#Cancer drug helps some women get pregnant A new fertility drug, originally developed to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer,
is 30 percent more effective in helping some women become pregnant than one used for more than 40 years, new research shows.
For a study published in the New england Journal of Medicine, researchers at seven different academic centers recruited 750 couples to compare the long-used fertility drug clomiphene citrate, commonly called clomid, to letrozole.
Of the 376 women who were given clomid, 72 became pregnant and gave birth. Of the 374 women who took letrozole
103 gave birth. etrozole works better, has about the same cost, has fewer side effects, and has a slightly lower twin rate than clomid,
director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at University of Florida. lomid has been available for fertility treatment for more than 40 years,
Clomid is prescribed often to women with polycystic ovary syndrome as a first step in their treatmentnd that population accounts for about a third of women who seek fertility treatment
Neither the doctor nor the patient knew which drug the patient was receiving. Clomid works by traveling to the brain, where it partially blocks estrogen receptors.
Christman says. his study indicates that there is a safe and effective medical treatment to help infertility patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome,
#Vaccine triggers alarm to fight dust mite allergy A new vaccine uses a booster normally found in cancer vaccines to combat dust-mite allergies by naturally switching the body immune response.
In animal tests, the nano-sized vaccine package lowered lung inflammation by 83 percent, despite repeated exposure. hat is new about this is we have developed a vaccine against dust-mite allergens that hasn been used before,
says Aliasger Salem, professor in pharmaceutical sciences at University of Iowa and a corresponding author of the paper.
Preying on skin cells on the body, the mites trigger allergies and breathing difficulties among 45 percent of those who suffer from asthma, according to some studies.
and holds no guarantee of success. Alleviate mite-induced asthma ur research explores a novel approach to treating mite allergy in
which specially-encapsulated miniscule particles are administered with sequences of BACTERIAL DNA that direct the immune system to suppress allergic immune responses,
public health professor and a contributing author of the paper. his work suggests a way forward to alleviate mite-induced asthma in allergy sufferers.
The vaccine takes advantage of the body natural inclination to defend itself against foreign bodies.
The booster has been used successfully in cancer vaccines but never had been tested as a vaccine for dust-mite allergies.
Put broadly, Cpg sets off a fire alarm within the body, springing immune cells into action.
theye also taking in the vaccine, which has been added to the package, much like your mother may have wrapped a bitter pill around something tasty to get you to swallow it.
In another twist, combining the antigen (the vaccine) and Cpg causes the body to change its immune response,
The National institutes of health and the American Cancer Society partly funded the research. Source: University of Iow S
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls insufficient sleep an epidemic and says it linked to vehicle crashes, industrial disasters,
and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. The researchers conducted experiments to gauge the effect of insufficient sleep on memory.
The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is among the world deadliest pathogens. Malaria is spread mainly by the bite of infected mosquitoes
and is most common in Africa. In 2012 an estimated 207 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide, leading to 627,000 deaths, according to the World health organization.
Resistance to drug treatments is spreading among the parasite many strains, and researchers are working hard to find new drug targets.
professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology and a Howard hughes medical institute investigator at Washington University studies how malaria affects red blood cells.
#Loss of sleep after divorce can spike blood pressure Divorce-related sleep problems may be partly to blame for significant health problems,
and it is these people that are particularly susceptible to health problems. Published in the journal Health Psychology, the new paper looks at 138 people who had separated physically from
People who have persistent difficulties sleeping after a divorce may address the issue by seeking out cognitive behavioral therapy,
#How a missile detector can stop malaria in its tracks Scientists have found a new use for an antitank Javelin missile detector:
published in the journal Analyst, could set a new gold standard for malaria testing. MISSILES AND PARASITES The heat-seeking detector,
a test that can catch malaria at its early stages is critical. ur test detects malaria at its very early stages,
so that doctors can stop the disease in its tracks before it takes hold and kills.
We believe this sets the gold standard for malaria testing, Wood says. here are some excellent tests that diagnose malaria.
However, the sensitivity is limited and the best methods require hours of input from skilled microscopists,
and that a problem in developing countries where malaria is most prevalent, he adds. FOUR-MINUTE COUNT DOWN As well as being highly sensitive,
the new test has a number of advantagest gives an automatic diagnosis within four minutes,
Penn State Embedded journalists offer dark view of Afghan war The disease, which is caused by the malaria parasite, kills 1. 2 million people every year.
However the parasites can be difficult to detect in the early stages of infection. As a result the disease is spotted often only when the parasites have developed
and multiplied in the body. Professor Leann Tilley from the University of Melbourne says the test could make an impact in large-scale screening of malaria parasite carriers who do not present the classic fever-type symptoms associated with the disease. n many countries only
people who display signs of malaria are treated. But the problem with this approach is that some people don have typical flu-like symptoms associated with malaria,
and this means a reservoir of parasites persists that can reemerge and spread very quickly within a community,
she says. ur test works because it can detect the malaria parasite at the very early stages
professor of epidemiology at Johns hopkins university. his research points out the areas that need improvement. It also reminds us that there are many forces threatening to push stroke rates back up and,
OBESITY AND STROKE Coresh says he worries what the obesity epidemic which began in the 1990s,
As millions more people are diagnosed with hypertension and diabeteshich often go hand-in-hand with obesityhey will face increased risk for stroke,
For the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study,
The research team looked for all stroke hospitalizations and deaths from then to the end of 2011.
An increase in diabetes likely acted in the opposite direction, however, pushing stroke rates back up to some extent.
but a leading cause of long-term disability in adults. Therefore, prevention is the best strategy,
#2 drugs work better than 1 to stop cancer A new combination drug dramatically slows tumor growth in mice with few side effects.
either individually or together. y combining the two molecules into one we got much greater potency against several diseases and completely unique effects in terms of blocking tumor growth and metastasis. LUNG AND BREAST TUMORS Both
which has long been associated with inflammation, cell migration, proliferation, hypertension, and other processes. COX inhibitors block production of inflammatory and pain-inducing lipids,
They then tested it against human lung and breast tumors, both in vitro and in mice.
This reduced lung and breast tumor growth by 70 to 83 percent. MINIMAL SIDE EFFECTS his represents a new mechanism to control blood vessel and tumor growth,
Hammock says, who notes that there were minimal side effects, including no cardiovascular or gastrointestinal effects. his is particularly important
Though the research was focused exclusively on cancer, the dual compound could benefit other conditions, such as macular degeneration,
Hammock says. f we move beyond cancer, this drug combination could block a number of pathologies,
ranging from cardiac hypertrophy to neuropathic pain. The compound looks quite powerful for a number of conditions.
Other researchers from UC Davis and UC San diego contributed to the study
#Depression can be deadly for older Americans Older adults in the US who suffer from major depression face a 43 percent increased risk of death, especially from cardiovascular disease or cancer, according to a new study. here a major link
between major depression and mortality. Taking all these other health behaviors out of it, you can continue to find this unique relationship between depression
This includes findings that major depression was associated with 2. 68 times the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among those who did not have cardiovascular disease at the baseline.
He says related research has suggested major depression may have a physiological effect on blood pressure or arterial tightening that can cause cardiovascular disease. t physiologically important
Saint Onge says. ut increasing rates of depression among the elderly pose continued health risks, beyond suicide.
and disobeying doctorsrecommendations for treatment that lead to long-term health problems. It also could help he says,
#Oral med wakes up retinal cells so kids can see Tests of a new oral medication show the drug can improve vision in children with an inherited disease that can cause complete blindness
and is currently untreatable. his is the first time that an oral drug has improved the visual function of blind patients with LCA (Leber congenital amaurosis),
says Robert Koenekoop, professor of human genetics, pediatric surgery, and ophthalmology at Mcgill University. t is giving hope to many patients who suffer from this devastating retinal degeneration.
Published in the Lancet, the study involved 14 participants from around the world with LCA ranging in age from 6 to 38 years old.
Their blindness was caused by either mutations in the genes RPE65 or LRAT, leading to a serious defect in the retinoid cycle.
which was funded by QLT Inc, the Foundation Fighting Blindness Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé,
and the Montreal Children Hospital Foundation n
#Cell discovery could lead to strep throat vaccine A new study clarifies how Group A Streptococcus (strep) bacteria resist the human immune system.
The research could eventually lead to the development of a safe vaccine against strep throat, necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating disease),
and rheumatic heart disease. Previous efforts to develop a strep throat vaccine had resulted in immune system reactions that caused other diseases such as rheumatic fever
and heart damage, says co-lead author Jason Cole of the University of Queensland School of Chemistry
and Molecular Biosciences. e have discovered genes that make up the cell wall of the strep bacteria, which is composed mainly of the group A carbohydrate or GAC,
The group A carbohydrate was thought previously to play a largely structural role in the bacteria cell walls. e have confirmed now that it actually plays a critical role in how the bacteria resist the immune response. his may trigger diseases such as rheumatic heart disease,
which has hindered the development of a safe vaccine. ased on this information, we are now able to produce a modified group A carbohydrate for further vaccine studies,
avoiding previous safety concerns associated with a strep vaccine. Strep throat is responsible for more than 700 million infections and 500
000 deaths each year. The study appears online in Cell Host & Microbe. University of Queensland Professor Mark Walker, in collaboration with Emory University and University of California, San diego, are working on additional preclinical testing of the modified vaccine.
Walker says the preclinical trials were designed to demonstrate that the vaccine was safe and effective before proceeding to human clinical trials.
The University of California, San diego Program in Excellence in Glycosciences, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust,
and The netherlands Organization for Scientific research supported the work. Source: University of Queenslan
#Common virus targets triple-negative breast cancer A virus not known to cause disease kills triple-negative breast cancer cells
and killed tumors grown from these cells in mice, report researchers. Understanding how the virus kills cancer may lead to new treatments.
Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) infects humans but is known not to cause sickness. In prior studies, the researchers tested the virus on a variety of breast cancers that represent degrees of aggressiveness and on human papillomavirus-positive cervical cancer cells.
The virus initiated apoptosisatural cell deathn cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. TRIPLE-NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER reatment of breast cancer remains difficult
because there are multiple signaling pathways that promote tumor growth and develop resistance to treatment, says Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine.
Signaling pathways involve molecules in a cell that control cell functionsuch as cell divisiony cooperation.
For example, the first molecule in the process receives a signal to begin. It then tells another molecule to work, and so on.
Treatment of breast cancer differs by patient due to differences in tumors. Some tumors contain protein receptors that are activated by the hormones estrogen or progesterone.
Others respond to another protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2. Each of these is treated differently.
A triple-negative breast cancer does not have any of these protein receptors and is typically aggressive. here is an urgent and ongoing need for the development of novel therapies
which efficiently target triple-negative breast cancers, Meyers says. DAY BY DAY RESULTS In the current study, the researchers tested AAV2 on a cell-line representative of triple-negative breast cancer.
They report their results in Cancer Biology & Therapy. The AAV2 killed 100 percent of the cells in the laboratory by activating proteins called caspases,
AAV2 mediated cell killing of multiple breast cancer cell lines representing both low and high grades of cancer
The researchers then injected AAV2 into human breast cancer cell line-derived tumors in mice without functioning immune systems.
Tumor sizes decreased in the treated mice, areas of cell death were visible and all AAV2 treated mice survived through the study,
since tumor necrosisr deathn response to therapy is used also as the measure of an effective chemotherapeutic,
Other researchers on this project contributed from Penn State, PPD Vaccines and Biologics Laboratory, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research,
and Central Michigan University college of Medicine r
#Lab-on-a-chip tracks down most wanted microbe A diagnostic tool that about the size of a credit card has identified a highly prized gut microbe.
They then grew a pure culture of this single organism in the lab. An early guess is that this particular microbe may be linked to obesity and fatty liver disease
and could ultimately aid in finding a potential probiotic therapy. Grow the needle without the hay
a jumbled-up assortment of bacteria species collected from a colonoscopy biopsys added to the interconnected channels of the Slipchip,
says Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford university. The first problem was that laboratories were not set up to reliably carry out the CLARITY process.
and also to probe the origins of brain diseases. CLEARING OUT THE FAT When you look at the brain
Many groups have begun to apply CLARITY to probe brains donated from people who had diseases like epilepsy or autism
and eventually treat the disease. But scientists, including Deisseroth, had been wary of trying electrophoretic CLARTY on these valuable clinical samples with even a very low risk of damage. t a rare and precious donated sample,
#Living near pesticides in pregnancy ups autism risk University of California Davis rightoriginal Studyposted by Phyllis Brown-UC Davis on June 23 2014pregnant women living
in close proximity to chemical pesticide application had a two-thirds higher risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay according to a new study.
and carbamates applied during the study participants pregnancies and later diagnoses of autism and developmental delay in their offspring.
##This study validates the results of earlier research that has reported associations between having a child with autism
and may pose threats to brain development during gestation potentially resulting in developmental delay or autism.
and linking the data to the residential addresses of approximately 1000 participants in the Northern California-based Childhood Risk of Autism from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study.
The study includes families with children between two and five diagnosed with autism or developmental delay or with typical development.
whose children developed autism or had delayed cognitive or other skills.####The researchers found that during the study period approximately one-third of CHARGE Study participants lived in close proximityâ##within 1. 25 to 1. 75 kilometersâ##of commercial pesticide application sites.
Organophosphates applied over the course of pregnancy were associated with an elevated risk of autism spectrum disorder particularly for chlorpyrifos applications in the second trimester.
Pyrethroids were associated moderately with autism spectrum disorder immediately prior to conception and in the third trimester.
##Research from the CHARGE Study has emphasized the importance of maternal nutrition during pregnancy particularly the use of prenatal vitamins to reduce the risk of having a child with autism.
#Drug cocktail might help diabetics make insulin Combining two different medications could help patients with Type 1 diabetes at least partially regain the ability to produce their own insulin.
For a new study, Michael Haller, an endocrinologist at University of Florida, looked for problematic cells of the immune system that could be behind a patient inability to produce insulin
a drug designed to improve the lives of people with certain forms of cancer, to stimulate the production of new
Haller treated 17 adult Type 1 diabetes patients for two weeks with the cocktail therapy and then followed them for a year.
Haller presented his findings this month at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San francisco. PROFOUND RESULTS Conventional diabetes wisdom says that within just a few months of the onset of Type 1 diabetes,
says Mark Atkinson, a co-investigator of the study and member of the department of pathology,
immunology, and laboratory medicine. That the treatment seemed to stimulate insulin production in people with established Type 1 diabetes made the researchers autiously optimistic,
Atkinson says. he results that Dr. Haller saw in his first study are profound. Another new aspect of the study is worked that it with patients who had been diagnosed long with the disease.
Typically, studies examine patients who are diagnosed newly and still have a reasonable number of beta cells producing insulin.
The patients in Haller study had been living with Type 1 diabetes between four months and two years. he model has mostly been to test therapies aimed at beta cell preservation in people who have just been diagnosed,
Haller says. ut obviously, the majority of patients living with the disease have been living with the disease for a long time,
so people become disenfranchised from the research process. Wee interested in making life better for these patients.
COMBINATION THERAPIES Atkinson began considering Thymoglobulin as a treatment for diabetes nearly a decade ago.
He and fellow co-investigator Desmond Schatz, associate chairman of the department of pediatrics, authored a paper advocating a combination approach to treating Type 1 diabetes.
Based on Schatz belief in combination therapies, the group began shepherding a cocktail of Thymoglobulin and Neulasta through early studies done with mouse models. espite tremendous strides in our understanding of the natural history of Type
1 diabetes we are as yet unable to cure and prevent the disease, Schatz says. his study is a step in that direction, toward a biological cure.
The patients in Haller study will be followed for three to five years to see if their bodies will preserve the insulin-producing beta cells.
The researchersnext step will be to recruit patients who have been diagnosed newly with the disease to conduct a larger trial.
Haller says he hopes the approach will help patients manage their disease more easily. f we can confirm the results in a larger effort,
the study could potentially be paradigm-shifting for our field in that it documents we should really be looking at combination therapies in treating Type 1 diabetes,
Haller says. ur ultimate goal is to prevent and cure this disease, but we have to crawl before we walk,
and walk before we run. This study is an important step forward in our efforts to make life easier for patients with Type 1 diabetes. k
#Starvation diet puts worm lifespan on pause Duke university rightoriginal Studyposted by Marla Broadfoot-Duke on June 20 2014the centuries-long search for the fountain of youth has yielded only a few promising leads one
Sherwood s colleague Ryan Baugh an assistant professor of medicine showed that hatching C. elegans eggs in a nutrient-free environment shut down their development completely.
not only for aging but also for cancer says Sherwood. One of the biggest mysteries in cancer is how cancer cells metastasize early
and then lie dormant for years before reawakening. My guess is that the pathways in worms that are arresting these cells
and waking them up again are going to be the same pathways that are in human cancer metastases.
The American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship Award and the National institutes of health supported the research. Source: Duke Universityyou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivs 3. 0 Unported license n
#Electronic eye sensor watches out for glaucoma Researchers have designed a high-tech, low-power sensor that can be placed permanently in a person eye to track hard-to-measure changes in pressure
and monitor for diseases like glaucoma. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract surgery
and would detect pressure changes instantaneously, then transmit the data wirelessly using radio frequency waves. o one has ever put electronics inside the lens of the eye,
If you can fit this sensor device into an intraocular lens implant during cataract surgery it won require any further surgery for patients.
The research team wanted to find an easy way to measure eye pressure for management of glaucoma,
a group of diseases that damage the eye optic nerve and can cause blindness. Right now there are two ways to check eye pressure,
but both require a visit to the ophthalmologist. At most, patients at risk for glaucoma may only get their pressure checked several times a year,
says Tueng Shen, a collaborator and professor of ophthalmology. MARTERLENSES But if ophthalmologists could insert a pressure monitoring system in the eye with an artificial lens during cataract surgeryow a common procedure performed on 3 million to 4 million people each year to remove blurry vision
or glare caused by a hazy lenshat could save patients from a second surgery and essentially make their replacement lens marterand more functional. he implementation of the monitoring device has to be well-suited clinically
and must be designed to be simple and reliable, Shen says. e want every surgeon who does cataract surgeries to be able to use this.
As reported in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, researchers built a prototype that uses radio frequency for wireless power and data transfer.
A thin, circular antenna spans the perimeter of the deviceoughly tracing a person irisnd harnesses enough energy from the surrounding field to power a small pressure sensor chip.
The chip communicates with a close-by receiver about any shifts in frequency which signify a change in pressure.
The team has tested successfully the sensing device embedded in the same flexible silicon material that used to create artificial lenses in cataract surgeries.
This increased intraocular pressure is the main factor in glaucoma, which causes vision loss and ultimately blindness. ftentimes damage to vision is noticed late in the game,
and we can treat patients effectively by the time they are diagnosed with glaucoma, Shen says. r, if medications are given,
there no consistent way to check their effectiveness. As a result many patients with the disease aren diagnosed early enough
or aren on an accurate treatment plan. Both cataracts and glaucoma affect a similar aging population
so it seems a natural pairing to place a pressure monitoring device in a new lens during cataract surgery.
MAKING IT COST-EFFECTIVE The team is working on downscaling the prototype to be tested in an actual artificial lens.
patients and surgeons would be really eager to adopt it. The researchers, including Brian Otis, associate professor of electrical engineering and also of Google Inc,
The device controls blood sugar in patients with type 1 diabetes using doses of both insulin
prevent hypoglycemia and automatically adapt to the very different needs of adultsome of whom were very insulin-sensitivend adolescents,
says principal investigator and senior author Edward Damiano of the Boston University department of biomedical engineering. here no current standard-of-care therapy that could match the results we saw. ne of the key virtues of this device is its ability to start controlling the blood sugar instantly,
Damiano, and El-Khatib previously published a 2010 Science Translational Medicine report that described successful use of the first-generation system in controlling the blood sugar of adults for 27 hours.
But that study took place in a controlled hospital inpatient environment where participants essentially stayed in bed for the whole period
contracting a typical illness like a cold or upset stomach can dramatically change the need for insulin over a period of days to weeks.
BETTER CONTROL Both of the studies reported in the New england Journal of Medicine paper compared data reflecting five days on the bionic pancreas system with five days of participantsusual care using their own insulin pumps.
They were accompanied by a study nurse 24 hours a day and slept in a hotel,
The adolescent trial enrolled 32 participants, ages 12 to 20, attending a camp for young people with type 1 diabetes,
while the incidents of low blood sugar also dropped. he fear of hypoglycemia can limit attempts to bring the average blood sugar into the range that dramatically reduces the risk of long-term complications,
Fewer instances of hypoglycemia on the bionic pancreas also reduced the need for carbohydrate doses to raise blood sugar.
OT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT DIABETES 24/7damiano, whose 15-year-old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 11 months,
explains what having a device like this could mean to patients. he most practical difference would be not having to think about diabetes 24/7,
not having to constantly make decisions about things that those of us without type 1 never have to think about. nother real problem that would be relieved is the fearear of going to bed at night
but still had significant episodes of hypoglycemia. nd another extremely frustrating aspect of diabetes that would be eliminated completely by this device is the enormous sense of failure
and provide a bridge to the often-promised but still elusive cure for type 1 diabetes.
the University of Massachusetts Medical center in Worcester, the University of North carolina at Chapel hill, and Stanford Universitynd will begin on June 16 at MGH.
/The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney diseases, the Helmsley Charitable trust, and the Charlton Fund for Innovative Research in Diabetes supported the study.
Several members of the research team have been issues or applied for patents related to the development of the bionic pancreas.
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