The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Finance Committee on Monday unanimously approved a $181 million loan to the state’s stem cell research institute, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in an effort to start the program, which has been stalled by lawsuits, the Los Angeles Times reports (La Ganga, Los Angeles Times, 11/21). State voters in November 2004 approved Proposition 71 to provide $295 million annually for 10 years for human embryonic stem cell research. Two taxpayer groups and the California Family Bioethics Council in 2005 filed a lawsuit arguing that the measure violates the state constitution because it created a publicly funded agency that was not “under the exclusive management and control” of the state. California Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw in April ruled that the plaintiffs failed to show the proposition “is clearly, positively and unmistakably unconstitutional,” adding that CIRM and the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee — which are charged with implementing Proposition 71 — “are operating in the same fashion as other state agencies.” The plaintiffs then appealed the ruling, claiming that CIRM lacks adequate state supervision. While the suits are pending, CIRM is unable to sell state bonds required to fund the program, institute officials have said. The CIRM Finance Committee in April authorized up to $200 million in loans through bond anticipation notes (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 7/21). The $181 million loan includes $150 million from the state’s general fund that was ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in July and $31 million from nine philanthropic groups and individuals (Johnson, San Jose Mercury News, 11/21). “Thanks to the governor and a courageous group of leading citizens, private citizens, major stem cell research programs in this great state can now be funded,” Robert Klein, chair of the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee, said (CIRM release, 11/20). Dana Cody — executive director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, which represents People’s Advocate, a group that is suing to overturn the stem cell bond measure — said it was inappropriate for the state to fund stem cell research while Proposition 71 funds still were tied up in the courts. Cody added that the $150 million from the state’s general fund “is just a waste of taxpayer funding.” CIRM President Zach Hall said the institute will begin reviewing grant applications next week and could begin disbursing funds as early as February 2007 (Los Angeles Times, 11/21).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA (UroToday) – This descriptive study reported on the relatively high number of CAUTIs in a 35 bed urology, medical-surgery unit.

The NJ CAUTIs rate is 7%, HNH is above 14.5%, and the urology unit was 15.9%. Staff implemented an in-house educational program that included: elimination of convenience Foley’s, initiation of physician protocols, compliance with nursing protocols, criteria for insertion and standards of care. A physician order sheet mandating catheter removal after 72 hrs was created. Challenges included lack of “buy-in” from staff and physicians, need for a definite ongoing plan of action, high RN turnover, and patients refusal of removal. The unit switched to silver alloy catheters, individual patient assessment and patient/family/nursing and physician education.

No outcomes were reported.

Presented by A. Campanellie J. Perelli, R. Rochford, B. Dorset, and T. Lennon-Giles, at the 39th Annual Conference of the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates – October 3 – 6, 2008 – Philadelphia, PA, USA

Reported by UroToday Contributing Editor Diane K. Newman, MSN, CRNP, FAAN, BCIA-PMDB

UroToday – the only urology website with original content global urology key opinion leaders actively engaged in clinical practice.

To access the latest urology news releases from UroToday, go to:
www.urotoday

Copyright © 2008 – UroToday

A new study has pinpointed how simple, low-cost measures could revolutionise older people’s ability to use transport systems effectively, safely and with confidence.

Researchers at the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University believe the measures they have identified could eliminate many of the day-to-day problems that currently deter older people from using public transport and the pavements and roads in their locality.

Examples of potential measures include:
Provision of road crossings at a greater number of wide or busy junctions.

Provision of road crossings that allow pedestrians a longer time to cross.

Designing bus interiors to ensure secure handholds are provided in the wheelchair and buggy storage area, through which passengers boarding the bus have to pass.

Designing bus stops to ensure people sitting down inside them can easily see when their bus is coming, without repeatedly having to get up and down to check.

Introducing a system of accredited standards for taxi companies, to reassure older people that they will only be taken to their destination via the most direct route.

Implementing such measures would make a major contribution to eliminating feelings of vulnerability, enhancing independence and boosting the quality of life experienced by the UK’s ageing population.

The study was the first on transport related to be led by input from older people themselves rather than dictated by researchers. Undertaken as part of the SPARC (Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity) initiative, its findings will be discussed at this year’s BA Festival of Science in Liverpool on Thursday 11th September. SPARC is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Complementing input from public health and transport engineering specialists, a key role in the research was played by 10 focus groups, designed to capture the first-hand experiences and views of a total of 81 older people from the Leeds area.

Some focus group members also participated in unique, groundbreaking ‘walk-rounds’ of local districts, with researchers accompanying older people to see real-world transport-related difficulties through their eyes.

The findings from the focus groups and walk-rounds highlighted the fact that design guidance currently available to planners of transport infrastructure and services does not adequately take older people’s requirements into account. The limitations of the transport planning software generally used by local authorities when developing transport systems also became clear. In particular, the research team concluded that the software does not reflect the length of time it actually takes older people to complete journeys by foot and by public transport.

The team also came to the view that training and awareness programmes for bus drivers etc focusing on the specific needs of older people (e.g. ensuring that buses do not pull off before everyone is safely seated) could have a beneficial impact.

“Older people want to use transport systems to help them maintain their independence”, says Dr Greg Marsden, who led the research. “But it may only take one bad or frightening experience on a bus or crossing a road to put them off. Major changes are needed in the planning and delivery of transport infrastructure and services, with older people consulted and their needs taken more fully into account.”

Dr Marsden and his team aim to continue exploring older people’s transport-related experiences and to investigate how they manage the transition between car dependency and greater reliance on public transport as they grow older.

###

Notes:

The 10-month study ‘Older People and Transport: Integrating Transport Planning Tools and User Needs’ received financial support from SPARC of ВЈ24,589. Additional support was received from the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University.

The study also highlighted that:
Travel itself and the associated feeling of independence are often more important than the destination for older people. For instance, shopping is more than just buying food or clothes; it is an experience, a reason to go out and interact with others.

Problems faced by older people when walking round local neighbourhoods include obstacles caused by badly parked cars, untrimmed hedges and hedge trimmings left on the pavement.

SPARC is a unique initiative supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to encourage the greater involvement of researchers in the many issues faced by an ageing population and encountered by older people in their daily lives. SPARC is directed, managed and informed by the broader community of researchers, practitioners, policy makers and older people for the ultimate benefit of older people, their carers and those who provide services to older people. For more information, visit sparc.ac/

The Research Councils are taking this area of research forward through the cross-Council programme on Life Long Health and Wellbeing, which includes the Medical Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council, in addition to BBSRC and EPSRC.

The BA Festival of Science took place in Liverpool from 6-11 September bringing over 350 of the UK’s top scientists and engineers to discuss the latest developments in science with the public. In addition to talks and debates at the University of Liverpool, there will be a host of events happening throughout the city as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations.

Dr Greg Marsden and Dr Mima Cattan gave a presentation on 11th September at The Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool which formed part of the ‘Older People Going Places’ event organised by SPARC.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC invests around ВЈ800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC also actively promotes public awareness of science and engineering. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. Website address for more information on EPSRC: epsrc.ac/

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences. Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around ВЈ420 million in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life for UK citizens and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Website address for more information on BBSRC: bbsrc.ac

The BA Festival of Science 2008 was organised by the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) in partnership with the University of Liverpool. It was supported by the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills, the Liverpool Culture Company and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) is the UK’s nationwide, open membership organisation that exists to advance the public understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering. Established in 1831, the BA organises major initiatives across the UK, including National Science and Engineering Week, the annual BA Festival of Science, programmes of regional and local events, and an extensive programme for young people in schools and colleges. The BA also organises specific activities for the science communication community in the UK through its Science in Society programme. For more information, please visit the-ba.

The Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds is an acknowledged world leader, and the largest department of its kind in Europe. It is dedicated to the studying all aspects of transport including road use, the economic and environmental impact of travel, safety, policy – and forecasting future demand.

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK with more than 30,000 students from 130 countries. With a total annual income of ВЈ422m, Leeds is one of the top ten research universities in the UK, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. It was recently placed 80th in the Times Higher Educational Supplement’s world universities league table and the University’s vision is to secure a place among the world’s top 50 by 2015.

Source: Natasha Richardson

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Age UK today releases new analysis estimating the impact of cuts to care funding, in the wake of warnings from council leaders that local authorities will reduce social care budgets.

Seemingly modest cuts could see a quarter of a million older people lose essential home-based care, if councils are unable to make up the difference through efficiency savings.

The statistics are released as local and national government appear locked in conflict on the spending settlement for home care. The Department of Health says a ВЈ2bn package to protect social care spending should be sufficient to prevent services being cut. The Local Government Association has told MPs that ВЈ3.6bn of cuts to care spending are likely and councils will be forced to raise their eligibility criteria for care.

The Age UK commissioned projections look at the impact of a 7% real-terms cut to local councils’ spending on care for older people (less than 2% per year, if spread over 4 years). The results show:

– A 7% cut is projected to lead to 250,000 fewer older people receiving care in their own home (a 38% decline, from 650,000 expected to receive home care in 2010/11).

– Of these older people, 100,000 are projected to go without any support at all, while the remainder would be expected to buy support privately.

– There would be a 23% rise in unmet need, when measured in hours of personal care required but not provided (by neither paid or informal carers).

– There would be a 25% rise in hours of personal care provided by informal carers.

– Spending on care for over-65s, compared to projected levels of spending for 2010/11, will be cut by ВЈ450 million.

– The shortfall from the amount required to maintain existing levels of support would be ВЈ650 million, because costs continue to rise due to rising numbers of older people and wage pressures.

Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director of Age UK, said,

‘These projections suggest that, even though the spending settlement for social care was better than expected, hundreds of thousands of older people could still lose the care and support they rely on.’

‘It’s down to each local authority to protect the most vulnerable and frail in their community by promising to preserve local care funding and spend every penny of the ВЈ2 billion earmarked by the Treasury on social care. Councils need to prioritise the most vulnerable in spending decisions. It’s in their power to prevent cuts to care, although that will undoubtedly mean difficult decisions elsewhere.’

‘Thousands of frail, vulnerable older people rely on care at home. If the government is serious about looking after society’s most vulnerable, it must keep social care funding under review and if necessary, increase the money it has set aside for care, should it become clear it is not enough.’

Notes

1. Modelling for Age UK by the Personal Social Services Research Unit, at the LSE and University of Kent.

2. The figures are for England only, as the care systems are different in each nation of the UK.

3. The estimates do not take account of possible efficiency savings (so if 2% cuts can be made through efficiencies, the projections would be for a 9% cut).

4. The estimates are based on constant prices, so while inflation remains unusually high, they are equivalent of a much smaller cut in cash spending.

5. The modelling assumed a one-off, one year cut (between 2010/11 and 2011/12) but the results would be almost identical if the same cut was staged over 2 to 4 years.

Source:

Age UK

UCB, Inc. presented results from two Phase III pivotal trials and one open-label extension trial of rotigotine transdermal system for the treatment of moderate-to-severe restless legs syndrome (RLS). These rotigotine data showed significant drops in RLS symptoms, including changes of up to 8 points over placebo using the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Rating Scale (IRLS) and a reduction in disease severity over a two-year period.

“Given the strong efficacy and tolerability seen to date, rotigotine, if approved, would provide a new and valuable alternative for many patients negatively impacted by the symptoms of moderate-to-severe RLS,” said Wayne Hening, M.D., a lead study investigator and Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

In the two six-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, rotigotine produced clinically relevant and statistically significant reductions in RLS symptoms compared to placebo and was generally well-tolerated. An additional presentation highlighted a two-year interim analysis of a long-term, open-label extension of rotigotine for moderate-to-severe RLS, representing some of the longest safety follow-up information for a dopamine agonist in RLS to date.

In these studies, the efficacy of rotigotine was evaluated by monitoring several clinician-administered scales including the IRLS, the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) and the Restless Leg Syndrome-6 (RLS-6). The IRLS scale measures the severity and frequency of RLS symptoms and the degree to which they affect sleep and daily life (IRLS: 0 = no symptoms and 40 = very severe symptoms). The CGI scale measures the general severity of an illness, clinical improvement or efficacy of treatment parameters. On the RLS-6 scale, patients rate the severity of their RLS at four periods during the night and day, as well as sleep satisfaction and daytime tiredness.

A synopsis of rotigotine RLS clinical data presented at the meeting follows.

Six-Month Studies in Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Idiopathic RLS

SP 790
- In a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase III trial, 458 patients were studied in eight European countries

- Rotigotine was studied in doses of 1, 2 and 3 mg/24 hours over a period of six months

- The study showed a statistically significant improvement in the IRLS sum score and a clinically relevant reduction in the CGI Item-1 (severity of illness) score compared to placebo

- The mean baseline scores were: IRLS 28.1 В± 6.1 and CGI 5.0 В± 0.8 reflecting moderate-to-severe symptoms at baseline

- The net effects over placebo after 6 months of treatment were 5.1 В± 1.3, -7.5 В± 1.3, and -8.2 В± 1.3 in the IRLS and -0.76 В± 0.19, -1.07 В± 0.19 and -1.21 В± 0.19 in CGI Item-1 for rotigotine 1, 2, and 3 mg/24 hours respectively (p < 0.001 for all comparisons)

- Rotigotine was also shown to be generally well-tolerated

- The most common adverse events that were determined by the investigators to be drug-related were application site reactions, nausea, headache and dizziness

SP 792
- In a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase III trial, 505 patients were studied in the United States

- Rotigotine was studied at doses of 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 mg/24 hours over a period of six months, with all doses showing improvement over placebo

- Rotigotine, in doses of 2 and 3 mg/24 hours over a period of six months, resulted in a statistically significant improvement in IRLS sum score and a clinically relevant reduction in the CGI Item-1 (severity of illness) score compared to placebo

- The mean baseline scores were: IRLS 23.3 В± 5.0 and CGI 4.7 В± 0.7, reflecting moderate-to-severe symptoms at baseline

- The net effects over placebo after six months of treatment were -2.2 В± 1.2, 2.3 В± 1.2, -4.5 В± 1.2 (p

University of Minnesota researchers have created a beating heart in the laboratory.

By using a process called whole organ decellularization, scientists from the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair grew functioning heart tissue by taking dead rat and pig hearts and reseeding them with a mixture of live cells. The research was published online in the January 13 issue of Nature Medicine.

“The idea would be to develop transplantable blood vessels or whole organs that are made from your own cells,” said Doris Taylor, Ph.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair, Medtronic Bakken professor of medicine and physiology, and principal investigator of the research.

Nearly 5 million people live with heart failure, and about 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. Approximately 50,000 United States patients die annually waiting for a donor heart.

While there have been advances in generating heart tissue in the lab, creating an entire 3-dimensional scaffold that mimics the complex cardiac architecture and intricacies, has always been a mystery, Taylor said.

It seems decellularization may be a solution – essentially using nature’s platform to create a bioartifical heart, she said.

Decellularization is the process of removing all of the cells from an organ – in this case an animal cadaver heart – leaving only the extracellular matrix, the framework between the cells, intact.

After successfully removing all of the cells from both rat and pig hearts, researchers injected them with a mixture of progenitor cells that came from neonatal or newborn rat hearts and placed the structure in a sterile setting in the lab to grow.

The results were very promising, Taylor said. Four days after seeding the decellularized heart scaffolds with the heart cells, contractions were observed. Eight days later, the hearts were pumping.

“Take a section of this ‘new heart’ and slice it, and cells are back in there,” Taylor said. “The cells have many of the markers we associate with the heart and seem to know how to behave like heart tissue.”

“We just took nature’s own building blocks to build a new organ,” said Harald C. Ott, M.D., co-investigator of the study and a former research associate in the center for cardiovascular repair, who now works at Massachusetts General Hospital. “When we saw the first contractions we were speechless.”

Researchers are optimistic this discovery could help increase the donor organ pool.

In general, the supply of donor organs is limited and once a heart is transplanted, individuals face life-long immunosuppression, often trading heart failure for high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney failure, Taylor said.

Researchers hope that the decellularization process could be used to make new donor organs. Because a new heart could be filled with the recipient’s cells, researchers hypothesize it’s much less likely to be rejected by the body. And once placed in the recipient, in theory the heart would be nourished, regulated, and regenerated similar to the heart that it replaced.

“We used immature heart cells in this version, as a proof of concept. We pretty much figured heart cells in a heart matrix had to work,” Taylor said. “Going forward, our goal is to use a patient’s stem cells to build a new heart.”

Although heart repair was the first goal during research, decellularization shows promising potential to change how scientists think about engineering organs, Taylor said. “It opens a door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas – you name it and we hope we can make it,” she said.

###

Researchers of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair team were assisted in their study by researchers from the University of Minnesota Department of Biomedical Engineering, who helped analyze data.

The study was funded by the Medtronic Foundation Endowment and a faculty research development grant from the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center.

Source: Nick Hanson

University of Minnesota

The most frequently used drugs for treating chronic insomnia have never been approved for that purpose by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a sleep expert from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Vaughn McCall, M.D., M.S., professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, told a special
consensus panel at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that he could find no evidence that randomized controlled clinical
trials had ever been conducted for five of the 10 pharmaceuticals prescribed most often for chronic insomnia.

None of the 10 are currently approved for insomnia, though all are FDA-approved as antidepressants, antipsychotics or
sedatives, he said.

The NIH State-of-the-Science Conference on Manifestations and Management of Chronic Insomnia in Adults, sponsored by the
National Institute of Mental Health and Office of Medical Applications Research, will continue through Wednesday, seeking to
build consensus on a series of questions on chronic insomnia.

“There is widespread use of off-label prescribed medications for insomnia,” said McCall, who directs the sleep laboratory at
Wake Forest Baptist. But he said that evidence to support their effectiveness is poor.

He said that during the 1990s, the use of FDA-approved sleep medications called hypnotics declined by 54 percent between 1987
and 1996, “while the use of trazodone (Desyrel) and other sedating antidepressants rose by 146 percent. This trend continued
through 2002, such that trazodone became the most frequently used medication for the treatment of insomnia.”

He said that 78 percent of psychiatrists now make trazodone their first choice.

“In addition to trazodone, a wide variety of antidepressants, antipsychotics and sedatives gained favor for the treatment of
insomnia despite the fact that none of these medications are approved for the treatment of insomnia.”

McCall said the widespread use of these drugs “suggests that there must be substantial evidence supporting this practice.”

So he searched the medical literature for all 10 drugs, looking for randomized controlled trials, especially those in which
the drug being tested was compared to an inert placebo.

He said he found one study that showed that trazodone was superior to placebo in the first week of treatment for insomnia,
but no better than placebo in the second week. For patients already on antidepressants, he found two small short-term trials
that showed use of trazodone was better than placebo.

He found a limited number of small studies to support use of four other drugs.

“Why are they used so often?” he asked.

One possible reason was that many of the approved hypnotic drugs, which are controlled substances, have firm limits on
duration of use, forcing psychiatrists to find something else.

Secondly, “Erroneous beliefs on the part of providers that off-label medications have demonstrated sustained efficacy and are
safer,” he said.

He told the panel, “Full scale, placebo-controlled clinical trials of some off-label medications are warranted in the
treatment of insomnia.”

Media Contacts: Robert Conn, rconnwfubmc.edu, Shannon Koontz, shkoontzwfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsnwfubmc.edu,
at 336-716-4587.

About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North
Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. The
system comprises 1,298 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of
“America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.

Contact: Robert Conn
rconnwfubmc.edu
336-716-4587
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
wfubmc.edu

Scientists battling malaria have earned a major victory. According to a Nature Genetics study, an international group of researchers has used genomics to decode the blueprint of Plasmodium falciparum – a strain of malaria most resistant to drugs that causes the most deaths around the world. The discovery may lead to advanced pharmaceuticals to fight the disease and prevent drug resistance among the 250 million people infected by malaria each year.

“Combating malaria resistance is nothing short of an arms race,” says lead author Dr. Philip Awadalla, a pediatrics professor at the UniversitГ© de MontrГ©al, a scientist at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and scientific director of CARTaGENE. “As the malaria pathogen evolves, researchers must evolve with it to find ways to counter the disease.”

The team decoded 200 malaria samples from Asia, Africa, Central America, South America and Papua New Guinea. Their goal was to identify how Plasmodium falciparum strains were becoming resistant to the eight anti-malaria drugs currently available. “There are substantial genetic differences in malaria around the world,” stresses Dr. Awadalla, noting African strains differ from Asia strains. “What has occurred is a combination of genetic drift, where genes segregated over space and time from differential environments, immune pressures and exposures to drugs.”

As part of their genomic mapping, the research team found that Plasmodium falciparum recombined fastest in Africa. Dr. Awadalla compares malaria genomes to human genomes. In malaria, however, variation among some genetic material is so high and evolves so rapidly that the parasite can develop drug resistance. New clues garnered by this study, he says, “will allow pharmaceutical companies to create treatments that target the evolving malaria genome.”

Study collaborators included researchers from the University of Calgary in Canada, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories and Pennsylvania State University in the United States, the University of Oxford in England, Mahidol University in Thailand, Guangzhou University in China and the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control in Cambodia.

About malaria

Malaria is transmitted when people are bitten by infected mosquitoes. According to the World Health Organization, malaria symptoms include fever, headaches, vomiting and appear within 10 to 15 days after an infected mosquito bite. Left untreated, malaria can be life-threatening and kills an estimated five million people yearly.

Partners in Research

This study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.A.), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Canada), the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (U.S.A.), the Human Frontiers in Science Program (France), the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) and the National Basic Research Program of China.

About the study

The article “Plasmodium falciparum genome-wide scans for positive selection, recombination hot spots and resistance to antimalarial drugs,” published in the journal Nature, was coauthored by Philip Awadalla and Rachel A. Myers, of the UniversitГ© de MontrГ©al and its affiliated Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center (Canada); May Ho of the University of Calgary (Canada); Jianbing Mu, Hongying Jiang, Thomas E. Wellems, Rick M. Fairhurst, Xin-zhuan Su, Michael Waisberg and Shengfa Liu of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.A.); Stacy Ricklefs, Daniel E. Sturdevant, Stephen F. Porcella of Rocky Mountain Laboratories, (U.S.A.); Liwang Cui of Pennsylvania State University (U.S.A.); Nicholas J. White of the University of Oxford (United Kingdom); Kesinee Chotivanich, Polrat Wilairatana, Srivicha Krudsood and Rachanee Udomsangpetch of Mahidol University (Thailand); Fengzhen Ou, Haibo Li, Jianping Song, Guoqiao Li, Xinhua Wang, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (China); Suon Seila, Sreng Sokunthea and Duong Socheat of the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (Cambodia).

Source
UniversitГ© de MontrГ©al

Scientists have discovered that when nicotine binds to nAchRs (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors), it may not only promote addiction, but breast cancer as well. We know that non-nicotine components of smoking are carcinogens, however, very little is known about how nicotine acts on cells to encourage cancer growth, the scientists explain.

While previous studies have linked smoking to increased breast cancer risk, they have not been accompanied by molecular biology studies to determine why. In this present study, scientists reveal a link between nicotine itself and breast cancer risk – not just the other non-nicotine components of smoking.

You can read about this study in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August 23rd (2010) issue.

Yuan-Soon Ho, Ph.D., Taipei Medical University, and team examined 276 breast tumor samples from anonymous donors to Taipei Medical University Hospital. They wanted to determine whether subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor were overexpressed in breast cancer cells compared with other normal cells.

They found that the alpha 9 subunit nAChR (О±9-nAchR) was overexpressed in human breast cancer cells. Expression was significantly higher in advanced stage breast cancer than in its early stages.

The investigators reveal that when О±9-nAchRs were reduced, tumor growth in the laboratory was inhibited. The opposite promoted cancer growth – if О±9-nAchRs was increased, or when treating more normal breast cells with nicotine, the development of cancer characteristics grew.

The researchers wrote:

These results imply that receptor-mediated carcinogenic signals play a decisive role in biological functions related to human breast cancer development.

The authors stress that theirs was a small study with only Asian patients involved. Breast cancer incidence in Taiwan is low.

Ilona Linnoila, M.D., of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, in an accompanying editorial, writes that the study:

..suggests not only that smoking could be causally related to breast carcinogenesis but also that nicotine could directly contribute to the molecular mechanism of carcinogenesis in addition to indirectly contributing by promoting addiction to smoking.

Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the cholinergic pathways will lead to more opportunities for intervention and prevention of tobacco toxicity

“Overexpression and Activation of the alpha9-Nicotinic Receptor During Tumorigenesis in Human Breast Epithelial Cells”
Chia-Hwa Lee, Ching-Shui Huang, Ching-Shyang Chen, Shih-Hsin Tu, Ying-Jan Wang, Yu-Jia Chang, Ka-Wai Tam, Po-Li Wei, Tzu-Chun Cheng, Jan-Show Chu, Li-Ching Chen, Chih-Hsiung Wu, Yuan-Soon Ho
JNCI (Journal of the National Cancer Institute), doi:10.1093/jnci/djq300

Experts have proposed a new convention for the reporting on the
derivation of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines. The proposal, published
in the November issue of the journal Regenerative Medicine, also includes
recommendations on the minimum information required to establish this new
standard.

There is no universally agreed method for reporting the quality and stage of
embryo used as a starting material for hESC line derivation, and this lack of an
consistent reporting system has made comparison of methodologies and results
difficult.

Agreeing a standard and reporting on the number, and grade, of embryos
reaching each stage of growth allows for many benefits including, comparisons
between protocols, increased culture efficiency and an overall contribution to
best IVF and stem cell manufacturing practice.

The proposal was co-authored by Emma Stephenson (University College
London, & King’s College London), Peter Braude (King’s College London, Guy’s
and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust) and Chris Mason (University College London)

The authors comment; ‘The aim is that our proposal begins the ‘bottom-up’
debate to identify the need and scope of the minimum information metadata to be
captured in the future standard for derivation of hESC line.’. They continue; ‘If a
standardized grading system is established for hESC derivation, researchers can
be confident that the grading will be consistent and reproducible.’

It is widely accepted that open and transparent reporting of results would move
the hESC field more rapidly towards clinical translation and application.

The proposal was written with the support of several international experts from
the stem cells community. Jennifer Nichols from the Wellcome Trust Centre for
Stem Cell Research at the University of Cambridge, commented; ‘It is a heroic
effort. I found it [the proposal] very clear and it will be most useful for those of
use who care about the derivation process in the future.’

The authors hope that interested parties will forward their views and comments
on the proposal as soon as possible in order that a consensus document can be
published in a few months time.

###

The proposal is available free-to-view online and download here

Contacts:
Simon Boisseau,
Future Science Group

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