News_release:

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed funding for the Superfund Research Program (SRP) at the University of California, San Diego. Over the next five years, the $15 million grant will fund continued research on the molecular and genetic consequences of exposure to uncontrolled toxicants from Superfund and other hazardous waste sites.

It is the third funding cycle for UC San Diego’s SRP, which was originally funded by the NIEHS in 2000.

Among the research supported by UC San Diego’s Superfund Research Program is Michael Karin’s work identifying how hepatocytes (liver cells) become cancerous after exposure to chemical carcinogens.

“The overall goal of the Superfund Research Program is to understand why environmental toxicants cause disease,” said Robert H. Tukey, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, Chemistry & Biochemistry at UC San Diego and Director of the UC San Diego SRP. “Our focus is on the development of novel biological models to define how toxicant exposure leads to illness and disease. We want to learn how to better detect toxicants and model the health effects of exposure, assess the risks, and find effective ways to remediate.”

Since 2000, the SRP at UC San Diego has chalked some notable achievements. Most recently:

• Michael Karin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology in UC San Diego’s   Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, has identified initiating cells in the liver that progress into liver cancer following exposure to chemical carcinogens. The identity of these cells may lead to an understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the development of liver cancer.
• Robert Tukey, PhD has produced new mouse models expressing human genes that result in dramatically elevated levels of serum bilirubin, a potent and natural antioxidant that can be used to study the role of oxidative stress in toxicant-induced disease.
• Julian Schroeder, PhD, in the Biology Department at UC San Diego, has used the plant model Arabidopsis to create genetically engineered plants that may eventually prove useful to bioaccumulate heavy metals from contaminated soils on a commercially viable scale.
• David Brenner, MD, vice chancellor of UC San Diego Health Sciences, and dean, UCSD School of Medicine, and Ekihiro Seki, MD, from the Department of Medicine, have investigated the genetic mechanisms that lead to the development of toxicant induced liver fibrosis.
• Ronald Evans, PhD, at the Salk Institute, has identified key cellular receptors that serve to transport environmental toxicants to the nucleus, allowing for identification of the genes that may lead to disease.
• Paul Russell, PhD, at the Scripps Research Institute, has been successful in using yeast to characterize intracellular proteins important in arsenic induced toxicity. 
• William Trogler, PhD, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has developed novel chemical tools to detect toxicant exposure in the environment.

On-going and future projects, said Tukey, will use functional genomics and proteomics to investigate the cellular and molecular responses leading to toxicant -induced liver toxicity.

The SRP at UC San Diego is broad-based, with biomedical researchers, chemists, plant biologists, and public outreach experts. It includes research projects led by scientists from other institutions, including The Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 22, 2012

News_release:

Research by a collaborative group of scientists from UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Francisco and Wake Forest School of Medicine has led to identification of an existing drug that is effective against Entamoeba histolytica. This parasite causes amebic dysentery and liver abscesses and results in the death of more than 70,000 people worldwide each year.

Using a high-throughput screen for drugs developed by the research team, they discovered that auranofin – a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 25 years ago for rheumatoid arthritis – is very effective in targeting an enzyme that protects amebae from oxygen attack (thus enhancing sensitivity of the amebae to reactive oxygen-mediated killing).

The results of the work, led by Sharon L. Reed, MD, professor in the UCSD Departments of Pathology and Medicine and James McKerrow, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology in the UCSF Sandler Center for Drug Discovery, will be published in the May 20, 2012 issue of Nature Medicine.

Entamoeba histolytica cyst.

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan intestinal parasite that causes human amebiasis, the world’s fourth leading cause of death from protozoan parasites. It is listed by the National Institutes of Health as a category B priority biodefense pathogen.  Current treatment relies on metronidazole, which has adverse effects, and potential resistance to the drug is an increasing concern.

“Because auranofin has already been approved by the FDA for use in humans, we can save years of expensive development,” said Reed.  “In our studies in animal models, auranofin was ten times more potent against this parasite than metronidazole.”

In a mouse model of amebic colitis and a hamster model of amebic liver abscess, the drug markedly decreased the number of parasites, damage from inflammation, and size of liver abscesses.

“This new use of an old drug represents a promising therapy for a major health threat, and highlights how research funded by the National Institutes of Health can benefit people around the world,” said Reed.  The drug has been granted “orphan-drug” status (which identifies a significant, newly developed or recognized treatment for a disease which affects fewer than 200,000 persons in the United States) and UC San Diego hopes to conduct clinical trials in the near future.

Additional contributors to the study include first author Anjan Debnath, Shamila S. Gunatilleke  and James H. McKerrow, UCSF Sandler Center for Drug Discovery; Derek Parsonage and Leslie B. Poole, Wake Forest School of Medicine; Rosa M. Andrade, Chen He, Eduardo R. Cobo and Ken Hirata, UC San Diego School of Medicine; Steven Chen and Michelle R. Arkin, UCSF; Guillermina García-Rivera, Esther Orozco and Máximo B. Martínez, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City; and Amy M. Barrios, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

This work was supported by the Sandler Foundation and US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant 5U01AI077822-02, with additional support from R01 GM050389.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 21, 2012

News_release:

Findings mixed in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Each year, more than 10 million girls under the age of 18 marry, usually under force of local tradition and social custom. Almost half of these compulsory marriages occur in South Asia. A new study suggests that more than two decades of effort to eliminate the practice has produced mixed results.

Child brides in Rayer Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Images courtesy of MH Kawsar.

Writing in the May 16, 2012 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, Anita Raj, PhD, professor of medicine in the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues, report that marriage rates for girls under the age of 14 in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh – the South Asian countries with the highest historical rates – have significantly declined since 1991. Conversely, the rate among girls aged 16 and 17 continues largely unchanged or, in the case of Bangladesh, has increased 36 percent.

Childhood marriage, which mostly involves girls, is widely condemned as a violation of individual human rights. Numerous studies have found that child brides are more likely to die young, suffer from serious health problems, live in poverty and remain illiterate.  

“There is a global effort to eliminate girl child marriage,” said Raj. “Our findings are heartening in terms of eliminating the practice among very young girls, but not among older girls. There needs to be a greater focus on prevention of marriage among later adolescents. If we cannot impact reduction of marriage in this age group, we’ll continue to see inadequate change on reduction of girl child marriage as a whole.”

Child brides in Rayer Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Images courtesy of MH Kawsar.

Raj and colleagues examined randomized cluster samples from multiple demographic, health and nutrition surveys taken between 1991 and 2007 in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where the prevalence of girl child marriages has historically reached or exceeded 20 percent.

They found that the marriage prevalence rate for girls under age 14 decreased across the board during the time span studied: 45 percent in Bangladesh, 35 percent in India, 57 percent in Nepal and 61 percent in Pakistan. Reductions in other age groups, however, were less promising. Marriage of 16- and 17-year-old girls showed no decline over the past 20 years for any of the South Asian countries assessed; Bangladesh actually demonstrated a 36 percent increase in marriage of girls within this age group. Raj said Bangladesh’s significant increase in marriages among 16- and 17-year-old girls probably reflected a shift from younger aged groups.

Child brides in Rayer Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Images courtesy of MH Kawsar.

The factors influencing reduction in childhood marriage rates remain imperfectly understood. For example, Raj noted that the laws governing legal marriage age are not the same for the four countries studied. “Pakistan has a legal age of 16 for marriage while in India, it is 18,” she said, “but the percentage of females married as minors is greater for India than Pakistan, so we do not feel law has as much impact as social norms.”

More influential, perhaps, is the role of education, which Raj and colleagues are now studying. “There have been rigorous evaluations of interventions in Ethiopia and Malawi aimed at retaining girls in schools, with the result of delayed age at marriage. We need better understanding of the degree to which girl education can reduce risk for early marriage among girls in South Asia.”

Co-authors are Lotus McDougal, Joint Doctoral Program, UC San Diego-San Diego State University and Melanie L. A.  Rusch, PhD, Division of Global Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 16, 2012

News_release:

Findings suggest possibility of boosting their health benefit 

For the first time, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have peered inside a living mouse cell and mapped the processes that power the celebrated health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. More profoundly, they say their findings suggest it may be possible to manipulate these processes to short-circuit inflammation before it begins, or at least help to resolve inflammation before it becomes detrimental.
 
The work is published in the May 14, 2012 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The therapeutic benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in certain fish oils, have long been known, dating back to at least the 1950s, when cod liver oil was found to be effective in treating ailments like eczema and arthritis.  In the 1980s, scientists reported that Eskimos eating a fish-rich diet enjoyed better coronary health than counterparts consuming mainland foods.

“There have been tons of epidemiological studies linking health benefits to omega-3 oils, but not a lot of deep science,” said Edward A. Dennis, PhD, distinguished professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry. “This is the first comprehensive study of what fish oils actually do inside a cell.”

The scientists fed mouse macrophages – a kind of white blood cell – three different kinds of fatty acid: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA). EPA and DHA are major polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, essential to a broad range of cellular and bodily functions, and the primary ingredient in commercial fish oil dietary supplements. AA is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid prevalent in the human diet.

In high levels, fatty acids are toxic, so cells typically sequester them as phospholipids in their membranes. When stimulated, however, the fatty acids may be released, provoking a cascading inflammatory response. Acute or limited inflammation is, of course, a vital immunological response to physical damage or invasive pathogens. But chronic inflammation is harmful and a common element of almost every disease, from diabetes to cancer.

After supplementing the mouse macrophages with fatty acids, the scientists stimulated them to produce an inflammatory response. They discovered that omega-3 fatty acids inhibit an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX), which produces the prostaglandin hormones that spark inflammation. The action is similar to what happens when one takes an aspirin, which disrupts the COX-2 signaling pathway, thus reducing inflammation and pain.

On the other hand, Dennis and co-author Paul C. Norris, a graduate student in the chemistry and biochemistry department and the molecular pharmacology training program, discovered that omega-3 oils do not inhibit another group of enzymes called lipoxygenases (LOX), which are also produced by stimulated macrophages. One type of generated LOX enzyme in turn produces fat-signaling molecules called leukotrienes, which are pro-inflammatory. But Norris noted that LOX enzymes may also generate anti-inflammatory compounds called resolvins from EPA and DHA.

These observations, he said, are also helpful in identifying potential adverse effects from taking fish oil. Since omega-3 fatty acids possess overlapping functions with COX inhibitor drugs, with well-known side effects, using both in combination can produce unexpected consequences.

It is this parsing of what’s happening inside cells that Dennis called “ground-breaking.”

“We’ve been able to look inside a cell, see what fish oils do and determine that the process of inflammation at this level may be manipulatable,” he said. “Now, we need to learn if we can fine-tune that process so we can use omega-3 oils to reduce the production of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins and boost the production of anti-inflammatory resolvins.”

Funding for this research came, in part, from the LIPID MAPS Large Scale Collaborative Grant U54 GM069338 (Jean Chin and Sarah Dunsmore, program officers) and Grant R01 GM64611 (Jean Chin, program officer) from the National Institutes of Health; and the UC San Diego Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology National Institutes of Health Grant T32 GM007752.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 15, 2012

News_release:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified a new biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer, an often-fatal disease for which there is currently no reliable method for early detection or therapeutic intervention.  The paper will be published May 15 in Cancer Research.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDAC, is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related death.  Newly diagnosed patients have a median survival of less than one year, and a 5-year survival rate of only 3 to 5 percent. Therefore, biomarkers that can identify early onset of PDAC and which could be viable drug targets are desperately needed.

"We found that a kinase called PEAK1 is turned on very early in pancreatic cancer,” said first author Jonathan Kelber, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the UCSD Department of Pathology and Moores Cancer Center.  “This protein was clearly detected in biopsies of malignant tumors from human patients – at the gene and the protein levels – as well as in mouse models.”

PEAK1 is a type of tyrosine kinase – an enzyme, or type of protein, that speeds up chemical reactions and acts as an “on” or “off” switch in many cellular functions.  The fact that PEAK1 expression is increased in human PDAC and that its catalytic activity is important for PDAC cell proliferation makes it an important candidate as a biomarker and therapeutic target for small molecule drug discovery.

In addition to showing that levels of PEAK1 are increased during PDAC progression, the scientists found that PEAK1 is necessary for the cancer to grow and metastasize.

“PEAK1 is a critical signaling hub, regulating cell migration and proliferation,” said Kelber. “We found that if you knock it out in PDAC cells, they form significantly smaller tumors in preclinical mouse models and fail to metastasize efficiently.”

The research team, led by principal investigator Richard Klemke, PhD, UCSD professor of pathology, studied a large, on-line data base of gene expression profiles to uncover the presence of PEAK1 in PDAC.  These findings were corroborated at the protein level in patient biopsy samples from co-investigator Michael Bouvet, MD, and in mouse models developed by Andrew M. Lowy, MD, both of the UCSD Department of Surgery at Moores Cancer Center.

While many proteins are upregulated in cancers of the pancreas, there has been limited success in identifying candidates that, when inhibited, have potential as clinically approved therapeutics. However, the researchers found that inhibition of PEAK1-dependent signaling sensitized PDAC cells to existing chemotherapies such as Gemitabine, and immunotherapies such as Trastuzumab.

“Survival rates for patients with pancreatic cancer remain low,” said Bouvet. “Therefore, earlier detection and novel treatment strategies are very important if we are going to make any progress against pancreatic cancer.  Since current therapies are often ineffective, our hope is that the findings from this research will open up a new line of investigation to bring a PEAK1 inhibitor to the clinic.”

Additional contributors to the study include Theresa Reno, Sharmeela Kaushal, Cristina Metildi,Tracy Wright, Konstantin Stoletov, Jessica M. Weems, Frederick D. Park, Evangeline Mose, UC San Diego; Yingchun Wang, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing; and Robert M. Hoffman, UC San Diego and AntiCancer, Inc., San Diego. 

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. 

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 15, 2012

News_release:

Researchers at the Comprehensive Alzheimer’s Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have announced two new clinical trials for patients with either mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and one trial for Mild Cognitive Impairment.

“Two of these studies represent an exciting new approach to treating Alzheimer’s, focusing on improving memory in patients with early symptoms of impaired memory and possibly slowing down  the disease progression long before symptoms appear,” said Michael Rafii, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurosciences and director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UC San Diego .

All three are randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies:

Click on the photo above for video of Michael Rafii, MD, PhD, discussing AD trials.

The first is a national clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol – a compound found in red grapes or juice, red wine, chocolate, tomatoes and peanuts – on participants with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.   Pre-clinical and pilot clinical research studies suggest that resveratrol may prevent diabetes, act as a natural cancer fighter, ward off cardiovascular disease, and prevent memory loss, but there has been no large definitive study of its effects in humans.  

“The risk of all of these diseases increases with aging,” said Rafii.   “Most resveratrol studies showing any health benefits have been conducted in animal models such as mice, and with doses that far exceed intake from sipping wine or nibbling on chocolate. With this clinical trial, we hope to find out if daily doses of pure resveratrol can delay or alter memory deterioration and daily functioning in people with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s.” 

The second trial is a phase-two study employing an immunotherapeutic drug developed by Roche called Gantenerumab to remove beta-amyloid, a protein that is deposited into plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.  Beta-amyloid is neurotoxic and believed to be the main cause of neuronal degeneration in AD. This trial is for patients with what is called prodromal Alzheimer’s disease, or mild cognitive impairment that represents the earliest state of the disease.

The third study involves a drug called Crenezumab , which Rafii says has been shown to be one of the more potent amyloid-lowering compounds yet developed.  This drug, from Genentech, is a monoclonal antibody, which means that it very specifically binds only to beta-amyloid.

“By using antibodies against beta-amyloid we hope to reduce its neurotoxic effects on the brain,” Rafii said.  “There is a lot of evidence that beta-amyloid molecules cause damaging effects in the brain perhaps as much as ten years before they deposit to form plaques and result in symptoms of memory loss.  The aim of these two studies is to see if we can remove beta-amyloid before it causes damage and forms the plaques that result in Alzheimer’s.”

According to the National Institute of Aging, more than 5.3 million people in the United States are suffering from Alzheimer’s, and every 70 seconds, another person develops the disease.  Currently, there are no drugs to treat prodomal AD.

The UC San Diego research is sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study through a grant from the National Institute on Aging, as well as by Hoffman La Roche and Genentech.  For more information on enrolling at the UC San Diego site, contact the Comprehensive Alzheimer’s Program at 858-246-1300 or email CAPmemory@ucsd.edu

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 15, 2012

News_release:

Controlled trial shows improved spasticity, reduced pain after smoking medical marijuana

A clinical study of 30 adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has shown that smoked cannabis may be an effective treatment for spasticity – a common and disabling symptom of this neurological disease.

The placebo-controlled trial also resulted in reduced perception of pain, although participants also reported short-term, adverse cognitive effects and increased fatigue.  The study will be published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on May 14.

Principal investigator Jody Corey-Bloom, MD, PhD, professor of neurosciences and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at UC San Diego, and colleagues randomly assigned participants to either the intervention group (which smoked cannabis once daily for three days) or the control group (which smoked identical placebo cigarettes, also once a day for three days).  After an 11-day interval, the participants crossed over to the other group.

“We found that smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in reducing symptoms and pain in patients with treatment-resistant spasticity, or excessive muscle contractions,” said Corey-Bloom.

Earlier reports suggested that the active compounds of medical marijuana were potentially effective in treating neurologic conditions, but most studies focused on orally administered cannabinoids. There were also anecdotal reports of MS patients that endorsed smoking marijuana to relieve symptoms of spasticity. 

However, this trial used a more objective measurement, a modified Ashworth scale which graded the intensity of muscle tone by measuring such things as resistance in range of motion and rigidity. The secondary outcome, pain, was measured using a visual analogue scale.  The researchers also looked at physical performance (using a timed walk) and cognitive function and – at the end of each visit – asked patients to assess their feeling of “highness.”

Although generally well tolerated, smoking cannabis did have mild effects on attention and concentration. The researchers noted that larger, long-terms studies are needed to confirm their findings and determine whether lower doses can result in beneficial effects with less cognitive impact.

The current study is the fifth clinical test of the possible efficacy of cannabis for clinical use reported by the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR). Four other human studies on control of neuropathic pain also reported positive results.

“The study by Corey Bloom and her colleagues adds to a growing body of evidence that cannabis has therapeutic value for selected indications, and may be an adjunct or alternative for patients whose spasticity or pain is not optimally managed,” said Igor Grant, MD, director of the CMCR, which provided funding for the study.

Additional contributors include Tanya Wolfson, Anthony Gamst, PhD, Shelia Jin, MD, MPH, Thomas D. Marcotte, PhD, Heather Bentley and Ben Gouaux, all from UC San Diego School of Medicine. 

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 14, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego Nutrition experts launch year-long study of participants with Type 2

Diabetes affects nearly 24 million people in the United States, most with Type 2 diabetes, a disease which is often coupled with obesity.  Concerned by the increasing number of overweight Americans, nutrition experts with the UC San Diego School of Medicine are launching Take Charge, a research study analyzing the effectiveness of a commercial weight-loss program on participants with Type 2 diabetes who have a BMI of 25 – 45.

Cheryl Rock, PhD, RD

“We know that commercial weight loss programs can contribute to weight loss. Now we ask if they can have an impact on diabetes,” said Cheryl Rock, PhD, RD, professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.  “We want to find out if participants using a weight loss program do better than those who receive individualized dietary counseling with a registered dietitian.”

Rock and her team will work with primary care physicians throughout the San Diego community to enlist potential participants.  “This is about the health of our entire community,” said Rock.  “The problem of obesity is so great in that we need help on all fronts: medical, surgical and pharmaceutical.  And we want to know if science-based commercial weight loss programs can contribute to solving this national problem as well.”

Take Charge Participants must:

• Be 18 years old or older
• Be overweight
• Have Type 2 diabetes  
• Be willing to participate for one year
• Otherwise be in generally good physical and mental health
• Agree to take part in the diet, exercise and lifestyle counseling program

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups:

• Group one will receive dietary counseling, including menu planning and exercise advice from a Registered Dietitian.
• The other two groups will receive dietary counseling at a commercial facility and receive prepackaged meals coinciding with the assigned diet.
• All study participants will receive follow up phone calls and/or emails from the study coordinator every few weeks throughout the course of the study. 
• In addition, the investigators want to look at the effects of treatment on:
  • Feelings and quality of life
  • Waist circumference
  • Cardiovascular fitness

The costs of all study procedures, examinations, and medical care that may be delivered as part of this study will be provided at no cost. Participants will be compensated for travel-related costs.  This study is funded by Jenny Craig, Incorporated. For more information on participation, please contact study coordinator, Angela Leone, MS, RD, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, 858-822-4792 or AFLeone@ucsd.edu

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 08, 2012

News_release:

Research with mice reveals possible strategy to reverse fibrosis in liver and other organs

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, report that significant numbers of myofibroblasts – cells that produce the fibrous scarring in chronic liver injury – revert to an inactive phenotype as the liver heals. The discovery in mouse models could ultimately help lead to new human therapies for reversing fibrosis in the liver, and in other organs like the lungs and kidneys.

The work is published in the May 7, 2012 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A photomicrograph of cirrhotic liver tissue, with extensive fibrotic scarring (stained blue).

“The take-away message is two-fold,” said David A. Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences, dean of the UC San Diego School of Medicine and senior author of the paper. “First, we’ve shown that liver fibrosis is markedly reversible and we now better understand how it happens. Second, we can start looking for ways to direct active myofibroblasts to stop producing scar, and become inactive. We can focus on developing drugs that promote cell change and regression. It raises the bar for prospective treatment tremendously.”

Liver fibrosis is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States. It is the result of chronic liver injury caused by such agents as the hepatitis B and C viruses, alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The condition is manifested by extensive scarring of liver tissue and the organ’s progressive inability to filter body toxins. Liver fibrosis precedes the development of liver cancer. Often, the only treatment for end-stage liver fibrosis is an organ transplant. 

Fibrosis begins when infectious agents or excessive alcohol consumption trigger activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which normally act as quiescent storage units for nutrients like vitamin A in the liver. Once activated, these HSCs acquire characteristics of another cell type called myofibroblasts, which are characterized by their abundant production of extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen. These proteins accumulate as scar tissue, rendering the organ progressively dysfunctional.

However, if the source of the liver injury is successfully treated or eliminated, the liver can repair itself. In part, this is due to the activated HSCs undergoing apoptosis (programmed cell death) and being removed by other cells. But UC San Diego scientists say that, in tests using a mouse model, as many as half of all activated HSCs persist. They do not die, but rather revert to an inactive phenotype during fibrotic regression.

“After one month of regression, these cells have stopped producing collagen. They’ve upregulated some of the genes associated with quiescence and returned to their normal location in the liver,” said Tatiana Kisseleva, MD, PhD, an assistant research scientist and first author of the study.  

It’s not clear why these myofibroblasts survive. Also, scientists note the reverted myofibroblasts do not completely return to their original quiescent state. “They’re still more susceptible to repetitive injury than original quiescent HSCs,” said Kisseleva, who noted future tests will investigate whether additional reversion occurs with more time.

Kisseleva suggested the findings present another avenue for treating liver fibrosis, especially in possibly reverting fibrosis and cirrhosis, which accounts for roughly 27,000 deaths in the United States annually.

Fibrosis occurs in other organs as well, such as the kidneys and lungs, with comparable deadly effect. Recent studies indicate fibrotic reversibility in these organs as well. “Our findings are applicable to other fibrosing organs,” said Kisseleva. “Instead of killing damaged cells, we might be able to de-activate them and revert them to healthy originals.”

Co-authors of the study are Min Cong, Chunyan Jiang, Keiko Iwaisako, Brian Scott and Wolfgang Dillmann, Department of Medicine, UC San Diego; YongHan Paik, Department of Medicine,  UC San Diego and Department of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; David Scholten, Department of Medicine, UC San Diego and Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Thomas Moore-Morris and Sylvia M. Evans, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, UC San Diego; Hidekazu Tsukamoto, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 07, 2012

News_release:

On May 3, 2012, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and the UC San Diego School of Medicine launched the Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development. The new center, located on the campus of Rady Children’s Hospital at 7910 Frost Street in San Diego, will focus on identifying the best ways to optimize pregnancy outcomes and to improve the health of children in San Diego through groundbreaking research and patient care.

Under the direction of Kenneth Lyons Jones, MD and Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, the center will be home to a number of programs, projects and services including:

• The California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization offering evidence-based clinical information about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding through its toll-free hotline, 800-532-3749, and website, CTISPregnancy.org.
• The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Research Center, which conducts groundbreaking research on the safety of various medications and vaccines used for the treatment of conditions such as autoimmune diseases and asthma, and to prevent influenza,  meningitis and HPV infection in pregnant women throughout the U.S. and Canada.
• The National Children’s Study (NCS) San Diego which aims to examine the effects of environmental and genetic factors  on the growth, development, and long-term health of children, following them from before birth until age 21 years.
• A California study, called “Ready, Set, Go,” that aims to understand how a child’s learning and behavior may be affected by factors that happened before birth, including various environmental  agents which the mother came into contact with during her pregnancy, such as the kinds of food that she ate and how much alcohol she consumed.
• A Genetics/Dysmorphology outpatient clinic to evaluate children with birth defects.
• Maternal and fetal health education and training programs.

“We are excited about the opportunity this new Center brings to combine the talents of UC San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital researchers and clinicians to improve the lives of women and children not only in the San Diego community, but across the country,” said Chambers.

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Media Contact: Nicole Chavez, 858-246-1745, ncchavez@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 04, 2012

News_release:

NIH-Funded Study Finds Office Visit Alone Just as Effective

Invasive and costly tests commonly performed on women before surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) may not be necessary, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine and the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network.  The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will be released online May 2 by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Nager discusses study findings.

The study, which compared results after a combination of a preoperative check-up and bladder function tests to an office check-up alone, found that women who only had the office examination experienced equally successful outcomes after surgery.

“We wanted to know if invasive tests are really needed in women who have SUI, or if observation alone could achieve the same outcomes,” said study lead -author Charles Nager, MD, director of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at UC San Diego Health System.  “The findings of our study argue that the tests provide no added benefit for surgical treatment success to patients.”

SUI affects up to 30 million American women and causes leakage of urine when coughing, laughing, sneezing, running or lifting heavy objects.  Bladder tests that use technology such as imaging, pressure monitors and muscle and nerve sensors, are commonly used on these women before surgery to characterize the degree of incontinence and to guide decisions about treatment options.  However, the tests are uncomfortable, costly and increase the risk of urinary tract infections.

In the study, half of a group of 630 women with uncomplicated SUI underwent a preoperative office evaluation with bladder function testing.  The other half had an office evaluation only.  The proportion of women who achieved treatment success was similar, 76.9 percent versus 77.2 percent, respectively, with no significant differences between groups in quality of life, patient satisfaction or voiding dysfunction – an inability to empty the bladder completely. 

UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers who participated in this study included Michael Albo, MD, and Emily Lukacz, MD.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The Women’s Pelvic Medicine Center at UC San Diego Health System is the region’s first center designed exclusively for the diagnosis and treatment of pelvic floor disorders.  Since the program’s inception in 1998, women with complex conditions, such as incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, have been treated through advanced medical therapies and minimally invasive surgical techniques.

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Media Contact: Michelle Brubaker, 619-543-6163, mmbrubaker@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 02, 2012

News_release:

Paul S. Viviano has accepted the position as the new CEO of UC San Diego Health System and associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences. His appointment was approved by the UC Board of Regents, and will commence June 1, 2012.

Paul Viviano, future CEO, UC San Diego Health System

“Mr. Viviano has a solid track record of strategic leadership and entrepreneurism that drives results,” said David Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC San Diego. “He has a hands-on philosophy of working with clinicians and researchers to insure outstanding patient care – exactly the kind of skills needed to elevate levels of innovation and quality as UC San Diego Health System grows.” 

Viviano is currently Chairman of the Board and CEO of Alliance Healthcare Services – the nation’s largest provider of advanced outpatient diagnostic imaging services and a national leader in delivery of radiation oncology services – where he has served since 2003.  During his tenure, he defined the strategic path, expanded the company’s technology platform, and optimized the investment value of the organization.

His prior positions include president and CEO of USC University Hospital and USC/Norris Cancer Hospital, a private research and teaching hospital staffed by faculty from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.  USC/Norris is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center with more than 200 basic scientists, physicians and other Keck School of Medicine faculty members. 

Prior to his work at USC, Viviano served in various positions, including executive vice president and CEO of  the St. Joseph Health System in Orange, California, comprised of 14 acute hospitals, six medical practice foundations, three home-health agencies and multiple ambulatory clinics.

From 1985 to 1987, he was president and CEO of the 300-bed non-profit acute care facility Long Beach Community Hospital and, from 1980 to 1985, served as CEO of Los Alamitos Medical Center.

A Los Angeles native and UC alum, Viviano earned his master’s degree in public administration-public health at UCLA. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Loyola Marymount University, where he also serves as chair of the governance committee, a member of the finance committee and chair of the Bioethics Institute.  He is also a board member and former chairman of the National Association for Quality Imaging, and will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors for Alliance HealthCare Services.

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 01, 2012

News_release:

In the online May 2 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine publish three distinct articles exploring:

• the complex interactions of lipids and inflammation in insulin resistance
• the roles of omega 3 fatty acids and a particular gene in fighting inflammation
• how elevated levels of a particular protein might delay the muscle-destroying effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions around the world, fueled in large part by the equally alarming expansion of obesity as a global health problem. But while it’s well-known that obesity is the most common cause of insulin resistance – the primary metabolic abnormality in type 2 diabetes – researchers have only recently begun to effectively parse the underlying, complicated relationships between lipids (fats and related molecules essential to cell structure and function) and chronic tissue inflammation (a key cause of obesity-induced insulin resistance).

In a wide-ranging Perspective article published in Cell Metabolism, Christopher K. Glass, MD, PhD, a professor in the departments of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Medicine at the UC San Diego, and Jerrold M. Olefsky, MD, associate dean for Scientific Affairs and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego, survey where the science stands, describing, for example, the pro-inflammatory effects of saturated fatty acids and the anti-inflammatory benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. They also discuss how inflammation impacts lipid metabolism at the cellular, tissue, organ and whole-body levels. 

In a second, related article, Olefsky and colleague Da Young Oh, an assistant project scientist, discuss the critical role of a gene called GPR120 in inhibiting pro-inflammatory macrophages while simultaneously boosting the anti-inflammatory benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. They argue that new research highlights the importance of GPR120 as an attractive target for new drugs that could increase insulin sensitivity and, perhaps, have anti-obesity effects as well.

Finally, Don W. Cleveland, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego and colleagues report the effects of elevated levels of a gene- regulating protein in mouse cells afflicted by a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.

In humans, ALS is a progressive, adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selective motor neuron and muscle loss that ultimately results in fatal paralysis. Among the key players in muscle function is a transcriptional activator protein called PGC-1alpha, which helps enhance various aspects of muscle cell function, including metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis.

Cleveland and colleagues report that elevated levels of PGC-1alpha in the muscles of a mouse model of inherited ALS helps maintain health and function, though it does not extend survival time. The researchers suggest that increasing PCG-1alpha activity in muscle could be a new and attractive therapeutic target for maintaining, improving and extending physical abilities in ALS patients. 

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: May 01, 2012

News_release:

William G. Bradley, Jr., MD, PhD, FACR, chairman of the Department of Radiology, was awarded the ACR Gold Medal, the highest honor of the American College of Radiology on April 22, during the ACR annual meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference held in Washington, D.C.   The ACR said of Bradley, “(He) is renowned for his endless dedication…to advance the science and cause of radiology locally, nationally and internationally.”  He founded the

William Bradley, Jr., MD, PhD
Dilip Jeste, MD

ACR’s MR Accreditation Program in 1992 and served as its chair for seven years.  He also chaired the ACR Commission of Neuroradiology and MRI from 1999 to 2005, and was vice president of its Board of Chancellors in 2005-06.  ACR noted his many accomplishments in pioneering developments in MR and publications, especially his influential co-editorship of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Dilip Jeste, MD, Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair on Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, has been selected to receive a 2012 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).  The awards are given to psychiatrists “who have made substantial contributions to NAMI Affiliate or NAMI State Organization activities,” and winners are recognized for their advocacy for access to care and research funding, community education programs or other NAMI priorities.  Jeste, nominated by San Diego NAMI, is director of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association.  NAMI is organizing a special presentation honoring this year’s award winners on May 7, during the 2012 APA conference in Philadelphia. 

In addition, Neal Swerdlow, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, will receive the 2012 APA Award for Research at its Philadelphia conference.  APA notes that Swerdlow’s “demonstrated leadership and outstanding achievements in the field of psychiatry make him an outstanding recipient of this award.” Swerdlow is director of the UCSD Psychiatry Research Residency Track, and Deputy Director of the NIMH Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia. His laboratories study the neurobiology of information processing and its deficiencies in schizophrenia, Tourette Syndrome and OCD. Swerdlow chaired the Tourette Syndrome Association Scientific Advisory Board, served on the San Diego NAMI Board of Directors and chaired their Medical Advisory Board. He is associate editor of Behavioral Neuroscience.

Victor Nizet, MD

The American Academy for Microbiology has announced that Victor Nizet, MD, has been elected as a 2012 Academy Fellow, an honor that recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the field of microbiology.  Nizet is a professor of pediatrics and pharmacy and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Pharmacology & Drug Discovery at UCSD’s School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research seeks to discover novel treatment strategies for infectious diseases through understanding the fundamental mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and the innate immune system, with a special focus on human streptococcal and staphylococcal infections.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 30, 2012

News_release:

Study finds overweight teens who are satisfied with their bodies are less depressed, less prone to unhealthy behaviors

A study to be published in the June 2012 issue of Journal of Adolescent Health looking at the relationships between body satisfaction and healthy psychological functioning in overweight adolescents has found that young women who are happy with the size and shape of their bodies report higher levels of self-esteem.  They may also be protected against the negative behavioral and psychological factors sometimes associated with being overweight.

Kerri Boutelle, PhD

A group of 103 overweight adolescents were surveyed between 2004 and 2006, assessing body satisfaction, weight-control behavior, importance placed on thinness, self-esteem and symptoms of anxiety and depression, among other factors.

“We found that girls with high body satisfaction had a lower likelihood of unhealthy weight-control behaviors like fasting, skipping meals or vomiting,” said Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Boutelle added that the positive relationship shown in this study between body a girl’s happiness with her body and her behavioral and psychological well-being suggests that improving body satisfaction could be a key component of interventions for overweight youth.

“A focus on enhancing self-image while providing motivation and skills to engage in effect weight-control behaviors may help protect young girls from feelings of depression, anxiety or anger sometimes association with being overweight,” said Boutelle. 

Additional contributors included first author Taya R. Cromley, PhD, of UCLA; Stephanie Knatz and Roxanne Rockwell, UC San Diego; and Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD and Mary Story, PhD, RD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

This study was supported by a University of Minnesota Children’s Vikings Grant.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 27, 2012

News_release:

Steven Garfin, MD, Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UC San Diego Health System was named President of the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) for 2012 to 2013.

ISASS assesses existing strategies and innovative ideas in clinical and basic sciences related to spine surgery to enhance patient care.

Steven Garfin, MD, Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UC San Diego Health System.

“Being named president of ISASS is an honor and a responsibility. Spinal surgery is an important part of the continuum of care for patients with spine related pains, injuries and deformities,” said Garfin, an international expert in complex spine reconstruction.  “Spinal surgeons gathering from countries around the world have much to learn from, and teach, each other.”

Increasingly, insurance companies are pushing back on authorization and funding for spine care.  Prior to the formation of ISASS, there was no academic group for spinal surgeons to speak on behalf of patient care as it relates solely to surgical procedures. 

“Much of the research done on spine related problems is performed in collaboration with surgeons and will progress better with a like-minded specialty group where questions can be openly discussed,”  said Garfin.  “We need to continue to focus on the advances in the field that bring real clinical benefits to patients.”

Garfin’s new position will expand awareness of UC San Diego’s academic, clinical and basic science endeavors.

“As surgeons from around the world come to UC San Diego to train and study, they will hopefully take home a positive message about our programs,” said Garfin. 

During his one-year term as president, Garfin will focus on the following areas:

• Continue ISASS’ growth and position the society as the primary educational resource for surgeons with new technologies and innovative solutions.
• Interact with members of the international spine surgery community to learn more about the successes and failures of new devices and techniques from patients and physicians.
• Address the causes of lower back pain, discover new diagnostic tools and develop strategies for fusion/motion preservation treatments in spinal disorders.

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UC San Diego Heath System is dedicated to providing excellence in clinical care and research in musculoskeletal disorders, it is a pioneer in cartilage restoration and transplantation, and has leaders in joint replacement, hand and upper extremity surgery, trauma care, spine surgery and sports medicine.

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Media Contact: Michelle Brubaker, 619-543-6163, mmbrubaker@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 26, 2012

News_release:

Jack E. Dixon, PhD, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of pharmacology, cellular and molecular medicine, chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego has been named a foreign member of the Royal Society.  Dixon is among 44 newly elected fellows and 8 new Foreign Members of the Royal Society, a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists that is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

Jack E. Dixon, PhD

Founded in 1660, Royal Society Fellows have included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, Francis Crick, James Watson and Stephen Hawking. Today there are approximately 1,500 Fellows and Foreign Members, including more than 80 Nobel Laureates. Foreign Members to the Royal Society are elected for life through a peer-review process on the basis of excellence in science. There are currently about 140 Foreign Members.

“Jack E. Dixon is one of the most influential biochemists of his generation. His elegant studies have radically advanced our understanding of cell signaling and the molecular basis of pathogenesis,” said the Royal Society in announcing his election on April 22.

Dixon was instrumental in the analysis of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases.) He also discovered that the bacterium responsible for the plague or "black death," Yersinia pestis, harbors the most active PTPase yet described. This enzyme functions as a lethal weapon when injected into mammalian cells to block the immune response. This mechanism is now recognized as a widely used strategy for pathogenic bacteria to disarm the host's immune system.

A powerful advocate for scientific research, Dixon is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and past president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 25, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego researchers join CHP this morning to educate students and public

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (CADMV), distracted driving is on the rise due to an increase in the use of cell phones and other electronic devices and the increasing importance of these devices in individuals’ lives.  Studies have shown that phoning and driving increases the risk of crashes four-fold, with hands free and hand held devices equally dangerous.  Texting increases this risk 8-16 times.

A team of experts from UC San Diego's Trauma Epidemiology and Injury Prevention Research Center analyzed driving habits in college and university students in San Diego County. The team will share the results at a media conference along with the California Highway Patrol at 10 a.m., Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at the UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, near the Emergency entrance on Front Street.

“Distracted Driving is a highly prevalent behavior in college students who have misplaced confidence in their own driving skills and their ability to multitask,” said Linda Hill, MD, MPH, clinical professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.  “Despite the known dangers, distracted driving has become an accepted behavior.”

“This study highlights the high prevalence of distracted driving in college students, including texting while driving, something we see first-hand each and every day,” said assistant chief Robert Clark, Border Division, California Highway Patrol.  “The demonstration of misplaced confidence in their own and others’ ability to multitask may lead to opportunities for us to educate and employ some risk abatement strategies.”

Nearly 5,000 students from University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, University of San Diego, CSU San Marcos and eight smaller colleges in the region completed the study.  The average age was 21 years old; 66 percent female; 83 percent were undergraduates; 17 percent graduates.

Distracted Driving Behaviors

• 78 percent reported driving while using a cell phone (talking or texting)
• 52 percent reported using hands free devices at least some of the time
• 47 percent said they use hands free at least 50 percent of the time
• Only 25 percent used hands free with high frequency
• 50 percent said they send texts while driving on freeway
• 60 percent said they send texts while in stop and go traffic or in city streets
• 87 percent send texts while at traffic lights
• Only 12 percent said they never text, not even at a traffic light

In addition to Hill, the UC San Diego research team included Jill Rybar, MPH, Tara Styer, MPH, and Ethan Fram.

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 24, 2012

News_release:

Without p-tau protein present, impact of amyloid is “not significantly different from zero”

According to a new study, the neuron-killing pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which begins before clinical symptoms appear, requires the presence of both amyloid-beta (a-beta) plaque deposits and elevated levels of an altered protein called p-tau.

Without both, progressive clinical decline associated with AD in cognitively healthy older individuals is “not significantly different from zero,” reports a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in the April 23 online issue of the Archives of Neurology.

“I think this is the biggest contribution of our work,” said Rahul S. Desikan, MD, PhD, research fellow and resident radiologist in the UC San Diego Department of Radiology and first author of the study.  “A number of planned clinical trials – and the majority of Alzheimer's studies – focus predominantly on a-beta. Our results highlight the importance of also looking at p-tau, particularly in trials investigating therapies to remove a-beta. Older, non-demented individuals who have elevated a-beta levels, but normal p-tau levels, may not progress to Alzheimer’s, while older individuals with elevated levels of both will likely develop the disease.”

The findings also underscore the importance of p-tau as a target for new approaches to treating patients with conditions ranging from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to full-blown AD. An estimated 5.4 million Americans have AD. It’s believed that 10 to 20 percent of Americans age 65 and older have MCI, a risk factor for AD. Some current therapies appear to delay clinical AD onset, but the disease remains irreversible and incurable.

“It may be that a-beta initiates the Alzheimer's cascade,” said Desikan. “But once started, the neurodegenerative mechanism may become independent of a-beta, with p-tau and other proteins playing a bigger role in the downstream degenerative cascade. If that’s the case, prevention with anti-a-beta compounds may prove efficacious against AD for older, non-demented individuals who have not yet developed tau pathology.  But novel, tau-targeting therapies may help the millions of individuals who already suffer from mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease.”

The new study involved evaluations of healthy, non-demented elderly individuals participating in the ongoing, multi-site Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, or ADNI. Launched in 2003, ADNI is a longitudinal effort to measure the progression of mild cognitive impairment and early-stage AD.

The researchers studied samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) taken from ADNI participants.

“In these older individuals, the presence of a-beta alone was not associated with clinical decline,” said Anders M. Dale, PhD, professor of radiology, neurosciences, and psychiatry at UC San Diego and senior author of the study. “However, when p-tau was present in combination with a-beta, we saw significant clinical decline over three years.”
 
A-beta proteins have several normal responsibilities, including activating enzymes and protecting cells from oxidative stress. It is not known why a-beta proteins form plaque deposits in the brain. Similarly, the origins of p-tau are not well understood. One hypothesis, according to Desikan, is that a-beta plaque deposits trigger hyperphosphorylation of nearby tau proteins, which normally help stabilize the structure of brain cells. Hyperphosphorylation occurs when phosphate groups attach to a protein in excess numbers, altering their normal functions. Hyperphosphorylated tau – or p-tau – can then exacerbate the toxic effects of a-beta plaque upon neurons.
 
The discovery of p-tau’s heightened role in AD neurodegeneration suggests it could be a specific biomarker for the disease before clinical symptoms appear. While high levels of another tau protein – t-tau – in cerebrospinal fluid have been linked to neurologic disorders, such as frontotemporal dementia and traumatic brain injury, high levels of p-tau correlates specifically to increased neurofibrillary tangles in brain cells, which are seen predominantly with AD.

“These results are in line with another ADNI study of healthy controls and MCI participants that found progressive atrophy in the entorhinal cortex – one of the areas of the brain first affected in AD –only in amyloid positive individuals who also showed evidence of elevated p-tau levels,” said Linda McEvoy, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and study co-author.

“One of the exciting dimensions of this paper was the combined use of cerebrospinal fluid markers and clinical assessments to better elucidate the neurodegenerative process underlying Alzheimer’s disease in individuals who do not yet show clinical signs of dementia,” added co-author James Brewer, MD, PhD, an associate professor of radiology and neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine.  “We do not have an animal model that works very well for studying this disease, so the ability to examine the dynamics of neurodegeneration in living humans is critical.”

Nonetheless, the scientists say more research is needed. They note that CSF biomarkers provide only an indirect assessment of amyloid and neurofibrillary pathology and may not fully reflect the underlying biological processes of AD.

“This study highlights the complex interaction of multiple pathologies that likely contribute to the clinical symptomatology of Alzheimer’s disease,” said co-author Reisa Sperling, MD, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It suggests we may be able to intervene in the preclinical stages of AD before there is significant neurodegeneration and perhaps prevent the onset of symptoms.”

Other co-authors are Wesley K. Thompson, Department of Psychiatry; and Dominic Holland and Paul S. Aisen, Department of Neuroscience, UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 23, 2012

News_release:

People with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFD) who consume alcohol in modest amounts – no more than one or two servings per day – are half as likely to develop hepatitis as non-drinkers with the same condition, reports a national team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

The findings are published in the April 19, 2012 online issue of The Journal of Hepatology.

Two forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are depicted in these images of liver biopsies from adults, taken from this study.  The first (top) shows nonalcoholic fatty liver only.  The second (bottom) shows nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a more serious condition with potential to progress to cirrhosis. Images courtesy of Elizabeth Brunt, MD, of Washington University in Saint Louis.

NALFD is the most common liver disease in the United States, affecting up to one third of American adults. It’s characterized by abnormal fat accumulation in the liver. The specific cause or causes is not known, though obesity and diabetes are risk factors. Most patients with NAFLD have few or no symptoms, but in its most progressive form, known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH, there is a significantly heightened risk of cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver-related death.

NALFD is also a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Patients with NAFLD are approximately two times more likely to die from coronary heart disease than from liver disease. The study’s authors wanted to know if the well-documented heart-healthy benefits of modest alcohol consumption outweighed alcohol’s negative effects.

“We know a 50-year-old patient with NAFLD has a higher risk of CVD,” said Jeffrey Schwimmer, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Diego, director of the Fatty Liver Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and senior author. “Data would suggest modest alcohol consumption would be beneficial (in reducing the patient’s CVD risk) if you don’t take liver disease into account. When you do take liver disease into account, however, the usual medical recommendation is no alcohol whatsoever.”

Schwimmer and colleagues discovered that the benefits of modest alcohol consumption were compelling, at least in terms of reducing the odds of patients with NAFLD from developing more severe forms of the disease. Patients with NASH are 10 times more likely to progress to cirrhosis, the final phase of chronic liver disease. Cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death in the U.S., killing an estimated 27,000 Americans annually.

“Our study showed that those people with modest alcohol intake – two drinks or less daily – had half the odds of developing NASH than people who drank no alcohol,” said Schwimmer. “The reasons aren’t entirely clear. It’s known that alcohol can have beneficial effects on lipid levels, that it increases ‘good’ cholesterol, which tends to be low in NAFLD patients. Alcohol may improve insulin sensitivity, which has a role in NAFLD. And depending upon the type of alcohol, it may have anti-inflammatory effects.”

The study also found that in patients with NAFLD, modest drinkers experienced less severe liver scarring than did lifelong non-drinkers.

The study did not evaluate the effects of different types of alcohol, such as beer or spirits. Schwimmer said to do so would require a much larger study. Also, the study’s findings do not apply to children. All of the participants in the study were age 21 and older.

The current paper is based on analyses of 600 liver biopsies of patient’s with NAFLD by a national panel of pathologists who had no identifying clinical information about the samples. The study excluded anyone who averaged more than two alcoholic drinks per day or who reported consuming five or more drinks in a day (binge-drinking) at least once a month. All of the patients were at least 21 years of age.

Schwimmer said the findings indicate patients with liver disease should be treated individually, with nuance.

“For a patient with cirrhosis or viral hepatitis, the data says even small amounts of alcohol can be bad. But that may not be applicable to all forms of liver disease. Forty million Americans have NAFLD. Physicians need to look at their patient’s overall health, their CVD risk, their liver status, whether they’re already drinking modestly or not. They need to put all of these things into a framework to determine risk. I suspect modest alcohol consumption will be an appropriate recommendation for many patients, but clearly not all.”

Co-authors are Winston Dunn, departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, UC San Diego and Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center; Arun J. Sanyal, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center; Elizabeth M. Brunt, John Cochran VA Medical Center, Saint Louis and Division of Gastroenterology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine; Aynur Unalp-Arida, Department of Epidemilogy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Michael Donohue, Division of Biostatics and Bioinformatics, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, UC San Diego; and Arthur J. McCullough, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Cleveland Clinic.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Cancer Institute.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 19, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego Medical Center, located in Hillcrest, has been named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals^® by Thomson Reuters. Ranked among the country’s major teaching hospitals, the Medical Center was also one of twelve hospitals to receive the Everest Award. This award honors hospitals that have achieved both the highest current performance and the fastest long-term improvement over a five-year period in Reuter’s national benchmarking study.

UC San Diego Medical Center named top hospital by Retuers.

“These honors reflect the extraordinary achievements of UC San Diego Health System teams that are dedicated to delivering the highest quality and most efficient care possible to all patients,” said Tom McAfee, MD, interim CEO, UC San Diego Health System. “Our goal is to deliver specialized lifesaving care based on an evidence-based model that can be replicated by hospitals nationwide.”

“Our Quality Council has actively pursued the strategic goals of achieving outstanding outcomes and preventing patient harm,” said Angela Scioscia, MD, CMO, UC San Diego Health System. “Performance improvement efforts have been deliberate to achieve what Thomson Reuter’s calls ‘balanced excellence.’ Most notable are our innovations in resuscitation services and training, prevention of health care associated infections, strategies to provide medication safely, and commitment to advancing and leveraging our clinical informatics.” 

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals^® study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality; medical complications; patient safety; average patient stay; expenses; profitability; patient satisfaction; adherence to clinical standards of care; post-discharge mortality; and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993.

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Thomson Reuters researchers evaluated 2,886 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals. They used public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

The winning hospitals were announced in the April 16 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

“This year, the concentration of 100 Top Hospitals award winners has shifted significantly, with Texas, Florida, and California housing the most winners,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Thomson Reuters.  ”A major change in performance geographically is an encouraging indication that the bar for quality care has been raised once again.”

UC San Diego Health System has been nationally recognized by Thomson Reuters, The Leapfrog Group and University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) as a leader in quality and safety initiatives. UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest is focused on providing acute care services to the region. This location offers the areas only Regional Burn Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Level III NICU and comprehensive AIDS/HIV services.

More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 17, 2012

News_release:

Susan Ferro-Novick, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and Herbert Levine, PhD, professor in the UC San Diego Department of Physics, have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

They join 218 other distinguished scientists, scholars, writers, civic leaders and businessmen in the 2012 class, which will be inducted at a ceremony Oct. 6, 2012 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Susan Ferro-Novick, PhD

Ferro-Novick, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, studies how vesicles move and function within cells. Vesicles are sacs of membrane that carry cargo between organelles within a cell. Specifically, Ferro-Novick and colleagues are interested in how vesicles and organelles maintain their identity amid a constant flow of intracellular traffic. Her basic research is relevant to human disease. For example, a bone formation disorder called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tardia results from a mutation in a gene that encodes a subunit of a large multisubunit complex identified in the Ferro-Novick lab. This complex mediates several different trafficking events in the cell.

Herbert Levine, PhD

Levine is co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Theoretical Biological Physics. His work examines the physics of nonequilibrium processes, especially in the emergence of spatial patterns in extended systems, and covers issues arising in condensed matter physics, chemical physics and most recently biophysics.

The 232-year-old American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, celebrating the contributions of members to science and technology, energy and global security, social policy, culture, humanities and education. The 2012 class includes James Drunckman, who developed influential theories of how citizens form political opinions; U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Robert P. Colwell, chief architect of Intel’s Pentium microprocessors; actor Clint Eastwood; Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos; recording artist Paul McCartney; composer Andre Previn; and philanthropist Melinda F. Gates.

Historical members include George Washington, Daniel Webster, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. Current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 17, 2012

News_release:

Karl Y. Hostetler, MD, has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Gertrude Elion Memorial Lecture Award by the International Society of Antiviral Research.  Hostetler is a professor of medicine in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Each year the award is given to a scientist of international repute who has made significant contributions to the field of antiviral research and to mentoring of young scientists. The award will be presented during the International Conference on Antiviral Research in Sapporo, Japan on April 16. 

Karl Hostetler, MD, UC San Diego School of Medicine

“I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Elion at Burroughs Wellcome early in my career while developing an alternate version of AZT,” said Hostetler. “I am deeply gratified to receive the 2012 Gertrude Elion Memorial Award on behalf of myself, my coworkers and the UC San Diego School of Medicine.”

Hostetler is an international expert in the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel orally active antivirals for poxviruses such as smallpox, monkeypox, cowpox, and ectromelia as well as for cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex, and other double stranded DNA viruses.   He has also advanced the discovery and development of high potency antiretrovirals for drug-resistant HIV. 

He is a founder of three biotech companies, Vical Inc., Triangle Pharmaceuticals, and Chimerix Inc., which are dedicated to developing lifesaving drugs in the treatment of serious viral infections and cancer.  Hostetler holds 43 U.S. patents and has published more than 160 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Hostetler’s lecture will recount the discovery of novel antiviral agents using a patented lipid conjugation technique to create AIDS drugs which are more potent, active against a broad range of drug resistant HIV variants, and require infrequent dosing. 

“Dr. Elion discovered acyclovir, the first commercially successful antiviral, for which she received the Nobel Prize in 1988.  The development of this drug was followed by a large number of new antiviral agents which have profoundly improved the treatment of AIDS, hepatitis B and C,” said Hostetler.  

Hostetler received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana in 1961 and his medical degree from the Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland and a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He currently serves as Director of the Endocrinology Clinic at the San Diego VA Medical Center and is an associate member of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 17, 2012

News_release:

New Building is first LEED Gold certified acute care medical facility in San Diego Region
 
The UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center is the first hospital-based project in the region to receive LEED Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).  Representatives from the USGBC – San Diego Chapter recently presented a plaque to the building project and design team.
 
“I am extremely proud of this team and the UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center,” said Randy Leopold, LEED^®AP, director of Health Care Architectural Services, UC San Diego Facilities Design & Construction.  “The design decision we made from the beginning laid the foundation for our being able to pursue LEED certification.  This Gold level certification recognition is the jewel in our crown.”
 

UC San Diego's Randy Leopold and Doug Kot from USGBC-San Diego untie ribbon on LEED plaque at UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center.

LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – promotes a “whole-building” approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in several key areas.  Though the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center project began in 2005, prior to “LEED” guideline establishment, leadership at UC San Diego, along with the design and construction teams, believed in creating a building that was environmentally thoughtful. 
 
The facility design takes full advantage of the movement of the sun with shading devices and massing elements to minimize heat gain and reduce energy consumption.  The design also embraces the idea of blurring the lines between interior and exterior regions, to provide the facility with a “natural” feel that picks up on the stunning geography of the nearby coastal canyons. 
 
“It is no small task to achieve LEED certification after the design of the project was mostly complete,” said Doug Kot, Executive Director of the USGBC- San Diego Chapter.  “This team had established the right goals and accountability and was intuitively on their way toward building sustainability when we started working with them."
 
Kot went on to explain that the indoor environmental quality of UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center makes this building a superior facility for patients and staff.  “This building promotes good health by combining energy conservation techniques with the very best care available and that is what we are here to celebrate in this LEED project,” said Kot.

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 16, 2012

News_release:

Scott M. Lippman, MD, chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center, has accepted the position of director of Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, beginning May 1, 2012.

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, home to nearly 350 medical and radiation oncologists, cancer surgeons, and researchers, is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country.  It is part of UC San Diego Health System, the San Diego region’s only academic health system.

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center director, Scott Lippman, MD.

“As the new director, Lippman will implement strong initiatives for ramping up the research-driven cancer therapy and prevention programs and clinical trials of the Moores Cancer Center,” said David A. Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC San Diego.  “His ultimate goal, and ours, is to facilitate the translation of novel discoveries from our world-class laboratories into personalized therapies.  I am confident that under Dr. Lippman’s leadership, research at Moores Cancer Center will benefit our patients and change standards of care for decades to come.”

Lippman currently holds the Charles A. LeMaistre Distinguished Chair in Thoracic Oncology and is professor of Cancer Medicine and Cancer Prevention at MD Anderson.  Lippman graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, did his internship and residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and had hematology/medical oncology training at Stanford University and the University of Arizona. He is triple board-certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology.

Lippman’s major fields of research are translational/molecular studies of cancer risk, molecular-targeted drug development and personalized therapy, with a long-standing record of funding from the NCI in these research areas, including recently as principal investigator of two program project (P01) grants and a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE). He is also leader of the Lung Cancer Program of the MD Anderson Cancer Center Support Grant and is co-investigator on the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) project involving molecular studies of lung cancer.

Lippman will bring to UC San Diego Health Sciences more than 25 years of experience as principal investigator of translational research involving investigator-initiated clinical trials.  He has participated in the national leadership of clinical/translational research planning and development within the NCI Cooperative Group setting and currently sits on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Trials/Translational Research Advisory Committee. He has served on several cancer center external advisory boards and major-trial steering committees, and has played a leadership role in major AACR and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) committees and programs.

In addition to extensive research and academic administrative responsibilities, Lippman plans to maintain an active clinical practice, including the accrual of new patients to clinical research protocols.  As a clinician, he is well-respected by his peers, with recognition in every major “Top Doctor” listing including recently in the U.S. News Top Doctors. 

Author of more than 300 publications in high-impact journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, PNAS, and The Lancet, and chapters in major medical textbooks, Lippman has received many awards, among them the ASCO-American Cancer Society Award, AACR Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Award, and the ASCO Statesman Award, and he is an elected member of the prestigious Association of American Physicians.

His extensive record of extramural service includes serving on the Food and Drug Administration Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, NIH Clinical Oncology Study Section, and NIH Chemo/Dietary Prevention study section, which he currently chairs.  He has served on the editorial boards of several top-tier, peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer Research, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Journal of Clinical Oncology, and is editor-in-chief of the AACR journal Cancer Prevention Research.  He also has chaired major scientific meetings including AACR and Keystone meetings and has given keynote lectures at major international scientific meetings.  

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 13, 2012

News_release:

On Monday, April 9, Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery at UC San Diego Health System implanted the new FDA-approved LINX device in a 29-year old patient suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a chronic digestive disease that can lead to severe inflammation, stricture, Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer.

Santiago Horgan, MD, implants first LINX device since FDA approval.

“The multi-center clinical trial results clearly showed that the magnetic device is highly effective in treating GERD and the painful burning that results from this progressive condition,” said Horgan, an international expert in treating esophageal disease. “Unlike drugs that suppress stomach acids, this flexible device corrects the anatomy and immediately addresses the actual source of reflux.”

The LINX system is composed of a series of titanium beads, each with a magnetic core, that are connected to form a ring shape. It is implanted at the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a circular band of muscle that closes the last few centimeters of the esophagus and prevents the backward flow of stomach contents.

The LINX device is designed to prevent acid reflux but allow for digestion.

“This device has changed my life,” said Gina Brickell, one of the first recipients of the LINX device. “I suffered from GERD for years. Now I can eat what I want, when I want, and where I want.”

The FDA approved the LINX Reflux Management System in March 2012. Horgan and his surgical team have implanted more than 20 of the devices during the clinical trial phase, representing the most surgeries in the second phase of procedures that led to FDA approval.

The LINX device is an option for patients who do not respond to dietary and lifestyle measures. The device can be placed during a 20-30 minute minimally invasive surgery. Patients may leave the hospital the same day after brief observation.

Click on the above image to watch video of Horgan discussing LINX technique for GERD.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests are prohibited if you have received the LINX Reflux Management System.

The LINX Reflux Management System is manufactured by Torax Medical Inc. in St. Paul, Minn.

To learn more about eligibility for the LINX device at UC San Diego Health System, please call 619-471-0447.

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: April 10, 2012

News_release:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System have shown that elevated pulse pressure may increase the risk of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).  Their study has been published in the early online edition of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease in advance of the June 5 print publication.

The findings may have treatment implications, since some antihypertensive medications specifically address the pulsatile component of blood pressure.  Pulse pressure (PP) – the difference between systolic and diastolic pressure – is one measure of the pulsatile component of blood pressure.  PP increases substantially with age, partially due to hardening of the arteries.

Hypertension is a common risk factor for AD, but the use of antihypertensive medications to prevent dementia has had mixed results.  Most studies examining the effects of blood pressure on the risk of AD have focused on standard measures of blood pressure, the systole and diastole readings.  However, scientists theorized that PP elevation may impair the clearance of beta amyloid – a hallmark of AD – from the brain.  Other studies have suggested that PP elevation may contribute to AD risk indirectly by increasing the risk of CVD.

The researchers, led by Mark W. Bondi, PhD, of VA San Diego Healthcare System and UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry, looked at 65 patients who later met the criteria for AD at autopsy.  These patients were examined before death for relationships among blood pressure and neuropathologic markers.  More than half of them were found, at autopsy, to have CVD. 

“The association between PP and CVD was independent of dementia severity and the presence of other vascular risk factors,” said Bondi. “Interestingly, standard measures of blood pressure were not significantly associated with the presence of CVD.”

The study suggests several conclusions: that elevated blood pressure in older adults with AD is related to CVD but not AD pathology; that CVD may be more closely associated with PP than systolic or diastolic pressure; and that, in AD patients, PP elevation may be influencing cognition through effects on CVD. 

The study’s first author, Daniel A. Nation, PhD, of the VA San Diego Healthcare System, concluded the findings offer possible treatment implications. “Antihypertensive treatments targeting the pulsatile component of blood pressure may reduce the vascular contribution to cognitive impairment in AD patients or in individuals at risk of AD.”

Additional contributors include Lisa Delano-Wood, PhD, Christina E. Wierenga, PhD and Amy J. Jak, PhD, VA San Diego and UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry; Katherine J. Bangen, PhD, UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry; Lawrence A. Hansen, MD, UC San Diego Departments of Neurosciences and Pathology; Douglas R. Galasko, MD, VA San Diego and UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences; and David P. Salmon, PhD, UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences.

The study was supported by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute of Health.

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Media contacts: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu; Cynthia Butler, 858-552-4373, Cynthia.Butler@va.gov

News_Release_Date: April 06, 2012

News_release:

The first atlas of the surface of the human brain based upon genetic information has been produced by a national team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System. The work is published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science.

Genetic clustering map of brain, left lateral view.

The atlas reveals that the cerebral cortex – the sheet of neural tissue enveloping the brain – is roughly divided into genetic divisions that differ from other brain maps based on physiology or function. The genetic atlas provides scientists with a new tool for studying and explaining how the brain works, particularly the involvement of genes.

“Genetics are important to understanding all kinds of biological phenomena,” said William S. Kremen, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and co-senior author with Anders M. Dale, PhD, professor of radiology, neurosciences, and psychiatry, also at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

According to Chi-Hua Chen, PhD, first author and a postdoctoral fellow in the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry, “If we can understand the genetic underpinnings of the brain, we can get a better idea of how it develops and works, information we can then use to ultimately improve treatments for diseases and disorders.”

The human cerebral cortex, characterized by distinctive twisting folds and fissures called sulci, is just 0.08 to 0.16 inches thick, but contains multiple layers of interconnected neurons with key roles in memory, attention, language, cognition and consciousness.

Other atlases have mapped the brain by cytoarchitecture – differences in tissues or function. The new map is based entirely upon genetic information derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 406 adult twins participating in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry (VETSA), an ongoing longitudinal study of cognitive aging supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It follows a related study published last year by Kremen, Dale and colleagues that affirmed the human cortical regionalization is similar to and consistent with patterns found in other mammals, evidence of a common conservation mechanism in evolution. 
 
“We are excited by the development of this new atlas, which we hope will help us understand aging-related changes in brain structure and cognitive function now occurring in the VETSA participants,” said Jonathan W. King, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging, part of the NIH.     

The atlas plots genetic correlations between different points on the cortical surface of the twins’ brains. The correlations represent shared genetic influences and reveal that genetic brain divisions do not map one-to-one with traditional brain divisions that are based on structure and function. “Yet, the pattern of this genetic map still suggests that it is neuroanatomically meaningful,” said Kremen.

Kremen said the genetic brain atlas may be especially useful for scientists who employ genome-wide association studies, a relatively new tool that looks for common genetic variants in people that may be associated with a particular trait, condition or disease.  

Co-authors of the study are Wes Thompson, Matthew S. Panizzon, UCSD Department of Psychiatry; E.D. Gutierrez, UCSD Department of Cognitive Science; Terry L. Jernigan, UCSD departments of Psychiatry and Cognitive Science; Lisa T. Eyler and Amy J. Jak, UCSD Department of Psychiatry and VA San Diego Healthcare System; Christine Fennema-Notestine, UCSD department of Psychiatry and Radiology; Michael C. Neale, Virginia Commonwealth University; Carol E. Franz, UCSD Department of Psychiatry and UCSD Center for Behavioral Genomics; Michael J. Lyons and Michael D. Grant, Boston University; Bruce Fischl, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital; Larry J. Seidman, Harvard Medical School; and Ming T. Tsuang, UCSD Department of Psychiatry, VA San Diego Healthcare System, UCSD Center for Behavioral Genomics.

In addition to the NIH, funding for this research came from the VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health. VETSA is also supported by the VA Cooperative Studies Program.

Disclosure: Anders M. Dale is a founder and equity-holder in CorTechs Laboratories, Inc. and serves on its Scientific Advisory Board.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 29, 2012

News_release:

Katherine Hepburn famously said of her slim physique: “What you see before you is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.” New evidence suggests she may have been right.

Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues present new findings that may overturn the major objection to regular chocolate consumption: that it makes people fat. The study, showing that adults who eat chocolate on a regular basis are actually thinner that those who don’t, will be published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 26.

Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD (right).

The authors dared to hypothesize that modest, regular chocolate consumption might be calorie-neutral –in other words, that the metabolic benefits of eating modest amounts of chocolate might lead to reduced fat deposition per calorie and approximately offset the added calories (thus rendering frequent, though modest, chocolate consumption neutral with regard to weight). To assess this hypothesis, the researchers examined dietary and other information provided by approximately 1000 adult men and women from San Diego, for whom weight and height had been measured.

Click on the photo (above) for video of Golomb discussing this research.

The UC San Diego findings were even more favorable than the researchers conjectured. They found that adults who ate chocolate on more days a week were actually thinner – i.e. had a lower body mass index – than those who ate chocolate less often. The size of the effect was modest but the effect was “significant” –larger than could be explained by chance.  This was despite the fact that those who ate chocolate more often did not eat fewer calories (they ate more), nor did they exercise more. Indeed, no differences in behaviors were identified that might explain the finding as a difference in calories taken in versus calories expended.

“Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight,” said Golomb. “In the case of chocolate, this is good news –both for those who have a regular chocolate habit, and those who may wish to start one.”

Additional contributors to the study include Sabrina Koperski and Halbert L. White, PhD, of UC San Diego. 

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 26, 2012

News_release:

Repeated stress triggers the production and accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates inside the brain cells of mice, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in a new study published in the March 26 Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The aggregates are similar to neurofibrillary tangles or NFTs, modified protein structures that are one of the physiological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Lead author Robert A. Rissman, PhD, assistant professor of neurosciences, said the findings may at least partly explain why clinical studies have found a strong link between people prone to stress and development of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which accounts for up to 95 percent of all AD cases in humans.

“In the mouse models, we found that repeated episodes of emotional stress, which has been demonstrated to be comparable to what humans might experience in ordinary life, resulted in the phosphorylation and altered solubility of tau proteins in neurons,” Rissman said. “These events are critical in the development of NFT pathology in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Exposing mice to 14 days of repeated stress resulted in an accumulation of insoluble phosphorylated tau protein aggregates in brain cells, visualized in this electron micrograph.

The effect was most notable in the hippocampus, said Rissman, a region of the brain linked to the formation, organization and storage of memories. In AD patients, the hippocampus is typically the first region of the brain affected by tau pathology and the hardest-hit, with substantial cell death and shrinkage.

Not all forms of stress are equally threatening. In earlier research, Rissman and colleagues reported that acute stress – a single, passing episode – does not result in lasting, debilitating long lasting changes in accumulation of phosphorylated tau. Acute stress-induced modifications in the cell are transient, he said, and on the whole, probably beneficial.

“Acute stress may be useful for brain plasticity and helping to facilitate learning. Chronic stress and continuous activation of stress pathways may lead to pathological changes in stress circuitry. It may be too much of a good thing.”  As people age, perhaps their neuronal circuits do too, he said, becoming less robust and perhaps less capable of completely rebounding from the effects of stress.

“Age is the primary, known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. It may be that as we age, our neurons just aren’t as plastic as they once were and some succumb.”
  
The researchers observed that stress cues impacted two key corticotropin-releasing factor receptors, suggesting a target for potential therapies. Rissman noted drugs already exist and are in human trials (for other conditions) that modulate the activity of these receptors.

“You can’t eliminate stress. We all need to be able to respond at some level to stressful stimuli. The idea is to use an antagonist molecule to reduce the effects of stress upon neurons. The stress system can still respond, but the response in the brain and hippocampus would be toned down so that it doesn’t result in harmful, permanent damage.”

Co-authors of the paper are Michael A. Staup and Allyson Roe Lee, UCSD Department of Neurosciences; Nicholas J. Justice, Baylor College of Medicine; and Kenner C. Rice NIDA/NIH, Wylie Vale and Paul E. Sawchenko, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

The authors dedicate this work to long time mentor and colleague, Dr. Wylie Vale, whose years of pioneering work deciphering and describing the stress system were fundamental to this paper. Vale passed away earlier this year at the age of 70.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative; the Alzheimer’s Association; the Foundation for Medical Research and the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at UC San Diego.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 26, 2012

News_release:

Genetic studies find dysregulation in pathways that govern development of the prefrontal cortex in young patients with autism

A study led by Eric Courchesne, PhD, director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has, for the first time, identified in young autism patients genetic mechanisms involved in abnormal early brain development and overgrowth that occurs in the disorder.  The findings suggest novel genetic and molecular targets that could lead to discoveries of new prevention strategies and treatment for the disorder. 

Eric Courchesne, PhD, UC San Diego Autism Center for Excellence.

The study to be published on March 22 in PLoS Genetics uncovered differences in gene expression between brain tissue from young (2 to14 years old) and adult individuals with autism syndrome disorder, providing important clues why brain growth and development is abnormal in this disorder.

Courchesne first identified the link between early brain overgrowth and autism in a landmark study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2003.  Next, he tested the possibility that brain overgrowth might result from an abnormal excess of brain cells.  In November 2011, his study, also published in JAMA, discovered a 67 percent excess of brain cells in a major region of the brain, the prefrontal cortex – a part of the brain associated with social, communication and cognitive development.

“Our next step was to see whether there might be abnormalities of genetic functioning in that same region that might give us insight into why there are too many cells and why that specific region does not develop normally in autism,” said Courchesne.

In the new study, the researchers looked towards genes for answers, and showed that genetic mechanisms that normally regulate the number of cortical neurons are abnormal. “The genes that control the number of brain cells did not have the normal functional expression, and the level of gene expression that governs the pattern of neural organization across the prefrontal cortex is turned down.  There are abnormal numbers and patterns of brain cells, and subsequently the pattern is disturbed,” Courchesne said. “This probably leads to too many brain cells in some locations, such as prefrontal cortex, but perhaps too few in other regions of cortex as well.”

In addition, the scientists discovered a turning down of the genetic mechanisms responsible for detecting DNA defects and correcting or removing affected cells during periods of rapid prenatal development.

Autism is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder, yet the genetic underpinnings in the brain at young ages have remained largely unknown.  Until now, few studies have been able to investigate whole-genome gene expression and genotype variation in the brains of young patients with autism, especially in regions such as the prefrontal cortex that display the greatest growth abnormality.

Scientists – including co-first authors Maggie Chow, PhD, and Tiziano Pramparo, PhD, at UC San Diego – identified abnormal brain gene expression patterns using whole-genome analysis of mRNA levels and copy number variations from 33 autistic and control postmortem brain samples.  They found evidence of dysregulation in the pathways that govern cell number, cortical patterning and cell differentiation in the young autistic prefrontal cortex.  In contrast, in adult patients with autism, the study found that this area of the brain shows dysregulation of signaling and repair pathways.

“Our results indicate that gene expression abnormalities change across the lifespan in autism, and that dysregulated processes in the developing brain of autistic patients differ from those detected at adult ages,” said Courchesne. “The dysregulated genetic pathways we found at young ages in autism may underlie the excess of neurons – and early brain overgrowth – associated with this disorder.”

Additional contributors include co-senior authors Nicholas J. Schork, PhD, biostatistician at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, professor of pediatrics at UC San Francisco; Mary E. Winn and Sarah Murray, The Scripps Research Institute; Lauren Weiss and Haim Belinson, UC San Francisco; Jian-Bing Fan and Craig April, Illumina, Inc.; Cynthia Carter Barnes, Hai-Ri Li and Xiang-Dong Fu, UC San Diego.

The research was supported by funds from the Simons Foundation, The Peter Emch Family Foundation, Autism Speaks, the Thursday Club Juniors and the UCSD-NIH Autism Center of Excellence.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 22, 2012

News_release:

15 Years of Healing San Diego’s Underserved
 
On Saturday, March 31, the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project will host its annual fundraiser and awards ceremony. The event will be held at the UC San Diego Price Center Ballroom on the La Jolla campus. Funds raised during this event help provide free medical, dental, pharmacy, acupuncture, legal and social services  to San Diego’s working poor and homeless. More than 2,000 San Diegans rely on its comprehensive integrative health services every year. 

Ellen Beck, MD, UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project.

“For more than 15 years, the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project has helped people of all ages and backgrounds access high-quality health care, regardless of their ability to pay,” said Ellen Beck, MD, clinical professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “The patients we assist have fallen through the gaps in San Diego’s ragged safety net and cannot afford health insurance.”
 
The Student-Run Free Clinic Project is run by 200 UC San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences students under the supervision of 100 licensed professionals including physicians, pharmacists, dentists, lawyers and social workers. The project has four clinical sites throughout the region: Baker Elementary in Southeast San Diego, First Lutheran Church Downtown, Pacific Beach United Methodist Church, and Golden Avenue Elementary in Lemon Grove. 

“Since our launch in 1997, we have had the support of incredible community partners, a passionate group of students and the blessing of the UC San Diego School of Medicine,” said Beck. “On our first night, in the basement of a church, we saw 10 patients. The number has grown and grown.”

Click on the above photo to watch video of the clinic in action.

Since its inception, more than 35,000 clinic visits have taken place offering transdisciplinary health care services, including specialty care for cardiovascular, ophthalmologic and psychiatric needs. Prescriptions, lab work, and related services are available at no charge. More than 85 percent of the patients have chronic conditions in need of ongoing care.

“It is important to point out that this is underserved medicine, not charity care,” said Beck. “For example, our dental services are not poverty dentistry where teeth are pulled, but restorative. We believe that toothlessness leads to joblessness, so we provide solutions like dentures that take care of the medical need and improve a person’s employment opportunities.”

The Student-Run Free Clinic Project serves as a model of care for other U.S. cities. The program runs an onsite Fellowship in Underserved Health Care, the first in the country. More than 140 faculty and health professionals have completed the national training and started more than 15 other student-run free clinic projects across the country.

“The medical students are taught a humanistic approach to care,” said Beck. “This is a mindset that they use every day and we hope will carry into their future medical practices. We teach them how to preserve their passion and sense of respect for all patients. All you have to do is see the students in action to know that they are exceptional in their approach.”
 
Beck said that the greatest challenge for the Student-Run Free Clinic Project is that operational expenses have increased while previously  available funding from federal and state sources have decreased. Beck estimates that the clinic provides the community an equivalent of $1.6 million in free medications, and several million in donated services.
 
“Many of the families who come to us are in crisis or on the verge of homelessness. Some are simply struggling financially and need help with basic health needs. We are here to serve all, but need the support of the community to do so.”
 
Beck is a recipient of the 2010 James Irvine Foundation Leadership award. She was recently honored as a WebMD Magazine 2011 Health Hero.
 
For more information on the fundraising dinner and award celebration on March 31, please call 858-534-6160 or visit http://meded.ucsd.edu/freeclinic/benefit_dinner.php

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 22, 2012

News_release:

Only academic facility on West Coast to receive certification

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center has one of the first oncology practices in the nation to be recognized by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI^®) Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).  The QOPI^® Certification Program is a new initiative to certify oncology practices that meet rigorous standards for high-quality cancer care. 

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

“This award shows our commitment to voluntarily participating in a program that certifies the quality of cancer care at Moores Cancer Center,” said Barbara Parker, MD, medical director, Oncology Services, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.  “We value peer-review certification and understand the benefits of using standardized processes to improve the quality of care for our patients.”

QOPI is a voluntary, self-assessment and improvement program launched by ASCO in 2006 to help hematology-oncology and medical oncology practices assess the quality of the care they provide to patients. Through the QOPI program, practices abstract data from patients’ records up to twice per year and enter this information into a secure database. UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is one of 23 academic and community centers receiving the inaugural certification. More than 580 oncology practices have registered in the QOPI program.
 
“Increasingly educated patients and families demand accountability and the highest standards from cancer care providers,” said Douglas W. Blayney, MD, immediate past president of ASCO. “The QOPI certification will allow oncologists in the community to be at the forefront of cancer care, and to be recognized for their quality. The Certification Program will help practices determine whether they are providing the best treatment and care possible to their patients, and demonstrates a commitment to excellence and ongoing quality improvement in the hematology-oncology outpatient practice.” 

“UC San Diego Health System is focusing on quality as an institutional initiative,” said Steven Plaxe, MD, PhD, director, Gynecologic Oncology and chair of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center’s Quality Committee.  “For our oncology practice to be recognized by the distinguished leadership of ASCO for our initiatives confirms that we are providing excellent cancer care.”

QOPI analyzes individual practice data and compares these to more than 80 evidence-based and consensus quality measures. The information is then provided in reports to participating practices.  Individual practices are also able to compare their performance to data from other practices across the country. Based on this feedback, doctors and practices can identify areas for improvement.  

The QOPI Certification Program provides a three-year certification for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet standards for quality cancer care.

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 19, 2012

News_release:

Becker’s Hospital Review issues annual list of 70 “great” hospitals and health systems

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is the only San Diego hospital to be featured in Becker’s Hospital Review list of “70 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Oncology Programs.” The full list in available online: www.beckershospitalreview.com

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

“We are pleased to be listed with our nation’s very best cancer centers,” said Thomas Kipps, MD, PhD.  “Moores Cancer Center is truly motivated to provide the best of both worlds – cancer research and the ability to bring the most advanced and most effective treatments directly to the bedside.”

According to review editors for Becker's Hospital Review, the hospitals and health systems on the list are “considered leaders in cutting-edge cancer treatment, prevention and research” and were chosen “based on clinical accolades, quality care and contributions to the field of oncology.”  Ten California hospitals made the list, five of which are University of California based medical centers.

To develop the list, Becker’s analyzed data from sources including The U.S. News & World Report, HealthGrades, American Nurses Credentialing Center, the National Cancer Institute and the American College of Surgeons. After examining national rankings and reviews, the editorial team performed additional research into each hospital. The result is a list of 70 hospitals from around the country that have demonstrated “continual innovation in treatments and services, patient-centered care, and the achievement of clinical milestones and groundbreaking discoveries.”

According to the editors, “(These) hospitals and systems serve as anchors of health within their community by providing cutting-edge oncology treatment and groundbreaking research. Though these hospitals may differ in size or location, everyone has expressed the vision to eliminate cancer and is working vehemently towards that goal.”

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 16, 2012

News_release:

Brain stimulation surgery for patients with Parkinson’s disease; promoting liver health on a national level; leading one of the nation’s top ALS clinics; and designing a law that protects the rights of students with epilepsy: these are significant reasons why four UC San Diego School of Medicine doctors were honored during the 18th annual Combined Health Agencies Health Hero Awards breakfast on March 15 at The Prado in Balboa Park.

Each year, the Combined Health Agencies’ 24 health non-profit members each choose a person or company that works daily to improve the lives of local residents affected by chronic illness. This year, four winners who were recognized were UC San Diego physicians David Barba, MD, Rohit Loomba, MD, William Mobley, MD, PhD, and Howard Taras, MD.

Since 2005, Barba, clinical professor of surgery in the Division of Neurological Surgery at UC San Diego Health System, has been involved with the Parkinson’s Association of San Diego. He routinely performs brain stimulation surgery on many patients with Parkinson’s disease and has demonstrated his leadership by organizing a sold-out patient symposium securing top quality speakers in the field. Barba is currently establishing a UC San Diego system for those working on Parkinson’s research to be in direct contact with each other.

The American Liver Foundation considers Loomba, assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, a collaborative partner as he serves on the National Board of Directors, and the non-profit local Speakers Bureau promoting prevention and care.

As Chair of the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Mobley garners national support from physicians and clinicians to join the UC San Diego ALS and Motor Neuron Treatment and Research Center team to raise the level of care and treatment of patients with ALS in San Diego. Through Mobley’s reputation and expertise, the ALS Clinic is quickly becoming known as a place where patients can receive the best care possible in their fight against what is commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Taras, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Child Development and Community Health, is being recognized by the Epilepsy Foundation for his instrumental work in the passing of SB 161, a bill signed into law in 2011 that protects the rights of students with epilepsy. He has testified numerous times at California State Legislative hearings and spent hundreds of hours educating legislators and the public about the issue of emergency seizure rescue medications. Through this legislation, life-saving medication can be administered to students at school to prevent further brain damage or death.

“We are humbled by the service of these physicians and grateful to have UC San Diego Health System in our community,” said Susan Day, president of Combined Health Agencies.

This year’s event is possible by the generous support of community sponsors UC San Diego Health System, PhRMA, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, BIOCOM, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, Sonnenberg & Company CPAs, and The San Diego Business Journal.

Combined Health Agencies has been United Way's health partner in the United Way/CHAD Campaign since 1974. As a federation of 24 local health charities, Combined Health Agencies is focused on improving the quality of life for individuals and families who are faced with chronic health conditions.

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Media Contact: Melanie Peters, 619-543-6163, mopeters@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 15, 2012

News_release:

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and The University of Minnesota indicates that a parent’s weight change is a key contributor to the success of a child’s weight loss in family-based treatment of childhood obesity.  The results were published today in the advanced online edition of the journal Obesity.

“We looked at things such as parenting skills and styles, or changing the home food environment, and how they impacted a child’s weight,” said Kerri N. Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at UC San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.  “The number one way in which parents can help an obese child lose weight?  Lose weight themselves.  In this study, it was the most important predictor of child weight loss.”

Recent data suggests that 31 percent of children in the United States are overweight or obese, or between four and five million children.  Current treatment programs generally require participation by both parents and children in a plan that combines nutrition education and exercise with behavior therapy techniques.

“Parents are the most significant people in a child’s environment, serving as the first and most important teachers,” said Boutelle “They play a significant role in any weight-loss program for children, and this study confirms the importance of their example in establishing healthy eating and exercise behaviors for their kids.”

The researchers looked at eighty parent-child groups with an 8 to 12-year-old overweight or obese child, who participated in a parent-only or parent + child treatment program for five months. 

The study focused on evaluating the impact of three types of parenting skills taught in family-based behavioral treatment for childhood obesity, and the impact of each on the child’s body weight: the parent modeling behaviors to promote their own weight loss, changes in home food environment, and parenting style and techniques (for example, a parent’s ability to help limit the child’s eating behavior, encouraging the child and participating in program activities).

Consistent with previously published research, parent BMI change was the only significant predictor of child’s weight loss. 

The researchers concluded that clinicians should focus on encouraging parents to lose weight to help their overweight or obese child in weight management.

For more information about weight loss programs for children and adolescents at UC San Diego, visit www.obesitytreatment.ucsd.edu or email Kidsweight@ucsd.edu.

Additional contributors to the study include Guy Cafri, UCSD Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, and Scott J. Crown, University of Minnesota. 

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 14, 2012

News_release:

Tracking the genetic pathway of a disease offers a powerful, new approach to drug discovery, according to scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine who used the approach to uncover a potential treatment for prostate cancer, using a drug currently marketed for congestive heart failure. Their findings are published in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The science of genomics – the study of all of the genes in a person and how these genes interact with each other and the environment – has revealed many fundamental aspects of biology, including the mechanisms of diseases like cancer. But it has not yet been truly exploited to find new medicines to treat those diseases,” said Xiang-Dong Fu, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular medicine and senior author of the PNAS paper.

Fu, with colleagues at UC San Diego and elsewhere, describe a unique screening strategy that compares genes associated with specific disease phenotypes (traits) with small molecules capable of intervening with disease-linked gene-expression events. The high-throughput process, capable of analyzing large numbers of genes and drugs simultaneously, emphasizes investigation of the entire genetic pathway of the disease against a large set of internal controls, rather than its limited phenotype or any particular molecular or cellular target.

Historically, drug discovery has been driven by phenotype- or target-based methodologies.

“For 50 years, the standard phenotype approach emphasized the final outcome without worrying about the mechanism,” said Fu. “The process has produced some very good drugs, but researchers often didn’t know exactly how or why the drug worked. Aspirin is an example. It’s been around for more than a century, but we still don’t understand the mechanism in great detail.”

More recently, many drug designers have focused upon targeting particular components of a disease, such as a vital molecule or receptor involved in the pathogenic process. The approach has a stronger, more rational scientific basis, said Fu, but remains beset by two fundamental difficulties: “You can create a drug that disrupts a specific disease target, but you also run the risk of causing unforeseen, adverse side effects that might be worse than the disease. Second, there are many places inside of a cell that are essentially ‘undruggable.’ They are difficult, if not impossible, to intervene with.”

The new approach attempts to avoid these problems by emphasizing investigation of the genetic pathways associated with disease processes and how they might be altered to produce a healthful benefit.

“The idea is to identify the genetic troublemakers associated with a disease and then find a way to contain them, not crush them,” said Fu. “No gene was ever designed to cause disease. The goal is to find new drugs or ways to convert these genes or the affected cells back to a normal state. In many disease paradigms, you don’t want to kill cells. You want to modify them to become healthy again.”

While the idea of conducting multi-target screenings is not new, the technology to do so has been limited.  Deep sequencing, said Fu, is ideally suited for the purpose.  

To illustrate the efficacy of their high-throughput, gene-sequencing approach, Fu and colleagues applied the strategy to prostate cancer, which sometimes becomes resistant to standard antiandrogen hormone therapy. The scientists found that Peruvoside, a cardiac glycoside, strongly inhibits both androgen-sensitive and androgen-resistant prostate cancer cells without triggering severe side effects. Interestingly, a related cardiac glycoside called Digoxin has been used to treat congestive heart failure. A large epidemiological study found protective effects against prostate cancer on patients treated with Digoxin, compared to control cohorts.

“High-throughput genetic sequencing and screening allows you to look deeply into cells and analyze millions of molecules at the same time. The technology is constantly improving and getting cheaper. We think it’s a promising strategy for drug discovery,” said Fu. 

Co-authors include Hairi Li, Dong Wang, Jinsong Qiu, Yu Zhou, UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Hongyan Zhou and Sheng Ding, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease; Xianqiang Li, Signosis, Inc.; and Michael G. Rosenfeld, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCSD Department of Medicine.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 13, 2012

News_release:

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder. 

Botox injections paralyze the bladder muscle to prevent contractions that cause urgency to urinate or leak.  Although medications and behavioral modifications are treatment options, many patients, especially the elderly, do not respond to these methods and need a more aggressive approach.

Charles Nager, MD, co-director of the UC San Diego Women’s Pelvic Medicine Center at UC San Diego Health System.

“About 80 percent of patients with neurological conditions, such as spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, see improvement after about a week, and the results can last four to nine months,” said Charles Nager, MD, co-director of the UC San Diego Women’s Pelvic Medicine Center at UC San Diego Health System.

Incontinence is the seventh condition, including chronic migraines and underarm sweating, that Botox has been approved to treat since the drug first arrived on the market as a wrinkle reducer in 2002. 

The outpatient procedure uses a local numbing gel, followed by 15 to 20 injections in different areas of the bladder muscle. 

“It can really be life changing for someone with severe incontinence issues,” said Nager who also serves as director of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at UC San Diego. 

UC San Diego Health System is currently recruiting for a clinical trial to test Botox injections versus sacral nerve stimulation as incontinence treatment options.

Sacral nerve stimulation uses small, electrical impulses to the nerves that control urination.  The impulses are generated by a small device surgically placed under the skin.  Attached to the device is a thin, electrode-tipped wire that passes under the patient’s skin, carrying impulses to the sacral nerve.  The surgery is an outpatient procedure done under local anesthesia.

Patients involved in the clinical trial are required to have tried two drugs that previously failed to treat their incontinence issues. 

For more information on the upcoming clinical trial, please visit: health.ucsd.edu/clinicaltrials

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 13, 2012

News_release:

Might the “Twinkie defense” have a scientific foundation after all? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown – by each of a range of measures, in men and women of all ages, in Caucasians and minorities – that consumption of dietary trans fatty acids (dTFAs) is associated with irritability and aggression.

The study of nearly 1,000 men and women provides the first evidence linking dTFAs with adverse behaviors that impacted others, ranging from impatience to overt aggression. The research, led by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor in the UC San Diego Department of Medicine, has been published online by PLoS ONE.

Dietary trans fatty acids are primarily products of hydrogenation, which makes unsaturated oils solid at room temperature. They are present at high levels in margarines, shortenings and prepared foods.  Adverse health effects of dTFAs have been identified in lipid levels, metabolic function, insulin resistance, oxidation, inflammation, and cardiac health.

The UC San Diego team used baseline dietary information and behavioral assessments of 945 adult men and women to analyze the relationship between dTFAs and aggression or irritability.  The survey measured such factors as a life history of aggression, conflict tactics and self-rated impatience and irritability, as well as an “overt aggression” scale that tallies recent aggressive behaviors. Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, education, and use of alcohol or tobacco products.

“We found that greater trans fatty acids were significantly associated with greater aggression, and were more consistently predictive of aggression and irritability, across the measures tested, than the other known aggression predictors that were assessed,” said Golomb. “If the association between trans fats and aggressive behavior proves to be causal, this adds further rationale to recommendations to avoid eating trans fats, or including them in foods provided at institutions like schools and prisons, since the detrimental effects of trans fats may extend beyond the person who consumes them to affect others.”

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 13, 2012

News_release:

Patients seeking a weight-loss surgery that does not require an implanted device or permanent change to their anatomy, have a new clinical trial option at UC San Diego Health System. Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery, and his team, now offer gastric plication, a novel surgery that folds the stomach into a smaller, more compact size.

Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery, UC San Diego Health System.

“This minimally invasive surgery is a new choice for patients who are more than 30 pounds overweight,” said Horgan, director of the UC San Diego Bariatric Metabolic Institute. “By folding the stomach, we can reduce the volume by 70 percent. Patients can expect to lose up to 2 pounds per week following the procedure.”

Horgan compares gastric plication, a way to fold the stomach into a new functional form, to the art of origami. Gastric plication is potentially reversible and is performed laparoscopically. During a one-hour procedure, one to five small incisions are made in the abdomen to reach the stomach to place the folds. Depending on the size of the patient’s stomach, one or two folds are created with non-absorbable sutures.

Click here to watch video of the surgery.

Horgan’s team now offers gastric plication for weight loss.

“After surgery, with a smaller stomach size, a patient feels fuller faster and is likely to have an actual decrease in appetite,” said Horgan. “If, for some reason, we need to return the stomach to its original size, we can do so. Also, since the patient’s anatomy is not rerouted, the patient does not have severe food restrictions.”

Horgan said that, in addition to weight loss, many surgery patients see an associated benefit in reducing their blood pressure, diabetes and depression medications. These long-term results are a product of a combination of surgery, healthy eating and exercise.

Horgan is a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of obesity.

Gastric plication offers a short hospitalization of one to two days with a return to normal activities in one week. Candidates must have a BMI of at least 27.

The UC San Diego Bariatric Metabolic Institute is dedicated to the science of developing and offering an array of surgical and non-surgical weight loss techniques that are customized to the patient’s individual needs. A team of internationally recognized surgeons and specialists provide patients a comprehensive long-term plan to improve their health and lifestyle. Learn more at bmi.ucsd.edu.

This clinical trial surgery was performed by Horgan as well as Garth Jacobsen, MD, and Nikolai A. Bildzukewicz, MD, of UC San Diego Health System.

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 09, 2012

News_release:

Researchers Say Results Show Need for Additional Breastfeeding Support and Education

Researchers at the California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) Pregnancy Health Information Line, a statewide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have found women exposed to certain antidepressants during pregnancy were significantly less likely to breastfeed their babies compared to unexposed women. The results of the study were recently published online in The Journal of Human Lactation.

The study uses data obtained by counselors at the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line, a toll-free service offering evidence-based clinical information about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding.  It focused on 466 pregnant women who contacted the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line over a ten year period with questions about a wide variety of exposures and, after being counseled, agreed to participate in a follow-up study of their pregnancy outcome.

The study specifically examines breastfeeding choices of women exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants at the time of delivery, compared to those who discontinued use of antidepressants earlier in pregnancy, as well as to those women who report not taking antidepressants at all. The results showed women exposed to an SSRI anytime in pregnancy were about 60 percent less likely to initiate breastfeeding than women who took no antidepressant.

“While the benefits of breastfeeding an infant are very clear, this study suggests that women who are taking antidepressants in pregnancy are not engaging in this behavior as often as we would like to see,” said Christina Chambers PhD, MPH, professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, CTIS program director, and co-author of the study. “Whether this is due to the mother’s fear of harming her baby by breastfeeding while taking the medication, or due to the mother’s depression itself is unclear.” According to Chambers, regardless of the reason for breastfeeding choice, the study suggests that women who have depressive disorders and/or take antidepressants in pregnancy may require additional encouragement and support when making the choice to breastfeed an infant.
 
Questions or concerns about antidepressants or any other exposure during pregnancy or breastfeeding can be directed to the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line at 800-532-3749 or via instant message counseling at CTISPregnancy.org. Outside of California, please call the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) at 866-626-6847.

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Media Contact: Nicole Chavez, 858-246-1745, ncchavez@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 08, 2012

News_release:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of Cincinnati, and American Life Science Pharmaceuticals of San Diego have validated the protease cathepsin B (CatB) as a target for improving memory deficits and reducing the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in an animal model representative of most AD patients.  The study has been published in the online edition of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

According to investigator Vivian Y. H. Hook, PhD, professor of the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and professor of neurosciences, pharmacology and medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine, the study is important because it could lead to new therapeutics that improve the memory deficits of AD.

Abnormal accumulation of brain amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) is thought to cause the memory loss and amyloid plaque pathology of AD.  Aβ peptides are “cut” out from a larger protein called the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by an enzymatic “scissor” called β-secretase, and aggregate to form plaques in the brain regions responsible for memory.  Inhibiting the β-secretase “scissors” from “cutting” the APP with a drug would reduce brain Aβ levels and thereby improve memory deficits and reduce amyloid plaque pathology.  The vast majority of AD patients have wild-type (WT) β-secretase activity and thus the WT β-secretase has been a target of great interest for a long time.

Another protease, BACE1, has long been thought to be the β-secretase involved in AD pathology, because deleting that gene from animal models reduces brain Aβ and plaque pathology.  However, deleting the BACE1 gene was reported to make memory deficits worse in a transgenic model having WT β-secretase activity.

Hook and colleagues set off to find a WT β-secretase target, which improves memory deficits while reducing amyloid plaque pathology.  In the current paper, the researchers show that CatB is such a target because deleting that gene in a transgenic mouse model having WT β-secretase activity improves memory deficits and reduces amyloid plaque, which develop in this model, mimicking that found in AD.  In contrast, deleting the BACE1 gene in that transgenic model had no effect on memory deficits or pathology. 

Co-authors of the study were Gregory Hook, PhD, of American Life Science Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, and Mark Kindy of the Medical University of South Carolina, as well as the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, and Applied Neurotechnology, Inc., in Charleston, SC; Jin Yu and Hong Zhu, Medical University of South Carolina; and Salim S. El-Amouri, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati.

G. Hook is an employee and has equity in American Life Science Pharmaceuticals (ALSP); V. Hook is chair of ALSP’s scientific advisory board and holds equity in the company, and Kindy holds equity in Applied Neurotechnology, relationships disclosed to their institutions.

The study was supported in part by grants from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Association.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 07, 2012

News_release:

Silencing it impairs tumor growth, making ROR1 a potential therapeutic target

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center has identified a novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells – but not normal adult tissues – that could provide a new target for future anti-cancer drugs and treatments.

Thomas Kipps, MD, PhD

Led by Thomas J. Kipps, MD, PhD, Evelyn and Edwin Tasch Chair in Cancer Research and Interim Director of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, the scientists found that the tumor cells of patients with breast cancer frequently express the Receptor-tyrosine-kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1, or ROR1.  They found that silencing expression of ROR1 impaired the growth and survival of human breast cancer cells.  The findings are published in the March 5 online issue of PLoS One.

ROR1 was first identified in the early 1990s and labeled an orphan receptor because its purpose was unknown. Subsequent work found that ROR1 is expressed at high levels during embryogenesis, during which time it plays an important role in regulating embryonic muscle and skeletal development. During fetal development, however, the expression of this protein is turned off.  Normal cells and tissues in adults do not typically express ROR1.

Cancer cells, however, are a different matter.

“Cancer cells tend to acquire features of less differentiated cells,” said Kipps, interim director of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and a professor of medicine in the UC San Diego School of Medicine. “They often can be found to have features of embryonic cells.”

In recent years, Kipps and others have become increasingly interested in the role of ROR1 plays in the growth of cancer – and whether the protein might provide new options for stopping development of the disease. In 2008, for example, Kipps and colleagues reported that patients with leukemia treated with whole-cell vaccines could generate antibodies that reacted with their leukemia cells and the leukemia cells of other patients, but not with normal cells.  They identified that such antibodies could target ROR1, accounting for the specificity of these antibodies in reacting with cancer cells.  They identified another protein that could interact with ROR1 to stimulate the growth and/or survival of leukemia cells and that antibodies generated against ROR1 could block this function.

The discovery that ROR1 functions similarly in breast cancer heightens hopes. When the protein was silenced in human breast cancer cells, the cancer cells had slower rates of growth in the laboratory and in animal studies.

“There was a qualitative difference,” said Kipps. “When ROR1 was knocked down, it took away some of the growth advantage enjoyed by cancer cells. Their capacity to survive also was impaired.  This could affect the capacity of the cancer cells to survive treatment with other anti-cancer agents or generate tumors altogether.”

The researchers report that expression levels of ROR1 correlate with the severity of at least some forms of breast cancer. The most aggressive cancers were the ones more likely to express ROR1. “That suggests ROR1 could be a good target for treating the most aggressive kinds of breast cancer, particularly the ones that lack expression of hormone receptors or the marker HER2/neu, which already can be targeted by monoclonal antibodies,” Kipps said.

The discovery of ROR1’s role in both blood and breast cancers also suggests it might have a similar function in other forms of cancer, a possibility Kipps said researchers will pursue.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.

Co-authors of the paper are Suping Zhang, Liguang Chen, Bing Cui, Han-Yu Chuang, Jianqiang Yu, Jessica Wang-Rodriguez, Li Tang, George Chen and Grzegorz W. Basak, all at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

The article can be found online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031127

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 05, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego Telemedicine partners with Tri-City Medical Center NICU

An innovative telemedicine program connecting neonatal specialists from UC San Diego Medical Center and Tri-City Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will allow experts to collaborate, diagnose and treat some of San Diego County’s tiniest, most difficult cases.  Using a real-time, two-way audio/video connection will – in many situations – eliminate the need for Tri-City to transport their patients. However, in cases where further care is needed, this program allows for coordinated care and a transfer to the NICU at UC San Diego Medical Center.

Frank Mannino, MD, discusses this innovation in patient care (click photo to watch).

“This partnership allows us to produce a faster diagnosis and better chance for our hospital’s youngest and most vulnerable patients to continue to be cared for close to home and loved ones,” explained Hamid Movahhedian, MD, FAAP, Tri-City NICU Medical Director, chief, division of Neonatology, and vice chair of Pediatrics.
 
“In addition to allowing earlier diagnoses, we will be able to use this program in a host of ongoing educational programs, and support UC San Diego Health System’s and Tri-City Medical Center’s goal of continuously improving the overall quality of patient care,” said Neil Finer, MD, director of Neonatal Medicine, UC San Diego Health System. “We look forward to a close and productive working relationship with Tri-City Medical Center.”

The innovative telemedicine program is the first of its kind in the San Diego region allowing physicians, nursing staff and other health care professionals to collaboratively participate in cutting edge care of these patients and families, as well as learn various diagnoses first hand by participating in the live video stream.

Since 2009, UC San Diego’s enterprise-wide telemedicine program has fostered discussions with in-house specialists and specialty departments, as well as interested partners in the county, state, national and world-wide health care community who need subspecialty consultative care.  A key feature of the program is that its core workflow, checklists and deployment strategies can be integrated into most any UC San Diego department’s clinical strategic plan. 

“The power of telemedicine is extraordinary, allowing our NICU specialists to be available at a moment’s notice to help provide expert care for these smallest and most fragile of patients.  We are ecstatic to be part of the solution for such a critical care need,” explained Brett C. Meyer, MD, medical director of UC San Diego’s enterprise-wide Telemedicine Program “When a complex case arises our partners at Tri-City can request a consult and can contact us using the camera system.  Our specialists can not only contribute to the care, but with telemedicine they are, in essence, virtually present in the room with the patient to render assistance.”

The NICU at Tri-City Medical Center cares for 500 to 600 premature infants each year in its 20-bed nursery, the largest in North County. Opened in 1986, it is the only Level III NICU in North County, providing the highest level of neonatal care and most advanced technology available in the region.

The partnership is made possible through Proposition 1D Bond funds awarded to UC San Diego which will cover telemedicine equipment costs and maintenance.   A grant from Tri-City Hospital Foundation will cover credentialing expenses for UC San Diego physicians participating in the program.

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Media Contacts: Kim Edwards, UC San Diego Health System, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu; Tarcy Connors, Tri-City Medical Center, 760-492-3333, ConnorsTR@TCMC.com  

News_Release_Date: March 02, 2012

News_release:

March 10 Conference Honors National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

In observance of National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the UC San Diego AIDS Research Institute (ARI) and Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) are sponsors of “A Woman’s Voice/Una Voz de Mujer,” San Diego’s annual women’s HIV/AIDS conference.

The event will take place on Saturday, March 10 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, and is presented by the CARE Partnership, a collaboration of San Diego-area HIV/AIDS service providers and community members.

“A Woman’s Voice/Una Voz de Mujer” is free to women living with HIV/AIDS and $50 for all others.  It is the only local conference focusing on HIV-positive women and their families, reaching more than 200 women with medical updates, educational workshops, and presentations specific to women and HIV/AIDS.

“We are proud to continue our sponsorship of ‘A Woman’s Voice,’” said Douglas D. Richman, MD, director of the ARI and CFAR. “By supporting this nurturing and stigma-free environment, we believe that essential conversations can begin, testing strategies can be improved, and the ratio of HIV-positive women who know their status and are in excellent care will be increased. “

Community member Acintia Wright, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1995, attended the conference in the past and plans on attending again this year.

“What I like most about the conference is seeing the people who have come through this journey and can still smile about life,” said Wright. “It’s inspiring to see the collaboration of agencies with booths of information all around the conference. I love the educational workshops that are held throughout the day, and the service we receive is so uplifting.”

AIDS is now the leading cause of death among African-American women ages 25 to 44 and the fifth leading cause of death for all women in this age group. For more information, including registration information, call 619-702-4186.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 02, 2012

News_release:

Improvements seen in patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes in initial study

A small clinical trial led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) found that patients with advanced heart failure and  type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate. 

The results of this initial study has led to the implementation of larger, placebo-controlled clinical trial at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VASDHS to assess if patients with heart failure and diabetes show improvement in their exercise capacity when treated with epicatechin-rich cocoa.

The study published this week by the journal Clinical and Translational Science looked at five profoundly ill patients with major damage to skeletal muscle mitochondria. Mitochondria are structures responsible for most of the energy produced in cells.  These “fuel cells” are dysfunctional as a result of both type 2 diabetes and heart failure, leading to abnormalities in skeletal muscle. In patients with heart failure and diabetes abnormalities in both the heart and skeletal muscle result in impaired functional capacity.  These patients often complain of shortness of breath, lack of energy and have difficulty walking even short distances.  

The trial participants consumed dark chocolate bars and a beverage with a total epicatechin content of approximately 100 mg per day for three months.  Biopsies of skeletal muscle were conducted before and after treatment. After the three-month treatment, the researchers looked at changes in mitochondria volume and the abundance of cristae, which are internal compartments of mitochondria that are necessary for efficient function of the mitochondria, and measurable by electron microscopy.

“The cristae had been severely damaged and decreased in quantity in these patients,” said one of the senior investigators, Francisco J. Villarreal, MD, PhD of UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. “After three months, we saw recovery – cristae numbers back toward normal levels, and increases in several molecular indicators involved in new mitochondria production.”

The results, which mimicked earlier studies showing improvement in skeletal and heart muscle function in animal models after treatment with epicatechin, were promising enough to prompt the larger study.

The principal investigator of this trial was Pam R. Taub, MD, assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego and the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Taub will be leading the new clinical trial at UC San Diego that will enroll normal sedentary subjects as well as patients with heart failure/diabetes who will be treated with placebo, or epicatechin-rich chocolate.

Patients who would like more information about the clinical trial can call 858-552-8585, extension 3866.

Additional contributors to the published study include Israel Ramirez-Sanchez, PhD, Theodore P. Ciaraldi, PhD, Alan S. Maisel, MD, and Robert R. Henry, MD, UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Health System; Guy Perkins, PhD, Anne N. Murphy, PhD, Robert Naviaux, MD, PhD and Michael Hogan, PhD, UC San Diego School of Medicine; and Guillermo Ceballos, MD, PhD, Escuela Superior de Medicina del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City.

The study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, American College of Cardiology and The Hershey Company.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 02, 2012

News_release:

Directly injected viral vector, Toca 511, is designed to spread through brain cancer cells and kill them while leaving healthy cells unharmed

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers and surgeons are among the first in the nation to treat patients with recurrent brain cancer by directly injecting an investigational viral vector into their tumor. The treatment is being developed by a local San Diego Company, Tocagen Inc.

The Toca 511 virus replicates by budding and spreads through tumor tissue.

“This clinical trial targets glioblastoma – one of the deadliest forms of brain tumor,” said principal investigator Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, director of neuro-oncology in the Moores Cancer Center and in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego.  “Clinical trials of investigational therapies such as this may lead to new treatment options for patients battling this deadly disease.”
 
The current standard of care for a newly diagnosed, high-grade glioma includes surgically removing as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.  Despite these measures, the tumor usually recurs making this trial a high priority.

The surgical procedure involves directly injecting the viral vector into the brain tumor.

The trial is investigating the use of Toca 511 (vocimagene amiretrorepvec), for injection in combination with Toca FC (flucytosine), extended-release tablets.  Toca 511 is a retroviral replicating vector (RRV) that is designed to deliver a cytosine deaminase (CD) gene selectively to cancer cells. After allowing time for the administered Toca 511 to spread through the cancerous tumor those cancer cells expressing the CD gene can convert flucytosine into the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).  In this study, patients receive cycles of oral Toca FC monthly for up to six months.
 
“This may provide a way to destroy the cancer cells without disrupting delicate neurocircuitry,” explained surgeon scientist Clark Chen, MD, PhD, director of stereotactic and radiosurgery, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and an investigator on the study.  Chen administered Toca 511 into the first patients who have participated in this clinical trial at UC San Diego. “We fused the patient’s CT scan to their MRI and used neuro-navigation software to calculate exactly where in the tumor we needed to place the injection of Toca 511. The patients were given the injection and discharged from the hospital the day after the procedure.”

Co-investigator Bob Carter, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at UC San Diego Medical Center and Moores Cancer Center, noted that this novel agent is the culmination of years of multi-disciplinary efforts.  “Tocagen’s investigational therapy, Toca 511 & Toca FC, is a representative example of the culmination of many technological advances that have come to pass during the last three decades,” said Carter.  “It is a convergence of years of hard work by dedicated public and private practitioners in many different fields – including molecular biologists, basic scientists, virologists, physicists, mathematicians, surgeons, computer scientists, manufacturing experts, regulatory experts, and oncologists.”

Kesari discusses Tocagen clinical trial (click photo to view).

For Kesari, whose doctoral thesis focused on viral therapy for brain tumors, this has been a passion for 20 years.  “I started this kind of research two decades ago, and to see a new technology like Toca 511 advance from bench to bedside completes the circle.  This is the moment physician-researchers live for.”

“This trial is an exciting realization of the ability to help our patients that comes from outstanding science combined with innovative thinking and the desire to deliver compassionate care,” said William C. Mobley, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.  “At UC San Diego, we are intent upon transforming the care of patients with disorders of the brain.”

Participants in this clinical trial must be 18 years or older; have a single, recurrent Grade three or four glioma and have had prior surgery and chemoradiation.

For more information please visit www.tocagen.com/clinicaltrials or www.clinicaltrials.gov and search for “Toca 511.” 

Study coordinator: Ryan Kim, 858-822-7937, rykim@ucsd.edu

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: March 01, 2012

News_release:

FDA-approved non-surgical technology alters heart tissue that triggers atrial fibrillation

UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center is now offering patients with atrial fibrillation the breakthrough benefits of heat energy, or radio frequency waves, to irreversibly alter heart tissue that triggers an abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia. The THERMOCOOL® SF Catheter is an FDA-approved outpatient procedure for an early-stage form of the condition called paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, when recurring symptoms are unresponsive to medicine. Patients typically experience rapid heartbeats that can lead to debilitating fatigue, dizziness, fainting or shortness of breath if left untreated.

Gregory Feld, MD

“Atrial fibrillation has a devastating impact on more than 2.7 million Americans, yet for many patients unresponsive to medication, traditional treatment options are limited,” said    Gregory Feld, MD, professor of medicine at University of California, San Diego and Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Program at UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center. “This catheter ablation technology is the latest treatment alternative for patients dealing with the disabling effects of cardiac arrhythmias, such as paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. This is a viable option for patients who do not benefit from their first medication.”

Atrial fibrillation causes the upper heart chambers to beat rapidly and uncontrollably, and is characterized by disorganized electrical activity in the heart. This results in an irregular pulse, and sometimes a “fluttering” feeling in the chest. An episode can last just seconds, or occur for minutes, hours or even days. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is an early-stage form of the condition, where episodes occur repeatedly but stop on their own, often in a few hours or less.

Performed by an electrophysiologist (EP), catheter ablation is a non-surgical procedure that addresses the underlying cause of arrhythmias. In real time, the clinician first pinpoints the source of irregular electrical activity using a 3-D mapping system, similar to a GPS device in your car. Guided by this map, the clinician directs a specialized catheter through the heart to the source of the abnormal electrical impulses. A small electrode in the tip of the catheter generates radio frequency waves that have enough heat to alter targeted areas of heart tissue. This process blocks the electrical impulses that can cause heart rhythm disorders.

Unlike traditional catheter technologies, the THERMOCOOL® SF catheter uniformly delivers a cooling saline solution through the catheter, allowing for cooling of the entire catheter tip. Thus, the tip temperature does not rise significantly during ablation, which reduces the risk for clotting, and enhances treatment safety.

This outpatient procedure takes approximately two-to-four hours, with some patients returning home the next day. The result is either a long-term reduction in the number of arrhythmias experienced and the severity of symptoms, or a permanent return to a more normal heart rhythm.

Atrial fibrillation is growing in prevelance. Up to 12 million Americans will have the condition by 2050. While not life-threatening, atrial fibrillation is a leading cause of stroke among people 65 years and older. 

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 16, 2012

News_release:

Understanding how RNA binding proteins control the genetic splicing code is fundamental to human biology and disease – much like editing film can change a movie scene. Abnormal variations in splicing are often implicated in cancer and genetic neurodegenerative disorders.

RNAs wound in a knot and bound by hnRNP proteins illustrates the intractable problem of RNA regulation addressed by Huelga et al.

In a step toward deciphering the “splicing code” of the human genome, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have comprehensively analyzed six of the more highly expressed RNA binding proteins collectively known as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticle (hnRNP) proteins.
 
This study, published online Feb 16 in Cell Press’ new open-access journal Cell Reports, describes how multiple RNA binding proteins cooperatively control the diversity of proteins in human cells by regulating the alternative splicing of thousands of genes. 

In the splicing process, fragments that do not typically code for protein, called introns, are removed from gene transcripts, and the remaining sequences, called exons, are reconnected.  The proteins that bind to RNA are important for the control of the splicing process, and the location where they bind dictates which pieces of the RNA are included or excluded in the final gene transcript -- in much the same fashion that removing and inserting scenes, or splicing, can alter the plot of a movie.

“By integrating vast amounts of information about these key binding proteins, and making this data widely available, we hope to provide a foundation for building predictive models for splicing and future studies in other cell types such as embryonic stem cells,” said principal investigator Gene Yeo, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Institute for Genomic Medicine at UC San Diego, and a visiting professor at the Molecular Engineering Laboratory in Singapore. “If we can understand how these proteins work together and affect one another to regulate alternative splicing, it may offer important clues for rational drug design.”

The data sets highlighted in this study – derived from genome-wide methods including custom-designed splicing-sensitive microarrays, RNA sequencing and high-throughput sequencing to identify genome-wide binding sites (CLIP-seq) -- map the functional binding sites for six of the major hnRNP proteins in human cells.

“We identified thousands of binding sites and altered splicing events for these hnRNP proteins and discovered that, surprisingly these proteins bind and regulate each other and a whole network of other RNA binding proteins, suggesting that these proteins are important for the homeostasis of the cell,” said first author, NSF fellow Stephanie C. Huelga.

According to the UCSD researchers, the genes specifically targeted by the RNA binding proteins in this study are also often implicated in cancer. Yeo added that of the thousands of genomic mutations that appear in cancer, a vast majority occur in the introns that are removed during splicing; however, intronic regions are where regulatory hnRNP proteins often bind.

“Our findings show an unprecedented degree of complexity and compensatory relationships among hnRNP proteins and their splicing targets that likely confer robustness to cells.  The orchestration of RNA binding proteins is not only important for the homeostasis of the cell, but – by mapping the location of binding sites and all the regulatory places in a gene – this study could reveal how disruption of the process leads to disease and, perhaps, a way to intervene.”

Additional contributors to the study include Anthony Q. Vu, Justin D. Arnold, Tiffany Y. Liang, Patrick P. Liu and Bernice Y. Yan, UCSD Cellular and Molecular Medicine; John Paul Donohue, Lily Shiue and Manuel Ares, Jr., UC Santa Cruz; Shawn Hoon and Sydney Brenner, A*STAR, Singapore. 

The study was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the UC San Diego Stem Cell Research Program.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 16, 2012

News_release:

Writing in the February 17, 2012 issue of the journal Cell, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Toronto Western Research Institute peel away some of the enduring mystery of how zygotes or fertilized eggs determine which copies of parental genes will be used or ignored.

A five-day-old human blastocyst.

In developing humans and other mammals, not all genes are created equal – or equally used. The expression of certain genes, known as imprinted genes, is determined by just one copy of the parents’ genetic contribution. In humans, there are at least 80 known imprinted genes. If a copy of an imprinted gene fails to function correctly – or if both copies are expressed – the result can be a variety of heritable conditions, such as Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes, or diseases like cancer.

In the Cell paper, a team of scientists, led by Bing Ren, PhD, head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego, describe in greater detail how differential DNA methylation in the two parental genomes set the stage for selective expression of imprinted genes in the mouse. Differential DNA methylation is essential to normal development in humans and other higher organisms. It involves the addition of hydrocarbon compounds called methyls to cytosine, one of the four bases or building blocks of DNA. Such addition alters the expression of different genes, boosting or suppressing them to help direct embryonic growth and development.

The process is sometimes called epigenetic regulation. Epigenetics is the study of factors influencing inheritance beyond the genes themselves. “DNA is just half the story,” said Ren, who also heads the San Diego Epigenome Center, one of four centers established by the National Institutes of Health to focus on epigenetics research.

“Understanding how these limited imprinted regions control regulation can help us better understand how certain diseases happen,” said Ren, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine in the UC San Diego School of Medicine. “That can help us develop better diagnostic tools for detecting genetic abnormalities and perhaps learn how to predict whether something bad will happen.”

Using a deep sequencing, high-throughput screening technology developed by Joseph Ecker at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Ren and colleagues found parent-of-origin specific DNA methylation imprints at 1,952 dinucleotide sequences in the mouse genome. The imprinted sequences formed 55 discrete clusters that included virtually all of the known germline differentially methylated regions and 23 previously unknown regions.

“That suggests it’s a very accurate tool,” said Wei Xie, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher in Ren’s laboratory.

The researchers also found a unique type of methylation in the brain that was previously only seen in embryonic cells. “At this point we do not know what the significance of this modification is in the brain, but it is very specific, suggesting that it correlates to an important biological function” said Cathy L. Barr, PhD, a senior scientist at the Toronto Western Research Institute, the Hospital for Sick Children and co-author of the paper.  

Funding for this research came, in part, from the Krembil Seed Development Fund, an Applied Biosystems (Life Technologies) 10K Genome award, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the NIH Epigenomics Roadmap Project and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Co-authors are Audrey Kim, Feng Yue and Ah Young Lee, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research; James Eubanks, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto; and Emma L. Dempster, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto and Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 16, 2012

News_release:

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States.  This form of heart attack kills 325,000 people every year, representing one death every two minutes. Almost all SCA victims die before they even reach a hospital. To identify a drug that paramedics can use in the field, UC San Diego Health System has opened a clinical trial to evaluate two medications to help restore the heart beat.

UC San Diego Health System

“Only five percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims survive their heart attack,” said Daniel Davis, MD, UC San Diego Director of Resuscitation Science in the Department of Emergency Medicine. “For more than 30 years we’ve been looking for an anti-arrhythmic drug to treat ventricular tachycardia, or what we call shockable rhythm, but we have not found a drug that consistently improves patient outcomes. This clinical trial will help us determine if either the drugs amiodarone or lidocaine may help prevent death.”

This NIH-funded clinical trial consists of three study arms to compare lidocaine, amiodarone and a placebo. The primary objective is to determine if survival is improved with a new formulation of amiodarone and to determine if amiodarone or lidocaine is more effective. The drugs are delivered by injection.

“If there is clear evidence that lidocaine or amiodarone works better in saving lives, we hope to end the study early to incorporate the drug into everyday treatment practice,” said Davis. “This effort could help save dozens of lives each year in San Diego and hundreds across California.”

Currently in San Diego there is no anti-arrhythmic being used by paramedics to treat patients. Either cardiopulmonary resuscitation or the use of a defibrillator to shock the heart into normal rhythm, are the only two treatment options.

Click on the image above to watch Davis discuss the trial.

This clinical trial will be conducted under “Exemption from Informed Consent” guidelines, which have been approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration.  This means that the drug will be administered by paramedics to patients whose hearts have stopped beating. If a family member is present, they will be informed of the study and given the option of refusing participation.

“A patient in cardiac arrest is not capable of communication. Nor is it realistic to identify and contact family members in a timely fashion who can consent on their behalf,” said Davis. “When a patient is in critical need of rapid medical treatment, the priority is to provide treatment. Every second counts to save the heart and brain.”

The trial will launch in Spring 2012.  More than 3,000 patients will be enrolled over the course of three to four years in ten different sites across North America.

This clinical trial is part of The Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) which was created to conduct clinical research in the areas of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and traumatic injury.  ROC consists of 10 Regional Clinical Centers and a Data and Coordinating Center that will provide the necessary infrastructure to conduct multiple collaborative trials to aid rapid translation of promising scientific and clinical advances to improve resuscitation outcomes.  Trials may evaluate existing or new therapies as well as clinical management strategies such as novel hemorrhage control strategies and alternative methods of delivering CPR or defibrillation.

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Media Contacts: Jackie Carr, jcarr@ucsd.edu, or Salvador Rivera, s3rivera@ucsd.edu, 619-543-6163

News_Release_Date: February 14, 2012

News_release:

Gazing into your lover’s eyes isn’t only romantic; it also releases a brain chemical called oxytocin that strengthens social bonds in a variety of species.  For some people who suffer from depression, the so-called “hormone of love” might hold out hope. Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine are conducting a clinical trial to study whether oxytocin – the brain hormone released with touches, hugs, or when a mother and her newborn baby bond – might help patients with depression.

Click on the above photo for video of Dr. MacDonald discussing the "love hormone."

“In humans, oxytocin is released when they hug or experience other pleasant physical touch, and it plays a part in the human sexual response cycle,” said Kai MacDonald, MD, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

MacDonald went on to explain that oxytocin appears to change the brain signals related to social recognition via facial expressions, perhaps by changing the firing of the amygdala, the part of the brain that plays a primary role in the processing of important emotional stimuli.  In this way, oxytocin in the brain may be a potent mediator of human social behavior. 

“That’s why oxytocin is sometimes called ‘the love hormone,’” said MacDonald.  “It’s said that the eyes are the window to the soul…they certainly are the window to the emotional brain.  We know that the eye-to-eye communication, which is affected by oxytocin, is critical to intimate emotional communication for all kind of emotions – love, fear, trust, anxiety.”

UC San Diego researchers have previously discovered that oxytocin may help patients with schizophrenia, and MacDonald and colleague David Feifel, MD, PhD, UCSD professor of psychiatry, are now enrolling participants to examine its role in clinical depression. 

“Studies of blood levels and genetic factors in depressed patients point to the possibility that this natural hormone might play a part in helping clinical depression,” said MacDonald.  “Previously, studies of healthy individuals have shown that intranasal doses of oxytocin reduce activation of brain circuits involved in fear, increase levels of eye contact, and increase both trust and generosity,” MacDonald said. “Interestingly, people given oxytocin don’t report feeling any different, but they act differently.”

Early clinical data also indicates oxytocin may help women with anxiety disorders. 

“A hug or a touch that causes a release of this hormone might somehow change brain signals,” MacDonald said.  “We want to see if we can harness this response to help patients who suffer from depression.”

For more information on the clinical trial, contact 1-866-550-UCSD.    

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu  

News_Release_Date: February 13, 2012

News_release:

Of 190 million obese Americans, approximately 10-15 percent engage in harmful binge eating. During single sittings, these over-eaters consume large servings of high-caloric foods. Sufferers contend with weight gain and depression including heart disease and diabetes. A new clinical trial, called Regulation of Food Cues, at UC San Diego Health System, aims to treat binge eating by helping participants to identify real hunger and to practice resistance if the stomach is full.

Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor in the department of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

“Most weight-loss treatments for obese adults focus very little on the reduction of binge eating,” said Kerri Boutelle, PhD, principal investigator and associate professor in the department of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “With this study we use a variety of techniques to train the brain to identify and respond to hunger and cravings and to learn resistance to highly craved foods.”

The one-year study will recruit 30 participants who will undergo weekly 60–90 minute sessions held over 12 weeks. Participants will learn how food cravings originate, how to detect and monitor true hunger, how emotional factors influence eating habits, and how to manage cravings and impulses to eat.  

“Binge eaters often consume food in response to their environment, even when they are not hungry. This could be a response to watching TV, long commutes, sitting on the couch, time of day, even loneliness,” said Boutelle, who is also a licensed clinical psychologist. “The goal is to reduce cravings to overeat by up to 50 percent.”

Click on the image above to watch Boutelle discuss the Food Cue Trial.

Teaching obese people to recognize hunger signals is based upon the principles of behavioral psychology, which has proven effective in treating conditions such as anxiety and bulimia. Boutelle and her team have developed a treatment model that shows that binge eating often results from response to environmental food cues. Exposure-based treatments help eaters improve their sensitivity to hunger and fullness and reduce their sensitivity to the sight and smell of food.

Similar programs aimed at overweight youths have yielded promising results and an ability to maintain reductions in binge eating at six and 12 months after treatment.

Participants who join the study will be asked to complete interviews and surveys before and after treatment groups. In addition, they will complete food logs in which they will be asked to monitor levels of hunger and fullness as well as cravings.

To learn more about this clinical trial, please call 858-405-0263.

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Media Contacts: Jackie Carr or Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 09, 2012

News_release:

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and materials.

According to the UC San Diego researchers, this process is more affordable and widely feasible than previous methods that required expensive equipment and expertise.

The new approach is remarkably simple: solutions of the components of each layer, including polymers, are mixed with varying concentrations of a common inert reagent to control density. The solutions are layered so that the difference in density segregates each solution, and then polymerized so that they form a gel. The structure of each layer can be altered by varying the concentration of polymers, and the discreteness of the transition between layers can be altered by allowing the solutions to diffuse.

Lead author Jerome Karpiak, graduate student in the UCSD Biomedical Sciences Program, said, “We’re excited about the relevance of this method to tissue engineering. Since it offers such straightforward spatial control over structure and composition of stratified tissue scaffolds, including cell type and density, this technology could help the field move much faster.” Tissues cultured in vitro to mimic those in the body can potentially provide an alternative to transplantation for injured or degenerated tissue. 

“We believe this approach will vastly broaden the number of labs capable of culturing complex tissue,” said Adah Almutairi, PhD, assistant professor at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Department of Nanoengineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.  “Because manipulation of structure and concentrations of signal molecules is much easier in this system than in intact organisms, it holds great potential to advance the study of development and disease.” For example, this method may offer a novel approach to study how surrounding molecules affect the growth of axons in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Additional researchers included Yogesh Ner, PhD.  Research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator program and King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 09, 2012

News_release:

Kim E. Barrett, PhD, professor of medicine and dean of graduate studies at the University of California, San Diego, will become president-elect of the American Physiological Society (APS).  APS is the nation’s premier nonprofit organization devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological science – the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease.

Kim Barrett, PhD

Barrett, former Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology, will assume her new duties at the APS annual meeting being held April 21-25, 2012, in San Diego. 

A native of the United Kingdom, Barrett received her BSc and PhD degrees from the Department of Chemistry at University College London. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, she joined the faculty of UC San Diego School of Medicine in 1985 and became a professor of medicine in 1996.

Her research interests center on the normal and abnormal biology of the intestinal epithelium and their relevance to digestive diseases. She has received a number of honors for her research, including the degree of Doctor of Medical Science, honoris causa, by Queens University, Belfast, Ireland. She is a former awardee of the science-based Henry Pickering Bowditch and Horace Davenport Lectureships sponsored by the APS.  She is also the recipient of the 2012 Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award.

In 2006, Barrett was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies at UC San Diego where she oversees the recruitment, academic advancement and climate for more than 4,000 masters degree and doctoral students. She also guides the development of new graduate programs and planning for an anticipated 50 percent growth in the graduate population at UC San Diego over the next 10 to12 years. In addition to her long-standing interest in student development and mentoring, she has been actively involved in the issue of women’s status in academia and served as the Chair of the APS’ Committee on Women in Physiology.

The elections come as the APS celebrates its 125th anniversary. The Society is the first society in the biomedical sciences field, with more than 10,500 members.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 07, 2012

News_release:

One of few clinical trial sites, worldwide

Jim Black is fighting the meanest, most aggressive, most common kind of brain tumor in the United States: recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).  In the United States, each year, approximately 10,000 patients are affected by GBM.  Now, a novel investigational device – available only at clinical trial sites – is offering new hope to these patients.

The non-invasive procedure – called Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) – is delivered using a portable device – called the NovoTTF-100A System made by Novocure.  The TTF procedure uses alternating electrical fields to disrupt the rapid cell division exhibited by cancer cells. 
 

Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, director of Neuro-Oncology at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

“Patients with recurrent GBM present a significant treatment challenge,” said Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, director of Neuro-Oncology at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.  “The initial clinical research for the approval trial demonstrated that, compared to patients who were treated with chemotherapy, patients treated with NovoTTF achieved comparable survival times, had fewer side effects, and reported improved quality of life.”

On average, a patient with GBM survives less than 15 months with optimal treatment and only three to five months without additional effective treatment.  The TTF procedure may provide physicians with a fourth treatment option in addition to surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

TTFs inhibit tumor growth by causing cancerous cells to die.  The TTF procedure is delivered using non-invasive, insulated transducer arrays (electrodes) that are placed directly on the skin in the region of the tumor.  The hat-like collection of electrodes connects to a portable device which is slightly thicker than a laptop and weighs about six pounds.  The device sends a low intensity, alternating electric field into the tumor which prevents the cells from dividing and spreading and causes cancer cells to die. 

The most commonly reported side effect from NovoTTF is a mild-to-moderate scalp rash, beneath the electrodes.  The FDA-approved device is intended as an alternative to standard medical therapy for GBM after surgical and radiation options have been exhausted.

“When all other options have been exhausted, patients are willing to do just about anything to keep the tumor at bay,” said Kesari.  “This device gives them an opportunity to fight back, to feel like they are taking an active, hands-on role in their own treatment, and provides tremendous hope.”

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: February 03, 2012

News_release:

Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has awarded a grant of $100,000 to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding eye diseases.  The research will be directed by Robert N. Weinreb, MD, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Director of the Shiley Eye Center.

UC San Diego Shiley Eye Center

RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research.  Since 1984, the organization has awarded grants totaling $3,065,000 to the UC San Diego School of Medicine.  Over the past 28 years, this funding has supported research in glaucoma, cornea and retinal diseases.

“These funds are particularly invaluable for enhancing our ability to conduct the most impactful vision research,” said Weinreb.  “They will facilitate existing research, support cross-disciplinary investigative programs and assist in the translation of our research to prevent and cure blindness.”

Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into all blinding eye diseases.  For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders and the RPB Grants Program, go to rpbusa.org.

Based at the Shiley Eye Center, the UC San Diego Ophthalmology Department includes a complement of outstanding clinicians who provide comprehensive and specialized eye care for the full spectrum of diseases of the eye.  During the past decade, departmental teams of clinicians and scientists have translated their research to improve management of a variety of vision-impairing conditions including glaucoma, macular degeneration, ophthalmic plastic surgery, childhood eye disease, diabetic eye disease, and cataracts. 

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Media contact: Karen Anisko, 858-534-8017, kanisko@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 26, 2012

News_release:

A team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that newly discovered mutations in an evolved assembly of genes cause Joubert syndrome, a form of syndromic autism.

The findings are published in the January 26 online issue of Science Express.

Image using an electron microscope shows a cilium growing from a neuron. (Gleeson lab)

Joubert syndrome is a rare, recessive brain condition characterized by malformation or underdevelopment of the cerebellum and brainstem.  The disease is due specifically to alterations in cellular primary cilia – antenna-like structures found on most cells. The consequence is a range of distinct physical and cognitive disabilities, including poor muscle control, and mental retardation. Up to 40 percent of Joubert syndrome patients meet clinical criteria for autism, as well as other neurocognitive disorders, so it is considered a syndromic form of autism.

The cause or causes of Joubert syndrome are not well-understood. Researchers looked at mutations in the TMEM216 gene, which had previously been linked to the syndrome. However, only half of the expected Joubert syndrome patients exhibit TMEM216 gene mutations; the other half did not. Using genomic sequencing, the research team, led by Joseph G. Gleeson, MD, professor of neurosciences and pediatrics at UC San Diego, broadened their inquiry and discovered a second culprit: mutations in a neighboring gene called TMEM138.

“It is extraordinarily rare for two adjacent genes to cause the same human disease,” said Gleeson.  “The mystery that emerged from this was whether these two adjacent, non-duplicated genes causing indistinguishable disease have functional connections at the gene or protein level.”

Through evolutionary analysis, the scientists concluded that the two TMEM genes became joined end-to-end approximately 260 million years ago, about the time some amphibians began transitioning into land-based reptiles. The connected genes evolved in tandem, becoming regulated by the same transcription factors.

 “Prior to this transition, the two genes had wildly different expression levels,” said Jeong Ho Lee, MD, PhD, and first author of the study.  “Following this transition, they became tightly co-regulated.  Moreover, we found that the two encoded proteins coordinate delivery of factors key for cilia assembly.”

Gleeson said the findings suggest the human genome has evolved to take advantage of fortuitous ancestral events like gene translocations to better coordinate gene expression by assembling into specific modules. When these modules are disrupted, however, neurodevelopmental diseases may result. 

This research was funded, in part, by the Simons Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Co-authors are Jennifer L. Silhavy, Ji Eun Lee, Lihadh Al-Gazali, Sophie Thomas, Erica E. Davis, Stephanie L. Bielas, Kiley J. Hill, Miriam Iannicelli, Francesco Brancati, Stacey B. Gabriel, Carsten Russ, Clare V. Logan, Saghira Malik Sharif, Christopher P. Bennett, Masumi Abe, Friedhelm Hildebrandt, Bill H. Diplas, Tania Attié-Bitach, Nicholas Katsanis, Anna Rajab, Roshan Koul, Laszlo Sztriha, Elizabeth R. Waters, Susan Ferro- Novick, Geoffrey C. Woods, Colin A. Johnson, Enza Maria Valente, and Maha S. Zaki.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 26, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers examine role of diet and exercise

An active lifestyle and a healthy diet can help you feel more energetic, control your weight, help you sleep better, and reduce your risk of many diseases.  Researchers at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center are interested in discovering the effects of innovative diet and exercise programs on breast cancer survivors, as well as women who are ‘at risk’ for breast cancer.

“It’s like anything else in life; you have to really want it (weight loss),” said participant Lorri Maida, who is enrolled in the Healthy Eeating & Living Program (HELP) Study.  “Portion control, phone counseling and some kind of daily exercise are really working for me.”

STUDY DETAILS for BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS

The ENERGY Study – Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You – explores the role of diet and exercise in female breast cancer survivors who are at risk for recurrence.

• 4-year study
• 21 years of age or older
• Overweight
• Diagnosed with Stage I-III breast cancer within the previous 5 years and have completed their initial treatment
• Willing and able to attend group meetings and maintain contact with investigators for two years
• Able to be physically active
• NOT currently enrolled in another nutrition or weight loss study

For more Information on ENERGY, please contact 858-822-2779 or hbarkai@ucsd.edu or visit energytrial.ucsd.edu

The REACH FOR HEALTH Study is testing how the treatments of lifestyle intervention and the drug called metformin, which is used to treat diabetes, affect breast cancer survival.

• 6-month study
• Overweight  
• Diagnosed with Stage I-IIIA
• Not scheduled for or currently undergoing chemotherapy
• Able to communicate dietary and physical activity data via telephone
• If taking statins, tamoxifen, or aromatase inhibitors; able and willing to remain on treatment for 6-month study period

For more detailed information on participating in REACH FOR HEALTH, call 858-822-6799 or contact Jesica Oratowski Coleman at joratowski@ucsd.edu.

STUDY DETAILS for THOSE ‘AT RISK’ (never had breast cancer)

The HELP Study – Health Eating & Living Program for Weight Control – aims to reduce breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women through lifestyle change, using Internet-enhanced telephone counseling intervention.

• 2-year study
• Women between the ages of 45 to 70
• Overweight
• Want to increase their physical activity and improve their diet
• Must have high-speed Internet access

For more information on participating in the HELP Study, contact 858-822-2895, healthyeating@ucsd.edu or visit healthyeatingucsd.org

The MENU Study – Metabolism, Exercise and Nutrition – examining the difference between three diets of differing composition on weight loss and cancer biomarkers.

• 1-year study
• Healthy, overweight women
• Over 21 years of age
• BMI (body mass index) higher than 30, less than 40
• Willing and able to participate in clinic visits, group sessions, and telephone and Internet communications at specified intervals
• Able to provide data through questionnaires and by telephone
• Willing to allow blood collections
• No known allergy to tree nuts
• Able to be physically active

For more information on the MENU study please contact Elizabeth Quitana, MS, RD at 858-822-6162, elquintana@ucsd.edu

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 25, 2012

News_release:

First-ever feat provides new method to understand cause of disease, develop drugs

Led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, scientists have, for the first time, created stem cell-derived, in vitro models of sporadic and hereditary Alzheimer’s disease (AD), using induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with the much-dreaded neurodegenerative disorder.

Stem-cell-derived neurons, made from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, provide a new tool for unraveling the mechanisms underlying the neurodegenerative disease. In this image, DNA is shown in blue, dendrites and cell bodies in red and endosomal markers Rab5 and EEA1 in green and orange, respectively.

“Creating highly purified and functional human Alzheimer’s neurons in a dish – this has never been done before,” said senior study author Lawrence Goldstein, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program. “It’s a first step. These aren’t perfect models. They’re proof of concept. But now we know how to make them. It requires extraordinary care and diligence, really rigorous quality controls to induce consistent behavior, but we can do it.”

The feat, published in the January 25 online edition of the journal Nature, represents a new and much-needed method for studying the causes of AD, a progressive dementia that afflicts approximately 5.4 million Americans. More importantly, the living cells provide an unprecedented tool for developing and testing drugs to treat the disorder.

“We’re dealing with the human brain. You can’t just do a biopsy on living patients,” said Goldstein. “Instead, researchers have had to work around, mimicking some aspects of the disease in non-neuronal human cells or using limited animal models. Neither approach is really satisfactory.”

Goldstein and colleagues extracted primary fibroblasts from skin tissues taken from two patients with familial AD (a rare, early-onset form of the disease associated with a genetic predisposition), two patients with sporadic AD (the common form whose cause is not known) and two persons with no known neurological problems. They reprogrammed the fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that then differentiated into working neurons.

The iPSC-derived neurons from the Alzheimer’s patients exhibited normal electrophysiological activity, formed functional synaptic contacts and, critically, displayed tell-tale indicators of AD. Specifically, they possessed higher-than-normal levels of proteins associated with the disorder.

With the in vitro Alzheimer’s neurons, scientists can more deeply investigate how AD begins and chart the biochemical processes that eventually destroy brain cells associated with elemental cognitive functions like memory. Currently, AD research depends heavily upon studies of post-mortem tissues, long after the damage has been done.

“The differences between a healthy neuron and an Alzheimer’s neuron are subtle,” said Goldstein. “It basically comes down to low-level mischief accumulating over a very long time, with catastrophic results.”

The researchers have already produced some surprising findings. “In this work, we show that one of the early changes in Alzheimer’s neurons thought to be an initiating event in the course of the disease turns out not to be that significant,” Goldstein said, adding that they discovered a different early event plays a bigger role.

The scientists also found that neurons derived from one of the two patients with sporadic AD exhibited biochemical changes possibly linked to the disease. The discovery suggests that there may be sub-categories of the disorder and that, in the future, potential therapies might be targeted to specific groups of AD patients.

Though just a beginning, Goldstein emphasized the iPSC-derived Alzheimer’s neurons present a huge opportunity in a desperate fight.  “At the end of the day, we need to use cells like these to better understand Alzheimer’s and find drugs to treat it. We need to do everything we can because the cost of this disease is just too heavy and horrible to contemplate. Without solutions, it will bankrupt us – emotionally and financially.”

Funding for this research came, in part, from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Weatherstone Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Hartwell Foundation, the Lookout Fund and the McDonnell Foundation.

A patent application has been filed on this technology by the University of California, San Diego.  For more information, go to: techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/NCD/22199.html

Co-authors are Mason A. Israel and Sol M. Reyna, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and UCSD Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program; Shauna H. Yuan, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and UCSD Department of Neurosciences; Cedric Bardy and Yangling Mu, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Cheryl Herrera, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Michael P. Hefferan, UCSD Department of Anesthesiology; Sebastiaan Van Gorp, Department of Anesthesiology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Netherlands; Kristopher L. Nazor, Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute; Francesca S. Boscolo and Louise C. Laurent, UCSD Department of Reproductive Medicine; Christian T. Carson, BD Biosciences; Martin Marsala, UCSD Department of Anesthesiology and Institute of Neurobiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Fred H. Gage, The Salk Institute of Biological Studies; Anne M. Remes, Department of Clinical Medicine, Neurology and Clinical Research Center, University of Oulu, Finland; and Edward H. Koo, UCSD Department of Neurosciences.

About Alzheimer’s disease
An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Two-thirds are women. By 2050, as many as 16 million Americans are projected to have the disease. In 2011, the economic cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients exceeded $183 billion, projected to rise to $1.1 trillion by 2050. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 75,000 Americans annually. Currently, there are no drugs to prevent, alter or cure the disease. 

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 25, 2012

News_release:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have created a new generation of fast-acting fluorescent dyes that optically highlight electrical activity in neuronal membranes. The work is published in this week’s online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The ability to visualize these small, fast-changing voltage differences between the interior and exterior of neurons – known as transmembrane potential – is considered a powerful method for deciphering how brain cells function and interact.

However, current monitoring methods fall short, said the study’s first author Evan W. Miller, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Roger Tsien, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, UC San Diego professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry and 2008 Nobel Prize co-winner in chemistry for his work on green fluorescent protein.

“The most common method right now monitors the movement of calcium ions into the cell,” said Miller. “It provides some broad indication, but it’s an indirect measurement that misses activity we see when directly measuring voltage changes.”

Leech neurons stained with voltage-sensitive dye.

The new method employs dyes that penetrate only the membrane of neurons, either in in vitro cells cultured with the dye or, for this study, taken up by neurons in a living leech model. When the dyed cells are exposed to light, neuronal firing causes the dye momentarily to glow more brightly, a flash that can be captured with a high-speed camera.

“One of the tradeoffs with using voltage-sensing dyes in the past is that when they were reasonably sensitive to voltage changes, they were slow compared to the actual physiological events,” said Miller. “The new dye gives big signals but is much faster and doesn’t perturb the neurons. We essentially see no lag time between the optical signal and electrodes (used to double-check neuronal activity).”

The new method provides a wider view of neuronal activity, said Miller. More importantly, it makes it possible for neuroscientists to do accurate, single trial experiments. “Right now, you have to repeat experiments with cells, and then average the results, which is physiologically less relevant and meaningful.”

For Tsien, the new dyes address a career-long challenge.

“These results are the first demonstration of a new mechanism to sense membrane voltage, which is particularly satisfying to me because this was the first problem I started working on as a graduate student in 1972, with little success back then,” said Tsien. “Later, we devised indirect solutions such as calcium imaging or dyes that gave big but slow responses to voltage. These techniques have been very useful in other areas of biology or in drug screening, but didn’t properly solve the original problem. I think we are finally on the right track, four decades later.”

Funding for this research came, in part, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Co-authors are John Y. Lin, Department of Pharmacology, UC San Diego; E. Paxon Frady, Neurosciences Graduate Group, UC San Diego; Paul A. Steinbach, Department of Pharmacology, UC San Diego and Howard Hughes Medical Institute; William B. Kristan, Jr., Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 25, 2012

News_release:

UC San Diego Health System has received approval to acquire the Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI), the official cancer institute of the state of Nevada, as an affiliate health care provider. The expansion represents a partnership between California and Nevada in offering lifesaving cancer care to patients through expert diagnosis, novel treatments and clinical trials.

Tom McAfee, MD, CEO, UC San Diego Health System

“We are proud to have Nevada Cancer Institute join UC San Diego Health System,” said Tom McAfee, MD, interim CEO of UC San Diego Health System and dean of clinical affairs. “As a world-class health system for cancer and surgical care, UC San Diego is fulfilling its mission of caring for patients locally, nationally, and around the world.”

Nevada Cancer Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to fighting cancer by offering the best in early detection, high-quality patient care, education and prevention. The Institute has treated more than 17,000 patients since opening in 2005, and offers novel treatment strategies through clinical trials, as well as Hope Coach, a mobile mammography unit. Its state-of-the-art flagship treatment center is a four-story, 142,000-square-foot facility in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. NVCI also operates a patient clinic at University Medical Center. The Institute is accredited by The Joint Commission, and has earned the organization’s Gold Seal of Approval for quality and safety in health care facilities.

UC San Diego NVCI is a state-of-the-art, 142,000 sq. ft. facility.

“In light of health care reform, innovative partnerships between states and their health systems will be key to increasing access to specialized care while managing health care costs,” said McAfee. “Both Stanford University and Cleveland Clinic have pursued this strategy to care for neurological patients outside of their local areas. UC San Diego Health System is advancing this approach for the full spectrum of cancers, a strength of our clinical enterprise.”

Plans for UC San Diego NVCI include the recruitment of medical and surgical oncologists, as well as beginning a national search for a physician-scientist to serve as director of the institute. Insight Oncology, a management services organization, will assist with the integration of the two organizations and provide operational oversight of the flagship facility.

UC San Diego NVCI

Nevada patients will continue to see their current physician, now with the advantage of potentially qualifying for a wider range of clinical trials. UC San Diego NVCI hopes to partner with the local medical community and develop collaborations that best serve the needs of local doctors and their patients.

UC San Diego Health System purchased NVCI with clinical revenue generated by its hospitals. No state funding was utilized. All philanthropic support for NVCI will be specifically reserved for the Nevada facility and its patients.

In February 2011, UC San Diego Health System acquired San Diego Cancer Center as part of its regional strategy to expand cancer care into the north coastal community of San Diego with locations in Encinitas and Vista. The health system has also opened a radiation oncology site in South Bay, multi-specialty clinics in Murrieta, part of Riverside County, a comprehensive liver clinic in Henderson, Nevada, and telemedicine clinics throughout the state of California.

UC San Diego Health System is comprised of UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, and UC San Diego Thornton Hospital, Moores Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Center, and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center in La Jolla, as well as other primary and specialty practices of UC San Diego Medical Group. UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is home to nearly 350 medical and radiation oncologists, cancer surgeons, and researchers. It is one of only 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country, and the only one in the region - a rare honor distinguishing exceptionally high achievement in research, clinical care, education and community outreach and partnerships.

In early 2012, UC San Diego Health System will break ground on the Jacobs Medical Center. The state-of-the-art, 10-story facility will be home to four hospitals: the existing Thornton Hospital, the Hospital for Cancer Care, Hospital for Women and Infants, and Hospital for Advanced Surgery. The specialized center will offer 245 beds and 14 operating rooms including a 4-OR intraoperative imaging suite.

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Media Contacts: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu; Hilarie Grey, 702-822-5601, hgrey@nvcancer.org

News_Release_Date: January 23, 2012

News_release:

Rick Hanson, PhD, author of the book Buddha’s Brain and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, will present his lecture "Taking in the Good: Helping Children Build Inner Strength and Happiness”  at the UC San Diego Medical Center Auditorium on Friday, February 3. The lecture will kick off UC San Diego’s inaugural “Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth: Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Education and Research” conference.

Hanson, a prolific writer and lecturer, maintains a clinical practice in San Rafael, Calif., and serves as a trustee for Saybrook University. He is considered an authority on self-directed neuroplasticity, the art of reshaping the brain through contemplative practice, and is a featured blogger for The Huffington Post and Psychology Today. His writings and teachings focus on “the essential inner skills of personal well-being, psychological growth, and contemplative practice.”

Steven Hickman, PsyD, associate clinical professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine departments of Psychiatry and Family and Preventive Medicine, and director of the UCSD Center For Mindfulness (UCSD CFM) says about Hanson’s lecture, “this is a great opportunity to help clients, parents, friends and others understand the profound impact of contemplative practice on the developing minds of our children and ourselves.”

This “Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth: Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Education and Research” conference is co-presented by UCSD CFM and Stressed Teens and will be held at the Catamaran Resort Hotel in San Diego, February 4 and 5. 

Tickets for the Hanson lecture are $15, pre-registration is encouraged.  To register for the lecture or the conference, visit the UCSD CFM website, cme.ucsd.edu/bridging/, or call 858-334-4636.

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Media Contact: Melanie Peters, 619-543-6163, mopeters@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 20, 2012

News_release:

17 individuals in U.S. recognized for major contributions to science

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will honor 17 individuals with awards in recognition of their extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide range of fields spanning the physical, biological, and social sciences. Among them is Larry R. Squire, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurosciences, and Psychology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and research career scientist at VA Medical Center, San Diego. 

Larry Squire, PhD

Squire, a resident of Del Mar, California, is the recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Reviewing.  A leader in the field of memory and foremost expert in the anatomical and functional basis of mammalian memory, Squire is honored for “his prolific and comprehensive reviews on memory research, for his seminal books that are standards in the field, and critical reviews of books on neuroscience.”

The prize of $10,000, presented this year in the field of neuroscience, recognizes excellence in scientific reviewing. The award is supported by Annual Reviews, the Institute for Scientific Information, and The Scientist in honor of J. Murray Luck.

Squire and 16 other NAS award recipients will be honored in a ceremony on Monday, April 30, during the National Academy of Sciences’ 149th annual meeting.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and – along with the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council – provides science, technology, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 20, 2012

News_release:

Smoking is a major public health issue and quitting is the single most important thing smokers can do to improve their health.  In the 2012 edition of the prestigious Annual Review of Public Health, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have reviewed the landscape of smoking cessation over the past 20 years.  During this time period, there have been improvements in pharmaceutical medications to aid cessation, and free telephone cessation coaching has become available in every state.  However, recent trends in smoking cessation are troubling to tobacco control researchers.

John Pierce, PhD

“For the past decade, attempts to quit smoking have increased, but the proportion of people who become successful quitters has gone down” said John P. Pierce, PhD, professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and director of Population Sciences at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.  “Widespread dissemination of cessation services has not led to an increase in the probability that a quit attempt will be successful." 

The problem does not appear to be with the cessation services themselves. “Randomized trials continue to demonstrate that innovations in cessation assistance, such as the new text-to-quit service, increase success rates among smokers motivated to be part of clinical studies,” said Sharon Cummins, PhD, director of Evaluation with the California Smokers Helpline and a co-author on the study.  “Indeed, one study showed that heavier smokers are much more likely to quit successfully when a doctor actively monitors the quit attempt, pharmaceutical aids are used, and the smoker receives multiple coaching calls from a quitline service”.

The number of people who quit smoking successfully has stalled in the United States at every age.

However, recent evidence suggests that part of the problem may lie in how cessation aids are marketed by pharmaceutical companies:  many such ads suggest that quitting smoking may be as simple as putting on a patch.  It appears that younger smokers in particular are now more likely to underestimate the amount of work needed in order to quit smoking successfully. 

Traditionally, the majority of smokers who quit successfully have done so without assistance, and recent data suggests that this has not changed.  However, current national policy discourages unassisted quitting, advising clinicians to make sure smokers who want to quit do so with pharmaceutical assistance.  This policy may undermine smokers’ belief in their ability to quit on their own.

Pierce and colleagues noted that some of the earliest texts in psychology – written more than 100 years ago – include chapters on breaking habits such as smoking.  In 1890, William James laid out a series of maxims that were widely recognized then and that still hold true today:  smokers need to make a strong resolution to change; they need to act quickly on that resolution; they will be more successful if they make a personal commitment to another to be successful; and finally, it is important to understand the danger of having even a single cigarette during a quit attempt.

The researchers suggest that policy makers join those in academia for a serious review of tobacco cessation policy.

In addition to Pierce, the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center research team included Sharon E. Cummins, PhD, Martha M. White, Aimee Humphrey and Karen Messer, PhD.
 
Funding support for this study was provided by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP). 

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 17, 2012

News_release:

Results Show No ‘Safe’ Period For Drinking Alcohol In Pregnancy

Researchers at the California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego, have found new links between the timing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and certain characteristics of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The results will be published in the April 2012 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View (online version).

The study uses data obtained by counselors at the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line, a toll-free service offering evidence-based clinical information about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding.  It focuses on 992 California women who contacted the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line between 1978 and 2005 with questions about a wide variety of exposures and, after being counseled, agreed to participate in a follow-up study of their pregnancy outcome. The study specifically examines the timing of the mother's reported alcohol exposure in relation to known physical features of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Importantly, all infants in the study, whether identified as exposed to alcohol or not, received a special screening for birth defects by Kenneth Lyons Jones, MD, chief of the Division of Dysmorphology/Teratology at the Department of Pediatrics and CTIS Medical Director.

The physical features of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be very subtle and not easily recognizable, particularly in newborns. These features include a smooth upper lip with thin/smooth red portion of the lip, short eye openings, smaller head size, and reduced birth weight and length.

Researchers found that every pattern of higher prenatal alcohol consumption (no matter the timing in pregnancy) was associated with an increased risk of having an underweight infant or one with a reduced birth length. However, there were also significant associations between higher alcohol consumption in the second half of the first trimester and certain facial features of FAS, in addition to lower birth weight and length. “For every one drink increase in the average number of drinks consumed daily, there was a 25 percent increased risk for smooth upper lip, a 22 percent increased risk for thin red portion of the upper lip border, a 12 percent increased risk for small head size, a 16 percent increased risk for reduced birth weight, and an 18 percent increased risk for reduced birth length,” said Haruna Sawada Feldman, PhD, MPH, CHES, post-doctoral student and lead author of the study.

“These findings show that drinking alcohol between week seven and 12 of pregnancy are clearly associated with a risk for FAS facial features, as well as a decrease in birth weight and length,” said Christina Chambers PhD, MPH, professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego and CTIS program director.  “However, this should not be misinterpreted to mean that drinking during weeks 1 through 7 is safe. This study only looked at data that included live births. It does not include women who had miscarriages or stillbirths possibly resulting from early alcohol exposure,” she explained. “If anything, this further supports the idea that there is no designated ‘safe’ period for drinking alcohol in pregnancy, and that discontinuing alcohol consumption as soon as possible, and, ideally, prior to pregnancy is the best approach to preventing FAS.”

Questions or concerns about alcohol or any other exposure during pregnancy or breastfeeding can be directed to the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line at 800- 532-3749 or via instant message counseling at CTISPregnancy.org. Outside of California, please call the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) at 866-626-6847.

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Media contact: Nicole Chavez, 619- 294-6262, ncchavez@ucsd.edu
Spanish language interviews are available

News_Release_Date: January 17, 2012

News_release:

Cell phones aren’t just for talking any more.  Surfing the web, storing music and posting to Facebook have all contributed to the near-mandatory use of a cell phone.  How about using that cell phone to lose weight?  Researchers with Calit2’s Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems (CWPHS) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at University of California, San Diego are expanding a previous study aimed at finding out if cell phone technology can help with weight loss. 

For one year, researchers with the “ConTxt” study will evaluate the use of cell phone text messages to remind participants to make wise nutritional choices throughout the day.  Participants randomized to the intervention conditions will also be given tailored messages for weight loss and lifestyle changes as well as a pedometer to monitor their daily activity. 

“ConTxt is an innovative, yet straightforward approach to getting people to monitor their diet and physical activity,” says CWPHS project principal investigator Kevin Patrick, MD, MS, professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine.  “We are trying to make this as pain free as possible.  People won’t stick to something that’s too difficult and they’re all multi-tasking anyway.  We’re doing this study to increase what we know about using the cell phone to get messages to busy people on the go.”

Who Can Participate?

ConTxt is recruiting more than 300 participants who meet these criteria:

• Men and women
• 21 to 60 years of age
• Overweight or moderately obese with Body Mass Index (BMI) of 27-39.9
• Own a cell phone capable of sending and receiving picture and text messages
• English and Spanish speaking participants that reside in San Diego county

Strategy

As a part of tailoring of the program, surveys completed during baseline visit will help assess the participant’s lifestyle, for example, assessing nearby grocery stores, finding opportunities for physical activity and possibly enlisting the support of friends or family. 

The intervention is designed to send “prompts,” text or picture messages, with specific suggestions or tips regarding diet and improving lifestyle habits.   “It seems like everybody has a cell phone.  Those who do usually carry it with them at all times,” explained ConTxt study coordinator Lindsay W. Dillon, MPH, CHES.  “We want to see if we can use that same technology to get people to think differently.”

About CWPHS

The team from CalIT2's Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems.

CWPHS research focuses on how the health of individuals, families, communities, social networks, and populations can be improved through the creative use of wireless and networked technologies. CWPHS is Housed within the UCSD Division of Calit2: The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

Collaborators include physicians and scientists with backgrounds in clinical and preventive medicine, computer science and engineering, social networks, political science, clinical and experimental psychology, electrical engineering, health behavior, behavioral exercise and nutrition science and public health.  Center research is supported through public and private sources, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and Nokia Research.

To learn more about enrolling in the ConTxt study, call 858-534-8412 or email us at contxtcoach@ucsd.edu. 

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Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu 

News_Release_Date: January 09, 2012

News_release:

The new UC San Diego-Roche Extending Innovation Network (EIN) program has been launched with selection of its first three research projects at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. The UC San Diego-Roche EIN program, which was formalized in June 2011, aims to accelerate the discovery of new drug therapies through research innovation at the interface of industry and academia. The program is slated to grow in the coming years as additional rounds of proposals are solicited.  

Under this partnership, faculty-initiated research projects are selected for funding from proposals solicited campus-wide on a planned bi-annual basis. The program is headed by a joint steering committee comprising two Roche researchers and two UC San Diego faculty members, Joan Heller Brown, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, and Michael K. Gilson, MD, PhD, professor of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences and director of UCSD’s new Drug Discovery Institute.

“We are very pleased about this exciting and innovative partnership, which strengthens UCSD Health Sciences’ strategic goal of broadly advancing our programs in drug discovery,” said David A. Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the UCSD School of Medicine. 

The EIN program allows Roche to have the first look at in-licensing opportunities that match the company’s strategy, and is designed to further strengthen the cooperation between university research and pharmaceutical development.   Other academic institutions that are partners with Roche in the EIN program include Harvard University and UC San Francisco.

The three two-year projects selected in this initial round will use innovative molecular technologies recently developed at UC San Diego to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease and leukemia, with the ultimate goal of developing effective new treatments.

“This funding will help provide important new opportunities to translate basic discoveries and leading-edge technologies from UC San Diego’s research laboratories into needed therapies for patients – an effort being spearheaded by our new Drug Discovery Institute,” said Palmer Taylor, PhD, associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The three projects selected for this initial round of funding are as follows.

Xiang-Dong Fu, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular medicine and member of the UCSD Institute of Genomic Medicine, in collaboration with Michael G. Rosenfeld, MD, will use cutting-edge genomic and RNA-based approaches to help identify new potential therapeutic targets.  Coupled with a new gene-signature approach, this research project could identify compounds that will ultimately lead to the discovery of new neuropsychiatric drugs.

Paul Insel, MD, professor of pharmacology and medicine, will investigate the expression of the GPCR family of receptors on the surface of cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). There are limited successful therapies for CLL, which is the most common form of adult leukemia and can progress to a very aggressive form that is rapidly lethal.  Insel seeks to identify new targets for drugs to improve the course of this disease.

Gene Yeo, PhD, assistant professor of cellular and molecular medicine, will apply innovative technologies to detect abnormal patterns of RNA in neurons and discover molecules that reverse these defects. This work has promise for the treatment of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 09, 2012

News_release:

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, have developed a simple, reliable test for identifying biomarkers for mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS), a group of inherited metabolic disorders that are currently diagnosed in patients only after symptoms have become serious and the damage possibly irreversible.

The findings will be published online January 8 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

MPS is caused by the absence or malfunctioning of a lysosomal enzyme required to break down and recycle complex sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans, which are used to build bone, tendons, skin and other tissues. If not degraded and removed, glycosaminoglycans can accumulate in cells and tissues, resulting in progressive, permanent damage affecting appearance, physical abilities, organ function and often mental development in young children. The effects range from mild to severe.

There are 11 known forms of MPS, each involving a different lysosomal enzyme. A number of treatments exist, including enzyme replacement therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, but efficacy depends upon diagnosing the disease and its specific form as early as possible. That has been problematic, said Jeffrey D. Esko, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at UC San Diego.

“The typical time from seeing first symptoms to diagnosis of MPS is about three years. Since the early signs of disease are common childhood issues like ear infections and learning disorders, the disease is usually not immediately recognized,” Esko said.

“A child often has multiple visits with their pediatrician. Eventually they are referred to a metabolic disease specialist, where rare diseases are considered. It takes an expert to identify MPS and its most likely form in each patient. Every subclass of MPS has its own specific diagnostic test, so developing better diagnostics is an essential part of effective treatment. ”

In their paper, the scientists describe an innovative method to detect tell-tale carbohydrate structures specific to glycosaminoglycans in the cells, blood and urine of MPS patients. The biomarker assay identifies all known forms of the disease.

Esko is collaborating with Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego-based biotechnology company, to develop a commercial diagnostic assay for differentiating forms of MPS from urine and blood samples, a screening test for newborns and a tool for measuring the biochemical response of MPS patients to existing and novel therapies.

“Since the severity of the disease is highly variable among patients, this could provide a tool that a doctor can use to optimize dosing or treatment,” said Brett Crawford, Vice President for Research at Zacharon. “Currently, all patients are treated with the same dose of drug.”

The biomarker test may also be used to discover new forms of MPS and better characterize existing ones.

DISCLOSURE: Esko co-founded Zacharon Pharmaceuticals in 2004 with Brett E. Crawford and Charles Glass. He is a scientific advisor to the company.

Co-authors include Roger Lawrence and William C. Lamanna, UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Glycobiology Research and Training Center; Jillian R. Brown, James R. Beitel and Brett E. Crawford, Zacharon Pharmaceuticals; Geert-Jan Boones and Kanar Al-Mafraji, University of Georgia, Athens.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health, a Kirschstein National Research Service Award and the National MPS Society.

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Media Contact: Scott LaFee, 619-543-6163, slafee@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 09, 2012

News_release:

Liver Removed, Reconstructed, Re-Implanted

A team led by Alan Hemming, MD, transplant surgeon at UC San Diego Health System, has successfully performed the west coast’s first ex-vivo liver resection, a radical procedure to completely remove and reconstruct a diseased liver and re-implant it without any tumors. The procedure saved the life of a 27-year old mother whose liver had been invaded by a painful tumor that crushed the organ and entangled its blood supply.

“During a 9-hour surgery the team was able to remove the basketball-sized tumor,” said Hemming, professor and surgical director of the Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation (CHAT) at UC San Diego Health System. “This is a surgery that carries a 15 to 20 percent risk of mortality. In this case, the patient would not have survived if she did not have surgery. This was the only way we could save her liver and her life.”

The patient's liver was removed from the body, cooled, treated and returned tumor free.

During the procedure, the diseased liver was detached from the body, flushed with preservation solution and cooled to a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius.  This allowed Hemming to carefully  remove the tumor from the liver in a bloodless field while preserving vital structures. Hemming then removed the tumor which weighed as much as the liver itself. Once the tumor was removed, the vessels were meticulously reconstructed. The liver was then successfully reimplanted.

“It was amazing to learn the tumor was so big and growing inside me,” said Clerisa Keirsey, mother of three and Oceanside resident. “I am glad Dr. Hemming was here to perform the surgery and happy to be going home to be with my children.”

Alan Hemming, MD, transplant surgeon.

Hemming specializes in all forms of liver surgery  including split, living-related, and domino  transplant procedures and has performed more than 700 liver transplants and 900 liver resections. He performs all aspects of hepatobiliary surgery including both open and laparoscopic liver resection for tumors, resection of the pancreas and bile duct, and portal decompressive procedures.

The Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation at UC San Diego Health System offers full spectrum liver care, from diagnostics and testing to novel therapies and clinical trials not found anywhere else in the United States.

The CHAT team includes: Robert Gish, MD, Alan Hemming, MD, Ajai Khanna, MD, Yuko Kono, MD, Alexander Kuo, MD, Rohit Loomba, MD, Kristin Mekeel, MD, Michel Mendler, MD, Heather Patton, MD, and Rene Pink, RN.

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Media Contact: Jackie Carr, 619-543-6163, jcarr@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 05, 2012

News_release:

Wolfgang H. Dillmann, MD, has been selected as chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.  He has also been named the Helen M. Ranney Endowed Chair, the school's first faculty-funded endowed chair, founded in 1991 in honor of the department’s second chair. 

Wolfgang H. Dillmann, MD

With nearly 470 full-time faculty members and more than 100 academic researchers, the Department of Medicine is one of the inaugural departments in the UCSD School of Medicine and the largest. Nationally recognized for research, teaching and clinical care in internal medicine in specialties ranging from arthritis and respiratory disease to hypertension and cancer, its internal medicine specialty training programs include 108 resident physicians, 83 ACGME fellows, and 131 postdoctoral research fellows.  The department is also engaged in nearly 380 different biomedical research programs with funding awards totaling $113.6 million in fiscal year 2011. 

Dillmann came to UC San Diego in 1979 as an assistant professor, moving up to associate and then full professor by 1987.   He served as chief of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Division from 2005 to 2010, and as interim chair of the Department of Medicine since 2010.  He is the fifth chair in the Department’s 43-year history.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Gymnasium, Aschaffenburg in Germany and his MD degree in medicine from the University of Munich.  He completed his internship at Mt. Sinai Hospital, followed by residencies in medicine and endocrinology, both at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, the academic medical center associated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  He began his career as an assistant professor there, and then served as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota for two years before coming to San Diego.

His research interests in the laboratory include thyroid hormone action in the heart, as well as studies related to diabetic cardiomyopathy and the effects of excessive enzymatic protein glycosylation in cardiac myocytes and their influence on heart function. Dillmann’s lab also conducts studies related to the expression of specific heat shock proteins and protection of the heart against cardiac ischemia.

Dillmann is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In the field of endocrinology and metabolism he is a member of the Endocrine Society, the American Thyroid Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the International Society for Heart Research.  He is past associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, past editorial board member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and served as a member of the Cardiac Hypertrophy and Heart Failure NIH Study Section.

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Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 05, 2012

News_release:

Program showed success in training health care, law enforcement

The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine TREDS (Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety) program has been awarded a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to continue their work on driving safety in older adults.  This team of experts, part of UCSD’s Injury Epidemiology, Prevention and Research Center, has been working to keep San Diego County’s highways and senior drivers safe since 2007.
 
“Both health care and law enforcement can play an important role in the identification and referral of drivers who may be at risk for a collision,” said Linda Hill, MD, MPH, clinical professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at UCSD School of Medicine. “Physicians have knowledge of a patient’s medical history and the medications that can impact driving, while law enforcement witnesses and responds to unsafe driving first hand.” 

Family members of older drivers often seek guidance from these professionals in an effort to keep their loved ones safe behind the wheel. TREDS educates health care providers on the American Medical Association’s screening guidelines that assess for vision, strength and cognitive impairment in adults over age 70.  The focus of the law enforcement training is to increase recognition of medical conditions that can impact driving and referral resources.

“We have trained more than 1000 health professionals and more than 700 law enforcement officers in Southern California Counties.  Now, these successful programs will benefit the most traffic-congested areas in the state, Los Angeles and Orange Counties,” said Hill. “And soon health professionals throughout California will have the opportunity to receive the training online.”
 
Early identification of conditions is paramount to the continuation of safe driving.  Treatment may be as simple as a new pair of glasses, some adaptive equipment for the car, or physical therapy to improve range of motion.  Training health care practitioners and law enforcement officials will better equip them to help older drivers maintain mobility for as long as safely possible.
   
“Older adults have positive driving attributes like experience, being more likely to follow laws and less likely to take risks; however, as a group, their rates of death per distance driven and per population is as high as that of teenage boys,” Raul Coimbra, MD, PhD, FACS, chief of the Division of Trauma at UC San Diego Health System and founder of the UCSD Injury Epidemiology, Prevention and Research Center.  “In addition, elderly drivers and their passengers are four times more likely to die than their 20-year-old counterparts in crashes of similar intensity.”

“The California Highway Patrol appreciates the training provided by the University of California, San Diego.  This training has enabled our officers to better serve our older drivers by recognizing driving impairment and make referrals to community resources.  We are grateful for the contributions senior drivers have made to our communities over the past decades and want to best serve them while they continue to enjoy their driving experiences," said Chief Jim Abele from the California Highway Patrol.

“The goal of these programs is to improve driving safety in older adults by increasing awareness, education and management of the health-related impairments which result from the aging process,” explained Richard Kohr, Senior Driver Ombudsman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles – Southern Region. 

Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  The DMV Senior Ombudsman Program and the San Diego Driver Safety Office collaborated with and support UC San Diego’s efforts to engage health professionals and law enforcement in this endeavor.
 
The grant team, led by Hill, includes Coimbra; Jill Rybar, MPH, project manager; and Tara Styer, MPH, training coordinator. For additional information or to schedule trainings, email TREDS@ucsd.edu or call 858-534-9330.

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Background/Data

The AARP states that beginning in 2011, eight thousand Baby Boomers will be turning 65 each day and these projections are expected to continue for the next 18 years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that by the year 2020, there will be more than 40 million licensed drivers over the age of 65, and six million drivers over 65 in California by the year 2030.   

Older adults often experience a decline in cognition, vision and motor skills required to complete many tasks associated with driving.  AAA reports that nearly 70 percent of older adults surveyed were using one or more prescription medications that could impair driving ability.

According to San Diego County, 1408 individuals over 65 years of age were involved in traffic crashes, accounting for 10 percent of all people injured and 16 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2008.

The Injury Epidemiology, Prevention and Research Center

The UCSD Injury Epidemiology, Prevention and Research Center is a combined effort of the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and Burns with its Level-1 Trauma Center and the Regional Burn Center and the UCSD Department of Preventive Medicine to make our communities safer and to decrease the burden of injuries to our society.

Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu

News_Release_Date: January 04, 2012

News_release:

Jérôme Lejeune Foundation U.S. Scientific Committee Chair acknowledged by U.S. Congress, honored with international prize in Paris

William C. Mobley, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Chairman of the U.S. Scientific Advisory Committee of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, was recognized by U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions from the floor of the House of Representatives in December.  Sessions said of Mobley – who received the International Sisley-Jérôme Lejeune Prize in a ceremony at the Museum of Medical History in Paris on December 8 – “Dr. Mobley's many contributions in the field of Down syndrome have been truly valued in the special needs community. His research to identify causes of neurodegenerative disorders has brought new optimism to those afflicted with diseases, from Alzheimer's to Down syndrome.”

William C. Mobley, MD, PhD

The International Sisley-Jérôme Lejeune award was given to Mobley in recognition of his ambitious and innovative research into treatments for neurological disabilities, in particular Down syndrome.  In his acceptance speech, Mobley commented that “Today, we have not yet developed an effective treatment, but our work shows that it will soon be possible.”

“His commitment and expertise in this area are a guarantee of excellence for the Foundation,” said Jean-Marc Guilloux, Executive Director of the U.S. Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. “We are honored that a researcher of Dr. Mobley’s stature has agreed to assist us at this critical stage of launching this new initiative in the United States on behalf of those with genetic intellectual disabilities.” Mobley will be joined on the U.S. Scientific Advisory Committee by Randi Hagerman, MD, professor of the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis, and a research specialist in Fragile X syndrome, and by David Patterson, PhD, professor at the University of Denver, a researcher in the fields Down syndrome and autism.

The International Sisley-Jérôme Lejeune Prize carries a cash award and is made possible by a generous grant of the Sisley Foundation, Paris.

The Jérôme Lejeune Foundation (Paris/U.S.) was founded in 1996 and is the world’s largest private funder of Down syndrome research, providing some $21 million worldwide. In 2010 alone the Foundation invested $4 million in research, and funded over 60 research projects which together are breaking new ground in both the understanding and management of Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and other intellectual disabilities of genetic origin. The Foundation’s mission is based upon three closely joined pillars of activity: research, care, and advocacy, all carried out in a spirit of profound respect for the dignity of all human persons.

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Media Contacts:
UC San Diego Health Sciences: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu
U.S. Press contact, Lejeune Foundation: Mark Bradford, 215-983-8763, mbradford@LejeuneUSA.org  

News_Release_Date: January 04, 2012