SUNDAY - July 8, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Successful Open Heart Surgery During Pregnancy.
When 27-year-old Chantal Dueck learned she urgently needed open heart surgery to replace a congenitally abnormal aortic valve which had become infected and was destroying her heart, her first thought was not for herself. Sixteen weeks pregnant, her main concern was for her unborn child.

The care team at Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) in New Westminster, BC shared her concern, and left no stone unturned to ensure the safest possible care for Chantal and her baby. So, how to achieve success? Latham scoured the literature and contacted colleagues across the country who might have operated in similar circumstances. Clinical pharmacist Dr. Wendy Gordon did a thorough literature review to ascertain the potential effects of blood thinning medications on pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Chantal was provided with the information she needed to help her weigh the merits of a tissue valve versus a mechanical valve. (After considering the pros and cons of each type of valve, Chantal chose a tissue valve in order to put her baby and herself at the least risk, and to give her the option of having another child. The compromise: the valve would need to be replaced in 10-15 years.) Chief perfusionist Don Trostheim worked on a precise plan to support mother and fetus while on cardiopulmonary bypass, and nurses from the heart and obstetrics units met to discuss and plan the unique care requirements. Neonatologist Dr. Duncan Farquharson contacted colleagues in BC and beyond, to ensure the best way to maintain the pregnancy long enough to support the safest possible entrance into the world for this infant, so precious to her parents Chantal and Shane.

"Our team took a number of steps to adapt our care to this rare circumstance," said cardiologist Dr. Marg Blackwell. "For example, the usual practice of administering medications to stop the patient's heart during surgery was foregone; the flow on the bypass pump was increased; and a specialized neonatal team was standing by, all for the safety of the baby. RCH is the only one in the province which can do open heart, obstetrics, and neonatal care all in one location, so it was the ideal hospital to care for Chantal." more...

Get in Shape for Your Pregnancy.
Would-be moms often want to know how to trim their bellies after having children. But how actively do they seek tips for getting their bodies in great shape before getting pregnant? Until recently, that part of the baby-making equation had been largely absent from the discussion. Increasingly, though, maternal health and prenatal-care experts are urging women to improve their health before conceiving. Dr. Lorey H. Pollack, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, N.Y., has some patients who are very informed and motivated to take better care of themselves before contemplating pregnancy. Others, though, come in pregnant and say, "By the way, I have diabetes; by the way, I have Lupus; by the way, I have high blood pressure, and they're kind of shocked to find out that's an issue when they're pregnant," he said. But recommendations compiled by experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as more than 35 government, public and private partners may help to draw attention to the importance of preconception care.

Dr. Hani K. Atrash, associate director for program development at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and co-author of the government report, said, "If a woman or couple has decided to conceive, then at least one pre-pregnancy visit is recommended, and the five most important things to do are":

• Take 400 micrograms of folic acid a day for at least three months before pregnancy to reduce the risk of birth defects.
• Stop smoking and drinking alcohol.
• Consult with a health-care provider to manage any and all medical conditions, including, but not limited to, asthma, diabetes, oral health, obesity, or epilepsy, and maintain up-to-date vaccinations.
• Talk to your doctor and pharmacist about any over-the-counter and prescription medicines you are taking, including vitamins and dietary or herbal supplements.
• Avoid exposure to toxic substances or potentially infectious materials at work or at home, such as chemicals, or cat and rodent feces.

Atrash was also co-editor of a special supplement of the Maternal and Child Health Journal, published last September, devoted entirely to the topic of preconception care. Dr. Pollack always tells patients contemplating pregnancy to make an appointment to talk about some of these issues and begin taking steps to address health issues.

"It's always easier to try to prevent a problem than to catch up with it later on," he reasoned. For more on preconception health, visit the American Pregnancy Association.

Key to Male Infertility.
A factor in immune cells regulates human semen and seems to determine whether a man will be fertile. Yousef Al-Abed, PhD, and his colleagues at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have isolated an immune substance called macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in semen samples from infertile and reproductively healthy men. MIF is key to helping sperm mature, which is necessary for its union with an egg. The finding could lead to a diagnostic test to determine fertility status. MIF is a key player of the immune system. Identified 40 years ago, it was only recently that scientists discovered its role as a pro-inflammatory substance. It has now been linked to many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases - such as diabetes and sepsis - and Al-Abed, an organic chemist by training, has been trying to identify and design small molecules that would block MIF activity. The team designed a specific inhibitor called ISO-1 to fit into this pro-inflammatory site. In an animal model of sepsis, ISO-1 abolishes MIF’s potent inflammatory abilities and the animals respond dramatically. They lived through the once-fatal sepsis. In patients in the throes of sepsis - an over-reactive and potentially fatal immune response to a bacterial infection - MIF concentrations are 10 to 20 times higher than normal. If MIF levles drop, the chance that patients will survive sepsis is increased dramatically. “The idea is to suppress inflammation so that cells stop producing MIF,” said Dr. Al-Abed. Published in Molecular Medicine.


SATURDAY - July 7, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Blood Vessels Made From Stem Cells.

	Blood vessels that have been tissue-engineered from bone marrow adult stem cells may in the future serve as a patient's own source of new blood vessels following a coronary bypass or other procedures that require vessel replacement, according to new research from the University at Buffalo (UB) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. "Our results show that bone marrow is an excellent source of adult stem cells containing smooth muscle and endothelial cells, and that these stem cells can be used in regenerative medicine for cardiovascular applications," said Stelios T. Andreadis, Ph.D., associate professor at UB. In addition, the smooth muscle cells isolated from the bone marrow are mesenchymal cells, that is, stem cells that can differentiate into several cell types. Several studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells may be immunoprivileged, which means they will not trigger an immune reaction when transplanted into another individual, Andreadis said. Published the journal Cardiovascular Research.

Personalized Formula of Ovarian Stimulation = Higher Preg Rates.
An international group of fertility specialists has developed an easy-to use mathematical formula that allows a personalised approach to ovarian stimulation therapy for women seeking fertility treatment. Clinical tests demonstrated that when clinicians used the formula (or algorithm) to calculate the best starting dose for each patient, both the number of oocytes retrieved and pregnancy rates rose. Professor François Olivennes told the 23rd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that the algorithm was based on four factors that predicted ovarian response and that were measured routinely when women were evaluated for fertility treatment: normal (or basal) levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), body mass index, age and the number of small growing (antral) follicles in the ovary detected during screening. "However, we still have more work to do before the algorithm can be used for all patients in the clinic. Firstly, the FSH dose calculator has only been validated for GONAL-f FbM - there are other types of FSH in use. Secondly, we have demonstrated its usefulness in women younger than 35 undergoing ART; further work is required to extend its use in other patient groups... The results of this clinical study will provide us with an opportunity to fine-tune the model so as to allow us to further improve its usefulness before making it more generally available. One of the next steps that we are considering is to make the CONSORT FSH dose calculator available to fertility specialists through a dedicated web site, with an appropriate follow-up procedure." Adapted from a news release issued by European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Cancer Leaves Genetic Fingerprint.
One of the fundamental traits of a tumor - how it avoids the immune system - might become its greatest vulnerability, according to researchers from the University of Southern California. Their findings, demonstrated in human breast and colorectal cancers, indicate that a technique for determining a tumor's "immune signature," could be useful for diagnosing and treating specific cancers. In the July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, the researchers describe a means for determining which genes have been altered in a tumor to allow it to evade the body's natural defenses. In time, the researchers believe such analysis could become a standard practice in cancer diagnosis and treatment. "The implication is that once you know the mechanism by which tumors evade the immune system, you can match that tumor to available therapies," said senior author Alan L. Epstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Pathology at USC's Keck School of Medicine. "First, we find the genetic changes that allow a tumor to defeat the immune system, then we can apply therapies that compensate for these genetic alterations." According to Epstein, tumors are notorious for demonstrating a broad array of genetic and biological variations. Their differences vary widely between cancer types, even between subcategories within a particular type of cancer. However, while the genetic variations that comprise an immune signature are complex, the researchers discovered that a small subset of genes is integral in explaining immunological behavior. Remarkably, the researchers found that the immune signatures of each of the human breast cancer cases nearly matched that of mice. In all cases, the researchers saw a suppression of CD83 and CD28, two genes that affect activation of immune cells, and over-production of B7-H4, a gene whose protein product inhibits immune activation. The human colorectal cancers, however, showed variations in their immune signatures, which researchers saw as an indication of the need to understand the signature for each patient's individual cancer. Published July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.

FRIDAY - July 6, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

FDA warns of new risks to babies with Roche drug.
U.S. regulators warned doctors of new risks to newborn babies, including death, associated with combining an antibiotic made by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG combined with certain other treatments. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that the injection, called Rocephin, should not be combined with calcium or calcium-containing products, following reports of an unspecified number of cases of fatal reactions in the lungs and kidneys of newborns. The FDA reported the new warning on the "MedWatch" section of its Web site on Thursday. Also posted is a letter to doctors dated June 2007 describing the drug's updated prescribing information. A spokesman for Roche USA was not available for comment. The drug, also known as ceftriaxone sodium, is approved to treat lower respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, gonorrhea and other infections.

Assisted Reproduction May Increase Umbilical Abnormalty Risks.
As the complexity of assisted reproduction techniques increases, so does the frequency of umbilical cord abnormalities, Belgian investigators reported. Compared with spontaneous conception, in vitro fertilization doubled the risk of velamentous insertion, or misattachment of the umbilical cord to the chorioamniotic membranes rather than on the placental membrane (7.4% versus 3.6%). Ilse Delbaere, of the University of Ghent, and colleagues, reported their findings at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting. Use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) tripled the likelihood of velamentous insertion to 10.4% compared with spontaneous conception, she added.

Time Lapse Photography Shows How In-Vitro Twins Occur.
Evidence gathered from time-lapse recordings of the formation of early embryos (blastocysts) in the laboratory has revealed why in-vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos are more likely to develop into twins than those created via natural conception. The culture medium in which the IVF embryos are grown holds some responsibility for the embryos dividing into twins as well. The blastocoele collapsed at least once in 25 of the 26 embryos (96%) in the time-lapse recording. The blastocoele then regaines fluid from the trophectoderm layer of cells, plumping back into a ball. Partial failure of the cell wall from this pulsed, pumping action may lead to twinning. Total cell wall failure leads to complete blastocoele failure and death.

“The frequency and degree of collapse varied, but the embryos that died tended to be those that had bigger and more frequent collapses,” said Ms Dianne Payne, a visiting research fellow at the Mio Fertility Clinic, Yonago in Japan. “The fluid in the [blastocoele] cavity must be under positive pressure ...[it is the] force for expansion of the blastocyst. The trophectoderm maintains the pressure by pumping the fluid into the blastocoele cavity. I believe that the collapses occur when some of the junctions between the cells fail - possibly due to localised cell death, or maybe due to a structural weakness in the junction itself - and the blastocoelic fluid leaks out. These collapses occur quite quickly - far more quickly than a pump could manage. The magnitude of the collapses is determined by the number of failed junctions. The greater the number of failed junctions, the more severe the collapse. In some cases the embryo cannot re-establish the junctions and the blastocyst is unable to re-expand and dies.” She continued: “Up until now, blastocyst collapse in the laboratory was thought to be a normal feature of blastocyst development. However, our findings that collapse is associated with degeneration of blastocysts as well as the formation of the second inner cell mass (ICM) suggests that these episodes in which blastocoele volume cannot be maintained may be an artefact of culture. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the formation of two ICMs during blastocyst development may be the cause of the high monozygotic rate after extended culture. This hypothesis fits well with the long established cause of the most common form of natural monozygotic twins.”

Abstract no: O-022 Monday 10.15-10.30 hrs CET (Forum 2), European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Moving Towards Solving Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Chemists from UCLA and the University of Florence in Italy may have identified a key protein change initiating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease - a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that strikes without warning. Joan Selverstone Valentine, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, studied the protein copper-zinc superoxide dismutase, long before it was linked to ALS in 1993. With her colleague, Ivano Bertini, professor of chemistry at the University of Florence and director of the European Magnetic Resonance Center, she has observed that when the protein is missing copper and zinc in an inherited form of ALS - it misfolds becoming toxic. "If we keep the metals entirely out of the protein, we can explain the toxicity, since even the normal protein forms aggregate at physiological conditions when the metals are gone," Valentine said. The evidence that ALS is associated with the misfolding of a protein, is similar to misfolded proteins associated with other neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, says Valentine. Published July 3, 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Inflammation Response Linked to Colon Cancer.
A new molecular link between inflammation and cancer, discovered through experiments with mice, has revealed how the body's natural repair response to tissue injury can actually spur tumor growth. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Ruslan Medzhitov and colleague Seth Rakoff-Nahoum have found that a protein involved in repairing damaged tissue in the intestine also drives the growth of intestinal tumors. The scientists are both at the Yale University School of Medicine. The new study will help scientists understand, and perhaps ultimately control, the tissue repair pathway that feeds tumor growth.

Medzhitov and Rakoff-Nahoum explored the function of a protein called Myd88, which participates in a molecular signaling pathway launching tissue repair in the intestine. Myd88 receives its activating signal from a set of key immune-system regulators called Toll-like receptors. In their experiments, the researchers used mice that have a mutation in a gene called adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), which in humans is associated with the vast majority of both inherited and sporadic colorectal cancers. Like humans, mice with the mutant gene develop abnormal intestinal growths and tumors. To test the role of Myd88 in tumor development, the researchers engineered these mice to also lack a functioning gene for the Myd88 protein.

The resulting double-mutant mice developed fewer intestinal growths and tumors than mice who were missing only APC. Detailed comparisons of the two mouse strains revealed that both strains formed about the same number of pre-cancerous structures called microadenomas, but without Myd88, many of those microadenomas never progressed to tumors. This told the researchers that Myd88 contributes to tumor growth and progression, rather than the early initiation of cancer. This idea was further supported by genetic studies of the intestinal tumors, which showed that Myd88 activates a number of genes known to be involved in both tissue repair and tumor development, including some key modifier genes known to be critical for tumorigenesis in both humans and mice.

“These findings suggest to us that perhaps the Myd88 pathway controls tumorigenesis by controlling the induction of the tissue repair response,” said Medzhitov. “In normal tissues, once the tissue repair response is induced it replenishes the damaged tissue and then stops. But in the case of oncogenic mutations, the tissue-repair response is induced because initial tumor growth is sensed as damage to tissue. This turns into a vicious cycle, in which tissue repair generates cells that contribute to tumor mass, but that is perceived as even greater tissue damage, which provides even more cell mass to the growing tumor.”. Published July 6, 2007, issue of the journal Science.


THURSDAY - July 5, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Stem Cells Toughen Up Fetus's Brittle Bones.
Injecting stem cells into a developing fetus might sound risky, but it could prolong the lives of children with brittle bone disease. Nicholas Fisk and colleagues at Imperial College London studied mouse models of human type III brittle bone disease, or osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). The genetic defect - detected in human fetuses by DNA testing or ultrasound - disrupts collagen production, leading to weak bones and stunted growth. Those with type III OI suffer fractures while in the womb and rarely survive beyond early adulthood. Fisk's team injected human fetal mesenchymal stem cells through the wall of the uterus into 14-day mouse fetuses. At the age of 3 months, treated mice had suffered just one-third of the long-bone fractures compared with untreated mice. Their bones were also stronger and their leg bones longer. While drugs exist to treat the disease, stem cell transplants seem to have extra benefits, such as this boost in limb length, says Fisk. In fact, the treatment has already been tried in the US on three children with OI while still in the womb, with promising early results seen after the babies were born. Fisk believes the treatment should now be offered on a case-by-case basis. Other experts caution, however, that a full clinical trial in people is needed first. Presented the work at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Cairns, Australia.

Embryo Genetic Diagnosis in Older Women a Waste of Time.
In a randomized, double-blind controlled trial, women who underwent preimplantation genetic screening had significantly fewer on-going pregnancies and live births than those who did not have the procedure, Sjoerd Repping, Ph.D., of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, reported in the July 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study results were presented simultaneously at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting. In general, IVF success rates for women ages 35 through 41 are "disappointingly low," which has led to the suggestion that their embryos should be screened preimplantation for chromosomal abnormalities, noted Dr. Repping and colleagues. The findings "argue strongly against" genetic screening in these women, Dr. Repping and colleagues said. John Collins, M.D., of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that for every nine women who use three cycles of IVF, there would be one more live birth if genetic screening had not been used, on the basis of data from the study. Because about 8% of pregnancies established by IVF are lost after 12 weeks, the use of on-going pregnancy at 12 weeks as the primary outcome "in my opinion is a design flaw," Dr. Collins said. Nevertheless, he added, live births were analyzed as a secondary outcome and the results are sufficiently strong to rule out genetic screening for chromosomal abnormalities "solely because of advanced maternal age." Published July 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

New Oncogene for Brain Tumors Found.
An overabundant gene found at the scene of a variety of tumors is implicated in the development of two types of malignant brain cancer, according to a paper by M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Just because a gene is associated with cancer doesn't mean that it's actually causing cancer. In this paper we show for the first time that insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) connects with two other proteins to fuel development and progression of brain tumors," says senior author Wei Zhang, Ph.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Pathology. Using a gene transfer delivery system in a mouse model, a team led by Zhang and Professor of Pathology Gregory Fuller, M.D., Ph.D., shows that IGFBP2 plays an active role in the tumorigenesis of astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma. Both cancers are forms of glioma, cancers that develop in the glial cells - which normally support and nourish neurons - that are highly resistant to treatment. "This makes IGFBP2 an important candidate for development of targeted therapy to treat gliomas," Zhang says. Gliomas kill about 13,000 people in the United States annually. The possibilities are not limited to brain cancer, Fuller notes, "because of the pervasive overexpression of IGFBP2 documented in other cancer types." The gene is expressed only at low levels in normal cells, which would potentially reduce side effects caused by a treatment that targeted the gene or its protein product. Fuller and Zhang first associated overexpression of the gene with brain cancer in 1999. Other researchers have since found it to be overexpressed in prostate, ovarian, breast and colorectal cancers, some leukemias, and also in drug-resistant tumors. Overabundance of IGFBP2 has since been shown to be an indicator of poor prognosis for glioma patients. The PNAS paper takes it beyond this biomarker status.

Human Antibodies that Block Human/Animal SARS Viruses Found.
An international team of investigators has identified the first human antibodies that can neutralize different strains of virus responsible for outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The researchers used a mouse model and in vitro assays (lab tests) to test the neutralizing activity of the antibodies. The research team was led by scientists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), both parts of the National Institutes of Health, and included collaborators from the U.S. Army (USAMRIID), academic institutions in the United States, Switzerland, and Australia. “What we need to prove for any vaccine, therapeutic, antibody, or drug is that it is effective not only against the strain of SARS virus isolated from people, but also against a variety of animal strains, because animals will be a likely source for re-emergence of the SARS virus” explains Kanta Subbarao, M.D., NIAID. Dimiter S. Dimitrov, Ph.D., head of the Protein Interaction Group at NCI’s Frederick, Md., campus and his colleagues identified two human antibodies that bind to a region on the SARS virus’ spike glycoprotein, which is called the receptor binding domain (RBD). One of the antibodies, called S230.15, was found in the blood of a patient who had been infected with SARS and later recovered. The second antibody, m396, was taken from a library of human antibodies the researchers developed from the blood of 10 healthy volunteers. Because humans already have immune cells that express antibodies which are very close to those which can effectively neutralize the SARS virus, m396 could be fished out from healthy volunteers. Dimitrov’s team next solved the structure of m396 and its complex with the SARS RBD, and showed that the antibody binds to the region on the RBD that allows the virus to attach to host cells. Published July 2, 2007 in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Electric Pulses that Destroy Cancer Cells.
A team of biomedical engineers at Virginia Tech–Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES) and the University of California at Berkeley has developed a new minimally invasive method of treating cancer, and they anticipate clinical trials on individuals with prostate cancer will begin soon.The process, called irreversible electroporation (IRE), was invented by two engineers, Rafael V. Davalos, a faculty member of the Virginia Tech and Boris Rubinsky, a bioengineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Electroporation is a phenomenon known for decades that increases the permeability of a cell from none to a reversible opening to an irreversible opening. With the latter, the cell will die. What Davalos and Rubinsky did was apply this irreversible concept to the targeting of cancer cells. “IRE removes tumors by irreversibly opening tumor cells through a series of short intense electric pulses from small electrodes placed in or around the body,” said Davalos. "This application creates permanent openings in the pores in the cells of the undesirable tissue. The openings eventually lead to the death of the cells without the use of potentially harmful chemotherapeutic drugs.” Published as featured article in a special issue of Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment dedicated to this new field..

Manganese Linked to Scrapie in Cows, Sheep - Humans?
Sheep infected with scrapie and cows infected with BSE have elevated levels of manganese in their blood before clinical symptoms appear, according to new research. The findings also show that scrapie-resistant sheep produce elevated levels of the metal when “challenged” with the disease. This suggests that elevated manganese levels in the blood and central nervous system are caused by the animal’s initial response to the disease. The findings raise the possibility of using manganese levels in the blood as a potential diagnostic marker for prion infection. At present, only post-mortem examination of the brain tissue gives a certain diagnosis. Scrapie, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) are neurodegenerative diseases that affect the brain and nervous system of sheep, cows and humans respectively. Published in the journal of Animal Science.

Male Hormones Can Play Havoc on Financial Decision Making.
A new study shows that men with high levels of testosterone are more likely to turn down low offers, even if they stand to gain money by accepting them. These findings demonstrate that hardwired biology can cause us to make irrational economic decisions. In what is known as the "low ultimatum game", an anonymous individual can offer either a large or small chunk of cash to another person, without any opportunity for negotiation. The player who receives the offer knows how much the other player has in total, and therefore knows the fraction they have been offered. If the deal is accepted, both players keep their split of the total. But if the deal is refused, neither gets anything. Often, the person offered the free money rejects it if it represents too small a slice of the pie. The refusal to accept this money has puzzled economists because the cash comes with no strings attached. Men who rejected the good deal had an average testosterone count of 380 picomoles per litre of saliva, whereas those who accepted the deal had an average of almost 40% of that figure. This, says Terry Burnham at Harvard University, Cambridge, suggests that people with more testosterone are less tolerant of what they see as inequitable deals – possibly due to the hormone's influence on the brain: "You have to be very careful about being fair with them." He speculates that testosterone produces a greater aversion to unfair deals because the hormone is linked to dominance-seeking behaviours. Previous studies have found that other hormones can influence economic decisions. Researchers recently reported that a whiff of the hormone oxytocin can make someone more willing to invest their money in an anonymous trustee. And, lastly, if you are seeking to determine your business contact's testosterone levels and saliva is hard to obtain, look out for a wedding ring. Married men tend to have less of the hormone. Published: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0546).

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WEDNESDAY - July 4, 2007-----------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Cloned Sperm Created in the Lab.
Cloning sperm could enable men with very low sperm counts to become fathers, say Cornell University scientists. By injecting a single healthy mouse sperm into a mouse egg from which the genetic material had been removed, they were able to make new sperm. With some refining, the Cornell University team believes the technique could be used for infertile couples. But experts at a fertility conference in Lyon, France, raised safety concerns as mice made from cloned sperm were abnormal. Professor Takumi Takeuchi and colleagues said four offspring had grown into "normal adults". Professor Takeuchi speculated that: "If you only have one healthy sperm you would be reluctant to use it for anything but fertilization. "But with this technique it should be possible to create enough sperm to be sure that the embryo which is implanted is healthy." But Professor Keith Campbell, an expert on artificial gametes at the University of Nottingham in the UK, had reservations about the technology. "I do not think it has got utility at the moment, apart from in the research lab. Work like this is still in its infancy and we have a lot to learn." He said it would be important to look at future generations of mice born from the clone-made rodents because there might be abnormalities, such as a propensity to heart disease or diabetes, that could be passed down to offspring. Proposed new UK laws would ban the use of artificially created sperm, and eggs, in fertility treatments.

Gastroschisis Intestinal Defect on the Rise in Newborns.
Babies of teenage mothers are at greatest risk of being born with their intestinal organs exposed outside of their body, a condition known as gastroschisis (pronounced gas-tro-SKEE-sis). In a recent study, Dr. Edward Lammer, a researcher at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, uncovered a link between smoking and gastroschisis, which is believed to occur during the fifth to eighth week of pregnancy when there is a disruption to the blood supply of the baby's developing abdominal wall. The abdominal wall is left with a hole through which the intestines and possibly other organs protrude. Eighty-five percent of babies who are treated for the defect survive. Of the 500,000 babies born in California each year, there are an estimated 180 cases of gastroschisis, and about 1,380 cases nationwide, according to the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program. From 2000 through 2005, Children's Hospital treated 43 cases. Mothers less than 20 years old are at greatest risk of having a baby with the defect, with mothers ages 17 to 19 being three times more likely than average and mothers less than 17 years old - 4.5 times more likely. But with teenage pregnancy rates in the United States at an all-time low and the rates of smoking during pregnancy dropping, those risk factors alone do not explain the increase in gastroschisis. Other risk factors include the use of recreational drugs and drinking alcohol, as well as taking medications that decrease blood flow, including aspirin, ibuprofen and certain decongestants, according to the birth defects monitoring program. "First we have to figure out the causes. Then you can implement treatment measures," said Lammer, whose team recently received a three-year, $670,000 research grant from the University of California's California Tobacco Related Diseases Research Program, which is funded through state tobacco tax funds. The researchers will study the genes of babies with gastroschisis and their mothers. Source: The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

Fat Cells Turned Into Anti-Cancer Missiles.
Researchers in Slovakia took fat cells and engineered them into "suicide genes" that seek cancer cells that have metastacized, or spread through the body. "These fat-derived stem cells could be exploited for personalized cell-based therapeutics," said Cestmir Altaner, an associate professor in the Cancer Research Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. "Nearly everyone has some fat tissue they can spare, and this tissue could be a source of cells for cancer treatment that can be adapted into specific vehicles for drug transport," he reported in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. The stem cells are extracted from human fat tissue. These cells, Altaner said, migrate to cancer cells in an attempt to repair what is viewed by the stem cells as damaged tissue. He said that this property of the cells might be used to find the cancer cells and help destroy them. In experiments with mice that were engrafted with human colon cancer, researchers first injected the engineered mesenchymal stem cells, then the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil. They found tumor growth was markedly inhibited in the animals, and none of the mice exhibited any signs of toxic side effects. However, none of the animals remained tumor-free. "The procedure was quite effective even though we applied the stem cells just once. Obviously, repeated treatment will increase the efficacy, as would using this strategy in combination with other treatments," Altaner said.

RNA May Play Larger Role in Cell's Gene Activity.
Large, seemingly useless pieces of RNA - a molecule originally considered only a lowly messenger for DNA - play an important role in letting cells know where they are in the body and what they are supposed to become, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered. The finding implies that ancient RNA molecules can orchestrate gene activity across vast portions of the human genome - a cell’s genetic blueprint. It also suggests they may be important in cancer development and stem cell maintenance. Overall, the work adds another brick to the growing wall of evidence suggesting that RNA is more than a mere genomic servant.

RNA is best known for ferrying protein-coding instructions from DNA, once thought to be the master molecule of the genome, to the cell’s assembly factories. But cracks in this theory began to appear when it became evident that many RNA molecules aren’t capable of making protein. While more recent research has shown that small bits of RNA can silence individual genes by interfering with their expression - a la Stanford professor Andrew Fire’s recent Nobel work - longer pieces, called non-coding RNAs, have been more perplexing. “These ncRNAs have long been molecules of mystery,” said John Rinn, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Howard Chang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology. “They look just like they should code for proteins, but they don’t.” Although ncRNAs have been shown to affect the expression of neighboring genes, the relative abundance of the molecules - accounting for about half of the DNA transcribed in the cell - suggests that they may have a wider sphere of influence than previously thought.

The researchers were investigating how human skin cells, or fibroblasts, know where they are in the body. They had previously shown that groups of genes known as HOX act as a global positioning system by maintaining unique patterns of expression over many generations of cell division. But until Rinn used a new type of gene chip called a tiling array in this study, they didn’t know how the HOX expression patterns themselves were determined.  “I like to think of it as genomic scuba diving,” said Rinn. The tiling array allowed him to map the boundaries of the regions around four clustered sets, or loci, of HOX genes. That’s somewhat like zooming in on a single home from a satellite map on Google Earth. “It gives us an up-close, unbiased view of what’s actually happening at the chromosomal level.”  Rinn located many previously unknown ncRNA genes nestled among the HOX genes, identifing areas that serve as shared landing pads for proteins to either activate or suppress neighboring regions. “It’s a striking pattern. Like a light switch, the same stretch of DNA can be used to turn genes either on or off, depending on their protein partners.”

But then Rinn looked more deeply. The fact that the ncRNAs have remained virtually unchanged over millions of years suggests their involvement in gene expression. The researchers found that depleting one ncRNA dubbed HOTAIR, in the HOXC region on chromosome 12 of a skin cell, significantly increased the expression of HOXD genes on chromosome 2. This finding marks the first time that ncRNA has been shown to affect gene expression on a chromosome other than its own. The researchers believe that HOTAIR functions by affecting chromosomal packing in the nucleus. Inactive chromosomal regions are tightly wound around proteins called histones and cannot be copied into RNA. Loss of HOTAIR in skin cells specifically frees the HOXD control region for binding by activating proteins. Published in the June 29 issue of the journal Cell.

Infertile Men's MIF Levels Either Too High or Too Low.
The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research scientists have discovered a specific factor in immune cells regulates human semen and seems to determine whether a man will be fertile. Yousef Al-Abed and colleagues at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research isolated an immune substance called macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF, in semen samples from infertile and reproductively healthy men. The semen was collected from men after a period of sexual abstinence. The scientists had no idea whether a specific sample came from any of the 68 men who had problems conceiving or from the 27 healthy controls. The researchers found those with infertility problems had MIF levels that were either too high or too low. Those who had no problems conceiving had levels that were just right. When the scientists added MIF to lab dishes filled with healthy sperm, it decreased the count and impaired their motility. If MIF has a role in infertility, Al-Abed and colleagues said they wonder whether it might work as a form of male contraception. Published in the journal Molecular Medicine.

Kidney Disease Test May Also Indicate Diabetes Potential.
A blood component called cystatin C, used to test for early-stage kidney impairment, also may be a very early marker for those at risk of developing a condition known as pre-diabetes, a study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown. Pre-diabetes is diagnosed when the amount of glucose in the bloodstream begins to rise and remain above normal, an indication that glucose is not being absorbed properly by cells. UB researchers report in the July 2007 issue of Diabetes Care that high levels of cystatin C were associated with a three-fold risk of progression to pre-diabetes in their study population. "It's important to identify people at risk of pre-diabetes very early, because you can prevent this condition from developing by making changes in diet and lifestyle," said Richard P. Donahue, Ph.D., first author on the study. The cystatin C investigation is based on the Western New York Health Study, conducted between 1996 and 2001, in which researchers collected baseline information on a number of health indicators, including fasting glucose, in a randomly selected cohort of healthy Erie and Niagara county residents. The study was supported by a grant to Donahue from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

TUESDAY - July 3, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Babies, Not Money, Bring Smiles to Aussie Faces.
Ninety-four percent of people in a recent online survey of almost 1,500 Australians didn't rate wealth or money as top on their list of things that make them smile the most. Instead, children and babies were found most likely to bring a smile to their faces, with 33 percent of the vote, followed by family and friends at 28 percent, and then pets and animals with 22 percent. Based on the idea that a smile is the universal symbol for happiness, the study found that people gain more happiness from their experiences than their purchases. The study, conducted by marketing research body AC Nielsen over three days, asked respondents to choose the factor that made them smile most from a list of five different categories, including money and wealth, and beautiful scenery or nature. The simple act of smiling increases the level of serotonin, a hormone that plays an important role in regulating moods in the brain, said Timothy Sharp from the Sydney-based Happiness Institute. "One of the myths about happiness is that its this spontaneous thing that falls on your lap if you're lucky," he said. "If people engage in happy behavior, you increase your chances of being happy."

Magnesium Sulfate Hard on Pre-Term Moms - try Nnifedipine.
Magnesium sulfate is the most commonly used drug to arrest preterm labor, but it is also more likely than another common treatment to cause mild to serious side effects in pregnant women, according to a study from researchers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine. Their findings suggest that, since the effectiveness of the two drugs appears similar, physicians should consider side effects more strongly when choosing which drug to prescribe. “There is no free lunch with any of these drugs,” said Deirdre Lyell, MD, a specialist in high-risk obstetrics at the hospital’s Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services. “But magnesium sulfate has some particularly unpleasant side effects, including vomiting, lethargy and blurry vision. The alternative treatment, nifedipine, often leaves women feeling better.” Preterm labor is defined as labor before 37 weeks’ gestation. Although it’s not always possible to prevent premature birth, physicians strive to delay delivery for at least 48 hours. The extra time allows a doctor to arrange to transfer the woman to a medical facility experienced in treating premature infants and helps maximize the effectiveness of steroids used to help the fetus to prepare for the harsh outside world. “The take-home message is that we saw no differences in relevant outcomes between the two groups,” said Lyell, “but there was a significant difference in the side effects experienced by the women, and some of these were very serious.” Published: July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Blacks and Whites Have Different Immune Repsonse to MS.
A study comparing black patients and white patients with multiple sclerosis found that the African-Americans had higher levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies (P= 0.001), and a higher IgG synthesis rate (P=0.010), indicating a more active immunologic response among black Americans, reported John R. Rinker II, M.D., and colleagues in the July 3 issue of Neurology. "These antibodies are indicators of inflammation, but we don't yet understand how inflammation is linked to prognosis," said Dr. Rinker. "No one really understands yet why inflammation levels differ from one MS patient to the next." Dr. Rinker performed the work as a fellow at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, and is now at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The authors acknowledged that the study was limited by its retrospective design, use of a single disability endpoint, and by the lack of information on the significance of IgG in cerebrospinal fluid in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. In addition, because only patients with the CSF data were used, a selection bias of patients with atypical disease features may exist.

Genetic Roll of the Dice Paves the Way for Lymphatic Cancers.
For most cells, keeping DNA in optimal condition is a high priority. Most cells do not hesitate to halt their usual life cycle while they fix anything that is amiss, even resorting to suicide to stop damage from spreading. But the immune system persistently gambles, putting organisms at risk for cancer and other diseases as it prepares to defend against potential pathogens. A new study shows how loss of a single enzyme that performs two critical functions can create the potential for cancer when immune cells divide and mature. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Michel Nussenzweig; his brother, National Cancer Institute investigator Andre Nussenzweig; and their colleagues have shown that an enzyme called ATM kinase plays a dual role in preventing immune cells from propagating with damaged chromosomes. White blood cells called lymphocytes circulate through our bodies seeking out viruses, bacteria, and other antigens. When lymphocytes are born in the bone marrow as B or T cells, their DNA is broken during a process called V(D) J recombination, needed to assemble receptor molecules that can trigger an immune response when antigens are encountered. DNA breaks are also produced when a B cell encounters an antigen and responds by refining its antibodies. By deliberately pulling apart their DNA and then splicing it back together at another spot in the genome, lymphocytes expand the range of invaders they are prepared to battle. This process of breaking DNA, shuffling it, and then putting it back puts lymphocytes—and our health—in a potentially precarious position. Broken chromosome ends are left exposed until the DNA re-knits at the precise location needed to assemble the appropriate antigen receptors; in the absence of the appropriate controls, these broken chromosomes can recombine with one another in inappropriate ways. Fortunately, a checkpoint system kicks in whenever the re-knitting and repair process fails, setting off apoptosis, or cellular suicide, to keep damaged lymphocytes from replicating. “If the genome is not stable,” says Nussenzweig, “it should be repaired or the cell should die.” However, no redundant failsafe system seems to correct the failure of the ATM pathway to initiate apoptosis. In other words, he says, “You can think of programmed damage to the lymphocyte that does not get repaired as an endogenous carcinogen.” These findings are reported in an online issue of the journal Cell published June 29, 2007.

Pre-Kindergarten TB Testing Not Cost Effective.
The health care system in California could save nearly $1.3 million a year with few adverse public health effects if it discontinued universal tuberculosis skin testing of children entering kindergarten, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Over a 20-year period, the study projects that only two additional cases of tuberculosis would result from screening the pre-kindergarten group. “Pre-kindergarten screening is not a cost-effective way to spend our health care dollars,” Flaherman said. “You need about 7 percent of the children who are being screened to test positive in order for pre-kindergarten screening to be cost-effective. That may have been the case in the past, but now often less than 1 percent test positive.” The tuberculosis skin test, also known as the tuberculin or PPD test, is used to determine whether someone has been infected by breathing in the germs from a person with active TB. People with latent TB infection have no symptoms and usually have a positive tuberculin skin test. They cannot spread TB to others, but need treatment to prevent them from developing active TB in the future .



MONDAY - July 2, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Fertility Hope for Children Survivors of Cancer.
Doctors from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem have extracted, matured and frozen eggs from girls as young as five in a move that may allow children with cancer to become parents when they grow up, scientists said on Sunday. Childhood cancers usually result in cure rates of between 70 and 90 percent but the aggressive chemotherapy which is often needed can render children sterile. Many experts had thought eggs in the follicles of young girls before puberty were too immature to be extracted. But an Israeli team found they could obtain eggs from girls with cancer aged between five and 10 years and then culture them in a dish to make them viable. Ariel Revel will present full details of his research at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyon, France, this week. "No eggs have yet been thawed, so we do not know whether pregnancies will result," he said in a statement. "But we are encouraged by our results so far, particularly the young ages of the patients from whom we have been able to collect eggs."

ID of Genetic Mutations for Atrial Fibrillation and Prostate Cancer.
Writing on Sunday in the journal Nature, scientists scanned the genes of thousands of people from Iceland, Sweden, the United States and Hong Kong to find these two common mutations tied to much higher risk for atrial fibrillation. The two mutations are located adjacent to a gene that plays a role in early heart development, the researchers found. Scientists from Icelandic company deCODE genetics Inc. led the research. Atrial fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's two upper chambers beat chaotically and irregularly, out of coordination with its two lower chambers. The result is an irregular and frequently rapid heart rate. It can increases one's risk of developing blood clots that may trigger a stroke. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain stops, causing brain cells to begin dying in minutes.

In another study published on Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics, deCODE genetics identified two genetic factors on human chromosome 17 linked to an increased likelihood of developing prostate cancer. These are believed to play a role in more than a third of prostate cancer cases, the researchers said. But while raising prostate cancer risk, the researchers added, one of these genetic factors actually lowered the risk of the most common form of diabetes, known as type 2 diabetes. "It only shows how delicate the biology of man is and how important it is when you are considering treatment or prevention of one disease to make sure that you are not increasing, then, the liability for another one," deCODE genetics President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kari Stefansson said. Published on Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.

Clues to Human Infertility from a Stressed Out Mole-Rat.
Stressed-out mole-rats become infertile after constant bullying by the colony's "queen", the only female to reproduce. But this infertility is reversible and when the queen dies, a previously non-breeding female quickly takes her place. Chris Faulkes, a biologist at the University of London, believes the animals' behavior patterns translate into suppression of certain fertility hormones and understanding the process could help explain stress-related infertility in humans. Stress has long been known to be an important factor in infertility in both women and men - but working out why is a challenge. Faulkes, who is presenting his mole-rat research at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyon, France, is convinced animals can provide part of the answer. It appears that ovulatory cycles in females are suppressed by reduction of luteinising and follicle stimulating hormones, while testosterone and sperm count levels fall in non-breeding males. "By making careful comparisons with model species like mole-rats, we may be able to tease apart the relative contribution of genes, environment, upbringing and culture to complex social behavior in our own species," Faulkes believes.

Delinquency in Children Now Linked to Biology.
How do sweet children turn into delinquents seemingly right before our eyes. A unique study appearing in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that, in children, a highly reactive autonomic nervous system, which regulates our cardiovascular, digestive and respiratory functions, paired with a stressful family environment leads to increased instances of maladaptive personality change. Rutgers University psychologist, Daniel Hart, and colleagues Nancy Eisenberg and Carlos Valiente of Arizona State University, used a Skin Conductance Response (SCR) test to assess 138 elementary school aged children. SCR is a frequently used as an appraisal of autonomic arousal in humans and, specifically, measures the amount of sweat on the participant's palm when exposed to stressful stimuli. In this case, the children watched a video of a dolphin swimming in the ocean so that the researchers could collect their baseline stress response. Next, they watched a second, more stressful, film involving a lamp causing a fire in a girl's room, which elicited their normal autonomic arousal patterns under stress. The results show that the combination of high SCR and high family risk predicted substantial increases in personality change and behavior problems. The researchers observed the children four separate times over the course of six years, making this the first study to show that the interaction of family adversity with a biological characteristic is associated with longitudinally measured change in childhood personality.

A Way to Block That Pot Belly - NeuroPeptide Y.
Georgetown University Medical Center researchers in Washington, DC, have figured out how to remove fat from one part of the body and make it grow in another part - at least in mice - and say their findings could benefit health as well as beauty. Their findings also shed light on how and why stressed-out people so often gain weight. Their findings are based on a naturally produced chemical messenger or neurotransmitter called neuropeptide Y, or NPY - long linked with appetite, weight gain and obesity. Dr. Zofia Zukowska said her findings in mice suggest that NPY helps make some body fat more dangerous than other kinds. Controlling it could help slow some of the more dangerous side effects of obesity such as heart disease and diabetes, her team reported in the journal Nature Medicine. NPY attaches to a receptor, a molecular doorway, in fat cells that is called neuropeptide Y2 receptor, or Y2R. It activates fat cells and some of cells in the blood vessels found in fat tissue. When the researchers injected a drug that blocks Y2R - the doorway NPY uses to get into cells - the mice lost 40 percent of their belly fat. Not only that, but signs of diabetes and other ill effects disappeared. "It had a profound effect on overall metabolism," Zukowska said.