Researchers from the University of Florida and 14 additional medical centers reported results in the online version of The Lancet Neurology journal indicating that deep brain stimulation -- also known as DBS -- is effective at improving motor symptoms and quality of life in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. The study, sponsored by St. Jude Medical Inc., tested the safety and effectiveness of a constant current DBS device developed by St. Jude Medical to manage the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The device aimed to reduce tremors, improve the slowness of movement, decrease the motor disability of the disease and reduce involuntary movements called dyskinesia, which are a common side effect of Parkinson's drugs.
After treatment, analysis of 136 patient diaries revealed longer periods of effective symptom control -- known as "on time" -- without involuntary movements. "On time" for patients who received stimulation increased by an average of 4.27 hours compared with an increase of 1.77 hours in the group without stimulation. Patients also noted overall improvements in the quality of their daily activities, mobility, emotional state, social support and physical comfort.
"I think it is safe to say since dopamine treatment emerged in the 1960s, DBS has been the single biggest symptomatic breakthrough for Parkinson patients who have experienced the fluctuations associated with levodopa therapy," said Dr. Michael S. Okun, first author of the study, administrative director of the UF College of Medicine's Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, and the National Medical Director for the National Parkinson Foundation. "This study validates the use of mild electrical currents delivered to specific brain structures in order to improve Parkinson's disease in select patients with advanced symptoms, and additionally, it explored a new stimulation paradigm. Future improvements in devices and the delivery systems for DBS will hopefully provide exciting new opportunities for Parkinson's sufferers."
Only patients who have had Parkinson's disease for five years or more were included in the study. They were randomly assigned to a control group that delayed the onset of stimulation for three months, or a group whose stimulation began shortly after surgery. All patients were followed for 12 months.
The deep brain stimulation procedure involves surgeons implanting small electrodes into an area of the patient's brain that controls movement. The electrodes are connected to a device precisely programmed to use mild electrical current to modulate problematic brain signals that result in movement problems.
Today's voltage-controlled DBS devices deliver pulses of current that vary slightly with surrounding tissue changes. The DBS devices tested in this study are intended to provide more accurate delivery and control of the electrical pulses.
"We are committed to driving research that will provide solutions for physicians and their patients whose needs are currently unmet," said Rohan Hoare, president of St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division. "These results are significant as they offer evidence that stimulation with the Libra constant current system enabled patients to have better motor control and an improvement in their quality of life when compared to the control group."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of DBS for Parkinson's disease in 2002. At least 500,000 people in the United States suffer from Parkinson's with about 50,000 new cases reported annually, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. These numbers are expected to increase as the average age of the population rises.
"The study answered some very important questions concerning cognition and mood with lead implantation (alone) versus implantation with stimulation. It also refutes the hypothesis that DBS increases depressive symptoms," said Dr. Gordon H. Baltuch, a professor of neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a study author. "The group's results also showed a decrease in the infection rate to 4 percent from previously published 10 percent. It shows that American neurosurgeons and neurologists with their industry partners are improving the safety of this procedure and working in a collaborative fashion."
Comparable with other large DBS studies, the most common serious adverse event revealed was infection, which occurred in five patients. Likewise, some participants also reported an increase in the occurrence of slurred speech, known as dysarthria.
"Technology is on the move, and we expect to see continued improvements to DBS approaches, equipment and materials," said Okun, who is also affiliated with UF's McKnight Brain Institute. "DBS has set the bar high for the development of new therapies for advanced Parkinson's disease patients. DBS will be the standard of care gene therapy and other cell-based therapies that are now being conceived will be measured against, and this will hopefully translate into significant improvements in what we can offer our patients."
**Source: University of Florida
12 January 2012
Study offers clue as to why alcohol is addicting
Drinking alcohol leads to the release of endorphins in areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward, according to a study led by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The finding marks the first time that endorphin release in the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex in response to alcohol consumption has been directly observed in humans.
Endorphins are small proteins with opiate-like effects that are produced naturally in the brain.
"This is something that we've speculated about for 30 years, based on animal studies, but haven't observed in humans until now," said lead author Jennifer Mitchell, PhD, clinical project director at the Gallo Center and an adjunct assistant professor of neurology at UCSF. "It provides the first direct evidence of how alcohol makes people feel good."
The discovery of the precise locations in the brain where endorphins are released provides a possible target for the development of more effective drugs for the treatment of alcohol abuse, said senior author Howard L. Fields, MD, PhD, a professor of neurology and Endowed Chair in Pharmacology of Addiction in Neurology at UCSF and director of human clinical research at the Gallo Center.
The study appears on January 11, 2012, in Science Translational Medicine.
The researchers used positron emission tomography, or PET imaging, to observe the immediate effects of alcohol in the brains of 13 heavy drinkers and 12 matched "control" subjects who were not heavy drinkers.
In all of the subjects, alcohol intake led to a release of endorphins. And, in all of the subjects, the more endorphins released in the nucleus accumbens, the greater the feelings of pleasure reported by each drinker.
In addition, the more endorphins released in the orbitofrontal cortex, the greater the feelings of intoxication in the heavy drinkers, but not in the control subjects.
"This indicates that the brains of heavy or problem drinkers are changed in a way that makes them more likely to find alcohol pleasant, and may be a clue to how problem drinking develops in the first place," said Mitchell. "That greater feeling of reward might cause them to drink too much."
Results Suggest Possible Approach to Treat Alcohol Abuse
Before drinking, the subjects were given injections of radioactively tagged carfentanil, an opiate-like drug that selectively binds to sites in the brain called opioid receptors, where endorphins also bind. As the radioactive carfentanil was bound and emitted radiation, the receptor sites "lit up" on PET imaging, allowing the researchers to map their exact locations.
The subjects were then each given a drink of alcohol, followed by a second injection of radioactive carfentanil, and scanned again with PET imaging. As the natural endorphins released by drinking were bound to the opioid receptor sites, they prevented the carfentanil from being bound. By comparing areas of radioactivity in the first and second PET images, the researchers were able to map the exact locations -- areas of lower radioactivity -- where endorphins were released in response to drinking.
The researchers found that endorphins released in response to drinking bind to a specific type of opioid receptor, the Mu receptor.
This result suggests a possible approach to improving the efficacy of treatment for alcohol abuse through the design of better medications than naltrexone, said Fields, who collaborated with Mitchell in the design and analysis of the study.
Fields explained that naltrexone, which prevents binding at opioid receptor sites, is not widely accepted as a treatment for alcohol dependence -- "not because it isn't effective at reducing drinking, but because some people stop taking it because they don't like the way it makes them feel," he said.
"Naltrexone blocks more than one opioid receptor, and we need to know which blocking action reduces drinking and which causes the unwanted side effects," he said. "If we better understand how endorphins control drinking, we will have a better chance of creating more targeted therapies for substance addiction. This paper is a significant step in that direction because it specifically implicates the Mu opioid receptor in alcohol reward in humans."
Endorphins are small proteins with opiate-like effects that are produced naturally in the brain.
"This is something that we've speculated about for 30 years, based on animal studies, but haven't observed in humans until now," said lead author Jennifer Mitchell, PhD, clinical project director at the Gallo Center and an adjunct assistant professor of neurology at UCSF. "It provides the first direct evidence of how alcohol makes people feel good."
The discovery of the precise locations in the brain where endorphins are released provides a possible target for the development of more effective drugs for the treatment of alcohol abuse, said senior author Howard L. Fields, MD, PhD, a professor of neurology and Endowed Chair in Pharmacology of Addiction in Neurology at UCSF and director of human clinical research at the Gallo Center.
The study appears on January 11, 2012, in Science Translational Medicine.
The researchers used positron emission tomography, or PET imaging, to observe the immediate effects of alcohol in the brains of 13 heavy drinkers and 12 matched "control" subjects who were not heavy drinkers.
In all of the subjects, alcohol intake led to a release of endorphins. And, in all of the subjects, the more endorphins released in the nucleus accumbens, the greater the feelings of pleasure reported by each drinker.
In addition, the more endorphins released in the orbitofrontal cortex, the greater the feelings of intoxication in the heavy drinkers, but not in the control subjects.
"This indicates that the brains of heavy or problem drinkers are changed in a way that makes them more likely to find alcohol pleasant, and may be a clue to how problem drinking develops in the first place," said Mitchell. "That greater feeling of reward might cause them to drink too much."
Results Suggest Possible Approach to Treat Alcohol Abuse
Before drinking, the subjects were given injections of radioactively tagged carfentanil, an opiate-like drug that selectively binds to sites in the brain called opioid receptors, where endorphins also bind. As the radioactive carfentanil was bound and emitted radiation, the receptor sites "lit up" on PET imaging, allowing the researchers to map their exact locations.
The subjects were then each given a drink of alcohol, followed by a second injection of radioactive carfentanil, and scanned again with PET imaging. As the natural endorphins released by drinking were bound to the opioid receptor sites, they prevented the carfentanil from being bound. By comparing areas of radioactivity in the first and second PET images, the researchers were able to map the exact locations -- areas of lower radioactivity -- where endorphins were released in response to drinking.
The researchers found that endorphins released in response to drinking bind to a specific type of opioid receptor, the Mu receptor.
This result suggests a possible approach to improving the efficacy of treatment for alcohol abuse through the design of better medications than naltrexone, said Fields, who collaborated with Mitchell in the design and analysis of the study.
Fields explained that naltrexone, which prevents binding at opioid receptor sites, is not widely accepted as a treatment for alcohol dependence -- "not because it isn't effective at reducing drinking, but because some people stop taking it because they don't like the way it makes them feel," he said.
"Naltrexone blocks more than one opioid receptor, and we need to know which blocking action reduces drinking and which causes the unwanted side effects," he said. "If we better understand how endorphins control drinking, we will have a better chance of creating more targeted therapies for substance addiction. This paper is a significant step in that direction because it specifically implicates the Mu opioid receptor in alcohol reward in humans."
**Source: University of California, San Francisco
Madrid cuenta con el primer simulador del mundo de radioterapia intraoperatoria
Una radioterapia "casi segura" para el tratamiento de los tumores. Eso es lo que se puede conseguir con el primer simulador del mundo de radioterapia intraoperatoria que se ha presentado hoy en Madrid y que permite simular el comportamiento de los órganos del paciente en un proceso de cirugía oncológica. A partir de las imágenes en dos dimensiones de un escáner, explica Felipe Calvo, del Hospital Gregorio Marañón, se genera una visualización tridimensional «que aporta toda la información necesaria para que el oncólogo y el cirujano planifiquen el procedimiento quirúrgico y radioterápico antes de que el paciente reciba ninguna dosis de radiación, lo que contribuye a mejorar su calidad de vida y minimizar los riesgos».
Este nuevo sistema, ya patentado, es seguro y fiable, como se ha demostrado en los primeros resultados obtenidos 70 pacientes, y ya publicados en una revista científica, que han permitido que cuente con la certificación de marca CE, lo que autoriza su comercialización en todos los estados miembros de la Unión Europea, y está a la espera de que lo aprueben las autoridades sanitarias de EE.UU. (FDA). De alguna manera, reconoce Calvo, el coordinador del proyecto, define lo que deberá ser el quirófano del siglo XXI, compuesto de un «acelerador lineal en miniatura para que pueda usarse en un quirófano, un sistema de imagen intraoperatoria y un pantalla de plasma en la que se visualiza la operación».
El planificador quirúrgico Radiance es el primer simulador, navegador y planificador dosimétrico en el mundo capaz de «preplanificar» las decisiones de una intervención quirúrgica y los «efectos» de la radioterapia aplicada al paciente en una operación, antes de que éste sea realmente operado y sin recibir ninguna dosis de radiación.
Este nuevo sistema, ya patentado, es seguro y fiable, como se ha demostrado en los primeros resultados obtenidos 70 pacientes, y ya publicados en una revista científica, que han permitido que cuente con la certificación de marca CE, lo que autoriza su comercialización en todos los estados miembros de la Unión Europea, y está a la espera de que lo aprueben las autoridades sanitarias de EE.UU. (FDA). De alguna manera, reconoce Calvo, el coordinador del proyecto, define lo que deberá ser el quirófano del siglo XXI, compuesto de un «acelerador lineal en miniatura para que pueda usarse en un quirófano, un sistema de imagen intraoperatoria y un pantalla de plasma en la que se visualiza la operación».
El planificador quirúrgico Radiance es el primer simulador, navegador y planificador dosimétrico en el mundo capaz de «preplanificar» las decisiones de una intervención quirúrgica y los «efectos» de la radioterapia aplicada al paciente en una operación, antes de que éste sea realmente operado y sin recibir ninguna dosis de radiación.
-Cirugía simulada
Según Felipe Calvo, el sistema «dibuja» el tumor, «establece» los márgenes de seguridad para la radioterapia y «define» los órganos críticos. A partir de la representación tridimensional anatómica reconstruida en el sistema de navegación, explica José Antonio Santos, «se simula el marco anatómico del acceso operatorio y la colocación sobre el paciente de un aplicador que sirve para conducir el haz de radiación sobre el tumor como si estuviera siendo realmente intervenido».
De esta manera, señalan los expertos, es posible conocer la dosis que recibiría cualquier tejido, piel, hueso, músculo, intestino y vejiga o si existiese algún riesgo para los tejidos normales no protegidos, dado que la radiación se aplica a los centímetros de profundidad que el especialista determina y se frena súbitamente, por lo que solo atraviesa el espesor de los tejidos predeterminados del paciente.
Así, dice Felipe Calvo, cuando el paciente va a ser intervenido ya se han tomado «el 90% de las decisiones radioquirúrgicas», por lo que podemos hablar de una cirugía «casi segura».
De esta manera, señalan los expertos, es posible conocer la dosis que recibiría cualquier tejido, piel, hueso, músculo, intestino y vejiga o si existiese algún riesgo para los tejidos normales no protegidos, dado que la radiación se aplica a los centímetros de profundidad que el especialista determina y se frena súbitamente, por lo que solo atraviesa el espesor de los tejidos predeterminados del paciente.
Así, dice Felipe Calvo, cuando el paciente va a ser intervenido ya se han tomado «el 90% de las decisiones radioquirúrgicas», por lo que podemos hablar de una cirugía «casi segura».
-Tumores localizados
Este sistema sólo está indicado para aquellos tumores «localizados», los que son susceptibles de ser tratados mediante cirugía y radioterapia. La experiencia de este equipo de trabajo habla de unas tasas de control local del 95% en tumores «sin residuos de tumor», de un 75% en tumores «con residuos» y de un 50% en aquellos que son prácticamente «incurables».
Otra de las ventajas de este procedimiento reside en que todos los tumores intra-abdominales pueden recibir potencialmente este tratamiento, si bien los cánceres de recto y los sarcomas son los que se han tratado en mayor proporción y con resultados muy positivos. Asimismo, este procedimiento permitirá acortar el tiempo de tratamiento gracias al empleo de dosis altas y únicas sobre un punto tumoral muy bien definido, protegiendo los tejidos sanos a través de sistemas de imagen guiada en tiempo real. La radioterapia intraoperatoria laparoscópica no compite, sino que complementa y facilita el acceso más temprano a la quimioterapia y a la administración de fármacos biológicos.
El sistema, destacó el consejero de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid, Javier Fenández-Lasquetty, es el resultado de un proyecto conjunto, de varios años de investigación tecnológica entre los departamentos de Oncología, y Medicina y Cirugía Experimental del hospital Gregorio Marañón y un socio tecnológico como GMV -empresa nacida en Madrid-, y en el que han participado cinco universidades y seis hospitales españoles. Es, dijo, «una avance científico, pero también real para los pacientes».
Otra de las ventajas de este procedimiento reside en que todos los tumores intra-abdominales pueden recibir potencialmente este tratamiento, si bien los cánceres de recto y los sarcomas son los que se han tratado en mayor proporción y con resultados muy positivos. Asimismo, este procedimiento permitirá acortar el tiempo de tratamiento gracias al empleo de dosis altas y únicas sobre un punto tumoral muy bien definido, protegiendo los tejidos sanos a través de sistemas de imagen guiada en tiempo real. La radioterapia intraoperatoria laparoscópica no compite, sino que complementa y facilita el acceso más temprano a la quimioterapia y a la administración de fármacos biológicos.
El sistema, destacó el consejero de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid, Javier Fenández-Lasquetty, es el resultado de un proyecto conjunto, de varios años de investigación tecnológica entre los departamentos de Oncología, y Medicina y Cirugía Experimental del hospital Gregorio Marañón y un socio tecnológico como GMV -empresa nacida en Madrid-, y en el que han participado cinco universidades y seis hospitales españoles. Es, dijo, «una avance científico, pero también real para los pacientes».
**Publicado en "ABC SALUD"
Scientists discover the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container
A scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an anthropologist from the University at Albany teamed up to use ultra-modern chemical analysis technology at Rensselaer to analyze ancient Mayan pottery for proof of tobacco use in the ancient culture. Dmitri Zagorevski, director of the Proteomics Core in the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer, and Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman, a doctoral candidate at the University at Albany, have discovered the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container. Their discovery represents new evidence on the ancient use of tobacco in the Mayan culture and a new method to understand the ancient roots of tobacco use in the Americas. Their research will appear in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, in an article titled "The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by GCMS and LCMS methods."
In recent years, archaeologists have begun to use chemical analysis of residues from ancient pottery, tools, and even mummies in an attempt to piece together minute clues about ancient civilizations. Among the potential problems with isolating a residue for analysis is preservation and contamination. Many vessels serve multiple purposes during their lives, resulting in muddled chemical data. Once the vessels are discarded, natural processes such as bacteria and water can destroy the surface of materials, erasing important evidence. Additionally, researchers must be attentive to archaeological field handling and laboratory treatment of the artifacts that might lead to cross contamination by modern sources.
To make their discovery, the researchers had a unique research opportunity: a more than 1,300-year-old vessel decorated with hieroglyphics that seemingly indicated the intended contents. Additionally, the interior of the vessel had not been cleaned, leaving the interior unmodified and the residue protected from contamination.
The approximately two-and-a-half-inch wide and high clay vessel bears Mayan hieroglyphics, reading "the home of his/her tobacco." The vessel, part of the large Kislak Collection housed at the Library of Congress, was made around 700 A.D. in the region of the Mirador Basin, in Southern Campeche, Mexico, during the Classic Mayan period. Tobacco use has long been associated with the Mayans, thanks to previously deciphered hieroglyphics and illustrations showing smoking gods and people, but physical evidence of the activity is exceptionally limited, according to the researchers.
Zagorevski used the technology within CBIS at Rensselaer, usually reserved to study modern diseases and proteins, to analyze the contents of the vessel for the chemical fingerprint of tobacco. The technology included gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Both are analytical chemistry techniques that combine the physical separation capabilities of gas or liquid chromatography with the analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. The latter is used to determine molecular weights of compounds, their elemental composition, and structural characteristics.
Zagorevski and Loughmiller-Newman's analysis of the vessel found nicotine, an important component of tobacco in residues scrapped from the container. Both techniques confirmed the presence of nicotine. In addition, three oxidation products of nicotine were also discovered. Nicotine oxidation occurs naturally as the nicotine in tobacco is exposed to air and bacteria. None of the nicotine byproducts associated with the smoking of tobacco were found in the vessel, indicating that the vessel housed unsmoked tobacco leaves (possibly powered tobacco) and was not used as an ash tray. No other evidence of nicotine has been found, at this time, in any of the other vessels in the collection.
This discovery "provides rare and unequivocal evidence for agreement between a vessel's actual content and a specific ichnographic or hieroglyphic representation of that content (on the same vessel)," Loughmiller-Newman states in the paper. She is in the anthropology department at the University at Albany, studying ritual food stuff consumed by the Mayans.
Both Loughmiller-Newman and Zagorevski would like to see this technique used to analyze a greater variety of vessel types.
In recent years, archaeologists have begun to use chemical analysis of residues from ancient pottery, tools, and even mummies in an attempt to piece together minute clues about ancient civilizations. Among the potential problems with isolating a residue for analysis is preservation and contamination. Many vessels serve multiple purposes during their lives, resulting in muddled chemical data. Once the vessels are discarded, natural processes such as bacteria and water can destroy the surface of materials, erasing important evidence. Additionally, researchers must be attentive to archaeological field handling and laboratory treatment of the artifacts that might lead to cross contamination by modern sources.
To make their discovery, the researchers had a unique research opportunity: a more than 1,300-year-old vessel decorated with hieroglyphics that seemingly indicated the intended contents. Additionally, the interior of the vessel had not been cleaned, leaving the interior unmodified and the residue protected from contamination.
The approximately two-and-a-half-inch wide and high clay vessel bears Mayan hieroglyphics, reading "the home of his/her tobacco." The vessel, part of the large Kislak Collection housed at the Library of Congress, was made around 700 A.D. in the region of the Mirador Basin, in Southern Campeche, Mexico, during the Classic Mayan period. Tobacco use has long been associated with the Mayans, thanks to previously deciphered hieroglyphics and illustrations showing smoking gods and people, but physical evidence of the activity is exceptionally limited, according to the researchers.
Zagorevski used the technology within CBIS at Rensselaer, usually reserved to study modern diseases and proteins, to analyze the contents of the vessel for the chemical fingerprint of tobacco. The technology included gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Both are analytical chemistry techniques that combine the physical separation capabilities of gas or liquid chromatography with the analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. The latter is used to determine molecular weights of compounds, their elemental composition, and structural characteristics.
Zagorevski and Loughmiller-Newman's analysis of the vessel found nicotine, an important component of tobacco in residues scrapped from the container. Both techniques confirmed the presence of nicotine. In addition, three oxidation products of nicotine were also discovered. Nicotine oxidation occurs naturally as the nicotine in tobacco is exposed to air and bacteria. None of the nicotine byproducts associated with the smoking of tobacco were found in the vessel, indicating that the vessel housed unsmoked tobacco leaves (possibly powered tobacco) and was not used as an ash tray. No other evidence of nicotine has been found, at this time, in any of the other vessels in the collection.
This discovery "provides rare and unequivocal evidence for agreement between a vessel's actual content and a specific ichnographic or hieroglyphic representation of that content (on the same vessel)," Loughmiller-Newman states in the paper. She is in the anthropology department at the University at Albany, studying ritual food stuff consumed by the Mayans.
Both Loughmiller-Newman and Zagorevski would like to see this technique used to analyze a greater variety of vessel types.
En Murcia se presenta la 1ª denuncia en España por una afectada por los implantes mamarios PIP
Los dolores de María —nombre ficticio— comenzaron cinco años después de que unas prótesis mamarias de la compañía francesa Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) le permitiesen alcanzar la soñada talla 95. Esta joven esteticista se sometió a una operación de aumento de pecho en 2006 en una clínica de Murcia. Financiándola a cinco años, pudo hacer frente a los 6.000 euros que le costaba su nueva delantera. En mayo del pasado año, sin embargo, comenzaron los problemas. «Nunca me había dolido nada como me dolía entonces el pecho», recuerda María, que el año pasado se sometió a una segunda intervención para cambiar el implante, que se le había desprendido. «Se me llegó a deformar el pecho», denuncia. Ella, como otras cerca de veinte murcianas afectadas por estos implantes, ya ha denunciado su caso. Un juez acaba de admitir a trámite su demanda.
María prestó ayer declaración en el juzgado número 9 de Murcia, que instruye este proceso. Es la primera vez que un juzgado abre diligencias por la denuncia de una afectada por estas prótesis mamarias, al menos según le consta a su abogado. La joven pide responsabilidades a la clínica, al cirujano que la operó, a la distribuidora de estas prótesis y a la compañía francesa PIP. Su letrado, Sergio Marco, ha presentado además una reclamación patrimonial —también admitida— al Estado.
María fue intervenida el 29 de septiembre de 2006 en el hospital San Carlos de Murcia
María prestó ayer declaración en el juzgado número 9 de Murcia, que instruye este proceso. Es la primera vez que un juzgado abre diligencias por la denuncia de una afectada por estas prótesis mamarias, al menos según le consta a su abogado. La joven pide responsabilidades a la clínica, al cirujano que la operó, a la distribuidora de estas prótesis y a la compañía francesa PIP. Su letrado, Sergio Marco, ha presentado además una reclamación patrimonial —también admitida— al Estado.
María fue intervenida el 29 de septiembre de 2006 en el hospital San Carlos de Murcia
Lab-made tissue picks up the slack of Petri dishes in cancer research
New research demonstrates that previous models used to examine cancer may not be complex enough to accurately mimic the true cancer environment. Using oral cancer cells in a three-dimensional model of lab-made tissue that mimics the lining of the oral cavity, the researchers found that the tissue surrounding cancer cells can epigenetically mediate, or temporarily trigger, the expression or suppression of a cell adhesion protein associated with the progression of cancer. These new findings support the notion that drugs that are currently being tested to treat many cancers need to be screened using more complex tissue-like systems, rather than by using conventional petri dish cultures that do not fully manifest features of many cancers. "Research on cancer progression has been drawn largely using models that grow cancer cells in plastic dishes. Our research reveals a major shortcoming in the experimental systems used to study cancer development. When using simplified culture systems in which cells are grown on plastic, cancer cells grow as a two dimensional monolayer and lack the three-dimensional tissue structure seen in human cancer. As a result, complex interactions that occur between the cancer cells and the surrounding tissue layers are not accounted for," said first author Teresa DesRochers, PhD, a graduate of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, currently in the department of biomedical engineering at Tufts University School of Engineering.
The researchers report that the three-dimensional network of cell interactions activates epigenetic mechanisms that control whether genes critical for cancer development will be turned on or off. By imitating the structure of the tumor microenvironment seen in different stages of cancer, the research team was able to observe that cell-to-cell interactions that are inherent in tissue structure are sufficient to turn on the cell adhesion protein, E-cadherin, that can delay cancer development.
Since both invasion and metastasis occur when cells break away from the primary cancer site, an event correlated with loss of E-cadherin, treating cancers to induce re-expression of this protein through epigenetic control may be an important way to control cancer progression.
"Our findings show the reversible nature of E-cadherin when cancer cells are placed in a three-dimensional network of cells that mimics the way cancer develops in our tissues. This confirms that cancer biology needs to move into the "third dimension" where cancer cells can be studied in a network of other cells that can control their behavior. We know now that the plastic dish alone is not good enough," said senior author Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD, a professor in the oral and maxillofacial pathology department at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
Jonathan Garlick is also a member of the Cell, Molecular & Developmental Biology program faculty at the Sackler School at Tufts and the director of the Center for Integrated Tissue Engineering (CITE) at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
**Source: Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
The researchers report that the three-dimensional network of cell interactions activates epigenetic mechanisms that control whether genes critical for cancer development will be turned on or off. By imitating the structure of the tumor microenvironment seen in different stages of cancer, the research team was able to observe that cell-to-cell interactions that are inherent in tissue structure are sufficient to turn on the cell adhesion protein, E-cadherin, that can delay cancer development.
Since both invasion and metastasis occur when cells break away from the primary cancer site, an event correlated with loss of E-cadherin, treating cancers to induce re-expression of this protein through epigenetic control may be an important way to control cancer progression.
"Our findings show the reversible nature of E-cadherin when cancer cells are placed in a three-dimensional network of cells that mimics the way cancer develops in our tissues. This confirms that cancer biology needs to move into the "third dimension" where cancer cells can be studied in a network of other cells that can control their behavior. We know now that the plastic dish alone is not good enough," said senior author Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD, a professor in the oral and maxillofacial pathology department at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
Jonathan Garlick is also a member of the Cell, Molecular & Developmental Biology program faculty at the Sackler School at Tufts and the director of the Center for Integrated Tissue Engineering (CITE) at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
**Source: Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
Las Sociedades Científicas salen en apoyo de la nueva Secretaria de Estado de Investigación
La Cosce acoge con «satisfacción» el nombramiento de Carmen Vela y destaca su experiencia como «investigadora, emprendedora y experta gestora»
La Confederación de Sociedades Científicas de España (Cosce) ha salido en defensa del nombramiento de Carmen Vela como secretaria de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, que, según señala en su página web, ha recibido «con satisfacción», al «aunar en su persona la faceta de científica y la experiencia en la industria, además de ser una defensora activa de la importancia de las sociedades científicas».
El escrito se produce después de que ABC revelara el apoyo que la nueva secretaria de Estado a los socialistas Rodríguez Zapatero y Pérez Rubalcaba en los últimos años.
«Como desgraciadamente ocurre a menudo, desde algunos ámbitos de la comunicación se han expresado dudas sobre su trayectoria y capacidad, sin dar oportunidad de desarrollar acción alguna. Ante ello, Cosce quiere expresar su máximo respeto por la experiencia de Carmen Vela como investigadora, emprendedora y experta gestora de la transferencia de conocimiento científico, y confía en que hará todo lo posible para evitar nuevas reducciones en los presupuestos de I+D, así como para evitar la dispersión de las competencias en I+D entre distintos ministerios», señala.
La COSCE espera asimismo «la urgente creación y puesta en marcha de la imprescindible Agencia Estatal de Investigación, consensuada y aprobada por las fuerzas políticas en la legislatura anterior. Para todo ello -agrega-, la Confederación ha pedido una reunión con la secretaria de Estado para comunicarle nuestra postura».
Asimismo, la Conferedeación se hace eco de otro escrito de la Sociedad Española de Biotecnología (SEBiOT), «miembro activo de Cosce y cuya presidencia ha ostentado Carmen Vela hasta el momento de su nombramiento, quiere transmitir a través de la Confederación, su total apoyo y consideración a la nueva secretaria de Estado».
**publicado en "ABC"
La Confederación de Sociedades Científicas de España (Cosce) ha salido en defensa del nombramiento de Carmen Vela como secretaria de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, que, según señala en su página web, ha recibido «con satisfacción», al «aunar en su persona la faceta de científica y la experiencia en la industria, además de ser una defensora activa de la importancia de las sociedades científicas».
El escrito se produce después de que ABC revelara el apoyo que la nueva secretaria de Estado a los socialistas Rodríguez Zapatero y Pérez Rubalcaba en los últimos años.
«Como desgraciadamente ocurre a menudo, desde algunos ámbitos de la comunicación se han expresado dudas sobre su trayectoria y capacidad, sin dar oportunidad de desarrollar acción alguna. Ante ello, Cosce quiere expresar su máximo respeto por la experiencia de Carmen Vela como investigadora, emprendedora y experta gestora de la transferencia de conocimiento científico, y confía en que hará todo lo posible para evitar nuevas reducciones en los presupuestos de I+D, así como para evitar la dispersión de las competencias en I+D entre distintos ministerios», señala.
La COSCE espera asimismo «la urgente creación y puesta en marcha de la imprescindible Agencia Estatal de Investigación, consensuada y aprobada por las fuerzas políticas en la legislatura anterior. Para todo ello -agrega-, la Confederación ha pedido una reunión con la secretaria de Estado para comunicarle nuestra postura».
Asimismo, la Conferedeación se hace eco de otro escrito de la Sociedad Española de Biotecnología (SEBiOT), «miembro activo de Cosce y cuya presidencia ha ostentado Carmen Vela hasta el momento de su nombramiento, quiere transmitir a través de la Confederación, su total apoyo y consideración a la nueva secretaria de Estado».
**publicado en "ABC"
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