Human Health and Science » Laboratory

Alcohol mixed with diet drinks may increase intoxication more than alcohol and regular drinks

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:14:51 +0000

Alcohol mixed with diet drinks may increase intoxication more than alcohol and regular drinks : Human Health & Science

Feb. 5, 2013 An individual’s breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) following alcohol intake is influenced by several factors, including food. While it is known that food delays the stomach emptying, thus reducing BrAC, only recently has the role of nonalcoholic drink mixers used with alcohol been explored as a factor influencing BrAC. A new comparison of BrACs of alcohol consumed with an artificial sweetener versus alcohol consumed with a sugared beverage has found that mixing alcohol with a diet soft drink can result in a higher BrAC.

Results will be published in the April 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

“More attention needs to be paid to how alcohol is being consumed in the ‘real world,’” said Cecile A. Marczinski, assistant professor of psychology at Northern Kentucky University. She referenced an earlier field study of bar patrons. “Researchers found that, one, individuals who reported consuming alcohol with diet beverages had the highest BrACs, as compared to all other bar patrons, and two, that women tended to be more frequent consumers of diet mixers with their alcohol. These good naturalistic observations give researchers many ideas to explore in a controlled laboratory setting.”

Dennis L. Thombs, professor and chair of the department of behavioral and community health at UNT Health Science Center, was the author of the field study referenced by Marczinski. “Research on artificially sweetened drink mixers is new,” he said. “I believe this might be only the third study published to date on this issue, and the findings are quite consistent with ours.”

“I am really interested in drinking and driving as a problem, so I wanted to know if the simple choice of mixer could be the factor that puts a person above or below the legal limit,” added Marczinski. “I also wanted to determine if any BrAC difference would be something that subjects would notice, since this has implications for safe drinking practices, including decisions to drive.”

Study authors had 16 participants (8 females, 8 males) attend three sessions where they received one of three doses — 1.97 ml/kg vodka mixed with 3.94 ml/kg Squirt, 1.97 ml/kg vodka mixed with 3.94 ml/kg diet Squirt, and a placebo beverage — in random order. The participants’ BrACs were recorded, as well as their self-reported ratings of subjective intoxication, fatigue, impairment, and willingness to drive. Their objective performance was assessed using a cued go/no-go reaction time task.

“Alcohol consumed with a diet mixer results in higher BrACs as compared to the same amount of alcohol consumed with a sugar-sweetened mixer,” said Marczinski. “The subjects were unaware of this difference, as measured by various subjective ratings including feelings of intoxication, impairment, and willingness to drive. Moreover, their behavior was more impaired when subjects consumed the diet mixer.”

When asked why mixing alcohol with a diet drink appears to elevate BrACs, Thombs explained that the stomach seems to treat sugar-sweetened beverages like food, which delays the stomach from emptying. “The best way to think about these effects is that sugar-sweetened alcohol mixers slow down the absorption of alcohol into bloodstream,” he said. “Artificially sweetened alcohol mixers do not really elevate alcohol intoxication. Rather, the lack of sugar simply allows the rate of alcohol absorption to occur without hindrance.”

Both Marczinski and Thombs were concerned about the risk that diet mixers can pose for alcohol-impaired driving. “In this study, subjects felt the same whether they drank the diet or regular mixed alcoholic beverage,” said Marczinski. “However, they were above the limit of .08 when they consumed the diet mixer, and below it when they drank the regular mixed beverage. Choices to drink and drive, or engage in any other risky behavior, often depend on how people feel, rather than some objective measurement of impairment. Now alcohol researchers who are interested in prevention have something new to consider when developing or modifying intervention programs.”

Thombs agreed. “Research on alcohol mixers is critically important for improving serving practices in on-premise drinking establishments,” he said. “About one-half of all drinking and driving incidents are estimated to occur in persons leaving these settings. This type of research can provide guidance to policy-makers interested in improving the safety of bars and nightclubs.”

“We have an obesity crisis in this country,” added Marczinski. “As such, individuals tend to be conscious about how many calories they are consuming, and they might think that mixing alcohol with diet drinks is a healthy choice. Yet the average reader needs to know that while mixing alcohol with a diet beverage mixer may limit the amount of calories being consumed, higher BrACs are a much more significant health risk than a few extra calories.”

“In natural drinking settings, such as bars and nightclubs, young women are significantly more likely than young men to order drinks mixed with diet cola,” said Thombs. “I suspect this occurs because young women tend to be more weight conscious than young men. Thus, from a public health perspective, artificially sweetened alcohol mixers may place young women at greater risk for a range of problems associated with acute alcohol intoxication.”

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Cecile A. Marczinski, Mark T. Fillmore. Letter to the Editor in Response to The Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drinks Debate: Masking the Facts!. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/acer.12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Green tea and red wine extracts interrupt Alzheimer’s disease pathway in cells

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:08:48 +0000

Green tea and red wine extracts interrupt Alzheimer’s disease pathway in cells : Human Health & Science

Feb. 5, 2013 Natural chemicals found in green tea and red wine may disrupt a key step of the Alzheimer’s disease pathway, according to new research from the University of Leeds.

In early-stage laboratory experiments, the researchers identified the process which allows harmful clumps of protein to latch on to brain cells, causing them to die. They were able to interrupt this pathway using the purified extracts of EGCG from green tea and resveratrol from red wine.

The findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, offer potential new targets for developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which affects some 800,000 people in the UK alone, and for which there is currently no cure.

“This is an important step in increasing our understanding of the cause and progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” says lead researcher Professor Nigel Hooper of the University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences. “It’s a misconception that Alzheimer’s is a natural part of aging; it’s a disease that we believe can ultimately be cured through finding new opportunities for drug targets like this.”

Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by a distinct build-up of amyloid protein in the brain, which clumps together to form toxic, sticky balls of varying shapes. These amyloid balls latch on to the surface of nerve cells in the brain by attaching to proteins on the cell surface called prions, causing the nerve cells to malfunction and eventually die.

“We wanted to investigate whether the precise shape of the amyloid balls is essential for them to attach to the prion receptors, like the way a baseball fits snugly into its glove,” says co-author Dr Jo Rushworth. “And if so, we wanted to see if we could prevent the amyloid balls binding to prion by altering their shape, as this would stop the cells from dying.”

The team formed amyloid balls in a test tube and added them to human and animal brain cells. Professor Hooper said: “When we added the extracts from red wine and green tea, which recent research has shown to re-shape amyloid proteins, the amyloid balls no longer harmed the nerve cells. We saw that this was because their shape was distorted, so they could no longer bind to prion and disrupt cell function.

“We also showed, for the first time, that when amyloid balls stick to prion, it triggers the production of even more amyloid, in a deadly vicious cycle,” he added.

Professor Hooper says that the team’s next steps are to understand exactly how the amyloid-prion interaction kills off neurons.

“I’m certain that this will increase our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease even further, with the potential to reveal yet more drug targets,” he said.

Dr Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity, which part-funded the study, said: “Understanding the causes of Alzheimer’s is vital if we are to find a way of stopping the disease in its tracks. While these early-stage results should not be a signal for people to stock up on green tea and red wine, they could provide an important new lead in the search for new and effective treatments. With half a million people affected by Alzheimer’s in the UK, we urgently need treatments that can halt the disease — that means it’s crucial to invest in research to take results like these from the lab bench to the clinic.”

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Leeds, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Jo V. Rushworth, Heledd H. Griffiths, Nicole T. Watt and Nigel M. Hooper. Prion protein-mediated neurotoxity of amyloid-β oligomers requires lipid rafts and the transmembrane LRP1. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2013 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M112.400358

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Automated breast density test identifies women at high cancer risk

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:43:48 +0000

Automated breast density test identifies women at high cancer risk : Human Health & Science

Feb. 1, 2013 Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have developed a novel computer algorithm to easily quantify a major risk factor for breast cancer based on analysis of a screening mammogram. Increased levels of mammographic breast density have been shown in multiple studies to be correlated with elevated risk of breast cancer, but the approach to quantifying it has been limited to the laboratory setting where measurement requires highly skilled technicians. This new discovery opens the door for translation to the clinic where it can be used to identify high-risk women for tailored treatment.

“We recently developed an automated method to estimate mammographic breast density that assesses the variation in grayscale values in mammograms,” explained study lead author J. Heine, Ph.D., associate member of the Cancer Epidemiology Program and Cancer Imaging and Metabolism Department at Moffitt.

According to the authors, mammographic breast density, or the proportion of fibroglandular tissue pictured on the mammogram, is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Women with high mammographic breast density have a greater risk of developing breast cancer. However, mammographic breast density has not been used in clinical settings for risk assessments due in large part to the lack of an automated and standardized measurement.

Using their new method, the researchers compared the accuracy and reliability of their measurements of variation in breast density with the performance of tests that use the degree of dense breast tissue in a mammogram to assess breast cancer risk. A study describing their novel method and its utility was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

According to Heine, they found that the variation measure was a “viable, automated mammographic density measure that is consistent across film and digital imaging platforms” and “may be useful in the clinical setting for risk assessment.”

In addition, they found that the association between variation and the risk of breast cancer was strong for mammograms carried out four years prior to diagnosis. The automated method also made clearer distinctions between breast cancer case subjects and controls who did not have breast cancer.

While many clinicians use the risk predictive value of percent of breast density seen on the mammogram as the amount or proportion of bright tissue in an image, Heine and his co-authors found the variation of dense tissue is also relevant to breast cancer, suggesting a relationship between percent of breast density and variation in breast density.

“The strengths of this study include the evaluation and validation of a novel breast density measure across three well-designed epidemiological studies,” said study co-author Thomas A. Sellers, Ph.D., M.P.H., center director of Moffitt. “Because we were able to compare this novel breast density measure with an established percent density measure that was available four years before diagnosis, we were allowed to show that variation was present for at least four years, and in some cases, more than eight years. Offering clinicians and patients the advantage of more timely, reliable and accurate risk could open the door for interventions to lower risk and, hopefully, prevent the disease from occurring.”

The researchers concluded that the simplicity of the measure, and the ability to standardize and automate the measure across sites, could hold promise for clinicians and their patients if the measurements were incorporated into clinical risk assessment practices.

This work was supported with grants by the United States Department of Defense (DAMD 17-00-1-0331) and National Cancer Institute (R01 CA 128931; R01 CA 128931Z1; R01 CA 114491; R01 CA 122340; R01 CA97396 and P50 CA116201).

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Moffitt Cancer Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

J. J. Heine, C. G. Scott, T. A. Sellers, K. R. Brandt, D. J. Serie, F.-F. Wu, M. J. Morton, B. A. Schueler, F. J. Couch, J. E. Olson, V. S. Pankratz, C. M. Vachon. A Novel Automated Mammographic Density Measure and Breast * Cancer Risk. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2012; 104 (13): 1028 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djs254

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Excess sugar linked to cancer

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:43:29 +0000

Excess sugar linked to cancer : Human Health & Science

Feb. 1, 2013 Sugars are needed to provide us with energy and in moderate amounts contribute to our well-being. Sustained high levels of sugars, as is found in diabetics, damages our cells and now is shown that can also increase our chance to get cancer: The dose makes the poison as Paracelsus said.

It is well known that obesity is a leading cause of diabetes, a disease where the body fails to control blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels are characteristic in obesity and diabetes. What is less well known is that diabetes and obesity are also linked to an increase in cancer risk. That is, the diabetic population has up to double chances to suffer pancreatic or colon cancer among others, according to well sustained epidemiological studies. With obesity in British and Spanish children reaching 16%, the highest in Europe, this epidemic has major health implications. How obesity or diabetes increase cancer risk has been a major health issue.

Scientists led by Dr. Custodia Garcia-Jimenez at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid have uncovered a key mechanism that links obesity and diabetes with cancer: high sugar levels, which increase activity of a gene widely implicated in cancer progression.

Dr Garcia Jimenez’s laboratory was studying how cells in the intestine respond to sugars and signal to the pancreas to release insulin, the key hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Sugars in the intestine trigger cells to release a hormone called GIP that enhances insulin release by the pancreas.

In a study published in Molecular Cell, Dr Garcia Jimenez’s team showed that the ability of the intestinal cells to secrete GIP is controlled by a protein called β-catenin, and that the activity of β-catenin is strictly dependent on sugar levels.

Increased activity of β-catenin is known to be a major factor in the development of many cancers and can make normal cells immortal, a key step in early stages of cancer progression. The study demonstrates that high (but not normal) sugar levels induce nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and leads to cell proliferation. The changes induced on β-catenin, the molecules involved and the diversity of cancer cells susceptible to these changes are identified.

Dr. Custodia García said “We were surprised to realize that changes in our metabolism caused by dietary sugar impact on our cancer risk. We are now investigating what other dietary components may influence our cancer risk. Changing diet is one of easiest prevention strategies that can potentially save a lot of suffering and money.”

Colin Goding, Professor of Oncology at the University of Oxford, UK said ‘Previously we were unsure about how increased blood sugar found in diabetes and obesity could increase cancer risk. This study identifies a key molecular mechanism through which high blood glucose would predispose to cancer. It opens the way for potential novel therapies aimed at reducing cancer risk in the obese and diabetic populations.’

Estimations published by the World Health Organisation (WHO): Obesity predisposes to diabetes and its prevalence is doubling every 20 years worldwide. More than 1 in 10 adults worldwide (12%) are obese (BMI>30). 1 in 6 children in UK and Spain suffer obesity.

Diabetes caused 4.6 million deaths in 2011, more than 2 deaths per hour in Spain, more in USA. Worldwide, 1 in 10 adults (10%) suffered from diabetes in 2010 and more than one-third of individuals with diabetes are unaware they suffer from the disease. The national cost of diabetes or cancer is in the order of billions of pounds or euros in Spain or England.

More than half (63%) of premature deaths worldwide are due to non communicable diseases (NCD) of which cancer and diabetes are among the 4 causes more frequent. At least 1 in 3 of the main cancers (27-39%) can be prevented by improving diet, physical activity and body composition.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by madrimasd, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Needless abdominal CT scans can be avoided in children, study says

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:38:45 +0000

Needless abdominal CT scans can be avoided in children, study says : Human Health & Science

Feb. 1, 2013 A study of more than 12,000 children from emergency departments throughout the country in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) has identified seven factors that can help physicians determine the need for a computed tomography (CT) scan following blunt trauma to the abdomen. Because CT scans pose radiation hazards for youngsters, the findings may enable doctors to determine which children do not need to be exposed to such tests after a traumatic injury.

The study is online first in advance of an upcoming issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

“CT scans involve significant radiation risk, especially for children, who are more vulnerable than adults to radiation’s effects,” said principal investigator and lead author of the study James Holmes, a professor of emergency medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. “We have now identified a population of pediatric patients that does not typically benefit from a CT scan, which is an important step in reducing radiation exposure.”

The prospective study involved children who arrived at emergency departments in the PECARN network after blunt trauma to their torsos, such as sustained from a car or bicycle crash, a fall or an assault. A variety of factors related to the children’s histories and clinical presentations were evaluated. Among these, seven were identified by statistical analysis to correlate with risk for involving a clinically important injury. The factors included evidence of trauma on the abdomen or chest (such as seat-belt marks), neurological changes, abdominal pain or tenderness, abnormal breath sounds and vomiting.

Children who had none of the factors when evaluated in the emergency department had only a 0.1 percent chance of having an abdominal injury that required acute intervention. For the great majority of these cases, therefore, a CT scan would not likely provide additional useful information. According to the authors, the risk of developing a future cancer from radiation exposure from a CT scan in this situation (i.e., when lacking all seven factors) outweighs the risk of having a significant medical problem from the abdominal injury.

The authors stated that the prediction rule is intended only to help “rule out” the need for CT for children when none of the seven factors is present. However, the rule does not mandate a CT solely based on any one of the factors being present. If the prediction rule were used in that way, CT usage would actually increase over current levels. The authors emphasized that clinical judgment must play an important role in determining whether a CT is needed in each case. Extending the period of observation in the emergency department, and using findings from laboratory tests and ultrasonography, can also contribute to decision-making in cases of abdominal trauma.

According to Holmes, the prediction rule must be tested in another clinical trial designed specifically to evaluate its validity before being generally adopted. He expects that this will be carried out in the near future.

Another related ongoing study at UC Davis Medical Center is investigating the role of ultrasonography in the evaluation of abdominal trauma in children, and whether increasing its usage can lead to further reduction of the need for CT scans.

This study also was conducted through PECARN, a network of pediatric emergency departments throughout the United States that enables researchers to gather enough data to perform significant studies on critical issues in pediatric emergency medicine. PECARN studies have previously led to new standards of care for infants or children presenting with head trauma, diabetic crisis and infections.

“Because of PECARN, we are uniquely positioned to perform large studies that can provide important information,” said Nathan Kuppermann, senior investigator of the study, who is professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. “The results of such studies are making emergency medicine decision-making more of a science and leading to better and safer outcomes for children.”

Kuppermann is founding chair of PECARN and leads one of the network’s research nodes, which is centered at UC Davis Medical Center and includes the children’s hospitals of the University of Utah and University of Pennsylvania.

Other UC Davis Medical Center investigators involved in the study are Peter Sokolove, professor of emergency medicine, David Wisner, professor of surgery, and Sandra Wootton-Gorges, professor and medical director of radiology at the ShrinersHospital for Children Northern California. Other authors were from emergency departments in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. A complete listing of the authors and their affiliations can be found in the article.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California – Davis Health System.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

James F. Holmes, Kathleen Lillis, David Monroe, Dominic Borgialli, Benjamin T. Kerrey, Prashant Mahajan, Kathleen Adelgais, Angela M. Ellison, Kenneth Yen, Shireen Atabaki, Jay Menaker, Bema Bonsu, Kimberly S. Quayle, Madelyn Garcia, Alexander Rogers, Stephen Blumberg, Lois Lee, Michael Tunik, Joshua Kooistra, Maria Kwok, Lawrence J. Cook, J. Michael Dean, Peter E. Sokolove, David H. Wisner, Peter Ehrlich, Arthur Cooper, Peter S. Dayan, Sandra Wootton-Gorges, Nathan Kuppermann. Identifying Children at Very Low Risk of Clinically Important Blunt Abdominal Injuries. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.11.009

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Placental blood flow can influence malaria during pregnancy

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:39:07 +0000

Placental blood flow can influence malaria during pregnancy : Human Health & Science

Jan. 31, 2013 Malaria in pregnancy causes a range of adverse effects, including abortions, stillbirths, premature delivery and low infant birth weight. Many of these effects are thought to derive from a placental inflammatory response resulting from interaction of infected red blood cells with the placental tissue. In a study published in the latest issue of the journal PLOS Pathogen, a researchers’ team led by Carlos Penha-Gonçalves at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Portugal, observed, for the first time, the mouse placental circulation and showed how it can influence the malaria parasite behavior and infection. Their results indicate a higher accumulation of parasites in placental regions with low blood flow, being these areas more prone to an inflammatory response.

In humans, red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, accumulate in the placenta via interaction with a molecule expressed on the placental tissue — a process called sequestration. In response to this event, placental cells secrete substances that recruit inflammatory cells leading to placental damage and negatively impacting fetal growth. Until now placental circulation has not been linked to the infected red blood cell sequestration. In fact, it is not trivial to investigate this hypothesis in human placenta, due to technical constraints

Luciana Moraes, an investigator of Carlos Penha-Gonçalves laboratory, has provided new insights to this issue by developing an experimental system that allowed the live observation of the blood flow in the mouse placenta. Mating two strains of mice, one of them with cells stained with a colorful marker, Luciana was able to identify the placental tissue (fetus origin). In collaboration with Carlos Tadokoro’s laboratory at the IGC, the investigators developed a microscopy technique that allowed the observation of the placenta in a living mouse. Immediately before exposure to the microscope the mouse was injected with a fluorescent substance that labels the blood. With this set-up it was possible to distinguish maternal blood and placental tissue. The results showed for the first time how the circulation occurs in the placenta, and that the blood flows with different speeds in different regions of the placenta.

Next, the investigators infected red blood cells with the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei, stained with a different color, and observed — live — the behavior of the parasite inside the placenta. They observed that in the areas with higher blood flow, the parasite never stops moving and does not interact with the placental tissue. The accumulation of parasite just occurs in areas of low or absence of flow. In these regions, placental macrophages engulf the infected red blood cells to attempt parasite clearance. Their observations also suggest that movements of the placental tissue may control the blood flow.

Luciana Moraes says: “Our results indicate that binding of infected red blood cells to a molecule expressed in the placenta may not be the only mechanism of parasite sequestration. The dynamics of placental circulation may also play an important role, and should be considered when designing therapeutics.”

Carlos Penha-Gonçalves adds: “This is the first study done that shows live how placental blood circulation impacts on the local infection by the malaria parasite. It would be interesting and worthwhile to explore if a similar process occurs in the placenta of humans, taking in consideration that microcirculation in human placenta is quite different.”

This study was done in collaboration with University of Vigo, Spain, and was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Luciana Vieira de Moraes, Carlos Eduardo Tadokoro, Iván Gómez-Conde, David N. Olivieri, Carlos Penha-Gonçalves. Intravital Placenta Imaging Reveals Microcirculatory Dynamics Impact on Sequestration and Phagocytosis of Plasmodium-Infected Erythrocytes. PLoS Pathogens, 2013; 9 (1): e1003154 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003154

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Engineered oncolytic herpes virus inhibits ovarian and breast cancer metastases

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:28:26 +0000

Engineered oncolytic herpes virus inhibits ovarian and breast cancer metastases : Human Health & Science

Jan. 31, 2013 A genetically reprogrammed Herpes simplex virus (HSV) can cure metastatic diffusion of human cancer cells in the abdomen of laboratory mice, according to a new study published January 31 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens. The paper reports on the collaborative research from scientists at the at the University of Bologna and specifically describes that the HSV converted into a therapeutic anticancer agent attacks breast and ovarian cancer metastases.

Past decades have witnessed significant progress in the ability to treat numerous cancers by means of surgery, chemo- and radio-therapy, or combinations thereof. However, many treatments prolong life for a short time only, or are associated with a poor quality of life.

Lead investigator Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume and colleagues re-engineered the entry apparatus of a candidate oncolytic herpesvirus. The reprogrammed virus no longer infects the cells usually targeted by the wild-type virus, nor does it cause herpes-related pathologies. Rather, it acts as a specific weapon against tumor cells that express the HER-2 oncogene.

“Numerous laboratories worldwide are using viruses as more specific weapons against cancer cells, called oncolytic viruses,” says Campadelli-Fiume, Professor of Microbiology and Virology. “Safety concerns prevailed so far, and all oncolytic herpesviruses now in clinical trials are debilitated viruses, effective only against a fraction of tumors. We were the first to obtain a herpes virus reprogrammed to enter HER-2-positive tumor cells, unable to infect any other cell, yet preserves the full-blown killing capacity of the wild-type HSV.”

Additionally, the laboratory of Pier-Luigi Lollini, Patrizia Nanni and Carla De Giovanni in collaboration with researchers at the Rizzoli Institute, established the new model of human cancer metastases in mice that was used to demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy of the reprogrammed virus.

The positive results obtained in the treatment of experimental metastasis hold the promise that the newly retargeted oncolytic HSV described in PLOS Pathogens is a good candidate to become a novel type of cancer treatment, and represents a key step forward in the path to clinical trials for late stage human breast and ovarian cancers.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Patrizia Nanni, Valentina Gatta, Laura Menotti, Carla De Giovanni, Marianna Ianzano, Arianna Palladini, Valentina Grosso, Massimiliano Dall’Ora, Stefania Croci, Giordano Nicoletti, Lorena Landuzzi, Manuela Iezzi, Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume, Pier-Luigi Lollini. Preclinical Therapy of Disseminated HER-2 Ovarian and Breast Carcinomas with a HER-2-Retargeted Oncolytic Herpesvirus. PLoS Pathogens, 2013; 9 (1): e1003155 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003155

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S.

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:29:09 +0000

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S. : Human Health & Science

Jan. 31, 2013 Medical research is vital to the advancement of health care, but many medical research studies have too few people who participate. A new study from the University of Michigan takes an in-depth look at public participation in medical research across the United States.

Through a unique, nationally representative survey of 2,150 households in 2011, University of Michigan researchers found that only 11% of adults and 5% of children had ever participated in medical research. The study was published in January in Clinical and Translational Science.

About 11 percent of adults of all ages equals about 20 million research participants and 5 percent of children equals about 3 million, says the study’s lead author Matthew Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., an associate professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

“Our study indicates that public awareness of opportunities, and the match of research needs with potential participant characteristics, potentially limit enrollment,” says Davis, who is also associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

“Researchers and institutions need to spread the word more effectively, to help people know about research opportunities that are a good fit for them,” says Davis. “When institutions reach out to communities to hear and understand their needs, and then respond with resources, ideas and opportunities, that’s what we call engagement in research.

“When research institutions engage effectively with the public, that’s when the public can benefit in tremendous ways from the research to which they contribute,” says Davis.

Davis and his colleagues found that 64% of adults said they were aware of opportunities to participate in medical research, while only 12% of parents said they were aware of opportunities for their children to participate.

According to the study, race/ethnicity was not related to whether adults or children had participated or were aware of research opportunities, says the study’s senior author Deb Gipson, M.D., M.S., associate professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases. This is quite important as health care needs to be effective for all of our citizens.

The National Institutes of Health by establishing its newest institute, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), has made considerable investment in bringing new medical ideas from the research laboratory into healthcare — a process that is called translational research. A central part of that investment has been through Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) provided to select research centers across the country, says Gipson.

As a component of their mission, CTSA sites are charged with establishing community engagement programs through which the centers can establish mechanisms for bi-directional communication about various research needs and opportunities as well as invite members of the public to participate in clinical and translational science initiatives.

“We hope this study can help advance medical research by highlighting opportunities to improve public engagement ,” Gipson says.

Advances in science and medical care depend on public participation in medical research, says Thomas P. Shanley, M.D., a co-author of the study and director of the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research that houses the CTSA awarded to the University of Michigan. The institute, known as MICHR, leads the university-wide effort in translational research and will be launching an enhanced version of a research participant portal, UMClinicalStudies.org, this coming spring.

“Researchers are constantly challenged to reach out to and recruit adults and children to participate in studies that can change the way we treat diseases. We hope this study sheds light on new ways to address this challenge and encourage more participation in the science that can change and ultimately improve health outcomes, in our communities as well as around the globe,” Shanley says.

Additional authors: All of the University of Michigan: Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H.; Amy T. Butchart, M.P.H.; Dianne C. Singer, M.P.H.

Funding: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, formerly known as the National Center for Research Resources, of the National Institutes of Health.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Matthew M. Davis, Sarah J. Clark, Amy T. Butchart, Dianne C. Singer, Thomas P. Shanley, Debbie S. Gipson. Public Participation in, and Awareness about, Medical Research Opportunities in the Era of Clinical and Translational Research. Clinical and Translational Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cts.12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S.

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:23:51 +0000

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S. : Human Health & Science

“When research institutions engage effectively with the public, that’s when the public can benefit in tremendous ways from the research to which they contribute,” says Davis.

“We hope this study can help advance medical research by highlighting opportunities to improve public engagement ,” Gipson says.

Additional authors: All of the University of Michigan: Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H.; Amy T. Butchart, M.P.H.; Dianne C. Singer, M.P.H.

Funding: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, formerly known as the National Center for Research Resources, of the National Institutes of Health.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Matthew M. Davis, Sarah J. Clark, Amy T. Butchart, Dianne C. Singer, Thomas P. Shanley, Debbie S. Gipson. Public Participation in, and Awareness about, Medical Research Opportunities in the Era of Clinical and Translational Research. Clinical and Translational Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cts.12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S.

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:18:33 +0000

Just 11 percent of adults, 5 percent of children participate in medical research in U.S. : Human Health & Science

“When research institutions engage effectively with the public, that’s when the public can benefit in tremendous ways from the research to which they contribute,” says Davis.

“We hope this study can help advance medical research by highlighting opportunities to improve public engagement ,” Gipson says.

Additional authors: All of the University of Michigan: Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H.; Amy T. Butchart, M.P.H.; Dianne C. Singer, M.P.H.

Funding: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, formerly known as the National Center for Research Resources, of the National Institutes of Health.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Matthew M. Davis, Sarah J. Clark, Amy T. Butchart, Dianne C. Singer, Thomas P. Shanley, Debbie S. Gipson. Public Participation in, and Awareness about, Medical Research Opportunities in the Era of Clinical and Translational Research. Clinical and Translational Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cts.12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.