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Washington Post Column Examines Issues Surrounding Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings
"When a Supreme Court nominee such as Judge Sonia Sotomayor comes before the Senate for confirmation, she is promised a full, fair hearing," yet "every nominee"s path is booby-trapped by the history of previous confirmation battles," Washington Post columnist David Broder writes. Broder examines prior confirmation hearings, noting that the "[o]ne thing that may make it harder to forget the partisan and ideological battles of the past is that President Obama found reasons to oppose" Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito while he was in the Senate.During Roberts" confirmation hearing, Obama said that although he was "sorely tempted to vote for Judge Roberts," he had issues with Roberts in cases where "precedent and rules of construction" are insufficient and where justice "can only be determined on the basis of one"s deepest values." Obama added that the rights of women and minorities are dependent on cases in which "the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge"s heart." Obama said Roberts" record on women"s rights and other issues was not strong enough to quell doubts about Roberts" "deepest values."Broder continues, "Based on the Obama precedent, the White House can hardly complain if Republicans push beyond the question of Sotomayor"s qualifications and examine her values -- and her biases." He concludes, "Someday, the Senate may again be satisfied to examine only professional credentials, recognizing the uncertain dynamics of a nine-person bench," but while past precedents survive, "that is not likely" (Broder, Washington Post, 6/4).
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Protesters Disrupt Democrats' Best-Laid Plans For Health Reform 'Conversations'
Over the weekend, a series of protests at Democratic events meant to promote health reform "organized by loose-knit coalition of conservative voters and advocacy groups, were a raucous start to what is expected to be weeks of political and ideological clashes over the health care overhaul," the New York Times reports. "Republicans said that the protests were just the beginning of spontaneous opposition to the health care proposals and that they would only gain momentum as Americans learn more about the legislation." But Democrats said they were only an effort to block discourse, and were anything but a grass-roots campaign. "This is a very coordinated effort," said one Democratic Congressman who was confronted by protestors at a grocery store (Herszenhorn and Stolberg, 8/3).
News of the day
New HIV/AIDS Initiative In Tanzania Aims To Increase Condom Availability
Condom vending machines will be unveiled on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as part of a six-year pilot HIV prevention initiative in the country, Tanzania"s The Citizen reports. Daniel Crapper of Population Services International said, "We are working very hard to ensure that condoms are widely available to the people." About 100 machines -- at a cost of about 380,000 Kenyan shillings, or $350 -- will be installed in various bars in Dar es Salaam. The project also will be carried out in Morogoro, Iringa and Mbeya before being rolled out to other regions across the country, according to Crapper. "Bars and night clubs are in our targets because they have the highest risk of unsafe sex, especially when people get drunk," Crapper said, adding, "This will enable condoms to be available almost daily." He noted that the condoms will be offered at a lower cost compared with some retail outlets and that the new initiative will not interfere with condom distribution systems throughout the country. According to The Citizen, the condoms will be available for purchase from the vending machines for 100 shillings, or about $1. John Wanyancha, PSI"s HIV/AIDS program manager, said that the project"s leaders focused on targeting areas with high HIV/AIDS rates after research revealed that inaccessibility to condoms at night was a major challenge in efforts to curb the spread of the disease. He noted that about 324 million condoms have been distributed in Tanzania since 2001 (Mbani, The Citizen, 5/15).
Mental Health

"Nature" And "Nurture" Variables Early Predictors Of AMD

Like many diseases, causes for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can be categorized as either "nature" or "nurture". Researchers think these factors, when used in the proper model, can be strong predictors of the disease. AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 years of age and older. A study published in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology"s peer-reviewed Investigative Ophthalmolgy & Visual Science ("Prediction Model for Prevalence and Incidence of Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration Based on Genetic, Demographic and Environmental Variables") shows that multiple genetic, ocular and environmental factors, including six genetic variants, age, smoking and body mass index heavily contribute to the incidence of AMD. Because all of these factors are related to AMD, they were combined and used to develop a predictive and possibly diagnostic model. "The determinants of the model can be assessed by completing a questionnaire and taking a blood test, and it is a tool which could be used to help guide prevention and treatments" said lead author and principal investigator, Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and Director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service at Tufts Medical Center. "Such information may be also be useful for screening those at high risk of AMD due to a positive family history or having signs of early or intermediate disease even among those with normal vision," the study says. Over 1,400 individuals in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) with an average follow-up time of 6.3 years were evaluated, and genetic specimens were genotyped in the collaborator"s lab in Boston. Both prevalence and development of advanced dry and wet AMD over the course of the study were included in the analyses. Researchers found all tested variables to be independently associated with AMD. The predictive power of the variables in the formula was very high, and the probability that the risk score based on the group of factors in that model for a progressor was higher than the corresponding risk score for a random non-progressor within the same 10 year age group was 83%. Their research also shows that although AMD has a strong genetic component, healthy behaviors can modify your genetic susceptibility. For example, among individuals with one genotype, the homozygous C3 risk genotype, the likelihood of progression to the advanced form of AMD increased from about three-fold for nonsmokers to nearly 10-fold for smokers. "Our algorithm could help with the selection of study participants for treatment trials and could one day enable doctors to choose the most efficacious treatment for individual patients," Dr. Seddon said. "It also gives any older person concerned about AMD, or any patient with early stages or a family history of AMD, even more incentive to avoid risk factors such as smoking and excessive weight." Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science is a peer-reviewed publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). ARVO is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include more than 12,000 eye and vision researchers from 73 countries. The Association encourages and assists research, training, publication and dissemination of knowledge in vision and ophthalmology. Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology


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