Public release date: 15-Feb-2012
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 15, 2012?Therapeutic cancer vaccines, which stimulate the body's immune system to target and destroy cancer cells, are being used in combination with conventional chemotherapy with growing success, as described in several illuminating articles in Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com). These articles are available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/cbr

The U.S. FDA recently approved the first cancer therapeutic vaccine for treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. At least 14 other cancer vaccine strategies are in Phase II or III clinical trials for metastatic melanoma, lung cancer, and lymphoma, for example.

A critical perspective, "Recent Advances in Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines," (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cbr.2012.1200) published in the Journal by Jeffrey Schlom, PhD, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD explains that a key advantage of cancer vaccines used in combination with chemotherapy is the extremely low level of toxicity. "The next frontier for vaccine therapy will be the use of vaccines in combination with certain chemotherapeutic agents, radiation, hormone therapy, and certain small molecule targeted therapies," according to Dr. Schlom.

These emerging areas of cancer vaccine therapy are explored in detail in two accompanying research reports by Dr. Schlom's colleagues at NCI/NIH. James Hodge, Hadley Sharp, and Sofia Gameiro describe how a tumor-targeted vaccine can enhance the effectiveness of radiation therapy on cancer growth and spread beyond the primary tumor in the article "Abscopal Regression of Antigen Disparate Tumors by Antigen Cascade After Systemic Tumor Vaccination in Combination with Local Tumor Radiation." (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cbr.2012.1202) Drs. Hodge and Gameiro and coauthor Jorge Caballero present the molecular signatures of lung tumor cells that can be made more susceptible to immunotherapy when first exposed to chemotherapeutic agents in the article "Defining the Molecular Signature of Chemotherapy-Mediated Lung Tumor Phenotype Modulation and Increased Susceptibility to T-cell Killing." (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cbr.2012.1203)

"This perspective and promising research reports are from one of the leading vaccine research laboratories in the world," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Donald J. Buchsbaum, PhD, Division of Radiation Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham. "The ultimate use of cancer vaccines in combination with other immunotherapies, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy will be based on preclinical investigations and hopefully will produce clinical survival benefit for a range of cancers."

###

Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, published 10 times a year in print and online, is under the editorial leadership of Editors Donald J. Buchsbaum, PhD and Robert K. Oldham, MD, Lower Keys Cancer Center, Key West, FL. Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals is the only journal with a specific focus on cancer biotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, cytokine therapy, cancer gene therapy, cell-based therapies, and other forms of immunotherapy. The Journal includes extensive reporting on advancements in radioimmunotherapy and the use of radiopharmaceuticals and radiolabeled peptides for the development of new cancer treatments. Topics include antibody drug conjugates, fusion toxins and immunotoxins, nanoparticle therapy, vascular therapy, and inhibitors of proliferation signaling pathways. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/cbr

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research; Human Gene Therapy and Human Gene Therapy Methods; and Stem Cells and Development. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: 914-740-2100
800M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101

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Promising early results with therapeutic cancer vaccines

Three weeks ago scientists around the world agreed on a 60-day moratorium on certain genetic experiments involving the bird flu virus H5N1. I heard the news while driving to work on Monday's Morning Edition.

The halting of research was deemed necessary after scientists in the Netherlands showed that a genetically-modified bird flu virus could pass among ferrets and kill them. The virus, found in wild birds, rarely affects people, and when it does it doesn't spread easily. It is, however, quite deadly. It has killed half of the 500 humans with documented cases. The Dutch group wanted to demonstrate that we should be careful with the virus, that small changes could turn it into a lethal contagious disease that could cause a catastrophic pandemic. By knowing more about the virus and its potential we could better prepare for the worse-case scenario.

In proving their point, they raised serious issues concerning the nature of scientific research and its control. So much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) has invited a small group of experts to address these issues, starting tomorrow in Geneva, Switzerland.

The scenario is the stuff of movies. Due to a lab accident, or to ill intention, the modified virus escapes into the open and starts spreading and killing, creating world-wide havoc.

In the public imagination, this is not too different from the mythic tale of Doctor Frankenstein and his monster: a scientist, driven by good intention, ends up creating a monster with its own killing agenda. (At least that's how it is in the more popular Hollywood version of Mary Shelley's brilliant exploration of cutting-edge science and man's ability to control nature.)

Michael Osterholm, who serves on the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, is clearly worried, saying, "It would be foolish to not take this very seriously." Late last year, the Board considered parts of similar research by a group at University of Wisconsin-Madison too risky to be disseminated in the normal way to the scientific community, that is, through the publication of peer-reviewed papers and lectures at conferences.

When scientists feel the need to censure other scientists, you can be sure that fierce debate will follow. After all, one of the most cherished aspects of academic science is precisely its openness: everyone, everywhere should have access to the data and methodology so that results can be replicated, tested, and, usually, improved upon. At least in principle, you should only believe a result when you see it for yourself.

The move to cloister research is a remarkable and worrisome situation. As Keiji Fukuda, from the WHO, declared, "We have viruses which exist, we have manuscripts which have been written, we have a moratorium which was declared voluntarily by the researchers, and so given all of that, you know, what are some of the practical steps that we can take?"

Should this kind of research be forbidden? Should it be relegated to ultra-secure labs, the kinds that store Ebola and smallpox? Should it become a national security priority and put in the hands of the government?

Can safeguards be implemented such that key details of the research are only revealed to legitimate researchers? And how will one determine who is legitimate? This brings back the spying paranoia with nuclear weapons that started in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project and that ended up costing J. Robert Oppenheimer his security clearance and, to a large extent, his dignity. It is fodder for the worst conspiracy theories which, I am sure, have already begun.

We should learn from the history of the atomic bomb and remember that scientific research can never go back: once it's out it will become available, even if the costs and scientific challenges are high. On the other hand, we should not equate science with Pandora's Box. In the particular case of the H5N1 virus, research aimed at understanding how the virus can pass among people is the best way to make sure it doesn't. Or, if it does, at how to create proper immunization against it. The best that can be done is to have the vaccine ready in case evil intent predicates how the new science will be used.

You can keep up with more of what Marcelo is thinking on Facebook.

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Virus Engineering And The Fear Of Science

Public release date: 14-Feb-2012
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY -- The biological scaffold that gives structure to a heart valve after its cellular material has been removed can be freeze-dried and stored for later use as a tissue-engineered replacement valve to treat a failing heart, as described in an article in Tissue Engineering, Part C: Methods, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/ten

Shangping Wang and colleagues from Leibniz University, Corlife, and Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, studied various strategies for freeze-drying porcine heart valves. After the cellular material was removed, they freeze-dried the heart valve scaffolds with or without sucrose and hydroxyl ethylene starch, and then compared the stability and elasticity of the freeze-dried scaffolds to assess the effectiveness of these lyoprotectants in preventing degradation of the scaffold. They report their findings in the article "Freeze-dried Heart Valve Scaffolds." (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ten.TEC.2011.0398)

"Advances in heart valve technology are essential for improvement of patient care," says John Jansen, DDS, PhD, Methods Co-Editor-in-Chief and Professor and Chairman, Department of Biomaterials, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, The Netherlands. "The authors have discerned critical methods for heart valve scaffold preservation that may fundamentally change the way that heart valve reconstruction is performed."

###

Tissue Engineering is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published 42 times per year in print and online in three parts: Part A--the flagship journal; Part B?Reviews; and Part C?Methods. Led by Co-Editors-In-Chief Dr. Antonios Mikos, Louis Calder Professor at Rice University, Houston, TX, and Peter C. Johnson, MD, President and CEO, Scintellix, LLC, Raleigh, NC and Vice President, Research and Development, Avery Dennison Medical Solutions, the Journal brings together scientific and medical experts in the fields of biomedical engineering, material science, molecular and cellular biology, and genetic engineering. Tissue Engineering is the Official Journal of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS). Complete tables of contents and sample issues of all 3 parts are available online at http://www.liebertpub.com/ten

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy and HGT Methods, and Biopreservation and Biobanking. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
http:// http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: 914-740-2100
800-M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101

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Freeze-dried heart valve scaffolds hold promise for heart valve replacement

Public release date: 13-Feb-2012
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY -- Children are naturally drawn toward gaming and other types of technology, creating an ideal opportunity to design interactive media tools to encourage physical activity and promote healthy eating habits, according to an article in a special issue of the journal Childhood Obesity celebrating the second anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative. The issue includes a special Foreword by Mrs. Obama and is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/chi.

"Let's Get Technical! Gaming and Technology for Weight Control and Health Promotion in Children," an article by Tom Baranowski, PhD and Leslie Frankel, PhD, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, describes the ongoing research effort to identify and develop the most effective approaches for using gaming and interactive media to deliver health promotion messages to children of all ages.

This special Let's Move! issue has a wide range of contributions from leaders in the fight against childhood obesity including Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, NFL quarterback Drew Brees, Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, Sandra Hassink, MD, Margo Wootan, DSc, and Editor-in-Chief David Katz, MD, MPH.

The issue covers a broad range of topics including creating environments that support routine physical activity and a healthy lifestyle, after-school obesity prevention programs, nutrition standards for school meals, faith-based advocacy efforts to end childhood obesity, gaming and technology for weight control, parent training programs for 2-4 year old Latino children, the role of sleep in childhood obesity, a roundtable discussion about what we don't know about childhood obesity, industry efforts to help children make healthy food choices, and success stories from the Let's Move! initiative.

"We know that 'screen time' is a contributor to childhood obesity. But we also know it's not going away. Thought leaders like Dr. Baranowski are showing how to convert parts of the problem into parts of the solution," says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. "We are honored to feature such pragmatic expertise on the pages of the Journal."

###

Childhood Obesity is partly funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to ensure that the Journal is accessible as widely as possible, and to provide a framework that addresses the social and environmental conditions that influence opportunities for children to have access to healthy, affordable food and safe places to play and be physically active.

Childhood Obesity is a bimonthly journal, published in print and online, and the journal of record for all aspects of communication on the broad spectrum of issues and strategies related to weight management and obesity prevention in children and adolescents. The Journal includes peer-reviewed articles documenting cutting-edge research and clinical studies, opinion pieces and roundtable discussions, profiles of successful programs and interventions, and updates on task force recommendations, global initiatives, and policy platforms. It reports on news and developments in science and medicine, features programs and initiatives developed in the public and private sector, and a Literature Watch. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online T http://www.liebertpub.com/chi.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Games for Health Journal, Telemedicine and e-Health, Population Health Management, Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, and Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on our website at http://www.liebertpub.com.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: 914-740-2100
800) M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101
http://www.liebertpub.com

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Games and interactive media are powerful tools for health promotion and childhood obesity prevention

By Julian Gavaghan

Last updated at 11:00 AM on 13th February 2012

Twin brothers have told of their ‘devastation’ after both dramatically lost their sight to a rare condition that affects just a few hundred people.

Michael and Dan Smith, 20, are still determined to finish university and get good jobs after being left almost totally blind by Leber's Optic Neuropathy.

Michael, who is in football training for this year's Paralympic Games, lost his sight in a matter of weeks while in his first year at Bart's and the London School of Medicine.

Rare condition: Dan (left) and Michael Smith suffer from Leber's optic Neuropathy

Less than a year later, his brother Dan suffered the same fate while in his second year studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Bristol.

The identical pair, who can only make out shadowy shapes, have been forced to adapt their lives, learning Braille and re-learning how to cook and choose clothes.

They also plan to embark on a 350-mile tandem bike ride from London to Amsterdam in April.

Michael first noted changes to his vision in November 2009, forcing him into the ‘crushing’ realisation he could not continue his degree in medicine.

WHAT EXACTLY IS LEBER'S OPTIC NEUROPATHY?

Leber's Optic Neuropathy is a hereditary condition passed on by the mother’s genes.

The genetic defect, which can lead to optic nerve damage – or neuropathy, is carried by roughly one in every 9,000 people.

But genes, which can cause eye cells to die off quickly, can pass though several generations without triggering the condition.

Around 50 per cent of men and 80 per cent of women with it will suffer no loss of vision. No reason is known for the difference between the sexes.

In the Smith brothers’ case, they have been unable to find any family history of sudden onset blindness going back four generations.

The main symptom is the sudden loss of vision, which is caused by a death of cells in the optic nerve responsible for relaying visual information from the eyes to the brain.

Once cells start dying, affected eyes will begin seeing colours that appear more washed out. Within a period of eight weeks, it can lead to near or total blindness.

In many cases, only one eye is affected and patients may not be aware of the loss of colour vision until the doctor asks them to cover the healthy eye.

Most of the time, however, both eyes are affected. Sometimes vision improves, although this is very unusual.

‘My symptoms came on suddenly - one day I was in a lecture and I could not make out the projector in front of me, it was really hazy,’ he said.

‘I lost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of vision in my left eye in a very short space of time.

'I continued at medical school for a couple of weeks but it was taking me half an hour to read a page of A4 and I was breaking down in tears.

‘I did not know what was happening to me. I could not recognise people's faces and I quickly lost my independence.’

A genetic test eventually revealed Michael was suffering from the rare genetic condition, which also caused rapid sight loss in his right eye.

‘It was the end of life as I knew it,’ he said. ‘I could not carry on at medical school and that was incredibly distressing. In fact, it was crushing.

‘I can never describe how devastating it was to give up on medicine.

‘Not only that but I couldn't go for a run on my own without it being dangerous, I could not prepare food, I did not know what I was wearing.’

Dan also ‘could not comprehend what was happening’ when he heard Michael's news.

‘Michael has been the closest person to me all my life and this struck him in his first week at university,’ he said. ‘It was incredibly hard to see this happening to my brother.

‘He called me to say he thought something was wrong - he wasn't able to recognise people but didn't know why. That conversation still haunts me.

‘Doctors initially thought he had a brain tumour but tests revealed that he had this rare genetic disorder.

‘The whole family was devastated as we tried to comprehend what had happened.

‘It was the cruellest of timing because it was my brother's first term at medical school and he had his whole life ahead of him.’

But further terrible news was still to come. Because the pair are identical twins, Dan was told he had a 60 per cent to 70 per cent chance of also going blind.

Optic neuropathy: Cracks show nerve damage in the eye, caused by cells dying

‘Knowing I could lose my sight was psychologically very, very tough,’ he said.

‘Leber's Optic Neuropathy is known as 'The Sword of Damocles', based on the Greek parable, because your life goes from being great, in a period of heightened happiness, to hitting rock bottom in an instance.

‘I had a pretty tough time knowing that this dark cloud was hanging over me during my first two years at university.

‘It was effectively like sitting on a time bomb that could have gone off at any moment.’

In Easter 2010, Dan began to lose sight in his left eye and within three weeks there was also ‘full scale deterioration’ in his right eye.

Michael said: ‘Once I was diagnosed, the one thing I wanted in life was for this not to happen to my brother too.’

Although Leber's Optic Neuropathy is a hereditary condition, the brothers have been unable to find any family history going back four generations.

The twins, from Barnet, north London, can now make out shadows but use white canes to help them move around.

It is not known if they will lose their remaining sight but their condition is extremely unlikely to improve.

Nevertheless, they are determined to live life to the full. Michael is now studying geography at King's College London and wants to be a disability lawyer when he graduates.

Dan is still studying aeronautical engineering and aims to go into investment banking.

Michael said: ‘The last two years have been the most difficult but also the most exciting of my life.

‘We have had to learn new skills such as Braille and a new computer language that coverts text to speech. In lectures, we have note-takers.

‘Everything is through touch now, I select clothes through touch and texture and cooking is through touch and smell.

‘I thought I would never smile again, but we wanted our lives back.’

Damage: The normally smooth contour of the retina has large black areas where photoreceptors have been lost due to the macular degeneration

Michael plays for the England blind football team and is hoping to get picked for this year's Paralympic Games.

‘It's incredibly competitive but I'm training all the time,’ he said.

The Arsenal fans will undertake the London-Amsterdam tandem bike ride on April 6 to raise awareness of their condition.

They hope to raise over ?3,000 for Blind in Business, a charity which helps blind and partially sighted people into work.

Dan Mitchell, training and fundraising manager at Blind in Business, said: ‘Having the Smith brothers embark on such a challenging journey to raise money for this small charity shows they always want to work towards bigger challenges.

‘They have both been challenged academically and have pushed themselves as visually impaired people, working towards careers in engineering and law.’

Leber's Optic Neuropathy mostly strikes young men and is caused by complex genetic defects.

Vision loss results from the death of cells in the optic nerve responsible for relaying visual information from the eyes to the brain.

Although central vision gradually improves in a small number of cases, for most people vision loss is permanent.

Michael and Dan can be sponsored via http://www.justgiving.com/sevenmenfivebikes.

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Twin brothers' devastation after both rapidly lost their sight due to rare genetic condition

In Remaking Eden (Harper Perennial, 1998), geneticist Lee Silver envisioned a future in which humanity has split into two species: “Naturals,” the poor slobs who muddle along with the genes that nature gave them, and the “GenRich,” who can afford to boost their physical and mental talents via genetic engineering. Silver warns that over time, “the genetic distance between the Naturals and the GenRich has become greater and greater, and now there is little movement up from the Natural to GenRich class.”

We don’t have to wait until science catches up to science fiction for this unjust dystopia to be realized. It’s happening now, in the United States, as a result of policies that favor the rich at the expense of un-rich. Scholars are confirming with empirical studies what Occupy Wall Street protesters have been saying: our system is unfairly rigged in favor of the haves, who keep pulling away from have-nots.

Education can help the poor climb their way to a higher socioeconomic status. But according to Sabrina Tavernise of The New York Times, several studies have shown that “the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.”

Race plays less of a role than it once did in this widening chasm. A study published last year by sociologist Sean Reardon found that the difference between standardized test scores of blacks and whites has narrowed since 1960, while the difference between low-income and wealthy students has surged 40 percent. “We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s,” Reardon told The Times, “in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears to be more determinative of educational success than race.”

The simplest explanation for the divide is that the rich can afford to send their children to better schools, hire private tutors for them and give them other advantages. In 1972, affluent parents spent five times as much on their children, on average, as low-income parents; by 2007, that difference had almost doubled, to nine to one. “The pattern of privileged families today is intensive cultivation,” sociologist Frank Furstenberg told The Times.

The federal tax code is also stacked against the poor. The code caps taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends at 15 percent, which is why Mitt Romney is taxed at a lower rate than a grade-school teacher. Far from being progressive, with percentages rising with income, the tax code is regressive in this key area. Those who work for a living pay more in taxes, percentage-wise, than those who live off investments.

Political scientist Andrew Hacker documents the depths of our inequality in “We’re More Unequal Than You Think,” in The New York Review of Books this month. He estimates that since 1985 “the lower 60 percent of households have lost $4 trillion, most of which has ascended to the top 5 percent.” U.S. economic policies, Hacker says, now serve as a “giant vacuum cleaner” sucking money from low-income people and showering it upon the rich.

Economists quantify the inequality of a society on a scale called the Gini index. If everyone has the same income, the Gini index is zero; if one person makes all the moola, the Gini index is one. The U.S. Gini index has risen from .359 in 1972 to .440 in 2010, an increase of more than 20 percent, Hacker reports. In contrast, the Gini index of socialist Sweden is .230.

Hacker notes that “in a not-so-distant past, families of modest means made enough to put something aside for their children’s college fees. That cushion is gone, which is why millions of undergraduates are now forced to take much larger loans. Adding interest and penalties, many will face decades paying off six-figure debts.” (I’m facing this financial challenge myself; my son is entering college next fall and my daughter a year later.)

The U.S. exemplifies the Matthew effect, a sociological term that alludes to a passage in the Gospel of Matthew: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Our current presidential race features several Christian candidates—Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Romney—who seem to view the Matthew effect as the Eleventh Commandment. These men trumpet their religiosity and rectitude, and yet they advocate economic policies that benefit the rich and hurt the poor, violating the most basic rules of moral decency. Naturals must join together with rich people with a conscience to create a more economically just society.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, http://www.flickr.com/tracy_olson.

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Education Isn't Helping Americans Overcome Deepening Inequality

Public release date: 9-Feb-2012
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 9, 2012?An automated on/off feature built into insulin pump systems can suspend insulin delivery when it detects low blood glucose levels (via continuous glucose monitoring), significantly reducing the severity and duration of hypoglycemia in individuals with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online.

In the study, Satish Garg, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics and Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver, and colleagues from the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes (Aurora, CO), Rainier Clinical Research Center (Renten, WA), AMCR Institute, Inc. (Escondido, CA), Stanford University Medical Center (CA), Mills-Peninsula Health Services (San Mateo, CA), and Medtronic Inc. (Northridge, CA) used a regimen of fasting and exercise to induce hypoglycemia in a group of subjects with type 1 diabetes who use insulin pump delivery devices along with continuous glucose monitoring.

They compared the severity and duration of hypoglycemia and the risk of rebound hyperglycemia when the automated "low glucose suspend" feature of the pump was turned on or off. They report their findings in the article "Reduction in Duration of Hypoglycemia by Automatic Suspension of Insulin Delivery: The In-Clinic ASPIRE Study."

"This is the first randomized cross-over trial with an attempt to develop an artificial pancreas," says Dr. Garg.

###

Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics is a monthly peer-reviewed journal that covers new technology and new products for the treatment, monitoring, diagnosis, and prevention of diabetes and its complications. Technologies include noninvasive glucose monitoring, implantable continuous glucose sensors, novel routes of insulin administration, genetic engineering, the artificial pancreas, measures of long-term control, computer applications for case management, telemedicine, the Internet, and new medications. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Childhood Obesity, and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on our website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101

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Automatic suspension of insulin delivery via insulin pumps reduces hypoglycemia

Public release date: 8-Feb-2012
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 8, 2012?A clinically challenging and under-studied subset of diseases affecting the lymphatic system and grouped under the disease spectrum lymphangiomatosis and Gorham's disease is the focus of a special issue of Lymphatic Research and Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.. The issue is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/lrb

Guest Editor, and Journal Associate Editor Francine Blei MD, MBA, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, NY, has compiled a collection of articles that highlight the complex characteristics of these diseases, which can be localized, affect multiple sites, or be systemic, may be congenital or acquired, and may cause symptoms that range from mild to severe to life-threatening. The articles focus on current knowledge, ongoing research, and how these diseases differ from other lymphatic disorders.

"This disease spectrum affects a patient population that is small in number, but the effects of the disease(s) are devastating," says Stanley G. Rockson, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Lymphatic Research and Biology and Allan and Tina Neill Professor of Lymphatic Research and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA. The collection of articles in this special issue, "highlights the current state of knowledge (and ignorance) in this paradoxically neglected area of lymphatic health and disease."

###

Lymphatic Research and Biology is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in print and online that delivers the latest developments and advances in lymphatic biology and pathology from the world's leading biomedical investigators. Topics covered include vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, genetics of lymphatic disorders, human lymphatic disease, tumor biology and metastasis, pharmacology, lymphatic imaging, and inflammation, infection, and autoimmune disease. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/lrb

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101

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Rare subset of diseases involving the lymphatic system

Public release date: 8-Feb-2012
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Contact: Cathia Falvey
cfalvey@liebertpub.com
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 8, 2012?Chronic neuropathic pain following a spinal cord injury is common and very difficult to treat, but a new therapeutic strategy requiring a one-time injection into the spinal column has potential to improve patient outcomes. This cutting-edge pain management strategy is described in an article published in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/neu, along with a related article on pain following spinal cord injury.

A single injection of fibronectin, a glycoprotein produced in the body that helps anchor cells in place, can prevent the development of chronic pain that often develops after a spinal cord injury. Ching-Yi Lin, Yu-Shang Lee, Vernon Lin and Jerry Silver, from the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, and Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, OH, describe the successful outcome following injection of a small quantity of fibronectin into the spinal dorsal column of animals immediately after a spinal dorsal column crush injury. The treatment inhibits the development of a particular type of chronic pain?mechanical allodynia, or pain from pressure that would not normally cause pain?which is common in spinal cord injury patients. The authors report their findings in the article "Fibronectin Inhibits Chronic Pain Development after Spinal Cord Injury."

Changes that occur outside the central nervous system can also play a role in the development of chronic pain after spinal cord injury. Another article in the Journal by Supinder Bedi and colleagues, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, reports that a type of nerve cell present in the peripheral nervous system, called a nociceptive primary afferent neuron, is hyperexcitable and displays spontaneous activity after spinal cord injury, which might be important for the development of chronic pain. They present their findings in the article "Spinal Cord Injury Triggers an Intrinsic Growth-Promoting State in Nociceptors."

"These highlighted experimental studies provide new information on mechanisms underlying the development of neuropathic pain and potential therapeutic interventions to treat pain after spinal cord injury," says Deputy Editor of Journal of Neurotrauma, W. Dalton Dietrich III, PhD, Scientific Director, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery, Professor of Neurological Surgery, Neurology and Cell Biology at University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Lois Pope LIFE Center.

###

Journal of Neurotrauma is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published 18 times per year in print and online that focuses on the latest advances in the clinical and laboratory investigation of traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. Emphasis is on the basic pathobiology of injury to the nervous system, and the papers and reviews evaluate preclinical and clinical trials targeted at improving the early management and long-term care and recovery of patients with traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma is the Official Journal of the National Neurotrauma Society and the International Neurotrauma Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/neu

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management, Tissue Engineering, and Brain Connectivity. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101
http://www.liebertpub.com

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New treatment for chronic pain after spinal cord injury

Public release date: 9-Feb-2012
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Contact: Cathia Falvey
cfalvey@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100 x2165
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 9, 2012?Applying 21st century tools and technologies to manage land use, maximize biomass production, and increase the efficiency of processes for extracting energy from renewable resources will enable the biofuels industry to overcome current challenges in bioenergy production, according to a comprehensive review article published in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/ind.

Robert Diltz, Heather Luckarift, and Glenn Johnson, Air Force Research Laboratory, Tyndall Air Force Base, FL, and Universal Technology Corporation, Dayton, OH, provide a detailed review of the current methods in use for producing bioenergy and the key hurdles yet to overcome. The article, "Sustainable Land Use for Bioenergy in the 21st Century," focuses on three main areas: enhancing the growth of biomass from a variety of resources; optimizing the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass to energy; and implementing land management strategies to create a sustainable biomass-to-energy industry that does not have an undesirable impact on the environment. The authors emphasize the need for innovative methods to increase the energy density of biomass, enhance growth strategies, improve energy yield, and maximize the use of waste generated as a result of biomass processing.

"It is so important that we begin to envision bioenergy development from a broader systems perspective with an eye on sustainability. This review explicitly captures this need." says Larry Walker, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

###

Industrial Biotechnology, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD, and Glenn Nedwin, PhD, MBA, President, Human Therapeutics Division, Intrexon Corporation, Germantown, MD is an authoritative journal focused on biobased industrial and environmental products and processes, published bimonthly in print and online. The Journal reports on the science, business, and policy developments of the emerging global bioeconomy, including biobased production of energy and fuels, chemicals, materials, and consumer goods. The articles published include critically reviewed original research in all related sciences (biology, biochemistry, chemical and process engineering, agriculture), in addition to expert commentary on current policy, funding, markets, business, legal issues, and science trends. Industrial Biotechnology offers a premier forum bridging basic research and R&D with later-stage commercialization for sustainable biobased industrial and environmental applications.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc (http://www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Environmental Engineering Science and Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101

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Sustainable land use strategies to support bioenergy described in Industrial Biotechnology journal

14-11-2011 15:08 This tune is taken from the Genetic Identification EP released today on Dubsaw! Big release which you can buy here: http://www.beatport.com Find BIOMETRIX on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com Find BIOMETRIX on YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com Find BIOMETRIX on TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com DarkstepWarrior: http://www.facebook.com soundcloud.com HardstepWarrior: http://www.youtube.com

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Biometrix - Genetic Identification - Video

17-01-2012 05:07 DigInfo TV - diginfo.tv 22

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"Low-Cadmium" Rice Through Genetic Modification #DigInfo - Video

Your life depends on purposeful, targeted changes to cellular DNA. Although conventional thinking says directed DNA changes are impossible, the truth is that you could not survive without them. Your immune system needs to engineer certain DNA sequences in just the right way to function properly.

Today's blog is a tale of how cells engineer their DNA molecules for a specific purpose. It also illustrates how an evolutionary process works within the human body.

Your immune system has to anticipate and inactivate unknown invaders. Living organisms deal with unpredictable events by evolving. They change to adapt to new circumstances. Variation comes from their capacity for self-modification. Cells have many molecular mechanisms that read, write, and reorganize the information in their genomes, the DNA molecules used for data storage.

The adaptive immune system executes basic evolutionary principles in real time. It has to recognize and combat unknown (and utterly unpredictable) invaders. Immune system cells have to produce antibody molecules that can bind to any possible molecular structure.

How do cells with finite DNA, and finite coding capacity, produce a virtually infinite variety of antibodies? The answer is that certain immune cells (B cells) become rapid evolution factories. They generate antibodies with effectively limitless diversity while preserving molecular structures needed to interact with other parts of the immune system.

Immune cells achieve both diversity and regularity in antibody structures. They accomplish this by a targeted yet flexible process of natural genetic engineering: they cut and splice DNA.

Diversity is strictly limited to a special part of the antibody molecules: a "variable" region encoded by engineered DNA. DNA encoding the "constant" region does not change in the same way. The diversity-generating process is called "VDJ recombination" because it involves cutting and splicing together different "variable" (V), "diversity" (D) and "joining" (J) coding segments. Immune cells do this by cutting DNA at defined "recombination signal sequences." There are hundreds of V segments, about a few dozen D segments, and ten J segments. The various combinations of different spliced segments makes for a tremendous amount of diversity.

Antibodies contain two paired protein chains: a longer heavy chain and a shorter light chain. The heavy chain variable coding region forms by splicing V, D, and J segments together. The light chain variable coding region forms by joining V and J segments together. There are at least 10,000 VDJ combinations and 1,000 VJ combinations. Altogether, over 10,000,000 different heavy + light chain antibodies are possible through "combinatorial diversity."

Not bad... but not good enough.

VDJ recombination generates additional diversity. Although cutting the V, D, and J segments is precise, immune cells join each pair of cleaved DNA segments at about a dozen different positions. Connection between the same two segments can have about 30 to 35 possible different sequence outcomes. This "junctional diversity" adds over 1,000 possible antibody combinations.

In addition, heavy chain D segment joining has another virtually unlimited source of variability. Immune cells have an enzyme that attaches unique new DNA sequences to either end of the D segment. These are not encoded anywhere in the genome. Such so-called "N region" sequences can add over 1,000 new variations to each existing VDJ combination.

So the total possible genetically engineered antibody diversity is something above 10,000,000 X 1,000 X 1,000 = 10,000,000,000,000 combinations. This extraordinary number appears to be large enough to generate antibodies that can protect you from virtually any invader, whatever its molecular structure may be.

The immune system is itself a rapid evolutionary process, replacing one set of immune specificities with another. The right antibody-producing cells multiply when an invader enters the body. Antibodies sit on the surface of cells that made them. When a particular variable region binds an invader, that event sends a signal inside the cell to begin dividing.

Dividing immune cells are called "activated B cells," which proliferate into distinct populations. Because the descendants of a single activated B cell share the same engineered variable region coding sequences, they produce even more invader-recognizing antibodies. By binding, these antibodies signal the rest of the immune system to begin eliminating the invaders. This is the front-line "primary" adaptive immune response.

In a future blog, I'll explain ongoing natural genetic engineering as activated immune cells mature in the "secondary" response. It is no less amazing. For now, let's draw three conclusions from the initial rapid evolution system. We see that:

Evolution has produced a system that engineers DNA with a specific purpose: encoding proteins that bind to unpredictable invaders and signal the immune system to make more antibodies and eliminate the invaders. Precise targeting of DNA cutting to variable region-coding segments allows the basic antibody structure to stay the same. At the same time, its recognition/binding capacity changes. Your B cells are able to combine several different kinds of DNA biochemistry into a functional engineering process: 1) cutting the V, D and J segments; 2) joining the cleaved segments; and 3) synthesizing and inserting the N region sequences.

In the immune system, "purposeful" and "having a predestined outcome" are far from the same thing. Your immune system follows a regular process, but the end result is not fixed in advance. This is an important lesson to keep in mind as we witness ongoing public debates over evolutionary DNA change.

In biology, the alternative to randomness is not necessarily strict determinism. If the cells of the immune system can use well-defined natural genetic engineering processes to make change when change is needed, there is a scientific basis for saying that germ-line cells might do the same in the course of evolution.

Read more from the original source:
James A. Shapiro: Purposeful, Targeted Genetic Engineering in Immune System Evolution

Washington, Feb 5 (ANI): Using a liquid laser, researchers have devised a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might make a person more vulnerable to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.

This work by University of Michigan researchers could advance understanding of the genetic basis of diseases.

It also has applications in personalized medicine, which aims to target drugs and other therapies to individual patients based on a thorough knowledge of their genetic information.

The researchers say their technique works much better than the current approach, which uses fluorescent dye and other biological molecules to find and bind to mutated DNA strands.

When a patrol molecule catches one of these rogues, it emits a fluorescent beacon. This might sound like a solid system, but it's not perfect. The patrol molecules tend to bind to healthy DNA as well, giving off a background glow that is only slightly dimmer than a positive signal.

"Sometimes, we can fail to see the difference," said Xudong Fan, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and principal investigator on the project.

"If you cannot see the difference in signals, you could misdiagnose. The patient may have the mutated gene, but you wouldn't detect it."

In the conventional fluorescence technique, the signal from mutated DNA might be only a few tenths of a percent higher than the background noise. With Fan's new approach it's hundreds of times brighter.

"We found a clever way to amplify the intrinsic difference in the signals," Fan said.

He did it with a bit of backtracking.

Liquid lasers, discovered in the late '60s, amplify light by passing it through a dye, rather than a crystal, as solid-state lasers do. Fan, who works at the intersection of biomedical engineering and photonics, has been developing them for the past five years.

In his unique set-up, the signal is amplified in a glass capillary called a "ring resonator cavity."

Last year, Fan and his research group found that they could employ DNA (the blueprints for life that reside in all cells) to modulate a liquid laser, or turn it on and off.

His group is one of just a few in the world to accomplish this, Fan said. At the time, they didn't have a practical application in mind. Then they had an epiphany.

"We thought, 'Let's look at the laser output. Can we see what's causing the different outputs and use it to detect differences in the DNA?'" Fan said.

"I had an intuition, and it turns out the output difference was huge," Fan added.

The journal editors named this a "hot paper" that "advances knowledge in a rapidly evolving field of high current interest."

The study has been published in German journal Angewandte Chemie. (ANI)

Read the rest here:
Liquid lasers to make detection of cancer genes easier

Public release date: 3-Feb-2012
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY -- If the proven long-term benefits of smoking cessation are not enough to motivate young adults to stop smoking, a new study shows that 18- to 24-year olds who stop smoking for at least two weeks report substantially fewer respiratory symptoms, especially coughing. The study findings are detailed in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available online.

Karen Calabro, DrPH and Alexander Prokhorov, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, compared self-reported respiratory symptoms among two groups of college students who participated in programs designed to motivate them to stop smoking. One group achieved smoking cessation for two weeks or longer and the other group failed to stop smoking. More than half of the students smoked 5-10 cigarettes a day and had smoked for 1-5 years.

"That the benefit of stopping smoking starts in days to weeks?not years or decades?is important. Now health care providers can counsel young smokers that their breathing can feel better soon after they stop. This can help to motivate young adults to stop smoking before the severe damage is done," says Harold Farber, MD, MSPH, Editor of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Pulmonology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

###

Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal published in print and online. The Journal synthesizes the pulmonary, allergy, and immunology communities in the advancement of the respiratory health of children. The Journal provides comprehensive coverage to further the understanding and optimize the treatment of some of the most common and costly chronic illnesses in children. It includes original translational, clinical, and epidemiologic research; public health, quality improvement, and case control studies; patient education research; and the latest research and standards of care for functional and genetic immune deficiencies and interstitial lung diseases. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on our website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot St.
New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: 914-740-2100
800-M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101

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Originally posted here:
Coughing and other respiratory symptoms improve within weeks of smoking cessation

Public release date: 2-Feb-2012
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, February 2, 2012?Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity. A comprehensive review article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., details these advances.

Short strands of nucleic acids, called small RNAs, can be used for targeted gene silencing, making them attractive drug candidates. These small RNAs block gene expression through multiple RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, including two newly discovered pathways in which small RNAs bind to Argonaute proteins or other forms of RNA present in the cell nucleus, such as long non-coding RNAs and pre-mRNA.

Keith T. Gagnon, PhD, and David R. Corey, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, review common features shared by RNAi pathways for controlling gene expression and focus in detail on the potential for Argonaute-RNA complexes in gene regulation and other exciting new options for targeting emerging forms of non-coding RNAs and pre-mRNAs in the article "Argonaute and the Nuclear RNAs: New Pathways for RNA Mediated Control of Gene Expression."

"The field of RNA mediated control of gene expression is rapidly evolving and the article by Gagnon and Corey provides a highly informative and up to date review of this exciting and often surprising area of biomedical research. We are delighted to publish this important review for the field," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Bruce A. Sullenger, PhD, Duke Translational Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.

###

Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is under the editorial leadership of Co-Editors-in-Chief Bruce A. Sullenger, PhD, and C.A. Stein, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Albert Einstein-Montefiore Cancer Center, Montefiore Medical Center; and Executive Editor Fintan Steele, PhD (SomaLogic, Boulder, CO).

Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is an authoritative, peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that focuses on cutting-edge basic research, therapeutic applications, and drug development using nucleic acids or related compounds to alter gene expression. Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is the official journal of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. A complete table of contents and free sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/nat.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Human Gene Therapy and Human Gene Therapy Methods, Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, Assay and Drug Development Technologies, and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101
http://www.liebertpub.com

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Continued here:
New RNA-based therapeutic strategies for controlling gene expression

Public release date: 1-Feb-2012
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY -- The value of routine body mass index (BMI) screening in schools has been a topic of ongoing controversy. An expert Roundtable Discussion in the current issue of Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., debates the pros and cons of routine BMI screening in the school setting, discusses the most recent data, and explores when and for what purpose BMI screening results should be shared with parents and the potential benefits. The Roundtable is available online.

Patricia B. Crawford, DrPH, RD, Adjunct Professor, University of California, Berkeley, moderates the Roundtable entitled, "An Update on the Use and Value of School BMI Screening, Surveillance, and Reporting." Participants include Jim Hinson, PhD, Superintendent of Schools, Independence School District, Missouri, Kristine Madsen, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD, Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Allison Nihiser, MPH, Health Scientist, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

"Ignoring this issue is clearly not an option," says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. "But it must be handled thoughtfully so that what we know about BMI in kids empowers us and them, and their parents, and their teachers to do something constructive, and compassionate about it. This insightful, multidisciplinary group highlights the important opportunities in this strategy, while considering how to avoid any potential pitfalls. Great insights here and very practical guidance."

###

Childhood Obesity is a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal, published in print and online, and the journal of record for all aspects of communication on the broad spectrum of issues and strategies related to weight management and obesity prevention in children and adolescents. The Journal includes peer-reviewed articles documenting cutting-edge research and clinical studies, opinion pieces and roundtable discussions, profiles of successful programs and interventions, and updates on task force recommendations, global initiatives, and policy platforms. It reports on news and developments in science and medicine, features programs and initiatives developed in the public and private sector, and includes a Literature Watch and Web Watch. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Population Health Management, Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, and Journal of Women's Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on our website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot Street,
New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone 914-740-2100
800-M-LIEBERT
Fax 914-740-2101

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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.

Read more from the original source:
Assessing the value of BMI screening and surveillance in schools

EDITORS: See photo at: http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20189-genes-linked-to-cancer-could-be-easier-to-detect-with-liquid-lasers

Newswise — ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Using a liquid laser, University of Michigan researchers have developed a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might predispose a person to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.

Their results are published in the current edition of the German journal Angewandte Chemie.

This work could advance understanding of the genetic basis of diseases. It also has applications in personalized medicine, which aims to target drugs and other therapies to individual patients based on a thorough knowledge of their genetic information.

The researchers say their technique works much better than the current approach, which uses fluorescent dye and other biological molecules to find and bind to mutated DNA strands. When a patrol molecule catches one of these rogues, it emits a fluorescent beacon. This might sound like a solid system, but it's not perfect. The patrol molecules tend to bind to healthy DNA as well, giving off a background glow that is only slightly dimmer than a positive signal.

"Sometimes, we can fail to see the difference," said Xudong Fan, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and principal investigator on the project. "If you cannot see the difference in signals, you could misdiagnose. The patient may have the mutated gene, but you wouldn't detect it."

In the conventional fluorescence technique, the signal from mutated DNA might be only a few tenths of a percent higher than the background noise. With Fan's new approach it's hundreds of times brighter.

"We found a clever way to amplify the intrinsic difference in the signals," Fan said.

He did it with a bit of backtracking.

Liquid lasers, discovered in the late '60s, amplify light by passing it through a dye, rather than a crystal, as solid-state lasers do. Fan, who works at the intersection of biomedical engineering and photonics, has been developing them for the past five years. In his unique set-up, the signal is amplified in a glass capillary called a "ring resonator cavity."

Last year, Fan and his research group found that they could employ DNA (the blueprints for life that reside in all cells) to modulate a liquid laser, or turn it on and off. His group is one of just a few in the world to accomplish this, Fan said. At the time, they didn't have a practical application in mind. Then they had an epiphany.

"We thought, 'Let's look at the laser output. Can we see what's causing the different outputs and use it to detect differences in the DNA?'" Fan said. "I had an intuition, and it turns out the output difference was huge."

The journal editors named this a "hot paper" that "advances knowledge in a rapidly evolving field of high current interest."

The paper is titled "Distinguishing DNA by Analog-to-Digital-like Conversion by Using Optofluidic Lasers." The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. The first author is Yuze Sun, a doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property, and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.

The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the top engineering schools in the country. At more than $130 million annually, its engineering research budget is one of largest of any public university. Michigan Engineering is home to 11 academic departments and a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. The college plays a leading role in the U-M Energy Institute and hosts the world-class Lurie Nanofabrication Facility. Michigan Engineering's premier scholarship, international scale and multidisciplinary scope combine to create The Michigan Difference. Find out more at http://www.engin.umich.edu.

# # # # # #

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Genes Linked to Cancer Could Be Easier to Detect with Liquid Lasers

Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment:  Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.

When he was in high school in the 1960s, people worried there wouldn’t be enough food to feed the world, Gates recalled in his fourth annual letter, which was published online on January 24 and reported on by the AP in the Huffington Post. But the “green revolution,” which transformed agriculture with high-yield crop varieties and other innovations, warded off famine.

Gates is among those who believe another, similar revolution is needed now. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $2 billion in the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia, and much of that money has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.

Gates doesn’t apologize for his endorsement of modern agriculture or sidestep criticism of genetic modification. He told the Associated Press that he finds it ironic that most people who oppose genetic engineering in plant breeding live in rich nations that he believes are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.

In his 24-page letter, the Microsoft Corp. chairman lamented that more money isn’t spent on agriculture research and noted that of the $3 billion spent each year on work on the seven most important crops, only 10 percent focuses on problems in poor countries.

“Given the central role that food plays in human welfare and national stability, it is shocking – not to mention short-sighted and potentially dangerous – how little money is spent on agricultural research,” he wrote in his letter, calling for wealthier nations to step up.

See the rest here:
Bill Gates: Embrace Genetic Modification or Starve

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY -- If you think palliative care and the ICU don't go together, think again. The importance and potential benefits of palliative care to ease suffering and improve quality of life for patients being treated in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) has received increasing recognition but is not without significant challenges, as discussed in a Roundtable discussion in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com). Journal of Palliative Medicine is the Official Journal of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and an Official Journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA). The Roundtable is available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/jpm

Palliative care in the ICU requires a team effort. A multidisciplinary group of health care experts share their experiences, views, and advice as participants in a roundtable discussion, "Palliative Care in the ICU (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jpm.2011.9599)," led by moderator Judith Nelson, MD, JD, Professor of Medicine and Project Director, The IPAL-ICU Project, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. The participants included: Elie Azoulay, MD, H?pital Saint-Louis, Universit? Paris VII, France; J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle; Anne Mosenthal, MD, UMDNJ-NJMS, Newark, NJ; Colleen Mulkerin, MSW, LCSW, Hartford Hospital, CT; Kathleen Puntillo, RN, DNSc, University of California, San Francisco; and Mark Siegel, MD, Yale School of Medicine, Yale-New Haven Hospital, CT.

Patients in the ICU are often at high risk of dying and may be on life support or require intensive monitoring. There has been a significant shift in the critical care community toward increasing recognition of the needs of ICU patients and families and the potential for greater use of palliative care to ease their suffering and provide psychological support.

The IPAL-ICU Project of the Center to Advance Palliative Care is supported by the National Institutes of Health and is working to develop recommendations to guide the implementation of palliative care principles and practices in the ICU, focusing on the special issues affecting patients, families, and caregivers in the ICU environment.

"It seems clear that palliative care in the ICU improves the quality of care for both patients and their families. I suspect this will become standard of care in all hospitals in coming years," says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Provost, Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice.

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Journal of Palliative Medicine, published monthly in print and online, is an interdisciplinary journal that reports on the clinical, educational, legal, and ethical aspects of care for seriously ill and dying patients. The Journal includes coverage of the latest developments in drug and non-drug treatments for patients with life-threatening diseases including cancer, AIDS, cardiac disease, pulmonary, neurological, and respiratory conditions, and other diseases. The Journal reports on the development of palliative care programs around the United States and the world and on innovations in palliative care education. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/jpm

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including AIDS Patient Care and STDs, Population Health Management, and Briefings in Palliative, Hospice, and Pain Medicine & Management, a weekly e-Newsletter. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available at http://www.liebertpub.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: 914-740-2100
800-M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101
http://www.liebertpub.com

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Opportunities and challenges of palliative care in the ICU discussed in expert roundtable