Casey Cosponsors Bipartisan Bill To Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria US Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has cosponsored the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now Act, bipartisan legislation to spur development of new antibiotics to combat the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) introduced the legislation, which was also cosponsored by three other Senators. “Antibiotic-resistant bacteria cost the US health-care system more than $20 billion a year and lead to countless preventable deaths,” said Casey. “This bill will spur the de-
velopment of new drugs to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which disproportionately affect children and the elderly and have increasingly affected our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.” The GAIN Act will provide incentives to increase the commercial value of innovative antibiotic drugs and streamline the regulatory process so that pioneering infectious disease products can reach patients. Antibiotic-resistant infections are on the rise, causing tens of thousands of deaths each year – disproportionately affecting children and the elderly – and
leading to $26 billion in extra costs annually to the US healthcare system. The issue increasingly affects troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as many of them have been exposed to a new, highly-resistant and contagious strain of Acinetobacter bacteria – 89% of infections caused by mutant strains of Acinetobacter are resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics and 15% are resistant to all forms of treatment.
Fattah: Study Shows IQ Can Change In Teenage Brains Congressman Chaka Fattah (DPhila.), senior Democrat on House Appropriations’ Commerce, Justice, Science & Related Agencies Subcommittee and leading Congressional neuroscience-research advocate, responded to intriguing new brain research in the journal Nature. The Congressman Fattah said of this article, Verbal and non-verbal intelligence changes in the teenage brain, “This groundbreaking research calls into question so many of our assumptions; I want to thank the authors and 21 OCTOBER, 2011
sponsors for this impressive undertaking. We are called to reexamine our preconceived notions about the permanence and reliability of IQ in measuring the intellectual ‘potential’ of individuals.” The new research found significant changes in teenagers’ IQs, up to a 20-point swing, are substantiated by MRI scans – counter to the long-held understanding that IQ remains stable across lifespan. “I hope policymakers will see this preliminary research as a reason to continue to support interventions THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD
throughout children’s development,” Fattah said. “More importantly, this study raises new and interesting questions about the brain. The authors themselves ask whether this ‘plasticity’ is present through the life of an individual, or speaks to the unique developmental phase of adolescence. I am excited about the new discoveries future research will provide.” As the senior Democrat on CJS, Fattah has pursued a long-standing interest in cognitive brain function, brain disease and brain injury. This study touches on all |
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