Clinical Research posts
- March 16, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 2 views
My Nephew and his Brain, Part 2 – Revealed to be Complicated
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Continued from Part 1. After we had arrived at the new hospital and my nephew had been placed into the Pediatric ICU (PICU), the doctors started running more tests, and in conjunction with what the ER doctor had found out, my nephew was diagnosed with a seizure disorder or, as it is more commonly known, [...]... Read more »
Fisher RS, van Emde Boas W, Blume W, Elger C, Genton P, Lee P, & Engel J Jr. (2005) Epileptic seizures and epilepsy: definitions proposed by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE). Epilepsia, 46(4), 470-2. PMID: 15816939
- March 15, 2010
- 01:04 PM
- 40 views
Dyslexia and Brain Connectivity: Insights from Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia
by Livia in Reading and Word Recognition Research
Accessibility Level: Intermediate
One theory of dyslexia is that it stems from abnormal brain connectivity -- that faulty connections between different language areas result in reading difficulty. Now, some evidence from another condition offers some support for this theory.
Periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) is a neurological condition in which neurons don’t migrate to the correct
... Read more »
Chang, B., Katzir, T., Liu, T., Corriveau, K., Barzillai, M., Apse, K., Bodell, A., Hackney, D., Alsop, D., Wong, S.... (2007) A structural basis for reading fluency: White matter defects in a genetic brain malformation. Neurology, 69(23), 2146-2154. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000286365.41070.54
- March 15, 2010
- 01:01 PM
- 30 views
Hitting cancer’s Achilles’ heel
by Cancer Research UK in Cancer Research UK - Science Update
Like the mythical Greek hero Achilles, whose heel was his only vulnerable spot, we now know that cancer cells have certain weaknesses that we can exploit. The difficulty is finding them.
Today, new research from Professor Alan Ashworth and his team at The Institute of Cancer Research, who have already been involved in the exploitation of [...]... Read more »
Sarah A. Martin, Nuala McCabe, Michelle Mullarkey, Robert Cummins, Darren J. Burgess, Yusaku Nakabeppu, Sugako Oka, Elaine Kay, Christopher J. Lord, & Alan Ashworth. (2010) DNA Polymerases as Potential Therapeutic Targets for Cancers Deficient in the DNA Mismatch Repair Proteins MSH2 or MLH1. Cancer Cell. info:/10.1016/j.ccr.2009.12.046
- March 15, 2010
- 12:42 PM
- 40 views
Is Weight Loss Associated with Increased Risk of Early Mortality?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
The current recommendations from major health organizations stipulate that if an individual has a BMI in the obese range (>30 kg/m2), they should be counseled to lose at least 5-10% of their body weight. This advice appears to make some sense given that increasing body weight is generally associated with heightened risk of various diseases, and that reduction of body weight usually improves levels of risk factors for disease (e.g blood pressure, triglycerides, etc). However, the literature h........ Read more »
Ingram, D., & Mussolino, M. (2010) Weight loss from maximum body weight and mortality: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Linked Mortality File. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2010.41
- March 15, 2010
- 09:50 AM
- 31 views
Tumour associated macrophages and survival in Hodgkins Lymphoma
by Sally Church in Pharma Strategy Blog
While reading my pile of mail on Friday, I realised that an interesting paper on Hodgkins Lymphoma (HL) appeared in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (full reference below). The basics of the paper are that...... Read more »
Steidl C, Lee T, Shah SP, Farinha P, Han G, Nayar T, Delaney A, Jones SJ, Iqbal J, Weisenburger DD.... (2010) Tumor-associated macrophages and survival in classic Hodgkin's lymphoma. The New England journal of medicine, 362(10), 875-85. PMID: 20220182
DeVita, V., & Costa, J. (2010) Toward a Personalized Treatment of Hodgkin's Disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(10), 942-943. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe0912481
Kunisch, E. (2004) Macrophage specificity of three anti-CD68 monoclonal antibodies (KP1, EBM11, and PGM1) widely used for immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 63(7), 774-784. DOI: 10.1136/ard.2003.013029
- March 15, 2010
- 09:23 AM
- 40 views
Surveying the gut microbiota, cross dressing chickens and more, in my Picks of the Week, from RB
by Alejandro Montenegro-Montero in MolBio Research Highlights
Another week has gone by and some very interesting molbio blog posts have been aggregated to Researchblogging.org. Every week [see my opening post on the matter], I'll select some blog posts I consider particularly interesting in the field of molecular biology [see here to get a sense of the criteria that will be used], briefly describe them and list them here for you to check out.Note that I'm ... Read more »
Qin, J., Li, R., Raes, J., Arumugam, M., Burgdorf, K., Manichanh, C., Nielsen, T., Pons, N., Levenez, F., Yamada, T.... (2010) A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing. Nature, 464(7285), 59-65. DOI: 10.1038/nature08821
Vijay-Kumar, M., Aitken, J., Carvalho, F., Cullender, T., Mwangi, S., Srinivasan, S., Sitaraman, S., Knight, R., Ley, R., & Gewirtz, A. (2010) Metabolic Syndrome and Altered Gut Microbiota in Mice Lacking Toll-Like Receptor 5. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1179721
Zhao, D., McBride, D., Nandi, S., McQueen, H., McGrew, M., Hocking, P., Lewis, P., Sang, H., & Clinton, M. (2010) Somatic sex identity is cell autonomous in the chicken. Nature, 464(7286), 237-242. DOI: 10.1038/nature08852
- March 15, 2010
- 05:52 AM
- 55 views
How to Stop Smoking
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
1. Don't smoke.2. See 1.This is essentially what Simon Chapman and Ross MacKenzie suggest in a provocative PloS Medicine paper, The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences.Their point is deceptively simple: there is lots of research looking at drugs and other treatments to help people quit smoking tobacco, but little attention is paid to people who quit without any help, despite the fact that the majority (up to 75%) of quitters do just that. This is good........ Read more »
Chapman S, & MacKenzie R. (2010) The global research neglect of unassisted smoking cessation: causes and consequences. PLoS medicine, 7(2). PMID: 20161722
- March 15, 2010
- 03:33 AM
- 40 views
The Neuroscience of Anorexia Nervosa
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
One of the most striking features of those suffering from anorexia nervosa is their perception of their bodies. You can put them in front of a mirror and they will still tell you they’re to fat when in fact they’re skinny. A recent publication in Nature Proceedings has an explanation.
This explanation is based on the [...]
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Riva, Guiseppe. (2010) Neuroscience and Eating Disorders: The role of the medial-temporal lobe. Nature Proceedings. info:/
- March 14, 2010
- 02:20 PM
- 27 views
Maintaining change
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
I’m sure we’ve all seen it. The person comes into a pain management programme, gets excited, does really well during each session, enjoys the company and makes huge gains – then the programme ends and — FIZZLE! It all stops.
Some critics suggest that any change obtained during a short-term programme (such as a three-week [...]... Read more »
Christiansen, S., Oettingen, G., Dahme, B., & Klinger, R. (2010) A short goal-pursuit intervention to improve physical capacity: A randomized clinical trial in chronic back pain patients. Pain. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.12.015
- March 14, 2010
- 07:59 AM
- 28 views
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Diet Coke & Health. Part I.
by Laika in Laika's Medliblog
At Medical and Technology of Joseph Kim, the upcoming Grand Rounds host, I saw the blog post “Need your help on Facebook to get Diet Coke to Donate $50,000 to the Foundation for NIH”.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has started a national campaign in the US, The Heart Truth®. They issued a challenge in [...]... Read more »
Litsa K Lambrakos, Pamela Coxson, Lee Goldman, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. (2010) Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and the Attributable Burden to Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease. Circulation. info:other/
Malik VS, Schulze MB, & Hu FB. (2006) Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 84(2), 274-88. PMID: 16895873
Wolff E, & Dansinger ML. (2008) Soft drinks and weight gain: how strong is the link?. Medscape journal of medicine, 10(8), 189. PMID: 18924641
Forshee RA, Anderson PA, & Storey ML. (2008) Sugar-sweetened beverages and body mass index in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 87(6), 1662-71. PMID: 18541554
Gibson S. (2008) Sugar-sweetened soft drinks and obesity: a systematic review of the evidence from observational studies and interventions. Nutrition research reviews, 21(2), 134-47. PMID: 19087367
Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Boyce WF, Vereecken C, Mulvihill C, Roberts C, Currie C, Pickett W, & Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Obesity Working Group. (2005) Comparison of overweight and obesity prevalence in school-aged youth from 34 countries and their relationships with physical activity and dietary patterns. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 6(2), 123-32. PMID: 15836463
- March 12, 2010
- 06:45 PM
- 36 views
Thymus Transplant Extends Life in Old Mice
by Reason in Fight Aging!
Amidst the preprint list of the Rejuvenation Research journal, I see an interesting paper I'd somehow missed: life span can be extended in old mice by transplant of a young thymus. Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice: Neonatal thymus grafts exert a rejuvenating action on various immunological and nonimmunological functions found altered in old mice. Commonly, half of a thymus is grafted under the kidney capsule. The invasiveness of the surg........ Read more »
Basso, A., Malavolta, M., Piacenza, F., Santarelli, L., Marcellini, F., Papa, R., & Mocchegiani, E. (2009) Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice. Rejuvenation Research, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/rej.2009.0936
- March 12, 2010
- 12:05 PM
- 31 views
Google Adds Cycling Routes to Their Maps!
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Regular readers of Obesity Panacea will know that I am a huge fan of active transportation (e.g. walking or cycling to work, rather than commuting by vehicle). I just can't say enough good things about it. It often takes about the same amount of time as commuting by vehicle, plus it ensures that you're getting at least some physical activity on even the busiest days. Even just taking transit instead of driving yourself increases your chances of meeting the daily physical activity gu........ Read more »
Wilkinson, P., Smith, K., Davies, M., Adair, H., Armstrong, B., Barrett, M., Bruce, N., Haines, A., Hamilton, I., & Oreszczyn, T. (2009) Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy. The Lancet, 374(9705), 1917-1929. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61713-X
- March 12, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 71 views
The (empirical) rule of 8%
by Pablo Artal in Optics confidential
Some advice on how to deal with students and postdocs...... Read more »
Perez, G., Archer, S., & Artal, P. (2009) Optical Characterization of Bangerter Foils. Investigative Ophthalmology , 51(1), 609-613. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.09-3726
- March 12, 2010
- 07:00 AM
- 32 views
Deep Brain Stimulation – A New Frontier in Psychiatry
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
For as long as the brain has been seen as the site of mental activity, it has followed that altering brain function should be implemented to treat mental illness. Second generation antidepressants and psychotherapy are currently the least invasive ways of affecting brain function but they leave too many patients only partially improved, and have [...]... Read more »
Lakhan, S., & Callaway, E. (2010) Deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder and treatment-resistant depression: systematic review. BMC Research Notes, 3(1), 60. DOI: 10.1186/1756-0500-3-60
- March 11, 2010
- 02:26 PM
- 25 views
Norovirus and Clinical Research
I've written a lot about bacteria and plants over the last few weeks, so in celebration of the fact that my project is finally on it's way out (with a whimper rather than a bang, unfortunately, but that's how it goes sometimes) I've decided to descend into the world of viruses. I've also decided to have a go at deconstructing some clinical papers, to make a change from academia. The difference between clinical and academic research can probably be described as follows (and I'm pretty sure I've s........ Read more »
Hane Htut Muang. (2008) Norovirus Infection: An Underestimated Danger. Cambridge Medicine, 22-24. info:/
Lopman BA, Reacher M, Gallimore C, Adak GK, Gray JJ, & Brown DW. (2003) A summertime peak of "winter vomiting disease": surveillance of noroviruses in England and Wales, 1995 to 2002. BMC public health, 13. PMID: 12659651
- March 11, 2010
- 09:50 AM
- 20 views
BioSante announce positive data from GVAX leukemia vaccine in CML
by Sally Church in Pharma Strategy Blog
This morning the newswires (HT Mike Huckman) are full of the BioSante (formerly Cell Genesys) news on their leukemia vaccine, GVAX, which is being tested to see whether it is a viable approach for eradication of minimal residual disease. Accordingly,...... Read more »
Smith, B., Kasamon, Y., Kowalski, J., Gocke, C., Murphy, K., Miller, C., Garrett-Mayer, E., Tsai, H., Qin, L., Chia, C.... (2010) K562/GM-CSF Immunotherapy Reduces Tumor Burden in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients with Residual Disease on Imatinib Mesylate. Clinical Cancer Research, 16(1), 338-347. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-2046
- March 10, 2010
- 11:40 AM
- 50 views
Body mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity and health: a critical appraisal
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
If you go to your physician's office and inquire about your weight status, he or she will measure your height and weight to derive your BMI (weight in kg divided by height in m squared). Then they will compare your BMI to that of established criteria to decide whether you are underweight (<18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2), or obese (>30 kg/m2) . Often times, this measure alone determines whether or not you receive lifestyle treatment. But how useful........ Read more »
Ross R, & Janiszewski PM. (2008) Is weight loss the optimal target for obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk reduction?. The Canadian journal of cardiology. PMID: 18787733
- March 10, 2010
- 04:07 AM
- 28 views
“Cracked cancer code”? Not just yet
by Cancer Research UK in Cancer Research UK - Science Update
The Sunday Express has run a front page story stating that scientists have made a major breakthrough in cancer treatment “after cracking the ‘code’ behind the disease.” Sadly the story is actually only based on a theory rather than on concrete scientific evidence.
The story comes from a paper in the Journal of Translational Medicine written [...]... Read more »
Coventry, B., Ashdown, M., Quinn, M., Markovic, S., Yatomi-Clarke, S., & Robinson, A. (2009) CRP identifies homeostatic immune oscillations in cancer patients: a potential treatment targeting tool?. Journal of Translational Medicine, 7(1), 102. DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-7-102
- March 9, 2010
- 03:09 PM
- 34 views
Screening probes and probing screens
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
High Throughput Screening (HTS), with all its strengths and limitations, is still the single-best way to discover novel interesting molecules in drug discovery. Thomas Kodadek of Scripps Florida has an interesting article on screening in the latest issue of Nat. Chem. Biol which is a special issue on chemical probes. Kodadek talks about the very different properties required for drugs and probes and the limitations and unmet needs in current HTS strategies. He focuses on mainly two kinds of scre........ Read more »
Kodadek, T. (2010) Rethinking screening. Nature Chemical Biology, 6(3), 162-165. DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.303
- March 9, 2010
- 07:00 AM
- 31 views
Psychotropics and Youth, Part 3 – Equip Teachers with Prescription Pads?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Contentious debate is brewing over the large role educators play role in recommending what students receive psychotropics, even though they have limited knowledge of treatment. Consider the standards by which one teacher described the benefits of psychotropics to researchers in a recent pilot investigation: the children are “better able to attend to their work… they [...]... Read more »
Wegner, L. (2005) Pediatricians and Antidepressant Medications: Black Box or Black Hole?. PEDIATRICS, 116(1), 233-235. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2005-0928
Lien, M., Carlson, J., Hunter-Oehmke, S., & Knapp, K. (2007) A Pilot Investigation of Teachers' Perceptions of Psychotropic Drug Use in Schools. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11(2), 172-177. DOI: 10.1177/1087054707300992
Lakhan, S., & Hagger-Johnson, G. (2007) The impact of prescribed psychotropics on youth. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 3(1), 21. DOI: 10.1186/1745-0179-3-21
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