#Computerized surveillance system quickly detects disease outbreaks among preschoolers A web-based system that allows preschools
and child care centers to report illnesses to local public health departments could improve the detection of disease outbreaks
Oct 11 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition in San diego. Researchers who designed the biosurveillance system will describe how it can be used to track illness trends
and improve public health response to outbreaks during a presentation at 2: 09 p m. PDT in Marina Ballroom Salon E at the San diego Marriott Marquis."For example,
if certain child care centers are reporting the beginning of stomach flu (vomiting and diarrhea), other centers can start taking steps to thoroughly clean to kill any viruses before symptoms occur
"says Andrew N. Hashikawa, M d.,F. A a. P.,a pediatric emergency physician at the University of Michigan's C. S. Mott Children's Hospital.
In addition, if child care providers see that larger centers in their community are reporting flu-like illness,
they can use the data to emphasize to parents the need to have immunized their children against influenza sooner rather than later,
who also is assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, at the University of Michigan Medical school.
Previously some public health departments have found that school absenteeism as a marker for illness was delayed imprecise
"However, child care or preschool absences are typically more likely to be associated with illness and most young children continue to need child care for most of the year,
Most public health departments do not electronically track influenza or stomach illnesses in preschools and child care centers settings."
"Most illness reporting methods used by many public health departments are based slow, paper and inefficient, "says Hashikawa.
They entered data on illness type and symptoms in seven categories commonly seen in preschoolers:
fever, influenza-like illness, pink eye, stomach illnesses (gastroenteritis), cold or respiratory symptoms, ear infections and rash.
Researchers sent data electronically to the public health department weekly or more frequently if spikes in illness cases were seen.
Results showed centers reported 188 individual episodes of illness from Dec 10, 2013, through March 28, 2014.
The most common illnesses reported were gastroenteritis (37 percent), fever (31 percent), cold (17 percent) and influenza (3 percent.
Data also revealed an unusually large increase in gastroenteritis cases during a two-day period,
#Sensor invented that uses radio waves to detect subtle changes in pressure Stanford engineers have invented a wireless pressure sensor that has already been used to measure brain pressure in lab mice with brain injuries.
In a more complex application they used this wireless device to monitor the pressure inside the skull of a lab mouse an achievement that could one day lead to better ways to treat human brain injuries.
When the engineers sought collaborators to test the device in potentially useful applications H.-S. Philip Wong a professor of electrical engineering connected them with Victor Tse a neurosurgeon and consulting associate professor at Stanford School of medicine.
or dislodged this cumbersome solution carries the risk of infection. Measuring ICP using cables become particularly challenging
when patients are moved within the hospital or transported to other facilities. In experiments on laboratory mice Tse used radio waves to probe Bao's wireless sensor allowing him to monitor changes in intracranial pressure continuously.
In a separate effort Dr. Michael Mcconnell a professor of cardiovascular medicine used the device to take a wireless pulse reading as a proof of principle that the technology could be applied to pressures having to do with blood circulation.
most are prescribed for outpatient acute respiratory tract infections. Because antibiotic prescribing is often inappropriate Jeffrey S. Gerber M d. Ph d. of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
and colleagues recently conducted a randomized trial of an outpatient antimicrobial stewardship intervention that found a nearly 50 percent relative reduction in prescribing rates for broad-spectrum antibiotics according to background information in the article.
The randomized trial was conducted within 18 community-based pediatric primary care practices using a common electronic health record.
When one of these wrong genes is turned on by mistake the result can be rampant cell growth--cancer.
I think epigenetics is a new frontier of cancer research says Brian Strahl Ph d. a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the UNC School of medicine.
and what we're finding is that many cancers have mutations in the epigenetic machinery.
We're not just finding this in cancer cell lines in the lab but in cancer patients.
The director's cutstrahl who's a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center said major questions surround how histones wrap up the DNA into chromatin--a structure that allows
and in turn contribute to cancers and other diseases. Adding a twist to this idea however is the fact that not every histone is the same.
Some studies indicated that Bre1 had a role as a tumor suppressor Strahl said. Other studies showed that it's a cancer promoter.
So there's been conflicting evidence about all of this. Now we know. If there's too little Bre1 the gene won't turn on.
This could turn off the genes that protect the cell from cancer. If there's too much Strahl said.
This could also trigger cancer development. When you think about it Bre1 could be a really good target for a cancer drug Strahl said.
Blocking STAT3 could help cancer patients in two ways The STAT transcription factors are involved in the development of many forms of cancer.
so drugs targeting STAT3 could be used in cancer therapy. However STAT3 is also important in the development of the immune system.
Dagmar Gotthardt and colleagues at the Vetmeduni Vienna now show that blocking STAT3 in cells of the immune system actually leads to increased anti-tumour immunity.
Anti-STAT3 therapy may thus be highly promising. The so-called Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription or STATS are key components of many different signalling pathways.
Not surprisingly then when something goes wrong with their regulation the consequences can be severe and many types of cancer are known to be associated with increased activities of one or more STAT protein.
Considerable efforts are going into developing inhibitors of STAT3 for use in cancer therapy but it is unclear
The intriguingly named Natural Killer (NK) cells represent the first line of defence against viruses and cancer to
The issue has been tackled by Dagmar Gotthardt and colleagues in the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Veterinary medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna.
Surprisingly the loss of STAT3 in NK cells of the mouse led not to a decrease but to an increase in killing activity against melanoma cells and leukemia cells.
The decrease in metastasis caused by melanoma cells was especially dramatic and confirmed that NK cells lacking STAT3 are extremely efficient killers of tumour cells.
thus help cancer patients in two ways both stopping the cancer cells from dividing and helping the patients'NK cells to fight them more efficiently.
#Scientists create mimic of good cholesterol to fight heart disease, stroke Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have created a synthetic molecule that mimics oodcholesterol
a condition where plaque buildup in the arteries can cause heart attacks and strokes. therosclerosis is the number one killer in the developed world,
senior author of the new study with TSRI Assistant professor of Chemistry Luke Leman. his research clears a big step toward clinical implementation of new therapies.
and a 50 percent reduction in the size of plaque lesions in their hearts. e were surprised definitely at the results in the oral feeding studies,
Many cholesterol treatments currently in development rely on an injection, not a pill. With the option of an orally effective peptide, Ghadiri believes researchers are closer to developing an accessible new therapy for atherosclerosis.
The researchers also reported no signs of increased inflammation in the blood or toxicity after 10 weeks of the peptide treatment.
Future Studies Point to Gut Ghadiri and his team are now investigating exactly how the synthetic peptide works in the intestines
The researchers believe that finding new targets in the gastrointestinal tract could lead to new therapies for many more diseases. hat one of the fun things in scienceow we get to follow up on these different avenues,
Because his son had a fever the doctors at the clinic put him on first one
and then a second antibiotic while they worked on a diagnosis. They soon learned his son's appendix had burst
Things moved so fast he was septic before he was symptomatic for appendicitis Kinch said.
His son was moved to an academic medical center where he had surgery and was put on four newer antibiotics.
Stunningly the two that worked were the older drugs he had been given at the clinic. I can only assume that
if we had gone straight to the academic medical center he might not have survived Kinch said. It's not that my son had had extensive exposure to antibiotics Kinch explained carefully.
The institute was picking the therapeutic areas that would be their focus. They were considering various exotic diseases
and I said'Antibiotics.''Antibiotics are crashingin his last position as managing director of the Center for Molecular Discovery at Yale university Kinch had assembled a huge database of information about drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry.
since losing antibiotics would force changes in almost every area of medical practice. In an article in Drug Discovery Today Kinch summarized the financial constraints that have led to the current crisis in antibiotic supply.
because they're too toxic or because they've been replaced by new versions of the same drug.
which is now dominated by small companies such as Cubist Pharmaceuticals formed in 1992 specifically to focus on drugs for resistant bacterial infections that could have higher price points.
They include for example an acne medication and a treatment for anthrax developed for use in case of a bioterrorist attack.
One reason pharmaceutical companies are said withdrawing Kinch is that our patent law squeezes them for time.
Because of rising resistance doctors hold new antibiotics in reserve using them only in cases of dire need.
Since the NIH has fallen victim to congressional gridlock people in the biomedical community are starting to organize on their own.
The Infectious diseases Society of America (ISDA) has launched a 10 x 20 initiative whose goal is to create global antibacterial drug research-and-development enterprise with the power in the short-term to develop 10 new safe and effective antibiotics by 2020.
Britain is offering a prize of £10 million called the Longitude Prize 2014 (after the prize once offered for an accurate way to determine the longitude of ships at sea) for a rapid test that would allow health professionals to identify bacteria quickly
He points out that the university excels in biomedical research but is losing brilliant ideas in the Valley of Death between the lab and the market.
Led by Provost and Executive Vice chancellor H. Holden Thorp Phd an enterpreneurship team has been convened to redefine what the university does with biomedical discoveries after the peer-reviewed articles are in print.
One of the university's assets is School of medicine research with the human microbiome the trillions of organisms that live in our guts many performing beneficial tasks such as digesting food and fighting off infections.
and development in part because they underpin every part of modern medical practice from surgery to cancer treatment and pretty much everything in between.
#Sepsis sniffer generates faster sepsis care, suggests reduced mortality An automated early warning and response system for sepsis developed by Penn Medicine experts has resulted in a marked increase in sepsis identification
and care transfer to the ICU and an indication of fewer deaths due to sepsis. A study assessing the tool is published online in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection; it can severely impair the body's organs causing them to fail.
There are as many as three million cases of severe sepsis and 750000 resulting deaths in the United states annually.
Early detection and treatment typically with antibiotics and intravenous fluids is critical for survival. The Penn prediction tool dubbed the sepsis sniffer uses laboratory
and vital-sign data (such as body temperature heart rate and blood pressure) in the electronic health record of hospital inpatients to identify those at risk for sepsis.
When certain data thresholds are detected the system automatically sends an electronic communication to physicians nurses and other members of a rapid response team who quickly perform a bedside evaluation
and take action to stabilize or transfer the patient to the intensive care unit if warranted. The study developed the prediction tool using 4575 patients admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) in October 2011.
The study then validated the tool during a pre-implementation period from June to September 2012
two to threefold increase in orders for tests that could help identify the presence of sepsis 1. 5 to twofold increase in the administration of antibiotics
and intravenous fluids n increase of more than 50 percent in the proportion of patients quickly transferred to the ICU 50 percent increase in documentation of sepsis in the patients'electronic health recordthe study found a lower death rate from sepsis
Previous studies that have examined the impact of sepsis prediction tools at other institutions have taken only place on a limited number of inpatient wards.
and practice cultures across our health system increases the generalizability of our findings to other health care settings.
By better identifying those with sepsis requiring advanced care the tool can help screen out patients not needing the inevitably limited number of ICU beds.
or biological contaminants with far-reaching implications for public health including homeland security concerns. Applying world class research to water quality has to be viewed as a critical component for sustaining society as a whole says Clarkson University President Tony Collins. As healthy water becomes increasingly scarce establishing real-time data as the new standard for understanding water quality around the globe
The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3d shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology microscopy solar cells electronics environmental testing disease
These coatings can also help scientists develop highly sensitive multiplex methods of detecting early-stage cancers
and genetic diseases by combining the chemical specificity of the DNA with the signal readout of the metal.
This capability should open up entirely new strategies for fields ranging from computer miniaturization to energy and pathogen detection.
and tax base needed to fund pensions health care and other benefits for the elderly it is typically families that bear the brunt of the cost of having children the study found.
#Lung cancer can stay hidden for over 20 years UK scientists have discovered that lung cancers can lie dormant for over 20 years before suddenly turning into an aggressive form of the disease according to a study published in Science*today (Thursday.
They found that after the first genetic mistakes that cause the cancer it can exist undetected for many years until new additional faults trigger rapid growth of the disease.
This research--jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Rosetrees Trust--highlights the need for better ways to detect the disease earlier.
Two-thirds of patients are diagnosed with advanced forms of the disease when treatments are less likely to be successful.
By revealing that lung cancers can lie dormant for many years the researchers hope this study will help improve early detection of the disease.
Study author Professor Charles Swanton at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute and the UCL Cancer Institute said:
Survival from lung cancer remains devastatingly low with many new targeted treatments making a limited impact on the disease.
By understanding how it develops we've opened up the disease's evolutionary rule book in the hope that we can start to predict its next steps.
The study also highlighted the role of smoking in the development of lung cancer. Many of the early genetic faults are caused by smoking.
But as the disease evolved these became less important with the majority of faults now caused by a new process generating mutations within the tumour controlled by a protein called APOBEC.
The wide variety of faults found within lung cancers explains why targeted treatments have had limited success. Attacking a particular genetic mistake identified by a biopsy in lung cancer will only be effective against those parts of the tumour with that fault leaving other areas to thrive
and despite some positive steps being made against the disease it remains one of the biggest challenges in cancer research with fewer than 10 per cent surviving for at least five years after diagnosis. Building on this research will be a key priority for the recently established Cancer
The Centre--where Professor Swanton is joint centre lead--is a key part of Cancer Research UK's renewed focus to beat lung cancer;
Professor Nic Jones Cancer Research UK's chief scientist said: This fascinating research highlights the need to find better ways to detect lung cancer earlier
If we can nip the disease in the bud and treat it before it has started travelling down different evolutionary routes we could make a real difference in helping more people survive the disease.
Building on this work Cancer Research UK is funding a study called TRACERX which is studying 100s of patient's lung cancers as they evolve over time to find out exactly how lung cancers mutate adapt
and become resistant to treatments Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Cancer Research UK.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Unusual skin cancer linked to chronic allergy from metal orthopedic implant In rare cases patients with allergies to metals develop persistent skin rashes after metal devices are implanted near the skin.
New research suggests these patients may be increased at risk of an unusual and aggressive form of skin cancer.
Metal alloys help make orthopedic implants stronger and more durable. But people with sensitivity to these metals which include nickel cobalt
and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St louis. The team's findings were published online Oct 8 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The researchers were alerted to the connection by a patient who had surgery at another hospital to have a metal rod implanted to repair a fractured ankle.
After the surgery the patient developed a skin rash on her ankle near the location of the implant.
The patient turned out to be allergic to nickel in the implant which led surgeons at the other hospital to remove it.
But the rash persisted and a few years later a rare form of skin cancer known as Marjolin's ulcer developed at the surgical site.
The cancer which had become painful and ulcerated was diagnosed and removed by physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
The researchers showed in mouse models that chronic skin inflammation caused by continuous skin contact with allergens contributes to tumor development.
The finding suggests that patients with metal implants near the skin may need to be monitored for this type of inflammation according to the researchers.
The results likely also will lead to debate and further research on whether physicians should test for metal sensitivity in patients preparing for surgery to get these types of implants.
Chronic inflammation from metal implants can cause joint pain and swelling and contribute to joint failure.
And when these implants are placed near the skin fewer than 5 percent of patients develop an inflammatory rash related to the implant.
The patient's diagnosis with Marjolin's ulcer an invasive and potentially deadly squamous cell cancer surprised physicians.
The patient was under 50 years old and Marjolin's ulcer is extremely rare in people who are young and otherwise healthy.
This type of cancer most often is identified in patients with a previous history of skin cancers
but this patient had had never skin cancer. To investigate whether inflammation from the implant contributed to the tumor the researchers studied mouse models of contact allergy.
A contact allergy is a different kind of reaction from allergies to pollen pet dander or food said senior author Wayne M. Yokoyama MD a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the School of medicine.
A contact allergy usually develops when an allergen touches the skin or is close to it.
Skin rash in response to nickel and poison ivy are two common examples of contact allergies. The researchers showed that contact allergy brings inflammatory cells and molecules to the site of the allergic reaction.
If the contact allergen remains a long time--as was the case with the patient's implant--different inflammatory cells
and molecules become active at the site of the reaction. The new mix of cells and molecules promotes the development of skin tumors.
This model supported cancer development so strongly that some mice developed invasive squamous cell skin cancers similar to the patient's tumor said lead author Shadmehr Demehri MD Phd a dermatologist
and postdoctoral fellow. When the researchers examined the cells and molecules involved in chronic contact allergy in mice they identified several that already had been linked to tumor development.
Some of these cells and molecules also were present in biopsy samples from the patient's ankle.
The scientists are working to identify which inflammatory cells and molecules are most supportive of cancer formation.
If you're allergic to something the first thing to do is to avoid it but the patient couldn't said Yokoyama the Sam and Audrey Loew Levin Professor of Medicine.
Some nickel had seeped likely from it into her tissue and was still present in her skin even after the implant was removed.
It's as if a patient allergic to poison ivy kept putting poison ivy on the skin. To prevent such adverse events the researchers suggested that the potential for allergic reactions to metal implants be assessed in patients who have had the implants
and in patients preparing to receive them. Allergen-free versions of some implants are said available Demehri.
These versions may cost more or be less durable but for some patients with sensitivity to metals they may be the best option.
Similar to metal implants some dental restoration materials and tattoo inks contain substances associated with allergic reactions and cancers on the skin or in the mouth.
Those clinical observations also could be explained by the new findings. The researchers suggested that the potential for these other allergens to promote skin cancer needs to be examined further.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Washington University in St louis. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference e
#Plasmonic paper for detecting trace amounts of chemicals, pollutants and more Using a common laboratory filter paper decorated with gold nanoparticles,
researchers at Washington University in St louis have created a unique platform, known as"plasmonic paper, "for detecting and characterizing even trace amounts of chemicals and biologically important molecules-from explosives, chemical warfare agents and environmental pollutants to disease markers.
The work will be described by Srikanth Singamaneni, assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering and materials science at Washington University in St louis,
and medical diagnostic applications.""For example, Tian noted, the plasmonic paper can be used to detect target molecules that serve as indicators for diseases such as kidney cancer."
"We believe that we have a platform technology that nicely lends itself for such applications,
including the disambiguation of electroencephalograph patterns from epileptic seizure patients; detection of anomalous cardiac activity from heart recordings;
#Giant leap for diabetes: From human embryonic stem cells to billions of human insulin producing cells Harvard stem cell researchers announced that they have made a giant leap forward in the quest to find a truly effective treatment for type 1 diabetes,
a condition that affects an estimated three million Americans at a cost of about $15 billion annually:
when his then infant son Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, dedicated his career to finding a cure for the disease,
said he hopes to have human transplantation trials using the cells to be underway within a few years."
"We are now just one preclinical step away from the finish line, "said Melton, whose daughter Emma also has type 1 diabetes.
A report on the new work has been published by the journal Cell. Felicia W. Pagliuca, Jeff Millman,
and opened the door for drug discovery and transplantation therapy in diabetes, "Fuchs said. And Jose Oberholtzer, M d.,Associate professor of Surgery, Endocrinology and Diabetes,
and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and its Director of the Islet and Pancreas Transplant Program and the Chief of the Division of Transplantation, said work described in today's Cell"will leave a dent in the history of diabetes.
Doug Melton has put in a life-time of hard work in finding a way of generating human islet cells in vitro He made it.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune metabolic condition in which the body kills off all the pancreatic beta cells that produce the insulin needed for glucose regulation in the body.
Thus the final preclinical step in the development of a treatment involves protecting from immune system attack the approximately 150 million cells that would have to be transplanted into each patient being treated.
the Samuel A. Goldblith Professor of Applied Biology, Associate professor in the Department of Chemical engineering, the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science,
Cell transplantation as a treatment for diabetes is still essentially experimental, uses cells from cadavers, requires the use of powerful immunosuppressive drugs,
MIT's Anderson said the new work by Melton's lab is"an incredibly important advance for diabetes.
human beta cells through controlled differentiation of stem cells will accelerate the development of new therapeutics.
In particular, this advance opens to doors to an essentially limitless supply of tissue for diabetic patients awaiting cell therapy."
This significant accomplishment has the potential to serve as a cell source for islet replacement in people with type 1 diabetes
and may provide a resource for discovery of beta cell therapies that promote survival or regeneration of beta cells and development of screening biomarkers to monitor beta cell health and survival to guide therapeutic
strategies for all stages of the disease.""Melton expressed gratitude to both the Juvenile diabetes Research Foundation and the Helmsley Trust, saying"their support has been,
"While diabetics can keep their glucose metabolism under general control by injecting insulin multiple times a day,
and that lack of control leads to devastating complications from blindness to loss of limbs.
About 10 percent of the more than 26 million Americans living with type 2 diabetes are also dependent upon insulin injections,
and would presumably be candidates for beta cell transplants, Melton said.""There have been previous reports of other labs deriving beta cell types from stem cells,
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011