#Alzheimer's plaques reduced by targeting sugar attachment to the BACE1 enzyme A major factor contributing to Alzheimer's disease is the formation of pathogenic A?
and Naoyuki Taniguchi at RIKEN in collaboration with Tamao Endo and Shigeo Murayama at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology showed that much of the BACE1 found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients is modified by the attachment of a particular sugar with the help of the enzyme
and can act to reduce Alzheimer's pathology with potentially few side effects. This research highlights the importance of glycosylation--the modification of proteins by sugars.
although a sugar change is considered often just a marker for disease or a specific cell type our team has demonstrated clearly the functional role of a glycan during AD development.
The sensor, reported in a proof-of-concept study in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry, has the potential to eliminate finger-pricking for many people with diabetes.
Joseph Wang and colleagues in San diego note that diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Many of these patients are instructed to monitor closely their blood glucose levels to manage the disease.
The researchers conclude that the device could potentially be used for diabetes management and for other conditions such as kidney disease e
This provides the conditions needed to study primary cells, such as neurons, opening doors for exploration of the pathogenic mechanisms of neural diseases and potentially leading to new gene therapies.
#Novel method to predict postoperative liver cancer recurrence in transplant patients UCLA transplantation researchers have developed a novel method that more accurately calculates the risk of disease recurrence in liver cancer patients who have undergone a liver transplant,
Chair in Surgery and director of the Pfleger Liver Institute and Dumont-UCLA Transplant and Liver Cancer Centers presented the study during the annual meeting of the Southern Surgical Association.
The predictive calculator also known as a nomogram was developed after the research team analyzed data from UCLA's 30 years of experience with liver transplantation for liver cancer.
The retrospective study included 865 liver cancer patients who had transplants between 1984 and 2013 said study first author Dr. Vatche G. Agopian an assistant professor of surgery in the division
which liver cancer patients might be good candidates for transplant and patients with all sizes and numbers of tumors underwent transplantation often times with early recurrence of disease.
In 1996 radiologic criteria popularized as the Milan criteria were introduced and recommended transplantation be limited to patients with a single tumor of five centimeters or less or up to three tumors with not any single tumor larger than three centimeters.
However the criteria didn't take into account the aggressiveness of the tumor or other blood biomarkers that can help predict recurrence Agopian said.
UCLA's nomogram used three groups of factors to predict recurrence and was more accurate than the Milan criteria
and the existing American Joint Committee on Cancer pathologic TNM staging system giving transplant physicians and oncologists more information to work with in deciding how often to monitor for recurrence and whether or not adjuvant treatment
This novel nomogram includes three important groups of information that proved to be very accurate in predicting recurrence in liver cancer patients better than any other system out there Agopian said.
and have a meaningful discussion with transplant recipients regarding their post-transplant risk of cancer recurrence.
or the number and size of tumors on MRI and CT SCANS three pre-transplant blood biomarkers thought to be predictive for cancer recurrence
and pathological characteristics of the explanted liver. The diseased liver is studied to determine the grade
or aggressiveness of the tumor and whether the cancer has invaded the liver's blood vessels factors that can't be determined before transplant.
For example a patient with a 5 centimeter tumor who would have qualified for liver transplant under the Milan criteria might in fact have a very aggressive tumor that is likely to recur after transplant
while a patient with a larger tumor might have a very low grade cancer and be at lower risk for recurrence.
and get individualized predicted risks of cancer recurrence Agopian said. The Milan criteria presented a major step in improving the outcomes of liver cancer patients undergoing transplant Agopian said.
However there is now a growing consensus and body of evidence that these criteria are too conservative
and that incorporation of other factors may improve the ability to select for patients with favorable tumor biology regardless of size who stand to benefit from liver transplantation.
About 32000 Americans will be diagnosed with liver cancer this year. Of those 23000 will die of their disease.
Liver cancer is the sixth most common cause of cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related death.
In the United states the incidence of liver cancer has doubled nearly over the last two decades.
For most patients who are diagnosed with liver cancer it generally is advanced too to treat with surgery.
For patients with underlying liver dysfunction who are unable to undergo surgery to remove the tumor liver transplantation is the best way to treat the patient.
In the largest single-institution experience with liver transplant for liver cancer excellent long-term survival was achieved.
Incorporation of routine pre-transplant biomarkers to existing radiographic size criteria significantly improves the ability to predict post-transplant recurrence
A novel clinicopathologic prognostic nomogram accurately predicts liver cancer recurrence after liver transplant and may guide frequency of post-transplant surveillance and adjuvant therapy y
and disease burden by source and industry type. Patents and publications (1981-2011) were evaluated using citation rates and impact factors.
Industry reduced early-stage research favoring medical devices bioengineered drugs and late-stage clinical trials particularly for cancer and rare diseases.
National institutes of health (NIH allocations did not correlate proportionately with disease burden. Cancer and HIV/AIDS were funded well above the predicted levels based on U s. disability alone with cancer accounting for 16 percent of total NIH funding and 25 percent of all
medicines currently in clinical trials. Underfunding of service innovation Health services research (which examines access to care the quality
#Novel eye-tracking technology detects concussions head injury severity Neuroscientists and concussion experts from NYU Langone and elsewhere in a study publishing online January 29 in Journal of Neurotrauma present a unique simple and objective diagnostic tool for concussion that can be utilized in the emergency room or one day
or brain injury in patients presenting to emergency departments following head trauma. Concussion is a condition that has been plagued by the lack of an objective diagnostic tool
when a patient can safely return to work following a head injury. The eyes have served as a window into the brain with disconjugate eye movements--eyes rotating in opposite directions--considered a principal marker for head trauma as early as 3500 years ago.
Current estimates by optometrists suggest that up to 90 percent of patients with concussions or blast injuries exhibit dysfunction in their eye movements.
along with a physician's finger according to Dr. Samadani who also serves as co-director of the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Posttraumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain injury at NYU Langone.
and colleagues at the Cohen Veterans Center to assess eye movement in veterans of the long Middle east conflicts suspected of suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) concussion or other forms of brain injury.
and had CT SCANS showing new brain damage as well as 39 trauma patients who had hit their heads
or extremity injuries but did not require head CT SCANS had similar abilities to coordinate eye movements as normal uninjured controls.
and had normal CT SCANS most were slightly worse at 1-2 weeks after the injury
and subsequently recovered about one month after the injury. Among all trauma patients the severity of concussive symptoms correlated with severity of disconjugacy.
Traumatic brain injury is one of the most common causes of neurologic morbidity in the world today Dr. Ellenbogen says.
which found that the use of this novel eye-tracking technology could reveal edema or swelling in the brain as a potential biomarker for assessing brain function and monitoring recovery in people with head injuries.
That study published Dec 16 in Journal of Neurosurgery looked exclusively at military veterans. Dr. Samadani's future work aims to replicate eye-tracking's diagnostic potential for head injuries on a larger scale in Iraq
and Afghanistan veterans with post-concussive syndrome and post-blast military brain injury. Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state about 2. 5 million U s. emergency department visits were associated with traumatic brain injury in 2010 with rates increasing by about 70 percent over the previous decade.
Currently there is no tool seen as a gold standard for diagnosing concussions and imaging tests like CT SCANS
and MRIS are ineffective in the absence of structural damage to the brain. Two patients who suffer a head injury
and present with virtually-identical CT SCANS might have completely different symptoms Dr. Samadani points out.
#Genetic discovery about childhood blindness paves way for new treatments Finding genes for retinal degenerations has immediate benefits for people living with blindness and vision loss, their families,
When 11 year old Naomi Lalandec walked into Dr. Robert Koenekoop's clinic at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the Mcgill University Health Centre (MUHC) with blindness and dwarfism due to
Oliver Mcfarlane Syndrome (OMS her unknown mutation sparked an international gene hunt. Comparing her genome to others with OMS and Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA),
another form of childhood blindness, uncovered a new gene that is critical for vision. What makes this breakthrough exceptional is that it opens up new treatment avenues for OMS and LCA and potentially other retinal degenerative diseases."
"It was like finding a needle in a haystack, "said Dr. Koenekoop, who is also a researcher at the Research Institute of the MUHC and a Professor of Human genetics, Paediatric Surgery and Ophthalmology at Mcgill University."
"It was so obvious to all of us that this was big; a new gene, a possible new disease pathway, a new treatment avenue."
"With ongoing support from the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), Canada's largest charity supporting vision research, Dr. Koenekoop has spent more than a decade searching for genes linked to blindness.
This search brought together an international team of scientists, including Dr. Michel Cayouette at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Dr. Doris Kretzschmar at the Oregon Health and Science University, Dr. Jacek Majewski
and Dr. Cayouette,"said Dr. Mary Sunderland, Director of research & Education at the Foundation Fighting Blindness."
which will be essential to study how manipulating phospholipids could generate innovative strategies to treat blindness n
#More clues to how drug reverses obesity diabetes fatty liver disease In addition to illuminating how the drug amlexanox reverses obesity diabetes
and fatty liver disease the findings suggest a new pathway for future treatments. The research was published Jan 12 in Nature Communications.
Investigators in the lab of Alan Saltiel the Mary Sue Coleman Director of U-M's Life sciences Institute had discovered previously that this drug
which had been used in the treatment of asthma also has the ability to cause weight loss
and improve diabetes in obese mice. The current study revealed that amlexanox exerts its effects through a specialized type of fat cell by increasing the level of a second messenger molecule called camp.
In the livers of diabetic mice interleukin-6 reduces production of glucose so that overall blood sugar is lowered.
The finding is the latest piece of a complex obesity-inflammation-diabetes puzzle that Saltiel lab investigators have been working to solve
In 2013 the researchers discovered that amlexanox an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses reversed obesity diabetes and fatty liver in mice.
The U-M study explains how increased camp in fat cells promotes the secretion of the hormone interleukin-6 which signals the liver to stop producing glucose--thus improving overall blood sugar levels in obese diabetic mice e
#Mechanism leading to drug resistance metastasis in melanoma patients discovered Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have discovered a mechanism that leads to resistance to targeted therapy in melanoma patients
and improve outcomes for many cancer patients, when compared to the adverse effects of standard chemotherapeutic drugs.
resulting in more aggressive cells that can spread to other sites or cause regrowth of primary tumors.
B-Raf is a protein that is frequently mutated in human cancers leading to increased tumor cell growth, survival and migration.
Drugs that target B-Raf or another protein in the same network called MEK have proved effective in clinical trials.
and a MEK inhibitor being the current standard of care for patients with B-Raf mutant melanoma.
They found that melanoma cells that are resistant to B-Raf inhibitors tend to be more aggressive and invasive,
thereby allowing the tumor to spread to a new organ site. They used a large screening approach
"said Keiran S. Smalley, Ph d.,scientific director of the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research center of Excellence at Moffitt.
The research also showed that targeting Epha2 reduced the aggressive behavior of the melanoma cells.
This suggests that drugs that target Epha2 may prevent the development of new disease in patients who receive B-Raf and B-Raf/MEK inhibitor therapy.
The study was published in the online edition of Cancer Discovery on Dec 26 2014 0
#Toward quantum chips: Packing single-photon detectors on an optical chip is crucial for quantum-computational circuits Single-photon detectors are notoriously temperamental:
Although there was a glimmer of hope for an end in sight to the Ebola epidemic these countries were reported to be on the brink of a major food crisis.
FAO and WFP stated that the Ebola epidemic has caused a significant shock to the food
Many farmers have abandoned their fields and harvests for fear of the disease. In Sierra leone for instance it is reported that up to 40%of farms were abandoned in the worst affected areas.
#WHO grants approval for safe effective meningitis A vaccine for infants The World health organization (WHO) has opened the door to routine immunization of infants in Sub-saharan africa by approving for use an innovative and affordable vaccine that has all but rid the meningitis belt of a major cause
of deadly epidemics. In the four years since its introduction in Africa, Menafrivac has had an immediate and dramatic impact in breaking the cycle of meningitis A epidemics,
leading the safe, effective technology to be approved by WHO through its prequalification process for use in infants,
and paving the way for protecting millions more children at risk of the deadly disease.
The announcement was made today by the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP)--a partnership between the global health nonprofit PATH and WHO--and Serum institute of india Ltd (SIIL),
"Initial mass vaccination campaigns with Menafrivac have been highly effective in reducing the number of meningitis A cases,
"But epidemics will return when rising numbers of unprotected newborns become a larger proportion of the total population over time.
5 g dose of the meningitis A vaccine meets international standards of quality, safety, and efficacy and can
Before the introduction of Menafrivac, people living in countries of the meningitis belt, which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east,
were struck regularly by meningitis A epidemics in which sudden onset of symptoms could rapidly lead to death or permanent disability.
One of the most devastating outbreaks ever recorded was in 1996-1997 when an epidemic wave infected more than 250,000 people
and killed over 25,000 in just a few months. The only existing vaccine was insufficient to break the cycle.
Protection at an affordable price In 2004, MVP partnered with SIIL to develop an affordable, tailor-made vaccine for use against meningitis A in Sub-saharan africa.
Menafrivac has been administered to over 215 million people in 15 countries of the African meningitis belt:
"One year after large-scale vaccine introduction in late 2010, for example, experience from Burkina faso provided early evidence that mass vaccination was associated with a significantly reduced risk of meningitis in the targeted population,
Findings were confirmed in a major way in Chad in 2012 where researchers reported a dramatic reduction in transmission and incidence of meningitis A a drop of more than 90 percent following vaccination.
and national governments has been crucial for mass vaccination campaigns that are due to continue until 2016 to cover at-risk populations in all 26 countries where disease burden from meningitis A is greatest.
and optimal dosage and immunization schedule for administering Menafrivac to infants and toddlers alongside other routine childhood vaccines in African meningitis belt countries.
or older was recommended to achieve sustainable disease control following the initial mass campaigns in 1-29 year olds.
Specifically, THE WHO prequalification that was announced today allows United nations procurement agencies to purchase the vaccine for use in routine immunization programs in meningitis-belt countries
and so ensure sustainable disease control in the region. Seven countries (Burkina faso Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Niger,
and those to come, from a devastating disease, "said Dr. Kathy Neuzil, director of Vaccine Access and Delivery at PATH."
or her first birthday to ensure long-term meningitis control.""""We are more than halfway through with introducing the vaccine in meningitis-belt countries,
and the first introductions have been a stunning success, "said Dr. Jeanmarie Okwo-Bele, director of THE WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals."
"But we cannot yet declare a win on meningitis epidemics in Sub-saharan africa. If we rest on our laurels
meningitis epidemics will return in a major way in the years to come. Elimination of meningitis epidemics will require meningitis belt countries'political commitment to complete the mass campaigns
and introduce the vaccine in the Expanded Programme on Immunization. Then and only then will we win the battle against meningitis. a
#Flexible methane production from electricity and biomass The variable operation modes were the biggest challenge during development says Project Head Siegfried Bajohr of the Engler-Bunte Institute (EBI) of KIT.
#Neuroprosthetics for paralysis: Biocompatible flexible implant slips into the spinal cord EPFL scientists have managed to get rats walking on their own again using a combination of electrical and chemical stimulation.
particularly individuals who have become paralyzed following spinal cord injury, "explains Lacour, co-author of the paper,
it nonetheless includes electronic elements that stimulate the spinal cord at the point of injury. The silicon substrate is covered with cracked gold electric conducting tracks that can be pulled and stretched.
"For the time being, the e-Dura implant has been tested primarily in cases of spinal cord injury in paralyzed rats.
But the potential for applying these surface implants is huge--for example in epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and pain management.
Tissue-engineered small intestine (TESI) grows from stem cells contained in the intestine and offers a promising treatment for short bowel syndrome (SBS) a major cause of intestinal failure particularly in premature babies and newborns with congenital intestinal anomalies.
and develop a devastating disease called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) where life-threatening intestinal damage requires removal of large portions of the small intestine.
and disease and proven it to be fully functional as it develops from human cells said Grikscheit.
#Newly discovered antibiotic kills pathogens without resistance For years, pathogens'resis tance to antibi otics has put them one step ahead of researchers,
which is causing a public health crisis, according to Uni ver sity Dis tin guished Pro fessor Kim Lewis. But in new research,
i nates pathogens without encoun tering any detectable resistance--a finding that chal lenges long-`held sci en tific beliefs and holds great promise for treating chronic infec
and Lewis'lab played a key role in ana lyzing and testing the com pound for resis tance from pathogens.
said this marks the first dis covery of an antibi otic to which resis tance by muta tions of pathogens have not been identified.
Lewis said this latest research lays new ground to advance his inno v a tive work on treating MRSA and other chronic infections e
and deal with Ebola infections often work under challenging conditions. Researchers at the DPZ have developed Diagnostics-in-a-Suitcase,
Dr. Ahmed Abd El Wahed, scientist in the Unit of Infection Models at the DPZ, is the innovator of the suitcase laboratory.
"said Dr. Christiane Stahl-Hennig, the Head of the Unit of Infection Models.""In remote field hospitals, resources such as electricity and cold storage are often in short supply."
and neurodegenerative diseases, has been discovered by researchers at Georgia State university. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications this week.
and neurodegenerative disorders, including depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, AIDS dementia complex, asphyxia in newborns and epilepsy.
"This pathway is associated highly with neurodegenerative diseases and depression.""The researchers took a high concentration of the purified protein,
and have been suggested as a possible cause of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, epilepsy or intellectual disability (see this review article for further background).
But they also can be completely benign or have just a subtle effect.""Our findings are intriguing
"These same technologies can now be used to study the brains of people who died from unexplained neuropsychiatric diseases to determine
#New approach may lead to inhalable vaccines for influenza pneumonia The work led by Cathy Fromen
#Study pinpoints autism-linked protein for sculpting brain connections A new study by Duke researchers provides a close up of synapse refinement
Disruptions in the protein called hevin have previously been linked to autism depression and suicide but the molecule's role in the developing brain was mostly unknown until now.
Interested in the relationship between astrocytes synapse formation and disease Eroglu's group showed in 2011 that hevin triggers the formation of new neural connections.
The balance of those two types of types of connections in the cortex could go awry in neurological diseases such as autism
The group is now studying the molecular mechanisms of hevin and its potential contribution to health and disease.
#Researchers uncover key cancer-promoting gene One of the mysteries in cancer biology is how one protein,
TGF-beta, can both stop cancer from forming and encourage its aggressive growth. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered a key gene that may explain this paradox
and provide a potential target for treatment. TGF-beta is known as a tumor suppressor, meaning it necessary to keep cells in check
and growing normally. But at some point, its function flips and it becomes a tumor promoter, fostering aggressive growth and spread of cancer.
The researchers identified Bub1 as a key gene involved in regulating TGF-beta receptor. The study is published in Science Signaling. ur data that Bub1 is involved at the receptor level is unexpected completely,
We think this may explain the paradox of TGF-beta as a tumor promoter and a tumor suppressor,
Researchers also have known that Bub1 is expressed highly in many different types of cancer. Because Bub1 is found in many types of cancer
developing a drug to target it could potentially impact multiple cancers. A compound to target Bub1 has been developed
but is not ready for testing in patients. Initial lab testing suggests that a Bub1 inhibitor can very specifically target Bub1 without causing damage to other parts of the cell. hen you look at gene expression in cancer,
Bub1 is in the top five. In addition, Bub1 expression levels correlate with outcome in patients with lung and breast cancer.
when babies were placed on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, the incidence of plagiocephaly--commonly known as flat head--have risen dramatically.
because with the lower surface tension we expect less risk of head flattening and less risk for pressure ulcers."
#New cells may help treat diabetes In the new study published Jan 28 in the journal PLOS ONE the UI team led by Nicholas Zavazava MD Phd UI professor of internal medicine reprogrammed human skin cells
When these cells were transplanted into diabetic mice the cells secreted insulin and reduced the blood sugar levels of the mice to normal or near-normal levels.
Although the cells were not as effective as pancreatic cells in controlling blood sugar levels Zavazava says that the results are an encouraging first step toward the goal of generating effective insulin-producing cells that can be used to potentially cure type 1 diabetes.
This raises the possibility that we could treat patients with diabetes with their own cells says Zavazava who also is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research center at the UI.
which will accelerate treatment of diabetes. In type 1 diabetes a person's immune system attacks
and destroys the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Although it is possible to treat type 1 diabetes with pancreas transplants from deceased donors the demand for transplants far exceeds the availability of donated organs.
Zavazava's team is among several groups aiming to create an alternative source of insulin-producing pancreatic cells that can be transplanted into patients with type 1 diabetes.
However the UI study is the first to use human ips cells to create the insulin-producing cells.
and gradually corrected the blood sugar levels in the diabetic mice over a period of several months.
This meant they were able to remove very immature (undifferentiated) cells that could form tumors.
None of the mice developed tumors from the transplanted cells s
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