Tag Archives: state

Genetic variants predicting aggressive prostate cancers identified

Their study was published in the online journal PLOS ONE in April. According to the authors, prostate cancer accounts for 20 percent of all cancers and 9 percent of cancer deaths. It is the most common cancer and was the second leading cause of cancer death in American men in 2012. "For most prostate cancer patients, the disease progresses relatively slowly," said study co-author Hui-Yi Lin, Ph.D., assistant member of the Chemical Biology and Molecular Medicine Program at Moffitt. …

Bosnians mourn baby who died for lack of ID number

Thousands of Bosnians gathered in front of parliament on Sunday evening to mourn a three-month-old baby who died after failing to get timely surgery because a parliamentary wrangle prevented her getting a passport. Berina Hamidovic was the first victim of politicking over identity numbers, which has united Bosnians in protests against the institutional paralysis that has blocked post-conflict reforms and the country's path towards the European Union. The somber gathering followed days of protests in Sarajevo and other towns over lawmakers' failure to agree new legislation on citizens' identity numbers. The row has left babies born since February unregistered, and therefore denied passports or medical cards. The protesters this time did not carry banners or posters, but encircled parliament with a ring of candles placed on the ground, and stood or walked in silence. The baby's parents said the time they had wasted persuading Serbian border police to let her in without a passport to go to a hospital in Belgrade for surgery had cost her her chance of life. The baby was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula - a hole between her gullet and windpipe - and had already had an unsuccessful operation in Sarajevo. “We practically had to take the child across the border illegally, although she was legally allowed to travel for urgent health reasons,” the baby's father Emir Hamidovic said. When the baby was finally admitted to hospital in Belgrade, Bosnian authorities refused to pay for the surgery. Though the Serbian doctors agreed to carry out the procedure, the baby contracted an infection and died. “She perhaps had a chance to stay alive, but this is an obvious example how the state does not take care of its citizens,” said Hamidovic, 31, who is unemployed. The protests over ID numbers started two weeks ago after another 3-month-old baby was unable to leave for urgent surgery abroad because lawmakers could not agree how to redraw the districts that determine the 13-digit identification number assigned to each citizen. Similar ethnic wrangles have plagued Bosnia since the end of its 1992-95 war, which left it divided along ethnic lines with a weak central government and a system of ethnic quotas that has stifled development. The Serbs are pressing for a new registration arrangement along territorial lines. Muslims, known as Bosniaks, say that would only cement the ethnic divide.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/17/bosnians-mourn-baby-who-died-for-lack-id-number/

Court ruling may open access, decrease costs for breast cancer gene test

A ruling by the Supreme Court that human genes can't be patented is expected to increase access and drop the cost for tests for gene mutations that greatly raise the risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. In a bit of a mixed message, the court unanimously decided that certain types of gene tests may still be protected by patents, yet it struck down patents that a company has long held for BRCA genes. The company makes the only test for two of those breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. “It appears that it will allow the market to open up so that other laboratories can offer the test,” said Rebecca Nagy, a genetics counselor at Ohio State University and president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. And that should make the tests cheaper and available to more women, she said. Hours after the ruling, one company - DNATraits, part of Houston-based Gene By Gene, Ltd. - said it would offer BRCA gene testing in the United States for $995 - less than a third of the current price. A primer on the case: Q: What did the court say? …