“New therapies that inhibit the production of serotonin in the gut have the potential to become a novel class of drugs to be added to the therapeutic arsenal against osteoporosis” said Gerard Karsenty, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, lead author of the paper. “With tens of millions of people worldwide affected by this devastating and debilitating bone loss, there is an urgent need for new treatments that not only stop bone loss, but also build new bone. Using these findings, we are working hard to develop this type of treatment for human patients”

The Nature Medicine paper follows on a major discovery: http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/press_releases/Karsenty-cell-serotonin-lrp5.html, also made by Dr. Gerard Karsenty’s group (published in the Nov. 26, 2008 issue of Cell), that serotonin released by the gut inhibits bone formation, and that regulating the production of serotonin within the gut affects the formation of bone. Prior to this discovery, serotonin was primarily known as a neurotransmitter acting in the brain. Yet, 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is found in the gut, where its major function is to inhibit bone formation (the remaining five percent is in the brain, where it regulates mood, among other critical functions). By turning off the intestine’s release of serotonin, the team was able, in this new study, to cure osteoporosis in mice that had undergone menopause.

Based on their findings reported in the Cell paper, Dr. Karsenty and his team postulated that an inhibitor of serotonin synthesis should be an effective treatment for osteoporosis. Shortly thereafter, they read about an investigational drug, known as LP533401, which is able to inhibit serotonin in the gut. “When we learned of this compound, we thought that it was important to test it as proof of principle that there could be novel ways to treat osteoporosis with therapies that can be taken orally and regulate the formation of serotonin” said Dr. Karsenty.

Dr. Karsenty and his team developed a research protocol to test their theory, where they administered the compound orally, once daily, at a small dose, for up to six weeks to rodents experiencing post-menopausal osteoporosis. Results demonstrated that osteoporosis was prevented from developing, or when already present, could be fully cured. Of critical importance, levels of serotonin were normal in the brain, which indicated that the compound did not enter the general circulation and was unable to cross the blood-brain barrier, thereby avoiding many potential side effects.

Implications for the Treatment of Osteoporosis:

Most osteoporosis drugs, including those currently under clinical investigation, do not generate new bone but rather, prevent the breakdown of old bone. Only one drug currently on the market can generate new bone – but it must be taken by injection once a day, and because it may increase the risk of bone cancer, at least in rats, its use is restricted for short-term use in women with severe osteoporosis.

“There is an urgent need to identify new, safe therapies that can increase bone formation on a long term basis and to such an extent that they compensate for the increase in bone resorption caused by menopause” said Dr. Karsenty. “Furthermore, it is important to note that since this study was conducted in rodents, it will need further confirmation in human subjects”

Osteoporosis: A Disease of Bone Mass Decline…

Osteoporosis is a growing public health concern, with the aging population and the incidence of post-menopausal osteoporosis on the rise. It is a disease of low bone mass, most often caused by an increase in bone resorption not compensated by a similar increase in bone formation.

Far from being inert, bone constantly undergoes renovation, with some cells responsible for removing old material and other cells responsible for creating new bone. In humans, after age 20, the balance between bone formation and breakdown tips toward breakdown, and bone mass starts to decline. In women, the rate of decline increases after menopause, when estrogen levels drop and cells that tear down old bone become overactive. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become fragile and porous, increasing the risk of breaks. It is diagnosed when bone mass drops below a certain level.

There is much hype over the alleged link between Internet usage and mental health. However, according to Internet Psychologist Graham Jones, even the experts disagree. He said: “As yet psychologists have yet to agree on the definitions of things like ‘internet addiction’ or ‘excessive use’. Studies also find conflicting results with some showing the web is good for you and others suggesting it is harmful.”

He added that this latest research has produced results which were entirely predictable. “People who are suffering from depression tend to withdraw from the world around them,” he said. “Finding that they spend more time online in solitary pursuits is no surprise to anyone who knows anything about depression.”

He continued: “To be fair to the Leeds psychologists they only established a link. Their research paper does not say the Internet caused the depression they found. What is most likely is that depressed people gravitate towards the Internet as they withdraw from social contact.”

According to Graham Jones, internet usage appears to be making people better off in terms of mental health. “Social networking sites are encouraging more ‘real world’ meetings than ever before. Far from people being isolated in their bedrooms chatting using keyboards, they are actually getting together more and more,” said Graham Jones. “As the Leeds researchers clearly point out there is a relationship between mental health issues and the internet and that is an area which needs much greater exploration. We may well find that the internet is more helpful to our mental health than we might think based on this study.”

He added that this research is the first of its size and represents an important step in understanding our relationship between mental health and internet usage. “However,” he said, “we should not jump to conclusions; there is much more to learn. But with millions of people using the internet safely every day, it is most likely that the link between depression and internet use is symptomatic, rather than causative.”

www.grahamjones.co.uk

Anderson & Anderson has established presentations for Medical Chiefs and Administrators responsible for referring physicians to Executive Coaching/Disruptive Physician programs. These presentations can range from one to four hours, and they include a detailed description of the three major resources designed exclusively for “disruptive physicians”. These programs include the PACE Program (University of California at San Diego), the Distressed Physician Program (Vanderbilt School of Medicine), and the Anderson & Anderson Executive Coaching/Anger Management Program for “disruptive physicians”. Participants in these seminars/presentations will also learn how to present the details of this program/intervention to their Medical Boards or Physician Wellness Committees.

To request a proposal or schedule training at your Hospital or Health Care Organization, please contact Anderson & Anderson at 310-207-3591. Anderson & Anderson will work with your schedule and is able to provide this service anywhere in the nation. Participants will receive information packets about the Anderson & Anderson Executive Coaching/Anger Management program for “disruptive physicians”.

Author: George Anderson, LCSW
Company: Anderson & Anderson, A.P.C.

About Anderson & Anderson, A.P.C.

Anderson & Anderson, A.P.C. is a provider of anger management certification training, anger management classes (for groups) and executive coaching for Physicians and individual clients. Our anger management model is the most recognized anger management curriculum in the world. For more information, please contact us at 310-207-3591.

Maureen Phipps, MD, MPH, director of the Division of Research at Women & Infants and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and community health at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Pablo Rodriguez, MD, associate chair of Community Relationships in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants, clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Alpert Medical School, and president of Latino Public Radio, are co-principal investigators on the study, entitled “ESCUCHE – Evaluating the Spanish Radio Community’s Understanding of Clinical Research and Health Topics.”

ESCUCHE (which in Spanish means “listen”) is now a 10-week radio program airing on Latino Public Radio designed to improve health and literacy in the Latino community. Each week, Dr. Rodriguez will be discussing different health topics and answering listeners’ questions. The program will air on 10 consecutive Wednesdays from January 27 through March 31, 9 to 10 am on Latino Public Radio (WELH 88.1FM, lprri.org).

“Our inaugural broadcast gave us an opportunity to introduce ESCUCHE to the community,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “I was joined by Women & Infants’ health educator Lizbeth Graham and the hospital’s new chief operating officer, Mark Marcantano. We had a lively and informative discussion about the importance of health and science literacy in improving the health of the Latino residents of our community. Our hope is that we will be able to gain even further support from the community for this most important initiative.”

During the first phase of the study, Drs. Phipps and Rodriguez held a series of community forums to determine which health topics would be most relevant to the Latino community. The topics that were decided upon are health screenings, immunizations and HPV (human papilloma virus), cardiovascular disease, diet and exercise, diabetes, breast cancer, contraception, HIV/AIDS, smoking, and asthma.

The evaluation phase of the ESCUCHE program includes 50 listeners who:

Consented to participate in the radio program;
Completed a health and science literacy assessment, a “pre-test;”
Will listen to the 10 radio programs;
Will complete a brief survey after each program to offer feedback about their interest in the show;
Will complete a final health and science literacy assessment after the tenth program airs, a “post-test.”

“The pre- and post-tests will enable us to assess changes in the participants’ health and science knowledge over the 10-week period,” explained Dr. Phipps. “The surveys after each program will give us vital information about how many shows the participants actually listened to and will provide the opportunity to give feedback on the quality of the shows, the relevance of the topics, and the success of our guests.”

ESCUCHE will involve interactive radio sessions including phone-in questions from the radio audience. The opportunity to listen to past programs will also be made available through the radio station’s website and by request to the radio station.

For more information about ESCUCHE, contact Crystal Jocelyn at (401) 274-1122, extension 2855 or cjocelyn@wihri.org.

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 9,000 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group. The hospital was named Rhode Island’s Best Place to Work by Providence Business News and a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health by the federal government. For information about Women & Infants, log on to womenandinfants.org, and for the name of a physician on the Women & Infants’ staff, call the Health Line at 1-800-921-9299.

www.bhmpc.com

The Melanoma Research Foundation expresses its deepest gratitude to the numerous foundations that give so generously to melanoma research each year. Through annual events and tireless fundraising efforts, these organizations raise thousands of dollars to find new pathways to a cure. Many of these contributions are generated and given in honor of someone who lost their battle with melanoma – and these gifts are critical to supporting the innovative melanoma research that remains woefully underfunded.

“The research community is poised to make unprecedented strides in melanoma,” said Tim Turnham, executive director of the MRF. “Thanks to the organizations that continue to make these essential contributions, we have an opportunity to change the face of melanoma for future generations. It is my hope that collectively, these gifts will help save the lives of others fighting this disease.”

There are many different ways foundations raise money for melanoma research. For example, recently the Brenda MacDonald Melanoma Research Foundation – created in May 2005 by Brenda’s husband and sons – hosted the First Annual Wings of Hope Gala in Washington, D.C. The sold-out event raised more than $400,000 and featured a live auction with glamorous prizes such as a week in Tuscany, a trip to Turks and Caicos, and a Super Bowl package. In Chicago, Ill., we saw Teb’s Troops, which honors Tricia E. Black (or “Teb” as she was known to family and friends) rally her “troops” throughout the year to raise funds for the fight against melanoma. And other organizations, including the Bill Walter III Melanoma Research Fund (established for Bill Walter III) and the Susan Fazio Foundation for Melanoma Research (honoring Susan Theresa Fazio) have funded research grants and clinical trials in their names.

The MRF is working to bridge the gap to ensure patients of tomorrow have the help and hope they deserve. Thanks to the efforts of these foundations and other individuals, the MRF is able to provide emerging and established scientific investigators with highly sought-after grants that will allow them to explore new avenues in melanoma biology and treatments, ultimately leading to a cure.

About Melanoma
Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, is one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States and can strike men and women of all ages, all races and skin types. In fact, with a one in 50 lifetime risk of developing melanoma, nearly 69,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with the disease in 2009, resulting in 8,650 deaths or one person every hour. Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25- to 29-years-old and the second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15- to 29-years-old.

About Melanoma Research Foundation
The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) is the largest independent, national organization devoted to melanoma in the United States. Committed to the support of medical research in finding effective treatments and eventually a cure for melanoma, the MRF also educates patients and physicians about prevention, diagnosis and the treatment of melanoma. The MRF is an active advocate for the melanoma community, helping to raise awareness of this disease and the need for a cure. The MRF’s Web site is the premier source for melanoma information seekers. More information is available at http://www.melanoma.org

About Jones Public Affairs

Jones Public Affairs is a boutique healthcare public affairs agency dedicated to making a difference by developing advocacy/public relations plans that get results. Through meaningful communication and solid relationships between industry and stakeholders, Jones Public Affairs is able to design and implement fresh and innovative programs with an impact.

In an article appearing online Wednesday in PloS ONE, Jay Solnick, UC Davis professor of medicine and microbiology at the Center for Comparative Medicine and his co-authors report that H. pylori infection may enhance immunity against tuberculosis, a disease endemic in many parts of the world, and for which there is no effective vaccine.

“Here is a bacterium that we know is sometimes harmful and that is clearly associated with cancer,” Solnick said. “But it’s not that simple.”

Solnick explains that up until the 20th century, when public health improved and antibiotic use was widespread, virtually everyone was infected with H. pylori. That remains the case today in most developing countries, implying that H. pylori may have evolved with its human host because it confers some selective benefit.

“These new findings suggest that one such benefit may be that H. pylori provides protection against tuberculosis, and perhaps other infectious diseases as well,” he said.

Tuberculosis is second only to HIV as a cause of death due to a single infectious agent; one-third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacteriyum tuberculosis. However, most indivdiuals do not show clinical symptoms of the disease, a form of infection commonly known as latency. Only one in 10 latent infections will progress to active tuberculosis disease.

“One explanation may be the presence of chronic infection of the stomach with H. pylori,” Solnick said. The findings also may eventually aid in managing TB, since H. pylori infection may help determine whether someone infected with TB gets a latent, asymptomatic infection or active disease.

The collaborative research effort began with the hypothesis that a person’s immune responses to individual infections are modified by the existence of other infections, said Sharon Perry, an epidemiologist at Stanford University, and the study’s lead author.

Early studies funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that a patient infected with H. pylori had elevated immune responses to TB antigens. Perry’s work expanded to test the hypothesis in patients from immigrant populations in Santa Clara County, then in households in Gambia and Pakistan, where TB is prevalent. In the two-year study, the researchers found that individuals exposed to TB who then progressed to active disease were less likely to be infected with H. pylori than those who were not infected with H. pylori. Protection against tuberculosis may have been a result of enhanced immune responses to TB antigens in those infected with H. pylori, since H. pylori induces expression of interferon gamma and other cytokines, which are important for immunity against viral and bacterial infections.

At this point, Perry and Stanford University professor Julie Parsonnet wanted to test the theory in non-human primates. They enlisted Solnick at UC Davis, in conjunction with JoAnne Flynn of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

With a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Solnick, Parsonnet, and Flynn looked at the role of H. pylori in 41 monkeys challenged with TB. Again, the findings were striking. Of the 30 monkeys that tested positive for H. pylori, only 5 developed active TB, but 6 of 11 monkeys that were negative for H. pylori developed active disease.

“The one-disease, one-pathogen paradigm doesn’t tell the whole story,” said Perry. “It is incomplete as an explanation of the clinical outcomes of chronic infection. In fact, the thousands of organisms that live with us play a role in shaping our immune response to specific infections.”

Solnick cites the “hygiene hypothesis” as one possible explanation. That theory suggests that a reduction in exposure to infectious diseases can make the immune system less able to fight other challenges. Conversely, exposure to certain pathogens may aid immune response to other infections.

The authors acknowledge the findings are preliminary and propose several follow-up studies. First, Solnick, Parsonnet and Flynn have proposed research to test whether experimental infection of H. pylori will protect monkeys from TB, and whether it will enhance the protective effect of immunization. If successful, they will test a recombinant H. pylori strain that expresses TB antigens for possible immunization against TB. These studies will be performed in collaboration with Ondek Ltd, founded by Barry Marshall, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005 for the discovery of H. pylori.

UC Davis Health System is an academic health center that includes a top-ranked school of medicine, a 613-bed acute care hospital, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, the unique institute for the study of neurodevelopmental disorders, a comprehensive children’s hospital, a level 1 trauma center and outpatient clinics in communities throughout the Sacramento region. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top medical schools and best hospitals, UC Davis has established itself as a national leader in telehealth, rural medicine, cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, vascular medicine, and trauma and emergency medicine. Other areas of research strength include clinical and translational science, regenerative medicine, infectious disease, neuroscience, functional genomics and mouse biology, comparative medicine and nutrition, among many others.

About LCA-Vision Inc./LasikPlus®

LCA-Vision Inc., a leading provider of laser vision correction services under the LasikPlus® brand, operates 61 LasikPlus® fixed-site laser vision correction centers in 28 states and 44 markets in the United States and a joint venture in Canada. Additional company information is available at www.lca-vision.com and www.lasikplus.com

From overcoming issues related to HIPPA compliance, to gaining leadership approval for untested new media efforts, healthcare professionals with marketing, communications and public relations responsibilities are facing a vast array of new challenges. Sessions will illustrate how to effectively utilize popular sites such as Twitter and YouTube, as well the emerging possibilities with unique tools such as, Second life and GoogleWave.

This exciting two-day conference will be held in Downtown Chicago, IL on June 14-15, 2010. Currently, registration is available at the early bird rate of $695 until the end of January.

For more information visit: http://www.q1productions.com/healthcarenewmedia

When: June 14-15th, 2010

Where: Downtown Chicago

Who: The conference is designed for healthcare professionals interested in learning the latest in New Media and web 2.0 techniques. Presenting organizations include: Aurora Healthcare, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Danbury Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, Jackson Walker, LLP, Lehigh Valley Health Network, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Norman Regional Health System, Ohio State University Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, Yelp

The Organizer
Q1 Productions has over 25 years of combined event management experience, with previous roles in international Sales Management, Productions and Operations. Focusing on new or pending legislative issues, enhanced business processes or technologies that will drive efficiency and customer service, our conference programs provide solutions to the urgent needs of our attendees.