Health Meaning

The cancer gene BRCA1, that holds the breast tumors and ovarian at bay by producing proteins that repair damaged DNA, can also regulate brain size. Mice carrying a mutated copy of the gene were 10 times fewer neurons and other brain abnormalities, a new study suggests. These dramatic effects on the size and function of the brain is unlikely in humans holders of BRCA1 mutations, the authors of the study note, but they suggest the findings could shed light on the role of gene in brain evolution.

scientists have long known that the BRCA1 gene [estunesentinelleimportantecontrelesdommagesdel'ADNquipeuventconduireàdescancersdel'ovaireetduseinPlusdelamoitiédesfemmesayantunecopiemutéedu BRCA1 gene will develop breast cancer, a statistic that has led some who carry the mutation for preventive mastectomies. But his roles outside of the breast and ovaries are less clear, says Inder Verma, a geneticist and molecular biologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, who led the new study. mice bred without BRCA1 die soon after birth, it is clear that the gene is necessary to sustain life, but scientists are just beginning to unravel its many functions, he said. There

several years, one of the students in the lab noticed that Verma BRCA1 is very active in the neurectoderm, embryonic tissue tape containing neural stem cells that divide and differentiate into wide assortment of brain cell types and structures. Verma and his colleagues wondered why the gene was expressed at high levels in this region, and what would happen if it were eliminated. They created a strain of mice in which BRCA1 was eliminated only in neural stem cells. As the mice developed, Verma's team found that the brains of rodents were only a third of their normal size, with particularly striking reductions in brain areas involved in learning and memory. The cultured mice also had a wobbly gait-a drunk symptom of ataxia, a neurological disorder that affects muscle control and balance, the researchers report online today in Acts of national Academy of sciences .

Verma, member of laboratory Gerald Pao and colleagues sought to determine why the removal BRCA1 had caused these problems. Although neural stem cells divided at a normal rate, an unusually high number of dead cells soon after they formed, they found. The researchers also found that BRCA1 proteins were helping to keep the DNA of the erosion that the divided cells. Without BRCA induced DNA repair, a molecule called ATM kinase detected excessive DNA breakage and activated a chemical that kills damaged cells. Thus, mice with defective BRCA1 genes, many more cells were eliminated as would be destroyed in the normal brain development. Most of the cells that survived were disorganized and malformed, showing additional effects of defective DNA packaging, said Verma. Cellular disarray is similar to that observed in cancer, he said. "No orderly conduct" Both cancer cells and brain cells show

Verma is quick to point out that even if there were two case studies in which BRCA1 were linked to brain abnormalities mutations, dramatic effects documented in mice in the study are not likely to occur in women with BRCA1 mutation, which still have some functioning BRCA1 , compared to mice that had not.

Verma said the new data suggest that BRCA may have a role in the evolution of brain size. Genes involved in microcephaly, a condition in which patients have a brain about the size of chimpanzee brains, directly control the levels of BRCA1 expression, he said.

Jeremy Pulvers, a molecular biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, where the company presented similar results in a previous article, says that the new study "provides a further proof that BRCA1 ... plays a specific role in brain size control. "" This is important fundamental basic science of how the genome is protected in rapidly proliferating cells in the brain "says Huda Zoghbi, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

BMJ released the latest volley in a battle over one of the most controversial drugs of the 21st century: the compound oseltamivir anti-influenza, better known as Tamiflu. A working group of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international network of scientists that conducts systematic reviews of the medical literature, conducted the most exhaustive meta-analysis yet of drug effectiveness and its conclusions are, again, pretty overwhelming.

Tamiflu can relieve symptoms of the flu earlier than they would otherwise, the authors say, but there is no evidence that it can prevent serious flu complications, or keep people out of hospital. The group questions the wisdom of buying massive stocks of drugs to prepare for an influenza pandemic, as many countries have done.

The review comes after a long fight to get stretched all available data from trials of Tamiflu from Roche, the company that produces the drug. The Cochrane group, with the active support of BMJ , eventually won that showdown, and thereby makes Tamiflu the poster child for a wider campaign successfully to ensure access to clinical trial data. (The European Medicines Agency has already said he will make the information it receives from pharmaceutical companies available to the public, and several companies, including Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, have pledged to become much more transparent.)

There is little disagreement that Tamiflu, which entered the market in 1999, is active against influenza virus at least a little. Studies have fairly consistently shown that it can shorten the duration of symptoms, which usually last about a week, up to 1 day. But the current debate is whether Tamiflu can also prevent serious complications and hospitalizations. (The data has never been strong enough to justify conclusions about whether it prevents death.)

The Acute Respiratory Infections Cochrane Group, led by Tom Jefferson, an independent researcher in Rome published its first review the effectiveness of Tamiflu in 06, on the basis of published documents. In it, they confirmed the then conventional wisdom that Tamiflu could reduce the complications of influenza and the risk of hospitalization in adults. But in 09, the group received a letter from a Japanese pediatrician, Keiji Hayashi, who questions the data.

To the surprise of the group, eight of the 10 studies reviewed in a 03 co-written meta-analysis by scientists and favorable Roche Tamiflu was never published. Roche initially refused to hand over the data. "I do not like being made a fool," Jefferson said in a story in the current issue of BMJ by science journalist Julia Belluz. "I trusted the literature. I trusted people who were doctors and researchers. I trusted the archive. I trusted Roche."

In an updated review released in December 09, the group concluded that without these private data, there was no evidence that Tamiflu prevented complications or hospitalizations. The results have changed the public's opinion about Tamiflu, and led to buyer's remorse in some of the countries stored drugs.

The letter Hayashi also marked the beginning of the quest for the Cochrane group Roche complete data. The company promised to send the so-called mass-clinical study reports documents containing patient data underlying the conclusions in the newspapers-that scientists in 09, but it was not until last year that all data sets actually happened. Cochrane says Roche Group has been evasive answers; the company says the delay was due to logistical problems, legal issues and privacy, and a lack of communication with scientists Cochrane

Now that the group has chewed the bitter numbers, the conclusions are not very different :. Patients get better a little earlier with Tamiflu, but there is not enough evidence to say they are at low risk of complications and hospitalization. Moreover, the authors write, side effects such as nausea and vomiting are more common than was known before. "We believe these results provide reason to question the storage of oseltamivir, its inclusion in the [World Health Organization] essential drug list and its use in clinical practice as an anti-influenza drug," the group written. (In a separate document, the group found such disappointing results for another drug against influenza, zanamivir, also known as Relenza, which sold far less than Tamiflu.)

Many scientists flu disagreed with the previous analysis of the Cochrane group and challenge the new results as well. Shorten the duration of symptoms, for one, is not useless, writes Wendy Barclay, chair of influenza virology at Imperial College London, in a statement released by the Science Media Centre (SMC) in London. "While one day does not look like much, a disease that lasts only six days, it is. In the community it gets people to work and to school," she wrote.

But perhaps more importantly, some researchers oppose the group's conclusions about the usefulness of Tamiflu in the event of an influenza pandemic. During the most recent pandemic, in 09 and 2010, scientists do not conduct randomized clinical trials of Tamiflu, the gold standard in medicine, and the Cochrane group did not consider the so-called observational studies. But a review of these studies during the pandemic, published last year by Jonathan Nguyen-Van-Tam of City Hospital Nottingham, U.K., showed that Tamiflu reduced the risk of serious complications. "We now know that antivirals have saved lives during a pandemic and we risk losing one of the few weapons we have because of too much negative publicity," said Peter Openshaw, director of the Center for respiratory infections Imperial College London, in a statement to the SMC.

Dissatisfied with the work of the Cochrane Collaboration, another group of scientists has already said he will repeat the work independently. the group multiparty for advice on science, which has an unrestricted grant from Roche, said it will take the observation data into account. virologist Albert Osterhaus of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, Netherlands, which launched the initiative last year, says its results will be announced at a meeting of flu in Riga in September.

one way to settle matters once and for all would be to put in place new clinical trials oseltamivir. The question is who finance them. There is little incentive for Roche to do so; patents on the drug will expire in most countries in 2016, paving the way for generic competitors to produce the compound Financial Times journalist Andrew Jack wrote in a story as published in BMJ this week.

This may mark the end of an incredibly successful run for Roche. Since the drug was launched in 1999, Tamiflu generated more than $ 18 billion in sales, Jack wrote. About half of this was for stocks pandemic, the vast majority of them have never been used and will soon expire; the US government alone spent $ 1.3 billion on its Tamiflu cache.

BERLIN- Christian Drosten, a virologist at the University of Bonn in Germany, is among those leading the effort to understand the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and contain the disease. It is also one of the very few Western scientists who worked in Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with local researchers.

Friday, Drosten returned to Germany after a week in Saudi Arabia, where he studied what is behind the sudden explosion in reported MERS. Science Insider caught up with him during a stopover in Berlin

Q :. There were nearly 400 MERS cases and over 100 deaths in Saudi Arabia in the past two years. What is the situation like at the time

C.D:. There is a huge public awareness of the disease. Many people wear masks now. In fact, more than when I left when I arrived. In this 1 week, there was a net increase. People know that there is this virus and are cautious, and I think that will really help reduce the number of new infections

Q :. It certainly does not feel that way. Saudi Arabia has reported more infections in April that the world during the previous two years. The United States announced its first case on Friday, and before that there were cases imported in Greece and Malaysia. Is the disease out of control

C.D:. There has been much discussion about whether the virus has mutated to pass easily from human to human. But we sequenced three genomes of samples taken at the beginning of April to Jeddah, where most cases have occurred, two others later in the epidemic of Jeddah, and another of a patient to Mecca. They all look quite normal

Q :. But can you really tell from the genome if the virus has adapted to humans

Q :. The part of the virus that binds to human cells.

CD Exactly. And we see no changes. The remainder of the genome of the virus is also very closely related to previously sequenced genomes MERS. You really have to look quite hard to change at all, and when you find changes, there are other MERS genomes that have had these changes, too. It is not as the influenza viruses, which have a higher mutation rate way. Coronaviruses have enzymes correction so in general they are more stable genetically

Q: .. Yet the number of infections is rising

CD You can not compare the new numbers to those of the last few months. Until March 26, 459 tests were done throughout Saudi Arabia this year. Then, in just one month, just in the city of Jeddah, the 4629 PCR tests were performed. Something has changed dramatically, and that is the case definition.

Before the tests were done on patients who had pneumonia and needed [intensive care]. But now, people are tested not because they are sick, but because they have been in contact with a patient. Some of them tested positive, but many of them are not really sick

Q:.? Could the wrong test results

CD No, when I was in Jeddah I really tested the central laboratory where all PCR for MERS is done. I made them run nearly 0 RFP with water, interspersed with some real samples. The tests were carried out on all the machines they use, with two different PCR assays and by two different technicians. To my surprise, there were no false positives at all

We also rebroadcast samples of six health care workers who had taken care of a patient in Tabuk. they seemed to be positive for a low level. I can say unequivocally, these results are real. When you look PCR data on all recent tests, they are often very weak signals. These people probably just a very low concentration of virus in the throat. It is difficult to interpret. It is possible that they are infections which are rapidly controlled by the immune system. This can happen frequently in workers health care face many really sick patients

Q :. You say these people should not have been tested at all

[ CD: When the epidemic [03] SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome], there was a definition strictly case. People who had contact with SARS patients, but no symptoms has not been tested with PCR. Instead, they were tested for antibodies later to see if an infection happened. This should happen now in Saudi Arabia, too. Asymptomatic individuals should not be tested with PCR. Currently, there are no available antibody test in the country. But you can list all these contacts and take a blood sample from each 14 to 21 days later and tested it outside the country. Three people in my lab are in Riyadh to establish an ELISA for antibodies

Q:.? But is not it good to know all cases, even if they are mild

CD: The question of whether there is a benign acute infection some people is scientifically interesting. But in cities like Jeddah, it brings the health system close to collapse. That's the big problem. So many samples are tested as laboratory capacity will not be enough for the actual event. And as more and more samples are tested, errors are inevitable. On top of that, if you identify all these mild cases and put them in isolation beds, then you have no beds left for the real case

. Q: What should be done with mild cases, then?

CD: This is a good option and is isolation at home. You can have people to call agency for public health every day to ensure that people stay at home. You can give them written information on what they are allowed to do, and what not. There are numerous examples for this. It has been used very successfully in Singapore during the SARS epidemic

Q :. Obviously, there are also very serious cases. At least 38 people died of MERS in Saudi Arabia in April.

C.D. I've seen the results of patients with huge concentrations of virus. These patients are highly contagious. Now, in some emergency rooms in some Saudi hospitals, patients are kept for a very long time, because there are no beds available in the rooms. If there are such highly infectious patients among them, it is clear that you get nosocomial infections and which is the other thing we see at present. You must remember that the absolute number of cases is still small. Few hundreds. So, just a hospital home may increase significantly and give the impression that the whole of the epidemic is changing

Q:.? You also looked at how easily the virus is transmitted at home

CD We will present a paper on this soon. We examined 26 index cases and 280 people they had close contact with. These are almost all family members in some cases also maids or drivers. We looked very closely with PCR and antibody tests, and at the end you can say nine of the 280 contacts were infected. And these are people who really huge exposure. This means that the virus reproduction rate is 0.3, not close to 1, as others have argued

Q:.? So the only real chance MERS moments to spread is in hospital

CD I think those hospitals where there are problems hygiene fueling this small outbreak

Q :. What about the political situation? Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish, you work, received a little criticism.

C.D :. Some people have accused that he holds important information to secure high ranking publications and things like that. But this is false. I work with him since October and I had a good impression of him from the beginning. It is an epidemiologist Western-educated who knows what he's talking

Q: .. Others have accused it requires to be the first or last author of a publication just return to provide samples

CD Get really good samples under controlled conditions is not easy in a country like Saudi Arabia. I think Memish organizes there is a huge contribution that deserves a first or last author. It does not have a problem. Memish really motivates people, he is very busy and built an incredible network over the past two years. It is a great loss that weakened his political position

Q:.? You mean the new Health Minister Adel Fakieh is marginalize

CD He formed a new advisory committee and Memish not part of it. This is a big problem, I think. This means they are starting from scratch. All the knowledge and the network Memish established is not used. My impression was that the committee is dominated by clinicians and clinical microbiologists. They know how to treat patients of course, but not necessarily how to deal with an epidemic. I think Memish really developed a kind of gut feeling MERS for the past two years and is not used more. I think this is the biggest mistake being made in Saudi Arabia at the time

Q :. The ministry also announced that three hospitals in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam will be devoted to treating patients MERS. Is it a good idea

C.D:. Of course, it is a good idea to build these facilities so that patients can be treated better. But what is most needed at this time is a massive campaign to hospital hygiene. Sending teams in hospitals to retrain health workers, who come from all over the world. Teach them the proper infection control. That would change a lot

Q: .. Even when this is done, there have been many studies suggesting that camels are a major source of infections as well

CD camels remain a source. Interestingly also, when we talk about Jeddah: Most camels are imported to the Arabian Peninsula come through the port of Jeddah. So you might think to test all young camels arrive and quarantine at the port until the virus is gone. But it would be a huge logistical challenge. Who would do the testing? When the camels must be locked all this time? A vaccine is more realistic and there are some good candidates

Q: .. But none of those tested in camels still

CD: is really difficult to get a sufficient number of animals that have not already had an infection. Where are you going to get? You can not just buy a circus. And you would have them are not adult animals, because they are really big and barely fit in all research laboratories. It is a real challenge.

has been arrested Institut Pasteur? But no! Stories in the press today suggesting that the venerable Paris institution was "closed" and ordered to stop his research have been greatly exaggerated, Pasteur says CEO Christian Bréchot Science insider. "The institute is fully functional," he said.

But Pasteur is facing a public relations fiasco after the discovery, made earlier this year, it can not take into account 2349 vials containing samples from the SARS outbreak in 03. an independent committee has concluded that the risk to public health is zero, and Pastor suspended the search in one of its 18 biosafety level 3 facilities, said Bréchot. But the question led to three investigations and raised questions in the media about the security procedures of the institute.

Today the site Mediapart published fragments of a letter leak written by two french ministers who listed a series of apparent problems in the laboratory. "High probability of [sample] not destruction ordered by managers and untraceable two-month delay in the transmission of information to the responsible authorities, lists authorized persons not initially available, unsecured freezers, no video monitoring, archives are not available during the weekend, "wrote the research and education minister Benoît Hamon and Marisol Touraine, Minister of social Affairs, in a letter Mediapart said was addressed to both government inspectors responsible for investigating the matter.

Pasteur staff discovered that the bottles went missing during a regular inventory of dangerous pathogens in January, said Bréchot. The case was reported to the National Agency for Medicines and safety of healthcare products (ANSM), who inspected the laboratory between 8 and 12 April. April 12, Pastor announced the loss of the bottles to the public in a brief statement. Bréchot also reported the matter to the police, which is conducting its own investigation, and the two ministers sent in their own inspection team. (The Institut Pasteur is a private foundation, but the French government provides nearly 30% of its annual budget.)

Bréchot said that the vials contained the patient's material gathered during the brief worldwide SARS epidemic, including nasal, trachea, and the plasma samples. A major survey of staff and students to find out what happened to the samples was barren. Security measures, it would be very difficult for someone to take them outside the laboratory, said Bréchot, who thinks the most likely explanation is that the samples were accidentally destroyed. "But we do not know how it happened," said Bréchot, "and that is clearly unacceptable."

Although the specimens had left the laboratory, they are harmless, said Bréchot. In the past, all attempts to isolate the SARS virus from the samples failed; what is more, the bottles had already thawed for several days when the freezer where they were stored broke down, which reduces the chances of any survivors the virus, he said. A group of independent experts who reviewed the risks concluded that "infectivity" was "zero," according to the statement of the institute.

Bréchot said the institute currently working with ANSM to review and improve the way it completely handles hazardous agents. "My job as president is to ensure this never happens again," he said.

Efforts are underway to convince US and UK consumers eat healthy foods-and aujourd ' hui, the proposals of the government led on both sides the Atlantic, predictably, generating much debate.

in the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today held a public meeting to discuss the changes proposed project in February to its label the nutritional value, the cliff note summarizing the amount of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, and in food and drinks. FDA has not reviewed the food label in 1993. Since then, the rate of obesity, dietary habits and understanding of various nutrients have changed considerably. "The evidence requires rethinking," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. That is the only point on which everyone seems to agree, but achieving consensus seems unlikely. FDA has received more than 4,000 comments on its draft proposal, and has recently extended the comment period in early August.

Like other nutritional defenders, Jacobson, who spoke at today's meeting in downtown Washington, DC, embrace the suggestion of the FDA to include so-called sugar -from sugars that are added to foods to added labels. "Added sugars exert detrimental effects on health beyond empty calories," agreed Frank Hu, who studies nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston and who also spoke. It has " irrefutable evidence, "he argued, they contribute to obesity and diabetes, and other health problems. One question, however, is whether simply list the quantity of added sugars, such as FDA proposes, is sufficient. Jacobson wants the agency to include the amount in percentage of a recommended daily dose after all, consumers are unlikely to deduce whether 1 gram, 5 grams and 15 grams are problematic unless that they are provided context. FDA says it lacks a scientific basis for setting such a deadline.

This is a place diverges FDA scientific Advisory Committee UK on nutrition. He has published a report mastodon 366 pages earlier today recommending that the population as a whole have an average consumption of "sugar" which is 5% of the diet. (Sugar Free contains added sugars, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juice.) In both countries, people consume sugar much more added than what is considered healthy; the United States, it represents on average 16% of calories.

Industry groups are not satisfied with some of the recommendations. "We believe that some aspects of the proposal are missing some merit, particularly the addition of added sugar," said Donna Garren, who represented the American Frozen Food Institute at the FDA meeting. A story from the BBC about the U.K. proposal cited the sugar industry saying that "demonizing one ingredient" will not solve the obesity epidemic.

FDA offers many other changes to its nutrition label. Among them: dropping the obligation to list the amount of vitamin A and vitamin C in food, because evidence suggests deficiencies in these vitamins are rare. Instead, the FDA wants manufacturers to list the amount of vitamin D and potassium foods include their, because of the importance of the first in the bones and the second in the control of blood pressure.

As nutritional progress of science and, in some cases, becomes more balanced, it is feared that efforts to simplify the labels so that consumers can quickly understand the risk of going too far. The FDA, for example, wants to expand the number of calories in food. Hu has this instinct, but stresses that calories are not everything, highlighting the risks of sending customers to buy products with artificial sweeteners that are less healthy, rather than high-calorie foods such as nuts and seeds that are healthier. FDA proposes to remove the label "calories from fat" because more and more evidence suggests that some fats are good for you.

After lunch today, speakers rose to comment on the plan from the FDA, which usually suggests the agency was either not doing enough or going too far. If the sodium recommendations be less than? If phosphorus is added to the labels, as a useful guide for people with kidney disease who may need to keep an eye on phosphorus intake? If labels FDA food try to reduce the consumption of saturated fats? The list is as well as research analyzes the many variables of our diet.

There probably will not be a surprise that smoking a joint now and then ... you feel pretty good, the man. But many smoking marijuana over a long period may do just the opposite. The scientists found that the brain potted addicts react less strongly to the chemical dopamine, which is responsible for creating feelings of pleasure and reward. Their blunted dopamine response could leave heavy marijuana users living in a fog and not the right type.

After high-profile legalization in Colorado, Washington, and Uruguay, marijuana is increasingly available in many parts of the world. Yet scientific research on the drug has been delayed. Pot contains many different chemicals, and scientists do not fully understand how these components interact to produce unique effects of different strains. His illegal status in most of the world has also thrown barriers to research. In the US, for example, any study of marijuana requires approval from four federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration. Politics also plays a role in the search for marijuana.

One of the unanswered questions about the drug is what, exactly, he does to our brain, both during and after the high. Of particular interest to scientists is the effect of marijuana on dopamine, a key ingredient in the brain's reward system. pleasurable activities such as eating, sex, and certain medications all dopamine trigger bursts essentially say the brain, "Hey, that was great-we will do it soon."

Scientists know that drug abuse can wreak havoc on the dopamine system. Cocaine and alcohol abusers, for example, are known to produce less dopamine in their brains than people who are not addicted to these drugs. But previous studies had suggested that the same might not be true for those who abuse marijuana.

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland, decided to take a look more closely at the brains of marijuana users. For help, she and her team turned to another drug: methylphenidate (Ritalin aka), a stimulant known to increase the amount of dopamine in the brain. The researchers gave 24 methylphenidate marijuana abusers (who had smoked a median of about five joints a day, 5 days a week, for 10 years) and 24 controls.

Brain imaging revealed that the two groups have produced as much extra dopamine after taking the drug. But while the controls showed an increase in heart rate and blood pressure readings and reported feeling restless and high marijuana users do not. Their responses were so weak that Volkow had to double check that methylphenidate, she gave them has not passed its expiry date.

This lack of physical response suggests that marijuana users may have damaged the reward circuits in their brains, Volkow and her report online today in the team Academy Acts national science . Unlike cocaine and alcohol abusers, marijuana users seem to produce the same amount of dopamine that people who abuse drugs. But their brains do not know what to do with it. This disconnection could be "a key mechanism underlying cannabis dependence," said Raul Gonzalez, a neuropsychologist at Florida International University in Miami, who was not involved in the research. The study "suggests that cannabis users may experience less reward from other things usually find enjoyable and, contrary to popular stereotypes, they generally feel more irritable, stressed, and just plain shabby. This can contribute to the ongoing use of cannabis and climbing among these people. "

But marijuana abusers smoke a lot because they feel lousy, or they feel lousy because they smoke a lot? Volkow does not know. Not being able to unravel the cause and effect "is a limitation in a study like this," she said. Perhaps the attackers had already dopamine systems less reactive and started smoking a ton of pot to cope with their general malaise. Or marijuana abuse can be sustained is actually damaging the reward circuitry of the brain, leading to apathy and social withdrawal that marijuana abusers often experience.

Lessons for recreational users of marijuana, if any, are unclear. This study used "unconditional voluntary [s]" that "uses a lot of cannabis," said Paul Stokes, a psychiatrist at Imperial College London who was not involved in the research. As such, "it probably tells you more about cannabis dependence on recreational use." But when he did a similar study of brain imaging of people who smoked marijuana more than once week, he observed "similar issues" when it came to dopamine.

All these questions are important to answer, said Volkow. the availability of drugs increases, she said, it is something "we all need to know."

Google X, the secret research arm of Google Inc., made a major foray in clinical research in order to pinpoint on what it means to be healthy. The Mountain View, California, the company revealed last week that the launch of a project, the baseline study, to follow thousands of people and identify models of biochemicals, proteins, genetic mutations and other measures that correlate with remaining good and ill.

project was first reported July 24 by The Wall Street Journal , which history has described as "the most ambitious and challenging project ever science" and Google "a giant leap into the unknown. "He" know the structure of thousands of bodies there are people to molecules inside their cells, "raise" important issues of privacy, "according to the article.

After a pilot study this summer with 175 people who donate blood and saliva for testing, Google X plans to recruit thousands more volunteers in collaboration with Stanford University medical schools in Palo Alto, California and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In addition to the donation of biological samples, participants can wear portable medical devices such as glucose-sensing contact lens developed by Google X. Project name is Andrew Conrad, Life Sciences head of Google X, which developed HIV tests at low prices for donated blood and was the chief scientific officer of LabCorp, the giant firm of trial before joining Google last year.

in some ways, the basic study does not seem that radical. Many groups gather DNA and biological samples from large groups of people, both healthy and diseased, and track their results. It is also common in such longitudinal health studies to collect detailed medical data from volunteers and keep their anonymous information, such as Google X says it will do.

Google declined to Conrad available for an interview that could explain how the project differs from the other, but the collaborator Robert Califf, a Duke cardiologist, provided more details science Insider. Califf said the study hopes to recruit 10,000 volunteers for 2 to 3 years from Palo Alto and the communities of Durham and Kannapolis, North Carolina. Participants will be tested for their genome sequence, blood proteins, and biochemical metabolomic profiles or alleged; in some cases, these data can be optionally be combined with their electronic health records. Some participants will be healthy; others will have the disease. The aim is to highlight new biomarkers that can detect diseases such as cancer and previous heart attacks, according to Califf. Google X has "obviously had the computing power to do things on a larger scale than others," he said

The study can also find new correlations with physiological measures and better define what is normal. For example, perhaps pulse monitoring 24 hours a day could be a new predictor of a heart attack, said Califf. "The integration of physiology in real time with all of biology has not been done before. It is too difficult. "

Google X finance the study for now, but there will be other contributors, said Califf, who declined to say what the costs will be. He expects the baseline run for 5 years, "then we'll see," he said.

the Kannapolis site for the project of Google X is particularly interesting. After the factory premises textiles, it closed in 03, throwing many townspeople working, chair Dole Food Co. and billionaire David Murdock has built a new research center on the remains of the plant. one of its projects is now MURDOCK study, which plans to enroll 50,000 local residents and monitor their health as well as the famous Framingham Heart Study. Conrad worked with Murdock to set up the research center while at LabCorp.

TOKYO- After reporting the country's first case of Acquired Domestically dengue fever in Nearly 70 years yesterday, Japan's health ministry today confirmed finding two more patients. The initial patient, a girl in her teens, Had a sudden onset of high fever on 20 August and Was Hospitalized in Saitama City, near Tokyo. Hospital staff, suspecting dengue, on 26 August sent blood samples to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, qui confirmed the diagnosis.

An epidemiological investigation turned up two more patients. All three are students at the Sami school in Tokyo and are members of a dance group That Regularly practices in a city park, leading the ministry to Conclude That students Were infected in the park.

Dengue is Widespread in the tropics and subtropics. Selon the ministry, about 0 Japanese contract the mosquito-borne viral disease Each year while traveling overseas. Purpose none of the three patients HAD Traveled overseas. A German woman Apparently the virus Acquired During a trip to Japan last September. After returning to Berlin, She Was Hospitalized for an acute fever and rash. Blood tests later confirmed a dengue infection.

The dengue virus's main vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is not found in Japan, aim the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus , aussi can host the virus and is common Throughout much of the country. The ministry played down the risk of an outbreak.

Five researchers studying a cellular system for fixing misfolded proteins, deep brain stimulation for the disease Parkinson's and breast cancer genetic won this prestigious Lasker award of the year for biomedical research.

The Lasker Foundation announced today that its award for basic medical research goes to Kazutoshi Mori, 56, of Kyoto University in Japan and Peter Walter, 59, of the University of California, San Francisco, for their work on what is known as the unfolded protein response. From the late 1980s, their laboratories have revealed steps in how the endoplasmic reticulum, the cell factory for secreted and membrane protein processing, trafficking of proteins whose linear amino acid sequence n has not folded into a 3D form suitable. After detection of a dangerous accumulation of unfolded proteins, endoplasmic reticulum sends a signal to the nucleus that activates genes that work to solve the problem. The research has implications for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and retinitis pigmentosa. The price of basic research Lasker often precedes a Nobel Prize in medicine; 86 Lasker winners have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.

The Lasker Award for Clinical Research was awarded to Alim-Louis Benabid, 72, Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble, France and Mahlon DeLong, 76, of Emory University in Atlanta. Also starting in the 1980s, they demonstrated in animals and people who implant surgically into the brain with a device that stimulates the subthalamic nucleus may reduce tremors and other symptoms of people with Parkinson's disease. In 02, US authorities have approved the technique for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease.

Mary-Claire King, 68, of the University of Washington, Seattle, won the Lasker Special Achievement Award for his discovery of BRCA1 cancer risk breast in 190 and for the development of DNA analysis techniques to identify family members. First used to help find children separated from their parents during 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, the approach has since remains and victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks 9/11 identified human.

The Cuban government is to send 165 doctors and nurses to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the World health Organization (WHO) announced this morning in Geneva, Switzerland, at a joint press conference with the Cuban Minister of public health, Roberto Morales Ojeda. Health care workers, 103 nurses and 62 doctors will be deployed in Sierra Leone in the first week of October.

This is the largest contribution health care staff by one country to date to help control the epidemic, noted WHO Director General Margaret Chan. "This will make a significant difference in Sierra Leone," said Chan

To put into perspective :. WHO has deployed about 500 foreign medical experts to the region. Because they run at any time about 170 of them are in the affected countries, Chan said.

Ebola has sickened at least 4784 people and killed in 2400 in the largest recorded epidemic and its spread further accelerated. Several governments have pledged support. For example, the British government and the Wellcome Trust medical charity announced they will spend £ 6.5 million to accelerate research on the Ebola virus vaccine candidates. German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development announced that it is increasing its contribution to WHO to fight against Ebola 1 million to € € 10 million. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $ 50 million for the fight against Ebola. But this does not solve the main problem, experts say. "Money, materials are important, but those alone can not stop the Ebola transmission," Chan said at the press conference. "The thing we need above all is the people."

According to WHO, more than 0 health workers are needed to run an isolation ward with 70 beds. Although it is still unclear how many patients Ebola ago total WHO estimates several hundred additional beds are needed in Liberia alone. at present there is not a single bed available in the country to treat Ebola patients, Chan said.

Several people on the ground in Liberia confirmed Ebola patients are being diverted to Monrovia treatment center to avoid staff being overwhelmed. "We need more action . We need to surge at least two to four times in order to catch outbreaks in these three countries, "said Chan." I hope today's announcement will stimulate more countries to break their support. "

* Ebola files: Given the current Ebola epidemic, unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and rapid geographical spread, science and science Translational Medicine made a collection of research articles and news on the viral disease available for researchers and the General public.

Six months after the World Health Organization (WHO) has been informed of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa , experts have published a new study warning that the situation is growing rapidly worse and the Ebola virus can even "become endemic in the human population of West Africa, a perspective that has never been previously considered. "

the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, meanwhile, released a new model for the spread of the deadly virus. the worst case scenario estimated that up to 1.4 million people could be infected by the end of January. If the control efforts are strengthened fairly dramatically and prove surprisingly successful, however, the epidemic could be nearly complete at that time. "Delay is extremely costly in terms lives and efforts, "said CDC Director Tom Frieden told a news conference today.

the Ebola epidemic, which probably began in Guinea in December last year has sickened at least 5,843 people, according to the latest figures from the WHO, more than twice all known previous outbreaks combined and killed 2803. epidemiologists expect the actual numbers are two or three times, however, because only a fraction of cases is reported. And spread of the disease continues to accelerate.

The new study by experts and WHO scientists at Imperial College London, published today The New England Journal of Medicine , is "excellent" because it fills important gaps, says Preben Aavitsland, a Norwegian epidemiologist. "For example, the study gives an average of 6.4 days of stay in hospital," he says. It is important to know because it means that approximately as many beds are needed because it has there new Ebola cases every week. This also means that tens of thousands of beds will be needed by the end of November, said Aavitsland. "It is quite difficult to know where the beds and people for their personal will . "

the authors also found that the so-called virus levels in each country, representing the average number of reproductive individuals each infected person infects turn. it varies from 1.38 Sierra Leone to Liberia 1.51 to 1.81 in Guinea. This means that cases are almost doubling every 2 weeks in Guinea, every 3 weeks in Liberia, and every month in Sierra Leone, said Christl Donnelly, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London and one of the authors of the study. "the great thing is that we still see exponential growth and that must be stopped."

There are a month into his alleged Ebola Response Roadmap, WHO wrote that the number of cases "could exceed 20,000 during this emergency." In the new model, it projects that number to be reached by November 2, if the epidemic continues to grow unchecked.

there's more bad news. Although WHO said earlier that about half of patients die from Ebola, the paper estimates that the case fatality rate is actually just above 70%. "I think that can be fed through more aggressive therapy well below 50%," says Aavitsland. Offering a better chance of survival is important to convince patients to seek treatment instead of staying at home, he said, where they can infect other people. "for now, all these processing units have to offer is a lonely death."

in a perspective published with the article, Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust, and Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, warns that hitting the effects will kill many more people. "West Africa see a lot more suffering and more deaths during childbirth and from malaria, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, enteric and respiratory diseases, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental health during and after the Ebola epidemic, "they write . "Indeed, there is a real danger of a complete breakdown in civil society, as desperate naturally lose faith communities in established systems."

the model published by CDC today looks further, and its projections are even more sobering. If the virus continues to spread at its current rate, Liberia and Sierra Leone alone reported about 550,000 cases of Ebola January 20, the authors write. But if the official figures to date represent 40% of the actual load, which many believe could be the case, it would mean a total of 1.4 million cases of Ebola in both countries on 20 January. "I hope we do not see anything like these projections," Donnelly said. "But I think it is a realistic projection of what would happen if we did we organized."

Projecting what happening in Guinea is impossible because of the wild fluctuations in the number of cases, Frieden said. "You see three separate cases waves increased in amplitude" which probably reflect the reimportation of the two countries, he said at the press conference.

CDC also released the model as an Excel worksheet "so that planners in the countries and international organizations can model what might happen under different circumstances," said Frieden. He also said he does not believe that the most dire predictions are coming. "The model shows, and I do not think it has been shown by other modeling tools there, that the surge can now break the back of the epidemic," he said. Specifically, the epidemic begins to slow, and eventually peter out, though about 70% of patients in health care facilities or Ebola treatment units, or, if they are full are cared for in a so that they do not transmit the virus to others.

Although this may seem somewhat reassuring, it is unclear how this can be achieved, because doctors do not even know about 60% of all cases of Ebola in the region. "I do not see the huge influx in aid is needed to achieve this goal," says Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. In part, Schmidt said Chanasit it is a matter of speed. The United States, for example, promised 17 field hospitals will be able to accommodate 100 patients each, but it is expected to take 50 to 100 days for those to be fully functional. in that time, the need will be much larger already

the CDC model shows the need for speed clearly :. for every additional 30 days it takes to get 70% of patients in treatment, the researchers estimate that the number of daily cases occurring at the peak of the epidemic will triple. Provide home care kits to protect people who care for family members themselves can help prevent the least some infections, said Schmidt-Chanasit. "It is certainly a good idea, but it will not by itself curb this epidemic." The key Aavitsland said, is still a massive increase in beds and staff. "It seems very difficult to stop now, but I think we all just to believe it is possible."

There is at least a glimmer of hope in the new data, Donnelly said. "Reproduction rate, at least in Sierra Leone and Liberia, was higher at the beginning of the epidemic. This may be a first sign that some efforts have an impact," she said. Christian Althaus, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern, warns that this may just be an artifact, though. As hospitals filled, the proportion of cases are not reported may have increased, creating the illusion of some improvement. "I wish it were true," said Althaus. "But I doubt it."

* Ebola files: Given the current Ebola outbreak unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and the rapid geographic spread, Science and science Translational Medicine made a collection of research articles and news on the viral disease available for researchers and the general public.

- About 5 minutes of Tuesday's press conference outlining the first US Ebola diagnosis, Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , segued to speak of help on the ground in Africa, saying: "But in the end, we are all connected by the air we breathe"

This comment-for expressing the. importance of controlling the spread of the virus both abroad and in the United States Edward Goodman-constrained, epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, who spoke after Frieden, specify: "Ebola is not transmitted by the air. It is not an airborne infection. "

many reports have drove home the point that the virus is spread primarily by direct contact with body fluids, people are not infectious when they develop symptoms, and it is unlikely that the Ebola virus will evolve to become airborne

But there are precious few data on some other practical issues :. Which body fluids harbor the virus? Does it linger on objects touched by an infected person?

The hard data are scarce, largely because the Ebola outbreaks have been sporadic, and because each outbreak before the present over before 500 people infected. Some epidemiological studies have examined the infected and their close contacts and said it does not spread through the air. Studies also suggest that the main transmission routes include touching an infected person, sharing a bed, and contact with bodily fluids during. Ebola patients funeral also showed extremely high risk because of rituals that involve touching the body, the group hand washing, and common meals.

One study examined the skin of people who have died of Ebola virus and suggested that sweat can play an important role. "One possible explanation for the role of physical contact in transmission is the presence of abundant particles and virus antigens in the skin and sweat glands around," the authors conclude. But the most comprehensive analysis to date noted that risk factors vary depending on the stage of the disease, and people with the disease at an advanced stage or death are much more likely to transmit the virus.

An essential document 07, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases , offers perhaps the best available indication of where the risks are, and where they do not . He analyzed samples from confirmed cases during an epidemic in 00 in Uganda, including people who were seriously ill or convalescing. It also examined for the virus on objects, such as desks, walls, and gloves in an Ebola isolation ward. The figures in the study are small, but it is the most detailed analysis published to date.

The key tables in 07. A large consignment of study: Infection is unlikely to come to a fateful encounter with a doorknob, or even a handshake. The authors caution that the methods used to detect the Ebola virus has not been widely tested for use on objects, and the virus could be present to undetectable levels.

* Ebola files: given the current Ebola epidemic, unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and the rapid geographic spread, science and science Translational Medicine made a collection of research articles and news on the viral disease available researchers and the general public.

Two candidate Ebola vaccines could be ready for testing in countries west- Africa hard hit in December, a month earlier than previously forecast. And a vaccine manufacturer said it may have million doses available by April, should studies prove it is safe and effective, a much more optimistic scenario described so far.

More and more resources are mobilized for the development of Ebola virus vaccines, the schedule is compressed, said Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) during a press conference about a high level meeting on vaccines that took place yesterday. "Things change from week to week," said Kieny, who also noted that several new donors have offered to assist in the production of vaccines finance and testing. Two new cases of Ebola, one in Mali and the other in New York, have added to the sense of urgency to contain the spread of the deadly virus. But the best-case scenarios discussed may be overly optimistic given the rapid spread of the Ebola virus, especially in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

the meeting's objective was "access and financing" of vaccines, many workers in the field initially thought could be developed quickly enough to help this epidemic. But the epidemic continues to grow, there are nearly 10,000 cases officially reported to date, of which about half-dead efforts to accelerate the testing and production of vaccines have gained steam, and that was the last of several meetings related to WHO. ( Science Insider describes some of the key discussion points of the meeting on the basis of documents disclosed to the meeting yesterday ;. The documents were initially distributed to the participants, who included scientists and representatives of businesses, governments and regulators)

in a few weeks, meeting participants have learned enough data are available from small phase tests a vaccine manufactured jointly by the US National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases and GlaxoSmithKline I (GSK), which began in September to launch efficacy studies. A second vaccine, originally developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and now made by NewLink Genetics of Ames, Iowa, who started the Phase I trials in October could have similar data available in December. Efficacy trials can test both vaccines simultaneously. But the question that looms is the quantity of those products will be available should they be effective, which could be known as soon as April.

Both GSK and NewLink Genetics said at the meeting that they might be able to produce much larger quantities of their vaccines they originally estimated. GSK said it could have 230,000 doses available in April, and could, if it had funding to produce more than 1 million doses per month by December 2015. This would be far from what is needed in the three countries most affected in West Africa, which have a combined population of nearly 22 million. In its most optimistic scenario, NewLink Genetics said it could have 12 million doses of its vaccine ready in April (see table below).

genetic NewLink presentation at the WHO meeting

NewLink genetics offered production estimates based on different doses of its vaccine.

the amount of NewLink vaccine that will be available will depend heavily on how much of the vaccine material is necessary to constitute a "dose" that can teach safely immune system to fight the virus Ebola. The phase I studies in courses should clarify this issue. If the higher dose is needed, 100 million viral particles, the company would have only 125,000 doses ready by April. But if the required dose is only 1 million viral particles, 100 times could be available, NewLink noted in a presentation at the meeting. Kieny stressed Science Insider that "it is not known at this time if [the lower dose] will be enough."

Ira Longini, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who attended the meeting, said dosage decisions may further delay the NewLink vaccine. Despite the optimistic prediction, he warned that it might not be ready for testing in an efficacy trial which begins in December.

The liability issues are an important part, too, noted participant meet John Arne Röttingen, director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Division of Infectious Disease Control in Oslo. Some suggested responsibility should be treated similarly to the vaccine against H1N1, which was made quickly to fight against this pandemic in 09. For the vaccine, drug manufacturers have taken responsibility for product quality, but countries covered responsibility for its use. This model may not be appropriate, others said that the vaccine against H1N1 was a variation on the vaccine formula against flu established; more unknowns-and therefore more risk Surround these Ebola vaccines. Yet Röttingen said: "There seems to be a convergence to create a group that would finance and pay for vaccines and should also take responsibility for the liability issues in cooperation with affected countries"

Several. countries and organizations at the meeting offered to help the development and testing of medium vaccines, Kieny said. MSF is committed to creating a fund if necessary, and some governments and the World Bank have also committed to help finance efforts. GAVI Alliance for vaccines, a public-private partnership that bankroll the majority of vaccines in developing countries could play a big role. Keiny noted that representatives of GAVI "working on a proposal that they would put on their Board of Directors. "The Board of GAVI plans to meet in December

* Ebola files :. Given the current Ebola outbreak unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and the rapid geographic spread, science and Science Translational Medicine made a collection 'research articles and news on the viral disease available for researchers and the general public.

nanoscale fibers BALTIMORE, Maryland- medical engineers have long used as robust scaffolds for growing tissue . Now researchers develop nanofiber mesh that could suck insects on wounds and accelerate healing, they reported here this week at the 61st annual meeting of AVS. The scientists injected nanofibers bearing cells in wounds to stimulate tissue repair, but to design a really smart dressing, they need to know how matter interacts with bacteria. After testing nanofibres of different sizes, the researchers found that the bugs transfer most easily nanofibers with diameters corresponding to the sizes of bacteria. When scientists nanofibers placed in a Petri dish Staphylococcus aureus , a bacterium involved in chronic infection, insects were quickly attached to the fibers 500 nanometer wide (as seen below above), but only on the fibers with larger diameters. When the researchers coated nanofibers with different compounds and test them on bacteria Escherichia coli , also responsible for chronic wounds, insects form bridges on the coated fibers allylamine, a colorless organic compound, but stayed away from fibers coated with acrylic acid. The researchers, who plan to test the stitches on composites that resemble human skin, hoping that they will eventually lead to smart dressing the wound that could prevent infection. Doctors could stick the nano-Band-Aid on a wound and simply remove it to get rid of germs.