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Vitamin D Found In Fish Boosts Brain Power
Eating fish - long considered "brain food" by generations of housewives - really is good for the old grey matter, as is a healthy dose of sunshine, new research suggests.
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White House Reassures Abortion-Rights Advocates Of Sotomayor's Views On Roe
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday assured abortion-rights groups that Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor shares President Obama"s views on constitutional protection for a right to privacy and a woman"s right to abortion, the Washington Post reports. Although many abortion-rights groups have welcomed the nomination, some have voiced concern over Sotomayor"s limited judicial record on cases involving abortion rights, especially the right to privacy that forms the basis for Roe v. Wade. Gibbs said that although Obama did not specifically ask Sotomayor about abortion rights during preliminary interviews, the White House is certain she agrees with the president on the constitutionality of Roe. Obama and Sotomayor "talked about the theory of constitutional interpretation, generally, including her views on unenumerated rights in the Constitution and the theory of settled law," Gibbs said, adding that Obama felt "very comfortable with her interpretation of the Constitution being similar to that of his." In a 2007 campaign debate, Obama said he would not nominate "somebody who doesn"t believe in the right to privacy," which the Supreme Court ruled gave women the right to terminate a pregnancy. Obama administration officials also said that they held private conversations on Thursday with groups on both sides of the abortion debate.The Post reports that Sotomayor has not dealt with constitutional issues regarding abortion rights in the nearly two decades she has been a federal judge. Her most notable decision regarding abortion was in 2002 when she ruled that the Bush administration had the right to implement the "global gag rule," which banned federal funding for international family planning groups that offer abortion services and information. Although that decision "reveals nothing about abortion rights," it is based on precedents from the Supreme Court and the Second U.S. Circuit of Appeals, the Post reports. Sotomayor wrote in her decision that the Supreme Court "has made clear that the government is free to favor the antiabortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds." She also ruled that a group of antiabortion-rights protesters could go forward with a lawsuit alleging police brutality; however, that case focused on issues of municipal liability, not the constitutional right to an abortion, according to the Post.Currently, the court is essentially split on the issue of the right to privacy and abortion. Retiring Justice David Souter was one of three authors in a 2002 decision that upheld the basic tenets Roe, and abortion-rights supporters believe that replacing Souter with someone who does not support Roe would threaten those rights, the Post reports. Senior Senate Democrats said that they expect the issue to be brought up during private meetings with Sotomayor next week. However, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a strong supporter of abortion rights, said she will not specifically ask Sotomayor about Roe. She said that she "feel[s] as comfortable as I could possibly feel" about Sotomayor"s support for abortion rights (Barnes/Shear, Washington Post, 5/29). Advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate are urging members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to question Sotomayor about her views during her confirmation hearings. Nancy Northup of the Center for Reproductive Rights said, "I think both sides can agree that the American people should know where its nominees to the Supreme Court stand on important constitutionally decided decisions like Roe v. Wade." Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said, "We"ve really been focused on asking senators to really probe this question of her judicial philosophy, as to whether or not she"s going to approach a decision like [Roe] as a jurist or as a woman" (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 5/28). Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said his group thinks it is "critical that senators thoroughly explore whether [Sotomayor] b
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Intestinal Inflammation Linked To Systemic Chromosome Damage
UCLA scientists have linked for the first time intestinal inflammation with systemic chromosome damage in mice, a finding that may lead to the early identification and treatment of human inflammatory disorders, some of which increase risk for several types of cancer.
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Bayer Completes Phase II Study On BAY 94-9172 In Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic Imaging Using Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, has completed its first global Phase II study analyzing the sensitivity and specificity of BAY 94-9172 (AV1/ZK) using positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with probable Alzheimer"s disease compared to healthy volunteers. BAY 94-9172 binds to the beta amyloid protein in the brain, a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer"s disease. The data is being analyzed and results will be presented at this years International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD) in Vienna. Additional information on BAY 94-9172 and related research & development programs will be presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) meeting in Toronto on June 13 - 17, 2009. "Beta amyloid has been proven to be a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer"s disease and it is accumulated in the brain very early in the course of the disease. Currently, the detection of this protein and, thus, the definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer"s disease is only possible upon post-mortem," said Thomas Balzer, M.D., Head of Global Clinical Development Therapeutic Area Diagnostic Imaging. "Thus an in-vivo imaging method would be clinically very useful as it could help in the differentiation between different dementia forms and either exclude Alzheimer"s disease or make it very likely. There is a high unmet medical need for a better and earlier differentiation between the various dementia forms and especially of Alzheimer"s disease. We hope that BAY 94-9172 can contribute to this for the patient"s benefit because an earlier and more accurate diagnosis allows for optimized care and treatment options," he added. Bayer Schering Pharma has extended its Phase II program to further expand the number of imaged individuals and will also begin its pivotal Phase III global clinical development program of BAY 94-9172 in the second half of this year. Interesting contributions at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) meeting in Toronto on June 13 - 17, 2009 are listed below: Test-retest variability of [18F]BAY94-9172 PET in Alzheimer"s disease and normal ageing - Authors: Rowe, C.C.(1); Pejovska, S.1; Mulligan, R.S.(1); Chan, G.(1); Jones, G.(1); Fels, L.(2); Kusi, H.(2); Reininger, C.(2); Rhode, B.(2); Putz, B.(2); O"Keefe, G.(1); Masters, C.L.(3); Villemagne, V.L.(1) (1)Austin Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; (2)Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany; (3)The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. - Scientific poster presentation at Neurology Posters, Poster Session I: Multimodality and Non-Radioactive Molecular Imaging, Educational Exhibits, Cardiovascular & Neuroscience Track Posters, Monday, June 15, 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM, Exhibit Hall E/F Kinetic modeling of BAY94-9172 binding to Ãÿ-amyloid in human brains using PET data - Authors: Becker, G.(1); Barthel, H.(1); Luthardt, J.(1); Patt, M.(1); Hammerstein, E.(2); Eggers, B.(3); Reininger, C.(4); Rohde, B.(4); Hegerl, U.(2); Gertz, H.-J.(2); Sabri, O.(1) Departments of (1)Nuclear Medicine and (2)Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, (3)Arzneimittelforschung Leipzig Ltd., (4)Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany - Oral presentation at Dementia II Session: Tracer Properties, Evaluation Methods, Tuesday, June 16, 12:30 PM - 2 PM, Room 701A Quantification of the radiation risk caused by [F18]BAY94-9172, a new PET tracer for detection of cerebral beta-amyloid plaques - Authors: Sattler, B.(1); Seese, A.(1); Barthel, H.(1); Patt, M.(1); Schildan, A.(1); Zollmann, F.(2); Reininger, C.(2); Rohde, B.(2); Eggers, B.(4); Gertz, H.-J.(3); Hegerl, U.(3); Sabri, O.(1) (1)University Hospital Leipzig, Dept. of Nuclear medicine; (2)Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin; (3)University Hospital Leipzig, Dept. of Psychiatry; (4)Pharmaceutical Research Leipzig GmbH - Scientific poster presentation at Dosimetry/ISRTRD Posters, Poster session IV: Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Track Posters,Tuesday, June 16 , 5:15 PM - 6:00 PM, Exhibit Hall E/F Comparisons of Animal-Human Translated and Human 18F-BAY94-9172 Amyloid Radiation Dosimetry - Authors: O"Keefe, G.J.(1); Saunder, T.H.(1); Gong, S.(1); Pathmaraj, K.U.(1); Tochon-Danguy, H.T.(1); Villemagne, V.(1); Dyrks, T.(2); Dinkelborg, L.(2); Holl, G.(2); Rowe, C.C.(1) (1)Centre for PET, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Australia; (2)Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany - Scientific poster presentation at Dosimetry/ISRTRD Posters: Posters Session IV: Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Track Posters, Tuesday, June 16, 5:15 PM - 6:00 PM, Exhibit Hall E/F About BAY 94-9172 BAY 94-9172 is an inlicensed (18)F-labeled PET tracer and binds to beta amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and that is considered being a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer"s disease. Alzheimer"s disease is a neuro-degenerative disease and most common cause of severe dementia in the age group over 60 years which may also lead to death. Imaging with (18)F-BAY 94-9172 should offer the possibility to support an early detection of Alzheimer"s disease with an in-vivo imaging method. BAY 94-9172 is currently in clinical development. About the Phase II study The open-label, nonrandomized, multi-center Phase II study with independent, blinded image evaluation was performed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the visual assessment of BAY 94-9172 (AV1/ZK) positron emission tomography (PET) images in detecting/excluding cerebral beta amyloid in patients with probable Alzheimer"s disease (AD) compared to healthy volunteers (HV). A total of 18 study centers in 4 countries (Australia, Germany, USA, Switzerland) recruited a total of 221 individuals (150 of which were imaged with BAY 94-9172) into the phase II trial in less than 8 months. About Alzheimer"s Disease Alzheimer"s disease affects an estimated 4.5 million people in the United States alone. That number has doubled since 1980 and is expected to exceed 12 million people by 2050 as the U.S. population ages. Worldwide representative epidemiological surveys estimate that 24.3 million people suffer from dementia today with about 4.6 million new cases every year. The number of people affected will double every 20 years to an estimated 81.1 million by 2040. Bayer HealthCare


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