January 20, 2012, 6:41 PM CT

Autism redefined

Getting an autism diagnosis could be more difficult in 2013 when a revised diagnostic definition goes into effect. The proposed changes may affect the proportion of individuals who qualify for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, as per preliminary data presented by Yale School of Medicine scientists at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association.

The proposed changes to the diagnostic definition would be reported in the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)." .

"Given the potential implications of these findings for service eligibility, our findings offer important information for consideration by the task force finalizing DSM-5 diagnostic criteria," said Yale Child Study Center (CSC) director Fred Volkmar, M.D., who conducted the study with CSC colleagues Brian Reichow and James McPartland.

Volkmar and his team observed that in a group of individuals without intellectual disabilities who were reviewed during the 1994 DSM-IV field trial, it was estimated that approximately half might not qualify for a diagnosis of autism under the proposed new definition.

Volkmar stressed that these preliminary findings relate only to the most cognitively able and may have less impact on diagnosis of more cognitively disabled people. "Use of such labels, especially in the United States, can have important implications for service," he said. "Major changes in diagnosis also pose issues for comparing results across research studies"......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

January 20, 2012, 6:37 PM CT

A fundamental malaria discovery

A team of scientists led by Kasturi Haldar and Souvik Bhattacharjee of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases has made a fundamental discovery in understanding how malaria parasites cause deadly disease.

The scientists show how parasites target proteins to the surface of the red blood cell that enables sticking to and blocking blood vessels. Strategies that prevent this host-targeting process will block disease.

The research findings are reported in the Jan. 20 edition of the journal Cell, the leading journal in the life sciences. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Malaria is a blood disease that kills nearly 1 million people each year. It is caused by a parasite that infects red cells in the blood. Once inside the cell, the parasite exports proteins beyond its own plasma membrane border into the blood cell. These proteins function as adhesins that help the infected red blood cells stick to the walls of blood vessels in the brain and cause cerebral malaria, a deadly form of the disease that kills over half a million children each year.

In all cells, proteins are made in a specialized cell compartment called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) from where they are delivered to other parts of the cell. Haldar and Bhattacharjee and collaborators Robert Stahelin at the Indiana University School of Medicine- South Bend (who also is an adjunct faculty member in Notre Dame's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), and David and Kaye Speicher at the University of Pennsylvania's Wistar Institute discovered that for host-targeted malaria proteins the very first step is binding to the lipid phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, PI(3)P, in the ER......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

January 20, 2012, 6:32 PM CT

Tiny amounts of alcohol dramatically extend a worm's life

Minuscule amounts of ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, can more than double the life span of a tiny worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans, which is used frequently as a model in aging studies, UCLA biochemists report. The researchers said they find their discovery difficult to explain.

"This finding floored us � it's shocking," said Steven Clarke, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the senior author of the study, published Jan. 18 in the online journal PLoS ONE, a publication of the Public Library of Science.

In humans, alcohol consumption is generally harmful, Clarke said, and if the worms are given much higher concentrations of ethanol, they experience harmful neurological effects and die, other research has shown.

"We used far lower levels, where it appears to be beneficial," said Clarke, who studies the biochemistry of aging.

The worms, which grow from an egg to an adult in just a few days, are found throughout the world in soil, where they eat bacteria. Clarke's research team � Paola Castro, Shilpi Khare and Brian Young � studied thousands of these worms during the first hours of their lives, while they were still in a larval stage. The worms normally live for about 15 days and can survive with nothing to eat for roughly 10 to 12 days......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

December 28, 2011, 7:08 PM CT

Diet, nutrient levels linked to cognitive ability, brain shrinkage

New research has observed that elderly people with higher levels of several vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids in their blood had better performance on mental acuity tests and less of the brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimer's disease � while "junk food" diets produced just the opposite result.

The study was among the first of its type to specifically measure a wide range of blood nutrient levels instead of basing findings on less precise data such as food questionnaires, and found positive effects of high levels of vitamins B, C, D, E and the healthy oils most usually found in fish.

The research was done by researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. It was published recently in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"This approach clearly shows the biological and neurological activity that's linked to actual nutrient levels, both good and bad," said Maret Traber, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute and co-author on the study.

"The vitamins and nutrients you get from eating a wide range of fruits, vegetables and fish can be measured in blood biomarkers," Traber said. "I'm a firm believer these nutrients have strong potential to protect your brain and make it work better"......... Posted by: Daniel      Read more         Source

December 28, 2011, 7:05 PM CT

New way to ensure effectiveness of TB treatment

A UT Southwestern Medical Center study using a sophisticated "glass mouse" research model has observed that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is more likely caused in patients by speedy drug metabolism rather than inconsistent doses, as is widely believed.

If the study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases is borne out in future investigations, it may lead to better ways to treat one of the world's major infectious diseases. Health workers worldwide currently are mandatory to witness each administration of the combination of drugs during months of treatment.

"Tuberculosis is a common ailment, accounting for up to 3 percent of all deaths in a number of countries. Eventhough effective treatment exists, there are still cases of therapy failure and drug resistance remains a threat," said Dr. Tawanda Gumbo, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study.

The results seem to challenge the current approach endorsed by the World Health Organization. Under that method, directly observed treatment-short-course strategy (DOTS), TB that responds to medicine is treated with a cocktail of drugs under the supervision of health care workers, who in a number of countries must travel to isolated villages - a costly and time-consuming process......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

December 28, 2011, 7:02 PM CT

Read infant acetaminophen labels carefully

Acetaminophen is one of the most usually used pain and fever relievers for infants and children and is safe and effective when used as directed. However, with recent dosing changes to liquid acetaminophen products for infants, the FDA last week issued a press release urging parents to know the concentration and read the label as the new, less concentrated form of the popular pain reliever arrives on store shelves.

Over the past 12 months, several manufacturers of infant's liquid acetaminophen products, such as PediaCare� and Little Remedies�, voluntarily converted to a single concentration of liquid acetaminophen and added additional product enhancements, including age-appropriate dosing devices. While the new 160 mg per 5 mL concentration is now arriving in drugstores, much of the older, more concentrated 80 mg per 1 mL or 80 mg per 0.8 mL versions may still be in people's medicine cabinets as well as on store shelves.

To help explain and illustrate the changes to infants and children's acetaminophen products, Dr. Jim Sears, pediatrician and co-host of The Doctors, teamed up with PediaCare� and Little Remedies� to create a video explaining the new, smart product changes along with a demonstration of the new special dosing mechanisms. Infant products will now contain a special dosing syringe and flow restrictors on the bottles; children's products, for ages 2 to 11 years, will have the bottles with flow restrictors, and continue to contain dosing cups. Both infant and children's formulations will continue to have weight-based instructions on the package, as well......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

December 28, 2011, 6:58 PM CT

Turn Down the iPod to Save Your Hearing

Today's ubiquitous MP3 players permit users to listen to crystal-clear tunes at high volume for hours on end - a marked improvement on the days of the Walkman. But as per Tel Aviv University research, these advances have also turned personal listening devices into a serious health hazard, with teenagers as the most at-risk group.

One in four teens is in danger of early hearing loss as a direct result of these listening habits, says Prof. Chava Muchnik of TAU's Department of Communication Disorders in the Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center. With her colleagues Dr. Ricky Kaplan-Neeman, Dr. Noam Amir, and Ester Shabtai, Prof. Muchnik studied teens' music listening habits and took acoustic measurements of preferred listening levels.

The results, reported in the International Journal of Audiology, demonstrate clearly that teens have harmful music-listening habits when it comes to iPods and other MP3 devices. "In 10 or 20 years it will be too late to realize that an entire generation of young people is suffering from hearing problems much earlier than expected from natural aging," says Prof. Muchnik.

Hearing loss before middle age.

Hearing loss caused by continuous exposure to loud noise is a slow and progressive process. People may not notice the harm they are causing until years of accumulated damage begin to take hold, warns Prof. Muchnik. Those who are misusing MP3 players today might find that their hearing begins to deteriorate as early as their 30's and 40's - much earlier than past generations......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

November 9, 2011, 6:30 PM CT

BRIDGE trial results presented at TCT

Late breaking clinical trial results from testing of cangrelor, an investigational intravenous antiplatelet, showed patients can be "bridged" from the time that their physicians stop their oral antiplatelet drugs until they undergo cardiac surgery. Study results demonstrated cangrelor maintained target levels of platelet inhibition known to be linked to a low risk of thrombotic events, such as stent thrombosis, vs. placebo. The BRIDGE Trial results were presented here today at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

"Patients with coronary stents require drugs that block platelets that can stick to their stents and cause clots. When these patients require surgery, the oral drugs must be stopped days in advance to wear off and reduce the risk of surgical bleeding; however, this puts them at an increased risk of thrombotic events," said Eric Topol, MD, heart specialist and chief academic officer at Scripps Health and BRIDGE Trial primary investigator. "With nothing available that blocks platelets and then goes away quickly, we are between the rock of thrombosis and the hard place of surgical bleeding".

BRIDGE results showed 99 percent of cangrelor-treated patients maintained target levels of platelet inhibition for all time points measured over the bridging period in comparison to 19 percent of placebo patients (p<0.001). The primary safety measure demonstrated no significant excess in surgical bleeding complications (data below)......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

October 4, 2011, 10:25 PM CT

Morning People and Night Owls

It's true. The daily grind dealing with bosses, colleagues and repetitive work sours people's moods. But scientists say the cause appears to be something more than the work itself; people's biological clocks appears to be sending a message.

"Though it might seem intuitive to suggest that the decrease in mood level during the midday hours is a result of workday-related stress," said Scott Golder, lead researcher for a study appearing today in the journal Science, "it turns out we see the same rhythmic shape on the weekends, when people typically are not working. This suggests to us that something more enduring is going on, such as the effect of biological processes and sleep".

Golder, a graduate student in sociology at Cornell University, and sociology professor Michael Macy, recently analyzed text messages from 2.4 million users of the online social networking service Twitter to explore the daily, weekly and seasonal variations in the mood of people from 84 countries around the world.

Using Twitter.com's data access protocol, Golder and Macy collected up to 400 public messages from each user in the sample for a total of more than 509 million messages authored between February 2008 and January 2010. The scientists excluded users with fewer than 25 messages......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

October 4, 2011, 9:57 PM CT

Researchers question key quality measure for asthma

Scientists studying the first national quality measure for hospitalized children have observed that no matter how strictly a health care institution followed the criteria, it had no actual impact on patient outcomes.

The researchers examined 30 hospitals with 37,267 children admitted for asthma from 2008 to 2010 and discovered that the quality of discharge planning made no difference to the rate of return to the hospital for another asthma attack in 7, 30 or 90 days.

"Our research concluded that there is no relationship between compliance with this measure and readmission rates for asthma patients," said co-author of study Marion Sills, MD, MPH and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The findings have been published in October's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Asthma is the leading cause of admissions in children's hospitals. To help provide the best care, the Joint Commission, a non-profit that accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations programs nationwide, adopted three core process measures for evaluating how hospitals treat childhood asthma.

The Children's Asthma Care (CAC) measures include giving asthma relievers upon admission, providing systemic corticosteroids and creating a home management plan of care when they are discharged. Hospitals' compliance with the first two measures was high and did not vary enough for scientists to study the impact on outcomes......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

September 1, 2011, 6:08 PM CT

New half-match bone marrow transplant

Half-matched bone marrow or stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients have typically been linked to disappointing clinical outcomes. However, a clinical trial conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson testing its unique, two-step half-match procedure has produced some promising results: the probability of overall survival was 45 percent in all patients after three years and 75 percent in patients who were in remission at the time of the transplant.

Reporting in the journal Blood in a published-ahead-of-print article dated August 25, Neal Flomenberg, M.D., Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Dolores Grosso, DNP, Co-Principal Investigator and main author of the article, and his colleagues discuss the results of 27 patients treated on this phase I/II trial who had diagnoses that included leukemia, lymphoma and myelodysplasia.

The patients received their transplant in two steps. First, after receiving radiation treatment to further treat their disease, the patients were given a specified dose of T cells (a type of immune cell that fights infection) from their half-matched family donor. The donors were parents, siblings or children of the patient. The patients next received the drug cyclophosphamide to help the newly infused donor T cells to be more tolerant to the patient's body. The second step of the transplant occurred when the patients received a dose of their donors' stem cells to help their blood counts return to normal and further strengthen their new immune system......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

August 8, 2011, 11:00 PM CT

'Good' prion-like proteins boost immune response

A person's ability to battle viruses at the cellular level remarkably resembles the way deadly infectious agents called prions misfold and cluster native proteins to cause disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists report.

This study marks the first discovery of so-called "good" prion-like proteins in human cells and the first to find such proteins involved in innate immunity: the way the body recognizes and responds to threats from viruses or other external agents, said Dr. Zhijian "James" Chen, professor of molecular biology and senior author of the study in the Aug. 5 print edition of the journal Cell

"An understanding of how cells maintain good prion-like proteins called MAVS [mitochondrial antiviral signaling] protein may help us understand how some prions turn bad," said Dr. Chen, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UT Southwestern. Moreover, the research may also deepen our knowledge of innate immunity and host defense, he said.

Prions are misfolded, self-perpetuating proteins responsible for fatal brain infections such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy � so-called mad cow disease � in cattle and the extremely rare variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) in some people who eat beef from infected cattle. Currently all prion-related diseases are untreatable and are fatal......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

August 4, 2011, 8:20 AM CT

Why knee osteoarthritis afflicts more women than men

A Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon suspects that the nagging pain and inflammation that women can experience in their knees appears to be different from what men encounter, and she has been chosen to lead a novel U.S.-Canadian study to explore the question. The Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR) and its Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex-Differences (ISIS) Network on Musculoskeletal Health has awarded a group of scientists a $127,000 grant to lead a pilot project to understand whether biological differences between men and women affect the incidence and severity of knee osteoarthritis. Mary I. O'Connor, M.D., chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida, will be the study's principal investigator.

Osteoarthritis, characterized by the breakdown of cartilage in the joint resulting in stiffness and pain, is the most common form of arthritis. It affects approximately 27 million Americans.

"Knee osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability in the U.S. and women have greater pain and reductions in function and quality of life from this condition than do men," Dr. O'Connor says. "Knee osteoarthritis is also more common in women than men".

While the underlying mechanisms for differences in knee osteoarthritis between men and women are still not known, recent studies have indicated sex differences at the cellular and molecular levels may influence development of the disease, she says. Answers could provide valuable clues for more effective therapy and possible prevention, Dr. O'Connor says......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

August 4, 2011, 8:10 AM CT

Mold exposure during infancy increases asthma risk

Infants who live in "moldy" homes are three times more likely to develop asthma by age 7�an age that children can be accurately diagnosed with the condition.

Study results are reported in the recent issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

"Early life exposure to mold seems to play a critical role in childhood asthma development," says Tiina Reponen, PhD, lead study author and University of Cincinnati (UC) professor of environmental health. "Genetic factors are also important to consider in asthma risk, since infants whose parents have an allergy or asthma are at the greatest risk of developing asthma."

UC and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center scientists analyzed seven years of comprehensive data for 176 children to evaluate the effects of mold exposure in early life.

The children were part of the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term population-based study that included more than 700 children from the Greater Cincinnati area. CCAAPS looked at the effects of environmental particles on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Participants were identified during infancy as at high risk to develop allergies based on family medical history......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 4, 2011, 8:09 AM CT

Four times more on health insurance costs

U.S. physicians spend nearly $61,000 more than their Canadian counterparts each year on administrative expenses correlation to health insurance, as per a newly released study by scientists at Cornell University and the University of Toronto.

The study, reported in the recent issue of the journal Health Affairs, observed that per-doctor costs in the U.S. averaged $82,975 annually, while Ontario-based physicians averaged $22,205 � primarily because Canada's single-payer health care system is simpler.

Canadian physicians follow a single set of rules, but U.S. doctors grapple with different sets of regulations, procedures and forms mandated by each health insurance plan or payer. The bureaucratic burden falls heavily on U.S. nurses and medical practice staff, who spend 20.6 hours per doctor per week on administrative duties; their Canadian counterparts spend only 2.5 hours.

"The magnitude of that difference is what is interesting," said co-author Sean Nicholson, Cornell professor of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology. "It's the nurse time and the clerical time, rather than doctor time, that's different. That's driving the increased costs".

The authors offer ideas U.S. policymakers and health insurers could use to streamline inefficiencies and reduce administrative costs. Chief among them: standardize transactions and conduct them electronically. Physical mail, faxes and telephone calls can slow practices down, as per Nicholson. The result is an additional $27 billion spent every year in the U.S. when in comparison to the costs incurred by physicians in Canada......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

August 4, 2011, 8:06 AM CT

Compression stockings may reduce OSA

Wearing compression stockings appears to be a simple low-tech way to improve obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, as per French researchers.

"We observed that in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, compression stockings reduced daytime fluid accumulation in the legs, which in turn reduced the amount of fluid flowing into the neck at night, thereby reducing the number of apneas and hypopnea by more than a third," said Stefania Redolfi, MD, of the University of Brescia in Italy, who led the research.

CVI occurs when a patient's veins cannot pump enough oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart. It occurs most often in the veins of the legs.

The findings appear online ahead of the final publication of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Continuous positive airway pressure machines, known as CPAP, are one of the only therapy options currently recommended for people with OSA. However, a number of find wearing a mask all night prohibitively uncomfortable, and compliance is low, resulting in a number of patients living with untreated OSA and its serious health consequences. Finding a more effective means of treating OSA, therefore, is a high priority......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

July 28, 2011, 8:46 AM CT

Increased muscle mass may lower risk of pre-diabetes

A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) observed that the greater an individual's total muscle mass, the lower the person's risk of having insulin resistance, the major precursor of type 2 diabetes.

With recent dramatic increases in obesity worldwide, the prevalence of diabetes, a major source of cardiovascular morbidity, is expected to accelerate. Insulin resistance, which can raise blood glucose levels above the normal range, is a major factor that contributes to the development of diabetes. Prior studies have shown that very low muscle mass is a risk factor for insulin resistance, but until now, no study has examined whether increasing muscle mass to average and above average levels, independent of obesity levels, would lead to improved blood glucose regulation.

"Our findings represent a departure from the usual focus of clinicians, and their patients, on just losing weight to improve metabolic health," said the study's senior author, Preethi Srikanthan, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "Instead, this research suggests a role for maintaining fitness and building muscle. This is a welcome message for a number of overweight patients who experience difficulty in achieving weight loss, as any effort to get moving and keep fit should be seen as laudable and contributing to metabolic change"......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 21, 2011, 10:29 PM CT

Smartphone making your eyes tired?

Several reports indicate that prolonged viewing of mobile devices and other stereo 3D devices leads to visual discomfort, fatigue and even headaches. As per a new Journal of Vision study, the root cause appears to be the demand on our eyes to focus on the screen and simultaneously adjust to the distance of the content.

Scientifically referred to as vergence-accommodation, this conflict and its effect on viewers of stereo 3D displays are detailed in a recent Journal of Vision article, The Zone of Comfort: Predicting Visual Discomfort with Stereo Displays.

"When watching stereo 3D displays, the eyes must focus � that is, accommodate � to the distance of the screen because that's where the light comes from. At the same time, the eyes must converge to the distance of the stereo content, which appears to be in front of or behind the screen," explains author Martin S. Banks, professor of optometry and vision science, University of California, Berkeley.

Through a series of experiments on 24 adults, the research team observed the interaction between the viewing distance and the direction of the conflict, examining whether placing the content in front of or behind the screen affects viewer discomfort. The results demonstrated that with devices like mobile phones and desktop displays that are viewed at a short distance, stereo content placed in front of the screen � appearing closer to the viewer and into the space of viewer's room � was less comfortable than content placed behind the screen. On the other hand, when viewing at a longer distance such as a movie theater screen, stereo content placed behind the screen �appearing as though the viewer is looking through a window scene behind the screen � was less comfortable......... Posted by: Mike      Read more         Source