Island Hero Needs Help with Surgery – Video

Posted on by

24-09-2012 19:13 http VICTORIA -- Vancouver Island's 'Penny Girl' is frustrated with the health care system. After being told by doctors that an upcoming back operation will likely leave her paralyzed -- Jeneece Edroff wants a second opinion. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has specialists in her condition and may be able to provide a surgery that won't rob her of her ability to walk. The problem is, the government won't pay for her to go to the Mayo Clinic, not for the second opinion, and most certainly not for treatment. The health minister says she is asking her staff to reach out to Jeneece to see if they can help, but says the province generally doesn't fund out of province treatments that can be done here. Not even if having it done in BC could mean she won't walk again. Follow Stephanie Sherlock on Twitter:

Read this article:

Island Hero Needs Help with Surgery - Video

Health Information Technology Cyber Security Advances in Michigan

Posted on by

EAST LANSING, Mich., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN), the state level designated entity to improve health care quality, cost, efficiency, and patient safety through electronic exchange of health information, today announced an agreement with HT Systems, a healthcare technology leader that provides the latest innovation in patient identity management, to provide the PatientSecure biometric identification solution for healthcare providers in Michigan as part of MiHIN's growing Health Information Technology (HIT) Cyber Security Program. The agreement reduces the barrier for healthcare providers in Michigan to receive the lowest price available for PatientSecure and sets the stage for integration with the Statewide Health Provider Directory and planned Patient Directory Services.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120919/FL77026)

PatientSecure scans a patient's palm vein pattern and links the patient to their unique medical record, providing accurate identification of every patient, preventing fraud and human errors, and reducing administrative cost of healthcare providers

MiHIN's evolving HIT Cyber Security program currently consists of the ability to conduct vulnerability assessments and continuous threat monitoring for health care networks. The offering allows organizations pursing the top level of vigilance when sharing data electronically to have high confidence their systems are achieving best practice levels of performance.

"As MiHIN continues to develop a robust HIT Cyber Security Program aligned with our mission as the State of Michigan designated entity, it is clear that solutions designed to raise everyone's confidence that individuals doing business over the network are who we think they are is increasingly essential," said Tim Pletcher, Executive Director of MiHIN. "As more organizations in Michigan adopt the PatientSecure solutions by HT Systems our state will see similar benefits in decreased medical and administrative errors related to identity as those major health systems in other states have already."

HT Systems' flagship solution PatientSecure is a biometric patient identification management system that captures an image of palm vein patterns and automatically links patients to their unique medical record providing accurate identification of every patient, improving patient safety, guarding against medical identity theft and insurance card fraud, reducing human errors and reducing cost associated with registration issues such as duplicate medical records and overlays. PatientSecure is currently adopted by over 160 hospitals and hundreds of affiliated clinics and physician's practices across the country. 5,000,000+ patients are currently enrolled in the PatientSecure system and tens of thousands of those same patients are successfully authenticated on a daily basis on return visits.

"The PatientSecure technology provides Michigan healthcare providers with an extremely accurate way to identify patients as they move within and between healthcare systems. It is non-invasive, easy to use and universally accepted with a 99% patient adoption across the country," said Carl Bertrams, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at HT Systems/PatientSecure. "We are extremely enthusiastic about the MiHIN-HT Systems agreement because it takes the technology to a whole new level, placing Michigan at the national forefront of positive patient identification across disparate healthcare organizations".

MiHIN announced the agreement when participating at the HIMSS Michigan Chapter Fall Conference - HITECH Status in Michigan Navigating for the Future of Electronic Health Records, September 25-26 at Detroit-Novi Crown Plaza, Novi, Michigan.

About Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHINSS) (www.mihin.org) MiHIN is dedicated to improving the healthcare experience, increasing quality and decreasing cost for Michigan's people by supporting the statewide exchange of health information and making accurate and timely health care data available at the point of care. MiHIN is the official state designated entity for health information exchange across Michigan and the future integration with the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). MiHIN is a Michigan nonprofit entity, functioning as a public and private collaboration between the State of Michigan, sub-state Health Information Exchanges, payers, providers, and patients.

About HT SystemsHT Systems, LLCis a healthcare technology leader, providing the latest innovation in patient identity management.PatientSecure, the company's flagship Biometric Patient Identification Management System, links the biometric palm vein pattern of the patient to their medical record in any HIS registration, EMPI or EMR system. HT Systems is the first to successfully implement a large scale biometric patient identification system in the nation. PatientSecureis currently adopted by over160 hospitals and hundreds of affiliated clinics and physician practices across the country. With over 5 million patients enrolled, our clients report a 99%+ patient adoption rate of our technology. With over 30 years of healthcare and healthcare technology experience, HT Systems partners with healthcare providers to develop solutions specific to the client's environment. For more information please visit: http://www.patientsecure.com.

Read the original post:

Health Information Technology Cyber Security Advances in Michigan

Romney's Medicaid Remarks On '60 Minutes' Raise Eyebrows

Posted on by

Enlarge AP

Mitt Romney talks with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.

Mitt Romney talks with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.

It's not so much what Mitt Romney said about whether the government should guarantee people health care in his interview on CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday that has health care policy types buzzing. It's how that compares to what he has said before.

To back up a bit, Scott Pelley asked the former Massachusetts governor if he thinks "the government has a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who don't have it today?"

Romney responded:

"Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance ... if someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care."

That was basically Romney's way of saying that people who don't have insurance can always go to the hospital emergency room.

Yet in 2010, in an appearance on MSNBC, Romney said almost exactly the opposite: "It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility," he said at the time.

That's because back then, Romney was defending the Massachusetts law he signed as governor. It's the one that requires most people to either have health insurance or pay a fine just like the federal law he now vows to repeal.

Read more:

Romney's Medicaid Remarks On '60 Minutes' Raise Eyebrows

Health care workers pressured to work while sick: union

Posted on by

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Could you end up catching a cold because you went to the hospital?

The Hospital Employees Union claims too many health care workers are being pressured to go to work while sick.

"Many health authorities have 'attendance management' programs that penalize workers who are sick but are deemed to have above-average sick time usage. They will do things like deny them access to overtime hours, reduce their hours of work, threaten them with dismissal," says Mike Old with the HEU.

He tells us these attendance management measures go against the government's request to ask staff to stay home when they are ill.

"They are trying to encourage more workers to get a flu vaccine and we support that on a voluntary basis; they also want to make workers wear a surgical mask if they don't get a flu vaccine," says Old.

But he tells us if people are under the weather, they need to look after themselves without being intimidated.

A poll conducted by the HEU finds one third of health care workers go to work even if they are experiencing cold or flu symptoms.

"Employers can't have it both ways," says Bonnie Pearson, secretary-business manager with HEU. "The first line of defense in reducing the spread of influenza in health facilities needs to be encouraging workers to stay home when they are sick -- not punishing them for accessing sick leaves."

About 800 workers were surveyed.

View original post here:

Health care workers pressured to work while sick: union

Health Care Is Poised For Disruption And Data Scientists Can Be Part Of It

Posted on by

VideoThis post originally appeared on O’Reilly Strata ("When data disrupts health care"). It’s republished with permission. By Mac Slocum Health care appears immune to disruption. It's a space where the stakes are high, the incumbents are entrenched, and lessons from other industries don't always apply. Yet, in a recent conversation between Tim O'Reilly [...]

Read the original here:

Health Care Is Poised For Disruption And Data Scientists Can Be Part Of It

Claims Data and Health Care Fraud: The Controversy Continues

Posted on by

While there may be truth to the old saying that there are “lies, damn lies, and statistics,” the use of claims data to detect fraud in the health care industry has often been thought to be beyond reproach. Data mining techniques and investigations that stem from billing anomalies have been [...]

See the rest here:

Claims Data and Health Care Fraud: The Controversy Continues

Health-Care Price Rise Poses Challenge for U.S. Overhaul

Posted on by

By Alex Wayne - 2012-09-25T04:01:00Z

Medical prices accelerated faster than some projections last year and the number of uninsured is rising, according to data that show the U.S. goal of expanding health care is veering onto a more difficult road.

Costs for people with employer-sponsored insurance plans jumped 4.6 percent in 2011, more than the governments 3.9 percent estimate for the entire health system, the Health Care Cost Institute, which analyzed claims from UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), Aetna Inc. (AET) and Humana Inc. (HUM), said today. A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the number of people without insurance climbed 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

The data pose a challenge for the Obama administration as it carries out the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which promises to expand coverage to 30 million Americans starting in 2014 and trim health costs. The CDC reported that 47.3 million people lacked insurance, and the health institute said hospitals and doctors raised prices at a clip that outstripped demand.

If you dont bend the cost curve, ultimately insurance gets more expensive, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the president of the American Action Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group that opposes the health law. Its a big problem for the Affordable Care Act.

The overhaul law may be contributing to higher costs, said Martin Gaynor, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and chairman of the Washington-based Health Care Cost Institute. The act tries to limit insurers administrative expenses and profits by requiring companies to spend at least 80 percent of their premium revenue on medical services. To meet that threshold, they may be letting prices rise, he said.

Like anything else, sometimes these things can have unintended consequences, Gaynor said in a telephone interview.

Health-care costs for 40 million workers covered by UnitedHealth, Aetna and Humana -- three of the four largest U.S. health insurers by revenue -- increased to $4,547 a person, from $4,349 a year earlier, according to the institute. The group, created last year to analyze claims data from major insurers, found that charges for hospital emergency rooms rose 9.1 percent in 2011, after adjusting for a reduction in the intensity of care they delivered.

That means emergency rooms did less for more money, said David Newman, executive director of the institute.

The law also has encouraged consolidation among hospitals and doctors, which may lead to greater pricing power, said Holtz-Eakin, who once who ran the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office after leaving the Bush administration in 2003.

Original post:

Health-Care Price Rise Poses Challenge for U.S. Overhaul

3D Biomatrix’s Perfecta3D® Hanging Drop Plates Featured in Prominent Life Science Journals

Posted on by

3D Biomatrix’s Perfecta3D Hanging Drop Plates, which are easy-to-use 96- and 384-well plates for controllable three-dimensional (3D) spheroid culture, were recently featured in several prominent life science and biotechnology journals and websites: Bioscience Technology, The Scientist, Biocompare, and Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.Ann Arbor, MI (PRWEB) September 25, 2012 3D ...

Visit link:

3D Biomatrix’s Perfecta3D® Hanging Drop Plates Featured in Prominent Life Science Journals

Adiponectin Gene Therapy May Help Fight Obesity

Posted on by

According to a new study on adiponectin and raspberry ketone, obesity may be treated by regulating the levels of a key hormone in the body.(PRWEB) September 25, 2012 Researchers at the University of Alberta have reported that a specific type of gene therapy involving Adiponectin and Raspberry Ketone can actually help fight obesity.The study from The Journal of Nutrition & Diabetes concluded that ...

Read the original post:

Adiponectin Gene Therapy May Help Fight Obesity

Threats to Internet Freedom More Diverse – Freedom House

Posted on by

Internet freedom in the past two years has been threatened by attacks on bloggers, web content manipulation and restrictive laws regulating online speech, as well as other diverse threats, says a new study released by Freedom House on Monday.

The Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media report by the U.S.-based nongovernmental organization identified countries where the situation worsened, and said Russia was among the Countries at Risk group.

The findings clearly show that threats to internet freedom are becoming more diverse, Sanja Kelly, project director for Freedom on the Net at Freedom House, said.

The report said governments are responding to increased internet influence through seeking to control web activity, restricting the free flow of information, and otherwise infringing on the rights of users.

Freedom House claimed that the methods of control are becoming more sophisticated, and tactics previously evident in only the most repressive environments - such as governments instigating deliberate connection disruptions or hiring armies of paid commentators to manipulate online discussions - are appearing in a wider set of countries.

Regarding Russia, the report said that the internet is the last relatively uncensored platform for public debate in the country. However, it added, since January 2011, massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and smear campaigns to discredit online activists have intensified.

After online tools played a critical role in galvanizing massive anti-government protests that began in December 2011, the Kremlin signaled its intention to further tighten control over internet communications, Freedom House said.

Freedom on the Net 2012 identified key trends in internet freedom in 47 countries. Evaluating each country on the basis of barriers to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights, it said that Estonia had the biggest degree of internet freedom among the countries examined, followed by the United States.

Iran, Cuba, and China had the smallest degree of internet freedom, with eleven other countries receiving a ranking of Not Free. They included Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Thailand.

Twenty of the examined countries experienced a negative trajectory in internet freedom since January 2011, with the greatest declines registered in Bahrain, Pakistan, and Ethiopia.

Read more here:

Threats to Internet Freedom More Diverse - Freedom House

The New England Fall Astronomy Festival draws crowds

Posted on by

Last Friday night marked the beginning of the second annual 2012 New England Fall Astronomy Festival (NEFAF). The festival was held at the UNH Observatory and ran from Friday to Saturday. Events opened up with a talk on dark energy and the acceleration of the universe by the festivals keynote speaker, Alex Filippenko. Filippenko is an astronomer who worked on the two teams that discovered the universe was expanding in 1998.

Why are all these other galaxies moving away from us? Is it because theyre lactose intolerant? Get it? Milky Way, Filippenko joked.

Nearly 300 hundred high-school students, parents, UNH students and professors, amateur astronomers, children and one golden retriever filled the lecture tent for his two-hour talk and Q&A session.

John Gianforte, who said he has been an astronomer since he was seven, teaches astronomy courses at both Granite State College and UNH, and is the head of the organizing committee for NEFAF. Gianforte also helps train the new students working at the UNH Observatory, though he says it is important to remember that the observatory is student-run.

I did the same thing last year and it was pretty successful, except for the rain. They asked me to do it again and I said yes, Gianforte said.

Gianforte is the man who booked Filippenko for his talk Friday evening. After spending a week with him in Hawaii observing the transit of Venus, he contacted Filippenko in the summer to see if he would be free for the event.

Gianforte said he was extremely happy with the turnout and the level of audience participation during the talk. The Q&A session lasted for nearly an hour, with questions ranging from the possible existence of other universes to the science around the Big Crunch theory, which refers to the collapse of the universe.

Im thrilled. Excited. I couldnt sleep last night, it went so well, Gianforte said.

The festival picked up again on Saturday morning, with astronomy-themed carnival games and booths for children while the adults listened to speakers talk about exo-solar planets and the Mars rover.

Ian Cohen, the manager of the UNH Observatory, and a graduate student working on his Ph.D. in physics worked at the festival last year, and said it was very successful.

The rest is here:

The New England Fall Astronomy Festival draws crowds

Astronomy Class in Steuben

Posted on by

STEUBEN The Eagle Hill Institute is offering a two-semester astronomy class that qualifies for continuing education units (CEUs) from the University of Maine.

The institute also is offering a viewing of the Orionid Meteor Shower on Oct. 20 with a 5:30 p.m. lecture followed by dinner.

This shower is made possible from the debris left behind from the famous comet known as Halley, said program director Ralph Ballatine. The Earth moves through this debris in the months of April and October.

He said the Orionid meteor shower will peak the mornings of Oct. 20-21 and the best viewing time is midnight to dawn.

The first part of the astronomy course will be held Saturdays from Oct. 6 through Dec. 15 and will offer instruction on the planets, moons and microbodies of the Milky Way.

The second part, which will run Saturdays from Jan. 12 through March 16, will cover the stars and constellations of the universe.

Ballatine formerly was planetarium director at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania and a science instructor at the Owens Science Center in Maryland.

He said the class will include lectures and telescope sessions whereby students go online to look through the lenses of telescopes around the globe.

The class is open to amateur astronomers, teachers, college students and high school students.

In addition to CEUs, students may transfer two credits for each class to a college or university.

Continue reading here:

Astronomy Class in Steuben

Vector Aerospace Renews Engine Services Agreement with Air Georgian Limited

Posted on by

Toronto, ON Vector Aerospace Corporation (www.vectoraerospace.com), a global independent provider of aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services is pleased to announce that Vector Aerospace Engine Services - Atlantic Inc. (Vector) is renewing its current two-year engine services agreement with Air Georgian Limited (Air Georgian), based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

As per the terms of the three-year extension of this exclusive agreement, Vector provides Air Georgian with fixed-wing aircraft engine repair and overhaul support from its Vector Aerospace Engine Services - Atlantic facility, located in Prince Edward Island, Canada; and also engine repair support from its Calgary, Alberta, service center.

Air Georgian Limited has been providing aviation services and customized charter flight solutions for more than 25 years, and we take pride in our reputation as a well trusted and extremely reliable flight services provider, says Brad Warren, vice president of maintenance for Air Georgian. Vector Aerospace Engine Services Atlantic has proven to us time and time again that they provide a high level of service and experience and so we look forward to continuing our partnership with Vector through the renewal of this engine services agreement.

We are very pleased that Air Georgian has expressed its confidence in us and our work with the renewal and extension of this agreement, says Jeff Poirier, president of Vector Aerospace Engine Services Atlantic. We are extremely confident that our proven repair and overhaul practices, highly trained personnel and state of the art technologies will continue to provide comprehensive support and great value to Air Georgian and its customers.

Poirier elaborates on the specifics of the agreement, explaining that the terms include the continuation of various engine repairs, hot section inspections, modifications, overhaul and test support for Air Georgian's fleet of Hawker Beechcraft B-1900D Aircraft.

About Vector Aerospace Corporation (Vector)

Vector is a global independent provider of aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul services. Through facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Africa and Australia it provides services to commercial and military customers for various types of gas turbine engines, components and helicopter airframes.

Principal operations include Vector Aerospace Engine Services-Atlantic; Vector Aerospace Engine Services-UK; Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services-North America; SECA, A Vector Aerospace Company; Vector Aerospace International Limited and Pathix ASP. Vector also provides information technology solutions to an international customer base.

Vector employs approximately 2,800 employees.

A comprehensive overview of Vectors capabilities can be viewed at http://www.vectoraerospace.com.

See the original post here:

Vector Aerospace Renews Engine Services Agreement with Air Georgian Limited

Aerospace Site Consultant Launches Updated Website

Posted on by

SAN JUAN, PR, Sept. 25, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Aero2pr, a site consultant that specializes in attracting aerospace investments to Puerto Rico, has announced the launch of a new website at http://www.aero2pr.com.

Aero2pr is dedicated to providing customized and specialized site location services to companies and individuals in the aerospace, defense and engineering services sectors. Aero2pr works with businesses and investors that wish to establish or relocate their operations to Puerto Rico.

Working side by side with local authorities, Aero2pr seeks to attract aerospace companies to the island, while promoting Puerto Rico's extensive and innovative tax incentives that offer unique benefits to companies in the aerospace, defense and engineering services sectors. According to Aero2pr's analysis, companies that relocate their operations to Puerto Rico can benefit from substantially lower total costs, very attractive tax incentives and a highly skilled workforce.

Unlike U.S. mainland states that face shortages and turnover of their highly skilled workforce, Puerto Rico offers near-term solutions to aerospace companies that can hire highly skilled employees in the "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines while maintaining the integrity of their global competitiveness, their technological innovations and full compliance with U.S national security regulations. Electric Design magazine concluded in an analysis of the island's competitiveness that: "Puerto Rico offers tax advantages and a lower-cost labor force while allowing work on International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) contracts without restrictions".

Puerto Rico's higher education institutions have been developing Puerto Rico's next generation aerospace workforce since 2002. Forty percent of college graduates in Puerto Rico have STEM degrees according to the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO). Puerto Rican Universities have reputable engineering programs and established research projects in conjunction with major stateside universities, NASA, and the National Science Foundation, among other entities.

"Puerto Rico stands ready to capitalize on the re-shoring trend we are observing in high-tech manufacturing and engineering. We are excited to promote the growth of Puerto Rico's vibrant and well-respected aerospace industry cluster," said Petros G. Kitsos, Principal, Aero2pr. Puerto Rico's aerospace cluster currently hosts, among others, operations of Lockheed Martin, Honeywell Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney/Infotech, Hamilton Sundstrand and Essig Research.

About Aero2pr

Aero2pr is dedicated to providing customized and specialized site location services to companies and individuals in the aerospace, defense and engineering services sectors. We work with businesses and investors that wish to establish or relocate their operations to Puerto Rico. Aero2pr is an operating business of TBL Companies, LLC and an affiliate of TBL Strategy, a premier strategy consulting firm specializing in the aerospace, defense and diversified industrial sectors.

The trademarks and trade names of the institutions and companies mentioned in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

Contact: Rubi Rodriguez at +1 787-977-7900 or at http://www.aero2pr.com

Visit link:

Aerospace Site Consultant Launches Updated Website

New online, open access journal focuses on microbial genome announcements

Posted on by

Public release date: 24-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

The American Society for Microbiology is launching a new online-only, open access journal, Genome Announcements, which will focus on reports of microbial genome sequences. Genome Announcements will begin publishing in January 2013.

"The revolution in high-speed, low-cost, and high-throughput parallel sequencing technology has changed the way we think about whole-genome sequencing and sequences. Identification of novel bacteria and viruses by sequencing entire genomes of isolates from normal and diseased tissue or the environment is now routine," says Tom Shenk of Princeton University, Chair of the ASM Publications Board.

Although sequence data typically are deposited in GenBank or other shared databases, the rationale for sequencing a particular organism and the detailed methodologies and protocols used often are not readily available.

Since 2007, the ASM's Journal of Bacteriology has published Genome Announcements, brief reports stating that the genome of a particular organism has been sequenced and deposited which provide a citable record of the corresponding GenBank submission. Two other ASM journals, the Journal of Virology and Eukaryotic Cell, joined the Journal of Bacteriology in accepting Genome Announcements in 2011 as a simple, rapid way for authors to inform their communities about completion of new sequencing projects.

"The exponential increase in submissions and the usage of Genome Announcements has confirmed the value and service they bring to the scientific community. As a result, ASM will now publish all Genome Announcements in a single, dedicated, online-only, open-access journal starting January 2013," says Phil Matsumura of the University of Illinois at Chicago, editor of the new journal.

Eukaryotic Cell, Journal of Bacteriology, and Journal of Virology will cease publishing Genome Announcements with the last issues of the 2012 volume year.

Any Genome Announcement manuscript accepted for publication in these three journals by 30 September 2012 will be published in 2012. Authors whose submissions are accepted on or after 1 October 2012 will have the option to transfer their submission to Genome Announcements.

Manuscripts submitted to Genome Announcements must include an abstract, an acknowledgments section indicating the source of support for the work, and a nucleotide sequence accession number. Manuscripts are limited to 500 words (exclusive of the abstract and acknowledgments), and no text headings should be used except for "References." Sequences must be made publicly available before a submission will be considered for publication, and the nucleotide sequence accession number(s) must be provided in a separate paragraph at the end of the text. Manuscripts may not include figures, tables, or supplemental material used to present data or analysis. However, multiple related sequences and their accompanying accession numbers and URL may be presented in tabular form. Publication of Sequence Read Archives (SRAs) is not permitted.

View original post here:
New online, open access journal focuses on microbial genome announcements

Could viruses be used to treat acne?

Posted on by

Public release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

Scientists have isolated and studied the genomes of 11 viruses, known as phage, that can infect and kill the acne-causing bacterium Propionibacterium acnes, potentially paving the way for topical therapies that use viruses or viral products to treat this vexing skin condition. Their results are reported in the September 25 issue of mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"There are two fairly obvious potential directions that could exploit this kind of research," says Graham Hatfull of the University of Pittsburgh, an author of the study. "The first is the possibility of using the phages directly as a therapy for acne. The second is the opportunity to use phage-derived components for their activities."

P. acnes is a normal resident on human skin, but its numbers increase substantially at puberty, eliciting an inflammatory response that can lead to acne. Although antibiotics can be effective in treating acne, antibiotic-resistant strains of P. acnes have emerged, highlighting the need for better therapies.

Hatfull and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh along with scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, isolated phages and P. acnes bacteria from human volunteers with and without acne, then sequenced the phages' genomes. What they found in those genomes was surprising. The phages were all remarkably similar, sharing more than 85% of their DNA, an unheard of level of similarity among viruses, which usually exhibit a great deal of diversity. This lack of genetic diversity suggests that resistance to phage-based antimicrobial therapy is less likely to develop, they say.

All of the phages carry a gene that makes a protein called endolysin, an enzyme that is thought to break down bacterial cell walls and kill the bacteria. Enzymes like this are used in other applications, says Hatfull, suggesting that endolysin from these phages might also be useful as a topical anti-acne therapeutic. "This work has given us very useful information about the diversity of that set of enzymes and helps pave the way for thinking about potential applications," he says.

From here, Hatfull says, research with these phages will explore how they might be used therapeutically, but phages like these can also provide useful tools, like genes and enzymes, that can be used to manipulate and understand the bacteria they infect. "The information derived from these phages helps contribute toward those kinds of genetic tools," says Hatfull.

###

mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mBio.asm.org.

Read the original:
Could viruses be used to treat acne?

Defense claims new DNA evidence in Dechaine case

Posted on by

1:00 AM

By Ann S. Kim akim@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

PORTLAND -- Further testing of items from the 1988 murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry has yielded new DNA, but it's too early to know what the implications are for her convicted killer, Dennis Dechaine.

Dechaine is in the midst of a long-running attempt to win a new trial. To do so, he must convince a judge that a jury would not have convicted him had they known about DNA evidence found on Cherry's thumbnail.

The latest development in Dechaine's bid is the discovery of male DNA on the scarf that was used to strangle the girl, as well as her T-shirt and bra. The items had been tested previously in the case but were retested this summer using a scraping method that had not been employed. That DNA came from the same male, according to a report by Orchard Cellmark, the Dallas-based firm that performed the analysis.

The DNA has not yet been compared to any others samples, including DNA from Dechaine, individuals who worked on the investigation or the felons in a state database. A fresh blood sample was recently taken from Dechaine for comparison purposes.

"The thing we're hoping for -- of course, we could have it backfire on us -- is that this could prove it's not Dennis Dechaine," said Steve Peterson, Dechaine's court-appointed lawyer.

Dechaine, 54, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Cherry, a Bowdoin Central School student who was kidnapped while babysitting on July 6, 1988. He maintains he did not commit the crime. His defense contends the unidentified male DNA from a nail clipped from Sarah Cherry during her autopsy points to another suspect.

The prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General William Stokes, has argued that the state and jurors who convicted Dechaine already know who killed Cherry. He has described the thumbnail DNA as meaningless.

"We don't know what it means," he said Monday of the latest DNA testing.

Original post:
Defense claims new DNA evidence in Dechaine case

Posted in DNA