Medicine posts
- April 18, 2013
- 07:36 PM
- 96 views
Can we functionally cure HIV?
Last March, Dr. Deborah Persaud, from the John's Hopkins Children Center, presented a stunning finding at the conference CROI, receiving great resonance across several newscasts: Persaud reported the first case of infant functionally cured of HIV. You can watch Persaud's presentation by downloading the podcast here, it's the seventh talk of the session "Is there hope for HIV eradication?"Up until this finding, the only living person cured from HIV was the Berlin Patient, who was cured after receiving gene therapy for his underlying leukemia condition. Despite this one successful case, gene therapy is not a feasible way to cure HIV. What does it mean to be functionally cured?Once in the host, the HIV virus establishes reservoirs of latent virus: these are viral particles that stay dormant in cells and tissues and have the ability to quickly rebound in the event that therapy is discontinued. That's why it's so important for an HIV infected person to never discontinue the drug regimen, as the rebound virus may be drug resistant. HIV is so efficient at escaping the immune system and therapy that standard practice these days is a lifetime of not just one, but a cocktail of 3-4 antiretroviral drugs. To be functionally cured means that drugs are no longer needed to keep the viral load in check (close or below detection), something that until now had only been achieved by an extremely low number of HIV-positive individuals (less than 1% of infected adults), the so-called "elite controllers." In all other subjects, the reservoirs are never completely weakened and they enable the virus to bounce back once therapy is interrupted. So, what was different with this child?The mother went into labor without prenatal care. An HIV test was done during labor and normally, when the test is positive, antiretroviral drugs are administered. This is highly effective in preventing mother-to-infant infections as the only moment when the infant is exposed to the mother's blood is at birth. The antiretroviral drugs keep the viral load so low that the risk of infection becomes very small (around 2%). Unfortunately, in this particular case, the birth was so precipitous that there was no time to administer such drugs. The newborn baby was immediately tested for HIV. This is my understanding of what was unique about this case: normally a first test is done and, if positive, a second follow-up test is performed and prophylaxis is started once the infection is confirmed. In this case, though, two independent tests were done at the same time and, since both confirmed the HIV infection, prophylactic treatment was started very early, when the baby was 31 hours of age. Also, unique to this case was the fact that a regimen of three drugs, of which one at the therapeutic level instead of the standard prophylactic dosage, was administered during the first week of life. After that, the baby was switched to a standard treatment of antiretroviral drugs (again, my understanding from the CROI talk). Such regimen successfully brought the child's viral load down to undetectable, which is normal in these cases. Despite this, because of HIV's ability to establish reservoirs, antiretroviral therapy is never discontinued. Like I said before, it is a lifetime therapy. So called "drug holidays" result in more virulent and drug-resistant HIV quasispecies. However, this child was lost to follow-up at 18 months of age and was once again seen by the doctors at 25 months of age, when the caregiver reported discontinuing the therapy. Immediate testing was done to assess the child's viral loads. The child was tested not once, but many times. Genetic testing was also done to make sure it was the same child treated before. The doctors must have been in disbelief as for the first time they were seeing the incredible: after 5 months since discontinuing antiretroviral therapy, the viral load in this child was still undetectable. What are the consequences? As Dr. Persaud repeated many times during her talk, this is a single case and a proof of concept. We need more cases to be able to generalize (as statistics teach us). However, it points to something that indeed needs to be explored: how early in the infection can we (and should we) intervene? In a 2012 paper [1], Persaud and colleagues studied the dynamics of the latent HIV reservoirs in 17 infants on very early antiretroviral drug therapy (median start age 8 weeks) and found that the size of the reservoirs at age 2 was associated to how early undetectable viral loads were achieved during therapy. The earlier viral load was suppressed through therapy, the smaller the HIV reservoir at age 2. Is there a point, very early into the infection, when the virus is vulnerable and all reservoirs can be not just reduced in size, but actually completely eradicated through potent and prompt intervention? In rare cases, HIV-infected patients are able to spontaneously maintain their viral load at a very low level without the need of drugs, the so called "elite controllers." What if, when administered early enough, antiretroviral drugs could transfer this type of spontaneous protection to every HIV-infected person? Shortly after the CROI conference, a French study published in PLoS Pathogens [2] reported 14 cases of what they call "post-treatment controllers," in other words, people whose viral loads remained very low after interrupting treatment. With the exception of mother-to-infant transmissions at birth, it's extremely hard to catch this virus early because people often don't realize they've been infected: symptoms, if any, appear 3-4 weeks later and are often mistaken for a common cold. Twelve of the 14 cases reported in [2] had symptoms that prompted early intervention and start of therapy during the primary infection."Post-treatment controllers (PTCs) had a more severe primary infection with higher viral loads and were frequently symptomatic, which may have prompted the early treatment in some cases [. . .] Therefore, our results strongly suggest that the infection control in the PTCs was not achieved spontaneously and was favored by the early onset of therapy. Because the interruption of long-term antiretroviral therapy initiated early during primary infection is not recommended, only a very small proportion (~2%) of the patients in the French Hospital Database on HIV Infection experienced such an interruption, which may explain the rarity of PTCs worldwide [2]."[1] Persaud, D., Palumbo, P., Ziemniak, C., Hughes, M., Alvero, C., Luzuriaga, K., Yogev, R., Capparelli, E., & Chadwick, E. (2012). Dynamics of the resting CD4+ T-cell latent HIV reservoir in infants initiating HAART less than 6 months of age AIDS, 26 (12), 1483-1490 DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e3283553638[2] Sáez-Cirión, A., Bacchus, C., Hocqueloux, L., Avettand-Fenoel, V., Girault, I., Lecuroux, C., Potard, V., Versmisse, P., Melard, A., Prazuck, T., Descours, B., G... Read more »
Persaud, D., Palumbo, P., Ziemniak, C., Hughes, M., Alvero, C., Luzuriaga, K., Yogev, R., Capparelli, E., & Chadwick, E. (2012) Dynamics of the resting CD4 T-cell latent HIV reservoir in infants initiating HAART less than 6 months of age. AIDS, 26(12), 1483-1490. DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e3283553638
Sáez-Cirión, A., Bacchus, C., Hocqueloux, L., Avettand-Fenoel, V., Girault, I., Lecuroux, C., Potard, V., Versmisse, P., Melard, A., Prazuck, T.... (2013) Post-Treatment HIV-1 Controllers with a Long-Term Virological Remission after the Interruption of Early Initiated Antiretroviral Therapy ANRS VISCONTI Study. PLoS Pathogens, 9(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003211
- April 18, 2013
- 02:46 PM
- 79 views
What causes fatigue? Why is it different in CrossFit?
by AB Kirk in Stff Competition
What causes fatigue? And why is it sometimes so hard to push through it? Few people enjoy the sensations of fatigue and pain that accompany intense exercise. While endurance athletesThe post What causes fatigue? Why is it different in CrossFit? appeared first on WODMasters Stiff Competition.... Read more »
Bassini A, Magalhães-Neto AM, Sweet E, Bottino A, Veiga C, Tozzi MB, Pickard MB, & Cameron LC. (2013) Caffeine Decreases Systemic Urea in Elite Soccer Players during Intermittent Exercise. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 45(4), 683-690. PMID: 23135367
Wilkinson DJ, Smeeton NJ, & Watt PW. (2010) Ammonia metabolism, the brain and fatigue; revisiting the link. Progress in neurobiology, 91(3), 200-19. PMID: 20138956
Bassini-Cameron, A., Monteiro, A., Gomes, A., Werneck-de-Castro, J., & Cameron, L. (2008) Glutamine protects against increases in blood ammonia in football players in an exercise intensity-dependent way. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(4), 260-266. DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2007.040378
- April 18, 2013
- 11:10 AM
- 67 views
Another bizarre news about the deaths from Heart attacks
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Points:
Researchers found that the patients with heart problems, known as STEMI, already admitted in the hospital have 10 times more chances of dying from heart attack as compared to the patients, who get heart attack outside of the hospital and taken to the hospital quickly.
Journal:
Journal of the American Heart Association
Study Further:
World is full of strange events but humanity is even more strange. Researchers from University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, in this study, worked on a type of heart attack known as ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the hospital inpatients (who are already admitted to the hospital).
"We found that the survival rate for outpatients brought to UNC Hospitals for STEMI treatment was slightly more than 96 percent," said George A. Stouffer, MD, distinguished professor in the UNC School of Medicine and senior author of the study. "But the survival rate for inpatients who suffered a STEMI was much lower, only 60 percent."
Although, this may in-part occurs due to the age difference of the people i.e. people already admitted to the hospital were older and sicker as compared to the people taken from the outside but according to Stouffer, there are still important differences.
Another possible explanation for this could be the effective training of the hospital team in the emergency departments, so that when a STEMI patient brought in from outside, the time of starting the treatment with angioplasty is fast i.e. about 45 minutes at UNC hospitals.
"In contrast, when patients who are in the hospital for a non-cardiac condition have a STEMI, the onset is not usually heralded by chest pain and thus health care providers may not suspect that a coronary artery has occluded. As a result, the time it takes for restoration of coronary blood flow for inpatients is much slower and more variable," Stouffer said.
“Inpatient STEMIs are a major health care problem, suggesting that efforts aimed at improving care of this patient population would have a large impact,” Researcher wrote, “We found that the incidence of inpatient STEMI in our institution was 3.4 per 10 000 hospital discharges and was associated with an in‐hospital mortality of 40%.”
Source:
ScienceDaily
Further Reading:
Dai X, Bumgarner J, Spangler A, Meredith D, Smith SC, & Stouffer GA (2013). Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction in Patients Hospitalized for Noncardiac Conditions. Journal of the American Heart Association, 2 (2) PMID: 23557748... Read more »
Dai X, Bumgarner J, Spangler A, Meredith D, Smith SC, & Stouffer GA. (2013) Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction in Patients Hospitalized for Noncardiac Conditions. Journal of the American Heart Association, 2(2). PMID: 23557748
- April 18, 2013
- 10:18 AM
- 64 views
Nonpurging Bulimia Nervosa: Where Does It Fit?
by Tetyana Pekar in Science of Eating Disorders
When most people think of bulimia nervosa, they think of binge eating and self-induced vomiting. While that is not incorrect, it is not the full picture either. In the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), there are two subtypes of bulimia nervosa: purging (BN-P) and nonpurging (BN-NP). The difference lies in the types of compensation methods: patients with BN-P engage in self-induced vomiting, or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas whereas patients with BN-NP use fasting or excessive exercise to compensate for binge eating.
How common in BN-NP? It is very hard to say. A small population-based study in Finland (less than 3,000 participants) found that 1.7% of the sample that bulimia nervosa, 24% had BN-NP (or 0.4% of the entire sample) (Keski-Rahkonen et al., 2009). (I couldn’t find much else on prevalence of BN-NP.)
Unfortunately, however, there’s been very little research on BN-NP.
So little, in fact, that many have wondered if it make sense to subtype bulimia nervosa patients into purging and nonpurging groups? And are there differences between patients with BN-NP and …
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Living in a Large City: A Risk Factor for Bulimia Nervosa?
Medical Complications of Purging in Bulimia Nervosa
... Read more »
van Hoeken, D., Veling, W., Sinke, S., Mitchell, J., & Hoek, H. (2009) The validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42(7), 595-602. DOI: 10.1002/eat.20724
- April 18, 2013
- 10:15 AM
- 63 views
U.S. hospitals found more profit in complications in surgery
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers found that the U.S. hospitals get more profit when the surgery goes wrong as compared to the condition when all the tasks go well and patients go home without any complications.
Journal:
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
Study Further:
Quite disturbing report but one of the points to consider in healthcare system is that the finances spent on that industry have to be properly planned.
Do you know nearly $400 billion is spent on the surgical procedures annually, in U.S. only?
For the past few years, effective methods and ways to cut the complications have been introduced in so many researches but hospitals were found slow in getting and implementing those ways. Now researchers have found that finances could be one of the reasons.
“We found clear evidence that reducing harm and improving quality is perversely penalized in our current health care system,” Sunil Eappen, study author and chief medical officer of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said in a statement.
Researchers found that privately insured surgical patients with complications provided hospitals nearly 330% more profit as compared to the patients with no complications. Medicare patients with some complications provided more than 190% margin.
“It’s been known that hospitals are not rewarded for quality. But it hadn’t been recognized exactly how much more money they make when harm is done,” said senior author Atul Gawande, director of Ariadne Labs, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at HSPH and a surgeon at BWH.
It means reducing complications decreases financial achievements of the hospitals.
“This is clear indication that health care payment reform is necessary,” said Gawande. “Hospitals should gain, not lose, financially from reducing harm.”
I think we have to study the same thing in other developed countries.
Source:
Harvard University, The Raw Story
Further Reading:
Eappen, S. (2013). Relationship Between Occurrence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances JAMA, 309 (15) DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.2773... Read more »
Eappen, S. (2013) Relationship Between Occurrence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances. JAMA, 309(15), 1599. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.2773
- April 18, 2013
- 09:28 AM
- 82 views
Researchers identify compound that could prevent acute myeloid leukemia relapses
by beredim in Stem Cells Freak
In a new study on mice, researchers from the RIKEN Institute, Japan have discovered a compound that could be used to prevent cancer relapse in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients, especially the ones carrying the FLT3-ITD mutation.Read More... Read more »
Saito, Y., Yuki, H., Kuratani, M., Hashizume, Y., Takagi, S., Honma, T., Tanaka, A., Shirouzu, M., Mikuni, J., Handa, N.... (2013) A Pyrrolo-Pyrimidine Derivative Targets Human Primary AML Stem Cells in Vivo. Science Translational Medicine, 5(181), 181-181. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3004387
- April 17, 2013
- 04:30 PM
- 82 views
Is Nitroglycerin Bad for Severe Sepsis?
by Rogue Medic in Rogue Medic
Yesterday at "The Paramedic's Edge," this was the topic of discussion of a possible use of NTG (NiTroGlycerin – GTN GlycerylTriNitrate in Commonwealth countries).
NTG is a vasodilator and sepsis is a vasodialtion problem. There are other problems with sepsis, but vasodilation may be the primary problem.... Read more »
Guglin, M., & Postler, G. (2009) High dose nitroglycerin treatment in a patient with cardiac arrest: a case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports, 3(1), 8782. DOI: 10.4076/1752-1947-3-8782
SPRONK, P., INCE, C., GARDIEN, M., MATHURA, K., & ZANDSTRA, D. (2003) Nitroglycerin for septic shock. The Lancet, 361(9360), 880-880. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12692-X
Spronk, P., Ince, C., Gardien, M., Mathura, K., Straaten, H., & Zandstra, D. (2002) Nitroglycerin in septic shock after intravascular volume resuscitation. The Lancet, 360(9343), 1395-1396. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11393-6
- April 17, 2013
- 12:12 PM
- 59 views
Researchers come up with new, simpler "recipe" for growing stem cells
by beredim in Stem Cells Freak
In a new study, a research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has presented a new, simplified method for growing stem cells. The method works by inhibiting a specific membrane protein, called CD47. The researchers say that their method, unlike the currently available ones, requires less ingredients, e.g. cells and agents, to support cell growth.Read More... Read more »
Kaur, S., Soto-Pantoja, D., Stein, E., Liu, C., Elkahloun, A., Pendrak, M., Nicolae, A., Singh, S., Nie, Z., Levens, D.... (2013) Thrombospondin-1 Signaling through CD47 Inhibits Self-renewal by Regulating c-Myc and Other Stem Cell Transcription Factors. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep01673
- April 17, 2013
- 11:16 AM
- 79 views
EEG Differentiates Adjustment Disorder From Depression
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
A key element in discovering valid mental disorder categories is to differentiate a mental disorder from other valid mental disorder categories.Biological markers for mental disorders have been slow to develop. Functional brain imaging techniques and other research tools are evolving to help in the important task of improving the validity of clinical neuroscience disorders.Adjustment disorder is a relatively common condition that has lagged in research attention. Adjustment disorder is defined as an abnormal and excessive response to a stressor that produce significant distress and impairment. The response may include elements of anxiety, depression or abnormal behavior.Adjustment disorder with depressive symptoms may be difficult to distinguish from major depression and other types of mood disorder. However, a recent study of the technique of quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) supports adjustment disorder as a distinct condition different from major depressive disorder.The key elements of the design of this study included the following:Subjects: 31 subjects with adjustment disorder with depressed mood and 51 subjects with major depressive disorder using DSM-IV criteriaqEEG: Standard qEEG techniques were employed including calculation of absolute power and coherence for delta, theta, alpha and beta band widthsStatistical analysis: Independent t-test comparison of absolute power and coherence using Neurostat softwareThe key findings from the study included:Absolute power means were lower for the adjustment disorder group in the frontal regionsInterhemispheric coherence values for the delta and beta bands involving the right posterior region were lower in the adjustment disorder groupIntrahemispheric coherence was lower in the alpha bandwidth in the frontal and temporal areas in the adjustment disorder groupThe authors note the findings support adjustment disorder being a relatively less severe mood disorder. However, they noted that the differences may be explained by different patterns of anxiety disorder comorbidity between the two groups.Weaknesses in this study included not including a no mental disorder control group. Additionally, the adjustment disorder group had a statistically higher percentage of male subjects so the two groups were not gender matched.It would be interesting to see if this difference between adjustment disorder and major depression could be replicated in default network connectivity analysis using functional MRI.However, this study is important as it presents a novel biological marker candidate for adjustment disorder with depressed mood. It may stimulate additional biological marker studies is patients suffering significant stress-related anxiety and mood responses.Individuals with more interest in this study can access the free full-text article in the link below.Photo of great white heron from the Venice, FL rookery is from the author's files.Jeong HG, Ko YH, Han C, Kim YK, & Joe SH (2013). Distinguishing Quantitative Electroencephalogram Findings between Adjustment Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Psychiatry investigation, 10 (1), 62-8 PMID: 23482820... Read more »
Jeong HG, Ko YH, Han C, Kim YK, & Joe SH. (2013) Distinguishing Quantitative Electroencephalogram Findings between Adjustment Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Psychiatry investigation, 10(1), 62-8. PMID: 23482820
- April 17, 2013
- 09:38 AM
- 101 views
Video Tip of the Week: Sharing #H7N9 data at GISAID.org with EpiFlu™
This week’s video Tip of the Week offers you a quick tour of GISAID’s resources and their EpiFlu™ database. This is the database you might be hearing about in the news—the one to which researchers submit the new H7N9 influenza sequence data that they are collecting. Originally this initiative was seeded as the “Global Initiative [...]... Read more »
Bogner, P., Capua, I., Cox, N., Lipman, D., & others, . (2006) A global initiative on sharing avian flu data. Nature, 442(7106), 981-981. DOI: 10.1038/442981a
Butler, D. (2013) Urgent search for flu source. Nature, 496(7444), 145-146. DOI: 10.1038/496145a
Gao, R., Cao, B., Hu, Y., Feng, Z., Wang, D., Hu, W., Chen, J., Jie, Z., Qiu, H., Xu, K.... (2013) Human Infection with a Novel Avian-Origin Influenza A (H7N9) Virus. New England Journal of Medicine, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1304459
- April 17, 2013
- 05:19 AM
- 56 views
Autism, the autisms or "developmental brain dysfunction"?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism" so the oft-cited phrase goes. The implication is that whilst unified under the label of presenting with the triad/dyad characteristics of an autism spectrum condition, the heterogeneity present across the spectrum coupled with other comorbidity, allied to factors such as genes, personality, temperament, maturation, environment et al, mean that everyone is different and importantly everyone is dynamic.Umbrella under an umbrella? @ Wikipedia Another term used by some people (including researchers) is that of 'neurotypical' to somehow denote not-autism. For me however, that's always been a little too simplistic. It implied (a) that there is a definite line between autism and not-autism which kinda over-simplifies things including the broader autism phenotype (BAP), and (b) that there is such as thing as 'neurotypical' and indeed is counter to the phrase: 'if you've met one person, you've met one person' which should surely be as pertinent to not-autism as it is to autism; if you get me?These concepts are relevant as today I'm talking about two papers: a paper by Whitehouse & Stanley* (open-access) questioning whether autism is one condition or multiple conditions, and a paper by Moreno-De-Luca and colleagues** which implies that we should even be doing away with behaviourally-defined labels such as autism and schizophrenia in favour of an altogether broader definition of 'developmental brain dysfunction' or DBD.Regular readers might recognise the name Andrew Whitehouse as being one and the same researcher who has talked about various autism-related results from the Raine study (see here and here and here). His latest opinion piece builds on the fact that despite the 70 year anniversary since the first description of autism was published by Kanner (with appropriate consideration for Hans Asperger too), alongside huge amounts of time, money and research efforts, we are really still only scratching the research surface of the condition(s) known as autism. Certainly science hasn't yet come up with many defining 'universal' reasons to account for the appearance of the the clustering of symptoms and as for intervention options, well take a look at the recent draft guidance from NICE to see what I mean. One of the main stumbling blocks he and his colleague opine on is the "phenotypic variability" and how moves should be made towards defining smaller subgroups on the autism spectrum. In effect talking about the autisms over autism as per another very interesting paper by Poot*** (open-access).To many people this is not new news. That the search for an 'autism gene' or 'autism genetic mutation' (sorry about the cold science term) or indeed 'autism environmental variable' has so far been underwhelming in terms of results coupled to the cost/benefit ratio of such research for example, is testament to the variability present in both autism and not-autism. This demonstrates also how complex a continuum the autism spectrum is. Indeed how complex a thing the human spectrum is****.Likewise when it comes to intervention, I've talked before on this blog about how we should perhaps be re-assessing the way we look at proposed interventions and in particular focusing on subgroup responses rather than some almighty universal spectrum response to denote intervention success of not. Without equating autism with cancer or vice-versa, the recent opinion paper by Stewart & Kurzrock***** (open-access) might inform this methodological discussion somewhat further.Whitehouse and Stanley also talk about the lessons learned from cerebral palsy (CP) and how where once CP was thought of as "a unitary disorder", the more contemporary view is somewhat more "umbrella" like. I've covered CP on this blog before so won't say much more about that; I think many people might agree that autism is similarly an umbrella term; even more so when the DSM-V comes into force in literally weeks time (Monday 20th May 2013 apparently).The Moreno-De-Luca paper goes one stage further. As per the paper and some associated media attention (see here) the suggestion is that not only is there the autisms, but that because of the various overlapping genetic features between the autisms and conditions such as schizophrenia (the schizophrenias), we should be looking at using an even more over-arching concept to group these collected diagnoses together: developmental brain dysfunction (DBD). A sort of umbrella for the umbrella if you like. It's not a new suggestion by the way****** (open-access).I can imagine that your view of autism - be that a personal perspective of autism, a parental perspective or just an observer looking in - is probably going to influence how you receive this suggestion to some degree. For a researcher looking at the possibility of shared genetics or even epigenetics between conditions which might overlap, there is some sense in looking at the bigger picture. My recent post on common ground (see here) based on the 'five psychiatric disorders linked' paper******* kinda reiterates this position alongside other papers including this one from Caamaño and colleagues******** on subclinical comorbid psychopathology. That and the fact that there might be some convergence when it comes to the autism and schizophrenia spectrums for example (see here) also makes a case. The authors sum it up well: "genes don't respect our diagnostic classification boundaries, but that really isn't surprising given the overlapping symptoms and frequent co-existence of neurodevelopmental disorders".Other perspectives - and I am only speculating on such viewpoints - might not necessarily share the same sentiments. Aside from leaving out any important relationship that genes might have with little things like the environment, as in ... Read more »
Whitehouse AJ, & Stanley FJ. (2013) Is autism one or multiple disorders?. The Medical journal of Australia, 198(6), 302-3. PMID: 23545020
Moreno-De-Luca A, Myers SM, Challman TD, Moreno-De-Luca D, Evans DW, & Ledbetter DH. (2013) Developmental brain dysfunction: revival and expansion of old concepts based on new genetic evidence. Lancet neurology, 12(4), 406-14. PMID: 23518333
- April 17, 2013
- 12:04 AM
- 46 views
Shaking Up ACL Rehabilitation
by Nicole Cattano in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Take Home Message: Whole body vibration therapy may improve strength and postural control among post-ACL reconstruction patients as an adjunctive therapy to rehabilitation.
Deficits in strength, proprioception, and postural control are often evident post anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and can last from 6-months to 4-years post-surgery. Whole-body vibration therapy (WBVT) improves balance and postural control in many populations, and if introduced early after an ACL reconstruction it may help avoid the previously mentioned deficits. Therefore, the purpose of this randomized trial was to compare the effectiveness of early WBVT plus conventional rehabilitation with isolated rehabilitation on knee proprioception, functional performance, postural control, and peak torque among 48 participants post-ACL surgery.... Read more »
Fu CL, Yung SH, Law KY, Leung KH, Lui PY, Siu HK, & Chan KM. (2013) The effect of early whole-body vibration therapy on neuromuscular control after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(4), 804-14. PMID: 23460328
- April 16, 2013
- 12:24 PM
- 83 views
Mesenchymal stem cells may be a better candidate than drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis
by beredim in Stem Cells Freak
A new study on rodents by a collaborative team of researchers from Osiris Therapeutics and Novartis Research indicates that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may be a better treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) than the currently available drugs are.Read More... Read more »
LINDAN. LIU, GANGWANG, KYLEHENDRICKS, KEUNMYOUNG LEE, ERNST BOHNLEIN, UWE JUNKER, & JOSEPH D. MOSCA. (2013) Comparison of Drug and Cell-Based Delivery: Engineered Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells Expressing Soluble Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor II Prevent Arthritis in Mouse and Rat Animal Models. Stem Cells Translational Medicine. info:/10.5966/sctm.2012-0135
- April 16, 2013
- 10:50 AM
- 63 views
Mass. General team develops implantable, bioengineered rat kidney
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Bioengineered rat kidneys developed by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators successfully produced urine both in a laboratory apparatus and after being transplanted into living animals.... Read more »
Kory Dodd Zhao. (2013) Mass. General team develops implantable, bioengineered rat kidney. Massachusetts General Hospital . info:/
- April 16, 2013
- 08:39 AM
- 102 views
5 Ways You’re Wrong About Surviving Disasters
by Anouk Vleugels in United Academics
Everybody remembers the kind captain in Titanic, drowning in his own guilt when he realises he has comprised safety regulations for fame, and his decision to go down with the ship. Before meeting his demise, he first makes sure the women and children make it off the ship. Surely this is the proper thing to do in such situations – women and children first- right? Research suggests otherwise.... Read more »
Bruno S. Frey, David A. Savage, and Benno Torgler. (2010) Behavior under Extreme Conditions: The Titanic Disaster. Journal of Economic Perspective. info:/
Bush SP. (2004) Snakebite suction devices don't remove venom: they just suck. Annals of emergency medicine, 43(2), 187-8. PMID: 14747806
- April 16, 2013
- 08:28 AM
- 57 views
Stem Cells Wanted: Alive Not Dead
by Stephanie Swift in mmmbitesizescience
Stem cell therapies are taking off, in a surprisingly unregulated way. While most humans have to go to places like South Korea to receive them, horses, dogs, cats, pigs and tigers are already being treated in North America. The most … Continue reading →... Read more »
Corselli, M., Chin, C., Parekh, C., Sahaghian, A., Wang, W., Ge, S., Evseenko, D., Wang, X., Montelatici, E., Lazzari, L.... (2013) Perivascular support of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Blood, 121(15), 2891-2901. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2012-08-451864
Glettig, D.L., & Kaplan, D.L. (2013) Extending Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Survival In Vitro with Adipocytes. BioResearch Open Access. info:/
- April 16, 2013
- 05:00 AM
- 34 views
Impact Reduction Through Changing to Midfoot Strike Pattern vs Low Drop Footwear
by Craig Payne in Running Research Junkie
Impact Reduction Through Changing to Midfoot Strike Pattern vs Low Drop Footwear... Read more »
Giandolini M, Horvais N, Farges Y, Samozino P, & Morin JB. (2013) Impact reduction through long-term intervention in recreational runners: midfoot strike pattern versus low-drop/low-heel height footwear. European journal of applied physiology. PMID: 23584279
- April 16, 2013
- 04:49 AM
- 64 views
Stiff matrices are the key for cardiac tissue engineering
by beredim in Stem Cells Freak
A new study published by researchers at the University of California, (UCLA) shows that the elasticity of the physical matrix used for growing heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) in the laboraty, is a key-factor for the success of cardiac tissue engineering.Read More... Read more »
Arshi, A., Nakashima, Y., Nakano, H., Eaimkhong, S., Evseenko, D., Reed, J., Stieg, A., Gimzewski, J., & Nakano, A. (2013) Rigid microenvironments promote cardiac differentiation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 14(2), 25003. DOI: 10.1088/1468-6996/14/2/025003
- April 16, 2013
- 01:02 AM
- 77 views
Three Decades of SEER Data Confirms That Mammogram Screening Does More Harm Than Good
by Ajay Malik in Mission Tumor
Nearly one-third or 1.3 million women over the past 30 years were overdiagnosed with breast cancer (ie, their tumors would have never led to clinical symptoms in their lifetimes) in the United States, according to the research published in the November 22, 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Read more »... Read more »
Bleyer A, & Welch HG. (2012) Effect of three decades of screening mammography on breast-cancer incidence. The New England journal of medicine, 367(21), 1998-2005. PMID: 23171096
- April 15, 2013
- 01:05 PM
- 81 views
Recent Developments in Blastocystis Research
by Christen Rune Stensvold in Blastocystis Parasite Blog
An #openaccess link to a 2013 review in Advances in Parasitology on recent developments in Blastocystis research.... Read more »
Clark CG, van der Giezen M, Alfellani MA, & Stensvold CR. (2013) Recent developments in blastocystis research. Advances in parasitology, 1-32. PMID: 23548084
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