Monthly Archives: July 2012

Drivers beware: The brain can't multitask as well as you might think. In every issue of WebMD the Magazine, we ask experts to answer readers' questions about a wide range of topics, including questions about what's true and not true in the field of medicine. For our July/August 2012 issue, we interviewed a University of Utah researcher about the danger of using a phone behind the wheel. Q: I've read that driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as driving drunk. Is that true? EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a fairly new, nontraditional type of psychotherapy. It's growing in popularity, particularly for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD often occurs after experiences such as military combat, physical assault, rape, or car accidents. Although research continues, EMDR remains controversial among some health care professionals. At first glance, EMDR appears to approach psychological issues in an unusual way. It does not rely on... Read the EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing article > > A: Many people can't imagine not chatting on the phone while driving. But the stories you've heard are TRUE. Cell phone use impairs driving just as much … Continue reading →

Drivers beware: The brain can't multitask as well as you might think. In every issue of WebMD the Magazine, we ask experts to answer readers' questions about a wide range of topics, including questions about what's true and not true in the field of medicine. For our July/August 2012 issue, we interviewed a University of Utah researcher about the danger of using a phone behind the wheel. Q: I've read that driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as driving drunk. Is that true? EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a fairly new, nontraditional type of psychotherapy. It's growing in popularity, particularly for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD often occurs after experiences such as military combat, physical assault, rape, or car accidents. Although research continues, EMDR remains controversial among some health care professionals. At first glance, EMDR appears to approach psychological issues in an unusual way. It does not rely on... Read the EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing article > > A: Many people can't imagine not chatting on the phone while driving. But the stories you've heard are TRUE. Cell phone use impairs driving just as much … Continue reading →

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, today announced treatment of the second patient in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial for Stargardts macular dystrophy (SMD) using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The surgery was performed on Friday, June 29 at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, the same site as the first patient treatment in January, by a team of surgeons led by Professor James Bainbridge, consultant surgeon at Moorfields and Chair of Retinal Studies at University College London. The procedure was successfully performed without any complications. ACT and Moorfields Eye Hospital recently received clearance from the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to treat the final two patients in the first cohort of this clinical trial. We are very pleased to continue our forward momentum with both our U.S. trials and our European trial, commented Gary Rabin, chairman and CEO. It was less than a month ago that we received DSMB approval to treat the second and third patients in our E.U. trial, and it is very gratifying to have already completed dosing of the second. It is a pleasure to be … Continue reading →

--Study shows vast majority of cells close to death after toxin exposure can survive and thrive Newswise The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins. For decades, researchers have known that cells undergo a type of programmed death called apoptosis, says study leader Denise Montell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Apoptosis can be both positive and negative, she adds. For example, cell death is absolutely necessary to sculpt fingers from paddle-shaped hands during development and to kill off rogue cells that could be the start of cancerous tumors. However, it also kills cells in excess after traumatic events such as a heart attack or stroke, or in … Continue reading →

--Study shows vast majority of cells close to death after toxin exposure can survive and thrive Newswise The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins. For decades, researchers have known that cells undergo a type of programmed death called apoptosis, says study leader Denise Montell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Apoptosis can be both positive and negative, she adds. For example, cell death is absolutely necessary to sculpt fingers from paddle-shaped hands during development and to kill off rogue cells that could be the start of cancerous tumors. However, it also kills cells in excess after traumatic events such as a heart attack or stroke, or in … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 2, 2012) The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins. For decades, researchers have known that cells undergo a type of programmed death called apoptosis, says study leader Denise Montell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Apoptosis can be both positive and negative, she adds. For example, cell death is absolutely necessary to sculpt fingers from paddle-shaped hands during development and to kill off rogue cells that could be the start of cancerous tumors. However, it also kills cells in excess after traumatic events such as a heart attack or stroke, or in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. When apoptosis was first described long ago, Montell … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 2, 2012) The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins. For decades, researchers have known that cells undergo a type of programmed death called apoptosis, says study leader Denise Montell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Apoptosis can be both positive and negative, she adds. For example, cell death is absolutely necessary to sculpt fingers from paddle-shaped hands during development and to kill off rogue cells that could be the start of cancerous tumors. However, it also kills cells in excess after traumatic events such as a heart attack or stroke, or in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. When apoptosis was first described long ago, Montell … Continue reading →

NOTCH1 Signaling Promotes T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Initiating Cell Regeneration Newswise Research suggests that patients with leukemia sometimes relapse because standard chemotherapy fails to kill the self-renewing leukemia initiating cells, often referred to as cancer stem cells. In such cancers, the cells lie dormant for a time, only to later begin cloning, resulting in a return and metastasis of the disease. One such type of cancer is called pediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, often found in children, who have few treatment options beyond chemotherapy. A team of researchers led by Catriona H. M. Jamieson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Director of Stem Cell Research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center studied these cells in mouse models that had been transplanted with human leukemia cells. They discovered that the leukemia initiating cells which clone, or replicate, themselves most robustly activate the NOTCH1 pathway, usually in the context of a mutation. Earlier studies showed that as many as half of patients with T-ALL have mutations in the NOTCH1 pathway an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway used during differentiation of many cell and tissue types. The new study shows … Continue reading →