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Cancer Center Leads Breakthrough Clinical Trial: Cancer Vaccine For First Time Shows Promise Against Melanoma
A recent clinical trial - led by Goshen Center for Cancer Care - has yielded promising results for the future use of a cancer vaccine. One of the first studies to prove vaccines might have a medical benefit against cancer, study results found the new cancer vaccine doubled the response rate for tumor shrinkage as well as delayed the progression of cancer in patients with metastatic melanoma.

Blogs Comment On Need For Abortion Providers, Antiabortion-Rights Protests, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Obama"s True Colors: Appointee Opposes Abortion and Birth Control," Bonnie Erbe, U.S. News & World Report"s "Thomas Jefferson Street": President Obama"s appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships at HHS "doesn"t surprise me at all," Erbe writes, adding that Obama is "merely feeling comfortable enough to show his true self, rather than staying true to promises he made to his supporters prior to being elected." Erbe includes an excerpt from Frances Kissling"s Salon opinion piece in which Kissling questions whether Kelley will follow through with the Obama administration"s pledges to implement policies that help prevent teenage pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. Erbe concludes, "[A]s the evidence mounts that winning re-election is more important to this president than anything else, his supporters should re-examine their votes in 2012" (Erbe, "Thomas Jefferson Street," U.S. News & World Report, 6/8).~ "This Weekend is the International Demonstration Against Birth Control," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: "This weekend marks the second year of "The Pill Kills" campaign," which its antiabortion-rights organizers are calling the ""International Demonstration Against Birth Control"" that they say will ""expose the tragic effects"" hormonal contraception has on women, Page writes. She writes that while last year"s campaign focused on convincing women that birth control pills and other common contraceptives "were really abortion methods," this year"s campaign "is trying to scare women" from using birth control "by claiming it will kill them." The campaign "targets the regular birth control pill in particular," Page says, adding that "it appears impossible to find a single instance in which any pro-life group has anything good to say about any birth control method except natural family planning -- a technique most notable for its high failure rate." She notes, "Even the lowly condom disturbs them." According to Page, David Grimes, "one of the world"s leading experts on contraception," said that ""some antiabortion groups describe a subtle blend of fake claims and real, but exaggerated, risks to frighten women,"" and only ""those very knowledgeable can tease out which are which."" Grimes also noted, ""Ironically, the net effect of this campaign to discredit contraception is more unplanned pregnancies and, of course, more abortions."" Page writes, "One can safely say" that the American Life League -- lead organizer of "The Pill Kills" campaign -- has a "desire to ban birth control [that] is equally intense as its campaign against legal abortion." As evidence of this, she cites the group"s efforts to defeat legislation offering contraception coverage for federal employees and its distribution of anti-contraception literature. She adds, "Not only does ALL promote" that "birth control is abortion," but it "also put[s] forth that any attempt to prevent pregnancy during sex is tantamount to having an abortion." Page concludes, "In actuality," efforts by ALL and similar groups "punish people for having the type of sex they define as contrary to God"s wishes. Pregnancy is, according to them, what sex is for" (Page, "Birth Control Watch," 6/5).~ "The Next Generation of Providers: One Doctor Shows the Way," Sheila Bapat, RH Reality Check: The recent murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller "brings into sharp relief the gravity" of women"s health care providers" decision to perform abortions, Bapat writes. She profiles an ob-gyn -- a "young woman in her early 30s" -- who holds a faculty position at a university hospital in a southern, conservative state and also is "one of just a handful of abortion providers in the South." Bapat writes that the "low number of abortion providers" in the U.S. is the result of several factors, including fear o
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The Right Messenger For A Healthy Immune Response
Researchers from the Molecular Immunology group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany have now shown that Beta-Interferon also plays a crucial role during an immune response: without Beta-Interferon immune cells are unable to show "wanted posters" of pathogens to other cells. As a consequence, these cells will not recognize the pathogen and the immune response does not start properly. The group"s results have now been published in the current issue of the scientific magazine Journal of Immunology.
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Stem Cell Lawyer Says Let Women Be Paid For Egg Donations

Last week, New York became the first state in America to allow scientists to pay women for donating their eggs for use in stem cell research, triggering further ethical debate. Professor Loane Skene of the Faculty of Law at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Chair of the high-profile Lockhart Committee on Human Cloning and Embryo Research (2005) says women should be paid for the invasive procedure. "This is not lawful in Australia but if embryo research leads to new cures, this ban may be reconsidered," Professor Skene says. "Given the invasiveness of extracting eggs for donation to medical research, it seems reasonable for women to receive some financial compensation, " she says. Professor Skene says that although other organ donation is free in Australia, typically organs are donated to a family member or friend. "It is unusual that organ donation is done for a complete stranger. For the effort of undergoing surgery to help medical research, I think it is appropriate for women to be remunerated." "We would be living in a nanny state if we said women may be exploited for being paid for the procedure," she says. "People undertake risky jobs every day. This is no different to a consenting adult who knows the risks of surgery making an informed decision." "When there is a breakthrough in stem cell research we will find this will be the impetus for new laws. It will reflect the push from scientists and government to be able to further investigate revolutionary treatments in this emerging field." "Stem cell research is going to be a very competitive field. It is still very early days." Professor Skene will outline social, ethical and regulatory issues raised by developments in stem cell research and explore legal responses in Australia and globally, at the 4th David Danks Oration at the University of Melbourne on Tuesday 7 July. WHAT Public Lecture "Recent developments in stem cell research: social, ethical and legal issues for the future" WHEN 6:00 - 7:00pm, Tuesday 7 July 2009 WHERE Sunderland Lecture Theatre, ground floor, Medical Building, corner of Grattan Street and Royal Parade, The University of Melbourne, Parkville (Melways reference: Map 2B C7) University of Melbourne


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