Natural Stem Cell Therapy Revealed - with David Wolfe
For more information please visit: http://www.womenswellnessconference.com/2014/womens-wellness-conference-2014-webcast/

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Treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients could be revolutionised in ground-breaking trials planned by a Cambridge scientist.

Dr Su Metcalfe, a University of Cambridge senior research associate based at Addenbrookes, has won a 150,000 award which will enable her team to proceed to pre-clinical trials in Nanotechnology.

The award is one of only five given out this year worldwide from major pharmaceutical company, Merck Serono, and the first to a UK scientist.

The technology developed for treatment of MS - an incurable autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system - by Dr Metcalfe uses tiny smart nanoparticles that act as magic bullets to deliver powerful factors known to increase repair of damaged myelin. The key factor is LIF, a stem cell protein.

The money from the Merck-Seronos Grants for Multiple Sclerosis International (GMSI) scheme will fund preclinical trials of Metcalfes nano-therapeutic device that taps into the bodys natural mechanisms for repair and avoids use of drugs.

Nanotechnology is now recognised as a key platform for healthcare, said Dr Metcalfe. Our smart technology allows us to target delivery of molecules able to repair myelin and also reduce inflammation.

By using a nanoparticle platform where the safety in humans is already confirmed, a hugely important feature for rapid progress towards the clinic, we can now expect to move to clinical trials within three to five years.

Multiple sclerosis commonly affects young adults and in the UK alone, more than 100,000 people have MS with 2,500 being diagnosed each year.

The disease causes damage to the nerve sheaths, or myelin, which normally insulate the electrical activity of nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord.

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CEO Chris Cournoyer Speaks on Personalized Medicine
Chris Cournoyer, CEO of N-of-One Therapeutics, addresses the challenges in personalized medicine.

By: Women Who Inspire Speaker Series

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Spinal Cord Injury Attorney For Specialised Spinal Cord Injury Attorney Advice
Call 087 550 3442 Spinal Cord Injury Attorney Johannesburg http://best.fanpages.co/ A Personal injury attorney is liable in the direction of the psychologica...

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PRP The Aspen Institute for Anti Aging Regenerative Medicine

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Sports Medicine - The Aspen Institute for Anti Aging Regenerative Medicine

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Freeport, Grand Bahama (PRWEB) October 02, 2014

Dr. Todd K. Malan, M.D., presented to the Grand Bahama Medical & Dental Association 14th Annual Scientific Educational Conference on the science, safety and efficacy of adipose- (fat) derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) for ischemic heart disease and other unmet healthcare needs.

"It was an honor to participate in this conference with medical leadership that values this technology and works so tirelessly to serve the people of Grand Bahama," said Dr. Todd Malan." It is an opportunity for us to work closely with local doctors to improve the quality and standards of care for all patients."

Dr. Malan explained the interrelationship between tissue ischemia, inflammation, autoimmune response and cell death and how ADRCs have combined mechanisms known to assist in repairing multi-factorial illnesses associated with those issues.

According to Malan,The procedure begins with the extraction of a persons body fat, a process done using advanced water-assisted liposuction technology. The persons own adult stem cells are then separated from the fat tissue using a European Union-approved cell processing device."

Immediately following this, the cardiologist injects these cells into and around the low blood flow regions of the heart via a cathetera protocol which allows for better targeting of the cells to repair damaged heart tissue.

Adult stem cell therapy for heart disease is emerging as a new alternative for patients with severe heart conditions who want to live a normal life but are restricted in activities they can no longer do.

"As a leader in providing cell therapy, Okyanos is very excited to bring this innovative treatment to patients in a near-shore, regulated jurisdiction with a new standard of care, said Matt Feshbach, CEO of Okyanos. We welcome the opportunity to help those patients with limited options a chance to live a normal life.

Offering this minimally invasive adult stem cell treatment in their new cardiac catherization lab, Okyanos is scheduled to open in October in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

About Okyanos Heart Institute: (Oh key AH nos)

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Okyanos Presents the Science, Safety, and Efficacy of Adult Stem Cell Therapy

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Oct 01, 2014

Cancer vaccines have recently emerged as a promising approach for killing tumor cells before they spread. But so far, most clinical candidates haven't worked that well. Now, scientists have developed a new way to deliver vaccines that successfully stifled tumor growth when tested in laboratory mice. And the key, they report in the journal ACS Nano, is in the vaccine's unique stealthy nanoparticles.

Hiroshi Shiku, Naozumi Harada and colleagues explain that most cancer vaccine candidates are designed to flag down immune cells, called macrophages and dendritic cells, that signal "killer" T cells to attack tumors. The problem is that approaches based on targeting these generally circulating immune cells have not been very successful. But recent research has suggested that a subset of macrophages only found deep inside lymph nodes could play a major role in slowing cancer. But how could one get a vaccine to these special immune cells without first being gobbled up by the macrophages and dendritic cells circulating in the body? Shiku's team wanted to see if stealthy nanoparticles they had developed and clinically tested in patients might hold the answer.

The researchers injected the nanoparticles into mice. They found that the particles, which have no electric charge or surface molecules that would attract the attention of circulating immune cells, were able to enter the mice's lymph nodes. But once inside the lymph nodes' core, the special kind of macrophage engulfed the particles. When molecules for signaling killer T cells were put inside the nanoparticles, they hindered tumor growth far better than existing vaccines.

Explore further: Hitchhiking vaccines boost immunity

More information: "Nanogel-Based Immunologically Stealth Vaccine Targets Macrophages in the Medulla of Lymph Node and Induces Potent Antitumor Immunity" ACS Nano, 2014, 8 (9), pp 92099218. DOI: 10.1021/nn502975r

Abstract

Because existing therapeutic cancer vaccines provide only a limited clinical benefit, a different vaccination strategy is necessary to improve vaccine efficacy. We developed a nanoparticulate cancer vaccine by encapsulating a synthetic long peptide antigen within an immunologically inert nanoparticulate hydrogel (nanogel) of cholesteryl pullulan (CHP). After subcutaneous injection to mice, the nanogel-based vaccine was efficiently transported to the draining lymph node, and was preferentially engulfed by medullary macrophages but was not sensed by other macrophages and dendritic cells (so-called "immunologically stealth mode"). Although the function of medullary macrophages in T cell immunity has been unexplored so far, these macrophages effectively cross-primed the vaccine-specific CD8+ T cells in the presence of a Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist as an adjuvant. The nanogel-based vaccine significantly inhibited in vivo tumor growth in the prophylactic and therapeutic settings, compared to another vaccine formulation using a conventional delivery system, incomplete Freund's adjuvant. We also revealed that lymph node macrophages were highly responsive to TLR stimulation, which may underlie the potency of the macrophage-oriented, nanogel-based vaccine. These results indicate that targeting medullary macrophages using the immunologically stealth nanoparticulate delivery system is an effective vaccine strategy.

Many vaccines, including those for influenza, polio, and measles, consist of a killed or disabled version of a virus. However, for certain diseases, this type of vaccine is ineffective, or just too risky.

Breast cancer cells can lay the groundwork for their own spread throughout the body by coaxing cells within lymphatic vessels to send out tumor-welcoming signals, according to a new report by Johns Hopkins ...

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'Stealth' nanoparticles could improve cancer vaccines

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Stem cells are getting serious. Two decades after they were discovered, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are being tested as a treatment for two major diseases: heart failure and type 1 diabetes.

Treatments based on hESCs have been slow coming because of controversy over their source and fears that they could turn into tumours once implanted. They have enormous potential because hESCs can be grown into any of the body's 200 tissue types, unlike the stems cells isolated from adult tissues that have mostly been used in treatments until now.

In the most rigorous test of embryonic stems cells' potential yet, six people with heart failure will be treated in France with a patch of immature heart cells made from hESCs, and 40 people with diabetes in the US will receive pouches containing immature pancreatic cells made from hESCs.

The hope is that the heart patch will help to regenerate heart muscle destroyed by heart attacks. Trials in monkeys showed that the patch could regenerate up to 20 per cent of the lost muscle within two months.

The pancreatic cells are supposed to mature into beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin. These would act as a substitute for the cells that are destroyed by the immune systems of people with type 1 diabetes.

Although treatments based on hESCs have already been given to people with a type of age-related blindness and with spinal paralysis, the latest trials are the therapy's first foray into major fatal diseases. Heart disease is the biggest killer in the world, and cases of type 1 diabetes are growing.

"Both are landmark studies, and are different from what we've had up to now," says Chris Mason, head of regenerative medicine at University College London. "The blindness already being treated is serious, but diabetes and heart failure are killers, and things we don't have solutions for, so this brings hESCs into the mainstream."

Some people with heart disease and diabetes have received experimental treatments based on stem cells isolated from adult tissue, often from bone marrow, with varying degrees of success. These mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, can mature into several tissues including muscle, bone, cartilage and fat but there is no guarantee that they will grow into cardiac muscle.

A recent review of 23 trials involving 1255 people with heart disease found that there is some evidence that recipients of stem cell therapy are less likely to die or be readmitted to hospital a year or more after treatment than people who received standard treatment.

The hope is that using hESCs in place of MSCs will improve these outcomes further because they can be grown from scratch into cells exactly suited to their medical purpose. "We think our cells are more committed to the heart lineage," says Philippe Menasch, head of the French trial at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.

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Embryonic stem cells to tackle major killer diseases

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HOUSTON -

Stem cells, the body's so called "master cells," are used to treat heart disease and cancer and to grow tissue. But plants also have stem cells and they're some of the hottest ingredients in anti-aging products.

Andrea Vizcaino, 49, is trying out a new phyto-facial that comes in the form of a freeze dried serum in a vial. One of the main ingredients is stem cells from the argon tree in Morocco. She described the procedure.

"It feels warm, especially around my chin and it feels good," said Vizcaino. "Very hydrating; the skin feels moist."

Apple, echinacea and grape stem cells are already used in many skin care products, but some scientists think the argon tree cells will penetrate even deeper.

"The plant stem cells stimulate our stem cells to regenerate the skin," said skin care specialist Candy Bonura.

Allenby agrees the new products can be hydrating, but said the jury is still out about the real effectiveness of plant stem cells.

"Stem cells are kind of the buzz word right now, but we have to remember that stem cells are different in plants and different in people," Allenby said.

Bonura acknowledged these new products won't take years off your face, but many clients do see a difference.

"I see a brightening, I see a hydration, I also see the skin is more supple looking and more youthful with a glow to it," Bonura said.

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Plant stem cells may help skin look younger, healthier

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Newswise NIBIB-funded researchers report in a recent study that they were able to use human stem cells to grow brand new nerves in a rat model of spinal cord injury. The neurons grew tens of thousands of axons that extended the entire length of the spinal cord, out from the area of injury. The procedure employs induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs, which are stem cells that can be driven to become a specific cell type -- in this case nerve cells-- to repair an experimentally damaged spinal cord. The iPSCs were made using the skin cells of an 86 year old male, demonstrating that even in an individual of advanced age, the ability of the cells to be turned into a different cell type (pluripotency) remained.

Lead author Paul Lu, Ph.D., and senior author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, and their team at the University of California - San Diego Center for Neural Repair, performed the experiment building on earlier work using human embryonic stem cells in a similar rat spinal cord injury model.1 The current work, described in the August 20 edition of Neuron, was performed to determine whether iPSCs could be used for spinal cord repair.2

The group is interested in using iPSCs to develop a potential repair for spinal cord injury (SCI) because with iPSCs, they can use cells taken from the person with the injury, rather than use donated cells such as human embryonic stem cells, which are foreign to the patient. This is an important advantage because it avoids any immune rejection that could occur with foreign repair cells.

In the current work, the iPSC-derived human neurons were embedded in a matrix that included a cocktail of growth factors, which was grafted onto the experimentally injured spinal cord in the rat model. After three months the researchers observed extensive axonal growth projecting from the grafted neurons, reaching long distances in both directions along the spinal cord, from the brain to the tail end of the spinal cord. The axons appeared to make connections with the existing rat neurons. Importantly, the axons extended out from the site of injury, an area with a complex combination of post-injury factors and processes going on, some of which are known to hinder neuronal growth and axon extension.

In the earlier study, Tuszynski and colleagues used human embryonic stem cells in a similar grafting experiment. In that study, axons grew out from the site of spinal cord injury and the treated animals had some restoration of ability to move affected limbs. The current study was undertaken to see if the same result could be achieved using the iPSC method to create the neurons used in the graft. While the use of iPSCs in the current study resulted in dramatic growth of the grafted neurons across the central nervous system of the rats, the treated animals did not show restoration of function in their forelimbs (hands). The researchers note that the human cells were still at a fairly early stage of development when function was tested, and that more time will likely be needed to be able to detect functional improvement.

Tuszynski went on to state, There are several important considerations that future studies will address. These include whether the extensive number of human axons make correct or incorrect connections; whether the new connections contain the appropriate chemical neurotransmitters to form functional connections; whether connections, once formed, are permanent or transient; and exactly how long it takes human cells to become mature. These considerations will determine how viable a candidate these cells might be for use in humans.

Lu, Tuszynski and their colleagues hope to identify the most promising neural stem cell type for repairing spinal cord injuries. Tuszynski emphasizes their commitment to a careful, methodical approach: Ultimately, we can only translate our animal studies into reliable human treatments by testing different neural stem cell types, carefully analyzing the results, and improving the procedure. We are encouraged, but we continue to work hard to rationally to identify the optimal cell type and procedural methods that can be safely and effectively used for human clinical trials.

1. Long-distance growth and connectivity of neural stem cells after severe spinal cord injury. Lu P, Wang Y, Graham L, McHale K, Gao M, Wu D, Brock J, Blesch A, Rosenzweig ES, Havton LA, Zheng B, Conner JM, Marsala M, Tuszynski MH. Cell. 2012 Sep 14;150(6):1264-73

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While most are familiar with the potential for 3D printers to pump out plastic odds and ends for around the home, the technology also has far-reaching applications in the medical field. Research is already underway to develop 3D bioprinters able to create things as complex as human organs, and now engineering students in Canada have created a 3D printer that produces skin grafts for burn victims.

Called PrintAlive, the new machine was developed by University of Toronto engineering students Arianna McAllister and Lian Leng, who worked in collaboration with Professor Axel Guenther, Boyang Zhang and Dr. Marc Jeschke, the head of Sunnybrook Hospital's Ross Tilley Burn Centre.

While the traditional treatment for serious burns involves removing healthy skin from another part of the body so it can be grafted onto the affected area, the PrintAlive machine could put an end to such painful harvesting by printing large, continuous layers of tissue including hair follicles, sweat glands and other human skin complexities onto a hydrogel. Importantly, the device uses the patient's own cells, thereby eliminating the problem of the tissue being rejected by their immune system.

Because growing a culture of a patient's skin cells ready for grafting can typically take more than two weeks, the machine prints the patient's cells out in patterns of spots or stripes rather than a continuous sheet, to make them go further. The result is a cell-populated wound dressing that reproduces key features of human skin and can be precisely controlled in terms of thickness, structure and composition.

Having been under development since 2008, the team recently completed a second-generation, pre-commercial prototype that they say is smaller than an average microwave. This makes it portable enough to easily transport, which gives it the potential to one day revolutionize burn care in rural and developing areas around the world.

"Ninety per cent of burns occur in low and middle income countries, with greater mortality and morbidity due to poorly-equipped health care systems and inadequate access to burn care facilities," says Jeschke. "Regenerating skin using a patients own stem cells can significantly decrease the risk of death in developing countries."

So far, the 3D-printed skin grafts have been tested on mice, with the team planning to move onto pigs before clinical trials on humans in the next few years. They were recently named the Canadian winners in the 2014 James Dyson Awards, giving them US$3,500 to continue development and putting them in the running for the $60,000 main prize.

The PrintAlive bioprinter is detailed in the video below.

Sources: University of Toronto, James Dyson Award

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PrintAlive 3D bioprinter creates on-demand skin grafts for burn victims

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Monarch butterflies owe their long-distance migrations to one gene honed for efficient flight, according to a study released Wednesday. (Related: "Monarch Butterflies Struggle.")

The study of monarch genes also suggests that the butterflies began their evolutionary history as a migratory species that spread worldwide before a few groups settled down and eventually became separate homebody species.

In an epic migration, the monarch butterfly travels in great masses from Mexico to Manitoba every year. The range of that journey has stretched farther and farther north since the end of the last ice age, thanks to a gene that makes butterfly muscles more efficient, researchers suggest in a study published in the journal Nature.

"At first we thought migratory butterflies needed to bulk up with big muscles," says study senior author Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "What emerged is that natural selection is mighty powerful for flight efficiency." (Video: "Monarch Butterflies.")

The study also revealed that a single gene plays a big role in monarchs' signature orange-and-black coloration, and a flip of this genetic switch is responsible for the unusual white monarch butterflies of Oahu.

In the backdrop to the study, the iconic butterfly's numbers have been dropping precipitously, down to 33 million in 2013, a decline tied to a drop in the milkweed they depend on. (Related: "Monarch Butterfly's Reign Threatened by Milkweed Decline.")

Habitat loss and the destruction of native plants have been responsible for the rapid decline of the monarch butterfly, the most recognized butterfly in North America. To help protect these majestic insects as they migrate, citizens in the U.S. are resorting to a simple yet powerful tool: gardening.

Monarch Muscles

Millions of migratory monarchs travel north from Mexico in March, then head south in October, with four generations of the insects living and dying along the way. The insects have to make decisions about starting and stopping migration, so the study team expected genes related to behavior that would separate migratory monarchs from others.

Kronforst and colleagues compared the full genetic blueprints, or genomes, of 89 monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, and nine others from four nonmigratory families related to them, most notably South America's southern monarch butterfly.

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Monarch Butterfly's Genes Reveal the Key to Its Long-Distance Migratio

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TUESDAY, Sept. 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- There's no genetic evidence that high levels of vitamin D can prevent type 2 diabetes, a new study says.

Some previous research had suggested that elevated levels of vitamin D might protect people against type 2 diabetes, raising the possibility of a link between vitamin D deficiency and the blood sugar disease.

In this study, British researchers investigated the association between diabetes risk and vitamin D by focusing on genes that control blood levels of vitamin D. They found no connection between different variants of these genes and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The results were published Sept. 30 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

"Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by increasing concentrations of vitamin D are not currently justified. Observational studies that show a strong and consistent higher risk of type 2 diabetes with lower levels of vitamin D may do so because they have thus far not been able to adequately control for distorting or confounding factors, such as physical activity levels," study author Dr. Nita Forouhi, of the University of Cambridge's School of Clinical Medicine, said in a journal news release.

The findings add to evidence showing that taking vitamin D supplements does not prevent diabetes. The only proven ways to prevent type 2 diabetes are diet and exercise, Forouhi said.

One expert noted that long-term trials that are still looking at any possible connection should be weighed in the final analysis.

The results "need careful interpretation, and long-term randomized trials of vitamin D supplementation, which are underway, remain important," Dr. Brian Buijsse, from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Germany, wrote in an accompanying commentary in the journal.

"The results of an [analysis] of 35 short-term trials, however, do not offer much hope that vitamin D supplementation can be used to prevent type 2 diabetes. The sky is becoming rather clouded for vitamin D in the context of preventing type 2 diabetes," he said.

-- Robert Preidt

Excerpt from:
Gene Study Finds No Proof Vitamin D Guards Against Type 2 Diabetes

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Dawkins And Krauss Q A The Unbelievers Hot Docs Toronto 2013
Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins talk about their religious friends, abiogenesis, sexual selection, genetic engineering, and eugenics after the premiere of The Unbelievers in Toronto.

By: Daniel Torres

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Fairfax NZ

PROTEST: Luthar Donselaar, 6, at a New Plymouth march against the use of genetically modified organisms in New Zealand food.

A visit to an experimental farm run by the Monsanto Corporation and others in the Mississippi delta has changed the way Southland Federated Farmers' president Russell MacPherson views genetic modification (GM).

MacPherson admits he left New Zealand thinking genetic modification of crops was not important to New Zealand farmers, but after seeing several effective applications of the technology in the Mississippi River delta, he believes farmers here should at least debate the potential benefits of the technology.

"I think it's important that New Zealanders don't just put genetic engineering on the shelf because we're not interested," he said. "Let's not become an agricultural museum.

"There are some aspects of genetic engineering that could actually help resolve some environmental problems in New Zealand."

The Mississippi River is renowned for its heavy sediment loading from intensive farming of its flood plains, concisely captured in the famous adage: "Too thick to drink and too thin to plough."

During a recent farming study tour of the United States with 25 Southland farmers, MacPherson visited a corn farm in the Mississippi River delta which is regularly flooded and fertilised by silt from the river.

He said soil loss was a major concern for growers on commercial scale farms, who had slowed sediment losses from 36 kilograms an acre to 9kg an acre through a policy of no tillage cultivation.

Genetically modified herbicide tolerant corn seeds are direct drilled into the previous season's slash and when weeds emerge they are sprayed with a herbicide to reduce competition.

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Farmer calls for debate on GM potential

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

2-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 2, 2014Women who have a history of violent sexual abuse may suffer emotional distress during a routine pelvic examination. Healthcare providers would benefit from greater awareness of symptoms predictive of examination-related distress in this patient population, according to a study published in Violence and Gender, a new peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Violence and Gender website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2014.0016 until November 2, 2014.

In the article "A New Perspective on Distress During the Pelvic Examination: The Role of Traumatic Hyperarousal in Women with Histories of Sexual Violence", coauthors Christina Khan, MD, PhD, Carolyn Greene, PhD, Jennifer Strauss, PhD, David Spiegel, MD, and Julie Weitlauf, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, and Stanford Cancer Institute (Palo Alto, CA), and Duke University School of Medicine (Durham, NC), identified physiologic symptoms of trauma (hyperarousal and hypervigilance) that were associated with distress among a group of female veterans with a history of sexual violence who underwent routine pelvic examination.

"This unique article provides us with a research-based perspective of the association between sexual violence and reactivity to the pelvic examination," says Violence and Gender Editor-in-Chief Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Forensic Behavioral Consultant and Senior FBI Profiler/Criminal Investigative Analyst (ret.). "These early findings indicate that the physiologic symptoms of PTSD brought on by the assault may be associated with a greater likelihood of marked distress during the exam. This finding may be particularly meaningful to medical professionals to help them better understand the extent and long-term effects of sexual victimization, and the need for ongoing sensitivity for these patients."

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About the Journal

Violence and Gender is the only peer-reviewed journal focusing on the understanding, prediction, and prevention of acts of violence. Through research papers, roundtable discussions, case studies, and other original content, the Journal critically examines biological, genetic, behavioral, psychological, racial, ethnic, and cultural factors as they relate to the gender of perpetrators of violence. Led by Editor-in-Chief Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Forensic Behavioral Consultant and Senior FBI Profiler/Criminal Investigative Analyst (ret.), Violence and Gender explores the difficult issues that are vital to threat assessment and prevention of the epidemic of violence. Violence and Gender is published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, and is the official journal of The Avielle Foundation. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Violence and Gender website at http://www.liebertpub.com/vio.

About the Publisher

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Link between past sexual violence and distress on pelvic exam

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1-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 1, 2014The cause of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome is not known. However, the results of a new study that compares brain activity in individuals with and without fibromyalgia indicate that decreased connectivity between pain-related and sensorimotor brain areas could contribute to deficient pain regulation in fibromyalgia, according to an article published in Brain Connectivity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Brain Connectivity website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/brain.2014.0274 until November 1, 2014.

The new study by Pr Flodin and coauthors from Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) builds on previous findings in fibromyalgia that showed abnormal neuronal activity in the brain associated with poor pain inhibition. In the current study, "Fibromyalgia is Associated with Decreased Connectivity between Pain- and Sensorimotor Brain Areas", the researchers report a pattern of "functional decoupling" between pain-related areas of the brain that process pain signals and other areas of the brain, such as those that control sensorimotor activity in fibromyalgia patients compared to healthy patients, in the absence of any external pain stimulus. As a result, normal pain perception may be impaired.

"Fibromyalgia is an understudied condition with an unknown cause that can only be diagnosed by its symptoms," says Christopher Pawela, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Brain Connectivity and Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin. "This study by Flodin et al is an important first step in the understanding of how the brain is involved in the widespread pain perception that is characteristic of the disorder."

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About the Journal

Brain Connectivity is the essential peer-reviewed journal covering groundbreaking findings in the rapidly advancing field of connectivity research at the systems and network levels. Published 10 times per year in print and online, the Journal is under the leadership of Founding and Co-Editors-in-Chief Christopher Pawela, PhD, Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin, and Bharat Biswal, PhD, Chair of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology. It includes original peer-reviewed papers, review articles, point-counterpoint discussions on controversies in the field, and a product/technology review section. To ensure that scientific findings are rapidly disseminated, articles are published Instant Online within 72 hours of acceptance, with fully typeset, fast-track publication within 4 weeks. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Brain Connectivity website at http://www.liebertpub.com/brain.

About the Publisher

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Fibromyalgia and the role of brain connectivity in pain inhibition

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

1-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

IMAGE: Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD , Chairman,...

New Rochelle, NY, October 1, 2014Regulation of the human immune system's response to infection involves an elaborate network of complex signaling pathways that turn on and off multiple genes. The emerging importance of long noncoding RNAs and their ability to promote, fine-tune, and restrain the body's inflammatory response by regulating gene expression is described in a Review article in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the JICR website.

In the Review article "Transcription of Inflammatory Genes; Long Non-Coding RNA and Beyond," Susan Carpenter and Katherine Fitzgerald, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, and University of California, San Francisco, CA, provide a detailed overview of the multi-layered gene regulation systems that are activated when the immune system recognizes a pathogen or other external danger signal. The growing understanding of the role that long noncoding RNAs play in regulating this complex circuitry could lead to their use as drug targets for developing selective antimicrobial therapeutics that do not cause damaging inflammation.

"This is a cutting-edge review from authors who are conducting pioneering research on the role of long non-coding RNAs in innate immune signaling," says Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research Co-Editor-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio.

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About the Journal

Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that covers all aspects of interferons and cytokines from basic science to clinical applications. JICR is the official journal of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research website.

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A new target for controlling inflammation? Long non-coding RNAs fine-tune the immune system

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

1-Oct-2014

Contact: Sarah Avery sarah.avery@duke.edu 919-660-1306 Duke University Medical Center @Duke_Medicine

DURHAM, N.C. A new genetic finding from Duke Medicine suggests that some people who are prone to hostility, anxiety and depression might also be hard-wired to gain weight when exposed to chronic stress, leading to diabetes and heart disease.

An estimated 13 percent of people, all of whom are Caucasian, might carry the genetic susceptibility, and knowing this could help them reduce heart disease with simple interventions such as a healthy diet, exercise and stress management.

"Genetic susceptibility, psychosocial stress and metabolic factors act in combination to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease," said Elizabeth Hauser, Ph.D. director of Computational Biology at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. Hauser is senior author of a study detailing the findings in the Oct. 1, 2014, online issue of the European Journal of Human Genetics.

Hauser and colleagues analyzed genome-wide association data from nearly 6,000 people enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The MESA study began in 2000 to better understand how heart disease starts, compiling the participants' genetic makeup as well as physical traits such as hip circumference, body mass index, cholesterol readings, glucose levels, blood pressure and other measures.

In the Duke analysis, the researchers first pinpointed a strong correlation between participants who reported high levels of chronic life stress factors and increased central obesity, as measured by hip circumference.

They then tested genetic variations across the genome to see which ones, in combination with stress, seemed to have the biggest influence on hip circumference. It turns out that variations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the EBF1 gene showed a strong relationship with hip circumference, depending on levels of chronic psychosocial stress. What's more, among those with this particular genotype, hips grew wider as stress levels increased.

"With further analysis, we found a significant pathway from high chronic life stress to wide hip circumference, to high blood glucose and diabetes, to increased cardiovascular disease, notably atherosclerosis," said Abanish Singh, Ph.D., a researcher in computational biology at Duke and the study's lead author. "But we found this only in people who were carriers of the EBF1 single-nucleotide polymorphism, and this was limited to participants who were white."

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Newswise Studying mice with a genetic change similar to what is found in Kabuki syndrome, an inherited disease of humans, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have used an anticancer drug to open up DNA and improve mental function.

Along with a potential treatment for the intellectual disability seen in Kabuki syndrome, the studys findings also suggest a new way of thinking about a category of genetic diseases known as Mendelian disorders of the epigenetic machinery, the researchers say. In these disorders, a genetic mutation causes errors in the way proteins and chemicals bind to DNA, which in turn affects the rate at which DNA make proteins. In the case of a Kabuki syndrome-like condition in mice, the researchers found that those errors lead to a persistent but treatable decrease in new cell growth in one part of the brain. Their study adds to the growing evidence that intellectual disability may not always be irreversible.

A report on the research appears online Oct. 1 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Mendelian disorders of the epigenetic machinery affect how cells package and use DNA, so they tend to have complicated and far-reaching effects, says Hans Bjornsson, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics and genetics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine. Finding that a drug can ease some of the symptoms in this group of disorders suggests that other Mendelian disorders of the histone machinery may be treated in a similar manner. Bjornsson led the study in collaboration with Harry "Hal" Dietz, M.D., the Victor A. McKusick Professor of Medicine and Genetics and director of the William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research.

Bjornsson heads the McKusick-Nathans Epigenetics and Chromatin Clinic. His research focuses on Kabuki syndrome, which is caused by mutations in one of two genes that govern proteins that DNA wrap around. DNA wound around the packaging proteins is known as chromatin; only by forming chromatin can several feet of DNA fit inside the tiny command centers of each cell. But in order for a cell to read the DNA and put it to use making new proteins of its own, the chromatin must temporarily open up.

Specialized enzymes, often called writers and erasers, add or subtract chemical groups to the packaging proteins to help induce the chromatin to open or close. In recent years, other researchers have found that Kabuki syndrome can be caused by mutations to one of two genes one for a writer, one for an eraser with the same net effect on chromatin opening. That finding led Bjornsson and his collaborators to suspect that Kabuki syndrome and similar conditions might be caused by an imbalance between chromatins open and closed states.

If true, that would mean that disorders of the histone machinery could be treated by altering the balance between open and closed states, Bjornsson says. To test the idea, Joel Benjamin, a graduate student in Bjornssons lab, used mice with a mutation in one of the Kabuki syndrome genes and a condition similar to Kabuki syndrome.

When the mice were at their young adult phase, the team treated them with AR-42, a drug developed for cancers of the blood that was already known to open up compacted chromatin. After two weeks of treatment, they put the mice through a drill called the Morris water maze, which tests their ability to form memories in a region of the brain called the hippocampus. The treated mice performed better than the untreated mice with the Kabuki-like condition about as well as healthy mice.

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Drug Treats Inherited Form Of Intellectual Disability In Mice

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A vitamin D pill cant substitute for a healthy diet and sunshine,a new genetic study published inThe Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinologysuggests.In recent years many people have been seduced by observational studies that found low levels of vitamin D in people who developed type 2 diabetes. The new study instead suggests that the association is not causal, and that raising vitamin D by itself will not be helpful.

Researchers in the U.K. performed a Mendelian Randomization study in more than 100,000 peoplein which they examined the effect of four separate, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on genes that have a known effect on vitamin D levels. Despite the significant effect of these genetic variations on circulating levels of vitamin D (25(OH)D), the researchers found no relationship between genetically determined levels of vitamin D and the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Added to previous evidence, write the authors, the results suggest that interventions to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by increasing concentrations of 25(OH)D are not currently justified. Instead, they write, our findings emphasize the need for investigation of the discrepancy between the observational evidence and the absence of causal evidence. Two possible confounders are physical activity and adiposity, they add.

Results of several long-term randomized trials will be needed to definitively prove that vitamin D supplements are not beneficial, say Brian Buijsse in anaccompanying editorial. He cautions that Mendelian randomisation studies need careful interpretation, but an analysis of previous trials do not offer much hope that vitamin D supplementation can be used to prevent type 2 diabetes. He concludes that the sky is becoming rather clouded for vitamin D in the context of preventing type 2 diabetes.

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Genetic Analysis Fails To Support Vitamin D To Prevent Diabetes

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