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ZyGEM Releases Data Confirming Its PrepGEM(R) Bacteria Kit Is A Simple, Universal Method For Extracting DNA From Different Bacteria Species
ZyGEM Corp. Ltd., a provider of innovative enzyme-based products for DNA extraction and other life sciences applications, today announced the availability of a new application note documenting that its prepGEM(R) Bacteria DNA extraction kit is capable of producing high quality, ready-to-analyze DNA from a broad range of bacterial species, including mixed or unknown sample types. This addresses an important unmet need --current DNA extraction methods typically require the use of different enzymes for each type of bacteria tested. The prepGEM(R) Bacteria kit also uses a single closed-tube system that reduces extraction time and cost while protecting the sample from contamination and making the kit easily adaptable for automation.
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Food And Drug Administration Moves Towards Greater Openness
The Food and Drug Administration is taking steps towards greater openness. The Associated Press reports that FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg "announced Tuesday she has created a task force to make recommendations on how the agency can release more information in such areas as drug evaluation and enforcement matters. She wants a report in six months." Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein will head the task force, which will represent all of the FDA"s major divisions as well as its law enforcement branch. It will hold two public meetings with the first on June 24. "The FDA has long operated under strict confidentiality rules," the AP reports, and in opening up information, one sensitive issue will be what to do with unpublished clinical trial data from drug manufacturers. Despite such concerns, "Hamburg said she believes the need for secrecy may have been taken too far, and is harming the FDA"s credibility within the medical community and among consumers" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/2).
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Exercise Is Healthy For Mom And Child During Pregnancy
Physicians should recommend low to moderate levels of exercise to their pregnant patients, even if they have not exercised prior to pregnancy, states a report published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). According to this review article, exercise can strengthen and improve overall musculoskeletal and physiologic health as well as pregnancy related symptoms. Exercise such as aerobics, impact and nonimpact activities, resistance training and swimming:
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Senate Dems Seek Compromise On Contentious Health Reform Issues

A leading Democratic senator, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said Sunday Democrats would need Republican support to make ambitious proposals to overhaul the health system a reality, the Associated Press reports. "Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle," said Conrad, who chairs the Budget Committee. Democrats remain divided over the plans, prompting the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to say, "The only thing bipartisan about the measure so far is the opposition to it" (7/26). Conservative opponents of the reform effort were pleased as the Senate bill stalled and lawmakers indicated that they would not vote until September, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. The delay gives "both sides an entire month to whip up supporters," but there is general agreement that "the August break hands an opportunity to opponents, who can use the time to highlight specific objections" (Fram, 7/27). The Senate bill is delayed in the Finance Committee, which has sought an agreement some Republicans could support, Politico reports. A variety of issues could make it more or less difficult for whatever emerges from Finance to attract 60 votes from the whole body. Topping the list of contentious issues are a plan for nonprofit insurance co-ops, an alternative to the government-run insurance plan touted by more liberal Democrats, and a plan to tax health benefits to pay for the overhaul (Budoff Brown, 7/27). The tax on employer-sponsored health insurance, opposed by many Democrats including President Obama, gained new momentum Sunday as Conrad discussed it once again on ABC"s "This Week," the New York Times reports. Separately, Obama adviser David Axelrod noted that the President may support taxes on certain, super-costly benefit packages, such as one awarded to senior Goldman Sachs bankers that rings in at $40,543 a year (Wayne and Herszenhorn, 7/26). Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is sidelined by brain cancer after pushing for reform for over four decades, the Los Angeles Times reports. At this difficult juncture for Senate Democrats, "He has made himself the poster child of what he calls "my life"s cause," and is using his illness in a final press for universal healthcare," the Times says. In a Newsweek essay in the latest edition, he wrote, "We"re almost there." Democrats seeking compromise feel Kennedy"s absence sharply because "few senators possess the types of friendships that have brought Republicans to the table or the gravitas that holds the party rank and file in line" (Fiore and Levey, 7/26). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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