Archive for March, 2008
FDA: Recommendations On Medical Devices That Treat Blocked Heart Arteries
FDA has issued draft guidelines to aid the development, testing and manufacture of coronary drug-eluting stents, devices used to treat blocked heart arteries.
Over the past few years, FDA and the clinical community have been closely monitoring these devices, including concerns over clot formation in some patients several years after implantation. The draft guidelines issued today—called an FDA guidance document—outline the agency’s recommendations for pre-market clinical evaluation and post-market studies, which may provide data to better address this and other potential security concerns.
Each year in the United States, approximately undivided million patients undergo procedures to treat coronary atherosclerosis, also known as hardening or blockages of the heart arteries, a condition that can account angina and heart attacks.
Some 650,000 of these patients are treated through drug-eluting stents, a scaffolding device that is placed into the arteries to prop them open. Drug-eluting stents have a coating that slowly releases a drug to prevent the growth of scar tissue that may accumulate after the initial procedure opens the artery. Re-accumulation of scar tissue can mean additional procedures to maintain arteries open and preserve adequate blood flow.
"This draft guidance is part of FDA’s ongoing effort to provide regulated industry with recommendations on measures that can minimize the risks while preserving for patients the benefits of drug-eluting stents," said Daniel G. Schultz, M.D., monitor of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
This draft leadership, announced in today’s Federal Register, www.gpoaccess.gov , discusses the development pathway for recent drug-eluting stents and provides recommendations on information necessary for a complete marketing submission. It also provides government on assessing the toxicity of the drug used to coat the stent, both on its own and as work of the complete product. Because these stents combine device and drug technology, this guidance contains expertise and input from two agency centers—the Center for Devices and Radiological Health and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Also included are rough copy recommendations for engineering tests, biocompatibility tests, and animal studies to assess the device’s overall safety.
"This guidance demonstrates how FDA will need to labor across traditionary product boundaries to guide the development of innovative new products," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
3 commentsObesity Increases The Risk of Dementia
Individuals, who suffer from obesity or are overweight with large bellies have double or make threefold the risk of dementia.
People in their 40s with larger stomachs have a higher risk for dementia at what time they reach their 70s, according to a study published in the March 26, 2008, online consequence of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Obesity and Dementia Link
Previous studies have looked at central obesity (as determined by waist circumference) and body mass index in the somewhat old and its link to dementia risk. In addition, previous studies have shown that a large abdomen — in midlife — increases the risk of diabetes, visitation, and coronary heart disease. This is the first time researchers acquire demonstrated a longitudinal association between midlife belly fat and the risk of idiocy.
Capturing abdominal obesity in midlife may be a much better indicator of the long-term metabolic dysregulation that leads to dementia risk, said study author Rachel Whitmer, Ph.D., a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. Measuring abdomen size in older age people may not be as good an indicator inasmuch as as people age they tend to naturally lose muscle and bone mass and gain belly sizing, she explained.
“Considering that 50 percent of adults in this country have abdominal obesity, this is a disturbing finding. It is well known that being overweight in midlife and over increases dare to undertake factors for disease. However, where one carries the weight –especially in midlife — appears to be an important predictor for dementia risk,” she said.
“Autopsies be favored with shown that changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s ailment may start in young to middle adulthood, and another study showed that high abdominal fat in elderly adults was tied to greater brain atrophy. These findings imply that the dangerous effects of abdominal obesity on the brain may start long before the signs of dementia appear.” She explained that additional research needs to be completed to determine the underlying mechanisms that link abdominal obesity in midlife to dementia risk.
Researchers studied 6,583 people ages 40 to 45 in Northern California who had their abdominal density measured. Belly fat was measured by using a caliper to determine the distance from the back to the upper abdomen, midway between the top of the pelvis and the bottom of the ribs. bulge density is highly correlated with visceral fat tissue, the fat tissue that is wrapped around the organs, according to the researchers. An average of 36 years later, 16 percent of the participants had been diagnosed with dementia.
The study found that those who were overweight and had a large belly were 2.3 times more likely to develop dementia than people with a according to rule weight and belly size. People who were both obese and had a large belly were 3.6 times more likely to develop dementia than those of normal weight and belly size. Those who were overweight or obese but did not have a vast abdomen had an 80 percent increased risk of dementia.
Having a large abdomen increased the risk of dementia regardless of whether the participants were of normal weight overall, overweight, or obese, and regardless of existing health conditions, including diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Non-whites, smokers, people with high blood influence, high cholesterol or diabetes, and those by less than a high school level of education were more to be expected to have abdominal obesity.
It is possible that the association of the abdominal obesity and dementia is not driven by the abdominal obesity, but rather by a complex set of health-related behaviors, for which abdominal fleshiness is but one part.
No commentsNew Book: Fighting Terror Online
Inspired by recent threats of terrorism, Professor Martin Golumbic, Director of the Caesarea Rothschild Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science at the University of Haifa wrote this new book examining the future of online terrorism. As Professor Golumbic explains, online terrorism is the use of novel technology to elicit fear and panic in society. Fighting Terror Online focuses on how different societies react to this new form of terrorism and the ethics behind these responses. In Fighting Terror Online Golumbic asks the burning debate, “How do we balance security needs and individual rights?”
Fighting Terror Online not only justifies the digital theater as the battle ground in the war against terror, but recognizes specific threats in relation to security and the environment. Golumbic and his research team apportion by pressing issues of government ethics and add penetrating vision to issues dealing with, how far is too far? With precise regards to public privacy issues and when does national preservation intrude on individual rights? Fighting Terror Online recognizes the internet as the new battlefront of terror and with the aid of specific examples in Israel and abroad offers suggestions for future legislation and policy within the global society.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Laurie Groner
University of Haifa
‘Mutant’ Proteins Could Lead To New Treatment For Heart Disease
Heart hurt due to blocked arteries remains the leading cause of disease and death in the Western world, but a Florida State University College of Medicine researcher is helping to open new pathways nearly treating the problem.
Michael Blaber, a professor in the office of biomedical sciences, is researching mutant forms of a human protein that have been shown to help the like a man body grow new blood vessels to restore blood flow in damaged areas of the heart.
Working with a $264,000, three-year grant from the American Heart Association, Blaber hopes to provide data that will enable the use of the mutant proteins in new treatment methods previously unavailable for patients with advanced “no option” heart disease.
“This research offers the potential to treat people who currently are being sent hearthstone to die,” Blaber said. “We’ve tested a group of mutants in the laboratory through unusual properties of increased firmness and activities — cheerful properties. In some cases it was unexpected, but the results are very promising.”
Obstructed blood vessels and clogged or blocked arteries typically are treated through angioplasty, the mechanical widening of a vessel, or bypass surgery. Some patients, however, have numerous small blockages that cannot be treated through traditional approaches. In most cases, they are sent home with a predicted life expectancy that, no matter how it’s phrased, sounds like a death sentence.
A new approach to the problem called curative coronary angiogenesis is creating hope from one side the injection of human fibroblast growth factor protein into foppish areas. Improvements with the procedure may arise from the use of mutant forms through increased stability.
Blaber and his research team are creating artificial “mutant” proteins in their College of Medicine laboratory that mimic the human proteins used in angiogenic therapy, and with enhanced stability properties. So far, the mutant proteins engineered at the College of Medicine have exhibited potency in stimulating cell growth while simultaneously maintaining greater fixedness under stipulations common to angiogenic therapy.
The drudge has enormous potential commercial applications and already has drawn the attention of private companies interested in the results Blaber’s lab has achieved and the intellectual properties his studies are generating.
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Article adapted through Medical News Today from original press absolution.
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Source: Doug Carlson
Florida State University
Metabolic Regulator Has Hand In Controlling Vessel Growth
One of the most intensive pursuits in medical science is the hunt for ways to control the formation of new blood vessels. This process of angiogenesis has been called the common denominator of disease because of its influence on many different conditions, from cancer to heart disease to tissue injury and degeneration. Millions of patients stand to benefit from angiogenic therapies.
But building new vessels or tearing them down is not a simple process. There are at least 50 known factors in the body that govern vessel formation, and harnessing them can have being tricky. Several therapies targeting a single though central factor be in actual possession of failed, for example, because the new vessels remain leaky and immature. Researchers are now looking for targets that coordinate multiple angiogenic factors.
That is why when Bruce Spiegelman, HMS professor of cell biology at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, and his assistant Zoltan Arany, HMS instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, recognized that a gene known for regulating metabolism also behaves like the conductor of a glorious angiogenic orchestra, they were pleasantly surprised.
This gene, PGC-1 alpha, “turns on a perfect program of angiogenesis,” said Spiegelman. “It’s one of nature’s ways of turning on angiogenesis. It puts things in the right place and in the right balance.”
The researchers are quick to point out that another angiogenic orchestral propagator of sorts, hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), also exists and is well understood. What they have found in PGC-1 alpha is a second, completely independent pathway to new blood vessel growth. They describe their making known in the Feb. 21 Nature.
To build mature vessels, “we need to recapitulate what goes on in the body, to find orchestrators that bring in different molecules at different times. PGC-1 alpha is definitely one of these,” said Rakesh Jain, the A. Werk Cook professor of radiation oncology (tumor biology) at Massachusetts General Hospital. The discovery, he added, “opens up many doors” because it makes a corpuscular connection between metabolism and angiogenesis, two fundamental and interrelated biological processes with wide influence.
Expanding Regulatory Roles
Spiegelman discovered PGC-1 alpha 10 years ago and identified it as a key regulator of metabolic processes such as energy production and respiration. He and HMS professor of cell biology Alfred Goldberg later uncovered its role in protecting against muscle atrophy. This most recent study began when Spiegelman and Arany decided to explore the gene’s role in ischemia, resulting which time tissue is deprived of oxygen and nutrients. The condition can occur, instead of example, when a blocked artery cuts off the blood supply to an organ or limb.
As a cardiologist, Arany approached this study with heart attacks in notice. In heart disease, there is “no worse metabolic disaster than ischemia,” which can lead to heart attack, he said. “So what happens to this big metabolic regulator”—PGC-1 alpha—“during a big metabolic disaster?”
In their first experiments, they deprived cultured myotubes of oxygen and nutrients for several hours. Genetic screening revealed that PGC-1 alpha pervasive feeling levels soared 10-fold in these cells and remained elevated until nutrients were restored. They observed similar results in every cell line they assayed.
Seeing PGC-1 alpha respond to hypoxia in a way similar to the other angiogenic regulator HIF tipped them off that PGC-1 alpha might play a role in angiogenesis. “We were fishing in the in accordance with duty waters,” said Spiegelman of their serendipitous discovery. “We just weren’t looking for this particular fish.”
1 commentStudy Of Coping Methods Utilised Disgusting Videos
“Control yourself!”
Most of us haven’t heard that admonition since our last childhood tantrum. Nonetheless, it’s something we often tell ourselves, consciously or not, as we deal with life’s daily ups and downs. The ability to regulate one’s emotions is critical to successfully interacting with others. How we go about achieving that self-control has an equally important effect on our own well-being.
Now, researchers at Stanford have conducted the first-ever brain imaging study that directly contrasts two different techniques for emotion regulation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to observe neural activity in people’s reason as they employed each of the two methods in coping with one of the most visceral of human emotions: disgust.
The researchers found that season one method, cognitive reappraisal, reduced the intensity of negative emotions the participants experienced when exposed to videos of disgusting images, the other, expressive suppression, actually increased it.
Philippe Goldin, a Stanford research associate in psychology and the lead creator of a paper describing the research in the March 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry, said that the value of the findings lies in “well-informed what are the different choices that I have in working with my emotions, and what are the different types of impact and issue, both internally and interpersonally, for each of these strategies.”
“Cognitive reappraisal is like to one of the skills we teach in cognitive-behavioral therapy,” Goldin said. “It’s using thinking strategies to modulate emotional reactivity by changing the meaning of something.” For example, whether or not you were watching a doctor stitch up a harm in someone’s limb, rather than just being horrified by all the blood, you might instead focus on the fact that the patient was being helped and would recover.
The other technique, expressive suppression, does not involve rethinking what you are experiencing. Instead, you foolishly suppress displaying any outward signs of what you are feeling; you grit your teeth and bear it.
Both reappraisal and suppression are commonly used to regulate emotions in everyday life.
The participants in the study were taught both techniques. During the experiment they would lie down in an MRI scanner, which depicted the neural activity in their brains while they viewed various 15-second video clips on a screen 6 inches from their face. A camera poised next to the video screen recorded their facial expression, capturing their every twitch and grimace. Participants also rated how they felt immediately after viewing each clip.
The researchers played forty 15-second video clips. Ten were of neutral images, such as landscapes and nature scenes, and 30 were “disgust-inducing”-scenes of “surgical procedures, vomiting and animal slaughter,” said James Gross, associate professor of psychology and senior author of the paper. “It’s tolerably awful stuff.” But, he emphasized, necessary.
“In order to understand which happens when people control intense emotions in everyday life,” Gross said, “we needed to induce potent emotions in the scanner so that we could see what parts of the brain are activated both by the emotion itself and by the efforts to regulate that emotion.”
The appearance of a lone patient in a medical laboratory, lying stock still on a table poised in a narrow funnel end the center of a huge cube of a machine, smooth-sided and whitely sterile, with head strong held in place as disgusting videos unfold on a screen 6 inches from her eyeballs, may seem a little reminiscent of the reprogramming scenes in A Clockwork Orange. But the researchers actually took famed care to avoid traumatizing anyone.
They screened their test subjects to keep the pool to those who would not be overwhelmed by dint of. the disgusting imagery (and excluded those who claimed they would be emotionally unmoved by it). Participants were free to exit the scrutinize at any time.
During each run, an instruction would briefly appear on the monitor prior to each video, telling the volunteers whether to rethink the meaning of what they were seeing; to suppress their facial look but not their feelings; or to re-enact naturally.
The fMRI images revealed that regardless of the strategy employed, two areas of the brain that are associated with emotional reactivity-the amygdala and the insula-lit up. But the degree of neural activity in each of the two regions, and the timing of it, were markedly different depending on whether cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression was used.
By the end of each 15-second video, cognitive reappraisal, the reinterpretation strategy, led to reduced negative emotion as measured by subjects’ facial expressions, by fMRI images of neural excitation and by the participants’ self-report of how they felt. The technique affected the participants’ feelings relatively quickly.
Cognitive reappraisal “comes on early and in that case you kind of ride the wave of having implemented that strategy,” Goldin said.
That was not the case with facial expression suppression.
“Keeping your face still while watching these disgusting film clips actually resulted in an increase in neural activity in the amygdala and insula,” Goldin said. “During the 15-second film clip, the emotional reactivity is increasing and billowing while you’re attention the film clip, and the time when it becomes hardest to implement the ‘keep your face still’ instruction, the suppression, is at the end of each clip when the emotional intensity is really increasing.”
In scanty, only reappraisal was effective at decreasing subjects’ physiological responses, and suppression actually led to increased stress levels.
“These two forms of regulation work quite differently,” Gross said. “Early forms of regulation, such as reappraisal, effectively shut down the emotion at relatively little cost.” As for suppression, he said, “Although you can look cool as a cucumber, you actually get physiologically even more activated than you would accept been if you had correct let the emotion play itself out.”
Both Gross and Goldin emphasized that although rethinking the meaning of a part is a better strategy in many situations, it is not always best.
“If a person is in an injurious consanguinity and uses reappraisal to justify the behavior of the person who is hurting him or her, that could lead them to support in that dangerous situation far too long,” Gross said. “Similarly, suppression is often crucial in, for example, any interaction with each angry superior or boss at work. One simply doesn’t have time to think or reappraise the situation differently and so undivided might, for the good of one’s do job-work, in that moment, choose to suppress such that the boss doesn’t see which you really think of him or her.”
For this study, every part of the participants were women, because, as Goldin said, “In general women tend to demonstrate greater emotional reactivity compared to men.” But future work will include both women and men as participants, he said.
This most recent study is part of an ongoing effort by Gross’s lab to develop a better understanding-and eventually better therapies-for a host of disorders that involve poor control of emotion, from communicative anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Gross’s lab already has several studies in a state of being liable to way for which they are actively recruiting volunteers. For these studies, the lab needs adults with communicative anxiety disorder who are not agitation any medications that influence psychological functioning or blood flow, and who are willing to participate in functional neuro-imaging. People interested in more information about volunteering should visit [0]http://caan.stanford.edu/current_research.html.
Other co-authors of the bank-notes are Kateri McRae, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology, and Wiveka Ramel, postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Source: Louis Bergeron
Stanford University
Recent Data Study Suggests Cortisol Could Help Alleviate Suffering For Those With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Fibromyalgia
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are two serious and debilitating diseases with no confirmed cause and limited management options. However, results of a new comprehensive learning study propose a simplified treatment proceeding that could repress alleviate symptoms for patients suffering from these diseases.
Kent Holtorf, M.D., medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group Center for Endocrine, Neurological and Infection Related Illness in Torrance, Calif., is advising a simplified treatment proceeding that may help alleviate CFS and FM symptoms. From an extensive review of more than 50 published studies that assessed adrenal function in CFS and FM patients, Dr. Holtorf found that the majority of CFS and FM patients displayed abnormal adrenal function due to hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. The comprehensive review in like manner showed that the full age of patients could be treated for this adrenal dysfunction. Dr. Holtorf’s calculus, recently published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, demonstrated that patients that were given cortisol being of the class who part of a multi-system treatment experienced significant improvement in their symptoms.
“My review of existing studies suggests that a treatment protocol of early dispensation of cortisol may help improve and make the symptoms of chronic labor syndrome and fibromyalgia,” said Dr. Holtorf. “This research provides a new understanding that treating the known causes of illness in CFS and FM can improve the symptoms and quality-of-life of patients who suffer from these conditions.”
CFS and FM primarily affect women in their 30s and 40s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than one million Americans give leave to from CFS while it is estimated that FM affects about 2 percent of the U.S. population. Unfortunately, both of these diseases are poorly understood by many physicians and there is no generally accepted test to accurately detect them. In addition, many CFS and FM patients indicate frustration as there is no clear treatment path for their conditions.
Dr. Holtorf’s research was further confirmed in an observational study following the conditions of 500 patients from his clinic, where all of the patients were given cortisol as organ of their treatment protocol:
— 94 percent showed improvement by the fourth visit;
— 75 percent noted significant improvement;
— 62 percent reported substantial improvement; and
— Energy levels and a general mind of well-being for patients doubled by the fourth visit.
The effectiveness of this multi-system manipulation was further confirmed through the analysis of the cumulative findings of from one side to the other 40 independent physicians and from one to another 5,000 patients.
As shown in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome study, cortisol doses of 5-to-15 mg a day have been shown to be safe, with little or no associated risk while having the potential for significant benefit for CFS and FM patients.
“Cortisol treatment carries significantly less risk and a greater potential for benefit than treatments considered to be the standard of care for both conditions,” Dr. Holtorf explains.
What is Chronic toil Syndrome?
Chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, is a debilitating and complex disease characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved through bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity. Persons by CFS most often function at a substantially lower level of activity than they were capable of before the onset of illness. In addition, patients report various symptoms, such as weakness, muscle pain, impaired memory and/or mental condensation, insomnia, and post-exertional fatigue lasting more than 24 hours. In some cases, CFS can persist for years. The cause or causes of CFS have not been identified and no specific diagnostic tests are available.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia or FM is a chronic disquiet condition characterized by generalized muscular pain and fatigue. Fibromyalgia typically involves pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons and related sleep and quality of life disturbances. This condition is often referred to as a “syndrome” because it is a set of signs and symptoms that occur together. The disease is often misunderstood because its symptoms are quite common; however, medical studies be seized of proven that fibromyalgia does indeed exist.
Kent Holtorf, M.D.
Kent Holtorf, M.D. is an expert in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, complex endocrine dysfunction and chronic infections (including EBV, HHV6 and Lyme disease). Dr. Holtorf received his doctorate of medicine from St. Louis University with residency training at UCLA. He has personally trained numerous physicians across the country to effectively treat chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and chronic infectious diseases. Additionally, Dr. Holtorf was the founding medical director and developed the protocols on account of Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers and other centers across the country.
Zeno Group
http://www.zenogroup.com
Tails Now Being Designed For Robots, But Could Also Aid Astronauts
How useful is an animal’s tail? For the gecko, unlike most animals, it could be a matter of life or death, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.
In a written instrument appearing this week in the online early edition of the diary Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UC Berkeley biologists report that geckos rely on their tails to keep from falling on the farther side vertical surfaces and, if they do fall, to right themselves in midair and maneuver like a skydiver gliding to a safe landing.
The discovery is already helping engineers design more suitable climbing robots and may aid in the design of unmanned gliding vehicles or spacecraft. Perhaps, the researchers say, an “active” tail could help astronauts maneuver in space.
According to senior author Robert J. Full, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley, previous experiments on geckos have focused on their unique toes as the key to running up a wall and hanging onto ceilings. Full discovered six years since that, while claws help geckos climb rough surfaces, millions of microscopic toe hairs make it possible beneficial to them to climb smooth ones.
Only when engineers began building gecko-like robots, such as Boston Dynamics Inc.’s RiSE (Robot in Scansorial Environment), the University of Pennsylvania’s DynaClimber and Stanford University robots Spinybot and Stickybot - all inspired by the agency of Full’s findings - did they discover that a tail might be involuntary to prevent the robot from pitching backward and falling when it slips on a vertical surface.
When Full and UC Berkeley graduate student Ardian Jusufi went back to the lab to look at how geckos, specifically the flat-tailed house gecko, Cosymbotus platyurus, of Southeast Asia, use their tails, they discovered that the tail is critical for dealing with slippery surfaces.
“When we ran all of our geckos on perfect surfaces, they never slipped, and they didn’t use their tails,” Full said. “But when we put in a slippery patch, we found that they have an efficient tail that functions like a fifth leg to keep them from tipping backward. This is an undiscovered function for tails that tells us a lot about how active tails could affect the performance of vertebrates.”
With the help of high-speed video, the researchers discovered that when a gecko loses traction with one leg, it taps its tail on the surface to interrupt pitch-back until the toes can grab hold again. This all happens in milliseconds, since geckos can run up a wall at speeds of 3 feet per second, stepping and peeling off their toes 30 times per second.
If a gecko loses traction with more than one foot, the researchers form in a mould, it will often flatten its tail to the surface to prevent a fall in a move that has the effect, says Full, of a bicycle kickstand. Using either the tail-tapping or tail-flattening technique, nearly all geckos were able to navigate across slippery patches on a vertical wall.
“We were in fact surprised to beware that they could pitch back up to 60 degrees, return to the vertical surface and still traverse the slippery patches,” Jusufi said.
The engineers with whom Full collaborates are now devising active tails for their robots to replicate these moves, which in a gecko are probably reflexive, Full said.
The researchers acknowledged the usefulness of tails in other animals: kangaroos lean on theirs; chameleons, lemurs and New World monkeys grasp with theirs; and dinosaurs may acquire used theirs for balance space of time running and walking. Unlike these more static uses, however, the gecko’s tail actively helps in high-speed vertical climbing and gliding.
During the slippery wall experiments, Jusufi and Full noticed something else about the geckos when they prostrate. They nearly unceasingly made a four-point landing after using their tails to reorient themselves in mid-air. Using high-speed video to record geckos falling upside down from a fake leaf, they found that the geckos rotated their tails so that their bodies counter-rotated to face downward, then spread their legs and toes to parachute. This mid-air maneuver was possible because of the gecko’s typically large tail, which can be filled with productive.
While this parachuting had been noticed before by other researchers, the role of the tail was first recognized by Full and Jusufi.
“Air righting in mammals is characterized by a bending and twisting of the spine,” Jusufi uttered. Cats, whose mid-air twists have been particularly well studied since 1894, are able to land on four paws with or without a tail. In contrast, he said, “the gecko is keeping its limbs and spine in fact immobile in nearly 70 percent of all trials, and only rotates its tail until it turns around.”
Moreover, after turning face down, the geckos in the study often used their tails to maneuver in mid-air like a skydiver steering toward a targeted least bit zone. In wind tunnel tests, geckos could actually hover in the air stream and, using their tails, steer toward a solid perch.
“Why go into this Superman posture?” Full asked. “We found that it allowed them to use their tails to turn or control yaw and pitch. In the wild, this might endure a gecko escaping a predator to just go off the end of a branch and maneuver to another place.”
Pitch refers to a head strong-down against tail-down position, while yaw is a rotation to the left or right around a vertical axis.
Jusufi is now observing geckos in the wild to determine how these aerobatic skills serve them in the forest.
“We believe these animals are using their tails instead of their bodies to simplify control,” he before-mentioned. “Geckos reorient mainly around one axis, whereas air-righting maneuvers in mammals involve several axes and appear to require far more coordination.”
“This discovery is another example of how basic research leads to unexpected applications - new climbing and gliding robots, highly maneuverable unmanned aerial vehicles and even energy-efficient control in space vehicles,” said Full, who directs UC Berkeley’s new Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research (CiBER). CiBER’s goal is to discover principles that will inspire engineers from academia and industry to develop new materials and design novel robots, but also to seek feedback from engineering successes and failures to suggest new biological hypotheses.
Jusufi and Full are continuing their study of how the gecko uses its tail, and they plan to look at other lizards to determine how widespread this behavior is.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Coauthors with Jusufi and Full are former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Daniel Goldman, now a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and UC Berkeley graduate student Shai Revzen.
The research was supported by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Kurt and Barbara Gilgen Fund and The Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Source: Robert Sanders
University of California - Berkeley
Low Folate Diet Linked To Sperm Abnormality
The old saying “we are what we eat” received further support this week, and may even suggest “we are what our parents ate” when a new study by researchers in the US revealed that healthy men who have a diet low in folate have a higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm. Chromosomal abnormalities in sperm are known to cause a range of inborn conditions such as Down sydrome and learning and development disorders.
The study is the work of scientists at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and is published in the 19th March issue of the journal Human Reproduction.
Women of childbearing age are encouraged to maintain a healthy intake of folate because it is essential for healthy fetal development, and to prevent neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida or anencephaly (severe type of brain damage). That is why folic acid is now added to nutriment, cereal, flour and other grain products in the US.
But this is the first study to suggest that folate intake in men may affect their children.
Researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and coordinator of the study, Suzanne Young, said:
“Recent studies hold suggested that paternal diet affects sperm count and motility, which is of importance for conception, but this new study takes it further to take for granted that male diet may be important for healthy offspring as well.”
Young said their study was the first to examine the effects of diet on chromosomal abnormalities in sperm.
“These abnormalities would account either miscarriages or children with genetic syndromes if the sperm fertilized an egg,” explained Young.
The researchers said that about 1 to 4 per cent of healthy male sperm has an abnormal tell off of chromosomes, or aneuploidy. These abnormalities arise when cells divide (meiosis) in the testis, but their cause is not well understood.
If an aneuploidic sperm fertilizes a normal egg, the fetus would either miscarry or develop a chromosomal disorder, such as trisomy, where cells have three copies of each chromosome instead of the more usual two (one from every one parent).
In this study the investigators looked at three chromosomes linked with common types of aneuploidy in live births: X, Y and chromosome 21. Down syndrome, for example, is caused by having every extra chromosome 21. Klinefelter syndrome, which can affect language and learning development, is caused by an extra X chromosome in boys, and boys carrying an extra Y chromosome have XYY syndrome, also linked to learning and behavioral difficulties.
The participants were 97 non-smoking men with no previous history of reproductive or fertility problems. The aged from 22 to 80 and were both still working at or had retired from a government research laboratory.
The men filled in questionnaires about their diet and supplements like multi-vitamins and other nutrients. Semen samples were taken up to a week later.
After taking out the effects of age, highly rectified spirit and medical history, the results showed that men who reported the highest folate intake had a 19 per cent lower rate of aneuploidic sperm that men with moderate folate intake, and 20 per cent lower than men with the lowest folate intake.
The analysis did not show any links between aneuploidy and other nutrients such being of the kind which zinc, calcium, beta-carotene and other vitamins, said the researchers, who concluded that:
“Men with high folate intake had lower overall frequencies of several types of aneuploid sperm.”
Co-principal inquirer of the study, professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Brenda Eskenazi, declared:
“”The emphasis related to the birth of a healthy baby has been weighted towards the health and diet of women, not just during pregnancy, but before.”
“What we’re finding now is that a nutritious diet, specifically folate intake, may be beneficial for men as well when it comes to producing healthy offspring,” she added.
Folate, which occurs naturally in a range of foods of the like kind as liver, leafy green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils and citrus fruits, is a water soluble vitamin of the B group.
Folate is essential for DNA, RNA and protein synthesis and the development of new cells. It also helps to control homocysteine, an amino acid that has been linked to heart disease.
But before men hoping to become dads rush out to buy folic acid or set out maxing out on lentils, they should take note, as the researchers themselves suggested, that this study only rest a link between folate and healthy sperm, it did not establish on the side of certain that there is a cause and effect relationship.
Study co-principal investigator and chair of the Radiation Biosciences Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Andrew Wyrobek, cautioned:
“We can’t yet say that increasing folate in your diet will lead to healthier sperm.”
“But we did come up with enough proof to justify a larger, clinical and pharmacological trial in men to examine the causal relationships between dietary folate levels and chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm,” added Wyrobek.
This information will help us set dietary folate levels that may reduce the risk of miscarriage or birth defects linked to the fathers,” he said.
If further research supports these findings, the researchers suggest it might be a good model to increase the current recommended 400 micrograms diurnal allowance of folate for men hoping to become dads.
“The association of folate, zinc and antioxidant intake with sperm aneuploidy in healthy non-smoking men.”
S.S. Young, B. Eskenazi, F.M. Marchetti, G. Block, and A.J. Wyrobek.
Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published on March 19, 2008.
DOI:10.1093/humrep/den036
Click here for Abstract.
Sources: Journal abstract, press statement from University of California,Berkeley.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
Raven Announces Initiation Of A RAV12 Phase 2 Clinical Trial In Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
Raven biotechnologies, inc., a privately held company focused on the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics (MAbs) for cancer, today announced that it has initiated a Phase 2 study of RAV12, its lead clinical product, in combination with gemcitabine in the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
The Phase 2 Pancreatic Cancer Study will be conducted at approximately 20 institutions in the US. The first institution to open the trial is the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. Eight sites will participate through the clinical trials consortium, the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team. More information in reference to the study can exist found at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.
After an initial dose-escalation run-in segment of approximately 18 patients, the Phase 2 trial will enroll 63 patients in an efficacy segment. The target dose and inventory of RAV12, 0.75 mg/kg twice weekly, was chosen in a newly completed Phase 1/2a trial that involved 53 patients. Final analysis of the Phase 1/2a study will be available the third quarter of 2008.
About RAV12
RAV12 is a novel, chimeric monoclonal antibody that is directed against a primate-specific glycotope (sugar structure) that is widely displayed on the surfaces of tumefaction cells, particularly those of gastrointestinal origin (gastroesophageal, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers). Preclinical studies have demonstrated that RAV12 may kill tumor cells in a number of ways: first, the antibody is directly cytotoxic to a human colon cancer cell line in vitro through induction of oncotic cell death, a form of cell death characterized by cell and organelle protuberance and loss of membrane integrity; second, the antibody mediates antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity; third part, the antibody mediates complement dependent cell killing; and finally, the antibody alters cellular signaling required for cell survival. RAV12 is highly efficacious in human colon, gastric, and pancreatic tumor xenograft models in vivo and has been found to be well tolerated in repeat drench primate toxicology studies.
About Pancreatic Cancer
Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is a major unmet medical need and represents the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US. Approximately 34,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer are reported in the US reaped ground year. Five-year survival rates are approximately 1% to 2%. Gemcitabine was approved for use in pancreatic cancer a decade ago, but illiberal advance in treatment outcomes has occurred since.
About Raven
Raven biotechnologies, inc. (http://www.ravenbio.com) is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for treating cancer. Raven’s lead product candidate, RAV12, targets adenocarcinomas and is in clinical development for the treatment of gastrointestinal and other cancers. Raven’s discovery process simultaneously identifies cell-surface drug targets and the antibody therapeutics to regulate them. Our focus on biological province allows us to rapidly identify novel target antigens and curative candidates in their native configuration in the intact cell membrane. Our integrated approach is based on proprietary methods for optimizing the production of MAbs targeting cell-surface proteins, including the use of human tissue-specific progenitor and tumor stem cell lines developed at Raven.
To date Raven has identified multiple candidate therapeutic MAbs on this account that many cancer indications including lung, colon, pancreatic, prostate, breast and ovarian cancer.
On November 12, 2007, Raven and VaxGen Inc. (OTC: VXGN.PK), a biopharmaceutical company, announced that their respective the stage of directors unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement. The merger is expected to create a drug development company with a robust pipeline of monoclonal antibody candidates in oncology, proprietary antibody discovery platforms, biopharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities and sufficient cash to fund operations at least through the end of 2009. The merger is expected to clog in the first half of 2008.
Raven biotechnologies, inc.
http://www.ravenbio.com
Optimer Pharmaceuticals Completes Enrollment In Phase 3 Clinical Trial Of Prulifloxacin In Patients With Travelers’ Diarrhea
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:OPTR) announced that the company has completed enrollment in the first of two depending phase 3 clinical trials examining the safety and efficacy of prulifloxacin for the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea. Travelers’ diarrhea is characterized by diarrhea along with other related symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or cramping, and fecal urgency.
“Completing patient enrollment for this first trial is an important milestone in Optimer’s Prulifloxacin development program,” said Michael N. Chang, Ph.D., CEO and President of Optimer. “We look forward to completing the analysis of the data from this trial.”
This multi-center, double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled clinical trial compares the safety and efficacy of prulifloxacin versus placebo in adult travelers suffering acute bacterial gastroenteritis. Clinical trial sites included locations in the U.S., Mexico and Peru. The primary endpoint is time-to-last-unformed-stool. Secondary endpoints include clinical cure based on relief of symptoms and microbiological eradication rates.
About Optimer Pharmaceuticals
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative anti-infective products despite the treatment of serious infections. Optimer has two late-stage anti-infective product candidates. OPT-80, currently in two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials, is subsistence developed for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections, the most common hospital-acquired diarrhea. Prulifloxacin, also in two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials, is an antibiotic being developed for the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea, a form of infectious diarrhea. Additional information regarding Optimer can be found at http://www.optimerpharma.com.
Forward-looking Statements
Statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements, including without limitation all statements related to prulifloxacin and the timing of clinical trials and anticipated results thereof. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “intend,” “will,” “goal” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Optimer that any of its plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ substantially from those set forth in this release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in Optimer’s business including, without limitation, risks relating to: the timing, progress and likelihood of success of its product research and development programs, the timing and status of its preclinical and clinical development of potential drugs and other risks detailed in Optimer’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth And Progenics Provide Update On Phase 3 Clinical Trial Of Intravenous Methylnaltrexone For Postoperative Ileus
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGNX) announced preliminary findings from the first of two phase 3 clinical trials of intravenous methylnaltrexone being evaluated for the management of postoperative ileus (POI) in patients recovering from segmental colectomy surgical procedures.
Preliminary results from the phase 3 clinical trial conducted by Wyeth showed that handling did not achieve the primary end point of the study: a reduction in time to recovery of gastrointestinal function (i.e., time to first bowel movement) as compared to placebo. The study also did not show that secondary measures of surgical recovery, including time to discharge eligibility, were superior to placebo. In this clinical study, methylnaltrexone was administered intravenously in doses of 12 or 24 mg every six hours and was generally well tolerated.
“Currently, we are conducting the necessary analyses to determine greater clarity regarding the outcome of this clinical study,” states Paul J. Maddon, M.D., Ph.D., Progenics’ Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Science Officer. “Preliminary findings from this international study of 542 patients are inconsistent with the clinically meaningful results demonstrated in the 65-patient phase 2 study of intravenous methylnaltrexone for the management of postoperative ileus.”
The second phase 3 trial of intravenous methylnaltrexone for contrivance of POI is heart led by Progenics and is similar in design to the Wyeth study reported. Progenics announced on January 8, 2008 that it had completed enrollment in this trial, with results expected to be reported through midyear.
“Despite the results of this phase 3 heartache for POI, we remain confident in the methylnaltrexone development program,” says Robert Ruffolo, Ph.D., President, Research and Development, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. “We will continue to develop the methylnaltrexone franchise to help address the unmet medical need of patients suffering with the gastrointestinal side effects of opioids.”
The Wyeth and Progenics development program for methylnaltrexone continues in multiple formulations across multiple patient populations. Following is the status of intravenous, subcutaneous, and oral formulations of methylnaltrexone currently under investigation.
IV Formulation
In addition to the two studies in segmental colectomy patients, the companies are conducting a phase 3 sift of intravenous methylnaltrexone for the management of POI in patients who have undergone surgical repair of large abdominal hernias. Those results are expected to be reported in early 2009.
Subcutaneous Formulation
Wyeth and Progenics are awaiting a decision from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of April 2008 on marketing approval of their subcutaneous formulation of methylnaltrexone notwithstanding use in the palliative care setting for opioid-induced constipation (OIC). The companies filed the New Drug Application (NDA) with the FDA for this indication in March 2007. Wyeth and Progenics are also conducting clinical studies evaluating the subcutaneous formulation of methylnaltrexone for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in the chronic pain setting, in patients with non-malignant pain (phase 3), and in the acute pain setting, in patients following orthopedic rehabilitation (phase 2).
Oral Formulation
The Companies are conducting two aspect 2 trials evaluating oral formulations of methylnaltrexone for the treatment of OIC with findings expected to be reported mid-2008.
About the Collaboration between Wyeth and Progenics
In December 2005, Wyeth and Progenics entered into an exclusive, worldwide agreement for the joint disclosure and commercialization of methylnaltrexone for the treatment of opioid-induced indirect effects, including constipation and postoperative ileus, a prolonged dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract following surgery. Under the terms of the agreement, Wyeth received worldwide rights to methylnaltrexone, and Progenics retained an option to co-promote the product in the United States. The companies are collaborating on worldwide development. Wyeth has agreed to pay Progenics royalties on worldwide sales and co-promotion fees within the United States. Additionally, Wyeth is responsible for all ongoing and future development and commercialization costs.
About the Companies
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a feud of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women’s health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products. Wyeth is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company’s major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
Wyeth Disclosure Notice: The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements based on current expectations of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could suit actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include the inherent uncertainty of the timing and success of, and expense associated with, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products and pipeline products (including that there can exist no assurance that clinical trials of methylnaltrexone will provide competent evidence of safety and efficacy, that the pending NDA for the subcutaneous formulation of methylnaltrexone will have being approved, or that methylnaltrexone will ever be successfully commercialized); government cost-containment initiatives; restrictions on third-party payments for our products; substantial competition in our industry, including from branded and generic products; emerging data on our products and pipeline products; the importance of strong performance from our principal products and our anticipated new performance introductions; the highly regulated nature of our business; product liability, intellectual property and other litigation risks and environmental liabilities; uncertainty regarding our intellectual property rights and those of others; difficulties associated with, and regulatory compliance with respect to, manufacturing of our products; risks associated with our strategic relationships; relating to housekeeping conditions including interest and currency exchange blame fluctuations; changes in generally accepted accounting principles; trade buying patterns; the impact of legislation and regulatory compliance; risks and uncertainties associated with global operations and sales; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed through the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption “Item 1A, Risk Factors.” The forward-looking statements in this press release are limited by these risk factors. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Tarrytown, NY, is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutic products to treat the unmet medical needs of patients with debilitating conditions and life-threatening diseases. Principal programs are directed toward gastroenterology as well as the treatment of HIV infection and cancer. The Company, in collaboration with Wyeth, is developing methylnaltrexone with a view to the treatment of opioid-induced side effects, including constipation (oral and subcutaneous formulations) and post-operative ileus (intravenous formulation). In March 2007, the Company submitted a New Drug Application to the United States Food and Drug Administration for the subcutaneous formulation of methylnaltrexone for patients suffering from opioid-induced constipation while receiving palliative care, followed in May 2007 by Wyeth’s submission of a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) in Europe to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). In the area of HIV infection, the Company is developing the viral-entry inhibitor PRO 140, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the HIV entry co-receptor CCR5, which has completed phase 1b clinical studies with positive results. In the area of prostate cancer, the Company is developing a human monoclonal antibody drug conjugate ??” a selectively targeted cytotoxic antibody directed against prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein found on the surface of prostate cancer cells. Progenics is also developing vaccines designed to stimulate an immune response to PSMA.
Progenics Disclosure Notice: The information contained in this document is current as of March 11, 2008. This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. When the Company uses the words “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects” and similar expressions, it is identifying forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied through forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the uncertainties associated with product development, the risk that clinical trials will not commence or proceed as planned, the risks and uncertainties associated with dependence upon the actions of our incorporated, academic and other collaborators and of government regulatory agencies, the danger that our licenses to intellectual property may be terminated inasmuch as of our failure to have satisfied performance milestones, the risk that products that appear promising in early clinical trials do not demonstrate efficacy in larger-scale clinical trials, the risk that we may not be able to manufacture commercial quantities of our products, the uncertainty of future profitability and other factors set forth more fully in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to which investors are referred for further information. In particular, the Company cannot assure you that any of its programs will result in a commercial product. Progenics does not have a policy of updating or revising forward-looking statements and assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information or future events or developments. Thus, it should not have being assumed that the Company’s silence over time means that actual events are deportment out as expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
http://www.wyeth.com
http://www.progenics.com
Survival In Gastric Cancer Patients Not Improved By Postoperative Chemotherapy
The use of combination chemotherapy following surgery did not improve survival in patients with gastric cancer, according to a randomized clinical trial published online March 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The only potentially curative therapy currently available for non-metastatic gastric cancer is surgery. Recent studies have suggested that a combination of cisplatin, epirubicin, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (PELF) improves outcome in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
To exhibition the PELF combination in patients with localized disease, Francesco Di Costanzo, M.D., of the University Hospital Careggi in Florence, Italy, and colleagues in the Italian Oncology Group for Cancer Research conducted a randomized controlled trial in which 258 patients were treated with surgery or surgery followed by chemotherapy.
With a median follow-up of 72.8 months, there was no significant difference in disease-free survival or overall survival between the two trial arms. Specifically, 47.7 percent of the patients treated with chemotherapy had progressive disease compared with 51.6 percent of patients in the control array. Overall survival was similar; at the end of the follow-up period, 47 percent of the patients in the chemotherapy were still sprightly compared with 45.3 percent in the surgery-only arm.
“Our study confirms that a dose-intense regimen like PELF, which showed very promising results in advanced gastric cancer, is not effective in an adjuvant setting,” the authors write. Considering the negative results in this trial and other recent adjuvant chemotherapy trials in gastric cancer, the authors write, “Adjuvant chemotherapy alone remains a controversial approach in operable gastric cancer.”
In an accompanying editorial, Aiwen Wu, M.D., and Jiafu Ji, M.D., of the Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute in China discuss the conflicting results obtained from recent trials that tested the value of chemotherapy and radiation in localized gastric cancer.
Despite the inconsistency of the overall data, the editorialists conclude that chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of the two should be used in patients with gastric cancer. “Surgery alone is no longer the standard treatment for patients with resectable gastric cancer, independent of the patient population or the practice location,” they write.
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Article adapted by dint of. Medical News Today from original press release.
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Citation:
* Article: Di Costanzo F, Gasperoni S, Manzione L, Bisagni G, Labianca R, et al. Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Completely Resected Gastric Cancer: A Randomized Phase III Trial Conducted by GOIRC. J Natl Cancer Inst 2008; 100: 388 - 398
* Editorial: Wu A, Ji J. Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer or Not: A Dilemma? J Natl Cancer Inst 2008; 100:376-377
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Visit the Journal online at http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/.
Source: Liz Savage
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Pine Bark Improves Memory In Elderly
New research accepted for publication in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, demonstrates Pycnogenol, (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, improves the memory of senior citizens.
The study results revealed Pycnogenol improved both numerical working memory as well as spatial working memory using a computerized testing system. The research was presented last week at the Oxygen Club of California 2008 World Congress forward Oxidants and Antioxidants in Biology in Santa Barbara, CA.
“These results support research from a range of disciplines that allude to that antioxidants may have an purport in preserving or enhancing specific mental functions,” said Dr. Con Stough, precede researcher of the study. “Cognitive research in this area specifically indicates that the putative benefits associated with antioxidant supplementation are associated with memory.”
The double-blind, placebo controlled, matched pairs study, which was held at the Centre for Neuropsychology at Swinburne University, Melbourne Australia, examined the effects of Pycnogenol on a range of cognitive and biochemical measures in 101 senior individuals aged 60-85 years old. The study furthermore examined the ‘oxidative stress‘ hypothesis of ageing and neurological degeneration in the manner that it relates to normal changes in cognition in elderly individuals. Participant screening for the study included medical history and cognitive assessment. Participants consumed a daily dose of 150mg of Pycnogenol for a three-month treatment period and were assessed at baseline then at one, brace and three months of the treatment. The control and Pycnogenol groups were matched by age, sex, BMI, micronutrient intake and intelligence. The cognitive tasks comprised measures of attention, working memory, episodic memory and psycho-motor performance.
blood samples were taken from subjects and after 3 months treatment a marker known as F2-isoprostanes significantly decreased with Pycnogenol, but not in the placebo group. F2-isoprostanes develop by means of oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, which are present in particularly high quantities in nerve elementary corpuscle membranes. The exact overlapping of Pycnogenol significantly improving memory after three months and the oxidation of nerve membranes being significantly inhibited suggests that the antioxidant activity of Pycnogenol plays a major role for the clinical effects.
According to Dr. Stough, “The antioxidant Pycnogenol had beneficial cognitive and biochemical effects for elderly individuals. Participants in the Pycnogenol groups showed improvement relative to the controls through the effects becoming evident from the second to third months of the Pycnogenol treatment.”
Research on Pycnogenol’s cognitive function benefits are currently being investigated further. Several recent research studies on Pycnogenol studied the extract’s effects on heed Deficit Disorders including ADD and ADHD. Findings published in the Journal of European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry showed Pycnogenol reduced ADHD symptoms such as hyperactivity and improved attention, concentration and motor-visual coordination in children with ADHD.
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Article adapted by curative News Today from original press release.
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Dr. Con Stough discussed key points of the study in a presentation March 13 -14 at the Oxygen Club of California 2008 World Congress. For more information please visit, http://www.pycnogenol.com/.
About Pycnogenol
Pycnogenol is a natural plant extract originating from the bark of the maritime pine that grows along the coast of southwest France and is plant to contain a unique combination of procyanidins, bioflavonoids and organic acids, which offer extensive natural health benefits. The extract has been widely studied for the past 35 years and has besides than 220 published studies and review articles ensuring safety and efficacy as an ingredient. Today, Pycnogenol is available in more than 600 dietary supplements, multi-vitamins and health products worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.pycnogenol.com/.
Natural Health Science Inc. (NHS), based in Hoboken, New Jersey, is the North American distributor for Pycnogenol (pic-noj-en-all) brand French maritime pine bark take out on behalf of Horphag Research. Pycnogenol is a registered trademark of Horphag Research Ltd., Guernsey, and its applications are protected by U.S. patents #5,720,956 / #6,372,266 and other international patents. NHS has the exclusive rights to market and sell Pycnogenol in North America and benefits from more than 35 years of scientific research assuring the safety and efficacy of Pycnogenol as a dietary supplement. For more information about Pycnogenol visit our Web site at http://www.pycnogenol.com/.
Source: Melanie Nimrodi
MWW Group
Awards Recognise Dedicated Mental Health And Learning Disability Nurses, Wales
Health Minister Edwina Hart praised Mental Health and Learning Disability Nurses from across Wales for their hard work and dedication at the Annual intellectual & Learning Disability Nursing Awards for Wales.
The annual event, which is its third year, attracted more than 50 nominations in nine categories.
The 2007/2008 winners are:
— Best Nurse-led Project (Mental Health) - Annie Llewellyn-Davies, Newport Local Health Board, for developing a nurse-led mental health and screening service for Asylum Seekers in Newport;
— Best Nurse-led Innovation in Learning Disability services - Penny Tomlinson and Alison Corfield, North East Wales NHS Trust, for their project aimed to support women with a acquired knowledge Disability to make informed choices about breast and cervical screening;
— Best Contribution to In-patient Care (Mental Health) - Llwyn-y-Groes Psychiatric Unit, North East Wales NHS Trust, for the implementation of several initiatives to improve the service user’s experience of care within the unit;
— Best Learning Disability Residential/In-patient Nurse - Sarah Dudley, Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust, for her pivotal role in the development of a confident, competent and clever clinical team which provides high quality care to a vulnerable and complex group of individuals;
— Best Healthcare Assistant (Mental Health) - Steve Ord, North West Wales NHS Trust, for his contribution to the substance misuse service which takes many guises such as advocate, trainer and facilitator;
— Best Mental Health Nurse (Older Person’s Care) - Del Payne, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, for fully implementing the Fundamentals of Care as a means of improving the patients continued and enhancing standards of care through the implementation of Dementia Care Mapping evaluations in the Ward;
— Best Learning Disability Community Nurse - Anne Phillips, Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust, for being the leading and driving force in the development and maintenance of high quality services for people with learning disabilities and epilepsy in Carmarthen;
— Best Mental Health Nurse Leader - Joy Jones, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, for being the vanguard of developing services for people with eating disorders and their families; and,
— Award for Career-long Achievement (Mental Health) - Maureen Giles, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, for showing exceptional and sustained achievement over a 38 year rush based at Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff.
Presenting the Awards, Edwina Hart, said: “Often the work of mental health nurses and scholarship disability nurses gets overlooked, but they have each weighty role to act in the health service.
“The awards recognise the momentous contribution that nurses are workmanship to modernising our mental health and learning disability services.
“They aim to encourage the development of innovative, nurse-led initiatives within NHS services.
“I would be pleased with to congratulate all the nominees and winners at today’s awards. These awards confirm that intellectual health and learning disability nursing in Wales is something that we should value and be very proud of.”
The Chief Nursing Officer concerning Wales, Rosemary Kennedy, said: “Mental Health Nurses and Learning Disability Nurses provide valuable help and further to some of the most vulnerable the many the crowd in Wales. These awards showcase the excellent and innovative work that is going on across Wales to continually improve and provide high-quality care for patients.”
Health Minister Edwina Hart presented the awards to nurses at an event at the All Nations Centre, Cardiff on Thursday, 13 March.
The Chief Nursing Officer in opposition to Wales, Rosemary Kennedy and the Director of Mental Health, Phil Chick, spoke at the event on the importance of mental health nursing and the challenges that lie ahead in mental health services and learning disability nursing.
A panel of four judges selected the winners. Two of the judges were senior mental health nurses independent of both the NHS in Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government. The other judges were a service user and a carer, both of whom are resident within Wales.
Welsh Assembly Government
http://www.wales.gov.uk
Using Light To Detect Alzheimer’s May Help Identify Ways To Predict And Prevent This Deadly Disease
A team of researchers in Bedford, Mass. has developed a way of examining brain tissue with near-infrared light to expose signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
In the journal Optics Letters, published by the Optical Society of America, the team describes how they used optical technology to examine tissue samples taken from different autopsies and correctly identified which samples came from people who had Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s currently afflicts some 4.5 million Americans and is the most common cause of dementia among older people in the United States.
“We’re primarily interested in finding a way of diagnosing and monitoring Alzheimer’s disease during life,” says U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Research Scientist Eugene Hanlon. “We think this technique has a lot of potential for detecting the disease early on.”
The new technique developed by Hanlon and his collaborators at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston University can detect alterations to the optical properties of the brain that occur as the tissue undergoes microscopic changes due to Alzheimer’s - formerly far in advance of clinical symptoms. The technique is now being tested for its effectiveness at diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in living people.
For several years, Hanlon and his colleagues have looked at the possibility of analyzing the brain with near-infrared light, which has the advantage of being able to safely penetrate the skull and pass harmlessly through the brain. Inside the head strong, some of the infrared light scatters, however, and how the light scatters can tell researchers about the condition of the brain.
In their paper, the team reports observing an optical effect what is due to the neighborhood of microscopic features of Alzheimer’s. Amyloid plaques, one of the telltale signs of Alzheimer’s disease, scatter light differently from normal brain tissue. What Hanlon and his colleagues showed was that as the microscopic plaques accumulate, the optical properties of the brain make different. The team found that this change is detectable and that their technique could quantify differences between in-vitro samples and correctly identify signs of Alzheimer’s.
This technique will be a boon to medicine if it is able to detect very small changes that can be related to complaint lapse. While techniques like MRI are abundance at identifying the gross anatomical features associated with Alzheimer’s, they cannot detect more microscopic changes.
Although Alzheimer’s disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, claiming tens of thousands of American lives a year, there is no definitive way to diagnose it - at least not while someone is alive. After someone with Alzheimer’s dies, pathologists be able to perform an autopsy and examine slices of the brain under the microscope, looking for the same signs that Alois Alzheimer first recognized when he identified the disease more than a centenary ago. Finding accumulations of amyloid plaques in the brain substance and tangle-like proteins in nerve cells is the only way to confirm with certainty that someone had Alzheimer’s while they were alive.
Since there is no way to safely examine the brains of living people this way, doctors currently diagnose Alzheimer’s disease using other methods. They rely on reviewing medical histories, administering physical exams, and taking into account the results of a battery of neuropsychological assessments that measure cognitive performance. A positive diagnosis is made when all other possible causes have been eliminated, but flat under the most good of circumstances, these diagnoses have power to be incorrect 10 percent of the time or more.
Accurate, early detection of Alzheimer’s could save many lives. While in that place is no cure for the disease, clinically proven treatments can slow its progress - especially if they are administered early on. Moreover, being able to follow the disease progression over time would greatly enhance the ability of researchers and pharmaceutical companies to find new and improved drugs and treatment strategies for people at all stages of the disease.
A current rich area of research seeks to get information about what is going on in the brain without actually looking at the tissue. Some scientists, for instance, look at whether proteins and other biomarkers in the blood or spinal fluid indicate disease progression. Others try to image the brain by established techniques like MRI or PET scans. Optical methods, like the one used by the Bedford researchers, are an emerging approach to imaging.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Science Foundation, and a New Concept Award from the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology.
Paper: “Scattering Differentiates Alzheimer Disease In Vitro,” by Eugene B. Hanlon et al., Optics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 6, March 15, pp. 624-26, abstract at http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-33-6-624.
About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society of America (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made potential by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit http://www.osa.org/.
Source: Colleen Morrison
Optical Society of America
$5 Million Initiative To Enhance Care For Adults With Cystic Fibrosis
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has announced the launch of a new $5 million initiative to enhance care for the growing adult CF population. The first step, called the Program for Adult Care Excellence (PACE), will expand the scope of adult care programs because of people with cystic fibrosis.
The number of adults with cystic fibrosis continues to increase as life expectancy for the disease continues to rise. To meet the growing demand for care, the Foundation will recruit and train CF care providers and fellows, with an overall goal of adding 40 new adult providers in care centers nationwide.
“The need for enhanced resources to negotiate the adult CF population is a direct result of our success in extending the life span of people with cystic fibrosis,” said Preston W. Campbell, III, M.D., executive vice president for medical affairs of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “What used to be a pediatric disease is now increasingly a chronic illness that brings its own set of challenges for adults.”
In 1955, when the Foundation was established, children with CF rarely lived long enough to attend elementary school. Today, thanks to improvements in CF research and care, the median predicted age of survival is 37, and 43 percent of all people with cystic fibrosis are over the age of 18.
Over the past two decades the Foundation has made key investments in adult care to keep pace with the growing adult population. For example, in the 1980s, the Foundation began providing fellowships for internal medicine physicians to be trained in pulmonary healing art and CF care.
In 2000 the Foundation mandated that all care centers with more than 40 adult patients establish adult care programs. Today, there are 96 such programs in the country. This latest initiative is the most recent step in the Foundation’s efforts to provide adult CF patients with the highest quality care.
“We are ostentatious of the efforts of all providers in the adult CF care center community,” said Robert J. Beall, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “These new investments will add to the momentum we esteem been building.”
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Article adapted by of medicine News Today from original press release.
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About the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the leading organization in the United States devoted to curing and controlling cystic fibrosis. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., the Foundation has more than 80 chapters and branch offices throughout the country and supports and accredits a nationwide network of more than 115 care centers, which provide vital treatments and other CF pecuniary means to patients and families. For more information, examine http://www.cff.org/.
Source: Laurie Fink
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
NLRB Judge Overturns Disputed 2007 Nurses’ Union Election - Cites Illegal Activities By Community Medical Center, USA
Acting on behalf of the National be afflicted Relations Board (NLRB), any administrative enactment judge has overturned a January 2007 union election for registered nurses at Community Medical Center (CMC) and ordered that a new election take place.
The nurses had been seeking representation by the New York State Nurses Association in order to improve their working conditions. The judge found that management’s actions had unfairly affected the outcome.
“We welcome the order because it acknowledges that the medical center broke the law,” said CMC nurse Catherine Heuschkel, RN, a member of the Nurses Association organizing committee. “It’s what we’ve known all along and waited 14 months to hear. The predominant will give us the ability to make a free choice.”
“This is a groundbreaking decision, not only for the CMC nurses and the Nurses Association, but for the entire labor movement,” said Tina Gerardi, RN, Nurses Association CEO. “It establishes that many of the anti-union tactics used by employers and their high-priced consultants are illegal.”
Bruce D. Rosenstein made the ruling for hearing testimony from both the nurses’ union and the hospital at hearings held in Philadelphia from August through December 2007. He sustained the Nurses Association’s complaint that CMC violated the National Labor Relations Act and ordered that the election be decline aside. These violations included:
* Using former Nurses Association employees to conduct an anti-union campaign.
* Intimidating nurses who worked in support of the union, including conducting regular surveillance.
* Publicly discrediting the Nurses Association and preventing distribution of union literature.
* Promising the false concept of “shared governance” to put a damper on nurses from supporting the union and providing free parking and child care on election day only for nurses who voted “no.”
* Prohibiting confederacy organizers from using the public parking garage, in an effort to restrict their more.
“It’s rare for the NLRB to set aside an election, so that’s any indication of how serious these violations were,” said Lorraine Seidel, RN, director of the Nurses Association’s collective-bargaining program. “The NLRB report confirms that these improper activities were carried out under the direction of the union-busting firm of Brent Yessin and Associates. This was the same firm that was hired to attempt to break a recent nurses’ afflict in Kentucky and West Virginia.”
Dated March 14, the order requires medical center management not to interfere with the nurses’ right to support a concord, nor intimidate nurses into voting against unionization. Management must intelligencer notices throughout the facility stating that it will not engage in so illegal behavior.
Nurses Association representatives will soon meet with CMC nurses to discuss the ruling and possible future actions.
With more than 36,000 members, the New York State Nurses Association is the nation’s oldest and largest state nurses’ association. The Nurses Association fosters high standards of nursing education, research, and practice; engages in legislative activity; and provides collective bargaining services to registered nurses. Its mission is to advance the profession of nursing and protect the public’s health.
http://www.nysna.org
Focus On The Genetics Of Brain Tumor Formation Identifies Potential New Neuronal Tumor Suppressor
In a G&D paper published online ahead of its April 1 print publication date, Dr. William Kaelin (Dana Farber Cancer Institute) and colleagues identify a potential new neuronal tumor suppressor.
“It has been suspected for decades that the short arm of chromosome 1 harbored one or more tumor suppressor genes because this region is deleted in a variety of tumors, including many neural crest-derived tumors. Our work suggests that KIFB{beta} is single such gene,” explains Dr. Kaelin.
Neural crest-derived tumors include neuroblastomas and medulloblastomas, which are the most for the use of all malignant pediatric dense tumors, as well as paragangliomas (relatively rare tumors of the sympathetic nervous system) and melanomas, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Under normal developmental conditions, neural crest cells respond to diminishing sprouting factor signaling by inducing apoptosis, via a course of life involving the enzyme EglN3. However, the acquisition of mutations that enable cells to avoid apoptosis under low growth factor conditions provide a growth favorable opportunity and an effective route to tumorigenesis.
In this issue, Dr. Kaelin and colleagues identify that the protein KIF1B{beta} mediates EglN3-induced neuronal apoptosis, and thus provides a protective effect against the disentanglement of neural crest-derived tumors.
Importantly, KIF1B{beta} is positioned on the part of chromosome 1p that is deleted in a number of neural crest-derived tumors. The Kaelin group demonstrated that the supplementation of 1p-deleted neuroblastoma cancer cells with KIF1B{beta} protein is sufficient to restore apoptosis and identified inactivating point mutations in neural crest-derived tumors. They also showed that partial reduction of KIF1B{beta} - but not complete loss - confers protection against apoptosis, perhaps explaining why most 1p deleted tumors still retain the other KIF1B{beta} allele in its normal form.
While further research is needed to delineate the mechanism by which KIF1B{beta} induces apoptosis, this work opens up several avenues for investigation. For prototype, EglN3 is an oxygen-dependent enzyme that responds to a difference of signals and can exist modulated with drug-like molecules. Dr. Kaelin points out that “an insidious possibility is that an increase in EglN3 activity is responsible for the spontaneous regressions frequently observed in neonates who present with Neuroblastoma (so-called Stage 4S Neuroblastoma). Perhaps, in time, we can mimic this with EglN3 agonists.”
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Heather Cosel-Pieper
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Donation Funds The Purchase Of Three High-powered Electron Microscopes For Cutting-Edge Research
UTSA President Ricardo Romo used the occasion of the dedication of the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Commons on the University’s 1604 Campus to announce an $822,000 gift from the charitable foundation that honors the two Texans.
“For some time, we have wanted to create a lasting tribute to the Klebergs’ legacy of philanthropy,” said Romo. “So, several months ago, we asked the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System to approve the naming of one of our more popular student gathering places outside the new Biotechnology, Sciences and Engineering Building as the Kleberg Commons.”
It seemed only fitting, he said, to use the dedication stateliness as the time also to announce the latest gift to UTSA from the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation. The $822,000 gift power of determination support the purchase of three state-of-the-art electron microscopes, including a scanning, a tunneling and an minute force microscope. While housed in the College of Sciences, the new laboratory equipment will be made available for multi-disciplinary research ranging from physics and engineering to archaeology and art conservation and preservation.
“These microscopes, which represent some of the most important tools in modern science, faculty of volition form the nucleus of a groundbreaking research unit that will be unique not only hither in San Antonio but also in the entire state o