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Obama Nominates Hispanic Roman Catholic Theologian For Vatican Ambassador
President Obama has nominated Miguel Diaz, a Cuban-born Roman Catholic and an associate professor of theology at the College of Saint Benedict at St. John"s University in Minnesota, as the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, the White House announced on Wednesday, AP/Boston Globe reports. According to the AP/Globe, although the selection of an ambassador for the Vatican does not usually draw much scrutiny, Diaz"s nomination "comes as tensions run high in the U.S. church over Catholics" voice in the public square and the politics of abortion," especially in the wake of the controversy over Obama"s recent speech at the University of Notre Dame. Another potential issue that might arise during Diaz"s confirmation is his support for former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) during her nomination to be HHS secretary, the AP/Globe reports. Although conservative Catholics expressed anger that Sebelius, who is Catholic, supports abortion rights, Diaz joined 25 other Catholic leaders and scholars who signed a statement supporting her as "a woman of deep faith," citing her record on health care and reducing abortion rates in Kansas, according to the AP/Globe.In January at Obama"s inauguration, Diaz told the Catholic News Service that Obama was "committed to working" with people who defend "life in the womb" and holds much respect for those whose positions he does not agree with. "Wherever we can, we should advance life at all stages," he said. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on his positions on various issues, which he said would be inappropriate before his confirmation hearing. The AP/Globe reports that the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican would play a prominent role in scheduling a possible meeting in July between Obama and Pope Benedict XVI during Obama"s visit to Italy (Gorski, AP/Boston Globe, 5/28).
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Burgess Accepts President Obama's Offer To Meet And Discuss Health Reform Bill
Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) sent a letter to President Obama yesterday accepting his invitation to "come over to the White House and go over line-by-line" the health care reform plan the President is pushing.
News of the day
A Bidirectional Relationship Between Chronic Stress And Sleep Problems shown by study
According to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, people with chronic stress report shorter sleep duration, worse sleep quality, and more daytime functioning impairments. Conversely, daytime functioning impairments and shorter sleep duration demonstrated a predictive relationship with habitual stress complaints.
Oncology

Increased Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression In Patients With Bladder Pain Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis

UroToday.com - Angiogenesis is thought to be important in many chronic inflammatory disorders, including diabetic retinopathy, atherosclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. It has also been suggested that the angiogenic components of these diseases contribute to and exacerbate disease conditions. Increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been detected in patients with asthma and have been shown to be correlated with the severity of the disease. Anti-VEGF therapy has been shown to ameliorate inflammation in animal models of chronic inflammatory bowel disease. This background forms the prelude to a very interested study by Kiuchi and colleagues from Osaka, Japan. The authors note that VEGF is a crucial angiogenic factor, and its secretion is strictly regulated to form functional vessel networks. Pericytes are perivascular cells that wrap around microvessels and contact endothelial cells through discontinuities in the shared basement membrane. When vessels lose pericytes, they become tortuous and hemorrhagic. Abnormal activity of VEGF contributes to insufficient coverage of pericytes, resulting in leaky and hemorrhagic vessels. Kiuchi and coworkers examined biopsy specimens from 30 patients with BPS/IC who demonstrated glomerulations on hydrodistention, and compared them with biopsies from 10 control patients who had isolated bladder tumors and no symptoms of voiding dysfunction. None of the control patients had glomerulations after distention. Immunohistochemical analysis for VEGF expression, microvessel density and immature microvessels was performed. Pericyte coverage of microvessels in the specimens was used as an indicator of mature microvessels, and pericytes were identified by double-immunohistochemistry for CD34 and í±-smooth muscle actin. The researchers generated data that allowed them to conclude that there is an increased VEGF and immature vascularization in the bladder biopsies from patients with BPS/IC, and VEGF expression was associated with the degree of pain experienced by the patients. Taken together, Kiuchi believes that VEGF might contribute to pain and promote the formation of immature vessels in the bladder of patients with BPS/IC. This increased immature vascularization might have a potential role in glomerulations in these patients. Kiuchi H, Tsujimura A, Takao T, Yamamoto K, Nakayama J, Miyagawa Y, Nonomura N, Takeyama M, Okuyama A BJU Int. 2009 Mar 4. (Epub ahead of print) doi:10.1111/j.1464-410X.2009.08467.x Written by UroToday.com Contributing Editor Philip M. Hanno, MD, MPH UroToday - the only urology website with original content written by global urology key opinion leaders actively engaged in clinical practice. To access the latest urology news releases from UroToday, go to: www.urotoday.com Copyright © 2009 - UroToday


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