People who sleep less than six hours a night may be three times more likely to develop a condition which leads to diabetes and heart disease, according to researchers at the University of Warwick.

A study by a team of researchers from Warwick Medical School and the State University of New York at Buffalo has found short sleep duration is associated with an elevated risk of a pre-diabetic state, known as incident-impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG).

IFG means that your body isn’t able to regulate glucose as efficiently as it should. People with IFG have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and are at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

The study has just been published in the Annals of Epidemiology journal. The researchers looked at six years of data from 1,455 participants in the Western New York Health Study.

All participants were aged between 35 and 79 years old and all completed a clinical examination that included measures of resting blood pressure, height and weight. They also completed questionnaires about their general health and wellbeing and sleeping patterns.

Lead author at Warwick Medical School Dr Saverio Stranges said: “We found that short sleep, less than six hours, was associated with a significant, three-fold increased likelihood of developing IFG, compared to people who got an average of six to eight hours sleep a night.”

This study is the first to look at the association between sleep duration and IFG. Dr Stranges said there were a number of ways in which sleep loss could lead to disordered glucose metabolism.

He said: “Previous studies have shown that short sleep duration results in a 28% increase in mean levels of the appetite stimulating hormone ghrelin so it can affect feeding behaviours. Other studies have also shown that a lack of sleep can decrease glucose tolerance and increases the production of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress.”

“More research is needed but our study does suggest a very strong correlation between lack of sleep and type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”

Professor Francesco Cappuccio, Head of the Sleep, Health & Society Programme at the University of Warwick said: “These results are welcome and confirm our early reports that both sleep quantity and quality are strong predictors of the development of type 2 diabetes, strokes and heart attacks”.

Sources: Warwick University, AlphaGalileo Foundation.

D-Pharm announced that it has submitted IND and Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) packages to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for its pivotal Phase III clinical trial of DP-b99 in acute ischemic stroke patients. D-Pharm plans to initiate the trial later this year following FDA review of the IND and SPA. Recently, D-Pharm also obtained Scientific Advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) on the development strategy for DP-b99 in Europe.

Prior to the IND submission D-Pharm successfully completed the program outlined at the pre-IND meeting held with the FDA in January 2008. The program included additional toxicity studies, a drug interaction study with rtPA, and an interaction study with warfarin in healthy volunteers, as well as scale-up and optimization of the DP-b99 manufacturing process.

The planned Phase III trial is a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study (study acronym MACSI: Membrane Activated Chelator Stroke Intervention). It is designed to compare the effect on ischemic stroke outcome between a placebo group and a group of patients treated with 1 mg/kg/day of DP-b99 for 4 consecutive days. D-Pharm plans to enroll 770 moderate to severely affected ischemic stroke patients in over 100 clinical sites in North America, Europe, South Africa and Israel.

“I am especially pleased with this achievement since bringing DP-b99 from design to Phase III really reflects the company’s ability to adapt and mature along with our lead product. I look forward to agreement on the SPA and commencing our Phase III trial with DP-b99 under IND” said Alex Kozak, PhD, CEO and President of D-Pharm.

Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) is an instrument of the FDA for evaluating protocols and reaching agreement with sponsors on the design of clinical trials that can be used for drug approval. In our case, it applies to a clinical protocol for a trial from which the data will form the primary basis for a claim of efficacy. In general, the SPA can significantly reduce development time since the design of the pivotal protocol has been approved in advance.

About DP-b99

DP-b99 is a unique neuroprotective drug that addresses an array of brain damaging processes occurring in stroke patients and emerged from D-Pharm’s proprietary Membrane Activated Chelator (MAC) platform technology. D-Pharm successfully completed extensive testing of DP-b99 in pre-clinical and then in Phase I and Phase II clinical studies. Both preclinical and clinical studies indicate a favorable efficacy and safety profile for DP-b99. In the recently completed Phase IIb trial in 150 ischemic stroke patients, DP-b99 increased by two-fold the percentage of patients that completely recovered from ischemic stroke. DP-b99 may be administered within a nine hour therapeutic window.

About Stroke

Every year approximately 780,000 Americans have a new or recurrent stroke. The second most common cause of death worldwide, stroke is also the leading cause of serious long-term disability; 15% to 30% of stroke survivors experience permanent disability. According to the American Heart Association, the estimated direct and indirect cost in 2009 of stroke in the US is $68.9 billion. Other than tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which must be administered 3 hours after stroke, there are no FDA approved medicines for this indication.

About D-Pharm Ltd.

D-Pharm is a clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of lipid-like therapeutics and has generated a rich pipeline of patent protected proprietary products. D-Pharm’s pipeline includes advanced clinical stage products DP-b99 for treatment of acute ischemic stroke patients and DP-VPA, a novel drug for treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and prophylaxis of migraine. DP-460 is in preclinical development intended as an oral, disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Other mimics of bioactive lipids, LipidoMimetix, are at an earlier developmental stage, for cancer.

Source: D-Pharm Ltd

View drug information on Warfarin Sodium tablets.

Ethanol is widely touted as an eco-friendly, clean-burning fuel. But if every vehicle in the United States ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of pure gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase, according to a new study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson. His findings are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T).

”Ethanol is being promoted as a clean and renewable fuel that will reduce global warming and air pollution,” said Jacobson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. ”But our results show that a high blend of ethanol poses an equal or greater risk to public health than gasoline, which already causes significant health damage.”

Gasoline vs. ethanol

For the study, Jacobson used a sophisticated computer model to simulate air quality in the year 2020, when ethanol-fueled vehicles are expected to be widely available in the United States.

”The chemicals that come out of a tailpipe are affected by a variety of factors, including chemical reactions, temperatures, sunlight, clouds, wind and precipitation,” he explained. ”In addition, overall health effects depend on exposure to these airborne chemicals, which varies from region to region. Ours is the first ethanol study that takes into account population distribution and the complex environmental interactions.”

In the experiment, Jacobson ran a series of computer tests simulating atmospheric conditions throughout the United States in 2020, with a special focus on Los Angeles. ”Since Los Angeles has historically been the most polluted airshed in the U.S., the testbed for nearly all U.S. air pollution regulation and home to about 6 percent of the U.S. population, it is also ideal for a more detailed study,” he wrote.

Jacobson programmed the computer to run air quality simulations comparing two future scenarios:

* A vehicle fleet (that is, all cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc., in the United States) fueled by gasoline, versus

* A fleet powered by E85, a popular blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Deaths and hospitalizations

The results of the computer simulations were striking.

”We found that E85 vehicles reduce atmospheric levels of two carcinogens, benzene and butadiene, but increase two others-formaldehyde and acetaldehyde,” Jacobson said. ”As a result, cancer rates for E85 are likely to be similar to those for gasoline. However, in some parts of the country, E85 significantly increased ozone, a prime ingredient of smog.”

Inhaling ozone-even at low levels-can decrease lung capacity, inflame lung tissue, worsen asthma and impair the body’s immune system, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The World Health Organization estimates that 800,000 people die each year from ozone and other chemicals in smog.

”In our study, E85 increased ozone-related mortalities in the United States by about 200 deaths per year compared to gasoline, with about 120 of those deaths occurring in Los Angeles,” Jacobson said. ”These mortality rates represent an increase of about 4 percent in the U.S. and 9 percent in Los Angeles above the projected ozone-related death rates for gasoline-fueled vehicles in 2020.”

The study showed that ozone increases in Los Angeles and the northeastern United States will be partially offset by decreases in the southeast. ”However, we found that nationwide, E85 is likely to increase the annual number of asthma-related emergency room visits by 770 and the number of respiratory-related hospitalizations by 990,” Jacobson said. ”Los Angeles can expect 650 more hospitalizations in 2020, along with 1,200 additional asthma-related emergency visits.”

The deleterious health effects of E85 will be the same, whether the ethanol is made from corn, switchgrass or other plant products, Jacobson noted. ”Today, there is a lot of investment in ethanol,” he said. ”But we found that using E85 will cause at least as much health damage as gasoline, which already causes about 10,000 U.S. premature deaths annually from ozone and particulate matter. The question is, if we’re not getting any health benefits, then why continue to promote ethanol and other biofuels?

”There are alternatives, such as battery-electric, plug-in-hybrid and hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles, whose energy can be derived from wind or solar power,” he added. ”These vehicles produce virtually no toxic emissions or greenhouse gases and cause very little disruption to the land-unlike ethanol made from corn or switchgrass, which will require millions of acres of farmland to mass-produce. It would seem prudent, therefore, to address climate, health and energy with technologies that have known benefits. ”

###

This ES&T study was partially supported by NASA.

COMMENT:

Mark Z. Jacobson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The study, ”Effects of Ethanol (E85) Versus Gasoline Vehicles on Cancer and Mortality in the United States,” by Mark Z. Jacobson, appears in the April 18 online edition of Environmental Science & Technology (pubs.acs/journals/esthag).

RELEVANT WEB URLS:

JACOBSON WEB PAGE

RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION

EPA: GROUND-LEVEL OZONE

Contact: Mark Shwartz

Stanford University

While research using human embryonic stem cells has roused political controversy for almost two decades, little has been done to scientifically assess American attitudes on the subject. New research from the University of Nevada, Reno provides decision-makers with a much clearer picture of how their constituents truly feel about the subject.

The study, “U.S. attitudes toward human embryonic stem cell research,” published this month in the journal, Nature Biotechnology, was conducted by University of Nevada, Reno faculty members Mariah Evans (lead author) and Jonathan Kelley, who surveyed a large, representative national sample of 2,295 respondents in 2009. Their most significant findings include:
More than two-thirds of respondents approved of using therapeutic cloning (nuclear transfer of the patient’s own genes) and stem cells from in vitro fertilized embryos to cure cancer or treat heart attacks, while only about one in six respondents did not approve. Therapeutic cloning remains banned in the United States today. About one in six respondents had mixed feelings or was undecided.
Over two-thirds of respondents also approved of a newer, less-researched method – using modified adult cells as an alternative to using cells from in vitro fertilized embryos – if the use could cure cancer or treat heart attacks. Less than 15 percent did not approve. About one in five had mixed feelings or was undecided.
Almost half (43 to 47 percent) of respondents also approve of use of therapeutic cloning, stem cells from in vitro fertilized embryos and stem cells from an adult to treat allergies, but slightly over one in four do not. And, 28 to 29 percent have mixed feelings or undecided in this regard. These findings indicate that while more respondents approve of the use of these methods for treatment of less-serious conditions than disapprove of it, the approval is not as strong as it is for using these methods to treat more serious conditions and diseases, such as cancer or heart attacks.
Respondents were not as approving of use of these methods for cosmetic purposes, such as creating new skin to restore someone’s youthful appearance. Almost one-half (45 to 50 percent) disapproved of this use, while only slightly more than one-quarter (25 to 29 percent) approved of this use. About one-quarter had mixed feelings or were undecided.
Respondents did not support human reproductive cloning, neither of themselves nor of a child who died, with almost three-quarters (71 to 73 percent) disapproving and only about one in 10 approving. About one in five had mixed feelings or was undecided.
Respondents were quite evenly divided in their thoughts on animal cloning with slightly over a third approving, slightly over a third disapproving, and about one-quarter having mixed feelings or being undecided.

Evans, a sociologist, also found it interesting that the majority of respondents trusted their own judgment most when deciding on their approval or disapproval on stem cell research issues, rather than looking to their church or other authorities, such as governmental ethics committees.

“The vast majority, over two-thirds, said that in deciding whether it is right to allow these treatments, they would follow their own judgment,” she said. “Only 4 percent gave greater moral weight to the Catholic Church than to themselves, and even among committed church-going Catholics, only about one in five defer to the church on these matters.”

The study also revealed that despite the Catholic Church’s firm opposition, support for the use of stem cell research for the cure or treatment of serious diseases was almost as strong among Catholic laity as among Protestants. Even those in the most disapproving demographic group, churchgoing fundamentalist women, were still more in favor than opposed.

Source:
Claudene Wharton

University of Nevada, Reno

We all know that drinking and driving is dangerous and can lead to serious injury and loss of life. However, fewer people are aware of the significant of danger of driving while drowsy. If you drive while you are drowsy your reflexes are severely impaired, as are your senses of awareness and judgment.

According to studies, if you drive after not sleeping for 18 hours your senses are undermined to the same level as somebody whose blood alcohol level is 0.05%. Driving after being awake for 24 hours impairs your senses to the same level as a person whose alcohol blood level is 0.1%.

During the past 12 months approximately one fifth of all Canadian drivers say they have nodded off at the wheel. Drowsy/tired drivers cause approximately 400 road death in Canada each year.

The following factors may make a driver drowsy:

– not enough sleep
– your sleep is interrupted/fragmented
– chronic sleep debt (your sleep is of poor quality over a long period)
– spending too long awake on one single task
– not tuning in to your internal clock (are you less alert in the middle of the afternoon?)
– irregular/extreme work schedules or driving patterns
– a sleep disorder which is untreated or undiagnosed
– medication that may make you drowsy at the wheel
– consuming alcohol when you are already tired

Do not kid yourself that driver fatigue is something just truck/bus/taxi drivers suffer from. It can affect anyone who is driving tired.

The following people are most at risk:

– drivers of commercial vehicles
– newly qualified drivers, particularly young men
– split-shift and night workers
– patients with sleeping disorders
– people whose lifestyles affect the quantity/quality of their sleep

Am I at risk?
If you experience any of the symptoms below, pull over and have a nap. Do not drive.

– boredom
– drifting out of your lane
– drowsiness and yawning
– irritability
– loss of concentration
– missing road signs
– nodding off
– slow reactions
– sore/tired/itchy eyes

When you plan on driving make sure you had a good sleep and feel well rested. Plan your trip so that you can stop and have a break every two hours. If you can, don’t drive between 1am and 7am (at this time your body wants to sleep). IF YOU FEEL TIRED DON’T DRIVE.

– Click here for more information on driver fatigue
– Working Together to Understand Driver Fatigue: Report on Symposium Proceedings (PDF)

A surgeon and an electrophysiologist in the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center last week worked together to perform a novel, minimally-invasive procedure to treat a common but dangerous arrhythmia in a 61-year-old lawyer from east Texas who has suffered from the condition for months. By combining their talents, the physicians could perform the procedure through two small incisions, rather than six, which is common for minimally-invasive approaches.

“We’re hoping that by combining the expertise of a surgeon with that of an electrophysiologist, we’ll make the treatment more effective, while also making it easier on the patient in terms of recovery time,” said Dr. Basel Ramlawi, cardiac surgeon who performed the surgical portion of the hybrid procedure.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia, a condition in which the top chamber of the heart quivers instead of pumping. When it quivers, blood pools in the chamber, causing blood clots that can break off, travel to the head and cause strokes. AF is caused by an abnormality in the electrical system of the heart that makes it pump effectively.

“Patients with atrial fibrillation tend to be very tired, sometimes nauseated, and they’ll be able to feel the irregular heartbeats,” said Dr. Miguel ValderrГЎbano, electrophysiologist who performed the catheter-based portion of the procedure. “The majority of patients with atrial fibrillation are not being treated for the condition. Many shrug off the symptoms until the irregular heartbeat comes frequently enough to scare them.”

Howard Goode, a lawyer from Texarkana experienced intermittent periods of racing heart beats, shortness of breath and disorientation for months before he saw a doctor and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure. After a period of medical treatment, his cardiologist recommended an ablation procedure.

“When I saw that having ablation would help, and it meant I didn’t have to take all the medications that made me feel bad, I wanted to give it a shot,” he said. “Dr. Valderrabano described the hybrid technique, introduced me to Dr. Ramlawi, and I was in.”

In the new hybrid procedure, Ramlawi made a single one-inch incision in the patent’s abdomen. Through this incision, he navigated tiny instruments behind the diaphragm and into the patient’s heart, where he used radio-frequency heat to burn or ablate the errant electrical currents in the heart that cause arrhythmias.

Next, ValderrГЎbano made a puncture hole in the patient’s leg and snaked a catheter into the patient’s heart. In this stage of the procedure, ValderrГЎbano tested the ablations made by Ramlawi to make sure they were complete. He then used radio-frequency to ablate the residual areas that could not be reached during the first stage using a robotically manipulated catheter made by Hansen Medical.

“This two-pronged approach has the potential to provide the patient with a more robust, more effective and lasting treatment,” ValderrГЎbano said.

The standard surgical approach to treating AF is called a MAZE procedure in which a surgeon uses ablation to isolate the place where the patient’s pulmonary veins attach to the heart. This is where the errant currents that cause AF originate. Surgeons can perform the MAZE procedure during open heart surgery, or through approximately six small incisions in the patient” sides.

The standard non-surgical approach is done in a catheterization lab by a specialized cardiologist called an electrophysiologist (EP). The EP doctor makes a small incision in the groin, maneuvers the catheter into the heart, crosses the septum or center wall of the heart, and ablates the area around the pulmonary veins from inside the heart.

Combining both approaches in one minimally invasive session allows us to potentially cure some of the most challenging patients with atrial fibrillation such as patients with large left atria or longstanding atrial fibrillation.

By combining the two standard-of-care procedures, we hope to greatly improve both effectiveness and recovery, ValderrГЎbano said.

Source: Methodist Hospital, Houston

Providing kidney transplants to patients with the best probability of longer survival would reduce repeat transplant operations and improve life span after kidney transplant, says a U-M researcher in a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine March 16.

Alan B. Leichtman, M.D., professor of Internal Medicine at U-M and his co-authors endorsed new concepts designed to improve kidney allocation. These concepts were circulated in February by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The OPTN is the federal contract that oversees solid organ recovery and allocation in the United States.

“We strongly support the concept of rank ordering donated kidneys based upon their potential post-transplant survival, and matching that survival to that of waitlisted kidney transplant candidates,” says Leichtman, the commentary’s lead author.

“The current deceased donor kidney allocation system allows distribution of kidneys with very short potential survival to candidates with long expected survival. Candidates with long potential lifetimes that received kidneys with short expected survival have twice the repeated transplantation rate than similar recipients who received organs with a longer expected survival rate.”

The current U.S. deceased donor kidney allocation system relies primarily upon how long a candidate has been waiting for an organ. However, systems for liver and heart transplantation allocation are based upon candidate medical urgency. The lung allocation system allocates organs based upon a mixture of medical urgency and expected one-year post-transplant survival.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network has released for public comment three proposed concepts for deceased donor kidney allocation.

1) Using a Kidney Donor Profile Index to rank deceased donor kidneys according to the length of time that the kidney would be expected to function in an average kidney transplant recipient.

2) Allocating the 20% highest quality kidneys to the 20% of candidates with the longest expected post-transplant survival.

3) Allocating the remaining 80% of kidneys such that candidates who are within 15 years (older or younger) of the donor’s age have highest priority.

Because of the current system and the aging of the candidate pool, post-transplant life span following kidney transplantation in the United States has declined on average by 18 months since 1995, Leichtman says.

The authors say that computer simulations based on the current donor pool suggest that more than 35,000 years of post-transplant survival are lost each year under the current system. Additionally, more than 10,000 years of incremental post-transplant survival — extra years of life that would not have been achieved without the benefit of transplant — also are lost each year.

“We are wasting hundreds of thousands of potential years of life,” Leichtman says. “The proposal for survival matching as described in the concept document has the potential to reclaim many of these lost years of life, and therefore warrants serious consideration.”

The authors also support using the proposed Kidney Donor Profile Index. The new index provides a more granular and accurate survival estimate for organs.

“We suspect that utilization rates of shorter-lived kidneys will increase with accurate information about their survival potential and reduced opportunity for potentially short-lived candidates to be allocated kidneys with long estimated post-transplant survival,” the authors wrote.

About 80,000 people are listed nationwide for a kidney transplant. Demand continues to increase, some of it driven by an unnecessarily high rate of repeat transplantations because kidneys and recipients weren’t well matched, says Leichtman.

Kidney transplants are the most common transplants done at the University of Michigan Transplant Center and nationwide. But more than half of those who get wait-listed for a kidney transplant in the U.S. never receive a transplant.

“The lost potential life years, and the increase in the waiting list resulting from an unnecessarily high rate of repeat transplantation are intolerable consequences of the current kidney transplant allocation system,” Leichtman says. “There likely are further opportunities for improvements to the proposed system, but the core proposals presented in the concept document, adoption of the KDPI and survival matching, warrant the strongest endorsement and the earliest possible implementation by the kidney transplant community.”

Public comment is open until April 1 on the proposed concepts. Comments can be e-mailed to kidneypolicyunos.

Journal citation: 10.1056/NEJMp1102728

Additional authors: Robert A. Wolfe, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Keith P. McCullough. M.S. Both Dr. Wolfe and Mr. McCullough are investigators at the Arbor Research Collaborative for Health in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Source:
University of Michigan Health System

Congressional Democrats early in 2007 expect to approve a bill similar to a measure (HR 810) President Bush vetoed earlier this year that would have expanded federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, the Washington Post reports (Abramowitz/Weisman, Washington Post, 11/10). Likely future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said the measure will be voted on during the first 100 business hours of the next congressional session, which begins in January 2007, the Denver Post reports (Mulkren, Denver Post, 11/9). Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is allowed only for research using embryonic stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, under a policy announced by President Bush on that date. Bush in July vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would have expanded stem cell lines that are eligible for federal funding and allowed funding for research using stem cells derived from embryos originally created for fertility treatments and willingly donated by patients. Congress lacked the two-thirds majority to override Bush’s veto (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 11/9).

Outlook
Pelosi on Thursday said the addition of six Democrats in the Senate and 29 in the House likely would not be enough to override another Bush veto on the legislation but added that Democrats aim to “build public support for a signature” (Washington Post, 11/10). According to the Denver Post, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, believes Tuesday’s election results might give the legislation “new life” (Denver Post, 11/9). Robert Klein — chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which is in charge of implementing the 10-year, $2.95 billion state human embryonic stem cell research program approved under California Proposition 71 — said, “Based on their known positions, we have a veto-proof Senate. The challenge will be the House, where we need about 35 votes on the Republican side.” Marcy Darnovsky, spokesperson for the Center for Genetics and Society, said the impact stem cell research-related issues had on outcomes in the elections is unclear because campaigns were cluttered by “distorted rhetoric” (Tansey, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/10).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

More than 350 leading women donors from across the country will gather at the American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C., on June 8 for a two-day summit on philanthropy and service.

The attendees are members of the American Red Cross Tiffany Circle Society of Women Leaders-a network of women who donate $10,000 annually to support local Red Cross chapters in their community. Since its creation just three years ago, members of the Tiffany Circle have helped the Red Cross raise more than $13 million and the group has grown to more than 500 members.

“These women are part of a legacy of women leaders and innovators who have played a critical role within the Red Cross in helping to serve the American public,” said Gail McGovern, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. “We are honored and inspired by the support and leadership of these women who are giving back to their community and the Red Cross through the Tiffany Circle.”

More than ever, women are taking increasingly prominent roles in society and becoming 21st century economic powerhouses. About 3.4 million women make up 46.3 percent of the nation’s top wealth holders, according to a 2005 IRS report on 2001 income. These women had a combined net worth of $6.291 trillion, an increase of nearly 50 percent previously reported in 1998.

Donations by members of the Tiffany Circle help ensure Red Cross chapters continue to have the ability to train volunteers to respond to disasters, help military families reach loved ones in an emergency, and enable chapters to teach individuals and families to prevent, prepare for and respond to everyday emergencies.

The Tiffany Circle program and the support from its members make a real difference. For example, the Red Cross Greater Miami & the Keys Chapter had a total of 15 donors who gave at the $10,000 level in 2006. In 2007, when the chapter joined the Tiffany Circle Program, the number of donors more than doubled to 31. As a result, the Tiffany Circle members help to fund items for 120 Disaster Team Responders, including gear, transportation, and training, all critical upgrades that help the chapter better respond to disasters.

“Today, we are humbled and honored that so many women have invested their talents, time and charity through the Tiffany Circle, to reach out to those most in need. Local Red Cross chapters rely on the generosity of their communities and we invite others to join us in these bold efforts,” said Melanie Sabelhaus, National Chair, Tiffany Circle, and American Red Cross national board member.

The Tiffany Circle has a National Council of women from across the country that acts as the governing body for the Tiffany Circle and is comprised of 16 volunteers and four chapter representatives. National Council members help plan, execute and manage the Tiffany Circle Summit and coordinate the Day of Service.

The two-day, networking leadership summit is an opportunity to discuss how women can help to continue to shape the future of the Red Cross. Summit events will be held at the Red Cross national headquarters, the French Ambassador’s Residency, the National Women’s Memorial and the Supreme Court.

More information about the Tiffany Circle can be found at RedCross

Source
American Red Cross

A new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers is the first to pinpoint damage inside the brains of veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome – a finding that links the illness to chemical exposures and may lead to diagnostic tests and treatments.

Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study, said the research uncovers and locates areas of the brain that function abnormally. Recent studies had shown evidence of chemical abnormalities and shrinkage of white matter in the brains of veterans exposed to certain toxic chemicals, such as sarin gas during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The research, published in the March issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, enables investigators to visualize exact brain structures affected by these chemical exposures, Dr. Haley said.

“Before this study, we didn’t know exactly what parts of the brain were damaged and causing the symptoms in these veterans,” he said. “We designed an experiment to test areas of the brain that would have been damaged if the illness was caused by sarin or pesticides, and the results were positive.”

In designing the study, Dr. Haley and his colleagues reasoned that if low-level sarin or pesticides had damaged Gulf War veterans’ brains, a likely target of the damage would be cholinergic receptors on cells in certain brain structures. If that was so, administering safe levels of medicines that stimulate cholinergic receptors would elicit an abnormal response in ill veterans.

In the study, 21 chronically ill Gulf War veterans and 17 well veterans were given small doses of physostigmine, a substance which briefly stimulates cholinergic receptors. Researchers then measured the study participants’ brain cell response with brain scans.

“What we found was that some of the brain areas we previously suspected responded abnormally to the cholinergic challenge,” Dr. Haley said. “Those areas were in the basal ganglia, hippocampus, thalamus and amygdala, and the thalamus. Changes in functioning of these brain structures can certainly cause problems with concentration and memory, body pain, fatigue, abnormal emotional responses and personality changes that we commonly see in ill Gulf War veterans.”

A previous study funded by the U.S. Army found that repetitive exposure to low-level sarin nerve gas caused changes in cholinergic receptors in lab rats.

“An added bonus is a statistical formula combining the brain responses in 17 brain areas that separated the ill from the well veterans, and three different Gulf War syndrome variants from each other with a high degree of accuracy,” Dr. Haley said. “If this finding can be repeated in a larger group, we might have an objective test for Gulf War syndrome and its variants.”

An objective diagnostic test, he said, sets the stage for ongoing genetic studies to see why some people are affected by chemical exposures, and why others are not. New studies would also allow the selection of homogenous groups of ill veterans in which to run efficient clinical trials for treatments.

Dr. Haley first described Gulf War syndrome in a series of papers published in January 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In previous studies, research from Dr. Haley showed that veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome had lower levels of a protective blood enzyme called paraoxonase, which usually fights off the toxins found in sarin. Veterans who served in the same geographical area and did not get sick had higher levels of this enzyme.

Dr. Haley and his colleagues have closely followed the same group of tests subjects since 1995. In 2006, UT Southwestern and the Department of Veterans Affairs established a dedicated, collaborative Gulf War illness research enterprise in Dallas, managed by UT Southwestern.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a longtime supporter of Gulf War research, facilitated that agreement and secured a $75 million appropriation over five years for Gulf War illness research.

Notes:

This study was funded, in part, by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the current study included Drs. Jeffrey Spence and Patrick Carmack, assistant professors of clinical sciences; Drs. Michael Devous and Frederick Bonte, professors of radiology; and Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, professor of psychiatry. Researchers from Southern Methodist University also participated.

Source: Katherine Morales

UT Southwestern Medical Center