Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 04 Feb 2013 - 2:00 PST
The treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases can be particularly challenging because many of the therapeutic agents such as recombinant proteins and gene medicines are not easily transported across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Focused ultrasound can be used to "open the door" of the blood brain barrier. However, finding a way to "prop the door open" to allow therapeutics to reach diseased tissue without damaging normal brain tissue is the focus of a new study by a team of researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at National Taiwan University presenting at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS), held Feb. 2-6, 2013, in Philadelphia, Pa.

The group is investigating the feasibility of using heparin, a common anticoagulant, to enhance the delivery of therapeutic macromolecules using ultrasound into the brain. Heparin could be employed to increase treatment efficacy in patients with different types of CNS diseases under the guidance of medical imaging system providing new hope in these challenging cases. Initial results show that heparin does have the potential to optimize therapeutic delivery with ultrasound, acting as a "doorstop," allowing drugs to better permeate the BBB and enhancing treatment success.

"A higher acoustic pressure and longer sonication, and/or a higher dose of microbubbles may increase the delivery of drugs or tracers into the sonicated brain tissue," explains Kuo-Wei Lu, a member of the research team, "but side-effects, such as microhemorrhage, can also increase dramatically. The results of this study indicate that heparin may offer a safer way can to enhance the delivery of therapeutics to patients with CNS diseases."

With these encouraging results, the next step for the team is to develop a focused ultrasound system with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) guidance to establish suitable parameters needed for patient clinical trials. "Focused ultrasound sonication is a noninvasive technology capable of localized and transient BBB opening for the delivery of CNS therapeutics," Lu states. "We hope by developing suitable parameters and using chemical enhancers like heparin, this can be a valuable tool in the treatment of patients with CNS diseases, opening the door to better patient outcomes."

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines;  Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 04 Feb 2013 - 2:00 PST
The shortened daylight of a Maine winter may make for long, dark nights - but it has shone a light on a novel experimental approach to fighting inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), an especially deadly form of breast cancer.

The new approach enlists the active form of Vitamin D3, called calcitriol, which is delivered therapeutically by quantum dots. Quantum dots are an engineered light-emitting nanoscale delivery vehicle. This new preliminary work shows the dots can be used to rapidly move high concentrations of calcitriol to targeted tumor sites where cancer cells accumulate, and also through the lymph system where the cancer spreads. With this approach, the calcitriol can fight on multiple fronts and the targeted location can be visualized with an imaging system tracking the quantum dots. The research will be presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS), being held Feb. 2-6, 2013, in Philadelphia, Pa.

University of Delaware cancer researcher Anja Nohe was living in Maine when she first received funding from the Maine Cancer Foundation to determine the effect of calcitriol on breast cancer cells. Reading cancer literature helped her make connections between cancer, vitamin D, and the daylight regime of higher latitudes. "By talking with talented colleagues about these ideas, the foundation was set for the current project," she says. After moving to the University of Delaware, she began working with Kenneth Van Golen, "an expert in the biology of IBC," to evaluate calcitriol.

Compared to other forms of breast cancer, IBC is especially difficult to treat. It has a five-year survival rate of 40% versus 87% for all other breast cancers. A big part of what makes IBC treatment difficult is its multi-site growth pattern. Current aggressive treatments such as combinations of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, have failed to significantly improve IBC survival rates.

This early experimental work on mice is encouraging because data show calcitriol can inhibit invasion and migration of SUM149 cells, an IBC cell line. "New IBC therapies are urgently needed, which is why the goal of my work is to find a successful treatment for inflammatory breast cancer, especially one with fewer side effects," Nohe says.

Upcoming Facebook Chat “Blood Disorders & the 3 P’s (Preconception, Pregnancy, & the Postpartum Period):  What Every Woman Needs to Know”

Facebook Chat, March 7, 2013 from 12-1pm ET

Women with blood disorders face unique challenges during puberty, pregnancy, and childbirth. In addition to being at greater risk for poor pregnancy outcomes, women with blood disorders can pass the condition on to their children, and certain medications and treatment options may decrease a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant, maintaining the pregnancy, and/or  becoming pregnant again. If you are a woman of childbearing age with a blood disorder, a family member of someone affected by a blood disorder, or someone who suspects they may have a blood disorder, please join us for our Facebook Chat Thursday, March 7 at noon Eastern.  Dr. Althea Grant, along with other blood disorders experts will answer your questions.

When:
Thursday, March 7, 2013, noon-1pm ET

Join the conversation:
Participate in the chat by asking questions, https://www.facebook.com/CDC.

 

 

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 30 Jan 2013 - 13:00 PST
Some key policy changes that need to be made in the United States in order to prevent illness and improve the health of millions of Americans have just been outlined in the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) latest Healthier America report.

The report includes a range of suggestions that focus on the prevention of chronic diseases, which currently affect more than half of the U.S. population. This would also help address the health problems facing today's youth who are set to be the first generation that are less healthy than their parents.

Gail Christopher, DN, President of the Board of TFAH, said: 

"America's health faces two possible futures. We can continue on the current path, resigning millions of Americans to health problems that could have been avoided or we invest in giving all Americans the opportunity to be healthier while saving billions in health care costs.  We owe it to our children to take the smarter way."

The U.S. is currently tackling a huge problem with obesity, in fact, researchers from the University of Oxford and Columbia University predict that if the current trend persists, by 2030 half of all Americans will be obese - a major cause of chronic disease. Drastic policy changes are going to be necessary to put a stop to trends such a this.

Paving the way for good health

The recommendations involve some new and innovative approaches:

• Implementing a series of foundational capabilities to improve the country's health system as well as restructuring public health programs with sustained funding.
• Establishing partnerships with nonprofit hospitals to develop new community benefit programs and expand support for prevention.
• Encourage that insurance providers compensate for all types of prevention strategies
• Ensuring that the Prevention and Public Health Fund continues and improve awareness of the Community Transformation Grant program.
• Maintain workplace wellness programs with employers as well as local and state governments.

Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH, said:

  "Prevention delivers real value as a cost-effective way to keep Americans healthy and improve their quality of life. Everyone wins when we prevent disease rather than treating people after they get sick.  Health care costs go down, our local neighborhoods are healthier and provide more economic opportunity, and people live longer, healthier, happier lives."

The report also includes information about recommendations that are already in action:

• The Accountable Care Community (ACC) brought more than 70 different partners to help patients with type 2 diabetes in and out of the doctor's office. The ACC managed to reduce the cost of care by more than 10 percent per month for patients with type 2 diabetes - meaning savings of around $3,185 per person yearly.
• The Boston Children's Hospital implemented The Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) with the purpose of supporting children with asthma in the Boston area. The initiative helped reduce hospital admissions due to asthma-related causes by around 80 percent as well as reducing emergency visits due to asthma by 60 percent.

  The report concludes that there are 10 main public health issues that need addressing:

• obesity
• tobacco use
• healthy aging
• improving the health of minorities
• healthy babies
• environment health threats
• injury prevention
• controlling infectious diseases
• food safety
• bioterrorism

Written by Joseph Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Featured Article
Main Category: Men's Health
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 30 Jan 2013 - 12:00 PST
A new report shows that men are more than one third (35%) more likely to die of cancer in the UK than women, and they are two-thirds (67%) more likely to die from the disease when sex-specific cancers such as prostate, testicular and ovarian cancers are excluded.

The report, produced by Cancer Research UK, the Men's Health Forum and the National Cancer Intelligence Network, shows that in 2010, the rate per 100,000 deaths from cancer for men in the UK was 202; for women it was 147.

In the UK, where the disease kills around 82,500 every year, more men die from cancer than any other disease.

Released online and presented at the Men's Health Forum conference in London on Tuesday, the report "Excess Cancer Burden in Men" says:

"In general, men are at significantly greater risk of both developing and dying from nearly all of the common cancers that occur in both sexes (with the exception of breast cancer)."

The report also points out that men under 65, that is of working age, are 58% more likely to die of cancers that affect both sexes than women.

Report co-author Alan White, the world's first Professor of Men's Health, and chair of the Men's Health Forum, says in a statement:

"The impact cancer has on younger men is often overlooked, but these are men whose life is cut too short by the disease."

White, who campaigns for men's health and is based at Leeds Metropolitan University, says the report highlights "just how big a problem cancer is", and why it is important to find out why men are more likely to die of cancer than women.

He says "the Men's Health Forum is campaigning for a better explanation for these differences and more male-focused cancer prevention work so that fewer men are struck down by cancer."

"It's crucial that the NHS leads the way in taking a more proactive approach to prevent men both getting and dying from cancer prematurely," urges White.

The new report also shows that nearly twice as many men die of liver cancer as women, and nearly three times as many die from cancer of the gullet or oesophageal cancer.

Possible Reasons for Differences In Men and Women's Cancer Rates and Deaths

The authors suggest one reason for the large difference in cancer rates and deaths between men and women could be that men are more often diagnosed with cancers that are harder to treat, such as cancers of the gullet, bladder and liver.

They also note that:

"The social determinants of cancer risk such as socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and living and working conditions, are strongly implicated in increased cancer risk in men."

There are also a number of other factors that "contribute to the inequality between the sexes", note the authors. These include "links to infection, lack of physical exercise, differential exposure to the sun, potential differences in symptom awareness, and differences in uptake of screening opportunities", they add.

One cancer where increased screening appears to be making a difference for UK men is prostate cancer. According to the latest estimates from Cancer Research UK, while rates of prostate cancer diagnoses in the UK are rising, deaths to the disease are falling, a pattern that the charity attributes partly to the fact men are living longer, but also to increased use of the PSA test.

Modifiable Lifestyle Factors

The authors also mention the possibility that men are more likely to get cancers linked to smoking, being overweight, having a poor diet, and excessive alcohol consumption because they are more likely to have lifestyles higher in these risk factors.

Evidence from research suggests more than 40% of the cancers that strike men are preventable through lifestyle changes.

Cancer Research UK has also published a document titled "Men's Cancer Briefing" that describes the various lifestyle factors that influence a man's risk of developing cancer.

This shows smoking is the biggest preventable lifestyle factor, responsible for nearly a quarter (23%) of all cancers in men, that is around 36,500 cancers in men in the UK every year.

The next biggest preventable lifestyle factors that cause cancer in men are being overweight, consuming too much alcohol and unhealthy diets.

Catherine Thomson is Cancer Research UK's head of statistics and co-author of both reports. She urges men to reduce their risk of developing cancer by "quitting smoking, cutting down on alcohol and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables".

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Editor's Choice
Academic Journal
Main Category: Erectile Dysfunction / Premature Ejaculation
Also Included In: Heart Disease
Article Date: 30 Jan 2013 - 10:00 PST
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is linked to heart disease and early death in men both with and without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The finding came from a new study conducted by researchers from the Australian National University, led by Emily Banks, and was published in PLOS Medicine.

Prior research has demonstrated that erectile dysfunction is associated with heart disease risk. In fact, a study from August of last year demonstrated that erectile dysfunction is a risk factor in men aged 55 or younger for eventual heart disease.

However, this is the first study to indicate that the severity of ED correlates with the elevated chance of CVD hospitalization and all-cause mortality.

''The risks of future heart disease and premature death increased steadily with severity of erectile dysfunction,'' Emily Banks explained.

The team of investigators gathered and examined date from the Australian prospective cohort 45 and Up Study. The research consisted of 95,038 males aged 45 or older.

After controlling for variables that could have an impact on the results, the experts analyzed the link between severity of self-reported ED and CVD hospitalization and mortality.

Over 65,000 men without known heart disease at the start of the study and over 29,000 men with CVD were involved in the investigation.

During a follow-up that lasted about 2.2 years and ended in June 2010, there were 7,855 incident hospital admissions for heart disease, and during a follow-up that lasted 2.8 years and ended in December 2010, 2304 subjects died.

Results showed that the men with severe ED and without known CVD had a relative 35% greater risk of hospitalization for all CVDs and a relative 93% elevated chance of all-cause mortality, compared to those with no erectile problems.

Men with CVD and severe ED had a relative 64% increased risk for all CVDs combined and a 137% greater chance of all-cause mortality.

Rob Grenfell, cardiovascular health director at Australia's Heart Foundation, said:

''These results tell us that every man who is suffering from any degree of erectile dysfunction should be seeking medical assistance as early as possible and also insisting on a heart health check by their GP at the same time."

The authors explained: "The findings of this study highlight the need to consider ED in relation to the risk of a wide range of CVDs."

Additionally, they emphasized that it is unlikely that erectile dysfunction causes heart disease. Instead, they explained, both result from comparable underlying causes, such as atherosclerosis.

"As a result, ED could serve as a useful marker to identify men who should undergo further testing to assess their risk for CVD," the researchers concluded.

  Written by Sarah Glynn
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Editor's Choice
Academic Journal
Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 30 Jan 2013 - 9:00 PST
A special blood marker has been found enabling further understanding of potential gut linked environmental factors to autism. The results could create blood tests for early screening of the condition.

The findings came from a clinical study by researchers from Western University and the University of Arkansas, and were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

Led by Drs. Richard Frye and Stepan Melynk of Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, the investigators found evidence of unusual energy metabolism among a subgroup of autistic kids.

The evidence verified earlier biological breakthroughs made by MacFabe and his team over the last several years. The current results prove that these metabolic irregularities may come about, not just from genetic contributors, but from compounds made by specific bacteria, generally found to be elevated in the abdomen of autistic people.

Biological Abnormalities Found in Autistic People

Other recent research points out that biological abnormalities in autistic people are not limited to the brain. They can impact other body systems such as:

• the immune system
• detoxification
• digestive system
• energy generation

The irregularities are thought to be caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, the cells that create energy in the body.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a family of developmental disorders that are characterized by impaired language, social development, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors.

MacFabe said "Autism spectrum disorders affect up to one in 88 individuals. And the number appears to be increasing. Many have digestive and metabolic issues, but how they may relate to ASD behaviours and the increase of occurrence were unclear."

In the current study, there were 213 children analyzed, 17 percent of those with ASD showed an unusual pattern of blood markers of fat metabolism known as acyl-carnitines. Researchers also found other evidence of irregular cellular energy function, such as decreased glutathione.

MacFabe concludes:

"This study suggests that autism in some patients can arise from alterations in mitochondrial function and fat metabolism following environmental exposure to propionic acid produced from ASD associated gut bacteria."

In a study done earlier this month, researchers found evidence that an autism diagnosis and symptoms could be overlooked as an autistic child gets older. The authors noted that the methods in which autism is diagnosed need to be reviewed and updated.

Written by Kelly Fitzgerald
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 27 Jan 2013 - 0:00 PST
Duke University engineers are layering atom-thick lattices of carbon with polymers to create unique materials with a broad range of applications, including artificial muscles.

The lattice, known as graphene, is made of pure carbon and appears under magnification like chicken wire. Because of its unique optical, electrical and mechanical properties, graphene is used in electronics, energy storage, composite materials and biomedicine.

However, graphene is extremely difficult to handle in that it easily "crumples." Unfortunately, scientists have been unable to control the crumpling and unfolding of large-area graphene to take advantage of its properties.

Duke engineer Xuanhe Zhao, assistant professor in Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, likens the challenge of controlling graphene to the difference between unfolding paper and wet tissue.

"If you crumpled up normal paper, you can pretty easily flatten it out," Zhao said. "However, graphene is more like wet tissue paper. It is extremely thin and sticky and difficult to unfold once crumpled. We have developed a method to solve this problem and control the crumpling and unfolding of large-area graphene films."

The Duke engineers attached the graphene to a rubber film that had been pre-stretched to many times its original size. Once the rubber film was relaxed, parts of the graphene detached from the rubber while other parts kept adhering to it, forming an attached-detached pattern with a feature size of a few nanometers. As the rubber relaxed, the detached graphene was compressed to crumple. But as the rubber film was stretched back, the adhered spots of graphene pulled on the crumpled areas to unfold the sheet.

"In this way, the crumpling and unfolding of large-area, atomic-thick graphene can be controlled by simply stretching and relaxing a rubber film, even by hands," Zhao said.

The results were published online in the journal Nature Materials.

"Our approach has opened avenues to exploit unprecedented properties and functions of graphene," said Jianfeng Zang, a postdoctoral fellow in Zhao's group and the first author of the paper. "For example, we can tune the graphene from being transparent to opaque by crumpling it, and tune it back by unfolding it."

In addition, the Duke engineers layered the graphene with different polymer films to make a "soft" material that can act like muscle tissues by contracting and expanding on demand. When electricity is applied to the graphene, the artificial muscle expands in area; when the electricity is cut off, it relaxes. Varying the voltage controls the degree of contraction and relaxation.

"The crumpling and unfolding of graphene allows large deformation of the artificial muscle," Zang said.

"New artificial muscles are enabling diverse technologies ranging from robotics and drug delivery to energy harvesting and storage," Zhao said. "In particular, they promise to greatly improve the quality of life for millions of disabled people by providing affordable devices such as lightweight prostheses and full-page Braille displays."

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 27 Jan 2013 - 0:00 PST
Today, the International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR) published a paper titled "ß-catenin is Required in Odontoblasts for Tooth Root Formation." The paper, written by lead authors Tak-Heun Kim and Cheol-Hyeon Bae, Chonbuk National University Korea School of Dentistry, Laboratory for Craniofacial Biology, is published in the IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research.

The tooth root, together with the surrounding periodontium, maintains the tooth in the jaw. The root develops after the crown forms, a process called morphogenesis. While the molecular and cellular mechanisms of early tooth development and crown morphogenesis have been extensively studied, little is known about the molecular mechanisms controlling tooth root formation.

In this study, Kim and Bae et al show that a protein called ß-catenin is strongly expressed in odontoblasts - the cells that develop the tooth dentin, and is required for root formation. Tissue-specific inactivation of ß-catenin in developing odontoblasts produced molars lacking roots and aberrantly thin incisors.

At the beginning of root formation in the mutant molars, the cervical loop epithelium extended apically to form Hertwig's epithelial root sheath (HERS), but root odontoblast differentiation was disrupted and followed by the loss of a subset of HERS inner layer cells. However, outer layer of HERS extended without the root, and the mutant molars finally erupted. The periodontal tissues invaded extensively into the dental pulp. These results indicate that there is a cell-autonomous requirement for Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in the dental mesenchyme for root formation.

"The striking tooth phenotypes in this study shed light on how Wnt signaling regulates odontoblast fate and root development," said JDR Associate Editor Joy Richman.