PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 10-Apr-2014 Contact: Emil Olsen, Ph.D. eo@sund.ku.dk 607-253-3100 University of Copenhagen A trip to the veterinarian may prove fatal to a horse, even if it is not necessary to put the animal down. In Europe if the horse is found to be ataxic, which is most often due to the disease 'wobbler syndrome', the horse is likely to be put down immediately. If a horse suffers from this disease, putting it down can be a necessity, as the animal can be dangerous to ride and handle. But now new research from the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Veterinary College in the UK shows marked disagreement among experts about when a horse is ataxic and severity of the ataxia. It is particularly a problem if the ataxia is subtle, as this makes it more difficult to assess. "It is a problem for both the horse and the owner if the specialists disagree. A horse which could potentially recover might be put down, as an ataxic horse eventually becomes a hazard to the owner due to the risk of a fall during riding or handling," says Emil Olsen, DVM, PhD from the Department of Large Animal Sciences, who headed … Continue reading →

In order to give patients the most appropriate care, personalised medicine needs to take into account a wide variety of genetic information. Interview with Mark Hoffman, Director of the Center for Health Insights at the University of Missouri Kansas City, who specialises in bacteriology and personalised medicine, following his lecture entitled Big Data, Little Data and Personalised Medicine during the World of Health (WoHIT 2014) conference which took place in the French city of Nice on 2-4 April. Mark Hoffman: When we use this term were usually talking about advanced biological testing such as genomics or proteomics (Editors note: study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions in cells and tissue). Personalised medicine basically means using as much information as possible on a patient in order to take the best clinical decision. The aim is to provide the patient with the most appropriate treatment, in accordance with his/her precise genetic information. Well, the alternative to discrete genetic data is the approach thats in current use a number of written reports and scanned documents, i.e. formats which cannot be read by machines. Discrete genetic test results are stored electronically in a single file. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) pulls these different … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 10-Apr-2014 Contact: Lee-Ann Donegan leeann.donegan@uphs.upenn.edu 215-349-5660 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (PHILADELPHIA) Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered that the tumor suppressor gene folliculin (FLCN) is essential to normal lung function in patients with the rare disease Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs, skin and kidneys. Folliculin's absence or mutated state has a cascading effect that leads to deteriorated lung integrity and an impairment of lung function, as reported in their findings in the current issue of Cell Reports. "We discovered that without normal FLCN the alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) in these patients' lungs began to die, leading to holes in the lungs that grow as increasing numbers of cells disappear. These holes can fill with air and burst, causing the lungs to collapse," says Vera Krymskaya, PhD, MBA, associate professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and researcher in the Airway Biology Initiative of the department of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care. Between 80 and 100 percent of patients with BHD will develop multiple holes or cysts in the lung. Healthy human alveoli, the terminal ends of the respiratory tree, are lined with type … Continue reading →

See Inside Stem cell therapy is emerging as a promising treatment for Parkinson's disease Neurosurgeon Ivar Mendez of the University of Saskatchewan often shows a video clip to demonstrate his work treating Parkinson's disease. It features a middle-aged man with this caption: Off medications. The man's face has the dull stare typical of Parkinson's. Asked to lift each hand and open and close his fingers, he barely manages. He tries but fails to get up from a chair without using his hands. When he walks, it is with the slow, shuffling gait that is another hallmark of Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disorder that afflicts an estimated one million Americans, most of them older than 60. Then the video jumps forward in time. The same man appears, still off medications. It is now eight years since Mendez transplanted dopamine cells from a fetus into the patient's brain. These neurons, which live in a midbrain region called the substantia nigra and secrete the neurotransmitter dopamine to initiate movement, are the ones that die off in Parkinson's. The man has aged, but his energy and demeanor are characteristic of a much younger man. Asked to do the same tasks, he smoothly raises his … Continue reading →

Tampa, Florida (PRWEB) April 10, 2014 One year ago, Gary Oberschlake was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a deadly lung disease with no known cause characterized by the permanent scarring of lung tissue. Gary wasnt alone approximately 48,000 others received the same diagnosis last year. Claiming the lives of nearly 40,000 individuals annually, IPF is as deadly as breast cancer. Doctors told Gary, a family man with a wife, four children, and four grandchildren, his only treatment option was a double lung transplant. Knowing the inherent risks associated with this procedure, including his bodys rejection of the new lungs, Gary refused to accept it as his only chance for survival. After spending considerable time researching possible alternative options, Gary became fascinated by recent developments in stem cell medicine, and its potential for treating sufferers of chronic lung disease like IPF. His excitement regarding this option was met with doubt expressed by his pulmonologist, who didnt see the clinical viability of stem cells for lung conditions at the time. Despite his doctors reluctance, Gary decided to give stem cell therapy a chance. According to his wife Debra, when he found Lung Institute in Tampa, FL, it was like it was … Continue reading →

MANILA - The National Bureau of Investigation-Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) has filed a case against an allegedly fake doctor who once administered stem cell therapy on former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Members of the NBI-AOCTD, headed by Head Agent Rommel J. Vallejo, acted on the complaint filed by Dr. Eunice Salazar-Abad, who worked as an aesthetic physician for Antonia Carandang-Park. The latter is the owner of Green and Young Health and Wellness Center based in San Jose, Tagaytay City. Vallejo said: Even for a short period of time working at the clinic, she began to notice some irregularities and the unorthodox method being applied by Park in treating the patients. She discovered too, that Park is using her name and her license number in dealing with patients. Salazar-Abad then verified with the Professional Regulation Commission to check if Park is a licensed doctor, Based on a document dated August 12, 2013, the PRC certified that after a diligent search, the name Antonia Carandang Park does not appear in the database of Physician, which contains the names of those duly authorized to practice medicine in the Philippines. The document reads, this certification is issued upon request of the Board … Continue reading →