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New Tool May Help With Early Detection Of Deadly Pancreatic Cancer
A new diagnostic tool developed by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists has shown promising results when used with patients of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer due to the difficulty of diagnosing it in its early stages. The method, which studies carbohydrate structures in the bloodstream, could lead to the development of blood tests that can detect cancer more effectively.
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National Database Launches More Detailed Swine Flu Reports
Following the rapid rise in the spread of swine flu, the QSurveillance® primary care tracking database has increased the level of detail provided in its weekly and daily reports to government and health authorities.
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'New And Improved Antiabortion Movement' Still Ignores Needs Of Women, Salon Opinion Piece States
A "new set of antiabortion actors" who are "anti-war, anti-capital punishment, pro-environment "pro-lifers"" have "emerged as the face of a new and improved antiabortion movement," Salon columnist Frances Kissling writes. Although these advocates supported President Obama in the 2008 election, they "suffer from the same lack of understanding of women"s nature and identity as do old-line anti-abortionists," Kissling writes. She notes that this group has "already decided that a political effort to make abortion illegal is hopeless, which helps the pro-choice cause." According to Kissling, "Taking legality off the table" increases the prospects for "rational public discourse about all the factors at play in women"s decisions not to continue pregnancy and not to become mothers," but "[w]e are ... far from common ground between the new anti-abortionists and the pro-choice advocates."Members of this new group believe that data suggesting that many women decide to have abortions for financial reasons prove that "better economic support" for pregnant women "will result in more continued pregnancies and more women embracing motherhood," Kissling writes. In addition, they "assert that if adoption policies were friendlier," more women would choose adoption over abortion, according to Kissling. "But facts have little place in their strategy," as the policies they support "are already in place in much of Europe," and "few women who face unintended pregnancies in those countries opt out of abortion," Kissling writes. She adds, "Something much deeper influences a woman"s decision about what to do when she is pregnant and does not want to become a mother -- and the new anti-choicers don"t seem to have a clue about what this might be." For this group, "the outcome [of pregnancy] -- the new person -- is obviously so much more valuable than whatever short-term loss or pain the women might experience," Kissling writes. Therefore, they believe it is "not asking much of a woman who faces an unwanted, difficult or unintended pregnancy to shift the plan she had for this time in her life and continue the pregnancy," according to Kissling.Kissling lists four "positions taken by the new antiabortionists [that] illuminate this flawed thinking." The first is "[d]enying the "need" for abortion," she writes. Secondly, their "same sense of pregnancy as no big deal influences the new antiabortionists" unwillingness to embrace contraception," Kissling says. She adds that "[i]f we really understood what it meant for women to consent to becoming mothers, we would want them to be able to meet their moral obligation to their own identity by avoiding becoming pregnant." The third position is an attempt to make "sex sacred," Kissling writes, adding that if "creating new life is sacred, then we want men and women to have the tools necessary to fulfill the obligation to create life responsibly and not create it when they cannot -- or choose not to -- bring it to fruition." The fourth position is "[r]edefining adoption," Kissling continues. She asks whether adoption is "now a process of finding children for needy parents," adding, "Might it not be more generous of us as a society to work harder to make it possible for women to keep their children if they so wish?"Kissling writes that the "challenge to the new antiabortionists" is whether "women"s perspectives on the meaning of pregnancy and motherhood will be considered in their project" or if "their ethical frame will remain focused on the fetus." She asks, "How many of these women"s decisions will the new antiabortionists be able to say "yes" to?" Kissling concludes, "So far it seems that it is far more than abortion that is a stumbling block to common ground" (Kissling, Salon, 7/20).
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Genetic And Chromosomal Abnormalities In Embryos Detected By New Test

One-step screening for both genetic and chromosomal abnormalities has come a stage closer as scientists announced that an embryo test they have been developing has successfully screened cells taken from spare embryos that were known to have cystic fibrosis. They told a news briefing at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam that, as a result, they would be able to offer clinical trials to couples seeking fertility treatment later this year. The researchers based in the USA and the UK have been able to prove that the technique, known as genome-wide karyomapping, was capable of not only detecting diseases caused by a specific gene mutation, in this case cystic fibrosis, but that it was also capable of detecting aneuploidy (an abnormal number of any of the 23 pairs of chromosome) at the same time. This is the first time they have been able to demonstrate that the test can work in cells taken from embryos that have already been diagnosed with the cystic fibrosis gene mutation using conventional preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Gary Harton, PGD scientific director of the Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia (USA) told a news briefing: "Karyomapping is a universal method for analysing the inheritance of genetic defects in the preimplantation embryo without any prior patient or disease specific test development, which often delays patient treatment. For the first time, the inheritance of both single gene defects and chromosomal abnormalities can be detected simultaneously at the single cell level. Unlike other methods, this is achieved entirely by analysing the DNA sequence at over 300,000 locations genome-wide in parents and appropriate family members, often children already affected by a disease, and comparing their sequence with that inherited by the embryo. This can be achieved very rapidly using current microchip technology known as microarray." With karyomapping it is not necessary to know the exact DNA mutation that is being sought; the scientists just need to take the relevant chunk of DNA from the parent that carries the mutation somewhere along its length, and if it matches a chunk of DNA from the embryo, then they know the embryo has inherited the mutation. As karyomapping involves analysing chromosomes, it also detects the existence of aneuploidy at the same time. "The range of applications is broad and includes single gene defects, abnormal chromosome number, structural chromosome abnormalities and HLA [human leukocyte antigen] matching in "saviour sibling" cases," said Mr Harton. Karyomapping was developed by Professor Alan Handyside of the London Bridge Fertility Gynaecology and Genetics Centre in London (UK), and Mr Harton has been providing samples and DNA information in order to test the method and validate it for use in the clinic. "The hope is that clinicians will be able to test embryos for specific genetic diseases and know that, with one test, they are transferring chromosomally normal embryos. This will be a step forward from current technology that is mostly limited to choosing one test or the other," explained Prof Handyside. Karyomapping would also be quicker and cheaper. Currently, developing a PGD test for a single gene defect can take weeks or months, as scientists have to identify the exact patient or disease-specific genetic mutation first before screening for it, which is labour-intensive and costly. By contrast, karyomapping can be carried out without such extended pre-test development; at present, it takes about three days, but Mr Harton and his colleagues believe this could be reduced to 18-24 hours. In this most recent stage of their research they examined cells from five embryos that had been donated for medical research by a couple who had received successful fertility treatment, including PGD for cystic fibrosis. The embryos had developed to the blastocyst stage, which is about five days after fertilisation. Conventional PGD had already identified which embryos were unaffected, affected or were carriers of the disease. Karyomapping of cells from the donated embryos confirmed these diagnoses, but, in addition, it was able to identify which parent carried the affected chunk of DNA. Karyomapping also revealed two aneuploidies in two embryos, which had not been detected by the earlier PGD. Mr Harton said: "This demonstrates that karyomapping, following genome-wide analysis of a single cell biopsied from embryos at the blastocyst stage, can provide highly accurate analysis for cystic fibrosis, combined with the detection of chromosomal aneuploidy. Now that vitrification [an improved method of embryo freezing] has improved embryo survival after thawing, it should be possible to vitrify embryos at the blastocyst stage, either before or after biopsy, and analyse the embryos for virtually any genetic disease and screen for aneuploidy of all 23 pairs of chromosomes simultaneously. This approach could make PGD by karyomapping less expensive than conventional single disease PGD because fewer embryos will be biopsied, more embryos will be chromosomally normal following growth to the blastocyst stage, and there is no need to custom develop tests for each disease or couple interested in PGD." Prof Handyside concluded: "These tests have helped us to learn everything we can before we start to treat actual patients. I am confident that we will be offering a clinical trial to patients using karyomapping some time this year." Mary Rice European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology


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