In the fight against a silent killer, you've got to resort to dirty tactics.
Pancreatic cancer is deadly because it tends to spread, or metastasise, to other parts of the body before symptoms appear. In previous work in mice, Claudia Gravekamp of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York had shown that weakened listeria bacteria colonise tumour tissue but not healthy tissue. What's more, the bacteria seem to home in on the metastatic tumours.
To take advantage of this, her team have now armed the bacteria with a radioactive payload ? attaching the isotope rhenium-188 to the listeria using a type of antibody.
They seeded mice with human pancreatic tumours and then injected them daily with the souped-up bacteria for a week, giving them a week off before four more days of injections. A few days later, there were on average 90 per cent fewer metastatic tumours in this group than there were in untreated mice, and the average weights of original pancreatic tumours had decreased by 64 per cent.
A week later, the animals' livers and kidneys had completely cleared the radioactive bacteria from their systems, with no damage to either organ.
Gravekamp thinks the radiation affected metastatic tumours most because cells there were still rapidly multiplying, leaving their chromosomes more open to damage than those in healthy tissues or in the original tumour. The bacteria also play a part by producing reactive oxygen molecules that again damage the tumour's DNA.
If the approach progresses to clinical trials, says Gravekamp, the idea would be to cut out the original tumour, then clear the rest with radioactive listeria. The next step is to test this strategy in mice, as well as other isotopes such as phosphorus-32, which could be incorporated into the cell wall of the bacterium, removing the need for the antibody tether.
"The results from this fascinating approach are encouraging, but we can't tell whether it would be safe or effective until trials are carried out in patients," says Nell Barrie, science communications manager at Cancer Research UK. "But progress is urgently needed, so new approaches like this deserve further investigation."
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SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Using voice to send text messages while driving is just as dangerous as texting with fingers, with driver response times significantly delayed no matter which method was used, a study released on Tuesday showed.
The study by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University was the first to compare voice-to-text and traditional texting on a handheld device in an actual driving environment.
"In each case, drivers took about twice as long to react as they did when they weren't texting," Christine Yager, who headed the study, told Reuters. "Eye contact to the roadway also decreased, no matter which texting method was used."
The research involved 43 participants driving along a test track without any electronic devices present. The same participants then drove while texting and again while using a speech-to-text device.
Yager said speech-to-text actually took longer than traditional texting, due to the need to correct errors in the electronic transcription.
"You're still using your mind to try to think of what you're trying to say, and that by proxy causes some driving impairment, and that decreases your response time," Yager said.
The biggest concern is that the driver felt safer while using voice-to-text applications instead of traditional texting, even though driving performance was equally affected, she said.
This may lead to a false belief that texting while driving using spoken commands is safe when in reality it is not, Yager said.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association says 6.1 billion text messages per day were sent in the United States in 2012. Some 35 percent of drivers admit to reading a text or email while driving in any given month, while 26 percent admitted to typing one, according to data from AAA, a national drivers' organization.
"Every day, new technologies come out, and it is important to educate the public that even these seemingly new distractions are still distractions, and it will help people be safer when they get into the vehicle," Yager said.
(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
After age 18, asthma care deterioratesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
It is widely accepted that medical insurance helps older adults with chronic health problems to receive better care. But what about young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, a demographic that also tends to have the lowest levels of health insurance coverage?
In what may be the first study to measure health care utilization patterns among young adults with chronic health problemsin this case asthmaa team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that losing health insurance was a significant predictor of deteriorating patterns of health management. Other social factors, including leaving school and losing adult supervision, also contributed to the deterioration.
"This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care that they need," said Kao-Ping Chua, a staff physician in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital who led the study. "But it also points to the importance of addressing other socially-mediated factors in this population."
J. Michael McWilliams, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital was the senior author of the study, to be published April 22 in Pediatrics.
"Aside from the lack of financial protection, uninsurance poses fewer health risks to young adults than for older adults because they are generally healthy," McWilliams said. "But for young people with asthmaor other conditions amenable to medical careit's important to understand and address the barriers to care."
The researchers used nationally representative data from the 1999 to 2009
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, looking at a sample of 2,485 individuals between the ages of 14 and 25. The researchers investigated how an individual's age related to having a regular care provider, visiting that provider at least once per year, using asthma medications, and visiting the emergency room.
They found that while adolescents under age 18 were more likely to utilize primary care and preventive measures, young adults over age 18 were more likely to use the emergency room and have problems accessing medical care and medications because of cost. Losing insurance explained 32 percent of the decline in use of primary care and 47 to 61 percent of the increase in cost-related access problems.
Under the federal Affordable Care Act health reform law, young people whose parents have private insurance will be eligible to remain covered on their parents' policies until they are 26. The news is not so good for many low-income young people whose parents may be uninsured or receive public assistance. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the ACA could not require states to expand their Medicaid coverage, many states have decided not to expand coverage, and one of the key groups that will likely be left out is low-income young adults.
"We may continue to see particularly poor asthma care for many young adults in states that don't expand their Medicaid programs," McWilliams said.
But increasing insurance coverage alone is not the answer, the researchers said. Health professionals who provide care for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses like asthma have to think about patients who are aging out of their practice, the researchers said.
"Young people with asthma need to work with their care providers to create transition plans from pediatric to adult care that take into account their medical and social history," Chua said.
###
This research was supported by the Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship (AHRQ NRSA 5T32HS00063-17), the Beeson Career Development Award Program (National Institute on Aging K08 AG038354 and the American Federation for Aging Research) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Clinical Scientist Development Award #2010053).
Written by Jake Miller
Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
After age 18, asthma care deterioratesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
It is widely accepted that medical insurance helps older adults with chronic health problems to receive better care. But what about young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, a demographic that also tends to have the lowest levels of health insurance coverage?
In what may be the first study to measure health care utilization patterns among young adults with chronic health problemsin this case asthmaa team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that losing health insurance was a significant predictor of deteriorating patterns of health management. Other social factors, including leaving school and losing adult supervision, also contributed to the deterioration.
"This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care that they need," said Kao-Ping Chua, a staff physician in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital who led the study. "But it also points to the importance of addressing other socially-mediated factors in this population."
J. Michael McWilliams, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital was the senior author of the study, to be published April 22 in Pediatrics.
"Aside from the lack of financial protection, uninsurance poses fewer health risks to young adults than for older adults because they are generally healthy," McWilliams said. "But for young people with asthmaor other conditions amenable to medical careit's important to understand and address the barriers to care."
The researchers used nationally representative data from the 1999 to 2009
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, looking at a sample of 2,485 individuals between the ages of 14 and 25. The researchers investigated how an individual's age related to having a regular care provider, visiting that provider at least once per year, using asthma medications, and visiting the emergency room.
They found that while adolescents under age 18 were more likely to utilize primary care and preventive measures, young adults over age 18 were more likely to use the emergency room and have problems accessing medical care and medications because of cost. Losing insurance explained 32 percent of the decline in use of primary care and 47 to 61 percent of the increase in cost-related access problems.
Under the federal Affordable Care Act health reform law, young people whose parents have private insurance will be eligible to remain covered on their parents' policies until they are 26. The news is not so good for many low-income young people whose parents may be uninsured or receive public assistance. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the ACA could not require states to expand their Medicaid coverage, many states have decided not to expand coverage, and one of the key groups that will likely be left out is low-income young adults.
"We may continue to see particularly poor asthma care for many young adults in states that don't expand their Medicaid programs," McWilliams said.
But increasing insurance coverage alone is not the answer, the researchers said. Health professionals who provide care for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses like asthma have to think about patients who are aging out of their practice, the researchers said.
"Young people with asthma need to work with their care providers to create transition plans from pediatric to adult care that take into account their medical and social history," Chua said.
###
This research was supported by the Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship (AHRQ NRSA 5T32HS00063-17), the Beeson Career Development Award Program (National Institute on Aging K08 AG038354 and the American Federation for Aging Research) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Clinical Scientist Development Award #2010053).
Written by Jake Miller
Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This is part of the Made in NY series, shining a spotlight on New York's thriving start-up scene. Made in NY is presented in partnership with American Express OPEN Forum.
When Animoto, the video slideshow creation app, decided to move into an old furniture warehouse in SoHo, they got a blank canvas.
Animoto co-founder Brad Jefferson told Business Insider that the company saw the empty space as a great opportunity for some team building, literally.?
They hired professional contractors to clear the space and set up a very basic floor plan, but that was it. From then on, it was about a company building their office, and with it, their office culture. And in the process something unique happened: they actually built an office that embodies their company's fun and quirky culture.
The result is an office that employees feel invested in.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny speaks to journalists after a trial in Kirov, Russia, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The trial of Navalny accused of embezzling half a million dollars' worth of timber from a state-run company was adjourned shortly after its start Wednesday in the northwestern city. (AP Photo/Mitya Aleshkovskiy)
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny speaks to journalists after a trial in Kirov, Russia, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The trial of Navalny accused of embezzling half a million dollars' worth of timber from a state-run company was adjourned shortly after its start Wednesday in the northwestern city. (AP Photo/Mitya Aleshkovskiy)
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, center, enters a courtroom to attend a trial in Kirov, Russia, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The trial of Navalny accused of embezzling half a million dollars' worth of timber from a state-run company has started in the northwestern city. (AP Photo/Mitya Aleshkovskiy)
FILE In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Investigative Committee Chief Alexander Bastrykin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Bastrykin struggled to respond to documents released by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny that showed that he allegedly had unregistered real estate in the Czech Republic, as well as a legal firm which allegedly had failed to pay taxes. Bastrykin?s agency spearheaded the ongoing crackdown on the opposition.(AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)
KIROV, Russia (AP) ? Alexei Navalny, an obscure adviser to a provincial governor just four years ago, shot up to become the Kremlin's public enemy No.1. The web-savvy 36-year-old lawyer overcame a state-imposed national media blackout and minimal funds by exploiting his blog and Twitter account to reach hundreds of thousands of Russians.
Navalny went on trial Wednesday in Kirov on embezzlement charges but was granted an adjournment for more time to prepare. Navalny, the opposition's most popular and charismatic figure, says the charges were fabricated on President Vladimir Putin's orders. Here's a glance at his campaigns which provoked official wrath.
CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS:
Navalny first made a name for himself in 2009 by buying minority stakes in state-run companies and using his shareholder status to obtain internal documents. He then posted them on his blog, accusing officials of stealing more than $150 million from the state-controlled VTB bank and a staggering $4 billion from the oil pipeline operator Transneft.
His findings and rapier-like wit won Navalny a large network of followers, which he tapped for crowd-funding of his Foundation for Fighting Corruption. Its targets range from lawmakers who order luxury cars at taxpayers' expense to local officials slow to fix potholes. Navalny's document-based investigations have filled a gap in Russia, where investigative journalism has been severely limited by censorship and attacks on reporters.
KREMLIN'S PARTY:
While Putin still enjoys approval ratings that would be the envy of any Western leader, the Kremlin-run United Russia party, which includes the bureaucracy nationwide, has been widely despised for corruption, nepotism and inefficiency.
Navalny seized on that anger with a campaign to brand United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves" and urged his followers to vote for any other of the parties running in the December 2011 parliamentary elections. United Russia ended up with its worst result ever and had to rely on massive vote-rigging ? documented by independent observers ? to retain its majority in parliament.
PROTEST MOVEMENT:
The egregious ballot fraud in the 2011 parliamentary vote triggered a series of massive street protests in Moscow that attracted up to 100,000 demonstrators who opposed Putin's return to the presidency. Navalny rose to rock star status, electrifying crowds by chanting "We are the power!" and claiming that "we have enough people to seize the Kremlin."
Some said, however, that Navalny missed his chance by failing to enter the 2012 presidential race and focusing instead on promoting an election to an opposition alternative parliament that quickly fizzled into irrelevance.
After Putin won a third presidential term in March 2012, the Kremlin responded to the opposition with a series of searches and arrests of activists, a package of repressive laws that hiked fines 150-fold for participants in unsanctioned protests and tight new restrictions on non-government organizations.
ASSETS EXPOS?S:
After a year of dashed hopes and still-born campaigns, Navalny has scored with a recent series of expos?s about undeclared foreign assets of top officials and lawmakers:
Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the powerful state Investigation Committee, struggled to respond to documents released by Navalny that showed that he had unregistered real estate in the Czech Republic, as well as a legal firm which allegedly had failed to pay taxes. Bastrykin, whose agency spearheaded the ongoing crackdown on the opposition, hasn't concealed his personal enmity against Navalny.
Vladimir Pekhtin, the head of the ethics commission in the lower house of parliament, resigned after Navalny blogged about Pekhtin's luxury property holdings in Miami Beach.
Vitaly Malkin, an upper house member, also resigned after Navalny published documents showing that Malkin owned undeclared business assets in Canada and had an Israeli passport though Russian law bans officials and lawmakers from having foreign citizenship.
Malin Akerman and Roberto Zincone are the proud parents of a baby boy.
Malin Akerman is a mom! "The Rock of Ages" actress welcomed a baby boy Tuesday, her first child with musician husband Roberto Zincone.?
"My husband and I welcomed our beautiful, healthy baby boy to this world this morning! Biggest joy of my life!!! #lovemykid," she tweeted.
A few minutes later, she added, "PS and his name is...Sebastian Zincone :))) Love him more than life itself!! #whatafeeling !!!"?
NEWS: Malin is only 34, but check out all these celebs having babies after 40?
Akerman revealed in September that she and Zincone were expecting.?
"I'm showing off the bump that's coming," the striking blonde told E! News in October. "I'm just so excited that I can actually talk about it. It was tough to keep a secret."?
Akerman said that, while they didn't know yet whether they would want to know the baby's gender in advance, she and her hubby of nearly six years had already picked out names for a boy and a girl, come what may.?
PHOTOS: Malin joins the ranks of Hollywood's hottest moms?
"That's done," she laughed. "We started that years ago and we finally came to an agreement for both sexes."?
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Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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This is part of the Made in NY series, shining a spotlight on New York's thriving start-up scene. Made in NY is presented in partnership with American Express OPEN Forum.