Video 2:09 Primary Health Care investigated over doctors bonuses – Video

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Video 2:09 Primary Health Care investigated over doctors bonuses
Primary Health Care investigated over doctors bonuses - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Primary Health Care investigated over doctors bonuses - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting ...

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What does a functional digestive test show me about my health? – Video

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What does a functional digestive test show me about my health?
Christine Rosche, M.P.H., C.N.S. Board Certified Nutrition Specialist and Digestive Health Expert developed an integrative approach to digestive health based on 25 years experience in the health...

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What does a functional digestive test show me about my health? - Video

California Pushes To Expand Health Care For Immigrants

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LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 06: Governor of the State of California Jerry Brown presents onstage at the ADL Annual Meeting on November 6, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage) | Michael Kovac via Getty Images

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) President Barack Obama's executive order to spare some immigrants from deportation has galvanized Democrats, immigration groups and health care advocates in California to push for expanding health coverage to a segment of the population that remains uninsured.

The president's action excludes immigrants who came to the country illegally from qualifying for federal health benefits. But California has its own policy of providing health coverage with state money to low-income immigrants with so-called "deferred action" that allow them to avoid deportation. Immigrant and health care advocates say that means Obama's executive order will enable hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants in California to apply for Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said allowing this expanded group of immigrants to participate in the Medicaid program will enable people to get primary and preventive care, "rather than just at the emergency room."

The California Department of Health Care Services, however, has yet to receive formal guidance. A state official said it's too early to tell how the immigration program will impact the overall Medi-Cal program, which is consuming an increasing share of state funds.

Medi-Cal is a health program for the poor paid for by the federal government and the state. It has grown by about 3 million people in California under federal health care reform and now covers more than 11 million Californians, about 30 percent of the state's population. The federal government is paying for the expansion, but the state will eventually pay 10 percent of additional costs to cover low-income adults, many of whom are childless.

The state is expected to spend more than $17 billion of its own money on the program this year, up 3.5 percent a year ago, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.

"We are assessing what some of the potential impacts could be, but it would be premature for us to comment until we have more specific information available," said Norman Williams, a spokesman for the Department of Health Care Services.

The president's action has also emboldened a Democratic lawmaker to revive a bill that would provide health coverage to all Californians, regardless of their immigration status.

Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, plans to reintroduce his Health4All bill on Monday to open Medi-Cal to immigrants, as well as extending subsidized health benefits in a new insurance marketplace for those without legal status. The proposal, which previously carried a cost as high as $1.3 billion a year, stalled in a legislative committee last cycle and Republicans had criticized the cost of the expansion.

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Triple-negative breast cancer patients should undergo genetic screening

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Most patients with triple-negative breast cancer should undergo genetic testing for mutations in known breast cancer predisposition genes, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, a Mayo Clinic-led study has found. The findings come from the largest analysis to date of genetic mutations in this aggressive form of breast cancer. The results of the research appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Clinicians need to think hard about screening all their triple-negative patients for mutations because there is a lot of value in learning that information, both in terms of the risk of recurrence to the individual and the risk to family members. In addition, there may be very specific therapeutic benefits of knowing if you have a mutation in a particular gene," says Fergus Couch, Ph.D., professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study.

The study found that almost 15 percent of triple-negative breast cancer patients had deleterious (harmful) mutations in predisposition genes. The vast majority of these mutations appeared in genes involved in the repair of DNA damage, suggesting that the origins of triple-negative breast cancer may be different from other forms of the disease. The study also provides evidence in support of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for genetic testing of triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Triple-negative breast cancer is a specific subset of breast cancer that makes up about 12 to 15 percent of all cases. The disease is difficult to treat because the tumors are missing the estrogen, progesterone and HER-2 receptors that are the target of the most common and most effective forms of therapy. However, recent studies have suggested that triple-negative breast cancer patients might harbor genetic mutations that make them more likely to respond to alternative treatments like cisplatin, a chemotherapy agent, or PARP inhibitors, anti-cancer agents that inhibit the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) family of enzymes.

Dr. Couch and his colleagues decided to assess the frequency of mutations in predisposition genes in patients with triple-negative breast cancer to further delineate the role of genetic screening for individuals with the disease. The researchers sequenced DNA from 1,824 triple-negative breast cancer cases seen at 12 oncology clinics in the U.S. and Europe, as part of the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Consortium.

They found deleterious mutations in almost 15 percent of triple-negative breast cancer patients. Of these, 11 percent had mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and the rest had mutations in 15 other predisposition genes, including the DNA repair genes PALB2, BARD1, and RAD51C. No mutations were found in predisposition genes involved in other processes like the cell cycle.

"Triple-negative breast cancers are different from all the other breast cancers," says Dr. Couch. "Other studies have suggested that this form of the disease might be associated with some defect in DNA repair, and our study verifies that. Our findings generate a whole new set of hypotheses about how triple-negative breast cancer might be arising, which could give us better ideas for prevention or new therapies for this disease."

The study also found that individuals with mutations in predisposition genes were diagnosed at an earlier age and had higher-grade tumors than those without mutations. The researchers used their dataset to assess whether the current screening guidelines would identify all the triple-negative individuals with mutations in the two most common predisposition genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.

They found that the NCCN guidelines, which recommend screening when there is a family history of cancer or a diagnosis under age 60, missed only 1 percent of patients carrying mutations. In contrast, the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines, which use the probability of actually finding a mutation to determine who should be tested, missed 24 percent of mutation carriers.

"Our results confirm that the NCCN guidelines are good, and provide evidence to support what they have recommended," says Dr. Couch. "But we think the NICE guidelines could be expanded to include more of the triple-negative breast cancer patients with mutations."

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Triple-negative breast cancer patients should undergo genetic screening

Biologists Grow Living Circuits

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Genetic engineering takes cells and alters their genes so they perform functions different from what nature originally intended. A new trend uses circuitry to re-engineer the cell. These biological circuits "wire" naturally occurring cells into a circuit that performs a new function, such as filling in for the dopamine-generating cells destroyed by Parkinson's disease.

"Our ultimate goal, many years from now, is complex medical applications, such as injection of a circuit into the bloodstream that looks for cancer cells and, when it finds one, injects a drug," Domitilla Del Vecchio, a professor at MIT, told EE Times. "Such a circuit would need a sensor, a computer, and an actuation component to inject the drug, and those are the kinds of components we are working on today."

Yeast cells (middle) are wired together like electronic components, but they communicate, not with electrical wires, but with chemicals that only plug into cells with the proper receptor. (Image: MIT)

Other possible applications include synthetic biological circuits that measure glucose levels constantly for diabetic patients and then automatically release insulin when it is needed.

The design process for such biocircuitry is slow and arduous compared with designing electronic circuits. For one thing, the researchers are not using nerves for communication. Instead, they use the normal communication method inside a natural cell, with the "output" secreting a chemical that only affects the "input" cells that have receptors tailored to be activated by that particular chemical.

The second big slowdown is the mathematics used to model the desired circuits. The researchers cannot use simple R-L-C equations like Ohm's Law. They must use the tedious mathematics of differential equations. "Biological circuits are very nonlinear, so we have to use differential equations to model them," Del Vecchio said.

Nevertheless, the payoff will make the effort worth it, since many maladies seem immune to solution by a simple symptom-treating drug. They require a complex cure that actively senses, computes, and responds. The best way to do that, according to MIT researchers, is to create cells that perform those functions internally, rather than trying to wire together an artificial neural network, as so many others have attempted.

Left to right: Ron Weiss, professor of biological engineering; Domitilla Del Vecchio, associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Deepak Mishra, MIT graduate student in biological engineering. (Image: MIT/Brian Teague)

"Besides nerve cells, there are many types of circuitry in biological systems, such as genetic circuitry that controls the expression of genes and the cells that controls the time keeping of the organism, such as when to get up in the morning," Del Vecchio said.

So far, most of the research group's circuits have been designed to sense something, using either yeast cells (in the illustration above) or bacteria cells. "Bacteria cells are much easier to work with, because they don't have a nucleus to deal with."

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Biologists Grow Living Circuits

Combination of autism spectrum disorder and gender nonconformity presents unique challenges

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

2-Dec-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, December 2, 2014--The challenges in providing psychotherapy to individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who also are struggling with their gender identity are explored in two case studies of high-functioning persons with diagnoses of ASD and gender dysphoria (GD). The authors describe the unique complexities presented by these two diagnoses and offer suggested techniques for helping these individuals explore their gender identities in an article in LGBT Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the LGBT Health website until January 2, 2015.

New York, NY-based psychotherapist Laura A. Jacobs, LCSW, and coauthors from New York University and private practice explain why characteristics of ASD, such as the limited ability to express feelings, difficulty with social interaction and impaired theory of mind, as well as the intolerance of ambiguity, may present special difficulties for gender identity formation in persons with GD. However, in the article "Gender Dysphoria and Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum Disorders: Review, Case Examples, and Treatment Considerations," the authors suggest that high-functioning individuals with ASDs and GD can be good candidates for gender transition and can benefit from it.

"While much has been written recently on the co-occurrence of GD and ASDs, few case histories or papers discussing treatment have been published to date, gaps that this article addresses," says Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. "The article also underscores that while the presence of an autism spectrum disorder poses particular issues that must be addressed, it does not preclude gender transition."

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About the Journal

Spanning a broad array of disciplines LGBT Health, published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, brings together the LGBT research, health care, and advocacy communities to address current challenges and improve the health, well-being, and clinical outcomes of LGBT persons. The Journal publishes original research, review articles, clinical reports, case studies, legal and policy perspectives, and much more. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the LGBT Health website.

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Combination of autism spectrum disorder and gender nonconformity presents unique challenges

Unraveling the mystery of DNA transcription, one molecule at a time

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19 hours ago by Bendta Schroeder

Before DNA can be transcribed into RNA, an early step in turning the genetic template into protein, the nucleus must first assemble a molecular machine called the pre-initiation complex (PIC), capable of unzipping the double helix and loading the DNA onto the transcription enzyme.

The PIC's dozens of parts are scattered throughout a dense nucleus, packed with DNA, proteins, and other biomolecules. Transcription factors and enzymes must find their way to the transcription site, driven by weak and transient interactions, to be assembled into a living, working machine. The assembly can happen in a matter of seconds.

Weak and transient interactions are thought to propel, not just transcription, but the majority of vital cell processes. In these interactions, biomolecules join and disband easily, allowing them to act collectively and quickly in response to the needs of the cell. But exactly how these interactions work is a mystery.

Ibrahim Ciss, assistant professor of physics, wants to solve this mystery, molecule by molecule, in living cells, in real time.

"This is probably one of the most spectacular examples in nature where the interactions of individual biomolecules give rise to something we don't yet understandthe emergence of life," Ciss says.

Transcription, molecule by molecule

For Ciss to follow transcription as it unfolds, he would have to circumvent the limitations of conventional techniques for studying biomolecules. Biochemical techniques that isolate molecules in test tubes or label them in fixed cells destroy the conditions that make weak and transient interactions possible. Light microscopy can preserve those conditions, but most biomolecules are too small and interact too closely to be distinguished with the light diffraction limit of 200 nanometers.

Instead, Ciss uses tools from physics to illuminate the transcription process at high resolution. For example, he adapted a new fluorescent imaging technique called photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM). PALM activates fluorescent tagging proteins at random and then applies a statistical algorithm to determine the exact location of each protein with nanometer-accuracy within the pixel of light. When Ciss repeats the process at high speed and volume, he can map the precise location of tagged biomolecules as they cluster at a transcription site or trace the path of a single transcription factor as it moves across the nucleus. Furthermore, by developing a temporal correlation method coupled with PALM, called tcPALM, Ciss can get direct access to the clustering dynamics for the first time.

Recently, Ciss used tcPALM to show that the transcriptional enzyme RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) clusters for just a few seconds as transcription begins. The result is surprising, given that it takes several minutes for a full RNA sequence to be synthesized. When Ciss suppressed and then reactivated transcription just before imaging, he observed Pol II clustering at unusually high concentrations. When he blocked Pol II from escaping the promoter and transcribing the DNA, the cluster of Pol II around the promoter didn't dissipate.

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Unraveling the mystery of DNA transcription, one molecule at a time

Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote the MMPA Dairy Conference

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St.Paul, MN (PRWEB) December 02, 2014

While having dinner the other night, one of my friends mentioned how robotic milking of cows virtually transformed her fathers and her brothers lives as dairy farmers in Southeastern Minnesota. Gone are the days of getting up at the crack of dawn, often in below freezing weather to milk the cows. The cows virtually milk themselves, which frees my brother and Dad up to do things they never thought theyd have time for.

Stories like these among farmers are not uncommon these days. Agriculture is changing at an astounding pace, and global futurist Jack Uldrich has his finger on the pulse of these rapid shifts. Having previously addressed notable agricultural clients such as Novozymes, Land O' Lakes, Ag Spectrum, Mosaic, Case IH, The Christian Farmers Federation, The Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, The Agricultural Adaptation Council of Ontario, AgGateway, the California Ag Summit, Trimble Agriculture, InfoAg, the Mushroom Farmers of Canada, and the Egg Farmers of Canada, hell be addressing the Minnesota Dairy and the Minnesota Milk Producers Associations with his presentation, "Foresight 20/20: The Top Ten Trends Transforming Agriculture" today, December 2nd, in St. Cloud, MN at the 2014 MMPA Conference. Additionally, Uldrich will follow up his presentation with a customized breakout session entitled, "The Big AHA."

In Uldrichs book, Foresight 20/20, written with fellow futurist Simon Anderson, he says, On a 7,000-acre farm in California, a large combine drives itself with sub-meter accuracy and lays down fertilizer only in areas predetermined by the devices yield mapping software that need additional nutrients. Half a world away, on a rooftop in Berlin, Germany, sits an aquaponic farm that produces both vegetables and fish. It uses the fish waste to fertilize the plants, and the plants to purify the water. Both trends, in their separate ways, foreshadow how the agriculture industry will feed the 500 million new people expected to be added to the worlds population by the end of the decade. (For more of Uldrich's insights into future trends, read his latest article, 10 Game Changing Technologies Poised to Transform the World in 2015.)

In his keynote for the MMPA Conference Uldrich will discuss how exponential advances in a variety of emerging technologies, including practical advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information management, augmented reality, robotics, RFID, "Big Data," the Internet of Things, wearable technologies, renewable energy sources and satellite and sensor technology will affect dairy farming in the coming years. Uldrich will also cover how social networking, biofuels and water management will transform farming in the years ahead.

The pace and scale of tomorrows change begs the obvious question: How do business leaders in agriculture prepare for a constantly changing future? Uldrich says, "The answer can be found in a simple acronym: AHA, which stands for Awareness, Humility and Action." His break out session following his keynote will focus on guiding his clients through a series of questions and scenarios that will help them embrace the notion of AHA.

Uldrich says, Robotic milking is just one advance among many that will free farmers up to explore other options in their lives in the years to come. Its an exciting time to be a futurist and help farmers see just what those options might be.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. Media wishing to know more about these events or interviewing Jack as a futurist or trend expert can contact Amy Tomczyk at (651) 343.0660.

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Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote the MMPA Dairy Conference