Monthly Archives: March 2012

California's stem cell agency ponders a future without taxpayer support

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The creation of California's stem cell agency in 2004 was greeted by scientists and patients as a turning point in a field mired in debates about the destruction of embryos and hampered by federal research restrictions. The taxpayer-funded institute wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future. Is it still relevant nearly eight years later? And will it still exist when the money dries up? The answers could depend once again on voters and whether they're willing to extend the life of the agency. Several camps that support stem cell research think taxpayers should not pay another cent given the state's budget woes. "It would be so wrong to ask Californians to pony up more money," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society, a pro-stem cell research group that opposed Proposition 71, the state ballot initiative that formed CIRM. Last December, CIRM's … Continue reading →

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California's stem cell agency ponders its future

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) The creation of California's stem cell agency in 2004 was greeted by scientists and patients as a turning point in a field mired in debates about the destruction of embryos and hampered by federal research restrictions. The taxpayer-funded institute wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future. Is it still relevant nearly eight years later? And will it still exist when the money dries up? The answers could depend once again on voters and whether they're willing to extend the life of the agency. Several camps that support stem cell research think taxpayers should not pay another cent given the state's budget woes. "It would be so wrong to ask Californians to pony up more money," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society, a pro-stem cell research group that opposed Proposition 71, the state ballot initiative that formed CIRM. Last December, CIRM's former … Continue reading →

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Genetic variation in East Asians found to explain resistance to cancer drugs

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2012) A multinational research team led by scientists at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School has identified the reason why some patients fail to respond to some of the most successful cancer drugs. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs (TKI) work effectively in most patients to fight certain blood cell cancers, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) with mutations in the EGFR gene. These precisely targeted drugs shut down molecular pathways that keep these cancers flourishing and include TKIs for treating CML, and the form of NSCLC with EGFR genetic mutations. Now the team at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, working with the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Singapore General Hospital, and the National Cancer Centre Singapore, has discovered that there is a common variation in the BIM gene in people of East Asian descent that contributes to some patients' failure to benefit from these tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs. "Because we could determine in cells how the BIM gene variant caused TKI resistance, we were able to devise a strategy to overcome it," said S. Tiong Ong, MBBCh, senior author of the study and associate professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Signature Research … Continue reading →

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California's stem cell agency ponders its future

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) The creation of California's stem cell agency in 2004 was greeted by scientists and patients as a turning point in a field mired in debates about the destruction of embryos and hampered by federal research restrictions. The taxpayer-funded institute wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future. Is it still relevant nearly eight years later? And will it still exist when the money dries up? The answers could depend once again on voters and whether they're willing to extend the life of the agency. Several camps that support stem cell research think taxpayers should not pay another cent given the state's budget woes. "It would be so wrong to ask Californians to pony up more money," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society, a pro-stem cell research group that opposed Proposition 71, the state ballot initiative that formed CIRM. Last December, CIRM's former … Continue reading →

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Ocala Veterinarian Announces Free Online Veterinary Resources

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

OCALA, FL--(Marketwire -03/18/12)- Town & Country Animal Hospital announced that the veterinary practice has launched a new website with veterinary care resources for pet owners. The website, http://www.bestocalavet.com/, is designed to make it easy for pet owners to find accurate, reliable answers to their animal care questions. The veterinary hospital provides comprehensive pet care services, including pet wellness, spay neuter operations, and advanced treatments including orthopedic surgery, veterinary dermatology and pet stem cell therapy. Pet owners can learn more about these procedures, as well as general pet care tips, by visiting the new website. Ocala pet owners have a new, free veterinary resource for answering their pet care questions. Dr. Kelly Culbertson, a veterinarian with Town & Country Animal Hospital, stated, "The new website is packed with up-to-date information on the latest veterinary care procedures, and designed to answer all kinds of pet care questions. Additionally, pet owners can get to know our wonderful staff, visit pet portals for information on their pet's healthcare, and order from our online store." Dr. Culbertson, along with Ocala veterinarians Dr. Pam Neiser, Dr. Leah Smith, Dr. Derek Parkin and Dr. Sarah Quigley, are part of the veterinary hospital care team that has been … Continue reading →

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California’s stem cell agency ponders its future

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) The creation of California's stem cell agency in 2004 was greeted by scientists and patients as a turning point in a field mired in debates about the destruction of embryos and hampered by federal research restrictions. The taxpayer-funded institute wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future. Is it still relevant nearly eight years later? And will it still exist when the money dries up? The answers could depend once again on voters and whether they're willing to extend the life of the agency. Several camps that support stem cell research think taxpayers should not pay another cent given the state's budget woes. "It would be so wrong to ask Californians to pony up more money," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society, a pro-stem cell research group that opposed Proposition 71, the state ballot initiative that formed CIRM. Last December, CIRM's former … Continue reading →

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California's stem cell agency ponders its future

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) The creation of California's stem cell agency in 2004 was greeted by scientists and patients as a turning point in a field mired in debates about the destruction of embryos and hampered by federal research restrictions. The taxpayer-funded institute wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future. Is it still relevant nearly eight years later? And will it still exist when the money dries up? The answers could depend once again on voters and whether they're willing to extend the life of the agency. Several camps that support stem cell research think taxpayers should not pay another cent given the state's budget woes. "It would be so wrong to ask Californians to pony up more money," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society, a pro-stem cell research group that opposed Proposition 71, the state ballot initiative that formed CIRM. Last December, CIRM's former … Continue reading →

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Stanford researchers boost potency, reduce side effects of IL-2 protein used to treat cancer

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

Public release date: 18-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Bruce Goldman goldmanb@stanford.edu 650-725-2106 Stanford University Medical Center STANFORD, Calif. -- The utility of a naturally occurring protein given, sometimes to great effect, as a drug to treat advanced cancers is limited by the severe side effects it sometimes causes. But a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist has generated a mutant version of the protein whose modified shape renders it substantially more potent than the natural protein while reducing its toxicity. The findings will appear online March 18 in Nature. The protein, known as interleukin-2 or IL-2, is a master regulator of the immune system. It acts as a growth factor for many different kinds of immune cells, including an all-important class called T cells. These cells can both recognize and organize attacks against pathogens or tumors. IL-2 stimulates T cells' proliferation in response to these threats. That makes it a potent anti-cancer drug. When injected into a patient, it spurs fierce anti-tumor activity. "In a substantial subset about 7 percent of patients with advanced metastatic melanomas or kidney cancers, IL-2 treatment actually cures the disease," said Christopher Garcia, professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of structural … Continue reading →

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Pharmacies play to a change of script

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

Stephen Roche is transforming Priceline shops into temples of health. Earlier this month, Stephen Roche crawled into bed with soapie star Ada Nicodemou and another fetching young woman who is often spied on the red carpet. Any romantic mood was probably killed by the hundreds of people watching them, the live TV audience and the fact the bed was situated in the middle of Sydney's bustling Martin Place, but it helped deliver a powerful message about postnatal and antenatal depression to perplexed onlookers. Stretched out on a pink bed under a hot pink bedsheet, Roche was a long way from the often stuffy and staid world of pharmacies with their typically old men in white coats standing on raised platforms and typing labels on to small bottles of pills. Advertisement: Story continues below The public event, a record attempt at the world's biggest breakfast in bed, was even further away from Roche's first career out of school, plumbing, but goes to the heart of his strategy to turn around Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) from being viewed simply as a pharmacy group to a specialist retailer which is aimed directly at women and leads the country in health, beauty and wellbeing … Continue reading →

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People's Pharmacy: Hospital error a close call for diabetic

Posted: Published on March 18th, 2012

Q: I am a type 1 diabetic. Last year, I went to the hospital because I had ruptured a spinal disk. My wife and I gave my history and my current drug usage (which was in the hospital electronic medical record). During the week before and after back surgery, my blood sugars climbed as high as 700 mg/dl. Even through a Vicodin haze, I knew I wasn't getting enough insulin. I was finally admitted to the ICU for intensive insulin therapy. I later learned that on at least three days, my Levemir insulin injection was not given, and on the day of the surgery, no insulin at all was administered. My own physician found this care appalling. Another doctor said blood sugars that high could trigger stroke. I was astounded that the hospital said no mistakes were made. A: Errors in care during hospitalization are not rare. A study in 2010 showed that one in five hospital patients suffered harm, and 40 percent of the problems could have been avoided (New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 25, 2010). A government study found 180,000 Medicare patients die each year because of health care gone awry (Health and Human Services, November 2010). … Continue reading →

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