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Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Stunning prairie oasis

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Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is one of northeast Montanas most alluring gems. And early spring is a delightful time to explore it.

Mid-May at about 5 a.m., the lifting fog, a product of a cold night, catches the first light of a mellow sunrise. The tall grass and reeds take on a gold and orange hue while the surrounding water gathers all the colors of the sky, transforming its surface into a pastel painting. The crisp air is noisy, as the entire neighborhood chats in profusion. Grouse, performing their mating ritual, add a distinct sound to the excitement.

The previous weeks witnessed a raucous homecoming a tradition carried out each year as tens of thousands of geese, ducks and birds fill the spring sky on their way back to Medicine Lake. This prairie oasis, bordered by seemingly endless stretches of wheat fields, witnesses one of the great wildlife spectacles in America.

Just 22 miles south of Plentywood, Medicine Lake NWR is in part located above the former channel of the Missouri River. Before the last ice age, the river ran north to Hudson Bay. A glacier moving out of Canada forced the waterway to turn south. When the massive flow of ice receded, it left a blanket of glacial till, resulting in rocky, rolling hills interspersed with numerous wetlands, marshes and ponds.

Medicine Lake is the largest of these bodies of water. For its water, it depends upon summer thunderstorms, winter snowmelt, the flow of Big Muddy Creek reaching the area from the north and Lake Creek coming from the northeast. The name is derived from medicinal herbs and roots Indians gathered around its shores. An exploration of the surrounding higher terrain shows teepee rings and other signs of long-ago use.

More than 100,000 migrating waterfowl make Medicine Lake their warm weather habitat. Great blue herons, white pelicans, geese, grebes and 10 different species of ducks share this prairie ecosystem with countless other birds. Each year as many as 30,000 ducklings are produced, and every fall more than 10,000 sandhill cranes spend a week here. Foxes, raccoons, pheasants and deer also populate the area.

The refuge boasts the largest pelican rookery in Montana and third largest in the nation. These magnificent birds nest on the big island in the middle of Medicine Lake. More than 2,000 white pelicans are born each season.

The piping plover, a rare bird, actively breeds in the wetlands. Their flute-like call is one of the great sounds of nature.

Geese are the first to arrive. Showing up in February and March, they set up their territory and prepare for nesting even before the ice melts.

Its usually late April before Medicine Lake thaws, just in time for the summer dwellers to arrive. All the winged creatures leave by around the first of November when the lake begins to freeze.

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Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Stunning prairie oasis

A better biomarker to predict cetuximab response in CRC patients

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InSilico Medicine, Inc.

VIDEO:A cancer research breakthrough was announced by two biotechnology companies. view more

Credit: InSilico Medicine, Inc.

The results appear in the 2015 2nd issue of the journal of Human Genome Variation. To see a video about the partnership between Champions and Insilico, visit: http://tinyurl.com/InsilicoChampions .

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. More than 50,000 people die of CRC each year due to tumor spreading to other organs and almost half of all newly diagnosed patients are in an advanced stage of cancer (metastatic CRC or mCRC) when they are first diagnosed.

With the development of cetuximab and panitumumab, the treatment of mCRC has been profoundly improved in the past decade. The clinical trials showed a clear and significant benefit for mCRC patients whose tumor carries wild-type K-ras. But K-ras status is not a perfect biomarker that could help physicians decide if cetuximab should be given to a mCRC patient or not because only 40 to 60% of mCRC patients with wild-type K-ras would respond to cetuximab. There are still up to 60% of mCRC patients with wild-type K-ras will not respond to cetuximab treatment. There is an urgent need to develop new biomarkers or strategies to help physician make better decisions.

During recent collaboration, the two companies, Insilico Medicine and Champions Oncology, found that human CRC TumorGrafts maintain human tumors' properties, such as gene-expression patterns, DNA copy number alteration, mutational status and clinical predictability, allowing scientists to test many drugs and combinations quickly on the mice while patients are waiting for treatment.

Qingsong Zhu, Ph.D, COO of Insilico Medicine, Inc., the leader of the study, said, "Champions' TumorGraft is one of the best drug screening platforms. Using our OncoFinderTM tool, we confirmed that TumorGrafts implanted in laboratory mice retain human CRC tumors' pathway activation profiles. Using data from human CRC TumorGrafts and clinical trial results, we identified PAS as a novel prognostic biomarker for cetuximab in mCRC."

Keren Paz, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Champions Oncology said, "Our TumorGraft platform has been used in many tumor types, including colorectal cancer and are helping physicians improving decision-making. Unfortunately, the entire process of implantation and propagation followed by drug screening typically takes 12-16 weeks and time is critical for definitive treatment, especially for advanced cancer patients. With the help of OncoFinderTM , we may be able to significantly reduce the time and cost of the process."

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A better biomarker to predict cetuximab response in CRC patients

Genomics, Big Data, and Medicine Seminar Series — Eric D. Green – Video

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Genomics, Big Data, and Medicine Seminar Series -- Eric D. Green
Eric D. Green, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) speaks on human genomics, precision medicine, and advancing human health....

By: Icahn School of Medicine

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Genomics, Big Data, and Medicine Seminar Series -- Eric D. Green - Video

Andrew Kung, MD, PhD, explains how precision medicine helps clinical decision making – Video

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Andrew Kung, MD, PhD, explains how precision medicine helps clinical decision making
From a conversation on the future of cancer held on March 24 at Columbia University, to mark the PBS broadcast of Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, a film by Barak...

By: Columbia University Medical Center

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Andrew Kung, MD, PhD, explains how precision medicine helps clinical decision making - Video

Risk of breast and ovarian cancer may differ by type of BRCA1, BRCA2 mutation

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Findings may lead to more effective cancer risk assessment, care and prevention strategies

PHILADELPHIA - In a study involving more than 31,000 women with cancer-causing mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, researchers at The Basser Center for BRCA, the Abramson Cancer Center, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified mutations that are associated with significantly different risks of breast and ovarian cancers. Authors say the results - which show that some mutations confer higher risks of breast cancer, while other mutations show higher risks of ovarian cancer - may lead to more effective cancer risk assessment, care and prevention strategies for health care providers and carriers. The results are published in the April 7 issue of JAMA.

"We've made a lot of progress toward understanding how to reduce the cancer risks associated with inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, but until now, little has been known about how cancer risks differ by the specific mutation a woman has inherited," said Timothy R. Rebbeck, PhD, professor of Epidemiology, and associate director for Population Science at Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center. "The results of this study are a first step in understanding how to personalize risk assessment around a woman's specific mutation, which can help guide carriers and providers in the cancer prevention decision making process."

Rebbeck and colleagues evaluated cancer diagnoses for 19,581 carriers of BRCA1 mutations and 11,900 carriers of BRCA2 mutations. The team then analyzed whether the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation type or location was correlated to breast and/or ovarian cancer risk. He and his co-authors identified regions of both BRCA1 and BRCA2 that, when mutated, confer higher risks of ovarian cancer, and other regions that confer higher risk of breast cancer.

Previously, a woman with a BRCA1 mutation would have been thought to have a 59 percent risk of breast cancer and a 34 percent risk for ovarian cancer, up until age 70. However, the new research suggests that women who carry a specific subset of BRCA mutations most commonly present in the Ashkenazi Jewish population have a higher risk of breast cancer (69 percent) and a lower risk of ovarian cancer (26 percent), for example. The important question that remains is whether these differences will change the decisions a woman makes about preventive surgery or other behaviors.

"With these new findings, we've gained knowledge of mutation-specific risks which could provide important information for risk assessment among BRCA1/2 mutation carriers," said senior author Katherine L. Nathanson, MD, associate professor of Medicine and director of Genetics in the Basser Research Center for BRCA at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, "Additional research is needed to determine the absolute risks associated with different mutations, and how those differences might influence decision making and standards of care, such as preventive surgery, for carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations."

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In addition to Rebbeck and Nathanson, other Penn authors on the study include Nandita Mitra, PhD, and Fei Wan, MS, from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.9 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $409 million awarded in the 2014 fiscal year.

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Risk of breast and ovarian cancer may differ by type of BRCA1, BRCA2 mutation

Fighting cancer with medicine and the mind Tom Silver’s Journey with Prostate Cancer – Video

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Fighting cancer with medicine and the mind Tom Silver #39;s Journey with Prostate Cancer
http://www.tomsilver.com/ FIGHTING CANCER AND KILLING CANCER WITH LOWERING BRAINWAVES AND AUTO SUGGESTIONS. MEDICINE AND MIND TO DESTROY CANCER! TOM SILVER ...

By: Tom Silver

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Fighting cancer with medicine and the mind Tom Silver's Journey with Prostate Cancer - Video

Kimfitnesschic 4 min Tabata Medicine Ball workout-partner style-day 240 – Video

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Kimfitnesschic 4 min Tabata Medicine Ball workout-partner style-day 240
Do you find it difficult to fit in time working out? Do you want to encourage your children to be healthy and fit by getting physical exercise? Do you want to have fun working out? ...

By: kim fitnesschic

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Kimfitnesschic 4 min Tabata Medicine Ball workout-partner style-day 240 - Video

News from Annals of Internal Medicine April 7, 2015

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1. Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig come out on top among commercial weight loss programs

Note: Sound bites, b-roll footage, and image available. Satellite coordinates and feed times are below. Physicians looking for an effective commercial weight-loss program for their overweight and obese patients may want to recommend Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. According to an updated evidence review of 11 commercial weight-loss programs, only Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig showed evidence for effective long-term weight loss. The review is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

More than one-third of U.S. adults are obese. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that clinicians screen all adults for obesity and offer or refer overweight or obese patients to intensive, multi-component behavioral interventions for weight loss. Several commercial weight loss programs meet the recommended criteria, but their efficacy is unclear. Researchers reviewed published research to compare weight loss, adherence, and harms of 11 commercial or proprietary weight loss programs. All of the programs studied emphasized nutrition and behavioral counseling or social support components with or without physical activity. Of those, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Health Management Resources, Medifast, OPTIFAST, Atkins, The Biggest Loser Club, eDiets, Lose It!, and SlimFast had trials that met inclusion criteria.

The researchers found that only Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers showed evidence that they helped people lose weight and then keep it off for twelve months or more. Other popular programs, such as NutriSystem, showed promising weight-loss results in the short-term, but additional research is needed to determine long-term results.

The author of an accompanying editorial is not surprised that highly structured programs with in-person social support, such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, seem more effective but cautions that weight loss with such programs is modest and likely below patients' expectations. These unrealistic expectations may affect patients' willingness to adhere to any program.

Note: The URL will be live when the embargo lifts. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks. To interview the lead author, please contact Heather Dewar at hdewar@jhmi.edu or 410-502-9463.

2. Physical therapy as effective as surgery for lumber spinal stenosis

Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) who followed an evidence-based, standardized physical therapy (PT) regimen achieved similar symptom relief and improvements in physical functioning as those who underwent surgical decompression, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

LSS is an anatomical impairment characterized by narrowing of the spinal canal or nerve root foramen that causes pain, weakness in the lower back, buttocks, and thighs. LSS is the most often cited cause for lumbar surgery in the United States and studies comparing surgical with nonsurgical treatment of LSS have been done but outcomes are unclear.

Patients with LSS who were surgical candidates and who provided consent for surgery were randomly assigned to either evidence-based, standardized PT two times per week for six weeks or surgical decompression. After treatment, no differences were detected between the two groups with respect to relieving symptoms and improving function. Both groups began to show improvement at 10 weeks and continued to improve through 26 weeks. Improvements were maintained for both groups through the two-year follow up.

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News from Annals of Internal Medicine April 7, 2015


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