Mouse With Human-Like Immune System Could Advance AIDS Research

HealthDay – Thu, Jul 19, 2012 WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists who created mice with elements of the human immune system believe the rodents will further efforts to develop a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

One of the challenges facing researchers striving to develop an HIV vaccine has been the lack of a laboratory animals that accurately reflect the human response to HIV and how the virus evolves to avoid that response.

The U.S. team of scientists transplanted human bone marrow cells and other human tissue into mice without a functioning immune system. This gave the mice aspects of the human immune system.

"Our study showed not only that these humanized mice mount human immune responses against HIV but also that the ability of HIV to evade these responses by mutating viral proteins targeted by CD8 'killer' T-cells is accurately reflected in these mice," study senior author Todd Allen, an associate professor medicine at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, explained in a MGH news release.

T-cells are immune cells that protect the body from infection.

The mice might significantly reduce the time and costs required to test experimental HIV vaccines, according to the researchers.

The study was published in the July 18 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

More information

The New Mexico AIDS Education and Training Center has more about HIV/AIDS vaccines.

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Toward a cure for AIDS: Scientists set research agenda

Reuters – 22 hrs ago CHICAGO (Reuters) - A team of global scientists has devised a strategy to find a cure for AIDS, an effort inspired by the remarkable story of a single U.S. patient named Timothy Ray Brown who was cured from the disease.

Brown's treatment in Berlin involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection. The procedure is too costly and too difficult to replicate on a large scale.

But in the years since his successful treatment in 2007, Brown's story has become a rallying point for scientists who believe the time is now right to seek a cure for AIDS.

Since the AIDS epidemic started 31 years ago, scientists have made great strides in treating the disease. AIDS-related deaths worldwide fell to 1.7 million last year from some 1.8 million in 2010, according to the latest report from United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS).

Cocktails of powerful HIV drugs can keep the infection at bay for years, but the virus is wily, weaving itself into the DNA of special immune system cells, where it can lie dormant and out of reach of medications. That makes it necessary for HIV patients to take drugs over a lifetime.

As a result of better access to treatment, more patients with HIV are living near-normal lives, but the numbers of patients needing drugs is rising, increasing the future costs of AIDS treatment.

"Treatment is for life, and we know that it is important today and that it can slow the spread of the virus," said Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS.

But he said treatment should not be an end in itself.

"If we continue to believe it is the endgame, then we will have a challenge to get to 'zero,'" Sidibé said, referring to the goal of ending the epidemic.

"It's a first step," said Francoise Barre Sinoussi, who won a Nobel prize for her part in identifying human immunodeficiency virus. She is co-chair of the International Working Group Towards an HIV Cure, which released its proposed steps toward a cure on Thursday.

Sinoussi said the next step will be determining the cost-effectiveness of the strategy. That work will begin in conjunction with the International Aids Society's 2012 conference, which runs from July 22-27 in Washington.

GETTING RID OF THE VIRUS

Dr. Steven Deeks of the University of California San Francisco division of HIV/AIDS, who is co-chair of the working group, said health professionals see a growing need to "switch from blocking the virus to getting rid of the virus."

Instead of trying to copy the treatment received by Brown, researchers will seek a similar response in a way that is less costly and easier to replicate.

Among the first tasks, according to Deeks, will be to continue basic research in the lab to understand why the virus persists in the body and where it hides out.

Scientists will also need to understand immune system function in HIV-infected patients and determine whether inflammation is playing a role in protecting the virus.

Other teams will need to determine why some patients develop antibodies to the virus, allowing them to control the infection, and whether this can be applied to the search for a cure.

Deeks said doctors need better tests to measure levels of the virus. Researchers will need to develop drugs that flush out the virus from its hiding places in the body, making it more vulnerable to treatment, as well as powerful medications to bolster the immune system's own ability to fight off infection.

Rowena Johnston, of the Foundation for AIDS Research, which is helping fund development of a cure, said the global strategy will help consolidate research efforts.

"Now that we know what the questions are, we can focus our efforts in the right direction," she said at a briefing announcing the new push.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, a part of the National Institutes of Health, said his agency supports the work but that it is far too early to handicap its success.

"We still have so much discovery to do with regard to a cure that there's no guarantee when or if it will happen. We're sort of where we were over a decade ago with a vaccine," he said.

Back then, scientists were far less certain about vaccine prospects after repeated trial failures, but sentiment changed in 2009 with the first report in Thailand of a modestly successful HIV vaccine trial.

"Now I can say, I'm confident that we'll get a vaccine, I just can't tell you when. With a cure, we're still at the very nascent phase of discovery," Fauci said.

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Salimah Ebrihim in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Cynthia Osterman)

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In US, painkiller abusers turning to heroin: research

"Ever since the popular painkiller pill OxyContin became harder to crush into powder two years ago, many US drug abusers have turned to heroin instead, researchers said Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Martin Bureau)" title

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US journal prints controversial bird flu research

"Flu tests strips can be seen in a laboratory in the central German city of Hanover in 2009. The US journal Science published research Thursday on how a mutant bird flu may spread among mammals and possibly humans, following months of controversy over the risks of bioterrorism. (AFP Photo/Nigel Treblin)" title

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WHO agrees to tackle research on neglected diseases

"A medical worker at a mobile testing facility for tuberculosis (TB) at Driefontein Gold Mine in Carletonville, South Africa in March 2012. Campaigners on Saturday welcomed a World Health Organization pledge to tackle research and funding gaps concerning some of the developing world's biggest killer diseases, including TB. (AFP Photo/Alexander Joe)" title

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New Drug Shows We Must Overcome Taboos About Stem-Cell Research

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Research With Dogs Points to Early Test for Arthritis

HealthDay – Fri, May 18, 2012 FRIDAY, May 18 (HealthDay News) -- A new test that can detect and predict osteoarthritis before patients experience symptoms was developed by analyzing the joints of dogs with arthritis.

Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, affects more than 27 million adults in the United States. Early detection of the disease, which causes pain and swelling in the joints, would allow better treatment options, according to the University of Missouri researchers.

They said their test can be conducted using a single drop of fluid from a patient's joint. The fluid is obtained with a small needle.

"With this biomarker test, we can study the levels of specific proteins that we now know are associated with osteoarthritis," James Cook, a professor of orthopedic surgery and a researcher at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, said in a university news release.

"Not only does the test have the potential to help predict future arthritis, but it also tells us about the early mechanisms of arthritis, which will lead to better treatments in the future," he explained.

Cook and his colleagues used dogs to develop the test, noting that dog joints operate similarly to the joints of humans and the test is being adapted to human patients. The test has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval.

Scientists note, however, that research with animals often fails to provide similar results in humans.

"This test has already shown early usefulness for allowing us to monitor how different treatments affect the arthritic joints in people," Cook said. "With further validation, this test will allow doctors to adjust and fine tune treatments to individual patients. Also, being able to tell patients when they are at a high risk for developing arthritis will give doctors a strong motivational tool to convince patients to take preventive measures including appropriate exercise and diet change."

The research appears in the Journal of Knee Surgery.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about osteoarthritis.

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Overweight? New research explains how proper sleep is important for healthy weight

ScienceDaily (May 7, 2012) — If you're counting calories to lose weight, that may be only part of the weight loss equation says a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal. In the report, French scientists show that impairments to a gene known to be responsible for our internal body clocks, called "Rev-Erb alpha," leads to excessive weight gain and related health problems. This provides new insights into the importance of proper alignment between the body's internal timing and natural environmental light cycles to prevent or limit excessive weight gain and the problems this weight gain causes.

See Also:Health & MedicineDiet and Weight LossObesityFitnessWorkplace HealthGene TherapyDiseases and ConditionsReferenceCalorie restricted dietCircadian rhythm sleep disorderSeasonal affective disorderCircadian rhythm

According to Etienne Challet, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Neurobiology of Rhythms at the Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences at the University of Strasbourg in Pascal, France, "It is now clear that impairment of daily rhythms such as shift-work, exposure to artificial lighting, or jet-lag has multiple adverse effects on human health, every effort should be made to maintain or restore normal temporal organization and to avoid potentially disruptive behaviors such as nocturnal meals or light exposure at night."

To make this discovery, Challet and colleagues studied two groups of mice. One group was normal and the other group lacked the Rev-Erb alpha gene. In the mice lacking the Rev-Erb alpha gene, it was determined that they became obese and hyperglycaemic even if they ate the same quantity of food at the same time as normal mice. Further scientific investigation showed that when the Rev-Erb alpha-deficient mice were compared to the normal mice, there was a major difference in the way Rev-Erb alpha-deficient mice metabolized the food they ate. The Rev-Erb alpha deficient mice created much more fat than the normal mice, and this occurred specifically during the feeding period. Additionally, the Rev-Erb-alpha deficient mice relied less on carbohydrate stores when at rest.

"The phrase 'sick and tired' could never be more true," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "This research shows that we evolved to live in synch with the natural light and dark cycles of our planet. Strasbourg has long taught us the finer aspects of cuisine; its scientists now explain how night and day can influence whether we are fat or lean."

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Anthropologists discover new research use for dental plaque: Examining diets of ancient peoples

ScienceDaily (May 2, 2012) — While we may brush and floss tirelessly and our dentists may regularly scrape and pick at our teeth to minimize the formation of plaque known as tartar or dental calculus, anthropologists may be rejoicing at the fact that past civilizations were not so careful with their dental hygiene.

See Also:Health & MedicineDentistryBone and SpinePlants & AnimalsNatureBiologyFossils & RuinsAncient CivilizationsFossilsReferenceCarbon-14Periodontal diseaseRadiocarbon datingDentistry

University of Nevada, Reno researchers G. Richard Scott and Simon R. Poulson discovered that very small particles of plaque removed from the teeth of ancient populations may provide good clues about their diets. Scott is chair and associate professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts. Poulson is research professor of geological sciences in the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering.

Scott obtained samples of dental calculus from 58 skeletons buried in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in northern Spain dating from the 11th to 19th centuries to conduct research on the diet of this ancient population. After his first methodology met with mixed results, he decided to send five samples of dental calculus to Poulson at the University's Stable Isotope Lab, in the off chance they might contain enough carbon and nitrogen to allow them to estimate stable isotope ratios.

"It's chemistry and is pretty complex," Scott explained. "But basically, since only protein has nitrogen, the more nitrogen that is present, the more animal products were consumed as part of the diet. Carbon provides information on the types of plants consumed."

Scott said that once at the lab, the material was crushed, and then an instrument called a mass spectrometer was used to obtain stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios.

"It was a long shot," he said. "No one really thought there would be enough carbon and nitrogen in these tiny, 5- to 10- milligram samples to be measurable, but Dr. Poulson's work revealed there was. The lab results yielded stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios very similar to studies that used bone collagen, which is the typical material used for this type of analysis."

Scott explained that the common practice of using bone to conduct such research is cumbersome and expensive, requiring several acid baths to extract the collagen for analysis. The process also destroys bone, so in many instances, it isn't permitted by museum curators.

As for using hair, muscle and nails for such research, Scott said, "They are great, when you can find them. The problem is, they just don't hold up very well. They decompose too quickly. Dental calculus, for better or for worse, stays around a very long time."

Scott said that although additional work is necessary to firmly establish this new method of using dental calculus for paleodietary research, the results of this initial study indicate it holds great potential.

"This is groundbreaking work," Scott said. "It could save a lot of time and effort, and also allow for analysis when things like hair, muscle and nails are no longer available."

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Late NFL star Seau's family undecided on brain research

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Research Gets Closer to Genetic Roots of Glaucoma

HealthDay – 16 hrs ago FRIDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- Two genetic variations are linked to a common form of glaucoma, known as primary open-angle glaucoma, according to new research.

Glaucoma affects about 2.2 million people in the United States, the U.S. National Eye Institute said in a news release.

"Loss of vision from glaucoma, a common cause of blindness worldwide, is due to irreversible damage to the optic nerve," noted one expert, Dr. Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Glaucoma is usually associated with high eye pressure leading to optic nerve damage. There is also a form of glaucoma with normal pressure."

In the new study, Janey Wiggs, of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, and colleagues analyzed the DNA sequences of more than 6,000 people. Half of them had primary open-angle glaucoma. This form of the disease is typically associated with increased eye pressure, but one-third of these patients had normal-pressure glaucoma.

The study, published online April 26 in PLoS Genetics, found that two genetic variations were linked with primary open-angle glaucoma, including those who have normal-pressure glaucoma.

One variant is in a gene located on chromosome 9. The second variant is in a region of chromosome 8, where it may affect the expression of one or two other genes. These genes may interact with a molecule that regulates cell growth and survival throughout the body, the researchers explained in the news release.

The investigators believe future studies could focus on this molecule as a treatment for various forms of glaucoma.

Fromer concurred. "These results reveal new insights into the genetic pathways of optic nerve disease in glaucoma for the first time and are an important step toward the development of preventative and protective therapies," he said.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about glaucoma.

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Brain scans can predict weight gain and sexual activity, research shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2012) — At a time when obesity has become epidemic in American society, Dartmouth scientists have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans may be able to predict weight gain. In a study published April 18, 2012, in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers demonstrated a connection between fMRI brain responses to appetite-driven cues and future behavior.

See Also:Health & MedicineDiet and Weight LossBrain TumorObesityMind & BrainDieting and Weight ControlPsychologyBrain InjuryLiving WellStrange ScienceReferenceFunctional neuroimagingBone scanMirror neuronSleep deprivation

"This is one of the first studies in brain imaging that uses the responses observed in the scanner to predict important, real-world outcomes over a long period of time," says Todd Heatherton, the Lincoln Filene Professor in Human Relations in the department of psychological and brain sciences and a coauthor on the study. "Using brain activity to predict a consequential behavior outside the scanner is pretty novel."

Using fMRI, the researchers targeted a region of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, often referred to as the brain's "reward center," in a group of incoming first-year college students. While undergoing scans, the subjects viewed images of animals, environmental scenes, appetizing food items, and people. Six months later, their weight and responses to questionnaires regarding interim sexual behavior were compared with their previously recorded weight and brain scan data.

"The people whose brains responded more strongly to food cues were the people who went on to gain more weight six months later," explains Kathryn Demos, first author on the paper. Demos, who conducted the research as part of her doctoral dissertation at Dartmouth, is currently on the research faculty at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The correlation between strong food image brain responses and weight gain was also present for sexual images and activity. "Just as cue reactivity to food images was investigated as potential predictors of weight gain, cue reactivity to sexual images was used to predict sexual desire," the authors report.

The paper stresses "material specificity," noting that the participants who responded to food images gained weight but did not engage in more sexual behavior, and vice versa. The authors go on to say that none of the non-food images predicted weight gain.

Heatherton and William Kelley, associate professor of psychological and brain science and a senior author on the paper, have a longstanding interest in psychological theories of self-regulation, also called self-control or willpower.

"We seek to understand situations in which people face temptations and try to not act on them," says Kelley.

The researchers note that the first step toward controlling cravings may be an awareness of how much you are affected by specific triggers in the environment, such as the arrival of the dessert tray in a restaurant.

"You need to actively be thinking about the behavior you want to control in order to regulate it," remarks Kelley. "Self-regulation requires a lot of conscious effort."

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Politics May Get in the Way of Empathy, Research Shows

THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that empathy -- the ability to understand and share someone else's feelings -- vanishes when people have different political views.

U.S. researchers asked the study participants to read a short story about a person -- either a Democrat or a Republican -- who went hiking in winter and got lost with no food, water or extra clothes. People who had the same politics as the fictional hiker felt empathy for the hiker, while those with opposing political views did not.

The study appears in the March issue of the journal Psychological Science.

"Political values are emotionally charged. People get really fired up," study co-author Ed O'Brien, of the University of Michigan, said in a news release from the Association for Psychological Science.

The findings suggest that people are less likely to feel empathy for others they regard as very different from themselves, the researchers said.

For example, people may be less opposed to torture if it's used on people who are nothing like them, O'Brien said. Or people may have little sympathy for the homeless because they can't relate to their situation.

"Even if you're feeling shared pain, you may not let that connection affect your opinions of people who are very, very different from you," O'Brien added.

More information

Utah State University has more about teaching empathy.

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Autism research may be about to bear fruit

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Big Pharma Should Fund Research of Diabetes Drug for Cancer Prevention

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Most Anal Lesions Don't Cause Cancer in Men, Research Shows

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