July 2, 2014 News Review From Harvard Medical School -- Transplant May Help Adults with Sickle Cell A partial transplant of bone-marrow stem cells may reverse sickle cell disease in adults, a new study finds. People with sickle cell disease have abnormally shaped red blood cells. They get stuck in blood vessels. This causes organ damage, pain and other medical problems. The new study included 30 adults with severe sickle cell disease. Each of them had a brother or sister who was a suitable match for a bone-marrow stem cell transplant. The sibling donor's cells were mixed with some of the patient's own cells. During 3.4 years of follow-up, the partial transplant reversed sickle cell disease in 26 out of 30 people, researchers said. In these patients, the bone marrow began making normal red blood cells. Fifteen people also were able to stop taking drugs to prevent rejection of the transplant. Overall, people were much less likely than before to need hospital treatment for the disease. Use of narcotic drugs for pain also was greatly reduced. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it July 1. By Howard LeWine, M.D.Harvard Medical School What … Continue reading →

By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, July 1, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new bone marrow transplant technique for adults with sickle cell disease may "cure" many patients. And it avoids the toxic effects associated with long-term use of anti-rejection drugs, a new study suggests. This experimental technique mixes stem cells from a sibling with the patient's own cells. Of 30 patients treated this way, many stopped using anti-rejection drugs within a year, and avoided serious side effects of transplants -- rejection and graft-versus-host disease, in which donor cells attack the recipient cells, the researchers said. "We can successfully reverse sickle cell disease with a partial bone marrow transplant in very sick adult patients without the need for long-term medications," said researcher Dr. John Tisdale, a senior investigator at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In the United States, more than 90,000 people have sickle cell disease, a painful genetic disorder found mainly among blacks. Worldwide, millions of people have the disease. Many adults with sickle cell disease have organ damage. This makes them ineligible for traditional transplants, which destroy all their bone marrow cells and use unmatched donor cells, he said. "Doing it this way would allow … Continue reading →

The scientific journal Nature Wednesday retracted two stem cell papers that received national attention when they were published in January. The paper by researchers from Harvard University and Japan's RIKEN Institute described a new method of producing versatile stem cells without altering their DNA ?? a process that promised to make it easier to use stem cells in research and treatment. Stem cell researchers immediately raised questions about these new cells, called STAP cells, and have tried unsuccessfully for months to reproduce the process of making the cells, as described by the papers. One author, Teruhiko Wakayama from RIKEN, has been calling since March for a retraction in light of the concerns. The first author, Haruko Obokata, a junior scientist at RIKEN, was accused by her institution in April of scientific misconduct after errors were found in the images, and some of the descriptions in the paper were found to be plagiarized. Harvard stem cell and tissue engineering biologist Charles Vacanti, who helped lead the research and was the last of the authors to call for a retraction, said Wednesday that he still believes in the existence of STAP cells but can no longer stand behind the papers. "Although there … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 2-Jul-2014 Contact: Ellen M. Slingsby eslingsby@lifespan.org 401-444-6421 The JAMA Network Journals Bottom Line: A clinical trial found a reduction in seizures and improvement in related symptoms, including depression and anxiety, in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) who were treated with cognitive behavioral therapy informed psychotherapy (CBT-ip) with and without the medication sertraline. Authors: W. Curt LaFrance, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, R.I., and colleagues. Background: PNES is not responsive to standard treatment and can be made worse by antiepileptic medications. Up to 20 percent of civilians and as many as 25 percent of veterans diagnosed as having epilepsy actually have PNES. PNES has psychological underpinnings but much less is known about effective treatments. How the Study Was Conducted: The authors assigned 38 patients (34 were included in the analysis) to 1 of 4 treatment groups: Medication (flexible dose sertraline hydrochloride) only, CBT-ip only, CBT-ip with medication (sertraline) or treatment as usual (generally tapering antiepileptic medication use and a referral to a psychiatrist or psychologist). Results: The psychotherapy (CBT-ip) group had a 51.4 percent reduction in seizure and improvement in other measures, including depression, anxiety, quality of life and global functioning. The … Continue reading →

Newcastle University's Blue Room is being used to enable people with autism to experience the thing that terrifies them in a safe environment Experiences include crossing a bridge and talking to a shop assistant Using the technology, eight out of nine children were able to tackle the situation they feared and four were cured of their phobias completely As well as the room with screens, relaxation techniques and guidance from a psychologist were used in the treatment By Sarah Griffiths Published: 13:16 EST, 2 July 2014 | Updated: 15:42 EST, 2 July 2014 You may think that virtual reality is only used for playing video games But the technology is now helping people with autism overcome crippling phobias and allow them to live more normal lives, researchers have found. A virtual reality room is being used to enable people to experience the thing that terrifies them the most in a safe environment. Using the technology, eight out of nine children were able to tackle the situation they feared. Scroll down for video A virtual reality room (pictured) is being used to enable people with autism to experience the thing that terrifies them in a safe environment. Using the technology, eight … Continue reading →