ScienceDaily (July 19, 2012) Not all adult stem cells are created equal. Some are busy regenerating worn out or damaged tissues, while their quieter brethren serve as a strategic back-up crew that only steps in when demand shoots up. Now, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have identified an important molecular cue that keeps quiescent mouse hematopoietic (or blood-forming) stem cells from proliferating when their services are not needed. Publishing in the July 20, 2012 issue of Cell, the team led by Stowers Investigator Linheng Li, Ph.D., report that Flamingo and Frizzled 8, a tag team best known for its role in establishing cell polarity, are crucial for maintaining a quiescent reserve pool of hematopoietic stem cells in mouse bone marrow. Their finding adds new insight into the mechanism that controls the delicate balance between long-term maintenance of stem cells and the requirements of ongoing tissue maintenance and regeneration. "Hematopoietic stem cells daily produce billions of blood cells via a strict hierarchy of lineage-specific progenitors," says Li. "Identifying the molecular signals that allow hematopoietic stem cell populations to sustain this level of output over a lifetime is fundamental to understanding the development of different cell types, the nature … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/mjblwp/disease_and_therap) has announced the addition of the "Disease and Therapy Review: Epilepsy" report to their offering. The Epilepsy Disease and Therapy Review provides an overview of the disease and related conditions, with incidence and prevalence numbers and percentages for major countries worldwide, information on diagnosis, and an overview of treatment. Dosing and treatment cost information is provided for various treatment types. General information on the epilepsy market, as well as sales of leading drugs and therapies are provided. Disease and Therapy Reviews were developed to provide a basic understanding of the key facts about a disease and market in a quick, easy-to-read format. These reports are prepared by the senior market research team of Timely Data Resources. Each Disease and TherapyReview provides a conciseanalysis of the most important informationabout a particular disease, its treatment, and the market opportunities. Reports begin with an overview of the condition, and also contain tables that summarize the available worldwide incidence and prevalence data for the condition, a review of current diagnosis strategiesand treatment options, general information about the market size, and information about important market trends. Thedata contained in these reportscomes fromkey industry secondary data sources,such asthe Timely Data … Continue reading →

Franklin Hospital is participating in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associations Get With The Guidelines Stroke program. Emergency room director Shirley Spangler said the programs goal is to improve the overall quality of care for stroke patients by improving acute stroke treatment and preventing future strokes and cardiovascular events. Lee H. Schwamm, M.D. and chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston commends the hospital for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients. Get With The Guidelines Stroke was developed to help hospitals employ proven science-based treatment guidelines, including those developed by the American Stroke Association, American Heart Association and Brain Attack Coalition, he said. These guidelines address acute stroke management, primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, secondary prevention of strokes and the establishment of primary stroke centers. Spangler said as a program participant, Franklin Hospital is encouraged to develop a comprehensive system for providing rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke when patients are admitted to the emergency department. This includes being equipped to provide brain-imaging scans, making neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications … Continue reading →

RYE BROOK, NY--(Marketwire -07/19/12)- As part of a fundamental commitment to support physicians in the management of cancer, CBLPath announces today its launch of in-house NRAS Mutation Analysis testing. This molecular assay screens for clinically relevant genetic mutations that may be present in cases of colorectal cancer, melanoma and thyroid cancer, thus helping oncologists make an accurate diagnosis and the most appropriate treatment decisions for affected patients. "Our new polymerase chain reaction, or PCR-based test uses the latest sequencing technology to detect NRAS genetic aberrations in a timely and accurate manner, aiding molecular classification of disease and consequently impacting patient prognosis and therapeutic efficacy," said Co-CEO and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Carlos D. Urmacher, FCAP, FASCP. "We're pleased to add NRAS to our powerful arsenal of biomarker-centered diagnostics that are advancing the practice of personalized medicine. It's truly a 'win-win' for oncologists, who can provide better medicine, faster with our testing and for their patients who receive customized care and targeted treatment based on their individual molecular profiles." The NRAS gene (Neuroblastoma RAS Viral Oncogene Homolog Gene) encodes the NRAS enzyme, which is member of RAS family of proteins. (RAS is an abbreviation for Rat sarcoma, where these proteins were … Continue reading →

New approach sorts cancer driver mutations from abundant but irrelevant passengers Newswise HOUSTON Its been a burning question in melanoma research: Tumor cells are full of ultraviolet (UV)-induced genetic damage caused by sunlight exposure, but which mutations drive this cancer? None have been conclusively tied to melanoma. The sheer abundance of these passenger mutations has obscured the search for genetic driver mutations that actually matter in melanoma development and progression. By creating a method to spot the drivers in a sea of passengers, scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified six genes with driving mutations in melanoma, three of which have recurrent hotspot mutations as a result of damage inflicted by UV light. Their findings are reported in the July 20 issue of the journal Cell. Those three mutations are the first smoking gun genomic evidence directly linking damage from UV light to melanoma, said co-senior author Lynda Chin, M.D., Professor and Chair of MD Andersons Department of Genomic Medicine. Until now, that link has been based on epidemiological evidence and experimental data. This study also is exciting because many of the recent … Continue reading →