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Proteins that regulate early embryonic development identified

May 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): American scientists analysing the chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome have identified proteins that play a key role in early embryonic development.

Though the findings of the research do not currently affect treatments for chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome, they shed light on the biological events that give rise to the syndrome, which often includes congenital heart defects.

They also reveal the previously unsuspected importance of one protein in the earliest stages of development.

Neonatologist Jason Z. Stoller of The Children”s Hospital of Philadelphia and corresponding author of the study, said: “The heart is among the first organs to develop in humans and other mammals.”

Stoller collaborated with Jonathan A. Epstein, M.D., scientific director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and senior author of the study.

Chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome, is the most common human disorder caused by a missing chromosome region, occurring at least once in 4,000 live births.

It can vary in severity, but may affect many parts of the body, with symptoms including heart defects, immune and endocrine problems, cleft palate, gastrointestinal conditions, growth delay and neuropsychiatric abnormalities.

Because of structural instability in a portion of chromosome 22, one region may be deleted, typically containing 30 genes.

One of those genes, TBX1, holds the genetic code for a type of protein called a transcription factor-which regulates other genes.

In 2005, Stoller and Epstein found that within this protein, also called TBX1, a particular domain was crucial and played a key role in chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome.

According to Stoller, the current study aimed to discover proteins that interact with the Tbx1 protein and to identify some of the biological events that give rise to chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome.

The study team identified the protein Ash2l as an important partner of Tbx1.

Stoller said: “The two proteins act together to influence other genes that may impair biological systems affected in the deletion syndrome.

“Ash2l is important in epigenetics-changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code spelled out in DNA.” In epigenetic processes, chemical groups attached either to DNA, or to DNA-associated proteins called histones, switch gene activity on or off.

Many other steps resulting from this protein interaction have yet to be discovered, to determine how these molecular events cause specific effects, such as cleft palate or abnormalities in the thymus gland that occur in chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome.

Stoller said: “As with much research in basic science, discovering gene pathways and biological mechanisms may lay the foundation for future development of drugs or other therapies to act on these pathways, but such clinical applications are still in the future.”

Another finding in the current study does not directly affect patients with the deletion syndrome, but shows that the Ash2l protein is absolutely essential to normal development.

Mice that were bred to lack the gene for Ash2l produced embryos that, without exception, died very early in gestation.

Stoller said: “The fact that this protein is necessary to early embryonic survival suggests that Ash2l regulates many genes during the early stages of development.”

The study has appeared online in the May issue of the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: american scientists, biological events, cardiovascular institute, Chromosome 22, Chromosome Region, Cleft Palate, Congenital Heart Defects, Deletion Syndrome, embryonic development, endocrine problems, Gastrointestinal Conditions, genetic code, Growth Delay, live births, Neonatologist, s hospital, Stages Of Development, stoller, Transcription Factor, university of pennsylvania

Pregnant women with gum disease more likely to give birth prematurely

March 15, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, March 15 (ANI): Pregnant women with gum disease are more likely to give birth prematurely than mothers-to-be with good oral health, according to a new US study.

The research by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that successful treatment for gum disease can cut the risk of pregnant women giving birth early, reports the BBC.

The study of 160 women showed that those whose gum disease was not treated successfully were three times more likely to give birth before 35 weeks.

It has been previously established that severe gum infections cause an increase in the production of prostaglandin and tumour necrosis factor, chemicals which induce labour, to be produced.

The study enrolled women who were between six and 20 weeks”” pregnant.

All of the volunteers had gum disease. These women were given treatment, which was successful in one third of the cases.

The results showed a ‘strong and significant association’ between successful treatment and full-term births.

Those whose treatment did not work were ‘significantly more likely’ to give birth before 35 weeks.

However, UK experts warned that this was a small study and further research was needed.

The study was presented to the annual conference of the American Association for Dental Research. (ANI)

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Genes controlling insulin ‘alter’ body clock

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Scientists at University of California, San Diego have identified certain insulin-regulating genes that can also alter the timing of the body clock.

They said that the findings can lead to new approaches to treating disorders such as metabolic syndrome that can result, at least in part, from chronic disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.

“People knew that the clock regulates many different processes, but what they didn’t realize what that when you tweak those processes, it feeds back and alters the clock,” said Steve Kay, Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study along with John Hogenesch of the University of Pennsylvania.

A molecular clock controls daily physiological rhythms in many types of cells, even cells grown in culture.

By engineering cultured cells to glow yellow when a particular clock gene switched on, the team made the cycle visible. They then interfered with every human gene to see which would shift the clock. They found that hundreds altered the timing.

“We just suddenly discovered 350 new genes that affect the clock that weren’t known before,” Kay said.

However, subsequent screening to confirm the genes’ effect on a second clock gene narrowed the list to 200.

Seven genes involved in insulin control also influenced the rhythms of the clock.

“What came out very strongly was this close relationship between circadian regulation and insulin signalling. There’s a reciprocal relationship between circadian dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction,” said Kay.

The researchers suggest that genetically altered mice with malfunctioning clocks become obese and develop diet-induced diabetes.Understanding this close relationship between circadian regulation and metabolic homeostasis should provide novel ways of identifying new therapies for metabolic disease,” Kay added.

The study appears in journal Cell. (ANI)

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Obese men at increased risk for erectile dysfunction

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 25 (ANI): Obesity may increase men’s proneness to erectile dysfunction (ED), likely caused by atherosclerosis-related hypertension and cardiovascular disease, according to a research article.

Hormonal changes associated with obesity may also increase the risk, adds the article published in the journal Obesity and Weight Management.

The write-up published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. points out that as many as 30-40 per cent of men over the age of 50 may experience ED, and both obesity and physical inactivity may increase their risk.

It states that the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque in the arteries of obese men can damage the arterial lining, and contribute to elevated blood pressure.

Besides atherosclerosis, according to the write-up, the hormonal changes that accompany obesity, including lower testosterone, increase the risk of ED.

The modifiable risk factors for heart disease, such as excess weight, diabetes, and hypertension, are generally the same as those for ED. Studies have shown that weight loss and increased physical activity can improve ED.
Dr. Adam Gilden Tsai, from the University of Colorado Denver, and Dr. David Sarwer, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, even talk about a 48-year-old man with mild obesity and hypertension, who suffers from ED in the article “Obesity and Erectile Dysfunction”, in the article.

They say that even ED medication-tadalafil, Cialis, Eli Lilly-did not help him much in achieving an erection adequate for intercourse.

They stress that it is only after dietary counselling, a 4.6 per cent weight reduction, and medication to lower his blood pressure to within the normal range that the patient has been able to achieve adequate erections with the use of ED medication as needed.

The authors emphasize: “The complicated interplay of weight and other health conditions relate to common medical symptoms, such as ED. We are reminded that atherosclerosis can cause not only macrovascular disease such as heart attack and stroke, but also microvascular disease, of which ED is one example.”

“If you are looking for another reason to lose weight, research now suggests that erectile dysfunction can improve with weight loss,” says Dr. James O. Hill, Editor-in-Chief of Obesity and Weight Management, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and Director of the Center for Human Nutrition and of the Colorado Clinical Nutrition Research Unit at the University of Colorado Denver. (ANI)

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Fatigue during radiotherapy ’caused by inflammation’

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 19 (ANI): A new study has revealed that fatigue during radiotherapy for breast or prostate cancer might be caused by inflammation.

Lead researcher Dr Julie Bower, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles has found that patients who experience fatigue during radiotherapy for might be reacting to activation of the proinflammatory cytokine network, a known inflammatory pathway.

For the study, the researchers recruited patients with breast cancer and 20 patients with prostate cancer, all early stage and determined the level of proinflammatory markers.

They found a strong link between radiotherapy treatment and fatigue.

The researchers discovered that increases in serum markers of cytokine activity, specifically IL-1 receptor antagonist and C-reactive protein, were also linked with fatigue.

“This study suggests that exposure to radiation is releasing these inflammatory cytokines and that may be contributing to fatigue,” said Bower.

Dr Stephen Hahn, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Abramson Cancer Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, said this study is an important step forward in understanding the biological basis for fatigue.

“Fatigue related to radiotherapy is very common but we do not have any good idea about why it occurs. This suggests one possible mechanism and suggests an avenue for treatment,” he added.

The study appears in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. (ANI)

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Cellular crosstalk contributes to asthma, pulmonary hypertension

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 18 (ANI): Crosstalk between cells lining the lung (epithelial cells) and airway smooth muscle cells could be linked to lung diseases, such as asthma and pulmonary hypertension.

Already, it is known that such crosstalk is important in lung development.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, have now molecularly characterized one crosstalk pathway in mice, which could provide potential new therapeutic targets for treating individuals with lung diseases, such as asthma and pulmonary hypertension, which are caused, at least in part, by affects on airway smooth muscle cells.

The team, led by Edward Morrisey and Ethan David Cohen, used numerous in vivo gain- and loss-of-function approaches to demonstrate that a Wnt7b/Tnc/Pdgfr crosstalk pathway was important for mouse smooth muscle development.

They also showed that lung epithelial cells exclusively express Wnt7b and the developing airway smooth muscle cells express Pdgfr.

Particularly, expression of the components of this crosstalk pathway was upregulated in a mouse model of asthma and humans with pulmonary hypertension.

Thus indentifying the Wnt/Tnc/Pdgfr crosstalk pathway is equally important in both lung development and adult lung disease. (ANI)

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How to make a lung

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 18 (ANI): Scientists from University of Pennsylvania have shed light on how lungs are developed in the body.

They have identified a tissue-repair-and-regeneration pathway in the human body, including wound healing that is essential for the early lung to develop properly.

The researchers have also discovered two molecules in this pathway, Wnt2 and Wnt2b that play a key role in early lung development.

“We wanted to know the answer to a seemingly simple question: What is required to generate the lung in mammals?” said senior author Dr Edward Morrisey, Associate Professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

“Wnt molecules are important for lung growth and we think that some of the molecules in the Wnt pathway are needed to specify lung progenitor cells and if not enough cells are ‘told’ to make a lung, an animal develops a faulty, smaller organ or even no lung,” he added.

Understanding how a lung develops is important in treating or preventing a host of lung and pulmonary diseases in children.

In the developing embryo, the lung, pancreas, liver, thyroid, and stomach all come from the foregut region, which starts out looking like a long tube.

“These organs bud from this undifferentiated tube and go on to develop into specific tissue types. The lung is one of the last to bud off the foregut during development,” said Morrisey.

The team focused on the Wnt pathway to see where and when Wnt molecules were expressed along the foregut tube, even before the lung starts to become a recognizable organ.

They found that the Wnt proteins Wnt2 and Wnt2b are expressed in the cells surrounding the foregut, right where the lung will eventually form. When they are knocked out, the animals completely lacked lungs.

Morrisey surmised that Wnt2 and Wnt2b were required to specify the early progenitors for the lung in the foregut.

The Morrisey lab showed that activation of the Wnt pathway resulted in formation of lung progenitors in both the esophagus and stomach where they are normally excluded.

“The ability of Wnt to program esophagus and stomach endoderm to a lung fate points to the critical role this pathway plays in lung development and suggests the possible use of Wnt in generating lung epithelium from non-lung sources,” said Morrisey.

The findings are described this week in Developmental Cell. (ANI)

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Mars simulation mission focuses on improving work performance on Red Planet

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14 (ANI): A six-man international crew has completed a 105-day Mars simulation mission that was full of realistic scenarios, with experiments evaluating solutions to conditions that impact work performance.

The experiment was carried out in an isolation chamber in Moscow from March 31 to July 14.

The crew, composed of four Russians and two Europeans, simulated the 105-day Mars mission full of experiments and realistic mission scenarios, including emergency situations and 20-minute communications delays.

US participation in the mission consisted of three research teams with experiments evaluating solutions to conditions that impact work performance.

The projects evaluated lighting interventions to counter sleep disruption due to shift work or long hours, tested two objective methods of measuring the impact of stress and fatigue on performance, and assessed interactions between crew members and mission control.

“The mission allowed us to look at the feasibility of certain technologies developed for improving performance by deploying them in an extremely demanding work environment. In this realistic setting, will crews use the technologies and will we get good data?” said Dr. David F. Dinges, leader of the NSBRI group funded from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Rutgers.

“Additional goals were to see how different mission situations affected the various performance measures and to evaluate whether the interventions could indeed improve performance,” he added.

The 105-Day Mars Mission, a partnership between Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems and the European Space Agency, is the precursor to a 520-Day mission scheduled for 2010.

The isolation facility consists of several interconnected, modules containing medical and scientific research areas, living quarters, a kitchen, greenhouse and exercise facility.

For researchers, the opportunity to run experiments in this type of environment was invaluable.

“We’ve done experiments in the sleep lab to test the efficacy of lighting interventions, but that is a highly controlled environment,” said Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, leader of the NSBRI project funded from Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and University of Colorado.

“By transitioning studies into an operational environment, like the 105-Day Mission, we have the opportunity to learn how to best deploy interventions in a realistic mission setting. This analog is a great intermediate step before implementation on an actual spaceflight,” he added.

Participation from the crew and mission controllers was excellent. All three NSBRI projects received data throughout the mission.

Final data will be received in the coming weeks, and the teams will begin detailed data analysis. (ANI)

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Indian American actor Penn keen to start some ‘serious’ work at the White House

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 8 (ANI): Indian American actor-turned White House associate director of public engagement, Kalpen Modi, has said that he spent the first day in political office getting started on some “serious” work.

Under sharp questioning about his routine, comedian Modi revealed: “I brushed my teeth, I did floss, used mouthwash . . . took the bus to work, the same thing everybody does.”

When Modi was asked about how he is handling the culture switch from acting in Hollywood to joining up with the Obama White House, Politico quoted him as saying: “I think they are completely different careers.”

“In my past life, I was playing a fictitious character and, while I think that is enjoyable, I think that the lifestyle here is going to be a lot different. We are doing some very serious work and I am certainly very eager to get started on all that,” he added.

Modi, 32, is best known as Kumar in the “Harold and Kumar” movies. Now he’s an associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.

He finally reported for work on Monday, in a suit and tie.

The high-profile Obama presidential campaign volunteer is a liaison between the Asian-American and arts communities and the White House.

Modi has moved from Los Angeles to an apartment in Washington, unpacking boxes over the July 4 weekend.

And while he said he expects “to be treated like any staff member,” most don’t debut with a conference call to oblige inquiring reporters.

Modi is a UCLA grad and son of Indian immigrants. Last year he was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he taught a course in Asian-American studies, film and sociology.

He said he was not sure how long he would stay in the White House.

“I don’t have a specific timetable in mind for this particular job,” he said.

He said he does not have plans to run for public office. (ANI)

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Obama’s American Indian adviser has no plans for running for office

July 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 7 (ANI): US President Barack Obama’s American Indian adviser on public engagement and comedian, Kal ‘Penn’ Modi, has said that he has no plans for taking on a full time career in politics any time soon.

The New York Daily News quoted Penn, who is the associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, a gig he landed after working his way up through Obama’s campaign operation, as saying: “I have no plans to run for office anytime soon”, before rushing off to his first big White House meeting.

Actor Penn, 32, also said that his was just a stage name, and that he was best known for his comedic role in the “Harold and Kumar” movies and Fox’s TV show “House.”

Modi will serve as an Obama liaison to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as the arts community.

Modi has said that he will use his experiences as the son of Indian immigrants, his education and what he gleaned from teaching a public policy class last year as a visiting lecturer in the Asian Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania in his new job at the White House.

Modi is taking a hiatus from acting, even though there are plans in the works for a third “Harold and Kumar” movie, which the film’s producers would like to see completed by late 2010. (ANI)

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Claudia Cohen – About Claudia Lynn Cohen – Claudia Lynn Cohen – American gossip columnist, socialite and television reporters

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Claudia Cohen – About Claudia Lynn Cohen – Claudia Lynn Cohen – American gossip columnist, socialite and television reporters

Claudia Lynn Cohen (December 16, 1950 – June 15, 2007) was an American gossip columnist, socialite and television reporter.

The daughter of businessman Robert Cohen, the president of the Hudson County News Company, a magazine wholesaler, and his wife, Harriet, Claudia Cohen grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1976 she joined the New York Post as a reporter for its fledgling gossip column Page Six. After the departure of the column’s editor, Neal Travis, Cohen was installed as editor in 1978. Noted for going for the jugular, creating a column with savvy and a sharp edge Cohen is credited with putting Page Six on the map. Cohen left the Post in 1980 to start her own short-lived gossip column, I, Claudia at a rival Manhattan newspaper. While that column was not a success it did further Cohen’s profile in New York City’s entertainment scene. In 1984 Cohen began a relationship with corporate raider Ronald Perelman. The two became a hot item in Manhattan social circles, marrying in 1985; they had a daughter, Samantha.

After nine years together the marriage fell apart. Cohen walked away with a reported $80,000,000 (eighty million U.S. dollars) settlement. On her own, for the first time in years, Cohen went back to her journalism career appearing regularly on the morning talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee to discuss entertainment gossip and society news. During this time Cohen dated former U.S. senator from New York state, Al D’Amato, who once called a press conference to declare that he was in love with her. Cohen and D’Amato were planning to be engaged, but D’Amato was still legally married at that time. That relationship later ended.

Cohen was a regular on Live with Regis and Kelly and an active member of the Manhattan and Hamptons social scene until her death. Cohen died on June 15, 2007 from ovarian cancer.

Ex-husband Ronald Perelman recently asked the University of Pennsylvania to rename the historic Logan Hall, which sits next to College Hall, as the Claudia Cohen Hall, much to the surprise of some Penn faculty, alumni, and students. The rear of the newly-renamed building overlooks Perelman Quadrangle.

Source by Wikipedia

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Biggest health myths busted

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 29 (ANI): If you believe that pregnant women are supposed to eat for two or sugar makes children hyperactive, better think again because these are just two of the countless health myths followed since generations.

And now, scientists have debunked the biggest health myths that have existed until now, reports The Mirror.he myths and truths are:

1. Myth: Eating carbs makes you fat

Truth: According to the Food Standards Agency, starchy foods only become fattening when actual fat, such as cream or margarine, is added. Carbs contain less than half the calories of fat and tend to be more filling – making you less likely to overeat.

2. Myth: You need to drink eight glasses of water a day

Truth: Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania found not a single study to back this up. Excessive amounts of water can actually be dangerous, even fatal. Most people only need 750ml to one litre and can get this from juice, tea, coffee… or beer.

3. Myth: The flu jab can give you flu

Truth: The flu jab isn’t a live vaccine so it can’t infect you with the virus. People make this mistake because the jab is usually given in autumn -peak time for cold viruses. And if they go on to get a minor cold they misinterpret it as flu.

4. Myth: I’m fat because I have slow metabolism

Truth: A recent study by the University of Chicago revealed that fat people have faster metabolisms and burn off more calories as energy than slimmer people.

5. Myth: Pregnant women should eat for two

Truth: Two out of five women admit to believing this myth, according to SMA Nutrition. But they only need an extra 200 calories a day – equal to two slices of bread – and even then, only in the last three months.

6. Myth: Vitamins make you live longer

Truth: Popping ‘antioxidant’ vitamins such as C, A and E won’t extend your life, concluded one study last year. They may even lead to a premature death

7. Myth: Chocolate gives you spots

Truth: Acne is caused by the effects of hormones on sebaceous oil glands in the skin. This is why it particularly affects teenagers and can also be increased by stress. So chocolate won’t make a difference.

8. Myth: Sugar makes kids hyperactive

Truth: Sugar does not cause hyperactive behaviour. Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis reviewed 12 trials and was unable to detect any effect. Scientists found when parents think their child have had a sugary drink they rate behaviour as hyperactive – so it may be all in the mind.

9. Myth: Sit-ups shift a pot belly

“Even 100 sit-ups a day will do nothing to get rid of the layer of fat on your tummy, only cardiovascular exercise – the type that gets you out of breath – can shift body fat,” said fitness expert Nicola Botton.

10. Myth: When you sneeze, your heart stops

Truth: When you sneeze the pressure in your chest increases as you inhale and drops when you exhale, so your heart rate is affected, but it keeps beating. Yet a survey by esure found two million motorists have had an accident, near miss or lost control as a result of sneezing while at the wheel. (ANI)

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Vitamin D may halt weakening of asthmatics’ lung function

May 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 21 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that vitamin D may slow the progressive decline in asthmatics’ ability to breathe as a result of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) proliferation.

In their study, the researchers found that calcitriol, a form of vitamin D synthesized within the body, reduced growth-factor-induced HASM proliferation in cells isolated from both persons with asthma and from persons without the disease.

The proliferation is a part of process called airway remodeling, which occurs in many people with asthma, and leads to reduced lung function over time.

According to researchers, by slowing airway remodeling, the decline in breathing that leaves many asthmatics even more vulnerable when they suffer an asthma attack can be prevented.

“Calcitriol has recently earned prominence for its anti-inflammatory effects. But our study is the first to reveal the potent role of calcitriol in inhibiting ASM proliferation,” said Gautam Damera, Ph.D

The studies were carried out with cells from 12 subjects, and the researchers compared calcitriol with dexmethasone, a corticosteroid prescribed widely for the treatment of asthma.

Although, dexmethasone is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, the researchers found that it had little effect on HASM growth.

Damera and his colleagues found calcitriol inhibits HASM in a dose-dependent manner.

They also conducted experiments to determine the mechanism by which calcitriol retards HASM proliferation.

They believe the vitamin works by inhibiting activation of distinct set of proteins responsible for cell-cycle progression.

The study has been presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference in San Diego on Wednesday, May 20. (ANI)

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CT scans safe, efficient for chest pain diagnosis

May 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 16 (ANI): Screening with coronary computerized tomographic angiography (CTA) is a safe and effective way to rule out serious cardiovascular disease in patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to the first long-term study.

Chest pain is a common and costly health complaint, which makes a large number of patients to reach hospital emergency departments.

Although just five to 15 percent of those patients are found to be suffering from heart attacks or other cardiac diseases, more than half are admitted to the hospital for observation and further testing.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that CTA streamlines the process and provides a faster, and less expensive way to evaluate which patients have an acute coronary syndrome that require treatment.

“The ability to rapidly determine that there is nothing seriously wrong allows us to provide reassurance to the patient and to help reduce crowding in the emergency department. The use of this test is a win-win,” said lead author Dr. Judd Hollander, professor and clinical research director in Penn’s department of Emergency Medicine.

None of the patients enrolled in the trial after getting a negative scan – a scan showing no evidence of dangerous blockages in the coronary arteries – had heart attacks or required bypass surgery or placement of cardiac stents in the year following their test.

According to the authors, the findings provide a roadmap for how to appropriately and cost-effectively use this advanced imaging technology, which generates lifelike, three-dimensional photos of the heart and the matrix of blood vessels that surround it.

Investigators followed 481 patients who received negative CTA scans for one year after their hospital visit-11 percent of patients were rehospitalized and 11 percent received additional cardiac testing – stress tests or cardiac catheterizations – over the following year.

But, none had heart attacks or needed revascularization procedures to prop open blocked coronary arteries, while one patient in the study died of an unrelated cause during the year.

In earlier studies, it was shown that CTA is both a quicker and less expensive way to screen low-risk chest pain patients than conventional testing methods.

Those studies also showed that CTA helps get patients home faster.

“The evidence now clearly shows that when used in appropriate patients in the ED, we can safely and rapidly reduce hospital admission and save money. It seems time to make a national coverage decision that will facilitate coronary CTA in the emergency department,” said Hollander.

The study was presented at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual conference. (ANI)

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Aspirin ‘cuts stroke risk in patients with peripheral artery disease’

May 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): Aspirin is likely to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with peripheral artery disease, suggests a new study.

Although aspirin is effective in the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, its effect in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) has been uncertain.

To determine the effect of aspirin on cardiovascular event rates in patients with PAD, lead researcher Dr Jeffrey S. Berger, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate available evidence from randomized controlled trials of aspirin therapy, with or without dipyridamole (an antiplatelet agent), that reported cardiovascular event rates.

“Results of this meta-analysis demonstrated that for patients with PAD, aspirin therapy alone or in combination with dipyridamole did not significantly decrease the primary end point of cardiovascular events, results that may reflect limited statistical power,” wrote the authors.

Even though aspirin use is associated with a statistically nonsignificant decrease in the risk of a group of combined cardiovascular events but is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of one of these events, nonfatal stroke.

“Larger prospective studies of aspirin and other antiplatelet agents are warranted among patients with PAD in order to draw firm conclusions about clinical benefit and risks,” the authors added.

The study appears in the issue of JAMA. (ANI)

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Strong social networks benefit baboons

May 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 9 (ANI): A monkey communication expert at the University of Pennsylvania has suggested that baboons benefit from strong social networks.

Robert Seyfarth came up with this proposition while delivering a lecture on May 5, the kick-off of the University of Delaware’s Year of Darwin celebration, where he told a true story about a female baboon that herded goats in an African village.

He revealed that the baboon knew all of the relationships between the goats so well that at night she would carry a bleating kid from one barn directly to its mother in another barn.

“For all the centuries we’ve bred dogs, no dog has exhibited this knowledge of kids and mothers. The question is where does this mind come from?” said the Psychology professor at the university.

Seyfarth revealed that he and his research partner Dorothy Cheney, who happens to be his spouse, studied the baboons of Botswana’s Okavanga Delta from 1992 to 2008.

He said that his study suggested that the baboon’s ability to recognize social relationships was due to natural selection.

The researcher revealed that the baboons studied live in groups of 80-90 individuals. Males would leave the group in which they were born, while females stayed in the group for their entire lives, with close bonds to female relatives.

He said that the females were arranged in a matrilineal hierarchy of families, with ranks maintained for years. Although once in a while a coup was attempted, such moves were not often successful.

In their experiments, the researchers observed that baboons with names like Sylvia, Champagne, and Helen, and recorded their language, which consisted of no more than 18 sounds, and the interactions of their families.

They found that baboons used certain calls only in certain contexts. Screams and fear barks were only given from a lower-ranking to a higher-ranking baboon, while threat grunts were given only from a higher-ranking to a lower-ranking baboon.

The researchers recorded the various calls, played them in situations that “break the rules”, and determined from the animals’ behaviour that baboons were able to put together the discrete elements of identity, kinship, and rank.

“The animals somehow see this world in all of its complexity. It’s an innate property of the baboon mind — done instantly and unconsciously,” Seyfarth said.

He and Cheney were also able to measure the animals’ stress levels by analysing faecal samples for gluccocorticoid stress hormones. They found that pregnancy and incidences of predation to be major stressors.

Also, some high-ranking males practice infanticide, targeting infants by rank. Mothers may form relationships with lower-ranking males who will help look after their babies.

“Females respond to stress by associating with their closest grooming relationships. They turn to their support network if they lose someone. They broaden and extend to replace old relationships with new ones. Female baboons with strong social bonds survive better,” Seyfarth said.

Seyfarth and Cheney’s work is highlighted in the award-winning book Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2007. (ANI)

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Novel target for maintaining healthy BP identified

April 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 25 (ANI): Researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a potential therapeutic target for maintaining healthy blood pressure.

In the study conducted using mouse model, the team discovered that mice lacking the receptor for one type of prostaglandin, a family of fatty compounds key to the cardiovascular system, have lower blood pressure and less atherosclerosis.

The normal role for the PGF2a prostaglandin is to increase blood pressure and accelerate atherosclerosis, at least in rodents, and suggest that targeting this pathway could represent a novel therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease.

“Blocking this prostaglandin receptor may provide a strategy for controlling blood pressure and its attendant vascular disease,” said senior author Dr Garret A. FitzGerald, Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn.

The delicate balance the body maintains to keep blood pressure stable involves not only the prostaglandin system, but another biological pathway, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, or RAAS.

The study showed that under a variety of circumstances deletion of the PGF2a receptor lowered blood pressure coincident with suppression of RAAS activity.

“The picture is emerging that PGF2a controls blood pressure by a mechanism unique among the prostaglandins,” said FitzGerald.

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)

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The biological basis for the 8-hour work-shift

April 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 24 (ANI): Your usual nine to five office shift has a biological reason behind it, and now scientists have found that some genes in the body are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, which in turn keeps us actively involved in the work, according to a new study.

The findings by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies indicated that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded.

Already, scientists know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle.

In the new study, researchers looked at gene activity in the mouse liver every hour for 48 hours using a novel time-sampling approach.

They also found 10-fold more genes controlled by the 24-hour clock than previously reported.

This the first report where researchers have found other periodicities than the 24-hour cycle functioning in a live animal.

According to researchers, these findings have implications for better understanding disruptions to normal circadian rhythms that contribute to a host of pathologies such as cardiovascular and metabolic disease, cancer, and aging-related disorders.

“The principal frequency, which is not a surprise, is the 24-hour cycle, and it is the most prevalent. What was a surprise to us – although we set up the experiment to see exactly this – are the 12-hour and the 8-hour cycles,” said senior author John Hogenesch, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn.

To uncover these shorter oscillations, researchers isolated RNA from the livers of mice every hour for 48 hours.

Microarray analysis showed that more than 3,000 genes were expressed on a circadian rhythm – which account for approximately 4 percent of all of the genes expressed in the liver.

In addition, 260 genes were expressed on a 12-hour cycle and 63 genes were expressed on an 8-hour cycle.

The researchers saw similar 12-hour gene expression patterns in five other tissues.

“There is an obvious biological basis to a 12-hour rhythm. The 12-hour genes predicted dusk and dawn. These are two really, really stressful transitions that your body goes through and your mind goes through. Anybody who has young children realizes that they are more likely to cry around those times – and you’re more likely to cry with them,” said Hogenesch.

The shift in gene expression controlled by these harmonics can help an animal prepare for the behavioural and physiological changes that accompany the shift from light to dark and back.

“We have less of a handle on the 8-hour rhythms, but the fact that we can see them reliably means to me there is the possibility that there could be a biological basis to an 8-hour cycle,” he said.

The study appears in the April issue of PLoS Genetics (ANI)

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Baroque classical music can improve mood, productivity

April 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 23 (ANI): A new study on radiologists has suggested that playing baroque classical music in the reading room can help improve mood and productivity.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD, Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, MD, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA.

Eight radiologists participated in the study and rated their mood, concentration, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity and work satisfaction on a seven point scale.

“The greatest positive effects were noted with regard to mood and work satisfaction, with 63 percent and 50 percent of respondents reporting a positive impact,” said Sohaib Mohiuddin, MD, and Paras Lakhani, MD, lead authors of the study.

“No participants indicated a negative effect on mood, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity or work satisfaction. Only one participant (12.5 percent) indicated a negative effect of music on concentration,” they added.

Mohiuddin said: “Given the increased workload of today’s radiologists, we were interested in looking at environmental factors that could improve the work environment for today’s busy radiology reading rooms.”

Lakhani added: “Other studies have correlated baroque classical music with improved spatial reasoning, attentiveness and concentration and personally, I have found that listening to music aids my concentration and interpretative abilities. We are currently performing a larger study with more subjects to validate these results.”

This study will be presented at the 2009 ARRS Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, on Monday, April 27. (ANI)

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Genes raise melanoma risk even in those who tan easily

April 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 22 (ANI): The traditional risk factors for melanoma may not be as helpful in predicting risk in all people as previously thought, claims a new study.

The research has been presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

“Traditionally, a clinician might look at a person with dark hair who did not sunburn easily and classify them as lower risk for melanoma, but that may not be true for all people in the population,” said Peter Kanetsky, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kanetsky and his colleagues have identified that genetic variants in MC1R could help to predict melanoma risk in people who are not usually classified as high risk.

While this link previously has been observed, Kanetsky said it is now time to begin discussing genetic factors as part of the overall melanoma risk model.

For the current study, researchers analyzed 779 patients with melanoma from the Pigmented Lesion Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania and compared them with 325 healthy control patients.

Overall, the presence of certain MC1R variants was associated with a more than two-fold risk of melanoma, but this risk was largely confined to those patients who would not usually be considered to be at elevated risk.

Although those with dark hair are not thought to be at increased risk for melanoma, if they had dark hair and also inherited certain MC1R genetic variants, their risk for melanoma increased 2.4-fold. However, no elevated risk was associated with these same MC1R variants in those with blond or red hair.

MC1R was also associated with increased risk among those with dark eye color (3.2-fold increase), who did not freckle (8-fold increase), who tanned after repeated sun exposure (2.4 fold increase) or who tanned immediately without burning (9.5-fold increase). People with these characteristics are usually thought to be at reduced risk for melanoma.

Kanetsky said a clinical screening test for MC1R is not yet available. (ANI)

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