DAWSONVILLE - Meet the Stacks family - a normal family with two kids who love to play and have fun, only this family is battling a rare genetic disease that only affects 15,000 people worldwide - a disease they had never even heard of. This disease is Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) and both Hannah (age 10) and Austin (age 6) have the genetic disorder. FA is a degenerative neuromuscular disease that results in a life altering loss of coordination and balance and a serious heart condition called cardiomyopathy. Many FA patients are bound to their wheel chairs, losing their ability to walk and having their speech and other functions affected, as they fight their battle. There is currently no known treatment or cure but the Stacks family is working toward that end - and finding a cure. Following Hannahs FA diagnosis in 2009, the family immediately found FARA (Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance) and began working on efforts to support research for a cure. What began as a simple letter-writing campaign with family and friends evolved into a large-scale fundraiser, Swing Away at FA, a wiffle ball tournament and family fun day. The tournament represents a lot more as the Stacks family … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Genetics Also Included In: Pain / Anesthetics Article Date: 18 Oct 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for: 'Pain genes' identified by DNA sequencing Researchers have identified hundreds of variants in a patient's genetic code that predict which people are more susceptible to persistent chronic pain following amputation. Dr. Andrew D. Shaw, associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and colleagues conducted the study on 49 military service members who had amputations and persistent pain. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) states that 80% of all amputees experience pain in the missing body part - known as phantom limb pain. Patients complain that the pain is similar to that prior to amputation and is more likely to occur after the amputation of a chronically painful limb. The IASP explains that large-scale surveys of amputees have revealed that treatments for phantom limb pain are often ineffective, suggesting that they fail to address the underlying mechanisms. The new Duke University Medical Center study claims that new DNA sequence variations may be "pathways of biological importance as the possible source of chronic, persistent pain." Dr. … Continue reading →

October 17, 2013 Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Commonly referred to as blood poisoning, sepsis is a deadly condition caused by the bodys inflammatory reaction to a bacterial infection that often results in tissue and organ damage. Now, preliminary studies at Kings College London indicate that a simple genetic test can diagnose the condition in two hours instead of the two days required for a traditional diagnosis, according to a new study in the open access journal PLOS ONE. Sepsis is a hidden killer, causing nearly a third of all hospital deaths. Rapid antibiotic treatment for the condition is vital every minute counts, said study author Graham Lord, a professor of medicine at Kings College London. Yet current diagnostic methods can take up to two days, so an accurate diagnostic test that can be carried out at the patients bedside is urgently needed. To find a biomarker for sepsis, the international team of researchers looked at bits of genetic material known as microRNAs, which encode and regulate DNA particularly with respect to an immune response. The study scientists took blood samples from three groups of patients at two hospitals in the UK and Sweden: those with sepsis, patients … Continue reading →

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Doctors at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington have been offering stem cell therapy for patients with myeloma, lymphomas and some types of leukemia since 1995. It's a life-saving procedure when patients relapse and need a very high dose of chemotherapy, what doctors call the insurance that every last cancer cells gets killed. "And the only way to do that is to give them a really high dose to eradicate every cell. But if you do that, then the bone marrow, unlike the previous treatments that they got-- where the bone marrow recovered-- the bone marrow is not going to recover. So, you're going to kill a patient if you give them this high dose of chemotherapy. To prevent that, you're going to save some of their stem cells in the bank and give it back to them after you've given them this high-dose therapy," said Dr. Julian Sprague, a hematologist at FAHC. Those stem cells are removed by a simple pheresis machine beforehand when the patient is in remission. They get them back in order to re-ignite their immune system. But in recent years, insurance companies have gotten pickier about who they cover, requiring new accreditations … Continue reading →

Archbishop Socrates Villegas: Killing an embryo is killing a human being (cbcpforlife.com photo) DAGUPAN CITY, PhilippinesArchbishop Socrates Villegas said the Catholic Church is not against stem cell treatment but is wary that human embryos taken from aborted fetuses have been used in the controversial therapy. In his pastoral guidance issued Thursday on queries about the morality of the treatment, Villegas said there was nothing generally objectionable about stem cell therapy. Stem cell research and therapy that use adult human stem cells and stem cells from umbilical cord blood are acceptable as long as they are proven safe and are approved by regulating bodies, Villegas said. What the Church fears are incidences when such therapy abets directly or indirectly the practice of abortion, he said. [This] is not only morally objectionable [but also] morally repugnant as the use of human embryo means killing a human being in order to save another human being. We have always believed that a human embryo or fertilized ovum is a (complete) human being although in its primitive form, he said, adding that this entity is irreplaceable. Killing an embryo in any of its stage of development is killing a human being. This makes it morally … Continue reading →