A new way of assessing professionalism among medical students could help to make better doctors, a new research study suggests.

A score given to medical students, called the Conscientiousness Index, can detect behaviours which may need investigation at an early stage, allowing targeted support to be given to ultimately make for better doctors, according to the Durham University study.

The Conscientiousness Index (CI) is believed to be the first ever index to measure diligence among undergraduate medical students, and the researchers say it could contribute to improving doctors’ performance after qualification.

Evidence from US studies has shown that negative behaviour by medical students is linked to the likelihood of subsequent negative behaviour in later careers, say the scientists. The research team believes the early identification of problems could be vital in addressing issues and giving support to ultimately produce better doctors.

The Conscientiousness Index measures the diligence of students in their day-to-day behaviour on the course by gaining and losing points. For example, students can receive points for submitting compulsory information such as CRB checks within deadline, but are deducted points for failing to attend compulsory teaching sessions without good reason.

The study, published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal Academic Medicine, found that those students who were extremely conscientious according to the index were also independently perceived by staff as being highly professional. Those students that did not score highly received mixed responses from staff demonstrating that students are never consistently worrying but mostly conscientious with some lapses. The researchers say it is these lapses that could be identified and addressed with the right support.

Lead author Professor John McLachlan from Durham University’s School of Medicine and Health said: “A doctor’s behaviour is as important as his or her knowledge. In fact, most complaints to the General Medical Council are about doctors’ behaviours, not their lack of knowledge.

“In medical training, it is vital that we train people to be rounded, knowledgeable and professional. However, measuring professionalism is problematic because it is difficult to define and often relies on qualitative judgements.

“Using the index, we found that the vast majority of students are highly conscientious making a very small percentage stand out when they lapse. This makes it easier for staff to identify those students and take early steps to help them.”

In the study, just over 200 students were assessed using the Conscientiousness Index which had no impact on their academic grading. They were awarded or deducted points in various categories such as attendance, submission of data, feedback and assignments, and other areas of positive and negative behaviour such as professionally responding to a medical emergency or reading but failing to respond to repeated emails from staff.

The vast majority of the students in the pilot were assessed as being extremely conscientious with only a very small proportion showing some inconsistencies in assessments of their professionalism.

In addition to a score given to the students, a group of nine experienced staff members were asked to express an expert judgement on the professionalism of the students. These staff were not aware of the students’ scores on the Conscientiousness Index. The staff were asked if they were happy with the professionalism shown by the student, had concerns about a student’s professionalism, or did not know the student well enough to comment.

The scientists say the pilot has already attracted attention from other universities in the UK, and could also be implemented at post-qualifying level amongst junior doctors.

Professor McLachlan said: “Our findings suggest that in encouraging desirable professional behaviour, targeting students’ conscientiousness might be a good place to start. This index is an easy, objective and uncontroversial method for exploring students’ professionalism.

“The Index is a bit like a screening test, much as they do for breast cancer. Over 90 per cent of women who are referred further for a biopsy prove not to have cancer but it is still considered worthwhile to screen them. In the same way, about 98 per cent of students who display unprofessional behaviour as students do not get into disciplinary trouble later but it may well still be worth screening to help them early on.”

General Medical Council guidance identifies six key principles in its Good Medical Practice (source: General Medical Council)
Make the care of the patient the doctors’ first concern.

Protect and promote the health of patients and the public.

Ensure a good standard of practice and care, which includes keeping knowledge and skills up to date, working within personal limitations, and working cooperatively.

Treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity, which includes treating them considerately but also with confidentiality.

Work in partnership with patients, listen to their concerns, give them information appropriately, respect their decisions, and support their self-care.

Practice medicine with honesty, openness, and integrity. This category includes non-discrimination, meriting trust, and acting without delay if the doctor or a colleague is putting patients at risk.

Source:
Alex Thomas

Durham University Continue reading →

Genaera
Corporation (Nasdaq: GENR) today announced that it has begun enrolling
subjects in the first human clinical study of trodusquemine (MSI-1436)
under the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the obesity
compound submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March
2007. The phase 1 study will enroll healthy overweight and obese volunteers
to assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of ascending single doses of
trodusquemine. The Company expects to dose the first subjects by the end of
May 2007.

Trodusquemine is a centrally and peripherally-acting appetite
suppressant and the first highly selective inhibitor of protein tyrosine
phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), an enzyme target for the treatment of diabetes and
obesity. Trodusquemine has produced consistent, sustainable weight loss in
a variety of animal models and appears to overcome metabolic readjustment,
which often limits sustained weight loss during caloric restriction. In
addition, trodusquemine has shown the ability to reverse co-morbidities
associated with obesity such as abnormal glucose metabolism and cholesterol
elevation.

“We are pleased that FDA has given Genaera the green light to begin
testing trodusquemine in humans and that we were able to efficiently
execute our clinical program and proceed into the clinic,” said Jack
Armstrong, President and Chief Executive Officer of Genaera. “While the
primary endpoint of this first phase 1 study is safety and tolerability, we
will be looking for evidence supporting our pre-clinical observations that
trodusquemine induces appetite suppression and weight loss while
normalizing glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.”

About Genaera

Genaera Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development of innovative drug candidates in the areas of obesity,
metabolic diseases and asthma. The Company is focusing on the development
of trodusquemine (MSI-1436) as a treatment for obesity and diabetes, and
the continuation of the anti-IL9 antibody program for the treatment of
asthma. Genaera’s other compounds include LOMUCIN(TM), a mucoregulator to
treat the overproduction of mucus and secretions involved in many forms of
chronic respiratory disease; squalamine for the treatment of cancer; and
LOCILEX(TM) (pexiganan acetate), a topical antimicrobial.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are
subject to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. Forward-looking
statements reflect management’s current views and are based on certain
expectations and assumptions. Such statements include, among others,
statements regarding these preliminary results, clinical development plans
and prospects for Genaera’s programs including trodusquemine (MSI-1436).
You may identify some of these forward-looking statements by the use of
words in the statements such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,”
“develop,” “expect,” “plan” and “potential” or other words of similar
meaning. Genaera’s actual results and performance could differ materially
from those currently anticipated and expressed in these and other
forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risk factors,
including, but not limited to: Genaera’s history of operating losses since
inception and its need for additional funds to operate its business; the
costs, delays and uncertainties inherent in scientific research, drug
development, clinical trials and the regulatory approval process; the risk
that clinical trials for Genaera’s product candidates, including
trodusquemine (MSI-1436), may be delayed or may not be successful; the risk
that Genaera may not obtain regulatory approval for its products, whether
due to adequacy of the development program, the conduct of the clinical
trials, changing regulatory requirements, different methods of evaluating
and interpreting data, regulatory interpretations of clinical risk and
benefit, or otherwise; Genaera’s reliance on its collaborators, in
connection with the development and commercialization of Genaera’s product
candidates; market acceptance of Genaera’s products, if regulatory approval
is achieved; competition; general financial, economic, regulatory and
political conditions affecting the biotechnology and pharmaceutical
industry; and the other risks and uncertainties discussed in this
announcement and in Genaera’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, all of which are available from the Commission in its EDGAR
database at sec as well as other sources. You are encouraged
to read these reports. Given the uncertainties affecting development stage
pharmaceutical companies, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
any such forward-looking statements, any of which may turn out to be wrong
due to inaccurate assumptions, unknown risks, uncertainties or other
factors. Genaera does not intend (and it is not obligated) to publicly
update, revise or correct these forward-looking statements or the risk
factors that may relate thereto.

Genaera Corporation
genaera Continue reading →

The discovery of new genetic mutations involved in inflammatory intestinal disorders could lead to a better understanding of these common conditions, two scientists told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics on 2 June.

Dr.Alexandra Zhernakova, from the Utrecht University Medical Centre, Utrecht, the Netherlands, and Dr. Eleonora Festen, from the University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands, both working in the group of Professor Cisca Wijmenga, said that they had found common origins for two inflammatory diseases of the bowel, and that understanding the genetic profiles of these diseases will lead to better diagnosis, prevention, and, in the longer term, treatment. The research provides further support for the theory that common genetic factors are involved in a range of auto-immune and inflammatory diseases

Dr. Zhernakova and colleagues set out to study genetic mutations involved in coeliac disease. Coeliac disease is characterised by inflammation of the intestines leading to diarrhoea and, in children, failure to thrive through malnutrition. It is caused by an immune reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley in people who are genetically susceptible. When the immune system encounters gluten in the body, it cross-reacts with the bowel tissue and causes an inflammatory reaction. In the long-term this leads to flattening of the lining of the small intestine, which in turn hampers the absorption of nutrients. Currently, the only effective treatment is a totally gluten-free diet. The disease affects about 1% of the population in developed countries.

Using a genome-wide search, the team, in collaboration with researches from Ireland and the UK, analysed genetic variants in 778 coeliac cases, and in1422 controls from the UK. In phase II of this study the extensive collection of more than 5000 coeliac cases and controls from the UK Ireland and the Netherlands were followed up for the top 1000 variants detected in phase I. The researchers found genetic mutations in eight new areas, seven of which contained genes involved in controlling immune responses.

“Three of these areas are also involved in Type 1 diabetes”, said Dr. Zhernakova, “and, most interestingly, one overlaps with another intestinal inflammatory condition, Crohn’s disease. This seems to show that common genes for inflammatory disease such as coeliac disease are not specific to the disease. It appears that these shared genetic mutations point to common molecular pathways.”

Dr. Festen’s team analysed the genetic variants in the immune pathway in a three-step design in a group of 1851 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and 1936 controls. The two most common manifestations of this condition are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s disease can be found throughout the digestive tract, but most commonly affects the lower part of the small intestine. It causes extensive inflammation leading to swelling of the bowel lining and the formation of scar tissue; this results in pain and weight loss. In developed countries the disease affects around 45 people in every 100,000.

Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation and ulcers in the top layer of the lining of the large intestine, leading to diarrhoea and bleeding. The incidence is lower than that of Crohn’s disease, with about 15 people in every 100,000 affected in developed countries. Both diseases affect men and women equally and run in families, suggesting a genetic cause.

“In spite of the large number of studies on the heritability of IBD”, said Dr. Festen, “only very few of the genes responsible have been identified to date. 3Interestingly, one of the new genes we found for IBD is also involved in coeliac disease, lending more weight to the theory that the genetics of these inflammatory intestinal disorders are shared.

“We will continue looking for more genes that are implicated in IBD, without which it is hard to full understand the causes and disease mechanisms involved. This in turns leads to difficulties in identifying effective treatments – whether a drug will work on not for a certain patient is hard to predict, which means that patients often have to try out a number of different medicines, sometimes with unpleasant side-effects, before they find one that works for them.”

The scientists hope that identifying more of the genes involved in inflammatory intestinal disease will give them a better insight into the mechanisms of the disease and therefore the possibility of developing new therapies, as well as enabling them to use existing therapies more effectively. The team will now follow up their work by looking for the exact mutation responsible for disease development in each of the new areas identified, and then to define the mechanism of genetic effect on disease development.

Effective prevention is also a target. “In coeliac disease, for example, genetic studies such as these will allow us to define genetically high-risk children where we could delay or prevent the onset of disease by introducing a diet that avoided the foods which provoke an inflammatory response”, said Dr. Zhernakova.

###

Source: Mary Rice

European Society of Human Genetics Continue reading →

Src (short for sarcoma) is a family of proto-oncogenic tyrosine kinases active in many cancer tumors, including medulloblastoma, the most common malignant cancer in children. Src represents one of the most promising targets for cancer therapy.

A recent study shows that pyrazolo-[3,4-d]-pyrimidine-derivatives, designed to target Src, may be effective in interfering with the cell cycle and causing cancer cell death in medulloblastoma. The results were published in FASEB (The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) and were funded by the Sbarro Health Research Organization Center for Biotechnology, a nonprofit group devoted to molecular and genetic research located at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and the Human Health Foundation, a nonprofit biotechnology research organization located in Terni, Italy.

“Our aim was to investigate the inhibitory effects of new pyrimidine-derivatives,” said lead author Antonio Giordano, M.D. PhD, the Founder and Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, and a “Chiara fama” Professor in the Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy. “Our findings show that, in medulloblastoma cells, pyrimidine derivatives can downregulate Src activity and reduce cell proliferation and tumor progression in vivo. This suggests that pyrimidine derivatives could be an effective therapeutic strategy not only for the treatment of medulloblastomas, but also for other Src expressing tumors.”

Although better treatment regimens, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have substantially improved survival, medulloblastoma remains incurable in about one third of patients and current treatments can cause toxic neurocognitive side effects.

“Compared with conventional chemotherapeutic agents cisplatin and etoposide that are presently used in medulloblastoma therapy, we found that these pyrimidine derivatives show major inhibitory effects on cell proliferation,” said Alessandra Rossi, Ph.D, a co-author of the study, a Research Fellow at the Sbarro Institute. “Using these compounds with radiotherapy could allow the reduction of radiation doses and, consequently, the avoidance of radiotherapy-related cognitive and endocrine toxic effects. Moreover, our findings reveal that the pyrimidine compounds showed synergistic effects when combined with cisplatin and etoposide, suggesting their possible use in association with chemotherapy.”

Attempts to further reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with medulloblastoma have been limited by the toxicity of conventional treatments and the low permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which restricts the entry of hydrophilic and large liphophilic compounds into the brain.

“Other Src inhibitors, currently in clinical trials for the treatment of other pathologies, showed low efficacy in the treatment of metastasis to the brain,” said co-author Silvia Schenone, Ph.D, Associate Professor at the University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, in collaboration with Maurizio Botta, Ph.D, Adjunct Professor at Temple University, Director, Drug Discovery Program, Professor Medical Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy. “But our pyrimidine derivatives have liphophilic characteristics, which enable them to pass through the blood brain barrier more easily, representing an other advantage of their use in medulloblastoma therapy.”

Besides the possible use of these pyrimidine derivatives in the treatment of medulloblastoma, these compounds could be useful to develop new pharmacologic inhibitors to study the physiological and oncogenic functions of Src.

Source
Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO)
Human Health Foundation Onlus Continue reading →

Consumers are five times more likely to identify healthy food when they see colour-coded traffic light nutrition labels than when labels present the information numerically by showing what percentage of the recommended daily nutrient intake each portion provides, new research finds.

Some governments are trying to improve the quality of nutrition information that consumers have access to in supermarkets by adding labels to the front of food packages, but there is no standard approach, not all products have labels and in many countries several different systems are used.

“Food manufacturers are currently allowed to use any labelling system they prefer on the front of food packages. In some countries this has led to a plethora of different systems appearing on supermarket shelves, which only serves to confuse consumers more and does not allow them to quickly and accurately identify healthy products,” said Bridget Kelly, whose study was presented on Friday at the European Congress on Obesity.

“The food industry tends to favour the percentage daily intake method (known as Guideline Daily Amount in some countries), but our research indicates that the traffic light system is the most effective and that a consistent labelling approach across all food products is needed. This is unlikely to be achieved without government regulation,” said Kelly, a nutritionist at the Cancer Council, New South Wales in Australia.

Kelly and her colleagues aimed to determine the most acceptable and effective food labelling system for consumers. Four different approaches were tested on 790 Australians to determine their preferences and ability to compare the healthiness of mock food products, using two variations of the traffic light system and two variations of the percentage daily intake system. Each person was exposed to only one type of nutrition label, allowing each system to evaluated on it own merits without the influence of the others.

Traffic light labelling uses colours to rate the nutritional content of food according to how healthy it is. A common version uses a panel with red, amber or green dots to rate the food’s salt, sugar, saturated fat and total fat content separately. A variation adds a single coloured dot to give an overall rating, rather than just rating separate nutrients.

The percentage daily intake system and its variations present, for each of the key nutrients, the proportion of the government recommended adult daily intake that a serving of the product contains.

The study found that consumers favoured a consistent labelling format across all products. In addition, those who were shown the traffic light labels were five times more likely to identify healthier foods than those shown a single colour version of the percentage daily intake label and three times more likely to do so than those shown a colour-coded version of the daily intake label.

“As a result of these findings, we are recommending that mandatory traffic light labelling regulation be introduced in Australia. The labels should be applied to all processed retail grocery food and drinks at first, and consideration should be given to extending that to restaurant chains with standard menu items,” Kelly said.

The findings are relevant to other countries, Kelly said, adding that regulations being considered by the European Union favour a system similar to the percentage daily intake approach.

Kelly said that further research is needed to determine whether the traffic light system proves to be as effective in other countries, but that the study showed it could be used equally well by all consumers, regardless of ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.

The study was funded by the New South Wales Health Department, the University of Sydney and several Australian public health and consumer organisations.

Source:
Emma Ross

European Association for the Study of Obesity Continue reading →

A clinical trial designed to replace the genetic defect causing the most common form of muscular dystrophy has uncovered an unexpected aspect of the disease. The trial, based on therapy designed by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, showed that some patients mount an immune response to the dystrophin protein even before they have received the gene therapy.

The puzzling results, which came from trials at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio, suggest that the immune systems of a number of patients — once thought to be completely devoid of the dystrophin protein — are actually primed by the prior existence of tiny amounts of this important component of muscle.

Published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study demonstrates how such careful and critical observation in early clinical trials of new therapies can yield new insights into the causes of even the “simplest” single gene disorders.

“These findings are going to be studied intensely going forward, and should help us to understand how to better tailor our treatment approaches to suit the patients’ needs,” said study author R. Jude Samulski, professor of pharmacology and director of the Gene Therapy Center at UNC.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that begins in early childhood, causes progressive muscle weakness, and usually leads to death by the age of twenty from respiratory or cardiac muscle failure. The illness, which primarily affects boys, occurs when a gene on the X chromosome fails to make the essential muscle protein dystrophin. Currently, the best medical therapy can only slow its progression.

The use of gene therapy to correct such single gene disorders has been explored for over two decades and has been met with a number of challenges. In the case of muscular dystrophy, the dystrophin gene is far too large to fit into the typical virus used to carry it into the patient’s cells. So collaborator Xiao Xiao, PhD from UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy engineered a smaller yet functional version of the gene – called a minigene – to place within the viral carrier. His virus of choice was adeno-associated virus or AAV, a small virus that most humans are exposed to at some point in life.

In the first trial of this form of gene therapy, which began in 2006, six boys with muscular dystrophy received the virus containing the dystrophin minigene. A phase I trial, the goals of the study were to assess the efficacy and safety of the new approach. The replacement genes were injected into the bicep in one arm and a placebo was injected into the other arm of each of the patients.

The researchers found that the immune response to the gene varied from patient to patient, perhaps in part because the patients harbored different amounts of “revertant” dystrophin fibers, fibers that have escaped the fate of their mutation. Further studies are needed, but this finding suggests that some patients may benefit from immunosuppression prior to receiving gene therapy.

“We can now use this new information to adapt our approach to make gene therapy more likely to succeed,” said Samulski. “Right now we are searching for a way to cure this disease, not just care for it, but truly cure it. So we realize that this effort is going to be an iterative process, with the accumulation of a number of lessons along the way to help us succeed.”

One lesson from this study suggests that keeping a close eye on the immune-response profiles of patients could help to enhance the success of not just gene therapy, but also other therapies aimed at restoring dystrophin activity.

The research was funded in part by the Muscular Dystrophy Association and UNC startup biotech company Asklepios BioPharmaceutical Inc. Study co-authors from UNC include Dawn Bowles, PhD; Steven Gray, PhD; Chengwin Li, PhD; and Xiao Xiao, PhD.

Source:
Tom Hughes
University of North Carolina School of Medicine Continue reading →

New research findings to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that ghrelin, a natural gut hormone that stimulates feeding, also modulates the ability of tasty food and food-related cues to alter dopamine levels within the striatum, a critical component of the brain’s reward system.

Scientists measured dopamine in ‘real-time’ while rats ate sugar, a highly rewarding food. Administering ghrelin to rats while they ate sugar increased peak dopamine “spikes” within the striatum, whereas administering a drug that blocks ghrelin’s actions significantly reduced dopamine levels during sugar intake. Study author Dr. Mitch Roitman (University of Illinois at Chicago) says, “The modulation of brain dopamine reward signals by a gut hormone that regulates appetite strongly supports this interaction as a way to direct the organism’s behavior towards further intake, perhaps by making food more rewarding. The results shed light on how peripheral body signals in general can shape brain-directed behavior.”

Notes:

Research supported by National Institutes of Health (NIDA) Grant DA025634

Lead author: J.J. Cone (Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA)

Co-author: M.F. Roitman (Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA)

Source:
Jamie Price

Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior Continue reading →

Continuing a decade-long increase, three-fourths of infants born in the U.S. in 2007 were breastfed at least temporarily, according to annual data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA Today reports.

However, the rate of infants still being breastfed at six months and 12 months has stagnated. The data show that the nation met the government’s Healthy People 2010 goal for the overall percentage of infants being breastfed but missed the marks of having 50% of six-month-olds and 25% of 12-month-olds being breastfed.

Cynthia Kittle, director of the West Virginia Breastfeeding Alliance, said one major challenge in increasing breastfeeding rates is the need for women to return to work. Many employers do not provide the time or the space for women to pump their milk, she said.

Kittle and other breastfeeding advocates are optimistic that a provision in the federal health care reform law (PL 111-148) will help improve the situation for working women. The provision requires employers to provide private space and unpaid break time for hourly wage workers who are nursing to pump breastmilk at work. The Department of Labor is finalizing the details of the regulation (Rubin, USA Today, 9/14).

Breastfeeding rates differed depending on geographic location. Western states had the highest rates of breastfed infants, with Utah leading the nation with about 90% of mothers breastfeeding at least temporarily. Mississippi ranked the lowest with only about 50% of mothers attempting to breastfeed (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/13).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Continue reading →

The Biophysical Society has announced the winners of its international travel grants to attend the Biophysical Society’s 55th Annual Meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, March 5-9, 2011. The purpose of these awards is to foster and initiate further interaction between American biophysicists and scientists working in countries experiencing financial difficulties. Recipients of this competitive award are chosen based on scientific merit and their proposed presentation at the meeting. They will be honored at a reception on Sunday, March 6.

The 2011 recipients of the International Travel Award are:
Sri Rama Koti Ainavarapu, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India, SINGLE-MOLECULE STUDIES OF THE PARALLEL UNFOLDING PATHWAYS OF MALTOSE BINDING PROTEIN (MBP).
Natalia Andersen, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas, Argentina, NUMBER OF EXTRACELLULAR-TRANSMEMBRANE INTERFACES REQUIRED FOR ACTIVATION OF HOMOMERIC CYS-LOOP RECEPTORS.
Daniela Araiza Olivera Toro, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de M?©xico, Mexico, SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE GLYCOLYTIC ENZYMES ARE STABILIZED BY ASSOCIATION WITH ACTIN.
Syed Asrafuzzaman, University of Kalyani, India, THE HOLDING AND FOLDING CHAPERONE PROPERTIES OF TWO SMALL HEAT-SHOCK PAIR PROTEINS IBPA AND IBPB OF ESCHERICHIA COLI.
Noa Barak, Tel Aviv University, Israel, NON CHANNEL FUNCTION OF KV2.1 TO FACILITATE EXOCYTOSIS; UNDERLYING MOLECULAR MECHANISM.
Fabien Brette, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, LOCALIZATION OF ??-ADRENERGIC RECEPTORS IN RAT VENTRICULAR MYOCYTES: SUB-CELLULAR ASPECTS.
Rima Budvytyte, University of Vilnius, Lithuania, MEMBRANE AFFINITY AND NEUROTOXICITY OF ??-AMYLOID OLIGOMERS.
Mariana Casas, University of Chile, Chile, Cav1.1 ACTS AS A VOLTAGE SENSOR FOR TWO SEPARATE PROCESSES IN SKELETAL MUSCLE WITH DIFFERENT VOLTAGE DEPENDENCE.
Hu Chen, National University of Singapore, Singapore, FILAMIN A SEGMENTS RESPOND FORCE DIFFERENTLY.
Larisa E. Cybulski, Instituto de Biolog?­a Molecular y Celular de Rosario, Argentina, THERMOSENSOR DESK MEASURES MEMBRANE THICKNESS.
George Diallinas, University of Athens, Greece, IDENTIFICATION OF A SUBSTRATE TRANSLOCATION TRAJECTORY IN THE INWARD-FACING CONFORMATION OF THE MONOCARBOXYLATE/H+ SYMPORTER JEN1.
Santiago Di Lella, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, UNRAVELING KEY FEATURES OF THE BETA-GALACTOSIDE BINDING PROTEIN GALECTIN-1 IN INTERPLAY WITH LIGAND BINDING AND DIMERIZATION EQUILIBRIA.
Martin M. Dodes Traian, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, MODULATION OF THE ACTIVITY OF AN INTEGRAL MEMBRANE PROTEIN BY PHOSPHOLIPIDS IN MIXED MICELLES.
Meidan Dvir, Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University, Israel, A KCNE1 C-TERMINUS LONG QT MUTATION DISRUPTS A CRUCIAL INTERACTION WITH THE KV7.1 COILED-COIL HELIX C AND REDUCES IKS CHANNEL EXPRESSION.
Adi Etzioni, Tel Aviv University, Israel, GATING MODULATION OF KCNQ23 VIA N-C TERMINI INTERACTION.
Hayk Gevorgyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia, THE COMBINED EFFECT OF ELECTROSTATIC FIELD AND OSMOTIC PRESSURE ON THE STABILITY OF BILAYER LIPID MEMBRANES.
Iffath A. Ghouri, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, TRANSIENT NADH RESPONSES TO CYANIDE RELATED TO THE ABSORPTION PROPERTIES OF INTACT CARDIAC TISSUE.
Sergio Guerrero Castillo, Universidad Nacional Aut??noma de M?©xico, Mexico, MITOCHONDRIAL RESPIRATORY CHAIN ALTERNATIVE COMPONENTS ACTIVITY DURING DIFFERENT GROWTH PHASES IN YARROWIA LIPOLYTICA.
G??bor Hild, University of P?©cs, Medical School, Hungary, THE EFFECT OF TOXOFILIN ON THE STRUCTURE OF MONOMERIC ACTIN.
Aleksandr V. Ilyaskin, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Russia, MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE REGULATORY CELL VOLUME DECREASE.
Tzvetana R. Lazarova, Universitat Aut??noma de Barcelona, Spain, CONFORMATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TACHYKININ NEUROPEPTIDES: ROLE OF THE POLYPROLINE II STRUCTURE.
Leonel S. Malacrida, Hospital de Cl?­nicas, Uruguay, HALOGENATED ANESTHETICS IMPAIRS BIOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF A MEMBRANE MODEL OF PULMONARY SURFACTANT.
Ivo C. Martins, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Brazil, CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INTERACTION OF THE DENGUE VIRUS CAPSID PROTEIN WITH LIPID DROPLETS.
Patr?­cia A. T. Martins, Universidade Coimbra, Portugal, THERMODYNAMICS OF CHLORPROMAZINE ASSOCIATION WITH LIPID BILAYERS.
Ana M. Melo, Instituto Superior T?©cnico, Portugal, QUANTIFYING PROTEIN BINDING TO LIPID VESICLES USING FLUORESCENCE CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPY (FCS).
Arpad Mike, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungary, PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SODIUM CHANNEL INHIBITORS WHICH DETERMINE AFFINITY TO RESTING AND DEPOLARIZED STATES.
Pinaki Pramathadhip Misra, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF BOVINE ?±-LACTALBUMIN MOLTEN GLOBULE IN PRESENCE OF SURFACTANTS: BIOPHYSICAL CORRELATES.
Vivek Modi, Indian Institute of Technology, India, DIFFERENTIAL BINDING AFFINITIES OF ANTI-APOPTOTIC MCL-1 AND A1 PROTEINS FOR THE PRO-APOPTOTIC BH3 PEPTIDES: UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR BASIS USING MD SIMULATIONS.
Davide Normanno, Ecole Normale Superieure, France, PROBING TARGET SEARCH MECHANISMS OF TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS IN HUMAN CELLS.
Anna Poladyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia, MOLECULAR HYDROGEN FORMATION BY ESCHERICHIA COLI HYDROGENASE 3 DURING FERMENTATION OF GLUCOSE AT SLIGHTLY ACIDIC pH.
Maria Ryazantseva, St. Petersburg State University, Russia, FAMILIAL ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE MUTATIONS IN PRESENILIN-1 AND STORE-OPERATED CALCIUM ENTRY.
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Ellen R. Weiss
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The rate of colorectal cancer in Chile may have increased since that country began fortifying wheat flour with folic acid, reports a study in the European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.

“Our data provide new evidence that a folate fortification program could be associated with an additional risk of colon cancer,” according to the new report by Dr. Sandra Hirsch and colleagues of University of Chile, Santiago.

Possible Increase in Colon Cancer after Start of Folic Acid Fortification

The researchers analyzed changes in colon cancer rates since the Chilean government introduced a mandatory program of folic acid fortification of wheat flour in 2000. Several countries have implemented similar policies in recent years, with the goal of preventing spina bifida and other neural tube defects. In Chile, the rate of neural tube defects decreased by 40 percent in the first year after the start of folic acid fortification.

The researchers compared hospital discharge data on colon cancer rates in Chile in four-year periods before and after folic acid fortification: 1992-96 versus 2001-04. Although no causative relationship can be proven, the data suggested a significant “temporal relationship” between folic acid supplementation and colorectal cancer. Reported cases of colon cancer increased by 162 percent in people aged 45 to 64 and by 190 percent in people aged 65 to 79.

After adjustment for other factors, discharge diagnoses of colon cancer in these age groups were two to three times more frequent after the start of folic acid fortification. Most other diseases showed no consistent pattern of changes. There was a small increase in breast cancer, which may have been related to early detection and universal treatment programs for breast cancer.

Evidence Is Weaker than Similar Changes Reported in U.S. and Canada

Chile is the third country to report an apparent increase in colorectal cancer after introducing a national folic acid fortification program. A 2007 paper suggested increases in colorectal cancer after folic acid fortification was introduced in the United States and Canada in the mid-1990s. Chile uses a higher “dose” of folic acid than the two North American countries. Folic acid fortification has not yet been introduced in Europe.

There are other possible explanations for the rise in colon cancer in Chile, including increases in obesity and other risk factors.

Another important limitation of the study was the use of hospital discharge data to identify cases of colon cancer. “Discharge rates are influenced by health care politics, increasing access to healthcare for new strata of the population with increased cancer risk, and so forth,” comments Dr. Reinhold Stockbrugger, one of the editors of The European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. “This study provides only a weak, indirect indication of a causal relationship between folate enrichment and colorectal cancer, though similar to that reported in the U.S. and Canada.”

About The European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

The European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology publishes papers reporting original clinical and scientific research which are of a high standard and which contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. Visit the journal website at eurojgh.

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