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Supreme Court Should Be 'Reined In' To Return Power To Legislative Branch, NYT Columnist Writes
Although Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor"s confirmation hearings are more than a month away, "it"s easy to predict how they will go," New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes. Douthat predicts that Senate Judiciary Committee members "will attempt to divine Sotomayor"s position on a variety of controversial topics," such as abortion rights, and in "a series of polite, evasive answers, the nominee will feign a studious neutrality on almost every issue that could come before her during what"s likely to be decades as one of the most powerful women in the world." According to Douthat, the "deeper stakes" that likely will be ignored are that "Sotomayor will be joining a high court that"s gradually become a kind of extra legislative body." He cites research from Harvard Law School professor Jed Shugerman showing that the court over roughly the past 50 years has invalidated both state and federal statutes at an unprecedented rate. Douthat also points to data from Evan Caminker of the University of Michigan showing that in one eight-year period, the court invalidated 16 federal laws in 5-4 votes, something that occurred only 25 times in the previous two centuries. Douthat writes that "settling so many vexing controversies with 5-to-4 votes -- effectively making Anthony Kennedy the nation"s philosopher king -- is an awfully poor way to run a republic."Douthat continues that the "modern court"s most enduringly controversial power grabs -- with Roe v. Wade leading the way -- were usually the work of liberal justices" but that "in practice, the main divide between liberal and conservative judges tends to be over the responsibilities of the federal government, not judicial activism per se." He writes, "There are bipartisan ways that the Court could be reined in, and the legislative branch reinvigorated," including the idea of a supermajority rule that would require a 6-3 vote to overturn federal legislation. This idea "might spur the court toward greater consensus, and perhaps greater modesty as well," according to Douthat. Another possibility would be to implement 12-year term limits, he says. Douthat concludes that these suggestions would not "reduce the Supreme Court"s power directly, but it would help us see the court for what it has become -- a deeply political institution, as fallible as any other, and answerable, when all is said and done, to us" (Douthat, New York Times, 6/2).
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Lung Cancer Risk May Be Increased By Ovary Removal
Women who have premature menopause because of medical interventions are at an increased risk of developing lung cancer, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Cancer. The startling link was made by epidemiologists from the Universitç© de Montrç©al, the Research Centre of the Centre Hospitalier de l"Universitç© de Montrç©al and the INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier.
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HPV Testing For Cervical Screening Investigated
New research, published in The Lancet Oncology, has found that combining human papillomavirus (HPV) testing with routine liquid-based cytology (LBC) screening does not increase the detection of cervical cancer compared with LBC screening alone. The trial funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme aimed to determine whether testing for HPV in the cervix might increase the effectiveness of the cervical screening programme.
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Researchers Develop Key Brake For Immune Cells In Petri Dish -- Hope For Easier Organ Transplantation?

Scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany and the Medical School Hannover, Germany have succeeded in treating immune cells in a way that enables them to inhibit unwanted immune reactions such as organ rejection. Their results have now been published in the current issue of the scientific journal Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. The immune system keeps us healthy: day and night it protects us against invading and harmful pathogens. But this fulltime surveillance can also turn into a problem, for example after an organ transplant. The immune system recognizes the new organ as "foreign" and starts fighting it. In the end, the life-saving transplant will be rejected. Until now, only special drugs have managed to keep the immune system silent and thus inhibit organ rejection. Theoretically, these drugs are not necessary because the immune system has its own unique "peace makers": regulatory T cells (Tregs), a special group of helper T cells, an important cell type of the immune system. Tregs inhibit immune reactions and are thus of special medical interest. Until now, distinguishing between Tregs and helper T cells has represented a problem for scientists. Now, in co-operation with the Medical School Hannover, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig have identified a molecular factor that plays an essential role in Treg function. This protein constitutes the key difference between Tregs and helper T cells. Furthermore, the scientists have also generated Tregs from helper T cells that permanently maintained their characteristics. The key to Tregs is called "GARP". Michael Probst-Kepper is a researcher in a junior research group that is financed by the German Volkswagen foundation, he works at both HZI and MHH. He has now deciphered the special role of the GARP protein. Until now, scientists had only little distinguishing features to aid them in separating T cells that trigger a transplant rejection from those that inhibit such a reaction: they mainly looked at molecular features that both cell types have - the one more, the other less. "It"s like looking at two cars that appear to be the same. Except that one is capable of driving while the other doesn"t drive anymore. But you cannot see that from the outside," says Michael Probst-Kepper. He deciphered the role of GARP: this new-found factor only exists in Tregs and initiates a complex network of various molecules. "If you don"t want a car to drive anymore, you pull the key out and cut the petrol pipe. GARP does the same: it prevents Tregs from stepping on the gas." The scientist artificially inserted GARP into those T cells that start an immune reaction against transplants. The result was a substantial advance for medicine: the transplant-rejecting T cells developed permanently into Tregs - those cells that inhibit the activation of aggressive T cells and thus prevent organ rejection. Furthermore, the researchers also furnished the counter evidence: Michael Probst-Kepper muted the GARP gene in Tregs. As a result, the Tregs lost their "peace making" characteristics. "The cells could start driving again," he says. "With this study we were able to show the complexity of the Treg system for the first time, developing a powerful tool for medicine to develop new therapies and drugs." Article: GARP: a key receptor controlling FOXP3 in human regulatory T cells. Probst-Kepper M, Geffers R, Krç¶ger A, Viegas N, Erck C, Hecht HJ, Luensdorf H, Roubin R, Moharregh-Khiabani D, Wagner K, Ocklenburg F, Jeron A, Garritsen H, Arstila TP, Kekaelaeinen E, Balling R, Hauser H, Buer J, Weiss S. J Cell Mol Med. 2009 May 13. [Epub ahead of print] Dr. Bastian Dornbach Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres


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