A behaviorally based treatment for autism that is widely considered one of the most effective ways to help children with the condition will come within reach of thousands of California families when a new law kicks in July 1. Until now, insurance companies have classified the treatment, which can involve several hours per day of therapy and cost thousands of dollars each month, as educational rather than medical. The new state law, however, will require most plans to cover it. Its very important that insurance companies fund this because its medically necessary, said Dr. Susan Schmidt-Lackner, an autism specialist who is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at UCLA. Behavioral interventions are one of the mainstays of treatment for autism. The treatment, called applied behavioral analysis, involves no medication and no special diets. Instead, therapists use a highly focused reward system to distill even the most complicated human interactions into a series of very simple steps that almost anyone can learn. Monday, July 2: NBC4 Hosts Experts to Answer Your Questions About Behaviorally Based Treatment for Autism These techniques are so effective that some children who receive the treatment are no longer considered autistic after theyve had it. Others make … Continue reading →

Editor's Choice Main Category: Stroke Also Included In: Blood / Hematology;Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 29 Jun 2012 - 11:00 PDT Current ratings for: Warfarin Patients Who Have A Stroke - Outcomes With Anti-Clotting Agents The study's background information says: "Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator is currently the only effective treatment to improve outcomes for acute ischemic stroke; however, treatment with intravenous tPA carries the risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). Of patients who receive intravenous tPA for stroke, 2.4% to 8.8% experience this potentially life-threatening complication. Although current guidelines endorse administering intravenous tPA to warfarin-treated patients if their international normalized ratio (INR) is 1.7 or lower, there are few data on safety of intravenous tPA in warfarin-treated patients in clinical practice." Some researchers were concerned about administering intravenous tPA to stroke patients on warfarin therapy without safety data. Ying Xian, M.D., Ph.D., from the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C., and his team examined the link between warfarin treatment and sICH in stroke patients who received intravenous tPA as their standard clinical treatment in 23,437 patients with ischemic stroke who had an INR of 1.7 or lower between April 2009 and 2011. The data was obtained from the American … Continue reading →

Latest Prevention & Wellness News Doctors May One Day Harness the Immune System to Help People Quit Smoking By Brenda Goodman, MA WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD June 27, 2012 -- Scientists say they've developed a vaccine that may one day protect people against the addictive effects of nicotine -- but for now they have to settle for some success in mice. The vaccine uses the shell of a harmless virus that, much like the Trojan horse, carries into cells genetic instructions for making an antibody against nicotine. When cells are "infected" by the virus, they get tricked into churning out a protein that blocks nicotine's biological effects. "It's sort of like having Pac-Man floating around in the blood. [The antibodies] bind to the nicotine and prevent it from reaching its receptors in the brain," says Ronald G. Crystal, MD, chairman and professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Researchers have tried to vaccinate people against nicotine before -- by directly injecting antibodies into the blood. The problem is that the antibodies disappear after only a few weeks, and the studies ultimately had disappointing results. This time, researchers say they may … Continue reading →

Halfway around the world in India, Sivaprakash Ramalingam had heard of Johns Hopkins researchers using a promising new technique for gene therapy that he hoped to integrate with stem cells to cure diseases. After getting a doctorate in biochemistry in his native country, he came to Baltimore four years ago to study under the technique's pioneer, Srinivasan Chandrasegaran, at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ramalingam's research has led him down the path of seeking a cure for sickle cell anemia, a painful, life-shortening blood disorder that afflicts many in his home region in southern India. In the United States, the disease affects 70,000-100,000 people, mostly African-Americans, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. "I couldn't have done this type of research in India," said Ramalingam. "I wanted to use this technique with stem cells to treat disease." Ramalingam's research was given a lift last month by the state. He was one of 17 researchers who was funded by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission, a state entity that has doled out roughly $10 million to $12 million a year in taxpayer funds since its founding in 2006. The program helps keep Maryland competitive in stem cell research … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO CA--(Marketwire -06/29/12)- Medistem Inc. (MEDS) announced today notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent covering the use of fat stem cells, and cells associated with fat stem cells for treatment of diseases related to a dysfunctional immune system. Such diseases include multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The allowed patent, entitled "Stem Cell Mediated Treg Activation/Expansion for Therapeutic Immune Modulation" has the earliest priority date of December 2006. "We have previously published that giving multiple sclerosis patients cells extracted from their own fat tissue, which contains stem cells, appears to confer clinical benefit in a pilot study," said Thomas Ichim, CEO of Medistem. "The current patent that has been allowed, in the broadest interpretation of the claims, gives us exclusive rights to the use of specific types of fat stem cell therapy for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis." Subsequent to the filing of the patent application, Medistem together with collaborators at the Lawson Health Sciences Research Institute, Canada, reported data that fat tissue contains high numbers of T regulatory cells, a type of immune cell that is capable of controlling autoimmunity. This finding was independently confirmed … Continue reading →

MOBILE, Alabama -- The Baldwin County doctor that treated former Alabama football players with adult stem cells also has treated at least two people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. One of the ALS patients, former NFL football player and college coach Frank Orgel, recently underwent a new stem cell reprogramming technique performed by Dr. Jason R. Williams at Precision StemCell in Gulf Shores. Before the injections, Orgels health had declined. He could not move his left arm or leg. He couldnt walk or stand on his own, he said. Within a few days of having the stem cell treatment, Orgels constant muscle twitching diminished, said Bob Hubbard, director of stem cell therapy at the practice. Within weeks, he was able to walk in a pool of water and stand unassisted. I think its helped me, said Orgel, who was a defensive coordinator at Auburn under former head coach Pat Dye. Im walking in the pool and I used to drag my feet. Now my left leg is picking up. ALS is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in … Continue reading →