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New Online Tool Maps HIV, AIDS Prevalence By County, Other Statistics
The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) today launched an online tool that maps the prevalence of HIV and AIDS by county, age, gender and ethnicity in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The HIV/AIDS Atlas is based on 2006 data collected from states and cross-checked with CDC data. The NMQF partnered with George Washington University"s School of Public Health and Health Services to collect and analyze the data. Gary Puckrein, chief executive officer of NMQF, said the new tool will help improve data collection and analysis, prevention initiatives, early diagnosis and routine testing efforts in areas most affected by HIV/AIDS (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/21).
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Building A Better Blend Of Tumor-Fighting Cells
Israeli researchers have developed a technique that could produce a more effective blend of tumor-fighting immune cells used to treat cancers such as metastatic melanoma.
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Opinion Piece Examines If Abortion Access Should Ever Be Restricted
"Just because something is legal -- and should be legal -- does not mean it is always ethical," Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Choice, writes in a Salon opinion piece, adding that "sometimes the right thing to say to a woman [seeking abortion] is "I am so sorry, I cannot do what you ask."" According to Kissling, there has "always been a fear in the choice movement that if we deal with "morality," we are going to lose." However, "tough issues come up more frequently than they did in the first years after" Roe v. Wade, and such issues "should make us pause and think hard," Kissling writes, adding, "The thought of putting every woman through the indignity of meeting with an ethics committee, or getting a doctor to sign off on her reasons for abortion, has forced most of us to stick with the principle that women must be allowed to make their own private ethical decisions, without the state getting involved." However, Kissling comments that "we express moral views about every other issue under the sun." She continues, "Expressing our views about controversial issues is how society develops norms and shared values."Kissling adds that if abortion-rights supporters "follow the example of those opposed to abortion and present only one value -- a woman"s right to make this decision -- as the only ethical consideration worth discussing in difficult cases, do we not become as extremist as we say they are?" She continues, "Is there not, in an ethical sense, an important weighing of women"s rights and needs against a respect for life, even the life of nonpersons? Is there a point in pregnancy when our respect for life might outweigh a woman"s right to make this choice?" Kissling asks, "[I]s the fact that we have avoided it part of the reason that polls show that more people are willing to call themselves pro-life than ever before?"According to Kissling she has "come to believe that women"s autonomy does not require that all efforts be made to protect women from pain or from hearing the word "no."" Kissling writes, "I still have a twinge of doubt when I write these words," adding, "For most of my years as an advocate of a woman"s right to decide, I stepped back from this conclusion" and "could not bring myself to say that there are circumstances in which I would force a woman to continue a pregnancy." The piece continues, "What changed for me? ... Mostly, I feared that single value ethics about abortion, on either side of the debate, would result in a coarsening of our respect for both women and for life" (Kissling, Salon, 6/21).
Endocrinology

Research Scientists Discover How Flu Damages Lung Tissue

A protein in influenza virus that helps it multiply also damages lung epithelial cells, causing fluid buildup in the lungs, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Southern Research Institute . Publishing online this week in the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the researchers say the findings give new insight into how flu attacks the lungs and provides targets for new treatments. In severe cases of flu, fluid accumulates in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe and preventing oxygen from reaching the blood stream. The researchers report that M2, a protein in the flu virus, damages a protein responsible for clearing fluid from the lungs by increasing the amount of oxidants, or free radicals, within the cells. Oxidants are necessary for proper cell function, but can become toxic if uncontrolled. "Under normal conditions, oxidants play an important role, as they destroy pathogens in cells. But our findings suggest that lowering the number of oxidants, or preventing their increase, would prevent damage to the lungs resulting from the M2 protein," said Sadis Matalon, Ph.D., vice chairman for research and professor of anesthesiology at UAB and principal investigator of the study. The researchers say the recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza and the rapid spread of this strain across the world highlight both the need to better understand how the virus damages the lungs and the urgency to find new treatments. Influenza is a contagious disease leading to about 36,000 human deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States alone. Matalon, along with co-investigators Ahmed Lazrak, Ph.D., and Karen E. Iles, Ph.D., from the Department of Anesthesiology at UAB, and James W. Noah, Ph.D., and Diana L. Noah, Ph.D., of Southern Research, injected frog eggs with M2 protein and the lung protein involved with fluid removal. Using molecular biology techniques, they removed part of the flu protein until they could isolate the segment responsible for the lung injury. "We found that when the flu protein was shortened in length, it did not damage the lung protein responsible for removing fluid from the lungs," said Diana Noah. "This is important information as it will enable us to design drugs that will hopefully prevent this M2 flu protein from functioning properly, making it possible for those infected with the flu to recover faster." Another set of experiments involved injecting intact flu proteins and their target lung proteins into frog eggs along with agents that remove oxidants. The findings of the study show that following this procedure the lung proteins were no longer damaged by the flu viruses. The team then repeated the experiments in cells from human lungs and found the same results. "We were able to understand the basic mechanisms by which the flu damages key components of the lungs in a simple system, such as the frog eggs, and then confirm these findings in human lung cells," said Matalon. The researchers are hesitant to say that these results indicate a simple antioxidant, such as vitamin C, can prevent or minimize flu. "The issue is too complex and we simply can"t answer that yet," said James Noah. "Vaccination is our leading defense against flu and we have anti-viral drugs that are effective in some cases, but flu viruses show a remarkable ability to mutate, rendering vaccines and drugs less effective. Having a new target for potential interventions opens up an entirely new approach to combating influenza." Funding came from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, parts of the National Institutes of Health, and the UAB Department of Anesthesiology. About UAB Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama"s largest employer. About Southern Research Southern Research Institute is a nonprofit 501(c)3 scientific research organization that conducts preclinical drug discovery and development, and advanced engineering research. Its more than 550 scientific and engineering team members support clients and partners in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental and energy industries. Southern Research is headquartered in Birmingham with facilities in Wilsonville and Anniston, as well as Frederick, Md., and Durham, N.C. and offices in New Orleans, La., and Washington, D.C. University of Alabama at Birmingham


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