Monthly Archives: March 2015

The Discovery of the Structure of DNA: Double Helix, Biochemistry (2000) – Video

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The Discovery of the Structure of DNA: Double Helix, Biochemistry (2000)
The Double Helix : A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA is an autobiographical account of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA written by James D. Watson...

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The Discovery of the Structure of DNA: Double Helix, Biochemistry (2000) - Video

‘It Follows’ | Anatomy of a Scene w/ Director David Robert Mitchell | The New York Times – Video

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#39;It Follows #39; | Anatomy of a Scene w/ Director David Robert Mitchell | The New York Times
David Robert Mitchell narrates a sequence from It Follows, opening March 13. Produced by: Mekado Murphy Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1Ky3xzp Subscribe to the Times Video newsletter...

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'It Follows' | Anatomy of a Scene w/ Director David Robert Mitchell | The New York Times - Video

Cutting-edge technology optimizes cancer therapy with nanomedicine drug combinations

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UCLA bioengineers develop platform that offers personalized approach to treatment

In greater than 90 percent of cases in which treatment for metastatic cancer fails, the reason is that the cancer is resistant to the drugs being used. To treat drug-resistant tumors, doctors typically use multiple drugs simultaneously, a practice called combination therapy. And one of their greatest challenges is determining which ratio and combination -- from the large number of medications available -- is best for each individual patient.

Dr. Dean Ho, a professor of oral biology and medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry, and Dr. Chih-Ming Ho, a professor of mechanical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, have developed a revolutionary approach that brings together traditional drugs and nanotechnology-enhanced medications to create safer and more effective treatments. Their results are published in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Nano.

Chih-Ming Ho, the paper's co-corresponding author, and his team have developed a powerful new tool to address drug resistance and dosing challenges in cancer patients. The tool, Feedback System Control.II, or FSC.II, considers drug efficacy tests and analyzes the physical traits of cells and other biological systems to create personalized "maps" that show the most effective and safest drug-dose combinations.

Currently, doctors use people's genetic information to identify the best possible combination therapies, which can make treatment difficult or impossible when the genes in the cancer cells mutate. The new technique does not rely on genetic information, which makes it possible to quickly modify treatments when mutations arise: the drug that no longer functions can be replaced, and FSC.II can immediately recommend a new combination.

"Drug combinations are conventionally designed using dose escalation," said Dean Ho, a co-corresponding author of the study and the co-director of the Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology at the School of Dentistry. "Until now, there hasn't been a systematic way to even know where the optimal drug combination could be found, and the possible drug-dose combinations are nearly infinite. FSC.II circumvents all of these issues and identifies the best treatment strategy."

The researchers demonstrated that combinations identified by FSC.II could treat multiple lines of breast cancer that had varying levels of drug resistance. They evaluated the commonly used cancer drugs doxorubicin, mitoxantrone, bleomycin and paclitaxel, all of which can be rendered ineffective when cancer cells eject them before they have had a chance to function.

The researchers also studied the use of nanodiamonds to make combination treatments even more effective. Nanodiamonds -- byproducts of conventional mining and refining operations -- have versatile characteristics that allow drugs to be tightly bound to their surface, making it much harder for cancer cells to eliminate them and allowing toxic drugs to be administered over a longer period of time.

The use of nanodiamonds to treat cancer was pioneered by Dean Ho, a professor of bioengineering and member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the California NanoSystems Institute.

"This study has the capacity to turn drug development, nano or non-nano, upside-down," he said. "Even though FSC.II now enables us to rapidly identify optimized drug combinations, it's not just about the speed of discovering new combinations. It's the systematic way that we can control and optimize different therapeutic outcomes to design the most effective medicines possible."

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Cutting-edge technology optimizes cancer therapy with nanomedicine drug combinations

Study finds short-term psychological therapy reduces suicide attempts in at-risk soldiers

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Research group included University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio investigators

IMAGE:Alan Peterson Ph.D., from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was co-PI on a study showing that at-risk soldiers receiving short-term cognitive-behavioral therapy were 60... view more

Credit: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 13, 2015) - Short-term cognitive behavioral therapy dramatically reduces suicide attempts among at-risk military personnel, according to findings from a research study that included investigators from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The two-year study, funded by the Army's Military Operational Medicine Research Program, was conducted at Fort Carson, Colo. It involved 152 active-duty soldiers who had either attempted suicide or had been determined to be at high risk for suicide, and evaluated the effectiveness of a brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in preventing future suicide attempts.

The study found that soldiers receiving CBT were 60 percent less likely to make a suicide attempt during the 24-month follow-up than those receiving standard treatment. The results were published online Friday, Feb. 13, by The American Journal of Psychiatry. The article is available online at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/.

The findings are particularly encouraging, given that rates of active-duty service members receiving psychiatric diagnoses increased by more than 60 percent during a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rates of suicides and suicide attempts rose in comparable numbers.

"The significant increase in military suicides over the past decade is a national tragedy," said Alan Peterson, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the study who is a professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio and director of the military-focused STRONG STAR Consortium. "The Department of Defense has responded by investing significant resources into military suicide research, and the findings from this study may be the most important and most hopeful to date. To see a 60 percent reduction in suicide attempts among at-risk active-duty soldiers after a brief intervention is truly exciting," Dr. Peterson said.

Other UT Health Science Center investigators from the STRONG STAR Consortium included Stacey Young-McCaughan, RN, Ph.D., and Jim Mintz, Ph.D. STRONG STAR, an international research group led by the Health Science Center, supported this study as part of its larger effort to develop and test the best diagnoses, preventions and treatments for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions.

M. David Rudd, Ph.D., president of the University of Memphis, and Craig Bryan, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist at the University of Utah and executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies, led the study.

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Study finds short-term psychological therapy reduces suicide attempts in at-risk soldiers

Magnolia ISD students advance to State Science Fair

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Magnolia ISD students competed in the regional Science Engineering Fair of Houston this past weekend with several students advancing to the State Science Fair in San Antonio March 26-29, 2015.

The students who qualified for State are:

Grace Gustin from Magnolia Junior High - 2nd Place in Behavioral Science Category

Katherine Hinchley and Sophia Ebel from Magnolia Junior High - 3rd Place Team Engineering Category

Breland McDaniel from Bear Branch Junior High - 3rd Place in Biochemistry Category

Molly Davis from Bear Branch Junior High - 1st Place in Biochemistry Category

Several students also received notable awards at the regional fair:

Grace Smith from Magnolia Junior High - Special Award from Jacobs Technology

Nicholas Gonzaga from Magnolia Junior High - Special Award from Jacobs Technology

Gloria McConnell from Magnolia High School - 3rd Place in Medicine/Health Category and Special Award from The Society of Women Engineers

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Magnolia ISD students advance to State Science Fair

Meeting: Nutrition and the Science of Disease Prevention: A Systems Approach to Support Metabolic Health

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MEDIA ALERT

WHAT: Nutrition and the Science of Disease Prevention: A Systems Approach to Support Metabolic Health

WHEN: Thursday, April 16, 2015, 8:30 AM - 7:00 PM

WHERE: The New York Academy of Sciences NYC

PRESENTED BY: The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences

DESCRIPTION: How can we leverage progress in nutritional science, genetics, computer science and behavioral economics to address the challenge of non-communicable disease? Join us for this one-day conference that will highlight the connection between nutrition and the complex science of preventing disease. This forum will focus on promotion of optimal metabolic health, building on input from several complementary disciplines, with ample time for discussion interaction and networking. Speakers will discuss the basic science of optimal metabolic health with a focus on the microbiome and gene-diet interactions; epidemiological evidence in nutrition to define better targets and better interventions; and how nutrition, from pharma to lifestyle, can build on systems science to address complex issues.

MORE INFORMATION AND THE CONFERENCE AGENDA: http://www.nyas.org/PreventionScience

PRESS REGISTRATION: Contact Diana Friedman at dfriedman@nyas.org or 212-298-8645

###

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Meeting: Nutrition and the Science of Disease Prevention: A Systems Approach to Support Metabolic Health

New UTHealth therapy targets PTSD, substance use disorders

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IMAGE:Anka Vujanovich, Ph.D., is studying a combined behavioral therapy for PTSD and substance use disorder. view more

Credit: UTHealth

HOUSTON - (March 2, 2015) - A new cognitive behavioral therapy designed to treat both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders is the focus of research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School.

The therapy, called Treatment of Integrated Post-traumatic Stress and Substance Use (TIPSS), was developed by Anka Vujanovic, Ph.D., who leads the Trauma and Addiction Research Program at the UTHealth Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

PTSD results from exposure to a traumatic event, defined as actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence against self or others. It is associated with significant functional impairment and negative health outcomes.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, symptoms include reliving the trauma over and over, bad dreams and frightening thoughts. People with PTSD may have feelings of strong guilt, depression or worry and they may lose interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past. They also may be easily startled, feel tense, have trouble sleeping and/or have angry outbursts.

Previous research has indicated that PTSD carries a substantially elevated risk for substance use disorders and it has been documented as a significant risk factor for worse substance abuse treatment outcomes.

"Treatment for PTSD has historically been done separately from treatment for substance use disorders," said Vujanovic, UTHealth assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "We are testing an evidence-based integrated treatment designed to target both in the same therapy with the goal of improving outcomes." To do so, Vujanovic and colleagues are comparing TIPSS to standard cognitive-behavioral treatment for substance use disorders.

Both types of treatment focus on noticing thoughts and feelings and how they affect drug use and other behaviors. TIPSS also involves talking about PTSD symptoms, building distress tolerance skills, reflecting on the impact of the trauma and substance abuse and challenging problematic thinking patterns related to the trauma and the substance abuse.

The study is funded by a $412,000 Career Development Award grant from the National Institutes of Health/UTHealth Clinical and Translational Sciences (KL2TR000370-07).

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New UTHealth therapy targets PTSD, substance use disorders

Q&A #3 | Talking to Friends & Family About Depersonalization, My Dog, Low T & Depression + MORE – Video

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Q A #3 | Talking to Friends Family About Depersonalization, My Dog, Low T Depression + MORE
Another awesome Q A covering topics of Mental Health, Testosterone Replacement Therapy, Personal, Random questions. Q A #3 Questions and time links: 0:30 Has depression anxiety ever...

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Q&A #3 | Talking to Friends & Family About Depersonalization, My Dog, Low T & Depression + MORE - Video

U.S. atheist blogger killed in stabbing attack in Bangladesh

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Assailants hacked to death an American secular writer and blogger of Bangladeshi origin and seriously wounded his wife outside a book fair in Dhaka, the South Asian nations capital, officials said Friday.

Avijit Roy, 42, a champion of liberalism and outspoken critic of Islamists, was repeatedly stabbed Thursday night by at least two attackers at the Dhaka University campus. His wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, was hospitalized with multiple wounds.

An Islamist group calling itself Ansar Bangla-7 claimed responsibility for the attack in a series of Twitter postings, saying Roy was a target for more than 3/4 years for his writings that it characterized as being critical of Islam. The groups Twitter account was later disabled.

No immediate arrests were made, police said.

Roy, who had traveled from his home in the Atlanta area to Dhaka for a visit two weeks ago, was the latest secular writer to come under attack by Islamists in Bangladesh. A software engineer by profession, Roy was known for advocating human rights and the rights of atheists, which had put him in the cross-hairs of extremist groups in the conservative Muslim nation.

The author of several books and founder of the website Mukto-mona, which means free mind in Bengali, Roy was the target of frequent death threats, his friends said.

Sirajul Islam, the officer in charge at the Shahbag police station, where Roys father reported the attack, said two bloodstained butcher knives and a shoulder bag were recovered at the scene. Handles of the butcher knives were wrapped in paper, he said.

The attack occurred on a sidewalk outside the Teachers-Students Center on the university campus about 9 p.m., authorities said. At least two people attacked Roy from behind, slashing his head. They attacked his wife when she tried to save him. Bonya, 40, suffered head wounds and lost a finger, Islam said.

Roy and Bonya were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where Roy died about 10:20 p.m., officials said. Bonya, a writer and blogger, was listed in serious condition.

Witnesses said police officers and others were nearby when the attack occurred but did not attempt to intervene, despite Bonyas screams for help.

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U.S. atheist blogger killed in stabbing attack in Bangladesh