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FDA Reviewing Preliminary Safety Information On Asthma Drug Xolair
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it is conducting a safety review of Xolair (omalizumab), a drug used to treat certain adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma.
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Antiabortion-Rights Groups Push For State-Level Restrictions On Access
The Washington Post on Monday examined how antiabortion-rights advocates are pressing state legislatures to approve measures designed to restrict access to abortion and compel women seeking the procedure to reconsider. The Post reports that the election of President Obama, who supports abortion rights, and the Democratic majority in Congress have made it less likely that there will be new federal restrictions on abortion or an overturning of Roe v. Wade. In response, antiabortion-rights groups have pushed to enact more state-level restrictions, such as parental consent for minors and waiting periods. According to the Post, state legislatures in 2008 considered around 400 measures to restrict abortion. Gretchen Borchelt, senior counsel at the National Women"s Law Center, said, "The states are the battlegrounds and certainly the testing grounds of new kinds of restrictions." She added, "State legislatures can be more creative in what they"re trying to push and see what works."The restrictions -- known as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws -- include measures such as requiring a woman to visit a clinic twice at least 24 hours apart before obtaining an abortion, severely limiting public funding for abortion, mandating consent from both parents or a judge"s signature before minors can obtain abortions and requiring that women view ultrasounds before abortion procedures. The ultrasound laws are aimed at making women reconsider the decision to have an abortion, while the waiting period laws "have the added effect of raising the obstacles and the costs," particularly for low-income and working-class women, who are most likely to have unintended pregnancies, the Post reports.Terri Herring, head of Mississippi"s Pro-Life America Network, said, "We tried every which way, and we were successful in the state way." She added, "All-or-nothing means nothing. Incremental means something." Herring"s next goal is enacting a law in Mississippi requiring clinic staffers to report the identities of the sexual partners of minors. The Post reports that Mississippi, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, has become a model for antiabortion-rights groups in other states. According to Herring, the "greater goal, even in legislation, is to influence the culture." Felicia Brown-Williams, a Planned Parenthood staffer in Mississippi, said, "We"ve got a glut of bills we fight every year. We spend the first two months in sheer and utter panic that one of these bills is going to get past us" (Slevin, Washington Post, 6/8).
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Thousands Of Older People Dying Prematurely From Cancer, Say Researchers
As many as 15,000 people over 75 could be dying prematurely from cancer each year in the UK, according to research presented today at the National Cancer Intelligience Network (NCIN) conference.
Diagnostics

New Test Kit Detects Melamine In Infant Formula And Other Food

Larry Wackett and Michael Sadowsky, members of the University of Minnesota"s BioTechnology Institute, developed an enzyme that is used in Bioo Scientific"s new MaxDiscovery™ Melamine Test kit, which simplifies the detection of melamine contamination in food. Melamine is an industrial chemical that killed six Chinese children and hospitalized 150,000 last year after it was added to milk to increase its apparent protein content. Some children may have life-long chronic kidney problems resulting from melamine exposure. Development of the test responds to a call from the World Health Organization (WHO) for a simple, inexpensive method to detect melamine contamination in infant formula and other liquids. Until now, melamine testing required expensive laboratory equipment and skilled personnel. This kit simplifies the testing and reduces the cost of melamine detection. The MaxDiscovery Melamine Test kit can detect melamine in milk, powdered milk, cream, ice cream and chocolate drink. Bioo Scientific has plans to adapt it to detect melamine in seafood and meat. Researchers at the BioTechnology Institute (BTI) developed the enzyme, melamine deaminase, used in the MaxDiscovery Melamine Test kit and the enzyme will be produced in the BTI Pilot Plant fermentation facilities. Melamine deaminase works by breaking one of the C-N bonds in melamine to release ammonia, which can be detected by a simple test that turns the liquid blue. Jennifer Seffernick, a research associate in Wackett"s lab, discovered the enzyme while conducting research on biodegradation of s-triazine herbicides. It is one of many examples of how basic research can lead to new technologies that benefit society. "Development of the melamine enzyme and the test kit is an example of how universities and industry can collaborate to foster basic science, education, and technology that benefits society," says Wackett, who is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the College of Biological Sciences. "Larry Wackett"s research has revealed the power of microbial enzymes to modify and destroy toxic substances in the environment," says Joe Krebs, director of Protein Chemistry and Engineering at Bioo Scientific. "Our new enzymatic detection method takes this work in a new direction to provide a better approach for the detection of melamine contamination in the global food supply." Research to develop the enzyme for the melamine test was supported by the University"s Biocatalysis Initiative. "This is an example of how a small but strategic investment in scientific research can make a big difference," says Robert P. Elde, dean of the College of Biological Sciences and interim director of the Biotechnology Institute. Melamine was originally used to make durable plastic for dishes and countertops. It is also a widely used additive to cement. But in recent years it has been misused as a food additive because it contains a large amount of nitrogen (a nutrient), is cheap, and is falsely recognized as protein by the most common chemical assay used to test for food protein. This has led to a practice of adding melamine to any food where its value is enhanced by increasing the apparent protein content. For example, melamine-tainted pet food killed nearly 1,000 U.S. pets during one episode in 2007. Patty Mattern University of Minnesota


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