many examiners are prone to assess normal variations as injuries from trauma. n the other hand,
eliminating the added stress for children of having to testify in court. Telehealth offers support and built-in peer review for nurses, physicians,
It also has the potential to inspect food and even scan for tumors. Junichiro Kono a physicist at Rice university says the potential to replace magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology in screening for cancer
and other diseases is one of the most exciting possible applications. The potential improvements in size ease cost and mobility of a terahertz-based detector are phenomenal Kono says.
With this technology you could conceivably design a handheld terahertz detection camera that images tumors in real time with pinpoint accuracy.
And it could be done without the intimidating nature of MRI technology. Because terahertz waves are much smaller in energy than visible light finding materials that absorb
in which immune system decline contributes to increased susceptibility to disease as we age. By outlining how prolonged fasting cycleseriods of no food for two to four days at a time over the course of six monthsill older and damaged immune cells
Prolonged fasting also lowered levels of IGF-1, a growth-factor hormone that Longo and others have linked to aging, tumor progression,
and cancer risk. KA is the key gene that needs to shut down in order for these stem cells to switch into regenerative mode.
assistant professor of clinical medicine at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital. ore clinical studies are needed,
The V Foundation and the National Cancer Institute of the National institutes of health funded the clinical trails I
Studies of stroke injury in rodents have noted SVZ cells apparently migrating into the neighboring striatum.
They reported that interestingly in Huntington disease patients, this area seems to lack the newborn interneurons. his is a very important and relevant cell population that is controlling those stem cells,
and stem cell treatments after a brain injury to rebuild some of the damage. The questions ahead are both upstream from the new Chat+neurons and downstream,
and punches its way into cells Researchers have discovered how the deadly Ebola virus disease that many fear may be used for bioterrorismmashes its way into healthy cells and turns them into virus factories.
and also identifies an important target to block the infection process. After Ebola is engulfed by the cell,
The result is a remarkable new understanding of Ebola infection. By understanding the process, researchers say they are significantly closer to being able to stop Eboland perhaps other viruses with similar structures as well. nce you have visualized the molecular shape changes that these structures undergo upon cell entry,
and deep brain stimulators that are used to treat Parkinson disease. The magnetic fields in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often disrupt either the function or safety of implanted electrical devices.
and monitor brain disease and therapy. Portable scans Another commonly used method for mapping brain function is positron emission tomography (PET),
multiple scans performed over time could be used to monitor the progress of patients treated for brain injuries, developmental disorders such as autism,
and other diseases. Unlike fmri and PET, DOT technology is designed to be portable, so it could be used at a patient bedside
Researchersinterests in these networks have grown enormously over the past decade as the networks have been tied to many different aspects of brain health and sickness, such as schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer disease.
The National institutes of health, Autism Speaks, a Fulbright Science and Technology Phd Award, and a Mcdonnell Centre for Systems neuroscience grant funded the research s
#How an app might help screen kids for autism A new video analysis tool may help spot early signs of autism.
tracks and records infantsactivity during videotaped autism screening tests. Results show the program is as effective at spotting behavioral markers of autism as experts giving the test themselves,
and the software performs better than non-expert medical clinicians and students in training. ee not trying to replace the experts,
a graduate student in computer and electrical engineering at Duke university. ee trying to transfer the knowledge of the relatively few autism experts available into classrooms and homes across the country.
because research has shown that early intervention can greatly impact the severity of the symptoms common in autism spectrum disorders.
THREE TESTS The study focused on three behavioral tests that can help identify autism in very young children.
GENERAL PRACTITIONERS he great benefit of the video and software is for general practitioners who do not have trained the eye to look for subtle early warning signs of autism
says Amy Esler, an assistant professor of pediatrics and autism researcher at the University of Minnesota,
which will appear online in the journal Autism Research and Treatment. he software has the potential to automatically analyze a child eye gaze, walking patterns,
which connects researchers from disparate fields to experts in computer programming to help analyze large data sets. ee currently working with autism experts at Duke Medicine to determine what sorts of easy tests could be used on just a computer
The research has shown that the earlier autism can be spotted, the more beneficial intervention can be.
the brain is open to infection, inflammation, and hemorrhage. Ischemic stroke patients are at risk of bleeding into the brain
when there is damage to the barrier. TIMING IS EVERYTHING In an ischemic stroke, a blood clot is stuck in a vessel, cutting off blood flow to a portion of the brain,
however, there is already too much damage to the blood-brain barrier and the drug causes bleeding in the brain, severe injury,
if he or she has visible bleeding before administering tpa. Leigh says his computer program, working with an MRI scan, can detect subtle changes to the blood-brain barrier that are otherwise impossible to see.
the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the Seton Healthcare Family supported the research.
and lead to a type of medicine where physicians treat disease and alleviate pain with electronics instead of drugs. e need to make these devices as small as possible to more easily implant them deep in the body
and create new ways to treat illness and alleviate pain, says Ada Poon, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Stanford university.
Theye hopeful it could be a tool to detect mood shifts in people with bipolar disordernd perhaps changes seen in conditions like PTSD and Parkinson disease.
because they hope it will yield a biological marker to prioritize bipolar disorder care to those who need it most urgently to stabilize their moodsspecially in regions of the world with scarce mental health services.
Bipolar disorder affects tens of millions of people worldwide, and can have devastating effects, including suicide. hese pilot study results give us preliminary proof of the concept that we can detect mood states in regular phone calls by analyzing broad features and properties of speech,
the same technology framework developed for bipolar disorder could prove useful in everything from schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder to Parkinson disease,
RESULTS SO FAR The first six patients all have a rapid-cycling form of Type 1 bipolar disorder
The researchers study patients as they experience all aspects of bipolar disorder mood changes from mild depressions and hypomania (mild mania) to full-blown depressed and manic states.
Over time, they hope to develop software that will learn to detect the changes that precede the transitions to each of these states.
Applications for HIV and cancer In a random access memory chip, similar logic circuits manipulate electrons on a nanometer scale, controlling billions of compartments in a square inch.
As an example, Yellen points to cells afflicted by HIV or cancer. In both diseases, most afflicted cells are active
and can be targeted by therapeutics. A few rare cells, however, remain dormant, biding their time and avoiding destruction before activating
and bringing the disease out of remission. With the new technology, the researchers hope to watch millions of individual cells,
ur technology can offer new tools to improve our basic understanding of cancer metastasis at the single cell level,
The discovery of a certain genotype might indicate the potential for a genetic disease and suggest that diagnostic testing be done.
For example, data analysis could detect motions associated with Parkinson disease at its onset. he application of stretchable electronics to medicine has a lot of potential,
it could be possible to catch health conditions before experiencing pain, discomfort, and illness. The National security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship of Energy
#Microchip could detect infection in artificial joints A tiny microchip could improve postoperative care for patients with knee replacements
and other surgical implants by detecting early signs of infection. Alexander Star, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, says the new chip,
will be able to alert doctors to encroaching bacterial infection, which causes acidosis, a drop in ph levels in nearby tissue.
nd bacterial infections are a common complication of the implant. Infection can damage the body surrounding the implant,
and bacterial films, resistant to antibiotics, can colonize the implant itself. To catch infection early without having to resort to invasive measures could lead to faster treatment. his is a very attractive detection mechanism for monitoring the condition of the implant
Star says. t may alleviate the need for further surgical intervention. A paper on the chip appears online in Scientific Reports.
Another Star-developed chip measures acetone in breath, an indicator of diabetes. A National Energy technology Laboratory grant supported the research
and potentially provide therapies for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig disease), Huntington, or Alzheimer. In the specially engineered growth systemhe arpetsfu
discoveries like this provide tools for modeling disease in the laboratory and for developing cell-replacement therapies.
and preventing tumor growth. Fu says his findings could also provide insights into how embryonic stem cells differentiate in the body. ur work suggests that physical signals in the cell environment are important in neural patterning,
of the H1n1 flu virus. Flu epidemics cause up to half a million deaths each year, and emerging strains continually threaten to spread to humans and cause even deadlier pandemics.
The findings, published in Immunity, pave the way for an urgently needed therapy that is highly effective against the flu virus
and potentially other viral infections. rugs that specifically target PGE2 pathways have already been developed and tested in animals,
not only for the treatment of influenza, but other viral respiratory infections that interact with similar host immune pathways,
says senior author Maziar Divangahi, an assistant professor in the Faculty of medicine at Mcgill University. Despite the worldwide use of vaccination and other antiviral interventions, the flu virus remains a persistent threat to human health.
and fever. ut since these drugs inhibit all prostanoids, each may contribute differently towards the immunity against influenza virus,
says Francois Coulombe, a Mcgill Phd student and the study first author. nderstanding their individual role is crucial in developing a new therapy.
PGE2, showed remarkably enhanced immunity to flu infection. Most importantly, the vast majority of these mice infected with a lethal dose of the H1n1 flu virus survived.
and produced better survival rates following infection with a lethal dose of the flu virus compared with untreated mice. revious studies produced conflicting results due to the inhibition of all prostanoids
and that specific inhibition of PGE2 will be an effective therapy against influenza viral infection by boosting immune responses. i
When an influenza virus infects a human cell, it uses some of the host cellular machinery to make copies of itself,
FAST-SPREADING EPIDEMICS The need for new antiviral drugs against the influenza virus is great.
antiviral drugs play an important role in fast-spreading epidemics. Yet Influenza a viruses are developing resistance to antiviral drugs currently in use.
and potential treatments for an infection that strikes nearly all children before they reach the age of three
and causes severe disease in 3 percent of infected children. RSV infection leads to the hospitalization of between 75,000 and 125,000 babies under one year of age in the United states every year.
Globally RSV is the second-leading cause of infant mortality due to infectious disease behind only malaria. ee known for a long time that RSV has increased an propensity,
compared to other respiratory viruses, for causing obstruction and inflammation in the narrowest airways of the infant lung,
leading to severe bronchiolitis, says Raymond Pickles, associate professor of microbiology and immunology. ut what wee now shown is that RSV has increased an ability to cause airway obstruction because, during an RSV infection,
the virus expresses a specific RSV-encoded nonstructural protein, or NS2, in epithelial cells, causing the cells to shed from the airway lining and into the airway lumen.
and its effect on epithelial-cell shedding that makes RSV by far the most common cause of bronchiolitis in otherwise healthy young children.
and other common respiratory viruses that might account for the increased disease caused by RSV, Pickles says. e compared the ability of RSV
which compose the lining of the lung airway. ut comparing these consequences of infection did not provide hints as to why RSV and PIV3 produced such differences in disease severity.
though, that the epithelial cells infected by RSV looked very different during infection compared to those infected by PIV3.
They found that infection of the narrowest airways of the lung by PIV3 alone caused moderate levels of inflammation,
but after infection by PIV3 expressing RSV NS2, the epithelial cells lining the narrow airways were shed rapidly into the airway lumen.
what has been found in human infants who had died because of RSV infection. Pickles says convinced that the RSV NS2 gene is a major driver for the well-recognized increased ability of RSV to cause lung disease, especially in the extremely narrow small airways of human infants.
Pickles is now on the trail of a human biomarker that would tell doctors if an RSV-infected infant is at greater risk of developing severe lung disease.
A biomarker would be key in the development of a needed diagnostic tool and would aid clinical trials that aim to develop anti-RSV therapeutics.
hen young children arrive at the hospital with an RSV infection, it challenging and frustrating to guess which children you can safely send home,
then it could be possible to identify much more quickly the children at more risk for developing severe lung disease
Thwarting this shedding effect wouldn stop infection or stifle the typical symptoms of RSV infection
which are the most likely to be obstructed by cells shed during infection. This would lead to a less severe infection and fewer hospitalizations.
Suppressing the effects of the RSV NS2 protein may also allow our immune system more time to deal with the RSV infection before the small airways become clogged with cells shedding from the lining of the airway,
Pickles says. hese are questions we are aiming to answer in studies already underway
#Gastric banding treats diabetes in overweight people Gastric banding can play a vital role in the treatment of type 2 diabetes in people who are overweightot just those who are obese.
Monash University researchers found that weight loss surgery (gastric banding) for overweight people with diabetes had a profound impact on the illness. his is randomized the first controlled trial demonstrating that treatment of type 2 diabetes
in overweight people by substantial weight loss is safe and hugely beneficial, says Professor Paul Orien from Monash University Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE).
this study indicates a potentially attractive path for the overweight person with diabetes and for those providing the care.
The study, published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, looked at people who suffered diabetes
The connection between excessive body weight and diabetes is well known, but while the benefits of weight loss for obese people suffering type 2 diabetes have been well document,
it has not been clear if those who were overweight would enjoy the same benefits.
The study enrolled 50 people with diabetes who were overweight but not obese, with a body mass index between 25 and 30. e provided a comprehensive program of multidisciplinary care to all of the participants,
more than half of the banded group were in remission of their diabetes while only eight percent of the non banded group were in remission.
The results showed a strong relationship between the amount of weight loss and remission of diabetes
clearly showing that successful ways of reducing weight such as gastric banding should have a high priority in the treatment of diabetes e
Although cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects in children, affecting approximately one in 1, 500 live human births in the United states,
Bannasch explains that common breeding practices have made the dog a unique animal model to help understand the genetic basis of naturally occurring birth defects.
Children born with cleft palate may develop hearing loss and difficulties with speech and eating. They also may be increased at risk for neurological deficits.
#Scientists find off switch for scleroderma Researchers have identified a signaling pathway that switches on scleroderma,
a rare and sometimes fatal disease that causes skin and other tissue to thicken. There is currently no cure for the condition.
chairperson of the department of pharmacology and toxicology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State. here are two kinds of scleroderma, localized and systemic,
we can block fibrosishe thickening of tissue that occurs with the disease. Localized scleroderma affects the skin and causes a loss of flexibility.
Systemic sclerosis can spread throughout the body, hardening organs such as the lungs, heart, gut, and kidneys.
Scleroderma is an autoimmune disorder. It estimated 300,000 Americans suffer from the disease with about one-third of those having the systemic form.
Localized scleroderma patients usually live normal lifespans. Yet about half of systemic patients especially with widespread skin involvement and internal organ fibrosis, will see their lives cut short.
Scleroderma many pathways he majority of drug treatments that exist today for fibrosis basically look at reducing just the inflammation,
says Dinesh Khanna, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. here are other drugs that block one or two of the signaling pathways that cause the disease,
but scleroderma has many of these pathways. Published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the new research could significantly change the quality of life for scleroderma patients
and greatly increase the lifespan of systemic patients, Neubig says. ur research shows promise for the development of a new drug that can reverse the fibrosis process by flipping the main switch on all of the signaling pathways.
By validating this core switch as a viable drug target, we can now continue our work to improve the chemical compounds
so they will work with doses that are appropriate for people. It definitely promising. A donation from Jon and Lisa Rye, a Michigan family who has experienced the effects of scleroderma,
and the family crowdfunding site, the Scleroderma Cure Fund, helped support the research h
#Anticancer drug reverses schizophrenia symptoms in teen mice An experimental anticancer drug appears to reverse schizophrenia-related behavior
and restore some lost brain cell function in young mice with a rodent version of the illness,
researchers say. The compound, called FRAX486, appears to halt an out-of-control biological runingprocess in the schizophrenic brain that unnecessarily destroys important connections among brain cells,
according to a new study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. y using this compound to block excess pruning in adolescent mice,
we also normalized the behavior deficit, says study leader Akira Sawa, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns hopkins university School of medicine. hat we could intervene in adolescence
and still make a difference in restoring brain function in these mice is intriguing. FRAX486 is a PAK inhibitor,
one of a class of drugs shown in animal experiments to confer some protection from brain damage due to Fragile X syndrome,
an inherited disease in humans marked by mental retardation. There also is some evidence, experts say, that PAK inhibitors can be used to treat Alzheimer disease.
And because the PAK protein itself can initiate cancer and cell growth PAK inhibitors have also been tested for cancer.
Working with mice that mimic schizophrenia and related disorders, the researchers were able to partially restore disabled neurons
so they could connect to other nerve cells. The findings in adolescent mice are an especially promising step in efforts to develop better therapies for schizophrenia in humans,
researchers say, because schizophrenia symptoms typically appear in late adolescence and early adulthood. Schizophrenia is a chronic,
severe mental disorder that affects about one in 100 people, the National institute of mental health says. Patients may experience hallucinationsften hearing nonexistent voicesnd delusions
and they may not make sense when they speak. Among other problems, they may also appear agitated
or have cognitive problems such as difficulty focusing or issues with working memory. MISSING SPINES The researchers began their study by chemically turning down expression in their mice of a gene known as Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1. DISC1,
as it is called, makes a protein that appears to regulate neurons in the cerebral cortex responsible for igher-orderfunctions, like information processing.
In studies of rodent brain cells, the researchers found that a DISC1 deficit caused deterioration of vital parts of the neuron called spines
which help neurons communicate with one another. Reduced amounts of DISC1 protein also impact the development of a protein called Kalirin-7 (KAL7),
Sawa cautions that it has not yet been shown that PAK is elevated in the brains of people with schizophrenia.
In schizophrenia the first noise makes no impact on the reaction to the second one.
and appeared to be safe for the animals. rugs aimed at treating a disease should be able to reverse an already existing defect as well as block future damage,
Grants from the National institutes of health, the Stanley Foundation, the RUSK Foundation, the S-R Foundation, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain science Institute, the Maryland
#DNA sequencing reveals six new forms of blindness Scientists have discovered six new forms of inherited blindness,
which multiple members were blind from birth due to conditions such as Leber congenital amaurosis, cone-rod dystrophy,
is driving a diagnostic revolution in inherited eye diseases. s the cost of sequencing comes down,
Inglehearn says. ince new therapies are often specific to particular forms of inherited blindness, it is essential for each patient to know which condition they have,
#Melanoma in families linked to mutations in one gene The discovery that mutations in a specific gene are responsible for a hereditary form of melanoma could make it easier to detect and treat,
are extremely likely to develop melanoma, new research shows. These mutations deactivate the POT1 gene. his finding significantly increases our understanding of why some families have a high incidence of melanoma,
says Tim Bishop of the School of medicine at the University of Leeds and a senior co-author of the study published in Nature Genetics. ince this gene has previously been identified as a target for the development of new drugs, in the future,
it may be possible that early detection will facilitate better management of this disease. ith this discovery we should be able to determine who in a family is at risk,
Known genetic mutations account for approximately 40 percent of all occurrences of inherited forms of melanoma. The team set out to identify the hereditary mutations that account for the other 60 percent by sequencing part of the genome of 184 patients with hereditary melanoma caused by unknown mutations.
They found that the inactivation of POT1 caused by these mutations leads to longer and potentially unprotected telomeres
The team found that there were also cases of other cancer types in families with these hereditary mutations such as leukemia
and brain tumors. ur research is making a real difference to understanding what causes melanoma and ultimately therefore how to prevent
and treat melanoma and is a prime example of how genomics can transform public health, says Julia Newton Bishop,
and patience from the families that suffer from these devastating, inherited forms of melanoma. Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute funded the work.
Source: University of Leed e
#To study bipolar disorder, start with skin Scientists investigating what makes a person vulnerable to bipolar disorder took skin cells from people with the condition
and ultimately turned them into neurons. The team then compared those neurons to cells taken from people without bipolar.
The comparison revealed very specific differences in how these neurons behave and communicate with each other,
and identified striking differences in how the neurons respond to lithium, the most common treatment for bipolar disorder.
Already, we see that cells from people with bipolar disorder are different in how often they express certain genes,
But wee only just beginning to understand what we can do with these cells to help answer the many unanswered questions in bipolar disorder origins
Mcinnis, who sees firsthand the impact that bipolar disorder has on patients and the frustration they and their families feel about the lack of treatment options,
says the new research could take treatment of bipolar disorder into the era of personalized medicine. Not only could stem cell research help find new treatments,
very specific differences emerged between the cells derived from bipolar disorder patients and those without the condition.
the new findings support the idea that genetic differences expressed early during brain development may have a lot to do with the development of bipolar disorder symptomsnd other mental health conditions that arise later in life, especially in the teen and young adult years.
and receivednd the new cell lines will make it possible to study this effect specifically in bipolar disorder-specific cells.
the neurons made from bipolar disorder patients also differed in how they were ddressedduring development for delivery to certain areas of the brain.
This supports the emerging concept that bipolar disorder arises from a combination of genetic vulnerabilities. The researchers are already developing stem cell lines from other trial participants with bipolar disorder,
though it takes months to derive each line and obtain mature neurons that can be studied.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011