to use traditional approaches," he added (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). Peggy Johnson -- head of the HIV Vaccine Research Branch at NIH"s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the study -- said, "As a concept, I think this is very promising." She added, "We need to make the genes as humanized as possible so that the human body doesn"t react to that." According to Peggy Johnson, tests will be needed to prove that the vaccine candidate can protect against sexually acquired HIV (Fox, Reuters, 5/17). Beatrice Hahn, an HIV/AIDS researcher with the University of Alabama-Birmingham, said that the study"s findings indicate that there is "a light at the end of the tunnel," adding, "It shows thinking outside the box is a good idea and can yield results, and we need perhaps more of these nonconventional approaches" (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). Hildegund Ertl, a virus expert at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, said, "It is a very innovative approach but currently, in my mind, still far from clinical use." Ertl added that because most people have been exposed to adeno-associated viruses through cold viruses, they would be "likely to mount an immune response" to the vaccine. According to Phillip Johnson, most people have not been exposed to the strain of the adeno-associated virus that the researchers used as the carrier. He added that they "will be certainly looking at that as part of our Phase I testing in humans" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18).
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New Book: Are Everyday Products From Cosmetics To Household Cleaners Causing The High Rates Of Breast Cancer?

Has the key to reducing breast cancer gotten lost in the race for a cure? A new book, No Family History, presents compelling evidence that exposure to everyday products such as cosmetics and toiletries, hormones in food, household cleaners and pesticides is behind the dramatic increase in breast cancer and argues that the solution is simple: prevention. "Every three minutes, one woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet, most women with breast cancer defy most or all of the risk factors, including weight, diet, whether they gave birth and breast fed, and family history," says No Family History author Sabrina McCormick, Ph.D., a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. The incidence of breast cancer has increased at an alarming rate over the past 60 years. In 1940, around one in 24 women who lived to be 80 was afflicted. By 2006, that number rose to one in eight. In her book, McCormick cites compelling evidence showing that the reason for this dramatic increase is the rise in the production and use of cancer-causing chemicals women are exposed to on a daily basis. Breast cancer "hot spots" from Long Island, N.Y., to Northern California have two common threads-industrial pollution and agricultural pesticides. These "hot spots" are pockets of the United States where breast cancer has risen six times faster than the national rate. In Long Island, the incidence of breast cancer is 200 percent higher than the national average. "In our race for a cure for breast cancer, we have ignored the overwhelming body of evidence that demonstrates a link between products from cosmetics to pesticides and breast cancer," McCormick says. "We must focus on prevention by demanding safer products, reducing our exposure to chemicals and urging our policymakers to ban cancer-causing chemicals in everyday products." European governments responded to this scientific evidence by banning cosmetic products with certain chemicals from being sold in their countries. According to No Family History, one American cosmetics company known as much for its "pink ribbon" marketing campaigns as for its pink lipstick removed these chemicals from products sold in Europe, but these same chemicals remain in the products the company sells in the United States. "Women and girls should not have to check the ingredients in every stick of lipstick and each bottle of moisturizer. Better regulation to ensure that these products are safe would go a long way to reducing the incidence of breast cancer," McCormick says. Many companies that profit from "pink" marketing campaigns or breast cancer treatments, McCormick argues, are the same ones fighting against tougher regulations of cancer-causing chemicals in everyday products. McCormick dubs this the "political economy" of breast cancer. "In the case of breast cancer, many activists have unwittingly bought into campaigns leading down the road away from a cause, and instead into more and more breast cancer," McCormick writes in her book. No Family History: The Environmental Links to Breast Cancer (Rowman & Littlefield) is a provocative glimpse into environmental links to breast cancer, profiling research as well as women"s stories. McCormick recommends that women reduce their exposure to many cosmetics and toiletries and urges policymakers to strengthen regulations to ban cancer-causing chemicals from being used in everyday products. Notes: For more information on the book (in stores in June) and a documentary McCormick produced on the subject, visit http://www.nofamilyhistory.org. The RWJF Health & Society Scholars Program is designed to build the nation"s capacity for research, leadership, and policy change to address the broad range of factors that affect health. Information about the RWJF Health & Society Scholars Program, including application information, can be found at http://www.healthandsocietyscholars.org/. The research findings presented here are those of the researcher and are not necessarily the views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Jennifer Combs Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars


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