Planned Parenthood PAC to spend at least $500K in upcoming election campaigns

The Planned Parent Maine Action Fund has moved in behind Democratic U.S. Representative Mike Michaud’s bid for governor with a promise to spend over $500K in campaigns for upcoming elections.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 14, 2014

Protecting women’s health and reproductive rights, primarily access to birth control and abortion, is the purpose behind a political action committee’s unprecedented campaign investment for upcoming gubernatorial and legislative races this year in Maine.

The Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund PAC promises to spend at least $500K to ensure that Mike Michaud, a Democratic U.S. Representative, wins the upcoming race for state governor in November. The funding will also support the campaigns of a number of other political candidates, most of home are Democrats. The announcement was made Thursday and marks an enormous increase over the $14K the group spent in 2010 and 2012 races combined.

The PAC hopes that the announcement will underscore the importance of having a strong turnout among women voters in November. Both Michaud and independent candidate Eliot Cutler have been emphasizing their pro-abortion stances as well as their positions on other issues that tend to resonate with women voters. The two are battling incumbent governor Republican Paul LePage.

A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows corporations to opt out of paying for birth control provided under the Affordable Care Act, and this has PAC Chairwoman Nicole Clegg concerned.

“Women’s health and rights are under attack around the nation. The stakes are high, and now is the time to make a stand,” said Clegg. “Mike has worked with us over the years and is one of our must trusted allies.”

The PAC also plans to endorse nearly two dozen legislative campaigns. Senate minority leader Roger Katz is the only Republican to receive an endorsement by the group in his re-election bid against Democrat Rebecca Cornell du Houx.

Planned Parenthood’s funds will be used for field operations, television spots, and online advertisements.

“The majority is going to be invested in the governors race,” Clegg said.

According to Clegg, Planned Parenthood has been ramping up its efforts in since 2010 when the Tea Party began challenging established trends in 2010, when LePage was elected and the Republicans took control of the Legislature.

“All of a sudden you started to see across the country governors defunding Planned Parenthood and (other) very targeted attacks to our organization,” said Clegg.

Scientists find strong link between stroke and growth hormone treatment in childhood

Children who were treated with growth hormone replacement for short stature or isolated growth hormone deficiency are at a much higher risk for stroke later in life, a new study reveals.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 14, 2014

Treating one condition nearly always seems to create the need to treat another, either at the time or later down the road. A new European report published this week the journal Neurology suggests a substantial risk of stroke in young adulthood among those who received growth hormone replacement as children.

The authors of the study investigated the occurrence of stroke and which types of stroke occurred in a large, population-based cohort of patients in France who received growth hormone to treat short stature in childhood. The results show a low risk increase for strokes caused by burst blood vessels in young adults treated as children, warranting that patients who received the growth hormone treatments should be counseled on this risk and its implications.

“This information should also be made available to those who misuse (growth hormone) for improving athletic performances, body building, and other questionable reasons,” the French and British researchers wrote in the report. The number of teens who report using human growth hormone to enhance performance is on the rise, according to recent estimates.

Growth hormone replacement therapy to treat children for pituitary gland deficiencies, increase height, and a variety of other conditions was first approved in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. Earlier research has suggested increased risk of death from heart and vascular diseases from the growth hormone treatment. However, little is known about the long-term effects of the therapy, according to the authors of the new report.

The current study found the link strongest for hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel in the central nervous system bursts. Most strokes, when all causes are considered, tend to be ischemic in nature. These are caused by blood vessel blockages by clot formation. The study did not reveal why hemorrhagic stroke occurs more frequently in those with history of growth hormone treatment.

“What really needs to be remembered is that there was a small number events and that this was an association,” said Dr. Laurie Cohen, director of the Neuroendocrinology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and who was not involved in the new study. “It doesn’t show that growth hormone causes strokes.”

Intel develops devices for Parkinson’s research

The Michael J. Fox Foundation will fund an effort to equip Parkinson’s disease patients around the U.S. with wearable devices designed and manufactured by the Intel Corporation in a partnership intended to advance research.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 13, 2014

While the growing market for wearable consumer electronic devices expands, the microchip manufacturer Intel sets its sights on the more altruistic goal of applying the technology to advancing research on one of the most common debilitating neurological diseases in the U.S.

The tech giant announced Wednesday that it is partnering with the Michael J. Fox Foundation in an effort to provide wearable data collection devices to Parkinson’s disease patients across the nation in an effort to collect data in a new way that better reflects the mechanical symptoms of the chronic condition. The devices will record data that will help doctors analyze and interpret hand tremors, gait abnormalities, and other common manifestations of the disease.

“Nearly 200 years after Parkinson’s disease was first described by Dr. James Parkinson in 1817, we are still subjectively measuring Parkinson’s disease largely the same way doctors did then,” said Todd Sherer, CEO of The Michael J. Fox Foundation. “Data science and wearable computing hold the potential to transform our ability to capture and objectively measure patients’ actual experience of disease, with unprecedented implications for Parkinson’s drug development, diagnosis and treatment.”

According to Intel’s announcement, the chip maker will provide the devices and software while the Foundation will supply funding that will make it possible for patients to wear the devices and then have the data analyzed and interpreted by experts.

Recently, Intel has been looking more at applying wearable technology in the health sciences and leaving the consumer gadgetry to companies such as Google with its Android Wear smartwatch and Apple Computer, which is expected to answer with its own device shortly. A tangible commitment to Intel’s research focus came earlier in the year when it acquired Basis Science, a manufacturer of health-oriented smartwatches. Intel has also invested in Thalmic Labs, a company developing human gesture control technology for computers, and Recon Instruments, which is working on heads-up displays.

Meanwhile, the software developers at Intel are diligently working to deliver ways in which the data from the wearable monitors may be best analyzed.

“We’re exploring how to pull data out of devices in real-time,” Ron Kasabian, general manager of Intel’s Big Data Solutions group, told Reuters. “We can mine data to improve research, and better understand the behaviors and progression of the disease.”

Disturbed sleep linked to higher suicide risk

Researchers report on the first study to link suicide in advanced age with prior disturbances in sleep and find a connection strong enough to warrant adding sleep quality in suicide risk assessment.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 13, 2014

Health experts have affirmed the importance of sleep for years, but findings from a new study indicate that life, or at least the will to live, may literally depend on getting a good night’s rest. The results indicate that older adults may exhibit considerably higher risk for suicide as much as ten years after experiencing poor subjective sleep quality. Surprisingly, other symptoms of depression need not be present for the risk to increase.

“These findings suggest that sleep disturbances stand alone as a valid risk factor — independent of depressed mood — and worthy of focus as a potential [suicide] risk factor, screening and intervention tool,” said lead author Rebecca Bernert at Stanford University School of Medicine. “Compared to many other known suicide risk factors, sleep disturbances are arguably less stigmatizing and may be undone, and are highly treatable.”

Researchers used a nested case-control study design in which 20 suicide decedents were matched according to age, sex, and community to 400 control subjects, all selected from the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly, an ongoing cohort of 14,456 older adults with ten years of followup. Poor sleep was defined to include difficulty falling or staying asleep, waking up too early in the morning, not feeling fully rested after a night’s sleep, or experiencing sleepiness during the day.

The design of the study prevents the scientists from concluding that disturbed sleep causes suicide, nor can the researchers be certain of why the link exists. However, Bernert speculates that a compromise to sleep quality leads to mood disregluation.

“The idea is simple: when we sleep poorly, it impacts how we feel and the way in which we manage our emotions, as well as decision-making,” Bernert said.

Before adjusting for variables relating to depression, subjects that reported poor subjective sleep quality were found to have 40 percent greater odds of committing suicide.  Even after accounting for the effects of depression, the odds remained elevated at 30 percent above those who routinely got adequate sleep.

Bernert and her colleagues are now looking into possible explanations for the association between disturbed sleep and suicide.

Ingredient in Colgate toothpaste raises cancer concerns

Colgate-Palmolive recently stopped incorporating a chemical called triclosan in its soap products due to human health concerns, but the compound of questionable safety remains in Colgate Total toothpaste.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 12, 2014

One would think that if a chemical is not safe for hands, then it is not safe for teeth and gums. However, an ingredient in Colgate Total toothpaste called triclosan was removed a few years ago from hand soaps following questions raised about its safety.

Colgate-Palmolive, the maker of the toothpaste, stopped including triclosan in its soap products, citing “changing consumer preferences.” However, some have suggested that the move came on the heels of increasing safety concerns regarding the chemical raised by consumer advocacy groups and Congressional leaders.

Several studies on the safety of triclosan conducted in rats and mice discovered adverse health effects when administered in high concentrations. These included reduced fertility and increased risk for certain cancers. Animal studies involving very high concentrations serve as routine foundational exercises in toxicity testing before a chemical can be approved for human use.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal government’s regulatory agency for such decisions. However, the FDA relies on the results on safety testing conducted by the companies seeking approval, not from independent, third-party laboratories.

A Bloomberg News investigative report reveals that there may be some safety-related “red flags” among 35 pages of toxicology data accompanying the approval application for Colgate Total. Results from one animal model study indicate the presence of “fetal bone malformations in mice and rats.”

While evidence from direct observation of triclosan exposure in humans is lacking, the website for Colgate Total states that the safety of the chemical in toothpaste is supported by over 80 scientific studies involving some 19,000 people. Moreover, according to the site, “Colgate Total is clinically proven to work better than other toothpastes to reduce these germs that can cause the gum disease gingivitis.”

Colgate has been eager to cite practical, real-world consumer-based evidence. Said Thomas DiPiazza, Colgate spokesperson, to Bloomberg: “In the nearly 18 years that Colgate Total has been on the market in the U.S., there has been no signal of a safety issue from adverse-event reports.”

The FDA is expected to announce a ruling on whether triclosan is safe for any human use in 2016.