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Pakistan Receives Grants To Fight TB, Infant, Maternal Mortality, Health Minister Says
Pakistan has obtained international support for its efforts to fight tuberculosis and lower infant and maternal mortality rates, Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, the health minister, said recently after returning from the 62nd World Health Assembly (WHA), the International News reports.
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Kansas Gov. Parkinson Urged To Veto Removal Of Planned Parenthood Funding In Budget
Supporters of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri are urging Gov. Mark Parkinson (D) to veto a provision in a budget bill (H.B. 2373) that would eliminate the group"s funding, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports. The bill aims to balance Kansas" budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The original bill was approved by the Legislature and former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who resigned in April to become HHS secretary. It included $250,000 in state funding for Planned Parenthood for FY 2010. However, lawmakers later amended the budget with a new bill that includes a provision eliminating the funding after state revenue projections declined, the AP/Eagle reports.While antiabortion-rights advocates want Parkinson to retain the provision, about two dozen supporters of Planned Parenthood gathered on Tuesday to urge Parkinson to line-item veto the provision. They left petitions at the governor"s office with about 3,500 signatures, the AP/Eagle reports. Planned Parenthood attorney Pedro Irigonegarary said the loss of funding would negatively impact "a large number of innocent people." He added that the group "is about family values. They have taken those two words from us and now it"s time to take them back." According to the AP/Eagle, Planned Parenthood said the state funding is given to its Ellis and Sedgwick county clinics, which do not perform abortions. The group also noted that no state funds are used for abortion procedures performed at its clinics in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City.The governor"s office said that Parkinson intends to act on the bill sometime this week, although he will not announce what action he will take on any legislation in advance. Parkinson has said that he holds "very similar" views on abortion rights as Sebelius, who supports such rights. However, he has yet to act on any bills regarding abortion, the AP/Eagle reports. Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said that the group is asking members to contact legislators and the governor"s office in support of retaining the measure. The AP/Eagle reports that if Parkinson vetoes the measure, lawmakers could attempt to override it (Manning, AP/Wichita Eagle, 5/19).
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Trust Supporters Hold Celebration Day For Mental Health Care, UK
Patients, staff and carers who support the work of the county"s leading provider of NHS services to adults with mental ill health, invited the public to join in their first "birthday" celebrations last week.
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Brain Development Affected By Nanotech Particles In Mouse Model

Maternal exposure to nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO2) affects the expression of genes related to the central nervous system in developing mice. Researchers writing in BioMed Central"s open access journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that mice whose mothers were injected with the nanoparticles while pregnant showed alteration in gene expression related to neurological dysfunction. Ken Takeda led a team of researchers from the Tokyo University of Science, Japan, who carried out the tests. He said, "Nanotechnology and the production of novel man-made nanoparticles are increasing worldwide. Titanium dioxide in its nanoparticle form has a high level of photocatalytic activity, and can be used for air and water purification and self-cleaning surfaces. Our findings, however, add to the current concern that this specific nanomaterial may have the potential to affect human health". For this study, the researchers injected pregnant mice with Ti02 nanoparticles. The brains were obtained from male fetuses/pups on the 16th day of gestation and at several points after birth. Comparing these brains to those of control animals, the researchers were able to demonstrate changes in expression of hundreds of genes. According to Takeda, "Diseases associated with these genes include those we normally consider to develop in childhood, such as autistic disorder, epilepsy and learning disorders, and also others that arise mainly in adulthood or old age, such as Alzheimer"s disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson"s disease." Nanotechnology deals with engineering at the molecular scale. Materials reduced to nanoparticles behave in ways dissimilar to those we"re used to - altering their reactivity, surface area to volume and any number of other properties. While larger TiO2 particles are commonly used in paints and sunblocks, nanoparticles of TiO2 are specially created for new applications in coatings and self-cleaning surfaces and their effects on living tissue are only beginning to be understood. It should be noted that this gene expression data cannot be interpreted as a direct health effect. In addition, the nanoparticles were deliberately injected at a high dose, so the relevance to real-life exposure may be limited. Notes: Maternal exposure to nanoparticulate titanium dioxide during the prenatal period alters gene expression related to brain development in the mouse Midori Shimizu, Hitoshi Tainaka, Taro Oba, Keisuke Mizuo, Masakazu Umezawa and Ken Takeda Particle and Fibre Toxicology (in press) http://www.particleandfibretoxicology.com/ Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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