Popular Articles

Newly Released Nixon Tapes Reveal Reaction To Roe V. Wade
President Richard Nixon, who was in office when the Supreme Court issued its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, in secret recordings from January and February of that year discussed his views on abortion with an aide, the New York Times reports. The comments were among more than 150 hours of tape and 30,000 pages of documents made public Tuesday by the National Archives" Nixon Presidential Library. The tapes were recorded by secret microphones in the White House"s Oval Office. Nixon in the tapes expressed ambivalence over the decision, as well as concern that increased access to abortion leads to "permissiveness" and that "it breaks the family." Nixon also said that he believed there was a need for abortion in some cases, including interracial pregnancies and rape. He said, "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that." He added, "When you have a black and a white. Or a rape" (Savage, New York Times, 6/24).Broadcast CoverageNPR"s "All Things Considered" on Tuesday reported on Nixon"s abortion comments and political reaction to Roe at the time of the decision (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 6/23).

Baptist Conference Addresses HIV/AIDS In Black Community
Fear, religious beliefs and cultural differences are among the reasons why blacks do not get tested for HIV, participants of the National Baptist Convention USA"s annual Congress of Christian Education conference being held in Detroit, said on Monday, the Detroit Free Press reports. As part of the five-day conference, religious leaders discussed ways to address the high rates of HIV and AIDS among the black community. Participants also said that concerns of racism by medical professionals may be a reason why blacks do not get tested. Simone Phillips of the St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross said, "A lot of people are leery" in the black community and "we [need] to get rid of the stigma" surrounding HIV/AIDS (Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 6/23).
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Nursing Researcher Works To Reverse Tide Of Childhood Obesity
Nine-year-old Martha sits in front of a poster that depicts a single chocolate chip sitting on top of five pounds of grapes. After several weeks participating in a University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing research program on healthy eating and weight management the message is not lost on her. The chocolate chip has the same amount of fat grams as the grapes.
Sexual Health

Prescribing Sunshine For Multiple Sclerosis?

Could a holiday in the sun reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis? In a recent review for F1000 Medicine Reports, Bridget Bagert and Dennis Bourdette highlight recent advances in potential treatments. Multiple sclerosis (MS) results from a failure of the body to recognize itself. The immune system attacks and destroys the sheath that protects nerve fibres, as if it were a foreign body or infection. Vitamin D, which is produced in the skin in response to natural sunlight, is an immune system regulator. This might explain why MS is less common in sunnier countries. Giving MS sufferers vitamin D pills - or encouraging them to spend more time in the sun - might be a cheap and easy treatment. Bagert and Bourdette point out that oral vitamin D therapy is now in phase II clinical trials, to see how well it works and how much would be needed. They say "The arrival of effective oral agents will give MS patients more therapeutic options and will be a major advance in the global effort to alter the natural history of this chronic disease". Faculty of 1000: Biology and Medicine


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