Health Meaning

Desperate. bald should not try at home, but the researchers found that mice will regrow hair, not only the skin, after a flesh wound. The discovery precipitated the dogma that adult mammals can not produce new hair follicles, and suggests ways to improve skin grafts and reverse hair loss.

Steeped in the dermis of the skin, hair follicles packets dead cells together at its base and sends them to germinate as hair. Researchers have long believed that a mammal is born with a full set of follicles, leading to an irreversible decline in the dark with all lost or damaged. It was fifty years ago, researchers noticed regrowth of injured skin of mice, rabbits and humans, but the work "was somewhat ignored," says dermatologist George Cotsarelis survey of Pennsylvania School of Medicine of the University in Philadelphia .

recently, while studying how stem cells in the skin to help heal wounds, Cotsarelis and colleagues noticed the same phenomenon. Comb for an answer, the team removed skin patches mouse and let the injury heal naturally Hair sprouted in central healed patches of skin the team then scored bulges hair -.. the pocket of a follicle where stem cells reside - in healthy skin near the wound. Although the bulges have cells that moved and helped to close the wound, they make new follicles.

further experiments have shown that, rather than developing follicular cells strains, new follicles were from stem cells of the epidermis. "They have grown from cells that are not [normally] make hair follicles," Cotsarelis said. "They had to be reprogrammed" A key player in this reprogramming appears to be the Wnt protein, which plays many roles in the development and healing of wounds. More Wnt mouse occurs naturally, more hair grew And. the injured area should be important to stimulate hair growth, reports the team tomorrow in nature. Follica, a Cotsarelis co-founded company, is exploring how to apply the finding of reverse hair loss.

"Regenerate a new body from scratch is quite remarkable," said Bruce Morgan, a molecular geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He noted that the results can lead to better skin grafts; current grafting techniques do not allow the growth of follicles and glands necessary for the skin to maintain. He is not surprised that there seems to be a cross, with stem cells of the skin resulting in follicles, while the follicles are sending in cells to help close the wound. "When there is an injury, any worldwide locations "

related site

• An introduction to hair

A new study has found that a small molecule can trigger breast cancer cells to go on a rampage invasive. The molecule could be a potential target for new therapies.

Small pieces of RNA called microRNAs help control gene activity and orchestrate the development of plants and animals ( Science NOW, July 8, 02). But these essential molecules can also turn bad: Some of them apparently cause cancer. How they do it is poorly understood, although recent studies have suggested that many microRNAs come from regions of the human genome associated with cancer risk.

A team led by researcher Robert Weinberg cancer of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has undertaken to monitor the involvement of microRNAs in the spread, or metastasis, cells cancer of the breast. In a screen of 29 microRNAs previously implicated in breast cancer, the team identified one - called miR-10b - that was prevalent in a line of human breast cancer cells very aggressive, but not in sedentary tumor cells. When the researchers blocked the action of miR-10b, the invasiveness of these cells decreased by 10 times. And when scientists introduced miR-10b in a culture of non-metastatic breast cancer cells, they became very invasive, as measured by their ability to migrate through a filter in a layer of target cells.

The team then implanted miR -10B-making cells in the breast area of ​​young female mice. After 6 weeks, the cells began to spread to distant tissues such as the lungs; non-metastatic cells, however, have caused breast tumors but not spread. Finally, the researchers traced the genetic pathways that influence the regulation and action of miR-10b. They found that the production of the molecule is under the control of a gene called Twist , which had been previously identified as a "master regulator" of embryonic development. In turn, miR-10b influences the expression of two genes involved in cell migration and cancer formation. The scientists report their findings online September 26 in Nature .

Weinberg and colleagues warn that despite the importance of miR-10b in triggering the spread of breast cancer cells, it is unclear whether their findings will lead to new therapies. "Although it is likely, we can not yet conclude that targeting miR-10b will reverse metastasis," says lead author of the paper, Whitehead cancer researcher Li Ma. But other scientists are more optimistic. "The work was carried out impeccably," says developmental biologist and pioneer in research of microRNA Frank Slack of Yale University. "The therapeutic potential is huge ... and very interesting pursuit." Carlo Croce, a cancer geneticist at Ohio State University in Columbus, agrees that the results "are very important and can be a potentially important target for treatment."

related site

• learn more about breast cancer

workers of travertine plant near Denizli, Turkey, were recently surprised when they sawed a block limestone for tiles and discovered a portion of a human skull. Now it seems they involuntarily exposed fossilized remains of a species long sought the man who lived 500,000 years ago, researchers say. Although only four skull fragments were found, the fossil also shows the first case of tuberculosis.

The Middle East has long been an important crossroads for human travelers. "It is clear for some time that earlier hominids must have dispersed into Western Europe from Asia and / or Africa, and Turkey lies squarely on the likely route," says paleoanthropologist Philip Rightmire of Harvard University who was not part of the team. paleontologists spent decades prospecting in Turkey for remains of a human ancestor directly Homo erectus , which was the first hominid to migrate out of Africa. Although scientists have discovered fossils of H. erectus who lived there 1.7 million years in the area of ​​Georgia, they found some fossils of man in this region that are between 1.7 million and 0,000 years ago.

After the plant manager contacted a researcher at the local university level, he alerted the rest of the team, which included researchers in France, Germany and the United States. They report in the current issue of American Journal of Physical Anthropology find that most resembles H. erectus . However, Rightmire said it might also be a member of H. heidelbergensis , a species found in Europe, which is thought to be the direct ancestor of Neanderthals.

Whatever his identity, the lead author John Kappelman of the University of Texas, Austin, said the skull bears scars that are a "ringer" to those created by the bacteria leptomeningitis tuberculosa , which causes a form of tuberculosis (TB) that attacks the membranes of the brain. The scars are the first signs of the disease in humans, said Kappelman. Previously, the earliest evidence of tuberculosis came from Egyptian and Peruvian mummies were old of thousands of years.

The presence of TB may also provide clues about what it looked like early humans and how it adapted to new habitats. If the hominid had dark skin, for example, he could have trouble getting enough vitamin D because it migrated north, because people with dark skin absorb less sunlight needed to make vitamin D than do people with fair skin. And when humans have a vitamin D deficiency, their immune system may be less vigilant, perhaps involving migrants with dark skin in Africa more vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis while heading climates less sunny Kappelman said.

"This is an extremely important finding," says paleoanthropologist Clark Larsen of Ohio State University, Columbus, because infectious disease can reveal new challenges faced by early humans as they moved in temperate regions. Kappelman hope the rest of the skull will eventually be located. "There were bones in the other slab, we have not," he said. "Someone can find the lottery prize of H. erectus kept in their tile counter."

Related Sites

• More details on Homo erectus
• the history of TB

About $ 1 billion a year goes into malaria treatment and prevention, but money hitting the best targets? Today, researchers have published a detailed map of global malaria risk, and it shows that some countries risk receiving less investment per capita than others. Public health experts hope the new information will help them realign their efforts against malaria-eradication to better respond to the threat.

Malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum , infects some 500 million people each year and kills 1 million of them. Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the worst affected region, but complete data on a global scale are lacking. The latest map of malaria was established in 1968, and funding agencies today are left guessing where their dollars are needed most. In 06, the Wellcome Trust in the UK and institutions based on the world launched the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) to map, model and predict the overall risk of malaria.

MAP researchers data on the incidence of malaria reported by countries and compiled research groups from 02 to 06, as well as climate data such as temperature and aridity that limit malaria transmission . The researchers then converted this information into regional and global maps showing where current malaria transmission risk is highest. The map estimates that 2.37 billion people - 35% of the world population - are at risk of contracting malaria. This decreases the earlier risk estimates by 46% and 48% in 1994 and 02 respectively. One billion people live in high-risk areas, and outside Africa infection rates were less than 5%, the group announced online today PLoS Medicine .

The map highlights some disparities between risk and finance, said epidemiologist Carlos Guerra of the University of Oxford, UK, who led the study. For example, at-risk populations in Southeast Asia and Africa receive less funding per capita than those living in low-risk areas such as the South American country of Suriname. Guerra welcomes the rapid progress in South America, but says that the current per capita funding is simply not enough to meet eradication goals and argued that the money should be reallocated to areas where malaria is a "huge problem."

The mapping results are not surprising, but are unprecedented in their accuracy, says malaria biologist Dyann Wirth of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who was not involved in the project . The work signals a "maturation" in the field of malaria research and provides an important basis to determine the success of future malaria interventions, she said.

Related Sites

• The paper malaria Card
• Atlas malaria project
• WHO malaria

Francis Collins, the medical researcher perhaps best known for steering the Human Genome Project, is stepping down as director the National Human Genome Research American Institute (NHGRI) in Bethesda, Maryland. Collins said today that he will leave on August 1st to write a book and to explore other possibilities, which could include involvement in the presidential campaign or take a non-profit position.

Collins, 58, took the head of the National Institutes of NHGRI (NIH) of Health in 1993 as he was preparing to sequence the human genome, a controversial proposal of $ 3 billion. The heated quest when a private company, Celera, jumped, spurring fierce competition. Both public and private efforts published a draft in 01 and the full sequence was completed in 03. According to Collins, the institute has also advanced sequencing genomes of several model organisms, from yeast to the platypus, that stimulated the study of evolution at the molecular level. Collins defended the public sharing genome data and pushed legislation to protect people against discrimination based on their genes. A law codifying the protection was signed by President George W. Bush last week.

"It was a great era, when he was director," said Bruce Stillman, president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. One of the challenges of Collins, however, was to find new goals for the institute once the human genome was completed, Stillman says. He initiated projects as a major effort to develop knockout mice ( Science NOW, September 7, 06) and The Cancer Genome Atlas ( Science , 16 December 05, p. 1751), which, with the cancer institute, is sequencing of mutations in human cancers. Yet as sequencing becomes cheaper, the next director will redefine the scientific role of the institute, said Stillman.

Collins told reporters today that his time at the NIH was "wonderful," despite the recent NIH budget fall, who says he has "much more difficult." However, reasons for his departure has nothing to do with the management or NIH budget; he says he is simply the fact that "the time seems right" to explore employment opportunities with more freedom than if he was still in a federal position. Collins plans to work on a book on personalized medicine and said he would be interested in helping a presidential campaign if asked. another position of the Government is also possible, said Collins. for example, if he was approached to become the next director of the NIH, "I would be crazy to say no, "he said.

Alan Guttmacher, NHGRI now deputy director, will serve as acting director while the NIH Director Elias Zerhouni seeks a successor.

Related site

• Collins at NHGRI biography website

Scientists say they have demonstrated the viability of a new way of studying the disease using a patient's own cells. Yesterday, a team from the universities of Harvard and Columbia announced that they have generated a population of motor neurons - the nerve cells that control muscle movement - from the skin cells of a 82-year-old woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These cells provide a way to take ALS studies "in the patient and in the Petri dish," Harvard biologist Kevin Eggan said at a press conference.

For many diseases, the researchers would like to study the diseased cells of a patient in the laboratory; their ultimate hope is that they can also fix these cells by modifying genetically and then reinjected into the patient. Until recently, scientists believed that the way to do it would be through therapeutic cloning, a controversial technique - still unproven for humans - which comprises the nucleus of a body cell into an enucleated egg. The resulting cells can then be induced to differentiate into any type of body tissue.

The ethical problems of using eggs can be circumvented with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are adult cells reprogrammed to act like embryonic stem cells. In 06, researchers have created these mouse cells and rat by introducing a combination of four genes of a culture of skin cells. Then last year, the scientists showed that they could do the same with human cells . The new study, published online today by Science shows that iPS cells can be generated successfully, even from the skin cells of an elderly sick person, says Eggan.

ALS involves the progressive degeneration of motor neurons in the spinal cord, causing paralysis of the limbs and breathing. The team, led by Eggan and Christopher Henderson of Columbia University Medical Center, rose iPS cells by introducing four genes used in previous studies in about 30,000 cells from the patient's skin. Among the hundreds of colonies that developed from these cells, scientists found that a handful had markers of pluripotency. For these lines of iPS cells added the scientific molecules known to guide pluripotent mammalian cells into nerve cells. A significant proportion of them showed characteristic markers of motor neurons. Other tests - such as injection of the cells into mice or chicken embryos to see if they establish appropriate connections -. Will be needed to see if they are neurons full

The woman had a familial form of ALS caused by a mutation in the gene called superoxide dismutase 1 , or SOD1 , which is responsible for only 2% of ALS cases. Eighty-five percent of ALS cases are "sporadic" - meaning that there is no known inherited mutation; many probably result from genetic changes that occur through life interacting with environmental influences. However, Eggan said, "I think this approach has incredible promise to study other forms of ALS." Symptoms of family and sporadic forms of ALS are so similar, he added, they probably share many common mechanisms.

"It is exciting that they have created human cells from the patient material," says Jeffrey Rothstein cell researcher stem from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who is also studying ALS. But he warned that the cells are useful in research, they should be exactly the same as those that cause the disease in the patient. "You do not want a partial replica of the motor neuron," says Rothstein. iPS-generated neurons, they say he, perhaps of little use in the reproduction of the fate of motor cells buffeted by a lifetime of exposure to the drug and other metabolic and environmental influences.

The second oldest specimen ever discovered HIV has postponed the date of the virus is passed from chimpanzees to humans more than 2 decades, according a new study. The study helps to clarify further how the AIDS epidemic began, and it reinforces the growing evidence that HIV does not spread easily to what cities have emerged in Central Africa.

The sample derived from a lymph node biopsy taken in 1960 from a 28 year-old woman in what is now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Researchers led by evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, Tucson, blocks analyzed tissues from 27 patients between 1958 and 1960 as the University of Kinshasa had kept with some patient records. As noted Worobey, these patients had biopsies taken because they had mysterious ailments, including abnormalities of the lymph nodes, which are common in people with HIV. "You really could ask for a better cohort look for people who had HIV in Kinshasa," he said.

As the researchers describe in tomorrow's issue of Nature they isolated about 5% of the HIV genome lymph woman. A comparison with the oldest sample of HIV, also from Kinshasa and dates to 1959, found that they differed by about 12% in an overlap area. This led Worobey and his colleagues estimate that the two viruses had a common ancestor around 108, which means that HIV that triggered the current epidemic of AIDS rose from chimpanzees to humans before. The previous estimates dating the common ancestor about 1931.

Worobey and co-authors link the spread of HIV to the growth of Kinshasa and other cities in central Africa. They document that no city in the region had more than 10,000 inhabitants until 1910, supporting the longstanding theory that HIV needed this critical mass of people in urban areas to implement. "The virus is really struggling to ignite an epidemic" until authorized cities fast transmission, notes Worobey. He says this emphasizes that concerted prevention efforts today can stop local epidemics foothold.

Worobey, whose previous detailed studies on the spread of HIV from Africa to the United States and Europe, still hundreds of samples to analyze and is looking for more samples old. "People have not really tried to find these old samples," he said.

Beatrice Hahn, whose group at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, deduced previous estimates using modern samples HIV, applauds the hard work. "This was done just the way you want to do," said Hahn, who notes that a second lab has independently confirmed the sequence, which never happened with the sample 1959. "This looks to lean backwards to do it the right way."

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has landed another big name in its probe of financial conflicts of interest in science . Today New York Times reports on the investigation Grassley psychiatrist Frederick Goodwin, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which hosts the radio show L infinity spirit . The show, which will air on National Public Radio stations, covered the effects of drugs on the brain. ( Slate was on the story in May.)

Grassley investigators unearthed evidence that Goodwin, who left NIMH in 1994, took at least $ 1.3 million of drug industry that has not been disclosed on the program. For example, in 05, he received $ 329,000 to give lectures to promote a mood stabilizer drug made by GlaxoSmithKline - and in September this year, told the audience that the stabilizing medications mood can help children with bipolar disorder. The producers of The Infinite Spirit recorded their latest episode in October, but the show continues in reruns. NPR told Times he drew The infinite spirit its satellite channels.

If academics working on dangerous pathogens must undergo periodic psychological assessments to ensure they are not mentally unbalanced as US army researcher Bruce Ivins seems to have had? At present, they are not. But the question was clearly on the table today at a meeting of the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity.

Over the past two years, the council has discussed that federal agencies, institutions and scientists need to do to prevent accidental or deliberate misuse of research in life sciences. In the wake of Ivins involvement in the 01 attacks the anthrax letters, NSABB now looking at ways to minimize the threat of a university scientist with access to deadly pathogens conducting a criminal or terrorist attack. While federal rules already require institutions and individuals who are researching some agents to submit to a security check, where Ivins, who committed suicide on July 29, has raised concerns about whether the procedures current are good enough.

The Board has not yet come with recommendations on the issue, but adding assessments of mental health screening process is a possibility. A member NSABB said Science as the Board may decide not to recommend new requirements at the end.

As Massachusetts General Hospital and the Senate of the United States to investigate allegations of conflict of interest, Harvard Medical School has appointed a committee to review its rules governing conflicts. Of The Boston Globe

US Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, accused three Mass General psychiatrists do not fully disclose payments they received from. pharmaceutical companies for consulting and other activities. The doctors said they believed they were following the rules. Harvard Medical School and Mass. General conduct their own investigations.

"The public and regulators say we must be much more transparent about any faculty relations have with the industry," said Dr. Richard Schwartzstein, a member of the review committee and a pulmonologist at Beth Israel Deaconess. "The trend is increasingly strict, there is no question about it."

Howard Frumkin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today on climate change impacts on health. Recall that in October 07, the last time CDC gave a testimony on this subject, the White House censored much of the written testimony and it was later alleged that Vice President Cheney has played a role.

It seems that the White House President Barack Obama is less inclined to filter the message CDC. Compare sections removed from the 07 testimony like this:

In the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health,
through links with the following results :, elements
• Air
effects • direct effects of heat,
• health effects related to extreme weather events linked to health pollution
• the allergic diseases,
• Water- and food borne infectious diseases
• vector-borne and zoonotic diseases,
• food and water scarcity, at least for some populations
• mental health problems, and impacts
• long-term chronic disease and other health effects

sections with the testimony of Frumkin from ' today, including this one:

in the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health,
through links with the following results
• direct effects of heat,
• health effects related to extreme weather events
• Air health effects related to pollution,
• water supply and foodborne infectious diseases,
• vector-borne and zoonotic diseases,
• emerging pathogens sensitive to weather conditions
• Allergies and
• mental health problems

Here is an overview of some of the stories of science policy, we covered last week on science political blog the science Insider:

in open access news, the powerful chairman of the US House of representatives judiciary Committee, John Conyers (D-MI), has explained why he believes the National Institutes of Health (NIH) should not require scientists it funds to make research papers available to the public via the Internet. In an essay published last week, Conyers defended a bill he introduced that would reverse this open access policy, which it considers a threat to copyright and, ultimately, for peer review. Law of the University of Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig and free access guru Michael Eisen of the University of California, Berkeley, had attacked Conyers as "shilling for special interests" in a trial.

Nobel physicist and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has remained in the headlines this week on ways to make coal power more climate . He announced a new "real collaborative engineering" with the Ministries of Science of China, the UK, and other European allies to test carbon capture and storage technologies.

patent reform came in the form of a bipartisan bill introduced in the House and Senate. But judging from its reception, it will be another long struggle to adopt this always controversial law. the initial response of the biomedical community was negative, as a coalition of companies that promote strong patent blasted the bill to promote "counterfeiters on inventors." others, who feel that the current system gives holders of rights unjust patent, were more favorable to him.

Meanwhile, Harold Varmus, co-Chairman of the Board of advisors of the President of science and technology, pitched its new memory the Daily Show with the host and comedian Jon Stewart. Although former NIH director played most of the right time, it will drop a new nugget here and there, mentioning for example that "has not been" advised President Barack Obama during his recent announcement to boost cancer research at NIH. Varmus was also on hand to witness Obama reverse the restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush on embryonic stem cells and denounce the alleged politicization of science.

Like Science put in a story on the issue:

Any student qualified graduate can take a protein known and come to the nucleotide sequence encoding it. Does this mean the gene code is clear, in a legal sense, and therefore can not be patented?

Friday, in a little noticed at the power of nature to make them more difficult to obtain biotechnology patents in the future, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, responded with a yes final.

The court stated that an invention owned by Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks, California, was so obvious to be patentable. The invention, first discovered by Immunex scientists near Seattle, Washington and sold to Amgen, was the sequence of a gene for the NAIL protein, important in the human immune response. But those who opposed patent argued that he did not know original work on the gene code. The Appeals Court of the United States for the Federal Circuit agreed with the skeptics. The judges backed an earlier decision by the US patent office (in one case known In re Kubin ), dismissing what the court called an "alleged discovery. "the decision of the court is one of many signs that claims based on gene sequences get a much more difficult test now than in the past.

ordinary people can now try to be masters of their own health, as private companies offer online DNA testing and CT or whole body MRI. But these services often offer health information without the advice of a doctor, have generated much controversy in the medical community, the claims that the results of the companies provide can be inaccurate or misleading for the average layman.

In response to this question, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics U.K. launched a consultation today on the ethical, legal, social and economic issues behind these commerical health services. The council is seeking the views of people interested in these services, as well as academics and businesses that can grow or provide such personalized medical tests.

Currently, there are no comprehensive settlement of commercial DNA tests or body imaging in the UK. commercial test is convenient and allows people to take more personal responsibility for their health, "but the potential problems are many times," says Hugh Whittall, Director of the Board. Some argue that offered DNA tests are often not enough to give an accurate indication of the risk of validated disease, he said. And CT scans, Whittall added, is known to produce false positives in which the picture wrongly diagnoses a problem. In addition, private tests are expensive: A whole body MRI or CT scan can cost several thousand pounds.

The council hopes to report back on these issues by spring 2010 and will likely make recommendations on how the UK government should regulate these direct medical tests to consumers.

Although the spread of swine flu appears to be accelerating and the virus begins to dominate global headlines the-World Organisation health (WHO) stopped short catch the pandemic alert level this weekend, even if she can do it on Monday or Tuesday. The Obama administration has said the threat of swine flu a public health emergency, however, and many countries have begun to put in place measures to stop the virus.

There are now 20 laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States in California, Texas, Kansas, New York and Ohio. The Mexican Government has reported 18 laboratory confirmed cases, according to WHO. Several other countries, including New Zealand and France have reported suspected or possible cases.

At a press conference today, US officials seemed determined to avoid panic while at the same time prepare the public for the possibility of a large epidemic. "It moves quickly," said CDC Director Richard Besser Acting at a press conference of the House from noon Blanche. "But we want you to understand that we view this more as a marathon."

WHO declared swine flu a "global reach emergency of public health," said flu expert Keiji Fukuda agency reporters today on a conference call from Geneva. meeting Saturday to discuss the situation, wHO emergency Committee decided that more information on the spread of the virus is needed before the wHO pandemic alert level may be increased from 3 to 4, which would signal a change of "human to sustainable human transmission" and "a significantly increased risk of pandemic." The situation will be reviewed on Tuesday, or earlier if necessary, Fukuda said.

Many questions remain about the virus. An enigma is the severity of the disease it causes. The 20 American patients had mild disease; one was hospitalized briefly. In Mexico, however, there are at least 80 suspicious death of the virus. Experts have repeatedly pointed out, however, that most of the Mexican cases have been laboratory confirmed and that some may have died from other causes. International teams are in Mexico to investigate the situation.

Fukuda said today that two of the eight genetic elements of virus appears to come from a strain of the common swine flu in Europe and Asia, while the rest are typical of American swine flu strains. This information seems to contradict a statement by CDC, which said Thursday that the new strain of swine flu contained genetic elements from strains of human and avian influenza as well. During the press conference today, Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health at the CDC, refused to answer a question about the genetic makeup of the virus.

HIV / AIDS could shed light on the origins of the swine flu. And what it shows overturns the common wisdom.

A 04 asked where Mexicans who emigrated to California for seasonal agricultural work have been infected with HIV. It turned out that more migrants were infected in California and Mexico, infected migrants return to their villages.

There is a widespread assumption that the current swine flu outbreak began in Mexico. What if the virus jumped the first infected pigs in the US to a Mexican migrant who returned home in Mexico, which then had an explosive outbreak of the disease?

Consider also that AIDS surfaced in gay men in Los Angeles, and it took 3 years before researchers even recognized that AIDS spread in heterosexuals in Africa, which is clearly the origin of the epidemic.

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report ( MMWR ) published two dispatches that offer the most detailed look yet at two homes what is now called swine associated with H1N1. A report focuses on Mexico and the other on a school in New York City. The report from Mexico says there is a confirmed case had onset of symptoms on 17 March, making it the earliest yet found everywhere. Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published MMWR , the CDC officials said today at a press conference did not have information about this apparent "index" case of the epidemic. If the index can play a crucial role in understanding the origins of the outbreak.

The Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong Kowloon district became notorious in 03 when a doctor from mainland China, SARS patients, infected others who carried the virus in Canada, Singapore and Vietnam. The Metropole is back in the news, now it is known as Metropark and problems causing the virus is swine flu.

Deadline May 26 to comment on the national health guidelines projects Institutes for research on human embryonic stem cells approaching, and scientists are fretting that the rules of the NIH for informed consent will disqualify many existing cell lines. Patrick Taylor, deputy general counsel at Children's Hospital Boston, in a commentary published online today in Cell Stem Cell , argues generally that the new rules should not be applied retroactively to the science, because it is always changing.

This is part of the Taylor decision on guidelines on stem cells available:

applied prospectively, the proposed rules of the NIH as they would stand a challenge field. But applied retroactively, the proposed regulations would create a tectonic shift: previously, only some former lines were fundable, and now in just some theory new lines are and will continue to be no federal funding available for research using cells created ethically since 01. important research need to be repeated and analyzes and reconstructed data. As currently described, it is as if the last 8 years of the establishment of the cell line and ethical self-regulation simply disappeared, to be replaced by a new funding structure that does not give weight to the existing science, ethics, self-regulation, donor intentions, or various cell lines.

Like other proposed federal rules, the draft guidelines appeared in the Federal Register -a daily compendium of advice agencies. His most devoted readers tend to be Washington policy wonk types of following their respective interests groups or organizations. Scientific societies generally comment on proposals that affect their members.

But individual scientists not involved enough, according to an article appearing as today in the journal Cell (subscription required). Science writer Amy Maxmen lists recent Federal Register comments applications involving transgenic organisms, gene patents and stem cells. It's easy to stay informed, she said: "Scientists can choose to be notified by e-mail as rules ... appears on the Federal Register by registering at http: // www .regulations.gov. "

therefore add to your list of things to do this week. But it is the observation of this science writer as important federal proposal that the policy on the NIH stem cell draw many comments. Like most of us, scientists tend to wait until the deadline, however.

The National Institutes of Health, a bastion of basic research, made a foray into drug development. NIH leaders today announced a 5-year plan of $ 0 million to set up a drug development services center at the agency. Chemists and toxicologists from the center alter promising compounds until they are ready to be tested in people. The focus will be on rare and neglected diseases.

"This initiative is really new," said NIH Director Raynard Kington acting in a press conference today. NIH "never tried to directly develop drugs for rare and neglected diseases" or the development of drug fact, period. the Therapeutics for Rare and neglected program diseases (TRND) is based on $ 100 million by molecular year Libraries NIH program, a small molecule screening program that some say is replicate work by pharmaceutical companies. But NIH officials say they will target diseases that industry is ignorant. "He has no intention of TRND compete with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies," said Stephen Groft, director of the NIH Office of Rare diseases research.

The program will be a space somewhere near the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and will be composed of scientists recruited from industry. They will take potential drugs found at the NIH and the universities and alter their chemistry so that the compounds work well in humans without toxic side effects, a slow hard process. Then either NIH or company will apply to the Food and Drug Administration to test compounds in clinical trials. NIH could benefit from licensed drugs, but "this is not our goal," said Alan Guttmacher, acting director of the National Research Institute on the human genome. NHGRI will oversee the center, which will make its budget $ 24 million per year from each of the 27 NIH institutes and centers.

A challenge will be to choose the disease. NIH says there are 6800 rare diseases and others that are considered neglected, infectious disease mainly afflicting the developing world. A group of scientists and patient advocates will assist in selecting diseases based on scientific opportunities, Groft said.

May 26, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that the swine flu outbreak in the country could have crested. But Donald Olson, an epidemiologist based in New York City who heads the influenza surveillance project at the International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS), disagrees. "If New York City, Boston and Seattle are indicators of what is to come for the rest of the country, then we still have not seen anything," says Olson.

CDC based its optimistic assessment on " like illness "(ILI) reported in ambulatory care clinics in their surveillance system and found a decrease in seven of the nine regions of the country (the two exceptions include New York and Boston). But ISDS collects its own data from a dozen sites across the country, and, as Olson explains, is able to "drill down" and analyze more subtle measures such as fever and severe pneumonia. Their analysis, he said, indicates that the first weeks of the outbreak of swine flu have led many people who have had respiratory diseases and diarrhea "worried sick" to get medical care. "Normally, these people would have stayed home sick," Olson said.

As the fear of swine flu has decreased Olson suspect that many of these people went to the doctor, leading to decreases in reports of ILI are not specific indicators of drops in the spread of the new H1N1 virus that causes swine flu.

Although CDC also noted increases in Boston and New York City, Olson said his most carefully analyzed the data showed "massive increases" that look "soft" in the CDC regional data. CDC also shows ILI Seattle off at week 20, which is the opposite of what is ISDS. Unfortunately, Olson said, no one has systematically collected data on the real presence of the new H1N1 virus because it overtax testing laboratories. "We are dealing with so much uncertainty, and we imperfect measures," said Olson. "But we need to know what they have weaknesses."

Olson said it is possible that the epidemic exploded, quickly infected the susceptible population, and will now disappear, but he doubts that, given that new York City has seen the peak of the disease, gout, then peak again. "If what new York City has seen in the last 10 days is any indication, we'll be seeing anywhere else, "said Olson

Image credit :. ISDS

See larger version of the graph

The Senate today voted 79-17 to approve a landmark bill tobacco that President Barack Obama said he sign once it is reconciled with a house of representatives measure. The bill, for the first time, empower the FDA to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products, the creation of a new FDA's Center for Tobacco Products within 0 days after the promulgation .

A government source said science Insider that the FDA plans to hire up to 1,000 new employees, including hundreds of scientists to staff the new center of tobacco products. (The agency now has six centers for drug evaluation, food security, devices, biologics, veterinary medicine and toxicology.) The user fee paid by tobacco companies will finance the FDA expansion required by law, including a scientific advisory group on tobacco issues. The bill follows a 07 report by the Institute of Medicine that urged Congress to give the FDA as a regulatory authority.

The bill would not allow FDA to ban nicotine, but would give the agency the authority to require changes in the yields of nicotine and other chemicals in products tobacco. It would prohibit misleading claims such as "reduced risk" "light" and "low tar" and require manufacturers to submit cigarettes applications to the FDA for analysis. Detailed cigarette ingredients lists are also required.

public health researchers who study the risks of tobacco say the impact of the law will depend on the FDA implements new rules and structures of his research on tobacco. Gregory N. Connolly of the Harvard School of Public Health said FDA should focus on reducing tobacco consumption, rather than regulating the industry's efforts to develop "safer" cigarettes.

In a statement, Obama said he plans to sign the law because it "will make history by giving the scientists and medical experts at the FDA the power to take reasonable measures to reduce harmful effects of smoking and prevent tobacco companies from marketing their products to children. "

At least one million people in the US are infected with the new flu virus H1N1, much more than the official number of cases, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. The amazing statistic is based on epidemiological modeling, Lyn Finelli told the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group that advises the US government on the use of vaccines. ACIP met for the last 3 days in Atlanta to discuss, among other things, ways to contain the pandemic.

The vaccine against pandemic influenza is not yet ready, nor are recommendations on who should get it. But states and cities should already start planning a mass vaccination campaign this fall. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters at a press conference following the ACIP meeting. She said they should think about how to get the vaccine to those at highest risk of serious illness: "We want states and communities and health care providers to think about how they would be able to vaccinate young people, pregnant women, people with underlying health conditions such as diabetes and asthma. "

Schuchat also presented new data on the skewed age distribution of the victims of today. The median age of hospitalized patients (H1N1) patients in the US is 19, it is said her, and the median age of those who died of an infection is 37, she called "young enough for anyone to be dying of an infectious disease. "Regarding the number of infected Americans, the official count is 27 127 confirmed cases so far, but everyone knows that is a gross underestimation. Even the new, 1 million estimate is probably low, Schuchat said . "I think it will be a little higher than when we have finished modeling."

Scientists have expressed their satisfaction with the final guidelines on research with human embryonic stem cells (ES) issued today by the National Institutes of Health.

The new rules, which set the criteria for determining the ES cell lines can be used in experiments funded by the federal, NIH gives discretion to approve the old lines that do not meet modern requirements ethical stringent. And they call for NIH to establish a register of eligible lines. The rules add "an important step in the right direction for research on stem cells," says Harvard University stem cell researcher George Daley.

As draft guidelines issued in April, the new rules limit federal funding for work on derived ES cells from surplus embryos donated by couples receiving fertility treatment. (Federal funds can not be used to derive ES cells under a congressional ban called the Dickey-Wicker amendment.) The big question researchers had was whether the 21 lines approved for use under the Bush administration, which are still used in many research laboratories, would qualify under detailed provisions regarding the informed consent of embryo donors set out in the guidelines. The answer is that there is no "grandfathering" of Bush automatic lines. However, a working group will deal with them on a case by case basis, recommending their approval if they are within the spirit if not the letter of the guidelines.

As Acting Director Raynard Kington NIH explained at a press conference, there will be separate channels to determine if a cell line is permissible under it was obtained before or after July 7, the effective date of the guidelines. For those derivatives or later, there will be a routine administrative review to see that they comply with the requirements of informed consent. If these lines are derived outside the United States, NIH will decide whether the rules under which they were obtained are "at least equivalent" to the rules of the NIH, said Kington.

The determination of the admissibility of cell lines derived before 7 July will require "more complicated exercise of judgment," Kington said. For this, a working group, an advisory subcommittee of Director NIH-committee will determine whether they were obtained within the framework of the principles of the guidelines, including informed consent and the absence of compensation for embryos.

Some scientists, such as Kevin Eggan at Harvard, were disappointed that the NIH did not open the door to the use of embryos created for research purposes, including the transfer of somatic cell nuclear (cloning) and parthenogenesis (from an unfertilized egg) . But "on balance, the guidelines are a vast improvement on the draft guidelines," says Eggan. "The registry establishment is a significant improvement, as the road clearly established for the approval of lines that require" grandfathering "." Stem cell researcher Sean Morrison of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor welcomes NIH for "a very good job." He also says creating a new registry is "very important because it would take enormous resources for each institution to determine themselves" if a qualified given line for federal support. Morrison also provides that "all or most" of the 21 approved Bush lines will rally with the working group.

Kington predicted that as the new registry NIH stem cells and the working group, composed of nine or 10 scientists, ethicists and members of the public will be in business in the next two months.

How many lines will eventually make it to the registry is uncertain. Kington said there have been references to more than 700 new lines "there." But he said a much smaller number are widely used and can be expected to go on the register.

US health officials have tried to downplay concerns that the country could now be prepared for flu swine pandemic coming this fall. Vaccine producers have difficulty to produce large quantities of vaccine, and some experts predict other countries where the vaccine is produced may hoard. But on a conference call today, the specialist flu Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said she did not care.

Last week, the World Health Organization reported that vaccine manufacturers have received the pandemic vaccine yields that are 50% to 75% lower than those of vaccines against seasonal influenza. They will try to improve it with new vaccine strains, but even if they fail, the planning for a pandemic US incorporated these setbacks, Schuchat told reporters. "For our planning assumptions, we are really on the right track and does not care to meet expectations," she said.

Today, a story from the Associated Press was also suggested, as others before herself that vaccine contracts might be worthless if the country where the vaccine is produced put of first, their own people and stop the product being exported. (Most vaccines under contract by the United States is produced in Europe.) But Schuchat said that "the concerns that have been raised in the media were not part of the dialogue" with manufacturers. "We have not got information that makes us question the offer we have promised. "

Plans are taking shape for a test program developed new vaccines against H1N1 influenza in the United States, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and conducted at the Vaccine and Treatment Units assessment, a network of clinical centers across the country. "Manufacturers and NIH have worked together to plan the studies," chief scientist Jesse Goodman of the Food and Drug Administration said at the briefing today. "We will integrate them into a whole program that we . can answer as many questions as we can "the plans will be discussed on July 23 at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and FDA organic Related products" We expect the first trials to begin shortly, "said Goodman.

the studies will also test vaccines with adjuvants. further, known oil adjuvants in water might make them more potent vaccines and can stretch the limited supply of vaccines, but the compounds already in use in Europe, has not received FDA approval. the US could continue to use them, Schuchat said, probably by a so-called emergency use authorization instead of the way of the authorization to exercise normal. But it will only do so if studies show adjuvants to be "clearly beneficial and necessary," said Goodman. Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office, said he has "high expectations" that the shooting function without adjuvant, the vaccine against seasonal flu are.

Which groups should be targeted for the vaccine, which should be first in line if the offer does not respond, will be discussed on July 29 at a special meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Atlanta.

At a meeting described as "urgent" today in Atlanta, Georgia, the Advisory Committee on Practices immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that the launch of the US government vaccination program against the virus H1N1, 09.

15 member ACIP, which advises the Ministry of Health and social services ( HHS), said that because it will probably be a limited amount of vaccine at the start of the season the traditional flu this fall, five groups of people should be placed at the head of the line. In addition to people who have underlying conditions that put them at an increased critical illness risk swine flu, other more priority groups are pregnant women, anyone between 6 months and 24 years, the people who live with children under 6 months (who can not be vaccinated themselves), and healthcare workers and emergency personnel.

estimated that this initial target population up to 159 million people. HHS now predicts it will have more than 0 million doses in October. Each dose contains 15 micrograms of the product, and that may not be enough vaccine if, as many expect, two doses are needed to establish a protective immune response. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a division of HHS, said that many questions remain about the demand for the vaccine and the dose ultimate required per person.

Schuchat, during a press conference, noted that HHS recommendations call for 280 million Americans to get vaccinated against the vaccine against the "seasonal" flu, but in recent years, about 0 million chose to take it. "Pretty clearly, if we use the seasonal flu [vaccine] demand and uptake as our kind of waiting, we can have lots of vaccine right away," Schuchat said. "On the other hand, there is much uncertainty with this particular virus. We do not know exactly what the supply or demand will at some point in any community. "

To complicate matters, the vaccine can be prepared and approved by the Food and Drug Administration before clinical trials testing different doses of the vaccine have been completed, she said." Clinical trials give us information that is useful, but there are other decisions to be taken in the future "that will have to take into account the circumstances, said Schuchat." the National biodefense Science Board, which advises the HHS preparedness group, actually recommended to go ahead without waiting for clinical trials at-least to a certain quantity of vaccine. It is a serious issue that we currently deliberating. "

Given the uncertainties about supply and demand, Schuchat noted that ACIP also came with a" just-in-case prioritization group "of about 41 million people. This group would limit the availability of vaccines for certain health care workers and emergency personnel, and the age limit would fall to 4; under 18 with underlying risk factors would also be eligible.

Current recommendations do address the thorny issue of adjuvants that may be needed to stimulate immunity to viral antigens in the vaccine or stretch the amount of product that can be manufactured from a limited amount of antigen. Security issues regarding the use of adjuvants may delay approval of vaccines containing them, said Schuchat. "We assess the need for adjuvants, but our work plans are now that we expect not to need them."

Vaccine manufacturers also intend to use thimerosal in some vaccines. This mercury containing preservative has been removed from many other vaccine after public concerns grew of potential harm to children. Schuchat said vaccine without thimerosal will be available. But she also stressed that the ACIP and CDC usually do "not express a preference for thimerosal-free, based on science about this component."

HHS usually accepts the recommendations of the ACIP. "These recommendations will be promptly investigated by the CDC," said Schuchat. And urged national and local health authorities to start making preparations for the H1N1 vaccine.

A Christian group has filed a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health, alleging that the policy on stem cell administration Obama violates federal law, reports the online journal Kansas Liberty.com .

The complaint was filed with the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, by James L. Sherley, a researcher of adult stem cells in biomedical research institute Boston and Theresa Deisher, R & D Director AVM Biotechnology in Seattle, Washington. It is supported by, among others, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a group that promotes the adoption of embryos left-over from fertility clinics. Sherley, he can remember, is the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who made a hunger strike in 07 to protest against a lack of diversity of faculty after he refused tenure.

The complainants argue that the federal policy that allows the use of human embryonic stem cells, but not their derivation by scientists funded by the federal, violates the Dickey-Wicker amendment, a provision of the law on the NIH appropriations which prohibits federal beneficiaries to research on human embryos. Federal guidelines "allow public funding for research and that depends, in fact, requires the destruction of living human embryos," the group of reasons.

Tony Mazzaschi of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, said the suit was not "a chance in hell" of success. A similar suit was filed last March in the Maryland District Court US per Night and others.

In an effort to allay growing concerns about the swine flu pandemic, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released all the stops today spread the news that one dose of a vaccine against the new H1N1 virus is likely to protect adults.

As HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a press conference this afternoon, the preliminary results of clinical studies that one dose triggers a strong antibody response in adults "is critical of important news. " Flanked by senior officials of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, Sebelius noted that if two doses were needed, as some had predicted, it would take more time to vaccinate the population and require more products. But she also pointed out that the data still exist on how the vaccine works in children and pregnant women, two groups that are at high risk of developing serious illness from the virus. And the time of arrival of the vaccine remains a major concern, she said.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the NIH, the first data set of adult trials sponsored by the institute. Among people aged 18 to 64 years who received one of two different H1N1 pandemic vaccines, 80% to 96% developed "robust immune response" 8 to 10 days after a single dose of 15 micrograms. Persons 65 and over do not respond as well, with only 56% to 60% to levels similar antibody. the new data grid with data reported yesterday the new England Journal of Medicine tests conducted outside the United States.

the unusual high-level press conference to discuss the preliminary results of clinical studies reflects the high level of anxiety in the country about the pandemic. the new information, Sebelius said, "shortens the window of worry and more people can be protected much earlier." It also means that the limited supply of vaccine, which will not start arriving States STATES until mid-October, can be made available to other people in other countries more quickly.

Yet many experts say it appears that the pandemic could peak in the US in mid-October, before the arrival of the vaccine. "The models are based on assumptions," said Fauci. "While it might be peaks before people get vaccinated, but there are other ways to reduce the spread." Anne Schuchat, head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Disease respiratory, stressed that the virus appears in different communities at different times. "We believe that many opportunities for prevention will be possible with the vaccine, especially now that we have this great news that the protection might be possible in adults after this first dose, "said Schuchat.

You should not stay up all night worrying, but a new study has found a link between lack of sleep and a biomolecule thought to be important in the development of the disease Alzheimer.

in humans and mice, the levels of a peptide called amyloid-β place during working hours and declining waking during sleep, the researchers found. They also report that the sleep-deprived mice are more likely to develop amyloid-β deposits, called plaques, like those found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Although far from proven, the finding suggests that sleep disturbances may be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. On a brighter note, he also alluded to new treatment avenues.

Numerous evidence suggests that naturally occurring amyloid-β in the brain built over many years in people who develop Alzheimer's disease, beginning long before people show signs of loss memory. But very little is known about the factors that may influence peptide levels in the brain, says David Holtzman, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

To study, Holtzman and colleagues conducted a series of experiments with mice in which a small tube is inserted into the brain to take samples of the fluid flowing through the space between the cells. Sampling of the hippocampus, a crucial memory region which is one of the first to be ravaged by Alzheimer's disease, the researchers found that levels of amyloid-β peaked when the animals were awake and fell during sleep. They found a similar pattern in 10 healthy people who agreed to lumbar punctures to allow researchers to sample their cerebrospinal fluid.

The researchers also probed the effects of chronic sleep deprivation in mice that are genetically prone to developing amyloid plaques. To keep awake mice, the researchers placed each on a small platform surrounded by water, which gave them no room to lie down and doze. Mice that stayed awake for 20 hours a day for 3 weeks developed more amyloid plaques than their well-rested peers, the researchers found. Moreover, a drug that blocks orexin receptors, a hormone that promotes wakefulness, reduced plaque formation in the same strain of mice, reports online today in team Science .

The results suggest that people who are chronically sleep deprived may have higher levels of amyloid-β that make them more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, Holtzman said. He said the team spoke with researchers who do clinical studies of sleep about combing their databases for any signs that people with sleep disorders history are more prone to Alzheimer's disease. "No one has ever studied it," he said. The team will also investigate the use of drugs that interfere with orexin to thwart Alzheimer's disease.

"I find it really cool that sleep is a modulator of the amyloid-β production, "says Sam Sisodia, molecular neurobiologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois. This represents further evidence that amyloid ß rises and falls with levels of synaptic activity, Sisodia said. But the cutting-edge treatments for Alzheimer's disease are far away, he says. "There is another vision, another glimmer of hope."