At least 28,283 veterans have had their medical claims denied by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service because of efforts to reduce a large backlog of claims, according to a report released on Tuesday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee, AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

According to the AP/Newsday, the federal government identified 133,000 veterans as being eligible for money through the government’s “VA Retro” program. Another 84,000 veterans were added to the backlog because of changes in the law that made veterans eligible to simultaneously receive their disability and military retirement pay. DFAS in mid-2006 hired Lockheed Martin to help the office respond to the claims and reduce the backlog. According to the report, DFAS and Lockheed eliminated the backlog this summer, several months after the initial deadline.

However, the report found that the backlog was cleared only after DFAS and Lockheed eliminated quality assurance checks of their work, which resulted in the denied claims. According to AP/Newsday, DFAS officials were initially concerned about the number of errors in Lockheed’s work, but the agency eventually suspended its own quality control procedures to avoid further backlogs. The report states, “While the subcommittee majority staff does not know how many erred payments were sent, we do not believe that DFAS knows either.”

Response
DFAS spokesperson Tom LaRock said the office has processed more than 229,000 claims and paid out more than $149 million in entitlements, adding that DFAS has established “a reliable and repeatable process enabling us to adjudicate incoming claims within 30 days of receipt.”

Lockheed spokesperson Keith Mordoff in an e-mail said that the company has remained “committed to the timely and accurate payment to veterans, and we have performed quality assurance in accordance with the terms of our contract,” adding, “At no time have we sacrificed quality for speed.” DFAS and Lockheed officials said they will address the concerns raised in the report at a hearing on Wednesday (Flaherty, AP/Long Island Newsday, 7/15).


The report is available online.

Reprinted with kind 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.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco propose that treatments used on liver cancers beyond the established Milan criteria for liver transplantation may be appropriate for all patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are listed for transplantation. Full details appear in the August issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

According to the American Cancer Society, about 90% of adult primary liver cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas. In 2009, an estimated 22,620 adults in the U.S. were diagnosed with primary liver cancer with 18,160 deaths expected to occur this year from HCC. Liver cancer is the sixth most common cause of cancer death among men, and ninth most common cause of cancer death among women.

Liver transplantation is an important treatment option for selected patients with non-resectable HCC. The Milan criteria provide guidelines to qualify HCC patients for liver transplantation and include one tumor smaller than 5 cm or up to 3 tumors smaller than 3 cm, no extrahepatic manifestations, and no vascular invasion. The Milan criteria were adopted because it identified a population with excellent outcome potential following transplantation roughly equivalent to patients transplanted without HCC. However, HCC incidence is expected to increase and researchers are investigating whether the criteria for liver transplantation should be expanded to make even more patients eligible.

The San Francisco researchers suggest that the Milan and other criteria have proved inadequate. Team leader Dr. John Roberts explains, “It has not been shown there is any particular size of tumor that represents a ‘no risk’ of recurrence, at least among those tumors that can be detected radiologically. Further, the degree of risk is not the same for all patients within the Milan criteria.”

Dr. Roberts points out that tumor size and number are only surrogate markers for underlying tumor biology and that using another marker tumor behavior over time allows the biology of the tumor to become apparent, dictating the most appropriate treatment strategy.

The UCSF team has taken a ‘down staging’ approach for patients with large tumors. This involves radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolization or both to control the tumor and then a requisite waiting period to determine tumor biology over time as the development of extra-hepatic or intra-hepatic spread is observed. This paradigm results in about 30% of the patients being ineligible for transplantation because of HCC progression, but those who make it to transplantation have an excellent outcome as compared to patients transplanted with tumors beyond the Milan criteria who are not treated. The median time between the first ablative procedure and transplantation was 8.2 months with a range of 3-25 months. This approach suggests that the test of time may be the surest method to select patients with HCC who are destined to have good transplant outcomes. Dr. Roberts argues that this approach, ablating the tumor and waiting, should be expanded to all patients listed for transplantation with hepatocellular carcinoma as the test of time can eliminate from transplantation patients whose disease is likely to recur after transplantation.

“Our experience with ablative treatment and then observation suggests that the ultimate outcomes of transplantation are not dependent on the primary tumor but more on time spent waiting for transplantation,” Dr. Roberts concluded. “It would seem logical that smaller and/or fewer tumors, though more unlikely to have spread, would also benefit from a period of time if the primary tumor can be controlled. The waiting period may be able to decrease the 10% recurrence rate seen in patients transplanted within Milan.”

Source: Wiley – Blackwell

Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, recommend that progesterone (PROG), a naturally occurring hormone found in both males and females that can protect damaged cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems, be considered a viable treatment option for traumatic brain injuries, according to a clinical perspective published in the January issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

“Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important clinical problem in the United States and around the world,” said Donald G. Stein, PhD, lead author of the paper. “TBI has received more attention recently because of its high incidence among combat casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Current Department of Defense statistics indicated that as many as 30 percent of wounded soldiers seen at Walter Reed Army Hospital have suffered a TBI, a finding that has stimulated government interest in developing a safe and effective treatment for this complex disorder,” said Stein.

“Growing evidence indicates that post-injury administration of PROG in a variety of brain damage models can have beneficial effects, leading to substantial and sustained improvements in brain functionality. PROG given to both males and females can cross the blood-brain barrier and reduce edema (swelling) levels after TBI; in different models of cerebral ischemia (restriction of blood supply), significantly reduce the area of necrotic cell death and improve behavioral outcomes; and protect neurons distal to the injury that would normally die,” said Stein.

PROG was recently tested in two phase 2 clinical trials for traumatic brain injury and will begin a phase 3 NIH sponsored trial soon.

“Given its relatively high safety profile, its ease of administration, its low cost and ready availability, PROG should be considered a viable treatment option – especially because, in brain injury, so little else is currently available,” said Stein.

This study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Source: Heather Curry

American College of Radiology / American Roentgen Ray Society

Boomers, who account for a quarter of the U.S. population, tend to have more active lifestyles than previous generations. They are as active now as they were when they were younger. But now Boomers are living with chronic low back pain, herniated discs or osteoarthritis. Back pain is a common complaint among middle-aged Americans as they deal with hectic daily schedules, increasingly demanding jobs, and caring for children, grandchildren and aging parents.

Low back pain will affect four out of five adults during their lifetime. Here’s How:

The most common symptom of a herniated disc is “sciatica”. Sciatica is best described as a sharp, often shooting pain that begins in the buttocks and goes down the back of one leg. This is most often caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve that exits the spinal cord. Other symptoms include:

- Weakness in one leg or both legs
- Numbness and tingling in one leg (pins & needles)
- A burning pain centered in the low back
- Loss of bladder or bowel control (seek medical attention immediately)
- Back pain with gradually increasing leg pain. (If you have weakness in both legs. Seek immediate attention.)

Why did my discs herniate?

The normal changes associated with aging are not helpful to the back. As we grow older, (after the age of 30), the back and abdominal muscles weaken and become less stretchable. Also degenerative changes begin to take place in the structure of the discs. They become softer and thinner, which decreases their shock-absorbing quality.

While aging, excess weight, improper lifting and the decrease in water in the discs all contribute to the breaking down of discs, the primary cause of a herniated disc or bulge is uneven compression and torsion that’s placed on your lower back.

This uneven pressure is caused by imbalances in muscles that pull the spine out of its normal position. Your body is forced to function in what I call a physical dysfunction. Every human being develops these dysfunctions over time and eventually they cause enough damage to create unbearable pain.

Your Doctor’s Traditional Treatment Options May Not be the Best Treatment for Your Herniated Discs & Low Back Pain

When it comes to treating herniated discs, there are traditional treatments such as ice/heat, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory medications and even surgery. While these may deliver some relief, it will usually be temporary.

The major problem with these traditional treatments is that they only address the symptoms of a herniated disc. They do not address the actual cause of the problem. For example, even if you were to have invasive surgery and get some pain relief, the fact is the root cause that caused the disc to become herniated in the first place is still there.

Why?

Because, our bodies adapt and change to our environment. This adaptation over time will cause muscle Imbalances. Those imbalances will cause postural dysfunctions. If the dysfunctions are not addressed, they will continue to place uneven pressure and strain on the discs. Sooner or later you will likely have another problem with that disc, or others.

To reduce low back pain and herniated discs, you must identify the underlying cause of your problem. Unfortunately, most doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists don’t spend time or focus on identifying the hidden causes or physical dysfunctions that are responsible for the condition. So most Boomers jump from one useless traditional treatment to the next and suffer with continuous herniated disc flare-ups for months or years unnecessarily.

Here are My Top 3 Treatment Options to Help You Reduce Back Pain Virtually Overnight:

1. Know your Habits, Patterns, Postures and Positions: Understanding the many different causes of muscle imbalances is the first step to a pain free back. It begins with not what we are doing today but what we have done in the past 40 years. What did you do for work? Did you sit? Stand in one place? Were you lifting, bending or otherwise putting your body through hell every day?

2. Review Your Photo History: Simply knowing what you have done to develop your imbalances is only step one. Now you have to prove it to your self that those changes did take place over time. Open your family photo albums and find photos that have you in it from the front and from the side. Then take some of your own right now from the front, from the back and from the side and compare. Now it is natural to see changes but to see the changes and not take action to correct or control the physical changes will not help you.

3. Get the RIGHT Help: Find a qualified Manual Physical Therapist, that is trained to assess postural dysfunction and demand that they create both a short term and a long term plan of recovery for you.

Understanding back pain and taking action are two totally different animals. No one thinks that it will happen to him or her. And because it takes so long for our bodies to reach the point of pain, almost no one takes action to prevent back pain. So if back pain is an issue for you then educate your self and take action everyday. It is never to late to start a program of recovery on your own or with help from an expert.

Dr. Robert Duvall has helped thousands of boomers suffering from back pain using this approach in his clinic and around the country. For more information on herniated discs and how you can reduce your back pain virtually overnight, get your FREE COPY of the latest Back Pain Advisory from The Healthy Back Institute at: losethebackpain/herniateddisc.html

losethebackpain

Robert Duvall

Children who suffer physical or emotional abuse could be faced with accelerated cellular aging as adults, according to new research published by Elsevier in Biological Psychiatry.

It’s an easy fact to forget – the aging process begins at birth. Despite this, cellular aging remains somewhat of a mystery, although there is growing evidence that over time, the DNA within cells begins to show signs of aging. One of these signs is the shortening of telomeres, which are DNA “caps” at the end of chromosomes that promote cellular stability.

Telomere length is a measure of biological aging because telomeres shorten progressively with each cell division. Shorter telomere lengths have been linked to a variety of aging-related medical conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Stress and trauma, such as childhood abuse and neglect, are risk factors for several medical and psychiatric illnesses, and stress is known to promote cellular aging. So, Audrey Tyrka and her colleagues from Butler Hospital and Brown University examined the DNA of healthy adults who had a history of childhood maltreatment and found they had shorter telomeres than those who did not experience child maltreatment.

Dr. Tyrka explained that the findings “suggest the possibility that early developmental experiences may have profound effects on biology that can influence cellular mechanisms at a very basic level and even lead to accelerated aging.”

Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, agreed: “This study illustrates a new way that early childhood adversity may leave its mark on traumatized individuals. Our limited insight into the functional significance of telomere shortening makes it difficult to know whether there are some adaptive consequences of these changes. Yet the association of telomere shortening and cellular aging suggests that there might be long-term health implications of exposure to early childhood adversity.”

Source: Elsevier

People with Alzheimer’s disease experience an acceleration in the rate of
cognitive decline after being placed in a nursing home according to a new
study by the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The study, published in the
June issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, finds that prior
experience in adult day care may lessen this association.

The observational study involved 432 older persons with Alzheimer’s disease
who were recruited from health care settings in the Chicago area. At
baseline, they lived in the community and 196 participants were using day
care services from 2 to 6 days a week for an overall mean of 1.7 days a
week. At six month intervals for up to four years, they completed nine
cognitive tests from which a composite measure of global cognition was
derived.

On average, cognition declined at a gradually increasing rate for all
participants. During the study period, 155 persons were placed in a nursing
home, and placement was associated with a lower level of cognition and more
rapid cognitive decline.

Study participants who had previous adult day care experience fared better.
As level of day care use at study onset increased, the association of
nursing home placement with accelerated cognitive decline substantially
decreased. Thus, people using day care 3 to 4 days a week at the beginning
of the study showed no increase in cognitive decline upon nursing home
placement.

“The findings suggest that experience in day care may help individuals with
Alzheimer’s disease make the transition from the community to institutional
residence,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist
at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

The study also found that a higher level of education was associated with
accelerated cognitive decline upon nursing home placement. Yet, day care use
markedly reduced the association of education with accelerated cognitive
decline in the nursing home; further evidence that there is a robust
association between day care experience and cognition during the transition
to a nursing home.

The authors considered the possibility that nursing home placement is simply
a sign of increased severity of Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, the
nursing-home-related increase in cognitive decline was observed even after
simultaneous control for cognitive and noncognitive indicators of dementia
severity at the time of nursing home entry.

Alternatively, the increased cognitive decline upon placement may reflect
difficulty adapting to an unfamiliar environment, consistent with clinical
reports of increased confusion and behavior problems in those with dementia
during acute hospitalization or trips away from home. Patients who had prior
adult day care services may have been better able to adjust to the
unfamiliar environment.

“The findings suggest that the transition from the community to a nursing
home is particularly difficult for people with Alzheimer’s disease and that
those planning for their care should consider the possibility that
experience in adult day care programs may help prepare affected persons for
institutional living,” said Wilson.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes on Aging,
which leads the federal effort supporting and conducting research on aging
and the medical, social and behavioral issues of older people, including
Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline.

The Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center is one of approximately 30
NIA-supported Alzheimer’s Disease Centers across the U.S. which conduct
basic science, clinical, and social and behavioral research on dementia and
AD. General information on aging and aging research can be viewed at the
NIA’s home website, www.nia.nih.

rush.edu

Winter is a special time for caution if you or someone in your family is an older adult. It is the season for flus, for slips on icy streets, and for other dangers that are especially great for senior citizens.

“Something as simple as a fall can be devastating for older men and women,” says Dr. Rafael Bejarano-Narbona, medical director for Geriatric Practice of the Ambulatory Care Network at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. “Before the cold weather arrives, it is important to prepare.”

Dr. Bejarano (pronounced bay-RAHN-o) offers tips for a healthy and safe winter:

– Get vaccinated annually against the flu. The season for flu runs from mid-October to mid-March, and the illness can be fatal to older adults. The vaccine offers some, if not complete, protection.

– Ask your doctor about Pneumovax, the vaccine against pneumococcus, which protects against pneumonia.

– Check the lighting in your house. Make sure there are no great contrasts from one room to another, because older people have difficulty adjusting to changes in light and high contrasts increase the risk of slip and falls. Also, use night lights, and don’t have loose extension cords lying around — tape them to the floor.

* Check your rugs. Make sure they are not wrinkled or torn in a way that can trip you up as you walk. Use padding or special tape underneath them to prevent from sliding.

– In the bathroom, have mats inside and outside the tub to keep you from slipping on a wet surface. If you need them, install grab bars inside the tub, and always check the temperature of the water before getting into the tub.

– Continue your exercise regimen — indoors if possible. However, avoid strenuous exercise like shoveling snow.

– Maintain your diet and a good level of hydration. Drink at least four or five glasses of water every day. This should not change just because it is winter.

– Make sure your smoke alarms are working. If you live in your own house rather than an apartment, you should also have carbon-monoxide alarms.

– Wear appropriate footwear. Comfortable shoes with anti-slip soles will help you navigate icy streets.

– Have a programmable phone with emergency numbers entered. Another good idea for older persons living alone is a personal emergency response system — a device worn around the neck or on a bracelet, which can summon help if needed. Wear this device all the time, and use it.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center
525 East 68th Street, Box 144
New York, NY 10021
USA
nyp

Data from the CREST (Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy vs. Stenting Trial) study were published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. In this trial, stenting and surgery had similar initial safety and longer-term outcomes for symptomatic and asymptomatic men and women. Adverse event rates of death, stroke and heart attack were also similar for both therapies. Abbott’s ACCULINK® Carotid Stent System and ACCUNET® Embolic Protection System were used in the study, which was sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and partially funded by Abbott.

“As the worldwide market leader in the interventional treatment of carotid artery disease, we are proud of our long-standing commitment to expanding treatment options for patients and to advancing clinical evidence in the field, including our support of the landmark CREST study,” said Robert Hance, senior vice president, vascular, Abbott. “Based on the strength of the CREST data, we plan to file an application in the U.S. by the end of this year seeking an expanded indication for the ACCULINK Carotid Stent System to treat patients with carotid artery disease who are at standard risk for surgery.”

All carotid stent systems in the United States are currently indicated only for patients who are considered to be at high risk for surgical treatment due to anatomical factors, age or other considerations. The majority of patients with carotid artery disease are not part of this high-risk group, and therefore are not within the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indications for carotid stenting.

Abbott will submit the results of a pre-agreed-upon analysis of the CREST data to the FDA in an application seeking an expanded indication for the ACCULINK Carotid Stent System as a treatment option for patients at standard surgical risk (those patients not considered to be at high risk for surgery). Abbott will seek Medicare coverage for standard-risk patients if the FDA approves the treatment for this broader patient group.

“As a neurosurgeon who has performed both carotid surgeries and carotid stenting procedures, I am pleased to see that carotid stenting and carotid surgery had comparable outcomes for a majority of standard-risk patients in this trial,” said L. Nelson “Nick” Hopkins III, M.D., chairman of Neurosurgery, professor of Radiology, and director of the Toshiba Stroke Research Center at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. “Both therapies met the American Heart Association guidelines for patients with carotid narrowing. Experience, training and patient selection will continue to be of paramount importance in determining success for both treatments.”

CREST demonstrated results consistent with long-standing American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for outcomes in patients with a severe carotid stenosis. These guidelines state that rates of death and stroke for carotid artery surgery within 30 days of the procedure be less than 3 percent for asymptomatic patients and less than 6 percent for symptomatic patients.

In addition to CREST, Abbott is currently enrolling patients in ACT I – an additional randomized clinical trial of patients at standard risk for surgical treatment, which will include up to 1,658 asymptomatic patients under the age of 80. This multi-center study compares carotid surgery to Abbott’s second carotid stent and embolic protection system – the Xact® Rapid Exchange Carotid Stent System and the Emboshield family of embolic protection systems.

Abbott is the only company with two distinct carotid stent and embolic protection systems approved by the FDA and on the market in the United States. Abbott also has the most comprehensive clinical trial program studying the benefits of carotid artery stenting. To date, approximately 25,000 patients have been enrolled in nine clinical trials evaluating Abbott’s carotid stent systems.

Since the first carotid stent approval in Europe in 1999, more than 100,000 patients have been treated with Abbott’s carotid stents and embolic protection systems throughout the world.

For more information about Abbott’s carotid stent and embolic protection systems, please visit carotidmediakit.

About the CREST Study

CREST is a randomized, multi-center clinical trial comparing outcomes of carotid artery stenting and carotid surgery in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with carotid artery disease.

In the study, stenting and surgery had similar initial safety and longer-term outcomes for symptomatic and asymptomatic men and women. The study showed equivalent low rates of adverse events for either procedure in the 2,502 patients studied, with 6.8 percent of surgery patients and 7.2 percent of stenting patients experiencing a primary endpoint of death, stroke or heart attack event in the periprocedural period (during the procedure and within approximately 30 days thereafter) and ipsilateral strokes up to four years after the procedure (mean follow-up of 2.5 years). In the periprocedural period, 5.2 percent of surgery patients and 4.5 percent of stenting patients experienced any of these adverse events, with a rate of stroke of 2.3 percent in the surgical patients and 4.1 percent in the stenting group, and a rate of heart attack of 2.3 percent in the surgical group and 1.1 percent in the stenting group. After the periprocedural period, the incidence of ipsilateral stroke was similar for stenting (2.0 percent) and surgery (2.4 percent).

The rate of cranial nerve palsy during the periprocedural period was 4.7 percent for the surgical group and 0.3 percent for the stenting group (representing crossover stenting patients who also underwent the surgical procedure). Cranial nerve palsy refers to a temporary injury of the nerves that run close to the carotid artery, potentially causing difficulty with speaking, swallowing and facial expressions. It is not a complication of stenting.

Treatments for Carotid Artery Disease

Carotid artery disease involves the buildup of plaque in one or both carotid arteries in the neck. The carotid arteries supply vital oxygen and glucose-rich blood to the parts of the brain where thinking, speech, personality, and sensory and motor functions reside. Patients with carotid artery disease have three treatment options: carotid artery stenting – which currently is approved in the United States for high-risk patients only – carotid surgery, known as carotid endarterectomy, or medical therapy.

The traditional surgical treatment for carotid artery disease usually entails general anesthesia and involves an incision in the patient’s neck and artery to remove plaque from inside the vessel wall. In contrast, during a carotid stenting procedure, an embolic protection system is positioned in the carotid artery and a stent is deployed using a catheter inserted into a small puncture in the patient’s groin. The patient usually remains conscious while the stent is implanted at the site of the blockage. The embolic protection system is designed to capture and remove particles of plaque that might be dislodged during the procedure, which could potentially lead to stroke and other complications.

About Stroke and Carotid Artery Disease

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and the number one cause of disability in adults, according to the American Heart Association. Strokes can be caused by carotid artery disease. An ischemic stroke, the most common type, can occur when carotid arteries become narrowed and when small particles of atherosclerotic plaque become dislodged from the diseased artery wall. This embolic material can travel through the bloodstream and block vessels in the brain. More than 795,000 Americans will have new (610,000) or recurrent (185,000) strokes each year. On average, every four minutes someone dies of stroke.1

About Abbott Vascular

Abbott Vascular is a global leader in cardiac and vascular care with market-leading products and an industry-leading pipeline. Abbott Vascular offers a comprehensive cardiac and vascular devices portfolio, including products for coronary artery disease, vessel closure, endovascular disease, and structural heart disease.

1 Circulation “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2010 Update. A Report From the American Heart Association.” January 26, 2010

Source
Abbott

The Fraunhofer USA Center for
Molecular Biotechnology (“Fraunhofer CMB”) announced today the receipt of a
$3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the
development of transmission-blocking vaccines against malaria. To achieve
the goals of this project, Fraunhofer CMB will employ its proprietary
platform technology to produce lifesaving vaccines in non-genetically
modified plants.

Despite a century of efforts, malaria remains a major cause of
morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the
world, causing more than 300 million acute cases and at least one million
deaths annually. Malaria is the leading cause of death in young children in
Africa, killing one child every 30 seconds.

Vaccines could provide an effective means for the control and
prevention of malaria. Previous research has shown that some human
antibodies can reduce the transmission of malaria parasites from humans to
mosquitoes. The project announced today will develop vaccine candidates
designed to elicit these antibodies, thus preventing further spread of
disease in endemic communities.

“This support from the Gates Foundation will significantly expedite the
development of these novel vaccines. This will be an international effort
between several institutions, wherein each group will contribute their
expertise and know-how,” said Dr. Vidadi Yusibov, Executive Director of
CMB. “Fraunhofer CMB will work closely with the Malaria Vaccine Development
Branch of NIAID of the National Institutes of Health, USA, Radboud
University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, Imperial College
London’s Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, UK, and The Cell-Free
Science and Technology Research Center, Ehime University in Japan to ensure
success.”

This is the third grant that Fraunhofer CMB has received from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation to support development of vaccines using its
plant- based platform. A $2.7 million award for development of novel
subunit vaccines against influenza was announced last week. Fraunhofer CMB
was also the recipient of a $1.2 million Gates Foundation grant in 2005 for
pre-clinical studies towards the development of a vaccine against African
trypanosomiasis.

About Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB).
Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology was established in July
2001 as a partnership between the Fraunhofer Society in Germany and the
State of Delaware. CMB is part of Fraunhofer USA, Inc., a non-profit
organization that has five research Centers in the United States. CMB is
located at the Delaware Technology Park in Newark, Delaware and is a unique
institution conducting research in the area of plant biotechnology,
developing cutting edge technologies to assist the diagnosis, prevention
and treatment of human and animal diseases.

Fraunhofer USA
fraunhofer

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $2.1 million “Grand Opportunity” (GO) grant to a team of researchers – led by Prof. Todd Lencz at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, New York, and Prof.Ariel Darvasi of the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – to conduct a study on the genetic basis of schizophrenia..

The team, which also includes Drs. Anil Malhotra and Peter Gregersen of the Feinstein Institute and Dr. David Goldman of the US National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, will use advanced technologies in their groundbreaking research.

As described by the NIH, the GO grant program was designed to support “high impact ideas” that can “accelerate critical breakthroughs” in our understanding of human disease. President Barack Obama personally announced the awards and singled out genetic research as “one of the most exciting areas of research to move forward as a result of this investment.”

It has long been known that schizophrenia – a complex brain disease marked by often-frightening hallucinations and delusions – tends to run in families and therefore has a genetic component to its cause. However, scientists have struggled to conclusively identify the genes that contribute to risk for this disease.

The newly funded GO grant builds on prior gene-hunting efforts with several distinctive features. Most notably the sample study group set, unprecedented in its size, consists entirely of 4000 individuals (patients and controls) of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, recruited in Israel by Prof. Darvasi and his colleagues.

“The unique demographic history of the Jewish Ashkenazi population results in a more homogeneous genetic background compared to the general population. This should allow disease-related genetic signals to stand out more clearly in our analyses,” said Prof. Darvasi. Additionally, this study will utilize the most advanced genetic technologies, which will permit examination of many more pieces of the genetic code than prior generations of research.

It is hoped that the results of this research will lead to more accurate prediction, treatment and prevention of serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

Source:
Jerry Barach

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem