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Massague: "We Have Discovered The First Genes Intervening In Brain Metastasis"
Joan Massagué (Barcelona, Spain, 1953) is the first winner of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in the Biomedicine category. The Frontiers of Knowledge Awards are intended to recognize and promote research of excellence. The breadth of disciplines addressed and their monetary amount a combined purse of 3.2 million euros spread over eight prize categories place them among the world"s foremost award schemes.
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Washington Times Opinion Piece, Editorial Discuss DOJ Nominee Johnsen
The Washington Times recently published an opinion piece and an editorial discussing President Obama"s nomination of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department. Summaries appear below. ~ Mickey Edwards/William Sessions, Washington Times: The Senate should "act expeditiously to approve" Johnsen"s nomination because "her views on the limits of presidential power are precisely what the Constitution envisions and conservatives have long championed," Edwards, vice president of the Aspen Institute and author of "Reclaiming Conservatism," and Sessions, a partner at the law firm Holland & Knight, write in a Times opinion piece. According to the authors, Johnsen "made her views clear" on the limits of presidential power when she joined a bipartisan group of lawyers that declared that the Office of Legal Counsel should promote "presidential adherence to the rule of law." Edwards and Sessions write that Johnsen is being criticized for "being blunt, unserious and critical of presidential policies." However, these attacks are unwarranted, they write, noting that in the legal profession, "a little blunt talk to a client -- in this case, the president of the United States -- might be required." Edwards and Sessions continue, "What is needed in the Office of Legal Counsel is a person with the constitutional understanding to know that even presidents with whose politics she agrees must obey both the Constitution and federal statutes and who has the gumption to say so, even if the advice won"t be well received" (Edwards/Sessions, Washington Times, 5/21).~ Washington Times: The editorial states that Johnsen "is so radical" that 31 Republican Indiana state senators on Monday sent a letter to Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) asking them to oppose her confirmation. The Republican senators called Johnsen"s views supporting abortion rights "extremely radical" and said she often uses "harsh, sensationalizing rhetoric" in her writings on Supreme Court cases, the editorial states. According to the editorial, Johnsen"s "political advocacy shows a profound disregard for the courts" proper role" because she considers the courts "as making up just another political, policymaking branch of government, not as bodies restrained by the Constitution or existing laws." The editorial continues that Johnsen is "guilty" of "asking judges to impose their own policy preferences" in favor of abortion rights "against the dictates of existing constitutional law." The editorial concludes, "Someone with such contemptuous views of the Constitution should not be the Obama administration"s chief constitutional interpreter" (Washington Times, 5/21).
News of the day
AlphaVax Announces Results From Initial Testing Of Its H1N1 (Swine) Influenza Vaccine
AlphaVax, Inc. announced today that it has completed process development and preclinical immunogenicity studies of its H1N1 (swine) influenza vaccine and will manufacture clinical trial material by the end of the month. This vaccine has shown good production yields as well as excellent immunogenicity, even after just a single inoculation.
Cardiovascular

Potential Prenatal Origins For Poor Sleep In Children

A study, "Prenatal Origins of Poor Sleep in Children," in the Aug.1 issue of the journal SLEEP found that alcohol consumption during pregnancy and small body size at birth predict poorer sleep and higher risk of sleep disturbances in 8-year-old children born at term. Findings are clinically significant, as poor sleep and sleep disturbances in children are associated with obesity, depressive symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and poor neurobehavioral functioning. Results indicate that children exposed prenatally to alcohol were 2.5 times more likely to have a short sleep duration of 7.7 hours or less and 3.6 times more likely to have a low sleep efficiency of 77.2 percent or less across all nights, independent of body size at birth and current maternal alcohol use. Smaller body size at birth also was associated with poorer sleep and with a higher risk for clinically significant sleep disturbances among children born at term. More specifically, lower weight and shorter length at birth were associated with lower sleep efficiency, and a lower ponderal index (an indicator of fetal growth status) was associated with the presence of sleep disturbances. In addition, children with short sleep duration were more likely to have been born via Caesarean section than were children sleeping longer (23.1 percent versus 8.4 percent respectively). According to principal investigator Katri Rç¤ikkç¶nen, PhD, in the department of psychology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, even low levels of weekly prenatal exposure to alcohol have adverse effects on sleep quantity and quality during childhood. "The results were in accordance with the fetal origins of health and disease hypothesis and the many studies that have shown that adverse fetal environment may have lifelong influences on health and behavior," said Rç¤ikkç¶nen. "However, this is among the few studies that have reported associations between birth variables and sleep quality and quantity among an otherwise healthy population of children." The epidemiologic cohort study obtained data from 289 children born at term (from 37 to 42 weeks of gestation) between March and November 1998. Sleep duration and sleep efficiency (actual sleep time divided by the time in bed) were measured objectively by actigraphy at 8 years of age for an average of 7.1 days. Parents completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children to report sleep problems and sleep disorder symptoms such as bedtime resistance and sleep disordered breathing. Results show that the odds for low sleep efficiency increased by 70 percent for every standard deviation decrease in weight at birth and by more than 200 percent for every decrease in length. For every standard deviation decrease in ponderal index at birth, the risk of parent-reported sleep disorders increased by 40 percent. Associations were not confounded by sex, gestational length, prenatal and perinatal complications, body mass index (BMI) at eight years of age, asthma, allergies or parental socioeconomic status. The authors report that small body size at birth may function as a crude marker of disturbances in the fetal environment, and it is associated with prematurity, intrauterine growth retardation, prenatal alcohol exposure and poorer sleep quality in children and young adults. Results demonstrate that among children born healthy and at full-term, a linear relationship exists between smaller body size at birth and poorer sleep quality eight years from birth. Kelly Wagner American Academy of Sleep Medicine


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