Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise INDIANAPOLIS -- People with a newly identified genetic variant perform better on certain types of memory tests, a discovery that may point the way to new treatments for the memory impairments caused by Alzheimer's disease or other age-associated conditions. In what the international research team is calling the largest study to date of human memory, an analysis of genomic data and memory test results from more than 14,000 older adults identified a location in the genome that was associated with better memory performance. The researchers noted that the gene has not been associated with cognition in the past. The research team, led by IU School of Medicine post-doctoral researcher and medical student Vijay K. Ramanan, Ph.D., and Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D., director of the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center and the IU Center for Neuroimaging, reported its results in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The genome-wide study found that better performance on tests of episodic memory was associated with a change in the DNA on chromosome 2 -- a G instead of the more common A nucleotide in a gene known as FASTKD2. The genetic variant -- known as a single nucleotide polymorphism, or … Continue reading →

En Espaol Stem cells have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, spinal cord injury, and heart disease. Learn why these cells are such a powerful tool for treating disease as well as what the current hurdles are before new therapies can become available. The most common way of thinking about stem cells treating disease is through a stem cell transplant. Embryonic stem cells are differentiated into the necessary cell type, then those mature cells replace tissue that is damaged by disease or injury. This type of treatment could be used to replace neurons damaged by spinal cord injury, stroke, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, or other neurological problems. Cells grown to produce insulin could treat people with diabetes and heart muscle cells could repair damage after a heart attack. This list could conceivably include any tissue that is injured or diseased. These are all exciting areas of research, but embryonic stem cell-based therapies go well beyond cell transplants. What researchers learn from studying how embryonic stem cells develop into heart muscle cells, for example, could provide clues about what factors may be able to directly induce the heart muscle to repair itself. The cells … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 12-Nov-2014 Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society @ACSpressroom Nanomedicine is offering patients a growing arsenal of therapeutic drugs for a variety of diseases but often at a cost of thousands of dollars a month. Generics could substantially reduce the price tag for patients -- if only there were a well-defined way to make and regulate them. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details the challenges on the road to generic nanodrugs. Matt Davenport, a C&EN contributing editor, points out that in small-molecule therapeutics -- aspirin, for example -- the active ingredient is the primary concern of regulators. For these drugs, making generic versions is a relatively straightforward process. Nanomedicine, on the other hand, is far more complicated. It often involves packaging an active ingredient inside engineered delivery systems made out of materials such as lipids, polymers or carbohydrates. Even slight changes to a nanodrug's structure can result in a different toxicity level. To date, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved dozens of nanodrugs although it has no formal regulatory definition for what a nanodrug is. Such a definition would be a first step … Continue reading →

MIAMI (PRWEB) November 11, 2014 GlobalStemCellsGroup, Inc. has announced plans to host a minimum of four international symposiums on stem cell research in 2015. The symposiums will be held in three Latin American countriesChile, Mexico and Colombiain which Global Stem Cells has established state-of-the-art stem cell clinics staffed with expert medical personnel trained in regenerative medicine, through the Regenestem Network. The fourth symposium will be held in Miami. The decision follows the success of the Global Stem Cells Groups first International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, held Oct. 2, 3 and 4 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Global Stem Cells Group CEO Benito Novas says the Buenos Aires event, combined with its steady growth of new clinics throughout Latin America, has provided additional motivation to schedule more stem cell symposiums in an effort to further educate the medical community on the latest advancements in stem cell therapies. Thanks to Global Stem Cells Groups growing network of world-class stem cell researchers, treatment practitioners and investors committed to advancing stem cell medicine, the company is rapidly moving closer to its goal of helping physicians to bring treatments into their offices for the benefit of patients. More than 900 physicians, researchers and … Continue reading →

BARCELONA, SpainRafael Nadals doctor says the 14-time Grand Slam winner will receive stem cell treatment on his ailing back. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told The Associated Press by phone on Monday that we are going to put cells in a joint in his spine next week in Barcelona. The Spanish tennis star was already sidelined for the rest of the season after having his appendix removed last week. Ruiz-Cotorro, who has worked as a doctor for Nadal for the past 14 years, said Nadals back pain is typical of tennis players and that the treatment is meant to help repair his cartilage and is similar to stem cell treatment Nadal received on his knee last year. He said Nadal, now 28, is expected to return to training in early December. Several NFL players and baseball players have received stem cell treatment. Nadals fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, center of the Chicago Bulls, received stem cell treatment on his knee in 2013. Nadal experienced severe back pain during the final of the Australian Open in January when he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka. [Nadal] has a problem typical in tennis with a back joint, he had it at the Australian Open, and we have decided … Continue reading →

Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat by Borna Coric at the Swiss Indoors in October Getty Images Rafael Nadal's doctor says the 14-time Grand Slam winner will receive stem cell treatment on his ailing back. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told the Associated Press that "we are going to put cells in a joint in his spine" next week in Barcelona. Nadal is already sidelined for the rest of the season after having his appendix removed last week. Ruiz-Cotorro, who has worked as a doctor for Nadal for the past 14 years, said Nadal's back pain is "typical of tennis" players and that the treatment is meant to help repair his cartilage and is similar to stem cell treatment Nadal received on his knee last year. He said Nadal is expected to return to training in early December. Nadal will follow in the footsteps of several American sportsmen by receiving stem cell treatment. His fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, had the treatment on his knee in 2013. Nadal experienced severe back pain during the final of the Australian Open in January when he lost to Stan Wawrinka. "[Nadal] has a problem typical in tennis with a back joint, … Continue reading →

MONDAY, Nov. 10, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Black and Hispanic students are less likely to be identified as having autism than white students, a new study reveals. Researchers analyzed autism identification rates at schools across the United States between 2000 and 2007. These rates reflect how many students have been identified by schools -- not necessarily a doctor -- as having autism. Rates among black, Hispanic and white students increased in all states and the District of Columbia, but the overall increase was smaller than predicted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates among black students climbed in all states except Alaska and Montana, and rates among Hispanic students increased in all states except Kentucky, Louisiana and the District of Columbia, the investigators found. Rate increases among black and Hispanic students were much smaller than among whites, according to the study in the November issue of the Journal of Special Education. "Nearly every state that had proportional representation of students in 2000 underidentified black and Hispanic students in 2007," Jason Travers, assistant professor of special education at the University of Kansas, and colleagues, wrote. "Although there is no firm epidemiological evidence that race is predictive of autism, … Continue reading →