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Popular Articles

Oregon Department Of Human Services Selects APS Healthcare To Manage Expanded Statewide Medicaid Program
APS Healthcare, a leading provider of specialty healthcare solutions, has been selected by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Medical Assistance Programs, to manage its statewide Medicaid disease and medical care management programs. The integrated program will assist Oregon"s Medicaid and SCHIP fee-for-service clients to access healthcare, minimize catastrophic health events and improve health outcomes through education and interventions that help promote behavior change.

Stanford Study Recruiting Participants Who Have Insomnia And Depression
"You"ll feel better after a good night"s sleep." We"ve all heard those words, but have we ever stopped to wonder about the mental health of people who just aren"t able to sleep well? Rachel Manber has, and the Stanford University School of Medicine researcher is trying to identify the best way to treat patients suffering from both depression and insomnia.
News of the day
QLT Announces 12-month Results From Novartis Sponsored MONT BLANC Study Evaluating Standard-fluence Visudyne(R) Combination Therapy
QLT Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI; TSX: QLT) announced that twelve-month primary analysis results from the Novartis sponsored Phase II MONT BLANC study were presented on June 14, 2009 during the 17th Congress of the European Society of Ophthalmology in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. MONT BLANC is the European study of the Novartis sponsored SUMMIT clinical trial program which investigates the efficacy and safety of combining Visudyne(R) (Novartis Pharma AG) and Lucentis(R) (Novartis Pharma AG, Genentech Inc.). SUMMIT also includes the DENALI study in the US and Canada and the EVEREST study in Asia. MONT BLANC is a 24-month randomized, double-masked, multicenter trial in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration. The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether Visudyne combined with Lucentis is not inferior to Lucentis monotherapy with respect to the mean change from baseline in visual acuity (VA) and to evaluate the proportion of patients with a treatment-free interval of at least three months duration after Month 2. At the Month 12 examination, mean VA in the Visudyne combination therapy group improved 2.5 letters from baseline compared with a 4.4 letter improvement in the Lucentis monotherapy group. In the combination therapy group, 96% of patients had a three-month treatment-free interval, compared with 92% in the Lucentis monotherapy group.
Diagnostics

Schizophrenia: A Genetic Basis

Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating psychiatric disease that is thought to have its roots in the development of the nervous system; however, major breakthroughs linking its genetics to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment are still unrealized. Jill Morris, PhD assistant professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University"s Feinberg School of Medicine and a researcher in the Human Molecular Genetics Program of Children"s Memorial Research Center studies a gene that is involved in susceptibility to schizophrenia, Disc1 (Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1). Two recent publications by Morris and colleagues focus on the role of Disc1 in development, particularly the migration of cells to their proper location in the brain and subsequent differentiation into their intended fate. During development, cells need to properly migrate to their final destination in order to develop into the appropriate cell-type, integrate into the corresponding network of cells and function properly. Disruption of cell migration can lead to inappropriate cell development and function, resulting in disease. The first paper, published in the July 2009 online issue of the journal Development, followed the role of Disc1 in cranial neural crest (CNC) cells, which are multi-potent cells that give rise to multiple cell types including craniofacial cartilage and the peripheral nervous system during development. They also are similar to neurons in their high mobility, response to signals and cellular origin. The Morris laboratory determined that Disc1 regulates two stem cell maintenance factors that have many functions in CNC cells, including the maintenance of precursor pools, timing of migration onset and the induction of cell differentiation. The authors showed that Disc1 disruption results in increased expression of these factors, leading to hindered cell migration and a change in cell fate. "This research indicates that Disc1 may be involved in regulating stem cells and their fate," says Morris. The second paper, published in the June 2009 online issue of Human Molecular Genetics, studied the hippocampus, a brain area that is involved in learning and memory, and is also associated with the pathology of schizophrenia. Disc1 is highly expressed in the hippocampus, particularly the dentate gyrus, which is considered the gateway to the hippocampus. In this study, the authors decreased Disc1 expression using RNA interference in the developing mouse hippocampus. The loss of Disc1 resulted in hindered migration of dentate gyrus granule cells to their proper location in the brain. "Improper migration of hippocampal neurons may result in altered connectivity in the brain," says Morris. Co-authors on these publications are (Development): Catherine Drerup, PhD, Heather Wiora and Jacek Topczewski, PhD; and (Human Molecular Genetics): Kate Meyer. Drerup is a former graduate student and Meyer a current graduate student, both in the Morris laboratory. Funding was provided by the McKnight Brain Disorders Award; the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression; the National Institute of Mental Health; and the Illinois Department of Public Aid. Peggy Jones Children"s Memorial Hospital


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