February 9, 2010, 9:06 AM CT

Brain area responsible for fear of losing money

Neuroresearchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brainthe amygdala.

The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior, and also into the role of the brain's amygdalae, two almond-shaped clusters of tissue located in the medial temporal lobes. The amygdala registers rapid emotional reactions and is implicated in depression, anxiety, and autism.

The research team that made these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study; Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology.

The study involved an examination of two patients whose amygdalae had been destroyed due to a very rare genetic disease; those patients, along with individuals without amygdala damage, volunteered to participate in a simple "experimental economics task".

In the task, the subjects were asked whether or not they were willing to accept a variety of monetary gambles, each with a different possible gain or loss. For example, participants were asked whether they would take a gamble in which there was an equal probability they'd win $20 or lose $5 (a risk most people will choose to accept) and if they would take a 50/50 gamble to win $20 or lose $20 (a risk most people will not choose to accept). They were also asked if they'd take a 50/50 gamble on winning $20 or losing $15a risk most people will reject, "even though the net expected outcome is positive," Adolphs says......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 9, 2010, 9:05 AM CT

Lower detection of prostate cancer with PSA screening in US

Fewer prostate cancers were detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in the U.S. than in a European randomized trial because of lower screening sensitivity, as per a new brief communication published online February 8 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

To compare the PSA screening performance in a clinical trial with that in a population setting, Elisabeth M. Wever, MSc, Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, the Netherlands, and his colleagues applied a microsimulation model developed for prostate cancer and screening to the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC)Rotterdam. The model was adapted by replacing the trial's demography parameters with U.S.-specific ones and the screening protocol with the frequency of PSA tests in the population. The natural progression of prostate cancer and the sensitivity (percentage of men correctly identified as having prostate cancer of those who have preclinical prostate cancer) of a PSA test followed by a biopsy were assumed to be the same in the US as in the trial.

The prostate cancer incidence predicted by the model in the U.S. was substantially higher than the actual prostate cancer incidence. However, the actual incidence was reproduced by assuming a substantially lower PSA test sensitivity in the U.S. than in ERSPCRotterdam......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 9, 2010, 9:04 AM CT

Hypertension may predict dementia

Hypertension appears to predict the progression to dementia in elderly adults with impaired executive functions (ability to organize thoughts and make decisions) but not in those with memory dysfunction, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Eventhough midlife high blood pressure has been confirmed as a risk factor for the development of dementia in late life, there have been conflicting findings about the role of late-life hypertension," the authors write as background information in the article. Individuals with mild cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) impairmentthe state between aging-related brain changes and fully developed dementiamay experience deficits in different domains. For instance, some have impairments only in memory function and are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, whereas those whose impairment follows a stroke or other vascular (blood vesselrelated) event often experience executive dysfunction.

"Because high blood pressure is a major risk factor for vascular brain diseases and vascular cognitive impairment, we postulated that the cognitive domain of dysfunction appears to be the crucial factor that determines the association between high blood pressure and cognitive deterioration," the authors write. To test this hypothesis, Shahram Oveisgharan, M.D., of University of Western Ontario, Canada, and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, and Vladimir Hachinski, M.D., F.R.C.P.C., D.Sc.(Lond)., also of University of Western Ontario, studied 990 elderly adults (average age 83) with cognitive impairment but no dementia......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 8:10 AM CT

Energy Released From a Virus During Infection

Within a virus's tiny exterior is a store of energy waiting to be unleashed. When the virus encounters a host cell, this pent-up energy is released, propelling the viral DNA into the cell and turning it into a virus factory. For the first time, Carnegie Mellon University physicist Alex Evilevitch has directly measured the energy linked to the expulsion of viral DNA, a pivotal discovery toward fully understanding the physical mechanisms that control viral infection and designing drugs to interfere with the process.

"We are studying the physics of viruses, not the biology of viruses," said Evilevitch, associate professor of physics in the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon. "By treating viruses as physical objects, we can identify physical properties and mechanisms of infection that are common to a variety of viruses, regardless of their biological makeup, which could lead to the development of broad spectrum antiviral drugs".

Current antiviral medications are highly specialized. They target molecules essential to the replication cycle of specific viruses, such as HIV or influenza, limiting the drugs' use to specific diseases. Additionally, viruses mutate over time and appears to become less susceptible to the medication. Evilevitch's work in the burgeoning field of physical virology stands to provide tools for the rational design of less-specialized antiviral drugs that will have the ability to treat a broad range of viruses by interrupting the release of viral genomes into cells......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 8:04 AM CT

Stillbirth in women with fibroids

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting , in Chicago, scientists will unveil findings that show that there is an increased risk of intrauterine fetal death (IUFD), usually known as stillbirth, in women who have fibroids.

IUFD, or still birth, is rare and affects only six to seven out of every thousand births.

The study, conducted by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., identified women who had fibroids detected during their routine second trimester ultrasound for anatomic survey at 16-22 weeks.

"Fibroids are very common," said Dr. Molly J. Stout, one of the study's authors. "We think they occur in 5% to 20% of all women, but most women are asymptomatic and don't even know they have them".

The study was a retrospective cohort study of 64,047 women. Data were extracted on maternal sociodemographics, medical history, and obstetric outcomes. Pregnancies with any fetal anomalies were excluded. Women with at least one fibroid detected at the time of fetal anatomic survey were in comparison to women without fibroids. The primary outcome was IUFD after 20 weeks gestation. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk of IUFD in women with fibroids, and subgroup was conducted by presence or absence of fetal growth restriction (IUGR)......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:57 AM CT

Genetic variant linked to biological aging

Researchers announced recently (7 Feb) they have identified for the first time definitive variants linked to biological ageing in humans. The team analyzed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC.

The study in Nature Genetics published recently by scientists from the University of Leicester and King's College London, working with University of Groningen in the Netherlands, was funded by The Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation.

British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Leicester Professor Nilesh Samani, of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, who co-led the project explained that there are two forms of ageing chronological ageing i.e. how old you are in years and biological ageing whereby the cells of some individuals are older (or younger) than suggested by their actual age.

He said: "There is accumulating evidence that the risk of age-associated diseases including heart disease and some types of cancers are more closely correlation to biological rather than chronological age.

"What we studied are structures called telomeres which are parts of one's chromosomes. Individuals are born with telomeres of certain length and in a number of cells telomeres shorten as the cells divide and age. Telomere length is therefore considered a marker of biological ageing......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:56 AM CT

Estrogen-only HRT may increase risk of asthma

Oestrogen-only hormone replacement treatment (HRT) may increase the risk of developing asthma after the menopause, suggests a large scale study published ahead of print in the journal Thorax

The authors base their findings on 57, 664 women, who were quizzed about their use of HRT and development of asthma symptoms every two years between 1990 and 2002.

All the women were taking part in the French E3N study, which includes almost 100, 000 women born between 1925 and 1950, and is the French component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

None of these women had asthma when menopausal symptoms began.

The monitoring period equated to 495,448 person years in all, of which over a third was accounted for by women who had not used HRT (35.7%).

Prior users made up 4.5% while information on how long HRT was used was not known for a further 4%. Of the remainder, just under 56% were recent users of HRT.

Between 1990 and 2002, 569 women were newly diagnosed with asthma, corresponding to a rate of 1.15 cases per 1000 women a year.

Compared with women who had never used any form of HRT, those who did use it were 21% more likely to develop asthma, after adjusting for factors likely to influence the results......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:41 AM CT

Family meals, adequate sleep and limited TV

A new national study suggests that preschool-aged children are likely to have a lower risk for obesity if they regularly engage in one or more of three specific household routines: eating dinner as a family, getting adequate sleep and limiting their weekday television viewing time.

In a large sample of the U.S. population, the study showed that 4-year-olds living in homes with all three routines had an almost 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than did children living in homes that practiced none of these routines.

Other studies have linked obesity to the individual behaviors of excessive TV viewing, a lack of sleep and, to a lesser extent, a low frequency of family meals. But this is the first study to assess the combination of all three routines with obesity prevalence in a national sample of preschoolers.

The scientists suggested that adopting these three household routines could be an attractive obesity-prevention strategy for all families with young children, particularly because these routines appears to benefit children's overall development. However, they also cautioned that this study alone does not confirm whether the routines themselves, or some other factor, protect children from obesity.

The study appears online and is scheduled for publication in the recent issue of the journal Pediatrics........ Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:39 AM CT

Financial hardship and anxiety

A new analysis has observed that women with medium or low levels of income are especially susceptible to anxiety and depression after being diagnosed with the premalignant breast condition, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Published early online in Cancer, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that women with financial hardship appears to benefit from psychosocial interventions that are designed to accommodate their unique needs.

While research suggests that education and financial status, also known as socioeconomic status, can affect mental and physical health, few studies have examined its impact on psychological adjustment following a major stressor such as being diagnosed with a potentially serious medical condition. To investigate, Janet de Moor, MPH, PhD, of The Ohio State University College of Public Health and his colleagues looked at whether socioeconomic status affects the development of feelings of anxiety and depression in women after they are diagnosed with DCIS. The researchers also explored whether social support might impact the effects of socioeconomic status on distress in these women.

During the study, 487 women with newly diagnosed DCIS completed questions about sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics at the time of enrollment and again nine months after their diagnosis. The scientists observed that financial status was inversely linked to distress at the nine month follow up point: women with financial hardship reported higher levels of anxiety and depression than women with no financial hardship. Financial status also predicted change in anxiety and depression: women with medium to high levels of financial hardship reported an increase in their feelings of anxiety and depression during the study period, while women with no financial hardship reported a decrease in their feelings of anxiety and depression over time. In addition, the probability of exhibiting signs of clinical depression increased with increasing financial hardship......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:38 AM CT

Beer and bone health

A newly released study suggests that beer is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density. Scientists from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content, concluding that beer is a rich source of dietary silicon. Details of this study are available in the recent issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry.

"The factors in brewing that influence silicon levels in beer have not been extensively studied" said Charles Bamforth, main author of the study. "We have examined a wide range of beer styles for their silicon content and have also studied the impact of raw materials and the brewing process on the quantities of silicon that enter wort and beer".

Silicon is present in beer in the soluble form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), which yields 50% bioavailability, making beer a major contributor to silicon intake in the Western diet. As per the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dietary silicon (Si), as soluble OSA, appears to be important for the growth and development of bone and connective tissue, and beer may be a major contributor to Si intake. Based on these findings, some studies suggest moderate beer consumption may help fight osteoporosis, a disease of the skeletal system characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:37 AM CT

Soft drink consumption and pancreatic cancer

Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Although relatively rare, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly, and only 5 percent of people who are diagnosed are alive five years later.

Mark Pereira, Ph.D., senior author on the study and associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, said people who consume soft drinks on a regular basis, defined as primarily carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages, tend to have a poor behavioral profile overall.

However, the effect of these drinks on pancreatic cancer may be unique.

"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," said Pereira.

For the current study, Pereira and colleagues followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years. During that time, there were 140 pancreatic cancer cases. Those who consumed two or more soft drinks per week (averaging five per week) had an 87 percent increased risk compared with individuals who did not......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:34 AM CT

Marijuana ineffective as an Alzheimer's treatment

The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a newly released study by scientists at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.

The findings, reported in the current issue of the journal Current Alzheimer Research, could lower expectations about the benefits of medical marijuana in combating various cognitive diseases and help redirect future research to more promising therapeutics.

Prior studies using animal models showed that HU210, a synthetic form of the compounds found in marijuana, reduced the toxicity of plaques and promoted the growth of new neurons. Those studies used rats carrying amyloid protein, the toxin that forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's victims.

The newly released study, led by Dr. Weihong Song, Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer's Disease and a professor of psychiatry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, was the first to test those findings using mice carrying human genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer's disease widely considered to be a more accurate model for the disease in humans.

"As scientists, we begin every study hoping to be able to confirm beneficial effects of potential therapies, and we hoped to confirm this for the use of medical marijuana in treating Alzheimer's disease," says Song, a member of the Brain Research Centre at UBC and VCH Research Institute and Director of Townsend Family Laboratories at UBC......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 5, 2010, 7:58 AM CT

Killing cancer with nano

Using lasers and nanoparticles, researchers at Rice University have discovered a new technique for singling out individual diseased cells and destroying them with tiny explosions. The researchers used lasers to make "nanobubbles" by zapping gold nanoparticles inside cells. In tests on cancer cells, they found they could tune the lasers to create either small, bright bubbles that were visible but harmless or large bubbles that burst the cells.

"Single-cell targeting is one of the most touted advantages of nanomedicine, and our approach delivers on that promise with a localized effect inside an individual cell," said Rice physicist Dmitri Lapotko, the lead researcher on the project. "The idea is to spot and treat unhealthy cells early, before a disease progresses to the point of making people extremely ill".

The research is available online in the journal Nanotechnology

Nanobubbles are created when gold nanoparticles are struck by short laser pulses. The short-lived bubbles are very bright and can be made smaller or larger by varying the power of the laser. Because they are visible under a microscope, nanobubbles can be used to either diagnose sick cells or to track the explosions that are destroying them.

In laboratory studies published last year, Lapotko and his colleagues at the Laboratory for Laser Cytotechnologies at the A.V. Lykov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute in Minsk, Belarus, applied nanobubbles to arterial plaque. They observed that they could blast right through the deposits that block arteries......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 5, 2010, 7:54 AM CT

Possible source of beta cell destruction

Doctors at Eastern Virginia Medical School's Strelitz Diabetes Center have been stalking the culprit responsible for Type 1 diabetes. Now, they are one step closer.

Members of a research team at the center, led by Jerry Nadler, MD, professor and chair of internal medicine and director of the center, have been studying the role of the enzyme 12-Lipoxygenase (12-LO) in the development of Type 1 diabetes. They hope that targeting this enzyme will hold the key to a cure.

Dr. Nadler and several research colleagues in the EVMS Department of Internal Medicine, including Kaiwen Ma, PhD, research instructor; Swarup K. Chakrabarti, PhD, research assistant professor; and David A. Taylor-Fishwick, PhD, associate professor, recently published their findings in the recent issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition that develops when the pancreas stops generating enough insulin to maintain normal levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Insulin moves sugar from the bloodstream to cells so that it can be used to generate energy. In Type 1 diabetes, a person's immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells, found only in the pancreas. When the beta cells die, the body no longer can produce enough insulin to regulate blood-glucose levels, and this can lead to serious health complications, even death, without therapy......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 5, 2010, 7:52 AM CT

Barriers to screening for colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Despite evidence and guidelines supporting the value of screening for this disease, rates of screening for colorectal cancer are consistently lower than those for other types of cancer, particularly breast and cervical. Although the screening rates in the target population of adults over age 50, have increased from 20-30 percent in 1997 to nearly 55 percent in 2008 the rates are still too low. An NIH state-of-the-science panel was convened this week to identify ways to further increase the use and quality of colorectal cancer screening in the United States.

"We recognize that some may find colorectal cancer screening tests to be unpleasant and time-consuming. However, we also know that recommended screening strategies reduce colorectal cancer deaths," said Dr. Donald Steinwachs, panel chair, and professor and director of the Health Services Research and Development Center at the Johns Hopkins University. "We need to find ways to encourage more people to get these important tests".

The panel found that the most important factors associated with being screened are having insurance coverage and access to a regular health care provider. Their recommendations highlighted the need to remove out-of-pocket costs for screening tests......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

February 5, 2010, 7:48 AM CT

High sensitivity to stress isn't always bad

Children who are particularly reactive to stress are more vulnerable to adversity and have more behavior and health problems than their peers. But a new longitudinal study suggests that highly reactive children are also more likely to do well when they're raised in supportive environments.

The study, by researchers at the University of British Columbia, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley, appears in the January/February 2010 issue of the journal Child Development

"Parents and teachers may find that sensitive children, like orchids, are more challenging to raise and care for, but they can bloom into individuals of exceptional ability and strength when reared in a supportive, nurturing, and encouraging environment," as per Jelena Obradović, an assistant professor in the School of Education at Stanford University (Dr. Obradović was at the University of British Columbia when she led the study).

The scientists looked at 338 kindergarteners, as well as their teachers and families, to determine how family adversity and biological reactivity contribute to healthy development.

They observed that children who had significantly stronger biological reactions to a series of mildly stressful tasks designed to look like challenges in their daily lives were more affected by their family contexts, both bad and good. This means that highly reactive children were more likely to have developmental problems when growing up in adverse, stressful family settings......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:20 AM CT

Plant derivative may fight cancer

Medical College of Georgia scientists are seeking to refine cancer therapy with an anti-inflammatory plant derivative long used in Chinese medicine.

Celastrol, derived from trees and shrubs called celastracaea, has been used for centuries in China to treat symptoms such as fever, chills, joint pain and inflammation. The MCG scientists think it may also play a role in cancer therapy by inactivating a protein mandatory for cancer growth.

That protein, P23, is one of a number of proteins helping the heat shock protein 90. Researchers are just beginning to realize the potential of controlling inflammation-related diseases, including cancer, by inhibiting HSP90.

"Cancer cells need HSP90 more than normal cells because cancer cells have thousands of mutations," said Dr. Ahmed Chadli, biochemist in the MCG Center for Molecular Chaperones/Radiobiology and Cancer Virology. "They need chaperones all the time to keep their mutated proteins active. By taking heat shock proteins away from cells, the stabilization is taken away and cell death occurs".

But most HSP90 inhibitors lack selectivity, disabling the functions of all proteins activated by HSP90 rather than only the ones implicated in a specific tumor. Those proteins vary from one tumor to another......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:18 AM CT

Electronic health records need better monitoring

The push is on for healthcare providers to make the switch to electronic health records but it is hard to tell how well these complex health information technology systems are being implemented and used, writes a health informatics researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in a Feb. 3 commentary in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

To improve monitoring, Dean Sittig, Ph.D., main author and associate professor at The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston (SHIS), has called for coordinated oversight by both the healthcare providers implementing these systems and by government authorities.

Doctors and hospitals are racing to take advantage of billions in federal incentives to digitize health records, Sittig said. The monies were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). "The ARRA stimulus is pushing people to take risks," Sittig said. "It's like life. If you're late for work, you may drive a little faster than you should. This can lead to accidents".

Even under the best of circumstances, as per Sittig, implementing an electronic health record system is difficult, costly, time-consuming and fraught with unintended adverse consequences. Assessment of these systems following implementation shows that some do not meet safety standards established in other industries like the airline and pharmaceutical industries, he said......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:12 AM CT

Mother's exposure to bisphenol

For years, researchers have warned of the possible negative health effects of bisphenol A, a chemical used to make everything from plastic water bottles and food packaging to sunglasses and CDs. Studies have linked BPA exposure to reproductive disorders, obesity, abnormal brain development as well as breast and prostate cancers, and in January the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was concerned about "the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and young children".

Now, mouse experiments by University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists have produced evidence that a mother's exposure to BPA may also increase the odds that her children will develop asthma. Using a well-established mouse model for asthma, the researchers observed that the offspring of female mice exposed to BPA showed significant signs of the disorder, unlike those of mice shielded from BPA.

"We gave BPA in drinking water starting a week before pregnancy, at levels calculated to produce a body concentration that was the same as that in a human mother, and continued on through the pregnancy and lactation periods," said UTMB associate professor Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, main author of a paper on the study appearing in the recent issue of Environmental Health Perspectives........ Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:09 AM CT

Risk of stroke lower for recent Ontario immigrants

Recent immigrants to Ontario have a 30 per cent lower risk of stroke than long term residents, as per preliminary study results from scientists at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).

"What we learned could translate into long-term health benefits for the whole population," says Dr. Gustavo Saposnik, a neurologist at St. Michael's Hospital. "We need to do further research but the study points to the need for policies that aim to preserve the healthier state of new immigrants while continuing to focus on lowering stroke risk among all adults."

Published recently in Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology medical journal, the study identified all new immigrants to Ontario over a 12 year period and matched them to people of the same age and gender who had lived in the province for at least five years. The participants ranged in age 16 to 65 with an average age of 34.

"New immigrants face a number of stresses new jobs, new diets and building new relationships our study wanted to examine how these factors affected their risk of stroke," says Saposnik, "The findings verify the presence of a healthy immigrant effect in relation to stroke risk".

The researchers, which included Dr. Joel Ray, Dr. D. Redelmeier, Dr. Hong Lu, Dr. E. Lonn and Dr. Esme Fuller-Thomson, followed the participants for six years. During that time, there were 933 strokes among the new immigrants and 5,283 strokes among long-term residents. New immigrants had a rate of 1.7 strokes per person per year in comparison to 2.6 strokes per person per year in long-term residents. The results were the same after adjusting for income, smoking and history of other diseases such as hypertension and diabetes......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 7:42 AM CT

Waiting for birth or inducing

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting , in Chicago, scientists will unveil findings that show that waiting for birth is as effective as inducing labor in cases of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Intrauterine growth restriction means that the fetus is substantially smaller than normal. The condition affects about 10% of pregnant women.

At birth the babies are more likely to have low blood sugar, trouble maintaining their body temperature, and an abnormally high red blood cell count. They're also prone to jaundice, infections, and Cerebral Palsy. During the later part of life growth restricted babies appears to be prone to executive and behavioral disorders, obesity, heart disease, type II diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Because of lack of evidence, obstetricians follow two main policies for pregnancies with suspected fetal growth restriction at term. Some doctors may induce labor out of concern for complications, while others will await spontaneous delivery to prevent higher operative delivery rates. Scientists in the obstetric research consortium in the Netherlands conducted a randomized controlled trial of 650 women in 52 hospitals to compare both strategies......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 7:41 AM CT

Sutures cause fewer complications than staples

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting , in Chicago, scientists will present findings that there were less complications for women, after having a cesarean delivery, if sutures were used instead of staples to close the wound.

When Suzanne Basha, M.D. began her career as an obstetrician/gynecologist, she was surprised to find nothing in the literature that provided evidence about which method was better to close a wound after a cesarean.

"It seemed to me that I was seeing more patients return with complications after a cesarean birth when staples were used instead of sutures but I couldn't find any studies that supported a recommendation for the use of either method," Basha said.

Basha and her colleagues at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa., conducted a study of 425 patients who were randomized. Women undergoing cesarean delivery in labor as well as scheduled cesarean delivery were eligible. Surgical and postpartum care was otherwise at the discretion of the provider. Wound complication data was complete for 98% of subjects (219 suture and 197 staples) and included wound separation, wound infection, antibiotic use, need for a wound-related doctor visit, and readmission. Data were collected via telephone interview two to four weeks postoperatively by a single investigator......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 7:39 AM CT

Genes and premature labor

New evidence that genetics play a significant role in some premature births may help explain why a woman can do everything right and still give birth too soon.

Research presented today at the 30th Annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) meeting ― The Pregnancy Meeting ― showed that the genes of both the mother and the fetus can make them susceptible to an inflammatory response that increases the risk of preterm labor and birth.

Silent, undetected infections and inflammation are major risk factors for preterm labor and birth, says SMFM member Roberto Romero, MD, Chief of the Perinatology Research Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. One of every three preterm births occurs to a mother who has an infection in her uterus, but has no symptoms.

Dr. Romero led a team of physicians and researchers studying a large number of genes involved in the control of labor that could help explain the complex process that triggers preterm birth. They found DNA variants in genes involved in fighting infection in the pregnant woman and the fetus. Eventhough these variants increased the risk of preterm labor and birth, they have been preserved by evolution because they are needed to fight infection, Dr. Romero said......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 7:33 AM CT

Treating depression during pregnancy with acupuncture

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting , in Chicago, scientists will unveil findings that show that acupuncture appears to be an effective therapy for depression during pregnancy.

"Depression during pregnancy is an issue of concern because it has negative effects on both the mother and the baby as well as the rest of the family," said Dr. Schnyer, one of the study's authors.

About 10% of pregnant women meet criteria for major depression and almost 20% have increased symptoms of depression during pregnancy. The rates of depression in pregnant women are comparable to rates seen among similarly aged non-pregnant women and among women during the postpartum period, but there are far fewer therapy studies of depression during pregnancy than during the postpartum period.

Dealing with depression is difficult for pregnant women because the use of anti-depressants poses concerns to the developing fetus and women are reluctant to take medications during pregnancy.

In the study, an evaluator-blinded randomized trial, 150 participants who met the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) criteria for Major Depressive Disorder were randomized to receive either acupuncture specific for depression (SPEC, n=52) or one of two active controls: control acupuncture (CTRL, n=49) or massage (MSSG, n=49). Treatments lasted eight weeks (12 sessions). Junior acupuncturists masked to therapy assignment needled participants at points prescribed by senior acupuncturists. Massage therapists and patients were not blinded. The primary outcome was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, administered by blinded raters at baseline and after four and eight weeks of therapy. Data were analyzed using mixed effects models and by intent-to-treat......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 2:21 PM CT

Reducing complications of obesity

Eventhough obesity is a risk factor for diabetes and coronary heart disease worldwide, only some obese individuals go on to develop these metabolic complications, while others are relatively protected. Defining these protective factors could help researchers prevent disease in the wider population.

To this end, a research team at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, led by Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, recently added new details that link obesity to diabetes and heart disease.

When individuals become obese from overeating, cells called adipocytes located in the fat tissue fill up with dietary fats and begin to die. Immune cells called macrophages move out of the blood stream and into this tissue, where they accumulate around dying adipocytes. As the macrophages work to clear away the dead cells, they are exposed to large amounts of dietary fat that can result in unwanted consequences. Exposure to saturated fats, in particular, causes the macrophages to enter an inflammatory state. In this state, the macrophages secrete cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, that encourage the development of insulin resistance, diabetes, and heart disease.

The Gladstone team hypothesized that enhancing the capacity of macrophages to store dietary fats might alter this process. To do this, they focused on an enzyme called DGAT1, which makes triglycerides from dietary fats for storage as cellular energy reserves......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Gene variation makes alcoholism less likely in some

Exposure to severe stress early in life increases the risk of alcohol and drug addiction. Yet surprisingly, some adults sexually abused as children - and therefore at high risk for alcohol problems - carry gene variants that protect them from heavy drinking and its effects, as per scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The researchers, from the university's Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, say the finding could aid the development of therapies for alcohol dependence by offering suggestions for targeted therapys based on genetic traits and history of exposure to severe stressors.

Researchers estimate that about half the risk for alcoholism is encoded in a person's genes. The rest comes from environmental factors, such as age at first drink and exposure to extreme stress. Other research has suggested that when the environmental risk factors occur during key periods of brain development, genes and environment working together can increase the likelihood an individual will become alcohol dependent. Child sexual abuse is one of the environmental stressors that can interact with genes to significantly increase the risk for alcohol problems.

But the scientists report in the recent issue of Addiction Biology that people with a particular pattern of genetic markers seem to be protected against alcohol problems, even if they were sexually abused as children......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:11 AM CT

New weight-loss supplement as good as 20-minute walk

A new weight-loss supplement tested by the University of Oklahoma Health and Exercise Science Department has the potential to burn as a number of calories as a 20-minute walk, as per Joel T. Cramer, assistant professor of exercise physiology.

Cramer says General Nutrition Centers contracted with OU to test the weight-loss benefits of the nutritional supplement called the tri-pepper blend, which contains black pepper, caffeine and a concentrated form of capsaicin-the ingredient that makes red peppers hot. The OU study showed energy expenditures of three to six percent, results which are statistically significant enough to validate product weight-loss claims, Cramer said.

A group of participants in the study were given the supplement or a placebo followed by a metabolic rate test. The study measured oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced by participants to determine the arresting metabolic rate of each after receiving the supplements. The study confirmed the viability of the weight loss supplement.

OU has developed relationships within the nutritional supplement industry because of the department's ability to provide research support needed for new product development. Since Cramer arrived at OU in 2005 with a model of funding for industry grants, departmental funds have increased to nearly $3 million. The outcome has been an increase in the number of nutritional studies, which can provide vital information to industry......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:08 AM CT

How some prostate cancer cells become more aggressive?

Prostate cancer cells are more likely to spread to other parts of the body if a specific gene quits functioning normally, as per new data from scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Certain prostate cancer cells can be held in check by the DAB2IP gene. The gene's product, the DABIP protein, acts as scaffolding that prevents a number of other proteins involved in the progression of prostate cancer cells from over-activation. When those cells lose the DAB2IP protein, however, they break free and are able to metastasize, or spread, drastically increasing the risk of cancer progression in other organs as the cells travel through the bloodstream or lymph system.

The study in mice, reported in the Jan. 11 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, observed that eliminating the DAB2IP scaffolding in human carcinoma cells caused them to change from epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells - a hallmark of metastatic cancer.

Cells undergoing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) experience biological changes that enable them to move freely and spontaneously throughout the body," said Dr. Jer-Tsong Hsieh, director of the Jean H. & John T. Walker Jr. Center for Research in Urologic Oncology at.

UT Southwestern and the study's senior author. "By restoring DAB2IP function in cancer cells in mice, we reversed their ability to change and metastasize"......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 7:59 AM CT

Women should be allowed to eat, drink during labor

The traditional practice of restricting food and fluids during labour does not provide any benefits, finds a new review co-authored by a Queen's University Associate Professor.

"Based on our review, there is no convincing and existing evidence to support restriction of fluids, and perhaps food, for women during labour. Women should be able to choose for themselves," says Dr. Joan Tranmer of the Queen's School of Nursing.

Practitioners have been concerned about eating and drinking during labour since the 1940s. The restriction is thought to prevent Mendelson's syndrome (named after work by Dr. Carl Mendelson), a rare, but sometimes fatal, condition caused by regurgitation of acidic stomach contents into the lungs when a general anaesthetic is given.

"With medical advances over the past 60 years, including the increase use of epidural anesthesia, we thought it was time to question the widespread ban on food and drink now that we are in the 2000s," says Professor Tranmer. "The use of general anesthesia during C-sections is low. And even when used, the techniques have improved since the 1940s, so the risk of maternal death or illness is very, very low" .

There is tremendous variation in the practice of fluid and food restriction across birth settings (home births versus hospitals)......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 7:37 AM CT

Three Brain Diseases Linked to Same Neural Protein

For the first time, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have observed that three different degenerative brain disorders are linked by a toxic form of the same protein. The protein, called Elk-1, was found in clumps of misshaped proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease.

"These results suggest a molecular link between the presence of inclusions and neuronal loss that is shared across a spectrum of neurodegenerative disease," notes senior author, James Eberwine, PhD, co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute and the Elmer Holmes Bobst Professor of Pharmacology. "Identifying these links within the diseased microenvironment will open up novel avenues for therapeutic intervention. For example it is reasonable to now ask, "Is this molecule a possible new biomarker for these neurodegenerative diseases?" says Eberwine.

Eberwine, co-first authors Anup Sharma, an MD-PhD student, Jai-Yoon Sul, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, both from Penn, Linda M. Callahan, PhD, from the University of Rochester Medical Center, and his colleagues, report their findings this week in the online journal PLoS One.

Typically neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by many features including the protein clumps called inclusions; decline of nerve-cell synapses; and the selective loss of the nerve cells themselves......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 7:33 AM CT

Clean, biodegradable structure for stem cell growth

Medical scientists were shocked to discover that virtually all human embryonic stem cell lines being used in 2005 were contaminated. Animal byproducts used to line Petri dishes had left traces on the human cells. If those cells had been implanted in a human body they likely would have been rejected by the patient's immune system.

Even today, with new stem cell lines approved for use in medical research, there remains a risk that these cells will be contaminated in the same way. Most research labs still use animal-based "feeder layers" because it remains the cheapest and most reliable way to get stem cells to multiply.

Materials researchers at the University of Washington have now created an alternative. They built a three-dimensional scaffold out of a natural material that mimics the binding sites for stem cells, allowing the cells to reproduce on a clean, biodegradable structure. Results reported in the journal Biomaterials show that human embryonic stem cells grow and multiply readily on the structure.

"The major challenge for stem cell treatment today is it's very difficult to make a lot of them with high purity," said main author Miqin Zhang, a UW professor of materials science and engineering. "So far it seems like this material is very good for stem cell renewal."........ Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

February 2, 2010, 9:21 AM CT

Fat tissue in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Fat tissue in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome produces an inadequate amount of the hormone that regulates how fats and glucose are processed, promoting increased insulin resistance and inflammation, glucose intolerance, and greater risk of diabetes and heart disease, as per a research studyconducted at the Center for Androgen-Related Research and Discovery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common hormonal disorder of women of childbearing age, affecting approximately 10 percent of women. It is the most common cause of infertility, and an important risk factor for early diabetes in women.

"We're beginning to find that fat tissue behaves very differently in patients with PCOS than in other women," said Ricardo Azziz, M.D.,M.P.H., director of the Center for Androgen-Related Research and Discovery, and principal investigator on the study. "Identifying the unusual behavior of this fat-produced hormone is an important step to better understanding the causes underlying the disorder, and appears to be helpful in developing therapys that will protect patients against developing heart disease and insulin resistance".

Fat tissue is the body's largest hormone-producing organ, secreting a large number of hormones that affect appetite, bowel function, brain function, and fat and sugar metabolism. One of these hormones is adiponectin, which in sufficient quantities encourages the proper action of insulin on fats and sugars and reduces inflammation. Women with PCOS produce a smaller amount of adiponectin than women who do not have the disease, in response to other fat-produced hormones, as per the research to be reported in the recent issue of Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (Published online ahead of print and available at http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/rapidpdf/jc.2009-1158v1.)......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 2, 2010, 9:19 AM CT

Counseling for obesity and smoking

Reducing obesity and smoking have become national priorities in the United States. Research has shown that intensive counseling can positively impact each problem. However, because such counseling is typically not covered by medical insurance, cost can be a barrier. As per a research findings reported in the March 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, observed that when primary care clinicians and community counselors collaborated to offer free counseling services to patients, there was an overwhelming positive response. Yet, when the same services were offered at a cost to the patient, there was a significant drop in participation.

An electronic linkage system (eLinkS) was used to prompt healthcare providers to suggest intensive healthcare counseling for adult patients with unhealthy behaviors. eLinkS then helped to facilitate and automate referrals and communication between primary care practices and community programs. During a 5-week period when funding was available, 5679 patients were reviewed, 1860 had at least one unhealthy behavior (triggering an eLinkS prompt), and 407 (21.8%) were referred for intensive counseling.

In a 3-week period after funding was exhausted, 2510 patients visited the practices, 729 triggered an eLinkS prompt, but only 5 (0.7%) were referred for intensive counseling. In comparison to the coverage period, the overall referral rate for patients with an unhealthy behavior decreased by 97%. Practice nurses asked 22% fewer patients about health behaviors (37% vs 29%). When prompted by eLinkS, clinicians offered referrals to 79% fewer patients (29% vs 6%). If a referral was offered, 81% fewer patients accepted (76% vs 14%)......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:23 AM CT

Curing More Cervical Cancer Patients

Cervical cancer is highly curable when caught early. But in a third of cases, the tumor responds poorly to treatment or recurs later, when cure is much less likely.

Quicker identification of non-responding tumors appears to be possible using a new mathematical model developed by scientists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

The model uses information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans taken before and during treatment to monitor changes in tumor size. That information is plugged into the model to predict whether a particular case is responding well to therapy. If not, the patient can be changed to a more aggressive or experimental treatment midway through therapy, something not possible now.

The study, reported in the journal Cancer Research, uses MRI scans and outcome information from 80 cervical cancer patients receiving a standard course of radiation treatment designed to cure their cancer.

"The model enables us to better interpret clinical data and predict therapy outcomes for individual patients," says principal investigator Jian Z. Wang, assistant professor of radiation medicine and a radiation physicist at the OSUCCC-James.

"The outcome predictions presented in this paper were solely based on changes in tumor volume as derived from MRI scans, which can be easily accessed even in community hospitals," Wang says. "The model is very robust and can provide a prediction accuracy of 90 percent for local tumor control and recurrence"......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:18 AM CT

Approval of oncology drugs at FDA

Over a two and half year period, beginning in 2005 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's oncology drug product's office began reviewing marketing applications, a total of 60 new oncology and hematology drugs were evaluated, of which 53 were approved, as per a new article published online January 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

To provide an overview of recent regulatory actions by the FDA's Office of Oncology Drug Products in the Center for Drug Assessment and Research, Rajeshwari Sridhara, Ph.D., of the FDA's Office of Biostatistics, in Silver Spring, Md., and his colleagues identified all applications evaluated, as well as actions taken, from July 1, 2005, through December 31, 2007. Their review included "New Drug Application" and "Biologics Licensing Application" approvals.

Marketing applications for 60 new products were evaluated and regulatory action was taken on 58 of them based on a riskbenefit assessment. Products that demonstrated efficacy and had an acceptable riskbenefit ratio (i.e., the magnitude of the therapy effect was statistically persuasive and clinically meaningful) were granted either regular or accelerated marketing approval. A total of 53 new indications were approved: 39 received regular approval, nine received accelerated approval, and five were converted from accelerated to regular approval. Two applications were withdrawn before action was taken, and five were not approved......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:16 AM CT

Tailoring treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Investigators have identified a biomarker that could help doctors select patients with rheumatoid arthritis who will benefit from treatment with drugs such as Enbrel, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-antagonist drug. The study, led by scientists at Hospital for Special Surgery in collaboration with rheumatologists at University of Southern California, appears in the recent issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

"While our study waccording toformed on a relatively small group of patients and will need to be confirmed in a larger cohort, the data are promising and appears to be clinically significant for the medical management of patients," said Mary K. Crow, M.D., director of Rheumatology Research and co-director of the Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research at Hospital for Special Surgery. "Treatment with these drugs is very expensive; the drugs can cost around $16,000 or so per year. If you are going to use them, you would like to know that they are likely to work in your patient." Other well-known TNF-antagonists include Humira and Remicade.

While TNF antagonists have brought relief to thousands of people with rheumatoid arthritis, the drugs are not highly effective in 30 percent to 50 percent of patients. Clinicians thus run the risk of providing a treatment to patients that doesn't work well, is expensive and is potentially toxic. Patients taking TNF antagonists, which have been available for roughly ten years, can run the risk of developing bacterial or fungal infections......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Multiple sclerosis and the season

Prior studies have shown multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are more often born in spring than in any other season, indicating that there is an environmental risk factor for the disease. A paper in the journal Neurology, evaluated for f1000 Medicine by Emmanuelle Waubant and Ellen Mowry, now suggests that this seasonal effect is mediated by the gene HLA-DRB1.

In a number of European populations, the HLA-DRB1*15 allele of this gene is linked to an increased risk of MS, and the large-scale study of MS patients from Canada, Sweden and Norway now shows that this allele is more common among patients born in the spring.

Waubant and Mowry said the study was "unique in its attempt to understand how genes and environment interact in MS". However, even though there is a connection between birth month, genetics and risk of MS, it is still not clear how this is regulated.

One likely contender is vitamin D, which influences expression of the HLA-DRB1*15 allele. Since vitamin D production fluctuates with the seasons, a vitamin D deficit in pregnant mothers could be correlation to the increased risk of MS among spring births, but this requires further investigation.

Waubant and Mowry said the study may influence preventative and therapeutic therapys through the understanding of environmental risks and their interaction with relevant genotypes......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:13 AM CT

Handling of milk in restaurants

One-third of samples of milk and dairy products analysed in various restaurants exceed the microbe contamination limits set by the European Union, as per a research studycarried out by scientists from the University of Valencia (UV). The experts advise against keeping milk in jugs and suggest that these foodstuffs need to be better handled.

"Out of all the dairy products we analysed, 35% of the samples exceeded the maximum contamination levels established by EU law for enterobacteriaceae, and 31% exceeded the limits set for mesophilic aerobic microorganisms (which grow at an optimum temperature of between 30 and 45C)", Isabel Sospedra, a researcher at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the UV and one of the authors of the study, tells SINC.

The researchers examined 265 batches of milk and ready-to-use milk derivatives in a range of bars and restaurants in Valencia, and checked whether their microbial quality fell into line with European Union regulations. The results, which have been published recently in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, show that one-third of the samples had some kind of microorganism contamination and were not fit for human consumption.

"Luckily none of the batches we analysed tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella spp, which are pathogenic microorganisms that cause both food poisoning and toxoinfections", the study's authors says......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:08 AM CT

Hip Fractures In Grandfathers

The study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, shows that hip fractures in grandfathers are associated with low bone density and reduced bone size in their grandsons.

"This is the first time this risk factor for low bone mass has been demonstrated across two generations," says associate professor Mattias Lorentzon, who led the research team at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "This new risk factor appears to be significant for the diagnosis of low bone mass and suggests possible mechanisms for the inheritance of low bone mass and fracture risk".

The study looked at around 3,700 grandparents and their grandsons from a national register. 270 of these grandsons had reduced bone density, in other words less bone mineral in their skeleton. All of these also had a grandparent who had broken their hip, as opposed to those who did not have any relatives who had broken a hip and had normal bone health.

"We then divided these men with reduced bone density into two groups," says Lorentzon. "In the first, we looked at those who had a grandmother who had broken a hip. In the second, we looked at whether a grandfather had suffered a hip fracture".

It emerged that the men who had a male relative who had suffered a fracture had up to 5% less bone density and 4% smaller bones than those who did not. By way of comparison, 10% less bone density can increase the risk of fractures as much as threefold......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:07 AM CT

Early detection of Alzheimer's disease

Investigators from the International Center for Biomedicine and the University of Chile, in collaboration with the Center for Bioinformatics of the Universidad de Talca, have discovered that two drugs, the benzimidazole derivatives lanzoprazole and astemizole, appears to be suitable for use as PET (positron emission tomography) radiotracers and enable imaging for the early detection of Alzheimer's Disease. The study is reported in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

Lanzoprazole and astemizole specifically tag pathological oligomers of tau which form the core of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), a pathognomonic brain lesion in Alzheimers patients. Prof. Dr. R.B. Maccioni and Dr. Leonel Rojo, authors of the study commented, "Since neurofibrillary tangles are positively correlated with cognitive impairment, we propose that these drugs have great potential in PET neuroimaging for in vivo early detection of AD and in reducing the formation of NFTs. These studies, based on advanced proteomics and databases of molecular interactions, may help to find potential new drugs for early diagnosis and therapy of Alzheimers disease. The findings are the result of a long-standing research program supported by the Alzheimers Association-USA and Fondecyt, Chile to evaluate new drug candidates." Technological applications of this discovery are being developed with the collaboration of VentureL@b of the Universidad Adolfo Ibaez......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:06 AM CT

New computational tool for cancer treatment

A number of human tumors express indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which mediates an immune-escape in several cancer types. Scientists in the Molecular Modeling group at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and Dr. Benot J. Van den Eynde's group at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR) Brussels Branch developed an approach for creating new IDO inhibitors by computer-assisted structure-based drug design. The study was presented in the January 2010 online issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

The docking algorithm EADock, used for this project, was developed by the Molecular Modeling Group over the last eight years. It provides solutions for the "lock-and-key" problem, wherein the protein active site is regarded as a "lock", which can be fitted with a "key" (commonly a small organic molecule) able to regulate its activity. Once an interesting molecule has been obtained, synthesis and laboratory experiments are necessary to confirm or reject the prediction. This algorithm will soon be made available to the scientific community worldwide.

The researchers obtained a high success rate. Fifty percent of the molecules designed in silico were active IDO inhibitors in vitro. Compounds that displayed activities in the low micromolar to nanomolar range, made them suitable for further testing in tumor cell experiments and for in vivo assessment in mice. If these studies are successful, researchers can begin evaluating these new compounds in patients undergoing cancer-immunotherapy......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:04 AM CT

Most patients gain weight after getting a new knee

You'd think folks who've had knee replacement surgery -- finally able to walk and exercise without pain -- would lose weight instead of put on pounds, but surprisingly that's not the case, as per a University of Delaware study.

Scientists Joseph Zeni and Lynn Snyder-Mackler in the Department of Physical Therapy in UD's College of Health Sciences observed that patients typically drop weight in the first few weeks after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but then the number on the scale starts creeping upward, with an average weight gain of 14 pounds in two years.

The study, which was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is published in the Jan. 15 online edition of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, the official journal of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International.

The research involved 106 individuals with end-stage osteoarthritis who had knee replacement surgery, and an age-matched, healthy control group of 31 subjects who did not have surgery. Height, weight, quadriceps strength, and self-perceived functional ability were measured during an initial visit to UD's Physical Therapy Clinic, and at a follow-up visit two years later.

"We saw a significant increase in body mass index (BMI) over two years for the surgical group, but not the control group," says Zeni, a research assistant professor at UD. "Sixty-six percent of the people in the surgical group gained weight over the two years -- the average weight gain was 14 pounds"......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 8:02 AM CT

brain protein for synapse development

A newly released study from UC Davis Health System identifies for the first time a brain protein called SynDIG1 that plays a critical role in creating and sustaining synapses, the complex chemical signaling system responsible for communication between neurons. The research, reported in the Jan.14 issue of the journal Neuron, fills a major gap in understanding the molecular foundations of higher cognitive abilities as well as some brain disorders.

"We know that synapses are essential for learning, memory and perception and suspect that imbalances in synapse formation impact disorders of the brain such as autism and schizophrenia," said Elva Diaz, assistant professor of pharmacology and senior author of the study. "Our study is the first to identify SynDIG1 as a critical regulator of these important brain connections".

The majority of synapses in the brain use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. While past research revealed that regulation of a certain class of glutamate receptor -- AMPA receptors -- are critical to communication between neurons, Diaz set out to discover novel molecular mechanisms of AMPA receptors that could support the formation and vitality of synapses.

She began by evaluating a gene (tmem90b) predicted to encode a novel transmembrane protein that is expressed exclusively in the central nervous system and highly similar across vertebrates, but otherwise not well-described. Microarray analyses revealed that this gene was expressed during synapse formation......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 7:58 AM CT

Can blocking a frown?

Your facial expression may tell the world what you are thinking or feeling. But it also affects your ability to understand written language correlation to emotions, as per research that was presented today to the Society for Personal and Social Psychology in Las Vegas, and would be reported in the journal Psychological Science.

The newly released study reported on 40 people who were treated with botulinum toxin, or Botox. Tiny applications of this powerful nerve poison were used to deactivate muscles in the forehead that cause frowning.

The interactions of facial expression, thoughts and emotions has intrigued researchers for more than a century, says the study's first author, University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology Ph.D. candidate David Havas.

Researchers have observed that blocking the ability to move the body causes changes in cognition and emotion, but there were always questions. (One of the test therapys caused widespread, if temporary, paralysis.) In contrast, Havas was studying people after a pinpoint therapy to paralyze a single pair of "corrugator" muscles, which cause brow-wrinkling frowns.

To test how blocking a frown might affect comprehension of language correlation to emotions, Havas asked the patients to read written statements, before and then two weeks after the Botox therapy. The statements were angry ("The pushy telemarketer won't let you return to your dinner"); sad ("You open your email in-box on your birthday to find no new emails"); or happy ("The water park is refreshing on the hot summer day.")......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 7:42 AM CT

HIV researchers solve key puzzle

Scientists have made a breakthrough in HIV research that had eluded researchers for over 20 years, potentially leading to better therapys for HIV, as per a research findings published recently in the journal Nature

The researchers, from Imperial College London and Harvard University, have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV. When HIV infects someone, it uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA.

Previous to the newly released study, which was funded by the Medical Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health, a number of scientists had tried and failed to work out the three-dimensional structure of integrase bound to viral DNA. New antiretroviral drugs for HIV work by blocking integrase, but researchers did not understand exactly how these drugs were working or how to improve them.

Scientists can only determine the structure of this kind of molecular machinery by obtaining high quality crystals. For the newly released study, scientists grew a crystal using a version of integrase borrowed from a little-known retrovirus called Prototype Foamy Virus (PFV). Based on their knowledge of PFV integrase and its function, they were confident that it was very similar to its HIV counterpart......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

February 1, 2010, 7:41 AM CT

Children with cochlear implants

Children who have cochlear implants (CI) rank their quality of life (QOL) equal to their normally hearing (NH) peers, indicates new research in the February 2010 issue of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery

A cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores partial hearing to the deaf. It is surgically implanted in the inner ear and activated by a device worn outside the ear. Unlike a hearing aid, it does not make sound louder or clearer. Instead, the device bypasses damaged parts of the auditory system and directly stimulates the hearing nerve, allowing deaf or severely hard of hearing individuals to receive sound. The National Institutes of Health estimate that as a number of as 59,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants, with roughly half of those in the pediatric population.

Previous research has indicated that deaf children feel less socially accepted, experience more difficulty in making friends, and demonstrate greater adjustment problems than their hearing peers. The subsequent success of the multi-channel CI devices that improve speech perception and language development led scientists to look beyond speech and language performance to questions of psycho-social behaviors and adjustment.

This cross-sectional study of 88 families with CI children from 16 U.S. states used a generic QOL questionnaire. The group was then divided by age of the child when they filled out the questionnaire: an 8-11-year-old group and a 12-16-year-old group. Both parents and children were asked to fill out the QOL questionnaire, with the parents assessing their child. The study group was then in comparison to a control group of 1,501 NH children in fourth and eighth grades......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source