Gut bacteria that protect against food allergies identified

The presence of Clostridia, a common class of gut bacteria, protects against food allergies, a new study in mice  finds.

 By inducing immune responses that prevent food allergens from entering the bloodstream,Clostridia minimize allergen exposure and prevent sensitization -- a key step in the development of food allergies. The discovery points toward probiotic therapies for this so-far untreatable condition, report scientists from the University of Chicago, Aug 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although the causes of food allergy -- a sometimes deadly immune response to certain foods -- are unknown, studies have hinted that modern hygienic or dietary practices may play a role by disturbing the body's natural bacterial composition. In recent years, food allergy rates among children have risen sharply – increasing approximately 50 percent between 1997 and 2011 -- and studies have shown a correlation to antibiotic and antimicrobial use.

"Environmental stimuli such as antibiotic overuse, high fat diets, caesarean birth, removal of common pathogens and even formula feeding have affected the microbiota with which we've co-evolved," said study senior author Cathryn Nagler, PhD, Bunning Food Allergy Professor at the University of Chicago. "Our results suggest this could contribute to the increasing susceptibility to food allergies."

The study, "Commensal bacteria protect against food allergen sensitization," was supported by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) and the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Research Core Center. 

View full article here

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Treatment for autism - new research

Study Finds That Brains With Autism Fail to Trim Synapses as They Develop

David Sulzer, a neurobiologist at Columbia, led a study that may help explain symptoms of autism like oversensitivity to noise, as well as why many people with autism also have epilepsy

As a baby’s brain develops, there is an explosion of synapses, the connections that allow neurons to send and receive signals. But during childhood and adolescence, the brain needs to start pruning those synapses, limiting their number so different brain areas can develop specific functions and are not overloaded with stimuli.

Now a new study suggests that in children with autism, something in the process goes awry, leaving an oversupply of synapses in at least some parts of the brain.

The finding provides clues to how autism develops from childhood on, and may help explain some symptoms like oversensitivity to noise or social experiences, as well as why many people with autism also have epileptic seizures.

It could also help scientists in the search for treatments, if they can develop safe therapies to fix the system the brain uses to clear extra synapses.

The study, published recently in the journal Neuron, involved tissue from the brains of children and adolescents who had died from ages 2 to 20. About half had autism; the others did not.

The researchers, from Columbia University Medical Center, looked closely at an area of the brain’s temporal lobe involved in social behavior and communication. Analyzing tissue from 20 of the brains, they counted spines — the tiny neuron protrusions that receive signals via synapses — and found more spines in children with autism.

The scientists found that at younger ages, the number of spines did not differ tremendously between the two groups of children, but adolescents with autism had significantly more than those without autism. Typical 19-year-olds had 41 percent fewer synapses than toddlers, but those in their late teenage years with autism had only 16 percent fewer than young children with autism.

View full Press release here in NY Times

Salt consumption has a sweet spot

Professor Martin O’Donnell, formerly of McMaster University, is now Professor of Translational Medicine at NUI Galway and Associate Director of the HRB Clinical Research Facility Galway

Two reports from a global collaborative study involving hundreds of investigators from 18 countries, published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, are shaking up conventional wisdom around salt consumption. NUI Galway’s Professor Martin O’Donnell played a lead role in the study, and is first author on one of the reports.

The Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, led by investigators from the Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, followed more than 100,000 people for nearly four years. The study assessed sodium and potassium intake and related them to blood pressure as well as to deaths, heart disease and strokes.

Professor Martin O’Donnell, an expert in cardiovascular health,  explained the debate around salt intake: “A much debated question is how low should we go with our salt intake? Most of the current guidelines recommend very low salt intake, which the vast majority of people don’t achieve.”

Current intake of sodium is typically between 3.5 and 4 grams per day and some guidelines have recommended that the entire population lower its sodium intake to below 2.3 grams per day, a level that fewer than 5 per cent of people now consume.

Professor O’Donnell continued : “In the PURE study, we found the lowest risk of death and cardiovascular events in those who consumed moderate amounts of sodium intake (3 to 6 grams per day), with an increased risk above and below that range. While this finding has been reported in previous smaller studies, PURE is the largest international study to study sodium intake and health outcomes, and adds considerable strength to the contention that moderate sodium intake is optimal.”

However, he also emphasised: “Our findings do not mean that people should become complacent about salt intake, high salt intake is a health risk especially in those with high blood pressure. 

View full press release here

Click on title to view article in NEJM: Urinary Sodium and Potassium Excretion, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events

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2014 Tanya Gregory–JAAPA Student Writing Competition

Now accepting entries!

JAAPA: Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants is pleased to announce the 2014 Student Writing Competition!
 
What can you win?

• Two first-place winners will be chosen: one for a clinical or original research article and one for commentary or reflective writing in a nonclinical article category.
• Each winner will receive a cash award and complimentary registration for AAPA’s annual conference in San Francisco in May 2015.
• Up to two honorable mentions may be awarded in each category; honorable mentions will receive a certificate but no financial award.
• Winners and honorable mentions will be announced at the 2015 Challenge Bowl in San Francisco as well as in JAAPA.

Students may submit in two categories:

• Original research article or clinical article
• Commentary or reflective writing in a nonclinical article category

Article must be written for and submitted to a specific section or department within JAAPAas defined within the author guidelines.

Deadline: The competition accepts manuscripts through December 31, 2014. 

Judging: Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges on the quality of the content, strength of writing, effectiveness of overall organization, relevance to the practicing PA reader, and alignment with JAAPA's mission.

View full details here

Irish Social Science Data Archive: ISSDA

The Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA) is Ireland’s centre for quantitative data acquisition, preservation, and dissemination.

Established in 2000, ISSDA’s mission is to ensure wide access to quantitative datasets in the social sciences, and to advance the promotion of international comparative studies of the Irish economy and Irish society. To this end it acquires data from academic, research bodies and public sector sources, supporting:

• Secondary use and analysis for research

• Teaching and learning use

• Replication and validation of research

• Archival preservation

While based in UCD and managed by UCD Library, ISSDA is a national service that provides free access to a wide range of data, for research and teaching purposes. Key datasets by broad thematic area include:

Medicine, Nursing, Public Health

All Ireland Traveller Health Study

Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA)

CoHeart

Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)

Growing up in Ireland (GUI)

Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships

Irish Survey of Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy (ISCCP)

Living in Ireland Survey

National Psychological Wellbeing and Distress Survey (NPWDS)

Secondary Prevention of Heart Disease in General Practice (SPHERE)

Survey on Lifestyle and Attitude to Nutrition (SLÁN)

The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (TILDA)

Irish Researchers Create Wearable Sensors Using Rubber Bands

Ordinary rubber bands could be transformed into wearable sensors for monitoring blood pressure, joint movement and blood glucose, as a result of a discovery by researchers at the AMBER materials science centre and Trinity College, Dublin.

The method involves adding graphene to the rubber bands, the first time this has ever been successfully achieved anywhere in the world.

Dubbed a wonder material, graphene is made from a single flat layer of carbon atoms.

It is super strong, flexible and conductive, and scientists believe it will in future be used to make all sorts of products, from flexible mobile phones to lighter aeroplanes.

But scientists at the AMBER materials science centre and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin have found another use.

In a paper published in the journal ACS Nano, they describe how adding graphene to shop-bought rubber bands, can transform them into wearable sensors.

The world first technique makes the rubber conduct electricity, without degrading its mechanical properties.

As the stretching of the bands strongly effects the flow of electrical current, the bands can sense tiny movements, like a pulse when attached to clothing for example.

The scientists say the discovery will lead to multiple uses in areas like healthcare, the automotive industry and robotics

View Press release here

The paper, Sensitive, High Strain, High-rate, bodily motion Sensors based on Graphene-Rubber Composites, is available here.

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New insights into spread and survival of blood cancer cells

NUIG haematologist Prof Michael O’Dwyer(pictured above) : worked with Prof Lokesh Joshi of NUIG’s glysoscience group and Dr Siobhán Glavey on studying the complex sugars which cover all cells in the human body, and many of the proteins in the bloodstream.

Researchers at the National University of Ireland Galway have identified an enzyme that has a key role in the spread and survival of blood cancer cells. The discovery, which focused on the cancer multiple myeloma, has just been published by the internationally acclaimed journal, Blood.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the blood which results from an overproduction of plasma cells, the white blood cells that produce antibodies. It leads to problems such as anaemia, bone damage, kidney failure and elevated calcium levels. There are about 240 new cases of multiple myeloma diagnosed each year in Ireland.

HRB Clinician Scientist, Michael O Dwyer, Professor of Haematology at the National University of Ireland Galway says; “While treatments for multiple myeloma have improved over the last decade, and most patients are living longer, there is no cure. Our research is crucial because it sheds new light on the biology of multiple myeloma which could lead to new strategies to overcome resistance to treatment.”

“In essence, we have linked the overproduction of a specific enzyme called sialyltransferase to disease progression and worse outcomes in multiple myeloma. The increase in this enzyme activity causes a series of knock on effects; increasing glycosylation, which in turn increases the interaction of the cancer cells with receptors on the walls of blood vessels called selectins which then encourages their circulation, spread and retention in the bone marrow.”

“Our aim now is to prevent these interactions that cause the spread using specific enzyme and selectin inhibitors”.

View full Press Release here

Click on title to view full article : The sialyltransferase ST3GAL6 influences homing and survival in multiple myeloma.

Queen's University scientists develop new gel to fight superbugs

Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have synthesised a new hydrogel capable of destroying some of the most potent hospital superbugs.

“Superbugs” is the common name given to bacteria that can resist the action of several antibiotics. “They can attach themselves to medical instruments and implants by growing a biofilm. This is a jelly-like coating which protects them from the action of antibiotics,”explained Dr Garry Laverty, a lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Queen’sUniversity.

Together with colleagues at Queen’s and Brandeis University (US), he has designed a new type of hydrogel that can kill rapidly common superbugs such as E. Coli, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Dr Laverty pointed out the gel “is made from peptides, the natural building blocks of proteins. These molecules are smaller than the protective biofilm of the superbugs, and are inherently anti-microbial.”

By breaking down the coating, they are able to kill the bacteria selectively, leaving healthy cells unaffected, he said.

The results of the study are published next month in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Four babies died from pseudomonas at two Northern Ireland hospitals between December 2011 and January 2012.

View full Press release here

Science AAAS journals and Ebola research

Given the current widespread and lethal outbreak of the Ebola virus, AAAS' journals Science and Science Translational Medicine offer a freely available collection of research and news articles on the viral disease to researchers and the general public.

Click here to view

NUI Galway Public Forum on Diabetes

On Tuesday, 9 September NUI Galway will host a public forum on Diabetes, delving into what research is doing to help advance treatments for complications of Type 2 diabetes. ‘Diabetes- It’s Complicated’ will take place in Room 243, Áras Moyola from 6.30-8.30pm.  

This free event is organised as part of the EU-funded project Repair of Diabetic Damage by Stromal Cell Administration (REDDSTAR), and co-ordinated by Professor Tim O’Brien, Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway and Consultant Endocrinologist at Galway University Hospital.

Speakers include: NUI Galway’s Professor Tim O’ Brien, Dr Cynthia Coleman and Professor Caroline McIntosh; Dr Steve Elliman, Head of Research at Orbsen Therapeutics; Dr Donal O’Gorman, Centre for Preventative Medicine at Dublin City University and DEXLIFE; and Professor Noemi Lois of Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Experimental Medicine.

In conjunction with this event, a free foot screening will be offered from 3-5.30pm in the NUI Galway Podiatry Skills Laboratory on the third floor of Áras Moyola on campus. To schedule a 20 minute foot screening, please email REDDSTAR Dissemination Officer, Danielle Nicholson at Danielle.nicholson@orbsentherapeutics.com or 091 528778. 

Pre-register for your place at the event at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/diabetes-its-complicated-tickets-11763379585?aff=efblike

Palliative care: newly launched UpToDate specialty

New Specialty: Palliative Care

Palliative care is a growing interdisciplinary specialty focused on patients’ quality of life and relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness. Many hospitals are developing palliative care programs to support patients and their families.

This newly launched UpToDate specialty integrates the most current information on palliative care into recommendations that span many disciplines. Content includes comprehensive information on clinical and psychosocial issues and evidence-based recommendations for assessing and managing pain and non-pain symptoms.

UpToDate in Palliative Care includes:

• 90+ clinical topics — a list of topics for any specialty can be found  through the “Contents”  link on the top toolbar
• 40 patient education topics — print or email information to help patients make informed decisions
• 45 new graphics — created specifically for palliative care topics

100+ contributors — as with all UpToDate content, authors and editors are clearly identified in each topic

Click on links above to view

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