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Opinion Pieces React To Obama's Nomination Of Sotomayor To Supreme Court
Several newspapers on Wednesday included editorials and opinion pieces on President Obama"s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Summaries appear below. ~New York Times: Obama "seems to have made an inspired choice" in selecting Sotomayor as his nominee because she "has an impressive judicial record, a stellar academic background and a compelling life story," a Times editorial states. According to the editorial, "Based on what we know now, the Senate should confirm her so she can join the court when it begins its new term in October." The editorial notes that, "Conservative activists have already begun trying to paint Judge Sotomayor as a liberal ideologue, but her carefully reasoned, fact-based decisions indicate otherwise." The editorial continues, "If Judge Sotomayor joins the court, it will be a special point of pride for Hispanic-Americans," and "will also bring the paltry number of female justices back to two." It adds, "Judge Sotomayor, though, is more than just a distinguished member of two underrepresented groups. She is an accomplished lawyer and judge, who could become an extraordinary Supreme Court Justice" (New York Times, 5/27).~Gerard Magliocca, New York Times: In addition to sharing Obama"s "experience and intellect," Sotomayor "also mirror"s the president"s measured temperament," Magliocca, a law professor at Indiana University, writes in a Times opinion piece. Magliocca writes that he has known Sotomayor for 13 years and notes that although he is a conservative and has at times been "at odds with" Sotomayor professionally, he does not dispute her qualifications. According to Magliocca, "For those of us who think that intellectual rigor and fairness are the crucial factors" to be a Supreme Court justice, "no matter which party the president hails from, there is no question that Judge Sotomayor should be confirmed" (Magliocca, New York Times, 5/27).~USA Today: Upon hearing that Sotomayor was Obama"s nominee, Republican critics "quickly insisted that the Senate assure itself that Sotomayor would not make rulings based on her "personal politics, feelings and preferences,"" a USA Today editorial states. According to the editorial, "To some extent, the entire argument is overblown. People inevitably are the product of their experiences, and they can hardly shed their history and character at the courthouse door." The editorial continues, "That is why the court is enriched by having an eclectic mix of justices who can bring differing perspectives to bear on the case at hand." The editorial concludes, "Sotomayor"s education and experience make her far more than a political twofer who allowed Obama to check the "female" and "Hispanic" boxes. But there"s a limit to the application of empathy and heritage to the law, and her confirmation hearings will be an opportunity for her to spell out exactly where she believes that line falls," (USA Today, 5/27).~ Steven Waldman, Wall Street Journal: "Everyone seems to assume" that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is "ardently for abortion rights," but there is "stunningly little information about her abortion views -- and what we do know hardly paints her as a pro-choice activist," Waldman, president and editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com and author of "Founding Faith," writes in a Journal opinion piece. He continues that Sotomayor has ruled only on three cases "indirectly related to abortion," and each time ruled in a way preferred by abortion-rights opponents, "albeit for reasons unrelated to the merits of abortion." Although Sotomayor"s decisions in the cases were related "to matters of constitutional law and criminal procedure, ... at a minimum, it showed that whatever her abortion views, it didn"t produce some powerful inclination against the pro-life position," according to Waldman. "Now all of this might not mean anything. She may prove to be a strong advocate of Roe v. Wade. But it"s telling that the abortion interest groups took sides without knowing anything about her abortion
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Electronic Pill Shows Its Smarts By Measuring PH Levels In Digestive Tract
An electronic diagnostic tool called the SmartPill is swallowed by patients in order to take measurements as it travels through the gastrointestinal tract. A new study by physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center used the device in patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis (UC), determining that they have significantly more acidic pH in their colons, compared with the average person -- a finding that may impact treatment strategy.
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Obama's Health Reform Pitch Leaves Questions Unanswered For Many Viewers
The New York Times spoke to several families as they watched President Obama"s Wednesday night news conference. Thirty-six year old Craig Brown found that the event, meant to explain and gain support for health reform proposals, left him with many questions. He and his wife "remain frustrated by the lack of available detail about his plan"s contours and cost. They say they feel they are being asked to buy on spec from a government they do not trust. ... A similar unease was apparent in three other living rooms where families gathered to watch the news conference."
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Prostate Cancer Screening Benefits Are Small, Says US Report

The recently released results of two large randomized trials suggest there are no big benefits from prostate cancer screening, and if anything, they are quite small, says a new report by US researchers. And an accompanying editorial goes so far as to suggest that while screening has doubled the risk of a diagnosis, it has done little to reduce the risk of death from prostate cancer. The report appears in the online pre-print 29 June issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and is the work of Dr Otis W Brawley, of the American Cancer Society and Drs Donna Ankerst and Ian M Thompson, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Brawley and colleagues wrote that since prostate cancer affects many men as they age, the goal of screening should not be to find more cances but to reduce the risk of death from the disease, reduce the suffering it causes, or reduce the cost of treating and caring for patients who have it. They said that the current state of prostate cancer screening fails to reach any of these suggested standards. Neither the American Cancer Society nor any other major medical group recommends routine prostate cancer screening for men who are at average risk. In the US, about 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives, and since the mid 1980s, the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test has doubled the likelihood of a prostate cancer diagnosis. The authors wrote however, that while prostate cancer deaths have also gone down over the same period, it is not clear whether this is due to PSA testing or other factors like better treatment. The recent release of two large randomized trials suggests that "if there is a benefit of screening, it is, at best, small", wrote the authors. One study applied a computer model to the National Cancer Institute"s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries and estimated that 29 per cent of prostate cancers detected in white men and 44 per cent of those detected in black men were overdiagnosed. The other study used a similar model on European data and estimated that the overdiagnosis rate there was about 50 per cent. The authors suggest that men who are diagnosed with tumors that have little clinical significance undergo unnecessary diagnostic tests and treatment and are psychosocially harmed. They also have to put with the negative effect of being labelled a "cancer patient", which can affect them economically. On the public health monitoring front, overdiagnosis of prostate cancer has a big impact on the 5-year survival figures, causing confusion and failure to show the true progress of cancer control. The authors recommend that: "Methods to assess a man"s risk of prostate cancer, including those tools that integrate multiple risk factors, are now available and should be used in risk assessment." They also wrote that screening and assessment tools are improving, and there are also new ways to prevent the occurrence of prostate cancer, including the use of the drug finasteride, which is currently used to treat urinary symptoms that result from an enlarged prostate. Brawley also wrote a separate editorial on prostate cancer screening with Dr Peter Boyle, of the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France. They commented that: "The real impact and tragedy of prostate cancer screening is the doubling of the lifetime risk of a diagnosis of prostate cancer with little if any decrease in the risk of dying from this disease." In 1985, before PSA was used in the US, an American man"s lifetime risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer was 8.7 per cent, and the lifetime risk of dying from it was 2.5 per cent. In 2005, the lifetime risk of diagnosis shot up to 17 per cent, while the lifetime risk of dying has stayed at a low 3 per cent, they added, concluding that: "Men should discuss the now quantifiable risks and benefits of having a PSA test with their physician and then share in making an informed decision." Also, they urged that: "The weight of the decision should not be thrown into the patient"s lap." "Screening for Prostate Cancer." Otis W. Brawley, Donna P. Ankerst, and Ian M. Thompson. CA Cancer J Clin, published online before print June 29, 2009. DOI:10.3322/caac.20026 "Prostate Cancer: Current Evidence Weighs Against Population Screening." Peter Boyle and Otis W. Brawley. CA Cancer J Clin, published online before print June 29, 2009. DOI:10.3322/caac.20025 American Cancer Society. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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