March 19, 2007, 9:34 PM CT

Clinical Trials Necessary For New Treatments

A University of Missouri-Columbia study has observed that newspapers' front page and section stories about clinical trials are overwhelmingly negative and that exposure to these stories may decrease people's willingness to participate in medical trials.

"We studied the tone and prominence of news stories about clinical trials and how that appeared to affect participation in trials," said Maria Len-Rios, assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. "Clinical trials are an important step in the process of developing effective drugs and therapys. This is an important subject: it's your health, your loved ones, your children and their well-being."

Len-Rios and MU graduate student Qi Qiu analyzed the content of newspaper stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post between May 2002 and June 2003. During that time, they found 216 stories that mentioned clinical trials in The New York Times and 124 in The Washington Post. Analysis of story tone revealed that 34 percent of the articles were negative, while 29 percent were positive. Stories appearing on the front page were 77 percent negative, while stories on inside pages were more balanced in tone. Some of the topics that gained prominence during the period studied included the cessation of 27 gene treatment studies after the death of a French child, the discovery of genetic links to breast cancer and the dangers of hormone replacement treatment......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

March 5, 2007, 9:49 PM CT

Poor Development Of Over 200 Million Children

Inadequate intellectual stimulation and poor nutrition, particularly iodine and iron deficiencies, are likely to blame for hindering more than 200 million children in developing countries from meeting their full potential, says a Purdue University researcher."These problems are robbing children under age 5 of full development, contributing to a cycle of low educational attainment and poverty during the later part of life," said Theodore Wachs, a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue and a lead researcher on the project. "We're not talking about genetics here. These are all preventable risks, which makes the situation that much more urgent".

"Child Development: Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes in Developing Countries," is the second in a three-part series from Wachs and his colleagues across the globe aimed at identifying the scope, causes and current prevention efforts regarding the loss of developmental potential among children in countries from Brazil to Vietnam. The series appeared in successive January editions of The Lancet.

The scientists drew from data in studies performed from 1985 to February 2006 by searching eight databases using keywords such as "developing countries," "cognitive development" and "educational attainment." They also worked with documents published by the World Bank, UNICEF and UNESCO's International Bureau of Education......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 27, 2007, 9:34 PM CT

regenerating failing mouse hearts

Mayo Clinic researchers have safely transplanted cardiac preprogrammed embryonic stem cells into diseased hearts of mice successfully regenerating infarcted heart muscle without precipitating the growth of a cancerous tumor -- which, so far, has impeded successful translation into practice of embryonic stem cell research.

The Mayo study is the first known report establishing a successful, tumor-resistant approach to growing new heart tissue from an embryonic stem cell source. The study is published in the recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any cell type in the body. But directing the stem cells to regenerate targeted tissue is a process that hasnt yet been perfected. Scientists continue to closely scrutinize stem cell strategies to establish even safer and more effective treatments for disease.

Embryonic stem cells are like a stealth fighter jet that flies virtually undetectable by radar, says the studys first author, Atta Behfar, M.D., Ph.D., a clinician-investigator fellow in the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. The host body doesnt recognize embryonic stem cells, which it allows to multiply freely in an unimpeded fashion.

The Mayo study is the first known report of a successful strategy for programming embryonic stem cells to suppress cancer genes, to mature into heart cells (also known as cardiomyocytes) and to successfully fix injured hearts without causing tumors to develop. The study removes a critical obstacle towards translation of regenerative technology into developing new therapies for people with heart disease......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 26, 2007, 8:57 PM CT

How T lymphocytes attack

Our immune system finds it difficult to eliminate tumours effectively. Deciphering the strategies it implements may increase the immune system's effect on tumour cells and thus improve the clinical perspectives for anticancer immune treatment. At the Institut Curie, INSERM and CNRS scientists have used two-photon microscopy to demonstrate, for the first time in vivo and real-time, how T lymphocytes infiltrate a solid tumour in order to fight it.

These "defenders" methodically encircle the enemy positions and "patrol" until they meet a tumour cell, which they have previously learnt to recognise. They then halt to eliminate it, before resuming their rounds. The rapidity of the advance achieved by T lymphocytes is indicative of either the absence of an adversary, or defeat of the immune system in the battlefield.

This scenario was published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

How is a tumour destroyed by T lymphocytes? This scenario has recently been visualised by scientists at the Institut Curie. The original images obtained and assembled in twelve video sequences are the result of close collaboration between a specialist in two-photon microscopy, Luc Fetler, an INSERM scientist in the CNRS/Institut Curie "Physical Chemistry Curie" Unit1, and immunologists, notably Alexandre Boissonnas, in the INSERM "Immunity and Cancer" Unit at Institut Curie......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 26, 2007, 6:34 PM CT

Barnyard Emissions And Asthma

Reducing barnyard emissions is one way to help reduce the harmful effects of tiny atmospheric air particles that can cause severe asthma in children, and lung cancer and heart attacks in some adults.

Carnegie Mellon University researcher Peter J. Adams argues that improved control of ammonia emissions from farm barnyards is more economical and efficient than trying to control the effects of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution from some industrial plants.

"In most farms, handling of animal manure is a major source of ammonia being released both to air and water," said Adams, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon. "Our research shows that increased control of livestock feed, efficient use of nitrogen on farms, low-emission fertilizers and other improvements to manure handling on farms are cost-effective ways to reduce ammonia emissions and airborne particles".

Adams research, featured in the 2007 winter edition of Environmental Science & Technology, shows that ammonia is a significant contributor to dangerous airborne particle concentrations along the eastern United States concentrations that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems hazardous to human health.

The Carnegie Mellon research also reports that the potential savings from controlling ammonia manure emissions from farms is $8,000 per ton in the winter, a cheaper and overlooked strategy for reducing airborne particle levels in comparison to controlling dangerous industrial pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. In New York state, each 500-megawatt, gas-burning turbine produces as much as 61 tons per year of pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and other dangerous airborne particulates, with remediation costs well into the millions, scientists said......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 20, 2007, 7:57 PM CT

Overturning Conventional Wisdom

A newly released study suggests that the majority of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) among patients undergoing therapy for the disease may be due to new infections, not acquired resistance. If confirmed in future studies the research, in the March 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, may drive a major shift in strategy for controlling TB.

A major difficulty in treating patients with pulmonary TB is that the organism can become progressively resistant to standard treatment. This resistance was long believed to be acquired through mutations in the infecting strain when the therapy regimen was inadequate or the patient did not comply with it. More recently, studies of the genetic make-up of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) strains have shown that resistance can also result from re-infection with a new strain that is already drug-resistant, sometimes against multiple drugs.

The authors of the new study, Qian Gao, PhD, and coworkers in Shanghai, China and elsewhere, used molecular genetics and drug susceptibility testing to investigate patients with TB who were treated in Shanghai hospitals during 1999-2004. They focused on 38 patients from whom samples were available before and during therapy. The scientists observed that the strains of TB in the samples taken before therapy were genetically different from those taken during therapy in 87 percent (33 out of 38) of patients......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 19, 2007, 9:01 PM CT

Understanding Health Risk Information

As per a research findings reported in the Feb. 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, scientists with Dartmouth Medical School and the Veterans Affairs Outcomes Group at the White River Junction (Vt.) VA Medical Center have tested whether a primer, which the scientists also wrote, helped people better understand information about health risks and interventions meant to reduce those risks.

We wrote the primer because, while people are bombarded with messages about health risks and therapy benefits, little is done to prepare them to understand these messages, says Steven Woloshin, one of the authors on the paper and an associate professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

Woloshin and his co-authors Lisa Schwartz and H. Gilbert Welch, all of whom are affiliated with Dartmouths Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences and the Veterans Affairs Outcomes Group at the White River Junction (Vermont) VA Medical Center, tested more than 500 people with varying levels of education. They observed that their primer improved medical interpretation skills, regardless of educational background.

This is one of the first studies we know of to go beyond simply exploring the fact that there are problems with how well people understand numbers and quantitative messages, says Schwartz. This study considers one concrete effort to teach people how to understand risk......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 19, 2007, 8:43 PM CT

Sick teens in crisis

A new study from Saint Louis University researchers shows that young transplant patients who lose their federally provided insurance coverage are more likely to stop taking necessary anti-rejection drugs, which can increase the risk of losing the transplanted organs.

The study appears in the recent issue of Pediatric Transplantation.

Immunosuppressive drugs that prevent organ rejection are incredibly expensive; sometimes more than $13,000 a year, says study author Mark Schnitzler, Ph.D., associate professor in the departments of internal medicine and community health at Saint Louis University. Even for families with insurance, the co-payments can be a huge financial burden.

Most healthcare costs associated with transplants in the United States such as critical immunosuppressive drugs are covered by Medicare for between 36 and 44 months, after which point they are cut off, Schnitzler says.

If families cannot afford medicine, it can mean losing the transplanted organ or even death.

Young adults from the ages of 18 to 23 face the greatest risk, as nearly a third of this age group lacks medical coverage. Even when families do have coverage after a transplant, it runs out 36 to 44 months post-transplant or when the child reaches adulthood......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 19, 2007, 8:05 PM CT

DNA Regions Linked To Nicotine Dependence

Americans are bombarded with antismoking messages, yet at least 65 million of us continue to light up. Genetic factors play an important role in this continuing addiction to cigarettes, suggest researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

In two studies in the January 2007 issue of Human Molecular Genetics, the researchers show that certain genetic variations can influence smoking behaviors and contribute to a person's risk for nicotine dependence.

The smoking-related genes identified normally facilitate communication between nerve cells in the brain. One gene in particular, the alpha-5 nicotinic cholinergic receptor (CHRNA5) gene, was a very strong indicator of risk for nicotine dependence. Individuals with a specific variation in the gene seemed to have a two hundred percent increase of developing nicotine dependence once exposed to cigarette smoking. CHRNA5 is from a class of receptors that plays a role in dopamine pathways in the brain, which are associated with a person's experience of pleasure.

The scientists also identified genes correlation to gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, another set of proteins vital to nerve cell function. Both GABA and nicotinic receptors had been suspected of involvement in nicotine addiction, but these findings strengthen those suspicions......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

February 19, 2007, 8:00 PM CT

Using Nano-Magnets to Enhance Medical Imaging

Nanoscale magnets in the form of iron-containing molecules might be used to improve the contrast between healthy and diseased tissue in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-as long as the concentration of nanomagnets is carefully managed-according to a new report* by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators. Molecular nanomagnets are a new class of MRI contrast agents that may offer significant advantages, such as versatility in design, over the compounds used today.

Contrast agents are used to highlight different tissues in the body or to help distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue. NIST is working with two universities and a hospital to design, produce and test nanomolecules that might make MRI imaging more powerful and easier to perform. The new paper resolves a debate in the literature by showing that iron-containing magnets just two nanometers wide, dissolved in water, do provide reasonable contrast in non-clinical MRI images-as long as the nanomagnet concentration is below a certain threshold. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.) Previous studies by other research groups had reached conflicting conclusions on the utility of molecular nanomagnets for MRI, but without accounting for concentration. NIST scientists, making novel magnetic measurements, were able to monitor the molecules' decomposition and magnetic properties as the composition was varied......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source