News releases received by email from the NIH
* NCCAM EXPLORES NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY * NEW REGISTRY WILL BENEFIT PATIENTS WITH ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME (APS) NEW BROCHURE HELPS SPANISH-SPEAKING FAMILIES DISCUSS DRUG ABUSE AND RELATED HEALTH RISKS * STUDY CLARIFIES BRAIN MECHANISMS OF COCAINE'S HIGH * NHLBI CREATES COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TO ELIMINATE DISPARITIES IN CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH * MALARIA RESEARCH AND TRAINING BENEFITS GLOBAL COMMUNITY April 25 is Africa Malaria Day 2001 * BLOOD MARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTISM AND MENTAL RETARDATION * BULLYING WIDESPREAD IN U.S. SCHOOLS, SURVEY FINDS * FIRST TYPHOID VACCINE TO PROTECT CHILDREN PROVEN EFFECTIVE BY NICHD SCIENTISTS * TYPHOID FEVER IN THE UNITED STATES * NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE EXPANDS SALUD PARA SU CORAZON * NIAID EVENTS HIGHLIGHT GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH * REGIONAL MEDICAL LIBRARY CONTRACTS AWARDED * QUITTING SMOKING HARDER FOR WOMEN THAN FOR MEN * STUDY RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIDS AND EVENTS DETECTED BY HOME MONITORS * RESEARCHERS FIND EVIDENCE THAT PRENATAL USE OF ECSTASY CAN CAUSE LONG-TERM MEMORY LOSS AND OTHER IMPAIRMENTS IN OFFSPRING * MAKGOBA TO SPEAK AT JAMES C. HILL MEMORIAL LECTURE * HOW SWEET IT IS... MOUSE MODEL YIELDS IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATE SWEET RECEPTOR AND NOVEL MEMBER OF THE TR1 FAMILY OF PUTATIVE TASTE RECEPTORS * NHLBI REPORTS NEW ASTHMA DATA FOR WORLD ASTHMA DAY 2001 ASTHMA STILL A PROBLEM BUT MORE GROUPS FIGHTING IT * ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE SELECTS CENTERS IN OHIO, TEXAS, NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON TO BREED MICE WITH GENE VARIANTS FOR DISEASE STUDIES * A PARASITE, A VIRUS, AND A BACTERIUM: NIAID'S PLAN TO TACKLE THE WORLD'S LEADING KILLERS * HEPATITIS C RISK NOT LIMITED TO INJECTION DRUG USERS * INCREASED AWARENESS OF STROKE SYMPTOMS COULD DRAMATICALLY REDUCE STROKE DISABILITY * NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING ESTABLISHED * DRUG TREATMENT OF LEAD-EXPOSED CHILDREN DOES NOT IMPROVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SCORES * NIGMS CREATES CENTER FOR BIOINFORMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY * NCEP ISSUES MAJOR NEW CHOLESTEROL GUIDELINES * FOURTH ANNUAL HIV VACCINE AWARENESS DAY HONORS VOLUNTEERS, PROMOTES RESEARCH * PAPERS OF NOBEL SCIENTIST MARSHALL NIRENBERG ADDED TO "PROFILES IN SCIENCE" * DDT, PCBs NOT LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF BREAST CANCER, AN ANALYSIS OF FIVE NORTHEAST STUDIES CONCLUDES * 33-YEAR STUDY EMPHASIZES LETHAL CONSEQUENCES OF HEROIN ADDICTION * BREASTFEEDING HAS MINOR EFFECT IN REDUCING RISK OF CHILDHOOD OVERWEIGHT * BRAIN GENE IMPLICATED IN AUTISM * LONG-CHAIN ALCOHOL FOUND TO BLOCK MECHANISM OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Center for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
http://nccam.nih.gov
NIH NEWS RELEASE
NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 17, 2001
Press Contact:
Anita Greene (301) 496-1712
greena@mail.nih.gov
NCCAM EXPLORES NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the NIH, will hold a colloquium on May 14, 2001, to explore opportunities to collaborate with two key groups: Industrial stakeholders that produce, label, and market complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapeutics (e.g., dietary supplements and other biologically based treatments), and organizations that develop and apply standards to determine quality and safety of these products. The purpose of the meeting is to begin a dialogue on how NCCAM and industry can work together to definitively evaluate CAM therapeutic products for composition, safety, and efficacy, and to obtain input from the broad stakeholder community.
WHAT:
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), who spearheaded legislation to
create NCCAM (formerly the Office of Alternative Medicine),
will open the colloquium: "Exploring Opportunities for
Collaboration with Industry" with an overview of NCCAM's
legislative mandate. Stephen E. Straus, M.D., Director of
NCCAM will discuss NCCAM's perspective with respect to
opportunities to establish collaboration with industry.
Myron S. Weinberg, Chairman of the Weinberg Group will
serve as chair for this colloquium.
Leaders from key federal government regulatory agencies, major industrial, non-profit, consumers, and researcher groups will address important topics to include: (1) The role of NCCAM and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements in studying CAM therapeutics within the context of the NIH mission, (2) The scope of interests and needs of the CAM therapeutics industry in developing and marketing CAM therapeutics, (3) Areas of interest common to NCCAM and the CAM therapeutics industry, (4) Areas of complementary expertise contributed by NCCAM and the CAM therapeutics industry, and (5) Regulatory authorities and responsibilities of other federal agencies. Ample opportunity will be provided for audience discussion of these issues.
Additional information, including an agenda and featured
speakers at this meeting is available at:
http://nccam.nih.gov/nccam/colloquium
Individuals, or representatives from the following organizations should attend this meeting:
WHEN:
Monday, May 14, 2001
8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. EDT
WHERE:
The meeting will take place at the Washington Monarch Hotel
located at 2401 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
REGISTER NOW:
Registration is FREE for credentialed press only; however,
SPACE IS LIMITED. Please contact Anita Greene, NCCAM Press
Officer at (301) 496-1712 ASAP to make a reservation.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM) is dedicated to exploring complementary
and alternative medical (CAM) practices in the context of
rigorous science, training CAM researchers and
disseminating authoritative information. For additional
information, including fact sheets, press releases, and
other information about NCCAM, please visit our website at
http://nccam.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Contact: Judith Wortman
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
(301) 496-8190
wortmanj@mail.nih.gov
NEW REGISTRY WILL BENEFIT PATIENTS WITH ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME (APS)
Patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) will benefit from a new national registry and tissue repository sponsored by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD). The coordinating center will reside at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC).
APS is an autoimmune disorder in which the body appears to recognize certain phospholipids (fatty molecules that are important components of a cell's membrane) as foreign substances and produces antibodies against them. People with APS may experience blood clots leading to heart attack, stroke or loss of the fetus during pregnancy. APS may occur in patients with lupus and related autoimmune diseases or as a primary syndrome in otherwise healthy individuals.
Biomedical researchers at eight medical centers will collect and update clinical, demographic and laboratory information from patients with APS and make it available to researchers and to medical practitioners concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome. According to Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D., NIAMS director, "The availability of this information will permit better comparisons among clinical research projects and help rheumatologists, obstetricians and other physicians resolve problems associated with the many manifestations of the syndrome."
In APS, blood clots may affect any part of the body. In addition to stroke and heart attack, abnormalities of the heart valves, kidney disease, thrombocytopenia (a low level of platelets in the blood) and leg ulcers have been associated with the disorder. APS takes a particular toll during pregnancy, when the syndrome may cause miscarriage, stillbirth, retarded growth of the fetus or pre-eclampsia (toxemia and high blood pressure). In the general population, APS may account for 20 percent of deep vein thrombosis cases, one-third of strokes in people under age 50, and 5 to 15 percent of recurrent miscarriages.
Antiphospholipid antibodies are present in the blood of about one-third of patients who have lupus; approximately one-third of those with antibodies (10 to 15 percent of all lupus patients) have clinical signs of the syndrome. Antiphospholipid antibodies have also been identified in people who do not have an autoimmune disorder like lupus and who may not have any symptoms. Registry scientists will collect data on patients with clinical signs of APS and on asymptomatic individuals who have antibodies but have not yet developed any clinical signs.
The registry/repository is expected to begin operating in late spring. About 2,000 patients will be enrolled over the next five years at UNC and the following seven centers:
For additional information or to be placed on a list of
people to be notified when registry enrollment begins,
contact:
Robert A. S. Roubey, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, CB #7280
Thurston Building, Room 3330
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7280
(919) 966-0572 (registry phone)
apscore@med.unc.edu
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is a component of the National Institutes of Health. The mission of the NIAMS is to support research into the causes, treatment and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases, the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research, and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases. For more information about NIAMS, call our information clearinghouse at (301) 495-4484 or (877) 22-NIAMS (free call).
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Contact:
Beverly Jackson
Blair Gately
301-443-6245
NEW BROCHURE HELPS SPANISH-SPEAKING FAMILIES DISCUSS DRUG ABUSE AND RELATED HEALTH RISKS
Juventud Latina -- Hable con Sus Hijos Sobre las Drogas y
Sus Peligros (Latino Youth - Speak to Your Children About
Drugs and Their Dangers)
http://www.nida.nih.gov/LatinoBrochure/Index.html
provides a science-based discussion tool for Hispanic/Latino families.
It includes the latest information on the health effects of inhalants,
marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, in
addition to information on drug abuse prevention and
treatment strategies.
Juventud Latina was developed in Spanish by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health. "Drug abuse and addiction are equal opportunity destroyers. They touch every race, culture, and socioeconomic level, and our goal is to provide useful tools for all Americans to use in dealing with these issues within their own communities. " says Dr. Alan I. Leshner, NIDA Director. "In producing this brochure, we were particularly fortunate to have the active involvement and input from Hispanic/Latino parents, young people, and community health professionals nationwide."
A series of accompanying Spanish radio PSAs directed toward parents is being released in April. They encourage listeners to learn about the health effects of drug abuse and talk to their children about them. They also direct listeners to a toll-free number for ordering the new brochure. The PSAs are being distributed to 480 Hispanic/Latino radio outlets nationwide.
For free copies of the brochure, please call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686 and request publication number PHD854S. NCADI also carries other NIDA publications in Spanish, on marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and drug abuse prevention. These publications, the new brochure, and other science-based information on drug abuse and addiction can be downloaded from NIDA's website at www.drugabuse.gov.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and Spanish by calling NIDA Infofax
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/Infofaxindex.html
at
1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-6432) or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for
the deaf. These fact sheets and further information on NIDA
research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Monday, April 23, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Beverly Jackson, Michelle Muth
Blair Gately
301-443-6245
STUDY CLARIFIES BRAIN MECHANISMS OF COCAINE'S HIGH
A team of researchers led by scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Intramural Research Program has made a major advance in understanding the molecular basis of how cocaine produces its characteristic high, suggesting new targets for developing anti-addiction medicines. The findings, published in the April 24 issue of the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", show that inactivating both the serotonin and dopamine transporters in the brains of mice dramatically reduces their experience of cocaine's rewarding, pleasurable effects. It has been known for some time that cocaine use affects the brain's dopamine system, but also that manipulating dopamine does not fully control cocaine's effects. Thus this study shows the critical importance of the serotonin system as well as the dopamine system in mediating cocaine's pleasurable effects.
"Currently, there is no medication that effectively blocks the brain's reward response to cocaine or that substantially relieves cocaine addiction, " says NIDA director Dr. Alan I. Leshner. "The finding that serotonin as well as dopamine plays a critical role in the development of cocaine addiction suggests a new biological target and approaches for developing such medications."
Dr. George Uhl, head of the NIDA research team, explains that his team studied genetically altered mice that were missing one or both copies of the dopamine transporter (DAT) and serotonin transporter (SERT) genes. They found that mice with even a single DAT gene copy and no SERT copies still experienced reward/reinforcement following cocaine administration. However, cocaine-induced reward/reinforcement behavior was totally blocked in mice with no DAT gene and either half-normal or absent SERT.
Dr. Uhl says, "These results demonstrate the dependence of cocaine reward on both DAT and SERT blockade. They define for the first time the brain molecular targets necessary for cocaine reward. They suggest that drugs acting on both dopamine and serotonin brain systems might be needed to effectively combat cocaine addiction."
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of
the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of
programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research
information and its implementation in policy and practice.
Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and
other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and
Spanish through NIDA Infofax at 1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-6432)
or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for the deaf. These fact
sheets and further information on NIDA research and other
activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Contact:
NHLBI Communications Office
(301) 496-4236
NHLBI CREATES COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TO ELIMINATE DISPARITIES IN CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
To ensure that science-based information about cardiovascular disease (CVD) reaches people in low-income and minority communities, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health today announced a partnership with six community- based organizations. These organizations, which have been dubbed Enhanced Dissemination and Utilization Centers (EDUCs), are the first to be selected to participate in what will eventually be a nationwide NHLBI network of community-based organizations implementing targeted, culturally sensitive heart health education strategies aimed at changing local physician practices and patient behaviors.
The EDUCs are located in communities with heart disease and stroke death rates far in excess of the national average.
Said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant, "Despite the scientific and technological advances in cardiovascular medicine during the past 50 years, many Americans are not enjoying the improvements in health that application of existing information has the potential to offer. The NHLBI is taking aggressive steps to enhance dissemination and outreach activities to address this disturbing problem."
Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the U.S., and recent data suggest that this is not likely to change soon. The decline in coronary heart disease mortality that began in the 1960s appears to be slowing, and the recent decline in stroke mortality is leveling off. Control of high blood pressure, especially among older Americans, is less than optimal; teenage smoking is on the increase; and overweight/obesity, coupled with high levels of physical inactivity, is on the increase. There are tremendous geographic variations in heart disease and stroke death rates, and certain racial/ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected.
The EDUCs initiative is an important part of NHLBI's response to meeting the Federal government's Healthy People 2010 objectives for the Nation which aim to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the burden of disease and improve health care for everyone.
The NHLBI strategy is to focus on communities at highest risk of cardiovascular disease, collaborate with local health care providers and other community leaders who understand local issues and concerns, and encourage broad partnerships to ensure that an infrastructure exists to sustain the project over time.
The six new NHLBI EDUCs and their strategies are:
As an NHLBI EDUC, DR CHIP will expand its current programs to provide a comprehensive community-wide approach to health professional and public education and risk factor identification and treatment. This intervention will involve community cardiovascular risk factor screenings and referrals; collaboration with community-based hypertension and lipid specialty clinics; and education activities with schools, churches, and other community organizations like the YMCA. DR CHIP will also promote additional continuing education programs for health care professionals in this Federal Medically Underserved area.
Based on input from a Community Advisory Board in each county, the DHEC will recruit approximately 8 churches in each county. Half of the churches in each county will then be selected to participate either in a Lay Health Minister program or a Witness Role Models program. In the Lay Health Minister programs, health professionals from participating congregations will be recruited and trained to conduct health assessments of community members and to followup with information, advice, and referral services for those found to have CVD risk factors. In the Witness Role Models program, survivors of stroke or heart disease will be recruited from each congregation to work with a health educator to present information to the congregation about CVD risk factors and their own personal experiences with CVD.
The project will kick off with a health fair in each church at which participants will undergo a health assessment and be screened for blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Those found to have CVD risk factors will be referred either to their personal physicians or to the Lee County Community Clinic where they will receive care regardless of their ability to pay.
All participating churches will be offered the opportunity to provide educational activities for congregation members in a wide range of health areas, including smoking cessation, nutritional counseling, and exercise classes. Cooking demonstrations and youth group presentations aimed at discouraging tobacco use and encouraging heart healthy eating and physical activity will also be available.
The DHEC, in conjunction with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences regional programs, will also provide onsite training programs and Continuing Medical Education courses for physicians and nursing/office staff in the two counties to ensure that participants in the program receive appropriate care.
The intervention, called Helping Educators Attack Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Together (HEART), will enhance the local public school curriculum to provide information about healthy lifestyles and expand physical education programs to promote personal fitness and aerobic conditioning. It also will improve school meals and provide in-service training programs for teachers to increase their effectiveness in teaching health-related school subjects. Outreach to parents will also be conducted to promote the same attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Children and families with CVD risk factors will be identified, and referrals will be made for treatment.
This approach is based on science-based interventions from NHLBI's SPARK and CATCH programs, two large health promotion studies that showed that multicomponent health promotion efforts targeting both children's behavior and the school environment will reduce CVD risk factors later in life.
The project will use the materials and tools produced by NHLBI's "Salud para su Corazón" program, a community-based CVD prevention and outreach initiative. A major focus will be the use of lay health educators, called Promotores de Salud, to help identify individuals with CVD risk factors and to guide them through treatment and followup, providing individualized risk factor reduction education and promoting adherence to prescribed regimens. The intervention will also create a variety of neighborhood and community-wide awareness and education activities, such as guided group discussions, or charlas, community health fairs, cooking demonstrations, and mass media activities to reach community residents with heart health and family wellness messages.
Working with local community-based organizations, HEARTQUEST will implement a variety of educational and health care activities to complement existing health promotion activities in this area. For example, they will provide training for primary care physicians and health clinics on the use of low-cost strategies and therapies for treating people with high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels. They also will work with local community-based organizations to help them improve their advocacy efforts for environmental policy changes to promote heart health -- for example, walking trails and smoke-free restaurants and shopping centers. A model for training lay health educators to provide CVD prevention education to local community members will also be developed, and health fairs will be scheduled to conduct screenings and education activities to make community members more aware of their risk for CVD. Individuals with CVD risk factors will be referred to care. A special component will focus on improving emergency services and educating the community about responding quickly to heart attack symptoms.
HEARTQUEST is an acronym for Heart Attack and Stroke Education, Awareness, Rapid Response, Treatment Adherence, Quality Enhancement through Science Translation.
The project will provide one group with intensive behavioral interventions in exercise, nutrition, weight loss, and smoking cessation, as well as best medical practices, including pharmacological, diagnostic, and therapeutic interventions. The second group will receive only the same level of medical care.
The behavioral interventions will be tailored for each patient to achieve blood pressure and cholesterol control, to reduce hospital admissions and emergency department visits for CVD events, and to increase the number of people who know how to respond to signs of a heart attack. Special efforts will be made to address the problem of CVD in women.
Said Dr. Gregory Morosco, Director of NHLBI's Office of Prevention, Education, and Control, "We believe that mobilizing partners in high-risk communities and helping them implement today's best prevention strategies will save more lives and give more Americans a better quality of life. That is the goal of our Enhanced Dissemination and Utilization Centers."
For more information, contact the NHLBI Communications Office, at (301) 496-4236.
For additional information on the NHLBI CVD EDUCs and cardiovascular health, visit the NHLBI Web Site at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
John E. Fogarty International Center
For Advanced Study in the Health Sciences
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Contact:
Jennifer Cabe
(301) 496-2075
MALARIA RESEARCH AND TRAINING BENEFITS GLOBAL COMMUNITY April 25 is Africa Malaria Day 2001
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, BETHESDA, MD -- Malaria kills 2.7 million people each year, according to the most recent estimates, and is responsible for enormous economic burdens in malaria-endemic regions. Ninety percent of those who die of malaria are African children under the age of 5. Over 1.5 billion new infections occur annually. Unfortunately, these numbers are on the rise due to insecticide resistance, antimalarial drug resistance, and environmental changes. Unless new strategies are developed, death and illness due to malaria will increase, and the disease will continue to be a substantial barrier to the economic and social development of malaria-endemic regions and a threat to the millions of people who travel to those regions each year.
In 1997, an international alliance of research and public
health agencies and African scientists launched the
Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). MIM is
stimulating collaborative research to answer the needs of
public health programs in malaria-endemic countries,
modernizing communication systems used by the African
research community, and strengthening research capacity and
human resources where malaria takes its greatest toll --
sub-Saharan Africa. MIM supports 23 collaborative malaria
research projects between African laboratories that are
also in partnership with laboratories in Europe and the
United States. Detailed information about MIM, its
partners, and activities is available on the MIM website at
http://mim.nih.gov
April 25, 2001 is the first-ever Africa Malaria Day. Today, MIM is announcing two international conferences on malaria. MIM will hold the Third MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria from November 18 to 22, 2002, in Arusha, Tanzania. This conference will bring together malaria researchers who battle "Plasmodium falciparum" malaria, which causes the most severe illness and which is the dominant form of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, MIM is organizing a conference to focus on a second form of malaria, "Plasmodium vivax", in January 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, together with partners in Asia. "Plasmodium vivax" malaria significantly contributes to malaria morbidity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Both conferences will bring together malaria researchers and malaria control experts with the aim of transferring malaria research advances into critically needed control, prevention, and treatment programs. MIM selected Africa Malaria Day to announce these two international conferences to draw attention to the fact that malaria research and capacity building in malaria-endemic regions are essential, integrally linked components in an effective approach to addressing malaria.
"It is essential that those most impacted by malaria participate in finding research solutions," said Gerald T. Keusch, M.D., Director of FIC and of the MIM Secretariat, and NIH Associate Director for International Research. "Support for research conducted in malaria- endemic regions by local researchers will have critical, lasting impacts locally and globally."
Keusch added, "Given the profound toll that malaria takes on societies, African leaders have been at the forefront of MIM in addressing this issue." The lead organizers of the Third MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria are the National Institute for Malaria Research in Tanzania, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and MIM.
The Second MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria was held in
March 1999 in Durban, South Africa, and included over 850
delegates. The proceedings of that conference are available
on the MIM website at
http://mim.nih.gov/english/achievements/conference.html#durban_report
FIC is the international component of NIH and currently serves as MIM Secretariat. NIH, primarily through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), supports malaria research to address critical needs related to vaccine development, vector biology and control, health economics, health information systems, and other research areas, while FIC promotes capacity building through its malaria research training programs for scientists from malaria-endemic countries. In addition to the two international scientific conferences announced today, other activities of the MIM Secretariat at NIH include:
RESEARCH TRAINING GRANTS:
To expand the capabilities of malaria researchers, FIC
developed the International Malaria Research and Training
Program (IMTRP). The scarcity of trained malaria
researchers in the regions most severely impacted by the
disease is a major impediment to successful malaria
research. In 2000, the IMRTP began supporting
collaborative training programs between U.S. institutions
and malaria researchers in endemic countries. More
information about the IMRTP is available on the FIC website
at
http://www.nih.gov/fic/programs/malaria.html
TRAINING WORKSHOPS:
MIM sponsors workshops about the grant application and
peer-review process to train researchers from malaria-
endemic regions to successfully apply for research grants.
The current issue of the journal "Trends in Parasitology"
(Vol. 17, No. 4, April 2001) includes a report on a recent
MIM training workshop.
ADDRESSING MALARIAL ANEMIA:
To foster research on the interaction between malaria and
anemia, MIM; NIAID; FIC; and the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI) organized meetings of
hematologists, nutritionists, and malaria researchers to
discuss these interactions. Subsequently, NIAID and FIC
developed a joint research and training program to support
research in malaria-endemic countries on the pathogenesis
of severe malarial anemia. More information about this
program, which is currently accepting applications, is
available on the FIC website at
http://www.nih.gov/fic/programs/malaria.html
Information about NIAID malaria research activities is
available at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/malaria
FIC is the international component of the NIH. FIC
promotes and supports scientific research internationally
to reduce disparities in global health. NIH is an agency
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Fact
sheets, press releases, and other FIC-related materials are
available at
http://www.nih.gov/fic
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Wednesday, March 25, 2001
12:00 a.m. EST
Contact:
Marcia Vital or Paul Girolami
301-496-5751
BLOOD MARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTISM AND MENTAL RETARDATION
A new study shows that elevated concentrations of proteins present at birth in the blood may be associated with the development of autism and mental retardation later in childhood. The identification of a biological marker early in life and before the onset of symptoms could lead to earlier and more definitive diagnoses, better clinical definitions, and the discovery of interventional therapies for the disorders. Investigators at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the March of Dimes/California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, and the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, collaborated on the study, which will appear in the May 2001 issue of the "Annals of Neurology". (*)
The investigators examined and compared archived neonatal blood samples from children, born in four northern California counties from 1983 to 1985, who later developed autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, or developed normally. The investigators measured concentrations of several neural growth factors and found that the growth factors were significantly elevated in the neonatal blood of children who later developed autism or mental retardation, but not in the blood from children who developed cerebral palsy or blood from the normal controls.
"Finding that major regulators of brain development were different in children with autism from normal controls in the first days of life opens an exciting new avenue of research," says Karin B. Nelson, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Neuroepidemiology Branch of the NINDS. "We think this work will be a step to better understanding the biologic basis of autism and hope it will lead to better ways to treat and perhaps prevent autism."
"We have these promising new results because the California Department of Health Services had the foresight many years ago to save specimens from the newborn screening program," added study co-author, Judith K. Grether, Ph.D., of the California Department of Health Services. "This archive of new-born blood specimens is an incredible treasure, providing a tremendously valuable resource for scientific study of a wide range of developmental disabilities and birth defects."
Neural growth factors are important to the formation of the central nervous system during embryonic development. Previous research shows that many of these growth factors play a vital role in the production of new brain cells and the organization of those cells into distinct networks. The investigators hypothesize that an abnormal abundance of these proteins may disrupt the normal process of cell migration, differentiation, and programmed death during early nervous system development. Animal studies have shown that an early shortage of one of these proteins leads to microcephaly and other developmental problems.
The investigators speculate that a breakdown in the regulation of factors that influence early brain development is important in autism and mental retardation. Since these disorders cannot be clinically diagnosed until later in childhood, the identification of molecular markers could be helpful in the early diagnosis of the disorders and in the design of future clinical studies to test therapies. The researchers plan to continue their work to further elucidate the biological and genetic mechanisms that underlie the development of autism and other developmental disorders.
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects approximately 10 to 20 people in every 10,000 and affects males about four times more frequently than females. Symptoms of autism may surface in children around the age of 2. People with classical autism show three types of symptoms: impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual or severely limited activities and interests. People with autism may also show abnormal responses to sensory stimuli, such as touch, sounds, and sights. Twin studies suggest that autism has a strong genetic component.
Mental retardation is a term that is applied to people who show significantly delayed or impaired mental, intellectual, and social development. People with mental retardation generally score below 70 points on an intelligence quotient (IQ) test and have trouble adapting to complex social situations.
Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of chronic disorders caused by faulty early development of or damage to motor areas in the brain. Symptoms of cerebral palsy include difficulties with control of limb movement. Some people with cerebral palsy may also have mental impairment.
The NINDS, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the nation's leading supporter of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
* Nelson, K. B.; Grether, J. K.; Croen, L. A.; Dambrosia,
J. M.; Dickens, B. F.; Jelliffe, L. L.; Hansen, R. L.;
Phillips, T. M.
"Neuropeptides and Neurotrophins in
Neonatal Blood of Children with Autism or Mental
Retardation."
"Annals of Neurology", May 2001, Vol. 49(5), 597-606.
This release will be posted on EurekAlert! at
http://www.eurekalert.org
and on the NINDS web site at
http://ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/index.htm
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Tuesday, April 24, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Robert Bock
(301) 496-5133
rb96a@nih.gov
BULLYING WIDESPREAD IN U.S. SCHOOLS, SURVEY FINDS
Bullying is widespread in American schools, with more than 16 percent of U.S. school children saying they had been bullied by other students during the current term, according to a survey funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The study appears in the April 25, 2001, "Journal of the American Medical Association". Overall, 10 percent of children said they had been bullied by other students, but had not bullied others. Another 6 percent said that they had both been bullied themselves and had bullied other children. Another 13 percent of students said they had bullied other students, but had not been bullied themselves.
"Being bullied is not just an unpleasant rite of passage through childhood," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NICHD. "It's a public health problem that merits attention. People who were bullied as children are more likely to suffer from depression and low self esteem, well into adulthood, and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life."
The NICHD researchers surveyed 15,686 students in grades six-through-10, in public, parochial, and other private schools throughout the U.S. The nationally representative survey was part of the U.S. contribution to the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School Children survey, an international effort in which many countries surveyed school-age children on a broad spectrum of health- related behaviors.
For this study, researchers defined bullying as a type of behavior intended to harm or disturb the victim, explained the study's first author, Tonja R. Nansel, Ph.D. This behavior occurs repeatedly over time and involves an imbalance of power, with the more powerful person or group attacking the less powerful one, Dr. Nansel added. Bullying may be physical, involving hitting or otherwise attacking the other person; verbal, involving name-calling or threats; or psychological, involving spreading rumors or excluding a person.
The children were asked to complete a questionnaire during a class period that asked how often they either bullied other students, or were the target of bullying behavior. A total of 10.6 percent of the children replied that they had "sometimes" bullied other children, a response category defined as "moderate" bullying. An additional 8.8 percent said they had bullied others once a week or more, defined as "frequent "bullying. Similarly, 8.5 percent said they had been targets of moderate bullying, and 8.4 percent said they were bullied frequently.
Out of all the students, 13 percent said they had engaged in moderate or frequent bullying of others, while10.6 percent said they had been bullied either moderately or frequently. Some students -- 6.3 percent-- had both bullied others and been bullied themselves. In all, 29 percent of the students who responded to the survey had been involved in some aspect of bullying, either as a bully, as the target of bullying, or both.
Bullying occurred most frequently in sixth through eighth grade, with little variation between urban, suburban, town, and rural areas; suburban youth were 2-3 percent less likely to bully others. Males were both more likely to bully others and more likely to be victims of bullying than were females. In addition, males were more likely to say they had been bullied physically (being hit, slapped, or pushed), while females more frequently said they were bullied verbally and psychologically (through sexual comments or rumors).
Regarding verbal bullying, bullies were less likely to make derogatory statements about other students' religion or race. "There seem to be stronger social norms against making these kinds of statements than against belittling someone about their appearance or behavior," Dr. Nansel said.
Both bullies and those on the receiving end of bullying were more likely to have difficulty adjusting to their environment both socially and psychologically. Students who were bullied reported having greater difficulty making friends and poorer relationships with their classmates. They were also much more likely than other students to report feelings of loneliness.
"It's likely that kids who are socially isolated and have trouble making friends are more likely to be targets of bullying," Dr. Nansel said. "In turn, other kids may avoid children who are bullied, for fear of being bullied themselves."
The study authors also reported that bullies were more likely to be involved in other problem behaviors, such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and to do more poorly academically. However, youth who were both bullies and recipients of bullying tended to fare the most poorly of all, experiencing social isolation, as well as doing poorly in school and engaging in problem behaviors, like smoking and drinking.
"Unfortunately, we don't know much about this group," Dr. Nansel said. "We need to learn more about them to provide them with the help they need." She added that it is not known whether these children are first bullied by others and then imitate the bullying behavior they experienced, or if they are bullies who were later retaliated against.
The study's authors concluded that the prevalence of bullying in U.S. schools suggests a need for more research to understand, and devise ways to intervene against, bullying. The authors noted that researchers in Norway and England have shown that school intervention programs can be successful. These programs focused on increasing awareness of bullying, increasing teacher and parent supervision, establishing clear rules prohibiting bullying, and providing support and protection for those bullied.
The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health, the
biomedical research arm of the federal government. The
Institute sponsors research on development before and after
birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive
biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.
NICHD publications, as well as information about the
Institute, are available from the NICHD Web site,
http://www.nichd.nih.gov
or from the NICHD Clearinghouse,
1-800-370-2943;
e-mail
NICHDClearinghouse@mail.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Robert Bock
(301) 496-5133
rb96a@nih.gov
FIRST TYPHOID VACCINE TO PROTECT CHILDREN PROVEN EFFECTIVE BY NICHD SCIENTISTS
Scientists at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have developed and tested the first vaccine capable of protecting children from ages 2 to 5 against typhoid fever. Results of the study, which was conducted in Vietnam, appear in the April 26 "New England Journal of Medicine". The effectiveness of the vaccine -- 91.5 percent -- is the highest reported for any typhoid vaccine.
"We have a two-fold victory in world public health," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NICHD. "Not only is this the first vaccine to protect young children against typhoid fever, it appears to be the most effective typhoid vaccine ever developed. And in contrast to other typhoid vaccines, it is virtually free of side effects."
Untreated, typhoid fever is a debilitating and life-
threatening illness caused by the bacteria, "Salmonella
typhi". Vaccine development for typhoid fever has been
difficult, because "S. typhi" inhabits and causes illness
only in human beings -- there are no animal models for the
disease. Typhoid fever is spread by fecal contamination of
drinking water or food, or by person to person contact.
The disease is common in developing countries lacking
adequate sewage and sanitation facilities. Symptoms
include fever, stomach pains, weight loss, loss of
appetite, delirium, severe diarrhea (in children), and
constipation (in adults). According to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, about 16 million people
worldwide develop typhoid each year, and 600,000 die from
it. Roughly 400 cases of typhoid fever occur in the U.S.
each year, about 70 percent of which are acquired by
Americans traveling abroad.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/typhoidfever_g.htm
The NICHD researchers chose to do the study in the Dong Thap province of the Mekong Delta, a rural area which lacks a public sewage system and therefore has a high incidence of typhoid fever-roughly 413 cases for every 100,000 children under age 15. More than 90 percent of the typhoid strains present in the area are resistant to the antibiotics used to treat the disease.
In developing the vaccine, the NICHD researchers used an approach they had earlier pioneered. The approach involves chemically linking a polysaccharide from the disease- causing bacteria with a protein molecule. Ordinarily, the polysaccharide would slip past the defenses of a child's immature immune system. But adding the protein to the polysaccharide allows the immune system to produce antibodies that inactivate the bacteria. Antibodies are immune system proteins that recognize a particular substance. Together with another protein called complement, antibodies begin the first steps in the complex sequences of events by which the immune system destroys disease-causing organisms.
Two of the researchers, Dr. John Robbins and Dr. Rachel
Schneerson, received the prestigious Pasteur and Lasker
Awards for using this approach to develop a vaccine that
virtually eliminated disease caused by the deadly and
debilitating bacteria, "Haemophilus influenzae" type B
(Hib), from the developed world.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases/cviawar2.htm
Hib vaccination also is being implemented in Africa, South and Central America, and in Southeast Asia. Dr. Robbins is the recipient of this year's Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal for dedicating his career to preventing diseases that afflict children, such as meningitis, pertusis, typhoid, and several others.
In all, 11,091 Vietnamese children ranging from age 2 to age 5 took part in the study. The children received two injections, 6 weeks apart. Half received the vaccine, and the other half, a placebo. In the following two years, both groups were observed by their physicians throughout the study. Those who developed typhoid fever received the standard treatment of antibiotic therapy for the disease. "S. typhi" was isolated from only 4 children who had received both injections of the vaccine. The placebo group had 47 cases, for an effectiveness rate of 91.5 percent. By comparison, typhoid vaccines currently on the market have a 70 percent effectiveness rate and do not protect children under age 5 against the disease. Fewer than 2 percent of children experienced any side effects, all of which were mild, and limited to swelling at the injection site, or to mild fever that resolved within 48 hours.
The study authors wrote that they next plan to test the vaccine in children under two, to see if it can be administered at the same time as the routine vaccination for Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis. Because of the high levels of protective antibodies the vaccine brought about in young children, the study authors also wrote that the vaccine would probably be at least 90 percent effective in individuals above 5 years of age, "including the military and travelers to areas with high rates of typhoid fever."
Authors of the study were Feng Ying C. (Kimi) Lin, M.D., M.P.H, Zuzana Kossaczka, Ph.D., Delores A. Bryla, M.P.H., John B. Robbins, M.D., Rachel Schneerson, M.D., and Shousun C. Szu, Ph.D, all of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH; Joseph Shiloach, Ph.D., National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Vo Anh Ho, M.D., Phan Van Bay, M.D., Mai Ngoc Lanh, M.D., Dong Thap Province Hospital; Ha Ba Khiem, M.D., Tran Cong Thanh, M.D., Pasteur Institute, Ho Chi Min City; and Dan Duc Trach, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi.
The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health, the
biomedical research arm of the Federal government. The
Institute sponsors research on development before and after
birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive
biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.
NICHD publications, as well as information about the
Institute, are available from the NICHD website,
http://www.nichd.nih.gov
or from the NICHD Clearinghouse,
1-800-370-2943;
e-mail NICHDClearinghouse@mail.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NIH BACKGROUNDER
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Robert Bock
(301) 496-5133
rb96a@nih.gov
TYPHOID FEVER IN THE UNITED STATES
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), about 400 Americans each year acquire
typhoid, most of them while traveling in developing
countries. Untreated, the illness may last for 3 to 4
weeks. Roughly 5 percent of those who contract the illness
become chronic carriers -- excreting the typhoid bacteria
in their stools for more than a year. Treatment usually
consists of antibiotics -- either ampicillin, trimethoprim-
sulfamethoxazole, or ciprofloxacin. With antibiotic
treatment, recovery usually begins within 2 to 3 days, and
deaths rarely occur. Untreated, typhoid victims may
experience fever for weeks or months. Anywhere from 12 to
30 percent of typhoid victims who do not receive treatment
eventually die from such complications of the infection as
intestinal perforation.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/typhoidfever_a.htm
The most recent comprehensive analysis available of typhoid fever in the United States found that the cause of most cases of the disease that did not result from travel abroad could not be accounted for. About 19 percent of U.S. typhoid cases were associated with outbreaks among groups of people. The largest such outbreak, involving 47 people, was attributed to orange juice contaminated by a food handler. ("Typhoid Fever in the United States, 1985-1994, "Archives of Internal Medicine", March 23, 1998, pp. 633- 638.)
Another analysis found that many U.S. typhoid cases
involved infection with strains of "S. Typhi" that were
resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat them.
Of "S. typhi" samples isolated from 293 patients, 25
percent were resistant to one or more antibiotics, and 17
percent were resistant to 5 or more antibiotics, including
ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-
sulfamethoxazole. The researchers concluded that
ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone are the most appropriate
drugs to treat typhoid. They added that physicians should
be on the alert for drug-resistant strains of the bacteria
in their typhoid patients. ("Laboratory-Based Surveillance
of Salmonella Serotype Typhi Infections in the United
States," "Journal of the American Medical Association", May
24-31, 2000, pp. 2668-2673.;
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v283n20/rfull/joc91515.html
In 1988, Feng-Ying (Kimi) Lin, now of NICHD, then of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in Baltimore, and John Robbins, of NICHD, together with several other researchers, reported a typhoid outbreak that they had traced to a fast-food worker at a restaurant in Silver Spring, MD. All 10 reported cases were associated with the consumption of a shrimp salad served at the restaurant. Although the salad tested negative for typhoid bacteria, a restaurant worker who had handled the salad tested positive for it. The young woman had emigrated from a country where typhoid fever is common and had visited her home country about 2 years before. ("Restaurant-Associated Outbreak of Typhoid Fever in Maryland: Identification of Carrier Facilitated by Measurement of Serum Vi Antibodies." "Journal of Clinical Microbiology", June 1988, pp. 1194- 1197.)
Before the advent of public sewage systems, typhoid was
common in the United States. In 1920, for example, typhoid
fever occurred in 100 out of every 100,000 people. By
1920, it had decreased to 33.8 per 100,000 people, and, by
1950, to 1.7 for every 100,000.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm4840.pdf
Perhaps the most famous outbreaks of tyhpoid fever in the
U.S. involved Mary Mallon, a cook in the New York City area
in the early 1900s. Most well known as "Typhoid Mary,"
Mallon was taken into custody in 1907 by local health
officials when it was shown that a number of typhoid cases
in the area could be traced to kitchens where she worked.
She was held for three years on Brother Island in New
York's East River and then released on the condition that
she never again work as a cook. About 5 years later,
officials found that typhoid outbreaks were again traceable
to kitchens where Mallon worked. She was then detained on
Brother Island until her death in 1938.
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/mar97/nlm-10.htm
The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health, the
biomedical research arm of the Federal government. The
Institute sponsors research on development before and after
birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive
biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.
NICHD publications, as well as information about the
Institute, are available from the NICHD website,
http://www.nichd.nih.gov
or from the NICHD Clearinghouse, 1-800-370-2943;
e-mail NICHDClearinghouse@mail.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, April 26, 2001
Contact:
NHLBI Communications Office
(301) 496-4236
NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE EXPANDS SALUD PARA SU CORAZON
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2001/nhlbi-26.htm
Salud para su Corazón, a unique community-based heart-health education program for Latinos, is rapidly expanding across the U.S. - making a difference in underserved communities in Texas, Illinois, New Mexico, and California.
Created by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, Salud para su Corazón trains Latino lay educators - promotores - to teach individuals and families in local communities how to prevent and control heart disease.
Salud para su Corazón began in 1994 as a pilot project in Washington, D.C. and is not only expanding geographically but has now joined in partnership with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Hispanic grassroots organization, and the University of North Texas.
"Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Latinos, as it is for all Americans. But Latinos are generally unaware that the risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, overweight, physical inactivity, and cigarette smoking can be controlled and prevented," said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant.
"The good news is that research has shown that the burden of illness and death associated with heart disease can be reduced by simple lifestyle changes. NHLBI is committed to taking results of ongoing studies and applying them to serve the public health. Salud para su Corazón does that by training the promotores to help Latinos make those changes and live a healthy lifestyle," Lenfant added.
Through a variety of creative activities, including cooking demonstrations, "weigh-ins," and participation in physical activity, the promotores bring life-saving heart-health information to their neighbors and families. Salud para su Corazon's culturally-appropriate educational materials are offered in both English and Spanish.
At 35 million persons strong, Latinos constitute 13 percent of the population, making them the largest minority population in the United States.
"Latinos are one of the youngest population groups," said Matilde Alvarado, NHLBI's coordinator of Minority Health Education and Outreach Activities. "This is a plus because they have a chance to learn heart-healthy behaviors at a young age and hopefully will continue those behaviors throughout life."
According to Hector Balcazar, Ph.D., Department Chair and Professor, School of Public Health, University of North Texas, Latino children are experiencing a dramatic increase in obesity. In addition, he notes that high blood pressure levels and the rise of diabetes in young Latino children are alarming developments and must be addressed through prevention efforts in Latino families.
"Salud para su Corazón's promotores know the problems that our families face and are realistic about teaching them how to make small changes in their behavior that lead to improved health," said Dr. Balcazar. The north Texas Salud para su Corazón program in Dallas-Fort Worth recently was named one of 6 NHLBI-supported cardiovascular disease information Enhanced Dissemination and Utilization Centers (EDUCs). The EDUCs are part of a network of partners working in high-risk populations at the community level. Their goal is to increase the quality and years of healthy life and eliminate cardiovascular health disparities.
NCLR President Raul Yzaguirre addressed the importance of the alliance between his organization, NHLBI, and the University of North Texas. "We are working together toward a common goal - to improve health outcomes in the Latino community," he said. Yzaguirre also acknowledged the significance of funding from the MetLife Foundation, which enabled NCLR to expand the program further.
Teresa Andrews, a promotores coordinator in Escondido, California, changed not only her own life but is now helping to improve the health of others in her Latino California community. After moving to the United States, she says, her support group of friends and family was gone. She didn't speak English and, although she had been able to walk everywhere in her native country, she hesitated to venture outside of her new home in California because nothing was near enough to walk to. She had to rely on the car, which her husband needed each day to get to his job. In addition, instead of preparing meals at home with natural products like fresh fruits and vegetables, Teresa found herself turning to fast food for most of her family's meals. Her sense of isolation, lack of physical activity, and the increase in high fat foods seemed insurmountable; she became depressed and gained weight. When Teresa became a promotora, she suddenly was part of a group of Spanish-speaking people who shared many of her experiences and had found innovative ways to cope.
"The training I received as a promotora helped me learn how to protect my own and my family's heart health by modifying the new lifestyle I picked up after moving to the U.S.," Teresa said. Her spirits rose and her weight fell, partly thanks to the Spanish-language aerobics class she attended and which she now has led for four years.
"I am proud of the personal and professional successes I have had and I am excited about working with a group of 25 promotores in Chula Vista, California who want to be trained to teach Salud para su Corazón," Teresa said. "This will expand the program and its heart-health message many times over," she added.
All of Salud para su Corazón's materials can be found online - so
Latinos everywhere can learn about heart health - and so community
planners can bring the program to their own community.
Go to:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/heart/latino/latin_pg.htm
Note to editors and reporters:
To contact NHLBI call the NHLBI Communications Office at (301) 496-4236.
To contact NCLR call (202) 785-1670
To contact Dr. Balcazar call (817) 735-5430
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
NIH NEWS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Contact:
Sam Perdue
Office of Communications and Public Liaison, NIAID
(301) 402-1663
sp189u@nih.gov
NIAID EVENTS HIGHLIGHT GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH
During two events in May, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will highlight new and ongoing international research efforts in the fight against malaria and other tropical diseases.
On Monday, May 7, NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci will
unveil the Institute's "Global Health Research Plan for
HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis". Dr. Fauci will
describe the plan during the 10th anniversary meeting of
the International Centers for Tropical Disease Research
(ICTDR). His 8:25 a.m. talk will kick off the meeting in
the Lister Hill auditorium in Building 38A on the NIH
campus, and can be seen live online at
http://videocast.nih.gov
At 2:00 p.m. that same day, NIAID will host the grand opening of its new Malaria Vaccine Development Unit (MVDU) in Rockville, Maryland. Key speakers include Acting NIH Director Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Louis Miller, who heads the MVDU. Tours of the facility will be conducted by laboratory personnel beginning at 3:30 p.m.
ICTDR MEETING
NIAID has funded research in tropical medicine for more than 50 years. To more effectively confront challenges in international health, the Institute founded the ICTDR program in 1991. The program brings together NIAID-funded scientists conducting research on such tropical scourges as malaria, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease.
These and other tropical diseases are a major source of worldwide death and suffering, most often in regions lacking the resources to research and combat the diseases. ICTDR has established collaborative studies between NIAID scientists and researchers from endemic areas, strengthened cooperation among different government agencies and international organizations, and encouraged private industry to work with the public sector to develop diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines for tropical diseases.
The 10th anniversary meeting, to be held May 7-9, will
feature presentations by U.S. and international researchers
on advances in vaccine and drug research, diagnostic
testing, and the basic science of tropical infectious
diseases, all made possible through ICTDR collaborations.
The meeting agenda can be found online at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ictdr/10th/agenda.htm
For more information, contact Sam Perdue in the NIAID
Office of Communications and Public Liaison (301) 496-5717.
Parking at NIH is limited
http://des.od.nih.gov/parking.htm
), so visitors are encouraged to take Metro (Medical Center stop on the Red
Line).
MVDU GRAND OPENING
The MVDU, located in NIAID's Twinbrook I research facility
in Rockville, was established to help bridge the gap
between basic research and malaria vaccine production. By
providing "product process development," a key step in
vaccine production that enables experimental vaccine
concepts to be modified and scaled up for clinical testing
in people, the MVDU is a key part of NIAID's commitment to
research that can benefit the health of the international
community. The Institute's overall malaria vaccine
research plan can be found at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/malaria/malvacdv/toc.htm
The MVDU grand opening will take place in a tent between Twinbrook I and II at 12441 Parklawn Drive. Space is limited, so if you plan to attend please call Sam Perdue at the number above. Attendees can park in the lot between the Twinbrook buildings.
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.
Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
materials are available on the NIAID Web site at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Library of Medicine
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
CONTACT:
Robert Mehnert or
Kathleen Cravedi
(301) 496-6308
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov
REGIONAL MEDICAL LIBRARY CONTRACTS AWARDED
(Bethesda, Md.) -- The National Library of Medicine has awarded new five-year contracts to eight institutions to serve as Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs) in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The NN/LM consists of the eight competitively selected regional medical libraries, about 120 resource libraries (primarily at medical schools), and over 4,500 local health science libraries (primarily at hospitals).
Since its original authorization by Congress in the 1965 Medical Library Assistance Act, the NN/LM has worked to equalize and enhance access to health sciences information throughout the United States. The goal is to provide access to accurate and up-to-date health information to health professionals, patients, families, and the general public, irrespective of their geographic location. The NN/LM places a special emphasis on outreach to underserved populations in an effort to reduce health disparities.
The 2001-2006 Regional Medical Libraries are:
1. Middle Atlantic Region The New York Academy of Medicine New York, NY States Served: DE, NJ, NY, PA 2. Southeastern/Atlantic Region University of Maryland, Baltimore Health Sciences and Human Services Library Baltimore, MD States Served: AL, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands 3. Greater Midwest Region The University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences Chicago, IL States Served: IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, ND, OH, SD, WI 4. Midcontinental Region University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library Salt Lake City, UT States Served: CO, KS, MO, NE, UT, WY 5. South Central Region Houston Academy of Medicine- Texas Medical Center Library Houston, TX States Served: AR, LA, NM, OK, TX 6. Pacific Northwest Region Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center University of Washington Seattle, WA States Served: AK, ID, MT, OR, WA 7. Pacific Southwest Region University of California, Los Angeles Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Los Angeles, CA States Served: AZ, CA, HI, NV, and U.S. Territories in the Pacific Basin 8. New England Region University of Massachusetts Medical School The Lamar Soutter Library Worcester, MA States Served: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
The New York Academy of Medicine will continue as the National Online Training Center and Clearinghouse for the entire network. The University of Washington will serve as a new National Outreach Evaluation Resource Center.
ROLE OF THE REGIONAL MEDICAL LIBRARIES
The RMLs and NN/LM member libraries are vital in NLM's outreach efforts to health professionals and consumers to increase awareness, facilitate access, and provide training in the use of NLM's many Web-based information services. These include: the MEDLINE/PubMed database of 11 million citations to biomedical journal articles; the MEDLINEplus consumer health information service, which provides access to full-text information produced by the National Institutes of Health and other authoritative sources; and ClinicalTrials.gov, which provides current information about clinical research studies.
Although NN/LM programs have historically been implemented on a regional basis, the new contracts will provide more opportunity for cross-regional and national collaborations. The Regional Medical Libraries will continue their efforts to reach underserved health professionals in rural and inner city areas, public health professionals, and special populations.
NN/LM members will work with a variety of intermediaries, including health care providers, public health professionals, public librarians, educators, community organizations, health advocacy groups, faith-based organizations, and self-help groups, to reach members of the public.
The Regional Medical Libraries also exhibit and demonstrate NLM's products and services at national, regional and state health professional and consumer oriented meetings, provide training and consultations; coordinate the basic network services such as interlibrary loan; and work to improve the supporting infrastructure for health sciences libraries.
Information about the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and the Regional Medical Libraries is on the Web at www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov.
The National Library of Medicine, a component of the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the
world's largest library of the health sciences. Information
about all NLM programs and services is on the World Wide
Web at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
Contact:
Michelle Muth
301-443-6245
QUITTING SMOKING HARDER FOR WOMEN THAN FOR MEN
Review of Research Finds Variety of Reasons for Why It Is Harder for Women to Break Free of Nicotine Addiction
A review of numerous research studies focusing on smoking cessation has concluded that while women may suffer greater relative risks of smoking-related diseases than do men, they tend to have less success than men in quitting smoking. Dr. Kenneth A. Perkins from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who conducted the review offers several reasons for this disparity in a paper published in the May 2001 issue of "CNS Drugs".
These research-based findings include:
"According to the recent report on women and smoking by the Surgeon General, three million women have died from smoking-related diseases since 1980. Currently, women suffer 39 percent of all smoking related deaths," says NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner. "Given the greater relative risk of women to incur smoking-related diseases, it is clear that we must find better approaches to help women break their nicotine addiction."
Dr. Perkins says that one of the intriguing observations that emerged from his review is that some forms of nicotine replacement therapy may not be as effective in women as in men. In some of the studies he reviewed, women had less treatment success using nicotine gum or nicotine patches than did men.
In contrast, other stop-smoking medications may more effective in women than men. Because negative mood is more likely to precipitate smoking relapse in women than in men, Dr. Perkins suggests that use of antidepressant medications for smoking cessation could be more effective in women than men.
Dr. Perkins concludes that developing smoking cessation interventions that address the gender-specific concerns of women smokers could increase the success rate among women who are trying to stop smoking.
The health risks associated with smoking for both men and women are well known, and include a two-fold increase in risks of heart disease and of cancers of the bladder, stomach, and pancreas, a 10-20 fold increase in lung cancer, and a 10-fold increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking also significantly increases risks of stroke and pneumonia.
But women may suffer greater relative risks of smoking- related diseases than do men. For example, in one study cited by Dr. Perkins in his review, women who smoked had almost double the risk of myocardial infarction than did men. The increased risks of heart attack and stroke due to smoking are further exacerbated in women who also use oral contraceptives. Some studies have also pointed to the conclusion that women also may have nearly double the risk of lung cancer as men.
There is also some evidence that breast cancer risk may be increased among women who smoke. Smoking is associated with greater menstrual bleeding and duration of dysmenorrhea, as well as greater variability in menstrual cycle length. Women who smoke have a more difficult time becoming pregnant, and reach menopause on average a year or two younger than women who do not smoke.
Most health risks associated with smoking are reduced or eventually eliminated when smoking abstinence is maintained.
NOTE TO REPORTERS: This paper is being published in "CNS
Drugs" (Perkins KA. Smoking Cessation in Women: Special
Considerations. CNS Drugs 2001; 15 (5): 391-411). It is
available online at
http://www.Ingenta.com
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of
the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of
programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research
information and its implementation in policy and practice.
Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and
other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and
Spanish by calling NIDA Infofax at 1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-
6432) or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for the deaf. These fact
sheets and further information on NIDA research and other
activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Robert Bock
(301) 496-5133
rb96a@nih.gov
STUDY RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIDS AND EVENTS DETECTED BY HOME MONITORS
Episodes of prolonged cessation of breathing or prolonged slowing of heart rate in infants -- believed to be potential signs of risk for SIDS -- primarily occur before the developmental age when most SIDS deaths occur, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The findings, appearing in the May 2, 2001, "Journal of the American Medical Association", suggest that these events are not necessarily signs of impending SIDS.
"These findings are an important step in understanding SIDS, a mystery that continues to claim children every year," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NICHD. "The NICHD remains committed to solving the mystery of SIDS, and this study helps us to narrow our research focus."
Breathing stoppage, called apnea, and slowed heart rate, called bradycardia, have long been observed in infants at increased risk for SIDS. Researchers have assumed that if such events can be detected, they can also be interrupted, thereby preventing SIDS. The Collaborative Home Infant Monitoring Evaluation (CHIME) study, which used specially designed electronic monitors in the home to detect such cardiorespiratory events in infants, revealed that this assumption might not be true.
"The difference in when extreme events most commonly occur and when SIDS is most likely to occur suggests that these events are not immediate precursors to SIDS, as was once thought," said George Lister, M.D., study group chairman and one of the authors of the JAMA article. "These events might be markers of vulnerability, rather than immediate indicators of SIDS."
The CHIME study followed 1,079 infants during their first six months after birth using electronic home monitors to detect cardiorespiratory events. The infants were classified as either healthy (born at full-term, clinically well, no family history of SIDS in siblings or relatives), or at increased risk of SIDS. The latter group included babies whose risk of SIDS was more than twice their healthy counterparts: preterm or premature babies; siblings of SIDS victims; and those who experienced an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE), defined as an event that required mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or vigorous stimulation.
The home monitors were designed to measure heart rate and breathing patterns including rib cage and abdominal movement and the volume of a breath.
Parents were instructed to use the monitors when the baby was sleeping or was not being observed. During 718,358 hours of home monitoring, researchers in the CHIME study found that apnea and bradycardia occurred frequently, even in healthy babies who were born at full-term. However, the most extreme events, those that lasted a very long time by usual medical standards, were common only in infants born prematurely and were found to be associated with significant decreases in blood oxygenation. Moreover, most of these extreme events occurred prior to the age when SIDS is most common (between 2 and 6 months of age for full term infants). Therefore, these results cast serious doubt on the idea that extreme cardiorespiratory events are immediate precursors of SIDS.
In addition, the extreme events were frequently associated with airway obstruction. Home monitors that are currently available for use by parents use methods that would not detect obstructed breathing, which means many of these extreme events might have gone unnoticed.
"Recognizing that there will still be infants who some clinicians wish to have monitored at home, these study results have important implications for future design of such devices," noted Dr. Lister. The findings will also help to determine which infants are at greater risk for extreme events," he added.
Researchers stressed that the CHIME study did not address whether home monitoring decreases the incidence of SIDS, nor did it explore whether extreme cardiorespiratory events are markers of vulnerability to SIDS.
The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health, the
biomedical research arm of the federal government. The
Institute sponsors research on development before and after
birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive
biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.
NICHD publications, as well as information about the
Institute, are available from the NICHD Web site,
http://www.nichd.nih.gov
or from the NICHD Clearinghouse,
1-800-370-2943;
e-mail
NICHDClearinghouse@mail.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
12:00 a.m. EST
Contact:
Michelle Muth
301-443-6245
RESEARCHERS FIND EVIDENCE THAT PRENATAL USE OF ECSTASY CAN CAUSE LONG-TERM MEMORY LOSS AND OTHER IMPAIRMENTS IN OFFSPRING
Researchers today reported the first evidence that a mother's use of MDMA (ecstasy) during pregnancy may result in specific types of long-term learning and memory impairments in her offspring.
The research, published in the May 1, 2001, issue of the "Journal of Neuroscience", was conducted by scientists from Children's Hospital Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The researchers administered MDMA to two groups of newborn rats. One group received ecstasy twice a day for 10 days after birth (analogous to early third-trimester brain development in humans); the other group received ecstasy twice a day during days 11 through 20 (analogous to late human third- trimester brain development). To determine the effects of ecstasy on cognitive abilities, a series of maze and swimming tests were conducted on the rats when they reached an average age of 60 days. While no cognitive changes were noted in the rats given ecstasy at an earlier age, memory and learning deficiencies were noted in the group exposed to ecstasy during days 11-20. The ecstasy-induced disruption in both sequential and spatial reference memory- based learning was long-term and was still apparent after this group reached adulthood.
"This study adds to the evidence that ecstasy is a dangerous drug. Unfortunately, its popularity remains high, in part because some individuals still perceive that taking ecstasy is safe. As its use continues, increases in the number of users who are pregnant will inevitable occur. This study indicates that users may be damaging not only their own cognitive abilities but those of their children as well," says NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner.
The timing of ecstasy exposure during brain development may be critical as evidenced by cognitive changes in the 11-20 day old group. "The differences between the responses in newborn rats after MDMA administration most likely occurs because of the stage of maturation of the central nervous system at the time of exposure to MDMA," explains Dr. Vorhees, lead investigator.
He further explains that in adult animals, ecstasy exerts its effects by significantly decreasing serotonin levels and the number of re-uptake sites in the brain. However, in this study, only small changes in serotonin levels were noted in the brains of the newborn rats receiving ecstasy suggesting that developmental exposure to ecstasy may induce cognitive deficits in the fetus through different mechanisms than those of adults.
"These findings raise new concerns about ecstasy when exposure occurs during brain development in the human fetus," Dr. Vorhees concludes.
NOTE TO REPORTERS: The full text of this article appears in
the May 2001 issue of "Journal of Neuroscience" (2001, 21,
3228-3235) and is available on the its Web site at
http://www.sfn.org
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of
the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of
programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research
information and its implementation in policy and practice.
Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and
other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and
Spanish through NIDA Infofax at 1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-6432)
or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for the deaf. These fact
sheets and further information on NIDA research and other
activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
NIH NEWS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
Contact:
Jeff Minerd
(301) 402-1663
jminerd@niaid.nih.gov
MAKGOBA TO SPEAK AT JAMES C. HILL MEMORIAL LECTURE
WHAT:
James C. Hill Memorial Lecture
"The HIV/AIDS Pandemic: An African Dilemma"
WHO:
Dr. Malegapuru William Makgoba, President
Medical Research Council of South Africa
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 15, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Masur Auditorium, Building 10, Clinical Center
National Institutes of Health
9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD
Dr. Malegapuru William Makgoba is charged with leading his country's fight against the AIDS epidemic. His task is formidable: an estimated 4.7 million South Africans -- one in nine -- are infected with HIV. An outspoken critic of AIDS denialists and a member of President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS Advisory Panel, Dr. Makgoba recently helped prove the accuracy of the HIV ELISA test, which some dissident scientists claimed is unreliable.
Dr. Makgoba will be available to answer questions for a
limited time after the lecture. A reception follows.
The lecture will be simulcast on the web at
http://videocast.nih.gov
BROADCAST MEDIA: to ensure your needs will be met, please contact Jeff Minerd beforehand at 301-402-1663.
Parking on the NIH campus is limited, but Metro does stop
on the campus. For information on parking and metro
access, visit
http://des.od.nih.gov/parking.htm
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.
Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
materials are available on the NIAID Web site at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Deafness and
Other Communication Disorders
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
Contacts: Marin Allen, Ph.D.
(301) 496-7243
marin_allen@nih.gov
HOW SWEET IT IS...
MOUSE MODEL YIELDS IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATE SWEET RECEPTOR AND NOVEL MEMBER OF THE TR1 FAMILY OF PUTATIVE TASTE RECEPTORS
Scientists in the intramural laboratories of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) report in "Journal of Neurochemistry" April 27, 2001, the identification of a novel candidate receptor gene for taste. The gene, T1R3, maps to the distal region of mouse chromosome 4 within the genetically defined interval for the "Sac" (saccharin preferring) locus. The team, led by Dr. Susan F. Sullivan in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of NIDCD, demonstrated that T1R3 is selectively expressed in taste receptor cells and also demonstrated the existence of several polymorphisms between the T1R3 genes of sweet-tasting and non-tasting strains of mice. Six of these are predicted to result in amino acid substitutions. This research is one of several studies released this month related to sweet receptors, marking a major breakthrough in understanding mammalian gustatory information processing. According to Sullivan, two other laboratories, one led by Robert F. Margolskee at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and the other by Linda B. Buck at Harvard Medical School, announced similar findings. Margolskee and Buck are grantees of NIDCD and are also Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators.
Gustatory or taste receptor cells respond to chemicals or "tastants" present in food and beverages. Taste receptor cells are clustered within taste buds that are widely distributed on the tongue and palate. Each taste receptor cell extends an apical process to the surface of the tongue where it comes into contact with tastants. The cell is subsequently activated and ultimately relays information about the tastant to the brain.
The human gustatory system is able to discriminate between at least five different taste qualities: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (the taste elicited by glutamate). >From recent research, molecules perceived as sweet are thought to activate G-protein-coupled receptors. Scientists are keenly interested in the molecular identification of sweet receptors and how the brain interprets information detected by these receptors. Susan F. Sullivan, Ph.D. and James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. noted, "Finding the taste receptors and identifying their selective capabilities and the cellular and spatial distributions will lead to understanding how mammals detect and process gustatory information both in the periphery and within the brain."
The team identified a novel candidate taste receptor gene, T1R3, which maps to the distal region of mouse chromosome 4 within the genetically defined interval for the "Sac" locus. Its homology to other chemosensory receptors, chromosomal mapping position, and allelic variation between sweet taster and non-taster strains of mice makes it a compelling candidate gene for the "Sac" locus. This would mean that its putative ligands would include sucrose and saccharin.
Deficits in chemosensation could have significant clinical applications and have been the focus of much scientific interest in the past several years. A person with faulty chemosensory ability is deprived of an early warning system that most take for granted. Taste and smell alert individuals to spoiled food and beverages. Taste losses can also lead to reduced quality of life and depression. Abnormalities in smell and taste functions frequently accompany and even signal the existence of several diseases or unhealthy conditions, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and malnutrition especially in older populations. Recently, chemosensory changes have given early signals of some degenerative diseases of the nervous system.
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, one of the institutes of the National Institutes of Health, supports and conducts research and research training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech and language. NIDCD also develops and disseminates health information, based upon scientific discovery, to the public.
To interview Dr. Sullivan or for more background on the research, please contact the Office of Health Communication and Public Liaison, NIDCD at 301-496-7243 (phone) or 301- 402-0018 (fax).
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 3, 2001
Contact:
NHLBI Communications Office
(301) 496-4236
NHLBI REPORTS NEW ASTHMA DATA FOR WORLD ASTHMA DAY 2001 ASTHMA STILL A PROBLEM BUT MORE GROUPS FIGHTING IT
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2001/nhlbi-03.htm
In observance of the third annual World Asthma Day, May 3, 2001, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health today reported that asthma continues to be a major public health problem in the U.S., but more organizations at both the national and community levels are joining together to combat it.
Citing new data showing continuing increases in rates of asthma-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and deaths, especially among minority populations, the Institute called on all members of the community to embrace this cause.
Said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant, "It is encouraging that more groups are joining in the fight against asthma. But more still must be done. We need to take aggressive action to reach all Americans with asthma with the messages about effective asthma management that our research has produced so that they can take control of their asthma and lead normal, active lives."
Asthma is a chronic lung condition that increasingly is being recognized as a major international public health problem. During the past 15 years, its prevalence around the world has doubled. In the U.S., rates of asthma deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits have been increasing for more than two decades, especially among African Americans and children. Since 1979-82, the average age-adjusted asthma death rate for blacks has increased 71 percent versus 41 percent for Caucasians, and in 1995-1998, it was almost three times that of Caucasians.
Similarly, between 1992 and 1998, rates of emergency department visits for asthma increased, with the greatest increase in children ages 10-17. Children under 5 accounted for the highest rates of emergency department visits. Hospitalization rates also rose during this time period. Between 1979-81 and 1997-99, hospitalization rates for children under 5 increased 48 percent. In 1997-99, hospitalization rates were more than three times higher for African Americans than for whites.
The cost of asthma in 2000 was estimated to be $12.7 billion, with direct costs amounting to $8.1 billion and lost earnings due to illness and death totaling $4.6 billion.
World Asthma Day is a partnership between health care groups and asthma educators organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma, a collaborative effort of the NHLBI and the World Health Organization. On this day, public officials, health organizations, and patient groups in countries throughout the world are developing special activities to increase public awareness of the burden of the disease and to encourage efforts to improve asthma care.
More than 40 organizations throughout the U.S. are organizing
asthma education activities in conjunction with World Asthma
Day 2001. These include three community-based asthma coalitions
in communities with exceptionally high asthma death rates that
are being funded by the NHLBI to develop innovative, model
programs for improving asthma care, especially among children,
minorities, and low-income individuals. These are the
Merced/Mariposa Asthma Coalition in Fresno, CA; the Chicago
Asthma Consortium; and the Columbia University Asthma Coalition
in New York City. Other organizations developing major World
Asthma Day 2001 activities include the Allergy and Asthma
Network/Mothers of Asthmatics, Inc.; American Academy of
Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; American College of Allergy,
Asthma, and Immunology; American Lung Association, Asthma and
Allergy Foundation of America; U.S. Center for Disease Control
and Prevention; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
all members of the NHLBI's National Asthma Education and Prevention
Program Coordinating Committee. A list of the U.S. organizations
conducting World Asthma Day activities is available on the NHLBI
Web Site at
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm
under World Asthma Day.
For additional information, contact the NHLBI Communications Office, (301) 496-4236.
Additional information on asthma, along with video footage of physicians
and patients talking about asthma, is available at the NHLBI Web site at
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/wad_2/index.htm
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 3, 2001
NIEHS Contact:
Bill Grigg,
(301) 402-3378
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE SELECTS CENTERS IN OHIO, TEXAS, NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON TO BREED MICE WITH GENE VARIANTS FOR DISEASE STUDIES
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences today announced the establishment and funding of five research centers to develop and breed mice with key genetic variations similar to those of humans.
The centers will provide the special, mutant mice for scientists throughout the National Institutes of Health, of which NIEHS is a part, and to other research programs as well, to help scientists study how human bodies repair environment-damaged DNA and control their cell's life cycles.
The centers named by NIEHS today are:
NIEHS said that it will spend up to $5 million a year in grants in each of the next five years to establish the five new centers -- or about $1 million per center per year -- under cooperative agreements with the established laboratories named. The NIEHS centers will sequence mouse genes and compare them to human genes and their sequences, produce mice with mutations or missing genes ("knock- out"mice) and maintain breeding colonies to supply test rodents or breeding stock to other scientists.
NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., said, "Mice and humans have many similar genes, and by adding a gene, we can make mice even more similar in their susceptibility to human diseases. We can use these mouse models to understand human variabilities to environmental factors that may have a role in human diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, arthritis and heart disease."
Jose Velazquez, Ph.D., NIEHS program director for the mouse centers, said that the animals and the data on them will be made available widely -- to scientists in other parts of the National Institutes of Health and beyond.
The NIEHS mouse centers will support and supplement a $21 million National Institutes of Health-wide effort, announced Oct. 5, 1999, to map the genes of the mouse via a Mouse Genome Sequencing Network. The effort by NIEHS, which is one of the institutes within NIH, will emphasize finding a better understanding of the variations in the genes that make some individuals more sensitive than others to environmental exposures.
Many cases of human disease can be triggered when a natural or man-made substance in the environment causes a genetic mutation or a disturbance in cell growth. Variations in a person's genes make the person more -- or less -- sensitive to these substances, or more -- or less -- able to resist or repair the damage.
Genetic variations may also explain why one smoker gets cancer or heart disease from that exposure while another smoker doesn't. Or why some members of a family react to environmental substances and develop asthma, while others do not. By modifying the mice to add or subtract a human- like gene with its variations, scientists hope to unlock the secrets of these and other human diseases in a genetically varied humankind.
Earlier NIEHS' studies of lead, asbestos, DES, air pollutants and some pesticide products have led to protective measures that have prevented many human diseases. Today, while continuing such studies, NIEHS scientists have also pushed forward with molecular and genetic studies of the mechanisms by which environmental factors cause disease and the genetic variability of humans' responses to the environment, both natural and man-made.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
NIH NEWS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 7, 2001
Contact:
Sam Perdue
(301) 402-1663
sp189u@nih.gov
A PARASITE, A VIRUS, AND A BACTERIUM: NIAID'S PLAN TO TACKLE THE WORLD'S LEADING KILLERS
During an address this morning to international infectious disease specialists, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., unveiled the Institute's global plan to combat three leading infectious killers. The "NIAID Global Health Research Plan for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis" provides short-, mid-, and long-term objectives for battling these diseases by building on the Institute's strong foundation in global infectious disease research.
"HIV, malaria, and TB combined kill more than five million people every year and greatly affect the health of the more than half billion people who live with one or more of these diseases," says Dr. Fauci. "By adding new international partnerships, expanding research programs, and providing international training opportunities, NIAID can help develop health strategies that are practical for use in endemic countries."
The plan addresses three diseases singled out by the Group of Eight nations in July 2000 in a pledge to reduce the devastating toll taken by these scourges worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The plan outlines NIAID's goals as it, too, focuses on this deadly troika.
In the 20 years since its first reported appearance, AIDS has skyrocketed to become the world's second leading cause of infectious disease deaths. Since the epidemic began, 57 million people have become infected with the AIDS virus and more than 21 million people have died. Malaria, a leading parasite killer of children in developing countries, affects up to 500 million people across the globe and kills one person every 10 to 15 seconds. Tuberculosis trails only lower respiratory infections and HIV/AIDS as an infectious cause of death. The TB bacterium currently infects one-third of the world's population, and eight million people develop disease symptoms each year.
The NIAID plan highlights four key research areas common to all three illnesses: vaccine and prevention studies, drug development, diagnostics, and enhancements to research capacity. Vaccine research remains a top priority of the plan. No vaccine has yet been developed for HIV or malaria, and although a vaccine exists for TB, it does not prevent the adult lung disease that ravages much of the world's population. In addition to vaccines, new drugs are needed to combat drug-resistant microbe strains that have emerged for each disease and to reduce the toxic side effects of many existing medications, particularly those used to treat HIV. Improved diagnostics will allow for more rapid and accurate identification of disease, allowing researchers to better assess the incidence of these diseases and permitting physicians to administer effective treatment more quickly.
To enhance these research efforts and hasten the application of promising strategies to the people who need them, NIAID's plan includes multiple goals for expanding research facilities within endemic areas and training local physicians and researchers so they can better provide for the needs of their communities. By strengthening international partnerships, the plan emphasizes treatment and prevention strategies that are effective and practical for use in individual areas.
The NIAID plan contains some of the goals previously set forth last December in the "Global AIDS Research Initiative and Strategic Plan". That plan, compiled by the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), highlights current AIDS research from all agencies within the NIH and outlines future objectives to address the global spread of the disease. The NIAID plan expands on elements of the NIH-wide AIDS research initiative and provides more comprehensive details of the Institute's plans in this arena.
"Infectious diseases pose incredibly complex challenges, with every step made by science countered by adaptations in the infectious organism," says Dr. Fauci. "To combat diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, leading research organizations must develop comprehensive plans that bring international scientists together to launch a multi-pronged attack; improving prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of these diseases in regions where they exact the highest tolls."
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.
A copy of the "NIAID Global Health Research Plan for
HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis" can be found online at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/globalhealth/global.pdf
Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
materials are available on the NIAID Web site at
http://www.niaid.nih.gov
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, May 7, 2001
Contact:
Blair Gately
301-443-6245 <
HEPATITIS C RISK NOT LIMITED TO INJECTION DRUG USERS
A study in New York City has found a higher than expected prevalence of hepatitis C infection among non-injecting drug users. In this study, as many as 17 percent of the subjects who denied a history of injection drug use were found to be infected, compared to a 2 percent infection rate in the general population. Among women from one of the study sites in East Harlem who reported use of non- injection heroin, the rate of infection was as high as 26 percent.
The findings, published in the May 1 issue of "Substance Use & Misuse", may indicate that use of needles and syringes is not the only drug-related risk factor for HCV.
Currently, about 60 percent of all new cases of HCV infection in the U.S. are attributable to syringe and needle-sharing with an infected individual. Dr. Alan I. Leshner, NIDA Director, says this study demonstrates that "We need to look closer for other routes of HCV transmission among non-injecting drug-users. If hepatitis C can be transmitted through the sharing of non-injecting drug paraphernalia such as straws or pipes, we need to include this information in public health messages targeted to this population."
Dr. Stephanie Tortu, from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with Dr. Alan Neaigus of the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. in New York City, conducted two separate studies with self-reported non-injecting drug users recruited from two NYC neighborhoods. The study participants either denied ever injecting drugs or reported that they had not injected drugs within the past six months prior to participating in the study.
Of 107 women and 251 men from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who reported never injecting, 14 percent of the women and 18 percent of the men were found to be infected with hepatitis C. Of the 171 women in the East Harlem sample who reported no history of injection drug use, 17 percent were found to be infected.
These rates, while lower than for those who had reported histories of injection drug use, were higher than those found in the general population. Of those who had reported past injection drug use, more than half of the men and women in the sample from the Lower East Side, and 62 percent of the women from East Harlem, were infected.
"These studies indicate that the prevalence of HCV among drug users who report that they have never injected is substantially higher than for the general population in the U.S. and several other countries, and prevalence may vary according to population, gender, age, and drugs used," says Dr. Tortu. "Further research is needed to determine the risk factors for HCV transmission among those with no history of injecting drugs."
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of
the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of
programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research
information and its implementation in policy and practice.
Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and
other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and
Spanish through NIDA Infofax at 1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-6432)
or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for the deaf. These fact
sheets and further information on NIDA research and other
activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 8, 2001
Contact:
Margo Warren, 301-496-5751
INCREASED AWARENESS OF STROKE SYMPTOMS COULD DRAMATICALLY REDUCE STROKE DISABILITY
New NIH Public Education Campaign Says Bystanders Can Play Key Role
Only a fraction of stroke patients each year are getting to the hospital in time to receive a treatment that makes the difference between disability and full recovery. Thousands more people could benefit from the treatment -- a drug called tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) -- but do not, often because they do not know the symptoms of stroke or do not get to the hospital within the drug's 3-hour window of effectiveness. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is launching a national public education campaign, "Know Stroke: Know the Signs. Act in Time", to help people overcome these barriers and to get medical help in time.
A key component of the campaign is educating bystanders -- family members, co-workers, friends -- who may be the first to recognize a stroke in progress.
"Stroke is an unmistakable event," said John R. Marler, M.D., associate director for clinical trials at NINDS. "Few other medical conditions come on so suddenly or are so noticeable to a bystander. The sooner the stroke is recognized and the patient begins receiving treatment, the better are the chances for a complete recovery."
Because stroke injures the brain, the person having the stroke may not be able to recognize the symptoms and take action. An alert bystander can help a stroke patient get to the hospital quickly enough to receive treatments that can drastically reduce disability caused by stroke. A breakthrough study by NINDS found that stroke patients who received t-PA within 3 hours of their initial symptoms were at least 30 percent more likely to recover with little or no disability. t-PA dissolves the clots that cause most strokes.
"It is really worth the effort it takes to call 911," said Dr. Marler. "Treating stroke as an emergency pays back in terms of going home and living your life."
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Approximately 600,000 new strokes are reported in the United States annually and about 160,000 Americans die each year from stroke.
Stroke symptoms appear suddenly:
The "Know Stroke: Know the Signs. Act in Time" campaign is being launched in May as part of National Stroke Awareness Month and includes community education materials including a video, brochures, and posters. NINDS is distributing the materials to hospitals, assisted living facilities, senior communities and other settings so that local communities can host stroke educational events. The campaign messages will be seen on billboards, bus shelters, and airport dioramas across the country, and will be aired in radio public service announcements. The materials graphically depict the symptoms of stroke as highway signs, an effort to call special attention to their unique, sudden nature.
The NINDS, a component of the National Institutes of Health, is the nation's leading supporter of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
This release will be posted on EurekAlert! at
http://www.eurekalert.org
and on the NINDS web site at
http://ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/index.htm
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Office of the Director
National Institute of Biomedical
Imaging and Bioengineering
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 9, 2001
CONTACT:
Laura Vazquez
(301) 496-5787
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING ESTABLISHED
Acting Director Named
NIH Acting Director Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D., has announced the appointment of Donna J. Dean, Ph.D., as Acting Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The NIBIB, the newest NIH Institute, was created by statute and was signed into law last December. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson approved the establishment of NIBIB on April 20, 2001.
"Dr. Dean has extraordinary scientific and administrative skills, and I appreciate her willingness to lead NIBIB while we conduct a national recruitment effort to find its first permanent Director," Dr. Kirschstein said. HHS Secretary Thompson will appoint the permanent Director.
The mission of the NIBIB is to support the fundamental research that applies the principles of engineering and imaging science to biological processes, disorders and diseases. The Institute will facilitate the transfer of this basic research to medical application. "As part of the NIBIB mission," Dr. Kirschstein explained, "the new Institute will coordinate the on-going research of the NIH Institutes and Centers and will foster the exchange of information with other Federal agencies."
Dr. Kirschstein added that, "while dedicating an Institute to medical technologies rather than to diseases, organ systems, or populations may seem novel for the NIH, it is truly a reflection of what science is today -- and where science will be taking us tomorrow. "
The creation of an agenda for research and research training will be the primary activity for the NIBIB. These efforts will strengthen on-going NIH activities. In Fiscal Year 1999, predating NIBIB, NIH's Institutes and Centers awarded about $447 million for bioimaging research and about $697 million for bioengineering research. The President's budget request for FY 2002 includes $40.2 million for NIBIB. "I expect that the majority of the activity in other Institutes will continue," Dr. Kirschstein explained, "while NIBIB will support important basic and crosscutting research in the bioengineering and imaging sciences."
Dr. Dean has served in the Office of the NIH Director (OD) as a senior scientific advisor for the past three years, and played a lead role in implementing the legislative establishment of NIBIB. In addition to her involvement in various research and policy activities at NIH, she served as NIH liaison to the Congressionally-mandated Commission on the Advancement of Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science, Engineering, and Technology during the past two years. Dr. Dean's experience in the scientific and administrative management of the NIH initial peer review process spans fifteen years.
She received the A.B. degree in chemistry from Berea College in 1969, and the Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Duke University in 1974. After postdoctoral work in cell and developmental biology at Princeton University, she joined the NIH intramural research program as a research chemist in biochemical endocrinology.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED BY JOURNAL:
Wednesday, May 9, 2001
5:00 p.m. EST
NIEHS Contact:
Bill Grigg,
(301) 402-3378
DRUG TREATMENT OF LEAD-EXPOSED CHILDREN DOES NOT IMPROVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SCORES
'We must prevent exposure in the first place'
Using a lead-lowering drug to reverse the IQ damage associated with the lead exposure has proved ineffective, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences announced today.
Walter Rogan, M.D., of NIEHS, and colleagues from the Treatment of Lead-exposed Children Trial (TLC) reported the results in "The New England Journal of Medicine" (May 10). The TLC study showed that, as expected, drug treatment with succimer lowered blood lead faster than placebo. Treating lead-exposed two-year-olds, however, did not improve scores on psychological, behavioral and IQ tests when the children were followed until age 5 years.
Succimer remains as the only drug given by mouth labeled for treating children with high blood lead levels. But the hope behind the study was that otherwise symptom-free children exposed to just enough lead to have affected their psychological, behavioral and intelligence tests, might be aided.
NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., said, "For more than twenty years, NIEHS has sponsored much of the research showing that lead at these levels was harmful to children's brain function, and that succimer lowered blood lead. We had hopes that the treatment would prevent or reduce lead- induced damage in these children, who are mostly poor, African-American, and living in deteriorated housing in big cities. The results of the trial show clearly that treatment after the fact does not undo the damage among 5 year olds. We must prevent these children from being exposed in the first place."
TLC was sponsored by NIEHS and the Office of Research on Minority Health, both of the National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Environmental Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. McNeil Consumer Products, who produced succimer as Chemet when the study began, provided succimer and placebo. Chemet is now owned by Sanofi-Synthelabo, New York, N.Y.
TLC was carried out at four urban teaching hospitals:
The program was managed from NIEHS and the Harvard School of Public Health.
For the study, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measured blood lead and the Public Health Service Supply Service Center in Perry Point, Md., provided pharmacy services.
In the early 1990s, when the study was started, it was known that children exposed to more lead had lower scores on IQ tests and that succimer could lower lead levels in blood. It was not known whether using it prevented or reduced the effects of lead on test scores. About 780 children were enrolled between 1994 and 1997. Half were given succimer and half an identical capsule without active drug.
In addition, all the children's homes were cleaned of lead dust, they were given a mineral supplement, and their blood lead was followed. Detailed testing of their cognitive development, neuropsychological function, and behavior was done at three years of follow up. This is a time when the children are old enough to be given sophisticated tests (they were then about 5 years old) and it is the age at which there is the strongest evidence for an effect of lead.
While the children given succimer had more rapid drops in their blood lead, the differences in tests scores were small, inconsistent, and not statistically significant, the investigators said. The study was large enough to have detected an improved IQ score of less than 3 points, and no such improvement was seen.
Side effects were relatively infrequent in both groups, but the children given succimer had an unexpectedly higher rate of injuries, which is so far unexplained.
Based on these data, Rogan said, there is little reason to recommend chelation for children with exposures below the current recommendation of 45 mg/dL. Children generally have no symptoms below that level. Succimer remains the recommended therapy for outpatient treatment of children above that level.
The children who participated in TLC are being followed for an additional two years to see if some benefit emerges. In an Australian study, children whose blood leads fell faster without treatment when they were two years old had better IQ test scores when they were seven years old, and 7 year old children attend school and read and so can be tested more extensively.
Although lead poisoning in the US has declined dramatically since the removal of lead from gasoline, in 1998 about 8% of screened children still had blood lead levels that CDC defined as elevated, and about 1% of screened children had a blood lead level high enough to have been eligible for the TLC trial. Lead poisoning is concentrating now among poor children who are eligible for Medicaid and live in deteriorating, inner city housing.
For more information, see the TLC website at
http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/direb/tlc1/home.htm
For general questions about TLC : Dr. Walter Rogan, NIEHS, (919) 541 4578, rogan@niehs.nih.gov
For questions about the specific clinical centers'
activities:
Baltimore: Merrill Brophy Kennedy Krieger Institute (410) 866 0612 brophy@kennedykrieger.org Cincinnati: Dr. Robert Bornschein University of Cincinnati (513) 558 0996 robert.bornschein@uc.edu Or Dr. Kim Dietrich University of Cincinnati (513) 558 5816 dietrikn@uc.edu Newark: Dr. Richard Wedeen Veterans' Administration New Jersey Health Care System (973) 676 1000 x17877 wedeen@umdnj.edu Or Dr. George Rhoads UMDNJ Piscataway (732) 445 0195 rhoads@umdnj.edu Philadelphia: Dr. Donald Schwarz Children's Hospital (215) 590 1462 schwarz@email.chop.edu
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 14, 2001
Contact: Alison Davis
(908) 735-7207
NIGMS CREATES CENTER FOR BIOINFORMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has established a new Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) to support research and training in areas that join biology with the computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and physics.
"The future of the biomedical sciences will be driven by advances in bioinformatics and computational biology," said NIGMS director Dr. Marvin Cassman. "NIGMS announced its formal interest in nurturing this research in 1998, but it is now time to establish a stronger focus for the institute's efforts in this area."
A key goal of computational biologists and bioinformatics scientists is to use computer technologies to solve enormously complex biomedical problems, such as how cells communicate and how organs or embryos develop. In particular, the flood of data generated by the Human Genome Project and by an ongoing explosion of recent advances in genomics has created an urgent need for researchers to use sophisticated and powerful computer techniques to sift through the reams of new data.
The key research goals of CBCB will be to encourage biomedical scientists and so-called quantitative (mathematically based) researchers to work together to:
CBCB will fund training and fellowship grants and sponsor workshops, courses, and meetings, as well.
The Center will also assume oversight of NIH's Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative (BISTI) through its management of the BISTI Consortium (BISTIC). The goal of this initiative is to make optimal use of computer science and technology to address problems in biology and medicine. BISTIC is composed of senior-level representatives from the NIH institutes and centers and representatives of other Federal agencies concerned with bioinformatics and computer-based applications.
This news release is posted online at:
http://www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/complex_systems.html
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
9:30 a.m. EST
Contact:
NHLBI Communications Office
(301) 496-4236
NCEP ISSUES MAJOR NEW CHOLESTEROL GUIDELINES
The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) today issued major new clinical practice guidelines on the prevention and management of high cholesterol in adults. The guidelines are the first major update from NCEP in nearly a decade.
NCEP, which is coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), develops new guidelines as warranted by research advances. Earlier guidelines were issued in 1988 and 1993.
An executive summary of the new guidelines, the "Third Report of the NCEP Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults," also known as Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III, appears in the May 16, 2001, issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association".
Key changes in the new guidelines are: more aggressive cholesterol-lowering treatment and better identification of those at high risk for a heart attack; use of a lipoprotein profile as the first test for high cholesterol; a new level at which low HDL (high-density lipoprotein) becomes a major heart disease risk factor; a new set of "Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes," with more power to improve cholesterol levels; a sharper focus on a cluster of heart disease risk factors known as "the metabolic syndrome;" and increased attention to the treatment of high triglycerides.
The new guidelines are expected to substantially expand the number of Americans being treated for high cholesterol, including raising the number on dietary treatment from about 52 million to about 65 million and increasing the number prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug from about 13 million to about 36 million.
"Americans at high risk for a heart attack are too often not identified and, so, don't receive sufficiently aggressive treatment," said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant. "Yet, studies show conclusively that lowering the level of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the 'bad cholesterol,' can reduce the short-term risk for heart disease by as much as 40 percent. Treatment may lower risk over the long-term -- that beyond 10 years -- even more. That's why, while the intensity of treatment in ATP III is stepped up, its primary aim remains squarely on lowering LDL."
According to ATP III, Americans at high risk for a heart attack include those with heart disease or diabetes, and many of those with multiple heart disease risk factors. The guidelines state that diabetes poses as great a risk for having a heart attack in 10 years as heart disease itself-and the threat from multiple risk factors can be equally great. The guidelines recommend these persons be treated as intensively as heart disease patients with lifestyle changes and medication.
To better identify risk, the guidelines include a tool that predicts a person's chance of having a heart attack within 10 years. Based on newly analyzed data from the landmark, NHLBI-supported Framingham Heart Study, the "risk assessment tool" translates clinical conditions and lifestyle factors into a single, easy-to-understand category of risk. The tool calculates risk separately for men and women based on age, total cholesterol, HDL (the "good" cholesterol), systolic blood pressure, treatment for high blood pressure, and cigarette smoking. ATP III recommends use of the tool for persons with two or more heart disease risk factors.
"The new guidelines will help doctors determine heart attack risk more precisely than was possible before," said Dr. Scott Grundy, ATP III chairperson and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "That allows treatment to be more individualized. We now know that cholesterol-lowering treatment is more effective when its intensity closely matches the level of risk."
"The ATP III approach looks at 'overall' risk for a heart attack," said NCEP Coordinator Dr. James Cleeman, "which means in the short- and long-term. That's important because, although risk typically increases with age, the foundation for heart disease is often laid in adolescence and early adulthood. So Americans need to act now to prevent that future heart attack or heart disease itself. Every risk factor needs to be treated."
Cleeman advises Americans to check with their doctor to learn their overall risk for a heart attack and what, if any, treatment is needed.
Other changes in the new guidelines include:
Besides their very high short-term risk for having a coronary event, persons with Type 2 diabetes also have a particularly high risk of dying from a heart attack. Type 2 diabetes, or noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, is the most common form of the disease and affects more than 14 million Americans.
A lipoprotein profile measures levels of LDL, total cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides, another fatty substance in the blood. The prior recommendation called for initial screening with a test for only total cholesterol and HDL. The guidelines advise healthy adults to have a lipoprotein analysis once every 5 years.
ATP III defines a low HDL as being less than 40 mg/dL. Previously, a low HDL was less than 35 mg/dL. The change reflects new findings about the significance of a low HDL, and the strong link between a low HDL and an increased risk of heart disease. An HDL level of 60 mg/dL or more is considered protective against heart disease.
ATP III recommends a more intense and effective eating plan than that previously used. The new diet reflects changes in Americans' eating habits, including a drop in saturated fat and cholesterol consumption. The new TLC diet includes daily intakes of less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol. It also allows up to 35 percent of daily calories from total fat, provided most is from unsaturated fat, which doesn't raise cholesterol levels. (A higher fat intake may be needed by some patients with high triglycerides and/or a low HDL to keep their triglycerides or HDL from worsening.)
ATP III also encourages use of certain foods that contain plant stanols and sterols, or are rich in soluble fiber, to boost the diet's LDL-lowering power. Plant stanols and sterols are included in certain margarines and salad dressings; foods high in soluble fiber include cereal grains, beans, peas, legumes, and many fruits and vegetables.
Additionally, the guidelines stress the need for weight control and physical activity, both of which improve various heart disease risk factors. For instance, weight control enhances LDL lowering and raises HDL, while physical activity improves HDL and, for some, LDL. "TLC is the first line of therapy for high cholesterol and, with the turbo-charge that ATP III gives it, it will be significantly more effective in lowering LDL than the previous lifestyle recommendations," said Cleeman.
The syndrome includes factors such as too much abdominal fat (indicated by too large a waist measurement), elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, and low HDL. Therapy for the syndrome emphasizes TLC, especially weight control and physical activity. Insulin controls the body's metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and protein. In insulin resistance, its normal actions are impaired.
"The metabolic syndrome has emerged as being as strong a contributor to early heart disease as cigarette smoking," said Grundy. "In addition, the insulin resistance that goes along with the syndrome is one of the underlying causes of Type 2 diabetes. It's thus very important to recognize the syndrome and treat it with lifestyle changes."
Recent studies indicate that an elevated triglyceride level is significantly linked to the degree of heart disease risk. The new guidelines recommend treating even borderline-high triglyceride levels. Therapy includes weight control and physical activity and sometimes, for higher triglyceride levels, medication.
According to ATP III, studies have not shown that HRT reduces the risk for major coronary events or deaths among postmenopausal women who have heart disease. HRT also increases the risk for thromboembolism and gallbladder disease. In contrast, cholesterol-lowering drugs have been found to reduce coronary events in women with or without heart disease.
Founded in 1985, NCEP seeks to reduce the prevalence of high blood cholesterol among Americans. It is a multidisciplinary coalition with a Coordinating Committee comprised of representatives from more than 40 major medical and health professional associations, voluntary health organizations, community programs, and governmental agencies.
The new guidelines were developed over 20 months by 27 panel members and consultants who are leading experts in heart disease, lipid measurement and management, primary care medicine, nutrition, epidemiology, health economics, and other areas. The guidelines were reviewed and approved by NCEP's Coordinating Committee.
NHLBI is part of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, MD.
To arrange an interview with Cleeman, contact the NHLBI Communications Office at (301) 496-4236. Also available from the NHLBI Communications Office is a b-roll with soundbites. There will be the following satellite feeds of the b-roll: May 15, 2001, 2 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Eastern, Telstar 4, Transponder 6, DL 3820, C-Band; May 16, 2001, 1:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern, Telstar 5, Transponder 16, DL 4020, C-Band.
To interview Grundy, contact Amy Shields, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's Office of News and Publications, at (214) 648-3404.
The following ATP III and cholesterol-related materials can
be found online
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
:
The guidelines' executive summary and "At A Glance" desk
reference for physicians
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/heart/index.htm#chol
an interactive version of the guidelines for PalmOS(r) devices http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/atpiii/atp3palm.htm
a patient brochure, "High Blood Cholesterol-What You Need To
Know;" a 10-year heart attack risk calculator
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/index.htm#chol
and a "Live Healthier, Live Longer" Web site for
patients and the public
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/chd/index.htm
To get these items, go to the NHLBI home page at
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
and click on ATP III Cholesterol Guidelines under Highlights.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 14, 2001
Contact:
James Hadley
(301) 402-1663
jh49c@nih.gov
FOURTH ANNUAL HIV VACCINE AWARENESS DAY HONORS VOLUNTEERS, PROMOTES RESEARCH
[B-Roll and video/audio sound bites available; see below for details]
"People are dying and to stand back and not do anything
just doesn't sit well with me.... I had to go as far as I
could go.... I hope more people will participate in HIV
vaccine clinical trials and support those who do decide to
volunteer... If we talk about it each and every day, maybe it
will have a ripple effect."
- an HIV vaccine study volunteer, Baltimore, MD
May 18 commemorates the Fourth Annual HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, which honors thousands of volunteers worldwide who have literally rolled up their sleeves to receive an experimental vaccine designed to prevent HIV infection in studies, many of them sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Communities around the nation will hold a variety of activities to raise awareness about preventive HIV vaccine trials, why a vaccine is the best hope for stopping the spread of HIV, and how ordinary people can be a part of the international effort to stem the pandemic.
"Volunteers are essential to our research progress toward a safe and effective HIV vaccine," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID director. "Since the first vaccine clinical trials in humans over a decade ago, more than 12,000 volunteers worldwide have stepped forward to participate in vaccine studies. As HIV continues to ravage our world communities, we take time on HIV Vaccine Awareness Day to thank those individuals who will one day be a part of medical history when an HIV vaccine becomes a reality."
Since 1987, NIAID has enrolled more than 3,600 HIV- negative, healthy volunteers in early phase trials intended to determine if candidate vaccines are safe and able to trigger an immune response. So far, volunteers have helped to evaluate 29 different vaccine candidates in NIAID- supported trials. Volunteer participation, combined with new knowledge about the virus and the human immune system, researchers say, has brought new optimism that a safe vaccine to prevent HIV infection can be developed.
An additional 6,000 volunteers have participated in the NIAID-supported studies preparing the groundwork for large- scale vaccine investigations and studies of other prevention strategies, including topical microbicides and behavior changes. These volunteers make it possible for researchers to learn how best to evaluate the safety and potential benefit of experimental vaccines and other prevention strategies. They are also helping scientists to better understand the social and psychological aspects of participation in HIV vaccine trials.
Every day, an estimated 15,000 people worldwide become infected with HIV. More than half of the new infections occur in young people under age 25. Approximately 47 percent of the 36.1 million adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women, while 1.4 million of the world's children younger than 15 years old live with the disease.
"This is a critical time for HIV vaccine research," says Peggy Johnston, Ph.D., NIAID assistant director for HIV/AIDS vaccines. "There is hope in the number and type of candidate vaccines in the research pipeline. Clearly, a safe and effective HIV vaccine is the best way to stop the spread of HIV and eliminate AIDS from the face of the earth."
To accelerate the movement of potential vaccines through the pipeline, NIAID has established an aggressive research program. Part of this program is NIAID's HIV Vaccine Design and Development Teams (HVDDT), a novel public- private partnership, designed to combine the different skills and talents of private industry and academic researchers to move favorable HIV vaccine candidates out of the development pipeline and into human testing. Much of that testing will be carried out in the international HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which NIAID established last year. Nine of the trial sites are located in the United States with other units in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean, where the epidemic is particularly widespread.
May 18 was established as HIV Vaccine Awareness Day when on that day in 1997, President Bill Clinton challenged the nation to develop an AIDS vaccine within 10 years. That challenge also led to the establishment of the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) on the NIH campus. Led by Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., the VRC's first HIV vaccine clinical trial is planned for later this year.
Dr. Nabel, says, "Our ultimate goal is to develop a vaccine that would prevent infection entirely. In just the past year, several studies have helped us gain more knowledge about HIV and the immune system. Research in monkeys provided the best evidence that a vaccine may protect against AIDS. Plans for the necessary clinical trials in humans are underway."
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day activities will be held
throughout the United States and one international research
site. This year's events emphasize education and outreach
by the research sites, which include media events,
receptions to honor volunteers, and proclamations from
local legislators. For information about events in specific
areas, contact:
BALTIMORE, MD Johns Hopkins University Theron Scott: (410) 614-6619 University of Maryland, Baltimore Sandra Wearins: (410) 706-1290 Dwight Payne: (410) 706-1290 BIRMINGHAM, AL University of Alabama, Birmingham Leslie Cooper: (205) 975-2839 BOSTON, MA Brigham & Women's Hospital Fenway Community Health Jim Brinning: (617) 927-6038 Darren LeBlanc: (617) 927-6026 NASHVILLE, TN Vanderbilt University Mary Braeuner: (615) 343-6957 Susan Montgomery: (615) 322-0873 NEW YORK, NY Project Achieve, Bronx & Union Square and Columbia University sites Denise Goodman: (718) 588-8900 PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI Cornell-GHESKIO Sonia Jean or Dr. Mireille Peck: 509-222-00-31 PROVIDENCE, RI Miriam Hospital Stephanie Howie: (401) 729-2840 ROCHESTER, NY University of Rochester Patrick Fisher: (716) 275-0459 SAN FRANCISCO, CA San Francisco Department of Public Health Billy Pick: (415) 554-9048 Reggie Gage: (415) 437-4669 SEATTLE, WA Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Dennis Torres: (206) 521-5812 ST. LOUIS, MO St. Louis University Gwen Pendleton: (314) 268-5448 WASHINGTON, DC Johns Hopkins University Theron Scott: (410) 614-6619
For more information about enrolling in HIV vaccine
studies, call the AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service
at 1-800-874-2572 or visit the HVTN at
http://www.hvtn.org
To learn more about NIAID's HIV/AIDS vaccine research
program, visit
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/aidsvaccine
or
http://www.vrc.nih.gov
To learn more about clinical trials, visit
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.
TV MEDIA: B-roll available with sound bites from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, NIAID director; Dr. Peggy Johnston, assistant director for HIV/AIDS vaccines, NIAID; Dr. Gary Nabel, director of the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center; and Marcel Wise, a member of the Johns Hopkins University Community Advisory Board and a vaccine study volunteer. Call NIAID's Office of Communications and Public Liaison at 301-402-1663.
RADIO BROADCASTERS: Sound bites are available by calling the NIH Radio News Service at 1-800-MED DIAL (1-800-633-3425).
Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Library of Medicine
NIH NEWS ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
CONTACT:
Robert Mehnert or
Kathleen Cravedi
(301) 496-6308
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov
PAPERS OF NOBEL SCIENTIST MARSHALL NIRENBERG ADDED TO "PROFILES IN SCIENCE"
As a budding teenage zoologist who frequented the swamps of Florida to collect insects in the 1940's, Marshall Nirenberg was an adept observer of plant life, insects, and birds. He captured these observations through carefully written and maintained notes. It was a habit that was to serve him well in the future.
Forty years ago, in the spring of 1961, Nirenberg embarked upon a series of experiments that became the foundation for groundbreaking work on deciphering the genetic code.
"Our contemporary understanding of the genetic code would not have been possible without the discoveries of Dr. Marshall Nirenberg, who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology," said Dr. Alexa McCray, who heads the "Profiles in Science" project.
Dr. Nirenberg is the sixth scientist to be added to NLM's
"Profiles in Science" website
http://www.profiles.nlm.nih.gov
,dedicated to the lives and works of prominent 20th century
biomedical scientists. The intent of the website is to have
scientists, scholars, and students appreciate the history,
and share some of the excitement of early scientific
discoveries in molecular biology. Nirenberg joins Oswald
Avery, Joshua Lederberg, Martin Rodbell, Julius Axelrod,
and Christian Anfinsen on the website.
Born April 10, 1927, in New York City, Marshall Nirenberg spent his teenage years in Orlando, Florida. He received his B.S. degree in zoology and chemistry from the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1948, and earned a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1957. An American Cancer Society fellowship brought Nirenberg to the National Institutes of Health. He joined the staff there in 1960 and still maintains a laboratory in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
In 1959 Nirenberg began his investigations into the relationship between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA) and the production of proteins. With Heinrich J. Matthaei, a young postdoctoral researcher from Bonn, Germany, Nirenberg initiated a series of famous experiments using synthetic RNA. These two researchers were able to show how RNA transcribes genetic "messages" that are encoded in DNA and translates them so that amino acids know how, and in which order, to combine to make proteins. Nirenberg had, in effect, cracked the secrets of the genetic code.
In 1968, Nirenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for [the] interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis." He shared the award with Robert W. Holley of Cornell University and Har Gobind Khorana of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This remarkable personal and scientific accomplishment held great significance, not only for Nirenberg but also for the history of modern science.
Public response to cracking the genetic code was mixed. In December 1961, the "New York Times" reported on Nirenberg's discovery by explaining "the science of biology has reached a new frontier," leading to "a revolution far greater in its potential significance than the atomic or hydrogen bomb." Others, however, did not share such enthusiasms. Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius, the 1948 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, asserted that this knowledge could "lead to methods of tampering with life, of creating new diseases, of controlling minds, of influencing heredity, even perhaps in certain desired directions." In 1962, Nirenberg half- joked to Francis Crick, "[T]he American press has been saying that [my] work may result in (1) the cure of cancer and allied diseases (2) the cause of cancer and the end of mankind, and (3) a better knowledge of the molecular structure of God. Well, it's all in a day's work."
Since the late 1960s, Nirenberg has pursued myriad topics in neurobiology and neurogenetics, including the development of neuroblastoma tumor cells, and the expression of genes in the retinal portion of the eye. At present, Dr. Nirenberg is using advanced digital scanning technology to study the genetic development of neural networks in the brains of fruit fly embryos.
The online "Profiles in Science" exhibit features correspondence, laboratory notes, unpublished manuscripts, photographs, and reflects the many research projects Dr. Nirenberg has undertaken during the more than 40 years he has been associated with the NIH. Visitors to the Marshall Nirenberg site can view, for example, the original notes that Nirenberg delivered at a historic Moscow conference in 1961. Visitors can also see photographs of Nirenberg during his work on the genetic code. The online collection, however, is only a small sampling of the full scope of the Marshall Nirenberg Papers, the vast bulk of which have yet to be fully processed.
"Profiles in Science" was launched September 1998 by the National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. It is a continuing project and the Library plans to announce each new collection as it is added to the site.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Photographs of Dr. Nirenberg are available
from the NLM (email requests to
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
NIEHS Media Contact: Bill Grigg (301) 402-3378
BWC Contact: Jessica Collins (617) 732-5008
corrected version of Tuesday, May 15, 2001
-----Original Message-----
From: NIH OLIB (OD)
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 3:08 PM
To: List HHSPRESS
Subject: DDT, PCBs NOT LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF BREAST CANCER, AN ANALYSIS
OF FIVE NORTHEAST STUDIES CONCLUDES
DDT, PCBs NOT LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF BREAST CANCER, AN ANALYSIS OF FIVE NORTHEAST STUDIES CONCLUDES
Scientists who combined data from five large breast cancer studies have found no link to the pesticide DDT or to PCBs, a widespread industrial chemical.
Both were suspect because they are chemicals in the environment with similarities to estrogen, the so-called female hormone associated with a risk of breast cancer.
The five studies were funded in 1993 by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences among women in the northeastern United States. None had shown a link between either DDT or PCBs and the Northeast's elevated rates of breast cancer. But some scientists thought the studies might simply have been too small and that their combined data might reveal such associations, at least for some subgroups of women.
Today that explanation was dashed as scientists analyzing the combined data also concluded that neither exposure explains the high rates of breast cancer in the U.S. Northeast. Their results appear in the May 16 issue of the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute".
The women in the five studies totaled 1,400 breast cancer patients and 1,642 controls. Two of the studies were conducted among women in New York state, one was in Connecticut, and one was in Maryland. Half the women in the fifth study, the nationwide Nurses Health Study, live in the northeastern states, including Maryland.
In each of the studies, blood was drawn from patients and controls alike and tested for DDE, the major break-down product of DDT, and for PCBs. DDT and PCBs were widely used in the United States until the 1970s and accumulate in the body's fatty tissues and thus can be found in human blood and breast milk many years after exposures.
The principal author of the analysis, Francine Laden, Sc.D of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, said, "We found that the combined results from these five studies do not support an association between plasma or serum concentrations of DDE and PCBs and an increased risk of breast cancer."
The second author, Gwen Collman, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said, "The investigators used a standardized approach to data analysis across all five studies and we did not find a consistent association in the various subgroups we looked at: Caucasian women, African-American women, women of various body mass and lactation histories."
Brigham and Women's Hospital is a 716-bed affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, while headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is a part of the National Institutes of Health, as is the National Cancer Institute. NIH and NCI have their headquarters in Bethesda, Md.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Monday, May 14, 2001
4:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Blair Gately
301-443-6245
33-YEAR STUDY EMPHASIZES LETHAL CONSEQUENCES OF HEROIN ADDICTION
After following a cohort of heroin addicts for more than 33 years, researchers from the UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center found that nearly half of the original group of 581 men first interviewed in 1964 had died by 1997, when they would have been between 50 and 60 years of age. The study also found that about 40 percent of the 242 survivors reported past year heroin use and many reported other illicit drug use.
The study is published in the May 14, 2001, issue of the "Archives of General Psychiatry".
"These findings highlight the drastic effects of heroin addiction," says Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., director, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). "In addition to risking an early death, this long-term study shows that heroin users often suffer from hepatitis, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems, and many have criminal justice histories. The study emphasizes the pervasive public health and public safety consequences of heroin use and the need for comprehensive approaches to deal with it."
The UCLA researchers, led by Dr. Yih-Ing Hser, followed 581 male heroin addicts who had been admitted to the California Civil Addict Program (CAP) during the years 1962 through 1964. CAP was a compulsory drug treatment program for heroin-dependent criminal offenders committed under court order. The average age of participants upon admission to CAP was 25.4 years. More than 60 percent had started using heroin before the age of 20.
The researchers conducted three face-to-face interviews with participants at 10-year intervals: the first set of interviews was conducted in 1974-1975, the second set in 1985-1986 and the third set in 1996-1997.
The men were an average of 57.4 years old in 1996-1997. Of the 242 subjects interviewed at that time, 20.7 percent tested positive for opiates, 66.9 percent reported current tobacco use, 22.1 percent drank alcohol every day, and many reported other illicit drug use in the past year (marijuana, 35.5 percent; cocaine, 19.4 percent; crack, 10.3 percent; and amphetamines, 11.6 percent).
Some other highlights of the 33-year study include:
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of
the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse
and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of
programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research
information and its implementation in policy and practice.
Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and
other topics can be ordered free of charge in English and
Spanish through NIDA Infofax at 1-888-NIH-NIDA (644-6432)
or 1-888-TTY-NIDA (889-6432) for the deaf. These fact
sheets and further information on NIDA research and other
activities can be found on the NIDA home page at
http://www.drugabuse.gov
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED BY JOURNAL
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
4:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Robert Bock
(301) 496-5133
rb96a@nih.gov
BREASTFEEDING HAS MINOR EFFECT IN REDUCING RISK OF CHILDHOOD OVERWEIGHT
Mother's Overweight More Likely to Predict Child's Overweight
Breast feeding appears to be a minor factor in reducing the likelihood of childhood overweight, according to a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and two other Federal agencies. The finding appears to contradict an earlier report that breastfeeding significantly reduces the chances of being overweight during the childhood years. The researchers also found that the likelihood of a child being overweight was greatest if the child's mother was overweight.
The study appears in the May 16 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association".
Researchers at the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also participated in the study.
"Breastfeeding is extremely valuable for infants -- boosting their immune systems and their mental abilities, and reducing their risk for infection" said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NICHD. "At this point, exercise, nutrition, and heredity appear to have a much greater influence on young children's weight than does breastfeeding alone."
The researchers undertook the study to reexamine an earlier study conducted by scientists in Bavaria, explained the study's first author, Mary Hediger, Ph.D., of NICHD's Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research. The Bavarian researchers reported that the greater the length of time that infants were breast fed exclusively, the less likely they were to be overweight.
The U.S. examined information from the birth certificates of 2685 children. This information was obtained from "The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey" (1988-1994), a nationally representative sampling conducted by the CDC. The researchers interviewed the children's mothers when the children were between 3 and 5 years of age, asking for such details as whether the children were breast fed or formula fed, how often they breast fed their children, at what age they stopped breast feeding, and whether the children received infant formula in addition to breast milk. The children were then measured for height and weight as part of a comprehensive physical examination. Extremely low birth weight children, many of whom are likely to be premature, were not included in the study. The researchers determined children's weight status with a formula known as the body mass index (BMI), a calculation used world wide to determine a person's amount of body fat.
The researchers found that children who were breast fed had a 16 percent reduced risk for being overweight. However, Dr. Hediger pointed out, the length of time that children breast fed and the timing of introduction of solid foods had little influence on their risk of being overweight.
Breast fed infants who began eating solid foods later than did other breast fed children had a very slightly reduced risk for being overweight -- about 0.1 percent for each month they were delayed in eating solid food. The researchers noted, however, that the strongest predictor of child's BMI was the mother's BMI. In fact, children were three times more likely to be overweight if their mothers were either overweight or obese.
Dr. Hediger explained that it is not known whether or not maternal overweight and obesity influences children's risk for overweight because of heredity, environmental factors, or a combination of both. For example, Dr. Hediger said, it is possible that many children of overweight and obese mothers are overweight because of improper diet and lack of exercise and not because their mothers did not breast feed them.
Dr. Hediger added that being overweight between ages 3 and 5 is only slightly predictive of overweight and obesity later in life. With a good diet and exercise, overweight children can avoid becoming overweight or obese in adults.
"It cannot be too strongly emphasized that breastfeeding has numerous attributes that render it the preferred feeding choice for almost all infants," the study authors wrote. "However, duration of full breastfeeding does not appear to be predictive of or necessarily have preventive properties for overweight in early childhood, and encouraging breast feeding for overweight prevention would not be as effective as moderating familial factors in preventing early childhood overweight."
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute of Mental Health
NIH NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 17, 2001
Contact:
Jules Asher
301-443-4536
jasher@nih.gov
BRAIN GENE IMPLICATED IN AUTISM
Scientists funded by the National Institute of Mental
Health have linked a gene that may influence human brain
development with autism susceptibility. They pinpointed
the candidate gene, WNT2, in a region of chromosome 7
suggested by several studies over the past few years. NIMH
grantees Thomas Wassink, M.D.
http://iowa-mhcrc.psychiatry.uiowa.edu/new/MHCRC_Web_Page/genetics.html
University of Iowa, and Joseph Piven, M.D.
http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/1dean/admin/92299/sld038.htm
University of North Carolina, and colleagues, report
on their findings in the American Journal of Medical
Genetics
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issuetoc?ID=77002064
available online May 17, 2001.
Rare mutations in WNT2 may "significantly increase susceptibility to autism," say the researchers, while a common variant may contribute to the disorder to a lesser degree. "While the evidence implicating this gene is good, it's not overwhelming, and must be replicated by other groups," cautioned Wassink.
Affecting 1 in 500 to 1 in 2500 Americans, autism
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/autismmenu.cfm
begins in
early childhood and impairs thinking, feeling, language and
the ability to relate to others. Evidence suggests that
the disorder is at least 90 percent heritable, stemming
from complex interactions among 3 to 15, or more, genes.
The WNT2 gene attracted the investigators' attention because of its suspect location on chromosome 7 (7q31-33); three recent genome scans had pointed to the region as likely harboring an autism gene. It is a member of a family of 16 WNT genes, a number of which are known to influence brain development. Mice bred without genes essential to the functioning of WNT genes show diminished social interaction, similar to people with autism. Also, WNT2 is located next to a broken chromosome in an individual with autism, heightening suspicion of its involvement in the disorder.
Among 135 individuals with autism screened, the researchers identified two families in which mutated variants of WNT2 were found in just one parent and in affected, but not in well, siblings. Both mutations were in coding regions of the gene. No mutated variants of WNT2 were found in 160 controls. Although they each affect only one of the gene's 1082 nucleotides, the mutations alter the amino acid composition of the WNT2 protein, and could impair the functioning of proteins and downstream biological pathways involved in brain development.
The researchers also produced evidence for the existence of a more common WNT2 variant that may be involved in more cases of autism. A nucleotide sequence variant (specifically, a single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP) in a non-coding part of the gene was found to be transmitted to autistic children more often than would be expected by chance. The SNP was also found to be associated with the group's prior evidence for linkage of 7q to autism, particularly in families with more severe language impairment. "Virtually all of our original 7q linkage signal had arisen from 50 families with severe language abnormalities," noted the researchers. When the researchers split those families into two groups based on the SNP variant, they found a striking separation of the linkage signal. In 24 families transmitting the associated SNP variant, the linkage signal increased from the original 2.7 to 3.7, providing strong support for linkage, while in the 26 other families, the linkage signal decreased to nearly 0. This lopsided split in the linkage signal supports the possibility that the SNP, or an as yet undiscovered nearby polymorphism, could confer susceptibility to autism by influencing expression of WNT2.
Wassink and colleagues also showed that WNT2 is expressed in the human brain's thalamus. They note that there is evidence to suggest that a circuit involving the thalamus and frontal lobes functions abnormally in autism. Since WNT2 influences brain development in animals, researchers suspect it plays a similar role in humans, but this would be difficult to demonstrate, said Wassink. The strong association between WNT2 and people with severe language impairment make the gene a strong candidate for predisposing people to this sub-type of autism, which previous studies have associated with the chromosome 7q area.
Among clues being followed up: a gene named "frizzled" that codes for a receptor for the secreted WNT proteins "is right at our linkage signal," noted Wassink. His and other groups are also looking for mutations in other genes in WNT pathways that might be involved in autism.
Also participating in the research were:Veronica Vieland, Ph.D., Jian Huang, Ph.D., Ruth Swiderski, Ph.D., Jennifer Pietila, Terry Braun, Gretel Beck, Val Sheffield, M.D., Ph.D., University of Iowa; Susan Folstein, M.D., Tufts University; Jonathan Haines, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Federal Government's primary agency for biomedical and behavioral research. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIH NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Friday, May 18, 2001
12:01 a.m. EST
Contact: NIAAA Press
Ann Bradley
(301) 443-0595
LONG-CHAIN ALCOHOL FOUND TO BLOCK MECHANISM OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
Paradoxical Finding Raises Hope for Pharmaceutical Intervention
An article in today's "Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal" (Chen, S; Wilkemeyer, M; Sulik, K; and Charness, M. "Octanol antagonism of ethanol teratogenesis", FASEB J. 10.1096/fj00-08620fje and Volume 15, Number 9, July 2001) reports that the long-chain alcohol 1-octanol successfully blocks a mechanism leading to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Viewed as paradoxical because it is the short-chain alcohol ethanol (beverage alcohol) that causes FAS, today's finding nevertheless suggests a strategy for developing pharmaceutical interventions to prevent alcohol-related birth defects.
"For more than 20 years, alcohol researchers have been working to unravel the mechanisms of fetal alcohol damage in order eventually to develop potent interventions. Today's report of a compound that can block fetal alcohol damage in mouse whole embryos suggests that the fetus is amenable to treatment," said Enoch Gordis, M.D., Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study was supported by the NIAAA and the Department of Veterans Affairs and conducted by Shao-Yu Chen, Ph.D., and Kathleen K. Sulik, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Michael E. Charness, M.D., and Michael F. Wilkemeyer, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School.
The leading preventable cause of mental retardation, FAS exacts a heavy toll on U.S. society. In addition to human costs, FAS imposes lifetime economic costs estimated at $1.8 million per child in health care and indirect costs such as lost productivity. An estimated 3 to 30 infants per 10,000 live U.S. births and about 6 percent of the offspring of alcoholic mothers are diagnosable with FAS.
NIAAA supports research into multiple mechanisms whereby alcohol is believed to damage the developing fetus. Previous work by Drs. Wilkemeyer, Charness, and colleagues showed that ethanol inhibits cell adhesion mediated by the L1 cell adhesion molecule in selected host cells ("Alcohol inhibits cell-cell adhesion mediated by human L1. The Journal of Cell Biology" 133(2):381-390; see News Release, April 15, 1996 at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov) and that low concentrations of 1-octanol can antagonize that effect ("Antagonists of alcohol inhibition of cell adhesion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" 97:3690- 3695; see News Release, March 21, 2000 at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov). Today's study advances the work to mouse whole embryo cultures and demonstrates that 1-octanol can block alcohol teratogenesis (abnormal physical development) and associated excessive apoptosis (programmed cell death).
For today's study, the researchers cultured 23 mouse embryos with ethanol and 23 embryos with both ethanol and octanol. Eighteen control embryos were exposed to neither ethanol nor octanol. The results were dramatic: Control embryos and embryos exposed to both ethanol and octanol were developmentally more advanced and exhibited less cell death than embryos cultured with ethanol alone.
"Our findings suggest that ethanol disruption of L1- mediated cell adhesion contributes to its teratogenic actions through the induction of cell death. This suggests an avenue for the development of safe compounds for the prevention of FAS," said Dr. Charness, Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Neurology, VA Boston Healthcare System. "It is quite possible that compounds related to octanol may also prove useful in antagonizing a variety of ethanol effects."
Scientists have long known that drinking leads to adverse health effects on the developing fetus. When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, her fetus is at risk of spontaneous abortion, FAS, and other birth defects. Children with FAS exhibit brain damage, growth retardation, and a characteristic pattern of facial malformations, whereas those with less severe alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD) exhibit neurobehavioral deficits.
"Whereas most alcohol-related birth defects occur during the first 8 to 12 weeks of pregnancy, most women do not know they are pregnant until after the fourth week and many do not know until after the sixth week," said Dr. Sulik, Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at UNC Medical School and Director, Fetal Toxicology Division, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. According to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, 45 percent of women consume alcohol during the 3 months prior to learning that they are pregnant and 5 percent consume at least 6 drinks per week.
"We still do not know if there is a 'safe' dose of alcohol that can be consumed by pregnant women," stated Dr. Gordis in a recent issue of NIAAA's "Alcohol Alert" bulletin (Number 50, December 2000). "The only responsible advice to women who wish to become pregnant and those who are pregnant is to avoid alcohol use entirely. Unfortunately, many women continue to drink during pregnancy . . . and many of the women who continue to drink are at highest risk for having children with fetal alcohol syndrome and related problems. Finding potent ways to reach populations at risk... remains a challenge for alcohol research."
The full article text and accompanying figures may be
viewed at
http://www.fasebj.org
after 12:01 A.M. May 18, 2001.
For interviews with Dr. Charness, telephone 617/325-2815 or
e-mail
mcharness@hms.harvard.edu
For interviews with Dr. Sulik, telephone 919/966-3208. For interviews with Dr.
Gordis, telephone NIAAA Press, 301/443-0595. Additional
alcohol research information and publications are available at
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, conducts and supports approximately 90 percent of U.S research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism and alcohol problems and disseminates research findings to science, practitioner, policy making, and general audiences.
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