Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

23andMe, a company focused on personal genetics, recently took the first step in working towards Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance; the FDA plans to review the paperwork over the next few months.

Previously, the Silicon Valley company refrained from government regulation, claiming that the service provided consumers with information rather than a medical service. CBS News reported that 23andMe submitted the first group of seven health-related tests for the FDA to review. By the end of next year, the organization will have submitted another 100 tests to the agency. With these exams, the organization hopes to obtain government approval and scientific credibility.

“23andMe has pioneered the direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry and we are committed to helping individuals understand their own genetic information through proven DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools,” commented Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe CEO and Co-Founder, in a prepared statement. “23andMe is working proactively with the FDA to ensure the industry delivers high quality information that consumers can trust.”

23andMe´s Personal Genome Service allows individuals to learn more about their personal DNA, offering over 200 health and trait reports along with information on genetic ancestry. The company believes that the service helps scientists better understand how genetics plays into health and diseases. The test makers looked at genetic code, which could possibly help doctors determine if patients have treatable health problems. For individuals, the service will help them make decisions with their healthcare provider.

“I think we’ve now entered an era where these direct-to-consumer offerings are beginning to have real medical relevance, and therefore I am in favor of them being done within some regulatory context,” said Dr. James Evans, a professor of genetics and medicine at the University of North Carolina Medical School, told National Public Radio (NPR).

The DNA samples are processed by a CLIA-certified laboratory and 23andMe hopes that the filing with the FDA will make their product fluid and transparent for the public.

“23andMe has always valued the guidance of the FDA and, in fact, engaged the agency in conversations prior to launching the Personal Genome Service in 2007. Our ongoing conversations with the FDA in the last year, in particular, resulted in a focused approach that resulted in our ability to compile a comprehensive analysis of 23andMe´s direct-to-consumer testing for FDA consideration,” noted Ashley Gould, 23andMe VP Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, in the statement.

According to NPR, if approved, the personalized DNA test by the genetic test maker could possibly increase acceptance of a technology that is questionable to various scientists. The saliva-based kits do not completely help explain the biology of DNA variations related to certain disease. A bulk of geneticists believes that the tests are not reliable.

“FDA clearance is an important step on the path towards getting genetic information integrated with routine medical care,” explained Wojcicki in the statement. “As the knowledge around personalized medicine continues to grow, consumers should expect their healthcare providers to begin to incorporate genetic information into their treatments and preventative care.”

Apart from looking at the genetic testing from 23andMe, the FDA already has a number of genetic tests it regulates. It´s unclear whether the FDA will accept 23andMe´s proposal as the results of the genetic tests from the service are normally sent directly to the consumers instead of the physicians. Those who advocated for genetic testing believe that the bid by 23andMe is a step in the right direction.

“Many consumers are going to want to know this information, and you don’t need a hospital to obtain it, so it’s important to make sure it’s well regulated,” noted Dr. Eric Lander, president and director of genomic research center Broad Institute, in the NPR article. “I think 23andMe is taking a very forward-leaning step.”

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

According to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), nurse burnout costs hospitals millions of additional dollars annually and leads to higher healthcare-associated infection rates (HAIs).

Researchers from the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing analyzed previous data collected from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council and a 2006 survey of more than 7,000 registered nurses from 161 hospitals in Pennsylvania to study the effect of nurse and staff burnout on surgical site infections (SSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), two of the most common HAIs.

Job-related burnout was determined, using responses obtained from the nurse survey, by analyzing the emotional exhaustion subscale from the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). The MBI-HSS filters 22 items on job-related attitudes into emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment and depersonalization identifying the key component to burnout syndrome as emotional exhaustion. More than one-third of survey respondents received an emotional exhaustion score of 27 or greater, the MBI-HSS definition for healthcare personnel burnout.

“Comparing CAUTI rates with nurses’ patient loads (5.7 patients on average); the researchers found that for each additional patient assigned to a nurse, there was roughly one additional infection per 1,000 patients (or 1,351 additional infections per year, calculated across the survey population). Additionally, each 10 percent increase in a hospital’s high-burnout nurses corresponded with nearly one additional CAUTI and two additional SSIs per 1,000 patients annually (average rate of CAUTIs across hospitals was 9 per 1,000 patients; for SSIs it was 5 per 1,000 patients),” according to the study.

Using the per-patient average costs associated with SSIs ($11,087 to $29,443 each) and CAUTIs ($749 to $832 each), the researchers estimate that if nurse burnout rates could be reduced from an average of 30 percent to 10 percent, hospitals in Pennsylvania could prevent an estimated 4,160 infections annually with an associated savings of $41 million.

“Healthcare facilities can improve nurse staffing and other elements of the care environment and alleviate job-related burnout in nurses at a much lower cost than those associated with healthcare-associated infections,” conclude the authors. “By reducing nurse burnout, we can improve the well-being of nurses while improving the quality of patient care.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Talking on a phone and walking at the same time. Texting while not looking forward. Listening to music and playing a video game simultaneously. These are just a few examples of distracted walking. According to government officials and safety experts, distracted walking is a growing issue.

The Associated Press recently reported that the number of injuries related to distracted walking has more than quadrupled over the past seven years and will continue to increase in the future. As well, there is no reliable data to demonstrate the rise in the number of pedestrians killed and injured in traffic accidents due to distractions from electronics.

“We are where we were with cellphone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn´t have the data,” Jonathan Akins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, told the Associated Press.

As such, officials throughout the U.S. are working on ways to respond to this crisis. For example, highway safety officials in Delaware created a public education campaign that encouraged pedestrians to “look up,” placing signage on crosswalks and sidewalks to remind people to be mindful of where they were walking. As well, officials in Philadelphia are developing a safety campaign that focuses on pedestrians who focus on their devices rather than on the direction that they´re moving.

“One of the messages will certainly be ℠pick your head up´ – I want to say ℠nitwit,´ but I probably shouldn´t call them names,” explained Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities in Philadelphia, in the Associated Press article.

On the other hand, some state legislatures are not for these safety campaigns. In one case, the Utah Transit Authority adopted an ordinance that would prohibit pedestrians from using cellphones, headphones, or other electronic devices while moving across streets or light rail system tracks in Salt Lake City. However, the Utah State Legislature did not want to implement the law statewide and similar distracted walking bills in Arkansas, Illinois, and New York State Legislatures have not been successfully passed.

“Look, I get distracted all the time,” remarked Utah State Representative Craig Frank in the Associated Press article. “I have a smartphone, too. Walking on sidewalks, in stores and malls, and maybe in a crosswalk sometimes I´m using my cellphone. But I try to stay connected to my environment. I never thought the government needed to cite me for using my cellphone in a reasonable manner.”

According to TechCrunch, some researchers even believe that there is a link between distracted calling laws and the increase in car crashes; one study stated that the laws unintentionally caused people to text more.

Besides cases seen in individual states, the effects of distracted walking can be seen throughout the U.S. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, approximately 1,152 people suffered injuries due to walking or using a cell phone or another electronic device and had to be sent to the emergency room. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also found that pedestrian fatalities increased by 4.2 percent and injuries rose by 19 percent.

There have also been studies done on the subject. Researchers from the University of Maryland discovered 116 cases over a six year period where pedestrians suffered major injuries or died from wearing headphones. Half of the cases involved trains and two-thirds involved victims who were males under the age of 30 were.

“With the smartphone technology these days and everything at your fingertips, it´s almost getting to be an obsession or a compulsion with people,” explained Jim Fox, the director of system safety and risk management for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, in the Associated Press article. “You see it in airports or train stations or malls – if there´s any kind of downtime, they´re jumping right to that phone.”

Researchers believe that distracted walking is the result of difficulties of multitasking for pedestrians. Past psychological studies have shown that people cannot complete two activities at once and their attention will move between the tasks; as a result, their performance suffers. However, people still try to do multiple tasks because they believe they have control of what they´re doing when, in reality, they don´t. Jack Nasar, an Ohio State University professor, completed a study at intersections on campus and discovered that pedestrians talking on phones were more likely to walk in front of cars than those people who were not using phones.

“I see students as soon as they break from a class, they have their cell phones out and they´re texting to one another. They´re walking through the door and bumping into one another,” noted Nasar, a specialist on environmental psychology, in the Associated Press article. “People think they can do it, that they are somehow better.”

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

A team of security experts has demonstrated that certain gun safes can be cracked open by a preschooler, and that the locks on some of these products can be bypassed using common household items such as a paper clip or an ordinary drinking straw, various media outlets reported over the weekend.

Moved to action by the tragic shooting death of a three-year-old Washington child, which they believe was due in part to the “security-defective design” of one particular brand of gun safe, physical security expert and attorney Marc Tobias and colleagues set to work evaluating the safety of 11 different gun safes. Each of those safes was produced by three top manufacturers: Bulldog, GunVault, and Stack-On — which reportedly housed the gun involved in the fatal 2010 shooting of Eddie Ryan.

“Small gun safes have become popular as an alternative security system for protecting both weapons and valuables, even though Federal law requires some sort of lock to be provided with every gun sale,” Tobias wrote in a Friday article published by Forbes.com. “You should know how unsafe these gun safes are.”

“In the interest of full disclosure, our Security Lab was asked for assistance to determine if there was a design problem with a specific model of safe that was involved in the shooting,” he added. “We agreed to provide expert analysis and testimony as a public service to the victim´s family; the parents were a police officer and student nurse. They have allowed us to tell the story and release videos of different containers and how easily they can be compromised because they do not want anyone else to suffer the same nightmare.”

Stack-On claims that their products come equipped with a “state-of-the-art electronic lock,” Tobias said. However, along with his article, he posted a video which shows a three-year-old child opening four different gun safes, three of which were produced by the same company which made the $36 product used by the sheriff’s department where Ryan’s father, Ed Owens, worked as a deputy at the time.

“An unknown number of the original safes are still in use by the Department,” Tobias wrote. “Since being shown a simple method to open their safes by elevating them a few inches off a hard surface (like a shelf in a closet) then dropping them, the Sheriff´s Office has recently modified its policy and now require that the safes must be mounted, but they have not removed them from service.”

The cause of these issues in many of the safes, according to Tobias, was “a solenoid that retracts or releases a magnetic pin. When extended it blocks the lateral movement of the internal bolts that keep the door locked“¦ We first figured out what was wrong with the suspect safe by using a high-speed video camera mounted inside the container as the mechanism was bounced. What we discovered caused us enough concern to expand our inquiry to virtually all of the Stack-On models of similar safes, and those produced by other manufacturers as well.”

“What we found in all of these designs was typical: all of the safes that are detailed in our report can be opened with a variety of simple implements and techniques. These included bouncing and rapping, paperclips, wires, drinking straws, screwdrivers, and brass strips that can be purchased from a hardware store,” he added.

Tobias and his colleagues also demonstrated their findings at the annual Def Con convention for hackers in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, according to AFP reporter Glenn Chapman. He told Chapman that they eventually evaluated approximately six other Stack-On safe models.

They found that those safes could be opened with wires, straws, and other basic means, and that even fingerprint scan devices on higher-end products could be bypassed by using paperclips in a hole located beneath it that grants access to the locking mechanism. Toby Bluzmanis, also of Security Labs, had his young sons attempt to open the devices, saying that they viewed the challenge of unlocking gun safes as a “game.”

Furthermore, Wired‘s Kim Zetter reported Friday that, “In 2004, Stack-On had recalled 1,320 of the model of safes that was purchased by the sheriff´s department, because the safes could be opened by simply jiggling the doorknob, though the sheriff´s department maintains that the recalled safes were not from the same lot number as the ones the law enforcement agency bought.”

Tobias notified Stack-On about their findings three months ago, Zetter said. When asked if the company planned to recall any of their products, they told her that their safes “are certified to meet the California Department of Justice (DOJ) standards“¦ This certification involves testing, by an independent laboratory approved by California DOJ, for compliance with their adopted standards. In addition, our Portable Cases comply with TSA airline firearm guidelines. We are proud of this designation and the protection we provide.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Elastic bands and exercise programs are a few of the many avenues available to consumers who would like to lose weight. However, new studies have been conducted on treatments that could lead to long-term weight loss. Researchers believe that the drug could help in losing weight and keeping weight off for longer periods of time.

The drug, which ups the body´s sensitivity to the hormone leptin, is featured in a recent edition of the journal Cell Metabolism. Leptin is a natural appetite suppressant. The drug has been examined in trials with mice and researchers believe that the findings could have implications for the development of treatments to target obesity in humans.

“By sensitizing the body to naturally occurring leptin, the new drug could not only promote weight loss, but also help maintain it,” explained senior study author George Kunos, a representative of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), in a prepared statement. “This finding bodes well for the development of a new class of compounds for the treatment of obesity and its metabolic consequences.”

In the past, leptin supplements alone have not been completely successful in helping to decrease body weight in humans. It´s believed that the body cannot respond to it as it is desensitized to the hormone by cannabinoid receptors, which are found to produce feelings of hunger with the use of marijuana. As such, researchers believe that, if the canniboid receptors are blocked, this may lead to successful weight loss in the long-term.

Based on the knowledge of canniboid receptors, the investigators created anti-obesity drugs that could focus on cannaboid receptor type 1 (CB1R). In the first couple months of 2006, rimonabant, a CB1R-binding drug, was sold in Europe but sales were later discontinued due to psychiatric side effects like anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide. The scientists worked on developing a CB1R-targeting drug that would decrease the side effects and focus on CB1R without entertaining the brain. The new compound, JD5037, kept the appetite of obese mice low, leading to weight loss and increasing their metabolism health. The mice were also desensitized to the hormone leptin, which suppressed their appetite. The researchers saw that the mice did not demonstrate anxiety or other behavioral side effects.

Researchers believe that the new drug could be a possible solution to issues related to obesity.

“Obesity is a growing public health problem, and there is a strong need for new types of medications to treat obesity and its serous metabolic complications, including diabetes and fatty liver disease,” commented Kunos in the statement.

The research provided by the scientists at the NIAAA follows a host of studies on obesity. One study featured in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants looked at the cardio risk factors that are found in children who are severely obese. Scientists from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam conducted a nationwide prospective study from July 2005 to July 2007. In the project, pediatricians reported all new cases of severe obesity in children between the ages of two to 18 years of age. These doctors were also required to complete a questionnaire on cardiovascular risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics. Within the study period, the investigators noted that 500 children were reported as having severe obesity. Of the children who were severely obese, 62 percent already showed one or more cardiovascular risk factors.

“In conclusion, a high number (2/3) of severely obese children, even those ≤12 years of age, have cardiovascular risk factors,” the authors wrote in the report. “Internationally accepted criteria for defining severe obesity and guidelines for the early detection and treatment of severe obesity and comorbidity are urgently needed.”

John Neumann for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The FDA has granted clearance for the first robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) system to be used by surgeons. The CorPath 200, from Massachusetts-based Corindus Vascular Robotics provides robotic assistance for heart surgeons that are performing angioplasty, reports Chris Kaiser for MedPage Today.

Angioplasty restores blood flow to a blocked coronary artery by inflating a balloon in the artery, and implanting a stent to keep the artery open.

Although the procedure is relatively common, it poses risks to the doctors who perform it. The patient is x-rayed throughout the procedure and the surgeon is exposed to the radiation.

Over time, this exposure can put the physician and surgical team at risk for brain tumors even though lead aprons are worn. During the procedure with the CorPath 200, the surgeon sits at a console away from the fluoroscopy system, thereby reducing operator radiation exposure.

The go-ahead by the FDA comes on the strength of the PRECISE trial, a prospective, single-arm, multicenter study presented at the recent annual meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI).

Of the 162 procedures performed with the robotic technology in PRECISE, only two cases had to be converted to manual stent implantation, none of which was due to the robotic system, Giora Weisz, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, reported at the time.

Weisz explained that the system that is better for doctors is also better for patients. “Overall, the system makes the doctor more relaxed. It´s better for patients would rather have a relaxed, fresh doctor than a tired, annoyed one,” he said.

“The precision of the procedure is also better, as is the visualization.  That means fewer mistakes and fewer chances that a patient will have to come back to surgery for a second stent. It just optimizes everything you do.”

During clinical trials, reports Alex Knapp for Forbes, the overall success rate of the procedure was 97.6 percent. There´s good news for doctors, too. Use of the CorPath 200 system reduced their radiation exposure by 95 percent.

“This is a huge step forward in interventional cardiology,” Dr. Weisz continued. “It´s standardizes performance and provides precise movements. It also brings additional benefits to both physician and patient.”

“What Corindus did was amazing engineering work that allows surgeons to perform flawlessly. I see this as the first big leap in robotics in terms of interventional cardiology. It´s the beginning of very bright future.”

John Neumann for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The city of Los Angeles has become an unofficial mecca for pot smoking with 762 registered dispensaries for medical marijuana, along with an estimated several hundred other storefronts offering pain relief for ailments of all kinds, Los Angeles Times is reporting.

The city council, however, is attempting to crackdown on the dispensaries after the mayor, the police chief, the city´s attorney office and residents´ groups called for restrictions with letters being sent to the stores, ordering them to close or face legal action, signaling the likely end of a freewheeling era that let pot shops sprout across the city.

Pro-cannibis groups protested the 14-0 vote after gathering in city hall to protest against what they called a callous and misguided prohibition prompting police officers to briefly intervene to quell them.

Many California cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles with its proliferating pot shops. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops. However, that failed after lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts, writes Greg Risling for the Associated Press.

The council action amounts to a “gentle ban,” which will allow primary caregivers and patients to grow and transport marijuana. Groups of two or three patients may grow and share it at home and hospices and licensed clinics may also continue to use marijuana for medical care and pain relief.

That exemption was too narrow, said Tamra Howard, one of several medical cannabis users who lobbied against the ban. Medical cannabis helped treat and alleviate pain from a kidney problem, Howard wrote in a published letter.

“It gives me an appetite and keeps me from being depressed … Cannabis is the only thing that keeps me alive. This morning I was nauseous and sick. After medicating I was able to play with my granddaughter. Please don´t take that away from me.”

Most patients lacked the skills or time to cultivate marijuana, one dispensary owner told the council. Others warned that sweeping restrictions would herald a return to the black market.

Medical marijuana laws have been confounding statewide city and county governments for years. Councils attempt to provide safe and affordable access to the drug for legitimate patients while balancing concerns by neighborhood groups that streets were being overrun by the storefronts and recreational pot users.

Medical marijuana advocates and residents squared off again in front of the Los Angeles city council on Tuesday, with some civic leaders saying efforts made during the past few years haven´t done any good. “We need to start with a clean slate,” said Councilman Mitchell Englander. “Los Angeles has experimented with marijuana and has failed.”

In 1996, state voters approved medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor´s recommendation. The California Supreme Court decided to clarify marijuana´s hazy legal status by addressing whether local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics, but a hearing has yet to be set by the high court.

Federal authorities are still cracking down on pot clinics around the state, saying such operations remain illegal under federal law.

Councilman Paul Koretz, who has in the past supported dispensaries, told reporters he hoped for a more compassionate law in the future. “We have shut off almost every way that a normal person can get access to marijuana,” he said. “It will be a ban until otherwise noted.”

He reportedly voted against the ban on Tuesday before changing his vote, apparently to avoid a second ballot next week.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Inhale. Exhale. Stretch. Repeat. These are just a few steps of yoga, a therapeutic workout that has gained in popularity over the years. Researchers recently found that a particular type of yoga that allows participants to practice brief meditation on a daily basis will help decrease stress for people who take care of patients with Alzheimer´s and dementia.

According to scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), participating in a specific type of chanting yogic meditation for a minimum of 12 minutes daily for eight weeks caused a decrease in the biological mechanism that manages an uptick in the body´s immune system´s inflammation response. If inflammation is continuously present, it can lead to a number of chronic health problems.

In the project, investigators from UCLA worked with 45 family dementia caregivers in an experiment that highlighted the benefits of Kirtan Kriya Meditation (KKM). Following meditation, 68 of the genes reacted differently and led to a decrease in inflammation. The results are highlighted in the current online edition of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

“We know that chronic stress places caregivers at a higher risk for developing depression,” explained Dr. Helen Lavretsky, senior author and a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, in a prepared statement. “On average, the incidence and prevalence of clinical depression in family dementia caregivers approaches 50 percent. Caregivers are also twice as likely to report high levels of emotional distress.”

The researchers described caregivers as “unsung heroes” who took the burden of taking care of friends and family who suffered from Alzheimer´s and other types of dementia. In particular, the burden of taking care of someone with dementia can take a toll on people. As such, older adult caregivers generally show higher levels of stress and depression along with lower level of satisfaction and vigor. These same caregivers also tend to have a high level of biomarkers of inflammation and are at high risk for diseases related to stress. Furthermore, the number of caretakers for those with dementia will increase significantly as the population ages. Presently, there are around five million individuals in the U.S. who are caring for a patient with dementia.

While past studies have examined psychosocial interventions like meditation, there hasn´t always been a strong understanding as to the pathways psychosocial interventions take in influencing biological processes. The researchers wanted to look at how these interventions could decrease the number of adverse effects on caregivers. The participants were placed into two random groups. The mediation group learned how to do 12-minute yogic practice, including Kirtan Kriya, and completed these exercises at the same time over a period of eight weeks. The other group was placed in a quiet place to listen to instrumental and relaxation music for 12 minutes on a daily basis over eight weeks. The scientists took blood samples at the beginning and end of the study.

“The goal of the study was to determine if meditation might alter the activity of inflammatory and antiviral proteins that shape immune cell gene expression,” emphasized Lavretsky, who also directs UCLA’s Late-Life Depression, Stress and Wellness Research Program, in the statement. “Our analysis showed a reduced activity of those proteins linked directly to increased inflammation.”

The researchers believe that the results are very positive and Lavretsky, in particular, has launched an Alzheimer´s and Dementia Care Program that includes coordinated care for patients and caregivers; the caregiver portion of the program includes yoga practice.

“This is encouraging news. Caregivers often don’t have the time, energy, or contacts that could bring them a little relief from the stress of taking care of a loved one with dementia, so practicing a brief form of yogic meditation, which is easy to learn, is a useful too,” concluded Lavretsky in the statement.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

According to recent commentary by Thomas Newman, MD, MPH, Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH and Stephen Hulley, MD, MPH, of the  University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, new recommendations for lipid screening in children are based on opinion and “fail to weigh health benefits against potential harms.”

The guidelines were written by a panel assembled by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and published in Pediatrics in November 2011 and also were endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The guidelines call for universal screening of all 9 to 11-year-old children with a non-fasting lipid panel, and targeted screening of 30 to 40 percent of 2 to 8-year-old and 12 to 16-year old children with two fasting lipid profiles, which is a burden to the families involved. Previous recommendations called only for children considered at high risk of elevated levels to be screened with a simple non-fasting total cholesterol test.

These opinions are being based on expert opinion versus solid evidence, the researchers said in a recent statement, which is especially challenging since the guidelines’ authors disclosed extensive potential conflicts.

The reason for the huge increase in lipid screening has the potential to take healthy children into patients labeled with so-called dyslipidemia, or bad lipid levels in the blood , according to the commentary, which was e-published on July 23, 2012 in Pediatrics.

“The panel made no attempt to estimate the magnitude of the health benefits or harms of attaching this diagnosis at this young age,” said Newman. “They acknowledged that costs are important, but then went ahead and made their recommendations without estimating what the cost would be. And it could be billions of dollars.”

Increased pushes for screenings are due to obesity concerns of U.S. children. Hopefully this will not lead to more lab testing, but is heading in that direction.

“You don’t need a blood test to tell who needs to lose weight. And recommending a healthier diet and exercise is something doctors can do for everybody, not just overweight kids,” he said

“Because these blood tests must be done while fasting, they can’t be done at the time of regularly scheduled ‘well child’ visits like vaccinations can,” said Newman. “This requires getting hungry young children to the doctor’s office to be poked with needles on two additional occasions, generally weekday mornings. Families are going to ask their doctors, ‘Is this really necessary?’ The guidelines provide no strong evidence that it is.”

The authors note that the panel chair and all members who drafted the lipid screening suggestions disclosed an “extensive assortment of financial relationships with companies making lipid lowering drugs and lipid testing instruments.” Some of those relevant relationships include paid consultancies or advisory board memberships with pharmaceuticals that produce cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Merck, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and Sankyo.

“The panel states that they reviewed and graded the evidence objectively,” said Newman. “But a recent Institute of Medicine report recommends that experts with conflicts of interest either be excluded from guideline panels, or, if their expertise is considered essential, should have non-voting, non-leadership, minority roles.”

Evidence is needed to estimate health benefits, risks and costs of these proposed interventions, and experts without conflicts of interest are needed to help synthesize it, according to Newman. He said that “these recommendations fall so far short of this ideal that we hope they will trigger a re-examination of the process by which they were produced.”

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Further proof today that our actions have long-lasting effects on our ecosystem, as a published paper has shown that man-made climate change is the main factor behind an emergence of bacteria in Northern Europe and other parts of the world.

Discovered by a group of international researchers, this bacteria is known to cause gastroenteritis and has coincided with the recent emergence of Vibrio infections in Northern Europe. The paper has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The bacteria, known as Vibrio, usually grows in tropical and warm marine climates and can cause cholera and gastroenteritis-like symptoms. It´s possible to become infected by this bacteria by eating raw or undercooked seafood exposed to seawater.

The team of researchers, hailing from Britain, Finland, Spain and the US, examined the temperatures of the Baltic Sea´s surface, as well as satellite data and statistics on Vibrio cases in the area.

According to their research, the number of Vibrio cases spiked with the temperatures of the Baltic Sea. When the temperature rose by one degree, the number of Vibrio cases grew by nearly 200%.

“The big apparent increases that we´ve seen in cases during heat wave years (“¦) tend to indicate that climate change is indeed driving infections,” Craig Baker-Austin with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and one of the paper´s authors told Reuters.

Previous research has shown that climate change as an effect of greenhouse gas emissions have made surface temperatures across the world´s oceans increase by 0.17 degrees celsius from 1980 to 2010.

The Baltic Sea saw the most extreme instances of warming in the same period, at a rate of 6.3 to 7.8 degrees celsius per 100 years.

“(It) represents, to our knowledge, the fastest warming marine ecosystem examined so far anywhere on Earth,” wrote the paper´s authors.

In a cause and effect style chain of events, several aspects have led up to this Vibrio-heavy environment. As the climate changes and the seas get warmer, rainfall becomes heavier and more frequent. As such, the salt content is reduced in coastal wetlands and estuaries. This creates a warm, low-saline environment in which many marine bacteria can thrive. Now, as the oceans continue to get warmer, these Vibrio-friendly conditions will begin to grow across Northern Europe. Therefore, according to the scientists, Vibrio outbreaks will begin to appear in new areas.

These kinds of outbreaks have even begun to show up in typically cold-water areas, such as Chile, Israel, Peru and the US Pacific Northwest.

“Very few studies have looked at the risk of these infections at high latitudes,” Baker-Austin said. “Certainly the chances of getting a vibrio infection are considered to be relatively low, and more research is focused on areas where these diseases are endemic or at least more common,” he continued.

These Vibrio outbreaks in colder areas have once been blamed on special conditions or sporadic events. Now, these researchers are discovering that gradual global warming could be to blame for these odd outbreaks.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Researchers from several prominent medical institutions claim that they have identified several genetic mutations responsible for medulloblastoma, the most common malignant type of childhood brain tumor.

There are four recognized subtypes of medulloblastomas, which occur in the part of the brain responsible for controlling balance and other complex motor functions (the cerebellum), Boston Children’s Hospital researchers explained in a recent statement.

These tumors are treated through a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, and while survival rate for this form of cancer is approximately 70%, hospital officials note that those who overcome the disease are usually not able to live independently due to side-effects related both to the tumor and the treatment methods.

“Doctors have historically classified medulloblastoma patients as either standard or high risk based on biopsy results, but have long suspected that what we call medulloblastoma could actually be several different diseases,” they said. “Over the last two years, studies by researchers“¦ have bolstered this view by dividing medulloblastoma into four molecular subtypes based on gene expression profiles and copy number variations. Each subtype has a distinct survival rate, ranging from 20 to 90 percent.”

Now, Dr. Scott Pomeroy, Neurologist-in-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital and a neuro-oncologist at the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC), and colleagues used advanced sequencing techniques to study the medulloblastoma tumors of 92 patients. They then compared that information with DNA obtained from matched blood samples from those same subjects and discovered 12 single-letter errors in the genetic code (also known as point mutations) that occurred frequently in all types of the cancer.

“Functionally, the mutated genes fell into two broad categories: genes like Shh and Wnt that play direct roles in molecular pathways controlling cell growth, and genes like DDX3X and GPS2 that play more of a coaching role, modulating the activity of other genes,” the researchers said. “Taken as a whole, the study’s results confirm the view of medulloblastoma as a family of tumors driven by disruptions in just a few common mechanisms. However, the form those disruptions take — the actual mutations or genomic changes — can vary from tumor to tumor.”

“We tend to treat all medulloblastomas as one disease without taking into account how heterogeneous the tumors are at the molecular level,” Yoon-Jae Cho, an assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine and senior author of a report published by the journal Nature, said in a statement. “This paper represents a finer-grained view of the genetic landscape of these tumors and provides us with some leads on how to develop new therapies.”

While no single tumor in the study carried all 12 mutations, the researchers said that they were able to categorize the tumors according to which mutations they possessed, discovering that certain tumors can be resistant to standard treatments because of their genetic signatures. Cho said that treatment of the disease could be enhanced, and post-treatment side effects reduced, if doctors characterized the genetic signatures of medulloblastoma patients first.

“Our plan is that within the next one to two years we will be able to offer kids a new set of compounds that have a clear biological rationale based on our genomic studies.” Cho, co-chairperson of a Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) committee responsible for recommending drugs for clinical trials, said. “We want to make sure we’re being careful of what we move forward with, but at the same time, for some of these kids we don’t have many, if any, effective and durable treatment options.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Tel Aviv University have discovered that sleep deprivation in the first hours following an intense event could help decrease the likelihood of having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The study, published in international scientific journal Neuropsychopharmacology, included a variety of experiments that focused on how sleep deprivation in the six hours after exposure to a stressful threat could be a possible easy and impactful intervention for PTSD.

“Often those close to someone exposed to a traumatic event, including medical teams, seek to relieve the distress and assume that it would be best if they could rest and “sleep on it,” explained Professor Hagit Cohen, director of the Anxiety and Stress Research Unit at BGU´s Faculty of Health Sciences, in a prepared statement. “Since memory is a significant component in the development of post-traumatic symptoms, we decided to examine the various effects of sleep deprivation immediately after exposure to trauma.”

Cohen conducted the experiment with Professor Joseph Zohar of Tel Aviv University. In their project, rats that had sleep deprivation after exposure to a traumatic event did not show memory of the event later on. However, a control group of rats that was given the opportunity to sleep after the event demonstrated that they still remembered the event.

The findings of the study are particularly important, as around 20 percent of people who are exposed to a stressful event will continue to carry those feelings with them. Traumatic events can include threats such as a car or work accident, a terrorist attack, or war. People tend to have a memory of the event for many years and it will lead to problems in individuals´ daily life. For extreme cases, the stress can cause a person to become dysfunctional.

“As is the case for human populations exposed to severe stress, 15 to 20 percent of the animals develop long-term disruptions in their behavior,” remarked Cohen in the statement. “Our research method for this study is, we believe, a breakthrough in biomedical research.”

In the next step, the investigator hopes to complete a pilot study on humans. The experiment was supported by the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities and Israel Ministry of Health.

The news of this PTSD study follows recent coverage of other PTSD experiments. For example, an article in the New York Times highlighted a study from Columbia University that estimated that one in eight individuals who suffer from heart attacks may also develop PTSD. Physicians theorize that PTSD may occur in heart patients who are stressed about their own bodies and anxiously check for any chest discomfort. The researchers from Columbia also stated that the severity of the heart attack wasn´t an important issue; rather, the patients who had the heart attack at an early age or those who felt like they had no control over their life would be the ones who were at the greatest risk for PTSD.

“I think that the broader cardiology community and medical community haven´t really paid attention to this issue,” noted lead author Donald Edmondson, an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia, in the NY Times article. “When you think of PTSD. due to combat or a traumatic event, the patient experiences intrusive memories reliving an external event. But this type of trauma is something that is internal.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

While some studies have said that drinking wine on a daily basis is good for the heart, others consider alcohol as unhealthy for the human body. To dive into this debate, researchers from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, studied the impact of binge drinking and found that there is a possible link between binge drinking and an increase chance of developing dementia in older people.

The findings were recently presented at the Alzheimer´s Association International Conference 2012 where researchers shared their findings with other dementia researchers. The National Institute funded the project with the Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in the South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).

“We know binge drinking can be harmful: it can increase the risk of harm to the cardiovascular system, including the chance of developing heart disease; and it is related to an increased risk of both intentional and unintentional injuries,” noted Dr. Iain Lang of PCMD in a prepared statement. “However, until we conducted our study it was not clear what the effect was of binge drinking on cognitive function and the risk of developing dementia.”

Few other studies have looked into the relationship between binge drinking and cognitive effects on older adults. In the study, investigators examined data from 5,075 participants who were involved in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults done biennially to understand the impact of binge drinking in older adults. The individuals, who were 65 years of age and older, were followed over a period of eight years. The researchers defined binge drinking as having four or more drinks at one time. They looked at cognitive function and memory with the use of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status.

The findings from the study demonstrated that 8.3 percent of men and 1.5 percent of women engaged in binge drinking at least once a month. Those who participated once a month were 62 percent more likely to be part of the group that had the greatest 10 percent decline in cognitive function and 27 percent likelihood of being in the group with the greatest 10 percent in memory decline. Based on the results, another 4.3 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women participated in binge drinking twice a month. Those who engaged in heavy drinking at least twice a month were 2.5 times more likely to be in the group with the greatest 10 percent decline in cognitive function and to be in the group with the greatest 10 percent decline in memory. Overall, results were similar in both men and women.

“In our group of community-dwelling older adults, binge drinking is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline,” explained Lang in the statement. “That’s a real worry because there’s a proven link between cognitive decline and risk of dementia. Those who reported binge drinking at least twice a month were more than twice as likely to have higher levels of decline in both cognitive function and memory. These differences were present even when we took into account other factors known to be related to cognitive decline such as age and level of education.”

The researchers believe that the findings from the study will be helpful for physicians and public health policy specialists. According to USA Today, binge drinking is a big problem in the U.S. In January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that one in six adults in the U.S. are binge drinkers and those who are 65 years of age and older participate in binge drinking more than any other age group. Those who tend to binge drink also earn upwards of $75,000 a year. The CDC recommends that individuals, who do drink, drink in moderation. Moderate drinking is defined as a drink a day for females and a maximum of two drinks a day for males.

“This research has a number of implications. First, older people — and their doctors — should be aware that binge drinking may increase their risk of experiencing cognitive decline and encouraged to change their drinking behaviors accordingly. Second, policymakers and public health specialists should know that binge drinking is not just a problem among adolescents and younger adults. We have to start thinking about older people when we are planning interventions to reduce binge drinking,” concluded Lang in the statement.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) recently unveiled findings from a new study which showed that certain changes in an overactive immune system of mice could cause behaviors similar to those found with autism. In some cases, activation can be related to what is experienced by a developing fetus in a womb.

About a decade ago, the scientists of Caltech helped lead the research on the connection between irregularities in the immune system and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism. The new study answered the question on how changes in the immune system helped cause the development of autism or was a side effect of the disease. The findings are featured in this week´s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“We have long suspected that the immune system plays a role in the development of autism spectrum disorder,” explained lead researcher Paul Patterson (www.its.caltech.edu/~phplab/phplab.html), the Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences at Caltech, in a prepared statement. “In our studies of a mouse model based on an environmental risk factor for autism, we find that the immune system of the mother is a key factor in the eventual abnormal behaviors in the offspring.”

In the new study, the team of investigators first focused on creating a mouse model that connected autism-related behaviors with immune irregularities. Based on other studies that showed that there was a relationship between viral infection and the first trimester of a mother´s pregnancy for a higher risk of autism spectrum disorder, they injected mice that were pregnant with a viral mimic that would jumpstart the same immune response that a viral infection would.

“In mice, this single insult to the mother translates into autism-related behavioral abnormalities and neuropathologies in the offspring,” remarked lead author Elaine Hsiao, a graduate student in Patterson’s lab, in the statement.

The scientists saw how the offspring had behavioral symptoms that were related to the autism spectrum disorder. Those who are on the autism spectrum generally show repetitive or stereotyped behavior, fewer social interactions, and difficult communication skills. In the mice, the actions translated to excessive self-grooming, compulsive burying of marbles, vocalizing less often or in a different manner, and spending more time with a toy than other fellow mice.

After understanding the behaviors of the mice, the researchers looked at the immune changes. These immune irregularities were similar to those seen in people who were diagnosed with autism, such as a lower level of regulatory T cells. These immune changes all led to an immune system that was working nonstop, which led to inflammation.

“Remarkably, we saw these immune abnormalities in both young and adult offspring of immune-activated mothers,” commented Hsiao in the statement. “This tells us that a prenatal challenge can result in long-term consequences for health and development.”

Lastly, the scientists examined if the immune problems would affect autism-related behaviors. They were able to fix several of the autism-like behaviors by offering the offspring a bone-marrow transplant from regular mice. The normal stem cells helped refuel the immune system of the host animals and change the autism-like behaviors.

Based on their work with mice, the researchers believe that the results cannot be completely be compared with humans. They still need to investigate whether an infusion of stem cells or the bone marrow transplant procedure helped correct the behaviors. The study showed how immune irregularities in adolescents could be a possible target for treating behaviors related to the autism spectrum disorder.  In furthering the study, the scientists want to analyze the effects of highly targeted anti-inflammatory treatments on mice that have autism-related behaviors and immune irregularities.