October 1, 2006, 7:55 PM CT

Helping Children To Sleep Better

The refusal of young children to go to bed at night can cause unnecessary stress for members of their family. However, parents and guardians can take comfort in knowing that behavioral treatments are an effective means for resolving a child's bedtime problems and night wakings.

The study, conducted by Jodi A. Mindell, PhD, of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, is based on a review of 52 treatment studies, participated by 2,500 infants and toddlers, by a task force appointed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

"The results indicate hat behavioral therapies produce reliable and durable changes in bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and children," wrote Mindell. "Across all studies, 94 percent report that behavioral interventions produced clinically significant improvements in bedtime problems and/or night wakings. Approximately 82 percent of children benefit from treatment and the majority maintain these results for three to six months".

Mindell noted that additional research is needed to examine the delivery methods of treatment, longer term efficacy and the role of pharmacological agents.

According to Mindell, studies have shown that 20 to 30 percent of young children have significant bedtime problems and/or night wakings. In addition, night wakings are among the most common sleep problems in infants and toddlers, with 25 to 50 percent of children over the age of six months waking during the night, added Mindell.........

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October 1, 2006, 7:40 PM CT

Predicting drug sensitivity in lung cancer

What if we can clearly predict which of those patients with non-small cell lung cancer would respond to a cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This would benefit a number of patients with non-small cell lung cancer, since oncologists could use another drug combination to treat these patients. This is what scientists from MD Anderson Cancer Center is trying to achieve.

Non-small cell lung cancer cells with a defective version of a potential tumor suppressor gene are highly resistant to attack by a platinum-based drug usually used to treat the disease, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report in the cover article of the latest issue of Cancer Research.

The gene may provide a potential biomarker for selecting among chemotherapy choices for non-small-cell lung cancer as well as a therapeutic target for restoring the drug cisplatin's punch in treating resistant forms of the disease, says senior author Lin Ji, Ph.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Scientists at the two institutions, working under a joint National Cancer Institute Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Lung Cancer grant, have identified three tumor-suppressor genes on chromosome 3. The latest paper refines the impact of one of those genes, NPRL2, on the most common form of lung cancer.........

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October 1, 2006, 7:32 PM CT

An Antibiotic That Stops Cancer

Have you ever heard of antibiotic called siomycin A? Probably not, but this antibiotic might find a place in the fight against cancer. At least that's what the scientists say.

This little-known antibiotic, siomycin A shows early promise as an anti-cancer agent, inhibiting a gene found at higher-than-normal levels in most human tumors, as per scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

Their findings are published in the lastest issue of Cancer Research.

"We chose to target a gene thought to beover-expressed in cancer cells to screen for promising anti-cancer agents," said Andrei Gartel, assistant professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at UIC and principal investigator on the study.

The FoxM1 gene is responsible for turning on genes needed for cell proliferation and turning off genes that block proliferation. Uncontrolled proliferation is characteristic of cancer cells.

The scientists developed a new screening system, based on a naturally fluorescent protein called luciferase, to identify small molecules that inhibit proteins that turn genes on and off. Using this system, they identified an antibiotic, siomycin A, that specifically targets FoxM1 without affecting other cell functions.........

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October 1, 2006, 7:01 PM CT

Osteoarthritis A Biological Ageing?

Osteoarthritis is a common disease of the old age. It can often be seen in younger individuals. No some scientists are saying that those who get osteoarthritis at younger age might be biologically in an older age. Thse findings are published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The authors base their findings on a study of almost 1100 people, aged between 30 and 79. Most of them were female twins.

X-rays of both hands were taken of all participants to check for signs of osteoarthritis and a blood sample was taken to assess "biological ageing" in white cell DNA.

Biological ageing is likely to be reflected by the gradual shortening of telomeres, the length of DNA which caps the tips of chromosomes. A host of factors make them shorten over time, including insufficient repair of the damage caused by oxygen free radicals (oxidative stress).

Oxygen free radicals are the unstable molecules produced as a by-product of normal bodily processes, as well as external factors, such as tobacco, alcohol, and sunlight.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, with the hands being one of the sites most often affected. Its frequency rises dramatically with age, but it is not yet known exactly what causes it.

Unsurprisingly, the findings showed that white cell telomere lengths were linked to chronological age. The older a person was, the shorter they were.........

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September 28, 2006, 10:08 PM CT

Cancer Drug For Rheumatoid Arthritis

The potent cancer drug Gleevec, used to combat leukemia and some gastrointestinal cancers, may be useful in treating rheumatoid arthritis, according to a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Their findings would be published in the recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Although the study shows that Gleevec worked well in mice, the researchers cautioned against doctors using Gleevec for treating rheumatoid arthritis until clinical trials are completed demonstrating its effectiveness and safety for people with the disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, chronic autoimmune disorder, characterized by inflammation of the lining of the joints. It affects more than 2 million Americans; up to half of those with the disease are disabled after 15 years due to disfigured joints. Standard therapy for rheumatoid arthritis now includes agents that suppress the immune system, but many patients do not benefit from such treatments. They do not get adequate reduction in the symptoms and signs of disease; they may also continue to have damage to their joints or develop side effects that make continued use of such therapies impossible. Thus, new approaches are needed.

Bill Robinson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and the study's senior author, led a team that set out to find drugs that might provide additional benefit to rheumatoid arthritis patients. They screened a range of drugs in mice that have a condition similar to human rheumatoid arthritis.........

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September 28, 2006, 9:44 PM CT

Gene Transfer Using Mutant Form Of Good Cholesterol

Transfer of a gene that produces a mutant form of good cholesterol provides significantly better anti-plaque and anti-inflammation benefits than treatment using the "normal" HDL gene, as per a mouse study conducted by cardiology scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and published in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Apolipoprotein A-I is a naturally occurring component of normal HDL (high-density lipoprotein), the "good" cholesterol that circulates in the blood stream. Apolipoprotein A-I Milano is a mutant form, which was originally found in a small number of individuals in Italy who appear to be protected from cholesterol-related heart disease. Scientists are studying the possibility of treating vascular inflammation and plaque buildup through the transfer of protective genes.

"There has been uncertainty and controversy about whether apo A-I Milano is a better form of HDL than the "wild type" (regular) apo A-I in terms of protective effect against atherosclerosis and vascular inflammation, which are tied together," said Prediman K. Shah, M.D., director of the Division of Cardiology and the Atherosclerosis Research Center at Cedars-Sinai.

"We used a unique approach to do a head-to-head comparison, which allowed us to conclusively ascertain the differences between the two genes. Our study demonstrated that A-I Milano gene transfer is much more effective in reducing plaque and vascular inflammation than the normal (wild type) form of apo A-I," said Shah, the article's senior author.........

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September 28, 2006, 8:34 PM CT

Studying HIV Treatment In Women

GRACE (Gender, Race And Clinical Experience), a multi-center, open-label Phase IIIb trial, will compare gender differences in the efficacy, safety and tolerability of PREZISTA (darunavir) tablets administered with other antiretroviral agents over a 48-week treatment period. The study also will explore racial differences in treatment outcomes.

PREZISTA, co-administered with 100 mg ritonavir (PREZISTA/rtv) and with other antiretroviral agents, is indicated for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in antiretroviral treatment-experienced adult patients, such as those with HIV-1 strains resistant to more than one protease inhibitor. PREZISTA received accelerated approval based on the 24-week analysis of HIV viral load and CD4+ cell counts from the pooled analysis of the TMC114-C213 (POWER 1) and TMC114-C202 (POWER 2) studies. Longer-term data will be required before the FDA can consider traditional approval for PREZISTA (see the full indication and important safety information below).

There is an urgent need to conduct clinical trials designed specifically for women with HIV. The ratio of women to men among Americans diagnosed with HIV has grown substantially since the HIV epidemic first emerged.

Today, women account for almost 30 percent of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S., and rates of HIV infection are particularly high among women of color. However, women have been underrepresented in HIV clinical trials despite research suggesting that women may have different tolerability issues to HIV medications than men.........

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September 27, 2006, 8:55 PM CT

Brain Damage In Early Alzheimer's Disease

Researchers have developed a new computer-aided analysis technique to identify early cellular damage in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study is featured in the recent issue of Radiology.

"With increasing longevity among the population, the incidence of AD is expected to rise rapidly, creating a great burden not only for patients and their families, but also for society," said Min-Ying Su, Ph.D., author and associate professor in the Department of Radiological Sciences & the Tu and Yuen Center for Functional Onco-Imaging at the University of California at Irvine. "Our methods may enable earlier diagnosis of AD, allowing earlier intervention to slow down disease progression," she added.

As AD progresses, cell membranes in the brain may be damaged, allowing water molecules to move throughout the brain more freely. This phenomenon can disrupt neural processes and cause neuron cells to die, leading to brain atrophy. This process of cellular damage causes an increase in the "apparent diffusion coefficient," or ADC, which is a measurement used to study the distribution of water in the brain.

Thirteen elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were enrolled in Dr. Su's study. Patients with MCI are at high risk for developing AD. These 13 patients and 13 elderly control subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and performed recall tasks. On MRI images, ADC values were measured in gray- and white-matter regions by using the computer-aided analysis program. Findings were compared between patients and healthy controls.........

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September 27, 2006, 8:40 PM CT

Inheriting a Tendency to Brain Infection

Might some infectious diseases run in families because one inherits susceptibility to them? Although researchers generally agree that an individual's genetic makeup contributes in subtle ways to susceptibility to infectious disease, new findings from researchers in France support the controversial idea that an error in a single gene is enough to dramatically alter an individual's susceptibility to certain infections.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar Jean-Laurent Casanova and Emmanuelle Jouanguy of the Necker Medical School in Paris, along with other colleagues, have identified a single gene that predisposes individuals to herpes simplex encephalitis, an infectious disease that tends to be extremely choosy about its victims. In a paper published in the September 29, 2006, issue of the journal Science, they describe two young patients who carry mutations in this gene who are susceptible to the disease while being otherwise immunologically normal. The paper was published in advance online.

As many as 8 out of 10 adults are infected by the herpes simplex virus. For most, the worst symptom is a cold sore, but in some individuals, the virus causes inflammation of the brain that can lead to mental retardation, epilepsy, or death. Until now, scientists have been unable to identify any specific risk factors for the disease.........

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September 27, 2006, 8:37 PM CT

The Mystery of Flesh-Eating Bacteria

A Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar in Israel has discovered one reason why so-called "flesh-eating" bacteria are so hard to stop.

Emanuel Hanski, a microbiologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and his colleagues have observed that the success of group A Streptococcus is due in part to a protein that blocks the immune system's distress calls. The findings, reported in the October 4, 2006, issue of the EMBO Journal, could lead to new strategies for treating necrotizing fasciitis and halting its rapid destruction of tissue. The paper was published in advance online.

The bacterium, group A Streptococcus, wreaks destruction on muscle and skin tissue in the form of necrotizing fasciitis, which kills roughly 30 percent of its victims and leaves the rest disfigured. Antibiotics and surgical interventions, the known therapys, often fail. Necrotizing fasciitis is a serious but rare infection of the skin and the tissues beneath it.

The work began two years ago, when Hanski developed a mouse model for necrotizing fasciitis. After injecting the mice with a virulent strain of Streptococcus of a type known as M14, isolated from a necrotizing fasciitis patient, the team noticed that unlike most strep infections, in which white blood cells swarm invading bacteria to clear them from the body, few white blood cells appeared at the M14 infection site. A similar phenomenon had been observed in patients with necrotizing fasciitis but did not receive sufficient attention at the time.........

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