Public release date: 5-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Fessenden james.fessenden@umassmed.edu 508-856-2000 University of Massachusetts Medical School

WORCESTER, MA The first comprehensive decoding and annotation of the human genome is being published today by the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, an international consortium of scientists from 32 institutions, including the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The groundbreaking ENCODE discovery appears in a set of 30 papers in Nature, Genome Research and Genome Biology.

Using data generated from 1,649 experiments with prominent contributions from the labs of UMMS professors Job Dekker and Zhiping Weng the group has assigned biochemical functions for an astounding 80 percent of the human genome. These findings promise to fundamentally change our understanding of how the tens of thousands of genes and hundreds of thousands of gene regulatory elements, or switches, contained in the human genome, interact in an overlapping regulatory network to determine human biology and disease.

As little as a decade ago, the human genome was viewed by scientists as a collection of independent genes that contained the instructions for making the proteins that carried out the basic biological functions necessary for life. Driven by this premise, most researchers focused on understanding the relatively small portion of the genome that made up protein-coding genes while the non-coding portion of the genome often referred to as "junk DNA" received little attention. The sequencing of the human genome in 2003 and more recent efforts by the ENCODE consortium, which is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others over the last decade, has begun to fundamentally change researchers' views on the importance of the non-coding portion of the genome.

Scientists now know that the protein-coding portions of the genome make up only one part of our genetic picture. Of equal importance are those areas of the genome that regulate genes. These elements, such as regulatory DNA elements and non-coding RNA, control when a gene is turned on and off and can also amplify or curtail expression of a gene. Even a small change in when a gene is turned on can have a huge biological impact, or in specific circumstances, contribute to disease.

Taken together, genes and their regulatory elements create a vast network of overlapping systems that carry out the basic biological processes necessary for life, a system that scientists are only now beginning to understand. Using a wide variety of experimental and computational approaches, members of the ENCODE consortium have generated comprehensive information about the identities, locations and characteristics of human genes and regulatory switches throughout the genome. This data represents an expansive resource that biomedical researchers can use to begin unraveling how this system works and how it contributes to disease.

"This work provides a critical map of tens of thousands of genes and hundreds of thousands of regulatory switches that are scattered all over the 3 billion nucleotides of the genome," said Dr. Dekker, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology and co-director of the Program in Systems Biology at UMMS. "As a group, we've identified more than 4 million sites that through binding specific proteins affect biological function."

Three dimensional wiring of the genome

What this map doesn't tell scientists, though, is which switches or elements regulate which genes. That is where the work of Dekker, the lead author on one of the six ENCODE papers that appear in Nature, provides unique insights. Over the last decade, Dekker has pioneered the development of chromosome conformation capture technologies (3C) and combined it with next-generation sequencing technologies (5C) to create three-dimensional models of folded chromosomes. In turn, these models can be used to determine which parts of the genome, when folded, come in physical contact.

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UMASS Medical School faculty annotate human genome for ENCODE project

Government has tabled a parliamentary resolution to transfer the Medical School site at Guardamangia to the Augustinian Order to use it as a primary school for 400 children.

Government is proposing to lease it to the Order for 99 years for 1,000 a year as rent. Sports and other educational facilities can be developed on the site and even the 2,177 sq m car park in front of the Medical School building can be made use of by the school.

The Augustinian Order is committing itself to spend at least 1,000,000 on the primary school project and that the work on it will start within 10 weeks of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) issues the necessary permits.

In exchange for the Medical School site, the Augustinian Order will transfer to government the site on which they were going to build the primary school for a lease of 99 years at 900 per year. Government will pass back this land to the Order on condition that no development is carried out on it.

After working hard for more than three years on a new primary school for St Augustines College, MEPA last February turned down the application by five votes to four and wanted the extension to have two and not three floors as planned, making the whole project too small and costly to be viable.

On 9 February 2012 the Prime Minister was given a petition signed by parents after the students of the school, parents and teachers met near the War Monument in Floriana and walked to Castille.

Neighbours of the college had objecting to the project as the new building would block their view and devalue their property.

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Medical School becomes St Augustine Primary School

02 September 2012 | last updated at 11:12PM

A DOCTOR at a local public hospital recalls her medical school lecturer forewarning his charges about the challenges they would face when doing their housemanship. Housemen, he said, were like the "scum" of the department and in the organisational chart of the hospital, they would rank way below the amah (hospital orderly or attendant). These were certainly not the most encouraging of words to dish out to future doctors, but perhaps he was trying to prepare them for the real world of medical house officers.

For a long time now, housemen have always been viewed as an overworked and underpaid lot. They slogged for hours on end, especially when they were on call (sometimes up to 40 hours at a stretch), almost every other day, foregoing sleep and proper meals.

Coupled with that, there was the added pressure of having to deal with demanding superiors, difficult patients and even domineering ancillary staff. Little wonder that many a stressed and burnt-out houseman had gone into depression or called it quits after five long years in medical school.

To put things right, the Health Ministry introduced the new flexi-hour shift system last year in place of the on-call system to give these overworked housemen a breather. Many have hailed it as long overdue, but one year on, the question that is being asked is: are our housemen being given a better life at the expense of experience?

While they may now enjoy a better quality of life with the flexi-hour shift system, the limited number of hours spent on clinical work and their inadequate exposure to various disciplines of medicine will ultimately affect the quality healthcare that the country is aiming for.

Stories about inept housemen and their lack of knowledge, as related by senior doctors, are quite appalling. Some are said to be clueless on how to read a patient's blood pressure, let alone insert an intravenous line. To be fair, with medical schools churning out graduates by the thousands each year and with only 37 training hospitals to accommodate them, these housemen cannot be expected to get the thorough clinical work experience their predecessors benefited from.

But all is not lost if these housemen are passionate about their calling and abide by the Hippocratic Oath of continuing "with diligence to keep abreast of advances in medicine" by engaging in continuous professional development. For as long as housemen have no interest in what goes on beyond their "training hours", it will be a loss, not just for the medical profession, but for all Malaysians.

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Mediocre or professional?

Harvard Medical School is cited

for mistreatment of lab animals

In less than two years, four monkeys have died in labs at Harvard Medical School, including one that was left in a cage as the cage went through a mechanical washer. The most recent death occurred this spring, when a cotton-top tamarin monkey died of thirst for lack of a water bottle.

In addition, 41 deer mice died in April at a Harvard facility after their water source was cut off.

The Department of Agriculture has given the medical school an official warning for violating the U.S. Animal Welfare Act.

When you see multiple incidents at the same facility over a period of time, thats when you realize that this is indicative of a system-wide problem, said Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now!

Harvard University made the nonprofit groups top-10 list of animal-welfare violators for the first half of 2012, along with Harvard Medical School. The two institutions have separate licenses from the USDA to use animals for research and testing.

The Animal Welfare Act, enforced by the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, requires labs to handle research animals as carefully as possible to prevent trauma, overheating, physical harm, behavioral stress or unnecessary discomfort.

APHIS also is investigating the death of five monkeys at the Harvard-affiliated New England Primate Research Center, said USDA spokesman David Sacks. The centers interim director, Frederick Wang, stepped down in March after the death of the tamarin monkey.

In March, Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey S. Flier ordered an independent review panel to evaluate the management and care of animals used in experiments. The panels recommendations included the appointment of a veterinarian and biosafety officer to oversee the primate center and the development of new approaches to its oversight process.

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Harvard Medical School is cited for mistreatment of lab animals

VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study led by Dr. Paul Marik, Professor and Division Chief of Pulmonary Critical Care at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA was published this week in CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. The study confirmed the high accuracy of using the non-invasive NICOM technology to assess fluid status, one of the most prevalent and frequent challenges in critical care and emergency medicine.

Intravenous (IV) fluid administration has long been a cornerstone of treating patients in shock. In fact, early, guided fluid administration has been shown to lead to dramatic improvements in outcomes and survival of various conditions including sepsis, major surgery and trauma. However, multiple studies have shown that only approximately 50% of critical care patients are responsive to additional fluid. That is, in about half of patients, increased fluid will significantly improve their cardiac function (as measured by stroke volume); whereas in the other half, it will not. Furthermore, accumulating evidence suggests that both inadequate and excessive fluids are associated with poor outcomes. A method to determine volume responsiveness and dosing of fluid is important in the critical care setting; but historically many methods have been invasive, associated with catheter-line blood stream infections or bleeding, costly, and/or had unacceptable accuracy.

In this study, Dr. Marik and team confirmed the accuracy and effectiveness of Cheetah Medical's NICOM system, a 100% non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring system, to address the challenge of fluid management. Critical care patients suffering from sepsis, shock and other life-threatening conditions were monitored with the NICOM monitor and a passive leg raise (PLR) maneuver was performed. PLR induces a gravitational transfer of blood from the lower limbs towards the heart. If the NICOM monitor recorded a change in stroke volume index (SVI) of greater than 10%, the patient was considered fluid responsive. The results from the PLR with NICOM were then compared to results from an IV fluid bolus and carotid Doppler flow measurements. The PLR maneuver with NICOM monitoring had a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 100% for predicting volume responsiveness.

The conclusion of the study is, "Monitoring the hemodynamic response to a PLR maneuver using the NICOM provides an accurate method of assessing volume responsiveness in critically ill patients."

"As critical care physicians we understand that determining a patient's fluid status is essential to our ability to provide safe and effective treatments to our patients. Fluid optimization is the cornerstone of medical management in many of our patients, most notably those suffering from sepsis, trauma, acute kidney injury and those recovering from major surgical interventions," said Dr. Jordan Bonomo, Director, Division of Critical Care, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. "This research further validates my experience in using NICOM monitoring, along with the PLR maneuver, in the management of critically ill patients."

"We are pleased with the study findings, which further validate our technology and complement previous studies that have come to similar conclusions," said Yoav Avidor, MD, CEO of Cheetah Medical. "We hope this study will encourage use of Cheetah's NICOM system in the management of critical care, emergency medicine and surgical patients. We believe that NICOM may enable hospitals to advance the quality of care for a large number of patients that are not benefiting from advanced hemodynamic monitoring and fluid optimization today."

About Cheetah Medical Cheetah Medical's NICOM Noninvasive Cardiac Output and Hemodynamic Monitoring System uses the company's proprietary BIOREACTANCE Technology to deliver continuous, accurate, noninvasive cardiac output (CO) and other vital hemodynamic monitoring parameters, useful for fluid management and drug titration. The system is FDA-cleared and CE Marked, and since its commercial launch in 2008 has been adopted by a growing number of clinicians worldwide. Cheetah Medical headquarters is located in Tel-Aviv, Israel and its United States headquarters is located in Vancouver, Washington. For more information, visit our website at http://www.cheetah-medical.com.

Reference: Marik PE, Levitov A, Young A, et al. The use of NICOM (Bioreactance) and Carotid Doppler to determine volume responsiveness and blood flow redistribution following passive leg raising in hemodynamically unstable patients. Chest. 2012. [Epub ahead of print]

Dr. Jordan Bonomo was not an investigator in this study and has no relevant financial interests to disclose.

For further information contact: Kristina Frey Cheetah Medical kristina@cheetah-medical.com 317-489-8922

Excerpt from:
New Study in CHEST Validates the Cheetah NICOM® 100% Non-Invasive Method for Addressing One of the Most Difficult ...

Public release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Joseph Carey jcarey@txbiomed.org 210-258-9437 Texas Biomedical Research Institute

A monoclonal antibody developed by MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, prevents infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Researchers found that the human monoclonal antibody targeting the virus protected chimpanzees from HCV infection in a dose-dependent manner in a study conducted at Texas Biomed's Southwest National Primate Research Center. Chimpanzees are the only species other than humans that can be infected by HCV and therefore the results from this study were critical in the development of the monoclonal antibody.

The new report by scientists from MassBiologics; Texas Biomed; the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Merck Research Laboratories, and funded by MassBiologics and NIH, appears in the August 30th issue of PLoS Pathogens. Researchers had previously demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody, called HCV1, blocks HCV from infecting liver cells in laboratory tissue culture.

"This is an important preclinical proof-of-concept study demonstrating a high dose of neutralizing antibody can protect the liver from HCV infection using monoclonal antibodies in a study that was designed to mimic the transplantation setting," said study co-author Robert E. Lanford, Ph.D., of Texas Biomed.

"One can envision improving on these results with a cocktail of antibodies or by using this antibody with some of the newer antivirals currently in clinical trials. Infection of the new donor liver by residual virus in the patient is one of the major obstacles preventing a full recovery in these patients," Lanford added.

MassBiologics has been pursuing the development of HCV1 as a therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease undergoing liver transplantation as a result of HCV infection. HCV1 is a monoclonal antibody that binds to the surface of the HCV virus and blocks the ability of the virus to enter liver cells.

HCV damages the liver and is the leading indication for liver transplantation, diagnosed in about half of the 6,000 patients who receive liver transplants each year in the United States. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3.2 million Americans are chronically infected with HCV and approximately 10,000 die annually of the disease. Globally, as many as 170 million people are estimated to suffer from HCV infection. The CDC recently recommended that everyone born from 1945 to 1965 should be screened for HCV regardless of whether they have known risk factors.

For patients with end-stage liver disease from HCV infection, liver transplantation is the only option. While it can be a life-saving treatment, transplantation does not cure the disease. In nearly all cases, the patient's new liver is eventually infected by HCV because the virus remains in the patient's bloodstream during surgery. The course of recurrent HCV disease is accelerated after transplantation and up to 20 percent of transplant patients develop cirrhosis within five years. Unfortunately, the standard antiviral drugs currently used to treat HCV prior to the onset of end-stage liver disease are poorly tolerated after liver transplantation, leaving these patients with few options.

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Antibody prevents hepatitis C in animal model

Newswise A monoclonal antibody therapy developed by MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, prevents infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Researchers found that the human monoclonal antibody targeting the virus protected chimpanzees from HCV infection in a dose-dependent manner in a study conducted at Texas Biomeds Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio. Chimpanzees are the only species other than humans that can be infected by the hepatitis C virus and therefore the results from this study were critical in the development of the monoclonal antibody. The new report by scientists from MassBiologics; Texas Biomed; the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Merck Research Laboratories, and funded by MassBiologics and NIH, appears in the August 30th issue of PLOS Pathogens. Researchers had previously demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody, called HCV1, blocks HCV from infecting liver cells in laboratory tissue culture.

This is an important proof-of-concept study demonstrating a high dose of neutralizing antibody can protect the liver from HCV infection using monoclonal antibodies in a study that was designed to mimic the transplantation setting, said study co-author Robert E. Lanford, Ph.D., of Texas Biomed.

One can envision improving on these results with a cocktail of antibodies or by using this antibody with some of the newer antivirals currently in clinical trials. Infection of the new donor liver by residual virus in the patient is one of the major obstacles preventing a full recovery in these patients, Lanford added.

MassBiologics has been pursuing the development of HCV1 as a therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease undergoing liver transplantation as a result of HCV infection. HCV1 is a monoclonal antibody that binds to the surface of the HCV virus and blocks the ability of the virus to enter liver cells.

HCV damages the liver and is the leading indication for liver transplantation, diagnosed in about half of the 6,000 patients who receive liver transplants each year in the United States. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3.2 million Americans are chronically infected with HCV and approximately 10,000 die annually of the disease. Globally, as many as 170 million people are estimated to suffer from HCV infection. The CDC recently recommended that everyone born from 1945 to 1965 should be screened for HCV regardless of whether they have known risk factors.

For patients with end-stage liver disease from HCV infection, liver transplantation is the only option. While it can be a life-saving treatment, transplantation does not cure the disease. In nearly all cases, the patients new liver is eventually infected by HCV because the virus remains in the patients bloodstream during surgery. The course of recurrent HCV disease is accelerated after transplantation and up to 20 percent of transplant patients develop cirrhosis within five years. Unfortunately, the standard antiviral drugs currently used to treat HCV prior to the onset of end-stage liver disease are poorly tolerated after liver transplantation, leaving these patients with few options.

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH. The chimpanzee studies performed at the Southwest National Primate Research Center were supported by the NIH primate center grant P51 RR13986 and the NIH facilities grants C06 RR 12087 and C06 RR016228.

___________________________________________________________________ About MassBiologics MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School is the only publicly owned, non-profit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines and other biologic products in the United States. The laboratory was established in 1894 by the state Board of Health to produce diphtheria antitoxin. Since that time, the focus at MassBiologics has been to improve public health through applied research, development and production of biologic products. In 1997, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts transferred MassBiologics operations from the Department of Public Health to UMass Medical School to maintain their public purpose, preserving their ability to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace and to maximize their value to the Commonwealth.

About the University of Massachusetts Medical School The University of Massachusetts Medical School, one of the fastest growing academic health centers in the country, has built a reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. The Medical School attracts more than $250 million in research funding annually, 80 percent of which comes from federal funding sources. The mission of the Medical School is to advance the health and well-being of the people of the commonwealth and the world through pioneering education, research, public service and health care delivery with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. For more information, visit http://www.umassmed.edu/.

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Antibody Prevents Hepatitis C Infection in Animal Model

Middle school students interested in the medical field can learn about those professions as part of a career ladder at the medical school.

The Lebanon Health Career Ladder is a joint effort between the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest, Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon State University.

Volunteers from each school come to COMP-Northwest to teach middle school students about health professions.

Jaime Servin, director of the program spoke about the career ladder at the Lebanon Rotary Clubs Aug. 22 meeting.

The students start their day listening to a guest speaker in the lecture hall with their parents, Servin said. After the speaker, kids split up into small groups to learn about health occupations called breakout sessions.

A cohort of sixth-grade students began the program last year.

Some of those students will return this year. The college will pick up a new cohort of middle-school students.

The program will start enrolling sixth-grade students, but any middle school student will be accepted into the first year of the program as long as there is room, Servin said.

Second-year students will do more hands-on activities, Servin said.

Volunteers from OSU and LBCC will show the kids different career paths in medicine.

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Career ladder shows youth medical careers

By Patrick Cole - 2012-08-30T04:01:00Z

Harvard Medical School logged its latest lab-monkey death this past spring when a cotton-top tamarin monkey died of thirst for lack of a water bottle. Then 41 deer mice died in April at a Harvard facility after their water source got cut off.

As with the monkey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the countrys oldest institution of higher learning an official warning. In less than two years, four monkeys have died in Harvard labs, including one left in a cage as it went through a mechanical washer.

When you see multiple incidents at the same facility over a period of time, thats when you realize that this is indicative of a system-wide problem, said Michael Budkie, executive director of the nonprofit Stop Animal Exploitation Now!, in a phone interview.

The Milford, Ohio-based SAEN has placed Harvard on its top- 10 list of animal-welfare violators for the first half of 2012. The existence of enough violators to glean a top 10 helps indicate the scope of lab-animal abuse nationally.

The Animal Welfare Act, enforced by the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, requires labs to handle research animals as carefully as possible to prevent trauma, overheating, physical harm, behavioral stress or unnecessary discomfort.

TRS Labs Inc., based in Athens, Georgia, ranked first on SAENs list with 23 violations affecting about 70 animals, Budkie said. TRS was cited for housing cats in a room that was 88 to 89 degrees. It also failed to separate two gerbils that had been fighting in a cage and to protect dogs from suffering injuries, according to a USDA report.

Several calls to TRS executives seeking comment werent returned.

Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc. in California, which researches antibodies and animal health-care products, ranked second on the SAEN list with 11 citations affecting 85 animals. In April, an Aphis inspector found a goat with a broken leg whose cast had come off, according to the USDA report. The attending veterinarian said she didnt have time to attend to the goat because of her work load.

This facility was basically understaffed and it couldnt offer good care, Budkie said. Santa Cruz Biotechnology officials didnt respond to a request for comment.

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Harvard Dead Monkeys Make Top 10 List for Lab Violations

Newswise ANN ARBOR, Mich. With American health care poised on the brink of its largest change in decades, 177 students started down the path to becoming doctors this month at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Chosen from nearly 5,400 applicants, and coming from 26 states, they all have a history of strong academic achievements. They now all have short white coats and new stethoscopes, given to them by alumni in the White Coat ceremony on their first day of medical school, an event steeped in tradition and symbolism.

But they also share something else: the potential to be leaders of the medical profession and health care community.

Through a new partnership with U-Ms Stephen M. Ross School of Business, all the new medical students will receive training that goes beyond anatomy, physiology and other traditional subjects. They will learn how to work with others to lead change, helping set them on a course that will continue through their careers.

U-M is the first medical school to give all its students this kind of training, which will prepare them to be the impactful change agents that American health care will need in the coming decades.

For more than 160 years, our school has graduated some of the highest-achieving physicians in the country, and many of our alumni have gone on to lead large practices and hospitals, medical schools, companies, professional societies, government agencies and major research initiatives, says Rajesh Mangrulkar, M.D., associate dean for medical student education at the U-M Medical School. But this new training, which will continue throughout their four years, will equip our students with the specific leadership skills that will help them achieve even more.

The new students kicked off their leadership training in a couple of unusual and lighthearted ways.

First, they began to understand their individual leadership tendencies, participating in a workshop on Competing Values by Jeff DeGraff, a clinical professor at the Ross School of Business. Then, the students were assigned into one of four teams, and engaged in a MedChef cooking contest, a competition to prepare meals (along with a marketing and communication strategy) that were then judged by faculty and alumni.

They may have looked like a couple of fun orientation-week events, but they were specifically designed to test the medical students organizational, leadership and management skills.

Erin McKean, M.D., who is helping direct the Leadership Initiative, says, In the first year, well be focusing on building productive teams,what it means to be a team member and respecting the skills and values that other people bring to the table. In phase two, well go on to health care systems, including health policy, economics and finance. In the last phase, students will be planning and executing change, which is something that health leaders do every day. McKean is a clinical assistant professor of otolaryngology and is just about to graduate with her MBA from Ross.

Original post:
Paging Dr. Tomorrow: U-M Medical Students Get Business Training

Public release date: 26-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Fessenden james.fessenden@umassmed.edu 508-856-2000 University of Massachusetts Medical School

WORCESTER, MA A team of scientists, including faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), have discovered a gene that influences survival time in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). The study, published today in Nature Medicine, describes how the loss of activity of a receptor called EphA4 substantially extends the lifespan of people with the disease. When coupled with a UMMS study published last month in Nature identifying a new ALS gene (profilin-1) that also works in conjunction with EphA4, these findings point to a new molecular pathway in neurons that is directly related to ALS susceptibility and severity.

"Taken together, these findings are particularly exciting because they suggest that suppression of EphA4 may be a new way to treat ALS," said Robert Brown, MD, DPhil, a co-author on the study and chair of neurology at UMass Medical School.

ALS is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder affecting the motor neurons in the central nervous system. As motor neurons die, the brain's ability to send signals to the body's muscles is compromised. This leads to loss of voluntary muscle movement, paralysis and eventually respiratory failure. The cause of most cases of ALS is not known. Approximately 10 percent of cases are inherited. Though investigators at UMMS and elsewhere have identified several genes shown to cause inherited or familial ALS, almost 50 percent of these cases have an unknown genetic cause. There are no significant treatments for the disease.

Wim Robberecht, MD, PhD, lead investigator of the Nature Medicine study and a researcher at the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Vesalius Research Center, screened for genes in zebrafish that blunt the adverse effect of the ALS mutant gene SOD1. Through this process, his team identified EphA4 as an ALS modifier. Dr. Robberecht's team went on to show that when this gene is inactivated in mice with ALS, the mice live longer.

Dr. Robberecht then turned to UMass Medical School to confirm that turning off EphA4 in human ALS cells would slow the progression of the disease. Dr. Brown and his team identified two human ALS cases with mutations in the EphA4 gene which, like the zebrafish and the mice, had unusually long survival times. This suggests that blocking EphA4 in patients with ALS may be a potential therapeutic target in the future.

In an exciting, related development, a new ALS gene (profilin-1) identified last month by UMMS scientists works in conjunction with EphA4 in neurons to control outgrowth of motor nerve terminals. In effect, gene variants at both the top and the bottom of the same signaling pathway are shown to effect ALS progression. Together these discoveries highlight a new molecular pathway in neurons that is directly related to ALS susceptibility and severity and suggests that other components of the pathway may be implicated in ALS.

"It is exciting that these two studies identify the same pathway in ALS," said John Landers, PhD, associate professor of neurology and lead author of the PFN1 study. "Hopefully this discovery will accelerate efforts to finding a treatment for ALS."

###

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Scientists identify new gene that influences survival in ALS

Make-A-Wish, the organization known for making dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions, has flown kids around the world, granted them shopping sprees and helped them meet their favorite celebrities.

Last week, the organization fulfilled one girls wish of attending Harvard Medical School.

My wish was inspired by my past medical problems, Gabrielle Samsock told FoxNews.com. When I went to Boston for surgeries, wed pass by Harvard and Id say, Daddy, Im going to go there when Im older.

Gabrielle, a 14-year-old high school freshman, who lives in Factoryville, Penn., was born with Shones syndrome, a rare congenital heart disease in which the valves on the left side of the heart are narrowed, and blood flow in and out of the heart is obstructed.

In March of 99, Gabrielle had a chronic respiratory infection, and her doctor did an X-ray to make sure she didnt have pneumonia, said Gabrielles mother, Melissa Samsock. He said her heart was too swollen for her body, and to make sure nothing was seriously wrong, he sent us to a cardiologist at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). That was when we found out about her condition.

Gabrielle underwent her first surgery as a 1-year-old at CHOP to repair her aorta. She and her parents were referred to an expert at Boston Childrens Hospital where she has had multiple surgeries to balloon her valves and put in three different stents.

Her condition is not fatal, but she still needs a valve transplant surgery, which should ultimately fix her heart, her mother explained.

Gabrielle said all her time spent as a patient in the hospital fueled her desire to be on the other side of the situation as a doctor. Specifically, she hopes to one day become a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon.

I was 8 years old when I decided I wanted to be a doctor, Gabrielle said. My parents laughed and were like, OK. I was little, and little kids always say those things, like I want to be a firefighter, or I want to be a policeman. But when I brought it up to Make-A-Wish, they were like, Wow, this is what you really want to do.

According to Gabrielle, when she told representatives from Make-A-Wish she wanted to attend medical school, Their jaws just dropped. They were so shocked. They said my wish was so unique and personal. I was just very excited to start my life.

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Make-A-Wish fulfills teenager's dream of attending Harvard Medical School

University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa noted progress on the projects slated to directly impact South Texas including a regional medical school and independent UTB at a UT System meeting Thursday.

The UT System Board of Regents heard the first annual report on the plan Cigarroa presented one year ago. The Rio Grande Valley figures significantly in several components of UT Systems extensive undertaking known as A Framework for Advancing Excellence.

The UT System board also approved an incentive plan for university presidents, including University of Texas at Brownsville President Juliet V. Garcia.

The futures of our children and our grandchildren are at stake, Cigarroa wrote in his letter opening the progress report. How do we make higher education more accessible and affordable to an increasing number of students? How do we produce more doctors, nurses and health professionals and improve the quality of health care in Texas?

Part of the answer, Cigarroa wrote, is a team effort that includes not only UT System campuses, but experts and consultants, too.

Incentive plan

How well UTB transitions into an independent university could be a factor in a potential bonus for President Garcia based on the incentive plan the UT regents approved Wednesday. Administration executive officers also fall under the plan.

In 2011, Garcias salary was $304,179, and within that contract she also received a one-time merit award of $32,272.

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Regents discuss medical school, bonuses for admins

Is a forecast of 15,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity a year too sunny for a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility in Austin? Or is it on the money?

State Sen. Kirk Watson has touted those numbers for much of the past year and spotlighted them at a news conference Thursday, releasing a six-page report prepared by Jon Hockenyos, president of an economic analysis and consulting firm in Austin. Hockenyos said his research is the genesis of those numbers, and he came up with them about two years ago.

"We have the opportunity to truly be a contender ... in competition with regions from Houston to Hong Kong," Watson, D-Austin, said at Austin Community College's Eastview campus. He was referring to the biotechnology and life-science industries -- which can include pharmaceutical and medical device firms -- that he expects to spin off from a medical school in Austin.

But economic development experts said having a medical school, teaching hospital and research center is no guarantee that Austin would see that amount of new jobs and economic benefit.

"It depends on the size of the medical school and teaching hospital" and how much public funding they attract for research, said Ross DeVol, chief research officer at the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that does a variety of economic analyses. "It does take decades to have that type of return on a medical school and teaching hospital."

Joe Cortright, president of Portland, Ore.-based Impresa, which specializes in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters, thinks the public should take the numbers Watson trumpets with a heavy dose of skepticism. Most of the nation's largest cities have a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility, but only nine areas have sparked enough economic growth to become biotechnology/life-science hubs, he said. They are Boston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington/Baltimore.

"These nine areas account for more than three-fifths of all (National Institutes of Health) spending on research and for slightly less than two-thirds of all biotechnology-related patents," a 2002 report he co-wrote says.

"Austin is coming awful late to this dance," he said Thursday.

Hockenyos, who attended the news conference but didn't speak to the crowd, said he acknowledges it could take 15 to 20 years for the economic benefits he estimates to be realized.

But, he added, "I think this is the greatest economic development thing in this community in a long time."

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Austin Experts Weigh in on Medical School Job, Economic Predictions

One is bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, whose just-completed Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act class attracted more than 30,000 students - about 5,000 more than the Penn student body.

Emanuel's class is being outdrawn by Wharton School professor Kevin Werbach's Gamification, which starts Aug. 27 and will apply game-design techniques to business problems. Its 50,000 sign-ups top the Penn offerings so far.

Last month, Penn joined with the California Institute of Technology to invest $3.7 million in Coursera, which now offers 117 free courses from 16 official partners, including Stanford, Duke, and Princeton Universities. The University of California Berkeley and two Indian colleges also offer classes on Coursera but are not yet official partners.

The online courses mimic aspects of a traditional experience by having not only video lectures, but also strict class start and end dates, homework assignments, interactive quizzes, and discussion boards for students.

"Coursera feels like a good partner for us," said Deirdre Woods, interim executive director of Penn's Open Learning Initiative, which is for now primarily devoted to the Coursera project. "Penn is about rigor . . . and [Coursera's] philosophy was very much in line with that."

Of Penn's 16 online courses, two are currently in session and more will start up in the next several months.

The focus on medicine was not deliberate, explained Coursera cofounder and co-CEO Andrew Ng. However, the strength of its medical school makes the dominance of health-related classes "an obvious choice" for Penn, which so far is the only Philadelphia medical school - and one of the few nationwide - to present its classes online.

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Penn amps up role in Coursera online-education effort

When the mayors of Harlingen and Edinburg received invites to a University of Texas event outlining a blueprint for the Rio Grande Valleys long sought medical school, both mayors had already scheduled a prior engagement on that topic later that same day.

Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia and Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell were front and center at the University of Texas-Pan American on Friday when system Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa announced a blueprint that will graduate the first class of South Texas medical students by 2018.

Garcia and Boswell left UTs morning announcement to join other Valley mayors in weighing their options for a medical school behind closed doors, a meeting set up days before the hastily-scheduled UT news conference to unveil its own vision for a Valley medical school.

Garcia organized the meeting of mayors to determine common ground issues and affirm a shared commitment to a South Texas medical school that will likely take the combined support of Hidalgo and Cameron counties, he said.

But the meeting also exposed some Valley officials frustration with UTs slow pace to establish a full-fledged medical school here and a willingness to explore whats perceived as genuine interest from the Texas A&M system to establish its own Valley medical school.

Garcia said nothing came out of the mayors meeting attended by city, county and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Valley Baptist officials other than a goal to host similar discussions soon.

Theres already been an investment made here (with UT) and we want to move that forward, said Garcia, whose city would retain the medical schools research facilities under UTs proposal. But if something else comes up thats worth talking about, lets talk about it.

PLANTING A FLAG

The fight for a Valley medical school is part of an overall push between the UT and Texas A&M systems to increase their presence in one of the fastest growing regions of the state. Internal conflicts between Hidalgo and Cameron county officials remain about how the school should be funded and where its components would be located.

On Friday, Cigarroa announced a blueprint to graduate the first cohort of Valley medical students in 2018 by relying on medical school infrastructure already in place in the Valley and San Antonio. As UT pursues accreditation and funding for the Valleys medical school, students could enroll in an independent South Texas track, begin classes at UTs Health Science Center in San Antonio and complete their final two years and clerkships in the Valley.

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Valley weighs A&M option on long sought medical school

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Five days before they don white coats and officially begin their medical school education, the future doctors in Michigan State Universitys College of Human Medicine put in a day of volunteer work Tuesday.

In Grand Rapids and Lansing, the 200 first-year medical students stocked food pantries, helped with childrens and senior activities, sanitized toys and did outdoor maintenance at community service organizations.

Its a great way to kick off the year because it helps keep the focus on why students are in medical school, even as they begin a period of intense academic study, said student Ricky Rodriguez.

Its good to try to come out here and try to make a difference, said Rodriguez, who was stocking food for the pantry at Salvation Armys Booth Family Services in Grand Rapids. Getting involved in the community is important to a medical school education, said the Miami resident, who is new to West Michigan

I think its a good way to get out there and be part of the Grand Rapids community and see what kinds of volunteer opportunities are out there, said Matthew Thomas, of Bloomfield Hills.

Its a good way to embody what our school represents, added Jeffrey Sweers, of Jenison.

Community service is an integral part of the medical school. Dean Marsha Rappley has said it is critical to know the community and its needs to effectively deliver health care.

While some students stocked the Salvation Army pantry, a group in a nearby room tied slipknots in strings that will be used for balloons in an ArtPrize campaign by the Manessah Project. The organization, part of Wedgewood Christian Services, works to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The students officially kick off the school year Sunday with the White Coat and Matriculation Ceremony.

Other Grand Rapids agencies served by the student are: Mel Trotter Ministries, Catherines Health Care, Porter Hills Village, Heartland Health Care, American Cancer Society, Clark Retirement, Baxter Community Center and Spectrum Health Care.

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See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings

It's no secret that medical students pay a steep price for four years of education at a U.S. medical school. In fact, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in 2011, 86 percent of medical school graduates owed a median amount of $162,000 in education debt, which breaks down to monthly payments of $1,500 to $2,100.

However, some people may be surprised to learn that education debt levels among U.S. medical school graduates held fairly steady between 2009 and 2011. Mean education debt amounts for those years were $156,500 in 2009, $157,900 in 2010 and $161,300 in 2011, according to a new analysis of trends in cost and debt at U.S. medical schools that was released by the AAMC in July. Those amounts represent a 1.2 percent, a 1.0 percent and a 2.1 percent increase, respectively, compared with the previous year.

According to the analysis, in July 2006, Stafford loan interest rates for graduate medical education were fixed at 6.8 percent; previously, interest rates were variable and at times fell to less than 3 percent. Thus, the graduating class of 2009 "was the first medical school class to face at least three years of a fixed 6.8 percent interest rate," and that was the same time the growth of debt levels began to slow.

The researchers pointed out that the costs associated with medical school attendance traditionally have been based on tuition and fees for first-year students without taking into account the living expenses those students incurred or the fact that medical students in their final two years of study often spend more on living expenses. Therefore, for the purposes of their research, the authors included four full years of medical school in calculating costs.

Notably, the authors compared costs in private versus public medical schools and noted that in 2009-10, the 75 public medical schools that participated in the study reported a combined $1.25 billion in gifts and endowment funds available to support medical student grants and scholarships; the 51 participating private schools reported double that amount, or $2.5 billion.

The authors concluded that more research is needed to identify additional factors -- aside from cost and interest rates -- that play a role in the medical school debt that students incur.

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U.S. Medical Students' Education Debt Level Holds Steady Three Years Running

UT medical school

Re: Aug. 11 article "Plan for medical school unfolds."

Let's transform health care delivery by developing a University of Texas medical school and related initiatives sponsored by UT Southwestern Medical School, Central Health, the Seton Family of Healthcare and others. Working together to implement the "10 in 10" plan, we can move into national prominence by improving access to primary care, addressing the growing doctor shortage, propelling biomedical research, providing sorely needed mental health services and creating many new good- paying jobs.

If you have good health insurance, you know how important having a doctor is to good health, holding a job, being productive and leading a meaningful life. What a shame that Medicare beneficiaries have trouble finding a doctor to take care of them!

Let's get our emergency rooms out of the primary care business! Let's develop a sustainable health-care delivery system while creating thousands of new technical and professional jobs.

Charles E. Durant Jr.

Austin

World-class medicine

Re: Aug. 15 editorial, "A nickel for your health care."

I will be delighted to give my nickel to the Central Health Board to help establish a medical school in Austin! I have a brother-in-law who has multiple myeloma, a terrible blood/bone cancer, and he has lived beyond the average life span for people who have this cancer because of the exceptional care and treatment he has received at the University of Arkansas Medical School. World-class physicians move to Little Rock to teach or train at this facility, and people from all over the world spend months in Little Rock to receive mostly outpatient treatment that brings dollars to the city and provides the medical care these folks need.

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UT medical school; Geo Care concerns; World-class medicine

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

In collaboration with UC Irvine Extension, the UC Irvine School of Medicine will offer a new fully online, first-year medical school course titled, Introduction to Medical Physiology from September 11, 2012 through March 11, 2013. The course is open to all participants interested in attending medical school, earning transferable UC graduate credits, or those seeking to enhance their resume with medical education experience. This is the first UC Irvine online medical course to be offered to the general public through open enrollment participants do not need to be admitted to UC Irvine to enroll.

Students have the rare opportunity to learn identical material and take the same exams presented to first year medical students at the prestigious UC Irvine School of Medicine, said Dr. Harry Haigler, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Basic Science Medical Education at UC Irvine School of Medicine. Course participants will also receive support and guidance from medical school faculty, compare their performance with other medical school students, and obtain an advantage by experiencing the rigorous medical school curriculum before admittance to medical school. We are very excited to be able to offer this medical training to the general public.

The online Introduction to Medical Physiology course will expose participants to the classical concepts of medical physiology with an emphasis on topics that are fundamental to the practice of clinical medicine. The first half of the course will address hemostasis, blood, neurophysiology and cardiovascular physiology. The second half of the course will address topics including gastrointestinal, renal, respiratory, acid/base, endocrine, exercise, temperature regulation and sexual physiology.

For more information or to register for the course, call 949-824-0697 or visit http://www.extension.uci.edu/premed.

About UC Irvine Extension: University of California, Irvine Extension is the continuing education arm of UC Irvine. Through thousands of courses and programs offered on campus, online and on site, UC Irvine Extension helps adult learners reach their career advancement and personal enrichment goals and is celebrating 50 years of providing universally accessible, university-level learning to local, regional, and global communities. Learn more at extension.uci.edu, or join us on Facebook at facebook.com/uciextension.

About UC Irvine School of Medicine: Ranked as one of the top 50 U.S. medical schools for research by U.S. News & World Report, University of California, Irvine's School of Medicine is dedicated to advancing medical knowledge and clinical practice through scholarly research, physician education and high-quality care. The medical school nurtures the development of medical students, resident physicians and scholars in the clinical and basic sciences and supports the dissemination of research advances for the benefit of society. For more information, visit http://www.som.uci.edu/index.asp.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UC Irvine is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange Countys largest employer, UC Irvine contributes an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion. For more UC Irvine news, visit http://www.today.uci.edu.

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University of California, Irvine Offers Online Medical School Course for Open Enrollment