Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BALTIMORE - Doctors plan to begin clinical trials next year of a new $50 genetic screening test to see whether it can save lives by catching cancer in its earliest, most treatable form.
The test, described in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, identifies repetitive genetic errors called clonal markers associated with certain kinds of cancer.
By comparing DNA drawn from a patient's blood to that taken from urine, sputum or other fluids, researchers are able to identify a variety of cancers.
However, the test so far has been used only on people who already were known to have cancer.
Dr. David Sidransky, author of the study and a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University, conceded that much research remains and said that Hopkins researchers will begin clinical trials in June to detect bladder and cervical cancer in people at high risk of the disease. The trials could take years.
- Associated Press
States still required to obey federal laws
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court showed no interest Tuesday in reconsidering its landmark 1985 decision that gave Congress almost unlimited power to force state and local governments to comply with federal laws.
The justices silently rejected a Kansas appeal urging them to rule that a federal law setting minimum wage and overtime requirements generally cannot be applied to state governments.
The court nine years ago said the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act applies to state and local governments. The court's vote in that ruling was 5-4, but four of the five justices then in the majority have since retired. Two of the four dissenters in 1985 also have retired.
Tuesday's order does not preclude the possibility the court some day will choose to revisit the issue, but none of the nine justices dissented from the denial of review.
The Kansas challenge to Congress' power stemmed from a lawsuit filed by 21 current and former prison guards at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kan. They said they were wrongly being denied overtime pay for routinely working through scheduled meal periods.
- Associated Press
by CNB