Kolkata, Oct 29 : Private hospital group Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals on Tuesday commemorated World Stroke Day in Kolkata. On this occasion, Jayanta Roy, Consultant Neurologist & Stroke specialist, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals conducted a session on awareness of stroke and its prevention in society. World Stroke Day is a worldwide campaign to increase the understanding of the solutions that exist to prevent and recognize stroke and its symptoms. The objective is to raise awareness on the profound universal impact of stroke on individuals and families with particular emphasis on the appropriate quality long-term care and support for stroke-survivors, including their care providers. The workshops and talks organized by Apollo Gleneagles on stroke management and treatment highlighted certain basic symptoms that all physicians should be well versed with. Speaking on the occasion, Jayanta Roy, Consultant Neurologist & Stroke specialist, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, said, "In last one year, we are doing acute stroke thrombolysis regularly and more than 70 percent patients have achieved a positive outcome. "We have an organised stroke unit to handle acute stroke of patients of all sorts, manned by stroke specialists, trained staff and nurses with a dedicated rehab team. More than 150 stroke patients have been treated here … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Oct-2013 Contact: Jim Fessenden james.fessenden@umassmed.edu 508-856-2000 University of Massachusetts Medical School WORCESTER, MA New insights into how human cytomegalovirus (CMV), the leading cause of birth defects associated with infection spreads from pregnant mother to fetus and from organ to organ in newborns provides translational researchers an exciting new avenue for investigation that may lead to the development of therapeutic interventions. Using next generation sequencing and population genetic modeling, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) have found that CMV evolves rapidly and dramatically in humans. These findings, published in PLoS Genetics, provide new genetic targets that could impede the evolution of CMV and prevent its spread. "These findings have important implications for how we think about and develop new therapeutic treatments for CMV," said Timothy F. Kowalik, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and physiological systems and senior author of the study. "Although CMV is able to infect a wide variety of organs throughout the body, there are a substantial number of genetic changes that occur before the virus can spread and replicate efficiently in different anatomic niches. If these genetic changes can be prevented, it may be … Continue reading →

Newswise In the first molecular genetic study of families with a history of both language impairment and autism, scientists may have uncovered a shared origin for the two conditions, an important step toward explaining why some cases of autism are accompanied by language difficulties and others are not. The study, a collaboration of The Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital with experts at Rutgers University, indicates that a disorder called specific language impairmentone of the most common developmental delays in childrenmay be caused by the same genetic variants that lead to language difficulties in some children with autism. The findings are published Oct. 30 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. As many as two-thirds of individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) also have language impairments, which can range from mild limitations to complete non-verbal behavior. However, the remaining third may have normal or even above average language abilities. To investigate whether specific language impairment and language-impaired autism cases are caused by the same genetic variants, researchers examined the genetic code of 79 families with a history of both conditions. Using a genome-wide scan and a series of language tests, the researchers identified two new genetic links for language impairment … Continue reading →

In the past few years, celebrities such as Christina Applegate and Angelina Jolie have brought to the surface the subject of genetic testing for breast cancer. After learning they carried the breast cancer gene, the women decided to have radical double mastectomies. Both women have family histories of breast and ovarian cancers. Jolies mother died in 2007 from ovarian cancer. In 1978, Applegates mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She survived and was able to help her daughter when Christina was diagnosed 30 years later. Many women have close family members who have been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, but few have the financial and community resources available that the celebrities do. What are the options? Various factors can direct a patients decisions to be tested. The genetic testing Jolie and Applegate had is available in Central Illinois, but to have the tests performed is not easy. Many questions will need to be answered by healthcare providers and the patient. Why are you testing? First, the patient will have to assess the need for the test. What is really leading you to have testing? Daniel Groeppe, genetic counselor at the SIU School of Medicine may ask. Is there something … Continue reading →