PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Oct-2013 Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org 617-534-2208 Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA A new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) reveals several new gene variants that are associated with how people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) respond to inhaled bronchodilators. COPD is a progressive breathing disorder that limits airflow in the lungs. Bronchodilators are medicines used to alleviate respiratory disorder symptoms. The abstract for this meta-analysis study will be presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2013 meeting, Oct. 22 to 26 in Boston. One of the research goals was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with bronchodilator responsiveness (BDR). "Identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with bronchodilator responsiveness may reveal genetic pathways associated with the pathogenesis of COPD and may identify novel treatment methods," said Megan Hardin, MD, BWH Channing Division of Network Medicine, lead study author. The researchers used statistical methods to combine results from 5,789 Caucasian patients with moderate to severe COPD from four individual studies. The genotypes of over 700 African Americans with COPD were also analyzed. Most (4,561) of the patients in the four cohorts studied had over 10 pack-years of smoking. The group whose members had greater … Continue reading →

Irvine, CA (PRWEB) October 25, 2013 Proove Biosciences, the leading personalized pain medicine laboratory, is excited to be presenting clinical data on how its genetic testing services have been helping doctors better prescribe pain medication at the 2013 Common Sense Pain Management Conference. The event will take place October 25th and 26th at the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel, in Orlando, Florida. This industry CME course, a collaborative partnership between the Florida Medical Association, Florida Academy of Pain Medicine, Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, and Florida Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, will help attendees and physicians adopt a common sense approach to pain management and controlled substance prescribing practices. Topics and faculty of the program have been selected to ensure attendees will be better equipped to navigate changing regulations in this complex field. Proove Biosciences Medical Advisory Board member, Andrea Trescot, will present information on how genetic testing for narcotic risk and drug metabolism helps physicians meet new prescribing challenges through practice-based evidence at a dinner event hosted by the programs organizers on Friday, October 25, 2013. We are excited for the opportunity to present our clinical data and research at the Common Sense Pain Management CME course, stated … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Oct-2013 Contact: Vanessa McMains vmcmain1@jhmi.edu 410-502-9410 Johns Hopkins Medicine INVESTIGATING THE GENETIC MECHANISM BEHIND DELUSIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENICS Wednesday, October 23, 3:30 PM EST SESSION 15 Psychiatric Disease: GWAS to Genes Room 253, Level 2, Convention Center Speaker: Mariela Zeledon, Predoctoral Training Program in Human Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified changes in a person's DNA sequence that can affect what kinds of schizophrenia symptoms they experience. The DNA changes either ramp up or down a gene associated with delusions. The researchers still aren't sure how having too much and too little of the gene's product triggers delusions, but they have taken a step toward determining why people with schizophrenia can have very different symptoms. Single DNA letter changes, or mutations, in the gene NRG3 have been linked to susceptibility to delusions in schizophrenic patients. But these mutations don't affect the portion of the gene used as a template to make NRG3 protein, so the researchers initially didn't know how the mutations were having an effect. To home in on the cause, researchers first looked at whether single DNA letter variations could change NRG3 expression levelshow many times the gene … Continue reading →

Oct. 24, 2013 An international research consortium led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Chicago has answered several questions about the genetic background of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS), providing the first direct confirmation that both are highly heritable and also revealing major differences between the underlying genetic makeup of the disorders. Their report is being published in the October issue of the open-access journal PLOS Genetics. "Both TS and OCD appear to have a genetic architecture of many different genes -- perhaps hundreds in each person -- acting in concert to cause disease," says Jeremiah Scharf, MD, PhD, of the Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit in the MGH Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, senior corresponding author of the report. "By directly comparing and contrasting both disorders, we found that OCD heritability appears to be concentrated in particular chromosomes -- particularly chromosome 15 -- while TS heritability is spread across many different chromosomes." An anxiety disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions that disrupt the lives of patients, OCD is the fourth most common psychiatric illness. TS is a chronic disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics that usually begins in childhood and is … Continue reading →

(UPI) -- A new technique touted by cardiologists at Emory hopes to treat the damage caused by a heart attack by increasing the efficiency of stem cell therapy in the heart. Stem cell therapy is already used to help heal the heart after an attack, but doctors have had problems getting the cells to stay put. Dr. W. Robert Taylor, professor of medicine at Emory and the director of Emorys cardiology division, recently published a paper about a new procedure that encapsulates stem cells in a gummy substance called alginate. While the cells are confined in the substance, they are forced to stay in place and offer greater healing to the heart muscle. Taylor said current methods attempt to help the heart by reintroducing blood flow using stents, surgery or clot-busting drugs. While there are great benefits from these approaches, and great strides have been made in decreasing mortality and morbidity from heart attacks, these approaches do not regenerate new tissue or grow new blood vessels. They essentially mitigate the damage. Without something to hold them in place, the heart pushes out implanted cells like fingers squeezing slippery watermelon seeds. It just makes sense that if many of the cells … Continue reading →

SIKESTON, MO (KFVS) - Stem cell therapycan bea very controversial issue, but now some veterinarians are using new techniques to harvest those cells. The cutting edge procedure helps fight degenerative diseases and has only been performed a few times in Missouri. Experts say regenerative medicine using stem cells is a less invasive and more cost effective alternative for dogs suffering from osteoarthritis and cartilage injuries. Googus is an 8 year old Boxer mix diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy. This terminal disease affects the spinal cord causing loss of control in the hind legs. "Even though they're unable to use their back legs they're still normal in their brain and they just don't understand why they can't walk," said Dr. Stephen Williams, Animal Health Center. "There's just not a good connection and transmission from the nerves to the back legs." But new technology could slow, if not stop, its progression. Dr. Williams is using stem cell therapy to counteract this and other degenerative diseases in dogs. "The stem cells from the patient are the ones that are going to benefit that same patient versus trying to take stem cells from a different dog and putting them in this dog," said Dr. Williams. … Continue reading →

TMII Nanomedicine Day: Innovation and Translation 20131018 Part 6 Nanomedicine Day: Innovation and Translation. By: MountSinaiSchool … Continue reading →

TMII Nanomedicine Day: Innovation and Translation 20131018 Part 7 Nanomedicine Day: Innovation and Translation. By: MountSinaiSchool … Continue reading →