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Shanghai To Relax One-Child Policy As China Faces Aging Population, Shrinking Work Force
Nearly three decades after China implemented its one-child policy, the city of Shanghai is planning to encourage young couples to have a second child in an effort to address the country"s aging population and shrinking work force, the New York Times reports. The city"s plan is the most public effort made by the government to counteract a program that is "considered both a tremendous success and a terrible failure," the Times reports. The policy has managed to keep population growth under control but also has led to forced abortions, according to the Times.The country is not abandoning the one-child policy, which applies mostly to residents in urban areas. Rather, the government is allowing more exceptions to the rule, with Shanghai -- where about 22% of its 20 million residents are older than age 60 -- leading the effort. China as a whole faces a similar problem seen in Shanghai, the Times reports. About 8% of the country"s population was older than age 65 in 2006. That figure is expected to increase threefold by 2050 to about 322 million people, or nearly 25% of the population, according to the United Nations.In Friday"s issue of China Daily, Xie Lingli, director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, was quoted as saying, "We advocate eligible couples to have two kids because it can help reduce the proportion of the aging people and alleviate a work force shortage in the future." City officials plan to visit homes, pass out leaflets, and offer counseling and financial incentives, the Times reports. Current exceptions to the one-child policy are in place for ethnic minorities and rural residents, who can have a second child if the first child is a girl. Couples made up of two parents who have no siblings have always been allowed to have a second child and are now being encouraged to do so (Barboza, New York Times, 7/24).

Welsh Assembly Government Written Statement On Swine Influenza, Wlales
This statement updates Members on the Influenza A (H1N1v) swine flu outbreak and the latest developments in Wales and across the UK.
News of the day
Des Moines Register Examines Planned Parenthood Of Greater Iowa 75 Years After Founding
The Des Moines Register on Friday profiled Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, which marks its 75th anniversary this year. Established in 1934 as the Iowa Maternal Health League, PPGI now includes 17 clinics offering a range of reproductive health services, as well as an education and re center. The organization originally was founded by four women with a mission of providing birth control for low-income married women. Over the years, it frequently "has been on the forefront of advances in reproductive history," according to the Register. For example, in the early 1960s, PPGI became the first provider in the Midwest to offer the oral contraceptive Ortho-Novum, leading to a more than 350% increase in its number of patients.Although antiabortion-rights advocates often discuss Planned Parenthood in relation to abortion services, the vast majority of its services are not abortion-related. Jill June, president and CEO of PPGI, said that although the organization"s services have greatly expanded since its founding, the "needs people have for the services we provide and the challenges we face in meeting those needs haven"t changed." She added, "People still face unintended pregnancies despite great technological advances in birth control and efforts to make contraception more available and to normalize contraception use" (Challender, Des Moines Register, 5/22).
Mental Health

Mouse Model Of Parkinson's Reproduces Nonmotor Symptoms

The classic symptoms of Parkinson"s disease involve tremor, stiffness and slow movements. Over the last decade, neurologists have been paying greater attention to non-motor symptoms, such as digestive and sleep problems, loss of sense of smell and depression. A genetically engineered mouse reproduces many of the non-motor symptoms associated with Parkinson"s disease seen in humans and sheds light on their possible causes, Emory scientists report in the June 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. "These mice are very useful for studying the major non-motor symptoms of Parkinson"s because they have them together as a package," says Gary Miller, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health in the Rollins School of Public Health and neurology and pharmacology in the School of Medicine at Emory University. The mice were engineered to be deficient in VMAT2 (vesicular monoamine transporter 2), a protein that helps to store the brain chemicals Parkinson"s patients gradually lose the ability to produce. Miller and his colleagues previously published a description of the neurodegeneration of the VMAT2-deficient mice, but focusing on the part of the brain associated with Parkinson"s motor symptoms. Graduate student Tonya Taylor is first author of the 2009 paper on non-motor symptoms. The VMAT2-deficient mice could become research tools in the search for medications to treat non-motor symptoms, Miller says. Most non-motor symptoms do not respond to L-dopa, the medication most commonly given to people with Parkinson"s, he notes. L-dopa can be converted by the body into the neurotransmitter dopamine, the lack of which is responsible for the main motor difficulties in Parkinson"s. Within brain cells, VMAT2 packages neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin into vesicles, containers that deliver chemical messages to other cells. In the VMAT2-deficient mice, the improperly stored neurotransmitters are thought to damage brain cells. In other mouse models of Parkinson"s, scientists use chemicals such as the pesticide rotenone or the neurotoxin MPTP to kill the brain cells analogous to those that patients gradually lose, or they have the mice overproduce proteins that aggregate into toxic clumps. The VMAT2-deficient mice have aggregated proteins in their brains, which appears to be a byproduct of improper neurotransmitter storage, Miller says. The Emory scientists showed that the mice have delayed emptying of the stomach, they fall asleep more quickly and they have a loss of the sense of smell. In tests scientists use to model depression, aged VMAT2-deficient mice display signs of depression and respond to classical antidepressants. They also showed greater reluctance to explore elevated, lighted places, a measure of anxiety. The mice have normal vision, sense of touch and muscle strength, qualities Miller says are important to show that the mice are not generally sick - a difference from some toxin models. Notes: The research was supported by the Emory Parkinson"s Research Collaborative Environmental Research Center funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Other investigators involved in the research include Tonya Taylor, Mike Caudle, Kennie Shepherd, Alireza Noorian, Chad Jackson, Mike Iuvone, David Weinshenker, and James Greene. Reference: Non-motor symptoms of Parkinson"s disease revealed in an animal model with reduced monoamine storage capacity. T. Taylor, W. Caudle, K. Shepherd, A. Noorian, C. Jackson, P.M. Iuvone, D. Weinshenker, J. Greene, and G. Miller. J. Neurosci. 29, xx-yy (2009). Ashante Dobbs Emory University


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