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REGENERATIVE MEDICINE: NEUROLOGICALLY IMPAIRED MICE IMPROVE AFTER RECEVING HUMAN NEURAL STEM CELLS
Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and elsewhere reported a dramatic success in what is believed to be the first documented rescue of a congenital brain disorder by transplantation of human neural stem cells. The research, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, may lead the way to new strategies for treating certain hereditary and perinatal neurological disorders. Nerve cell projections are sheathed by a fatty substance called myelin that is produced by oligodendrocytes, a type non-nerve cell in the brain and spinal cord. Myelin enhances the speed and coordination of the electrical signals by which nerve cells communicate with one another. In their study, researchers used a “shiverer mouse” animal model, which lacks normal myelin and typically dies within months of birth. To date, no transplantation of human neural stem cells or of their derivatives has ever altered the condition or fate of recipient animals. The researchers devised a more robust method for the acquisition and purification of human fetal glial progenitor cells. They also developed a new cell delivery strategy, based on multiple injection sites, to encourage widespread and dense donor cell engraftment throughout the central nervous system of recipient mice. The researchers transplanted human glial stem cells into neonatal shiverer mice that also had a genetically deficient immune system to minimize the rejection of the transplanted cells. The researchers found that the new transplant procedure resulted in infiltration of human glial progenitor cells throughout the brain and spinal cord. The engrafted mice exhibited robust, efficient and functional myelination. Most notably, many of the mice displayed progressive, neurological improvement and a fraction of the mice were actually rescued by the procedure. Untreated control mice uniformly died within five months.

 

ALZHEIMER’S: UNEXPECTED STUDY RESULTS IN MICE OPEN NEW APPROACH TO TREATMENT
Interrupting a signaling pathway in certain immune system cells in laboratory mice had the opposite effect researchers expected but opened the possibility of a new approach to treating Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. In the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers report that the intervention targets the sticky plaque buildup that occurs in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, using immune system cells (macrophages) from outside the brain. In the animal study, these cells were attracted to the plaque and able to cross the blood-brain barrier, a natural barrier that prevents most substances from entering the brain from the bloodstream. Plaque deposits were significantly reduced and mice performed better on behavioral tests. If the results are supported by studies in humans, the researchers said they may be able to develop a drug that could be introduced into the bloodstream to cause peripheral immune cells to target the amyloid plaques.

 

CT SCANS: WHOLE MILK IS EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFECTIVE AS ORAL CONTRAST AGENT AS BARIUM
Researchers found that as an oral contrast agent in conjunction with a CT scan to examine the gastrointestinal tract, whole milk is just as effective, costs less and is easier on the patient than a diluted (0.1 percent) barium suspension. The American Roentgen Ray Society study included 215 patients undergoing abdominal and pelvic CT. All patients were given an IV contrast media; 115 were also given whole milk as an oral contrast agent; 100 received a 0.1percent barium suspension. Two radiologists reviewed all the images and scored them based on degree of bowel distension and bowel wall visibility. The study found that the images taken of patients who were given whole milk were just as useful as the images that were taken of patients given the diluted barium. Whole milk and 0.1percent barium suspension are valuable in the diagnosis of small bowel disorders, such as ischemia, neoplasm and Crohn’s disease.

 

BRAIN TUMORS: VACCINE MAY DOUBLE SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS
A vaccine aimed at creating immunity to the most common and deadly type of brain tumor may stave off recurrence and more than double survival in patients, according to a study led by researchers in Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. The vaccine targets a protein expressed on about half of all glioblastoma multiforme tumors and enhances immune response to it, killing tumor cells that express the protein. Researchers also found the vaccine prevented the re-growth of brain tumors in patients who have already been diagnosed and treated with standard regimens including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The protein, known as epithelial growth factor receptor variant III or EGFRvIII, is not expressed in normal tissues but is prevalent in glioblastoma multiforme tumors. That makes it an attractive target for a vaccine, the researchers said. The results of this mid-stage study were presented at the recent annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Celldex Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Avant Immunotherapeutics, which has licensed the rights to the vaccine and provided vaccine for use in the study. Patients in the study survived without re-growth of their tumors for a median of 16.6 months, which more than doubles the usual 6.4-month expected progression-free survival in these patients. Study patients lived for an average of 33.1 months; patients who are diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme and treated with standard therapy typically live an average of 14.3 months.

 

AGING: TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES SLOW AND SPEED PROCESS IN ENGINEERED MOUSE
Mayo Clinic researchers have developed an animal model that they say can test the function of two prominent tumor suppressor genes, p16 and p19, in the aging process. Scientists knew that both these genes were expressed at increased levels as humans and mice age, but their role in the aging process was not clear. The findings, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, show that the p16 provides fuels cellular aging, while p19 stops that process. The study could help explain the development of some characteristics associated with aging, such as loss of muscle mass and strength or cataracts, and how they might be retarded.

 

PARKINSON’S: ELECTRICAL STIMULATION TREATMENT IMPROVES WALKING ABILITY OF PATIENTS
The use of electrical impulses to stimulate weak or paralyzed muscles, called Functional Electrical Stimulation or FES, may provide major benefits to people with Parkinson’s disease, found a pilot study by researchers with Salisbury Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in England. Researchers established significant evidence that FES can immediately reduce falls in people with Parkinson’s, as well as improving average stride length, speed of gait and distance walked. Researchers involved with the study, published in the journal Neuromodulation, said that stimulation was triggered in FES by a footswitch usually placed in the heel of the shoe. As the heel rises, stimulation starts, continues as the leg swings through, and stops when the heel strikes the ground, continuing this cycle as the person walks. FES has already been used to help stroke or multiple sclerosis patients to walk. People suffering from Parkinson’s are prone to tripping and falling because they have difficulty picking up their feet consistently, as well as starting and maintaining walking. Although it has been widely observed that visual and auditory cues and cognitive strategies can improve walking ability in Parkinson's sufferers, this study marks the first time that FES has been considered as an aid.

 

RESEARCH: PUBLIC FUNDING OF HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL ALLOWS OTHER COUNTRIES TO MAKE GAINS ON THE UNITED STATES
Bolstered by supportive policies and public research dollars, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, Singapore, and Australia are producing unusually large shares of human embryonic stem cell research, according to a report from the Georgia Institute of Technology. The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, examined how countries output of research papers related to human embryonic stem cell research compared to their output in less contentious fields. It found that even though the United States still puts out far more research in this field than any other single country, when one compares the amount of research in human embryonic stem cells to other forms of research in molecular biology and genetics, the United States lags behind. While the study found that the United States produced 36 percent of the research performed on human embryonic stem cells, far more than any other country, it said when those studies were compared to other areas of research in molecular biology and genetics, the United States had a deficit of 10 percent.

 

ALS: RISK TO SOLIDERS IN FIRST GULF WAR IS TIME LIMITED
A study, led by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, finds that cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS among soldiers who served in the first Persian Gulf War were caused by certain events during their deployment to the war zone, meaning the exposure and illness is not as widespread as previously thought. The study, published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, found that among the 124 cases of ALS studied, 48 occurred within those soldiers deployed to the Persian Gulf region. The researchers said most of the deployed soldiers who developed ALS had disease onset in 1996 or earlier. The researches said the pattern of disease onset suggests that whatever exposure occurred among these soldiers most likely happened sometime between August 1990 and July 1991, the period of the first Gulf War. ALS is a fatal neurological disease caused by the degeneration of nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. It is commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The researchers are looking at the contributions of specific incidents—for example, the demolition of the munitions dump at Khamisiyah, Iraq, that released a low level of nerve agent, and smoke from the oil well fires—to the heightened risk of the disease in soldiers. They hope with this information they may be able to determine what caused the ALS outbreak and possibly prevent similar instances from occurring in the future.

 

SCHIZOPHRENIA: GENE MUTATION IDENTIFIED FOR 10 PERCENT OF CASES
Scans of the genome of patients with schizophrenia have revealed rare spontaneous copy number mutations that account for at least 10 percent of the non-familial cases of the disease, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center report. Researchers describe specific genetic mutations present in individuals who have schizophrenia, but not present in their biological parents who do not have the disease in an article in Nature Genetics. These individuals were eight times more likely to have these mutations than unaffected individuals. The researchers said findings will help scientist account for the persistence of schizophrenia in the population despite low birth rates among people with the disease.

 

PROSTATE CANCER: CHEMO DRUG SHOWS PROMISE IN SOME ADVANCED CASES
Men with a certain type of prostate cancer have been shown to respond to a new chemotherapy drug, Sagopilone, plus prednisone in an international trial led by Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers. The research involved men with androgen-independent prostate cancer that spread beyond the prostate and is no longer responding to hormonal therapies. This is the most advanced form of prostate cancer. The research, presented at the annual American Association of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, found of the 37 study participants taking the Sagopilone and prednisone long enough to be evaluated, the majority showed positive results in the reduction of their prostate specific antigens, or PSA. PSA is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer. During the three-month trial 13 study participants had a more than 50 percent reduction in their PSA; 23 showed a 30 percent reduction; one who had radiographic measurable disease showed complete response; and four had unconfirmed prostate response. A 30 percent reduction in PSA levels in three months is a strong indicator of survival. Sagopilone, a fully synthetic derivation, is a new class of drug that inhibits growth and the spread of malignant cell, similar to docetaxel, which has been the gold standard for this type of hormone independent prostate cancer.

 

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: AGENT IN RED WINE FOUND TO KEEP HEARTS YOUNG
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that even low doses of a natural constituent of red wine called resveratrol mimic the beneficial effects in mice of what is known as caloric restriction, shown to extend lifespan and blunt the effects of aging. What’s encouraging about this latest study is it shows that resveratrol in low doses—not just in high doses as previously thought—and beginning in middle age, can elicit many of the same benefits as a reduced-calorie diet. A reduced calorie diet is one with 20-30 percent fewer calories than a typical diet. Previous research had shown that resveratrol in high doses extends lifespan in invertebrates and prevents early mortality in mice given a high-fat diet. Resveratrol is also found in grapes, pomegranates, and other foods. The results were published in the open-access journal Public Library of Science One. The study found that low doses of resveratrol thwarted age-related change in 92 percent of the least 1,029 heart genes whose functions change with age. In animals on a restricted diet, 90 percent of those heart genes experienced altered gene expression profiles. The researchers said a glass of wine or food or supplements that contain even small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent “a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac aging.”

 

COGNITIVE DECLINE: GRAPE JUICE MAY IMPROVE MEMORY IN OLDER ADULTS
A recent pilot human study suggests that including the Concord brand of grape juice in the diet may benefit older adults with early memory decline. Participants in the study who drank the Concord grape juice showed significant improvement in list learning and trends suggested improved short-term retention and spatial memory, according to researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The study included 12 adults with early memory decline. Participants drank a total of 15 to 21 ounces, depending on body weight, of either Concord grape juice or placebo daily, divided among meals, for a 12-week period. The beverages were equal in calorie and sugar content but only the Concord grape juice contained natural polyphenolic compounds, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study represents the first placebo-controlled human study to investigate whether regular consumption of a polyphenol-rich food or beverage could have beneficial effects against age-related cognitive decline. The results were presented at the 38th annual scientific meeting of the American Aging Society in Boulder, Colorado.

TUBERCULOSIS: SOLIDERS IN HIGH-TB AREAS FACE EPIDEMIC OF FALSE POSITIVES
U.S. Army service members are increasingly deployed in regions of the world where tuberculosis is rampant, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and the military now faces a growing medical problem of “pseudoepidemics,” or clusters of false-positives, according to researchers with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The culprit, the researchers said in a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, is universal testing with a notoriously inaccurate tuberculin skin test (TST) and inconsistent procedures for interpreting those tests in low-risk populations. These false positives tests have become more than a mere institutional inconvenience or a momentary medical scare for Soldiers being tested. They are a real financial and medical burden because they inappropriately diverting limited funds and resources. The study describes eight outbreaks of false-positive TB tests between 1983 and 2005. Repeat testing of people who tested positive found that 30 to 100 percent were negative on retesting.

 

SIDS: SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY INCREASES RISK
A new study provides the most direct evidence of a causal link between smoking during pregnancy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS, according to researchers at the University of Calgary. Clinicians have long considered prenatal cigarette smoke exposure a major contributing risk factor for SIDS, but researchers had not proved a casual relationship. In a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers investigated the compounding effects of cigarette smoking and thermal and oxygen stress in SIDS. The researchers exposed pregnant rat pups to either room air or mainstream cigarette smoke equivalent to that a pack-a-day smoker would experience. The results indicate the adverse effects of low oxygen and thermal stress even in pups, which were not exposed to cigarette smoke during pregnancy, but found the effects were much more pronounced in pups that head been exposed to cigarette smoked prenatally. Under hyperthermic conditions, hypoxia induced gasping in both groups, but only the cigarette smoke-exposed animals exhibited a pronounced and longer lasting respiratory depression following the termination of hypoxia.

MALARIA: NEW DISCOVERY COULD HELP CONTROL THE SPREAD OF DRUG RESISTANCE
In a development that could control the spread of drug resistance to malaria, scientists in London have demonstrated the possibility of preventing the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, from becoming sexually mature. Drug resistance to malaria, which is responsible for more than a million malaria deaths a year, is major public health problem and hinders the control of the disease. The life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum is complex, and it is not yet known what triggers the production of parasite gametes or sex cells. These sexual forms of the parasite do not contribute to malaria symptoms, but are essential for transmission of malaria between humans via the bite of a mosquito. A team based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, working with a colleague from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, identified a parasite enzyme that is instrumental in triggering the emergence of mature gametes within the mosquito. Their findings are published today in the journal PLoS Biology. The researchers said that they found it is feasible to block the sexual stage of the life cycle of the malaria parasite working with genetically modified parasites, in combination with inhibitors of this enzyme. They added that if a drug can be developed that targets this stage of the life cycle, and combined with a curative drug, it would be an important new approach for controlling malaria transmission and the spread of drug resistance.

 

HEALTH INSURANCE: OF ALL AGE GROUPS, 19-TO-29-YEAR-OLDS MOST LIKELY TO BE UNINSURED
Some 13.7 million of Americans ages 19-to-29 lack health insurance coverage, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the population without health insurance, according to a new report by The Commonwealth Fund. The study found 2 of 5 high school grads and one-third of college grads will be uninsured in year after graduation. The report has dire consequences for public health, researchers said, as the study found that two-thirds (66 percent) of young adults who had a time without insurance coverage in the past year had gone without needed health care because of cost. Another one-half reported problems paying medical bills or were paying off medical debt over time. Just over half (53 percent) of 19- to 29-year-olds were eligible for coverage offered by their employers, compared with about three-quarters (74 percent) of 30- to 64-year-olds, the study found. Young adults often lose coverage at age 19, as a result of being dropped from parents’ policies or from public programs like Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program or SCHIP. Young adults from low-income households are most at risk: 72 percent of the 13.7 million uninsured young adults live in households with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level. Researchers said state efforts to cover young adults as well as extending eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP beyond age 18 are important policy solutions for covering this group.

 

CARDIAC ARREST: TREATMENT GUIDELINES LEAD TO FOUR-FOLD INCREASE IN SURVIVAL
A study from the Wake County EMS System in Raleigh, North Carolina finds that recent guidelines outlined by the American Heart Association for treatments used by emergency and critical care medical practitioners on cardiac arrest patients has lead to substantial improvements in survival rates. The findings show that, when fully implemented, the treatment protocol increased the odds of survival nearly four-fold for victims of cardiac arrest. The study, the first comprehensive evaluation of 2005 American Heart Association guidelines on the use of compression, ventilation, and induced hypothermia after community-wide implementation, was published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

 

CHILDHOOD OBESITY: LIMITING SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES MAY HELP PREVENT EXCESS WEIGH GAIN
Researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that reducing empty caloric intake by limiting sugar-sweetened beverages drinks may be a key strategy for promoting healthy eating and preventing excess weight gain among young adults. The recent study published in Pediatrics found that sugar-sweetened beverages are an increasingly large part of children and teens’ diets. Teens who consume these drinks, which include sodas, fruit drinks and punches, and sports drinks, drink an average of 356 calories per day, a significant increase from 10 years earlier. In particular, the study shows that children ages six to 11 consumed 20 percent more calories from sugar-sweetened beverages in 1999-2004 compared with the 1988 to 1994 period. The study showed that over-consumption of sugary beverages is widespread, with 84 percent of teens consuming sugar-sweetened beverages on a typical day. An adolescent male who consumes the average amount of sugar-sweetened beverages per day (356 calories) would need to jog for an hour or walk for more than three hours to burn off these excess calories. The researchers said growing evidence indicates that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in children and teens may have contributed to rising obesity rates in the United States. The most common sugar-sweetened beverage was soda (55 percent of sugar-sweetened beverage calories), followed by a wide variety of fruit punches and fruit drinks. Together these accounted for 92 percent of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed by children and youth. The fastest growing category was sports drinks, increasing threefold among adolescents during the study period.