Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): Researchers at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Denver have identified a gene linked to improved survival among patients with acute lung injury.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is often caused by a respiratory infection and results in low oxygen levels in the blood, and fluid in the lungs.

“This discovery could benefit patients in two ways,” said James Crapo. MD, senior author and Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health.

“By learning how this specific gene can alter the course of acute lung injury, we can gain insight into the biology of the disease, which could lead to better therapies.

“It also could become a tool in personalized medicine; by screening for this protective genotype and ones that make a person more susceptible to ALI, we can potentially tailor our treatment individual patients with respiratory infections and ALI to minimize the potential harm,” he added.

During the study, the researchers looked at the gene for extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD), a powerful antioxidant that has been associated with reduced lung injury in animal models, and better patient outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The researchers then looked at the various forms of the EC-SOD gene in two groups of patients with infection-associated ALI.

They found that patients with a specific combination of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), had an 75 percent reduced risk of being on a ventilator as all other ALI patients, and an 85 percent reduced risk of dying.

“This specific set of SNPs, which we call the GCCT haplotype, appears to reduce inflammation in the lung, thereby decreasing the severity of lung injury and ultimately protecting patients from mortality associated with ALI,” said John J. Arcaroli, PhD, first author and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado at Denver.

“Although We are not yet sure how these particular SNPs alter the action of the EC-SOD, these findings gives us a good starting point to learn more about possible protective mechanisms in ALI and other lung diseases,” he added.

The study appears in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 13 (ANI): An international team of researchers has identified a potentially new weapon in battle against HIV infection – blood types.

Researchers from Canadian Blood Services, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Lund University in Sweden have discovered that certain blood types are more predisposed to contracting HIV, while others are more effective at fending it off.

A carbohydrate-containing antigen, termed Pk blood group which is distinct from the well-known ABO and Rh blood grouping systems, is present at variable levels on the surface of white and red blood cells in the general population.

Their study shows that cells from rare individuals (˜ 1 in a million) who produce excess of this blood group antigen have dramatically reduced sensitivity to HIV infection.

Conversely, another slightly more common subgroup of people who do not produce any Pk (˜ 5 in a million) was found to be much more susceptible to the virus.

“This study is not suggesting that your blood type alone determines if you will get HIV. However, it does suggest that individuals who are exposed to the virus, may be helped or hindered by their blood status in fighting the infection,” said lead author Dr. Don Branch of Canadian Blood Services.

Increasing the level of the Pk antigen in cells in the laboratory also resulted in heightened resistance to HIV, while lowering it increased susceptibility.

“This discovery implicates the Pk level as a new risk factor for HIV infection and demonstrates the importance of blood-group-related science,” said Dr. Olsson.

The study is published in Blood, which is currently available online. (ANI)

London, Jan 13 (ANI): A mineral exploration company has found diamonds, which are white and a few millimeters across, just outside the small village of Eurelia in Australia, which indicates that the ancient supercontinent was a diamond factory.

According to a report in New Scientist, after the discovery, the mineral exploration company sent the diamonds to Ralf Tappert, a diamond expert at the University of Adelaide.

Tappert and colleagues said that minerals found trapped inside the Eurelia diamonds could only have formed more than 670 kilometers (416 miles) beneath the surface of the Earth – a distance greater than that between Boston and Washington, DC.

“The vast majority of diamonds worldwide form at depths between 150 km and 250 km, within the mantle roots of ancient continental plates,” said Tappert. “These diamonds formed in the Earth’s lower mantle at depths greater than 670 km, which is much deeper than ‘normal’ diamonds,” he added.

Fewer than a dozen ultra-deep diamonds have been found in various corners of the globe since the 1990s. Sites range from Canada and Brazil to Africa – and now Australia.

“Deep diamonds are important because they are the only natural samples that we have from the lower mantle,” said Catherine McCammon, a geologist at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

“This makes them an invaluable set of samples – much like the lunar rocks are to our studies of the moon,” she added.

The Eurelia gems contain information about the carbon they were made from. Their heavy carbon isotope signatures suggest the carbon was once contained in marine carbonates lying on the ocean floor.

Location, though, provides researchers with a common thread for the Brazilian, African and Australian deep diamonds, which could explain how they were born.

All six groups of diamonds were found in areas that would once have lined the edge of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.

“Deep diamonds have always been treated like oddball diamonds,” said Tappert. “We don’t really know what their origin is. With the discovery of the ones in Australia, we start to get a pattern,” he added.

Their geographic spread suggests that all these ultra-deep diamonds were formed in the same way.

As the oceanic crust dived down beneath Gondwana – a process known as subduction – it would have dragged carbon down to the lower mantle, transforming it into graphite and then diamond along the way.

Eventually, volcanic rocks known as kimberlites are propelled to the surface during rapid eruptions, bringing the gems up to the surface. (ANI)

London, Jan 13 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have uncovered the mechanism behind the prevention of the regeneration of CD4+ T lymphocytes, which are white cells that are required for the proper functioning of the immune system.

The finding by Dr. Martin Guimond, from the Universite de Montreal and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, may greatly influence patients who undergo intensive chemotherapy, receive bone marrow transplants or become infected with HIV.

Normally, chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants are considered to be effective methods to treat patients suffering from leukaemia or other blood cancers.

However, owing to the massive destruction of T lymphocytes, such treatments cause a major weakening of the immune system.

While immunity can then take many years to regenerate, it could leave patients highly vulnerable to infections.

Guimond’s study identified a negative regulation loop that restricts the ability of T lymphocytes to divide.

“By acting on this regulation loop, we can create a homeostatic production of CD4+ T lymphocytes that will allow the immune system to regenerate,” Nature quoted Guimond, as saying.

The study was published in the prestigious journal Nature Immunology. (ANI)

London, Jan 12 (ANI): Jade Goody has turned to scoffing curry, which, she believes, will help in her fight against cervical cancer.
It has been claimed that the fiery food has cancer-beating properties.

And the former Big Brother star, who has lost her hair through chemotherapy, is using the discovery in her health fight.

She was recently spotted nipping for a curry at Epping Tandoori in Essex.

According to her pals, Goody is determined to regain her health and will try anything to get better.

“Jade is devastated to still be in the middle of a life-and-death cancer battle,” the Daily Star quoted a pal, as saying.

“But she is determined to stay positive. She knows scientists believe most cancers are linked to diet and lifestyle. She also knows curry has been tipped as a ‘good’ food,” the pal added. (ANI)

London, Jan1 2 (ANI): Prenatal tests for autism may soon be available, thanks to scientists at Cambridge University’s autism research centre, whose breakthrough study has prompted experts to call for a national debate about the consequences of screening for the disorder in the womb, and allowing women to terminate babies with the condition.

The study followed 235 children from birth to the age of eight, and found that high levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women was linked to autistic traits, like a lack of sociability and verbal skills, in their children by the time they are eight.

The discovery has raised the possibility of an amniocentesis (the same procedure used to test for Down’s syndrome) to detect autism.

However, enabling couples to terminate the pregnancy after the detection of an autistic disorder might turn out to be highly controversial.

In particular, parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders do not approve of testing linked to termination, because they fear it would lead to greater discrimination and less support for them.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the research team, said that it was their right time to start considering where society stood on the issue.

“If there was a prenatal test for autism, would this be desirable? What would we lose if children with autistic spectrum disorder were eliminated from the population? We should start debating this. There is a test for Down’s syndrome and that is legal and parents exercise their right to choose termination, but autism is often linked with talent. It is a different kind of condition,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.

However, on the other hand, the research could pave the way for treatment, he said.

“We could do something about it. Some researchers or drug companies might see this as an opportunity to develop a pre-natal treatment. There are drugs that block testosterone. But whether we’d want to would be a different matter,” he said.

According to the National Autistic Society, some of its members think a test to predict autism could be useful in helping parents prepare and get support for their child.

“I think it is really important that the autism community has a key role in shaping the research priorities in this area,” said Amanda Batten, head of campaigns for the NAS.

She added: “There could be some real gains in recognising autism early. There are benefits, but there are concerns. People think it is about eugenics.

“It is important to stress that everyone with autism has the potential to make a unique and valued contribution to society. It is not always the autism that is a problem. It is other people and a lack of services and support.”

However, she added that the more complicated ethical issue would be that of treatment in the womb, saying: “You get to the situation where you have a very great difficulty if families say we wouldn’t want to be tested. As a society, do we accept that people can refuse tests when the outcome can make a difference to that unborn child?” (ANI)

Islamabad, Jan 12 (ANI): Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi has said that he would take legal action against the present management of the board for levelling baseless allegations against him and “maligning his name.”

The PCB on Friday issued a press statement saying that the ongoing renovation work at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore had been halted after “discovery of massive irregularities” in the construction of the Far End Pavilion.

The present administration, led by chairman Ijaz Butt, placed the blame fully on Shafqat in a strong-worded, no-holds barred statement.

“I am sending a legal notice for this humiliation. The PCB management had launched a malicious campaign against him,” Shafqat said.

“The allegations against me are so preposterous and self-contradictory that it make me laugh at their mentality,” he added.

He said the architect of the Gaddafi Stadium pavilion was not selected for the job because he was his personal friend, but due to his experience in designing the Multan Cricket Stadium, Punjab Football Stadium and several other stadiums in the country.

“He was selected on the basis of an open advertisement that was published in all the leading newspapers in which about 11 individuals and companies applied.”

Shafqat said PCB managers Zahid Hussain (projects) and Javed Khan (procurement) recommended the appointment of M/s Khalil ur Rehman and Associates as consultant-architect and both of them were still working with the present management of the PCB.

“This selection was later approved by the PCB chairman and the governing board.” He claimed that 70 percent work was completed on the project when he left his job on October 26 and its cost was only Rs 140 million.

“How can the remaining 30 percent work cost Rs 330 million as claimed by the brainless and obtuse mind writing the media release. At best, the remaining work could only have cost a further Rs 60 million,” he said.

Shafqat said the present management was trying to humiliate him because he wrote to the federal sports ministry to carry out a five-year audit of the PCB affairs through the Auditor General of Pakistan. (ANI)

London, January 12 (ANI): An international consortium led by Mayo Clinic researchers have announced the discovery of a mechanism that may help further scientists’ understanding of Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders.

The researchers have revealed that they studied eight families worldwide, and found a genetic defect that results in profound depression and parkinsonism in a disorder known as Perry syndrome.

They agree that this syndrome is rarely reported, but insist that the mechanism implicated in it may help explain the origins of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases, and even common depression and sleep disorders that are also hallmarks of the disorder.

During the study, the researchers found that Perry syndrome patients have mutations in a subunit of the dynactin complex (DCTN1; p150glued), which is essential to the movement of molecular “cargo” inside brain cells, or neurons.

They describe this mutation as a condition wherein the cargo was being driven on a “train” that essentially had faulty brakes.

Given the resemblance between Perry syndrome and many other neurodegenerative diseases, the researchers say that their findings suggest that breakdowns along the cell’s interior transportation grid may be a common mechanism underlying neurodegeneration.

“Understanding why distinct neurons are selectively vulnerable to neurodegeneration in different brain disorders is one of the greatest puzzles in neuroscience,” Nature Genetics quoted the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Matthew J. Farrer, a professor of neuroscience at Mayo Clinic, as saying.

“These findings suggest that trafficking of specific cargoes inside brain cells may be a general problem in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, depression, and other disorders,” he added.

Study’s senior author Dr. Zbigniew K. Wszolek, professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic said: “It points us to a unified theory of what is going wrong in many of them.”

Upon studying the eight families with Perry syndrome, the Mayo-led team found that each family had one of five novel mutations in the DCTN1 gene, whose protein produces a large subunit of the dynactin complex known as p150glued.

This protein is known to be crucial to the movement of cargo along the microtubule rails.

“Curiously, the mutations all cluster in the p150glued cytoskeleton-associated protein glycine-rich domain and its ‘GKNDG’ binding motif. This region acts like a parking brake, so Perry mutations in p150glued mean that this brake is affected. It would be analogous to driving that train with faulty brakes,” Dr. Farrer says.

The researchers were surprised to see the similarities between Perry syndrome and other neurodegenerative diseases, and noted that Perry mutations in DCTN1 were physically very close to a mutation previously reported in familial motor neuron disease.

“With the discovery of mutations in Perry syndrome, researchers have a new means to explore the breakdown in the microtubule transport system in each of these diseases,” says Dr. Farrer.

“The insides of neurons are very dynamic. Molecules and organelles are constantly being moved to where they are needed, so it makes sense that these disorders, with aging, may be caused by a progressive breakdown in this transport system,” the researcher added.

Dr. Wszolek said that understanding Perry syndrome might shed light on both depression and metabolic syndromes. (ANI)