PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014 Contact: Jane C. Figueiredo janefigu@usc.edu PLOS A common genetic variant that affects one in three people appears to significantly increase the risk of colorectal cancer from the consumption of processed meat, according to study published today in PLOS Genetics. The study of over 18,000 people from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe represents the first large-scale genome-wide analysis of genetic variants and dietary patterns that may help explain more of the risk factors for colorectal cancer. Dr Jane Figueiredo at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, explained that eating processed meat is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and for about a third of the general population who carry this genetic variant, the risk of eating processed meat is even higher compared to those who do not. "Our results, if replicated by other studies, may provide us with a greater understanding of the biology into colorectal carcinogenesis," said Dr Ulrike Peters of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Public Health Sciences Division. The study population totaled 9,287 patients with colorectal cancer and a control group of 9,117 individuals without cancer, all participants in 10 observational studies that were pooled … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014 Contact: Helen Dodson helen.dodson@yale.edu 203-436-3984 Yale University New Haven, Conn. Researchers from Yale School of Medicine and Celera Diagnostics have confirmed the significance of a genetic variant that substantially increases the risk of a frequently fatal thoracic aortic dissection or full rupture. The study appears online in PLOS ONE. Thoracic aortic aneurysms, or bulges in the artery wall, can develop without pain or other symptoms. If they lead to a tear dissection or full rupture, the patient will often die without immediate treatment. Therefore, better identification of patients at risk for aortic aneurysm and dissection is considered essential. The research team, following up on a previous genome-wide association study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, investigated genetic variations in a protein called FBN-1, which is essential for a strong arterial wall. After studying hundreds of patients at Yale, they confirmed what was found in the Baylor study: that one variation, known as rs2118181, put patients at significantly increased risk of aortic tear and rupture. "Although surgical therapy is remarkable and effective, it is incumbent on us to move to a higher genetic level of understanding of these diseases," said senior author John Elefteriades, M.D., the … Continue reading →

Othropedic Surgeon Dr. Propper Speaks about Stem Cell Therapy - PRP - BMAC Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Propper Speaks about the Difference of Stem Cell Injection Therapy PRP - BMAC. By: Dennis Spoonhour, DC … Continue reading →

Scientists have grown stem cells from adults using cloning techniques for the first time bringing them closer to developing patient-specific lines of cells that can be used to treat a whole host of ailments, from heart disease to blindness. The research, described in Thursdays online edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, is a controversial advance likely to reopen the debate over the ethics of human cloning. The scientists technique was similar to the one used in the first clone of a mammal, Dolly the sheep, which was created in 1996. They reprogrammed an egg cell by removing its DNA and replaced it with that of an adult donor. Scientists then zapped the cell with electricity, which made it divide and multiply. The resulting cells were identical in DNA to the donor. The first success in humans was reported last year by scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. But they used donor cells from infants. In this study, the cells came from two men, a 35-year-old and a 75-year-old. Paul Knoepfler, an associate professor at the University of California at Davis who studies stem cells, called the new research exciting, important, … Continue reading →

21 hours ago Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered an unexpected phenomenon in the organs that produce sperm in fruit flies: When a certain kind of stem cell is killed off experimentally, another group of non-stem cells can come out of retirement to replace them. The discovery sheds light on the tiny "environments" that stem cells occupy in animal bodies and may help explain how stem cells in tumors replenish themselves, the researchers report in the May 8 issue of the journal Cell Reports. Damage of the kind duplicated in the laboratory occurs naturally after exposure to radiation and perhaps also after ingestion of toxic chemicals such as those used in chemotherapy. The research group, led by Erika Matunis, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been using the fruit fly as a model living system in which to study stem cells in their natural state. Most stem cell research is done on cells grown in the laboratory, but in real life, stem cells reside in tissues, where they are sequestered in tiny spaces known as niches. Adult stem cells keep dividing throughout life to make various kinds of cells, like new blood … Continue reading →