August 24, 2010, 7:06 AM CT

Diagnosis now simpler and quicker

Bioengineering research produces design for new device to help detect diseases quickly and at lower costs .

Arizona State University scientists have demonstrated a way to dramatically simplify testing patients for infectious diseases and unhealthy protein levels.

New testing instrumentation developed by Antonia Garcia and John Schneider promises to make the procedure less costly and produce results in less time.

Current testing is slow and expensive because of the complications of working with blood, saliva, urine and other biological fluids, said Garcia, a professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Such samples "are complex mixtures that require sophisticated instruments capable of mixing a sample with antibodies or other biological reactants to produce an accurate positive or negative reaction," Garcia said.

He and Schneider, a bioengineering graduate student researcher, have come up with a testing method that enables the patient sample itself to act in concert with a rudimentary, low-cost testing device.

The method uses common light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and simple microeletronic amplifiers rather than more technologically intensive and costly lasers and robotics......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

January 29, 2010, 8:21 AM CT

Less pollution improves ear infections

A newly released study by scientists at UCLA and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston suggests that improvements in air quality over the past decade have resulted in fewer cases of ear infections in children.

Ear infections are one of the most common illnesses among children, with annual direct and indirect costs of $3 billion to $5 billion in the United States.

"We believe these findings, which demonstrate a direct connection between air quality and ear infections, have both medical and political significance," said co-author of study Dr. Nina Shapiro, director of pediatric otolaryngology at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and an associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "The results validate the benefits of the revised Clean Air Act of 1990, which gave the Environmental Protection Agency more authority to implement and enforce regulations reducing air-pollutant emissions. It also shows that the improvements may have direct benefit on health-quality measures".

The research appears in the recent issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the official peer-evaluated publication of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

The scientists evaluated National Health Interview Survey data for 120,060 children between the years of 1997 and 2006 and measured the number of instances of three disease conditions for each year - frequent ear infections (three or more within a year), respiratory allergy and seizure activity, which is not influenced by air quality but was included as a control condition......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

October 13, 2009, 8:03 AM CT

Possible role of urate in slowing Parkinson's disease progression

By examining data from a 20-year-old clinical trial, a research team based at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (MGH-MIND) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), has found evidence supporting the findings of their 2008 study that elevated levels of the antioxidant urate may slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. The report which will appear in the December 2009 Archives of Neurology and has been released online analyzed blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from participants in a 1980s trail of potential Parkinson's medications, confirming the prior study's findings in a totally different group of patients.

"These results were critically important. Only now we can be reasonably sure that the slower rate of progression in patients with higher concentrations of urate is real and not a chance occurrence," says Alberto Ascherio, MD, DrPh, of HSPH, the newly released study's main author.

Parkinson's disease characterized by tremors, rigidity, difficulty walking and other symptoms is caused by destruction of brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. The 2008 study, which investigated the observation that healthy people with elevated but still normal urate levels have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's, found an association between higher blood urate levels and slower disease progression in 800 participants from a prior clinical trial......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

July 12, 2009, 8:56 AM CT

Easy strength training exercise may help treat tennis elbow

People with pain in the elbow or forearm from playing sports or just from common everyday activities, might be able to use a simple bar and strengthening exercise to alleviate pain, say scientists who are presenting their study results at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, July 9th-12th.

Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a common condition effecting nearly three percent of the general population, not just those who play tennis. "Our study illustrated that a novel exercise, using an inexpensive rubber bar, may provide a practical and effective means of adding isolated wrist strengthening exercises to a therapy plan," said main author Timothy F. Tyler, PT, ATC, Clinical Research Associate, of the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City.

The study randomized 21 patients with tennis elbow into two groups. Both received the wrist extensor stretching, ultrasound, cross-friction massage, heat and ice for therapy. The eccentric training group performed isolated eccentric wrist extensor strengthening using the rubber bar (Flexbar, Akron OH) while the standard therapy group performed isotonic wrist strengthening exercises. Three sets of 15 repetitions were performed daily as part of a home program with intensity increased progressively during the therapy period. A variety of pain and movement scales were utilized to determine progress. Patients using the rubber bar had vastly better results on all scales, particularly correlation to strength. In fact, given the consistently poor outcomes for patients in the standard therapy group, it was deemed appropriate to terminate the randomization with 21 of the intended 30 patients having already completed the study......... Posted by: Jim      Read more         Source

July 12, 2009, 8:49 AM CT

What encourages and impedes early diagnosis of Alzheimer's

A doctor's positive attitude to Alzheimer's diagnosis and their trusting, personal relationships with local dementia support service providers are powerful enablers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's, as per new research reported today at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.

Current data suggests that less than 35 percent of people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias have a diagnosis of the condition in their medical record (Boise et al., 2004; Boustani et al., 2005; Ganguli et al., 2004; Valcour et al. 2000). While there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's, early detection and diagnosis is critical to ensuring that people living with Alzheimer's have the power to plan their own healthcare and future, as per the Alzheimer's Association.

"By getting diagnosed late in the progression of the disease, opportunities are missed to make key decisions about therapy, care and, future planning. Being diagnosed early is vital to receiving the best help and care possible, living one's life to the fullest, and capitalizing on opportunities such as participating in clinical studies," said William Thies, PhD, Chief Medical & Scientific Officer at the Alzheimer's Association.

Dr. Nerida Paterson, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and his colleagues are interviewing more than 100 general practitioners (GPs) from four Australian research sites, taping and transcribing the interviews, and analyzing the content for themes and insights that can improve the diagnostic process......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

February 20, 2009, 6:02 AM CT

Global warming and respiratory problems

High summer temperatures, pushed higher by global climate change, may bring with them a spike in hospitalizations for respiratory problems, according to an analysis of data from twelve European cities, from Dublin to Valencia. The data comes from the "Assessment and Prevention of Acute Health Effects of Weather Conditions in Europe" (PHEWE), a multi-center, three-year collaboration between epidemiologists, meteorologists and experts in public health collaboration that investigated the short-term effects of weather in Europe.

As climate change has gone from a scientific theory to an accepted and encroaching reality, more extreme weather, including hotter summers, is anticipated around the planet. But the secondary effects of climate change are also coming into sharper focus.

The PHEWE project evaluated the effects of higher temperatures on hospitalizations for a number of different conditions in Europe. They found that for every degree increase over a temperature threshold, there was a four percent average increase in respiratory-related hospitalizations, but not for cardiovascular or neurovascular- related problems.

The results were published in the first issue for March of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine........ Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

February 19, 2009, 6:23 AM CT

Dosing anticoagulation with genetics

A clinical trial is to be launched by scientists at Newcastle and Liverpool Universities to test if genetics could provide personalised medicine by optimising each patient's dose of the common blood-thinning drug, warfarin.

One of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, warfarin is used to prevent dangerous blood clots that can lead to heart attacks, strokes or even death.

One per cent of people in the UK are prescribed warfarin but doctors find the ideal dose for each person varies widely and is hard to predict, yet is crucial for the patient's safety.

Getting the wrong amount of warfarin can be dangerous - if the dose is too high, patients could bleed profusely, if it's too low, they could develop life-threatening clots.

Scientists know that two genes, CYP2C9 and VKORC1, which vary slightly among different individuals, can influence warfarin's effectiveness. Now, researchers want to work out whether information about these genes could improve decisions on the amount of warfarin given to a patient at the start of therapy.

Professor Farhad Kamali is leading the Newcastle University trial with his colleague Professor Ann Daly. Professor Kamali says, "The way different patients respond to warfarin is notoriously unpredictable, especially at the very start of therapy. Now we know that certain genes can affect the way individual patients respond to warfarin then we can use this information to personalise treatment. This clinical trial will be able to demonstrate whether the gene-guided dosing can optimise the safety of anticoagulation treatment"......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

August 13, 2008, 1:00 AM CT

Nano vaccine for hepatitis B shows promise

Chronic hepatitis B infects 400 million people worldwide, a number of of them children. Even with three effective vaccines available, hepatitis B remains a stubborn, unrelenting health problem, particularly in Africa and other developing areas. The disease and its complications cause an estimated 1 million deaths globally each year.

In a number of poor countries, refrigerated conditions mandatory for the current vaccines are costly and hard to come by. It's often difficult in the field to keep needles and syringes sterile. The need to have people return for the three shots currently mandatory also limits success.

Now, a new vaccine that avoids these drawbacks has moved a step closer to human trials. Health scientists hope it will make it possible to immunize large numbers of children and adults in Africa, Asia and South America efficiently and safely.

Researchers at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences at the University of Michigan report that a novel, needle-less method for getting an immunity-stimulating agent into the body has proved non-toxic and able to produce strong, sustained immune responses in animal studies. The vaccine is based on a super-fine emulsion of oil, water and surfactants placed in the nose......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

July 1, 2008, 9:58 PM CT

Best treatment for MS may depend on disease subtype

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Animal studies by University of Michigan researchers suggest that people who experience the same clinical signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) may have different forms of the disease that require different kinds of therapy.

The results, if borne out in further studies, point to a time when doctors will be able to target specific inflammatory processes in the body and more effectively help MS patients, using available drugs and new ones in the pipeline.

Since the 1990s, the therapy picture has brightened for people with multiple sclerosis in its most common form, relapsing-remitting MS. Beta interferon drugs and glatiramer acetate (marketed as Copaxone) have proved effective at decreasing the attack rate and suppressing inflammatory plaque development in a number of patients with MS. Yet why the drugs help some patients, but not others, has remained a mystery.

The U-M research team conducted the studies in mice that have a disease similar to MS: experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis or EAE. The team observed that different inflammatory chemicals, whose activity is associated with two different types of immune system T cells, could bring on the same paralysis and other MS-like signs. They also showed that drugs that block one of the inflammation pathways were not effective at blocking the other. The results, published online ahead of print, will appear in the July 7 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine........ Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

Sat, 24 May 2008 22:23:09 GMT

Google Health: Your Personal Online Health Record

I'm not really jumping for joy that Google now has Google Health - offering your personal health record on the web.



I mean....I am all for getting medical help and information online, but putting your own health record online. Who will do that?

Google enters the field of personal health records with a leading online brand, deep pockets and a wealth of technical skills. In a two-month trial this year, the Cleveland Clinic found that its patients were eager to use the Google health records.

The pilot project, limited to 1,600 patients, was quickly oversubscribed, said C. Martin Harris, the Cleveland Clinic's chief information officer. Dr. Harris also said that when the clinic's online health records, introduced in 2004, were linked to the Google record the clinic's records were used more frequently by patients. "It positioned our personal health record more into an activity that they use every day," Dr. Harris said.

The Google record, he said, allows the user to send personal information, at the individual's discretion, into the clinic record or to pull information from the clinic records into the Google personal file.

Okay, yeah. Admittedly, all that is really convenient. However I cannot help but think of it security-wise. After all, health records are sensitive information. I have no problems with clinics and hospitals having electronic medical records. But putting such information online?

I don't know, I am just queasy with the whole idea - but I haven't checked this service yet, though I am a heavy user of most of Google's services.

But then, that's just me. It all remains to be seen whether general consumers will bite it. ;-)

Read more from The NY Times.

[Photo Credit: Google Health] Posted by: Gloria Gamat      Read more     Source

Sat, 24 May 2008 22:18:26 GMT

Use of Genomics to Control Dandruff

The article Dandruff Genomics in a recent issue of The Scientist featured Procter & Gamble scientist Thomas Dawson and the role of genomics in the development of anti-dandruff shampoo Head & Shoulders. In 2001, with some understanding of scalp ecology, Dawson's team began looking into lipase metabolism of M. globosa and soon identified LIP1, the gene it uses to break down scalp oils (J Invest Dermatol, 127:2138-46, 2007). The chemical engineers capitalized on this discovery by synthesizing a lipase inhibitor, which they soon tested on human subjects. Dawson refuses to disclose how much improvement they've achieved over current formulations of Head & Shoulders but says, "It was statistically significant."

It must have been. Within a year, Procter & Gamble was moving full speed ahead with their biotech capabilities, contracting with Integrated Genomics in Chicago to sequence the entire genome of M. globosa. P&G bioinformatics expert Jun Xu's analysis revealed that the M. globosa genome was tiny, consisting of only 4,285 genes, and it completely lacked the ability to synthesize fatty acids on its own. Instead, the genome contained sequences for 12 hydrolases, which break down oils and could all become potential targets for anti-dandruff compounds. The company patented the 12 genes for their anti-dandruff promise.
Read the full article here, including a slideshow on Procter & Gamble's work on dandruff genomics Posted by: ruth      Read more     Source

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:59:17 GMT

Gene Therapy May Treat Cocaine Addiction

Using gene therapy, researchers have demonstrated in rats that increasing the levels of dopamine D2 receptors in the brain can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent. "By increasing dopamine D2 receptor levels, we saw a dramatic drop in these rats' interest in cocaine," said lead author Panayotis (Peter) Thanos, a neuroscientist with Brookhaven Lab and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Laboratory of Neuroimaging. "This provides new evidence that low levels of dopamine D2 receptors may play an important role in not just alcoholism but in cocaine abuse as well. It also shows a potential direction for addiction therapies." The study, published online in the journal Synapse, indicates that gene therapy may be a promising method to treat drug and alcohol addiction. Posted by: ruth      Read more     Source

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:28:07 GMT

Sense of Smell and Parkinson's Disease

In the earliest stage of Parkinson's disease, impaired sense of smell can occur. So that this means that an impaired sense of smell indicate the development of Parkinson's disease?



According to researchers, smell impairment can precede the development of PD in men by at least four years.

The results showed that an odor identification deficit can predate the development of PD by at least four years, although it was not a strong predictor beyond this time period. Decreased odor identification was associated with older age, smoking, more coffee consumption, less frequent bowel movements, lower cognitive function and excessive daytime sleepiness, but even after adjusting for these factors, those with the lowest olfactory scores, meaning they had the poorest odor identification, had a five times greater risk of developing PD than those with the highest scores.

"One interpretation of this finding is that the relationship of olfactory deficits to higher risk of future PD begins to weaken beyond a threshold of approximately four years between testing and diagnosis," the authors state.

Caught your attention, didn't I? Read on.

Hope everyone of you had a great Easter!! Posted by: Gloria Gamat      Read more     Source

March 27, 2008, 8:57 PM CT

Retired NFL players at increased risk for heart problems

Screening for cardiovascular problems in elite-level football players should begin in high school and continue throughout the lives of college and professional players. Mayo Clinic physicians based that conclusion on the results of their new study of the cardiovascular health of 233 retired National Football League (NFL) players.

The Mayo data showed that 82 percent of NFL players under age 50 had abnormal narrowing and blockages in arteries, compared to the general population of the same age. This finding suggests that the former athletes face increased risk of experiencing high blood pressure, heart attack or stroke. The report on research conducted by the Mayo Clinic Arizona group will be presented next week at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in Chicago.



Significance of the Mayo Clinic Study

This is the first and largest study to measure comprehensive cardiovascular performance measures on retired NFL athletes, ages 35 to 65. Its findings add to the emerging portrait of poor heart health among this group of retired athletes. The findings also suggest that players as young as high school age who are engaged in serious competitive-conference level of training and play may benefit from regular cardiovascular screening. What we hope to emphasize with our findings is that all NFL players -- retired or not -- need to undergo cardiovascular health evaluation because they may have changes in heart and vessel conditions that we can treat so they dont experience problems that may occur later in life, says Robert Hurst, M.D., Mayo Clinic cardiologist and lead researcher......... Posted by: Jim      Read more         Source

March 21, 2008, 8:52 PM CT

Extra-curricular activities to prevent juvenile delinquency?

The study, conducted by Northeastern University researchers, looked separately at delinquency and risky behaviors for both young men and young women in a suburban high school and how involvement in outside activities influenced those behaviors. The findings provided interesting, and, in some cases, surprising results.

While they found that involvement in extra-curricular activities definitely seemed to minimize the risky behaviors, there seemed to be a tipping point where too much participation had a counter-effect. They also found that nontraditional activities for each gender (such as sports for girls and church for boys) provided a greater protection from delinquency. The researchers believe that extracurricular involvement helps deter delinquency by reducing unstructured time, providing incentives to conform, and creating avenues for attachments with other pro-social peers and adults.

Young people who participate in sports and both community and church activities report significantly less serious delinquency as well as less problem drinking and risky sexual behavior, writes co-author Sean P. Varano, Ph.D. A healthy and measured dose of involvement in extracurricular activities is good for young people......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

March 21, 2008, 8:43 PM CT

Extra-curricular activities to prevent juvenile delinquency?

The study, conducted by Northeastern University researchers, looked separately at delinquency and risky behaviors for both young men and young women in a suburban high school and how involvement in outside activities influenced those behaviors. The findings provided interesting, and, in some cases, surprising results.

While they found that involvement in extra-curricular activities definitely seemed to minimize the risky behaviors, there seemed to be a tipping point where too much participation had a counter-effect. They also found that nontraditional activities for each gender (such as sports for girls and church for boys) provided a greater protection from delinquency. The researchers believe that extracurricular involvement helps deter delinquency by reducing unstructured time, providing incentives to conform, and creating avenues for attachments with other pro-social peers and adults.

Young people who participate in sports and both community and church activities report significantly less serious delinquency as well as less problem drinking and risky sexual behavior, writes co-author Sean P. Varano, Ph.D. A healthy and measured dose of involvement in extracurricular activities is good for young people......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

March 9, 2008, 4:25 PM CT

Controversial shoulder surgery effective long-term

Young, athletic, first-time shoulder dislocation patients benefit from arthroscopic surgery long term, as per a research studyreleased recently at the 2008 American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Specialty Day at The Moscone Center. The study observed that for highly active patients, surgery, rather than conservative methods, yielded excellent results.

In young, active patients, there were statistics as high as 92 percent that they would dislocate their shoulder again when conservative approaches like rest and immobilization in a sling were used, says Robert A. Arciero, MD, of the Keller Army Hospital in West Point, NY. If we had an operation with a 90 percent failure rate, we would abandon the procedure. My thought was, why should we embrace a therapy with such a high failure rate".

Beginning in 1993, Dr. Arciero began performing arthroscopic surgery on young military cadets who suffered their first shoulder dislocation. The short-term results were excellent. The unknown, however, was how these patients would fare over the years.

We decided to examine these patients long-term results, says Major Brett Owens, MD, of Williams Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. We observed that these patients maintained their health and active lifestyle. Surgery for this group of patients was durable and provided excellent shoulder function and a high activity level even after 10 years......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

March 9, 2008, 1:10 PM CT

Drosophila drug screen for fragile X syndrome

Researchers using a new drug screening method in Drosophila (fruit flies), have identified several drugs and small molecules that reverse the features of fragile X syndrome -- a frequent form of mental retardation and one of the leading known causes of autism. The discovery sets the stage for developing new therapys for fragile X syndrome.

The results of the research by lead scientist Stephen Warren, PhD, chair of the Department of Human Genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, are published online in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

Dr. Warren led an international group of researchers that discovered the FMR1 gene responsible for fragile X syndrome in 1991. Fragile X syndrome is caused by the functional loss of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Currently there is no effective drug treatment for fragile X syndrome, and previously no assays had been developed to screen drug candidates for the disorder.

During the past 17 years, intense efforts from a number of laboratories have uncovered the fundamental basis for fragile X syndrome. Researchers believe FMRP affects learning and memory through regulation of protein synthesis at synapses in the brain. One leading view, proposed by Dr. Warren and his colleagues, suggests that over stimulation of neurons by the neurotransmitter glutamate is partly responsible for the brain dysfunction resulting from the loss of FMRP......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

January 8, 2008, 8:47 PM CT

Connection Between Job Loss And Poor Health

Employees who lose their jobs because of their health suffer more significant depression and detrimental health outcomes than people who lose their jobs for non-health reasons, new research shows.

The study also suggests that people who are reemployed quickly have better health outcomes than those who remain unemployed.

It's not clear how a number of people involuntarily lose their jobs for health-related reasons, but shaping policy to meet the needs of this population of the unemployed is critical, a University of Michigan professor says.

"We need to know more about this population for intervention and policy reasons," said Sarah Burgard, assistant professor of sociology with appointments in the Institute for Social Research and the School of Public Health. "Re-employment appears to be key for mitigating these health effects for people who lose their jobs-either for health-related reasons or other reasons, say a layoff."

Much existing research suggests a link between involuntary job loss and health consequences, but those analyses don't account for an employee's pre-existing health or other outside factors, such as socioeconomic background, that may actually make the link spurious.

People who have lost their jobs and want to get back to work may need the assistance of interim health insurance coverage, unemployment benefits, and re-employment programs. This may be especially true for people who have health problems that caused them to lose their jobs. However, these traditional employment benefits were designed to meet the needs of workers in standard full-time jobs,......... Posted by: Mac      Read more         Source