NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY
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Teenage Birth Rates Higher In More Religious States
Rates of births to teenage mothers are strongly predicted by conservative religious beliefs, even after controlling for differences in income and rates of abortion. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Reproductive Health have found a strong association between teenage birth rates and state-level measures of religiosity in the U.S.
Joseph Strayhorn, an adjunct faculty member with Drexel University and the University of Pittsburgh, and Jillian Strayhorn used data from the Pew Forum's US Religious Landscapes Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate the state level effects of belief on teen birth rates. Joseph Strayhorn said, "The magnitude of the correlation between religiosity and teen birth rate astonished us."
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Snorting Stem Cells
Various ways exist to deliver adult stem cells for repair of tissues, such as injection directly into the tissue site or by intravenous injection. Now comes a new, novel way to deliver stem cells to the brain–snort them. Scientists at the University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany presented evidence using mice that snorting stem cells up the nose is an effective way to deliver the cells to the brain. Basically they put stem cells into nose drops, put the drops up the noses of the mice, and the mice snorted the suspension high into their noses. The stem cells then crossed into the brain. They were able to track migration of the fluorescently-labeled stem cells through the brain.
This gives "up your nose" a whole new meaning for stem cells.
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Notre Dame president to attend 2010 March for Life
From the South Bend Tribune via Gateway Pundit:
In the aftermath of the controversial commencement visit by President Barack Obama, the University of Notre Dame's president plans to participate in the March for Life in January in Washington, DC.
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, the university president, announced Wednesday in an e-mail to the campus community that he will participate in the Jan. 22 march. He encouraged others to join him.
We'll join him alright, complete with cameras, microphones, and plenty of questions for the good reverend. First question: Why are you even here?
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Grim Prognosis From Doctors Opposed To Health Care Plan
Doctor opposition to health care overhaul proposals is broad and deep, revealing concerns not just about soaring costs, declining care, possible rationing and a lack of limits on malpractice suits, but also about government competence and motives, detailed responses to a new IBD/TIPP Poll show.
As reported Wednesday, 65% of the 1,376 practicing physicians who responded to a mailed questionnaire over the last two weeks said they opposed health care plans that have emerged from the administration and Congress. Just 33% supported them.
Perhaps the most shocking result: 45% of these professionals said they would consider closing their practices or retiring early if the reforms now under consideration were enacted.
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Archbishop of New York calls on U.N. to defend human dignity
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York said this week that as the United Nations convenes its General Assembly, it would be wise to confront the challenges before it by adopting a "tongue common to all of us that has at its center the human person the heart of all institutions, laws and works of society."
Archbishop Dolan made his comments on September 14 during a prayer service at the Church of the Holy Family, which was organized to mark the opening of the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly. The Vatican's Permanent Observer at the U.N., Archbishop Celestino Migliore, as well as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, were present at the event.
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