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New Technology At Great Ormond Street Hospital Is Aiding Faster Emergency Referrals To Its Specialist Paediatricians, England
Thanks to the introduction of an innovative IT system at the Children"s Acute Transport Service (CATS) hosted at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH), referring hospitals can now share perfect quality medical data on emergency patients more quickly and securely than ever before.
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Sotomayor Nomination Lacks Controversy GOP Had Hoped To Generate
Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor has not become the "political lightning rod" Republican senators hoped for, leaving doubt among some members of the GOP that the nomination process will be controversial enough to help them or hurt Democrats in the 2010 elections, Politico reports. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that "at least so far" Sotomayor "doesn"t have the punch put there in terms of fundraising and recruiting." Thune said that one reason the GOP response to Sotomayor has been relatively quiet is that she is nominated to replace retiring Justice David Souter, rather than a more conservative justice. "When one of the conservatives leaves the court, then I think you"ll have a huge fight, and I think that will be very galvanizing," Thune said. Similarly, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he does not foresee Sotomayor"s nomination becoming a major issue in the 2010 campaigns. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said that the GOP would use witnesses at Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing to present some opposition arguments (Raju, Politico, 6/22). Sessions and other Senate Republicans are preparing a series of speeches to highlight their concerns about Sotomayor, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to a Senate Republican aide, the focus of Sessions" speech will be Sotomayor"s role in the group LatinoJustice PRLDEF, for which she served as a board member from 1980 to 1992. Unless new information surfaces, there are few doubts that Sotomayor will be confirmed, the Journal reports (Bravin, Wall Street Journal, 6/22).
News of the day
SCOTUS Ruling Reversing Decision From Sotomayor's Court Not Expected To Affect Nomination
The Supreme Court"s 5-4 reversal of a decision endorsed by a three-judge appellate panel that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is attracting criticism from the judge"s conservative opponents but is not expected to have a significant effect on delaying her confirmation, the Washington Post reports. The appellate panel in 2008 upheld New Haven, Conn."s decision to discard a promotion test for firefighters after no blacks and only two Hispanics qualified for advancement after taking the test (Markon/Kane, Washington Post, 6/30). The panel"s ruling affirmed a lower court"s decision that the city had a right to discard the test based on a segment of civil rights law involving actions that have a "disparate impact" on minorities. A group of white and Hispanic firefighters who would have received promotions under the test sued, alleging reverse discrimination. Democrats and legal analysts said that Sotomayor was following legal precedent in the 2008 ruling and that it was the Supreme Court, which has the ability to exercise more discretion, that chose to make law by reversing the decision (Friedman, CongressDaily, 6/29). The Supreme Court typically reverses about 75% of the cases it reviews, according to legal experts. The court previously has reversed four of Sotomayor"s rulings and upheld three of her decisions, the Post reports. Tom Goldstein, a lawyer and founder of the SCOTUSblog Web site, said, "I don"t think it will persuade anybody who is inclined one way or another to change their views about Sotomayor" (Washington Post, 6/30). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "The main charge against Sotomayor is that she will be an activist judge, but this decision clearly shows that she won"t." He said that the results of the case "won"t change things a wit," adding that "in fact, it bolsters (the claim) that she is mainstream" (CongressDaily, 6/29). Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the New Haven case "sharpens our focus on [Sotomayor"s] troubling speeches and writings" that "indicate ... that personal experiences and political views should influence a judge"s decisions." He added that the issue "will clearly be the subject of questioning" at Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin on Monday (Phillips, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/29).
Diagnostics

Scientists Test New Drug Combo Against Breast Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates 192,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year with more than 40,000 individuals dying from the disease. In New Jersey alone 6,400 new cases are expected with 1,400 deaths. In an effort to combat such statistics, researchers at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) have opened a clinical trial, which will evaluate a new drug combination for patients with breast cancer who are set to undergo surgery to remove the tumor. At focus is the process of stopping angiogenesis (blood vessel growth), which is necessary for cancer tumors to grow and spread. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. CINJ is one of the participating centers in the United States and Canada conducting the study, which is sponsored by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Foundation Research Program. This trial will look at the effects of an investigational drug called pazopanib when given with chemotherapy before surgery and when given without chemotherapy after surgery. Pazopanib, which does not yet have the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, possibly blocks new blood vessel growth in cancer tumors and also targets and halts certain proteins that help cancer cells grow. Antoinette R. Tan, MD, a medical oncologist at CINJ and assistant professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is the national study chair for the trial and the lead investigator of the study at CINJ. She notes, "In adding pazopanib to the standard of care, this new combination may improve our ability to reduce the size of breast cancer tumors. By targeting blood vessel growth in particular, we can cut off a key lifeline that enables tumors to grow and spread." Before taking part in the trial, interested participants will undergo various examinations including a general physical and routine blood and urine tests. Selected patients will receive pazopanib with chemotherapy prior to breast surgery and will receive pazopanib by itself after surgery. Pazopanib is taken by mouth, while chemotherapy is given through a vein. Patients will keep a medication diary and continue with standard testing such as blood work and physical exams throughout their participation in the trial, which is expected to be about two years. Some 100 participants total are being sought from all sites Women at or over age 18, who have breast cancer and have not yet undergone surgery to remove the tumor are eligible to take part in the trial, although other criteria must be met. Clinical trials, often called cancer research studies, test new treatments and new ways of using existing treatments for cancer. At CINJ, researchers use these studies to answer questions about how a treatment affects the human body and to make sure it is safe and effective. There are several types of clinical trials currently underway at CINJ, including those that diagnose, treat, prevent, and manage symptoms of cancer. Many treatments used today, whether drugs or vaccines; ways to do surgery or give radiation therapy; or combinations of treatments, are the results of past clinical trials. As New Jersey"s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, CINJ offers patients access to treatment options not available at other institutions within the state. CINJ currently enrolls more than 1,000 patients on clinical trials, including approximately 15 percent of all new adult cancer patients and approximately 70 percent of all pediatric cancer patients. Enrollment in these studies nationwide is fewer than five percent of all adult cancer patients. About The Cancer Institute of New Jersey The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is the state"s first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is dedicated to improving the prevention, detection, treatment and care of patients with cancer. CINJ"s physician-scientists engage in translational research, transforming their laboratory discoveries into clinical practice, quite literally bringing research to life. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is a center of excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Network is comprised of hospitals throughout the state and provides a mechanism to rapidly disseminate important discoveries into the community. Flagship Hospital: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Major Clinical Research Affiliate Hospitals: Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Overlook Hospital, and Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Affiliate Hospitals: Bayshore Community Hospital, CentraState Healthcare System, Cooper University Hospital*, JFK Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton (CINJ at Hamilton), Saint Peter"s University Hospital, Somerset Medical Center, Southern Ocean County Hospital, The University Hospital/UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School*, and University Medical Center at Princeton. Cancer Institute of New Jersey


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