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This phenomenon is seen elsewhere in the petroleum producing world, particularly in countries like Venezuela where resource nationalism has been on a steady rise in recent years. More than two-thirds of the Venezuelan population approve of President Hugo Chavez as a visionary leader for Latin America’s poor.

But on Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), a different portrait emerges. In the daily morning show "The Interview", the Venezuelan leader is ridiculed as "that guy" who should be "thrown out" before he becomes a dictator. Now, after more than 50 years …

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More Sensitive Technology Improves Assessment of Down Syndrome Risk

BURLINGTON, N.C. — Laboratory Corporation of America([R])Holdings (LabCorp([R])) (NYSE: LH), an industry leader in prenatal clinical laboratory testing, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with U.K. based Intema Ltd. to license its technology for combining first- and second-trimester Down syndrome screening test results to assess the risk of Down syndrome. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In January 2007, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a Practice Bulletin recommending that, regardless of age, all pregnant women should be offered screening for Down syndrome. ACOG’s new recommendation states that, ideally, patients should be offered testing that combines first- and second-trimester screening.

LabCorp is the first full-service, national clinical laboratory in the U.S. to license Intema’s Integrated and Sequential Down syndrome technology for screening analyses. When Integrated screening and Sequential screening test results include a fetal ultrasound nuchal translucency measurement, the highest Down syndrome detection rates are achieved and fewer false-positives are experienced than with current first- or second-trimester screening.

"LabCorp is pleased to add the Integrated and Sequential Down syndrome screening tests to our comprehensive menu of prenatal testing services," said LabCorp’s Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Medical Director, Myla P. Lai-Goldman, M.D. "These additional screening tools will allow physicians to offer patients a broader range of tests for screening with higher detection rates and low false-positive rates. This can help reduce the number of invasive tests needed and potentially reduce the number of procedure-related pregnancy losses."

About LabCorp([R])

Laboratory Corporation of America([R]) Holdings, a S&P 500 company, is a pioneer in commercializing new diagnostic technologies and the first in its industry to embrace genomic testing. With annual revenues of $3.6 billion in 2006, over 25,000 employees nationwide, and more than 220,000 clients, LabCorp offers clinical assays ranging from routine blood analyses to HIV and genomic testing. LabCorp combines its expertise in innovative clinical testing technology with its Centers of Excellence: The Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Genetics Institute, Inc., ViroMed Laboratories, Inc., The Center for Esoteric Testing, DIANON Systems, Inc., US LABS, and Esoterix and its Colorado Coagulation, Endocrine Sciences, and Cytometry Associates laboratories. LabCorp clients include physicians, government agencies, managed care organizations, hospitals, clinical labs, and pharmaceutical companies. To learn more about our growing organization, visit our Web site at: www.labcorp.com.

Each of the above forward-looking statements is subject to change based on various important factors, including without limitation, competitive actions in the marketplace and adverse actions of governmental and other third-party payors. Actual results could differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements. Further information on potential factors that could affect LabCorp’s financial results is included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and subsequent SEC filings.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

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DETROIT — Sarah Itoh, a self-described “almost-11 1/2,” betrayed no trace of nervousness as she told a roomful of genetic counselors and obstetricians about herself one recent afternoon.

She likes to read, she said. Math used to be hard, but it is getting easier. She plays clarinet in her school band. She is a junior Girl Scout and an aunt, and she likes to organize, so her room is very clean. Last year, she won three medals in the Special Olympics.

“I am so lucky I get to do so many things,” she concluded. “I just want you to know, even though I have Down syndrome, it is OK.”

Sarah’s appearance at Henry Ford Hospital here is part of an unusual campaign being undertaken by parents of children with Down syndrome who worry about their future in the face of broader prenatal testing that could sharply reduce the number of those born with the genetic condition.

Until this year, only pregnant women 35 and older were routinely tested to see if their fetuses had the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome. As a result, many couples were given the diagnosis only at birth. But under a new recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, doctors have begun to offer a new, safer screening procedure to all pregnant women, regardless of age.

About 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion.

Convinced that more couples would choose to continue their pregnancies if they better appreciated what it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome, a growing group of parents are seeking to insert their own positive perspectives into a decision often dominated by daunting medical statistics and doctors who feel obligated to describe the difficulties of life with a disabled child.

They are pressing obstetricians to send them couples who have been given a prenatal diagnosis and inviting prospective parents into their homes to meet their children. In Massachusetts, for example, volunteers in a “first call” network linking veteran parents to new ones are now offering support to couples deciding whether to continue a pregnancy.

The parent evangelists are driven by a deep-seated fear for their children’s well-being in a world where there are fewer people like them. But as prenatal tests become available for a range of other perceived genetic imperfections, they may also be heralding a broader cultural skirmish over where to draw the line between preventing disability and accepting human diversity.

“We want people who make this decision to know our kids,” said Lucy Talbot, the president of a support group here who prevailed on the hospital to give Sarah and two teenage friends an audience. “We want them to talk to us.”

The focus on the unborn is new for most parent advocates, who have traditionally directed their energy toward support for the living. But after broader testing was recommended in January, the subject began to hijack agendas at local support group meetings.

A dwindling Down syndrome population, which stands at about 350,000, could mean less institutional support and reduced funds for medical research. It could also mean a lonelier world for those who remain.

“The impact of these changes on the Down syndrome community is going to be huge,” said Dani Archer, a mother in Omaha who has set aside other Down syndrome volunteer work to plan how to reach prospective parents.

The 5,500 children born with Down syndrome each year in the United States suffer from mild to moderate mental retardation, are at high risk for congenital heart defects and a variety of other medical problems, and have an average life expectancy of 49. As adults, some hold jobs, but many have difficulty living independently.

“There are many couples who do not want to have a baby with Down syndrome,” said Deborah A. Driscoll, chief of the obstetrics department at the University of Pennsylvania and a lead author of the new recommendation from the obstetricians’ group. “They don’t have the resources, don’t have the emotional stamina, don’t have the family support. We are recommending this testing be offered so that parents have a choice.”

But the richness of their children’s lives, parent advocates say, is poorly understood. Early medical intervention and new expertise in infant heart surgery stave off many health problems; legally mandated inclusion in public schools has created opportunities for friendship and fostered broader social awareness of the condition.

With no formal financing or organization, parents are arranging to meet with local obstetricians, rewriting dated literature and pleading with health care workers to give out their phone numbers along with test results. Medical professionals have for the most part responded with caution. Genetic counselors, who often give test results to prospective parents, say they need to respect patients who may have already made up their minds to terminate their pregnancy. Suggesting that they read a flyer or spend a day with a family, they say, can unnecessarily complicate what is for many a painful and time-pressured decision.

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