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Confirmation Hearings For Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor To Begin July 13
Senate Democrats on Tuesday announced that confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor"s nomination to the Supreme Court are set to begin on July 13, the New York Times reports. According to Democrats, the schedule puts the Senate on track to confirm Sotomayor before the August recess. By the Thursday before the recess, 72 days will have elapsed since President Obama nominated Sotomayor, which is the same number of days that passed during the confirmation process for Chief Justice John Roberts (Herszenhorn, New York Times, 6/10).Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, "There is no reason to unduly delay consideration of this well-qualified nominee." He said that critics" attacks on her character are "compelling reasons to proceed even ahead of this schedule," adding that Sotomayor needs to be given a chance to respond to her critics (Isenstadt/Raju, Politico, 6/9).Republican senators have started a campaign to stall the confirmation process, saying they need more time to review her judicial record (LoBianco, Washington Times, 6/10). Republican senators had requested to delay the hearing until September. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Democrats are acting "unilaterally" and "being dismissive of the minority"s legitimate concerns for a fair and thorough process."Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he discussed the timeline with Obama and Leahy, both of whom had reviewed a letter from McConnell that expressed concerns about the process starting before September. According to Reid, Obama and Leahy went ahead with an earlier schedule after concluding that the timetable was similar to that of past nominations (New York Times, 6/10).
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Revealing Leukemia-Initiating Cells
Two new studies reveal a way to increase the body"s appetite for gobbling up the cancer stem cells responsible for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a form of cancer with a particularly poor survival rate. The key is targeting a protein on the surface of those cells that sends a "don"t eat me" signal to the macrophage immune cells that serve as a first line of defense, according to the reports in the July 24th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.
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WHO Recommends Vaccine Makers Move Forward In Mass Production Of H1N1 Vaccine
"Saying the new H1N1 [swine flu] virus is "unstoppable", the WHO gave drug makers a full go-ahead to manufacture vaccines against the pandemic influenza strain on Monday and said healthcare workers should be the first to get one," Reuters reports (Fox, 7/14). This, as "Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand all reported deaths on Monday, while Saudi Arabia shut an international school after 20 students were diagnosed with the A(H1N1) virus," AFP/Google.com reports (7/13). "As of last week, the WHO had reported nearly 95,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic flu and 429 deaths," the Los Angeles Times reports (Maugh, 7/14).
Cardiovascular

Acute Stroke Centres Promise To 'revolutionise' Stroke Care Services

The growth of acute stroke care centres and systems of care could revolutionise clinicians" ability to treat patients with stroke, according to an analysis of services published ahead of print in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery. The analysis looks at how specialised stroke services across the world have been effective in improving acute and long-term outcomes for patients. Stroke is the third largest cause of death in the US, Europe, Canada and Japan. In England, around 110,000 people experience a stroke every year and 795,000 in the US. Researchers from the University of Texas studied how stroke services are developing and looked in particular at current and emerging therapies in acute ischemic stroke, in which a patient experiences the death of an area of brain tissue resulting from an inadequate supply of blood and oxygen to the brain due to blockage of an artery. In ischemic stroke cases, between 50% and 70% of survivors regain functional independence, while 15-30% are permanently disabled and 20% need institutional care three months after the stroke. Early management of patients with this form of stroke is aimed at minimising disability and improving a person"s functioning, say the researchers. Over the past decade, new therapeutic options have become available for stroke patients, says the analysis, including organised stroke care and primary stroke centres - specialised facilities which coordinate and promote patient access to the full range of treatments and services associated with stroke prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. These centres (similar to specialist stroke centres in the UK) can provide emergency medical services for first-line response and initial stabilisation; emergency department for hyperacute stroke care; acute stroke team availability within 15 minutes; neuroimaging and laboratory services in-house; stroke unit with treatment and secondary prevention; neurointerventional and neurosurgical services available; rehabilitation; primary prevention; community education and continuing medical education; and outcome and quality improvement activities. The authors conclude: "The development of acute stroke centres and systems of care may revolutionise the medical community"s ability to treat patients with stroke. Specialised stroke services have been effective in improving acute and long-term care outcome measures. "Focusing clinical res in neurocritical care units and stroke units provides greater specialist care, enhances knowledge in the field, and may also facilitate data collection and enrollment in clinical trials." "Review of current and emerging therapies in acute ischemic stroke." J NeuroInterv Surg 2009; doi 10.1136/jnis.2009.000117 Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery


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