PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Apr-2014

Contact: Vicki Cohn vochn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, April 9, 2014The increased risk of death associated with alcohol intake is not the same for men and women. A study that compared the amount of alcohol consumed and death from all causes among nearly 2.5 million women and men showed that the differences between the sexes became greater as alcohol intake increased, as described in an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh.

In the article "Effect of Drinking on All-Cause Mortality in Women Compared with Men: A Meta-Analysis," Chao Wang and coauthors, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical Sciences (Beijing, China), modeled the relationship between the dose of alcohol consumed and the risk of death, comparing the results for drinkers versus non-drinkers and among male and female drinkers. Females had an increased rate of all-cause mortality conferred by drinking compared with males, especially in heavy drinkers.

"While alcoholism is more common in men than women, female drinkers face greater risks to their health compared with male drinkers," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

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Is the increased risk of death due to alcohol intake greater for women or men?

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Apr-2014

Contact: Kim McDonald kmcdonald@ucsd.edu 858-534-7572 University of California - San Diego

Programming living cells offers the prospect of harnessing sophisticated biological machinery for transformative applications in energy, agriculture, water remediation and medicine. Inspired by engineering, researchers in the emerging field of synthetic biology have designed a tool box of small genetic components that act as intracellular switches, logic gates, counters and oscillators.

But scientists have found it difficult to wire the components together to form larger circuits that can function as "genetic programs." One of the biggest obstacles? Dealing with a small number of available wires.

A team of biologists and engineers at UC San Diego has taken a large step toward overcoming this obstacle. Their advance, detailed in a paper which appears in this week's advance online publication of the journal Nature, describes their development of a rapid and tunable post-translational coupling for genetic circuits. This advance builds on their development of "biopixel" sensor arrays reported in Nature by the same group of scientists two years ago.

The problem the researchers solved arises from the noisy cellular environment that tends to lead to highly variable circuit performance. The components of a cell are intermixed, crowded, and constantly bumping into each other. This makes it difficult to reuse parts in different parts of a program, limiting the total number of available parts and wires. These difficulties hindered the creation of genetic programs that can read the cellular environment and react with the execution of a sequence of instructions.

The team's breakthrough involves a form of "frequency multiplexing" inspired by FM radio.

"This circuit lets us encode multiple independent environmental inputs into a single time series," said Arthur Prindle, a bioengineering graduate student at UC San Diego and the first author of the study. "Multiple pieces of information are transferred using the same part. It works by using distinct frequencies to transmit different signals on a common channel."

The key that enabled this breakthrough is the use of frequency, rather than amplitude, to convey information. "Combining two biological signals using amplitude is difficult because measurements of amplitude involve fluorescence and are usually relative. It's not easy to separate out the contribution of each signal," said Prindle. "When we use frequency, these relative measurements are made with respect to time, and can be readily extracted by measuring the time between peaks using any one of several analytical methods."

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UC San Diego researchers develop bacterial 'FM radio'

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Req ID: 6641

Position Summary:

This position will supervise approximately (10-11) employees. This will include Facility Engineers and support Technicians. The successful candidate will interface with Marathon employees, contractor employees and vendors to optimize facility design, maximize production rates, and focus on optimization to meet reliability goals. Effective teamwork is required by the Engineering Staff as information is gathered and communicated between field personnel and other team members. Work being performed by the engineering staff includes performing engineering studies, evaluations, budget preparation, project engineering/management, troubleshooting, and support to production operations. The Bakken program is ongoing and fast paced. Facility Engineering work will need to be completed and commissioned to meet the drilling development program along with maintaining existing production. A demonstrated commitment to HES standards and policies is a must for the candidate filling this position.

Essential Functions:

Prerequisites:

EDUCATION: Bachelors Degree required, Engineering focus

EXPERIENCE: 10+ years in construction, facility design, and maintenance; project planning experience (preferred)

COMPUTER: MS Office Suite; Microsoft Project or Primavera; TOW; COGZ;

PROFICIENCY: ACAD; KMS (management of change); HYSYS (would be a plus)

COMMUNICATION: Excellent oral and written communication, teamwork, and planning & organization skills

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Facilities Engineering Supervisor Job

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A genetic test to predict the start of menopause is likely to be available within five years, allowing women to make more informed decisions about their health and fertility, a leading expert says.

Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecology at University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, Bart Fauser, said given menopause could begin at very different ages, including before 40 years for about one in 100 women, a test to more precisely predict the timing would be extremely useful, especially for women wanting children.

''The mean age of menopause is 51 but the normal range is between 40 and 60, which is quite considerable 20 years from minimum to maximum means that for some women, ovarian function lasts 50 per cent longer than for others,'' he said.

''Women often postpone having children until their career is well established, but many find it difficult to become pregnant because of declining fertility after the age of 30. Therefore, it would be very useful for women to know well in advance the age gap in which they can expect to remain fertile. This will allow them to try to conceive naturally or to consider egg freezing or IVF treatment at a later date.''

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Professor Fauser said a meta-analysis of 22 genetic studies involving almost 39,000 European women found 13 gene variants associated with the age of natural menopause that could be used in testing. The research, published in Nature Genetics in 2012, followed the discovery of four other gene variants that seem to be common among women who experience early or late menopause.

Professor Fauser, who presented his research at the Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction in Brisbane on Friday, said previous studies had also found that mothers and daughters often experienced menopause at a similar age. While research will continue into the genetics of menopause, he believed a genetic test would be available for women of all ages within five years.

At the moment, women wanting to know more about their fertility can have an ''egg timer'' blood test to measure their levels of Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH), a hormone secreted by cells in developing eggs, which are also known as follicles.

Some IVF clinics say the level of AMH in a woman's blood is generally a good indicator of how many fertile years she has left, but some specialists say the test is unreliable.

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Genetic testing to predict menopause

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Many who struggle with their weight will often blame a slow metabolism meaning their bodies do not burn calories as quickly or as efficiently as others.

For those who do suffer this condition, investigators from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) say they have found a genetic switch that can accelerate a persons basal metabolic rate leading to a dramatic reduction in the risk for obesity and diabetes.

Their research, published in the journal Nature, involves turning off a gene that encodes a protein called nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), which is found in the fat cells and the liver. NNMT is known to process vitamin B3 and has been previously linked with certain types of cancers.

Lead researcher Dr. Barbara Kahn said she and her team first started looking at NNMT in relation to metabolism, after studying a major sugar transporter called GLUT4 in the fat cells of genetically engineered mice. Through their work, they found that mice that produced large amounts of GLUT4 were insulin sensitive and protected against diabetes, while mice with no GLUT4 were insulin resistant and at risk for diabetes.

So we took fat from mice with a lot of this sugar transporter and fat from mice without it, and we did something called a DNA microarray analysis, Kahn, vice chair of the department of medicine at BIDMC and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told FoxNews.com. We extracted the DNA from the fat tissue and analyzed levels of 16,000 genes at the same time .And we found that the NNMT gene [and the GLUT4 transporter] were the most highly reciprocally regulated. This means that the mice without the GLUT4 transporter had increased levels of NNMT.

Additionally, Kahn and her team analyzed a number of scientific databases and found that high levels of NNMT are often found in the fat cells of animals known to be insulin resistant. Given these findings, the researchers decided to look at NNMT further, to see if manipulating the gene could affect an individuals risk for diabetes and obesity.

In order to lower the expression of the NNMT gene, the researchers used antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology, which allowed them to interfere with the expression of the gene only in the fat cells and the liver. ASOs are short molecular strings of DNA, which can be designed to prevent the synthesis of specific proteins.

When the researchers turned off the NNMT gene in mice on high-fat diets, the mice did not gain as much weight compared to when the NNMT gene was functioning normally. Furthermore, the mice did not change their eating or exercise habits, meaning the NNMT solely affected the mices basal metabolic rates.

According to Kahn, NNMT affects a biochemical mechanism known as a futile cycle, which plays a role in metabolic regulation.

If we have an efficient metabolism, we dont need many calories; the cells can get all the energy we need from a small number of calories, Kahn said. If we have an inefficient metabolism, more calories get burned and we can eat more without gaining weight.But when we knock down this NNMT gene, we affect this [futile cycle]. We speed it up, and it will burn up more calories.

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Slow metabolism hindering weight loss? Genetic 'switch' may be answer

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Programming living cells offers the prospect of harnessing sophisticated biological machinery for transformative applications in energy, agriculture, water remediation and medicine. Inspired by engineering, researchers in the emerging field of synthetic biology have designed a tool box of small genetic components that act as intracellular switches, logic gates, counters and oscillators.

But scientists have found it difficult to wire the components together to form larger circuits that can function as "genetic programs." One of the biggest obstacles? Dealing with a small number of available wires.

A team of biologists and engineers at UC San Diego has taken a large step toward overcoming this obstacle. Their advance, detailed in a paper which appears in this week's advance online publication of the journal Nature, describes their development of a rapid and tunable post-translational coupling for genetic circuits. This advance builds on their development of "biopixel" sensor arrays reported in Nature by the same group of scientists two years ago.

The problem the researchers solved arises from the noisy cellular environment that tends to lead to highly variable circuit performance. The components of a cell are intermixed, crowded and constantly bumping into each other. This makes it difficult to reuse parts in different parts of a program, limiting the total number of available parts and wires. These difficulties hindered the creation of genetic programs that can read the cellular environment and react with the execution of a sequence of instructions.

The team's breakthrough involves a form of "frequency multiplexing" inspired by FM radio.

"This circuit lets us encode multiple independent environmental inputs into a single time series," said Arthur Prindle, a bioengineering graduate student at UC San Diego and the first author of the study. "Multiple pieces of information are transferred using the same part. It works by using distinct frequencies to transmit different signals on a common channel."

The key that enabled this breakthrough is the use of frequency, rather than amplitude, to convey information. "Combining two biological signals using amplitude is difficult because measurements of amplitude involve fluorescence and are usually relative. It's not easy to separate out the contribution of each signal," said Prindle. "When we use frequency, these relative measurements are made with respect to time, and can be readily extracted by measuring the time between peaks using any one of several analytical methods."

While their application may be inspired by electronics, the UC San Diego scientists caution in their paper against what they see as increasing "metaphorization" of engineering biology.

"We explicitly make the point that since biology is often too intertwined to engineer in the way we are accustomed in electronics, we must deal directly with bidirectional coupling and quantitatively understand its effects using computational models," explained Prindle. "It's important to find the right dose of inspiration from engineering concepts while making sure you aren't being too reliant on your engineering metaphors."

Enabling this breakthrough is the development of an intracellular wiring mechanism that enables rapid transmission of protein signals between the individual modules. The new wiring mechanism was inspired by a previous study in the lab on the bacterial stress response. It reduces the time lags that develop as a consequence of using proteins to activate or repress genes.

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Genetic circuits: Bacterial 'FM radio' created

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Apr-2014

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

DURHAM, N.C. Drugs used to block copper absorption for a rare genetic condition may find an additional use as a treatment for certain types of cancer, researchers at Duke Medicine report.

The researchers found that cancers with a mutation in the BRAF gene require copper to promote tumor growth. These tumors include melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer that kills an estimated 10,000 people in the United States a year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

"BRAF-positive cancers like melanoma almost hunger for copper," said Christopher M. Counter, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine and senior author of the study published April 9, 2014, in Nature.

The BRAF gene is involved in regulating cell division and differentiation. When mutated, the gene causes cells to grow out of control. Using animal models and cells, Counter and colleagues found that when they experimentally inhibited copper uptake by tumors with the BRAF mutation, they could curb tumor growth.

They achieved similar results with drugs used to treat patients with Wilson disease, a genetic disorder in which copper builds up in the tissue, primarily the brain and liver, causing damage.

"Oral drugs used to lower copper levels in Wilson disease could be repurposed to treat BRAF-driven cancers like melanoma, or perhaps even others like thyroid or lung cancer," said Donita C. Brady, Ph.D., lead author of the study.

Already, a clinical trial has been approved at Duke to test the copper-reducing drugs in patients with melanoma, although enrollment has not yet begun: http://1.usa.gov/1qefSJm

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A bad penny: Cancer's thirst for copper can be targeted

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Genetics Research
A high-tech examination of a cave-dwelling fish finds a possible link to human disorders. Get details at: http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=19590.

By: uofcincinnati

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Genetics Research - Video

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Dr Shane McKee, Regional Medical Genetics Unit: Joining Information Together for Better Care
Joining up patient records and making them accessible; for better care and for research and translation of research into treatments.

By: NIRDP

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Dr Shane McKee, Regional Medical Genetics Unit: Joining Information Together for Better Care - Video

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Q A with Dr. Rudy Tanzi: Alzheimer #39;s Genetics
Dr. Rudy Tanzi of Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital answers your questions about Alzheimer #39;s. In the first part of this four-part series, Dr. Tanz...

By: Cure Alzheimer #39;s Fund

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Q&A with Dr. Rudy Tanzi: Alzheimer's & Genetics - Video

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Minecraft: Attack of Mojo Jojo Episode 3 - Thermal Advanced Genetics!
Hello everybody! You know what? Let #39;s start a modpack series... wait what? Attack of the B-Team you say? Sure! Hold on let me grab Soolol with me so that we ...

By: MiningMuch

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Minecraft: Attack of Mojo Jojo Episode 3 - Thermal Advanced Genetics! - Video

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Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements for Major Companies
Browse the Report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/148935-personalized-medicine-partnering-terms-agreements.html The Personalized Medicine Partnering...

By: Mary Garcia

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Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements for Major Companies - Video

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Bradley J. Fikes

Stem-cell biologist Mahendra Rao expected five projects to receive support to set up clinical trials.

Stem-cell researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been left frustrated and confused following the demise of the agencys Center for Regenerative Medicine (CRM). The intramural programmes director, stem-cell biologist Mahendra Rao, left the NIH, in Bethesda, Maryland, on 28March, and the centres website was taken down on 4 April. Although no official announcement had been made at the time Nature went to press, NIH officials say that they are rethinking how they will conduct in-house stem-cell research.

Researchers affiliated with the centre say that they have been left in the dark. When contacted by Nature on 7April, George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the centres external advisory board, said that he had not yet been told of Raos departure or the centres closure.

The CRM was established in 2010 to centralize the NIHs stem-cell programme. Its goal was to develop useful therapies from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells adult cells that have been converted into embryonic-like stem cells and shepherd them towards clinical trials and regulatory approval. Its budget was intended to be $52million over seven years.

Rao took the helm in 2011. Relations seem to have soured last month owing to an NIH decision to award funding to only one project aiming to move iPS cells into a clinical trial. Rao says he resigned after this became clear. He says that he had hoped that five trials would be funded, especially because the centre had already sorted out complex issues relating to tissue sources, patents and informed consent.

James Anderson, director of the NIHs Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, which administered the CRM, counters that only one application that made by Kapil Bharti of the National Eye Institute in Bethesda and his colleagues received a high enough score from an external review board to justify continued funding. The team aims to use iPS cells to treat age-related macular degeneration of the retina, and hopes to commence human trials within a few years. Several other proposals, which involved the treatment of cardiac disease, cancer and Parkinsons disease, will not receive funding to ready them for clinical trials. Anderson stresses that Bhartis trial will not be affected by the CRMs closure.

NIH

Therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells, here differentiating into retinal cells on a scaffold, were the focus of the Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Other human iPS-cell trials are further along. For example, one on macular degeneration designed by Masayo Takahashi at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, began recruiting patients last August.

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NIH stem-cell programme closes

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Stem Cell Therapy After Spinal Cord Injury
3D animation showing cell-replacement therapy after spinal cord injury. Animation done for Dr. Fehlings, Krembil Neuroscience Research Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

By: Synapse Medical Animation

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Stem Cell Therapy After Spinal Cord Injury - Video

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4 hours ago by Josh Barney Researchers at U.Va.'s School of Medicine have created a method to illuminate and understand mitochondria in living creatures like never before.

(Medical Xpress)Under the microscope, they glow like streetlights, forming tidy rows that follow the striations of muscle tissue. They are mitochondria the powerhouses of cells and researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have created a method to illuminate and understand them in living creatures like never before.

Not only can the researchers make the mitochondria glow for the microscope, but they also can discern from that fluorescence the mitochondria's age, their health, even their stress level. And ultimately that glow, in its soft reds and greens, will shed light on human health and a massive array of illnesses, from diabetes to Parkinson's disease to cancer.

"Mitochondrial health is important for physiology and disease. That is well-known," said researcher Zhen Yan of U.Va.'s Cardiovascular Research Center. "However, the whole field of mitochondrial health is largely unexplored, in large part because of the lack of useful tools. This has hindered the understanding of the importance of mitochondria in disease development.

"With this study we have, for the first time, shown that we can use a reporter gene to measure mitochondrial health robustly in vivo. We believe this tool will allow us to get into the field of mitochondrial biology like never before. Before, we could see the mitochondria under an electron microscope. That showed us only what they looked like. Now we can measure the health of millions of mitochondria at the click of a button."

The reporter gene on which Yan and his team based the new tool is a type of gene used in scientific research to determine the activity and function of other genes. The reporter gene produces a protein that glows green when newly made; the protein then transitions to red as it ages. By giving the reporter gene specific targeting directions, the researchers were able to instruct the protein to enter the mitochondria, setting them aglow.

"So now we have fluorescent mitochondria, which are fluorescent green initially and then, as the mitochondria age or become oxidized, they transition to red, so that we can assess the oxidation status," said Rhianna Laker, a postdoctoral fellow in Yan's lab and the lead author of a new paper detailing the work.

The researchers have put their tool to the test in flies, worms and mice. They found that mice fed a high-fat diet had more red mitochondria, meaning the mitochondria were stressed or oxidized, while mice that exercised had more green mitochondria, Laker said. That finding speaks both to the importance of exercise and to the potential diagnostic power of the new tool, dubbed the MitoTimer.

Yan's lab collaborated with Jeff Saucerman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering to take the work to the next level. Saucerman's team has developed a computer program that can analyze the degree of mitochondrial fluorescence to assess both individual mitochondria and the overall ratio of red to green in a particular area. That ratio speaks to the health of the cells.

The mitochondria are also a sensor of metabolic state and stress, Yan said.

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Researchers develop new tool to check cells' 'batteries'

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Brenda Goodman HealthDay Reporter Posted: Monday, April 7, 2014, 4:00 PM

MONDAY, April 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- In an early test, researchers report they've safely injected stem cells into the brains of 18 patients who had suffered strokes. And two of the patients showed significant improvement.

All the patients saw some improvement in weakness or paralysis within six months of their procedures. Although three people developed complications related to the surgery, they all recovered. There were no adverse reactions to the transplanted stem cells themselves, the study authors said.

What's more, the researchers said, two patients experienced dramatic recoveries almost immediately after the treatments.

Those patients, who were both women, started to regain the ability to talk and walk the morning after their operations. In both cases, they were more than two years past their strokes, a point where doctors wouldn't have expected further recovery.

The results have encouraged researchers to plan larger and longer tests of the procedure, which uses stem cells cultured from donated bone marrow.

An expert who was not involved in the research called it a promising first step.

"It's a small, early human study. It takes multiple steps to get to something clinically useful, and this is a nice, early step," said Dr. Steven Cramer, clinical director of the Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine.

The findings were to be presented Monday at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting, in San Francisco. The results of studies presented at meetings are considered preliminary until they've been published in peer-reviewed medical journals.

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Stem Cells Show Promise for Stroke Recovery

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A Calgary blood and marrow transplant doctor says hes looking forward to the establishment of a national cord blood bank, which will provide stem cells for procedures at two city hospitals once its fully up and running later this year.

The National Cord Blood Bank, run by Canadian Blood Services, is set to become the first public cord blood bank in the country, with hospitals in Edmonton, Ottawa, Vancouver and Brampton designated as collection sites.

Dr. Victor Lewis, a pediatric oncologist at the Alberta Childrens Hospital, said the stem cells collected from cord blood can make a huge difference for patients by increasing the inventory doctors can search to find donors.

Theres a good chance we may find donors for Canadian children in the Canadian cord bank, he said, noting cord blood stem cells are biologically younger and considered more flexible for treatment options compared to adult cells.

Umbilical cord blood is a sought-after source for stem cells since the match doesnt have to be as precise for the young cells, compared with bone marrow sources, said Heidi Elmaoazzen, director of the national public cord blood bank.

Until the first phase of the project opened in Ottawa last year, umbilical cords were considered medical waste, said Elmaoazzen, speaking to a Calgary Herald editorial board meeting.

The national centre will now cryopreserve the material collected from the four donor hospitals and store it indefinitely for use treating diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma.

In Calgary, it will allow physicians to perform stem cell transplants at the Alberta Childrens Hospital and Tom Baker Cancer Centre.

The agency has raised about $7.8 million of its $12.5-million fundraising goal for the project, said campaign co-chair Dale Sheard.

The rest of the funds for the $48-million blood bank are set to come from provincial and territorial governments, apart from Quebec.

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Calgary childrens hospital eager for access to national cord blood bank

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LONDON In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.

It is among several labs around the world, including in the US, that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab.

While only a handful of patients have received the British lab-made organs so far including tear ducts, blood vessels and windpipes researchers hope they will soon be able to transplant more types of body parts into patients, including what would be the worlds first nose made partly from stem cells.

Its like making a cake, said Alexander Seifalian at University College London, the scientist leading the effort. We just use a different kind of oven.

Dr. Michelle Griffin, a plastic surgery research fellow, holds a synthetic polymer ear.Photo: AP

During a recent visit to his lab, Seifalian showed off a sophisticated machine used to make molds from a polymer material for various organs.

Last year, he and his team made a nose for a British man who lost his to cancer. Scientists added a salt and sugar solution to the mold of the nose to mimic the somewhat sponge-like texture of the real thing. Stem cells were taken from the patients fat and grown in the lab for two weeks before being used to cover the nose scaffold. Later, the nose was implanted into the mans forearm so that skin would grow to cover it.

Seifalian said he and his team are waiting for approval from regulatory authorities to transfer the nose onto the patients face but couldnt say when that might happen.

The potential applications of lab-made organs appear so promising, even the city of London is getting involved: Seifalians work is being showcased on Tuesday as Mayor Boris Johnson announces a new initiative to attract investment to Britains health and science sectors so spin-off companies can spur commercial development of the pioneering research.

The polymer material Seifalian uses for his organ scaffolds has been patented and hes also applied for patents for their blood vessels, tear ducts and windpipe. He and his team are creating other organs including coronary arteries and ears. Later this year, a trial is scheduled to start in India and London to test lab-made ears for people born without them.

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Sci-fi meets reality as stem cells are turned into noses, ears

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Professor Alexander Seifalian poses for photographs with a synthetic polymer nose at his research facility in the Royal Free Hospital in London, Monday, March 31, 2014. In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells. AP

In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.

It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab.

5 Photos

In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in attempt to make body parts using stem cells

"It's like making a cake," said Alexander Seifalian at University College London, the scientist leading the effort. "We just use a different kind of oven."

During a recent visit to his lab, Seifalian showed off a sophisticated machine used to make molds from a polymer material for various organs.

Last year, he and his team made a nose for a British man who lost his to cancer. Scientists added a salt and sugar solution to the mold of the nose to mimic the somewhat sponge-like texture of the real thing. Stem cells were taken from the patient's fat and grown in the lab for two weeks before being used to cover the nose scaffold. Later, the nose was implanted into the man's forearm so that skin would grow to cover it.

Seifalian said he and his team are waiting for approval from regulatory authorities to transfer the nose onto the patient's face but couldn't say when that might happen

The potential applications of lab-made organs appear so promising even the city of London is getting involved: Seifalian's work is being showcased on Tuesday as Mayor Boris Johnson announces a new initiative to attract investment to Britain's health and science sectors so spin-off companies can spur commercial development of the pioneering research.

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Ears, noses grown from stem cells in lab dishes

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London's Royal Free hospital is among several in the world that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab Few have received the lab-made organs so far - including ears and windpipes - but researchers hope they will soon transplant more They hope to transplant world's first nose made partly from stem cells

By Associated Press and Ellie Zolfagharifard

Published: 05:38 EST, 8 April 2014 | Updated: 10:51 EST, 8 April 2014

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At London's Royal Free hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.

It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab.

Only a handful of patients have received the British lab-made organs so far - including tear ducts, blood vessels and windpipes.

But researchers hope they will soon be able to transplant more types of body parts into patients, including what would be the world's first nose made partly from stem cells.

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British scientists make custom-made body parts using stem cells

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

AP Photo/Matt Dunham Dr Michelle Griffin, a plastic research fellow, poses for photographs with a synthetic polymer ear at her research facility in the Royal Free Hospital in London, Monday, March 31, 2014. In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.

By MARIA CHENG/AP Medical Writer/April 8, 2014

LONDON (AP) In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in a bold attempt to make body parts in the laboratory.

Its far from the only lab in the world that is pursuing the futuristic idea of growing organs for transplant. But the London work was showcased Tuesday as Mayor Boris Johnson announced a plan to attract more labs to do cutting-edge health and science research in the area.

While only a handful of patients have received the British lab-made organs so far including tear ducts, blood vessels and windpipes researchers hope they will soon be able to transplant more types of body parts into patients, including what would be the worlds first nose made partly from stem cells.

Its like making a cake, said Alexander Seifalian at University College London, the scientist leading the effort. We just use a different kind of oven.

British authorities have invested nearly 4 million pounds ($6.7 million) in the plan to stimulate research in the London-Oxford-Cambridge area. It aims to attract companies to the area to foster collaboration and promote research and manufacturing. A major center for biological research will open in London next year.

University College London is a partner in the campaign. During a recent visit to his lab there, Seifalian showed off a sophisticated machine used to make molds from a polymer material for various organs.

Last year, he and his team used that material to mold a nose for a British man who lost his to cancer. Then they added a salt and sugar solution to the mold to mimic the somewhat sponge-like texture of a natural nose. Stem cells were taken from the patients fat and grown in the lab for two weeks before being used to cover the nose scaffold. Later, the nose was implanted into the mans forearm so that skin would grow to cover it.

Seifalian said he and his team are waiting for approval from regulatory authorities to transfer the nose onto the patients face but couldnt say when that might happen.

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UK scientists make body parts in lab

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Hormone therapy, which is prescribed to women for relief of menopausal symptoms such hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness, has recently seen a decline in popularity (and use) due to its link to an increased risk of breast and endometrial cancer. But City of Hope researchers have found that menopausal hormone therapy may actually lower the risk of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Sophia Wang, Ph.D., associate professor at City of Hope's Division of Cancer Etiology and first author of this study, will present the findings at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting on Monday, April 7.

"The connection between lymphomas and menopausal hormone therapy use hinges on understanding the disease's biology and the window of susceptibility," Wang said. "Hormone therapy is of interest because the loss of estrogen coupled with aging in women result in decreased immune function, which can elevate risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

For this study, Wang and her colleagues examined data from the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, comparing 685 postmenopausal women diagnosed with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma to 685 postmenopausal women who did not have the disease and assessing their use of menopausal hormone therapy (either estrogen alone or estrogen with progestin, in either pill, patch, topical cream or injected forms).

After controlling for factors including age, race and socioeconomic status, Wang's team found that women who reported using any form of menopausal hormone therapy were approximately 30 percent less likely to be diagnosed with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, compared to women who reported never using menopausal hormone therapy.

Additional analysis showed that the risk reduction was even greater for women who initiated menopausal hormone therapy at a young age (45 years old or less) and used it for at least five years. This group was approximately 40 percent less likely to be diagnosed with a B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma compared to those who had never used hormone therapy.

Wang said these findings supported one part of her hypothesis, but further research will be needed to determine the exact biological mechanisms that might be linked to a lower non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk. These mechanisms could include supporting a healthy immune system or reducing inflammation.

Wang cautioned that the findings are preliminary and should not change current recommendations and guidelines for menopausal hormone therapy use.

Due to well-established evidence tying menopausal hormone therapy to elevated risks of breast and endometrial cancers, the American Cancer Society recommends that women considering, or using, this therapy to do so at the lowest effective dose for the shortest amount of time needed and that they discuss with their physicians about other treatments to alleviate menopausal symptoms.

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Hormone therapy linked to lower non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk

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Newswise SAN FRANCISCO (April 7, 2014) The devastating effects of stroke have long led physicians to conclude that lost brain function is irreversible. Today during the 82nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), researchers presented the results of a groundbreaking study that offers new hope to stroke patients.

In the first North American trial of its kind, researchers conducted intraparenchymal transplantation of bone marrow-derived cell therapy in chronic stroke patients. Titled A Novel Phase 1/2A Study of Intraparenchymal Transplantation of Human Modified Bone Marrow Derived Cells in Patients with Stable Ischemic Stroke, the study tested the feasibility of administering escalated doses of stromal cells. Numerous preclinical animal stroke studies showing the benefit of stem cell transplantation led to the initiation of this clinical trial.

The study was led by Gary K. Steinberg, MD, PhD, FAANS: Although this was primarily a safety study, we found a significant recovery of neurologic function in patients overall at six months that is sustained at one year. Two of the 18 transplanted patients showed remarkable improvement.

Transplanted patients continued to recover substantial neurologic function two years or more following their stroke, said Dr. Steinberg: This suggests that the affected neural circuits following stroke are not dead, but potentially still viable and can be reactivated, which is contrary to the currently accepted dogma.

The clinical findings have led to new studies using brain stimulation of circuits to restore neurologic function in animal stroke models.

Study co-authors are Douglas Kondziolka, MD, FAANS; Neil Schwartz, MD, PhD; Lawrence Wechsler, MD; Dade Lunsford, MD, FAANS; Maria Coburn, BA; Julia Billigen, RN; Hadar Keren-Gill, BS; Michael McGrogan, PhD; Casey Case, PhD; Kelta Mori, MBA; and Ernest Yankee, PhD.

Disclosure: The author reported the following disclosures prior to the 82nd AANS Annual Scientific Meeting: NIH NINDS; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine; Medtronic.

Media Representatives: The 2014 AANS Annual Meeting Press Kit includes releases on highlighted scientific research, AANS officer and award winners, National Neurosurgery Awareness Week, and other relevant information about this years program. Those releases also will be posted under the Media area on the 2014 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting website (http://www.aans.org/Annual Meeting/2014/Main/Media.aspx). If you would have interest in a topic related to neurosurgery or would like to interview a neurosurgeon either onsite or via telephone during this years event, please contact John Iwanski, AANS Director of Integrated Marketing and Website Communications, via the onsite press room at 415.978.3603 or e-mail him at jai@aans.org.

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Transplantation Cell Therapy Offers Hope to Stroke Patients

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7-Apr-2014

Contact: Darrell E. Ward Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu 614-293-3737 Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

COLUMBUS, Ohio A new study shows that a gene discovered 30 years ago and now known to play a fundamental role in cancer development produces five different gene variants (called isoforms), rather than just the one original form, as thought.

The study of the NRAS gene by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC James) identified four previously unknown variants that the NRAS gene produces.

The finding might help improve drugs for cancers in which aberrant activation of NRAS plays a crucial role. It also suggests that NRAS might affect additional target molecules in cells, the researchers say.

The isoforms show striking differences in size, abundance and effects. For example, the historically known protein (isoform 1) is 189 amino-acids long, while one of the newly discovered variants, isoform 5, is only 20 amino-acids long.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We believe that the existence of these isoforms may be one reason why NRAS inhibitors have so far been unsuccessful," says corresponding author Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine and the Leonard J. Immke Jr. and Charlotte L. Immke Chair in Cancer Research.

Co-senior author Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, Distinguished University Professor and Ohio State University Cancer Scholar, notes that one of the newly discovered isoforms might play a greater role in the development of some cancers than the known protein itself.

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Well-known cancer gene NRAS produces 5 variants, study finds

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Researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center have shown that NEDD9, a scaffolding protein responsible for regulating signaling pathways in the cell, promotes the growth and spread of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Previous studies have demonstrated the protein's importance in tumor invasion and spread of some lymphomas and many solid tumor types, including melanoma, neuroblastoma, and breast cancer, but its role in gynecological cancers has been poorly understood. The new data, to be presented on Sunday, April 6 at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014, suggest the protein activates known oncogenic signaling pathways in cancer cells, encouraging metastases.

"NEDD9 expression is usually associated with metastasis," says lead author Rashid Gabbasov, a graduate student in Fox Chase's Developmental Therapeutics Research Program and a researcher in the laboratory of Fox Chase Associate Professor Denise C. Connolly, PhD. "We've shown in two mouse models that expression of the protein probably plays an important role both in the initial development of ovarian cancer and tumor dissemination."

Because it lacks catalytic activity that might be inhibited, NEDD9 (neural precursor cell expressed, developmentally downregulated 9) itself is unlikely to be a suitable candidate for targeted therapy, says Gabbasov, and because it's not present in the blood it may not be suitable for diagnosing ovarian cancer. However, because the protein serves as a scaffolding molecule for other signaling proteins that play significant roles in cancer development and is important in several molecular pathways, it can inform future investigations of the biology of ovarian cancer in human cancer specimens. Researchers can investigate pathways downstream of the protein that are active in ovarian cancer to identify those which may be used as potential diagnostic or therapeutic biomarkers.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is diagnosed in more than 22,000 women every year. The disease kills about 14,000, according to the American Cancer Society. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women and one of the most common gynecologic cancers. In most patients, the disease has already metastasized at the time of diagnosis.

Connolly, whose research focuses on understanding the molecular underpinnings of epithelial ovarian cancer, says she and her colleagues became interested in NEDD9 after learning about its role in other cancers. The protein was discovered in 1996 by Fox Chase Professor Erica A. Golemis, PhD, Co-Leader of the Center's Developmental Therapeutics Research Program and a co-author on the ovarian cancer study.

Proteins like NEDD9 control and regulate the signaling mechanisms between the surface and interior of a cell.

"At the time our research started, we saw an early report suggesting that high-level NEDD9 expression was part of a gene signature related to advanced stage ovarian cancer," says Connolly, senior author on the study.

To study the protein's role in epithelial ovarian cancer, Gabbasov and his colleagues compared tumor growth in two groups of mice bred to spontaneously develop ovarian tumors. Mice in one group lacked NEDD9, and mice in the other group expressed the protein. Using MRI scans, the researchers observed delayed tumor development in the NEDD9-null mice, compared to mice that expressed NEDD9. Analysis of tumor tissue showed more activity in several well-known oncogenic signaling pathways in the mice expressing the protein.

"When we compared the gene expression in these tumors, we were able to see how NEDD9 depletion really affects overall gene expression," says Gabbasov. "It really does affect numerous genes, and we will try to pursue these gene products to better understand the role of NEDD9."

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Scaffolding protein promotes growth, metastases of epithelial ovarian cancer

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith