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Geriatrician Available To Discuss New Research On Falls In Older Adults
Each year in this country, one of every three people over age 65 suffers a fall, resulting in nearly 16,000 deaths. The federal government estimates that 1.8 million older adults who fall are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms for nonfatal injuries - including bruises, fractures and head trauma - and that 433,000 of those individuals need to be hospitalized because of their injuries. Research published this month in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found that a significant number of those falls - an average of 129 per day - involve the use of walkers and canes, the very devices on which millions rely to help them avoid the dangers posed by falling.
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U.S. Appeals Court Rules To Enforce Illinois Parental Notification Law
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on Tuesday lifted, an injunction blocking the enforcement of an Illinois law that requires parental notification 48 hours before minors can undergo abortion procedures, the AP/South Town Star reports. The Illinois Legislature originally passed the law in 1984 and revised it in 1995. In 2007, U.S. District Judge David Coar issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law. On Tuesday, the appeals court said that the measure was "a permissible attempt to help a young woman make an informed choice about whether to have an abortion."The American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law, argued that a provision that allows a notification of a judge, rather than a parent, would be unworkable in practice. In an opinion by Judge Richard Cudahy, the appeals court panel said, "We acknowledge that there might be practical problems with the procedure at issue here" and that "it may be intimidating for a minor to navigate the process of presenting her case to a judge, for instance." It continued, "But we fail to see a better alternative. Abortion, no matter how it is confronted, may present intimidating choices to the minor woman who faces it."The law will take effect within a few weeks unless opponents ask for a stay. Ed Yohnka, an ACLU spokesperson, said that it is unclear what the next step would be but that the appeals court could be asked to rehear the case (Robinson, AP/South Town Star, 7/15).
News of the day
Winter- And Spring-Onset RA Patients Have Worse 6 Month Outcomes Than Those With Summer Onset
When a patient"s first symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) occur in winter, the severity of their RA (as measured by the modified Total Sharp Score, mTSS, an assessment of erosion and joint space narrowing) was rated more severe at six months, when compared to patients whose RA first became symptomatic in summer (Odds Ratio (OR) =2.82 [1.14;7], p=0.0255). Furthermore, RA patients with their first symptoms in spring showed poorer radiographic outcome compared to summer-onset patients (OR=2.83 [1.10;7.37], p=0.0322), according to the results of a new study presented today at EULAR 2009, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Diagnostics

Genes Linked To Chemoresistance Identified By Researchers

Two genes may contribute to chemotherapy resistance in drugs like 5-fluorouracil, which is used in liver cancer treatment, according to Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers. Liver cancer is a highly aggressive form that has limited therapeutic options. One of the key challenges with cancer treatment is that patients can develop resistance to chemotherapy. Researchers are examining ways to prevent resistance by determining the molecular mechanisms involved with cancer progression, and then developing new generations of chemotherapeutic agents. In the study, published online in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of July 13, researchers reported that two genes - astrocyte elevated gene-1, or AEG-1, and late SV40 factor, LSF, contribute to resistance of a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug called 5-fluorouracil, or 5-FU. The team found that over-expression of AEG-1 increased resistance of the liver cells to 5-FU. They observed that a second gene, LSF, is under the control of AEG-1 and mediates a series of molecular pathways involved the resistance to 5-FU. Previous studies suggest that the expression of AEG-1, is very low in normal cells or tissues such as breast, prostate, liver and brain. However, in cancers of the same organs, expression of AEG-1 is significantly increased. AEG-1 was initially cloned in the laboratory of Paul B. Fisher, Ph.D., director of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine. Earlier this year, the team determined that AEG-1 modulates expression of genes relevant to the progression of liver cancer, including invasion, metastasis, resistance to chemotherapy, the formation of new blood vessels and senescence. They identified that LSF, a transcription factor that regulates gene expression, is increased by AEG-1. "Since AEG-1 is a key regulator of liver cancer development and progression, understanding how this molecule works will provide profound insights into the mechanism of liver cancer development," said principal investigator Devanand Sarkar, Ph.D., a Harrison Endowed Scholar in Cancer Research at the VCU Massey Cancer Center and assistant professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics in the VCU School of Medicine. "By understanding these molecular pathways and mechanisms, we may be able to create new drugs to inhibit the expression of AEG-1 or LSF and even develop combination drug therapies to enhance the effectiveness of 5- fluorouracil." "These findings may have important therapeutic implications. Based on the expression level of AEG-1 or LSF in tumor biopsy samples, a clinician might determine whether a patient would respond to 5-fluorouracil and thus design an effective chemotherapeutic protocol," he said. Sarkar said that AEG-1 contributes to resistance to not only 5-FU, but also to other chemotherapeutics such as doxorubicin and cisplatin, although the molecular mechanism of resistance to the latter drugs is different from 5-FU. The team is currently conducting studies to further understand the molecular mechanisms by which AEG-1 induces resistance to chemotherapy so that this knowledge might be applied to develop strategies to maximize the efficacy of chemotherapeutics. Additionally, novel combinatorial treatment approaches that incorporate AEG-1 or LSF inhibition in a standard chemotherapeutic protocol will be evaluated for their efficacy in inhibiting liver cancer in animal models. This work was supported by grants from The Goldhirsh Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Dana Foundation. Sarkar worked with a team that included VCU School of Medicine researchers Byoung Kwon Yoo, Ph.D., Zao-zhong Su, Ph.D., Rachel Gredler, B.S., Nicollaq Vozhilla, D.V.M., Dong Chen, B.S., and Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D. Also contributing were Talitha Forcier, B.S., and Khalid Shah, Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School; and Utsav Saxena, and Ulla Hansen, Ph.D., from Boston University. The VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine also provided support in conducting these studies. Sathya Achia Abraham Virginia Commonwealth University


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