Drug shows early promise in treating seizures
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A study out today in the journal Nature Medicine suggests a potential new treatment for the seizures that often plague children with genetic metabolic disorders and individuals undergoing liver failure. The discovery hinges on a new understanding of the complex molecular chain reaction that occurs when the brain is exposed to too much ammonia.
The study shows that elevated levels of ammonia in the blood overwhelm the brain’s defenses, ultimately causing nerve cells to become overexcited. The researchers have also discovered that bumetanide – a diuretic drug used to treat high blood pressure - can restore normal electrical activity in the brains of mice with the condition and prevent seizures.
“Ammonia is a ubiquitous waste product of regular protein metabolism, but it can accumulate in toxic levels in individuals with metabolic disorders,” said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., co-director of the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Center for Translational Neuromedicine and lead author of the article. “It appears that the key to preventing the debilitating neurological effects of ammonia toxicity is to correct a molecular malfunction which causes nerve cells in the brain to become chemically unbalanced.”
In healthy people, ammonia is processed in the liver, converted to urea, and expelled from the body in urine. Because it is a gas, ammonia can slip through the blood-brain-barrier and make its way into brain tissue. Under normal circumstances, the brain’s housekeeping cells - called astrocytes - sweep up this unwanted ammonia and convert it into a compound called glutamine which can be more easily expelled from the brain.
Texting heart medication reminders improved patient adherence
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Getting reminder texts helped patients take their heart medicines (anti-platelet and cholesterol-lowering drugs) more regularly, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.
In a 30-day, randomized controlled trial of 90 coronary heart disease patients, one group received customized text education messages and medication reminders; a second group got education messages only; and a third received no texts.
The text messaging groups had a 16 percent to 17 percent higher rate of taking correct doses and a higher rate of taking doses on schedule compared to the group who didn’t receive text messaging.
“There is now a major initiative to apply more innovative technologies such as mHealth, eHealth, and telehealth to effectively intervene to promote medication adherence,” said Linda Park, Ph.D., study lead author and post-doctoral fellow at San Francisco VA Medical Center in California.
Hybrid heart valve is strong, durable in early tests
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A hybrid heart valve created from thin and highly elastic mesh embedded within layers of human cells was strong and durable in a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.
Researchers created a three-dimensional cell culture by coating a scaffold of nickel-titanium alloy (Nitinol), used for devices that require flexibility and motion, with layers of smooth muscle, connective tissue and lining cells. The valves performed well in a heart simulator, opening and closing under various pressures and remaining stable and strong throughout the tests.
New evidence on the biological basis of highly impulsive and aggressive behaviors
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Physical and chemical changes in the brain during development can potentially play a role in some delinquent and deviant behaviors, according to research released today. Studies looking at the underlying mechanisms that influence our ability to exercise self-control were presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
Understanding the impact of changes in specific prefrontal regions during brain development could lead to new treatments and earlier interventions for disorders in which impulsivity plays a key factor. The research may have implications for understanding and dealing with aggressive and troublesome behaviors.
Today’s new findings show that:
Common genetic pathway could be conduit to pediatric tumor treatment
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Investigators at Johns Hopkins have found a known genetic pathway to be active in many difficult-to-treat pediatric brain tumors called low-grade gliomas, potentially offering a new target for the treatment of these cancers.
In laboratory studies, researchers found that the pathway, called mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), was highly active in pediatric low-grade gliomas, and that mTOR activity could be blocked using an experimental drug, leading to decreased growth of these tumors.
“We think mTOR could function as an Achilles heel,” says study co-author Eric Raabe, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics, oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. “It drives cancer growth, but when mTOR is inhibited, the tumor falls apart.” The work was described Nov. 7 in the journal Neuro-Oncology.
Overall, brain tumors affect more than 4,000 children each year in the U.S., and they are the leading cause of cancer deaths in children, according to Raabe. Low-grade gliomas are the most common group of tumors of the central nervous system in children. Current treatments for these tumors include surgery and chemotherapy, which often cause significant side effects. Many of these tumors are located in areas like the optic pathway, where they can’t be easily removed by surgery without causing damage, including blindness. In addition to vision loss, some of Raabe’s patients have endured paralysis or learning problems as a result of the tumor or treatment. “Even though these tumors are considered ‘low grade’ and not particularly aggressive, many patients suffer severe, life-altering symptoms, so we desperately need better therapies,” says Raabe.
Sexual function dramatically improves in women following bariatric surgery, Penn study finds
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The first study to look extensively at sexual function in women who underwent bariatric surgery found that significant improvements in overall sexual function, most reproductive hormones and in psychological status were maintained over two years following surgery. Women reporting the poorest quality of sexual function prior to surgery saw the most dramatic improvements one year after surgery, on par with women who reported the highest quality of sexual function prior to surgery. The new report by researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania appears in the November 4 edition of JAMA Surgery.
More than half of women who seek bariatric surgery report signs of sexual dysfunction and, consequentially, psychological stress.
“For many people, sex is an important part of quality of life. The massive weight losses typically seen following bariatric surgery are associated with significant improvements in quality of life,” said the study’s lead author David Sarwer, PhD, professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “This is one of the first studies to show that women also experience improvements in their sexual functioning and satisfaction, as well as significant improvements in their reproductive hormones.”
Researchers followed 106 women with an average Body Mass Index of 44.5 who underwent bariatric surgery (85 had gastric bypass and 21 had gastric banding procedures). Following surgery, the women lost an average of 32.7 percent of their original body weight after the first year, and 33.5 percent at the end of the second year.
Genetic rarity rules in wild guppy population, study finds
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When it comes to choosing a mate, female guppies don’t care about who is fairest. All that matters is who is rarest.
Florida State University Professor Kimberly A. Hughes in the Department of Biological Science has a new study just published in the journal Nature that is the first to demonstrate a female preference for rare males using an experiment in a wild population, rather than a laboratory setting.
This study of genetic differences in male guppies is relevant to understanding variation in humans as well as in other organisms, Hughes said.
Hughes and her longtime collaborators studied guppies in Trinidad and found that male guppies with rare color patterns mated more - and lived longer - than the common males. The males’ color variations are genetic and not due to diet or temperature. And the males’ actual appearance didn’t matter to the females, who are tan in color and do the choosing of mates.
“No matter which color pattern we made rare in any group, they mated more and had more offspring,” Hughes said.
Stealth nanoparticles lower drug-resistant tumors’ defenses
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Some of the most dangerous cancers are those that can outmaneuver the very drugs designed to defeat them, but researchers are now reporting a new Trojan-horse approach. In a preliminary study in the journal ACS Nano focusing on a type of breast cancer that is highly resistant to current therapies, they describe a way to sneak small particles into tumor cells, lower their defenses and attack them with drugs, potentially making the therapy much more effective.
Paula T. Hammond and colleagues at the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research at MIT note that triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive disease that is difficult to treat with standard-of-care therapy, and patients’ prognoses are poor. These cancer cells evade treatment by ramping up the production of certain proteins that protect tumors from chemotherapy drugs. Interfering with this process could give anticancer drugs a better chance at killing resistant tumors. Recent research into molecules called small interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, is opening doors into possible new treatments using this approach. These molecules can halt the production of particular proteins, so they are ideal candidates for dialing down the levels of protective proteins in tumors. But there are challenges to using siRNAs as part of a cancer therapy, so Hammond’s team set out to address them with novel molecular engineering approaches.
They designed a two-stage, “stealth” drug delivery system to attack TNBC cells in mice, often used as stand-ins for humans in research. They created “layer-by-layer” nanoparticles through assembly of components in a certain order around a nano-sized core.
Think twice before buying breast milk online: study
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Most of the breast milk sold over the Internet is contaminated with bacteria, a new study suggests.
Researchers tested 101 milk samples they bought on milk sharing websites. They found that almost three quarters probably weren’t safe for babies, especially preemies.
Those sites have thousands of ads from people selling breast milk, often new mothers who make more than their baby needs. The milk typically sells for $1 or $2 per ounce.
“If you buy milk on the Internet, you have no idea what you’re getting,” said Sarah Keim. She led the study at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
New idea for targeting the common cancer protein KRAS
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Patients with cancers driven by the protein KRAS, which are particularly hard to treat, may benefit from small molecules that attach to and disrupt the function of a KRAS-containing protein complex, according to results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Oct. 19-23.
Mutant forms of the protein KRAS are found in approximately 30 percent of all cancers. They are responsible for many of the hallmarks of these cancers, and KRAS is, therefore, considered an important therapeutic target. However, attempts to develop clinically useful KRAS-targeted drugs have been unsuccessful.
“KRAS is a molecular switch,” said Michael Burns, a doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy candidate at Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. “In the ‘on’ state it transmits signals that drive cell growth and survival. In many cancers, KRAS is permanently in the on state, and it is a highly validated therapeutic target.
“KRAS switches from off to on most efficiently when it is attached to a protein called SOS,” explained Burns. “Each SOS protein attaches to two KRAS proteins, and we have identified a number of small molecules that bind to a particular part of SOS when it is in a complex with two KRAS proteins. These small molecules disrupt the function of the complex, ultimately causing inhibition of the signaling pathways downstream of KRAS that drive cell growth and survival. Although our data were generated in biochemical assays and cell lines, they suggest a potential way to therapeutically target KRAS, which has not been possible to date.”
Combining Chinese and Western medicine could lead to new cancer treatments
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Combining traditional forms of Chinese and Western medicine could offer new hope for developing new treatments for liver, lung, colorectal cancers and osteosarcoma of the bones.
Experts from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine have joined forces with Peking University in China to test the health benefits of a traditional Chinese medicine.
The team also set-out to examine how by combining it with more traditional methods like Chemotherapy could improve patient outcomes and potentially lead to the development of new cancer treatments and therapies.
“Traditional Chinese medicine where compounds are extracted from natural products or herbs has been practised for centuries in China, Korea, Japan and other countries in Asia,” according to Professor Wen Jiang from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, who is the director of the Cardiff University-Peking University Joint Cancer Institute at Cardiff and led the research as part of a collaboration between Cardiff University and Peking University.
Pet pig Nemo’s lymphoma treatment makes research history
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When George Goldner went to feed his six pet pigs earlier this year, his 730-pound (331-kg) companion Nemo was acting strangely. Nemo had suddenly stopped eating and laid in the mud.
So Goldner loaded Nemo into a trailer and drove more than two hours to Cornell University Hospital for Animals (CUHA) in Ithaca, New York. There he learned his four-year-old Hampshire pig had what doctors believed was the blood cancer B-cell lymphoma.
The hospital’s researchers told Goldner they had never seen a pig treated for cancer. But that did not deter Goldner, a self-described animal lover, who asked doctors to devise a way to treat his pig based on their knowledge of cancer in dogs and humans and not worry about costs.
New theory on genesis of osteoarthritis comes with successful therapy in mice
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Scientists at Johns Hopkins have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, they now have evidence that the bone underneath the cartilage is also a key player and exacerbates the damage. In a proof-of-concept experiment, they found that blocking the action of a critical bone regulation protein in mice halts progression of the disease.
The prevailing theory on the development of OA focuses on joint cartilage, suggesting that unstable mechanical pressure on the joints leads to more and more harm to the cartilage - and pain to the patient - until the only treatment option left is total knee or hip replacement. The new theory, reported May 19 in Nature Medicine, suggests that initial harm to the cartilage causes the bone underneath it to behave improperly by building surplus bone. The extra bone stretches the cartilage above and speeds its decline.
“If there is something wrong with the leg of your chair and you try to fix it by replacing the cushion, you haven’t solved the problem,” says Xu Cao, Ph.D., director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We think that the problem in OA is not just the cartilage ‘cushion,’ but the bone underneath,” he adds.
Joints are formed at the intersection of two bones. To prevent the grinding and wearing down of the ends of the bones, they are capped with a thin layer of cartilage, which not only provides a smooth surface for joint rotation but also absorbs some of the weight and mechanical strain placed on the joint. The degeneration of this protective layer causes extreme pain leading to limited mobility.
Child Abuse Ad Shows Hidden Message for Children
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A Spanish foundation aiming to curb child abuse has a new bus ad that shows a hidden message for children under 10 years old – or rather, children under 4-foot-4.
The ANAR Foundation, which stands for Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk, has created a bus ad that shows two messages: one for adults and one for children.
“How can we get our message across, even when they are accompanied by an adult?” an ANAR Foundation YouTube video about the ad asks. “How can we get our message across, even when they are accompanied by their aggressor?”
The ad visible to adults, or people over 4-foot-4, shows a child’s face and a message that says, “Sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it.”
90 percent of pediatric specialists not following clinical guidelines when treating preschoolers with ADHD
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A recent study by pediatricians from the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York examined to what extent pediatric physicians adhere to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy in treating young patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The results showed that more than 90 percent of medical specialists who diagnose and manage ADHD in preschoolers do not follow treatment guidelines recently published by the AAP.
“It is unclear why so many physicians who specialize in the management of ADHD—child neurologists, psychiatrists and developmental pediatricians—fail to comply with recently published treatment guidelines,” said Andrew Adesman, MD, senior investigator and chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. “With the AAP now extending its diagnosis and treatment guidelines down to preschoolers, it is likely that more young children will be diagnosed with ADHD even before entering kindergarten. Primary care physicians and pediatric specialists should recommend behavior therapy as the first line treatment.”
Current clinical guidelines for pediatricians and child psychiatrists associated with the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) recommend that behavior therapy be the initial treatment approach for preschoolers with ADHD, and that treatment with medication should only be pursued when counseling in behavior management is not successful.
