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Week 37
Researchers Find Vulnerable Enzyme
in Pathogens
Researchers at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center and University of Maryland have demonstrated that an enzyme
that is essential to many bacteria can be targeted to kill dangerous pathogens. In
addition, investigators discovered chemical compounds that can inhibit this enzyme and
suppress the growth of pathogenic bacteria. These findings are essential to develop new
broad-spectrum antibacterial agents to overcome multidrug resistance.
Gene variation is 'major genetic
determinant of psoriasis'
A specific genetic region that has been increasingly identified as the strongest genetic
link to psoriasis has an even more significant role in the chronic skin disease than has
been suspected, University of Utah medical researchers show in a new study. In the Aug. 13
issue of PLoS Genetics, researchers in the U School of Medicine's Department of
Dermatology confirm that the presence of HLA-Cw*0602, a gene variation or allele on
chromosome 6 found to be associated with psoriasis by numerous investigators, is the
"major genetic determinant" of psoriasis, but that other nearby genetic
variations also play an independent role in contributing to the disease "The
HLA-Cw*0602 gene variation stands alone as a high risk for psoriasis," said Gerald G.
Krueger, M.D., professor of dermatology, Benning Presidential Endowed Chair holder, and a
co-author on the study. "A major question has been: are there other genetic
variations in this region that associate with psoriasis?" "The study reported in
PLoS Genetics identifies two other genetic variations on chromosome 6 that also have
significant association with psoriasis. People who have all three genetic variations are
nearly nine times more at risk for psoriasis.
Researchers report gene associated
with language, speech and reading disorders
A new candidate gene for Specific Language Impairment has been identified by a research
team directed by Mabel Rice at the University of Kansas, in collaboration with Shelley
Smith, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Javier Gayán of Neocodex, Seville,
Spain. The finding, reported in the current issue of the Journal of Neurodevelopmental
Disorders, was discovered by examining genes previously identified as candidate genes for
reading impairments or speech sound disorders. The results point toward the likelihood of
multiple genes contributing to language impairment, some of which also contribute to
reading or speech impairment. A gene on Chromosome 6 – KIAA0319 – was associated
with variability in language abilities in a study of children with Specific Language
Impairment (SLI) and their family members, as well as with variability in speech and
reading abilities. Children with SLI who were selected for the study had no hearing loss,
general intellectual deficit or autism. Language ability involves vocabulary and grammar,
whereas speech involves the accuracy of sound production. Both language and speech ability
contribute to a child's ability to read. The finding that a candidate gene could influence
all three abilities suggests a common pathway that could contribute to overlapping
strengths or deficiencies across speech, language and reading. According to Rice, "We
don't understand the biological mechanisms yet but it's important that we have identified
the first gene that could be involved across these three different dimensions of
development."
Predicting cancer prognosis
Researchers led by Dr. Soheil Dadras at the Stanford University Medical Center have
developed a novel methodology to extract microRNAs from cancer tissues. The related report
by Ma et al, "Profiling and discovery of novel miRNAs from formalin-fixed
paraffin-embedded melanoma and nodal specimens," appears in the September 2009 issue
of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Cancer tissues from patients are often stored by
a method that involves formalin fixation and paraffin embedding to retain morphological
definition for identification; however, this method frequently prevents further molecular
analysis of the tissue because of mRNA degradation. Even so, these tissues contain high
numbers of microRNAs (miRNAs), which are short enough (~22 nucleotides) to not be broken
down during the fixation process. In this study, Dr. Dadras and colleagues optimized a new
protocol for extracting miRNAs from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Using their
new procedure, they identified 17 new and 53 known miRNAs from normal skin, melanoma, and
sentinel lymph nodes. These miRNAs were well-preserved in a 10-year-old specimen. This new
protocol, therefore, will allow for the identification of novel miRNAs that may differ in
cancerous and healthy tissue, even from long-preserved tissue, leading to better
predictions of disease prognosis and treatment response.
U-Iowa improves delivery of
cancer-fighting molecules
Small interfering RNA (siRNA), a type of genetic material, can block potentially harmful
activity in cells, such as tumor cell growth. But delivering siRNA successfully to
specific cells without adversely affecting other cells has been challenging. University of
Iowa researchers have modified siRNA so that it can be injected into the bloodstream and
impact targeted cells while producing fewer side effects. The findings, which were based
on animal models of prostate cancer, also could make it easier to create large amounts of
targeted therapeutic siRNAs for treating cancer and other diseases. The study results
appeared online Aug. 23 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. "Our goal was to make
siRNA deliverable through the bloodstream and make it more specific to the genes that are
over expressed in cancer," said the study's senior author Paloma Giangrande, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of internal medicine and a member of Holden Comprehensive Cancer
Center. In previous research completed at Duke University, Giangrande's team showed that a
compound called an aptamer can be combined with siRNA to target certain genes. When the
combined molecule is directly injected into tumors in animal models, it triggers the
processes that stop tumor growth. However, directly injecting the combination into tumors
in humans is difficult. In the new study, the researchers trimmed the size of a prostate
cancer-specific aptamer and modified the siRNA to increase its activity. Upon injection
into the bloodstream, the combination triggered tumor regression without affecting normal
tissues.
An intelligent system avoids
forgetting things
A team of researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) has created a system with
Artificial Intelligence techniques which notifies elderly people or people with special
needs of the forgetting of certain everyday tasks. This system uses sensors distributed in
the environment in order to detect their actions and mobile devices which remind them, for
example, to take their keys before they leave home. An elderly lady is about to go to bed.
She goes into her room, sits down on the bed, takes off her slippers and turns off the
light. Suddenly, before getting into bed, a small alarm goes off and a mobile device
reminds her that she has not taken her tablets. This is how the new intelligent system
developed by researchers from the Department of Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence of the UGR works. María Ros Izquierdo is from the Higher Technical School of
Computer Engineering of the UGR and the co-author of a study which is published this month
in the Expert Systems with Applications magazine. "It is a prototype which, in a
non-intrusive manner, facilitates the control of the activity of people with special needs
and increases their independence", she explained to SINC. The system recognizes the
everyday actions of the users by means of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) labels.
These labels are discreetly placed on the objects that the individuals touch most often,
in such a way that, when they do so, a signal is sent to a computer or mobile device
situated in the house itself or at an assistance centre some distance away.
Cry Sea
Having emptied the European seas of fish,
industrial fishing trawlers are now targeting Africa. But in places like Senegal, where
the sea is the nations main resource, the EUs fishing policies are devastating the
country. Unable to compete with this European Invasion, Senegalese fishermen are being
driven out of business. This expertly crafted film examines the scale of the problem.
Sunscreen Danger?
Headline Health discusses a possible link
between sunscreen and brain damage
Pregnant In America Trailer
Pregnant in America is a motivational, and
inspirational documentary made by film maker Steve Buonagurio about the birth of his
daughter Bella. Shocked by the greed of U.S. hospitals, insurance companies and medical
organizations, Steve and his wife Mandy set out to create a natural home birth in a world
where everything is anything but natural. The film is as much educational as it is
entertaining and prepares excepting parent for their uncertain journey of being pregnant
and having their baby.
Unbalanced Fertilizer Use, in an
Uneven World
Fertilizer use differs from country to
country, and from too little to too much. Nitrogen and phosphorus can produce big crops.
But they can also pollute water and air. A recent policy discussion in the journal Science
compared the nutrient balances of different agriculture systems. Researchers compared the
use of fertilizer in three areas that grow maize as a major grain: China, Kenya and the
United States. By two thousand five, they say, farms in northern China produced about the
same amount of corn per hectare as farms in the American Midwest. But the Chinese farmers
used six times more nitrogen, and produced almost twenty-three times more surplus
nitrogen. Government policies can have an influence. For example, as China sought food
security, its policies increased fertilizer use. The researchers note that farmers in the
Midwest used too much fertilizer on their crops through the nineteen seventies. But
improved farming methods later increased their yields and, at the same time, made better
use of chemical nitrogen fertilizer. Farms in western Kenya use just over one-tenth as
much fertilizer as American farms. Corn harvests remain small. The researchers say farming
methods in Sub-Saharan Africa need to improve or else poor quality soil will increase
rural poverty. More than two hundred fifty million people do not get enough nutrients from
crops to stay healthy. Nutrient balances in agriculture differ with economic development.
Farmers lack enough inputs to maintain soil fertility in parts of many developing
countries, especially in Africa south of the Sahara. But countries that are developed or
growing quickly often have unnecessary surpluses. Ammonia gas released by fertilized
cropland is a cause of air pollution. The land can also release nitrous oxide, a
heat-trapping gas. Nitrogen runoffs from farms can create large dead zones, like
those in the Gulf of Mexico. Algae microorganisms in the water overpopulate because of the
surplus nitrogen. The algae take much of the oxygen from the water. Fish and other
organisms die. Laurie Drinkwater at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, was an author
of the report. Professor Drinkwater says farmers need to think about ways to solve some of
the causes of nutrient loss from agriculture. She says different countries need different
solutions based on location, environment, climate and population needs.
The Frinky Science of the Human
Mind
Baba Shiv delves into the surprising
workings of the brain during his lecture. "Frinky", a combination of
"freaky" and "funky" was an apt descriptor for the mental experiments
he describes. Deftly incorporating the anatomy of the brain, Shiv makes the case that
emoitional responses are vital to responsible decision making, and that -- despite popular
belief -- rational thought is perhaps not all it's cracked up to be.
Activist Confronts Japanese Dolphin
Hunters
Animal rights activist Richard O'Barry
faced Japanese dolphin hunters at a seaport in Japan on Wednesday (September 2), but was
quickly shooed away by angry locals. According to Japanese television station YTV, O'Barry
was visiting the fishing town to film a new documentary for the Discovery Channel just in
time for the dolphin hunting season that begins in September each year. He's a former
dolphin trainer who trained "Flipper" from the 1960s television series of the
same name. For nearly 40 years O'Barry has worked to free these marine mammals and
publicize their plight. Teaming up with conservation organizations, he zeroed in on
Japan's small coastal town of Taiji where fishermen catch most of the dolphins displayed
in marine parks. He created a documentary called "The Cove which was released in the
U.S. this summer. "The Cove" has already been praised by critics and won
the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Beyond objections to the Taiji
fishermen's hunting practices, which force the animals into nets, O'Barry suspects the
town is concealing secrets related to the exploitation of dolphins passed over for
capture. O'Barry assembled a crack team of marine specialists, high-tech experts and
experienced divers to investigate the fate of dolphins herded into a cove adjacent to the
Taiji capture site. They battle Japanese police and fisherman to gain access to the cove
where barbed wire blocks people from filming dolphin killings. O'Barry has been visiting
Taiji several times a year for the past eight years. He now wears disguises in the town to
avoid the attention of fisherman and the police, predicted the film would have a big
impact.
"The Ultimate Ride: Steve
Fisher African Rush" Trailer
Steve Fisher: African Rush is a trial of
epic beauty, self discovery, and life-threatening adventure. In one amazing journey,
kayaking legend Steve Fisher returns to the Zambezi, the worlds most treacherous waterway,
raging at the highest levels in a decade, to take on a thrill that many consider a death
wish.
http://www.stevefisher.com/
Anne Yoder - Evolution Speaker
Series
Anne Yoder's July 9, 2009 presentation at
the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. "Madagascar's Magnificent
Biodiversity: What Would Darwin Say?"
Hans Rosling: Let my dataset change
your mindset
Talking at the US State Department this
summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the
developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with
classic data shows. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances
from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of
their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change,
Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas
Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and
mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost"
producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment,
Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the
arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available
on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks
at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
Neuroscience, Diseases of The Brain
and How The Mind Emerges
Dennis Choi, director of Emory Universitys
Neuroscience Center, is renowned for his groundbreaking research on brain and spinal cord
injury and for his broad knowledge and insight into the mind-brain relationship and the
connections between the neurosciences and other disciplines. Here he discusses research
into disease specific and common pathway mechanisms of neurodegeneration, as well as
neuroprotective agents, and restorative advances for the brain and nervous system.
Skin-disease patients show brain
immunity to faces of disgust
People with psoriasis – an often distressing dermatological condition that causes
lesions and red scaly patches on the skin – are less likely to react to looks of
disgust by others than people without the condition, new research has found. University of
Manchester scientists used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to compare the brains of
26 men, half of whom had chronic psoriasis. The researchers looked at the insular cortex
– a part of the brain triggered by both feelings and observations of disgust –
to see how participants responded to images of disgusted faces. The study, published in
the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, found that the volunteers with psoriasis had a
much weaker response in their insular cortex than the healthy volunteers, suggesting they
have developed a coping mechanism to protect themselves from adverse emotional responses
to their condition by others. "Psoriasis has a significant negative impact on the
physical and psychological well-being of those affected but little is known about the
neurocognitive mechanisms of how patients cope with the adverse social stigma associated
with visible skin lesions," said Dr Elise Kleyn, the dermatologist who carried out
the research. "We had previously shown that psoriasis patients commonly believe that
they will be evaluated solely on the basis of their skin and so often avoid social
situations they think will be stressful or humiliating as a coping mechanism."For
this study we wanted to investigate whether the social impact of psoriasis is associated
with altered cognitive processing in response to facial expressions of disgust by
measuring brain activity in the insular cortex.
Beta-blockers and stroke -- new
insights into their use for older people
A University of Leicester-led study may have uncovered the reason why Beta-blockers are
less effective at preventing stroke in older people with high blood pressure, when
compared to other drugs for high blood pressure. The research, carried out by Bryan
Williams, Professor of Medicine at the University of Leicester, and his colleague Dr.
Peter Lacy, has been published in the prestigious Journal of the American College of
Cardiology and has been cited on the MDLinx.com site as currently the world's number one
leading finding in its field. Professor Williams' research shows that lowering heart rate
in older people, as Beta blockers do, can have a potentially detrimental effect on central
aortic pressures (pressures in the large arteries close to the heart).
Working too much can be dangerous
for teen's sexual health
Allowing teens to work too many hours in the wrong environment can be dangerous for their
sexual health by fostering conditions that lead them to older sex partners, a new study
shows. This is just one of the key findings in a University of Michigan study of youth on
what predicts age of sex partners. Jose Bauermeister, one of the authors, says age
difference of sex partners is important, because a larger age difference is associated
with riskier sexual behavior and STDs, including HIV. The study found that a youth's self
esteem and alcohol use also play a role in the age difference between sex partners, says
Bauermeister, an assistant research professor in the School of Public Health. Bauermeister
stresses the research shows that overall, teenagers who work part-time benefit in almost
all areas over those who don't have jobs. However, those benefits come with caveats, he
said. Bauermeister's team followed youths in Flint, Mich. as they transitioned from
adolescence to young adulthood (ages 14 thru 25), to see what factors predicted sex
partner age difference. Many factors can lead to age differences in sex partners, with
girls usually dating older than boys and young men, the study found.
Small peptide found to stop lung
cancer tumor growth in mice
In new animal research done by investigators at Wake Forest University School of Medicine,
scientists have discovered a treatment effective in mice at blocking the growth and
shrinking the size of lung cancer tumors, one of the leading causes of cancer death in the
world.The study, recently published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the
American Association for Cancer Research, is the first to show that treatment with a
specific peptide, angiotensin-(1-7), reduces lung tumor growth by inhibiting blood vessel
formation. "If you're diagnosed with lung cancer today, you've got a 15 percent
chance of surviving five years – and that's just devastating," said co-lead
investigator Patricia E. Gallagher, Ph.D., director of the Molecular Biology Core
Laboratory in the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at the School of Medicine.
"Those other 85 people – 85 percent – they're not going to see their kids
graduate. They're not going to see their children get married." The lung cancer
survival rate has changed little in the past 30 years, said Gallagher's co-lead
investigator, E. Ann Tallant, Ph.D., a professor in the Hypertension and Vascular Research
Center – a fact that motivates them in their research. Peptides, found in all
animals, are compounds formed by linking one or more amino acids together through the
sharing of electrons. They are among the building blocks of life. Peptides can perform a
wide range of functions in the body, depending on which amino acids are involved. Some can
regulate hormones, for example, while others can have an antibiotic function.
Angiotensin-(1-7) is a small peptide that binds to proteins on the surface of cells and
prevents cell growth – but only if the cell is actively growing when the binding
occurs. That property is what led Tallant and Gallagher to explore the peptide's uses for
treating cancer by blocking tumor growth.
Teetotalers more likely to be
depressed
When it comes to alcohol consumption and depression, a new study by a team of Norwegian
and British researchers shows that heavy drinkers – but also teetotalers -- have
higher levels of depression and anxiety than those who drink moderately.The study,
"Anxiety and depression among abstainers and low-level alcohol consumers. The
Nord-Trøndelag Health Study", was published in the most recent issue of Addiction, a
peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Society for the Study of Addiction.
Blood test can detect brain damage
in amateur boxers
A blood test can now be used to detect brain damage in amateur boxers. Deterioration of
nerve cells seems to occur even after a two-month break from boxing. This is shown in a
new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The results of
the study conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Erciyes University
Medical School in Turkey are published in the current issue of the scientific journal
Brain Injury. The findings constitute further evidence that repeated blows to the head may
damage the brain.
Acupuncture may bring relief for a
common condition in women
Polycystic ovary syndrome, a common condition among women, can be relieved by the use of
acupuncture and exercise. This has been shown by a recent study at the Sahlgrenska
Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Nearly 10% of women of reproductive age have
polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The syndrome expresses itself as a large number of small
immature cysts on the ovaries that cause a disturbance in the production of hormones and
an increase in the secretion of the male sex hormone. This means that many women with the
condition do not ovulate normally, and the syndrome may lead to infertility. The women run
an increased risk of becoming obese, developing type 2 diabetes, or developing
cardio-vascular disease. “We do not know for certain what causes the condition,
despite it being so common. We have seen that women with the syndrome often have high
activity in that part of the nervous system that we cannot consciously control, known as
the “sympathetic nervous system”. We believe that this may be an important
underlying factor in the syndrome”, says Elisabet Stener?Victorin, who has led the
research at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
HIV subtype linked to increased
likelihood for dementia
Patients infected with a particular subtype of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are more
likely to develop dementia than patients with other subtypes, a study led by Johns Hopkins
researchers shows. The finding, reported in the September Clinical Infectious Diseases, is
the first to demonstrate that the specific type of HIV has any effect on cognitive
impairment, one of the most common complications of uncontrolled HIV infection. HIV occurs
in multiple forms, distinguished by small differences in the virus' genetic sequence and
designated by letters A through K. Certain subtypes appear to cluster in particular areas
of the world, and others have been associated with different rates of progression to full
blown AIDS. Of the 35 million people living worldwide with HIV, the majority live in
sub-Saharan Africa, where subtypes A, C and D dominate. Nearly half of patients with
advanced HIV infections have at least mild cognitive impairments, and about 5 percent have
the severe form of cognitive impairment known as dementia. In earlier research, Ned
Sacktor, M.D., and his colleagues found that about 31 percent of patients visiting an
infectious disease clinic in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where subtypes A and D
dominate, had dementia. The finding led him and his team to wonder whether patients with
different subtypes had different rates of dementia.
UF scientists construct 'off
switch' for Parkinson therapy
A common antibiotic can function as an "off switch" for a gene therapy being
developed for Parkinson's disease, according to University of Florida researchers writing
online in advance of September's Molecular Therapy. The discovery in rats answers an
important question — how can new, therapeutic genes that have been irrevocably
delivered to the human brain to treat Parkinson's be controlled if the genes unexpectedly
start causing problems? Meanwhile, in a review of Parkinson treatments, the researchers
say that prior experimental attempts using growth factors — naturally occurring
substances that cause cells to grow and divide — to rescue dying brain cells may have
failed because they occurred too late in the course of the disease. Together, the findings
suggest that gene therapy to enable the brain to retain its ability to produce dopamine, a
neurotransmitter that falls in critically short supply in Parkinson's patients, could be
safely attempted during earlier stages of the disease with an added likelihood of success.
Parkinson's disease affects more than 1 million Americans, causing patients to gradually
develop movement problems, including tremors, stiffness and slowness. It is caused by
degeneration and death of nerve connections that produce dopamine, a substance necessary
for communication between cells that coordinate movement. "We have worked every day
for 10 years to design a construct to the gene delivery vector that enhances the safety
profile of gene transfer for Parkinson's disease," said Ronald Mandel, a professor of
neuroscience at UF's McKnight Brain Institute and the Powell Gene Therapy Center.
"With that added measure of safety, we believe we can intervene with gene transfer in
patients at earlier stages of the disease. We strongly believe that trials to save
dopamine-producing connections in patients with Parkinson's disease have failed because
the therapy went into patients who were in the late stages of the disease and who had too
few remaining dopamine-producing connections." Often patients are given prescriptions
for levodopa, or L-dopa, which is converted into dopamine by enzymes in the brain. But the
treatment loses its effectiveness over time and does nothing to slow the disease's
progression.
Depression and anxiety affect up to
15 percent of preschoolers
Almost 15 percent of preschoolers have atypically high levels of depression and anxiety,
according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The
five-year investigation also found that children with atypically high depression and
anxiety levels are more likely to have mothers with a history of depression. The study was
conducted in Canada by an international team of researchers from the Université de
Montréal, the Université Laval and McGill University, as well as Inserm (Institut
national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) in France, Carnegie Mellon University
in the U.S. and University College Dublin in Ireland. "As early as the first year of
life, there are indications that some children have more risks than others to develop high
levels of depression and anxiety," says first author Sylvana M. Côté, a professor
at the Université de Montréal's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine.
"Difficult temperament at five months was the most important predictor of depression
and anxiety in the children."
New research findings pave the way
to more accurate interpretation of brain imaging data
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique widely used in studying the
human brain. However, it has long been unclear exactly how fMRI signals are generated at
brain cell level. This information is crucially important to interpreting these imaging
signals. Scientists from the Academy of Finland's Neuroscience Research Programme (NEURO)
have discovered that astrocytes, support cells in brain tissue, play a key role in the
generation of fMRI signals. Functional magnetic imaging has become a highly popular method
in basic neurobiological research, psychology, medicine as well as in areas of study that
interface with the social sciences and economics, such as neuroeconomics. fMRI imaging
does not directly measure the activity of nerve cells or neural networks, but local
changes in cerebrovascular circulation during the execution of certain functions.
Interpretation of the measurement data obtained with this method therefore requires a
close knowledge of the cell-level mechanisms that are responsible for these local changes
in cerebrovascular circulation. Studies conducted by Canadian and Finnish scientists in
the NEURO programme have shown that astrocytes in brain tissue play a key role in
generating the fMRI signal. Astrocytes are not nerve cells, but neuronal support or glial
cells that are present in the brain in greater abundance than nerve cells. Their signals
change with changes in nerve cell activity in a manner that depends on the brain's
metabolic state, and the astrocyte signals thus created regulate the diameter of blood
vessels in the brain thereby affecting local circulation.
Feelings of hopelessness linked to
stroke risk in healthy women
Healthy middle-aged women with feelings of hopelessness appear to experience thickening of
the neck arteries, which can be a precursor to stroke, according to new research out of
the University of Minnesota Medical School. The study, published online today in Stroke:
Journal of the American Heart Association, found that hopelessness — negative
thinking and feelings of uselessness — affects arteries independent of clinical
depression and before women develop clinically relevant cardiovascular disease.
Researchers looked at 559 women (average age 50, 62 percent white, 38 percent African
American) who were generally healthy and did not show signs of clinical cardiovascular
disease. They measured hopelessness with a two-item questionnaire assessing expectancies
regarding future and personal goals. Depressive symptoms were measured with a 20-item
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Thickness of neck arteries was assessed
using ultrasound. The study found a consistent, progressive, and linear association
between increasing neck artery thickness and rising levels of hopelessness. The overall
difference in arterial thickening between women with higher versus lower hopelessness
scores, about .02 millimeters (mm), was equal to about one year of thickening. Those with
the highest hopelessness scores had an average .06 mm greater thickening than those in the
lowest group — a clinically significant difference. This correlation remained after
adjusting for any influence of age, race, income, cardiovascular risk factors, and
depression.
Natural compounds, chemotherapeutic
drugs may become partners in cancer therapy
Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University suggests that some
natural food compounds, which previously have been studied for their ability to prevent
cancer, may be able to play a more significant role in treating it – working
side-by-side with the conventional drugs that are now used in chemotherapy. A new study
just published in the International Journal of Cancer examined the activity of
chlorophyllin and found that, on a dose-by-dose basis, it was 10 times more potent at
causing death of colon cancer cells than hydroxyurea, a chemotherapeutic drug commonly
used in cancer treatment. Beyond that, chlorophyllin kills cancer cells by blocking the
same phase of cellular division that hydroxyurea does, but by a different mechanism. This
suggests that it – and possibly other “cocktails” of natural products
– might be developed to have a synergistic effect with conventional cancer drugs,
helping them to work better or require less toxic dosages, researchers said. “We
conclude that chlorophyllin has the potential to be effective in the clinical setting,
when used alone or in combination with currently available cancer therapeutic
agents,” the researchers wrote in their study.
Project Camelot interviews Dr
Steven Greer
Dr Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project
is almost too well-known in the UFO research community to require an introduction. His
ground-breaking Press Conference, in Washington in May 2001, was one of a number of
influential factors which inspired us to found Project Camelot five years later. Our
intention was to support his initiative and add further momentum, and information, to the
disclosure moment at a grass-roots level. Yet, all was not well. Whenever a correspondent
wrote to Steven Greer asking him about Project Camelot, they received a standard letter
back from his office stating that Project Camelot was disinformation.
And despite being extremely accessible on
the UFO Conference circuit over the last three years, we had never once had the chance to
meet or speak with him. Since we were all attending the Barcelona Exopolitics Summit in
July 2009, we were looking forward, at last, to the opportunity to talk. More than one
person in his entourage was also supportive of our meeting, as they themselves had been
following Camelot's work for long enough to know that our intentions were honorable.
However, Steven Greer ignored us, and declined to appear at the pre-conference panel
discussion which we had been specifically invited to Barcelona to moderate. Disappointed,
we attended his main conference presentation and heard him state explicitly (as he has
done on many public occasions) that all the ET visitors were friendly.
In response to this, we made a statement on
the 'What's New' section of our site, making clear our disagreement and that this
unilateral position was, in our informed opinion, dangerous and premature. We had only
weeks previously been explicitly told by Dr Pete Peterson that most ETs were friendly, but
some were not, and that was the main reason why he continued to do work for the US
Government. We spent two full days talking with Dr Peterson on this and other subjects:
his statement was compelling to us, and rang true. After we had stated our opinion on our
site, we were approached by Dr Greer's PR representative and were informed that he would
do an interview. What you see here was hastily arranged, for which we apologize. We needed
to catch the moment while it was available.
What you will see in this 70 minute video
is an impassioned, articulate and intelligent discussion which has as its central theme
the most important question that may be faced by the human race: Can we trust ALL the
visitors to Planet Earth? To risk a simplistic paraphrase, Dr Greer says Yes, and Project
Camelot says Not Necessarily. The debate is well-informed and vigorous. We thank Dr Greer
for appearing with us, and he gave a good account of himself. And so did we. Enjoy... and
we would like to emphasize again what we stated clearly in the video: that none of us can
know with certainty the agendas of all the many visiting ET races, and to presume that one
does may be irresponsible and premature. Informed by what we know, we stand by that view -
and we look forward to further discussion as more information continues to become
available.
Health, Money and Fear
Produced by an emergency physician (Paul
Hochfeld), "Health, Money and Fear" answers three questions about our broken
health care non-system. Why does is cost so much? What does it say about us? What can we
do about it? While Congress is more focused on the symptom, lack of Universal Coverage,
they are ignoring the underlying problem. COST. Unless they address the perverse
incentives that drive up cost, the "reform" we are going to get will be more
government subsidies so the insurance industry can continue to thrive being central to a
dysfunctional health care system that is better at producing profits than health. The
elements of the solution must address the elements of the problem: technology, the fear of
liability, mass marketing of prescription drugs, the profit motive, chaos in medical
records, unrealistic expectatiions, and the multitude of insurance companies that add
substantially to cost without contributing anything to health.
Anchorage Town Hall on Health Care
Sen. Lisa Murkowski held a town hall
meeting on health care in Anchorage on August 20, 2009. CSPAN was on hand in Anchorage to
record the event for later broadcast. Sen. Murkowski's Anchorage town hall meeting was
part of C-SPANs coverage of town hall meetings being held across the country during the
August Congressional recess. Sen. Murkowski's town hall lasts about two hours.
Authors@Google: David Kessler
Before we can begin to address America's
eating epidemic, we need to understand WHY we have such difficulty controlling what we
eat. Kessler spent the past seven years meeting with top scientists, physicians,
psychologists, and food industry insiders, and conducting his own research to reveal how
specific foods produced by giant food corporations and restaurant chains ("Big
Food") feed our desire to eat by stimulating the brain with an infinite variety of
diabolical combinations of salt, fat and sugar. People of all ages are being set up for a
lifetime of food obsession due to the ever-present availability of foods laden with salt,
fat and sugar. It is no wonder that millions of Americans are gaining weight and getting
sick. The End of Overeating provides a highly readable and indispensable picture of the
problems we face and offers solutions for how to fight them and regain control. David
Kessler, MD, served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Kessler, a
pediatrician, has been dean of the medical schools at Yale and the UCSF. He is the father
of two grown children and lives with his wife in California.
Authors@Google: Ani Phyo
Author Ani Phyo visits Google's Santa
Monica, CA office to discuss her book "Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable
Sweets and Treats."
Strange Culture
In 2004, Steve Kurtz (Thomas Jay Ryan), an
associate professor of art at the State University of New York, Buffalo, was preparing an
exhibition on genetically modified food for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
when his wife, Hope (Tilda Swinton), died in her sleep of heart failure. But when
paramedics noticed petri dishes and other scientific paraphernalia in the home, they
alerted the F.B.I.; within hours Mr. Kurtz found himself suspected of bioterrorism, his
home quarantined and his wife¹s body removed for autopsy. Filmmaker Lynn Hershman-Leeson
bends the nonfiction form to her own unconventional will. The result is a fascinating
collage of re-enactments, news clips and interviews, illuminating not only the
implications of corporate meddling in the food chain but the ease with which innocent
civilian behavior can become a suspicious act.
Where the Water Flows
Dr. Alexander J.B. (Sasha) Zehnder examines
global water use, the challenges faced with water, food security and the future challenges
in providing adequate water supply to the entire world.
Begich Delivers Speech on Arctic
Issues and Climate Change
Senator Mark Begich used his maiden speech
on the Senate floor to recognize the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood and to recognize
the critical role the Arctic will play in the nation's commerce, foreign policy, and
energy independence over the next 50 years. During this speech, he introduced a
legislative package of seven bills designed to plan and prepare for the challenges in
America's Arctic. Senator Begich noted that Alaska is Ground Zero for the effects of
global climate change. He cited numerous examples of these effects, such as Alaskan
villages that have been eroded by the shrinking arctic icepack; the devastating effects of
melting sea ice on species such as the polar bear, walrus, and seals; thawing permafrost
causing homes to buckle; ocean acidification weakening the marine food chain; and warming
water temperatures that are changing fish migration patterns.
Senator Pavley and supporters rally
to ban BPA in childrens' products
Why we fight?
Shrinking Bylot Island glaciers
tell story of climate change
The glaciers that are now on Bylot Island were as far advanced in the 1940s as they have
been in the last 55,000 years. And now they are retreating," said University of
Illinois geologist William Shilts, the executive director of the Institute of Natural
Resource Sustainability at Illinois.
The Link Between Weight and
Importance
Weighty. Heavy. What do these words have to do with seriousness and importance? Why do we
weigh our options, and why does your opinion carry more weight than mine? New research
suggests that we can blame this on gravity. Heavy objects require more energy to move, and
they can hurt us more if we move them clumsily. So we learn early on in life to think more
and plan more when we’re dealing with heftier things. They require more cognitive
effort as well as muscular effort. This leads to the intriguing possibility that the
abstract concept of importance is grounded in our very real experience of weight. Could
the various metaphors involving weight derive from our body’s actual struggle with
the force of gravity? In a study appearing in Psychological Science, a journal of the
Association for Psychological Science, University of Amsterdam psychologist Nils Jostmann
and his colleagues speculated that actually carrying a heavy weight, rather than a light
weight, would make people judge issues as more important in various ways. In a series of
experiments, volunteers held clipboards, some heavy and some light. While doing so, they
were asked to fill out a number of questionnaires. In one study, they were asked to
estimate the value of various foreign currencies and indeed, the researchers found that
those with the heavy clipboard saw the money as more valuable and important.
How much omega-3 fatty acid do we
need to prevent cardiovascular disease?
A team of French scientists have found the dose of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that is
"just right" for preventing cardiovascular disease in healthy men. In a research
report appearing in the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal
(http://www.fasebj.org), the scientists show that a 200 mg dose of DHA per day is enough
to affect biochemical markers that reliably predict cardiovascular problems, such as those
related to aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. This study is the first to identify how
much DHA is necessary to promote optimal heart health. "This study shows that
regularly consuming small amounts of DHA is likely to improve the health status of people,
especially in regards to cardiovascular function," said Michel Lagarde, co-author of
the study.
New developments in reproductive
medicine
Three out of ten women who undergo polar body diagnosis go on to have a child. The
extensive technique of polar body analysis (PBA) is described by researchers in
reproductive medicine at Lübeck in an article in the current edition of Deutsches
Ärtzeblatt International, in which they present three successful cases and one failure
(Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106(33): 533-8). Polar bodies are by-products of normal cell
division (meiosis) of an oocyte—a woman's egg cell—on its way to maturation. For
people with monogenic diseases, which are caused by gene defects, polar body analysis can
give an indication of whether the healthy version of the gene is present in the egg before
fertilization takes place. Monogenic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, are caused by an
altera-tion of one gene; this makes them different from polygenic diseases, such as
diabetes mellitus, for example, which are caused by a combination of defects in several
genes. In the cases of four women who were carriers of a monogenic disease, their own egg
cells containing the intact version of the gene concerned were fertilized, allowed to
develop to the embryonic stage, and then transferred into the womb. Three of the women had
a successful pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy child. One woman failed to become
pregnant, even after a further round of PBA fol-lowed by embryo transfer, and decided not
to continue the treatment. These four cases are among nine couples tested using PBA at
Lübeck by Georg Griesinger and his co-authors because of a known risk that the mother
might transmit a monogenic disease. In Germany PBA is an alternative to preimplantation
diagnosis (PID), which depending on the result can lead to termination of pregnancy with
all the associated psychological and physical stresses. The disadvantages of PBA are:
hereditary diseases transmitted through the father cannot be diagnosed, and in the case of
autosomal recessive diseases egg cells that would have resulted in the birth of healthy
heterozygous carriers are discarded. In Germany, PBA for monogenic diseases is at present
performed at only two centers, in Lübeck and Regensburg.
New treatment in sight for ovarian
cancer
In the future, women with metastatic ovarian cancer could be treated with a radioactive
substance that can seek and destroy tumour cells. An initial study in patients conducted
jointly by the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska
University Hospital has found that the treatment has no unwanted side-effects. "Our
research team has long hoped to be able to target radiotherapy in this way," says
oncologist Håkan Andersson from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, who is leading the
research alongside professor Ragnar Hultborn from the Sahlgrenska Academy and radiation
physicist Lars Jacobsson. "There is a good chance of this treatment working, as the
study indicates that a sufficient amount of the active substance reaches the tumour cells
in the abdominal cavity without any measurable side-effects." The aim of this initial
patient study, just published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, was to study the
substance's distribution in the body and any side-effects in nine women with ovarian
cancer. The new treatment has been developed jointly over a number of years by researchers
at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The treatment entails
injecting the patient with a radioactive isotope bound to carrier molecules. This complex
has the ability to bind to structures on the surface of tumour cells where the isotope
emits alpha particles with such a short range that only the very nearest tumour cells' DNA
is destroyed. The injection is administered straight into the abdominal cavity. "We
have previously seen that mice with ovarian cancer given this treatment are generally
cured without serious side-effects, so we hope that this will become an established and
effective treatment for women with metastatic ovarian cancer," says Ragnar Hultborn,
professor of oncology at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy. "But it
will still be several years of development."
Can we change society?
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) result from a negative interaction between genes, lifestyle
and environment. To prevent CVD, it is necessary to influence the natural history of the
disease development in an individual. While we cannot change our genes, we can do a lot to
our lifestyles and environments. It is generally agreed that individuals alone should not
be blamed for chronic diseases such as CVD, but that society also has its role and
responsibilities. Governments, in cooperation with their stakeholders (e.g., industry,
nongovernmental organizations, and health professionals), play a central role in creating
an environment that empowers and encourages individuals, families, and communities to make
positive, life-enhancing behaviour changes in terms of diet and patterns of physical
activity. In addition to direct health policy and services, the responsibility of
governments includes sectors that have a pivotal influence on health, such as agriculture,
education, and transportation. Social determinants of health are also mediated by fiscal
policy and employment opportunities. Consequently, it is imperative that the executive of
the government, especially the head of the government, and the finance minister be
involved in discussions that traditionally have been limited to matters of microeconomic
reform inside the health portfolio. Commerce, industry, and labour traditionally have not
been invited to the discussion, but should also be involved.The WHO states that civil
society and nongovernmental organizations can help to ensure that consumers ask
governments to provide support for healthy lifestyles and ask the food industry to provide
healthy products. Civil society is the key platform for mobilizing and actualizing
associative behaviours designed to promote awareness, education, and advocacy for health.
They advocate for representatives of business and commerce becoming involved in defining
the problem, proposing solutions, and implementing those solutions, because a healthy
workforce and market are central to these representatives' core business. Recently, it has
also been noted that the power of the Internet in promoting what may be called the
"globalization of associative behaviour" is important.
Childhood obesity - The increasing
vascular drama
Obesity is one of the most important health problems in industrialized countries
irrespective of socio-economic status, age, sex or ethnicity. The prevalence of childhood
obesity in children has reached alarming levels, even in developing countries. It is
estimated that about 1 billion people worldwide are overweight, with 22 millions being
under the age of 5 years and 300 million people are obese. By 2010 it is estimated that 26
million children in E.U. countries will be overweight, including 6.4 million who will be
obese. The reasons for childhood obesity include environmental factors, lifestyle
preferences, and also cultural background. However, in our affluent society an increase in
caloric and fat intake is one of the major causes for developing overweight and obesity.
On the other hand, there is rising evidence that a marked decline in physical activity
also plays a major role in the dramatically increasing rates of obesity all around the
world. Consequently, both over-consumption of calories and reduced physical activity are
involved in childhood obesity. Already in early childhood, overweight and obesity are
associated with the classical risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases
like diabetes or pre-diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. These
diseases all together contribute to the so called "metabolic syndrome".
Furthermore, the dramatic increase in weight also results in orthopaedic disorders, like
erosions and arthrosis of waist or knee joint, making any physical activity impossible,
even if the children were willing to do it. Given the fact that up to 50% of obese
children are suffering from metabolic syndrome, it is conceivable that these children are
already characterized by vascular damages resulting in developing plaque formation,
referred to as atherosclerosis. It is well known that a normal function of vessels depends
on a balance between relaxing and contracting factors produced within the internal lining
of arterial vessels, the endothelium. The major endothelium-derived relaxing factor is
nitric oxide. The availability of nitric oxide is critically influenced by the above
mentioned risk factors and diseases leading to a mismatch between relaxation and
contraction of the vessels. The occurrence of endothelial dysfunction is considered to be
the earliest stage of atherosclerosis and can be present years before an atherosclerotic
lesion will be detectable. Moreover, recent studies suggest a prognostic impact of
endothelial dysfunction. That means, if endothelial dysfunction is present, the likelihood
of developing a cardiovascular disease or to die from it is considerably increased. With
our present, still ongoing study, we aim to investigate whether obesity in early childhood
is associated with endothelial dysfunction or other damages of the vessels as an early
stage of atherosclerosis. Furthermore we are interested in the relationship between
markers of metabolic syndrome (high blood glucose, elevated blood pressure or cholesterol)
and the degree of vessel injury.
Eating less red meat can prevent
cancer, heart attacks and global warming
Raising livestock also accounts for around 18% of greenhouse gases. It is therefore
possible to act against climate change and reduce cardiovascular and cancer deaths, by
cutting the production and consumption of 'red meat' from these animals. The World Cancer
Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research have recommended that an
individual should eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week. Cardiovascular disease
and cancer are two human diseases caused by similar factors influencing climate change.
Others are the infectious disease influenza and salmonella, which are also related to
animal elevation (zoonoses). Further examples not specifically related to agriculture, are
respiratory diseases resulting from the burning of fossil and other fuels for transport
and heating. A different group of diseases cannot be said to share the causes of global
warming. Instead they are caused by, or exacerbated by global warming. Examples are
thermal stress, accidental and intentional injuries, and malnutrition or famine, all of
which are expected to occur more frequently as the planet warms up and the climate becomes
less stable. Health care systems all over the world will have to adapt to these changes.
Human disease and global warming are therefore related in several ways, and the World
Health Organization (WHO) as well as national medical associations, have adopted policies
to take these interrelationships into account. In contrast, professional societies within
cardiovascular medicine and research have not yet addressed the relationships of climate
change to cardiovascular disease, but they should consider doing so for at least two
reasons. The first is the relationship already described: risk of cardiovascular disease
can be reduced by interventions which also reduce the risk of climate change. For example
recommendations could be given regarding the consumption of red meat such as those already
made by oncology institutions.
New sensitive markers to detect
myocardial infarction
New biomarkers significantly improve the early detection of acute myocardial infarction
(AMI). Recent studies reveal a novel and promising way for doctors to conclusively ensure
that a patient is having or not having an AMI in a timely and accurate manner saving time
and money. In the assessment of patients presenting with chest pain and suspected AMI
doctors rely on detailed patient assessment, the ECG, and the measurement of cardiac
troponins (specific markers for dying cells in the heart). AMI is the cause of death in
more persons worldwide than any other disease. With effective treatment within our grasp,
accurate and rapid diagnosis is of major medical and economic importance. With the
development of blood tests depicting either cardiac troponin I or cardiac troponin T, the
only current biomarkers thought to be unique to the heart, the diagnosis of AMI has been
veritably revolutionised. In a patient presenting with chest pain, a rise in cardiac
troponin has become a mandatory feature for the clinical diagnosis of AMI. Unfortunately,
current cardiac troponin assays have one major limitation in common with their predecessor
(CK-MB): it takes 3?? hours after symptom onset until cardiac troponin becomes detectable.
This is a major problem for doctors and causes diagnostic uncertainty particularly in
patients presenting within the first hours from chest pain onset. Recently, data from
large multicenter studies have become available that demonstrate for the first time the
impact of two novel biomarkers and therefore two novel approaches in the early diagnosis
of AMI: sensitive cardiac troponin assays and copeptin, a marker of endogenous stress, in
combination with standard cardiac troponin. Both approaches seem to largely overcome the
sensitivity deficit of current standard cardiac troponin. The more sensitive the cardiac
troponin assay used, the smaller the number of dying myocardial cells necessary for this
signal to be detected. Recent studies have clearly shown that sensitive cardiac troponin
assays have a significantly higher diagnostic accuracy for the diagnosis of AMI and enable
doctors to detect AMI already at presentation to the emergency department in the vast
majority of patients.
Removing the barriers of autism
Autism can build a wall of poor communication between those struggling with the condition
and their families. While a personal computer can help bridge the divide, the distraction
and complexity of a keyboard can be an insurmountable obstacle. Using a unique keyboard
with only two "keys" and a novel curriculum, teachers with Project Blue Skies
are giving children with autism the ability to both communicate and to explore the online
world. At the heart of the project is a device called the OrbiTouch. Human-factors
engineer Pete McAlindon of BlueOrb in Maitland, Fl., conceived of the concept behind the
OrbiTouch more than a decade ago as a way to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and provide
computer access to people with limited or no use of their fingers. Developed with the
support of two National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research awards
(9661259 and 9801506), the concept of representing keyboard strokes with paired movements
was critical to the design from the start. "If you are unable to use a keyboard and
mouse effectively or at all because of a physical disability, what chance do you have of
using a computer?," asked McAlindon. "The OrbiTouch is designed to keep people
with physical or developmental disabilities connected to their computers." The
Project Blue Skies curriculum is based on the functions of the OrbiTouch, which allows a
user to input letters, symbols and any other command by independently manipulating two
computer-mouse shaped grips forward, back, diagonally and to the sides. For people with
carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as other hand and finger ailments, the motions driving the
OrbiTouch are far kinder than those for a keyboard.
New hope for deadly childhood bone
cancer
Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have shed new
light on Ewing's sarcoma, an often deadly bone cancer that typically afflicts children and
young adults. Their research shows that patients with poor outcomes have tumors with high
levels of a protein known as GSTM4, which may suppress the effects of chemotherapy. The
research is published online today in the journal Oncogene. "Doctors and researchers
have long known that certain Ewing's sarcoma patients respond to chemotherapy, but others
don't even though they have the same form of cancer," says HCI Investigator Stephen
Lessnick, M.D., Ph.D. "Our research shows that GSTM4 is found in high levels among
those patients where chemotherapy doesn't seem to work. It's found in low levels in
patients where chemotherapy is having a more positive effect." The research could
lead to drugs that can suppress GSTM4 in certain patients. It also could lead to a
screening test that could reveal which therapies will be most effective for patients.
"GSTM4 doesn't seem to suppress the benefits of all chemotherapy drugs, just certain
ones. A GSTM4-based test could help to identify the best therapy for each individual
patient," Lessnick says. Ewing's sarcoma is the second most common bone cancer in
children and adolescents. The five-year survival rate is considered poor at about 30
percent if the cancer has spread by the time it is diagnosed, and there is an even poorer
prognosis for patients who have suffered a relapse.
Mayo Clinic researchers find gene
that contributes to two different and common neurological movement disorders
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida and their collaborators worldwide have
discovered that a single gene promotes development of essential tremor in some patients
and Parkinson's disease in others. These are two common but distinct neurological
disorders. Notably, patients with essential tremor shake when they move, and Parkinson's
disease patients shake when they are at rest. In the September issue of Parkinsonism &
Related Disorders, the researchers' report that a variant in LINGO1, a gene involved in
neuronal survival, is the first proven evidence of a common genetic component in the
development of both disorders. Based on the findings, mutations in this gene are
potentially responsible for five percent of patients with Parkinson's disease, as well as
five percent of patients with essential tremor, says the study's lead investigator, Carles
Vilariño-Güell, Ph.D., of Mayo Clinic.
Promising new target emerges for
autoimmune diseases
University of Michigan scientists say they have uncovered a fundamentally new mechanism
that holds in check aggressive immune cells that can attack the body’s own cells. The
findings open a new avenue of research for future therapies for conditions ranging from
autoimmune diseases to organ transplants to cancer. The scientists discovered that the
immune system’s regulatory T cells, a topic of intense medical research, influence
aggressive immune cells by regulating the chemical environment between cells. The results
appear online ahead of print in Nature Chemical Biology.
Researchers examine mechanisms that
help cancer cells proliferate
A process that limits the number of times a cell divides works much differently than had
been thought, opening the door to potential new anticancer therapies, researchers at UT
Southwestern Medical Center report in the Aug. 7 issue of the journal Cell. Most cells in
the human body divide only a certain number of times, via a countdown mechanism that stops
them. When the controlling process goes wrong, the cells divide indefinitely, contributing
to cancer growth. The number of times a cell divides is determined by special segments of
DNA called telomeres, which are located at the ends of each chromosome. Every time a cell
divides, the telomeres get shorter. When they are reduced to a certain length, the cell
stops dividing.In the new study, UT Southwestern researchers used both normal and
cancerous human cells to examine closely how telomeres behave during cell division. As a
cell prepares to divide into two new cells, its ladder-shaped DNA “unzips,”
creating two halves, each resembling a single upright of a ladder with a set of
half-length rungs. Fresh genetic material then fills in the rungs and a second upright.
This process creates two identical sets of chromosomes that will be allotted between the
two cells.
Inflammatory disease treatments
will improve through the use of lipidomics
According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 46
million Americans have arthritis. Many of these people take over-the-counter
anti-inflammatory medications that block production of certain molecules, known as
bioactive lipids, to reduce pain and swelling. Yet, the role of these lipids is not yet
understood completely, and medications may have adverse side effects. Recently, University
of Missouri researchers completed the first comprehensive analysis of bioactive lipids in
an inflammatory response triggered by the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. This
analysis could shed light on the role bioactive lipids play in inflammatory diseases.
"Many diseases, such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are associated
with chronic inflammation," said Charles Brown, associate professor of veterinary
pathobiology in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine. "The first step in finding an
effective treatment is to understand the basics of an inflammatory response, including the
role of bioactive lipids. Understanding how bioactive lipids regulate the disease
processes will lead to the development of drugs that have more specific targets and less
adverse side effects." In the study, researchers investigated the role of certain
bioactive lipids in mice infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria responsible for
Lyme disease. Eicosanoids, which are bioactive lipids that play an important role in
inflammatory disease, were extracted from mice that displayed symptoms of Lyme arthritis
and from mice who showed no symptoms. The researchers found differences in the amounts of
specific eicosanoids in the samples, which correlated with the severity of arthritis in
the mice.
PET/CT scans may help detect
recurring prostate cancer earlier
A new study published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that
positron emission tomography (PET)/computer tomography (CT) scans with the imaging agent
choline could detect recurring prostate cancer sooner than conventional imaging
technologies in some patients who have had their prostates surgically removed. In
addition, the journal also includes a paper that provides a broader examination of new
agents and techniques for imaging prostate cancer, which accounts for 10 percent of all
cancer-related deaths in the United States and is the most common type of cancer among
men. Many men diagnosed with prostate cancer choose to have a radical prostatecomy, which
involves surgical removal of the entire gland and surrounding tissue. However, prostate
cancer recurs within five years in as many as 30 percent of these patients. Physicians
monitor patients who have undergone the procedure by checking levels of prostate-specific
antigen (PSA) in the blood. If PSA is detected after radical prostatectomy—known as
biochemical relapse—then imaging techniques are essential to determine whether and
exactly where in the body the cancer has recurred. The study examined PET/CT scans with
radioactively labeled choline—a promising molecular imaging tool which has been shown
to be more accurate than conventional imaging techniques such as CT, magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) and bone scintigraphy in detecting recurrent prostate cancer. "In most
patients with biochemical relapse after radical prostatectomy, conventional imaging
methods often return false-negative results, meaning that the imaging techniques fail to
detect cancer that is present in the body," said Paolo Castellucci, M.D., of the
nuclear medicine unit, hematology-oncology and laboratory medicine department, Azienda
Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpghi, University of Bologna,
Italy, and lead author of the study. "Our study found that for some patients, PET/CT
with choline can improve the detection of cancer soon after PSA levels are measured. This
enables physicians to tailor treatment to individual patients in the early stages of
recurrence, thus increasing their chances of recovery." The study included a total of
190 patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy and showed biochemical relapse in
followup examinations. These patients were grouped according to PSA levels and studied
with choline PET/CT scans. In addition, researchers also factored in PSA kinetic factors
such as velocity—or the rate at which PSA levels change—and the PSA doubling
time for each patient.
Researchers link inflammatory
diseases to increased cardiovascular risk
Patients suffering from two serious autoimmune disorders which cause muscular inflammation
are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, says a group of Montreal
researchers. Dr. Christian A. Pineau and his team at the Research Institute of the McGill
University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have linked muscular inflammation to increased
cardiovascular risk for the first time. Their results were published recently in The
Journal of Rheumatology. Polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) are most common in
women and seniors, although they can affect people of any age. Both diseases are caused by
a hyperactive immune system which attacks healthy tissue, almost as if the body had become
allergic to itself. This causes serious inflammation of muscle tissue in the body, leading
to weakness, reduced mobility and, in the case of DM, rashes. Muscles in the heart and the
lungs may also be affected. "Inflammation has recently been recognized as a risk
factor – along with hypertension and cholesterol problems – for arterial
diseases that can lead to events such as heart attacks," says Dr. Pineau. Nearly one
in 5,000 people suffer from PM and DM, approximately 7,000 in Canada and 75,000 across
North America. "Our results indicate that the risk of heart attack is twice as high
in these people as in the general population," says Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, a study
co-author. "Each year, one out of every 200 people with muscle inflammation, or
myositis, succumbs to a stroke and one out of 75 to a heart attack."
Breast cancer - Risk increases for
smokers and overweight women
A recent study published in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology has reinforced the
correlation between being overweight, smoking and breast cancer. What makes this study
unique is how test subjects were not diagnosed for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which
predispose women to breast cancer. Instead, women with such gene mutations were excluded
to allow researchers to concentrate on lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise,
nutrition and weight. All women analyzed in the study were direct ancestors of the first
French colonists. "To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted on a sample of
women without BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which are often found in French-Canadian
women," says lead researcher Vishnee Bissonauth, a graduate of the Université de
Montréal's Department of Nutrition and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University
Hospital Research Center. The study found that weight gains after the age of 20 increases
the risk of breast cancer. If the weight gain is more than 15.5 kilos, the risk increases
by an average of 68 percent. Risk increases depending on how late in life the weight gain
occurs. A woman who gains more than 10 kilos after age 30 or more than 5.5 kilos after age
40 is almost twice as likely to suffer from breast cancer as a woman whose weight is
stable. The risk triples if the body mass index is at its maximum after age 50. The
research team also found that smoking a pack a day for nine years increases breast cancer
risks by 59 percent. The impact of smoking decreases for menopausal women but remains at
50 percent. According to Bissonauth, the correlation between smoking and breast cancer
requires more research.
The startling connection between
the gut and mind!
From mood disorders such as ADD, ADHD, or
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), Beatrice Levinson, Naturopath, explains the startling
connection between the gut and mind.
Wind turbines and health problems
Full Interview: Investigating the
FDA
News 12's Meredith Anderson interviews the
Associate Commissioner for Foods at the FDA concerning that agency's response to two
separate reports of dangerous items found in commercial food products.
Glo. Experience the Bible Like
Never Before HD Promo
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Economic Benefits of Investing in
Children - Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman, President and
Founder of the Children's Defense Fund, argues that in addition to the moral motivations
for keeping children in school, there are financial reasons as well. She explains that
making early investments in health and education prevent more expensive costs later on,
arguing "these numbers are going to kill us."
Camp Fema
The new powerful film by William Lewis
(Washington You're Fired & Life on The Edge of a Bubble) and Gary Franchi (Republic
Magazine and Restore the Republic!) that Glenn Beck is afraid you will see. CAMP FEMA
exposes the background legislation already in place for civilian internment camps in the
US. Learn what is already on the books and from first hand sources of our countries
history of imprisoning it's own citizens.
Dr. Russell Blaylock on Alex Jones:
"The main problem with vaccines: autoimmune diseases"
Vitamin C deficiency impairs early
brain development
New research at LIFE – Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen shows
that vitamin C deficiency may impair the mental development of new-born babies. In the
latest issue of the well-known scientific journal The American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, a group of researchers headed by professor Jens Lykkesfeldt shows that guinea
pigs subjected to moderate vitamin C deficiency have 30 per cent less hippocampal neurones
and markedly worse spatial memory than guinea pigs given a normal diet. Like guinea pigs,
human beings are dependent on getting vitamin C through their diet, and Jens Lykkesfeldt
therefore speculate that vitamin C deficiency in pregnant and breast-feeding women may
also lead to impaired development in foetuses and new-born babies. Several factors
indicate that the neonatal brain, in contrast to other tissue, is particularly vulnerable
to even a slight lowering of the vitamin C level. The highest concentration of vitamin C
is found in the neurons of the brain and in case of a low intake of vitamin C, the
remaining vitamin is retained in the brain to secure this organ. The vitamin thus seems to
be quite important to brain activity. Tests have shown that mouse foetuses that were not
able to transport vitamin C develop severe brain damage. Brain damage which resembles the
ones found in premature babies and which are linked to learning and cognitive disabilities
later in life.
DNA mutations linked to diabetes
Genes that regulate the energy consumption of cells have a different structure and
expression in type II diabetics than they do in healthy people, according to a new study
from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet published in Cell Metabolism.
The researchers believe that these ‘epigenetic mutations' might have a key part to
play in the development of the disease. Type II diabetes is characterised by a lower
sensitivity to insulin in muscles and organs, and a reduced ability to consume energy in
the form of glucose. Heredity and environmental factors (e.g. exercise) are both involved
in the disease pathogenesis, but scientists are still unclear as to the mechanisms behind
it. A research group at Karolinska Institutet has now shown that genes in the muscle cells
of diabetics are chemically modified through what is known as DNA methylation. They found
that in muscles cells taken from patients with early-onset diabetes, a gene designated as
PGC-1? was modified and had reduced expression. PGC-1? controls other genes that regulate
the metabolism of glucose by the cell. The team has also demonstrated that DNA methylation
occurs rapidly, when cells from healthy people are exposed to certain factors associated
with diabetes, such as raised levels of free fatty acids and cytokines. DNA methylation is
a form of epigenetic regulation, a process involving chemical modifications that are
imposed externally on genes and that alter their activity without any change to the
underlying DNA sequence.
