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Scientists unlock mystery surrounding DHA

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SINGAPORE: It is widely believed that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is good for the brain, but how it is absorbed by the brain has been unknown.

That is - until now.

A study by researchers from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) have found that the transporter protein Mfsd2a carries DHA to the brain.

Their findings have widespread implications on how DHA functions in human nutrition, Duke-NUS said in a statement.

It is widely known that DHA is as an essential dietary nutrient that can be obtained from seafood and marine oils.

It is thought to be crucial to the brain's function, but the mechanics of how the brain absorbs the fatty acid has remained elusive.

Associate Professor David L Silver of Duke-NUS, senior author of the research, explained the importance of unlocking this mystery.

"If we could show the link by determining how DHA gets into the brain, then we could use this information to more effectively target its absorption and formulate an improved nutritional agent," he said.

The findings, published online in Nature this week, marks the first time a genetic model for brain DHA deficiency and its functions in the brain have been made available, Duke-NUS said.

"Our findings can help guide the development of technologies to more effectively incorporate DHA into food and exploit this pathway to maximise the potential for improved nutritionals to improve brain growth and function.

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Scientists unlock mystery surrounding DHA

Medical Technology Breaking News Aethlon Medical (OTCQB AEMD) CEO Note Cancer Therapy Publication References Aethlon …

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Medical Technology Breaking News: Aethlon Medical (OTCQB: AEMD) CEO Note: Cancer Therapy Publication References Aethlon Medical

Visit this company: http://www.aethlonmedical.com

SAN DIEGO - April 22, 2014 (Investorideas.com newswire) Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCBB:AEMD), today released the following note authored by its Chairman and CEO, Jim Joyce.

When we initiated our first exosome research program, the medical community generally viewed these particles as nothing more than cellular debris with no biological function. In contrast, we believed that exosomes, also known as microvesicles or extracellular vesicles, suppressed the immune system of cancer patients and that stage of cancer progression correlated directly with quantity of exosomes in circulation. We envisioned the possibility that a medical device could eliminate circulating exosomes and combine to improve the benefit of established cancer therapies without adding drug toxicity.

Today, I am pleased to inform you that a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Oxford have published a review article that validates the original rationale of our exosome research and further reinforces our future plan to submit an investigational device exemption (IDE) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that requests permission to initiate Hemopurifier studies in cancer patients.

The article entitled: "Extracellular Vesicles: Emerging Targets for Cancer Therapy" is published in the current issue of the journal "Trends in Molecular Medicine".

The article reviews recent discoveries that have increased the understanding of extracellular vesicles (EV's) role in tumor development and progression, including immune suppression, angiogenesis, and metastasis. On the basis of this understanding, EV's have emerged to be targets for anticancer therapy. The article then discusses novel therapeutic strategies to target EVs to prevent tumor growth and spread. In this regard, Aethlon Medical is the only organization referenced based on our extracorporeal device strategy to target the elimination of exosomes from circulation of cancer patients.

The authors presented the following knowledge of EV's role is cancer progression:

The abstract of the article can be found online at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24703619

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Medical Technology Breaking News Aethlon Medical (OTCQB AEMD) CEO Note Cancer Therapy Publication References Aethlon ...

$1.9 billion in Medicare waste: 'Tip of the iceberg'

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

12-May-2014

Contact: Katie DuBoff Katie_DuBoff@HMS.HARVARD.EDU 617-432-3038 Harvard Medical School

In the first large-scale study to directly measure wasteful spending in Medicare, researchers found that Medicare spent $1.9 billion in 2009 for patients to receive any of 26 tests and procedures that have been shown by empirical studies to offer little or no health benefit.

By analyzing Medicare claims data, researchers in the Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy found that at least one in four Medicare recipients received one or more of these services in 2009. What's more, those 26 services are just a small sample of the hundreds of services that are known to provide little or no medical value to patients in many circumstances.

"We suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg," said study author J. Michael McWilliams, associate professor of health care policy. The study appears today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The researchers said that the methods utilized in the study will provide useful tools for measuring the effectiveness of reform efforts, like those in the Affordable Care Act, aimed at reducing wasteful spending in Medicare and across the health care system.

Pervasive waste

Health care spending in America is at an all-time high and continues to rise. Efforts to curb wasteful spending in Medicare and throughout the health care system are crucial to attempts to reduce spending while improving or at least preserving quality of care.

"We were surprised that these wasteful services were so prevalent," said Aaron Schwartz, an MD/PhD student in the HMS Department of Health Care Policy and lead author of the study. "Even just looking at a fraction of wasteful services and using our narrowest definitions of waste, we found that one quarter of Medicare beneficiaries undergo procedures or tests that don't tend to help them get better."

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$1.9 billion in Medicare waste: 'Tip of the iceberg'

Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses – Video

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Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses
For the first time since the resurgence of civil unrest in early 2011 the Irish Medical Council will visit Bahrain to accredit a constituent college of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland...

By: Gearid Cuinn

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Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses - Video

Emails hint at uneasy ties between Texas Tech and UMC

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The loss of the anesthesia contract by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine to a private vendor might have been only one of the sore points in an uneasy relationship between Texas Tech and University Medical Center, according to emails obtained under the Texas Public Information Act.

In February, the UMC board voted 5-2 to award its contract for anesthesia services to Somnia, which submitted a $7.5 million bid, much lower than the Texas Tech bid of $11.2 million.

Last week, UMC's CEO Jim Valenti said UMC and Somnia were negotiating some of the last-minute details before signing the contract. A copy of the final contract was not available as of late Friday.

Somnia deferred questions about its contract to UMC officials.

Internal emails by employees of Texas Tech alleged that Somnia's final contract figure may end up closer to the Texas Tech bid of $11.2 million, once all the doctor and nursing staffing is factored in.

Financial aspects about the competing anesthesia contract proposals were discussed in a Jan. 31 internal email to Dr. John Wasnick, interim chairman of the anesthesiology department, and were copied to Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa, Texas Tech regional dean and founding dean of the medical school.

"So, basically what I take from this is that their vastly superior proposal in fact did not address the staffing demands of the RFP (request for proposal) we were presented," Wasnick said in his email, referring to Somnia's $7.5 million bid. Wasnick was interim dean of the anesthesiology department.

Wasnick was referencing an email attachment for Texas Tech Regent L. Rick Francis that said, "Based on our analysis, the difference in price between (the medical school's) bid and the agencies' (Somnia's) bid is less than $100,0000 when all hours are added in."

In an interview, Valenti disagreed with Wasnick's conclusion, saying the Texas Tech bid was for $14.2 million, minus the billing collections, which leaves the bid at about $11.2 million.

"I wished that Texas Tech had submitted a more competitive bid," Valenti said.

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Emails hint at uneasy ties between Texas Tech and UMC

Embracing the future

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If the University of Illinois really wants to make a positive difference, proponents of a new medical school on campus are showing how.

A public medical partnership between the University of Illinois and the Carle Medical System may be a gleam in the eyes of the plan's proponents, but it's still one of the most exciting proposals to come along in years.

Much work including raising vast sums of money must be done before this ambitious undertaking comes close to getting off the ground. But the possibilities of this partnership training needed doctors, mind-bending research linking medicine, science and engineering, expanding Carle's footprint as a destination hospital, vast economic expansion are unlimited. Most important, they represent a rush to embrace a future that will be here before people know it.

UI Chancellor Phyllis Wise has spoken repeatedly about the need to think and dream big. This proposal to create a new medical school linking the UI and Carle, one outlined in a consultant's report that was long in the making, outlines in real-world terms that ambition and what will be required to fulfill it.

They range from very real concern about raising the money $100 million for a new building and $200 million for an endowment to a potential UI turf battle between local administrators who want a campus medical school and the UI's Chicago campus that already has one.

At the risk of getting the cart before the horse, the consulting firm Tripp Umbach recommends immediately choosing a name for this new entity to avoid confusion with the current University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine, developing a business plan and financial model by September and filing an application for accreditation by the end of the year.

By 2015, the consultant's report recommends hiring a dean, one with a national reputation in "engineering and science-driven medicine," to oversee the institution's founding. By 2016, the tentative plan is to hire a distinguished faculty with the first incoming class to follow the next year.

That kind of warp speed may not be possible, but suggestions that it is re-emphasize just how serious local UI administrators are about creating a new institution that melds practical medical training with groundbreaking research in a way that could touch the lives of many thousands of people.

It remains to be seen what UI trustees think about the plan. UI President Robert Easter said only that "it's an idea that's on the table," one that must go through the traditional layers of review before it's sent to the UI and Carle boards for a final decision.

Not surprisingly, many questions remain. Concepts are one thing: the administrative outline how an institution like this would operate on a day-to-day basis is quite another.

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Embracing the future

Dipesh Patel USMLE Step 1=80, GPA=3.00 – AUA Medical School, Trinity Health, St Joseph Mercy Oakland – Video

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Dipesh Patel USMLE Step 1=80, GPA=3.00 - AUA Medical School, Trinity Health, St Joseph Mercy Oakland
I was a medical student at Trinity Health (Catholic Health East), St Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, in Michigan, for clinical rotations. I was a student from the American University of Antigua,...

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Dipesh Patel USMLE Step 1=80, GPA=3.00 - AUA Medical School, Trinity Health, St Joseph Mercy Oakland - Video

People talking about their interactive sound experiences in PRSENCE. – Video

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People talking about their interactive sound experiences in PRSENCE.
This video documents some people talking about their impressions after having participated and experienced the interactive sound installation PRSENCE by Rudolfo Quintas in Boston, USA, during...

By: CreateWithCode

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People talking about their interactive sound experiences in PRSENCE. - Video

Davao Medical School Foundation Campus Tour – St.Johns EDUCARE – Video

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Davao Medical School Foundation Campus Tour - St.Johns EDUCARE
Davao Medical School Foundation Campus Tour - St.Johns EDUCARE, Chennai, India. St.Johns EDUCARE Study MBBS at affordable cost at DMSF Philippines http://www.davaomedical.com | http://www.stjohnseducare.com...

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Davao Medical School Foundation Campus Tour - St.Johns EDUCARE - Video

Students at Davao Medical School Foundation – St.Johns EDUCARE – Video

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Students at Davao Medical School Foundation - St.Johns EDUCARE
Students at Davao Medical School Foundation - St.Johns EDUCARE, Chennai, India. St.Johns EDUCARE Study MBBS at affordable cost at DMSF Philippines http://www.davaomedical.com | http://www.stjohnseducare.com...

By: subas chandra bose

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Students at Davao Medical School Foundation - St.Johns EDUCARE - Video


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