Hybrid molecules show promise for exploring, treating Alzheimer’s
|
|
One of the many mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease is how protein-like snippets called amyloid-beta peptides, which clump together to form plaques in the brain, may cause cell death, leading to the disease’s devastating symptoms of memory loss and other mental difficulties.
In order to answer that key question and develop new approaches to preventing the damage, scientists must first understand how amyloid-beta forms the telltale clumps.
University of Michigan researchers have developed new molecular tools that can be used to investigate the process. The molecules also hold promise in Alzheimer’s disease treatment. The research, led by assistant professor Mi Hee Lim, was published online this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Though the exact mechanism for amyloid-beta clump formation isn’t known, scientists do know that copper and zinc ions are somehow involved, not only in the aggregation process, but apparently also in the resulting injury. Copper, in particular, has been implicated in generating reactive oxygen species, which can cause cell damage.
CTRC, AACR and Baylor College of Medicine to Host San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
|
|
What:
Now in its 32nd year, the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium remains the top venue for research and discovery in breast cancer. This year’s conference will bring together delegates from all over the world. Among the expected highlights:
• Five-year results of the groundbreaking Herceptin trial.
• Definitive data on the role of bisphosphonates in breast cancer prevention.
• The role hormone therapies may play in lung cancer treatment.
• New data on the role of obesity and alcohol in breast cancer risk.
• Emerging therapies that could change the treatment landscape.
To help you plan your coverage of the conference, the program schedule is available online at http://www.sabcs.org. Although the full abstracts will not be available online until the conference begins, an electronic press kit containing the press releases and select highlighted abstracts will be available on Dec. 2, 2009 to reporters registered through the AACR and those with a subscription to Eurekalert and/or Newswise.
New national study finds increasing number of injuries from hot tubs
|
|
Though hot tubs, whirlpools and spas are widely used for relaxation and fun, they can pose serious risk for injury. Over the past two decades, as recreational use of hot tubs has increased, so has the number of injuries. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that from 1990-2007, the number of unintentional hot tub-related injuries increased by 160 percent, from approximately 2,500 to more than 6,600 injuries per year.
According to the study, published in the online issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 73 percent of the patients with hot tub-related injuries were older than 16 and approximately one half of all injuries resulted from slips and falls. Lacerations were the most commonly reported injuries (28 percent) and the lower extremities (27 percent) and the head (26 percent) were the most frequently injured body parts.
“While the majority of injuries occurred among patients older than 16, children are still at high risk for hot tub-related injuries,” said study author Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Due to the differing mechanisms of injury and the potential severity of these injuries, the pediatric population deserves special attention.”
Low cholesterol may shrink risk for high-grade prostate cancer
|
|
Men with lower cholesterol are less likely than those with higher levels to develop high-grade prostate cancer - an aggressive form of the disease with a poorer prognosis, according to results of a Johns Hopkins collaborative study.
In a prospective study of more than 5,000 U.S. men, epidemiologists say they now have evidence that having lower levels of heart-clogging fat may cut a man’s risk of this form of cancer by nearly 60 percent.
“For many reasons, we know that it’s good to have a cholesterol level within the normal range,” says Elizabeth Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H., associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-director of the cancer prevention and control program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. “Now, we have more evidence that among the benefits of low cholesterol may be a lower risk for potentially deadly prostate cancers.”
WHO urges pregnant women to get swine flu jab now
|
|
Pregnant women and other people at high risk should be vaccinated against the H1N1 swine flu virus as the cold weather begins to bite in the northern hemisphere, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
It voiced concern that some vulnerable people are shying away from the pandemic vaccine, which the WHO stressed had not caused any unusual side effects in hundreds of thousands of people to have received it worldwide so far.
“Certainly the fact that the vaccine isn’t being used by those who would have access to it and who would be in priority risk groups is of concern, yes,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.
Elton John aims for return to stage after illness
|
|
Elton John is recovering in hospital from a serious case of e-coli bacterial infection and influenza that forced him to cancel a string of concerts, but he hoped to return to the stage soon, a spokesman said on Monday.
British pop star John, 62, postponed five gigs in England and Ireland starting with an October 23 date in Sheffield, and has also pulled out of three U.S. concerts scheduled for November 4, 7 and 10 at which he was to appear with Billy Joel.
Researchers develop innovative imaging system to study sudden cardiac arrest
|
|
A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed an innovative optical system to simultaneously image electrical activity and metabolic properties in the same region of a heart, to study the complex mechanisms that lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Tested in animal models, the system could dramatically advance scientists’ understanding of the relationship between metabolic disorders and heart rhythm disturbances in humans that can lead to cardiac arrest and death, and provide a platform for testing new treatments to prevent or stop potentially fatal irregular heartbeats, known as arrhythmias.
The research is supported in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The design and use of the dual camera system is described in the Nov.1 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Additional support for the project has also been provided by the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE), the American Heart Association, and the Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study.
New Type 1 Diabetes Research Center and Elam Discovery Wall Dedicated
|
|
The La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, an international leader in immunology research and San Diego’s only research institute focused solely on immune-mediated diseases, today will dedicate its new Elam Discovery Wall and Type 1 Diabetes Center, which will focus on research into novel immunological-focused approaches to type 1 diabetes.
The discovery wall, a technologically advanced and visually stunning scientific research and education tool, is being dedicated in memory of William N. Elam, Jr., M.D., a longtime family physician and stepfather of Rancho Santa Fe resident and Institute friend Kevin Keller. During the dedication event, guests will be treated to powerful cellular images of type 1 diabetes activity via the Elam Discovery Wall, while speakers discuss the goals of the Institute’s new Center for type 1 diabetes research.
Led by Matthias von Herrath, M.D., one of the world’s top type 1 diabetes researchers and recipient of the American Diabetes Association’s prestigious 2008 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, the Center will accelerate research toward new therapies to better treat, prevent or cure type 1 diabetes.
$20 Million Stem Cell Grant for UC San Diego Cancer Research
|
|
Researchers led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director Dennis A. Carson, MD, professor of medicine, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have been awarded $20 million over four years to develop novel drugs against leukemia stem cells.
CIRM’s 29-member Governing Board voted to approve funding to 14 multidisciplinary teams of California researchers. The four-year grants mark the first CIRM funding explicitly expected to result in FDA approval for a clinical trial. The Disease Team Research Awards fund research teams that include basic scientists, clinicians and industry. These collaborations speed the process of establishing clinical trials by avoiding mistakes being discovered late in the process and insuring that clinically relevant issues are considered early.
“This award will fund a team – including researchers from disparate disciplines and key industry-academic partners – to develop novel therapies targeting leukemia stem cells, with the goal of moving to clinical trials in the shortest possible time frame,” said Jamieson, who was involved in a unique partnership between industry and academia that, in 2008, led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases in just one year’s time.
Research shows Tai Chi exercise reduces knee osteoarthritis pain in the elderly
|
|
Researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine have determined that patients over 65 years of age with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who engage in regular Tai Chi exercise improve physical function and experience less pain. Tai Chi (Chuan) is a traditional style of Chinese martial arts that features slow, rhythmic movements to induce mental relaxation and enhance balance, strength, flexibility, and self-efficacy. Full findings of the study are published in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.
The elderly population is at most risk for developing knee OA, which results in pain, functional limitations or disabilities and a reduced quality of life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are 4.3 million U.S. adults over age 60 diagnosed with knee OA, a common form of arthritis that causes wearing of joint cartilage. A recent CDC report further explains that half of American adults may develop symptoms of OA in at least one knee by age 85.
For this study, Chenchen Wang, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues recruited 40 patients from the greater Boston area with confirmed knee OA who were in otherwise good health. The mean age of participants was 65 years with a mean body mass index of 30.0 kg/m2. Patients were randomly selected and 20 were asked to participate in 60-minute Yang style Tai Chi sessions twice weekly for 12 weeks. Each session included: a 10-minute self-massage and a review of Tai Chi principles; 30 minutes of Tai Chi movement; 10 minutes of breathing technique; and 10 minutes of relaxation.
Genes key in compulsive urge to hoard
|
|
People who have a compulsive urge to collect and clutter their homes with junk can partly attribute their problem to genes, a new study confirms.
In a twin study, researchers found that genetic predisposition explained a large amount of the risk for compulsive hoarding—a mental health problem in which people have an overwhelming desire to accumulate items normally considered useless, like old newspapers or junk mail.
Of the more than 5,000 twins in the study, roughly 2 percent showed symptoms of compulsive hoarding. And genes appeared to account for half of the variance in risk.
Diabetics with Alzheimer’s have slower memory loss
|
|
People who have both Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes have slower rates of memory loss than people who just have Alzheimer’s disease, French researchers said on Tuesday.
They studied 600 Alzheimer’s patients for four years and found those who had both Alzheimer’s and diabetes—about 10 percent of the total—scored far better on twice yearly memory and thinking tests than those with Alzheimer’s who did not have diabetes.
“This result was surprising,” said Dr. Caroline Sanz of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, whose study appears in the journal Neurology.
Andre Agassi admits taking drugs and lying to ATP
|
|
Eight times grand slam winner Andre Agassi has admitted using the recreational drug crystal meth and lying to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to escape a ban.
In his forthcoming book, which is being serialized in The Times, the American candidly describes being introduced to the drug in 1997 by his assistant and the moment later that year when he was informed he had failed a drug test.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francesco Ricci Bitti said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Agassi’s revelations that have stunned tennis.
Patient First in North Texas to Receive Newest-generation Heart Failure Device
|
|
UT Southwestern Medical Center patient Michael LeBlanc, 40, is the first in North Texas to receive the newest generation of a mechanical device designed to improve heart function. It will be his lifeline while he awaits a heart transplant.
Called a left-ventricular assist device (LVAD), its purpose is to help a patient’s weakened heart pump blood throughout the body. For Mr. LeBlanc, it will help his ailing heart continue to pump until the Irving resident receives a new heart. UT Southwestern is the only medical facility in North Texas implanting the HeartWare Ventricular Assist System as part of a national clinical trial testing the effectiveness of the device.
The HeartWare Ventricular Assist System is a little smaller than a hockey puck and two and half times smaller than the earliest versions of LVADs.
Economic impact of H1N1 less in crisis: German study
|
|
The H1N1 swine flu virus will have less impact on Germany’s economy than previously expected, a study by Allianz insurers and the RWI economic research institute showed on Tuesday.
The study said swine flu would cost Europe’s biggest economy between 10 billion euros and 40 billion euros, equivalent to 0.4 and 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) respectively, depending on the gravity of the global flu pandemic.
The transport, hospitality and culture sectors would suffer most, said the study.
