18 dead as boat capsizes off Turks and Caicos

Posted on by

MIAMI At least 17 migrants from Haiti died Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat capsized as it was being towed to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials in the British territory said.

A marine unit of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the packed sloop about two hours earlier and was escorting it to shore when it abruptly overturned, sparking a frantic search and rescue operation in the pre-dawn darkness.

Karlo Pelissier, the Haitian consul to the Turks and Caicos, said he was told by survivors that several migrants attempted to jump off the 28-foot boat and flee to land as they neared the island of Providenciales and that the surge caused the overloaded sloop to overturn. Officials had not confirmed that as the cause of the capsizing.

Authorities rescued 33 migrants, including one 12-year-old boy, and recovered the bodies of 17 people. Divers and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters assisted in a search for additional survivors or victims in the area where the incident occurred, about 150 yards (meters) from shore. Earlier, officials had said there were 18 confirmed deaths but the toll was revised downward.

A scaled-down search was planned for Thursday but further casualties were not expected, said Neil Smith, a government spokesman. The remains of the 12 men and five women killed would be repatriated after autopsies to establish the cause of death.

Survivors were being detained at a migrant detention center in Providenciales, the most populated island in the chain southeast of the Bahamas, and there were no major injuries. "They are tired, but they are OK," Pelissier said in a phone interview as he met with them.

The migrants, mostly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the northern city of Cap-Haitien, had set off on their voyage Sunday night, Pelissier said. They paid $500-$1,000 each and were trying to reach Miami or the Bahamas as well as Turks and Caicos, which has an established community of migrants from Haiti working in construction, tourism and service jobs.

Haitian officials say they try to discourage migrants from risking these journeys.

"We are saddened by such tragedy and present our condolences and prayers to the families and friends of those affected by this accident," said Salim Succar, an adviser to Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

The rescued migrants are expected to be repatriated to Haiti in the coming days.

More here:

18 dead as boat capsizes off Turks and Caicos

18 migrants die in capsizing off Turks and Caicos

Posted on by

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands (AP) -

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands (AP) - Eighteen people believed to be migrants from Haiti died Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat overturned as their vessel was being escorted to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials in the British territory said.

The sailboat, which had about 50 people on board, abruptly capsized about 150 yards from the island of Providenciales, said Neil Smith, a spokesman for the government. The cause was not immediately known but overloading was a likely factor, he said.

About two hours earlier, in the pre-dawn hours of Christmas, the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the sloop as a suspected migrant vessel and was escorting it to shore, Smith said.

Police recovered 18 bodies and are continuing to search for more with the assistance of divers and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

Authorities rescued 32 people from the water and they are in custody on suspicion of attempting to illegally enter the territory. They were in custody in Providenciales, the territory's most populated island.

Turks and Caicos, southeast of the Bahamas, is a frequent destination for Haitian migrants seeking to escape their impoverished country and find work in the British territory's construction and tourism industries.

In November, an overloaded migrant sloop overturned in the southern Bahamas and an estimated 30 people drowned. The area is dotted with many tiny islands, reefs and patches of shallow water, making it treacherous for boaters and a frequent transit zone for smugglers seeking to evade capture.

Continue reading here:

18 migrants die in capsizing off Turks and Caicos

8 US islands that are warm now

Posted on by

Travel

Mark Sullivan Budget Travel

4 hours ago

Craig Litten / AP

The only way to get around Caladesi Island on Florida's West Coast is on your own two feet.

You don't need to splurge on a trip to the Caribbean to spend time on the beach this winter. These eight U.S. islands have the sandy shores, seafood shacks, and sunny skies that will have you thinking it's summer even when there's snow on the ground back home.

Amelia Island, Fla.Average highs of 65/71 in February/March

About as far north as you can go and still be in the Sunshine State, Amelia Island's 13 miles of beaches are mostly deserted until March so it's easy to find a spot where there are no other people in sight. Horseback riding along the sand is one of the most popular off-season activities. Kids have a blast exploring the nooks and crannies of Fort Clinch, one of the country's best-preserved 19th-century fortifications. It was also one of the last of its kind, as new weapons made brick forts obsolete during the Civil War. Boutiques and lovingly restored Victorian mansions make up the historic district.

Sleep: The Seaside Amelia Inn is steps from the beach and has a rooftop terrace perfect for taking in the sunset. Rooms start at just $69 a night.

Refuel: Grab one of the umbrella-shaded tables in the courtyard of Joe's 2nd Street Bistro, where the menu leans, naturally, toward seafood.

Go here to see the original:

8 US islands that are warm now

Researchers complete a milestone in defining the genetic basis of rheumatoid arthritis

Posted on by

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Dec-2013

Contact: Emily Ng eng3@nshs.edu 516-562-2670 North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System

MANHASSET, NY An international group of investigators has discovered new genes, pathways and cell types that are involved in inherited susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The findings are published online in Nature.

Scientists performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis in more than 100,000 people of European and Asian descent. They discovered 42 new sites of genetic variation involved in risk for RA. The analysis provides specific locations of genes, DNA sequences or positions on chromosomes for these genetic differences, bringing the catalog of confirmed risk variants for RA to over 100 genetic loci. These findings lead to a better understanding of how new treatments could be developed.

"This study is the culmination of over a decade of work by an extraordinary group of collaborative scientists from around the world," said Peter K. Gregersen, a collaborator on the study, and head of the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. "It provides us with a definitive list of the major common genetic variation involved in this disease, and points the way forward to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to this illness."

The lead investigator of the study, Robert Plenge, MD, PhD, director of Genetics and Genomics, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy at Brigham and Women's Hospital added, "Our study provides a compelling link between human genetics in RA and approved therapies to treat RA. This leads to an intriguing question: can our new genetic discoveries lead to new therapies to treat or cure RA? Further, can a similar approach be used to develop therapies for other complex diseases such as lupus, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease?"

Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks flexible joints. It can be a disabling and painful condition, which can lead to substantial loss of functioning and mobility if not adequately treated. The disease often leads to the destruction of cartilage and fusion of the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis can also produce inflammation in areas of the body including the lungs, membrane around the heart, and white of the eye.

###

Feinstein Institute researchers are conducting studies on rheumatoid arthritis, both on genetics as well as to identify targets for the development of new therapies. To learn more, visit http://www.FeinsteinInstitute.org.

Originally posted here:

Researchers complete a milestone in defining the genetic basis of rheumatoid arthritis

Health care tactics split Republican Senate rivals

Posted on by

By BILL BARROW Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - Republicans who want to regain control of the Senate will first have to do battle among themselves in 2014 primary elections, due largely to differences over how to proceed against the law they deride as "Obamacare."

In a number of Senate primary campaigns, conservatives are arguing over the best way to oppose President Barack Obama's health care law. The outcome of those campaigns could affect the battle over which party controls the Senate.

In intraparty skirmishes from Georgia to Nebraska, the GOP's most strident candidates and activists are insisting on a no-holds-barred approach. They accuse fellow Republicans - including several incumbent senators - of being too soft in their opposition to the Affordable Care Act and to the president in general.

The struggle will help determine just how conservative the Senate Republican caucus will be during Obama's final two years. And it could influence which party controls the chamber, with Democrats hoping that the most uncompromising Republican standard-bearers will emerge from the primaries and fare as poorly in general elections as their counterparts did in several 2012 Senate races. Republicans need to gain six seats to retake the majority in the Senate.

Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who wants to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, stepped into the dispute recently when he seemed to scold much of his party during an interview on a conservative talk radio show.

"A lot of conservatives say, 'Nah, just step back and let this thing fall to pieces on its own," Kingston said. "Well, I don't think that's always the responsible thing to do."

Rep. Paul Broun, one of Kingston's rivals in a crowded primary field, pounced immediately, declaring in an Internet ad, "I don't want to fix Obamacare, I want to get rid of it." Conservative commentators hammered Kingston with headlines like "Kingston has surrendered on Obamacare."

In Tennessee, state Rep. Joe Carr blasted Sen. Lamar Alexander for serving as a key GOP negotiator in the deal to end the partial government shutdown that resulted from House Republicans' efforts to deny funding for the health care law. Alexander subsequently described himself as a "conservative problem solver," a characterization that Carr says "typifies how out of touch he is."

Kentucky businessman Matt Bevin is using a similar line of attack in trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as is Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his primary challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran. Carr, Bevin and McDaniel all say they'd be more like freshmen Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, tea party favorites who pushed the defunding strategy and vexed their longer-serving colleagues.

See more here:

Health care tactics split Republican Senate rivals

Reporter’s notebook: Health care storylines to watch in 2014

Posted on by

Health Care, Energy and Environment

December 26, 2013 3:07 PM

I've had a busy 2013 covering health care in Southeast Michigan, and beyond it seems, if you count writing countless articles about the Affordable Care Act and how it affects local companies and people with and without health insurance.

Health care is local, and personal, obviously, but decisions made far away from the home medicine cabinet or physician's office affect people's health and pocketbook in very real ways.

My health care coverage also includes changes and innovations from businesses such as hospitals, physician organizations, insurance companies, nursing homes, mental health providers and post-acute care providers such as home health and rehabilitation companies.

First, here are my top health care stories of the year:

Obamacare's healthcare.gov marketplace website roll-out fiasco, policy terminations, slow enrollment. Read my news analysis that created quite a controversy. I predict this story will continue well past the time I turn in my private insurance card for a Medicare card.

Hospitals, doctors, clinics prepare for insurance expansion in 2014. Will more patients equal higher profits?

Michigan legislators finally approve state Medicaid expansion. Almost a no-brainer, especially when small business groups signed on as supporters.

Beaumont, Henry Ford nix merger. Read my news feature on why it happened.

View post:

Reporter's notebook: Health care storylines to watch in 2014

Cooler health care inflation may stick around

Posted on by

(Photo: Todd Plitt, USA TODAY)

USA TODAY - Health care inflation has reached a 50-year low - and with even more fundamental forces than Obamacare at work, the slowdown is likely to persist for several years.

Some reasons are familiar, like the slowdown in prescription drug spending following expiration of patents on blockbuster drugs, exposing brand-name medicines such as cholesterol remedy Lipitor to generic competition.

Medical device prices are also rising more slowly than inflation, as Advanced Medical Device Association senior executive vice president David Nexon says stiff competition and cost-cutting by hospitals is taking away manufacturers' pricing power. And consumers appear to be buying care more carefully because of insurance changes that boost co-payments and deductibles, according to researchers at Harvard and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Most of all, hospital cost gains are slowing down. Reasons include ACA-related changes in Medicare policies cutting reimbursements by $17 billion, according to a Nov. 20 report from the White House. Over time, hospital cost growth is likely to be held down by a shift toward outpatient care and a drive by hospitals to better coordinate care, said Caroline Steinberg, vice president of trend analysis for the American Hospital Association.

"We, collectively, slowed health care spending,'' said Michael Chernew, an economist who is professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. "Whether we cut spending more is more of a policy choice than a pre-determined outcome.'"

Overall health care spending will rise faster in the next few years than in the last few, as tens of millions of previously uninsured people get covered under the new law, he added. But inflation in medical prices has dropped steadily since the recession, reaching an annual rate of 1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the last 12 months, the price of prescription drugs and medical devices rose 0.5% and 0.7%, the price of doctors' services rose 1.4% and prices for hospital and related services rose 4.9%, the BLS says.

The Obama administration claims the ACA is driving the largest part of the changes, citing research by Chernew and others. Republican skeptics have pointed to studies by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Kaiser Foundation that blame the lingering effects of the recession. Both Kaiser and Chernew agree that part of the slower inflation is due to patients' cutting back as they bear more of the costs and is likely to be permanent. The biggest part of health care spending is hospital care and hospitals are holding down costs in several key ways, said Steinberg.

One is by shifting more patients to outpatient settings. The hospital chain Tenet Healthcare said inpatient admissions dropped 2.6% in the third quarter while outpatient admissions rose 3.5%. For the first nine months of this year, Tenet said inpatient revenue dropped 1.6% while outpatient revenue climbed 6.6%.

Another is a slow-moving change in reimbursement models, by both Medicare and private insurers, to demand better-integrated care and higher quality that heads off complications and readmissions.

Link:

Cooler health care inflation may stick around

Medicare, Other Health Care Spending Slowing but Cost Controls Must Be Implemented

Posted on by

E-mail this page to a friend!

Medicare & Medicaid News

Medicare, Other Health Care Spending Slowing but Cost Controls Must Be Implemented

New England Journal of Medicine study finds health spending rose just 0.8% per person in 2012, Affordable Care Act measures to control costs may be contributing to biggest slowdown in decades

Dec. 26, 2013 The growth of health care cost is slowing and at least a portion is due to actions stemming from Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), but regardless of the causes, the U.S. needs to try to control health spending. An analysis, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, also finds that a broad, bipartisan consensus about strategies that will be effective in controlling costs has emerged.

According to a new study by David Blumenthal, M.D., and Kristof Stremikis of The Commonwealth Fund and David Cutler, Ph.D., of Harvard University, health care spending rose only moderately last year for the third year in a row, increasing by 0.8 percent per person, slightly less than the rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

This trend marks a departure from the previous five decades, and may be fueled in part by payment reforms contained within the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

While analysts are divided on whether the new trend is a result of the recession or recent efforts to control spending, the authors of Health Care Spending: A Giant Slain or Sleeping? argue that, either way, the U.S. will need to reengineer health services to make them more efficient - to go after the one-third of health spending that is estimated to be wasteful.

Blumenthal and his coauthors outline the areas of agreement among health policy experts about the actions that are needed to achieve this goal.

Understanding Slower Health Care Cost Growth

Originally posted here:

Medicare, Other Health Care Spending Slowing but Cost Controls Must Be Implemented

Health care tactics split Republican Senate rivals – Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

Posted on by

By BILL BARROW Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - Republicans who want to regain control of the Senate will first have to do battle among themselves in 2014 primary elections, due largely to differences over how to proceed against the law they deride as "Obamacare."

In a number of Senate primary campaigns, conservatives are arguing over the best way to oppose President Barack Obama's health care law. The outcome of those campaigns could affect the battle over which party controls the Senate.

In intraparty skirmishes from Georgia to Nebraska, the GOP's most strident candidates and activists are insisting on a no-holds-barred approach. They accuse fellow Republicans - including several incumbent senators - of being too soft in their opposition to the Affordable Care Act and to the president in general.

The struggle will help determine just how conservative the Senate Republican caucus will be during Obama's final two years. And it could influence which party controls the chamber, with Democrats hoping that the most uncompromising Republican standard-bearers will emerge from the primaries and fare as poorly in general elections as their counterparts did in several 2012 Senate races. Republicans need to gain six seats to retake the majority in the Senate.

Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who wants to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, stepped into the dispute recently when he seemed to scold much of his party during an interview on a conservative talk radio show.

"A lot of conservatives say, 'Nah, just step back and let this thing fall to pieces on its own," Kingston said. "Well, I don't think that's always the responsible thing to do."

Rep. Paul Broun, one of Kingston's rivals in a crowded primary field, pounced immediately, declaring in an Internet ad, "I don't want to fix Obamacare, I want to get rid of it." Conservative commentators hammered Kingston with headlines like "Kingston has surrendered on Obamacare."

In Tennessee, state Rep. Joe Carr blasted Sen. Lamar Alexander for serving as a key GOP negotiator in the deal to end the partial government shutdown that resulted from House Republicans' efforts to deny funding for the health care law. Alexander subsequently described himself as a "conservative problem solver," a characterization that Carr says "typifies how out of touch he is."

Kentucky businessman Matt Bevin is using a similar line of attack in trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as is Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his primary challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran. Carr, Bevin and McDaniel all say they'd be more like freshmen Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, tea party favorites who pushed the defunding strategy and vexed their longer-serving colleagues.

Go here to see the original:

Health care tactics split Republican Senate rivals - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

Sodexo cutting health care benefits by reclassifying workers – Thu, 26 Dec 2013 PST

Posted on by

Citing the federal Affordable Care Act, national food-service provider Sodexo is cutting health care benefits for more than 30 of its Spokane-areaworkers.

The national company, which has more than 120,000 workers nationwide at hospitals, colleges, military bases, clinics, nursing facilities and other locations, has roughly 270 workers inSpokane.

Sodexos changes are part of a national reaction by large and small companies to the new federal law. The Affordable Care Act lets companies redefine which workers receive medical insurance, a costly benefit that it can now reduce by shifting workers to newly created private healthplans.

Most

You have viewed 20 free articles or blogs allowed within a 30-day period. FREE registration is now required for uninterrupted access.

S-R Media, The Spokesman-Review and Spokesman.com are happy to assist you. Contact Customer Service by email or call 800-338-8801

Sodexos full-time areaemployees:

188 now, 111 inJanuary.

Sodexos part-time areaemployees:

83 now, 144 inJanuary.

Read this article:

Sodexo cutting health care benefits by reclassifying workers - Thu, 26 Dec 2013 PST

Health care divides some Republican Senate rivals – NBC40.net

Posted on by

By BILL BARROW Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - Republicans see the 2014 midterm elections as a chance to capitalize on voter frustration with the problem-plagued health care overhaul, but the GOP first must settle a slate of Senate primaries where conservatives are arguing over the best way to oppose President Barack Obama's signature law.

In intraparty skirmishes from Georgia to Nebraska, the GOP's most strident candidates and activists are insisting on a no-holds-barred approach. They accuse fellow Republicans - including several incumbent senators - of being too soft in their opposition to the Affordable Care Act and to the president in general.

The outcomes will help determine just how conservative the Senate Republican caucus will be during Obama's final two years. And they could influence which party controls the chamber, with Democrats hoping that the most uncompromising Republican standard-bearers will emerge from the primaries and fare as poorly in general elections as their counterparts did in several 2012 Senate races. Republicans need to gain six seats for a majority.

Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who wants to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, stepped into the rift recently when he seemed to scold much of his party during an interview on a conservative talk radio show.

"A lot of conservatives say, 'Nah, just step back and let this thing fall to pieces on its own," Kingston said. "Well, I don't think that's always the responsible thing to do."

Rep. Paul Broun, one of Kingston's rivals in a crowded primary field, pounced immediately, declaring in an Internet ad, "I don't want to fix Obamacare, I want to get rid of it." Conservative commentators hammered Kingston with headlines like "Kingston has surrendered on Obamacare."

In Tennessee, state Rep. Joe Carr blasted Sen. Lamar Alexander for serving as a key GOP negotiator in the deal to end the partial government shutdown that resulted from House Republicans' efforts to deny funding for the health care law. Alexander subsequently described himself as a "conservative problem solver," a characterization that Carr says "typifies how out of touch he is."

Kentucky businessman Matt Bevin is using a similar line of attack in trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as is Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his primary challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran. Carr, Bevin and McDaniel all say they'd be more like freshmen Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, tea party favorites who pushed the defunding strategy and vexed their longer-serving colleagues.

In Nebraska and Louisiana, Republican candidates who say they oppose the health care law have had to defend their past positions on health care.

Visit link:

Health care divides some Republican Senate rivals - NBC40.net

New genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes revealed

Posted on by

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Dec-2013

Contact: Nicole Davis ndavis@broadinstitute.org 617-714-7152 Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Cambridge and Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico. Wed. December 25, 2013 An international team of researchers in Mexico and the United States has uncovered a new genetic clue that contributes to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, particularly the elevated risk among Mexican and other Latin American populations.

The team, known as the SIGMA (Slim Initiative in Genomic Medicine for the Americas) Type 2 Diabetes Consortium, performed the largest genetic study to date in Mexican and Mexican American populations, discovering a risk gene for type 2 diabetes that had gone undetected in previous efforts. People who carry the higher risk version of the gene are 25 percent more likely to have diabetes than those who do not, and people who inherited copies from both parents are 50 percent more likely to have diabetes. The higher risk form of the gene has been found in up to half of people who have recent Native American ancestry, including Latin Americans. The variant is found in about 20 percent of East Asians and is rare in populations from Europe and Africa.

The elevated frequency of this risk gene in Latin Americans could account for as much as 20 percent of the populations' increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes the origins of which are not well understood.

"To date, genetic studies have largely used samples from people of European or Asian ancestry, which makes it possible to miss culprit genes that are altered at different frequencies in other populations," said co-corresponding author Jos Florez, a Broad associate member, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Physician in the Diabetes Unit and the Center for Human Genetic Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital. "By expanding our search to include samples from Mexico and Latin America, we've found one of the strongest genetic risk factors discovered to date, which could illuminate new pathways to target with drugs and a deeper understanding of the disease."

A description of the discovery of the newly implicated gene named SLC16A11 and the consortium's efforts to characterize it, appear online in Nature December 25.

"We conducted the largest and most comprehensive genomic study of type 2 diabetes in Mexican populations to date. In addition to validating the relevance to Mexico of already known genetic risk factors, we discovered a major new risk factor that is much more common in Latin American populations than in other populations around the world. We are already using this information to design new studies that aim to understand how this variant influences metabolism and disease, with the hope of eventually developing improved risk assessment and possibly therapy," said Teresa Tusie-Luna, project leader at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Mdicas y Nutricin Salvador Zubirn and principal investigator at the Biomedical Research Institute, National University of Mexico.

This work was conducted as part of the Slim Initiative for Genomic Medicine for the Americas (SIGMA), a joint U.S.-Mexico project funded by the Carlos Slim Foundation through the Carlos Slim Health Institute. SIGMA focuses on several key diseases with particular relevance to public health in Mexico and Latin America, including type 2 diabetes and cancer. The current paper is the team's first report on type 2 diabetes.

Read more here:

New genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes revealed

New Diabetes-Related Genetic Risk Factor Discovered

Posted on by

December 26, 2013

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

A previously undetected genetic risk factor could help explain why there is an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes among Mexican and other Latin American populations, according to a new study published online Wednesday in the journal Nature.

In the study, an international team of researchers known as the SIGMA (Slim Initiative in Genomic Medicine for the Americas) Type 2 Diabetes Consortium performed the largest genetic study to date in people of Mexican and Mexican-American descent. They discovered that people who had the higher-risk version of the gene SLC16A11 could be 25 percent more likely to have diabetes than those lacking said gene.

Furthermore, individuals who inherit copies from both patents are 50 percent more likely to have diabetes. The higher-risk version has been found in up to half of people with recent Native American ancestry (including Latin Americans) as well as 20 percent of East Asians, and elevated frequency of SLC16A11 in Latin American could account for up to one-fifth of the populations increased prevalence of diabetes, the authors explained.

To date, genetic studies have largely used samples from people of European or Asian ancestry, which makes it possible to miss culprit genes that are altered at different frequencies in other populations, said co-corresponding author Jos Florez, an assistant physician in the Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Unit. By expanding our search to include samples from Mexico and Latin America, weve found one of the strongest genetic risk factors discovered to date, which could illuminate new pathways to target with drugs and a deeper understanding of the disease.

In addition to validating the relevance to Mexico of already known genetic risk factors, we discovered a major new risk factor that is much more common in Latin American populations than in other populations around the world, added Teresa Tusie-Luna, principal investigator at the National University of Mexicos Biomedical Research Institute. We are already using this information to design new studies that aim to understand how this variant influences metabolism and disease, with the hope of eventually developing improved risk assessment and possibly therapy.

According to BBC News Science Editor Paul Rincon, the SLC16A11 sequence discovered by the SIGMA team was found in a recently sequenced Neanderthal genome originating from Denisova cave in Siberia. That would suggest, he explained, that the gene variant might have been inherited by the ancient, now-extinct species of early human.

This marks the first time that SLC16A11, which belongs to a family of genes that code for proteins that transport metabolites, has been identified as factoring into a human disease. As such, the researchers said that little information was previously available about its function. The study authors report that SLC16A11 is expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum, a cellular structure located within the liver.

Furthermore, the SIGMA investigators went on to demonstrate that altering levels of the protein could change the amount of a type of fat that had previously been implicated in the risk of diabetes. That discovery led the team to hypothesize that SLC16A11 could be involved in the transport of an unknown metabolite a metabolite which affects fat levels in cells, resulting in an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Read more:

New Diabetes-Related Genetic Risk Factor Discovered

Neurotrophin Gene Therapy for Repair of the Injured Spinal Cord – Video

Posted on by


Neurotrophin Gene Therapy for Repair of the Injured Spinal Cord
George M. Smith, PhD | Shriners Hospitals Pediatric Research Center and Temple University 2013 Rare Neuro-Immunologic Disorders Symposium Repair and Recovery, Today and in the Future | October...

By: transversemyelitis

See more here:

Neurotrophin Gene Therapy for Repair of the Injured Spinal Cord - Video

Futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson on the Future of Travel : Sky News Business – Video

Posted on by


Futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson on the Future of Travel : Sky News Business
What does the future traveller look like, and how do they impact and shape what travel, aviation and hospitality will look like in the future. Tune into this...

By: Anders Sorman-Nilsson

Read more here:

Futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson on the Future of Travel : Sky News Business - Video

Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Freedom Cry DLC Walkthrough Part 11 – 100% Sync AC4 Let’s Play – Video

Posted on by


Assassin #39;s Creed 4 Black Flag Freedom Cry DLC Walkthrough Part 11 - 100% Sync AC4 Let #39;s Play
Assassin #39;s Creed 4 Black Flag Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 - Heroes Aren #39;t Born AC4 100% Memory Synchronization Let #39;s Play Playthrough http://www.youtube.com/...

By: Tetra Ninja

Read this article:

Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag Freedom Cry DLC Walkthrough Part 11 - 100% Sync AC4 Let's Play - Video