GAMERS RECRUITED TO CREATE PLAGUE?
Plague Inc uses frighteningly realistic models to enable the #39;player #39; to design a deadly virus; the object, to kill every human being on the planet. They #39;ve ...

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Robert Klitzman is a professor of psychiatry and director of the Masters of Bioethics Program at Columbia University. He is author of "Am I My Genes?: Confronting Fate and Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing."

(CNN) -- "It's a miracle," she told me. "We can now have a baby that won't have Huntington's disease. I thought I'd never be able to have any kids -- because of the disease." Her father had died from this disorder, which results from a gene mutation. She feared that she might have the mutation, too. But she was too scared to undergo testing for it. She also worried that if she had it, she might pass it on to her children.

This disease causes severe neurological and psychiatric problems, and eventual death at around the same age as one's parent died of it -- usually in one's 40s or 50s. If a parent has the disease, each child has a 50% chance of inheriting it.

Woody Guthrie, the singer and songwriter, died of this illness. His children then had to debate whether they wanted to know if they, too, had the lethal mutation. His son, Arlo, for instance, decided not to find out. Many such offspring feel that to undergo this genetic test is to risk "getting a death sentence," i.e., while they may feel fine, they know they have a mutation that will kill them.

Robert Klitzman

The woman with whom I spoke was afraid to learn if she had this gene. But she wanted to make sure that her children did not get it.

Luckily, a relatively new procedure -- pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD -- allows doctors to test embryos before they are implanted into a woman's womb, to help ensure that certain gene mutations are not passed on. Using In Vitro Fertilization, sperm fertilize eggs outside the womb, creating embryos. When the embryos are a few days old, one cell is removed and can be tested for hundreds of genes.

This woman struggled with what to do. She feared she would be playing God. But she decided to undergo the procedure. The doctor told her that embryos without the mutation were implanted inside her. He did not tell her whether he had identified any embryos with the mutation. Thus, she was able to have a child free of the gene mutation that would cause Huntington's disease, tremendously relieving her and her husband of worries. She still does not know if she has the bad gene herself.

But this procedure is raising myriad complex ethical and social issues. It can eliminate gene mutations for untreatable diseases that kill infants and adults. But it can also be used to select embryos based on other genetic factors.

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Genetic testing = designer babies?

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Wham City Lecture Series: KEVIN BLACKISTONE on "Genetics", (Part 4)
Shot by Tom Kessler.

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Bacterial Genetics and Genomics
UEA lecture.

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Just the Info: Biology #flipclass Mendelian Genetics #bioHWHL
Our #flipclass introduction to Mendelian Genetics. Link for worksheet: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jwvw1zafkd9o6f/01%20Autosomal%20Practice.pdf.

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Duke University Health SystemDr. Victor J. Dzau, the current president and CEO of Duke University Health System

Dr. Victor J. Dzau, the current president and CEO of Duke University Health System and chancellor for health affairs at Duke University, has been appointed to a six-year term as the next president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), effective July 1, 2014. Dr. Dzau will take over the lead role from Dr. Harvey Fineberg, who served in the position for twelve years.

Dr. Dzau began his career in medicine as a cardiologist, having previously taught at Harvard Medical School and served as chair of the department of medicine. He also worked at Brigham and Womens Hospital as the director of research. His ongoing award-winning research has been key in the development of cardiovascular drugs, as well as techniques to repair tissue damage from heart attacks and heart disease using stem cell therapies.

Dr. Eugene Braunwald, often called the father of modern cardiology and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has known Dr. Dzau for more than 40 years and worked with him at many different stages of his career at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Partners Healthcare. In an interview Wednesday he called the upcoming IOM president a force of nature.

He is what I would call a talented, quadruple threat. A great physician, inspiring teacher, and a very creative scientist, said Dr. Braunwald, who trained Dzau when he was a resident at Brigham and Womens and continued to work with him on cardiovascular research when Dr. Dzau became chief resident, and then faculty at Harvard Medical School. The quadruple threat is that he also sees the larger picture. Hes interested in areas of medicine that most academic physicians have stayed away from. His work and ideas in global and community-based medicine have left an important heritage at each institution where hes worked.

After nearly a decade at Duke, Dr. Dzaus leadership has been credited with the launch of a number of innovative and global-focused medical institutions, including the Duke-National University of Signapore Graduate Medical School, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Institute for Health Innovation, Duke Cancer Institute, as well as the Duke Translational Medicine Institute.

Im deeply honored to become the next president of the IOM and recognize the critically important role that the IOM will have in improving the health of the nation at a time of extraordinary evolution in biomedical research and health care delivery, Dzau said in a press release from Duke University Health System. The explosion of new data resources, novel technologies and breathtaking research advances make this the most promising time in history for driving innovations that will improve health care delivery, outcomes and quality.

As the health sciences extension of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine is known for its leadership in advancing health sciences and objective medical research nationally as a nonprofit academic research organization. The outgoing IOM president, Dr. Harvey Fineberg (previously Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health) has lead the nonprofit for twelve years. His focus and research have centered around public health policy and an improvement in informed medical decision making.

This leaves the medical community wondering what Dr. Dzau will bring to the Institute.

As a former chairman of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), Dr. Dzau advocated for the innovative transition of academic medical and health centers into institutions that can survive the rapid transitions in the health care industry. In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Dzau discusses the uncertain future of academic medical centers. He argues that industry pressures and cost restraints from the Affordable Care Act limit the research and education-based missions of teaching hospitals.

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Freeport, The Bahamas (PRWEB) February 21, 2014

Okyanos Heart Institute, whose mission it is to bring a new standard of care and a better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using adult stem cell therapy, and Cytori Therapeutics have announced that they have established a ten year supply agreement for the Celution System family of products to be utilized by the Okyanos Heart Institute.

Cytoris Celution system is a CE-marked device that is compliant with the European Medical Device Directive, has a well established safety record and will be used by Okyanos to treat patients with coronary artery disease and other ischemic conditions, stated Matthew Feshbach, CEO and co-founder of Okyanos. In a small but rigorous double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, strong signals of efficacy from the placement of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) in the heart were reported, added Feshbach.

For Cytori, this agreement represents our expanding customer base and an important new customer focused on utilizing the global standard CelutionTM System to process ADRCs to treat patients, stated Christopher Calhoun, CEO of Cytori.

The Bahamas Parliament passed stem cell legislation and regulations in August, 2013, which focus on patient safety and require scientific and clinical trial data supporting the treatment being provided. Okyanos is building out a state-of-the-art cath lab capable of treating more than 1,000 patients per year in Freeport, The Bahamas.

ABOUT OKYANOS HEART INSTITUTE: (Oh key AH nos) Based in Freeport, The Bahamas, Okyanos Heart Institutes mission is to bring a new standard of care and a better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using cardiac stem cell therapy. Okyanos adheres to U.S. surgical center standards and is led by Chief Medical Officer Howard T. Walpole Jr., M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C., F.S.C.A.I. Okyanos Treatment utilizes a unique blend of stem and regenerative cells derived from ones own adipose (fat) tissue. The cells, when placed into the heart via a minimally-invasive procedure, can stimulate the growth of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. Angiogenesis facilitates blood flow in the heart, which supports intake and use of oxygen (as demonstrated in rigorous clinical trials such as the PRECISE trial). The literary name Okyanos, the Greek god of rivers, symbolizes restoration of blood flow.

Okyanos LinkedIn Page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/okyanos-heart-institute

Okyanos Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OKYANOS

Okyanos Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/#!/OkyanosHeart

Okyanos Google+ Page: https://plus.google.com/+Okyanos/posts

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Current ratings for: How Bone-Marrow Stem Cells Hold Their 'Breath' In Low-Oxygen Environments

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In a study published in the September issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, investigators found that the low-oxygen microenvironments that ordinarily deprive and starve other kinds of cells are tolerated by a type of stem cell used as the primary material for bone-marrow transplantation.

These cells, called hematopoietic stem cells, are found in marrow and can replicate quickly. Once transplanted, they eventually develop into blood and other types of cells. Their ability to self-renew before they transform into blood forms the basis of their usefulness for bone-marrow transplants.

"The cells convert glucose, or sugars, into energy rather than using oxygen to release energy," said Dr. Hesham Sadek, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study "They use glycolysis instead of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to meet their energy demands."

Dr. Sadek and his team sought to understand how hematopoietic cells regulate their metabolism in spite of their inhospitable environment and found the cells expressed a certain gene in a way that enabled them to function without using oxygen.

Understanding more about the function of stem cells and their ability to self renew might lead to new avenues of encouraging the cells to grow in large numbers outside the body, Dr. Sadek said. For example, a potential bone-marrow donor's cells could be incubated and grown indefinitely, providing stem cells to be used in multiple transplant therapies.

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21 Feb 2014 20:33

Staffordshire toddler has life-saving bone marrow transplant after match is finally found

Parents of a brave toddler battling leukaemia hailed a stem-cell donor their hero as their daughter received a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

Vicky and Yaser Martini, from Essington, Staffordshire, launched a huge internet campaign to find a match for 18-month-old Margot after she was diagnosed with two types of the cancer last October.

An estimated 40,000 people have requested donor packs from charity Delete Blood Cancer since the appeal, which has been backed by celebrities Stephen Fry, Gary Barlow and former Wolves hero Steve Bull.

Margot underwent a two-hour bone marrow transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London on Friday after a stem cell donor match, said to be from outside the UK, was confirmed earlier this month.

The toddler napped contentedly in her pram as the stem cells were administered via a Hickman line in her chest said dad Yaser.

This young chap has done this selfless and benevolent thing. Frankly, he is my hero, he added.

I am watching it as it happens. It is quite something.

Margot Martini, with her brothers Rufus and Oscar, her dad Yaser and mum Vicky

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