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Week 42
The new buzz on detecting tinnitus
It's a ringing, a buzzing, a hissing or a clicking - and the patient is the only one who
can hear it. Complicating matters, physicians can rarely pinpoint the source of tinnitus,
a chronic ringing of the head or ears that can be as quiet as a whisper or as loud as a
jackhammer. Now a Henry Ford Hospital study finds that a non-invasive imaging technique
can actually aid in the diagnosis of tinnitus and may detect a reduction in symptoms after
different treatments, offering hope to the more than 50 million patients with tinnitus.
"Until now, we had no way of pinpointing the specific location of tinnitus in the
brain," says study co-author Michael D. Seidman, M.D., F.A.C.S., director of the
Division of Otologic/Neurotolgic Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head &
Neck Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital. This imaging technique, magnetoencephalography (MEG),
can determine the site of perception of tinnitus in the brain, which could in turn allow
physicians to target the area with electrical or chemical therapies to lessen symptoms,
according to study results being presented Saturday, Oct. 3 at the American Academy of
Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO.
"Since MEG can detect brain activity occurring at each instant in time, we are able
to detect brain activity involved in the network or flow of information across the brain
over a 10-minute time interval," explains co-author Susan M. Bowyer, Ph.D.
bioscientific senior researcher, Department of Neurology at Henry Ford Hospital.
"Using MEG, we can actually see the areas in the brain that are generating the
patient's tinnitus, which allows us to target it and treat it." Imaging techniques
currently used to study tinnitus in the brain – PET and fMRI – provide a general
location but are not successful at determining the specific site in the brain that is
generating tinnitus symptoms.
Where’s the Science? The Sorry
State of Psychotherapy
The prevalence of mental health disorders in this country has nearly doubled in the past
20 years. Who is treating all of these patients? Clinical psychologists and therapists are
charged with the task, but many are falling short by using methods that are out of date
and lack scientific rigor. This is in part because many of the training
programs—especially some Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD) programs and for-profit
training centers—are not grounded in science. A new report in Psychological Science
in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, by a panel
of distinguished clinical scientists—Timothy Baker (University of Wisconsin-Madison),
Richard McFall (Indiana University), and Varda Shoham (University of Arizona)—calls
for the reform of clinical psychology training programs and appeals for a new
accreditation system to ensure that mental health clinicians are trained to use the most
effective and current research to treat their patients. There are multiple practices in
clinical psychology that are grounded in science and proven to work, but in the absence of
standardized science-based training, those treatments go unused. For example,
cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be the most effective treatment for
PTSD and has the fewest side-effects, yet many psychologists do not use this method. Baker
and colleagues cite one study in which only 30 percent of psychologists were trained to
perform CBT for PTSD and only half of those psychologists elected to use it. That means
that six of every seven sufferers were not getting the best care available from their
clinicians. Furthermore, CBT shows both long-term and immediate benefits as a treatment
for PTSD; whereas medications such as Paxil have shown 25 to 50 percent relapse rates. The
report suggests that the escalating cost of mental health care treatment has reduced the
use of psychological treatments and shifted care to general health care facilities. The
authors also stress the importance of coupling psychosocial interventions with medicine
because many behavioral therapies have been shown to reduce costs and provide longer term
benefits for the client.
Researchers Identify Gene with
Possible Link to Infertility in Mice
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified the role of a gene in
regulating molecular signals involved with ovarian follicle development, which may one day
help shed light on some of the causes of fertility issues in humans. The steps involved
with conception and pregnancy are delicate and complex – particularly the process of
folliculogenesis. In females, fertility is dependant on the growth of a follicle, a
structure that ultimately transforms to release a mature egg. In an ordinary cycle, one
follicle, known as the dominant follicle, matures to release an egg, while the rest of the
eggs produced in that cycle will die. Disruption at any stage in the development of the
follicle can prevent this maturation and impair fertility, as well as alter the production
of hormones in the ovaries. In the study, published online in the Oct. 1 issue of the
journal Biology of Reproduction, researchers used a mouse model to examine the role of a
gene known as Smad-3 in the early stages of follicular growth to better understand the
molecular mechanisms that could influence fertility. Specifically, they looked at the
signaling pathways involved in the follicles’ response to follicle stimulating
hormone, or FSH. FSH is one of the most important hormones involved in fertility and is
responsible for helping a woman’s body develop a mature egg.
Aspirin Misuse May Have Made 1918
Flu Pandemic Worse
The devastation of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic is well known, but a new article
suggests a surprising factor in the high death toll: the misuse of aspirin. Appearing in
the November 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online now, the article
sounds a cautionary note as present day concerns about the novel H1N1 virus run high. High
aspirin dosing levels used to treat patients during the 1918-1919 pandemic are now known
to cause, in some cases, toxicity and a dangerous build up of fluid in the lungs, which
may have contributed to the incidence and severity of symptoms, bacterial infections, and
mortality. Additionally, autopsy reports from 1918 are consistent with what we know today
about the dangers of aspirin toxicity, as well as the expected viral causes of death. The
motivation behind the improper use of aspirin is a cautionary tale, said author Karen
Starko, MD. In 1918, physicians did not fully understand either the dosing or pharmacology
of aspirin, yet they were willing to recommend it. Its use was promoted by the drug
industry, endorsed by doctors wanting to “do something,” and accepted by
families and institutions desperate for hope.
How to limit risk of climate
catastrophe
A new analysis of climate risk, published by researchers at MIT and elsewhere, shows that
even moderate carbon-reduction policies now can substantially lower the risk of future
climate change. It also shows that quick, global emissions reductions would be required in
order to provide a good chance of avoiding a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees
Celsius above the pre-industrial level — a widely discussed target. But without
prompt action, they found, extreme changes could soon become much more difficult, if not
impossible, to control.
Protein Supports Growth of
Aggressive Breast Cancer
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have demonstrated that a protein called NEDD9 may
be required for some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer to grow. Their
findings, based on the study of a mouse model of breast cancer, are presented in a recent
issue of Cancer Research, available on-line now. “For the first time, we have been
able to present evidence that directly demonstrates reduced levels of NEDD9 in a living
animal that limit the appearance of aggressive metastatic breast cancer,” says
co-author Erica A. Golemis, PhD, Fox Chase professor and co-leader of the Molecular
Translational Medicine Program. According to Golemis, the protein could serve as a
biomarker, a molecule that could be detected to indicate the diagnoses of aggressive forms
of breast cancer in the clinic. NEDD9 may also provide a target for some future
therapeutic against metastatic cancer, Golemis says. In 1996, the Golemis laboratory first
identified NEDD9, a so-called scaffolding protein that forms part of a complex of
molecules just inside the cell membrane. NEDD9 and related proteins collectively act as
transmitters, relaying signals from the cell surface to the cell interior to control
cancer cell growth and movement. Over the past three years, scientists from laboratories
around the world have contributed to a body of evidence showing how excess amounts of the
NEDD9 contribute to metastasis in a number of cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer,
and glioblastoma. “One thought is that producing excess NEDD9 gives tumors a
selective advantage over other cells,” Golemis says, “so we are trying to
determine how NEDD9 might provide that advantage.”
Study shows that color plays
musical chairs in the brain
Color is normally thought of as a fundamental attribute of an object: a red Corvette, a
blue lake, a pink flamingo. Yet despite this popular notion, new research suggests that
our perception of color is malleable, and relies heavily on biological processes of the
eye and brain. The brain's neural mechanisms keep straight which color belongs to what
object, so one doesn't mistakenly see a blue flamingo in a pink lake. But what happens
when a color loses the object to which it is linked? Research at the University of Chicago
has demonstrated, for the first time, that instead of disappearing along with the lost
object, the color latches onto a region of some other object in view – a finding that
reveals a new basic property of sight. The research shows that the brain processes the
shape of an object and its color in two separate pathways and, though the object's shape
and color normally are linked, the neural representation of the color can survive alone.
When that happens, the brain establishes a new link that binds the color to another
visible shape. "Color is in the brain. It is constructed, just as the meanings of
words are constructed. Without the neural processes of the brain, we wouldn't be able to
understand colors of objects any more than we could understand words of a language we hear
but don't know," said Steven Shevell, a University of Chicago psychologist who
specializes on color and vision. Shevell's findings are reported in a paper,
"Color-Binding Errors During Rivalrous Suppression of Form," in the current
issue of Psychological Science. Wook Hong, who received his Ph.D. at UChicago and is now a
post-doctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University, joined Shevell in writing the paper and
conducting the research. Their work expands the understanding of how the brain is able to
integrate the multiple features of an object, such as shape, color, location and velocity,
into a unified whole.
Pelvic floor muscle exercises can
help manage urinary incontinence in older women
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that a program of pelvic floor
muscle exercises, combined with pelvic health education, can be an effective way to manage
urinary incontinence in elderly women. The study, involving 65 women between the ages of
67 and 95, is being presented this week at the annual meeting of the North American
Menopause Society in San Diego. Urinary incontinence, or loss of bladder control, is a
frustrating, and often embarrassing, problem for more than 13 million Americans. It is
twice as common in women as in men, and, according to some estimates, affects half of
older women. In women, the muscles that help support the bladder may become weak due to
multiple pregnancies and vaginal births. "Urinary incontinence can take a very real
emotional and social toll. Not knowing when and where you might have an accident can
impact everything from household chores to dinner dates and bowling games," said
physiatrist Dr. Sheila Dugan, co-director of the Program for Abdominal and Pelvic Health
at Rush and lead author of the study. "Many treatment options exist, but
strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, as our study has shown, can be very effective even
for older women, avoiding the need for drugs or more invasive procedures."
EPA reviews Univ. of Michigan
dioxin study
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development has completed
its review of a dioxin exposure study conducted by the University of Michigan in the
Midland-Saginaw, Michigan area. EPA found the study was conducted well and provided
useful, scientifically credible information. However, the study is of limited value to
help EPA fully evaluate human exposure to levels of dioxin in the Tittabawassee River and
Saginaw River and Bay. EPA's review was conducted under the dioxin science plan announced
by Administrator Lisa P. Jackson this past May. The University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure
Study (UMDES) was conducted in response to community concerns that dioxin compounds from
the Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. had contaminated the city and surrounding areas. The
University received financial support for the UMDES from Dow through an unrestricted
grant. Primary data collection was completed in 2004-2005 and the analysis of study
results continues. EPA's review identified several significant issues that limit the
utility of the UMDES results - The study did not include children, who tend to have higher
exposures to contaminants because they have more contact with, and ingestion, of soils and
dusts. It is unclear if the study included a sufficient number of properties with
highly-contaminated soils. Such properties can be found in the Midland-Saginaw area. It is
uncertain how well the study represented people who participate in activities that could
lead to elevated dioxin exposures, such as eating local fish and game with elevated dioxin
levels.
UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers
reveal key to how bacteria clear mercury pollution
Mercury pollution is a persistent problem in the environment. Human activity has lead to
increasingly large accumulations of the toxic chemical, especially in waterways, where
fish and shellfish tend to act as sponges for the heavy metal. It's that persistent and
toxic nature that has flummoxed scientists for years in the quest to find ways to mitigate
the dangers posed by the buildup of mercury in its most toxic form, methylmercury. A new
discovery by scientists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, however, has shed new light on one of nature's best mercury fighters:
bacteria. "Mercury pollution is a significant environmental problem," said
Jeremy Smith, a UT-ORNL Governor's Chair and lead author of the new study. "That's
especially true for organisms at or near the top of the food chain, such as fish,
shellfish, and ultimately, humans. But some bacteria seem to know how to break down the
worst forms of it. Understanding how they do this is valuable information."
Scientists have known that a specific enzyme, known as MerB, gives the bacteria the
ability to convert methylmercury into a less-toxic form of mercury that poses
substantially less environmental risk, a trait that lets them survive in mercury-rich
environments. Finding out how this enzyme works potentially may be a viable way to combat
methylmercury. The UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers, working with colleagues from the
University of Georgia and University of California, San Francisco, were able to determine
the mechanism -- at the most detailed level -- of how the MerB enzyme breaks apart the
dangerous methylmercury molecule. The scientists used high-performance computers to
determine how the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme uses a sort of one-two-three
punch to break apart a key link in the methylmercury, between mercury and carbon atoms.
Once that bond is broken, the resulting substance is on the way to becoming substantially
less harmful to the environment.
Breast milk should be drunk at the
same time of day that it is expressed
The levels of the components in breast milk change every 24 hours in response to the needs
of the baby. A new study published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience shows, for
example, how this milk could help newborn babies to sleep. Breast milk contains various
ingredients, such as nucleotides, which perform a very important role in regulating
babies' sleep. The new study, published recently in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience,
confirms that the composition of breast milk changes quite markedly throughout the day.
The scientists looked for three nucleotides in breast milk (adenosine, guanosine and
uridine), which excite or relax the central nervous system, promoting restfulness and
sleep, and observed how these varied throughout a 24-hour period. The milk, collected from
30 women living in Extremadura, was expressed over a 24-hour period, with six to eight
daily samples. The highest nucleotide concentrations were found in the night-time samples
(8pm to 8am). "This made us realise that milk induces sleep in babies", Cristina
L. Sánchez, lead author of the article and a researcher at the Chrononutrition Laboratory
at the University of Extremadura, tells SINC. "You wouldn't give anyone a coffee at
night, and the same is true of milk – it has day-specific ingredients that stimulate
activity in the infant, and other night-time components that help the baby to rest",
explains Sánchez. In order to ensure correct nutrition, the baby should be given milk at
the same time of day that it was expressed from the mother's breast. "It is a mistake
for the mother to express the milk at a certain time and then store it and feed it to the
baby at a different time", points out the researcher. .
Oxidized form of a common vitamin
may bring relief for ulcerative colitis
Here's another reason why you should take your vitamins. A new research report appearing
in the October 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology
(http://www.jleukbio.org) suggests that retinoic acid, the oxidized form of vitamin A,
could be a beneficial treatment for people suffering from ulcerative colitis and other
irritable bowel diseases. Specifically they found that retinoic acid helps suppress
out-of-control inflammation, which is a hallmark of active ulcerative colitis.
"Pharmaceutical strategies based on this research may offer a promising alternative
to our current approaches of managing immune diseases including, IBD, arthritis, multiple
sclerosis, and so on," Aiping Bai, a researcher involved in the work from Nanchang
University in Nanchang City, China. To make this discovery, Bai and colleagues conducted
in vitro studies with human tissue and in vivo studies in mice. Both studies ultimately
found that treatment with retinoic acid reduced the inflammation in the colon by
increasing the expression of FOXP3, a gene involved with immune system responses, as well
as decreasing the expression of IL-17, a cytokine believed to cause inflammation. Because
many experts believe that IL-17 directly relates to the uncontrolled inflammation seen in
ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel disease, the discovery that retinoic acid reduces
IL-17's ability to cause inflammation could accelerate the development of treatments for
these chronic diseases. "Runaway inflammation is serious problem, no matter where it
occurs in the body, but in many instances, the root cause is a mystery," said John
Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "This research
helps scientists better understand what causes and controls inflammation in the colon,
which in turn, helps lay the groundwork for new classes of drugs to treat this devastating
condition."
Over 65s should take high dose
vitamin D to prevent falls, say researchers
A daily supplement of vitamin D at a dose of 700-1000 IU reduces the risk of falling among
older people by 19% according to a study published on bmj.com today. But a dose of less
than 700 IU per day has no effect. IU is an international unit of measurement for vitamins
and other biologically active substances. Each year, one in three people aged 65 and older
experience at least one fall, with around 6% resulting in a fracture. Fall prevention has
therefore become a public health goal especially as the older segment of the population
grows. Several trials have shown that vitamin D improves strength and balance among older
people, while others have found no significant effect on the risk of falling. So an
international team of researchers analysed the results of eight fall prevention trials to
assess the effectiveness of vitamin D in preventing falls among older individuals (aged 65
or more). Differences in study design and quality were taken into account to minimise
bias. The pooled results showed that benefit from supplemental vitamin D on fall
prevention depended on treatment dose.
Severe stress can cause stroke
Many patients urgently admitted to hospital with cerebral infarction state that they were
under great stress over a prolonged period prior to suffering their stroke, is shown in a
unique patient study conducted in cooperation between the Sahlgrenska Academy at the
University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden. The study is
published in the scientific journal BMC Medicine. "There appears to be a correlation
between stress and stroke, but this needs to be interpreted with great caution. We asked
about self-perceived stress among the stroke patients, and there is, of course, a risk of
patients who have just had a cerebral infarction remembering incorrectly or
over-interpreting with regard to their level of stress, says Katarina Jood, who is a
researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy and a neurologist at Sahlgrenska University
Hospital. Nearly 600 patients were asked to complete a questionnaire in this study, no
later than ten days after being admitted to Sahlgrenska University Hospital with acute
cerebral infarction. In the questionnaire, the patients were asked to choose between six
different alternatives to indicate how stressed they had felt before their stroke, from
"never been stressed" to "constantly stressed over the past five
years". The patients' responses were compared with a healthy control group who were
asked the same question. "We found an independent link between self-perceived
psychological stress and stroke. A new finding was that the link between stress and stroke
varies between different types of cerebral infarction," says Jood.
Estrogen link in male aggression
sheds new light on sex-specific behaviors
Territorial behavior in male mice might be linked to more "girl-power" than ever
suspected, according to new findings at UCSF. For the first time, researchers have
identified networks of nerve cells in the brain that are associated with how male mice
defend their territory and have shown that these cells are controlled by the female
hormone estrogen. The research suggests a pivotal role for estrogen – as well as the
enzyme aromatase that is responsible for estrogen synthesis – in male territorial
behavior, according to findings published in the October 2, 2009 issue of the journal
Cell. The paper, based on research at UCSF and Fujita Health University, also appears
online at www.cell.com. Estrogen's role in the mating behaviors of these mice, however,
was less clear, which indicates that territorial and sexual behaviors are likely
influenced by distinct and separate connections in the brain, according to Nirao Shah, MD,
PhD, an assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Anatomy and senior author of the
paper. "This really changes the way we view male and female behaviors," said
Shah, who also is affiliated with the UCSF programs in neuroscience and genetics and who
last week received the 2009 Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health for his
research. "What we previously looked upon as a single unit of gender-related
behavior, we now see as a collection of separate behaviors controlled at least in part by
distinct neural pathways." Males and females across all sexually reproducing species
display gender-specific behavior in many areas, including mating, territorial marking,
aggression and parental care, Shah explained. Collections of cells form circuits in the
brain, referred to as neural pathways, that control these and other behaviors. Shah said
that both estrogen and the male hormone testosterone are known to be essential in
developing these circuits and in sex-specific behavior. But the precise role of these
hormones and how they may interact genetically to control these behaviors has been
unclear. The current study fills in at least one piece of the puzzle, he said. The study
suggests that the conversion of testosterone in the brain to estrogen by the enzyme
aromatase is critical to developing and activating brain circuits that control male
territorial behavior. The researchers first used a gene-targeting strategy in which they
attached highly sensitive genetic "reporters" to cells to examine the circuitry
of the mouse brain at the cellular level. These "reporter" genes allowed
researchers to visualize or track where testosterone was being converted to estrogen in
the brain.
Antidepressant and placebo are
equally effective in child pain relief
When used "off-label," the antidepressant amitriptyline works just as well as
placebo in treating pain-predominant gastrointestinal disorders in children, according to
a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological
Association (AGA) Institute. To view this article's video abstract, go to the AGA's
YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/AmerGastroAssn. "Many pharmaceutical products are
prescribed for off-label use in children due to the lack of clinical trials testing the
efficacy of the drugs in children and adolescents. Therefore, the pediatric
gastroenterologist frequently has to make treatment decisions without the evidence of how
drugs work in children," said Miguel Saps, MD, of Children's Memorial Hospital and
lead author of the study. "The high placebo effect we identified in this study
suggests that further studies of the use of certain antidepressants in children with
functional bowel disorders are needed. While several trials have demonstrated a beneficial
effect of antidepressants, including amitriptyline, for the treatment of irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS) in adults, more research is needed to determine how effective this drug is,
if at all, in children." Amitriptyline (Elavil®) is used to treat symptoms of
depression, however, it is often times prescribed to children for pain relief from
pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). Pain-predominant FGIDs are
among the most common causes for medical consultation in children. Such disorders include
three common conditions: IBS, functional dyspepsia and functional abdominal pain. Doctors
designed a large prospective, multicenter, randomized placebo-controlled trial in which
children, ages eight to 17, with IBS, functional abdominal pain or functional dyspepsia
were randomized to four weeks of placebo or amitriptyline. Of the 83 children who
completed the study, 63 percent of those who took amitriptyline reported feeling better,
while 5 percent reported feeling worse. Of the patients who were given a placebo, 57.5
percent felt better, while 2.5 percent felt worse. Pain relief was excellent (7 percent),
good (38 percent) in children on placebo and excellent (15 percent), good (35 percent) in
children on amitriptyline. Both amitriptyline and placebo were associated with excellent
therapeutic response, although patients with mild to moderate intensity of pain responded
better to treatment. There was no significant difference between amitriptyline and placebo
after four weeks of treatment. In children, the use of drugs to treat pain-predominant
FGIDs is mostly empirical and based on adult data. There have been only a few small
randomized clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of drugs for the treatment of
pain-predominant FGIDs in children.
How Will Future Sea-Level Rise
Linked to Climate Change Affect Coastal Areas?
The anticipated sea-level rise associated with climate change, including increased
storminess, over the next 100 years and the impact on the nation’s low-lying coastal
infrastructure is the focus of a new, interdisciplinary study led by geologists at The
Florida State University. “Our hypothesis is that the historic storm record, which
extends back only about 150 years, isn’t a reliable indicator of true storm
frequency, but the long-term geologic record is,” said Joseph F. Donoghue, an
associate professor of geology at Florida State University and the study’s lead
investigator. “This project is crucial because the rates of change in environmental
parameters predicted for the near future are much greater than those of the past several
millennia. For example, some of the worst-case sea-level rise scenarios predicted for the
near future have not been experienced by the coastal system for more than 8,000
years.”
Protein helps cells duplicate
correctly, avoid becoming cancer
A Purdue University researcher has discovered that the absence of certain proteins needed
for proper cell duplication can lead to cancer. Xiaoqi Liu, an assistant professor of
biochemistry, found that cytoplasmic linker protein-170, or CLIP-170, plays a major role
in proper cell duplication and DNA distribution. When the protein is removed, cell
duplicates lack entire copies of DNA and can become cancerous. Liu's findings were
published in the early online version of the Journal of Biological Chemistry."DNA has
to be equally distributed from a mother cell to its daughter cells. If the cells are not
identical to the mother cell, they become cancer," Liu said. "Normal cells have
a very tightly regulated process to avoid aneuploidy, or the unequal distribution of
chromosomes. Aneuploidy is a hallmark of cancer." A cell will go through two
important processes before it divides: It will create a second copy of its own DNA, and it
will create two centrosomes, or poles, that will act as magnets to draw the DNA to
themselves. When the centrosomes have attracted the DNA, the cell divides in a process
called mitosis, creating two identical cells.
Wistar researchers indentify gene
that regulates breast cancer metastasis
Researchers at The Wistar Institute have identified a key gene (KLF17) involved in the
spread of breast cancer throughout the body. They also demonstrated that expression of
KLF17 together with another gene (Id1) known to regulate breast cancer metastasis
accurately predicts whether the disease will spread to the lymph nodes. Previously, the
function of KLF17 had been unknown. Deaths of most breast-cancer patients are the result
of metastasis, a complex, multi-step, and poorly understood process. “Identifying the
gene that suppresses the spread of tumor cells and the mechanisms by which this
suppression occurs can lead to the discovery of new markers of metastasis and potential
targets for cancer prevention and treatment,” says Qihong Huang, M.D., Ph.D.,
assistant professor at The Wistar Institute and senior author of the study. In this study,
which appears in the October on-line issue of Nature Cell Biology, Huang and colleagues
introduced a genetic screen targeting 40,000 mouse genes into mammary tumor cells that do
not usually spread, and then transplanted those cells to the mammary fat pads in mice
where they would be expected to remain. Through RNA interference (RNAi) technology, they
then reduced the expression of a metastasis-suppressor gene in five mice, one of which
developed lung metastases in seven weeks. RNA retrieved from the metastasized cells
corresponded to KLF17.
Solving the Period Problem -
Researchers Develop Sanitary Pads from Local, Organic Materials
For most American women, their “time of the month” is seen as a hindrance to
daily life. In impoverished and developing countries, however, monthly periods are a major
cause for concern among women. The lack of affordable, quality sanitary pads results in
females missing up to 50 days of school annually – thereby compromising their
educational and professional potential. Researchers at North Carolina State University are
helping to combat the problem by designing affordable pads made from natural, available
materials that will allow for local production and sale. “This is the kind of project
I’ve wanted to be involved with for a long time – using my knowledge of textiles
and the sciences to make a real impact in the underserved parts of the world,” says
Dr. Marian McCord, associate professor of textile engineering chemistry, science and
biomedical engineering at NC State. McCord was contacted by Sustainable Health Enterprises
(SHE), a social enterprise dedicated to developing a franchise model led by young women to
manufacture and distribute affordable, high-quality and environmentally friendly sanitary
pads in underserved parts of the world. Former President Bill Clinton recently named the
SHE project one of the “commitments to action” at the Clinton Global
Initiative’s annual meeting in September. Established in 2005, the Clinton Global
Initiative brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement
innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Prostate cancer gives a new outlook
on life
Men who have prostate cancer often feel quite healthy, but the diagnosis still gives them
a whole new outlook on life. Once they have learned to live with their cancer, they choose
to focus on valuable relationships and appreciate the little things in life, shows a
dissertation thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy. "We need a better understanding of
how men with prostate cancer experience their illness and how they choose to adapt their
new circumstances," says district nurse Annikki Jonsson, who interviewed 37 men with
prostate cancer for her thesis. "We can then support them better and tailor their
treatment to the phase they are in." The results show that the men go through
different phases of adjustment in succession after getting their diagnosis, and that their
everyday lives are affected differently according to which phase they are in. Those with
less serious prostate cancer find themselves in an emotional vacuum immediately after
receiving their diagnosis. During this phase, which normally lasts around a week, it is
pointless for medical personnel to try to give men information about their illness.
UNC study pinpoints gene
controlling number of brain cells
The finding suggests that a single gene, called GSK-3, controls the signals that determine
how many neurons actually end up composing the brain. This has important implications for
patients with neuropsychiatric illness, as links have recently been drawn between GSK-3
and schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder.
Curcumin may inhibit
nicotine-induced activation of head and neck cancers
Curcumin, the compound that gives curry powder its yellow/orange color, may inhibit the
adverse effects of nicotine in patients with head and neck cancer who continue to smoke.
In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck
Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers
examined the effects of curcumin on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) growths.
The study used an in vitro model of a variety of head and neck cancer cell lines. To mimic
the clinical situation, HNSCC cells were pre-treated with curcumin and then nicotine was
introduced. The results of the studies showed that the curcumin was able to block the
nicotine from activating cancer causing cells. Annually there are approximately 40,000 new
cases of head and neck cancers and 13,000 deaths in the U.S. and 500,000 new cases
worldwide. Recurrence of these cancers are high because many patients continue to smoke
after successful treatment. Also, former smokers often use nicotine replacement therapy as
an aid for successful tobacco cessation. Although nicotine itself has not been shown to be
carcinogenic, it has been shown to encourage the cancer-forming process. The researchers
sought a safe, bioactive food compound that could be used not only as a chemopreventive
agent but could also block the harmful effects of nicotine. The results may help to
discover additional therapies for cancer prevention and treatment.
Many patients with sleep apnea also
suffer from GI tract conditions
Patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) also tend to have additional
gastrointestinal (GI) tract conditions, such as gastric reflux and hiatal hernia, which
form at the opening in your diaphragm where your food pipe (esophagus) joins your stomach.
In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck
Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers
analyzed prospective clinical study data of 42 adult patients with proven OSA verified in
overnight polysomnography. Every patient also underwent an upper GI endoscopy to evaluate
their gastrointestinal health. Pathological GI findings were found in vast majority of
patients (83.3 percent), 59.5 percent of them showing two or more findings. The most
frequent observed pathology was hiatus hernia (64.3 percent of patients), followed by
erosive esophagitis (45.2 percent), histological esophagitis and erosive gastritis (both
21.4 percent), duodenal ulcer (7.1 percent), and biliary reflux (4.8 percent).
Approximately 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by
episodes of reduced or no airflow throughout the night. From their findings, the authors
conclude that patients who appear to suffer from OSA should not only be investigated in
sleep laboratory, but should also be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional
diagnostic exams in order to provide a comprehensive treatment approach.
Tai Chi may be an effective
treatment for dizziness, balance issues
Tai Chi, a form of Chinese martial arts often practiced for its health benefits, may be an
effective treatment option for patients who suffer from dizziness and balance disorders
(also known as vestibular disorders). In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of
Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO
EXPO in San Diego, researchers evaluated the utility of Tai Chi in managing patients with
vestibular symptoms who have failed conventional vestibular therapy. It could include
individualized physical therapy or different sets of physical maneuvers that a doctor
performs on a patient. Researchers conducted a questionnaire study from April 2008 to
March 2009 at an outpatient rehabilitation program, utilizing the activities-specific
balance confidence scale and dynamic gait index survey, both prior to therapy and at the
conclusion of an eight-week course. A total of 21 patients (18 females, 3 males) completed
the study to date. Patients reported subjective improvements in their vestibular symptoms.
Researchers theorize that the technique may be effective because Tai Chi promotes
coordination through relaxation, rather than muscular coordination.
Men nearly 3 times as likely to
develop noise-induced hearing loss
A comprehensive study of the prevalence and risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss
(NIHL) show that men, especially those who are white and married, are significantly more
at risk than women, according to new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO,
in San Diego, CA.The study, which analyzed the audiometric testing data from 5,290 people
between the ages of 20 and 69 years indicates that more than 13 percent of subjects suffer
from NIHL, which would correspond with approximately 24 million Americans suffering from
the ailment. The strongest association was of gender, where men are 2.5 times more likely
to develop NIHL than women. Among that group, married white (non-Hispanic) men represent
the highest risk group for developing NIHL. NIHL is a preventable and increasingly
prevalent disorder that results from exposure to high-intensity sound, especially over a
long period of time. The authors believe this is the first study of its kind to delve in
to the demographics of NIHL using the most recent figures from 1999-2004 National Health
and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). They believe this information can allow
greater education, preventative, and screening efforts.
Higher folates, not antioxidants,
can reduce hearing loss risk in men
Increased intakes of antioxidant vitamins have no bearing on whether or not a man will
develop hearing loss, but higher folate intake can decrease his risk by 20 percent,
according to new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head
and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA.
The study, which identified 3,559 cases of men with hearing loss, found that there was no
beneficial association with increased intakes of antioxidant vitamins such as C, E, and
beta carotene. However, the authors found that men over the age of 60 who have a high
intake of foods and supplement high in folates have a 20 percent decrease in risk of
developing hearing loss. Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the United
States, affecting more than 36 million people. High folate foods include leafy vegetables
such as spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, lettuces, dried or fresh beans and peas,
fortified cereal products, sunflower seeds and certain other fruits and vegetables are
rich sources of folate. Baker's yeast, liver and liver products also contain high amounts
of folate. The authors believe this is the largest study to delve prospectively into the
relation between dietary intake and hearing loss. They used the most recent figures from
the Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohort from years 1986 to 2004, a group
consisting of 51,529 male health professionals. They were first enrolled into this study
in 1986 and filled out detailed health and diet questionnaires every other year. The
authors believe their findings can allow greater education, prevention, and screening
efforts.
Elevated lymphotoxin expression in
liver leads to chronic hepatitis and causes HCC
A recent study maps the pathway that leads from infection with Hepatitis B and C virus
(HBV and HCV) to chronic hepatitis and liver cancer and proposes a new therapeutic
strategy for treating liver diseases with chronic inflammation. The research, published by
Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Cancer Cell, describes a signaling pathway
that can be beneficial during liver regeneration, but can lead to chronic hepatitis and
severe liver damage when chronically activated. The research was performed in the
Department of Pathology, Institutes of Clinical Pathology and Neuropathology at the
University Hospital in Zurich. HBV and HCV cause chronic hepatitis and can lead to
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most prevalent primary liver cancer in humans.
"Although aberrant expression of cytotoxic cytokines is thought to be critically
involved in hepatitis-induced liver cancer, the exact mechanisms driving this progression
remain elusive," explains senior study author Dr. Mathias Heikenwalder. The cytokines
lymphotoxin (LT) ? and ? are mainly produced by white blood cells called lymphocytes and
play an important role in organ development and control of the immune response. Previous
work had shown that, when compared with normal livers, HCV-infected livers exhibit
dramatically increased expression of LT ?. Dr. Heikenwalder's laboratory, in collaboration
with the laboratory of Professor Adriano Aguzzi and colleagues investigated a possible
causal relationship between aberrant sustained hepatic LT? signaling, chronic hepatitis
and the development of HCC. The researchers found that LT?, LT? and the LT receptor (LT?R)
were upregulated in HBV- or HCV-induced hepatitis and HCC and identified both lymphocytes
and liver cells called hepatocytes as the main expressing cells. Liver specific expression
of LT? and LT? induced chronic liver inflammation and HCC in mice. It was the hepatocytes
themselves which were the major LT-responsive liver cells and, importantly, when LT?R
signaling was blocked in mice with chronic hepatitis, inflammation was partially
attenuated and HCC was prevented.
Nonallergic rhinitis symptoms more
severe than allergic rhinitis
A comparison of symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis
(NAR) revealed that those with the NAR experienced worse symptoms. The findings are
according to new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head
and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA.
The study assessed 78 patients with AR and 31 patients with non-allergic rhinitis (NAR),
measuring quality of life (QOL) in both groups using a common questionnaire. To the
surprise of the authors, NAR patients experienced a significantly higher symptom severity
than their peers with AR, including having their regular and recreational activities
affected, disrupted sleep, tiredness, and watery eyes. The study's authors believe that
that many patients with allergy-type symptoms may have other, as-yet-undetermined causes
of their symptoms, and that further research is warranted.
New drug aims to ‘seek and
destroy’ many types of cancer
A new drug designed to “seek and destroy” common cancers such as breast,
prostate, endometrial, pancreatic, ovarian, skin and testicular cancers is being tested at
TGen Clinical Research Services (TCRS) at Scottsdale Healthcare. The Phase 1 clinical
trial will help determine if EP-100 is safe and effective for use among patients with
solid cancer tumors, with fewer side effects than chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
TCRS is a partnership of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and
Scottsdale Healthcare. The partnership allows molecular and genomic discoveries made by
TGen and others around the world to reach the patient bedside in the Virginia G. Piper
Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare as quickly as possible through clinical trials with
agents directed at specific targets in patients’ tumors. According to Ramesh K.
Ramanathan, MD, principal investigator for the trial in Scottsdale, the drug is a
membrane-disrupting peptide (tMDP) designed to “seek and destroy” cancer cells
by targeting those with excessive luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) receptors.
Excessive LHRH receptors are found in a wide range of cancers, including breast, prostate,
endometrial, pancreatic, ovarian, skin and testicular cancers. Mike Janicek, MD, a
Gynecologist Oncologist who practices at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale
Healthcare said, “I am looking forward to participating in the study with EP100,
especially for ovarian and uterine cancer patients. Often patients with advanced cancer
will need new therapies and a targeted treatment like EP100 is the next frontier of
research.”
UBC researchers identify key
behavior of immune response to Listeria
A team of University of British Columbia microbiologists has identified a key defence
mechanism used by the immune system against Listeria with strong implications for the
future development of vaccines. Listeria is the bacteria that causes listeriosis, a
food-borne infection that caused 22 deaths in Canada in an August 2008 outbreak in meat
products produced by Maple Leaf Foods. "We know a great deal about how our body's
adaptive immune system reacts to viruses but generally very little about immune response
against bacterial infections," says Wilfred Jefferies, a professor at UBC's Michael
Smith Laboratories and Biomedical Research Centre. The study, published today in the
online journal PLoS ONE, focuses on dendritic cells that help activate the immune system.
Dendritic cells collect pathogen materials and present them to other parts of the immune
system – such as T-cells – a mechanism called cross-presentation. The UBC team
also includes post-doctoral fellows Anna Reinicke and Genc Basha and graduate student Kyla
Omilusik.
Genetic mutation a strong indicator
of age-related hearing loss risk
Patients who exhibited a certain genetic mutation of anti-oxidant enzymes are three times
more likely to develop age-related hearing loss (ARHL), according to new research
presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation
(AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA. The study, which collected DNA
samples from 55 patients with ARHL, indicated that there exists a significant correlation
between the presence of a mutation of the GSTT1 gene, and age-related hearing loss.
Conversely, there were no associations linked to the NAT2 gene. Anti-oxidant enzymes and
their deficiencies have also been implicated as contributors to diseases such as cancer
and cardiovascular disease.
A Simple Way for Middle Aged and
Older Adults to Assess How Stiff their Arteries Are
How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position – normally used to
define the flexibility of a person’s body – may be an indicator of how stiff
your arteries are. A study in the American Journal of Physiology has found that, among
people 40 years old and older, performance on the sit-and-reach test could be used to
assess the flexibility of the arteries. Because arterial stiffness often precedes
cardiovascular disease, the results suggest that this simple test could become a quick
measure of an individual’s risk for early mortality from heart attack or stroke.
“Our findings have potentially important clinical implications because trunk
flexibility can be easily evaluated,” said one of the authors, Kenta Yamamoto.
“This simple test might help to prevent age-related arterial stiffening.”It is
not known why arterial flexibility would be related to the flexibility of the body in
middle age and older people. But the authors say that one possibility is that stretching
exercises may set into motion physiological reactions that slow down age-related arterial
stiffening. The study “Poor trunk flexibility is associated with arterial
stiffening” appears in the American Journal of Physiology – Heart and
Circulatory Physiology. The authors are: Kenta Yamamoto of the University of North Texas
and the National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Japan; Hiroshi Kawano, Yuko Gando and
Mitsuru Higuchi of Waseda University, Japan; Motoyuki Iemitsu of International Pacific
University, Japan; Haruka Murakami, Michiya Tanimoto, Yumi Ohmori, Izumi Tabata, Motohiko
Miyachi of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition; and Kiyoshi Sanada of
Ritsumeikan University, Japan. The American Physiological Society published the study.
How to Lower Costs, Waiting Times
for Colonoscopies
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States,
leading to over 50,000 fatalities every year. But it can be prevented with early screening
using a procedure called a colonoscopy. Now researchers from North Carolina State
University, Mayo Clinic and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) have
created a tool to help colonoscopy facilities operate more efficiently, ultimately
lowering costs and leading to shorter waiting times for patients. The researchers have
created a computer model that “helps people who manage colonoscopy facilities, such
as hospitals and clinics, find the best combination of physicians, staff, rooms and
equipment needed to cater to the number of patients they can expect,” says Bjorn
Berg, lead author of the paper outlining the new tool and a Ph.D. student in the Edward P.
Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at NC State. The model can also
be used to determine the optimum number of patients a facility can see in any given
day.“Colonoscopy facility managers can try out different ideas in the model to see
how they work before trying them in the real world – which is an expensive place to
experiment,” says Dr. Brian Denton, an assistant professor of industrial and systems
engineering at NC State and co-author of the paper. “For example, a manager could see
whether it is worthwhile to hire another endoscopist who can perform colonoscopies, hire
another nurse, or add another recovery bed for the facility.” Denton explains that
finding the right combination of staff, equipment and rooms can be particularly
challenging for colonoscopy facilities because of uncertainties related to how long it
takes to perform the procedure and how long it takes a patient to recover from it.
New findings about brain proteins
suggest possible way to fight Alzheimer's
The action of a small protein that is a major villain in Alzheimer’s disease can be
counterbalanced with another brain protein, researchers atUT Southwestern Medical Center
have found in an animal study. The findings, available online in the journal Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a promising new tactic against the
devastating illness, the researchers said. The harmful protein, called beta-amyloid, is
found in the brain and, when functioning properly, suppresses nerve activity involved with
memory and learning. Its normal function can be likened to a red traffic light,
restraining nerve cells from getting overexcited when they receive stimulating signals
from neighboring cells. People with Alzheimer’s disease, however, accumulate too much
beta-amyloid — the traffic light gets stuck on “red” and nerve cells become
less responsive.Another brain protein, called Reelin, acts as a “green light,”
stimulating nerve cells to respond more strongly to their neighbors’ signals. The new
study shows that applying Reelin directly to brain slices from mice prevents excess
beta-amyloid from completely silencing nerves. “If we can identify a mechanism to
keep the nerve cells functioning strongly, that might provide a way to fight
Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Joachim Herz, professor of molecular genetics and
neuroscience at UT Southwestern and the study’s senior author.
Keeping DNA "All in the
Family"
Kids' right-to-privacy for their genetic material needs better protection, says Tel Aviv
University researcher. Scientists look for clues about therapies and cures for
life-threatening childhood illnesses in children's DNA — it seems only logical to do
so. But the decision as to who should have access to DNA samples from children provides a
unique ethical conundrum, says a Tel Aviv University researcher in a recent publication
for the esteemed journal Science, co-authored by colleagues from The Netherlands and
Canada. The recommendations, which call for new policies on access to biobanked children's
DNA, could shape America's legislation on the issue in the coming years.
New Chemo Cocktail Blocks Breast
Cancer Like a Fence
Think of a protective fence that blocks the neighbor's dog from charging into your
backyard. The body, too, has fences -- physical and biochemical barriers that keep cells
in their place. When breast cancer spreads or metastasizes, it crashes through the body's
protective fences. The disease becomes fatal when it travels outside the mammary ducts,
enters the bloodstream and spreads to the bones, liver or brain. Currently, there are only
drugs that try to stem the uncontrolled division of cancer cells within the ducts. Until
now, no drugs specifically targeted the invasion and spread of breast cancer to the
organs. A researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has found a
way to strengthen the breast's "fence" to prevent cancer from metastasizing.
Researcher Seth Corey, M.D., has discovered that when a drug normally used to treat
leukemia is added to a commonly used breast cancer drug, the potent new chemotherapy
cocktail helps prevent breast cancer cells from invading. "This is an entirely new
way of targeting a cancer cell," said Corey, the Sharon B. Murphy-Steven T. Rosen
Research Professor of Cancer Biology and Chemotherapy at the Feinberg School and director
of the pediatric oncology program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Program of
Northwestern University.
Could antioxidants make us more,
not less, prone to diabetes? Study says yes
We've all heard about the damage that reactive oxygen species (ROS) – aka free
radicals – can do to our bodies and the sales pitches for antioxidant vitamins, skin
creams or "superfoods" that can stop them. In fact, there is considerable
scientific evidence that chronic ROS production within cells can contribute to human
diseases, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.But a new report in the October
7th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, adds to evidence that it might not be as
simple as all that. The researchers show that low levels of ROS – and hydrogen
peroxide in particular -- might actually protect us from diabetes, by improving our
ability to respond to insulin signals. "Our studies indicate that 'physiological' low
levels of ROS may promote the insulin response and attenuate insulin resistance early in
the progression of type 2 diabetes, prior to overt obesity and hyperglycemia," said
Tony Tiganis of Monash University in Australia. "In a way, we think there is a
delicate balance and that too much of a good thing - surprise, surprise - might be
bad."Tiganis' team found that mice with a deficiency that prevented them from
eliminating physiological ROS didn't become insulin resistant on a high-fat diet as they
otherwise would have. They showed that those health benefits could be attributed to
insulin-induced signals and the uptake of glucose into their muscles. When those animals
were given an antioxidant, those benefits were lost, leaving the mice with more signs of
diabetes. Tiganis said whether antioxidants are ultimately good for people will probably
depend on their state of health or disease. "In the case of early type 2 diabetes and
the development of insulin resistance, our studies suggest that antioxidants would be bad
for you." Under some conditions, treatments designed to selectively increase ROS in
muscle – if they can be devised – might even help, he says.
Future diabetes treatment may use
resveratrol to target the brain
Resveratrol, a molecule found in red grapes, has been shown to improve diabetes when
delivered orally to rodents. Until now, however, little has been known about how these
beneficial changes are mediated in the body. A new study accepted for publication in
Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society, shows that the brain plays a key role
in mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions, potentially paving the way for future
orally-delivered diabetes medications that target the brain. Resveratrol activates
sirtuins, a class of proteins that are thought to underlie many of the beneficial effects
of calorie restriction. Previous studies in mice have provided compelling evidence that
when sirtuins are activated by resveratrol, diabetes is improved. Sirtuin activators are
now being tested in humans as anti-diabetic compounds. Sirtuins are expressed virtually
everywhere throughout the body and until now, little has been known about what tissues
mediate resveratrol's beneficial effects. Knowing where in the body the beneficial effects
of activated sirtuins are mediated could help in the development of more effective
targeted diabetes medications. "We know that sirtuins are expressed in parts of the
brain known to govern glucose metabolism, so we hypothesized that the brain could be
mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions," said Roberto Coppari, PhD, of the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and co-author of the study. "To test
the hypothesis, we assessed the metabolic consequences of delivering resveratrol directly
into the brain of diabetic mice. We found that resveratrol did activate sirtuins in the
brain of these mice which resulted in improving their high levels of blood sugar and
insulin."
Eating liquorice in pregnancy may
affect a child's IQ and behavior
Expectant mothers who eat excessive quantities of liquorice during pregnancy could
adversely affect their child's intelligence and behavior, a study has shown Expectant
mothers who eat excessive quantities of liquorice during pregnancy could adversely affect
their child's intelligence and behaviour, a study has shown. A study of eight year old
children whose mothers ate large amounts of liquorice when pregnant found they did not
perform as well as other youngsters in cognitive tests. They were also more likely to have
poor attention spans and show disruptive behaviour such as ADHD (attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder). It is thought that a component in liquorice called glycyrrhizin
may impair the placenta, allowing stress hormones to cross from the mother to the baby.
High levels of such hormones, known as glucocorticoids, are thought to affect fetal brain
development and have been linked to behavioural disorders in children. The results of the
study are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Eight year olds whose mothers
had been monitored for liquorice consumption during pregnancy were tested on a range of
cognitive functions including vocabulary, memory and spatial awareness.
Researcher Solves Mystery about
Proteins that Package the Genome
A Florida State University College of Medicine researcher has solved a century-old mystery
about proteins that play a vital role in the transfer of the human genetic code from one
cell to another. The discovery could lead to finding new ways to help the body fight a
variety of diseases, including cancer. For more than a hundred years, the best scientific
evidence supported a belief that histones -- responsible for packaging DNA inside the
nucleus of cells -- are highly stable proteins not rapidly degraded by the body. Yet,
researchers have not previously been able to explain why free histones, if they are not
degraded as other proteins are, do not accumulate in large amounts within human cells.
Researchers identify genes
associated with onset age of Parkinson's disease
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified genes which
may influence the onset age of Parkinson's Disease (PD). The findings, which currently
appear on-line in BMC Medical Genetics, are the first to identify genes contributing to
the variation in onset age and may help identify mechanisms and therapeutic targets
capable of delaying symptoms. PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder
usually occurring late in life. It is characterized by debilitating symptoms of tremor,
rigidity, and slowed ability to start and continue movements. PD incidence increases with
age from 1.7 /10,000 person-years between ages 50 to 59 to 9.3/10,000 person-years between
ages 70 to 79 and has a prevalence of approximately 1.8 percent among people over the age
of 65. While the average age of onset of PD is approximately 60 years, there is wide
variation, with some individuals experiencing onset before age 20 and others not until
after age 90. The BUSM researchers performed analyses using genotypes generated with the
Illumina HumanCNV370Duo array in a sample of 857 unrelated, familial PD cases.
Subsequently, a meta-analysis of imputed Single Nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was
performed combining the familial PD data with that from a previous genome-wide associated
study (GWAS) of 440 idiopathic PD cases. The researchers identified the 15q26.2 region as
well as the gene AAK1 related to the previously observed PD susceptibility gene, GAK as
areas that would benefit from further examination.
Rare head and neck cancer linked to
HPV, study finds
An increase in cases of a rare type of head and neck cancer appears to be linked to HPV,
or human papillomavirus, according to a new study from researchers at the University of
Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study looked at patients with nasopharyngeal
cancer, a tumor that grows behind the nose and at the top of the throat, above the
tonsils. This rare cancer occurs in less than 1 of every 100,000 Americans. “Though
rare, this is the first report of nasopharyngeal cancer being caused by the HPV epidemic.
We are in the middle of a tonsil cancer epidemic, seeing many patients with tonsil cancer
linked to HPV. It turns out that HPV may also be a new cause of this rare form of cancer
that occurs in this hidden location,” says study author Carol Bradford, M.D.,
professor and chair of otolaryngology at the U-M Medical School.
Enzyme may be a key to
Alzheimer's-related cell death
A Purdue University researcher has discovered that the amount of an enzyme present in
neurons can affect the mechanism thought to cause cell death in Alzheimer's disease
patients and may have applications for other diseases such as stroke and heart attack.
Sandra Rossie, a professor of biochemistry, found that increasing the amount of protein
phosphatase 5, or PP5, in rat neural cells resulted in less cell death associated with
reactive oxygen species, which chemically damage cell molecules. Conversely, decreasing
PP5 caused greater cell death. The results of Rossie's study are published in the early
online version of The Journal of Neurochemistry. Alzheimer's, a degenerative neurological
disease affecting around 5 million people, results in memory loss and dementia. One theory
on the cause of Alzheimer's is that overproduction of certain forms of amyloid beta
protein by neurons leads to the generation of reactive oxygen species, which activate
stress pathways.
Strong link between obesity and
depression
Doctors should pay more attention to the link between common mental illness and obesity in
patients because the two health problems are closely linked, according to researchers at
the University of Adelaide. In an editorial published today in the British Medical Journal
(BMJ), the Adelaide researchers add support to claims of a two-way risk between obesity
and common mental disorders. The editorial makes comments on a new research paper on this
topic published in the same issue of the BMJ by Professor Mika Kivimäki from University
College London. "A better understanding of the mechanisms for the apparent
bi-directional risk between obesity and common mental disorders is needed for effective
treatment and prevention," says the lead author of the editorial, Dr Evan Atlantis
from the University of Adelaide's School of Medicine. "Although the topic is largely
unexplored, several psychosocial, lifestyle and physiological factors may be involved in
the complex inter-relationship between obesity and mental illness," he says.
"Obese people - especially those who perceive themselves as being overweight - often
experience weight-related stigma and discrimination, and consequently present with
symptoms of low self esteem, low self worth, and guilt. Obesity is associated with
socioeconomic disadvantage and low levels of physical activity, both of which are strong
predictors of depression. "Obesity may constitute a chronic stressful state, which in
turn can cause significant physiological dysfunction. Such dysfunction would then
predispose individuals to depressed mood and associated symptoms," he says.
While adolescents may reason as
well as adults, their emotional maturity lags, says new research
A 16-year-old might be quite capable of making an informed decision about whether to end a
pregnancy – a decision likely to be made after due consideration and consultation
with an adult – but this same adolescent may not possess the maturity to be held to
adult levels of responsibility if she commits a violent crime, according to new research
into adolescent psychological development. "Adolescents likely possess the necessary
intellectual skills to make informed choices about terminating a pregnancy but may lack
the social and emotional maturity to control impulses, resist peer pressure and fully
appreciate the riskiness of dangerous decisions," said Laurence Steinberg, PhD, a
professor of developmental psychology at Temple University and lead author of the study.
"This immaturity mitigates their criminal responsibility." The findings appear
in the October issue of American Psychologist, published by the American Psychological
Association. Steinberg and his co-authors address this seeming contradiction in a study
showing that cognitive and emotional abilities mature at different rates. They recruited
935 10- to 30- year-olds to examine age differences in a variety of cognitive and
psychosocial capacities. The participants took different tests measuring psychosocial
maturity and cognitive ability to examine age patterns in numerous factors that affect
judgment and decision-making. The maturity measures included tests of impulse control,
sensation-seeking, resistance to peer influence, future orientation and risk perception.
The cognitive battery included measures of basic intellectual abilities. There were no
differences among the youngest four age groups (10-11, 12-13, 14-15 and 16-17) on the
measures of psychosocial maturity. But significant differences in maturity, favoring
adults, were found between the 16- to 17-year-olds and those 22 years and older, and
between the 18- to 21-year-olds and those 26 and older. Results were the same for males
and females, the authors said. "It is very difficult for a 16-year-old to resist peer
pressure in a heated, volatile situation," Steinberg said. "Most times, there is
no time to talk to an adult to inject some reason and reality to the situation. Many
crimes committed by adolescents are done in groups with other teens and are not
premeditated."
CHEO RI study uses sophisticated
genetic engineering to improve insulin-producing beta cells
One of the biggest mysteries about diabetes is why specialized cells in the pancreas stop
secreting insulin, which the body needs in order to store glucose from food. A team from
the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute has identified a
protein that inhibits insulin production in mice - work that offers a new way of
understanding, and perhaps of one day treating, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. A study
to be published today in the leading international journal Cell Metabolism describes how a
research group led by Dr. Robert Screaton, who holds the Canada Research Chair in
Apoptotic Signaling at the University of Ottawa, used sophisticated genetic engineering to
remove or 'knock out' the Lkb1 gene from beta cells of laboratory mice. The result was an
increase in both the size and number of beta cells, as well as greater amounts of insulin
stored and released by the cells. Importantly, the improved beta cell function lasted for
at least five months, even in mice fed a high-fat diet designed to mimic the high caloric
intake associated with Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 diabetes in humans. "We were
surprised by the impressive accumulation of Lkb1 in beta cells of diabetic mice, which
suggested that Lkb1 might contribute to their impaired function. After removal of the Lkb1
gene, the beta cells grow larger, proliferate more, and secrete more insulin. It's a
one-stop shop for the much needed insulin", said Dr. Screaton. "The knockout
mice on a high-fat diet have lower blood glucose. If this observation is confirmed in
humans, it may give us another clue into the development of Type 2 diabetes, and perhaps
new treatment options".
1 small step for neurons, 1 giant
leap for nerve cell repair
The repair of damaged nerve cells is a major problem in medicine today. A new study by
researchers at the Montreal NeurologicaI Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) and McGill
University, is a significant advance towards a solution for neuronal repair. The study
featured on the cover of the October 7 issue of Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to
show that nerve cells will grow and make meaningful, functional contacts, or synapses -
the specialized junctions through which neurons signal to each other - with an artificial
component, in this case, plastic beads coated with a substance that encourages adhesion,
and attracts the nerve cells. "Many therapies, most still in the conceptual stage,
are aimed at restoring the connection between the nerve cell and the severed nerve fibres
that innervate a target tissue, typically muscle," says Dr. David Colman, Director of
The Neuro and principal investigator in the study. "Traditional approaches to
therapies would require the re-growth of a severed nerve fibre a distance of up to one
meter in order to potentially restore function. The approach we are using however bypasses
the need to force nerve cells to artificially grow these long distances, and eliminates
the demand for two neurons to make a synapse, both of which are considerable obstacles to
neuronal repair in a damaged system." "We are tackling this problem in an
entirely new way, as part of the McGill Program in NeuroEngineering," says Dr. Anna
Lisa Lucido, who conducted research for the study as part of her PhD research at The Neuro
and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF. "This program, spearheaded by Dr.
Colman, is a multi-disciplinary consortium that brings together the knowledge, expertise
and perspectives of 40 scientists from diverse fields to focus on the challenge of
neuronal repair in the central nervous system. The approach we have taken is to help
healthy nerve cells form functional contacts with artificial substrates in order to create
a paradigm that can be adapted to model systems in which neurons are damaged. That
approach will be combined with strategies to encourage the outgrowth of damaged neuronal
branches through which these connections, or synapses, are formed. It's a challenging
endeavour, but the ability to trigger connections to form on command is a promising start.
Our ultimate goal is to create a combined platform in which damaged cells could be
encouraged to both re-grow and re-establish their functional connections."
Genome-wide study of autism
published in Nature
In one of the first studies of its kind, an international team of researchers has
uncovered a single-letter change in the genetic code that is associated with autism. The
finding, published in the October 8 issue of the journal Nature, implicates a neuronal
gene not previously tied to the disorder and more broadly, underscores a role for common
DNA variation. In addition, the new research highlights two other regions of the genome,
which are likely to contain rare genetic differences that may also influence autism
risk."These discoveries are an important step forward, but just one of many that are
needed to fully dissect the complex genetics of this disorder, " said Mark Daly, one
of the study's senior authors, a senior associate member at the Broad Institute of Harvard
and MIT and an associate professor at the Center for Human Genetic Research at
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). "The genomic regions we've identified help shed
additional light on the biology of autism and point to areas that should be prioritized
for further study." "The biggest challenge to finding the genes that contribute
to autism is having a large and well studied group of patients and their family members,
both for primary discovery of genes and to test and verify the discovery candidates,"
said Aravinda Chakravarti, professor of medicine, pediatrics and molecular biology and
genetics at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins, and one
of the study's senior authors. "This latest finding would not have been possible
without these many research groups and consortia pooling together their patient resources.
Of course, they would not have been possible without the genomic scanning technologies
either." Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired
social, behavioral and communication abilities. Compared to other complex diseases, which
are caused by a complicated mix of genetic, environmental and other factors, autism is
highly heritable — roughly 90% of the disorder is thought to be genetic in origin.
Yet the majority of autism cases cannot be attributed to known inherited causes. Modern
approaches that harness genome-scale technologies have begun to yield some insights into
autism and its genetic underpinnings. However, the relative importance of common genetic
variants, which are generally present in the human population at a frequency of about 5%,
as well as other forms of genetic variation, remains an unresolved question.
Unnatural selection - Birth control
pills may alter choice of partners
There is no doubt that modern contraception has enabled women to have unprecedented
control over their own fertility. However, is it possible that the use of oral
contraceptives is interfering with a woman's ability to choose, compete for and retain her
preferred mate? A new paper published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal
Trends in Ecology and Evolution reviews emerging evidence suggesting that contraceptive
methods which alter a woman's natural hormonal cycles may have an underappreciated impact
on choice of partners for both women and men and, possibly, reproductive success. Human
females are only fertile for a brief period during their menstrual cycle, just prior to
ovulation. Many scientific studies have established that partner preferences of both women
and men vary significantly according to predictable hormonal fluctuations associated with
the natural menstrual cycle. Ovulation is associated with a profound shift in some female
physical characteristics, behaviors and perceptions related to mate attraction. Ovulating
women exhibit a preference for more masculine male features, are particularly attracted to
men showing dominance and male-male competitiveness and prefer partners that are
genetically dissimilar to themselves. This is significant because there is evidence
suggesting that genetic similarity between couples might be linked with infertility.
Further, some studies have suggested that men detect women's fertility status, preferring
ovulating women in situations where they can compare the attractiveness of different
women. The oral contraceptive pill alters the hormonal fluctuations associated with the
menstrual cycle and essentially mimics the more steady hormonal conditions associated with
pregnancy. "Although mate choice studies in humans have routinely recorded pill use
during the last decade to control for its confounding effects, little effort has been
invested in understanding the consequences of such effects of the pill," offers study
author Dr. Alexandra Alvergne from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the
University of Sheffield. Dr. Alverne and colleague Dr. Virpi Lumma reviewed and discussed
new research supporting the conclusion that use of the pill by women disrupted their
variation in mate preferences across their menstrual cycle. The authors also speculate
that the use of oral contraceptives may influence a woman's ability to attract a mate by
reducing attractiveness to men, thereby disrupting her ability to compete with normally
cycling women for access to mate. Of particular interest is the fact that women taking the
pill do not exhibit the ovulation-specific attraction to genetically dissimilar partners.
"The ultimate outstanding evolutionary question concerns whether the use of oral
contraceptives when making mating decisions can have long-term consequences on the ability
of couples to reproduce," suggests Dr. Lummaa. Taken together, an increasing number
of studies suggest that the pill is likely to have an impact on human mating decisions and
subsequent reproduction. "If this is the case, pill use will have implications for
both current and future generations, and we hope that our review will stimulate further
research on this question," concludes Dr. Lummaa.
A tree's response to environmental
changes - What can we expect over the next 100 years?
The many environmental issues facing our society are prevalent in the media lately. Global
warming, rainforest devastation, and endangered species have taken center stage. Our
ecosystem is composed of a very delicate network of interactions among all species and the
non-living environment. Predicting how each component of this complex system will respond
to the many environmental changes sweeping the globe is a challenging problem today's
scientists face. A recent article by Dr. Abraham Miller-Rushing and his colleagues at
Boston University published in the October issue of the American Journal of Botany
(http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/96/10/1779) explores how increasing concentrations
of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) may be affecting trees and, ultimately, affecting
water and carbon cycles. It is known that increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2
affect the physiology and behavior of many organisms, and in plants, changes to the pores
(stomata) on the surface of leaves are one example of these effects. Stomata allow air
(containing CO2) to pass into the leaf while water vapor passes out of the leaf. Plants
use carbon dioxide to produce sugars during the process of photosynthesis. With increasing
concentrations of atmospheric CO2, stomatal density decreases while rates of
photosynthesis increase. The decrease in stomatal density results in decreased water loss
through the leaves. "These changes in stomatal behavior and water use efficiency can,
in turn, have large impacts on plants and can alter ecosystem-scale water and carbon
cycling," Miller-Rushing said. "For example, soil moisture, runoff, and river
flows might increase and drought tolerance in individual plants might improve." The
relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and stomatal density is so constant
over the long term that scientists are able to use stomatal density of fossilized leaves
to determine historical atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, short-term responses to
changes in CO2 concentrations have previously been found to be much more variable, and
very little concrete data exist on how long-lived organisms respond to changing CO2
concentrations. "We currently do not know how the anatomy and water relations of
individual trees will respond to changes in climate and atmospheric concentrations of CO2
over their lifetimes," Miller-Rushing said. "Understanding these responses will
be key to predicting how forests might contribute to changes in carbon and water cycles
over the next 100 years."
For safer emergencies, give your
power generator some space
To subdue the steaming heat of hurricanes or to thaw out during a blizzard,
gasoline-powered, portable generators are a lifeline during weather emergencies when homes
are cut off without electricity. But these generators emit poisonous carbon
monoxide—a single generator can produce a hundred times more of the colorless,
odorless gas than a modern car's exhaust. New research from the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that to prevent potentially dangerous levels of
carbon monoxide, users may need to keep generators farther from the house than previously
believed—perhaps as much as 25 feet. Up to half of the incidents of non-fatal carbon
monoxide (CO) poisoning reported in the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons involved
generators run within 7 feet of the home, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). Carbon monoxide can enter a house through a number of
airflow paths, such as a door or window left open to accommodate the extension cord that
brings power from the generator into the house. While some guidance recommends 10 feet
from open windows as a safe operating distance, NIST researcher Steven Emmerich says the
"safe" operating distance depends on the house, the weather conditions and the
unit. A generator's carbon monoxide output is usually higher than an automobile's, he
says, because most generators do not have the sophisticated emission controls that cars
do. "People need to be aware that generators are potentially deadly and they need to
educate themselves on proper use," Emmerich says. With funding from CDC, NIST
researchers are gathering reliable data to support future CDC guidance. NIST building
researchers simulated multiple scenarios of a portable generator operating outside of a
one-story house, using both a test structure and two different computer models—the
NIST-developed CONTAM indoor air quality model and a computational fluid dynamics model.
The simulations included factors that could be controlled by humans, such as generator
location, exhaust direction and window-opening size, and environmental factors such as
wind, temperature and house dimensions. In the simulations the generator was placed at
various distances from the house and tested under different weather conditions.
Eco-friendly defence against
erosion in arctic regions
Geosynthetic bags, which are typically woven textile, polymer-based envelopes, have been
successfully used for more than 40 years in temperate climates, but have not been tested
in sub-zero conditions. EUREKA project E! 3702 GISSAC was initiated by TenCate
Geosynthetics France, a world-leader in the design and production of geosynthetic
materials for civil engineering projects. The company wanted to find out if geosynthetic
bags worked in very cold conditions, and to come up with a product that was both
environmentally-friendly and sustainable. “Our northern European sales offices asked
us to develop suitable materials for cold regions where the temperature is rarely above
zero,” explains Dr Olivier Artières, TenCate’s Innovation Project Manager and
Senior Expert. “They face specific problems such as the thawing and freezing cycles
of water that make the construction of infrastructures like roads and jetties difficult.
“Following a discussion with colleagues at Norway’s SINTEF Research Institute we
decided to hold a brainstorming session with local users to gain a better understanding of
their needs and the kind of solution they were looking for. They told us that constructing
embankments under water to create dykes and breakwaters was a major problem, and
protecting against coastal erosion. This was particularly so in areas such as Svalbard,
where traditional solutions are too expensive or don’t comply with strict
environmental regulations, and which also lack suitable geological material for building
protective infrastructures.”
Research ensures 50 million
vaccinated against deadly brain infection
Research at the University of Liverpool has supported the vaccination of more than 50
million people against a zoonotic brain infection that affects thousands of children
across Asia every year. The infection, called Japanese encephalitis (JE), is found in pigs
and wading birds and transmitted by mosquitoes in areas of Southeast Asia and the Western
Pacific. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that JE affects approximately
50,000 people a year and kills around 15,000. Those that survive the infection can be left
brain damaged. Scientists at Liverpool, in collaboration with Asian governments, the WHO
and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), are improving understanding
of the disease and developing immunisation programmes to control it, with the support of
funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Children in poor rural communities are
particularly vulnerable to the infection, but as a result of improved diagnostics and
clinical management, vaccinations against the disease have now reached more than 50
million children and the programme continues across Asia. Professor Tom Solomon, Head of
the University's Brain Infection Group, said: "Japanese encephalitis invades the
central nervous system and can cause seizures, paralysis and in severe cases, death.
Approximately 50 per cent of people who survive the infection are left with physical and
mental illness, which could include personality changes. It affects children between the
ages of one to 15, but adults, including tourists to the region, can contract the disease
also. "Although we knew this disease was important, five years ago it was virtually
unrecognised due to the difficulty in diagnosing cases. It causes disability more often
than it causes death, but with no standard method of quantifying the disability, it was
difficult for governments to make decisions on introducing vaccines. We have been
developing ways of diagnosing JE and measuring the outcome of the infection, and these
methods are now being used in many countries across Asia."
MDC scientists show how
hematopoietic stem cell development is regulated
During cell division, whether hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) will develop into new stem
cells (self-renewal) or differentiate into other blood cells depends on a chemical process
called DNA methylation. These were the findings of researchers at the laboratory of Dr.
Frank Rosenbauer of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in
cooperation with the laboratory of Professor Sten Eirik W. Jacobsen (Lund University,
Sweden and the University of Oxford, England). Furthermore, the researchers showed that
DNA methylation also plays a crucial role for cancer stem cells (Nature Genetics, online,
doi: doi:10.1038/ng.463)*. A group of three enzymes, the DNA methyltransferases (Dnmt)
regulates the addition of methyl groups to the DNA (DNA methylation). One of these enzymes
– Dnmt1 – is responsible for the maintenance of the marks with the methyl
groups, the DNA methylation pattern, because the distribution of the methyl groups on the
DNA decides which genes are transcribed and which are blocked. Researchers speak in this
context of epigenetic information, in contrast to genetic information. However, it was
unclear until now whether DNA methylation plays a special role in the control of
hematopoietic stem cell characteristics. From the HSCs all of the blood cells of the body
are formed. Since blood cells have only a limited lifetime, the body must form new blood
cells over and over again. The pool for this is generated by the HSCs. In order to
discover what function DNA methylation has for HSCs, the two doctoral students Ann-Marie
Bröske and Lena Vockentanz of the MDC research laboratory of Dr. Rosenbauer switched off
the enzyme Dnmt1 in the mice. As a result, the animals were not viable because the
hematopoietic stem cell function was completely disturbed.
Preventing allergies
Vaccination can lower children's risk of allergy. Cathleen Muche-Borowski and her
coauthors present a clinical practice guideline for allergy prevention in the current
issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[39]: 625-31).
Allergic diseases are becoming increasingly common in Western industrialized countries. As
there is still no etiologically based treatment of allergic asthma, hay fever, or atopic
eczema, the prevention of these diseases is a matter of special importance. The majority
of the 217 studies that the authors analyzed documented a protective effect of fish
consumption in the diet of both the mother and the child. Soy-based baby food, in
contrast, has no protective effect. In fact, because preparations of this type contain
phytoestrogens, the authors even express concern about a potential harmful effect on
health. Furthermore, delaying the introduction of solid food in the child's diet was not
shown to have any beneficial effect on the development of allergy in the German cohort
studies that the authors reviewed. The reduction of dust mite allergens in the home as a
single primary preventive measure has been removed from the guideline. A further change is
that the updated version by Dr. Muche-Borowski et al. no longer contains any statement
about specific immune therapy. Vaccination, however, can lower the risk of allergy, in the
authors' expert opinion. Recent studies indicate, too, that overweight in childhood is
associated with asthma, although dietary measures for either mothers or children cannot be
considered indicated at present, because relevant data are lacking. The updated clinical
guideline enables physicians to give recommendations about allergy prevention based on the
current state of the evidence.
Do dust particles curb climate
change?
A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been
asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles
suspended in the atmosphere, enlarge the cloud cover and thus curb climate warming.
Research has made little or no progress on this issue. Two scientists from the Max Planck
Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg (MPI-M) and the American National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report in the journal Nature that the interaction
between aerosols, clouds and precipitation is strongly dependent on factors that have not
been adequately researched up to now. They urge the adoption of a research concept that
will close this gap in the knowledge. (Nature, October 1st, 2009)Greenhouse gases that
heat up the earth's atmosphere have their adversaries: dust particles suspended in the
atmosphere which are known as aerosols. They arise naturally, for example when wind blows
up desert dust, and through human activities. A large proportion of the man-made aerosols
arise from sulfur dioxides that are generated, in turn, by the combustion of fossil fuels.
The aerosols are viewed as climate coolers, which compensate in part for the heating up of
the earth by greenhouse gases. Climate researchers imagine the workings of this cooling
mechanism in very simple terms: when aerosols penetrate clouds, they attract water
molecules and therefore act as condensation seeds for drops of water. The more aerosol
particles suspended in the cloud, the more drops of water are formed. When man-made dust
particles join the natural ones, the number of drops increases. As a result, the average
size of the drops decreases. Because smaller drops do not fall to the ground, the aerosols
prevent the cloud from raining out and extend its lifetime. Consequently, the cloud cover
over the earth's surface increases. Because clouds reflect the solar radiation and throw
it back into space, less heat collects in the atmosphere than when the sky is clear.
Climate researchers refer to this mechanism as the "cloud lifetime effect". To
date, however, it has not been possible to quantify the influence of the cloud lifetime
effect on climate. The estimates vary hugely and range from no influence whatsoever to a
cooling effect that is sufficient to more than compensate for the heating effect of carbon
dioxide.
ACPM recommends primary care have
systems in place for screening and treating depression
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) supports the recommendations of the US
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) that primary care providers should screen all
adults for depression, and further recommends that all primary care providers should have
systems in place to ensure the accurate diagnosis and treatment of this condition. The
earliest and best opportunities to identify depression are in the clinics of primary care
providers and all primary care practices should have such systems of care in place.
According to Dr. Michael T. Compton, one of the lead authors of ACPM's recommendation,
"Depressive disorders are common in primary care settings and are associated with
substantial morbidity and disability for individuals, as well as direct and indirect costs
to society. Yet, depression is a highly treatable condition, and the goal of treatment is
complete recovery. We believe that all primary care providers should be equipped to screen
for depression and to assure timely and adequate treatment, either in their own practices
or through an established system of referral to mental health professionals."
Depression is a potentially life-threatening disorder that affects approximately 14.8
million Americans 18 years of age and older in a given year. Depression also affects many
people younger than age 18. The STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve
Depression) study found that nearly 40% had their first depressive episode before the age
of 18. According to Dr. Mark B. Johnson, President of ACPM, "Depression is a major
concern in the United States that leads to devastating consequences in many families. ACPM
will continue to monitor emerging evidence on ways to prevent, screen for and treat this
disease."
Major discovery opens door to
leishmania treatment
Leishmania is a deadly parasitic disease that affects over 12 million people worldwide,
with more than 2 million new cases reported every year. Until recently, scientists were
unsure exactly how the parasite survives inside human cells. That mystery has now been
solved according to a new study published in Science Signaling by a team led by Dr. Martin
Olivier – a scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health
Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University. It is hoped the new study will lead to the
development of the first prophylactic treatment for leishmania. Leishmania is typically a
sub-tropical and tropical infectious disease transmitted through the bite of female
phlebotomine sandflies. The parasites enter the bloodstream and are ingested by macrophage
– white blood cells – where they block immune function and multiply, spreading
to other tissues in the body. Leishmania can occur in cutaneous forms, which are generally
curable, as well as in a more dangerous – and potentially fatal – visceral form.
The researchers discovered that a metalloprotease – a molecule called GP63 –
found on the surface of the parasite, plays a role in neutralizing the macrophage's
defences. "Our results demonstrate the mechanism through which the GP63 protease
alters the function of the macrophages by activating its own negative regulatory
mechanisms," says Dr. Olivier. "The infected cells act 'frozen', which hinders
the body's innate inflammatory immune response and leads to infection." The work is
significant in that it is the first study that explains how the leishmania parasite blocks
the immune function of macrophages. "Our research indicates that the GP63 protease is
the target of choice for innovative future treatments, in terms of prevention," says
Dr. Olivier.
Breakthrough for Swedish Vaccine
Research
A research group at the Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden has – in collaboration with J-I Flock’s
research group at the Karolinska Institutet medical university in Stockholm, the
pharmacological company Intervacc AB, Stockholm and the Animal Health Trust in the UK
– after many years of research made a breakthrough in finding a vaccine against the
horse disease strangle. Strangle is a most contagious disease caused by the bacteria
Streptococcus equi. The disease results in high fever and characteristically swollen
lymphoid glands in the neck region generating large boils that often burst. Most
contaminated horses recover and become immune against the disease, but in worst cases
strangle can be fatal. A stable where strangle has been discovered must be put in
quarantine causing economical losses and practical problems. The disease is spread
worldwide; in Sweden some 100 cases are reported annually, in the UK circa 1,000 cases per
year are reported. Today there exists no safe and efficient vaccine against strangle, and
previous vaccines are based on live bacteria, which is hazardous and may cause severe side
effects. The new vaccine is based on pure proteins produced by recombinant DNA technology.
The vaccine consists of seven different Streptococcus proteins, and the results from
injecting horses have been most positive so far, i.e. the vaccine is highly protective and
has shown no side effects.
Major Irish river now
"wired" to detect pollution incidents
Clean water is an essential element of healthy human life, which is one of the driving
forces behind the European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD) which was adopted in
2000 and which Ireland is obliged to uphold. However, upholding the Water Framework
Directive is expensive, since it requires Ireland to undertake a comprehensive programme
of chemical analysis of its rivers, lakes and seas on a regular basis using what the EU
demands to be comparable methods, both of sampling and analysis, that can be used with
good accuracy and precision so that differences among water bodies and trends can be
detected reliably. Sending out technical staff on a regular basis to sample and analyse
water from rivers and lakes in all weathers using conventional sampling and laboratory
methods can be difficult and prohibitively expensive, as can the cost of non-compliance
with the EU Directive. So imagine the excitement generated by news of a project to develop
a network of sensors that can be placed at strategic points along any river or lake to
automatically analyse the water they contain at regular intervals, whatever the weather
and beam the results directly back to a laptop on a 24/7 basis. This is the foundation of
the DEPLOY project, an important collaboration among the National Centre for Sensor
Research at DCU, the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, the commercial partner
Intelligent Data Systems and the South Western River Basin District. Working together they
are studying the best ways to deploy, maintain, continuously collect environmental and
water quality data and evaluate the effects of long-term sensor deployment on water
quality monitoring systems and sensor data from a number of sites, and disseminate the
findings to the widest possible audience.
Seaweed “Super-Food”
Flavouring Ingredients in Development by Irish Company
A range of natural flavoursome food products that rely neither on added salt or monosodium
glutamate may soon be available thanks to a Cork-based company exploring the food
potential of a major Irish natural resource – seaweed. The company, CyberColloids of
Carrigaline, Co. Cork is currently researching a suite of products that include mildly
processed Irish seaweeds as flavoursome ingredients. In Asia, seaweed already comprises up
to 20% of the diet and is recognised not only for its nutritional benefits but also for
its unique flavours. “Irish seaweed is an underexploited, naturally nutritious food
which has been labelled as a “super food” in the scientific literature because
of its health giving properties,” said Ross Campbell of CyberColloids, at a regular
meeting of the Sea Change Marine Food Advisory Group, set up by the Marine Institute in
2007 to address the coordinated approach to marine food research advocated under the Sea
Change national marine research strategy, in Cork yesterday (Monday 5th October).
“Our company recognised a significant commercial opportunity to develop high-value
food products from Irish seaweeds that were not only nutritious, but tasty and appealing
to western consumers. To do this, we needed to engage in new research, particularly
regarding our ability to assess and utilise the flavour components of edible Irish
seaweeds.” The research, which was led by Dr Sarah Hotchkiss of CyberColloids with
assistance from the marine research programme of the National Development Plan as part of
the Sea Change Strategy developed and administered by the Marine Institute, included an
assessment of market needs, the food processing methods currently available and the
availability of Irish seaweeds as a commercial resource. At the outset CyberColloids
needed to build an understanding of the science behind flavour development and enhancement
in seaweeds, to identify the components in seaweed that are important in taste and flavour
and to understand how various cooking and processing methods could influence that flavour.
Research points to potential chink
in cancer's armour
Scientists at the University of York have identified and successfully silenced a gene that
appears essential to cancer cell survival. Professor Jo Milner and Dr Shafiq Ahmed, from
the YCR P53 Research Unit in the Department of Biology, used a process called RNA
interference to target the JNK2 gene in both cancer and healthy cells. The cancer cells
died but the healthy cells were unaffected. This discovery suggests that the survival of
cancer cells depends upon certain genes which healthy cells can survive without, an
important step towards the development of the next generation of cancer treatments. Dr
Ahmed said "Our results indicate that one day it may be possible to treat cancer
without the harmful side-effects so often associated with today's treatments. Our study
has identified a cancer-specific target which could be selectively inhibited using
small-molecules, or other means, without the use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy."
This laboratory-based work is still at a very early stage and the next step is to test a
larger range of different cancer cell types and also to test normal healthy cells from
different tissues. The research, which examined colorectal cancer and breast cancer cell
lines among others, was funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research and is published in the
journal PLoS One.
Researchers urge action over
crop’s impact on air quality
An “environmentally friendly” tropical crop could lead to hazardous increases in
levels of the air pollutant ozone according to new research by an international team that
included scientists from the University of York. Global production of palm oil now exceeds
35 million tonnes a year, with the average UK supermarket stocking hundreds of products
containing it, from processed food like margarine and cakes to cosmetics. Palm oil is also
used for biofuel since it is considered to be more “environmentally friendly”
than fossil fuels. But scientists on a £2m joint UK/Malaysian research project funded by
the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) have discovered a downside to the
increasing global demand for the crop. The research is published in the latest issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Nerve cells live double lives
In animals and humans, a looming threat triggers the same kind of behavior – freezing
followed by flight. The uniform nature of this response suggests that the perception and
processing of approaching motion is clearly defined and embedded in the brain. Scientists
working with group leader Botond Roska at the FMI in Basel and at the École Normale
Supérieure in Paris have now managed to identify a neural circuit in the retina that
responds specifically to approaching objects and conveys this information immediately to
the brain. As the researchers report in the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience, various
types of retinal cells are involved in this perceptual process. An important role is
played by the bipolar cells which lie just below the photoreceptors. Two types of bipolar
cells are distinguished: those that become active in brighter light (known as ON cells)
and those that respond to dimmer light (OFF cells). For the eye, the image of an
approaching object consists of a constantly expanding area of darkness. Therefore, as an
object approaches, increasing numbers of OFF bipolar cells respond to this stimulus and
transmit this signal to the next layer of retinal cells – the ganglion cells. These
integrate the signal and transmit it to the brain. The same system is shut of when faced
with laterally moving objects: here the lateral motion activates amacrine cells, another
cell type in the retina, which shut down the information flow. Rapid processing of this
information is often a matter of life or death - especially in the natural world, when an
animal is suddenly confronted with a predator.
IMEC’s spray-coating technique
holds promise for cheap fully solution-processed organic solar cells
IMEC has demonstrated a fully solution-processed organic solar cell with a spray-coated
active layer and a metal top contact spray-coated on top. The resulting cell shows power
conversion efficiencies above 3%, a performance comparable to organic solar cells produced
by spin coating of the organic layer and vacuum evaporation of the top contact metal. This
is an important step towards producing organic solar cells with cheap and large-area
processes. Polymer-based (organic) solar cells hold the promise of low-cost production and
a high throughput. However, this can only become true if all the layers of the cells can
be deposited by solution-based, in-line compatible methods. IMEC’s research now shows
that spray-coating is a suitable deposition technique, and that it can be used to deposit
all layers, including the metal top contact. Spray-coating is a high-rate, large-area
deposition technique that ensures an ideal coating on a variety of surfaces with different
morphologies and topographies. It is frequently used for industrial coating and in-line
deposition processes. In spray-coating systems, the ink is atomized at the nozzle by
pressure or ultrasound and then directed toward the substrate by a gas. An added advantage
of spray-coating is that it is efficient: compared to other techniques only a small amount
of the solutions are wasted. IMEC demonstrated that an active layer – a solution of
P3HT and PCBM – deposited with spray-coating shows power conversion efficiencies
above 3%, a performance which is comparable to that of spin-coated devices. And for the
metal top contact, IMEC spray-coated a solution with silver nanoparticles. The challenges
are to do this without dissolving the underlying layer, and without damaging it by the
temperature needed to sinter the silver nanoparticles. IMEC demonstrated that
spray-coating greatly reduces the damage to underlying layers compared to other
techniques. It was also able to sinter the silver nanoparticles at 150°C, a temperature
that is compatible with processing on flexible substrates.
Researchers validate a technique to
detect, in one day, whether or not a patient is suffering from tuberculosis
The team headed by Doctor Manuel Casal, head of Microbiology at Reina Sofia Hospital in
Cordoba has validated in patients a technique, originally produced by a German company,
capable of diagnosing tuberculosis in only one day and determining whether or not it is
resistant to two of the drugs used to treat this disease. This Cordoba laboratory is
considered by the Andalusian Government as a benchmark in the study of
tuberculosis."Fast diagnosis is an important step towards eliminating this
disease", affirms the head of the Microbiology Department at Reina Sofia Hospital,
whose work group has validated a molecular biology genetics technique capable of detecting
within a day, or at the most two, if a patient his suffering from tuberculosis and the
mutations resistant to rifampicine and isoniazid, two of the drugs used in the treatment
of this disease. "The longer a person suffers the disease without knowing it, the
more people can be infected." According to the Cordoba doctor, this technique does
not search for live bacteria, but rather the most important component of these, the
nucleic acid, within which a study is made of certain genes "that indicate a
resistance mutation. In this way, directly and without having to resort to cultures, it is
possible to test a patient suspected of suffering this disease. The test consists in the
confrontation of a series of reagents with others, which tells us whether or not the
pathology is present." Thanks to this system, "it is possible to obtain the test
results the same day, while previous technique required at least 15 days."
New type of genetic change
identified in inherited cancer
Duke University Medical Center and National Cancer Institute scientists have discovered
that a novel genetic alteration – a second copy of an entire gene – is a cause
of familial chordoma, an uncommon form of cancer arising in bones and frequently affecting
the nervous system. Inherited differences in gene copy number, known as copy number
variation (CNV), have been implicated in some hereditary diseases but none of the
previously discovered familial cancer genes has had CNV as the genetic change. "This
alteration is unlike anything we have ever seen before in families that tend to develop
the same kind of cancers," says Michael Kelley, M.D., an associate professor at Duke
University Medical Center and senior author of the study appearing in Nature Genetics.
"We are not talking about a mutation in a single gene, but the duplication of an
entire gene. This discovery is a classic example of where science answers one question but
raises many, many more." Chordoma is rare, striking only one in every million people.
But it is a devastating diagnosis. People who have the disorder typically develop tumors
at the base of the skull, in the pelvis, or along the spinal column. The growths are
thought to arise from remnants of the notochord, an embryonic precursor to spinal column.
There are few treatments and no cure for chordoma; most who have the disease usually die
within 10 years. Kelley, chief of hematology and oncology at the Durham Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, has been studying chordoma for years after a collaborator at the National
Cancer Institute, Dilys Parry, a co-author of the study, discovered a family with a
history of the disease spanning several generations. They concluded that there had to be
some sort of inherited genetic defect at work. Parry conducted clinical studies that
eventually identified six additional families with multiple relatives with chordoma.
Air pollution may trigger
appendicitis
A new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca suggests that air
pollution may trigger appendicitis in adults. The study, conducted by researchers at the
University of Calgary, University of Toronto and Health Canada, looked at 5191 adults
admitted to hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Fifty-two per cent of admissions
occurred between April and September, the warmest months of the year in Canada during
which people are more likely to be outside. The dominant theory of the cause of
appendicitis has been obstruction of the appendix opening, but this theory does not
explain the trends of appendicitis in developed and developing countries. Appendicitis
cases increased dramatically in industrialized countries in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, then decreased in the middle and late 20th century, coinciding with legislation
to improve air quality. The incidence of appendicitis has been growing in developing
countries as they become more industrialized. Using Environment Canada's air pollution
data for Calgary, the researchers determined the levels of ozone, nitrogen dioxide and
other air-borne pollutants along with temperature. They found correlations between high
levels of ozone and nitrogen dioxide and the incidence of appendicitis between age groups
and genders. More men than women were found to have the condition. "For unexplained
reasons, men are more likely than women to have appendicitis," write Dr. Gilaad
Kaplan of the University of Calgary and coauthors. "Men may be more susceptible to
the effects of outdoor air pollution because they are more likely to be employed in
outdoor occupations," although they note that misclassifications of data could
explain some of the difference.
Body's circadian rhythm tightly
entwined with blood sugar control, Stanford/Packard scientist shows
Scientists have long struggled to understand the body's biological clock. Its tick-tock
wakes us up, reminds us to eat and tells us when to go to bed. But what sets that
circadian rhythm? New research now shows that daily fluctuations in powerful hormones
called glucocorticoids directly synchronize the biological clock as an integral part of
our mechanism for regulating blood sugar. "The most surprising part of our findings
is that our internal biologic rhythms are embedded directly into another pathway, one that
is essential to regulate metabolism," said senior study author Brian Feldman, MD,
PhD, assistant professor of pediatric endocrinology at the Stanford University School of
Medicine. Feldman also practices at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The new findings
give the first in vivo evidence of a direct link between glucocorticoid hormones and genes
that regulate our biological clock. The research may eventually help doctors reduce
disabling side effects of glucocorticoid drugs such as prednisone, Feldman said. The work
could also help diabetics control their blood sugar levels and may shed light on why
night-shift workers are at risk for obesity and diabetes. The study will be published
online Oct. 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Feldman worked
previously at the University of California-San Francisco, where much of the research was
conducted. Feldman's team began their experiments by applying a synthetic glucocorticoid
to dishes of mouse and human stem cells to see which genes responded. To the team's
surprise, three genes known to control the biological clock changed their activity in a
direct response to the hormone. Next, the researchers tested how the hormone's effect on
the biological clock is linked with its other functions. The scientists gave the synthetic
glucocorticoid to genetically engineered mice lacking a specific gene involved in
regulating biologic rhythms. As the team expected, genetically normal control mice
responded to the glucocorticoid with blood glucose changes associated with increased
diabetes risk. In contrast, the genetically engineered mice were protected from harmful
side effects on blood sugar levels. The result shows that blood sugar regulation and the
biological clock are closely entwined.The close link between daily cycles of
glucocorticoids, the body's daily rhythms and blood sugar fluctuations should prompt
doctors to examine how they use glucocorticoid drugs, Feldman said. For instance,
prednisone is a powerful immune-suppressing glucocorticoid used to treat everything from
severe asthma to cancer. Unfortunately, its side effects include poor regulation of blood
sugar, weight gain and diabetes. "Some very simple modifications in how we use
glucocorticoids may change whether these drugs cause diabetes," Feldman said. Giving
prednisone in a daily pattern that matches the body's natural glucocorticoid cycle -- with
a daily peak in the early morning -- might help solve the problem, he said. And because
prednisone is already approved for human use, clinical trials of this idea would be fast
and simple. Feldman's findings might also be applied to aid people who already have
diabetes, possibly making it easier for them to artificially control their blood sugar
with medications. And the work provides the beginnings of a concrete explanation for the
down side of night-shift work. "We know that disturbed sleep patterns predispose
people to metabolic syndrome," or a combination of obesity and elevated diabetes
risk, Feldman said. "But our molecular understanding has been poor. Now we're
fleshing out the beginnings of those molecular details."
'Treason' by immune system cells
aids growth of multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma cancer cells thwart many of the drugs used against them by causing nearby
cells to turn traitor – to switch from defending the body against disease to
shielding the myeloma cells from harm – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists
report in the October issue of Cancer Cell. The researchers found that immune-system cells
known as plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) essentially assume a new identity in the
presence of myeloma – promoting the growth and survival of malignant myeloma cells,
helping them fend off drugs, and depleting the overall strength of the immune system. The
discovery not only helps explain a little-understood aspect of myeloma biology, but also
suggests a new angle of attack on the disease. Researchers found that compounds that
alight on specific sites on pDCs restore the cells' original disease-fighting character
and remove a trigger of myeloma cell growth. "Our study found an unusually large
number of pDCs in the bone marrow of multiple myeloma patients," says Dharminder
Chauhan, JD, PhD, of Dana-Farber, who co-led the study with Ajita Singh, PhD. "pDCs
are known to be immune system 'effector' cells – the first responders of the body's
attack on disease. But why are they present in such abundance in myeloma patients'
marrow?" The focus on immune system cells exemplifies a new approach to the study of
multiple myeloma, a cancer of bone marrow tissue that, despite numerous treatment advances
in recent years, remains incurable. Diagnosed in 15,000 Americans a year, it accounts for
just 2 percent of cancer-related deaths, but is the fourth fastest-growing cancer in terms
of mortality and is one of the top 10 causes of death in African-Americans. The disease's
ability to resist even the latest drugs has prompted scientists to look more closely at
the basic biology of the disease, particularly the interactions between myeloma cells and
their cellular neighbors. In the current study, Chauhan and his colleagues zeroed in on
those interactions in experiments involving laboratory-grown samples of myeloma cells and
animals with the disease. They found that when pDCs latch onto myeloma cells, a mutual
release of proteins affects both sets of cells. In myeloma cells, these proteins cause a
spurt of growth. In the pDCs, the effect is something like that of a police officer bribed
to join a gang of hoodlums. The cells abandon their role as immune system sentinels and
become the protectors of myeloma cells. "This is the first time that immune system
cells have been found to be converted to another function," says Chauhan, who is also
a principal associate in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Investigators don't yet know
how the conversion occurs, but they suspect the proteins cause a different set of genes to
be activated within the pDCs.
Fruit juices contain more vitamin C
than their labels indicate
A team of pharmacists from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has established
that the levels of vitamin C in many fruit juices and soft drinks are far higher than
those indicated on their labels by the manufacturers. This finding has been possible owing
to a new technique developed by the researchers to determine the content of vitamin C in
these kinds of drinks. Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is a natural antioxidant in fruits and
vegetables, but the European Commission permits its use as an additive in juices, jams,
dairy products and other foods. The involvement of this substance in the immune response
and other biochemical processes such as the formation of collagen and the absorption of
iron is well-known. However, high levels of ascorbic acid can cause diarrhoea and
gastrointestinal problems, as a result of which scientists are attempting to determine the
content of vitamin C in foods with greater and greater accuracy. Now, a group of
researchers from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the USC has developed a new chromatographic
technique (these are used to separate and identify chemical elements) aimed at accurately
measuring the ascorbic acid in fruit juices and soft drinks. By applying this method, they
have found that the amounts of vitamin C stipulated on the labels of many drinks are not
real. In a sample of 17 fruit juices, soft drinks and isotonic drinks, only two correspond
to what is indicated on the bottle. Ana Rodríguez Bernaldo de Quirós is a member of the
team which has developed the new technique, whose details have recently been published in
the Food Chemistry magazine. "The other drinks contain much higher levels than those
specified by the manufacturer because, as has already been indicated in a previous study,
the label probably only shows the amount of added ascorbic acid, without taking into
account the fruit's natural vitamin C content", she explained to SINC.
Light shed on the secret behind
probiotic bacteria promoting health
Functional food is the food industry's fastest-growing product group, its leading products
including dairy products which contain probiotics, that is, bacteria promoting health.
Valio's Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG®) is the most frequently studied and used
probiotic. Under the supervision of researchers at the Institute of Biotechnology, and the
Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences at the University of Helsinki, an international
research team determined the genome sequences of LGG and a bacterium closely related to
it. The results, published in the renowned PNAS journal, shed light on the origin of
probiotic mechanisms and promote product development in the food industry. Functional food
includes products designed for daily use, which have been shown by clinical studies to
have positive health effects. Scientific study results have particularly contributed to
the success of dairy products containing probiotic bacteria. Many research publications
have confirmed that these bacteria promote health and boosts immune system and improve
digestion. Some probiotics can also alleviate the symptoms suffered by those with
irritable bowel syndrome. As many as every fifth westerner suffers from this pain, also
called spastic colon. Studies say that LGG probiotics are also an effective treatment
method for reducing children's atopic symptoms, and the risk of respiratory infections. In
its recent publication, the research team showed that the protein component found by the
team has a fundamental role in LGG binding with the human intestinal mucus. The team found
out that the surface structures of LGG has a specific adhesion component. Remarkably, the
binding feature has been assumed to be one of the most important characteristics of
bacteria with health-benefiting effects. Moreover, the researchers assume that the protein
structure in question enables the health-promoting effects of LGG and other probiotic
bacteria, and the positive immune modulation produced by them. The research is a prime
example of productive co-operation between researchers and the food industry. According to
Tuomas Salusjärvi, research manager for Valio, the successful sequencing provides
valuable additional information to support the already existing research information. The
safety of the LGG probiotic and its advantages to consumers can now be shown in an even
better way than before. A significant research field has been established around probiotic
bacteria. So far, thousands of scientific articles have been published on the subject. For
this line of research, the findings of the genome, and the molecular mechanism possibly
behind probiotics, is a downright breakthrough.
DNA test could be key to targeting
treatments for head and neck cancer
It is estimated that more than 7,000 people are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each
year in the UK and approximately 3,500 cases result in death. These cancers include
tumours of the mouth, lips, throat and voice-box, and some have been linked to the
sexually transmitted infection, HPV-16. Scientists at Liverpool analysed the DNA of more
than 90 cancerous tissue samples to look for genes that indicated infection. The team
found that nearly two thirds of tonsil tumour samples showed evidence of the HPV-16 gene.
It is thought that chemical alterations in the virus's DNA trigger the production of
proteins that can alter the rate at which cells grow and repair. This strongly increases
the possibility of subsequent cancer development. Recent studies have found, however, that
patients who have the HPV infection when they are diagnosed with cancer, respond better to
chemotherapy or radiation therapy than those that do not have the infection. The work will
be presented at the National Cancer Research Institute's (NCRI) Cancer Conference in
Birmingham today. Mr Richard Shaw, from the School of Cancer Studies, explains:
"Recent evidence demonstrates the possible involvement of HPV in the development of
tonsil cancer, particularly in non-smokers. Interestingly, the treatment efficiency of
chemotherapy and radiation, seems to differ between HPV positive and negative cases. We
also need to find out why only a small percentage of people with this common infection
develop this cancer. Our study, however, gives us a new lead towards a risk marker.
"It is thought that HPV interacts in the cell with genes controlling the chemical
modification of DNA, which affects gene expression and tumour behaviour. Our study shows
that HPV may be a trigger of tonsil cancer, independent of the known common causes, such
as smoking or drinking. The work also suggests that a DNA test to determine the activity
of HPV, could be used to identify the most effective treatment for each individual
patient.
Toronto researchers discover novel
circulation in human eye, new glaucoma treatment target
Researchers at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital and Sunnybrook Health
Sciences Centre have discovered a previously unidentified form of circulation within the
human eye which may provide important new insights into glaucoma, a leading cause of
blindness. For over a century, the eye has been considered to lack lymphatics, a
circulation responsible for pumping fluid and waste out of tissues. The inability to clear
that fluid from the eye is linked to glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness
affecting over 66 million people worldwide. "We challenged this assumption about a
lack of lymphatics and discovered specialized lymphatic channels in the human eye,"
said Prof. Yeni Yücel, a pathologist-scientist in U of T's Faculty of Medicine and St.
Michael's Hospital, and lead author of the study which appears in the current issue of
Experimental Eye Research. Glaucoma is a degenerative disease believed to be caused by the
death of nerve cells at the back of the eye and in vision centers of the brain. It is
often associated with elevated pressure in the eye. Current treatments for glaucoma rely
on eye drops or surgery to lower eye pressure either by reducing fluid formation or
improving fluid drainage from the eye. "Good vision depends on the stable flow of
fluid into and out of the eye. Any disturbance of this delicate fluid balance can lead to
high eye pressure and irreversible glaucoma damage," said study co-author Dr. Neeru
Gupta, Director of the Glaucoma Unit and Nerve Protection Unit at St. Michael's Hospital
and Professor of Ophthalmology at U of T. The lymphatic circulation, distinct from blood
circulation, carries a colorless fluid called, lymph containing extra water, proteins and
antigens through lymphatic vessels to lymph nodes and then to the blood stream. This
circulation is critical for the drainage of the fluid from tissues, clearance of proteins
and immune monitoring of the tissue.
Violent upbringing may lead to
domestic violence
A recent study from the latest issue of Personal Relationships shows that individuals who
have experienced violence at an early age may have trouble adjusting to healthy, adult
romantic relationships and are at a higher risk to experience marital difficulties. The
research reveals that early exposure to a violent environment is likely to lead to
domestic violence situations later in life. Feelings of insecurity, abandonment anxiety,
and intimacy issues are also likely to plague these romantic connections. Additionally,
the dynamics of the way couples react and communicate with each other is also related to
the likelihood of domestic violence within a relationship. For example, men tend to use
violence towards their partner as a means to exert a desire for personal space or
avoidance of emotional issues in response to the "clingy" or intrusive behavior
of his female partner. This research highlights the importance of domestic violence
prevention efforts starting at the childhood level, within family environments as well as
school and community based settings. Moreover, prevention efforts allow the victim to
relate long-harbored painful childhood violent experiences and rectify internal
representations of self that cause long-term damage to valuable inter-personal
relationships and families.
Depression predicts increases in
inflammatory protein linked to heart disease
To help solve this long standing chicken and egg conundrum, researchers led by Jesse
Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis asked two critical questions. Does depression lead to elevated inflammatory
proteins in the human body? Or does an increase in these proteins lead to depression? They
found that the answer to the first question appears to be "yes," and the answer
to the second question may be "no" among healthy adults. The researchers report
that depressive symptoms are associated with increases over time in interleukin-6, an
inflammatory protein that predicts cardiovascular events. In contrast, levels of
interleukin-6 were not related to later increases in depressive symptoms. The new study,
published in the October 2009 issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, is the
first to examine both directions of the depression-inflammation connection and to measure
the physical symptoms of depression, such as fatigue and sleep disturbance, in addition to
the cognitive-emotional symptoms, such as pessimism and sadness. Several previous studies
have linked depression to increased inflammatory protein levels measured at the same time.
These studies, however, cannot speak to which is the cause and which is the effect.
"There is two-way communication between the brain and the immune system, so we had to
determine whether activation of the body's immune system sent a signal to the brain to
affect mood and behavior or whether the depression activated the immune system," said
Dr. Stewart, a clinical health psychologist in IUPUI's School of Science and an IU Center
for Aging Research affiliated scientist. Participants in the study were 263 healthy men
and women aged 50-70 years at the start of the study. They were tested at baseline and
again six years later to determine their levels of depressive symptoms and interleukin-6.
Levels of C-reactive protein, another inflammatory protein, were also measured but were
not related to depression.
Did mom use her pump during
pregnancy?
Expectant mothers who eschew asthma treatment during pregnancy heighten the risk
transmitting the condition to their offspring, according to one of the largest studies of
its kind published in the European Respiratory Journal. A research team from the
Université de Montréal, the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal and Sainte-Justine
University Hospital Research Center found that 32.6 percent of children born to mothers
who neglected to treat their asthma during pregnancy developed the respiratory illness
themselves."Uncontrolled maternal asthma during pregnancy could trigger a transient
yet important reaction in the fetus that affects lung development and could subsequently
increase the likelihood of a baby developing asthma in later childhood," warns lead
author Dr. Lucie Blais, a professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Pharmacy
and researcher at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal. As part of the study, the
research team examined a decade of health records for 8,226 children – from birth to
10 years of age – born to asthmatic mothers. Parents of these children were also
mailed questionnaires requesting additional facts concerning familial medical history,
lifestyle habits and environment. "We found that failing to control maternal asthma
during pregnancy clearly has an impact on asthma in offspring – a consequence that is
independent of other contributing factors," says Dr. Blais. "It is of great
importance for physicians to adequately treat asthmatic mothers during pregnancy, not only
for the favourable outcome of pregnancy but also for the benefit of the child."
Body posture affects confidence in
your own thoughts
Sitting up straight in your chair isn't just good for your posture – it also gives
you more confidence in your own thoughts, according to a new study. Researchers found that
people who were told to sit up straight were more likely to believe thoughts they wrote
down while in that posture concerning whether they were qualified for a job. On the other
hand, those who were slumped over their desks were less likely to accept these
written-down feelings about their own qualifications. The results show how our body
posture can affect not only what others think about us, but also how we think about
ourselves, said Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio
State University. "Most of us were taught that sitting up straight gives a good
impression to other people," Petty said. "But it turns out that our posture can
also affect how we think about ourselves. If you sit up straight, you end up convincing
yourself by the posture you're in." Petty conducted the study with Pablo Briñol, a
former postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State now at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in
Spain, and Benjamin Wagner, a current graduate student at Ohio State. The research appears
in the October 2009 issue of the European Journal of Social Psychology. The study included
71 students at Ohio State. When they entered the lab for the experiment, the participants
were told they would be taking part in two separate studies at the same time, one
organized by the business school and one by the arts school.
Duke/Singapore scientists find new
way to classify gastric cancers
An international team of scientists has discovered a new way to classify stomach cancers,
and researchers say it may be an important step toward designing more effective treatments
and improving long-term survival. Stomach (gastric) cancer is particularly prevalent in
Asia and represents the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The research is
based upon clinical findings from patients in Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom
and represents the largest genomic analysis of gastric cancers to date. The new system
classifies gastric cancers by the signaling pathways the tumors use to grow and spread, as
opposed to the more traditional approach that describes them by cell type or structure.
The findings, appearing online in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Genetics,
come from a group of scientists at the Duke–National University of Singapore Graduate
Medical School in Singapore. "We identified three oncogenic pathways that were
activated in over 70 percent of the gastric tumors we examined," said lead author
Chia Huey Ooi, PhD, Research Fellow in the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. "We also
found that combinations of these pathways are significantly related to patient
survival." Stomach cancer is notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and newer
biologic-based therapies have not proven very effective. With current treatments, less
than a quarter of patients live longer than five years after surgery. Study authors say
the new classification system offers physicians the opportunity to stratify patients
according to their tumors' pathway profiles and then apply the treatment that is designed
to interrupt the signals those pathways use. "These findings may give us the first
way to truly offer our gastric cancer patients personalized medicine," says Patrick
Tan, MD, PhD, the senior author of the study and a member of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical
School and the Genome Institute of Singapore.
Less Intense Exercise May Reduce
the Risk of Diabetes
Moderate intensity exercise improves pancreatic function more than vigorous exercise,
potentially reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to researchers at Duke
University Medical Center. They found that the equivalent of walking 10 miles per week
significantly improved how the pancreas functions more than doing the same amount of
exercise at a vigorous intensity. Walking 10 miles per week was also better than
exercising vigorously for the equivalent of 17 miles per week. "While these findings
may seem counterintuitive, we know that moderate exercise mobilizes the body to burn more
fat, which may be the mechanism that helps the pancreas work more efficiently," said
Cris Slentz, Ph.D., the study's lead author and a research scientist at Duke University
Medical Center. "Vigorous exercise requires the body to burn more carbohydrates and
not as much fat." Diabetes results from the body being unable to process insulin, a
hormone created by the pancreas to control blood sugar levels. While research has shown
that exercise improves the body's ability to use insulin, little has been known about how
exercise affects the beta cells in the pancreas that release the insulin. "Diabetes
originates from insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction," Slentz said. "We
know that exercise improves insulin sensitivity (how well insulin works in the body), but
the effect of exercise intensity on insulin secretion (pancreas function) is the other
piece of this puzzle that needed to be explored." Inactive, overweight and obese
people are generally insulin resistant, but their bodies attempt to maintain a normal
blood sugar level by having the pancreas produce more insulin. To better understand why
many people in this group go on to develop type 2 diabetes, the research team examined how
the beta cells respond to varying intensities of exercise. "Diabetes is an exercise
deficiency disease but little research has been conducted to learn what level of exertion
is optimal for regulating glucose levels," Slentz said. "Our findings indicate
that moderate intensity exercise appears to be better at improving pancreatic function and
as a result, may be better at preventing the progression to diabetes."
Smoking during pregnancy puts
children at risk of psychotic symptoms
Mothers who smoke during pregnancy put their children at greater risk of developing
psychotic symptoms in their teenage years. New research published in the October issue of
the British Journal of Psychiatry shows a link between maternal tobacco use and psychotic
symptoms. Researchers from Cardiff, Bristol, Nottingham and Warwick Universities studied
6,356 12-year-olds from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. All the
children completed an interview for psychotic-like symptoms, such as hallucinations or
delusions. Just over 11% of the children (734) had suspected or definite symptoms of
psychosis. Smoking during pregnancy was found to be associated with an increased risk of
psychotic symptoms in the children. The researchers observed a 'dose-response effect',
meaning that the risk of psychotic symptoms was highest in the children whose mothers
smoked the most heavily during pregnancy. The study also examined whether alcohol use and
cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of psychotic symptoms.
Drinking during pregnancy was associated with increased psychotic symptoms, but only in
the children of mothers who had drunk more than 21 units of alcohol a week in early
pregnancy. Only a few mothers in the study said they had smoked cannabis during pregnancy,
and this was not found to have any significant association with psychotic symptoms.The
reasons for the link between maternal tobacco use and psychotic symptoms are uncertain.
But the researchers suggest that exposure to tobacco in the womb may have an indirect
impact by affecting children's impulsivity, attention or cognition. They have called for
further studies to investigate how exposure to tobacco in utero affects on the development
and function of children's brains.
Cells derived from human embryonic
stem cells reverse retinal degeneration
A new study reports that transplanted pigment-containing visual cells derived from human
embryonic stem cells (hESCs) successfully preserved structure and function of the
specialized light-sensitive lining of the eye (known as the retina) in an animal model of
retinal degeneration. The findings, published by Cell Press in the October 2nd issue of
the journal Cell Stem Cell, represent an exciting step towards the future use of cell
replacement therapies to treat devastating degenerative eye diseases that cause millions
of people worldwide to lose their sight. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a layer
of pigmented cells sandwiched between the visual retinal cells, called photoreceptors, and
the nourishing blood vessels at the back of the eye. The RPE provides essential support to
the retinal photoreceptors and is critical for normal vision. Deterioration of the RPE
plays a central role in the progression of diseases such as age-related macular
degeneration and sub-types of retinitis pigmentosa. These conditions are associated with a
progressive loss of vision that often leads to blindness. "Although there are a
variety of therapeutic approaches under development to delay the degenerative process, the
grim reality is that many patients eventually lose their sight," explains Dr.
Benjamin Reubinoff, a senior author of the study. "Cell therapy to replenish the
degenerating RPE cells may potentially halt disease progression." Dr. Reubinoff and
Dr. Eyal Banin who led the study, with their colleagues from Hadassah-Hebrew University
Medical Center in Jerusalem, developed conditions to guide hESCs to differentiate into
functional RPE-like cells in the laboratory. The researchers found that nicotinamide
(vitamin B3, NIC) and Activin A, an important growth factor, promoted differentiation of
hESCs towards an RPE fate. The hESC-derived RPE-like cells, which could be identified by
their characteristic black pigment, exhibited multiple biological properties and genetic
markers that define authentic RPE cells. Further, the cells successfully delayed
deterioration of retinal structure and function when they were transplanted into an animal
model of retinal degeneration caused by RPE dysfunction.
Trends in Cognitive Science
- According to a new review of neuroscientific research, coercive interrogation techniques
used during the Bush administration to extract information from terrorist suspects are
likely to have been unsuccessful and may have had many unintended negative effects on the
suspect’s memory and brain functions. A new article reviews scientific evidence
demonstrating that repeated and extreme stress and anxiety have a detrimental influence on
brain functions related to memory.
Link between male diabetics with
allergies and kidney disease
For men with type 2 diabetes, a cell type linked to allergic inflammation is closely
linked to a key indicator of diabetic kidney disease (nephropathy), suggests a study in
the November Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "Allergy
is a common disease that is increasing worldwide, so our findings may have important
implications for diabetic nephropathy," comments Michiaki Fukui, MD (Kyoto
Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan). The researchers compared the eosinophil count
with albumin excretion rate in nearly 800 patients with type 2 diabetes. Eosinophils are a
type of white blood cell that contributes to inflammation in allergic diseases. The
albumin excretion rate is a key indicator of kidney disease, one of the major
complications of diabetes. In men, a higher number of eosinophils in the blood correlates
with higher urinealbumin—a critical early sign of diabetic kidney disease.
Surprisingly, the link between eosinophil count and albumin excretion rate was even
stronger than for known risk factors like high blood pressure and poor diabetes control.
The eosinophil count was unrelated to albumin excretion in diabetic women. Previous
studies have suggested that patients with asthma and other allergic diseases are at
increased risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the main cause of death in diabetics,
and nephropathy is a major risk factor for heart disease. If the results are confirmed by
future studies, then the eosinophil count might help in estimating the risk of
diabetes-related kidney and heart disease in men.
Scientists develop nasal spray that
improves memory
Good news for procrastinating students: a nasal spray developed by a team of German
scientists promises to give late night cram sessions a major boost, if a good night's
sleep follows. In a research report featured as the cover story of the October 2009 print
issue of The FASEB Journal, (http://www.fasebj.org) these scientists show that a molecule
from the body's immune system (interleukin-6) when administered through the nose helps the
brain retain emotional and procedural memories during REM sleep. "Sleep to remember,
a dream or reality?" said Lisa Marshall, co-author of the study, from the Department
of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Lubeck in Germany. "Here, we provide the
first evidence that the immunoregulatory signal interleukin-6 plays a beneficial role in
sleep-dependent formation of long-term memory in humans." To make this discovery,
Marshall and colleagues had 17 healthy young men spend two nights in the laboratory. On
each night after reading either an emotional or neutral short story, they sprayed a fluid
into their nostrils which contained either interleukin-6 or a placebo fluid. The
subsequent sleep and brain electric activity was monitored throughout the night. The next
morning subjects wrote down as many words as they could remember from each of the two
stories. Those who received the dose of IL-6 could remember more words. "If a nasal
spray can improve memory, perhaps we're on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common
sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D.,
Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "This is exciting piece of interdisciplinary
science, since IL-6 had previously been considered a by-product of inflammation, not an
agent that affects cognition."
Using Synthetic Evolution to Study
the Brain - Researchers Model Key Part of Neurons
The human brain has evolved over millions of years to become a vast network of billions of
neurons and synaptic connections. Understanding it is one of humankind’s greatest
pursuits. But to understand how the brain processes information, researchers must first
understand the very basics of neurons — even down to how proteins inside the neurons
act to change the neuron’s voltage. To do so requires a balance of experimentation
and computer modeling — a partnership across disciplines traversed by Bill Kath,
professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics in the McCormick School of
Engineering and Applied Science, and Nelson Spruston, professor of neurobiology and
physiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The two have worked together for
more than a decade, with Spruston designing experiments and Kath developing computer
models that explain the results that Spruston found. (It also works the other way:
Kath’s models have provided Spruston with ideas to test experimentally.)Spruston has
been studying ion channels of neurons that change their shape when activated, allowing
sodium to enter from outside the neuron. This changes the voltage of the neuron, causing
the neuron to fire and send off a chain of neural activity within the brain. The
difficulty in modeling such behavior lies in the time scale over which this happens —
anywhere from fractions of a millisecond out to several seconds. So the two, along with
graduate student Vilas Menon, took a cue from nature and used the process of evolution to
study one of evolution’s greatest achievements.
Cholesterol necessary for brain
development
A derivative of cholesterol is necessary for the formation of brain cells, according to a
study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. The results, which are
published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, can help scientists to cultivate
dopamine-producing cells outside the body.The study was led by Professor Ernest Arenas and
demonstrates that the formation of dopamine-producing neurons during brain development in
mice is dependent on the activation of a specific receptor in the brain by an oxidised
form of cholesterol called oxysterol. Dopamine-producing nerve cells play an important
part in many brain functions and processes, from motor skills to reward systems and
dependency. They are also the type of cell that dies in Parkinson's disease. The
scientists have also shown that embryonic stem cells cultivated in the laboratory, form
more dopamine-producing nerve cells if they are treated with oxidised cholesterol. The
same treatment also reduced the tendency of the stem cells to show uncontrolled
growth."Oxysterol contributes to a safer and better cultivation of dopamine-producing
cells, which is a great advancement since it increases the possibility of developing new
treatments for Parkinsons disease," says Professor Arenas. It is hoped that one
day it will be possible to replace dead cells in the brains of Parkinson's patients with
transplanted cultivated dopamine-producing cells. Such cells can also be used to test new
Parkinson's drugs.
‘Natural Killer’ Cells
Keep Immune System in Balance
Natural killer, or NK cells, are part of our innate immune system. A healthy body produces
them to respond early during infection. They are activated and they kill cells infected
with a given virus. It turns out NK cells are even more important to the body than
previously thought. Researchers from Brown University and McGill University now know that
the cells also help keep T cells — major players in cell-mediated immunity —
from over-responding. Such a balance helps T cells maintain their role in the body’s
adaptive immune response, rather than becoming too numerous and activated to cause harm.
Fish oil may protect against stroke
from ruptured carotid artery plaques
Research led by Hernan A. Bazan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Section of Vascular
Surgery, at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has found that
unstable carotid artery plaques – those in danger of rupturing and leading to a
stroke – contain more inflammation and significantly less omega-3 fatty acids than
asymptomatic plaques. This suggests that increasing the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in
carotid artery plaques could either prevent strokes or improve the safety of treatment.
This may be accomplished by increasing dietary intake of foods rich in omega-3 fatty
acids. The study is an Article in Press in the journal, Vascular Pharmacology, currently
online. Our bodies produce only a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids, so most of what we
need has to come from eating omega-3 fatty acid-rich foods like fish (salmon, tuna, trout,
herring, etc.) or from supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to protect against
cardiovascular disease, particularly heart attack and sudden cardiac death. Dr.
Bazan’s team wanted to determine what the association might be with plaques in the
carotid arteries, a common cause of strokes. Vulnerable plaques which can rupture in the
carotid arteries may lead to transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), strokes, or vision loss by
affecting the artery to the retina. The mechanisms leading to plaque rupture are still not
fully understood but inflammation within the plaque is beginning to be recognized as an
important cause of plaque rupture. Dr. Bazan, an LSUHSC vascular/endovascular surgeon, in
collaboration with researchers at Yale University and others at LSUHSC, analyzed plaques
from 41 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA) to remove plaque buildup in
their arteries. Twenty-four patients were asymptomatic and 17 were symptomatic, having had
neurological symptoms. All of the fats in the plaques were assessed with mass
spectrometry, in collaboration with Dr. Song Hong at LSUHSC. The team was measuring the
amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) – the
components of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The plaques of asymptomatic
patients contained more than twice as much DHA as the symptomatic patients, and about one
and a half times as much EPA. Significantly less inflammation was also seen in the carotid
atherosclerotic plaques from asymptomatic patients. “In the future, a study to
address whether supplementation with dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids prevents
carotid-related events in patients with moderate or high-grade carotid stenosis will help
answer whether this is a formidable therapeutic target for the prevention of stroke,”
says Dr. Bazan.
Leg Movement Training in Preterm
Infants Improves Motor Skills
Preterm infants who receive leg movement training display feet-reaching behaviors similar
to that of full-term infants, according to a randomized controlled trial reported in the
October issue of Physical Therapy (PTJ), the scientific journal of the American Physical
Therapy Association (APTA). This finding supports feet-reaching play as an early
intervention strategy to encourage interaction with physical objects in preterm infants
who have movement problems within the first months of postnatal life. Previous studies
have shown that full-term infants make contact with toys using their feet before reaching
with their hands. Studies also have shown that movement training advances feet reaching in
full-term infants. Certain populations of preterm infants are known to be delayed in hand
reaching; however, no studies have looked at feet-reaching in preterm infants. "The
presence of feet reaching and a positive training effect in this population would suggest
a novel and easily implemented intervention strategy to encourage early object interaction
in infants with special needs," said Jill C. Heathcock, PT, PhD, assistant professor
in the Division of Physical Therapy at Ohio State University, and lead author of the
study.
New Approach for the Treatment of
Malignant Brain Tumors
Chemotherapy alone is just as effective as radiation / New positive prognostic factor
found. Initial chemotherapy alone after surgery is just as successful as initial radiation
therapy for patients from whom a very malignant brain tumor (anaplastic glioma) was
removed. With this treatment, the patients survive on average > 30 months without a
recurrence. A study conducted by the Neurooncology Working Group of the German Cancer
Society led by researchers from Heidelberg and Zürich showed that patients in primary
therapy benefit to the same extent from chemotherapy alone as from radiation alone. In
addition, the Working Group headed by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wick, Medical Director of the
Department of Neurooncology at Heidelberg University Hospital and Head of the
Neurooncology Unit at the DKFZ, Professor Dr. Michael Weller, Chairman of the Department
of Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich, and Prof. Andreas von Deimling, Medical
Director of the Department of Neuropathology at Heidelberg University Hospital and Head of
the Neuropathology Unit at the DKFZ, identified a new factor that is indicative of a
positive prognosis – regardless of the form of treatment. The results of the study
were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In Germany, around 4,500 people a year
develop a glioma, a malignant brain tumor. Some 5 percent of primary brain tumors are what
are known as anaplastic gliomas. They respond to treatment somewhat better than most other
malignant brain tumors. The mean survival time in the study was > 80 months. As the
tumors can branch out widely into the surrounding tissue, they cannot be completely
removed. The subsequent therapy in the form of combined radiochemotherapy (radiation and
chemotherapy) is the current standard treatment, but it is associated with a risk of
long-term toxicity to healthy brain tissue, causing the patient to lose cognitive
abilities.
Case Western Reserve University
discovers Merkel cell originates from skin, not the neural crest
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine assistant professor of pediatrics,
neurosciences and otolaryngology, Stephen M. Maricich, M.D., Ph.D., and his team found
that Merkel cells originate in the skin, not the neural crest lineage, as previously
speculated. The study, "Mammalian Merkel Cells are Descended from the Epidermal
Lineage", was recently published in the online version of Developmental Biology and
is slated its future print edition. "Merkel cells," discovered by Friedrich
Sigmund Merkel in 1875, are found in multiple regions of the skin and make contact with
specialized never fibers, participating in the perception of touch. "A real mystery
surrounding Merkel cells was their developmental site of origin. Conflicting evidence
suggested that these cells arose from either the skin or neural crest lineages, but there
was no definitive proof of either origin," said lead author, Dr. Maricich. Using
genetically engineered mouse lines, the researchers were able to delete Atoh1, a gene
essential to the formation of Merkel cells, from different areas of developing embryos.
This "conditional deletion" of Atoh1 in the neural crest did not affect the
Merkel cell population, however using this same technique in the skin lineage resulted in
the loss of all Merkel cells.
Dental researcher works to stop
bacteria from harming fetus
The best way to keep bacteria from doing any damage is to stop them before they start down
their pathological road to destruction. Yiping Han, associate professor at the Case
Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, aims to understand how to block a
common bacterium that’s harmless in a mother’s mouth but can turn deadly when it
reaches an unborn child. She has received a five-year, $1.85 million grant from the
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of
Health to fund the effort. The bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum, becomes destructive
once it leaves the mouth and enters the blood stream. Han has discovered an adhesin
protein molecule, called FadA, in the genes of F. nucleatum. This adhesin, or binding
agent, on the bacteria allows them to connect with receptors on epithelial cells in the
mouth and later the endothelial cells of the placenta. In tests, bacteria without FadA had
less binding capability compared to those with the adhesin. Han’s research group will
look not only at the binding agent but the receptors on the host epithelial and
endothelial cells that promote the binding of the oral bacteria.
Iowa State University researcher
uncovers potential key to curing tuberculosis
Researchers at Iowa State University have identified an enzyme that helps make
tuberculosis resistant to a human's natural defense system. Researchers have also found a
method to possibly neutralize that enzyme, which may someday lead to a cure for
tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is a contagious
disease that is on the rise, killing 1.5 to 2 million people worldwide annually. Reuben
Peters, associate professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular
biology, is leading the team of scientists from Iowa State; the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign; and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, that is attempting to find
ways to minimize the disease. The group had their research published in the Aug. 28 issue
of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and their research is also scheduled to be the
cover article in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. When
most infections are introduced into humans, the body defends itself with certain cells --
called macrophage cells -- that kill the invading micro-organisms. The macrophage cells
engulf and destroy these microbes, such as the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Peters found
that the mycobacterium tuberculosis produces a defensive molecule that prevents the
macrophage cells from destroying them. Peters and his team named the defensive molecule
edaxadiene.
Risk of abnormally slow heart rate
twice as high in those taking drugs to slow Alzheimer's
People taking one of several drugs commonly prescribed to treat Alzheimer's disease are
more likely to be hospitalized for a potentially serious condition called bradycardia than
patients not taking these medications. Researchers from St. Michael's Hospital and
Ontario's Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) analyzed data from 1.4 million
people aged 67 and older to see whether the risk for bradycardia was higher for those
taking drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors. Bradycardia is defined as an abnormally
slow resting heart rate (under 60 beats per minute). Although it can be asymptomatic, it
can also cause fainting, palpitations, shortness of breath, or even death. "We wanted
to see if there was a link between initiation of a cholinesterase inhibitor and subsequent
hospitalization for bradycardia," explains lead author Laura Y. Park-Wyllie, a
researcher at St. Michael's Hospital . The three cholinesterase-inhibiting drugs currently
approved for use in Canada are donepezil (brand name Aricept); rivastigmine (marketed as
Exelon and Exelon Patch); and galantamine (branded Reminyl). Most of the patients whose
records were analyzed for the study had been prescribed donepezil.
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