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Arizona Senate Approves Two Bills Related To Abortion Rights
The Arizona Senate on Tuesday approved two abortion-related bills, including one that would increase requirements for obtaining abortions in the state and one that would increase penalties for performing a certain abortion procedure later in pregnancy, the Arizona Republic reports. The first bill (H.B. 2564), which passed 16-12, would impose a 24-hour waiting period before abortion procedures, require that abortion providers inform patients about risks and alternatives, and increase parental consent requirements for minors. Although the state has had a written parental consent requirement since 2003, the new measure would require that the consent form be notarized (Newton, Arizona Republic, 6/24). According to the AP/Houston Chronicle, the bill also would "allow pharmacists and other health care providers to refuse to hand out emergency contraception on moral or religious grounds" (Davenport, AP/Houston Chronicle, 6/23). The second bill (H.B. 2400) would impose a fine or two-year prison sentence for violating the state"s law banning intact dilation and extraction procedures, which currently is punishable by one year in prison (Arizona Republic, 6/24).Paul Senseman, a spokesperson for Gov. Jan Brewer (R), said that the governor has not decided whether she will sign the bills. Senseman previously has said that Brewer "has a very consistent pro-life record. Republican leaders in the state Legislature have attempted for years to increase abortion restrictions, but former Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) vetoed every measure on the subject" (Arizona Republic, 6/24).Opponents of H.B. 2564 said that it would make it difficult for women to access abortion services, especially for women outside of urban areas who would have to make multiple trips to providers under the waiting period requirement. According to Planned Parenthood, the bill would reduce the number of communities in the state where abortion is available from 10 to three. Supporters of the bill contend that it would better inform women about risks and alternatives to abortion (AP/Houston Chronicle, 6/23).

Blood Pressure Cuff Could Help Improve The Success Of Kidney Transplants
The first clinical trial funded by the new Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme will investigate whether a simple procedure to activate one of the body"s natural defence mechanisms improves the function of kidneys after transplantation. This research is funded by the Medical Research Council and managed by the National Institute for Health Research.
News of the day
New Genetic Immune Disorder In Children Discovered By Scientists
Your immune system plays an important function in your health - it protects you against viruses, bacteria, and other toxins that can cause disease. In autoinflammatory diseases, however, the immune system goes awry, causing unprovoked and dangerous inflammation. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and other institutions have discovered a new autoinflammatory syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects children around the time of birth. The findings appear in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Mental Health

Transplant Drug Stimulates Immune Memory

Rapamycin, a drug given to transplant recipients to suppress their immune systems, has a paradoxical effect on cells responsible for immune memory, scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center have discovered. In experiments conducted in both mice and monkeys, rapamycin can stimulate the formation of memory CD8 T cells, which enable the immune system to respond faster and stronger to an infectious agent upon a second encounter. The results were published online ahead of print June 21 in Nature. The finding means that doctors might be able to boost the effectiveness of vaccines with drugs that act similarly to rapamycin, says postdoctoral researcher Koichi Araki, PhD, who is first author. Araki works in the laboratory of Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Vaccination relies on memory T cells, survivors after the immune system produces an abundance of T cells to fight an infection or respond to a vaccine. Araki had been examining rapamycin"s effects in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). "Usually during the response to this virus, 90 percent of the CD8 T cells produced to fight an infection die after a few weeks. The memory cells are generated from the 10 percent that survive," he explains. T cells come in both CD4 (helper) and CD8 (killer) forms, but scientists have found that CD8 T cells are more important for fighting LCMV. When mice were treated with rapamycin, more CD8 T cells that react against LMCV survived, Araki found. Under the influence of rapamycin, the mice not only produced more memory T cells, but the cells had a greater ability to proliferate and respond upon a second exposure to LCMV. Rapamycin"s effects are "surprising and unexpected," Araki says. During a transient viral infection, the targets of the immune response eventually disappear, a situation markedly different from a transplant, Araki notes. That difference may have helped him recognize rapamycin"s effects, he says. Also, rapamycin"s effects depend on the dose -- too high a dose will inhibit all T cells without regard to what type they are, he says. Araki and Ahmed teamed up with Christian Larsen, MD, PhD, director of the Emory Transplant Center and chair of the Department of Surgery, to show that rapamycin had similar effects in rhesus macaques infected with vaccinia virus as in mice. That research was conducted at Emory"s Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Rapamycin, also called sirolimus, was approved by the FDA in 1999 for use after kidney transplants. It was discovered in a soil sample from Easter Island, whose Polynesian name is Rapa Nui. Transplant patients usually don"t take rapamycin by itself, so rapamycin"s paradoxical effects may have been masked by other drugs, Larsen says. For transplant patients, memory T cells can play a role in graft rejection, but they can also protect against infections. "We are appreciating more and more that memory T cells respond differently to interventions than naç¯ve T cells and we have to pay close attention to the situation of the individual patient," Larsen says. Scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center continue to study how T cells decide whether to become memory cells, because of their importance in maintaining the immune response against chronic infections such as HIV and hepatitis C. The effects of rapamycin were seen even if Araki gave animals rapamycin only for a week after the infection began, suggesting that the beginning of the infection was when T cells were deciding whether or not to become memory cells. By using an inhibitory technique (RNA interference) on the genes known to be targeted by rapamycin, Araki was able to show that rapamycin is acting on the CD8 T cells and not on other cells with which they interact. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Reference: K. Araki, A.P. Turner, V.O. Shaffer, S. Gangappa, S. Keller, M.F. Bachmann, C.P. Larsen and R. Ahmed. mTOR regulates memory CD8 T cell differentiation. Nature page numbers (2009). Holly Korschun Emory University


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