GBP Health / Biotech News 09-16-2009

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Source - EurekAlert – Biology:

Public Release: 16-Sep-2009
Cell Host & Microbe
How HIV cripples immune cells
In order to be able to ward off disease pathogens, immune cells must be mobile and be able to establish contact with each other. The working group around Professor Dr. Oliver Fackler in the Virology Department of the Hygiene Institute of the Heidelberg University Hospital has discovered a mechanism in an animal model revealing how HIV, the AIDS pathogen, cripples immune cells: Cell mobility is inhibited by the HIV Nef protein.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Oliver T. Fackler
Oliver_Fackler@med.uni-heidelberg.de
062-215-61322
University Hospital Heidelberg

Public Release: 16-Sep-2009
Nature
Yale team finds mechanism that constructs key brain structure
Yale University researchers have found a molecular mechanism that allows the proper mixing of neurons during the formation of columns essential for the operation of the cerebral cortex, they report in the Sept. 16 online issue of the journal Nature.
National Institutes of Health, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience
Contact: Bill Hathaway
william.hathaway@yale.edu
203-432-1322
Yale University

Public Release: 15-Sep-2009
American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Treating bone loss in breast cancer survivors
Osteoporosis is a growing concern among breast cancer survivors and their doctors, because certain cancer drugs can cause bone loss. A new study has found that bone loss can be halted with a comprehensive regimen that includes both osteoporosis drugs and treatments that target secondary causes of bone loss.
Contact: Jim Ritter
jritter@lumc.edu
708-216-2445
Loyola University Health System

Public Release: 15-Sep-2009
URI researcher trips amputees in effort to develop improved prosthetic legs
A URI engineer has been tripping amputees in a laboratory study that seeks to improve the safety of prosthetic legs by developing a reliable and responsive stumble detection system.
Contact: Todd McLeish
tmcleish@uri.edu
401-874-7892
University of Rhode Island

Public Release: 15-Sep-2009
FASEB Journal
UT scientists discover link between protein and lung disease
In a development that could lead to a novel approach to the treatment of a devastating lung disease, biochemists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston report they are the first to link the osteopontin protein to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Findings appear online and will be in the January 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal, the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Research Resources
Contact: Robert Cahill
Robert.Cahill@uth.tmc.edu
713-500-3030
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Public Release: 15-Sep-2009
Space-related radiation research could help reduce fractures in cancer survivors
A research project looking for ways to reduce bone loss in astronauts may yield methods of improving the bone health of cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment. The scientists are seeking to understand radiation-induced bone loss and to determine which treatments can be used to reduce that loss and lower the risk of fractures. The results could be beneficial to cancer patients, especially those who receive radiation therapy in the pelvic region.
National Space Biomedical Research Institute
Contact: Brad Thomas
rbthomas@bcm.edu
713-798-7595
National Space Biomedical Research Institute

Public Release: 14-Sep-2009
Journal of Controlled Release
New 'adjuvant' could hold future of vaccine development
Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a new "adjuvant" that could allow the creation of important new vaccines, possibly become a universal vaccine carrier and help medical experts tackle many diseases more effectively.
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Contact: Zhengrong Cui
zhengrong.cui@oregonstate.edu
541-737-3255
Oregon State University


Source - Science Daily:
Please note: Due to the format restrictions of Science Daily articles, you must click on the URL (web address) below the article summary, rather than the article title.


Diabetes Drug Kills Cancer Stem Cells In Combination Treatment In Mice
September 16, 2009 — In tumors formed by human breast cancer cells in mice, a diabetes drug was more effective than chemotherapy alone in prolonging remission. Mice appeared tumor-free for the two months after treatment ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914110530.htm

Comprehensive Cardiac CT Scan May Give Clearer Picture Of Significant Heart Disease
September 16, 2009 — Researchers have developed a computed-tomography-based protocol that identifies both narrowing of coronary arteries and areas of myocardial ischemia -- restricted blood flow to heart muscle tissue -- ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915113536.htm

Anticancer Nanotech: Protein Can Be Used To Carry Radioactive Isotopes To Cancerous Tumor
September 16, 2009 — Tiny particles of albumin, a protein found in the blood, can be used to carry radioactive isotopes to the site of a cancerous tumor in the body and so avoid many of the side-effects of conventional ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090916092651.htm

Reactive Oxygen's Role In Metastasis
September 15, 2009 — Researchers have discovered that reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, play a key role in forming invadopodia, cellular protrusions implicated in cancer cell migration ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090916090911.htm

Laser Processes Promise Better Artificial Joints, Arterial Stents
September 15, 2009 — Researchers are developing technologies that use lasers to create arterial stents and longer-lasting medical implants that could be manufactured 10 times faster and also less expensively than is now ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915113540.htm

Remodeling Tumor Vasculature: A New Approach To Therapy
September 15, 2009 — Life-threatening tumors are fed by the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels within them that allows them to thrive – and to halt disease-fighting cells in their tracks. Reversing or ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915101641.htm

Master Gene That Switches On Disease-fighting Cells Identified By Scientists
September 14, 2009 — The master gene that causes blood stem cells to turn into disease-fighting "natural killer" immune cells has been identified. The discovery could one day help scientists boost the body's production ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090913134034.htm

How Stem Cells Make Skin
September 14, 2009 — Scientists have discovered two proteins that control when and how stem cells switch to being skin cells. The findings shed light on the basic mechanisms involved not only in formation of skin, but ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090913134028.htm

New Marker For Alzheimer's Discovered
September 14, 2009 — Researchers have discovered a previously unknown substance in spinal fluid that can be used to diagnose Alzheimer's ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914131906.htm

Early Results From Clinical Trials Of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccines In Healthy Adults
September 13, 2009 — Encouraging reports are now emerging from various clinical trials of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines, conducted by various vaccine manufacturers. Additional companies are expected to announce their ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090911133700.htm


Source - Health Day:

Health Highlights: Sept. 16, 2009

• Senate Introduces $856 Billion Health Care Bill
• Coronary Artery Disease No Longer Top Cause of Hospitalization in U.S.
• Drug Must Carry Warning About Possible Tissue Damage: FDA
• 35 Percent Of Iraq War Vets Will Seek Treatment for PTSD: Study
• Increases Forecast for Employer-Based Health Premiums
• Doctors' Groups Urge Climate Change Action
  

FDA Approves 4 Swine Flu Vaccines
Agency expects first batches to be available within a month

Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 16, 2009

• Hypertension & Type 2 Diabetes
• Depression
• Cholesterol Screening
  

Antibiotics Bought Easily on the Internet
Study found 138 sites that sold them illegally, without a prescription

Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 15, 2009

• Flu Vaccine (Ages 60+)
• High Blood Pressure
• Chronic Low Back Pain
  

Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 14, 2009

• Diabetes
• Endometriosis
• Bipolar Disorder
  

Source - Yahoo Biotech News:

Amgen to Present Pivotal Data From Four Phase 3 Studies at the ECCO 15 - ESMO 34 Congress - PR Newswire - Wed 9:00 am ET
Amgen today announced it will present detailed data from four Phase 3 studies as well as other data at the ECCO 15 - ESMO 34 European Multidisciplinary Congress, September 20 - 24, 2009 in Berlin, Germany.

3rd Chinese producer of swine flu shot approved - AP - Wed 3:11 am ET
The government has licensed a science institute in Shanghai to begin producing a single-dose swine flu vaccine, raising the number of such manufacturers in China to three, an official said Wednesday.


Source - Google Health News:

US clears way for swine flu vaccine scheme
Ninemsn
This vaccine will help protect individuals from serious illness and death from influenza." But the FDA has yet to rule on the safety and efficacy of other ...

H1N1 vaccine shows promise with one dose, glaxosmithkline says
Local Tech Wire
“We've made a related vaccine before for the H5N1 (avian flu) pandemic so we're pretty certain the vaccine will work.”
Gene therapy reverses colour blindness in monkeys
Times of India
PARIS: Two monkeys were cured of colour blindness thanks to gene therapy that one day may open the way to treating eye disorders in humans, scientists said ...

Celladon, Developer of Gene Therapy for Heart Failure, Secures ...
Xconomy
Investors haven't completely turned their backs on gene therapy, at least not on Celladon. The San Diego-based company raised another $2.8 million in recent ...
New therapies are not yet in vogue in India
Express Buzz
The young doctor is now doing his research on Oncolytic Viral Gene Therapy, a way of treating cancer cells with genes. He says, gene therapy is based on the ...


Source - Medical News Today:

New Drug That Targets Inherited Breast And Ovarian Cancers May Work Against Other Cancers, Study
A new study suggests that a new type of cancer drug called PARP inhibitors, including a new drug called olaparib that is currently showing promising results in trials as a targeted treatment for inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer , may also be effective against other cancers. The study was led by scientists from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute for Cancer Research in London, UK, and is published in the 16 September issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164196.php

Scientists Uncover New Potential For Targeted Cancer Treatment
Breakthrough Breast Cancer scientists have discovered that a new cancer treatment could be used for more types of cancer than previously thought, potentially helping thousands of cancer patients in the UK each year. PARP inhibitors, including the new drug, olaparib, which Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) scientists helped develop, are already showing considerable promise in clinical trials for cancer linked to BRCA mutations, including some breast and ovarian cancers .
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164145.php

Vaccination Against Cancer
Preventive vaccination against infectious diseases has been a major milestone for the health of modern society. The development of therapeutic vaccination against established diseases is much more difficult. For more than 100 years researchers have already tried to develop cancer vaccines and now first promising clinical results raise hopes. A summary of the most attractive new approaches gave Professor Carmen Scheibenbogen, Institut für Medizinische Immunologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, at a press conference in Berlin. A new approach based on recent knowledge of peptide-based vaccination will be presented by Cees Melief, Leiden at thee ECI: A vaccine based on synthetic long peptides derived from oncogenic proteins of the human papillomavirus (HPV) was tested in patients with a form of genital cancer, so called intraepithelial neoplasia of the vulva in a clinical phase II study. A complete tumor regression could be observed in a substantial number of patients. (C Melief et al, 2008).
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164055.php

A Step Closer To Understanding Skin, Breast And Other Cancers
Stem cells have a unique ability: when they divide, they can either give rise to more stem cells, or to a variety of specialised cell types. In both mice and humans, a layer of cells at the base of the skin contains stem cells that can develop into the specialised cells in the layers above. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Monterotondo, in collaboration with colleagues at the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT) in Madrid, have discovered two proteins that control when and how these stem cells switch to being skin cells. The findings, published online in Nature Cell Biology, shed light on the basic mechanisms involved not only in formation of skin, but also on skin cancer and other epithelial cancers . At some point in their lives, the stem cells at the base of the skin stop proliferating and start differentiating into the cells that form the skin itself. To do so, they must turn off the 'stem cell programme' in their genes and turn on the 'skin cell programme'. Researchers suspected that a family of proteins called C/EBPs might be involved in this process, as they were known to regulate it in other types of stem cell, but had so far failed to identify which C/EBP protein controlled the switch in skin. Claus Nerlov and his group at EMBL Monterotondo discovered it was not one protein, but two: C/EBPα and C/EBPβ.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/163998.php

Is Your Daily Shower Blasting Your Face With Pathogenic Germs?
Most of us have a daily shower to keep us clean, not to infect our faces with potentially pathogenic bacteria. According to a study carried out by scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, 30% of showerheads harbor significant levels of Mycobacterium avium (M avium), a bacterium associated with lung disease that can pose serious health risks for people with weakened immune systems, and can sometimes infect healthy people too. The study, led by Professor Norman Pace, analyzed about 50 showerheads from nine US cities, including New York, Denver and Chicago. Pace said it is not surprising to find pathogens in municipal waters (a pathogen is an organism that can cause disease, such as a bacterium or virus). However, the scientists found that some M avium and other pathogens were accumulated in slimy biofilms that stuck to the inside of showerheads at over 100 times the background levels of municipal water. "If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy," he said.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164004.php


Source - MIT's Technology Review:

A Device to Spot Autism Early
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23466/

Light Switch for Bladder Control
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23458/