Monthly Archives: October 2012

Aon Hewitt Analysis Shows Record-Low Health Care Cost Increases in 2012

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LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2012, U.S. companies and their employees saw the lowest health care premium rate increases in six years, according to an analysis by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources solutions business of Aon plc (AON). The average health care premium rate increase for large employers in 2012 was 4.9 percent, down from 8.5 percent in 2011 and 6.2 percent in 2010. In 2013, however, average health care premium increases are projected to jump up to 6.3 percent.

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Aon Hewitt's analysis showed the average health care cost per employee was $10,522 in 2012, up from $10,034 in 2011. The portion of the total health care premium that employees were asked to contribute toward this premium cost was $2,204 in 2012, compared to $2,090 in 2011. Meanwhile, average employee out-of-pocket costs, such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles, were $2,200 in 2012, compared to $2,072 in 2011.

For 2013, average health care costs per employee are projected to jump to $11,188. Consistent with the previous two years, employees will be asked to contribute 21 percent of the total health care premium, which equates to $2,385 for 2013. Average employee out-of-pocket costs are expected to increase to $2,429. These projections mean that over the last five years, employees' share of health care costsincluding employee contributions and out-of-pocket costswill have increased more than 50 percent from $3,199 in 2008 to $4,814 in 2013.

"In 2010, employers found themselves in a challenging budgetary position, thus taking more aggressive actions with their benefit plans. An expected decline in employment levels and new costs resulting from health care reform had to be factored into expected costs, which led many employers and insurers to conservatively project their health care premiums for 2011," said Tim Nimmer, fellow to the Society of Actuaries, member of the American Academy of Actuaries and chief health care actuary at Aon Hewitt. "As actual results materialized, employers have seen some stabilization in employment levels, less severe impact of high cost claims, a general movement towards consumer-driven plans and greater clarity around the average cost impact associated with health care reform. As a result, 2012 premiums were offset to reflect the better than expected historical experience. For 2013, we expect premium increases to gravitate back to the 6 percent range."

Costs by Plan Type

On average, Aon Hewitt forecasts that companies will see 2013 cost increases of 7.0 percent for health maintenance organization plans (HMOs), 6.1 percent for preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and 6.1 percent for point-of-service (POS). That means from 2012 to 2013, the average cost per person for major companies is estimated to increase from $10,659 to $11,405 for HMOs, $10,433 to $11,069 for PPOs and $11,062 to $11,737 for POS plans.

2012 Cost Increases by Major Metropolitan Area

In 2012, major U.S. markets that experienced rate increases higher than the national average included San Antonio (7.4 percent), San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose (7.4 percent), Los Angeles (7.2 percent) and Austin (6.5 percent).Conversely, Dallas (3.4 percent), Cincinnati (3.6 percent), Denver (4.5 percent), New York City (4.5 percent), Washington, D.C. (4.7 percent) and Philadelphia (4.9 percent) experienced lower-than-average rate increases in 2012.

Employer Action to Mitigate Trend

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Aon Hewitt Analysis Shows Record-Low Health Care Cost Increases in 2012

VHA Inc. Helps West Coast Hospitals Identify Areas of Improvement

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IRVING, TX--(Marketwire - Oct 3, 2012) - In today's accountable care era, health care executives are embracing cooperative efforts driven by transparency and business intelligence. That was demonstrated by an initiative of VHA Inc., the national health care network, when executives from 22 member hospitals of the VHA West Coast region gathered recently to meet and compare performance data and discuss their mutual challenges.

The springboard for new collaborative conversations is customized improvement plans generated through VHA IMPERATIV, a performance improvement solution. VHA IMPERATIV combines an integrated view of a hospital's clinical, operational and financial performance data with personalized advisory services, peer networks and leading practices to help hospitals fast-track their performance improvements. In a nationwide initiative, VHA is providing all VHA member hospitals with customized performance plans to help them with their continuous improvement efforts.In addition, these plans offer new opportunities for executives to share performance data and gain a clearer picture of their hospitals' performance compared to their peers.

At the West Coast meeting, hospital CEOs, COOs and physician leaders focused on common clinical improvement opportunities, most notably in the areas of surgical complications, hospital acquired infections and HCAHPS scores. All of these measures impact hospitals' reimbursements under health care reform. For example, analyses of VHA IMPERATIV's value-based purchasing data revealed that as a group, these West Coast hospitals are at risk of losing as much as $3 million in reimbursements due to lagging Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures.

"It was really eye-opening to see not only my own hospital's performance compiled that way but also the performance of the other hospitals represented at the meeting, as well as our competitors' performance.That was new information that we previously didn't have," said Michael Covert, FACHE, CEO of Palomar Health, California's largest by area public health care district. "With this information at our fingertips, we were able to discuss how we can work together to address common issues."

In addition to the customized improvement plans, each hospital executive left the meeting with 10 to 20 ideas for proven practices they could implement promptly.

VHA IMPERATIV provides all VHA members with a comprehensive view of quality and performance data from seven domains: clinical, patient experience, value-based purchasing, patient safety, supply chain, operational and workforce. This is powerful, since simultaneously looking at multiple domains helps identify correlations in performance data and expanded opportunities. For example, if a hospital addresses septicemia, it may also reduce total costs and improve patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.

"Hospital executives know they need to fundamentally operate differently and take a more balanced approach with an organization-wide view, rather than just looking at one element at a time," said Rick Barnett, VHA senior vice president and executive officer of the VHA West Coast region. "This 360-degree view of seven information domains helped open executives' eyes to the possibilities and sparked discussion around common opportunities."

Alongside the individual performance data, VHA IMPERATIV delivers actionable improvement resources that apply to the hospitals' specific opportunities from VHA's Leading Practice Blueprint library. Weak performance metrics are linked to interactive blueprints and a list of hospitals that are top performers in that area, allowing hospital executives to connect for discussions. VHA has more than 170 blueprints on a wide range of topics including clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient experience and care coordination.

"Hospital leaders are under tremendous pressure to improve clinical and operational performance. So having this insight, tailored to their specific organization, along with guidance from expert advisors and leading practices, provides the roadmap for change," said Steve Miff, PhD, senior vice president, VHA IMPERATIV. "Combined with VHA's regional model and collaborative networks, it's an approach that fosters innovation and accelerates improvements."

About VHA - VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance, and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. Since 1977, VHA has leveraged its expertise in analytics, contracting, consulting and networks to help members achieve their operational, clinical and financial objectives. In 2011, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.9 billion to members. VHA serves more than 1,350 hospitals and more than 72,000 non-acute care providers nationwide, coordinating delivery of its programs and services through its 14 regional offices. VHA has been ranked as one of the best places to work in health care by Modern Healthcare since the publication introduced this list in 2008.

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ConnectVirginia Announces EXCHANGE Service with Inova

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RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

ConnectVirginia, the Commonwealths Statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE), is in the process of on boarding Inova, Northern Virginias largest health care system, as its first EXCHANGE partner. Making great strides towards electronically connecting health care providers and organizations throughout the Commonwealth, Inova is expected to be in production on ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE by the end of 2012.

Connect Virginias EXCHANGE service is key to our vision to promote the electronic exchange of health care information as a standard of care in the Commonwealth. We want to make available to authorized users timely, accurate, comprehensive and easily-accessible information which can be used for coordination of care, improvements in safety and quality, and advancements in the provision of healthcare, says Sandy McCleaf, Executive Director of ConnectVirginia. I am extremely pleased to have Inova as our first EXCHANGE participant.

A not-for-profit health care system serving more than two million people per year, consisting of five hospitals with more than 1,700 licensed beds and 16,000 employees, Inova realizes the value of being part of the EXCHANGE. Inova is extremely proud to be the first health system to participate in statewide health information exchange, says Dr. Marshall Ruffin, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Inova. Having information available at the point of care for our patients and our physicians will lead to better care and better health outcomes for the population of patients we serve.

The ConnectVirginia Governing Body appreciates Inovas willingness to lead the way to improved health care for citizens of the Commonwealthby becoming the first to connect to the Statewide HIE, says William Hazel, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia and Chairman of the ConnectVirginia Governing Body. As Inova and others become participants of ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE, critical medical information will become more accessible to the proper health care providers across the Commonwealth as they provide patient treatment.

ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE is a collection of standards, policies and message-based services providing a secure method to query and retrieve patient data across all ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE Participants. ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE is based on the Nationwide Health Information Network specifications and standards supported and maintained by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

More information about ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE can be found at http://www.connectvirginia.org.

About ConnectVirginia

ConnectVirginia is the Statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) for the Commonwealth of Virginia. It provides a safe, confidential, electronic system to support the exchange of patient medical records among healthcare providers, both here in Virginia and beyond. Community Health Alliance (CHA) is the Virginia based non-profit vendor selected by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to implement the statewide Health Information Exchange, ConnectVirginia. CHA, VDH and a governing bodyof health care professionals and executives from across the Commonwealth are planning and managing this implementation. For more information please visit http://www.connectvirginia.org.

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ConnectVirginia Announces EXCHANGE Service with Inova

Health Care: The Next China Boom?

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SYDNEY -- China's move from an emerging industrial nation to one with a large middle-class society and an ageing population is likely to see many Australian health care companies benefit.

According to the Australian Financial Review, China plans to triple annual spending on health care to US$1 trillion by 2020, to become the second-largest health care market in the world, behind the U.S. China's Ministry of Health has said that government spending on health care has nearly doubled in just three years to $113 billion by 2011.

With a population of 1.3 billion people -- (more than four times the U.S.) -- it's not hard to see the potential opportunities in China, and with the government providing basic health care for 95% of the population, many health care companies have set their sights on this relatively new market.

Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH.AX) has been providing services in China for 12 years, with its hearing devices subsidized by the government. Cochlear is already the leading provider of hearing devices in the U.S.

Sleep apnea device maker Resmed (ASX: RMD.AX) has reported that it is seeing double-digit growth in China -- but was also facing increased competition from local companies and copycat products. Resmed has stated that China will be a significant part of its business within four to five years, despite the issues it has to overcome.

British drug-making firm AstraZeneca recently decided to expand its facilities in Australia, because of difficulties building a sterile factory in China with its poor air and water quality. The company expects Australian exports of its asthma drug to China to increase five-fold, from $50 million today to $250 million by 2015.

For other health-care companies like CSL Limited (ASX: CSL.AX) and Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX.AX), China appears to offer a compelling opportunity to expand their businesses. Both companies offer critical services and products that could be in high demand in future years, from China's ageing population.

The Foolish bottom lineHealth care in China could be the next boom, and Australian companies with a presence there already appear well-situated to take advantage of the increasing spend on health care. There may be life after the resources boom after all.

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Health Care: The Next China Boom?

Rapid gene machines used to find cause of newborn illnesses

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have sequenced the entire genetic code of four gravely ill newborns and identified genetic diseases in three of them in two days, quick enough to help doctors make treatment decisions.

Doctors behind the preliminary study released on Wednesday say it demonstrates a practical use for whole genome sequencing, in which researchers analyze all 3.2 billion chemical "bases" or "letters" that make up the human genetic code.

"It is now feasible to decode an entire genome and provide interim results back to the physician in two days," said Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy medical center in Kansas City, Missouri, whose study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The study tested two software programs developed at Children's Mercy that were used in conjunction with a high-speed gene sequencer from Illumina called HiSeq 2500, which can sequence an entire genome in about 25 hours.

The company helped pay for the study and company researchers took part in it.

Next-generation gene sequencing machines have driven down the cost of whole genome sequencing, but making practical use of the data has been more challenging, largely because of the time it takes to analyze all of the data.

As many as a third of babies admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in the United States have some form of genetic disease. Treatments are currently available for more than 500 diseases, but identifying them quickly has been a problem.

Typically, genetic testing on newborns using conventional methods takes four to six weeks, long enough that the infant has either died or been sent home.

"Up until now, they have really had to practice medicine blindfolded," Kingsmore said in a telephone briefing with reporters.

Dr. Neil Miller, director of informatics at Children's Mercy, said the software programs help doctors identify which genes to test, and analyze the data quickly.

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Rapid gene machines used to find cause of newborn illnesses

Rapid test pinpoints newborns' genetic diseases in days

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Babies with genetic disorders can have their whole genome screened for muations in just two days.

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A faster DNA sequencing machine and streamlined analysis of the results can diagnose genetic disorders in days rather than weeks, as reported today in Science Translational Medicine1.

Up to a third of the babies admitted to neonatal intensive care units have a genetic disease. Although symptoms may be severe, the genetic cause can be hard to pin down. Thousands of genetic diseases have been described, but relatively few tests are available, and even these may detect only the most common mutations.

Whole-genome sequencing could test for many diseases at once, but its cost, the complexity of the results and the turnaround time are prohibitive. In what they hope will be a prototype for other hospitals, a research team led by Stephen Kingsmore at Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, has implemented a much faster, simpler systemfor finding relevant mutations in whole-genome sequences that is designed for physicians without specialized genetic training.

These kinds of innovation will help more hospitals bring sequencing into clinical care, says Richard Gibbs, director of the human genome sequencing centre at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. A lot of people are going to realize from this that the future is now.

Sequencing has been used before to pinpoint the cause of mysterious diseases. In 2011, Gibbs led a team that sequenced 14-year-old twins with a neurological movement disorder and found a way to improve their treatment2. In another instance, whole-genome sequencing suggested that a mysterious case of severe inflammatory bowel disease had a genetic cause and could be relieved through a bone marrow transplant3. But both these examples required several weeks and a team of experts to resolve. The Childrens Mercy Hospital plans to offer routine sequencing in the neonatal intensive care unit by the end of the year.

To order a test, physicians will choose terms from pull-down boxes to describe the infant's symptoms. Software then compiles a list of potential suspect genes. After the genome is sequenced, the software hunts for and analyses mutations in only those genes, which allows it to compile a list of possible causative mutations more quickly. The team had early access to a new DNA sequencing machine from sequencing company Illumina, based in San DIego, California, that could generate a whole genome within 25 hours. The entire process, from obtaining consent to preliminary diagnosis, took 50 hours, not counting the time taken to ship DNA samples and computer hard drives between Illumina's lab in the UK, where the DNA sequencing was carried out, and the hospital, where analysis was conducted. Kingsmore estimates that the cost of sequence and analysis is $13,500 per child, including costs to verify variants in a laboratory certified to perform clinical tests.

The research team used the new system to analyse the genomes of five children, including two brothers, with undiagnosed diseases and found definite or likely causative mutations in four of them. The researchers also sequenced portions of the parents genomes to track down which flagged mutations might cause disease. This exercise revealed that some mutations had arisen for the first time in the child. In other cases, recessive disease-causing variants had been inherited by both parents.

Though none of the diagnoses reported in the study affected treatment decisions, simply having a diagnosis can be a huge comfort, says Kingsmore. Physicians can stop doing costly and invasive tests. Families can get genetic counselling for planning future pregnancies. And new disease genes and mutations generate hypotheses for basic research.

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Rapid test pinpoints newborns' genetic diseases in days

50-Hour Whole Genome Sequencing Provides Rapid Diagnosis for Children With Genetic Disorders

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KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Today investigators at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City reported the first use of whole genome information for diagnosing critically ill infants. As reported in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes STAT-Seq, a whole genome sequencing approach - from blood sample to returning results to a physician - in about 50 hours. Currently, testing even a single gene takes six weeks or more.

Speed of diagnosis is most critical in acute care situations, as in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where medical decision-making is made in hours not weeks. Using STAT-Seq, with consent from parents, the investigators diagnosed acutely ill infants from the hospital's NICU. By casting a broad net over the entire set of about 3,500 genetic diseases, STAT-Seq demonstrates for the first time the potential for genome sequencing to influence therapeutic decisions in the immediate needs of NICU patients.

"Up to one third of babies admitted to a NICU in the U.S. have genetic diseases," said Stephen Kingsmore, M.B. Ch.B., D.Sc., FRCPath, Director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy. "By obtaining an interpreted genome in about two days, physicians can make practical use of diagnostic results to tailor treatments to individual infants and children."

Genetic diseases affect about three percent of children and account for 15 percent of childhood hospitalizations. Treatments are currently available for more than 500 genetic diseases. In about 70 of these, such as infantile Pompe disease and Krabbe disease, initiation of therapy in newborns can help prevent disabilities and life-threatening illnesses.

STAT-Seq uses software that translates physician-entered clinical features in individual patients into a comprehensive set of relevant diseases. Developed at Children's Mercy, this software substantially automates identification of the DNA variations that can explain the child's condition. The team uses Illumina's HiSeq 2500 system, which sequences an entire genome at high coverage in about 25 hours.

Although further research is needed, STAT-Seq also has the potential to offer cost-saving benefits. "By shortening the time-to-diagnosis, we may markedly reduce the number of other tests performed and reduce delays to a diagnosis," said Kingsmore. "Reaching an accurate diagnosis quickly can help to shorten hospitalization and reduce costs and stress for families."

About Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, located in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the nation's top pediatric medical centers. The 333-bed hospital provides care for children from birth through the age of 21, and has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Children's Hospitals" and recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet designation for excellence in nursing services. Its faculty of 600 pediatricians and researchers across more than 40 subspecialties are actively involved in clinical care, pediatric research, and educating the next generation of pediatric subspecialists. For more information about Children's Mercy and its research, visit childrensmercy.org or download our mobile phone app CMH4YOU for all phone types. For breaking news and videos, follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

About The Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy Hospital The first of its kind in a pediatric setting, The Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine combines genome, computational and analytical capabilities to bring new diagnostic and treatment options to children with genetic diseases. For more information about STAT-Seq, diagnostic tests and current research, visit http://www.pediatricgenomicmedicine.com.

Melissa Novak Phone: (816) 346-1341 E-mail: mdnovak@cmh.edu

Carin Ganz Phone: (212) 373-6002 E-mail: cganz@golinharris.com

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50-Hour Whole Genome Sequencing Provides Rapid Diagnosis for Children With Genetic Disorders

Two-day test can spot gene diseases in newborns

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WASHINGTON (AP) Too often, newborns die of genetic diseases before doctors even know what's to blame. Now scientists have found a way to decode those babies' DNA in just days instead of weeks, moving gene-mapping closer to routine medical care.

The idea: Combine faster gene-analyzing machinery with new computer software that, at the push of a few buttons, uses a baby's symptoms to zero in on the most suspicious mutations. The hope would be to start treatment earlier, or avoid futile care for lethal illnesses.

Wednesday's study is a tentative first step: Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., mapped the DNA of just five children, and the study wasn't done in time to help most of them.

But the hospital finds the results promising enough that by year's end, it plans to begin routine gene-mapping in its neonatal intensive care unit and may offer testing for babies elsewhere, too while further studies continue, said Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, director of the pediatric genome center at Children's Mercy.

"For the first time, we can actually deliver genome information in time to make a difference," predicted Kingsmore, whose team reported the method in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Even if the diagnosis is a lethal disease, "the family will at least have an answer. They won't have false hope," he added.

More than 20 percent of infant deaths are due to a birth defect or genetic diseases, the kind caused by a problem with a single gene. While there are thousands of such diseases from Tay-Sachs to the lesser known Pompe disease, standard newborn screening tests detect only a few of them. And once a baby shows symptoms, fast diagnosis becomes crucial.

Sequencing whole genomes all of a person's DNA can help when it's not clear what gene to suspect. But so far it has been used mainly for research, in part because it takes four to six weeks to complete and is very expensive.

Wednesday, researchers reported that the new process for whole-genome sequencing can take just 50 hours half that time to perform the decoding from a drop of the baby's blood, and the rest to analyze which of the DNA variations uncovered can explain the child's condition.

That's an estimate: The study counted only the time the blood was being decoded or analyzed, not the days needed to ship the blood to Essex, England, home of a speedy new DNA decoding machine made by Illumina, Inc. or to ship back the results for Children's Mercy's computer program to analyze. Kingsmore said the hospital is awaiting arrival of its own decoder, when 50 hours should become the true start-to-finish time.

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Two-day test can spot gene diseases in newborns

Genetic sequencing gets faster, cheaper – and routine

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Medicine appears poised to begin sequencing the entire genetic scripts of newborn babies with serious illnesses, a revolutionary change that was set in motion three years ago when scientists and doctors in Wisconsin used a similar technique to diagnose and treat a young Monona boy with a mysterious illness.

In a study released Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City report that they used whole genome sequencing to diagnose babies born with serious genetic illnesses. Of the seven cases in which doctors used genome sequencing, six resulted in diagnoses.

Moreover, researchers said a diagnosis can be returned as quickly as 50 hours after a blood sample is taken from a baby, an important finding given that many of the diseases that afflict infants require very rapid treatment. That's much faster than the four to six weeks it had taken previously to go from sequencing to diagnosis.

Doctors at the Kansas City hospital said the test and accompanying analysis costs about $13,500 for each child and could present an appealing cost savings to health insurers. In the United States, thousands of babies each year with serious unknown diseases end up in the neonatal intensive care unit; there, beds cost some $8,000 a night and total expenses for one child can easily run to $250,000 or more.

"We think this is going to transform the world of neonatology," said Stephen Kingsmore, an author of the new paper and director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. Kingsmore said his hospital will be using sequencing routinely for seriously ill newborns by the end of the year and will perform the same service for other hospitals around the country.

"This is a dramatic, even miraculous development," said Philip M. Farrell, former dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School. "It's the equivalent of putting a man on the moon as far as I'm concerned."

At Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin, where a similar newborn sequencing program quietly began two months ago, one of the doctors involved read the new paper and declared it "a huge leap forward.

"This is going to revolutionize our ability to take care of kids," added David Dimmock, a pediatric genetics specialist who worked on the team that sequenced young Nic Volker of Monona and crafted the treatment that appears to have saved the boy's life.

"The aim of this is to replace conventional testing with something that is faster and more comprehensive."

While the sequencing of Nic's genes in 2009 was used as a last resort after many other tests had been tried, the technology is now assuming a far more significant role in medicine. The hospital in Kansas City and Children's in Wisconsin are now using sequencing as a "first-line test," one that will save time and money over the current practice in which doctors hunt through a forest of individual tests for different diseases and mutations.

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Genetic sequencing gets faster, cheaper - and routine

Test can identify genetic disorders in newborns in days

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For babies born with the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU), their bodies are unable to break down a certain amino acid, which can lead to brain damage and seizures. If found early enough, however, PKU is easily treated, and children with the condition can go on to live a normal life. But sometimes, genetic testing for disorders such as this one come too late, and narrow windows of opportunity for treatment can close up for good.

But now, parents and physicians can have answers regarding a babys genetic abnormalities in only a few short days. Researchers from Childrens Mercy Hospitals & Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., have developed a new whole-genome sequencing technology capable of diagnosing genetic disorders in ICU newborns in just 50 hours a significantly less amount of time than the 12 to 14 days needed for current screening techniques.

The ability to diagnose infants in such a short amount of time could help to speed up available treatments as well as provide relief or knowledge to anxious parents.

There are about 500 diseases that can present in a baby for which theres a treatment, Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Childrens Mercy Hospitals and Clinics and lead author of the study, told FoxNews.com. But for diseases that dont have treatment, this info can still be useful. It gives parents and physicians an answer. You can stop doing additional testing or stop giving futile treatments. Parents can get counseling about whether this can recur in a future child and get advice about how intense treatments can be.

Currently, there are more than 3,500 known genetic disorders conditions caused by a mutation in a single gene and the definitive method diagnose them is to sequence the mutated gene. However, a big problem with gene sequencing up until now has been knowing exactly which gene to sequence, according to the researchers. Each genome contains more than 3.1 billion nucleotides, and of those, three to four million variants exist. In order to diagnose a condition, all of those variants need to be analyzed a task that can take quite a long time.

To speed up this process, Kingsmore, along with fellow Childrens Mercy Hospital researcher Neil Miller, teamed up with the company Illumina a group dedicated to technologies that analyze genetic variations. Having announced in January the Illumina high-speed 2,500 a high-speed sequencing device, the company approached Kingsmore and Miller to develop software that would go hand-in-hand with their new instrument.

That was how SAGA and RUNE were born. After the Illumina high-speed 2,500 sequences the entire genome in less than 30 hours, the software applications then come into play. First, SAGA, which stands for sign-assisted genome analysis, helps physicians to determine which parts of the genome are significant depending on the patients symptoms.

It allows them to click on buttons of symptoms that are corresponding in the baby such as difficulty breathing, etc, Kingsmore said. The computer then matches those particular symptoms and signs to the right parts of the genome and selects of those 3,500 genetic diseases, which ones are appropriate to test. So it allows us to test the variants that are likely to cause a disease.

To determine how effective SAGA was in determining a diagnosis, the researchers used the program on over 500 previously diagnosed cases, and the software was 99 percent accurate in selecting the right gene according to the patients symptoms.

RUNE solves the second part of the puzzle, which is determining how these variants impact the gene in which they occur. Standing for rapid understanding of nucleotide-variant effect, RUNE essentially ranks the order of diseases that are on possibly on target for the variants that were found.

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Test can identify genetic disorders in newborns in days

New, Faster Genetic Screen May Help Sick Babies

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A new method of genetic testing appears to be able to help doctors diagnose critically ill babies more quickly than ever before, according to a new study.

The method allows doctors for decode a baby's entire genome in two days -- breathtakingly fast compared to current methods that can take six weeks or more.

In the new study, the researchers report using the approach to decode the entire genomes of six acutely ill newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units, two of whom had already been determined to have genetic diseases. What they found in this proof of concept, they said, could be used in the future to more quickly diagnose sick newborns and treat them early.

The study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

"We think that we have come up with a solution for the tragic families who have a baby who's born and the doctors are not sure of what the cause of the baby's illness is," said the study's senior author, Dr. Stephen F. Kingsmore, director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo.

Many of the 3,500 known genetic diseases cause medical problems during the first month of life, the researchers wrote in their study. In the United States, over 20 percent of infant deaths are caused by genetic disorders and birth defects.

"Up to one third of babies admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in the United States have genetic diseases," Kingsmore said, adding that babies with genetic problems often die or are sent home before a diagnosis is made.

For families coping with the tragedy of a sick newborn, the test may make a big difference.

"The family doesn't know what's going on," Kingsmore said. "The doctors are working heroically to figure out what's wrong. That can go on for weeks."

Armed with an early genetic diagnosis, Kingsmore said that doctors can communicate more clearly with the family.

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New, Faster Genetic Screen May Help Sick Babies

Newborn Genetic Test Catches Rare Diseases Earlier

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A new technology can diagnose rare genetic disorders in critically ill newborns within a few days, rather than the weeks that are needed with current methods, researchers say.

The technology involves sequencing the infant's genome, and then using new software to hone in on the genes most likely to be disease culprits.

In a new study, researchers identified the genetic cause of a newborn's illness in three out of four babies tested. The whole process takes about 50 hours, they said.

The speed of the new test is what could make it useful for sick babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), the researchers said. Currently, it can take weeks for doctors to diagnose a genetic disorder in an ill infant, and many babies die before their test results are available, said study researcher Stephen Kingsmore, director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

A faster diagnosis for genetic conditions would allow doctors to provide earlier treatments if there are any or to give parents an earlier warning, and potentially more time together with their child, if the condition is untreatable and fatal, the researchers say.

Doctors already routinely screen newborns for a few genetic disorders that have effective treatments. But these tests look for single genes, rather than at the entire genome. There about 3,500 diseases known to be caused by mutations in a single gene, and 500 of these have some type of treatment available, Kingsmore said.

"By obtaining an interpreted genome in about two days, physicians can make practical use of diagnostic results to tailor treatments to individual infants and children," Kingsmore said.

However, critics point out that the diseases identified by new technology are rare, and extra genetic information is not always helpful. In fact, some are worried the genetic testing could deliver more information than researchers know what to do with.

Diagnosing genetic diseases

To begin a diagnosis with the new technology, the researchers take a drop of the baby's blood so that his or her genome can be sequenced.

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Newborn Genetic Test Catches Rare Diseases Earlier

Sanford Researcher Leads Published Study on HPV Vaccine

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Newswise (Sioux Falls, SD) - A study conducted by Sanford Healths John Lee, MD, and Etubics Corporation that uses a vaccine to suppress human papilloma virus (HPV) has been published by Cancer Gene Therapy.

The study, "A non-oncogenic HPV 16 E6/E7 vaccine enhances treatment of HPV expressing tumors," appears in the October issue of the peer-reviewed publication.

HPV is the leading cause of more than 90 percent of cervical cancers and 25 percent of head and neck cancers. Currently, no HPV therapeutic vaccine is effective at treating established tumors, despite its success with preventing HPV infection.

Dr. Lee and his team used an Etubics drug (Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]) in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiation to successfully improve long-term survival of animals expressing HPV. Etubics drug induces immune response in circumstances where it is suppressed due to pre-existing conditions.

This article provides a pre-clinical rationale to initiate testing of a therapeutic vaccine in humans, said Dr. Lee. The approaches enhance HPV specific immune clearance in conjunction with standard of care chemo-radiation, with the potential for improving the survival advantage for patients by 30 percent.

Etubics is a clinical stage bio-pharmaceutical company with a proprietary platform vaccine technology that delivers a long lasting "active" immune response against diseases.

"At Etubics, we strive to utilize our Etubics Platform to create immunotherapies that target difficult-to-treat cancers, said Dr. Frank Jones, founder, chairman and CEO at Etubics. We are excited to be a part of this groundbreaking research on an HPV immunotherapy at Sanford Research and help to come one step closer to a meaningful therapy for HPV induced cancers."

Cancer Gene Therapy publishes the results of laboratory investigations, preclinical studies, and clinical trials in the field of gene transfer/gene therapy and cellular therapies as applied to cancer research.

About Sanford Research/USD Sanford Research/USD is a non-profit research organization formed between Sanford Health and the University of South Dakota. Sanford Health is an integrated health system headquartered in Fargo, ND and Sioux Falls, SD and represents the largest, rural, not-for-profit healthcare system in the nation with a presence in 111 communities, eight states and three countries. In 2007, a transformational gift of $400 million by Denny Sanford provided for an expansion of childrens and research initiatives, specifically finding a cure for type 1 diabetes, and has given Sanford Research significant momentum in its goal of becoming one of the premiere research institutions in the United States and the world. Most recently, a subsequent gift of $100 million by Mr. Sanford has paved the way to establish Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Research.

With a team of more than 200 researchers, Sanford Research comprises several research centers, including Childrens Health Research, Edith Sanford Breast Cancer, Cancer Biology, Cardiovascular Health, Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention, and the National Institute for Athletic Health and Performance (NIAHP).

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Sanford Researcher Leads Published Study on HPV Vaccine

Gene therapies need new development models

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Is gene therapy finally becoming a reality? The European Commission is poised to authorize, for the first time in the Western world, the commercialization of a gene-therapy product. Called Glybera (alipogene tiparvovec), it is designed to treat a rare genetic defect involved in fat metabolism.

Success has been a long time coming. Gene therapy was first administered more than 20 years ago, to a child who had a rare disorder of the immune system called adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency. Since then, it has struggled to find its place in medicine amid a roller coaster of successes and setbacks, hype and scepticism that has little precedent in modern times. Although the approval of Glybera is a positive move, it is unlikely to herald a new age of gene therapies not without significant changes to the system. It is no coincidence that no gene therapy has yet been approved in the United States and that no other gene-therapy product is being considered by regulators in Europe.

Here is why. The design, development and manufacture of products such as Glybera a virus engineered to carry a correct copy of the defective gene is complex and done mostly in academic centres. Yet legislation introduced in the past decade in Europe and the United States demands that these products be produced under the same rules that cover conventional drugs, in establishments operated with industry-like standards and certified by government agencies.

This is a formidable challenge for academic centres, which tend to lack the necessary human and financial resources. So why is the development of gene therapy focused there, and not in industry, which seems better suited?

The first reason is the financial uncertainty generated by the complex, confused and poorly harmonized regulatory environment as the history of Glybera shows. At first, the application for its authorization received a negative opinion from two committees at the European Medicines Agency (EMA): the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) and the Committee for Human Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). Only when another body, the Standing Committee of the European Commission, asked the EMA to reconsider the application in a restricted indication did the CHMP eventually recommend approval under exceptional circumstances, requiring post-marketing studies and the set-up of a restricted-access programme. The Dutch firm Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, the inventor of Glybera, did not survive the process, and became known as uniQure after refinancing.

Lack of resources is a second reason. For many years, the drug industry stayed away from gene therapy, perceiving it as a dangerous technology of dubious efficacy that was too complex to develop and targeted too small a market.

There are some positive signs, because this last perception, at least, is changing: the industry now recognizes that rare diseases and orphan-drug legislation provide attractive opportunities. Some recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies originally developed as orphan drugs have been repurposed for larger indications.

The industry now recognizes that rare diseases and orphan-drug legislation provide attractive opportunities.

An example of how academia and industry could cooperate comes from the recent alliance between the drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in London, and the charity-funded San Rafaelle Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET) in Milan, Italy. GSK gained an exclusive licence to develop and commercialize the ADA treatment, and will co-develop with TIGET gene therapies for six more genetic diseases. The contribution of public or charity-funded organizations in early development phases lowers the cost and risk of investing in diseases with a tiny market, and gives the industry access to technologies that can be expanded to more profitable applications, thereby repaying the investment and allowing resources to be fed back into rare diseases. Unfortunately, promising therapies for hundreds of orphan diseases are unlikely to attract similar industrial interest.

So, how do we ensure that scientists will continue to develop such treatments? Should they all turn to the hospital exemption, which permits experimental therapies to be manufactured and used under the responsibility of a physician without regulatory supervision?

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Gene therapies need new development models

Infographic: Mapping The 70-Year Gestation Of Street Art

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In the annals of "Fine Art History," graffiti is usually placed squarely outside of the mainstream dialogue. Usually, its relegated to a foggy category sometimes called Urban Art--or worse, Urban Contemporary. Those are not terms that came from the graffiti or street communities, says writer and theorist Daniel Feral. They may be a result of categories created by the auction houses. I usually hear the terms used when discussing sales of art.

Click to enlarge.

Feral is the creator of the eponymous Feral Diagram, a map that revises the role of graffiti and street art in the canon of modern art. From Ferals perspective, graffiti and street art have been critical drivers of the art world for well nigh 40 years now. Framing them as outsider art is not only lazy, but incorrect. As an alternative, Feral has literally redrawn art history, showing how 1960s graffiti and street art emerged from major mainstream movements, from Pop Art and the Situationists to 1940s Art Brut. By way of looping arrows and signs, he also demonstrates how street art evolved, conceptually, alongside the likes of Gordon Matta-Clark and Jenny Holzer. And thankfully, Feral also parses out the boilerplate-in-their-own-right terms, graffiti and street art, into specific groups and movements, like Wildstyle and Otaku-tinged Childstyle.

Whats clever about the Feral Diagram is that it utilizes the visual language of another very famous diagram, created by the first director of MoMA, Alfred H. Barr, in 1935. In his visualization, Barr used looping black arrows and Futura type to explain how Cubism and Abstract Art evolved from a mixture of high art and pop culture influences, ranging from Japanese prints to the Neo-Impressionists. I wanted to honor Barrs intellectual brilliance, Feral writes. By utilizing his visual language to tell a story other than that sanctioned by the Fine Art establishment, it made me feel like I was subverting the system too. It made me feel like I was doing what my friends were doing: reclaiming public space.

MoMA director Alfred H. Barrs 1935 original.

A special edition of Ferals diagram was released this week in support of a new film and book, Futurism 2.0, documenting an emerging school of street artists known as Graffuturism, which began a few years ago as a secret Facebook group and has blossomed into a full-fledged movement. Now, Feral explains, it deserves its own mention on the diagram. A gallery show of Graffuturist art opened at Londons Blackhall Studios on September 28th.

You can buy a poster of the diagram here.

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Infographic: Mapping The 70-Year Gestation Of Street Art

LV: Brit Dance-Music Production Crew Conspire With South African MCs

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LV / Photo by Jason Turner

"People presume that what they think of as South African elements on the album are actually that, but the connection is the guys that we were doing this with, rather than any idea of what the music would sound like."

Who:This South London trio Simon Williams, Gervase Gordon, and Will Horrocks has been subtly absorbing and reinvigorating underground British dance sounds since 2007. But Gordon's bi-continental birthright (he's British and South African) has acted as a fresh conduit for their latest album,Sebenza, and the producers collaborated with some of South Africa's brightest young MCs including Spoek Mathambo, Okmalumkoolkat, and Ruffest to integrate contemporary Johannesburg futurism with London's dance-floor avant-garde. While British beat trends shift every time the Queen walks her Corgi, LV have taken the gleaming, syncopated rhythms of UK funky, kwaito, kuduro, electrofunk, and straight-up house to forge their own distinct, holographic path.

Pirate Anthems:"People presume that what they think of as South African elements on the album are actually that," says Horrocks. "But the connection is the guys that we were doing this with, rather than any idea of what the music would sound like." The trio insists that there was no grand plan to explicitly link Jo'burg with London. But both South Africa and England have built formidable dance scenes largely inspired by pirate radio, and if anything most resemblesSebenza's beat clatter, it's the clamor of electronic beats on fuzzy renegade airwaves.

Snatching Victory from the Jaws:LV spent three years assembling tracks in both London and South Africa, and at various points, they thought the project wouldn't pan out. "The fact that it came together and that it has a coherent vibe?" marvels Williams, "I think it's quite standard to get halfway through and be like, hang on, is this as good as I think it is? Am I just making my life difficult for no good reason? But we're fueled by defeat," he adds, wryly. "That's how we roll." Once the songs sat side by side, though, notoriously selective Hyperdub boss Kode9 requested an album and an EP, with stray singles and instrumentals from the sessions to come.

Majoring in Beatmaking:Three is an odd number for collaborating on production, but LV doesn't know anything else, having discovered their mutual love for music-making while ditching class at university together. "We started skipping lectures to play with incredibly poor keyboards and my MPC," says Williams. "We used to record bass guitar on MiniDisc and then re-sample it onto an MPC, while Gerv played lamentable, regrettable chords." The crew still owns the music, but it won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon. "I'd like it if people bought [Sebenzafirst], but I think that's implied," he says, laughing.

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LV: Brit Dance-Music Production Crew Conspire With South African MCs

H.S. VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Freedom wins in straight sets

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Credit: Charles Wingate | The News Herald

Freedom's Megan Mathes and Adrinna Freeman go high in Tuesday's first set to reject a would-be Chase spike.

By: STAFF REPORTS | Morganton News Herald Published: October 03, 2012 Updated: October 03, 2012 - 7:16 PM

Following a straight-set win at East Rutherford last Thursday, it was more of the same for the Freedom High volleyball team Tuesday at home, as it won another three-set South Mountain 2A/3A Conference match over Chase 25-23, 26-24, 25-23.

The Lady Patriots (6-7, 6-2 SMAC) jumped out to a 10-6 advantage in the first set, but Chase came back to tie the score at 11-all. Freedom reeled off four of the next five points, but the Lady Trojans answered with five in a row. From there, it continued as a back-and-forth affair, with Freedom notching the final two points to take the set.

In the second set, it was Freedom that made the early comeback. After digging themselves in a 7-2 hole, the Lady Patriots tallied the next seven points and 12 of the next 14 to take a 14-9 lead. Chase fought back to make it 24-all, but Freedoms Connor Townsend and Natalie Beam scored the final two points to give the Lady Patriots a two-set advantage.

In the third set, Freedom held an early 9-1 lead and looked ready to cruise to a comfortable sweep but ultimately had to fight off a pesky Lady Trojan squad that got to within 24-23 before Freedoms Kayla Poteat registered the winning kill.

We fought really hard for every point, Freedom coach Emily Grady said. We just played really hard. It makes me nervous when they get that close, but I think they did awesome. I cant ask for more.

Freedom was led by Townsend (14 digs, four kills, four aces) and Lauren Hasson (19 digs, three blocks). Poteat (18 digs), Kayla Wilson (14 digs), Jesse Stephenson (13 digs), Megan Mathes (22 assists) and Adrinna Freeman (four kills) were also standouts.

The JV Lady Patriots lost in straight sets, 18-25, 12-25. Next up for Freedom is a matchup at the SMAC-leading Lady Panthers on Thursday in Pattons annual Volley for the Cure contest, which supports breast cancer awareness and research.

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H.S. VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Freedom wins in straight sets

Blasphemy, right to freedom of expression and our most sacred beliefs

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Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl accused of blasphemy sits in helicopter after her release from jail in Rawalpindi on Sept. 8, 2012. (AFP/GETTY IMAGES) In his recent speech at the U.N. General Assembly, amid global protests and calls to ban perceived insults against religion, President Obama gave a stirring defense of the right to freedom of expression. Like me, the majority of Americans are Christian, and yet we do not ban blasphemy against our most sacred beliefs. In a diverse society, efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics, or oppress minorities, he said

Muslim leaders are using the controversy over a YouTube video to renew their push at the United Nations for a defamation of religions resolutiona global blasphemy code. Speaking for the 56-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Pakistans ambassador Zamir Akram said the video, like Koran-burnings and anti-Islamic cartoons, is flagrant incitement to violence that should not be protected by law. The Arab League is also calling for the international community to criminalize blasphemy.

While it might be tempting to treat a non-binding U.N. measure as benign or irrelevant, that would be a mistake. The defamation of religions resolution would validate the national blasphemy laws that have led to persecution and violence in many countries and lead to their proliferation.

Proponents of blasphemy laws promote them in the name of protecting religion. In fact, as our report Blasphemy Laws Exposed: The Consequences of Criminalizing Defamation of Religions reveals such laws are a grave threat to religious freedom. Analyzing more than a hundred cases in 18 countries, we found that governments and members of majority faiths have used these laws to stifle dissent and persecute religious minorities.

Insultsor perceived insultsagainst religions or religious symbols can cause real offense. But laws designed to curb such slurs only intensify the sense of grievance and put the issue in the realm of politics, often with deadly consequences. Rather than provide a peaceful mechanism to resolve conflicts, blasphemy laws tend to inflame passions and encourage violence, in the way that Jim Crow laws in the United States gave license to lynch mobs.

The cautionary example is Pakistan, where charges of blasphemy have led repeatedly to bloodshed. Its draconian laws are products of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haqs military rule in the 1970s and 1980s. To build support from fundamentalists, he embraced a program of Islamization and increased the severity of the blasphemy law that had existed since the countrys formation in 1947. Since 1985, Pakistans courts have handled more than 4,000 blasphemy cases.

The case of Rimsha Masihthe mentally impaired 14-year-old Christian girl arrested after a neighbor accused her of burning the Koranmade international headlines, yet it is more representative than extraordinary. Consider Fanish Masih, the 19-year-old Christian found dead in jail after being arrested for allegedly washing pages of the Koran down a drain. Or Muhammad Amjad, a mentally impaired Muslim charged with blasphemy after a cleric hostile to his family claimed hed burned the Koran.

In Rimsha Masihs case, a mob surrounded a police station and demanded that she be charged with a crime; that, too, is not uncommon. Where there is a charge of blasphemy, there is often a mob, like the one in the village of Bahmani that attacked Christians, burned churches, and destroyed homes after a man publicly accused another of defaming Muhammad. Increasingly, when accused blasphemers stand trial, vigilantes are called to arms over the mosque loudspeakers and urged to take the law into their own hands if the court does not hand down a guilty verdict.

Violence victimizes not just alleged blasphemers and religious minorities but also those who defend them. Two prominent Pakistani politicians who spoke out against the blasphemy lawsSalman Taseer, governor of Punjab Province, and Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhattiwere assassinated. Taseers daughter, Shehrbano Taseer, a journalist for Newsweek Pakistan, is carrying on her fathers dangerous work. Last October, when she came to New York to receive our human rights award, she said blasphemy laws are instruments of repression and terror that ruin the lives of people every day. Taseer reports that Pakistans blasphemy laws are most often used to settle personal vendettas and land disputes.

Taking the recent media coverage about Muslim rage at face value, you might believe that hyper-sensitive and childlike Muslims are poised to take to the streets whenever they see their religion disparaged. In fact, however, if you trace the roots of the furor over alleged blasphemy, you often find people or groups making a play for money, power or revenge. The charges against Rimsha Masih, for example, grew out of an effort to expel Christians from the neighborhooda successful effort, it turned out, as hundreds fled for safety following her arrest.

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Blasphemy, right to freedom of expression and our most sacred beliefs

Freedom, Freedom of Religion, Christian Freedom

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ROME, OCT. 3, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a reflection written byArchbishop GiampaoloCrepaldi, bishop of Trieste, Italy, regarding religious freedom and the truth of religion.

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His Holiness Benedict XVI focused attention anew on the theme of freedom of religion in the recent Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, especially dedicating paragraphs 25 and 27 to it, with which we must also consider paragraphs 29 and 30 dealing with laicity and fundamentalism. On the basis of these teachings of the Holy Father and his predecessors I would like to offer some food for thought and discussion.

Freedom of religion is undoubtedly a natural right of the human person. The Magisterium of the Church has repeatedly taught that in a certain sense it is the first natural right and the principal one. To say it is a natural right means it precedes the choice for one or another religion. Each person has the right to choose his/her religion, the one he/she deems to be the true religion. This entails a peril, since it may induce people to think that the choice of one religion or another is indifferent with respect to the freedom of religion, and that this freedom remains such and is both conserved and confirmed regardless of the choice for one religion or another. Freedom of religion would exist prior to and independently from the concrete choice a believer may make later on for one religion or another, and therefore the choice, lets say, for Christianity or Buddhism would have no repercussions on the freedom of religion, which would be confirmed in both cases.

Arguing this thesis that being the indifference of the choice of one religion or another with respect to the freedom of religion also means giving up the truth of religions. If man remains free in any case and regardless of the religion chosen, it means all religions are equally true. In fact, all of them respect his freedom. If chosen, there are no religions that would undermine human liberty or in any way pollute or limit it. The truth will make you free: but if freedom of religion exists prior to both the encounter with religions and the concrete choice for one of them, the truth of the religion chosen cannot be what makes us free.

Christian doctrine has always drawn a distinction between free will and freedom. The former is the faculty to make a choice. The latter is the concrete choice for good. In fact, whomsoever chooses evil is no longer free, even if his free will remains the same. It can be said that such a person becomes a slave to himself. The choice of good, that being the exercise of true freedom, can be made in the light of reason. Pertaining to Revelation is the idea that man has this faculty: in his rational conscience he finds the light of good and evil. This light, however, often wanes, and in the wake of the fall of our distant forefathers it falls into error and leaves the straight road. Without the Christian faith it is lost. In other words, reason on its own is not able to give man that freedom he has by virtue of his selfsame nature. Needed in order for this to take place are revelation and the faith.

As we see, it isnt possible for religions to be equivalent in their ability to confirm and bolster true human freedom. Preserved in the choice of one religion over another is the exercise of free will, but not true freedom. This is because not all religions are equally true, and only one of them is true. And this alone truly permits man to be free. In fact, we are free only according to truth.

Let us return to the problem raised at the outset. Freedom of religion does not mean the choice of just any religion confirms and validates the freedom of religion. This would be tantamount to the religious relativism clearly decried by Benedict XVI also in Ecclesia in Medio Oriente. It means that freedom of religion is a natural right and hence no one religion can be imposed upon people by the force of might. But that natural right is not merely free will and does not exist regardless of truth; it draws nourishment from truth and good, with respect to which only the true religion may respond in full. It alone renders man truly free. While on one hand it is right and just to acknowledge freedom of religion, it must be recognized on the other hand how, once chosen, there are religions that are detrimental to freedom of religion.

If freedom is considered only as the exercise of free will, freedom can be exercised even without any relationship with truth. If, however, freedom is considered as a right whose exercise is linked to good, then freedom does not exist outside the relationship with truth. If freedom does not exist outside the relationship with truth this means it has to do with truth from the very outset and not at a hypothetical later stage, and hence also has to do with God and therefore religion. The truth-religion link exists from the very outset, and with it the bond between freedom and true religion.

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Freedom, Freedom of Religion, Christian Freedom