Since World War II, the U.S. has been hailed as the world's breadbasket, pumping grains and meat from its fertile heartland out to the world.
But another country is snatching that mantle away: Brazil.
In 2001, Brazilian agricultural exports totaled $16 billion, according to USDA analyst Oliver Flake. By 2010 exports had climbed to a record $62 billion and reached approximately $80 billion in 2011.
That represents an increase of 400 percent over 10 years. Comparatively, U.S. exports rose about 175 percent over the same period, Flake says.
(Reuters) - U.S. health regulators approved NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc's short bowel syndrome drug Gattex, but asked the company to conduct a post-market study to evaluate cancer risks associated with the drug.
NPS shares fell 5 percent to $8.63 in afternoon trade on the Nasdaq.
The company said it would launch the drug in the United States in the first quarter of next year.
An advisory panel in October had unanimously backed the drug but discussed the possibility that it could cause cancerous tumors in the small intestine when used over a long period.
Gattex is the third FDA-approved drug to treat adults with short bowel syndrome receiving nutritional support.
Short bowel syndrome is a condition in which the body is unable to absorb enough nutrients through the gastrointestinal tract and that forces patients to rely on intravenous feeding. It is mostly caused by the surgical removal of large parts of the small intestine.
The post-market study, conducted over 10 years, would test the potential risk of the drug to cause colorectal cancer and other conditions.
Gattex, administered once daily, improves intestinal absorption of fluids and nutrients, and reduces the frequency and volume of intravenous feeding.
(Reporting by Prateek Kumar and Vrinda Manocha; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
The wriggly beetle larvae known as mealworms could one day dominate supermarket shelves as a more sustainable alternative to chicken, beef, pork and milk, researchers in the Netherlands say.
Currently, livestock use about 70 percent of all farmland. In addition, the demand for animal protein continues to rise globally, and is expected to grow by up to 80 percent between 2012 and 2050.
The act of clearing land for livestock is one that damages the environments on which people and other life depend. For instance, it helps release global warming gases.
Conventional livestock take up so much in the way of environmental resources that some have long suggested that creatures lower down in the food chain ? insects ? might in theory provide just as much protein in a more environmentally friendly way. However, little data are available on the environmental impacts associated with insect production, said researcher Dennis Oonincx at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
To see if insects really might be a more sustainable food source than livestock, Oonincx and his colleagues analyzed what global warming gases insects might generate as a result of respiration, the production of their feed, distribution networks to stores where they would get sold and emissions from the heating of climate-controlled rearing facilities.
The researchers found that growing mealworms released less greenhouse gases than producing cow milk, chicken, pork and beef. They also discovered that growing mealworms takes up only about 10 percent of the land used for production of beef, 30 percent of the land used for pork and 40 percent of the land needed for chickens to generate similar amounts of protein. The researchers note that optimizing mealworm growth might lead to even more land savings. [ Save the Planet? 10 Bizarre Solutions ]
"Since the population of our planet keeps growing, and the amount of land on this Earth is limited, a more efficient, and more sustainable system of food production is needed," Oonincx said in a statement. "Now, for the first time it has been shown that mealworms, and possibly other edible insects, can aid in achieving such a system."
The scientists did find the amount of energy used to produce mealworms per pound of edible protein was similar to that for pork and 46 percent to 88 percent more than that for chicken, although it was still half or less than for beef. This is in large part due to the fact that mealworms must be kept in heated environments to keep them within a certain range of temperatures for growth.
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"These questions they're addressing are really relevant to sustainability ? this is very exciting work," said entomologist Brian Fisher at the California Academy of Sciences, who did not take part in this research. "This addresses how we're going to grow food in a way that doesn't jeopardize how our children and their children live, and offers another reason why we should explore insects as a protein source."
The biggest objection this idea faces is probably the squeamishness the public has toward eating insects.
"We need to promote a campaign along the lines of, 'If it's OK to eat sushi, it's OK to eat insects,'" Fisher told LiveScience. "If you eat lobster, eating insects is pretty much the same thing."
Moreover, people might not have to eat the insects directly. Rather, they could be ground up and used as protein-rich supplements to food, Fisher noted.
"The freeze-dried forms of mealworms produced in the Netherlands are easy to grind into a powder on your kitchen countertop. I have already used them with good success in brownies," said entomologist Florence Dunkel at the University of Montana, who did not participate in this study.
As to what mealworms taste like, "it depends on what you fed them, but most times they're a bit nutty-flavored," Fisher said. "People love them if they're cooked right.
The scientists detailed their findings online Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE.
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BPC Africa is one of the leading consulting firms in the East, Central and Southern Africa Region. Our vision is to deliver best value that business can find through partnering in Strategy, Organization and People.
We partner with both local and international clients to source forbest talent in a number of Specialized and Generalist areas.
One of our clients would like to engage suitable talent to join their vibrant Leadership team as the Human Resource Business Partner (Kenya).
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HR Business Partner is a strategic partner leveraging foresight, insight and expertise about people through a powerful partnership with the Country Leader and all other key Leaders across business units and supporting functions existing in the countries.
?HR Business Partner is the single point of contact for the Country Unit Head and line managers, providing HR support and coaching to them during and post transition. ?
Main Responsibilities
Partnering with Management Committee to design and deliver people strategies, processes and products that are aligned with global direction, and which ensure that the organizational capability, processes, systems, structure and culture are in place to drive the achievement of business goals
Taking responsibility for the embedding of robust people management disciplines including talent management, people development, performance management, and facilitate cross functional and cross ? business forums to enable effective people management and development
Coaching and challenging Management committee to develop the organizational capability and resources required to enable delivery of business strategy, and to provide coaching and feedback to ensure the development of their leadership capability
Providing, and developing in others, change management and catalytic capability to enable leadership development, commercial transformation and the ongoing development of the organization culture.
Building effective employee partnerships and consultation processes with representative bodies and unions, and contribute to regional consultation processes as required
Partnering with centers of excellence to develop and implement reward and people and organizational development plans
Partnering with Business Services to ensure delivery of effective and customer focused HR Operations.
Be accountable, as appropriate, for HR compliance in line with local regulations and standards and to manage business risk arising from employment liability
Keeping up to date with the latest developments in HR practice and introduce new approaches as appropriate
Job Skills
Human Resource design and Implementation
Change Management
Employee Relations Skills
Talent Management
Academic Qualifications
Bachelors Degree
MBA or a Masters degree in HRM is an added advantage
Professional Qualifications & experience
Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management
At least 5 years? experience in Human Resource management 3 of which should be in management level
Experience in industrial relations and employee engagement
Multinational experience in the Agriculture industry is an added advantage
Send applications & CV only to the following address: talentsearch@bpc.co.ke on or before 10th January, 2013
Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle is pushing for federal leaders to put tighter restrictions on who can buy guns ? and what types of guns they can buy.
Tuesday, the mayor signed a letter that?s being sent to President Barack Obama and members of Congress from hundreds of other city leaders from around the country. It pushes for mandated criminal background checks on all gun sales and also for getting more military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines out of circulation.
?While there is no law that can prevent every act of violence, we can and must do more to ensure that we keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and assist our law enforcement officers in providing for the safety of our public,? Suttle said.
It never fails. No matter where you're sitting in relation to the last open wall outlet at the cafe, your computer's charging cord is always just a bit too short. Luckily, a new prototype cable developed at North Carolina State University will let you plug in, even if the outlet's in the next room. More »
Dec. 20, 2012 ? For all their promise, solar cells have frustrated scientists in one crucial regard -- most are rigid. They must be deployed in stiff, often heavy, fixed panels, limiting their applications. So researchers have been trying to get photovoltaics to loosen up. The ideal: flexible, decal-like solar panels that can be peeled off like band-aids and stuck to virtually any surface, from papers to window panes.
Now the ideal is real. Stanford researchers have succeeded in developing the world's first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. The breakthrough is described in a paper in the December 20th issue of Scientific Reports.
Unlike standard thin-film solar cells, the peel-and-stick version from Stanford does not require any direct fabrication on the final carrier substrate. This is a far more dramatic development than it may initially seem. All the challenges associated with putting solar cells on unconventional materials are avoided with the new process, vastly expanding the potential applications of solar technology.
Thin-film photovoltaic cells are traditionally fixed on rigid silicon and glass substrates, greatly limiting their uses, says Chi Hwan Lee, lead author of the paper and a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering. And while the development of thin-film solar cells promised to inject some flexibility into the technology, explains Xiaolin Zheng, a Stanford assistant professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the paper, scientists found that use of alternative substrates was problematic in the extreme.
"Nonconventional or 'universal' substrates are difficult to use for photovoltaics because they typically have irregular surfaces and they don't do well with the thermal and chemical processing necessary to produce today's solar cells," Zheng observes. "We got around these problems by developing this peel-and-stick process, which gives thin-film solar cells flexibility and attachment potential we've never seen before, and also reduces their general cost and weight."
Utilizing the process, Zheng continues, researchers attached their solar cells to paper, plastic and window glass among other materials.
"It's significant that we didn't lose any of the original cell efficiency," Zheng said.
The new process involves a unique silicon, silicon dioxide and metal "sandwich." First, a 300-nanometer film of nickel (Ni) is deposited on a silicon/silicon dioxide (Si/SiO2) wafer. Thin-film solar cells are then deposited on the nickel layer utilizing standard fabrication techniques, and covered with a layer of protective polymer. A thermal release tape is then attached to the top of the thin-film solar cells to augment their transfer off of the production wafer and onto a new substrate.
The solar cell is now ready to peel from the wafer. To remove it, the wafer is submerged in water at room temperature and the edge of the thermal release tape is peeled back slightly, allowing water to seep into and penetrate between the nickel and silicon dioxide interface. The solar cell is thus freed from the hard substrate but still attached to the thermal release tape. Zheng and team then heat the tape and solar cell to 90?C for several seconds, then the cell can be applied to virtually any surface using double-sided tape or other adhesive. Finally, the thermal release tape is removed, leaving just the solar cell attached to the chosen substrate.
Tests have demonstrated that the peel-and-stick process reliably leaves the thin-film solar cells wholly intact and functional, Zheng said. "There's also no waste. The silicon wafer is typically undamaged and clean after removal of the solar cells, and can be reused."
While others have been successful in fabricating thin-film solar cells on flexible substrates before, those efforts have required modifications of existing processes or materials, noted Lee. "The main contribution of our work is we have done so without modifying any existing processes, facilities or materials, making them viable commercially. And we have demonstrated our process on a more diverse array of substrates than ever before," Lee said.
"Now you can put them on helmets, cell phones, convex windows, portable electronic devices, curved roofs, clothing -- virtually anything," said Zheng.
Moreover, peel-and-stick technology isn't necessarily restricted to thin-film solar cells, Zheng said. The researchers believe the process can also be applied to thin-film electronics, including printed circuits and ultra thin transistors and LCDs.
"Obviously, a lot of new products -- from 'smart' clothing to new aerospace systems -- might be possible by combining both thin-film electronics and thin-film solar cells," observed Zheng. "And for that matter, we may be just at the beginning of this technology. The peel-and-stick qualities we're researching probably aren't restricted to Ni/SiO2. It's likely many other material interfaces demonstrate similar qualities, and they may have certain advantages for specific applications. We have a lot left to investigate."
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The Palestinians said Tuesday that all of the U.N. Security Council members except the United States will condemn Israel's recent announcements of new settlement construction which are making a two-state solution more difficult to achieve.
Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said the 14 other council members will tell reporters after the council's monthly Mideast meeting on Wednesday that continuing settlement activity is illegal and must be stopped.
The United States delivered a rare blunt rebuke to Israel, its top Mideast ally, on Tuesday for its new settlement construction, but Mansour said the Obama administration won't approve a Security Council resolution or statement.
He said there is near global unanimity against Israel's actions, pointing to the 169-6 vote in the General Assembly Tuesday on a non-binding resolution condemning settlement activities by Israel and demanding their immediate cessation.
"Unfortunately, one powerful country with veto power does not want the Security Council to act accordingly," Mansour said. "Therefore, the 14 other countries in the Security Council, in their own creative way, will make their position clear, collectively or separately, to the media outside the chamber on Wednesday."
He said the four West European council members ? Germany, France, Britain and Portugal ? would issue a statement of condemnation, followed by India speaking on behalf of the Nonaligned Movement of mainly developing countries, and other council members likely including South Africa, Russia and China.
"Therefore one can say 14 versus 1 is the reality of the Security Council in condemning Israel settlement activity ? although the one is also condemning," Mansour said.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to build thousands of homes in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in response to the U.N. General Assembly's decision last month to upgrade the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state. On Monday, he said Israel will push forward with plans to build 1,500 apartments in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland accused Israel of engaging in a "pattern of provocative action" that runs counter to the government's commitment to peace. She said settlement activity only puts the goal of peace "further at risk" and urged both Israel and the Palestinians to halt all provocations and take steps to revive long-stalled peace talks.
Her comments came as the United States grows increasingly frustrated with the Israelis, who continue to announce new settlement activity and take other measures to punish the Palestinians for the U.N. vote recognizing the state of Palestine, despite U.S. calls for restraint.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday called all Israeli settlements "illegal under international law."
He urged Israel to reverse its latest expansion plan in east Jerusalem, warning that if implemented "it would make a negotiated two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, very difficult to achieve."
The European Union, Israel's biggest trading partner, has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of new settlements just as Israel is gearing up for general elections next month. In an unprecedented move, a string of European governments summoned their local Israeli ambassadors to lodge protests following the Israeli settlement announcements.
Wednesday's expected statement by key European countries on the U.N.'s most powerful body would be a symbolic, but nonetheless high-profile show of displeasure with the Israelis.
Israel's Netanyahu has been unshaken by the criticism, and on Tuesday he vowed to continue building in east Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel, and we will continue to build there. A united Jerusalem expresses a wide national agreement," he said in the northern Israeli town of Acre.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the idea of taking action at the United Nations only lowers the chances of renewing peace talks, and he insisted the only way to advance negotiations is "to weigh on the Palestinians and convince them to return to the negotiating table."
"Fiddling with U.N. resolutions will take us the opposite way," he added. "So it's their choice to make, a step forward or two steps backward."
Despite its vocal frustration, the United States has repeatedly blocked Security Council condemnation of Israeli settlements.
Almost exactly a year ago, the four West European nations issued a statement critical of Israeli settlements at the Security Council. They and the other 10 members pointed a finger at the United States for blocking any condemnation of Israel's accelerated settlement construction.
That scenario is likely to be repeated on Wednesday.
The United States also vetoed a U.N. resolution in February 2011 that would have condemned "illegal" Israeli settlements and urged an immediate halt to all settlement building. The 14 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution.
The General Assembly decision recognized a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. That annexation that has not been recognized internationally.
Israel rejects a return to the 1967 lines and accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the U.N. bid.
Peace talks have been frozen for four years, in large part because of the settlement issue. The Palestinians refuse to negotiate while Israel expands its settlements, which are now home to more than 500,000 Israelis.
Netanyahu has rejected calls to halt settlement construction, saying that a partial freeze he imposed in 2009 and 2010 failed to restart substantive negotiations. He says talks should resume without any preconditions.
Israeli officials have brushed off the international criticism as either unfair or by portraying it as a disagreement among friends. But officials say the increasingly frosty relations with Europe are a cause for concern.
___
Keaten reported from Paris. Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Juergen Baetz in Berlin and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmedPublic release date: 19-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rozen Le Panse Rozen.lepanse@upmc.fr 33-014-077-8127 INSERM (Institut national de la sant et de la recherche mdicale)
Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that the combined Inserm/CNRS/ Pierre and Marie Curie University/Association Institut de Myologie have strived to answer in their "Therapies for diseases of striated muscle", concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis. Through the project known as FIGHT-MG (Fight Myasthenia Gravis), financed by the European Commission and coordinated by Inserm, Sonia Berrih-Aknin and Rozen Le Panse have contributed proof of the concept that a molecule imitating a virus may trigger an inappropriate immune response, causing muscular function to deteriorate. These results have been published in Annals of Neurology, accessible on line.
Myasthenia, a rare auto-immune disease
Myasthenia gravis is a rare auto-immune disease (5,000 to 6,000 patients in France) that produces muscular weakness and exhaustion. It generally affects the facial muscles first, and may then become generalised through the muscles of the limbs or the respiratory muscles, causing respiratory distress.
This is due to the production of circulating auto-antibodies that block the acetylcholine receptors (RACh), these neurotransmitters being necessary for transmitting the motor nerve signal to the neuro-muscular junction.
Could a viral infection be the origin of myasthenia?
Myasthenia is a multi-factorial disease in which environmental factors seem to play a key triggering role. Viral infections are suspected but it is hard to prove the role of a virus in triggering the condition. In fact, diagnosis of myasthenia is often made months, or even years, after the actual start of the illness when the virus is no longer detectable, even though the signature left by the virus is visible long after the infection.
Proof of the concept of a viral origin contributed by researchers
Under the European FIGHT-MG project, the team of researchers managed to decode the trigger for the illness by using a molecule that mimics the RNA double viral strand (Poly(I:C)).
To do this, they concentrated on the organ that plays a central role in the disease the thymus. It is in this gland located in the thorax that the T-lymphocytes mature, these being the key players in immune response that are normally programmed to avoid the development of any auto-immunity.
The researchers were thus able to show in vitro that the Poly(I:C) was capable of specifically inducing an over-expression of RACh through thymal epithelial cells, while activating three proteins (the "toll-like" receptor 3 (TLR3), the protein kinase R (PKR) and interferon-beta (IFN-)); it is this last that produces inflammation in the thymus.
At the same time, they analysed pathological thymus glands of myasthenia sufferers in whom they observed over-expression of these same three proteins in the immune system, characteristic of a viral infection.
Finally, the researchers also managed to identify the same molecular changes in the thymus glands of mice, after they had been injected with Poly(I:C). After a prolonged injection period, they also observed a proliferation in the mice of B anti-RACh cells, the presence of auto-antibodies blocking the RACh receptors and clinical signs synonymous with the muscular weakness found in myasthenia. These original results show that molecules that mimic a viral infection are capable of inducing myasthenia in the mouse, something that had never been demonstrated before.
This set of papers published in the Annals of Neurology provides proof of the concept that a viral infection can cause inflammation of the thymus and lead to the development of auto-immune myasthenia.
The next stages of the research will consist in determining which exogenous virus this may be or whether it is a case of the abnormal activation of an anti-viral response by endogenous molecules.
FIGHT-MG (Fighting Myasthenia Gravis) a European collaboration making giant leaps forward
The FIGHT-MG project seeks to determine the genetic and environmental risk factors associated with the occurrence of the illness and its development. The project aims also to identify the key immunological molecules associated with its appearance, and to study the pathogenic mechanisms at the neuromuscular junction, establish new diagnostic tests, as well as new treatments (cellular treatments, immuno-regulatory treatments, immuno-absorption of pathogenic auto-antibodies and other pharmacological treatments).
"When one is working on a rare disease, it is essential to work through networking, so as to be able to share our facilities and resources to promote fundamental and clinical research. It is also crucial to communicate permanently with patient associations. It is this combination that enables us to take giant steps in the treatment of rare conditions," explains Sonia Berrih-Aknin.
###
FIGHT-MG : http://www.fight-mg.eu/
FIGHT-MG started in December 2009 and will last for four years, with a total budget of about six million euros funded by the European Union (FP7). The project involves 12 partners based in seven European countries:
The 12 partners:
Inserm (coordinator), France: http://www.inserm.fr/
Hellenic Pasteur Institute (HPI), Greece: http://www.pasteur.gr/?lang=en
Open University of Israel (OUI), Israel: http://www-e.openu.ac.il/
Fondazione Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta" (INNCB), Italy: http://www.istituto-besta.com
Oslo University Hospital (OUS), Norway: http://www.oslo-universitetssykehus.no/omoss/english/Sider/side.aspx
Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center (HMO), Israel: http://www.hadassah-med.com/
Israel Institute of Technology (TECHNION), Israel: http://www1.technion.ac.il/en
University of Paris 6 Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC), France: http://www.upmc.fr/
University of Basel (UNIBAS), Switzerland: http://www.unibas.ch/
ProteoSys (PSY), Germany: http://www.proteosys.com/
Genopolis Consortium for Functional Genomics (GENOPOLIS), Italy: http://www.genopolis.it/
INSERM TRANSFERT SA (IT), France: http://www.inserm-transfert.fr/fr/
The "Myasthenia" team
The "Myasthenia" team, headed by Sonia Berrih-Aknin joined the Institute of Myology directed by Professor T. Voit, just over a year ago in order to get closer to the reference centre for neuromuscular diseases run by Prof B. Eymard, at the Piti-Salptrire Hospital in Paris. The Institute of Myology is an international center of expertise on the muscle and its diseases, a member of the Institute of Biotherapy of rare diseases created by the AFM-Telethon. The Sonia Berrih-Aknin's team is interested in the etiological and physio-pathological mechanisms of myasthenia and innovative treatments that could improve patients' quality of life.
Even though winning a European project is very competitive, this team has exceptionally been granted three other projects since 2001, and was responsible for their coordination. Sonia Berrih-Aknin was the coordinator of the "Mechanisms of Myasthenia" project (2001-2005) under FP5, the MYASTAID (2006-2010) project under le cadre du FP6, as well as the Euromyasthenia Project (2006-2009) through the European Public Health Directorate. These projects brought a total of more than fifty teams of clinicians, researchers and associations of sufferers in Europe.
Inserm www.inserm.fr
The "French National Health and Medical Research Institute" (Inserm), created in 1964, is a public body of a scientific and technical nature, under the dual auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Health.
Its researchers are involved in the study of all types of illness, from the commonest to the rarest, through their biological, medical and health of the population research.
With a budget of 905 million euros for 2011, Inserm supports some 300 laboratories installed throughout French territory. The teams contain a total of about 13,000 researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators.
Inserm is a member of the "Alliance nationale pour les sciences de la vie et de la sant", founded in April 2009 with the CNRS, the CEA, the Inra, the Inria, the IRD, the Institut Pasteur, the Confrence des Prsidents d'Universit (CPU) and the Confrence des directeurs-gnraux de centres hospitaliers rgionaux et universitaires. This alliance is part of the policy of reforming the research system so as to better coordinate the role of the various entities involved and to reinforce the position of French research in this sector through coordinated planning.
Inserm is Europe's leading European project instigator, with 28 projects coordinated by the Institute as part of the FP7 scheme.
Source
"Implication of dsRNA signalling in the etiology of autoimmune myasthenia gravis"
Perrine Cufi1, MSc, Nadine Dragin, PhD1*, Julia Miriam Weiss, PhD1*, Pilar Martinez-Martinez, PhD2, Marc H. De Baets, MD, PhD2, Rgine Roussin, MD 3, Elie Fadel, MD3, Sonia Berrih-Aknin, PhD1 and Rozen Le Panse, PhD1
1 Combined Research Unit - CNRS UMR7215/INSERM U974/UPMC UM76/AIM - Thrapie des maladies du muscle stri, Groupe hospitalier Piti-Salptrire, 105 Boulevard de l'Hpital, 75651 PARIS Cedex 13 - France.
2 Department of Neuroscience, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
3 Dpartement de Chirurgie cardiaque des cardiopathies, Hpital Marie Lannelongue, 92350 Le Plessis Robinson, France.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Annals of Neurology
DOI: 10.1002/ana.23791
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmedPublic release date: 19-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rozen Le Panse Rozen.lepanse@upmc.fr 33-014-077-8127 INSERM (Institut national de la sant et de la recherche mdicale)
Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that the combined Inserm/CNRS/ Pierre and Marie Curie University/Association Institut de Myologie have strived to answer in their "Therapies for diseases of striated muscle", concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis. Through the project known as FIGHT-MG (Fight Myasthenia Gravis), financed by the European Commission and coordinated by Inserm, Sonia Berrih-Aknin and Rozen Le Panse have contributed proof of the concept that a molecule imitating a virus may trigger an inappropriate immune response, causing muscular function to deteriorate. These results have been published in Annals of Neurology, accessible on line.
Myasthenia, a rare auto-immune disease
Myasthenia gravis is a rare auto-immune disease (5,000 to 6,000 patients in France) that produces muscular weakness and exhaustion. It generally affects the facial muscles first, and may then become generalised through the muscles of the limbs or the respiratory muscles, causing respiratory distress.
This is due to the production of circulating auto-antibodies that block the acetylcholine receptors (RACh), these neurotransmitters being necessary for transmitting the motor nerve signal to the neuro-muscular junction.
Could a viral infection be the origin of myasthenia?
Myasthenia is a multi-factorial disease in which environmental factors seem to play a key triggering role. Viral infections are suspected but it is hard to prove the role of a virus in triggering the condition. In fact, diagnosis of myasthenia is often made months, or even years, after the actual start of the illness when the virus is no longer detectable, even though the signature left by the virus is visible long after the infection.
Proof of the concept of a viral origin contributed by researchers
Under the European FIGHT-MG project, the team of researchers managed to decode the trigger for the illness by using a molecule that mimics the RNA double viral strand (Poly(I:C)).
To do this, they concentrated on the organ that plays a central role in the disease the thymus. It is in this gland located in the thorax that the T-lymphocytes mature, these being the key players in immune response that are normally programmed to avoid the development of any auto-immunity.
The researchers were thus able to show in vitro that the Poly(I:C) was capable of specifically inducing an over-expression of RACh through thymal epithelial cells, while activating three proteins (the "toll-like" receptor 3 (TLR3), the protein kinase R (PKR) and interferon-beta (IFN-)); it is this last that produces inflammation in the thymus.
At the same time, they analysed pathological thymus glands of myasthenia sufferers in whom they observed over-expression of these same three proteins in the immune system, characteristic of a viral infection.
Finally, the researchers also managed to identify the same molecular changes in the thymus glands of mice, after they had been injected with Poly(I:C). After a prolonged injection period, they also observed a proliferation in the mice of B anti-RACh cells, the presence of auto-antibodies blocking the RACh receptors and clinical signs synonymous with the muscular weakness found in myasthenia. These original results show that molecules that mimic a viral infection are capable of inducing myasthenia in the mouse, something that had never been demonstrated before.
This set of papers published in the Annals of Neurology provides proof of the concept that a viral infection can cause inflammation of the thymus and lead to the development of auto-immune myasthenia.
The next stages of the research will consist in determining which exogenous virus this may be or whether it is a case of the abnormal activation of an anti-viral response by endogenous molecules.
FIGHT-MG (Fighting Myasthenia Gravis) a European collaboration making giant leaps forward
The FIGHT-MG project seeks to determine the genetic and environmental risk factors associated with the occurrence of the illness and its development. The project aims also to identify the key immunological molecules associated with its appearance, and to study the pathogenic mechanisms at the neuromuscular junction, establish new diagnostic tests, as well as new treatments (cellular treatments, immuno-regulatory treatments, immuno-absorption of pathogenic auto-antibodies and other pharmacological treatments).
"When one is working on a rare disease, it is essential to work through networking, so as to be able to share our facilities and resources to promote fundamental and clinical research. It is also crucial to communicate permanently with patient associations. It is this combination that enables us to take giant steps in the treatment of rare conditions," explains Sonia Berrih-Aknin.
###
FIGHT-MG : http://www.fight-mg.eu/
FIGHT-MG started in December 2009 and will last for four years, with a total budget of about six million euros funded by the European Union (FP7). The project involves 12 partners based in seven European countries:
The 12 partners:
Inserm (coordinator), France: http://www.inserm.fr/
Hellenic Pasteur Institute (HPI), Greece: http://www.pasteur.gr/?lang=en
Open University of Israel (OUI), Israel: http://www-e.openu.ac.il/
Fondazione Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta" (INNCB), Italy: http://www.istituto-besta.com
Oslo University Hospital (OUS), Norway: http://www.oslo-universitetssykehus.no/omoss/english/Sider/side.aspx
Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center (HMO), Israel: http://www.hadassah-med.com/
Israel Institute of Technology (TECHNION), Israel: http://www1.technion.ac.il/en
University of Paris 6 Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC), France: http://www.upmc.fr/
University of Basel (UNIBAS), Switzerland: http://www.unibas.ch/
ProteoSys (PSY), Germany: http://www.proteosys.com/
Genopolis Consortium for Functional Genomics (GENOPOLIS), Italy: http://www.genopolis.it/
INSERM TRANSFERT SA (IT), France: http://www.inserm-transfert.fr/fr/
The "Myasthenia" team
The "Myasthenia" team, headed by Sonia Berrih-Aknin joined the Institute of Myology directed by Professor T. Voit, just over a year ago in order to get closer to the reference centre for neuromuscular diseases run by Prof B. Eymard, at the Piti-Salptrire Hospital in Paris. The Institute of Myology is an international center of expertise on the muscle and its diseases, a member of the Institute of Biotherapy of rare diseases created by the AFM-Telethon. The Sonia Berrih-Aknin's team is interested in the etiological and physio-pathological mechanisms of myasthenia and innovative treatments that could improve patients' quality of life.
Even though winning a European project is very competitive, this team has exceptionally been granted three other projects since 2001, and was responsible for their coordination. Sonia Berrih-Aknin was the coordinator of the "Mechanisms of Myasthenia" project (2001-2005) under FP5, the MYASTAID (2006-2010) project under le cadre du FP6, as well as the Euromyasthenia Project (2006-2009) through the European Public Health Directorate. These projects brought a total of more than fifty teams of clinicians, researchers and associations of sufferers in Europe.
Inserm www.inserm.fr
The "French National Health and Medical Research Institute" (Inserm), created in 1964, is a public body of a scientific and technical nature, under the dual auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Health.
Its researchers are involved in the study of all types of illness, from the commonest to the rarest, through their biological, medical and health of the population research.
With a budget of 905 million euros for 2011, Inserm supports some 300 laboratories installed throughout French territory. The teams contain a total of about 13,000 researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators.
Inserm is a member of the "Alliance nationale pour les sciences de la vie et de la sant", founded in April 2009 with the CNRS, the CEA, the Inra, the Inria, the IRD, the Institut Pasteur, the Confrence des Prsidents d'Universit (CPU) and the Confrence des directeurs-gnraux de centres hospitaliers rgionaux et universitaires. This alliance is part of the policy of reforming the research system so as to better coordinate the role of the various entities involved and to reinforce the position of French research in this sector through coordinated planning.
Inserm is Europe's leading European project instigator, with 28 projects coordinated by the Institute as part of the FP7 scheme.
Source
"Implication of dsRNA signalling in the etiology of autoimmune myasthenia gravis"
Perrine Cufi1, MSc, Nadine Dragin, PhD1*, Julia Miriam Weiss, PhD1*, Pilar Martinez-Martinez, PhD2, Marc H. De Baets, MD, PhD2, Rgine Roussin, MD 3, Elie Fadel, MD3, Sonia Berrih-Aknin, PhD1 and Rozen Le Panse, PhD1
1 Combined Research Unit - CNRS UMR7215/INSERM U974/UPMC UM76/AIM - Thrapie des maladies du muscle stri, Groupe hospitalier Piti-Salptrire, 105 Boulevard de l'Hpital, 75651 PARIS Cedex 13 - France.
2 Department of Neuroscience, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
3 Dpartement de Chirurgie cardiaque des cardiopathies, Hpital Marie Lannelongue, 92350 Le Plessis Robinson, France.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Annals of Neurology
DOI: 10.1002/ana.23791
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - The women's basketball team at Mission College expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut.
In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a man and a woman.
Coach Corey Cafferata worried the outside noise was getting to his players, particularly the 50-year-old Ludwig.
A pair of ESPN radio hosts had laughed at her looks, referring to her as "it." And online threats and anonymous calls prompted the two-year college to assign the Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm a safer parking space next to the gym and two police guards.
Last week, Ludwig gathered her 10 teammates at practice and offered to quit. This was their time to shine, she told the group of 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. She didn't want to be a distraction for the team. The other women said if Ludwig, whom they nicknamed "Big Sexy" and "Princess," didn't play, they wouldn't either.
Didn't she know she was the glue holding the team together?
"Then let's just play basketball," she replied solemnly, looking each teammate in the eye.
A lifelong basketball lover, Ludwig has been helping coach and working out with the Saints since the beginning of the school year, but she only received conference clearance to compete on the last day of November. She took the court as No. 42 the next day, scoring three points on four free throws in about seven minutes of play. Last weekend, during her first home game, she scored eight points in 11 minutes, Facebook friend requests from the opposing team - and not a single heckle.
"I got exactly what I always wanted, just to fit in and be normal like everyone else," Ludwig said.
The story of how she ended up in a basketball uniform again would inspire comparisons to "The Natural" or other tales of middle-aged redemption were it not for gender. Introduced to the sport as an impressively tall 7th grade boy, she played on her high school team as Robert John Ludwig, then one season at a community college on Long Island in New York. After she dropped out, her court appearances were limited to pickup games.
The basketball bug returned 12 years ago, when her daughter from her second marriage, then 7, started playing youth basketball and Ludwig signed on as her coach. Ludwig kept coaching other people's children when her daughter moved on to high school and still works with hundreds of middle school girls every year.
Her transition from a male coach to a female coach five years ago raised questions, but parents generally accepted her decision warmly, she said. So did the women she played with in a couple of intramural leagues.
What the naysayers do not know, she said, is that Ludwig is not the same player she was as a 24-year-old male. She has less muscle and height, because of female hormones she takes. And at her age, she has to work to keep up.
"Yeah, I hit with a little more punch down low, but that's because I weigh 220 pounds, but I am not the only 220 woman out there," she said. "It's different now. My body has changed, my strength has changed, my attitude has changed."
While coaching a youth game on the Mission court last year she met Cafferata. They kept in touch, and when Ludwig half-jokingly asked if he had a spot for her, he said he might.
"The only thing I had to do is talk to my potential teammates and say, 'Hey, do you have room for me? This is where I am, this is where I've been, and I really love this game. Can I play with y'all?' And it was a resounding, 'Hell yeah!'"
Cafferata is tactful when asked whether Ludwig's size and former gender give the Saints an unfair advantage. A self-described champion of underdogs - his roster includes a player who is deaf and others with learning disabilities - the coach is rooting for Ludwig all the way. But to become a starter, she will need to work on endurance and speed.
"Gabrielle has earned a spot on this team," he said. "She practices hard. She runs hard. She is no different from anyone on the team - she is a great, coachable player."
As someone living as a woman and taking female hormones since 2007, Ludwig was eligible to play in the NCAA. Transgender student athletes who have taken medication to suppress testosterone for a year may compete on women's teams under a policy adopted last year.
The California Community College Athletic Association had another hoop for Ludwig. Because its rules base gender on a student's birth certificate, she would need a new one. Ludwig, who had sex reassignment surgery over the summer, petitioned a judge and obtained her papers on Nov. 30.
Ludwig, who turns 51 this month, acknowledged that part of her motivation for playing women's basketball was to be a role-model for transgender youth. She finds hope, if not gratification in the temporary suspensions ESPN radio hosts Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin received this week because of the remarks they made about her. But she wants her court accomplishments - not her gender change - to draw comments.
"If men think that women's basketball is easy, let them spend a day out here and get their butt kicked," she said.
Mission College Athletic Director Mike Perez was all for Ludwig playing. He admires her for working a fulltime professional job - as a systems engineer for a pharmaceutical company - while carrying a full course load in computer administration. He also has seen the way her young teammates look up to Ludwig "and not just because she's tall."
"I could tell that one, she was a person of substance and two, somebody who was really sincere about what they were trying to do," Perez said. "Many people have different views, but the most important view is she ... has a right to be on this basketball team."
Teammate Amy Woo, 19, said Ludwig has brought a maternal influence, helping the team keep problems in perspective.
"We all love her," Woo said. "If someone is going to talk against her, they are talking against all of us because it's like she is part of a family."
San Francisco firefighters were called to rescue a man who got stuck in his chimney just before midnight Monday in his Pacific Heights neighborhood.
Fire crews were called to the man's?apartment where they found the man inside the chimney. It took about an hour to pull him out.
It's unclear why he was in the chimney of his apartment building, which is seven stories high. NBC Bay Area spoke to a dispatcher who said that police may have been trying to contact the man, and that he may have tried to hide in the chimney.
Firefighters at the scene said their crews had to break out special equipment and bust out some chimney bricks to remove the man.
The man was taken to the hospital, where hospital staff said he was decent shape.
Dec. 18, 2012 ? Your Christmas tree may be adorned with lights and glitter. But 25,000 insects, mites, and spiders are sound asleep inside the tree.
"There are a number of insects hiding in a Christmas tree," says Associate Professor Bjarte Jordal at the University Museum of Bergen, who goes on to list springtails, bark lice, mites, moths and the odd spider as the creeps most likely to be dragged into the average household come Christmas time.
Jordal is an expert on insects.
"In research on Christmas trees there have been found as many as 25,000 individual creep in some of the trees", Jordal explains. "If you pound the tree on a white cloth before you throw it out after Christmas, you will discover quite a number of small bugs."
How do these creeps end up in the Christmas tree?
"They go to sleep for the winter, or hibernate to use the technical term. They usually empty their bodies of fluids and produce a chilled liquid and are completely inactive. But they reawaken when the tree is brought into the heat of the living room. It?s all down to stimulus. Upon feeling the heat and awakened by the light, they believe that springtime has arrived and spring back to life."
So do they go about wandering around the living room or what?
"No, I believe they stay in the tree. Both the Christmas tree and the house itself will be very dry. Also, most insects don?t live off the tree, only in it. As they cannot feed on the limited plants found in most households, the bugs will quickly dry out and die. These insects and bugs do not constitute any risk or danger to people or furniture. And if anyone is worried about allergic reactions, I don?t think there?s any danger of that. But obviously, should there be an extreme number of mites in a tree people with severe allergies may react to this."
Are there a fixed number of bugs in each and every Christmas tree?
"This varies a lot. Some of it is down to pure coincidence and some of it is down to what type of tree it is. Trees chopped in your own backwoods will contain more bugs than firs and other trees that have been farmed for use as Christmas trees will contain fewer creeps. There is particularly much in Norwegian Pine, whereas Juniper shrub has a fauna of its own."
Can you spot the little beasts on the tree?
"No, they are good at hiding and are invisible to the human eye, although one certainly should be able to spot the odd spider. To get a proper look, you will have to get out a clean, white sheet and shake the tree."
What about the tabloid media?s favourite arachnids ? the ticks? Can they be found in our Christmas trees as well?
"There may very well be, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has actually looked into this. Their research suggests that there are three reports every Christmas in Norway of ticks found in Christmas trees. What usually happens is that the family dog has gone to rest under the tree and has incurred ticks. But the overall chances of tick bites are minimal. Also, the dog need not be allowed to rest under the tree. And the ticks are usually in sleep mode when the tree is brought into the house and dead by the time the tree leaves the house after Christmas. So, as I said, the risk is minimal."
But even if there is seemingly little danger or nuisance to expect from these creepy-crawlies, what should people be conscious of to minimise the number of bugs in the Christmas tree?
"I would recommend that you get a locally grown hardwood tree, as this is most likely to have a limited fauna. But you should by no means clean or flush the tree free of bugs, as this will damage the tree. Anyway, there is nothing to fear. You need to take into consideration that there are plenty of insects and bugs in potted plants that are regular features in most households. As we all know, these attract plenty of flies. It?s no different with Christmas trees."
Do you think that people are aware that the Christmas tree they bring into the house is full of little bugs?
"Probably not. After all, these little bugs are invisible to the human eye. I believe there is a trend in people not being particularly knowledgeable about nature. But when you bring a tree into the comfort of your living room, the tree carries a part of nature with it. Yet at the same time people tend to remove themselves more and more from nature."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Bergen. The original article was written by Jens Helleland ?dnanes; translated from the Norwegian by Sverre Ole Dr?nen.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Locating the perfect spot to operate your new business may be challenging, unless you know what you are looking for. Read this article to acquire a good groundwork of information that will help you get off on the right foot.
One major part of commercial real estate deals is inspections. When property you are involved in is being inspected, take steps to verify the legitimacy of every inspector. Many people in certain fields are not accredited, including pest and insect removal services. Reviewing credentials will help you prevent major issues after you make the purchase.
TIP! If you have to clean up a property, there?s always a way to save a buck or two. You have to pay for cleaning only if you are the owner of the property.
In order to make sure that you are in prime position to grab that perfect location, gather multiple business partners who are capable of contributing. Find an agreement in advance: you could give the lender a percentage of what you make or repay lenders with fixed interest rates.
When you are negotiating to rent a commercial property, try to have the lease modified so there are few events that are considered to be defaulting on the lease. This decreases the chances that the tenant will default on the lease. This is one thing you don?t want to happen.
To find a trustworthy real estate firm, inquire about their methods on how they make a lot of their money. An honest broker should be willing to discuss this. In fact, you should even be informed how the firms best interest rate is better than yours. Be certain you know exactly what specific benefit they will draw from taking care of this transaction for you.
Take some digital photos of your property. Try to make sure that your pictures shows the defects.
Real Estate
For those who have an interest in real estate, reference websites that offer information to a investors of all experience levels. You can never know too much about commercial real estate, so keep learning!
TIP! Set up your own blog to establish yourself as an expert in your field. By doing this, you will be able to locate people who are looking to buy or lease the type of property you offer.
You need to know the details of emergency maintenance procedures. Talk to the building?s landlord about the person who currently handles emergency repairs. Learn the phone numbers and response times. Work with your landlord to create a contingency plan in the event that an unforeseen disaster occurs; this will allow you to avoid customer service or public relations nightmares.
If you are investing in real estate, consider going big. If you believe that you can easily manage five units, you can probably easily manage 50. Buildings with fewer units require financing just like the ones with more units, and buying larger buildings can actually be cheaper per unit to purchase.
Pest Control
TIP! Searching out larger commercial properties can help you in the long run, so keep an eye out for them. Managing a slightly larger unit does really take that much more work, and doing so actually increases your profit on a per unit basis.
Pest control is a very important issue that you need to be aware of when renting or leasing. If you are renting in an area that is known to have a lot of rodents, pests, or bugs, then ask your agent what the policies on pest control are.
Keep your rental commercial properties occupied. If no one is paying you rent, you?ll be the one footing the bills. If you have more than one empty property, think about why that may be, and consider what you may be doing to drive tenants away.
Keep watch for sellers who are looking to get rid of their properties quickly. Finding them should be your goal, particularly the ones most ready to offer you a below market deal. Unless you find a deal in real estate, nothing is going to happen, and close on the heels of that deal you?ll usually find a motivated seller.
TIP! If you are touring several properties, be sure to utilize a checklist to make things easier for you. Take initial personal responses, but don?t go further without the property owner knowing.
Put your energy toward one investment at a time. For example, you may choose to work mostly with apartment complexes, strip malls, undeveloped land or restaurants. Each purchase will need your complete focus to get it under control. It is a lot better to master one type of investment that to be mediocre with many.
Commercial property investors need to be conscious of drastic inflation in upcoming years. Many past leases included clauses that allowed for CPI based adjustments, which protect signers from inflationary damage per what happens to Consumer Price Index data. This generally doesn?t happen anymore, so unusually high inflation could cause unexpected losses.
The article you just read contains a lot of useful tips you can use when buying or selling commercial property. Use the advice you learned here to stay as informed as possible.
Tags: commercial property, commercial real estate, easily manage, pest control
TOKYO (AP) ? Many in Japan are hoping that the landslide victory of the opposition Liberal Democrats and trouncing of the Democratic Party in Sunday's parliamentary election will help the country break out of a 20-year economic slump. Here is a summary of the possible economic implications of the coming change in leadership:
? ECONOMIC STIMULUS: Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe, who is almost certain to replace Democrat Yoshihiko Noda as prime minister, favors raising spending on public works and setting a 3 percent economic growth target. He has lobbied for stronger action by the central bank to create more demand and break Japan out of its deflationary trap. Critics say that boosting deficit spending too aggressively, though, could undercut confidence in the government bond market, destabilizing Japan's finances.
? TRADE: The Liberal Democrats back Japan's involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a region-wide free trade initiative backed by the U.S., but demand protection from foreign competition for farmers and other traditional supporters. The party's nationalist policies could hurt exports and industries with heavy investments in China, but powerful business interests ? and the Liberal Democrats' coalition partners in the Komeito ? will likely push Abe to cool tensions with Beijing.
? REFORMS: The party says it will revamp Japan's economic strategy but offers few details on overhauling the bureaucracy and other institutions. It plans corporate tax cuts to help make Japan the "most business-friendly country in the world," but is conservative on such issues as labor market and social reforms offering more opportunities for women.
? ENERGY: Under pressure from the electricity lobby, the Liberal Democrats want to defer decisions on long-term energy strategy for a decade, raising questions over Japan's commitment to using renewable energy to offset capacity lost with the closure of most nuclear plants following the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in March 2011.
? COALITION: The Liberal Democrats' likely coalition allies, the Komeito, are backed by small businesses and the lay-Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. Komeito's peace-oriented, anti-nuclear weapons stance could help balance Abe's hawkish views. Komeito favors phasing out nuclear power over 40 years and opposes the TPP but supports other free trade pacts.
Dec. 13, 2012 ? Researchers have found the first proof that a chemical in the brain called glutamate is linked to suicidal behavior, offering new hope for efforts to prevent people from taking their own lives.
Writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Michigan State University's Lena Brundin and an international team of co-investigators present the first evidence that glutamate is more active in the brains of people who attempt suicide. Glutamate is an amino acid that sends signals between nerve cells and has long been a suspect in the search for chemical causes of depression.
"The findings are important because they show a mechanism of disease in patients," said Brundin, an associate professor of experimental psychiatry in MSU's College of Human Medicine. "There's been a lot of focus on another neurotransmitter called serotonin for about 40 years now. The conclusion from our paper is that we need to turn some of that focus to glutamate."
Brundin and colleagues examined glutamate activity by measuring quinolinic acid -- which flips a chemical switch that makes glutamate send more signals to nearby cells -- in the spinal fluid of 100 patients in Sweden. About two-thirds of the participants were admitted to a hospital after attempting suicide and the rest were healthy.
They found that suicide attempters had more than twice as much quinolinic acid in their spinal fluid as the healthy people, which indicated increased glutamate signaling between nerve cells. Those who reported the strongest desire to kill themselves also had the highest levels of the acid.
The results also showed decreased quinolinic acid levels among a subset of patients who came back six months later, when their suicidal behavior had ended.
The findings explain why earlier research has pointed to inflammation in the brain as a risk factor for suicide. The body produces quinolinic acid as part of the immune response that creates inflammation.
Brundin said anti-glutamate drugs are still in development, but could soon offer a promising tool for preventing suicide. In fact, recent clinical studies have shown the anesthetic ketamine -- which inhibits glutamate signaling -- to be extremely effective in fighting depression, though its side effects prevent it from being used widely today.
In the meantime, Brundin said physicians should be aware of inflammation as a likely trigger for suicidal behavior. She is partnering with doctors in Grand Rapids, Mich., to design clinical trials using anti-inflammatory drugs.
"In the future, it's likely that blood samples from suicidal and depressive patients will be screened for inflammation," Brundin said. "It is important that primary health care physicians and psychiatrists work closely together on this."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.
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Journal Reference:
Sophie Erhardt, Chai K Lim, Klas R Linderholm, Shorena Janelidze, Daniel Lindqvist, Martin Samuelsson, Kristina Lundberg, Teodor T Postolache, Lil Tr?skman-Bendz, Gilles J Guillemin, and Lena Brundin. Connecting Inflammation with Glutamate Agonism in Suicidality. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/npp.2012.248
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A federal appeals court will hear Barry Bonds' appeal of his obstruction of justice conviction early next year.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 13 before a three-judge panel in San Francisco.
The career home run leader was convicted in April 2011 of one felony obstruction count for giving an evasive, rambling reply during a 2003 grand jury appearance when asked whether he received drugs that required a syringe.
The jury deadlocked on three charges he made false statements, and prosecutors dropped those counts in August 2011.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced Bonds to 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation, 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities and a $4,000 fine. She delayed imposing the sentence pending the appeal.
Bonds' lawyers argue the answer was accurate and not meant to obstruct.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Nineteen states have turned down the Obama administration's invitation to run the new health insurance markets that will begin serving millions of uninsured Americans less than a year from now. That puts a huge task on the feds, a defining challenge for President Barack Obama's second term.
Friday is decision day for states to notify Washington if they will set up their own insurance exchanges under the federal health care law. Monitoring by The Associated Press finds a divided nation moving ahead, despite the misgivings of some state officials. Half the states now say they will participate in some way.
Still, drafters of the law did not anticipate that so many states would remain on the sidelines at this late stage. Federal control of the new state markets where individuals, families and small businesses will shop for taxpayer-subsidized private coverage was seen as a failsafe, not the standard for nearly half the country. Critics predict delays.
All of the states refusing are led by Republicans.
On the other side of the ledger, 17 states and Washington, D.C., say they want to set up and run their own markets. The administration has already started granting approvals. Eight other states have indicated they want to pursue a partnership with Washington, and more may do so. Only six remain undecided.
Exchanges are the gateway to the new health care law for individuals and families who buy their own health insurance, as well as for small businesses.
Currently, it's hard to tell what's a good plan or a fair price. You can get turned down if you have a medical problem, charged more if you are older or a woman. The health care law forbids insurers from turning away the sick, limits what they can charge older people and bans gender-based surcharges. It also requires virtually all Americans to get coverage or face fines.
Exchanges are supposed to make picking health insurance like buying an airline ticket from an online travel site like Orbitz or Expedia.
There will be a website, and you'll be able to put in your ZIP code and get a list of available health plans. There will be a section where you can find out if you qualify for subsidies, or for Medicaid. There will be cost calculators to allow you to compare different levels of coverage: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. There will be tools that allow you to see if your doctor or hospital is with a particular plan.
Middle-class consumers will be able to find out if they are eligible for government help with their premiums for private insurance. Initially, nearly 9 of every 10 taking part will get assistance.
Low-income people can use the exchanges to find out whether they are eligible for expanded Medicaid coverage under the law. In addition to deciding how to implement exchanges, states must also decide whether to accept the Medicaid expansion. There's no deadline set for that decision, and most are still weighing options.
Open enrollment for exchange plans starts next Oct. 1, and coverage begins Jan. 1, 2014. Initially around 10 million people are expected to sign up, growing rapidly thereafter. California, New York and Kentucky are among the states that have opted to create their own exchanges. Among those passing are Texas, Georgia and Kansas. Partnership states include Illinois and West Virginia.
Republican governors rejecting state exchanges have cited a variety of reasons. Some say the administration has not provided enough information. Others say there's too much federal regulation. Most have concerns about costs. But some Republican leaders have broken ranks, including governors in Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico, and the insurance commissioner in Mississippi.
In announcing his support for a state exchange this week, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said, "it would be irresponsible of me to simply abandon the field to federal bureaucrats. In the face of uncertainty we must assert our independence and our commitment to self-determination, while fulfilling our responsibility to the rule of law."
Indeed, exchanges have a Republican pedigree. The idea was pioneered in Massachusetts under then-Gov. Mitt Romney's health care overhaul.
"All this is full of irony," said consultant Jon Kingsdale, who founded the Massachusetts exchange for Romney. "If you had asked many of those (Republican) governors four years ago before this got politicized, it would have been a no-brainer: 'We want the states to do it.'"
The health care law increased the power of the federal government, but states that run their own exchanges retain important roles overseeing insurance plans, addressing consumer issues and coordinating between the new marketplace and their Medicaid plans. That last item may be the most important, since Medicaid is a major component of state budgets.
Critics of the law believe the Obama administration will be overwhelmed trying to set up so many exchanges in states that are hostile to the idea. Some say the president may have to accept delays, perhaps in the face-saving context of budget negotiations where a delay would count as savings. Publicly, administration officials are adamant that won't happen, and independent observers are starting to believe them.
"It would be politically unwise for the president to delay the start of these benefits," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "If this is going to be a legacy item, he's got to move forward."
The key to that will be something called the federal exchange, the fallback, which is on a tight development schedule overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The government has awarded two big technology contracts for exchanges. Virginia-based CGI Federal Inc. is building the federal exchange. Maryland-based Quality Software Services Inc. is building what's called the federal data services hub, an electronic back office that will be used by the federal exchange and state exchanges to verify identity, income, citizenship and legal residence.
Estimated price tag for the federal exchange: at least $860 million.
"We are all keenly aware that open enrollment is coming quickly," said Gary Cohen, who heads the HHS office overseeing the rollout. "And we will be ready to open our doors."
___
Associated Press writer John Miller in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 19-Dec-2012
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