Health Meaning

The laboratory researcher in Germany who was accidentally exposed to the deadly Ebola virus two weeks ago remains good health, according to virologist Stephan Günther Bernhard Nocht Institute for tropical medicine in Hamburg, Germany, where the researcher pricked during an experiment. Günther coordinated an international effort to save the life of the researcher in case she was infected by giving it an experimental vaccine. In the last week, it has not developed a fever, and Ebola virus was not detected in his blood. . If it remains, it will be released on April 3, after the 21-day period for Ebola incubation purposes

said Günther Science Insider that there was a development minor week: the patient developed slightly elevated levels of D-dimer, which are fragments of proteins that are a possible indication of a coagulation disorder and could be a sign of infection with Ebola virus.

However, D-dimer may also indicate other conditions, such as a blood clot, or coronary artery disease, and showed no other signs of illness. Günther and briefly considered if advisers to give him an experimental drug called anticoagulant rNAPc2, but decided to hold off.

Because she remained in good health, "the reason for this laboratory discovery is most likely not Ebola," says Günther. She was moved to an isolation unit as a precaution last week, but as of yesterday, it is in a regular hospital room, according to Stefan Schmiedel, the clinician University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf oversee his care. But it may not be possible to determine whether the researcher has remained healthy because the vaccine worked or because it has never been infected with the virus.

More than a decade after Congress told the Environmental Protection Agency to start the test chemicals that can disrupt the balance of hormones in people, the agency finally gets time to do it. Yesterday, the EPA published a list of 67 first pesticides that will be tested this summer as part of its screening program of so-called endocrine disruptors.

The testing mandate has been folded into the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, at a time of escalating public concerns about chemicals in the environment hormonelike. These endocrine disruptors can cause reproductive problems in wildlife, and scientists suspect that they contribute to cancer and infertility in men. Environmental groups have been frustrated by the delay in the test program. EPA says it has taken so long in part because scientists had to develop tests for endocrine disruption.

The outbreak of swine flu in the United States and Mexico is, as is typical in the early stages of the spread of a new virus leading to an outpouring of different data from different sources.

At a news conference today in Mexico City, the Mexican health secretary said they had confirmed 20 deaths from swine flu and had 40 other suspected cases. A Associated Press dispatch said that the Ministry of Health of Mexico has identified 943 suspected cases. The World Health Organization said the reports today, there have been 62 suspicious deaths and a total of 882 suspected cases. WHO said Canadian laboratory confirmed 18 cases of swine flu, of which 12 were "genetically identical" to those of the United States. At a press conference today in Atlanta, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, Richard Besser, makes no mention of the Canadian trials, but said CDC had confirmed 7 samples from Mexico as the same as the virus of the US swine flu in a region of its genome.

But, more importantly, stakeholders agreed with the WHO assessment that the epidemic is "very worrying".

Five people with swine flu in the US were hospitalized, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today. So far, only one patient in the US was hospitalized, a 41 year old woman who recovered.

CDC and health agencies in other countries have been baffled by the absence of severe illness from swine flu outside Mexico, now suspect the infection led to hospitalization nearly 2,000 people and more than 150 deaths. "As we continue to look for cases," said CDC Director Richard Besser Acting at a press conference, "we will see a broader spectrum of disease. ... I think we will see deaths in this country. "

Besser said three hospitalized patients in California and two in Texas, but he had no details on individuals. CDC has confirmed 64 cases, with 45 of those in New York.

CDC has investigators in Mexico helping to sort why this epidemic has apparently caused many more cases of serious illness. "At this point, we have not been able to rule in or out assumptions," said Besser.

President Barack Obama today called for $ 1.5 billion from Congress to help fight the swine flu. This was news to Besser at the press conference. "I had not heard that," he said, adding that it was not uncommon to have additional funding requests during a public health emergency.

Plus The New Republic 'The health care blog, Jonathan Cohn wondered why a seemingly qualified expert on diseases infectious-member Institute of medicine, nonetheless has yet to get a vote Senate confirmation to become commissioner of the Food and Drug administration. Margaret Hamburg is the candidate of President Barack Obama to run the FDA, who worked in the preparation of vaccines and to develop diagnostic tools to understand swine flu.

Mexico confirmed that a person from Mexico infected with the swine flu virus developed symptoms on 11 March, six days earlier than the case that many in the media called "patient zero" science Insider has learned. The finding not only adds a new entry at the left end of the timeline of the epidemic, but it also calls into question the geographical link between the old Patient Zero and a large pig farm.

Epidemiologist Mauricio Hernández-Ávila Vice Minister of disease prevention and health promotion for the Ministry of Health of Mexico, stressed science Insider that Mexican labs still many former test samples. "I think we will have previous cases, and we are working on it," said Hernández-Ávila, noting that they have other samples not tested from early March and possibly in February.

The previous patient zero, a 4 year old boy from La Gloria in Veracruz, lived near a huge pig farm in Perote, Granjas Carroll, which some suspect may be housed a pig infected than kick the epidemic. But the trial did not find a pig infected by what is now called the 09 A (H1N1) influenza, or have farm workers tested positive.

Hernández-Ávila said he remains open minded about the origin and may eventually point to the Perote region when they do more tests. "It is remarkable that in such a small community, which is isolated, we have a swine flu positive person," he said.

* Note :. Subject to change

The virus isolated from the second patient of swine flu in the Netherlands has an interesting mutation in a gene called PB2 that could mean? the virus has become more to spread from person to person, a team of Dutch researchers reported Friday ProMED, a disease outbreak surveillance system. But they are the first to recognize that this could be a red herring.

The virus isolated from the patient, a 53 year old woman who developed the first symptoms of flying home from Cancun, Mexico, April 30, has a variation at position 677 of the PB2 gene, which encodes polymerase protein of the virus. Following the modification, an amino acid called glutamic acid in the protein chain is replaced by another called glycine.

scientific flu this particular region of the PB2 gene has long piqued, said Marcel Jonges, a researcher at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven. Dozens of studies have suggested that a transfer to a position near-627-can make the H5N1 bird flu virus more virulent and more transmissible between humans. And last year, a study PloS Pathogens suggested that a change at position 677 might do the same. Dutch patient, said Jonges, is the first swine flu cases in which the latter change was seen.

Oliver Pybus of Oxford University, one of the authors on PLoS Pathogens paper, called the findings "intriguing" but he warned that the mutation could be devoid of meaning. We need more laboratory studies, for example, in animals, to show that the mutation does make a difference, he said. Jonges agrees, and these studies are underway in the laboratory flu virologist Ron Fouchier at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, he said. "But we wanted to get this conclusion as soon as possible so that other people can look for it, too," he adds.

Very few PB2 sequence data was collected in the swine flu to date, Jonges said, because most scientists are focusing on genes hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, the famous H and N that sit outside of the virus. The PB2 gene has not yet been discussed on a new wiki page Pybus and other scientists analyze genetic information on the swine flu as it comes in. More researchers should begin sequencing the PB2 gene said Jonges, and especially the region between positions 0 and 700, which seems to play a role in adaptation to human hosts.

It is not surprising that a deadly disease like cancer can make you depressed. But if the tumors are the source of depression? That's what a new study in rats suggests. Animals with breast tumors showed depressivelike behavior and anxiety, although unlike humans, they do not know the psychological burden that comes with a serious illness.

Up to 60% of women with breast cancer also have depression, and this figure generally holds true for other cancers. In addition to anxiety and fear, some studies suggest that treatments like chemotherapy can trigger an inflammatory cascade that is linked to depression, social isolation, and related symptoms. But no one had focused on the impact of the tumors themselves for a very simple reason: It is difficult to disentangle the psychological burden of cancer, the effects of treatment, and biochemical effects of the disease

So Leah Pyter. , A behavioral neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, Illinois, turned to rats, which do not share our mental burden of being diagnosed with cancer. Working with his mentor, systems biologist Brian Prendergast, and their colleagues, Pyter induced mammary tumors in rats and then put 12 sick animals, with 12 healthy controls, through various tests that indicate depressive behaviors. In a standard test, the rats placed in a cylinder of water were considered more depressed if they spent more time sitting, as opposed to the paddling pool. In another, researchers counted how much sucrose consumed rats. (Eating less suggests that animals are down in the dumps.) The team also examined anxiety. Rats that buried more marbles were considered more obsessive-compulsive - and therefore more anxious

tumors affected rats were more likely to show depressive behaviors and anxiety, reports of team online this week in the Proceedings of the national Academy of sciences . For example, tumors with rats spent about 80% of their time floating in water, compared to 50% for healthy rats.

levels to determine what caused low animal spirits, the researchers measured cytokines, molecules that can be released by tumors or immune cells that fight against their signaling. Sick animals showed higher levels in the blood and in the hippocampus of the brain that controls emotional behavior. "Cytokines in the brain can induce depressivelike behavior," said Pyter. The levels of certain cytokines were more than double normal levels, the group reports. The rats with tumors also had an insufficient response to stress, producing fewer glucocorticoid hormones that dampen natural inflammation and may remove cytokines. Why the release of glucocorticoids is altered, she does not know, but there are reports of the same effect in people with a dispersed cancer.

"It was not really a research center in this field, [and] I think it is increasingly important," said Charles Cleeland, psychopharmacologist at MD Anderson Cancer center in Houston, Texas, which has examined the link between chemotherapy and depression. it also notes that "some patients come to the clinic treatment with behavioral changes," saving the results found here.

As swine flu cases continue to rise in many countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that the epidemic does not deserve the "pandemic" label. And the United States, representing just over half of the 12,954 confirmed cases of the disease reported to WHO by 46 countries, there are signs the epidemic may have peaked.

Number of cases in part reflect the intensity of a country surveillance efforts, but it is clear that the new H1N1 virus responsible for the disease has made solid progress in Japan, with 350 confirmed cases, most outside the Americas. The cases in recent days have also nearly doubled in Chile to 74, the highest number seen in the southern hemisphere. Yet WHO Keiji Fukuda, the Deputy Director General, explained at a press conference today that the spread does not deserve to spend a Phase 5 alert to phase 6, indicating a pandemic large scale. "It is quite possible that it will continue to spread and it will be implemented in many other countries in several regions, in which it would be fair to call it a pandemic," said Fukuda. " Right now, we're really still in the early parts of the evolution of the spread of this virus, and we'll see where it goes. "

WHO earlier had defined phase 6 that sustained spread of the virus community in two regions of the world, but last week put that definition on the ice, following pressure from member countries who criticized the phasing system does not take into account the severity of the disease. Fukuda said in the coming weeks that WHO hopes to hold a video conference with leading scientists and public health specialists who have "a wide range of views" on how to define the phases of influenza epidemics. "We're trying to see what kind of adjustments could be made to ensure that the definitions really meet the situation," said Fukuda.

At a press conference today by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the top scientific spokesman for the agency, Anne Schuchat, highlighted the indicators suggested the worst may be over in the United States-for now at least. "Our national statistics and most of our regional statistics suggests that we have passed the peak here for this time of year," said Schuchat.

CDC has no hard evidence that the spread of the new H1N1 virus has actually decreased. Rather, CDC divides the United States into nine regions, and seven saw a decline in influenza-like illness (ILI) in recent weeks. "We were on the baseline for this time of year, which is really extraordinary for several weeks, and now we are below the baseline again," said Schuchat. But she warned that the decline may be just a "breathing space" due to the arrival of summer and the virus can come back strong at the return of cold weather in the fall.

In Mad cow disease, misfolded proteins called prions drill holes in the brain, eventually destroy. Hereditary prion diseases, which are rare and passed through families, do the same. But it has long been a puzzle why prion attack neurons than other cell types, and how they do their damage. In a new study, the researchers suggest that prions deplete a misunderstood protein that normally keeps nerve cells healthy. The theory has some way to go before it can be proven, but researchers are intrigued by this potential new twist on a mysterious disease

Prions are a defective version of a protein called PrP healthy. when it misfolds, the results are disastrous. Yet researchers do not know exactly why. One argument suggests that, while health PrP is normally located on the surface of the cell, the lost and pray are found in the cytosol, the fluid found inside cells, destroying them in some way.

The new study bolsters the theory. The first signs came in an article published in 03. In this work, the researchers reported that mice lacking an obscure protein, Mahogunin, has suffered some form of neurodegeneration much like prion diseases. Biologists phones Ramanujan Hegde and Oishee Chakrabarti of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, decided to probe deeper into the Mahogunin connection.

The team tested whether artificial prion proteins, constructed to resemble real prion, interact with Mahogunin. They did - but because prions are sticky and adhere to almost everything, it was not sufficient evidence. Thus, the researchers showed that this interaction has caused problems for Mahogunin in living cells: Adding artificial prion depleted levels of Mahogunin but when prions were prevented from entering the cytosol, the Mahogunin levels remained normal. Finally, mice with a mutation in the gene PrP , which develop prion disease, also lost Mahogunin in parts of their brain, the duo reports today Cell .

Although there is still no evidence that Mahogunin plays a role in the infectious prions to diseases such as mad cow disease, the theory is reasonable for hereditary cases, which more closely resemble this which is seen in the mice used here, says Adriano Aguzzi, a neuropathologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. "At first glance, it is plausible," agrees Neil Cashman, a neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, said that the theory needs to be tested further. One question, Cashman said, is knowing Mahogunin if the mechanism is consistent with other theories that attempt to explain the toxicity of prion, such as those attributed to the defective cell signaling.

the authors agree that there are many unanswered questions. one is why a deficit of Mahogunin detrimental to a cell. Hegde is also interested in whether prions exhaust other cells and molecules.

[SmallBusiness

science Insider this week a report on the prediction of a US government official that H1N1 will continue unabated during summer and autumn, a decision taken by the G8 nations to skip science during their summit meeting in Italy this month, and an interruption of clinical trials caused by procedural errors in two centers cancer in the United States.

science Insider also highlighted a warning that the continuity of the meteorological data in the United States is "extreme risk" because a program to develop new Earth observation the material is poorly managed. Efforts to replace older satellites is on track, but National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, as it is called, has doubled the cost to $ 14 billion.

Two major companies have offered to provide free vaccine against H1N1 for people in developing countries who can not afford to pay. An offer of 100 million free doses came from Sanofi-Aventis, shortly after a similar commitment was announced by GlaxoSmithKline.

A plan widely discussed changing the way the U.K. government distributes research funds to universities was shot. The proposal to switch from peer live an assessment based on citation analysis and other bibliometric data - both complex and controversial -. Was sidelined indefinitely

The US Congress is fighting on changes in a research program to $ 2 billion to exploit the creativity of small business , in order to achieve an agreement before the end of next month program. Also this week, four lawmakers have asked the United States National Academies to tell them what the government must do to keep the strong US university research. A similar letter in 05 gave birth to the influential Rising Above the Gathering Storm report.

Keep up with the latest scientific policy Science Insider.

A third case of swine flu resistant to oseltamivir, announced today in Hong Kong, experts from the flu fear that drug resistance is spreading. Unlike the two previous cases, Hong Kong the patient has not taken oseltamivir itself, suggesting that she picked up a resistant strain of someone else.

When Denmark reported its first known resistant cases 09 A (H1N1) swine flu Tuesday, scientists have not yet alarmed, because the most likely developed resistance while the patient was virus treated and there was no evidence that she had infected anyone else. A second case, reported yesterday in Japan, also seems to have arisen while the patient took the drug. In the past, these mutant viruses induced by drugs often not very well spread.

The case of Hong Kong is different: The patient, a 16 year old daughter stopped at Hong Kong International Airport on June 11 after a flight from San Francisco, had only mild symptoms and never took oseltamivir, Hong Kong health authorities reported today. This suggests that this strain is already circulating in California and can not be hindered by the resistance mutation.

"It is very worrying that, fresh in the human population, it [virus] now seems to be able to maintain fitness despite the mutation and to be able to spread," virologist Jennifer McKimm- Breschkin Commonwealth science and industrial research Organization in Melbourne, Australia, told Bloomberg today.

The tests showed that the resistant virus is still sensitive to zanamivir, a chemical cousin of oseltamivir that some countries have added to their stockpiles for a pandemic.

UPDATE :. NIH has issued an opinion stating that current research on previously approved stem cell lines can continue

BARCELONA, SPAIN science was the main topic of conversation here yesterday the international Society for (ISSCR of) the annual meeting of stem cells. But three other articles distracted researchers. First, the time it poured rain the afternoon, marring planned visits to this beautiful city. Second, a Spanish leg of the Tour de France has rolled into town late in the afternoon, and I have to admit I snuck on the poster sessions for 20 minutes to see the riders zoom by. But the third question that dominates conversations here was politics. While researchers of US stem cell celebrated the final guidelines of the NIH stem cell, questions remain, particularly if the National Institutes of Health will approve the existing lines in time for use with stimulus funds. And Europe, the political concerns Italian scientists here as several of them to sue the government to force it to include human embryonic stem its funding on stem cells.

Regarding the new NIH guidelines, which took effect on Tuesday, July 7, Kevin Eggan of Harvard University noted that he spent Tuesday night talking to Harvard lawyers to see if he needed to stop experiments in his laboratory. While he has worked with approved federal human ES lines, it notes that these lines could be considered illegal until they get examined by the working group on stem cells NIH plans to create. Indeed, if one looks closely all the requirements of informed consent, Eggan argues that all human ES existing lines will get exemptions NIH working group to study with federal funding. "There is no human ES lines that currently meet NIH guidelines," he said.

Eggan finally decided that his group does not need to stop the lab work, but says he remains much uncertainty about the new guidelines. For example, both Eggan and George Daley of the Boston Children's Hospital are wondering who is on the NIH working group and how fast it will review and hopefully approve, human ES existing lines. "We are concerned, there will be more delays," said Daley, who noted that the ISSCR officials placed a call late in the evening here to talk to officials of the NIH Guidelines.

The biggest question seems to be whether NIH can approve quickly they can be used with stem cell grants submitted to the NIH for the money allocated under the economic stimulus plan states STATES lines. (The deadline for the award of the NIH 09 stimulus grants is September 30th.) Eggan says its grants specified cell lines which he preferred, but also noted alternatives in case the guidelines n has not approved these lines. But he does not know if all the researchers went to the trouble. What if a grant is approved, but the human ES line involved has not made it through the working group? NIH officials sought to reassure ISSCR they solve this problem, but does not specify how. "Nobody knows. The fact is that it is uncertain," said Eggan. Still, Daley said that despite these continuing concerns, the general mood of the new guidelines is "grateful."

While American scientists stem cells can break free of politics, those in Italy can not say the same thing. human ES cell research is legal in Italy, but it does not mean that the government must finance. As Nature detailed last week, an Italian scientific agency recently launched a call for grant proposals on stem cells, but research on human ES cells specifically excluded, leading three Italian scientists continue government. Elena Cattaneo of the University of Milan is one of the researchers and a press conference, she complained about a "strong political interference" with science and said it violated the freedom protected by the Constitution of Italy for scientific research. She said she and her fellow plaintiffs expect the trial will be resolved quickly.

Laurie Garrett, senior researcher for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York is the media consultant's nightmare: it cuts to the chase and talk bluntly. But then Garrett is, at its heart, a journalist, and has brought the policy wonk hat CFR for the past 4 years.

a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and bestselling author, lately, Garrett has devoted much of its attention on the swine flu pandemic. (Full disclosure: I work with it to organize a Science / CFR-sponsored panel discussion on the pandemic.) His relationship with the Obama White House administration on the bottom to give it a unique perspective about several political issues that have surfaced. She is also a member of the Network Modernizing Foreign Assistance, a focus group network, NGOs and religious organizations, which aims to strengthen US efforts in developing countries, and it interacts regularly with senior officials of the World Organisation Health (WHO) and other parts of the United Nations.

In an interview with Science Insider last week, Garrett has denounced the failure of the Obama administration to appoint a head for the little known Office of International Health Affairs in Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This failure, it argues, has profound implications for the H1N1 pandemic and international relations in general. She particularly concerned that the Administration has not squarely addressed the issue of supply of H1N1 vaccines for the world, and urges the Government to see the central role the US could play to ensure that fairness prevails . And Garrett said she and many of her colleagues MFAN had a "fantastic level of hope on a scale that I would put above boiling on the election of Obama," which began to decline.

this is a condensed transcript of the interview, edited for clarity

. Q: What is your thinking on the H1N1 response of the Obama administration so far
LG .: the biggest problem is currently is in charge from the outside it seems that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in charge, and certainly CDC is in the driver's seat for some pieces. the answer pandemic. But as we have known since at least 05, when the Bush administration began to try to understand what a preparedness plan for a pandemic should look like and what agencies should lead response, CDC is not the only player, and there are very important parts of the problem that had to be supported to the Food and Drug administration, the State Department, the National security Council, and very important, the Office of international health Affairs (OGHA) in HHS.

Q: There's nobody running the Office of International Health Affairs, is
L.G. There is an empty seat. There is no special advisor to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, no undersecretary in this role, no deputy secretary in this role, etc.

Q: So what is the consequence? What does not happen regarding the pandemic would happen if someone had this seat?
L.G. We meet a deep and dangerous 5 or 6 weeks. A number of international issues are of pressing concern. And it's not clear to me or to anyone else that I talk about in the government that our side should handle it all. In the Bush administration, Bill Steiger in OGHA coordinated, if not the key decisions in response to these problems. In the absence of a OGHA director, what do we do?

There is a very acute growing gap between about 12 rich countries and the world as regards access to medicines against the flu Tamiflu and Relenza and a potential H1N1 vaccine. It is very clear that two things conspire to exacerbate the problem. First, it is difficult to grow the seed stock for vaccine. All pharmaceutical companies report difficulties that will surely mean the availability date will be pushed back, and there will be limited supplies. Some of the companies said that we do not take more orders. Well guess what? The countries that got their orders in the world are rich. Where this leaves 4 to 5 billion human beings on the planet? This could be the great challenge of our time in terms of global equity and globalization, which could affect other international negotiations of the World Trade Organization to further discussions in the Doha Round, and even I would say Copenhagen climate change talks. Each has ramifications to the scientific community, and they are being affected by how poor and middle-income countries perceive the attitude of the rich world of the pandemic.

Q: There is no mandate of WHO to say. "Here is how much vaccine, how it will be distributed here" Someone could run the show? Do we need that?
L.G. The only way of equity and distribution may possibly occur given the shortages is whether the United States led the effort. We are the largest consumer of vaccine. We are only able to walk and say to all the key players, "Okay, we need to reach a conclusion here that will both increase supply, but also increase equity in the world. " This will have to mean a system of understanding of who should receive the vaccine. The United States needs 360 million doses? I do not think so. How do we really need? And what does the US do with the vaccine we do not use?

Q: There is obviously the question of adjuvants, boosters of the immune system that are not currently in use in the FDA approved vaccines against influenza. We could stretch vaccine greatly if we saw adjuvants as a public health responsibility.
L.G. We should use absolutely adjuvant. Without taboo. The attitude of the international community I hear is it is unethical. In terms of globalization, in terms of the whole future of relations between the emerging countries and the United States and the world rich in general, it is absolutely imperative that we use adjuvant.

Now, that brings in two sets of questions that have historical precedence. He do with the issues of liability and 1976 pigs vaccination campaign against influenza. The other is a large constituency of people who firmly believe that the builders were responsible for a multitude of health problems, including autism.

Q: There is another problem: individual benefit / risk against the public good. If you are using an adjuvant in favor of an individual if the vaccine would not work well without it is an equation risk / benefit. But if you use adjuvant to provide the vaccine to the world, which is quite an equation risk / benefit different. You force people to take risks that others have the product, as
LG :. We have a long history of accepting generous as Americans, citizens of the world, we take risks on behalf of needy people elsewhere. Who were the first and strongest responders to [Banda] tsunami Aceh? military forces of the United States. When looking at food crises around the world, citizens and the US government believe it is in our interest to move to the plate, even if it ends up costing the taxpayers money. Helping the world and see ourselves as embedded citizens in a global community are not a new phenomenon, nor is it that we should ignore. And President Obama has been very clear he wants an acceleration of our commitment to global health.

I guarantee you, if America does not greatly exercised citizenship in this global crisis, we will pay a price in a multitude of ways that many people are not even imagine right now.

Q: Do you think Obama should come out and publicly that the United States has decided that we will use the adjuvant to share as widely as possible the vaccine antigen we bought
LG: Before the President made a public statement to this effect, we need to see movement to fill the OGHA direction on an emergency basis. We need a much stronger decision tree regarding exactly who is responsible for the international response on behalf of the United States. We need some quick research on applications suitable adjuvants with vaccines against influenza.

Q: Have you heard anything from WHO in terms of its relations with the US government on this question? Did they say anything publicly that you know or do any backroom
LG: There is a very high level of anxiety to WHO from within, in the office of the Secretary General of United Nations, and several ministries of health around the world. There is a collective feeling that we reach a kind of time showdown.

Q: In the adjuvant
L.G. During fairness. Look this way. It's not just equity of access. It is crucial to survival. If you think a vaccine will make a difference, even in a relatively mild flu epidemic and save lives, then someone, somewhere made a conscious or unconscious decision that the life of an American is worth hundreds lives in a poor country.

Q: If we had the leadership to OGHA it would make a big difference on this issue
LG: If we had OGHA leadership right now, with real stature person in this work, it would be full time care of this person. WHO, through its Charter, is a membership organization of nations. But the body to vote is the World Health Assembly, effectively the legislative body of the WHO, it is the health ministers. When the Director-General Margaret Chan wants to talk to Nigeria, she talks to the Minister of Health or the designated spokesperson of this person. She does not speak to the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister of Finance. For our country, which has traditionally served the WHO spoke to OGHA.

At some point during the Bush administration, OGHA has reached a level of power and unprecedented influence in its history and that this meant literally no other agency representative in all the US government could talk to global players in health without erasing that through OGHA. So we went from there a year, with this level of authority in this obscure office most Americans have never heard of, all the way to the office is empty.

Q: Do you think it has become too heavy before, if
L.G. While much of China was broken by a very aggressive bull.

Q :. You do not speak in the country of China
LG: [Laughter.]

Q: What are other examples of problems which affect OGHA make a difference
LG We have a risky situation involving over Indonesia. Indonesian Health Minister Dr. Siti Supari has insisted for years that it is not the duty of the country to share H5N1 virus samples of bird flu that emerged, and now she is added a host of other viruses to the list of things she did not share.

The position of Supari throughout was that bad business drugs will transform these viruses in vaccines and recharge both their products that poor countries from virus will never be able to pay rescue Products. What we see now is taking place with the vaccine against H1N1 scenario seems to validate his argument.

Q: What leadership OGHA could do in terms of Indonesia
LG: It is vital that we have the leadership at the moment to say: "Look, everyone, we are all in one world. The virus does not carry a passport. This virus will cross borders and we need a global solidarity. If it fails, all paris open. "

If we had a pandemic unfolding ratcheted that a couple of notches so that the virus has gone through a mutational cycle and become more virulent without sacrificing seemingly extraordinary ability to transmit between humans and quickly distributors in the United States would find that our N-95 masks, syringes, latex gloves, and protective equipment for first responders are manufactured abroad. Why India and China should let their manufacturers fill US orders for these products if their countries are denied access and can not afford vaccines and drugs for their own massive populations

Q: There is a other side that would raise skeptical this pandemic is not fatal is not the scenario you describe in danger of exaggerating the threat to the point where it is alarmist
LG:..?. the refutation is a evidence. We have never had a pandemic threat declared before 6. And you can argue until you're blue in the face whether it was justified or a smart decision, but it happened. What points to countries all over the world not only are we supposed to rev our watch and think about our response capacity in case of a pandemic, we are also supposed to have access to tools for our kits public health tools. Where is this stuff?

Q: Do you have a point of view inside why the Director OGHA has not yet been completed and if the candidates online
LG:. There are no candidates. There is no real priority set by person I can discern for this position filled.

Q: You spoke to people about it. What do they say?
L.G. The disappointment of Tom Daschle [who in February withdrew his name to serve as HHS secretary under Obama] behind everything in terms of appointment at HHS. There are still many empty seats. We do not have a director of the US Agency for International Development and seems to be largely due to the verification process. People left the task once they saw that the vetting test would be like. It is a leading candidate and the vetting is still not done.

Q:.? You said that you were beyond boiling when Obama arrived Are you still
L.G. I had a few cold showers. It is obvious to me that we have very different opinions within the government about what our commitments to global health and foreign aid should look like and how they should be structured and organized.

There is no place on the planet that is not disputed by the swine flu right now, scrambling to come up with resources and tools and plans. Yet each country is finding things difficult, and poor countries suffer the most. We must show that we have an idea of ​​how to be a partner in this new global player in global health landscape.

The world recognizes, fortunately, that the H1N1 virus is currently a relatively mild virus, and we all have our fingers crossed that it will remain. But it is still the test case. God thank you that the test for the world is a relatively mild virus. God help us if just at that moment, we were dealing with H5N1 in transmissible form. Right now, what the world sees when a pandemic comes, the rich world takes everything and flees.

Thomas Frieden, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has decided to dismantle a key element of the former director of CDC controversial reorganization Julie Gerberding agency based in Atlanta. In a memo sent to members of the CDC staff on Friday Frieden said he will "withdraw ... from the structure of the CDC" The four centers of coordination of infectious diseases, health information, the promotion of health, and health and the environment had been created as part of the restructuring Gerberding, began in 05.

Although the functions of the centers will be preserved, Frieden said staff "the current organizational structure is not best placed to respond to the mission of the agency." He based his decision on the recommendations of an internal panel that says CDC can operate more efficiently with fewer levels of management. coordination Centre structure was unpopular with many DCC because it reduces the influence of national centers under its auspices.

when we eat may be just as important as what we eat. A new study shows that mice that eat when they should be sleeping gain more weight than mice that eat at normal hours. Another study highlights why we pack on the pounds in the first place. These studies are translated into human therapies that help beat obesity remains to be seen, but they give scientists clues about the myriad of factors to consider.

Observations of workers overnight showed that eating at night disrupts the metabolism and hormones that signal that we are satiated. But nobody had done controlled studies on this connection so far. Biologist Fred Turek of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and graduate student Deanna Arble examined the link between a diet high in fat and eat what day mouse hour. A group of six nocturnal control mice ate their pellets (60% fat calories, mainly lard) overnight. Another group of six ate the same meal during the day, Turek said, disrupting their circadian rhythm -. Cycle 24 hours normal body

After 6 weeks, mice unscheduled weighs almost 20% more than the controls, Turek and Arble report today obesity supporting the idea that the consumption of calories when you should sleep is harmful. Turek and Arble recognize that disrupted mice ate some more and were a little slower, but the differences could not account for all of the weight gain.

In the second study, another team of researchers studied the link between weight and the immune system. Hundreds of genes seem to affect the accumulation of fat, but helps to protect against infection might help us lose weight with little effort, biochemist Alan Saltiel of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues suggest today cell . Researchers tested adding weight capacity of a protein called IKKε, which is linked to obesity, diabetes and chronic inflammation of low. For 3 months, the team introduced six missing IKKε mouse genes of a high-fat diet chow.

Because the main job of IKKε is immune defense team Saltiel did not expect to find differences in weight between the mice and knockout controls. But the knockout mice do not earn much less. Best of all, the circumference of the animals added was less harmful to their overall health. "The knockout mice do not gain much weight, but also do not get diabetes, do not get insulin resistance, and do not get fat accumulation in the liver," said Saltiel, who contribute all as a result of the health problems associated with the excess weight. Saltiel IKKε called "a drug target particularly attractive for the treatment of metabolic diseases."

Tom Maniatis molecular biologist at Harvard University, praised the study but remains skeptical about any drug that inhibits IKKε. He helped develop the mice used in the experiment and notes that they are vulnerable to influenza. He suspected that removing IKKε can help people with diabetes or obesity, "but the first time that swine flu arrives here."

The researchers are also enthusiastic about the paper circadian rhythm. Frank Scheer, a neuroscientist at Harvard who studies sleep was hit that "you can see something happening [to the disrupted mice] in the first week already. This is consistent with human studies where we found changes in only 3 days. "

Together, the documents suggest that there is no simple answer to why people gain weight. Said Turek, "It is clearly not only the calories in calories compared to the outside."

The National Institutes of Health has today taken a step towards facilitating the new administration policy on the use of human embryonic stem cells, opening a website where scientists funded by NIH can complete an application form for the use of certain cell lines.

scientists potentially have hundreds of lines available for now that President Obama has thrown out the restrictive Bush-era policy.

NIH director Francis Collins also announced the formation of a scientific working group, lawyers and ethicists to consider whether the stem cell lines eligible for federal funding in the context of new lines guidelines issued in July. Group president is Jeffrey R. Botkin, professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Collins will take the final decision on the eligibility of cells. They will then be listed on the registry of human embryonic stem cells NIH.

discoveries out of the laboratory and into the clinical removal has become one of the main objectives of the leaders in biomedical research. They called for programs to deploy search results faster and get young researchers interested in the work of serious business of developing a new drug or treatment. Today AAAS, publisher of Science Insider, intensifying in this area with a new magazine called Science Translational Medicine .

The homepage of the journal explains that translational medicine "is based on the progress of basic research - the study of biological processes using cell cultures, for example, or animal models - and uses them to develop new therapies or medical procedures " Science Translational Medicine publish research and commentary every Wednesday, and the selected document will appear in a monthly print edition of

Chief scientist of the journal is Elias Zerhouni, who as director of the national Institutes of health 02-08 has led to a larger part of the NIH mission translation. Among the first documents review :. a small device to measure the risk of breast cancer, a strategy to improve bone marrow transplants, and a study of potential new drugs for osteoporosis

Molecular biologist Suzanne Stratton worked to improve clinical trials Carle Cancer Center in Urbana, Illinois, when she was fired late last year prompting an investigation into the center of the standards, according to a report in on New York Times .

Stratton argues that his removal raises questions about the quality and safety studies in this and other community health centers funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Stratton told Times she was hired several years ago to help oversee the expansion of the program in Carle center clinical study, partly funded by the NCI in a new push to bring innovative medicines to a broader community. After a disagreement with the bosses, Stratton was dismissed in 08; She then informed NCI on the problems she saw, including an allegation that doctors exaggerating the benefits of testing and do not get proper consent from patients.

NCI investigation, but agency officials were not immediately available to discuss results. The spokesman Carle Centre did not respond to telephone and electronic messages of Science Insider requesting comment. [see update below]

In a statement released today, Carle Clinic Stratton challenged the allegations, but refused to discuss them because they involve "a personal problem." The statement continues: "Many of the concerns raised in the [ New York Times ] were deemed unfounded or adequately addressed by an audit of the US Department of Health and Office services social Human Research Protections (. OHRP) for other issues, we have worked diligently to respond "

the full text of the statement :.

Carle Clinic is aware of an article in the October 23 issue of New York Times regarding the research program in Carle Cancer Center.

Stratton Suzanne is a former employee of Carle Hospital Foundation who provided information about the history. We do not agree with most of the statements attributed to it but can not discuss her allegations further, as this is a matter of Carle Foundation hospital staff.

Many of the concerns raised in the article were deemed unfounded or adequately addressed by an audit of the US Department of the Office of Health and Human Services for Human Research Protections (OHRP). For other questions, we have worked diligently to address them.

It is important to note that many of OHRP's concerns are administrative issues such as the lack of clear policies and procedures. The OHRP determination letter did not indicate in any way that patients have suffered harm due to participation in clinical trials. Furthermore, the determination of OHRP has not indicated that the integrity of any investigation has been compromised by the problems identified, and in particular, found no failures to obtain informed consent as it was alleged by Mrs. Stratton.

Significantly OHRP has taken note of our commitment to patient safety as shown in its last letter in Carle Clinic "during the evaluation OHRP on site, members of the IRB, the IRB staff, and investigators displayed an enthusiastic and sincere concern the protection of human subjects. "

The National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health challenged Article of the New York Times and has requested the publication to publish a correction. This formal request in writing can be read here.

We will continue to meet additional demands OHRP may cause and appreciate the consideration and the opportunity to improve research at Carle Clinic. Carle Clinic has been active in clinical research for over 25 years, during which the lives of many patients improved by advances directly or indirectly, made as a result of this research. Research is an important part of advancing cancer care, and we remain committed to clinical research and high-quality patient care.

Jennifer Hendricks Kaufmann
Manager, Public Relations and Communications
Carle Clinic

The researchers used a modified AIDS virus to stop a devastating brain disease in two young boys. The treatment, in which the virus has issued a therapeutic gene is the first time gene therapy has been used successfully against adrenoleukodystrophy X-linked (ALD) - a disorder that is always fatal if untreated. With this proof of principle, scientists hope versions of the AIDS virus designed to carry different genes can now be applied to a variety of other diseases.

ALD is caused by a defect in a gene on the X chromosome that produces a protein called ALD. Cells need this transporter protein to break down certain fats; without it, the fats accumulate and damage the myelin sheath that protects nerves. In X-linked ALD, which strikes mainly boys, patients develop neurological symptoms such as seizures and vision loss around 6 to 8 years, and in a few months, they become paralyzed, deaf, and eventually die. In the 1980s, the parents of a boy with ALD developed a fatty acid mixture they called Lorenzo's oil that may have delayed the disease in their son (and inspired a 1992 film). But the only way to ward widely accepted ALD is a bone marrow transplant, which is risky - 20% to 30% of patients die or have serious complications -. And works best if the donor marrow comes from a brother

Seeking an alternative, pediatrician Patrick Aubourg of INSERM in Paris, the French biomedical research agency, and the University of Paris -Descartes and collaborators in France and Germany tried gene therapy on two 7 years with ALD who could not be associated with a bone marrow donor. They removed the child's blood cells and cells treated with a so-called lentiviral vector, a modified HIV virus carrying the gene for the enzyme they lacked. The virus could not replicate, but it stitched the gene into the DNA of blood cells.

To provide the cells treated room to enter and multiply, the researchers destroyed each bone marrow of patients with chemotherapy. Then they infused the repaired cells in the patient, the cells began to turn the crank on the ALD protein. The idea was that after a few months, some of these cells could migrate in the brain.

As expected, the parts of the brain of patients who have already shown signs of myelin damage initially worsened after gene therapy, because the modified cells will migrate into the brain immediately. But after 14 to 16 months, the blood cells of the boys were still making ALD, and brain images showed that the disease had stabilized or improved, suggesting the protein was produced there. One boy did worse on a nonverbal IQ test, and the other has lost vision, but their scores on verbal tests did not drop as they do in patients not receiving therapy. The results were similar to a bone marrow transplant, the researchers report tomorrow Science .

"There is a real milestone in the field," says neurologist Florian Eichler of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. However, it warns that the treatment should not be attempted until the patient has signs of ALD. This is because many boys with the defective gene do not develop the brain disease, and therefore they should not be subjected to such harsh treatment regimen.

the study is also important because it suggests that a lentiviral vector can be safer than other viruses used for gene therapy, gene therapy, says researcher David Williams of Harvard Medical School and Boston children's Hospital . in the best known example, another viral vector cured 20 patients with "bubble boy" immune disease, but it caused leukemia in several of them by inserting its DNA near a gene cancer . An analysis of blood cells of ALD patients suggested that the lentiviral vector is less likely to land in the wrong place. Williams expected that lentiviral vectors will now be used to treat other genetic diseases that involve blood cells, such as sickle cell disease.

A new group adds its voice to the rage on the influence of drug money on research and medical practice, saying it should be more money to study the problem. In a letter sent today to the National Institutes of Director Francis Collins Health, 100 doctors, medical ethicists, and others call for funding:

The recent disclosure of items ghostwritten, physician payments, and use of the doctrine leaders to increase markets for FDA-regulated products indicate that ethical failures can soak biomedical research. ...

In your role as director of "the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation," we ask that you acknowledge the standard of research on the effects of conflicts of interests and commercial influence on medical decision making ...

between bench and bedside is a treacherous path with ethical dilemmas. NIH is the best place to launch and support a rigorous scientific investigation into the ethical state of research, the relations of the academic industry, and the effect of this relationship on human health. There are currently no identifiable mechanism through which NIH would fund this research.

The message we want more money for our research seems selfish, and it's not like anything NIH funding in this area already. (For example, NIH Grant supported university surveys financing industry.) But the doctor Georgetown University Adriane Fugh-Berman, who heads a group called Pharmed Out who led the letter says NIH tends to reject grant applications on topics such as ghostwriting and industry funding for medical education. "I think the NIH thought this not from their area, and the problem is that it is not within the domain of person," she said.

signatories of the letter shows that the diversity of voices and came to rule on the matter. The list includes psychiatrists, current and former editors of journals, ethicists (including Lisa Bero of the University of California, San Francisco, who studies the influence of drug money on research), for patients and consumer advocates, medical students, and Susan Wood, FDA official who left to meddle in science by the Bush administration. Pharmed Out is funded by a 04 legal settlement involving the marketing of a Pfizer drug.

The letter asking for a meeting face-to-face with Collins. Stay tuned.

A House of Representatives hearing to examine the science behind a controversial policy on mammography yesterday erupted in a donnybrook.

Conservative members of the Energy Subcommittee and Commerce Health pounced on recommendations to cut back on mammography issued November 16 by the Preventive Services Task Force of the United States a health group appointed by the government councilors, as an example of the bad things that would happen if the current health reform plans moving forward. The Working Group indicated that healthy women should not start routine mammograms until age 50 (the previous council was to begin at 40). Even then, he said, mammograms should be performed every two years as opposed to every year. The working group also recommended that doctors not teach healthy women do regular breast self-exams. The reason in both cases: the aggressive screening tends to produce a psychological unnecessary stress, biopsies and surgery-night that outweigh the benefits for younger women

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) blasted retirement aggressive working group. screening as a kind of "rationing" -a step Medical along "the path of socialized medicine in this country." Barton and others argued that the working group was trying to reduce medical costs and his new board would cause some women to die. Republican members of the subcommittee also said the new board was a taste of what the health care reform bill House-passed would bring, if adopted. Representative John Dingell (D-MI), a funder of the project of the health reform law, retorted that he was surprised to hear these "fairy tales. ... It's like listening to the Brothers Grimm. "Dingell deplored" the fear tactics. "And then the experts spoke.

The working-group leaders key witnesses Diana Petitti, a biomedical informatics expert at Arizona State University, Tempe, and Ned Calonge, chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Health in Denver have been scattered questions about why their group had decided to reverse the earlier advice on mammography. (A 02 task force, with different members, recommended annual mammography beginning at age 40) and Petitti Calonge said the decision to deemphasize mammography based on a new review of the best and most recent evidence. Some members of Congress pressed them to recognize that the working group had a goal to reduce unreported medical costs. Both denied. "Cost was not a factor in our considerations," said Petitti. She and Calogne conceded they could have done better in a couple of ways, however. They said that the court did not fully involve the "stakeholders" in its review and recommendations have been poorly formulated Rather than discourage mammography for women in their 40s, what they meant, according to their testimony, was: ".. The decision to have mammograms for women in their 40s should be based on a discussion between a woman and her doctor "

Otis Brawley, a breast cancer specialist and chief medical officer of the American cancer Society, said ACS disagreed with the recommendation that regular mammograms delayed until the age of 50 an ACS panel reviewed the evidence in 07 and reached a different conclusion, he said the women earn more than they lose if they start mammograms at age 40. "experts can look at the science and disagreement" Brawley said. But he approved the conclusion of the working group within self-exams monthly produce too many false alarms and unnecessary biopsies. instead, ACS recommends "breast awareness", an approach that encourages women to be alert to physical changes, but not to the rigorous search for them.

An unscientific delivered what may have been the strongest critic of the day. Fran Visco, a lawyer, a survivor of breast cancer for 22 years, and president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, called for less emotion and more reason. She said her organization supported the working group and its scientific approach. She added that there is nothing new about the furor it caused

Many of the audience were shocked by the changes in breast cancer screening guidelines but these guidelines and this controversy is not new. ... A National Institutes of Health consensus panel came to similar conclusions in 1997. In fact, historically, scientific evidence did not support the methods of breast cancer screening that have been promoted vigorously in our country . Today we have more evidence and understanding of breast cancer, but it seems that once again, the emotion and the conventional wisdom prevail over science, evidence and progress. Because a health message has been given over and over again and has become ingrained in the public consciousness does not make it okay. ... Too many times ... beliefs seized when there was actually no real evidence behind, and these actions caused harm to women.

Two other witnesses Donna Sweet of the American College of Physicians and Jennifer Luray Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, a group of patient advocacy, offered support for the group work but are concerned about the public reaction. Sweet said her organization recommends that women between 40 an 49 years consult their doctor and make an individual decision about mammography. Luray said that "there is enough uncertainty about the age at which mammography should begin and the frequency of screening that we do not want to see a change in policy for screening mammography at this time."

Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) ended the session by saying he had hoped to examine the evidence behind the conclusions of the working group, but that the whole issue had become " totally politicized ". He apologized "on behalf of the Congress."

Humans are the best friend of the influenza virus. We give a home. We travel and introduce it to new people. We also provide the nasty invaders with hundreds of our own proteins to help get into our cells and copy itself, as a new study Nature and two in Cell show. While this may seem bad news for us, researchers hope that a better understanding of how we aid and abet the enemy make the virus easier to stop.

Together the three studies map the complex interactions between viral and host genes, a feat achieved for some other viruses to date. But this is just a first draft, and the results of different laboratories are both illuminating and confusing. "The three studies are fantastic," said Sumit Chanda, a systems biologist at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in San Diego, California, who led a team that published one of the reports online December 21 in Nature . "but everyone brings weaknesses and strengths to the table."

the three laboratories identified several hundred human genes that the flu turns to his advantage, but in the most cases, the groups each hit on different ones: Only about 30 genes overlap, a result that is "very surprising," said Peter Palese, a virologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who co-authored the paper with Chanda. the two related studies that have appeared online December 17 in cell were led by Stephen Elledge at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston and Sagi Nir Hacohen Shapira and the Broad Institute in Cambridge , Massachusetts.

Yet even these divergent findings open the door to attack the influenza virus by targeting host proteins rather than the unwanted visitor himself. Current antiviral drugs against influenza, such as Tamiflu, cripple essential proteins of the virus itself, but the flu often develop resistance to them. A better strategy would be to focus on how human cells offer the flu a comfortable home. "It would be very difficult for the virus to develop resistance against a therapy that targets a cell protein," says Palese.

But the first researchers must identify the most important proteins and sort the differences between the three groups. Elledge and Chanda teams used the same basic technique to identify important human genes. They mixed the viruses with human cells, then off human genes one at a time with what is called RNA interference. This revealed specific contributors to the welfare of the flu. They now share their raw data, hoping to adjust how their different experimental conditions have led to conflicting results.

the third study, conducted by Shapira and Hacohen Broad, used a completely different strategy, analysis of the interactions between human and viral proteins, and the levels of different expression genes. This "multi-layer" approach provides more of a big-picture look at the host-pathogen dance the finer-grained results of RNA interference studies.

One of the most intriguing discoveries came out of a choice in the laboratory Elledge hunting for human proteins that interfere with the replication of influenza virus, as opposed those who help him. Elledge, who worked with Abraham Brass Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, found a whole family of these, called interferon-inducible transmembrane proteins. These IFITMs exist in many other species, and Elledge suggests removing from chicken embryos or animal cells that are used to make vaccines against the flu can greatly boost vaccine production by allowing the virus to be more copies of itself. Comparing the levels of these IFITMs in different people may also explain why some people are more susceptible to influenza virus

Memo flu: .. You are not a friend, and your benefits may be about to expire

A long-standing feud between drug companies and the German institute that evaluates the effectiveness of treatments medical could cost the institute director of his work. Although the post is supposed to be apolitical, members of the new German coalition government called for Peter Sawicki, founding director of the Institute for Quality and efficiency of health care (known by its German acronym IQWiG pronounced ICK-vig), be replaced with someone who is more favorable to the pharmaceutical industry. The Board of Directors of the Institute of Directors should decide on 20 January whether Sawicki, a researcher and expert clinical diabetes, will be replaced when his contract runs later this year.

Sawicki Supporters say the move would endanger the reputation of the Institute for the impartial and rigorous science, and earlier this month a petition signed by 0 clinical doctors and researchers have asked the minister Health and advice on keeping Sawicki. Gerd Antes, director of the German Cochrane Centre in Freiburg, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the effects of health care, said that replacing Sawicki significantly undermine IQWiG and its work. Antes considers anti-Sawicki push "part of the political game to soften and weaken rigorous procedures for new drugs and medical devices in Germany."

IQWiG, based in Cologne, was launched in 04 as part of a reform of the German health care system. With a function similar to that of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK, IQWiG reports inform the panel that decides which treatments are covered by insurance schemes funded from Germany. Sawicki clashed with pharmaceutical companies on access to their unpublished studies and reports of the Institute, as one who has found "no evidence" that a new product has exceeded the oldest synthetic human insulin. Industry groups, especially the German organization of pharmaceutical companies focused on research, VFA, have been very critical of IQWiG, saying, for example, IQWiG is too selective in the choice of studies to include in its assessments.

Big pharma attacks even came from abroad. In March 09, the Research and Manufacturers of America Pharmaceutical petitioned the Obama administration to put Germany on a "priority watch list" trade and intellectual property mainly because of the influence of IQWiG on the market German drug. the petition complained that the Institute "insufficiently taken into account the value of innovative pharmaceuticals," among other complaints. the Obama administration has refused to put Germany on its watch list.

Sawicki acknowledges that it is difficult for new drugs or techniques to make the grade "We introduced a method based on relevant patient outcomes. morbidity, mortality and quality of life," says -it while avoiding what he calls "invalid surrogate mothers," such as cholesterol levels or bone density. "You can reduce cholesterol and increased mortality. You can reduce blood pressure and increase heart failure," he said. Second, he said, "we are looking for . progress "rather than efficiency, which means that innovation is not compared with placebo, but with the current standard of care" We try to answer the question: "is it better" Sawicki said he has some sympathy for drug manufacturers: "It is very difficult to produce something better than what we already had. "

industry complaints about the institute found some support among German politicians. In the October agreement forming new coalition government in Germany, the parties stated their intention to examine IQWiG methods in order to "increase the acceptance of the findings of the institute among patients, caregivers and producers." at the end of November, the German media reported that a white Paper distributed among health policy makers have called for replacing Sawicki and for the institute to be more favorable to industry. Sawicki is also facing an ethics investigation, which he said he asked after a new CFO has found irregularities in expense accounts. News survey, implying have several hundred euros in travel expenses ( see update below ) fled when the white paper was distributed.

the work of the Institute is bound to be controversial, said Antes. Similar research in the US has also drawn criticism. Although the term Sawicki was not flawless, Antes said, he was instrumental in obtaining the institute and running. "He never gives. It has a very strong spine. In 5 years, they have established an institute with a very good international reputation."

UPDATE

Survey Details ethics surrounding spending Sawicki was disclosed in view of Wednesday's decision. the investigators found that Sawicki booked business class tickets for domestic flights and incorrectly claimed over € 1,100 worth of private costs, the most it has since repaid. According to Handelsblatt (in German), which obtained a copy of the confidential report, Sawicki also rented an Audi Q7 in 06 and Audi Q5 in 09 that official cars, although it has agreed to use his private car for business and receive compensation. Handelsblatt reports that investigators found, however, that Sawicki had the tacit approval of the lease, in part to compensate a pay cut that Sawicki known when he took the position of director.

Anticipating a series of federal recommendations on gene patents coming out tomorrow, a former senator and four biotechnology companies and leaders biotech trade groups criticized the Department of Health and Human services (HHS) for decision, they said, a stand that would undermine the objectives of technology transfer the Bayh-Dole Act and the industry biotechnology in general in the United States.

on the basis of project proposals, provided the Secretary of HHS Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS) to be issued six recommendations. The first is the most controversial, suggesting that Congress should pass legislation to exempt patents on genes potentially counterfeit responsibility for anyone to use a gene patent.

This worries biotechnology companies because, as James Davis, Executive Vice President Human Genome Sciences noted, genetic patents generally cover much more than the ACGT nucleic acid sequence in a gene. The patents also relate to proteins produced by the gene, antibodies to proteins and other downstream products of the gene. Without protection for these parts, companies have no incentive to invest in research, Davis argues, and he and others feared the recommendation would find a sympathetic ear in Congress.

The other five recommendations-for example, that companies be required to disclose more trade secrets, or that the US Patent and Trademark Office received consulting receive less attention more technical cadres, who were joined by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). But leaders have criticized the five other points too expensive.

Although SACGHS recommendations are limited to gene patents, most biotech critics have accused the proposals strike at the heart of the 1980 Act Bayh-Dole, which universities helped commercialize discoveries and move the market. Before Bayh-Dole, the potentially useful products often languished. Former Senator Birch Bayh, co-author of the act, joined the leaders in their criticism today, calling the recommendations SACGHS an attempt "to re-impose the policies that have failed in the past, policies that do not work all just not. "

Jon Soderstrom, official permission to head of technology at Yale University, echoed this comment, saying, "What scares me is that [the recommendations] reconstruct the world as that it existed before 1980. "

coincidentally, the HHS recommendations are appearing at the same time a federal court in New York is hearing an important case, ACLU v. Myriad, if genes patents violate the Constitution. Myriad holds patents on two key genes of breast cancer.

SAN DIEGO -It's an awesome video. An old man in thick glasses and a blue shirt is sitting in a wheelchair. A therapist sits in front of him, off camera. She tries to make him say he is thirsty, but can not produce the words. There are many years man has had a stroke that damaged the part of his brain that allows him to speak, a condition known as aphasia name.

Then slowly things start to change. The therapist begins to hum a simple melody, haunting: two notes at the same height, a third a little higher up, then down. "I thi-i-rsty," she sings. Resting his hand on the table, she taps the hand of man in time, encouraging him to sing. "I'm thirsty," he sings in harmony . She sings the phrase; he sings back. She says the sentence. He says it back. How about on a hot day like today, she asks. "I am thirst ," he says. Within minutes, a stroke patient who was unable to speak for years has learned to express a basic human need.

The patient is Melodic Intonation therapy course. the technique was developed because many patients who can not speak can still sing. Gottfried Schlaug, a neurologist at Harvard University, is studying how and why this treatment seems to work for many patients failed to other forms of speech therapy. It is running a randomized clinical trial of the therapy and so far it looks pretty good find. He spoke during ' a session yesterday on the language of music interactions in the brain at the annual meeting of the American Association for the advancement of Science (which publishes Science NOW).

the race of the patients had damage to part of the left side of their brains involved in language. But similar areas on the right side of the brain may also be used, if the treatment can reach. Making music rotates on a large part of the brain at a time. It urges the skills hearing, emotion, and motor. "Singing can give entry into a broken system by engaging the right hemisphere," says Schlaug. He compared the brain images of patients before and after therapy and found that the right side of the brain changes, both structurally and functionally.

and patients also change. in another video, a man tries to give his address. he fights, but he can not get the words. it is clearly frustrated . It is 4 years after stroke, and man has tried many treatments, all the talk in vain. Then, in a second video taken after 75 therapy sessions Melodic Intonation, man recites his number home, street, and city.

Schlaug think therapy is not widely used in part because many people are embarrassed to sing. "therapists might have a problem to sing with a patient ' he said. And not just therapists. "Most of our male patients have a problem with that." But they install, and therapy itself is easy, he said. "Our next goal is to teach patients caregivers."

Why a person feel more pain than others? Where in the body does HIV hide to escape the treatments? Lauren Schenkman talk about these stories and more with Science podcast host Robert Frederick.

Listen to the Science NOW podcast.

(or listen to the full science podcast.)

Despite its horrific history of causing birth defects, thalidomide has recently made a comeback as a treatment for diseases such as multiple myeloma cancer. Now, a new study suggests that the drug may also relieve symptoms of a genetic disease called hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, a discovery that could help researchers to new therapies for VRL and other vascular diseases.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, doctors prescribed thalidomide as an anti-nausea drug for pregnant women with a regularity that proved tragic. More than 10,000 children in 46 countries were born with missing limbs and other defects before thalidomide manufacturers have pulled from the market. Researchers have recently begun to understand how the drug made its damage. They know little about one of the benefits of the drug Thalidomide appears to control angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. This property makes it a powerful weapon against some cancers, but scientists do not know how it works.

In HHT, blood vessels grow without the right support cells to maintain stable and solid. Patients have leaking vessels and are subject to potentially fatal bleeding in the brain, lungs, liver and gastrointestinal tract. People with the rare hereditary disease also have frequent nosebleeds, as much as seven a day, which can become so severe that patients require skin grafts in their nose or even more desperate measures to lead a normal life. "Patients VRL get their nostrils sewn just so they can walk down the street," says Christine Mummery, a developmental biologist at the Medical Center of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

The addiction thalidomide for targeting blood vessels in tumors is Mummery ask whether the drug's effect on angiogenesis could help people with HHT. When they gave thalidomide seven HHT patients, six had significantly fewer nosebleeds in the month of their first dose, Mummery and his colleagues report online today in Nature Medicine .

to find the mechanism underlying the improvement of patients, researchers tested the drug on mice high to have HHT symptoms. They found that although high doses of thalidomide stop angiogenesis, lower doses actually strengthen blood vessels by stimulating cell growth. Thalidomide seems to pair with a growth factor called PDGF-B to produce more smooth muscle cells that repair defects walled container.

The evidence suggests that the drug works the same way in humans. A nasal biopsy seventh participant (which also saw an improvement, but had to abandon the study because of nerve damage caused by thalidomide) showed layers of smooth muscle cells more than were present in samples from untreated HHT patients. The findings offer new insight about how thalidomide which affects the blood vessels, says Mummery.

They also offer people with HHT hope for more effective therapies in the future, said Paul Oh, an experimental geneticist at the University of Florida, Gainesville, who was not involved in the study. "It is possible thalidomide help with all aspects of HHT," he said. "This is the first major treatment of HHT community works."

The study could well point the way to a more alternative safe, says Rosemary Akhurst, a molecular biologist at the University of California, San Francisco. "ultimately, we do not want anyone to be using a dangerous drug thalidomide," she said. "This can we help take the positive aspects and leave the negative. "

The line most widely used human embryonic stem cells can again be studied with federal dollars. Yesterday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved four stem cell lines submitted by WiCell, the nonprofit associated with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The lines include H9, which has been used in more than 500 published studies.

These four lines have been approved under the policy on stem cells in the Bush era, but they had to undergo further monitoring to ensure they meet the rigid rules of ethics issued the last summer the Obama administration. WiCell did not submit requests for lines until two weeks ago. Meanwhile, researchers using H9 worried they might have to cancel research projects. (Researchers had already grants may continue to use the lines of the Bush era, but new grants based on them were waiting.)

The hold-up is because the four lines obtained from embryos that were given to Israel. Collection of documents there and Hebrew translation into English took time, WiCell said in a press release. NIH also added nine lines to the register yesterday by The Washington Post , bringing the total to 64.