September 14, 2006, 8:18 PM CT

Molecule helps cells plug leaks following lung injury

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have identified a molecule that plays a critical role in the recovery of lung tissue following severe injury.

The study appeared in the Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In acute lung injury -- usually resulting from infection, inflammation or surgical trauma -- cells that line the blood vessels in the lung lose their ability to form a barrier, allowing fluid to seep into the lung's air spaces and resulting in respiratory failure. Such damage is a significant cause of death in critically ill patients.

Very little is known about how the lung repairs this lining layer, called the endothelium, said You-Yang Zhao, research assistant professor of pharmacology.

"We thought it likely that the ability of cells to repair and restore the endothelium might depend on their ability to proliferate and fill in gaps in the endothelial monolayer barrier that allow leaking," said Zhao, who is lead author of the study.

Earlier studies had shown that FoxM1, a protein that controls the expression of genes, plays a critical role in cell proliferation. Working with the late Robert Costa, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at UIC, whose research focused on FoxM1, the researchers developed a mouse model that lacked the FoxM1 gene only in endothelial cells.........

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September 13, 2006, 9:57 PM CT

Viruses Switch Grip To Gain Upper Hand

Carbohydrates can be attractive, especially when they come packaged in candy bars or never-ending bowls of pasta.

Even viruses - those bits of occasionally harmful genetic material enclosed in shells of protein and fat - crave carbs. Except viruses aren't seeking a taste treat. They want to latch onto the carbohydrates that protrude from the surface of our cells and mount an invasion.

By changing which carbohydrates they attach to, viruses are able to infect cells more efficiently - a finding that may prove valuable to scientists seeking ways to fight cancer or brain diseases, say University of Florida researchers writing in the current Journal of Biological Chemistry. The discovery also helps explain how flu and other viruses are able to stay a step ahead of the body's own versatile immune system.

"If you think about the flu virus, a few simple amino acid changes can be the difference between a virus your body can defend against and one that will make you sick," said Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, Ph.D., an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the UF College of Medicine and senior author of the paper. "It seems structural juxtapositions of amino acids play a role in determining how viruses recognize cells and whether the viruses are harmful".........

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September 13, 2006, 9:39 PM CT

Diabetics And Lower Limb Amputations

Many people suffering foot and leg pain falsely attribute their aches to temporary discomfort or simply "growing old," when something far more serious and often preventable is frequently taking place.

People that neglect foot and leg pain particularly the 20.8 million people in the U.S. with diabetes can be at risk for amputation. This neglect has contributed to a sharp rise in amputations, with the Centers for Disease Control finding the number of diabetes-related lower limb amputations to have increased by 227 percent between 1980 (33,000) and 2003 (75,000).

Diabetics are prone to amputation as the condition often causes blood vessels in the foot and leg to narrow, causing poor circulation. This makes diabetics susceptible to infection, making it difficult for these wounds to heal. In fact, nine out of 10 non-traumatic lower extremity amputations are instigated by an infection, according to a study led by Texas A&M University. The American Diabetes Association says that diabetes is the most frequent cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations.

The unfortunate result of these trends is that each year, 75,000 people lose their foot, leg or toe due to diabetes, and 85 percent of these losses could have been avoided, according to the International Diabetes Federation.........

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September 13, 2006, 5:07 AM CT

Violence In The Home And Childhood Bullying

Children who were exposed to violence in the home engaged in higher levels of physical bullying than youngsters who were not witnesses to such behavior, as per a research studyby scientists from the University of Washington and Indiana University.

The study is one of the first in the United States to specifically examine the association between child exposure to intimate partner violence and involvement in bullying. It also is one of the first to break down bullying into physical aggression (hitting, pushing and other forms outward aggression) and relational aggression (teasing, being mean and ostracizing peers).

Overall, 34 percent of the children studied engaged in bullying and 73 percent reported being the victim of some form of bullying in the prior year. Almost all of the bullies, 97 percent, said they were also victims of bullying.

"Children learn from seeing what their primary caregivers do. They are very attuned and very observant about what goes on in a household," said Dr. Nerissa Bauer, lead author of the study and a former UW pediatrician who is now an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indian and Riley Children's Hospital.

"Parents are very powerful role models and children will mimic the behavior of parents, wanting to be like them. They may believe violence is OK and they can use it with peers. After all, they may think, 'If Daddy can do this, perhaps I can hit this kid to get my way.' When parents engage in violence, children may assume violence is the right way to do things," she said.........

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September 13, 2006, 4:26 AM CT

Behavioral And Mental Health Problems In Children

Limited access to services for children and adolescents with behavioral problems or mental illness often leads to inadequate care and treatment based on insufficient scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness, concludes a report by the American Psychological Association (APA) released recently.

According to the report, a product of the APA Working Group on Psychotropic Medications for Children and Adolescents, gaps in the scientific knowledge concerning which treatments work best for specific diagnoses and patients, a dearth of clinicians specifically trained to work with children, cuts in Medicaid funding, and poor reimbursement for mental health services leads to many children being treated with medicine despite limited efficacy and safety for their use particularly with children.

Research published earlier this year showed a five-fold increase in the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents from 1993 to 2002.

"This entire state of affairs is in part related to our health care system's failure to provide sufficiently for children, particularly in the area of pediatric mental health care," states Ronald T. Brown, PhD, chair of the APA Working Group and Professor of Public Health and Dean at Temple University. "As a result, much of the care provided to children for mental health issues has been limited to medicine even though many psychosocial treatments have been found to be effective and some with better risk profiles. Psychosocial treatments, however, can be more labor intensive and more expensive".........

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September 12, 2006, 5:05 AM CT

Weight-loss Rate Increases Before Dementia

A long-term study of the elderly has revealed that their average rate of weight loss doubles in the year before symptoms of Alzheimer's-type dementia first become detectable. The finding may be useful to researchers seeking ways to detect and treat Alzheimer's before it causes irreversible brain damage.

The study is the first to confirm in precise detail a link between weight loss and dementia tentatively identified a decade ago. Researchers report in the September 2006 Archives of Neurology that one year before study volunteers were diagnosed with very mild dementia, their rate of weight loss doubled from 0.6 pounds per year to 1.2 pounds per year. The analysis used data from the Memory and Aging Project at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Alzheimer's researchers are working hard to find biomarkers, indicators that can be used to detect the presence of Alzheimer's before clinical symptoms become obvious. Studies at the ADRC and elsewhere have strongly suggested that if Alzheimer's treatments will ever prevent lasting cognitive damage, they may have to be given to patients before memory loss and other disruptions caused by the disorder are evident.

"A person's weight can vary substantially in a given year, so weight loss alone can't serve as a definite indicator for physicians," says David K. Johnson, Ph.D., research instructor in neurology. "But it's interesting from a biochemical perspective--we don't know why these two phenomena are linked. And weight loss may one day be incorporated into a battery of biomarkers that physicians keep their eyes on for early warning of Alzheimer's-type dementia".........

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September 12, 2006, 4:59 AM CT

Parkinson's Gene And The Disease

A group of Parkinson's disease scientists concluded there are no observable differences between those who have two copies of the most common mutation of the recently discovered LRRK2 gene and those who have only one copy. Their study would be reported in the September edition of the Archives of Neurology.

In most diseases with a genetic cause or component, two copies of a bad gene lead to more severe visible manifestation of the disease. Scientists expected to see worse symptoms, the disease start earlier in life and a shorter life span for those with two copies of the LRRK2 gene with the G2019S mutation. "That proved not to be the case," says Mayo Clinic neurologist Zbigniew Wszolek, M.D.

Wszolek formed an international consortium that compared the clinical features of Parkinson's disease in the two groups. "It's puzzling," he says. "More research is needed. More patients need to be identified and, hopefully, more basic science research is going to be performed to find out why".

The G2019S mutation is the most common of the 20 identified LRRK2 diseasecausing mutations. There are six known genes that cause familial Parkinson's disease, but only one, the G2019S mutation of the LRRK2 gene, has been linked to previously unexplained cases of Parkinson's disease. Wszolek and colleagues hope that studying the ways in which these genes cause disease, particularly the G2019S mutation, will lead to improved therapys and even a cure. "We are all united by the common drive to learn more about this disease, to help the people with this illness and to bring us closer to curative therapys," Wszolek says. "And this may be a step in that direction".........

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September 11, 2006, 10:08 PM CT

Diagnosing Multiple Myeloma

A researcher at the University of Navarra, Borja Sáez Ochoa, has proposed a new genetic diagnostic method for multiple myeloma (MM), a type of bone marrow cancer, which permits the detection of this disease in earlier stages.

The dissertation of this biologist, produced in the Department of Genetics of the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra, and in the Institute of Human Genetics of the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, en Kiel (Gera number of), is oriented towards the study of the genetic base of this cancer, and the posterior development of cytogenetic diagnostic strategies for the detection of alterations with prognostic value.

For this purpose, he has analyzed, by means of statistical methods, the cytogenetic changes in a group of patients with MM. This methodology haccording tomitted the discovery of associations between specific chromosomal changes, and thus the description of a new classification of the disease. In addition, the technique of hybridization in situ with fluorescence allowed him to identify new recurrent genetic changes that are involved in the appearance of this pathology.

A disease linked to old age

Multiple myeloma is a disease which primarily affects persons above 60 years of age. In 2001 in Spain, 1716 new cases were detected, and 1554 patients with the disease died, with 20 of these in Navarra. As per Borja Sáez, with the new methods of diagnosis developed through this research project, such as the FISH and FICTION strategies, we will be able to detect genetic alterations rapidly and easily in the early stages of the disease, permitting its early diagnosis. In addition, he emphasized that these procedures will promote the description of molecular targets for future, more effective therapys of MM.........

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September 11, 2006, 8:18 PM CT

Electric Jolt Triggers Release Of Biomolecules

Johns Hopkins scientists have devised a way to use a brief burst of electricity to release biomolecules and nanoparticles from a tiny gold launch pad. The technique could someday be used to dispense small amounts of medicine on command from a chip implanted in the body. The method also may be useful in chemical reactions that require the controlled release of extremely small quantities of a material.

The technique was described Sept. 10 in a presentation by Peter C. Searson, a Johns Hopkins professor of materials science and engineering, during the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. "You can think of the useful biomolecule or nanoparticle as a balloon tethered to a surface," he said. "We use an electrical pulse to cut the tether, and it floats away".

This method could be used to control the release of drug molecules; nanoparticles; biopolymers such as peptides, proteins and DNA; and protein assemblies such as viruses, said Searson, who also is director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins.

"The technique is relatively simple, but nothing like this has been done before," he said. "Researchers have known that molecules could be removed from a surface in this way, but it's never been considered useful. They've been more interested in preventing this from happening".........

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September 9, 2006, 9:29 AM CT

Donor Limb Onto A Patient's Body

Years ago, the idea of attaching a donor limb onto a patient's body would have been the stuff of science fiction. But to date about two-dozen people around the world have received hand transplants. Thomas Tung, M.D., conducts research within this relatively unorthodox realm of surgery, investigating therapies that could potentially allow the body to accept donor tissue without the use of immunosuppressive medication.

A Washington University plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Tung has reattached patients' own hands, but he has never performed a hand transplant - he feels the health risks of immunosuppressive drugs are too high to warrant the surgery. But with his research, he is working toward the day when reconstructive surgery can make use of donor tissues without the danger of complications from anti-rejection medicine or the risk of tissue rejection.

"Once we figure this out, it's going to open up a new whole field of reconstructive surgery," says Tung, assistant professor of surgery. "It will allow surgeons to replace not just injured hands, but lips, noses, ears, scalp and other specialized tissues anywhere on the body".

To reach this goal, Tung has been researching transplantation of hindlimbs to mice from unrelated donors - but here's the twist - without giving the mice immunosuppressive drugs. At this time, Tung is the only researcher in the United States investigating limb transplantation with this protocol, which uses proteins called costimulation-blocking antibodies.........

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