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Alzheimer's Society Comments On New Alzheimer's Test
A new self administered cognitive screening test for detecting Alzheimer"s disease has been developed by researchers at Addenbrooke"s Hospital in Cambridge, according to a study in bmj.com.

Washington Post Examines Lack Of Information About Stillbirths, Bill To Expand Data Collection
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that stillbirth occurs in about one in every 160 pregnancies in the U.S., but physicians rarely warn pregnant women or their partners about the possibility, Washington Post staff writer Alan Goldenbach writes in an article discussing his experience when his wife"s pregnancy ended in stillbirth. In the U.S., the clinical definition for stillbirth is the death of a fetus after 20 weeks" gestation or weighing 350 grams if the age is unknown.There are about 26,000 stillbirths annually in the U.S., according to CDC. Goldenbach writes that this is "10 times the number of deaths attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, which has been identified as a key public health issue, and four times the incidence rate of Down syndrome, for which prenatal testing has become almost ritual." He continues that many doctors told him and his wife "that they don"t see any point in discussing stillbirth, that it"s a catch-all term for an event, and one that is frequently unexplained." Doctors contend that if they knew the causes or signs of stillbirth, they would warn patients or take preventive action, he adds. Noting that awareness of SIDS spurred research into preventive measures, Goldenbach writes that "[w]e can"t know if improved technology or more stringent standards of monitoring can lower stillbirth rates unless we do the research."Ruth Fretts, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and chair of the scientific committee for the International Stillbirth Alliance, said, "It"s a trade-off -- you are going to frighten a lot of people" by discussing stillbirths. According to Fretts" research, the leading cause of fetal death after 28 weeks" gestation is an unexplained . Goldenbach writes, "Several doctors told us privately that many ob-gyns fear charges of malpractice following a stillbirth, leading them to avoid citing a cause of death."Stillbirth Legislation in Development Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is drafting legislation similar to a stillbirth prevention bill that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced in June 2008. According to s familiar with the bill, it will be brought to the Senate floor before the August recess. The legislation will expand stillbirth registries already in operation in Iowa and metropolitan Atlanta. The bill"s supporters hope to have as many as 12 states participating in the registry and installing a standard protocol for data collection after each stillbirth. Another provision would create a campaign to increase public awareness and strengthen grief support services, Goldenbach writes (Goldenbach, Washington Post, 7/6).
News of the day
Catholic Hospital System Ends Joint Venture With Mass. Insurer Over Differences On Abortion
Massachusetts-based Catholic hospital system Caritas Christi Health Care on Friday ended its joint venture with the Missouri-based health insurer Centene after Cardinal Sean O"Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston insisted that the relationship linked Catholic hospitals too closely to abortion providers, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 6/27). Under the joint venture, Caritas and Centene created a new company, CeltiCare, which would have insured thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents under Commonwealth Care, the state"s subsidized health care program. Financially troubled Caritas, which was founded by the Archdiocese of Boston, said it will continue to participate as a provider in Commonwealth Care but will no longer be a co-owner of the insurance venture with Centene. Caritas will provide care to patients covered by Centene, as it does for patients covered by other private insurers, but it will not provide any services that violate Catholic teachings, such as abortions or sterilizations. In terminating the joint venture, the archdiocese hopes to appease criticism that Caritas would have profited from abortion and other services provided at non-Catholic medical centers, the Boston Globe reports. According to the archdiocese, O"Malley sought the withdrawal after weeks of consultation with the church-affiliated think tank National Catholic Bioethics Center, in response to harsh criticism from antiabortion-rights groups for not blocking the agreement. The withdrawal is "a vindication of sorts" for O"Malley"s critics, who have argued that it would be wrong for Caritas to enter an agreement with a health insurer that covers abortion care, according to the Globe. Andrea Miller, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, said that Caritas" involvement in the joint venture had raised concern from NARAL because of the Catholic Church"s opposition to abortion rights. She said that although Caritas has withdrawn from the venture, "[t]he question remains: Will the involvement of Caritas Christi health providers negatively affect women"s ability to get timely access to reproductive services, including birth control?" Miller added that NARAL hopes that state regulators "will continue due diligence to ensure that referrals and services are provided in a manner that does not delay access to reproductive health services" (Paulson/Lazar, Boston Globe, 6/27).
Endocrinology

Inovio Biomedical H1N1 Influenza DNA Vaccines Demonstrate 100% Responses Against Swine Flu In Vaccinated Pigs

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE Amex:INO), a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that the company"s SynCon™ H1N1 influenza DNA vaccines achieved protective antibody responses against H1N1 swine influenza virus (A/Swine/Iowa/35233/1999) in 100% of pigs immunized with a two-dose vaccine regimen. Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, Senior VP, Research & Development, presented the data at the Annual Conference of DNA Vaccines in Asia 2009 held in Beijing, China, July 9-10, 2009, in a presentation entitled, "Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza DNA Vaccines Delivered Via Electroporation." In this study, scientists immunized pigs with consensus H1N1 influenza DNA vaccine candidates on day 0, day 14, and day 28. Sera collected on day 28 and day 42, after two or three doses of vaccine, respectively, showed hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers above the protection threshold in 100% of the vaccinated animals against a swine H1N1 virus previously isolated from pigs. On-going additional animal studies are testing the ability of Inovio"s SynCon™ human H1N1 and swine H1N1 based vaccines to cross-protect from currently circulating human and swine H1N1 viruses as well as the new influenza A/H1N1 of swine origin. In a similar collaborative study with scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Pennsylvania, Inovio previously demonstrated that mice immunized with Inovio"s SynCon™ H1N1 DNA vaccine provided 100% protection in a lethal challenge study against an unmatched H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed over 40 million people worldwide. Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio"s CEO, said, "Our innovative SynCon™ technology has the potential to protect people from influenza strains not exactly like the ones that make up the existing vaccines. This is a clear advantage for our universal flu program over conventional influenza vaccines. We are pleased to report our H1N1 preclinical results using pigs, a more natural model for the current influenza pandemic. We look forward to advancing our SynCon™ universal flu vaccine program toward clinical investigation." Inovio"s novel SynCon™ technology enables the company to design DNA-based vaccines with the potential to protect against unmatched sub-types and strains of pathogens. Inovio has created SynCon™ DNA vaccines based on influenza HA, NA, and NP proteins that are common to strains H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, and H5N1, which make up the majority of seasonal and pandemic influenza. Using a designer approach, Inovio can formulate these DNA plasmids together to rapidly develop a universal influenza vaccine potentially targeting all these strains. The resulting vaccine could target seasonal as well as pandemic-potential influenza strains such as avian influenza and swine flu, which has already been designated pandemic status. Significantly, being based on a common set of antigens derived from a broad range of flu strains, such a universal vaccine would have the potential to provide greater protection against evolving, unmatched flu strains. Inovio Biomedical Corporation


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