Whether cell phones cause brain cancer has been a subject of ongoing debate, but a new study confirms previous evidence suggesting that they don’t.

A 30-year examination of the incidents of brain tumors in Scandinavia found no substantial change in prevalence even after cell phone use became widespread, according to the report in the Dec. 3 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“If mobile phones were to cause brain tumors we would expect to see a sudden rise in the number of brain tumors at some point in time, and we don’t see it,” said lead researcher Isabelle Deltour, from the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology at the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen.

However, Deltour leaves the door open to the possibility that widespread cell phone use hasn’t been around long enough to see an increase in brain tumors.

“Either it means that mobile phones don’t cause brain tumors or it means that we don’t see it yet or we don’t see it because the increase is too small to be observed in this population, or it is a risk that is limited to a small subgroup of the population,” she said.

Deltour’s team will continue to look at the rates of brain tumors in the study group, she added.

For the study, Deltour’s team collected data on 60,000 people diagnosed with glioma and meningioma in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden between 1974 and 2003.

The researchers found that the incidence of brain tumors over this 30-year period were stable, decreased or gradually increased, starting before cell phones became popular.

In addition, there was no change in the incidence of brain tumors between 1998 and 2003, during a period of rapid increase in cell phone usage, the researchers noted.

Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, an associate professor of neurology, pediatrics, and neurosurgery and human biology and the Beirne Family Director of Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University, said that “this topic won’t go away.”

Fisher thinks that like so many irrational fears, such as harm from radiation from electric wires, the connection between cell phones and brain tumors will persist even though there is no scientific evidence for such a connection.

“This is sort of the high-tension wires of our time,” Fisher said. “This is an issue that is probably not going to go away, because people have this suspicion and it’s fueled by some public paranoia and by people who make very provocative statements, and that is enough to make it not go away, despite very good science.”

However, a review of existing research on the topic, published online Oct. 13 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, did find a slight, potentially harmful association between cell phone use and brain tumors.

Commenting on that study, Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., said at the time that “we cannot make any definitive conclusions about this. But this study, in addition to all the previous studies, continues to leave lingering doubt as to the potential for increased risk. So, one more time, after all these years, we don’t have a clear-cut answer.”

More information

For more information on cancer and cell phones, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Brain Tumors (Contemporary Cancer Research).

Researchers surveyed 130 adolescents about their weight-control strategies and lifestyle habits. Sixty-two had succeeded in losing weight and 68 had not. The responses were grouped into four categories:

• Healthy weight control behaviors, which included eating fewer calories, increasing exercise, eating less high fat and junk food, drinking less soda, drinking more water, weighing oneself, eating more fruits and vegetables and doing different types of exercise.
• Unhealthy weight control behaviors, which included laxatives, vomiting, diuretics, smoking and fasting.
• Extreme dietary changes, which included use of liquid diet supplements, the Atkins diet, a structured diet, fasting and increasing protein consumption.
• Structured behaviors, which included eating a certain amount of calories, counting calories, recording food intake and working with a professional.

Overall, a higher percentage of participants who lost weight used six or more of the healthy weight control behaviors, compared to those who didn’t lose weight. A minority of adolescents who lost weight reported using any of the structured weight control behaviors or extreme dietary changes.

“First of all, our findings provide a glimpse of optimism that adolescents can lose a significant amount of weight and maintain this weight loss,” wrote Kerri Boutelle, of the departments of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, and colleagues.

“Second, our findings suggest that there are no magical solutions, and that behaviors such as eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less fat and decreasing sedentary time seem to offer the most promise for success… Self-weighing may be a helpful monitoring tool for overweight adolescents; in the current study, the largest percentage of adolescents who lost weight reported weighing themselves on a weekly basis, while the largest percentage of adolescents who did not lose weight reported weighing themselves less than monthly. Lastly, unhealthy weight control behaviors were not associated with being in the group that lost weight. Adolescents would benefit from hearing this information from dietitians and other health care providers to prevent development of unhealthy weight control behaviors. Findings from the current study have the potential to guide both future research studies and clinical interventions on obesity in adolescents.”

The study appears in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

More information

The Nemours Foundation offers weight control tips for teens.

3 Easy Steps to Regain Control of Your Weight.

In fact, earlier this month a United Nations report found that the number of people infected with HIV globally has remained unchanged, at about 33 million, for the past two years, and may have peaked in the late 1990s.

Why the change? One big reason could be expanded access to antiretroviral drugs. A report released in October by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNAIDS found that 42 percent of people in the developing world who carry HIV now have access to life-extending medications. By the end of 2008, more than 4 million people worldwide were on antiretroviral medicines — 2.9 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where the bulk of HIV-positive people live. That’s a tenfold increase in access over the prior five years.

“I think this has come about through a number of organizations that have been trying to get drugs to be available to people in the developing world,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He especially credited the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), begun under the second Bush presidency, which he said “is responsible for over 2 million people being on therapy.”

Other nonprofit groups — most notably the Clinton Foundation and the Gates Foundation — have also led the charge, helping to broker price-reduction schemes with pharmaceutical companies for the cheap distribution of AIDS drugs in poorer nations.

More widespread access to treatment may also pay dividends in prevention, one expert noted.

“I think this is an interesting story that’s been emerging this year, as well — the possibility that people who are on antiretroviral therapy are less infectious,” said Rowena Johnston, director of research for the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), based in New York City. She said that while the effect of widespread treatment on infectivity has yet to be proven, decreased viral load in infected people might help reduce the odds of their passing HIV on to others.

In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. National Institutes of Health are planning major studies in New York City and Washington, D.C., to see if better identification and treatment of HIV-positive people can help keep infection rates down across the community as a whole, Johnston said.

There was also promising news this year in terms of the search for an effective AIDS vaccine.

In October, researchers reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that a combination of two vaccines brought about a modest, 31 percent reduction in infection rates among a cohort of 16,000 young adult volunteers in Thailand who were tracked for about three years. Analysis of the trial data suggested that the vaccines’ effect faded with time, however, and was less effective in those at highest risk of HIV, such as sex workers or IV drug abusers.

For these reasons, no one is calling the trial a success. However, “the reason that we think it is potentially important is that it’s the first time that we’ve ever seen the slightest positive signal” that immunization against HIV might work, Fauci said. “So, mild as [this result] is, at least it’s a step in the right direction.”

Johnston agreed, and called the trial an important stepping stone to further research.

“There’s going to be a lot of intensive effort looking at blood samples of the people who seem to have done well on the vaccine,” she explained. “If anybody can tease out what the magic ingredients are, that will form the cornerstone of how we move forward on AIDS vaccine development.”

There were also new glimmers of hope in terms of treatment. One major story was reported as a case study in February in the New England Journal of Medicine. The patient in question was both HIV-positive and had leukemia, and received a stem cell transplant to help cure the cancer. The transplant was unique, however, in that the donor carried a rare gene mutation providing virtual immunity to HIV.

The result: post-transplant, the patient now has no detectable level of HIV in his system.

Johnston stressed that such a therapy could never become a widespread treatment for HIV/AIDS, because the donor pool is so scarce and bone marrow transplants carry a 30 percent risk of death. But the case does offer intriguing possibilities.

“It’s a proof of concept that maybe you can cure HIV,” she said. “So, there’s been interest in finding out where you could do something similar with using gene therapy, for example,” bypassing the need for dangerous stem cell transplants.

Other advances in HIV/AIDS made headlines as well in 2009. In February, a topical microbicide gel was found to cut the odds of HIV infection in at-risk African women by 30 percent, while in September researchers at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative said they’d discovered two immune-system antibodies that might become powerful, broad-spectrum targets for vaccine research in the future.

And in policy news, the Obama administration in late October lifted a decades-old ban on foreigners with HIV entering the United States. As reported by the Associated Press, Obama described the ban as a policy “rooted in fear rather than fact,” and said its removal would encourage HIV testing and help save lives.

Still, despite this year’s advances, HIV/AIDS continues its decades-long swath of destruction, both in the United States and globally.

As Fauci pointed out, the annual rate of new infections in the United States has been stuck at a dismal 56,000 for the past decade. “We’ve sort of hit a wall to get below that number,” he said. “We need to intensify the multifaceted prevention efforts that are ongoing.”

If the battle against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is a chess match, then new research published today gives new insight into one of the virus' most important moves.

The findings, by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Michael Simpson and Roy Dar, with colleague Leor Weinberger who led the research at the University of California, San Diego, reveal new information about how a critical genetic switch in the virus operates. They are published as a letter in the upcoming issue of Nature Genetics.

When HIV infects an immune cell, it can enter one of two states: activation, where the virus replicates and then destroys the host cell; and latency, where the viral genetic material continues to exist in the cell, but there is no production of additional virus.

"While latency is a ticking time bomb," said Simpson, "a possible therapeutic goal could be to stably maintain latency indefinitely."

Previous work by Weinberger found that the genetic circuit that controls whether HIV chooses to go active or latent is not a simple "on-off" switch, but instead is controlled by a type of genetic pulse -- when the pulse lasts a certain amount of time, the switch will activate replication of the virus.

Now the three researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to manipulate the lengths of the pulses in a way that would favor the selection of latency.

This is vital, said Simpson, because the switch is a definitive factor in whether the virus will become active. If the pulse does not last long enough, he said, the virus cannot become active.

"This is an early step, but an encouraging one," said Simpson. "HIV has evolved a very effective infection strategy, so the name of the game is understanding how that strategy operates in order to find a way to defeat it."

A challenge of the work, according to Simpson, is that the process involved in how the switch operates cannot be directly observed. Instead, the researchers had to rely on an analysis of the "noise" created within the cell by the process to determine how it worked.

Simpson and Dar conducted their work in the Center for Nanophase Materials Science at ORNL, a recently opened facility that Simpson says has made this type of analysis possible.

Moving forward, the next step in the research is to determine whether it is viable to attempt to control the switch as part of therapeutic treatment for HIV. The researchers also hope to apply the techniques they used to understanding the operation of other types of human cells.

http://www.tennessee.edu/

In recognition of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, Department of Health Secretary Everette James today reminded Pennsylvanians to be tested regularly for HIV - the virus that causes AIDS.

"Getting tested is the only way to know your health status and knowing your status is the only way to ensure you receive proper treatment," said James. "We are working to educate the public and ensure that prevention, testing, treatment and counseling services are readily available across the state."

HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the immune system and may be passed from person to person through the blood and some bodily fluids. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, and through breast-freeding.

Established by the World Health Organization and observed each year on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day aims to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. More than one million people in the United States are living with HIV/AIDS, with more than 55,000 new infections diagnosed each year. In Pennsylvania, 2,272 new HIV/AIDS cases were diagnosed and reported during 2008.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health

How harmful is secondhand smoke? Nonsmokers have a 25% to 30% higher risk of heart attack if they inhale smoke at home or at work, and smoke has been shown to affect heart health within minutes, says Dr. Meyers.

“We can measure chemical changes within 20 minutes,” he says. “The changes that occur primarily involve the clotting system. Basically, exposure to smoke makes your blood sticky and real clot-y and that’s what causes heart attacks.”

While this health effect is well established, it has not been clear if banning smoking could help reduce heart attacks, he says.

“We know that if you expose somebody, it’s bad,” says Dr. Meyers. “How about if you ban the exposure—will that make any difference? So that end of the logic had to be looked at, and now we can say, absolutely.”

With more time, research may also show that bans could lower rates of other smoking-related health problems, such as lung cancer, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that includes emphysema and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

“This is only the short-term result; lung cancer takes a lot longer to show up,” says Steven A. Schroeder, MD, the director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

“And there will be a decrease in strokes; there’s already literature that shows that,” says Dr. Schroeder, who wrote an editorial accompanying Dr. Meyers’s study.

In the first study, James Lightwood, PhD, and Stanton Glantz, PhD, both of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed data from 13 studies conducted in five countries. They found at least a 15% decline in heart-attack hospitalizations in the first year after smoke-free legislation was passed, and 36% after three years. The National Cancer Institute funded the study.

In the second study, Dr. Meyers and his colleagues analyzed data from 10 studies in 11 regions in the U.S. (including Montana, New York, Ohio, and Indiana), Canada, and Europe. The results were similar to those in Lightwood and Glantz’s study. (Both research teams looked at similar data.)

For example, in the 18 months after smoking was banned in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, and other businesses in Pueblo, Colo., there was a 27% decline in heart attacks—down from 257 to 187 cases per 100,000 people per year. There was no drop in the surrounding communities.

Tobacco Smoke Effects Neutralization

A string of recent discoveries about the multiple health benefits of vitamin D has renewed interest in this multi-purpose nutrient, increased awareness of the huge numbers of people who are deficient in it, spurred research and even led to an appreciation of it as "nature's antibiotic."

On issues ranging from the health of your immune system to prevention of heart disease and even vulnerability to influenza, vitamin D is now seen as one of the most critical nutrients for overall health. But it's also one of those most likely to be deficient - especially during winter when production of the "sunshine vitamin" almost grinds to a halt for millions of people in the United States, Europe and other northern temperate zones.

Analogs of the vitamin are even being considered for use as new therapies against tuberculosis, AIDS, and other concerns. And federal experts are considering an increase in the recommended daily intake of the vitamin as more evidence of its value emerges, especially for the elderly.

"About 70 percent of the population of the United States has insufficient levels of vitamin D," said Adrian Gombart, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. "This is a critical issue as we learn more about the many roles it may play in fighting infection, balancing your immune response, helping to address autoimmune problems, and even preventing heart disease."

Those issues were just outlined in a new publication in Future Microbiology, a professional journal, on the latest findings on vitamin D research, at OSU and in many other programs around the world.

Of particular interest are findings made recently by OSU scientists that vitamin D induces the "expression" of cathelicidin, an antimicrobial peptide gene. This explains in part how it helps serve as the first line of defense in your immune response against minor wounds, cuts, and both bacterial and viral infections. Experts believe advances in the use of cathelicidin may form the basis for new therapies.

Once believed to be related primarily to bone health and rickets - a disease caused by chronic deficiency of vitamin D - it's now understood that optimal levels of this nutrient influence much more than that.

"Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency is a world-wide, public health problem in both developed and developing nations," the new report concluded. "Nearly one billion people world-wide are deficient."

Vitamin D can be obtained from the diet, often through supplemented foods such as milk, but those sources are rarely adequate, experts say. Most people get the bulk of this fat-soluble vitamin from the UV-B radiation in sun exposure, which naturally causes the skin to produce it. However, people with dark skin, infants and almost anyone living north of about 40 degrees latitude - which is a huge portion of the U.S. population and most of Europe- are often deficient after months of inadequate winter sunshine.

Among the values and observations about vitamin D that are outlined in the new report:

• Low levels of circulating vitamin D are associated with increased risk and mortality from cancer.
• Vitamin D plays an important role in activating the immune system, fostering the "innate" immune response and controlling over-reaction of adaptive immunity, and as such may help control autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Cathelicidin can profoundly boost the innate immune system, and could form the basis for new therapies to combat pathogenic infections.
• The regulation of cathelicidin by vitamin D, a unique biological pathway for the function of vitamin D that could help explain its multiple roles in proper immune function, is so important that it's only known to exist in two groups of animals - humans and non-human primates - and has been conserved in them through millions of years of evolution.
• Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for tuberculosis, was historically used to treat it, and analogs of it may provide the basis for new therapeutic approaches not only to that disease but also HIV infection.
• Epidemiological studies show a link between vitamin D deficiency and increased rates of respiratory infection and influenza, and it has been hypothesized that flu epidemics may be the result of vitamin D deficiency.
• Higher levels of a protein linked to vitamin D have been associated with reduced infections and longer survival of dialysis patients.
• Vitamin D has important roles in reducing inflammation, blood pressure and helping to protect against heart disease.

There is still much to explore about the mechanisms of action of vitamin D, the potential use of synthetic analogs of it in new therapies, and its role in fighting infection, Gombart said. Since only primates and humans have the same biological pathways for use of vitamin D to regulate cathelicidin, studies have been constrained by the lack of appropriate animal models for research, he said. OSU scientists hope to address that by creation of a line of genetically modified mice that have some of these characteristics.

One compelling new study just done by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center in Utah, and presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association, followed for more than a year nearly 28,000 patients ages 50 or older with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. It found that in patients with very low levels of vitamin D - compared to those with normal levels - 77 percent were more likely to die, 45 percent were more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke.

Learn more Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation

The only swine vaccine available for the H1N1 virus has been sent to vaccinate a swine herd infected with the virus. The vaccination marks the first time vaccine has been sent to a swine herd diagnosed with the pandemic flu.

Iowa State University's Hank Harris, professor of animal science, developed the vaccine this summer and has been shipping preventive doses to swine producers in Iowa, Kansas and Illinois for several weeks.

The latest vaccines were shipped to a swine producer in Indiana that had H1N1 diagnosed in the herd.

"This is the first time we've had a confirmed diagnosis and the farmer wanted to vaccinate," said Harris. "We shipped about 20,000 with about another 11,000 doses to go out to them later."

Vaccinating a herd that has already been infected should have some effect on the spread, but Harris isn't sure how much.

Harris' vaccinations have recently been reviewed and published by the online journal PLoS Current Influenza.

"It isn't uncommon for vaccinations to be used in what we call 'the face of an outbreak,'" he said. "They (producers) may think the virus is spreading slowly in the herd, and they want to vaccinate the entire herd."

Harris thinks the Indiana vaccinations may indicate swine producers around the country are eager to vaccinate.

"Since these pigs got sick and had a confirmed diagnosis, I think more farmers are going to want to vaccinate," he said.

The vaccine is being manufactured through Iowa State University and Harris' startup company Harrisvaccines, Inc. d/b/a SirrahBios, Inc.

Harris says that the virus may have gotten into the Indiana swine herd from humans who had flu-like symptoms while working with the pigs.

"It's one of those things we'll probably never know for sure. The history is that the virus can go from people to pigs and from pigs to people just as easily," he said.

Harris stresses that there is no threat of humans getting the H1N1 virus from eating pork from pigs that had the virus.

Learn other Vaccines for Pandemic Influenza (Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology)

Scientists have revealed how environmental irritants such as air pollution and cigarette smoke cause people to cough, in research published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the University of Hull, have identified the reaction inside the lungs that can trigger coughing when a person is exposed to particular irritants in the air. They suggest that their findings may ultimately lead to the development of new treatments for chronic coughing.

Coughing is the most common reason for people visiting a family doctor. Treatment options are limited for people with chronic coughing; a recent study concluded that over-the-counter remedies are ineffective and there is increasing concern about the safety of these therapies in children.

Today's study indicates, for the first time, how coughing can be triggered when a person is exposed to certain irritants in the air. It shows that the irritants can switch on receptor proteins called TRPA1 on the surface of nerve endings in the lungs. This switches on sensory nerves, which then trigger a cough reflex. The researchers say coughing could potentially be treated by blocking TRPA1 receptors, to stop irritants in the air from setting off this chain reaction. They hope that this could ultimately help millions of people whose lives are affected by chronic coughing.

Professor Maria Belvisi, corresponding author of the study from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said: "For some people, chronic coughing can be annoying and uncomfortable, but for others it can be distressing and can have a severe impact on their quality of life. Many people say that certain things in the air can make them cough and we are very excited that we have shown, for the first time, exactly what is probably happening inside the lungs. Now that we think we have cracked the mechanism, we can start investigating whether we can stop people from coughing excessively by blocking the receptor protein that triggers it."

To reach their conclusions, the researchers first looked at sensory nerves from mice, guinea pigs and humans, and showed that the receptors on the sensory nerves were activated by a number of irritants, including a key compound in cigarette smoke (acrolein) and a chemical called cinnamaldehyde. The researchers then blocked the receptors and showed that these substances no longer activated the nerves.

To establish whether activating the receptor causes coughing, the researchers looked at the effect of acrolein on guinea pigs, as they have a coughing reflex. The researchers assessed the guinea pigs' coughing after inhaling acrolein. The compound caused coughing, and the higher the concentration, the more the guinea pigs coughed. The researchers then showed that blocking the receptor using a drug significantly reduced the guinea pigs' coughing response to the compound.

Finally, researchers led by Professor Alyn Morice at the University of Hull looked at the effect of inhaling the chemical cinnamaldehyde in humans. Ten healthy, non-smoking volunteers inhaled the chemical, as well as control substances. The researchers measured their cough response on five occasions, 2-3 days apart. All of the volunteers coughed after inhaling the compound.

As news broke that more Maine residents may be infected with E. coli from Fairbank Farms ground beef, an Augusta woman severely sickened in the E. coli outbreak has filed suit against the company. The lawsuit was filed in the Maine District Court by the plaintiff’s attorneys, Bill Marler of foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark, and Peter Felmley of the Portland firm Drummond, Woodsum, & MacMahon.

On October 31, Ashville, NY-based Fairbank Reconstruction Corporation, doing business as Fairbank Farms Inc., recalled 545,699 pounds of ground beef tainted with toxic E. coli O157:H7. The recall included meat that the company had processed between September 14 and September 16. A joint investigation between the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and several state health departments determined that the contaminated meat was responsible for 2 deaths and at least 25 E. coli illnesses in 10 states, most of them in New England.

The Associated Press reported on November 17 that four Maine residents may now be infected, causing the state to remind consumers to check their freezers for meat that may be part of the recall.

Margaret Long purchased meat produced by Fairbank Farms at Shaw’s Market in Augusta, Maine. She consumed the product on September 23, and by September 26, had symptoms consistent with E. coli infection. Her illness worsened, and she was hospitalized from September 29 through October 4. While she was there, her cultures tested positive for the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 found in the recalled meat.

“Anyone who has battled a severe E. coli infection will continue to have ongoing health problems,” said Marler. “Not only does this woman have to deal with lost work time and hospital bills, but she continues to struggle with health issues. And it all started with a meal – a meal made with meat that should never have reached the marketplace.”

This is the second E. coli lawsuit filed by Marler Clark in the Fairbank Farms outbreak. The first lawsuit was filed November 3 on behalf of a Massachusetts family sickened in the outbreak.

E coli H Antiserum H7 - Diagnostic Tests-Adjuvant Complete to Neisseria meningitidis Antiserum,

EGR4 is a master gene responsible for fertility in cryptorchidism. Is gene therapy going to replace surgery?

The purpose of early medical or surgical treatment of boys with undescended testes is to prevent the development of infertility. However, early and successful surgery cannot prevent infertility in cryptorchid boys who lack type A dark (Ad) spermatogonia a stem cell for spermatozoa. Despite a successful surgery for undescended testes all males in the high risk of infertility group were oligospermic (mean: 8.9 × 10 6 sperm/ ejaculate) and 20 % were azoospermic. These patients had 25 times less sperm compared to the group with presence of Ad spermatogonia in both testes. Thus, infertility induced by cryptorchidism is an endocrine disease of impaired mini-puberty. Correlations between testicular histology and postpubertal hormone levels confirmed a relative gonadotropin deficiency in the majority of males with cryptorchidism.

The aim of present study was to compare the gene expression pattern of patients with completed transformation of gonocytes into Ad spermatogonia, associated with low infertility risk, with patients that had failed to undergo this process and had a high infertility risk. Whole-genome expression profiling showed that boys in the high infertility risk group according to testicular histology, showed decreased or lack of expression of most of the genes essential for hypothalamo-pituitary-testicular axis function relative to low or intermediate risk group as well as controls. In particular, EGR4, which is involved in regulating the secretion of luteinizing hormone, was virtually not expressed. Thus, we found multiple differences in gene expression between the high and low infertility risk groups, confirming the importance of an intact hypothalamo-pituitary testicular axis and EGR4 in fertility development. Gene therapy is a new and promising approach for treatment of different human diseases. Gene transfer to sperm and testes to obtain transgenic animals has already being utilized. In the future this technique could be implemented for EGR4 in those cryptorchid individuals risking infertility.

For the protection of frontline health care and emergency medical workers at high risk of infection, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a compliance directive to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize or eliminate high to very high risk occupational exposures to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus.

The directive, which closely follows the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) guidance at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu, is available online at https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02_02-075.pdf.

"OSHA has a responsibility to ensure that the more than nine million frontline health care workers in the United States are protected to the extent possible against exposure to the virus," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "OSHA will ensure health care employers use proper controls to protect all workers, particularly those who are at high or very high risk of exposure."

In response to complaints, OSHA inspectors will ensure that health care employers implement a hierarchy of controls, and encourage vaccination and other work practices recommended by the CDC. Where respirators are required to be used, the OSHA Respiratory Protection standard must be followed, including worker training and fit testing. The directive also applies to institutional settings where some workers may have similar exposures, such as schools and correctional facilities.

The CDC recommends the use of respiratory protection that is at least as protective as a fit-tested disposable N95 respirator for health care personnel who are in close contact (within 6 feet) with patients who have suspected or confirmed 2009 H1N1 influenza.

Where respirators are not commercially available, an employer will be considered to be in compliance if the employer can show a good faith effort has been made to acquire respirators.

Where OSHA inspectors determine that a facility has not violated any OSHA requirements but that additional measures could enhance the protection of employees, OSHA may provide the employer with a hazard alert letter outlining suggested measures to further protect workers.

The 2009 H1N1 influenza is transmitted via direct or indirect person-to-person spreading of infectious droplets passed when an influenza patient coughs, sneezes, talks or breathes. Transmission occurs when expelled infectious droplets or particles make direct or indirect contact with the mucus membranes of the mouth, nose or eyes of an uninfected person. The OSHA directive and other guidelines show steps to eliminate the hazard.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor

Children who suffer physical or emotional abuse may be faced with accelerated cellular aging as adults, according to new research from Butler Hospital and Brown University.

The findings, which are published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry, draw a direct connection between childhood psychological trauma and accelerated reduction in the size of telomeres, the "caps" on the end of chromosomes that promote cellular stability. Telomeres typically shorten with age.

After measuring DNA extracted from blood samples of 31 adults, researchers found accelerated shortening of telomeres in those who reported suffering maltreatment as children, compared to study participants who did not.

"It tells us something. It gives us a hint that early developmental experiences may have profound effects on biology that can influence cellular mechanisms at a very basic level, said Dr. Audrey Tyrka, the study's lead author. Tyrka is assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and associate chief of the mood disorders program at Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I.

The work of Tyrka and the other authors builds on previous research that established psychological stress and trauma as risk factors for a number of medical and psychiatric illnesses. Other work has linked some of these psychiatric and medical problems with shortened telomere length. This study now establishes a link between early psychosocial stress and shorter telomere length.

Researchers have also found that telomeres shorten at a higher rate when exposed to toxins, such as radiation or cigarette smoke. Other studies have looked at adult female caregivers who are responsible for children with developmental delays, determining a link between accelerated telomere shortening and the higher stress levels the caregivers faced.

This may be the first attempt to look at telomere length in relation to childhood mistreatment.

Researchers said the early findings are compelling, because they looked at adults who were otherwise healthy and had not had any current or past psychiatric disorders. The early data shows strong links between childhood stress and the accelerated shortening of telomeres.

More work is needed, Tyrka said. "We don't know what the full implications of this are yet. Shorter telomere lengths are linked to aging and certain diseases, so it is possible that this is a mechanism of risk for illness following childhood abuse," she said. "But the precise role of telomeres in this process remains to be determined."

Shorter telomere lengths have been linked to a variety of aging-related medical conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

For this study, the scientists looked at 22 women and nine men between ages 18 and 64. Some of the subjects had no history of childhood maltreatment, but others said they had endured either moderate or severe mistreatment as children.

The adults who endured mistreatment as children varied in terms of the type of trauma they reported. They suffered individually from emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have uncovered the genetic identity of a cellular receptor for the immune system's first-response antibody, a discovery that sheds new light on infection control and immune disorders. The discovery is such a crucial part of immunology that UAB researchers, in conjunction with Japanese researchers, are asking that the gene linked to this antibody receptor be renamed to better describe its role in early immune responses.

The proposed name is the Fc mu receptor (FCMR) gene; it describes a key region of the immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody that binds this receptor. IgM is by far the largest antibody in the circulatory system, and it is the first antibody on the scene in response to an invading pathogen, such as a virus or bacteria. The IgM-tagged pathogens then trigger various immune responses through this receptor FCMR. The new findings are reported online in the Journal of Experimental Medicine and in the publication's Nov. 23 print edition.

Previously, researchers who had identified this gene thought they were dealing with a molecule that regulated cell death and they named it "toso" - a reference to the Japanese medicinal sake often drunk on New Year's Day to symbolize a long life. But the toso name is inaccurate, as were many of the earlier descriptions of this gene's function, says Hiromi Kubagawa, M.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Pathology and the lead study author.

"The new study shows, and DNA analysis helped us to confirm, that the Fc mu receptor is made from the gene we describe," Kubagawa says. "This is a fundamental discovery that science has been waiting to answer for nearly 30 years."

To identify the true FCMR gene, the UAB researchers used chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells as a source of this gene, since such leukemia cells are known to over-express the Fc mu receptor. This enabled researchers to identify the FCMR gene more efficiently.

The potential novel agents that target and regulate FCMR function hold promise in fighting cancer, AIDS and autoimmune disorders, says Kubagawa. The genetic description and request for renaming the gene does not prove it has a direct role in any particular disease; however, it fills a crucial gap in understanding the science behind immune deficiencies and allergy diseases.

Learn more Salivary Gland Disorders

New Mayo Clinic research studied the association between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and prostate size and found that routine annual evaluation of prostate growth is not necessarily a predictor for the development of prostate cancer. However the study suggests that if a man's PSA level is rising quickly, a prostate biopsy is reasonable to determine if he has prostate cancer. These findings are being presented this week at the North Central Section of the American Urological Association (http://www.ncsaua.org/) in Scottsdale, Ariz.

These Mayo Clinic study findings were based on data in the Olmsted County Study of Urinary Health Status among Men, a large cohort study of men living in Olmsted County, Minn. Researchers randomly selected 616 men between the ages of 40 and 79 who did not have prostate disease. Patients participated in examinations every two years for 17 years, which included PSA and prostate volume measurements using ultrasound, to determine changes in prostate disease.

"One of the major advantages of this large cohort study is that the men have participated in this study for over 17 years," says Rodney Breau, M.D., a Mayo Clinic urologic oncology fellow who led the study. Because of this, we have the ability to look at long-term relationships between prostate growth, change in PSA and development of prostate cancer."

Of the 616 men, 58 (9.4 percent) developed prostate cancer. Men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer had a faster rise in PSA levels (6 percent/year) compared to men who were not diagnosed with cancer (3.3 percent/year). However, the increase in prostate size was similar between these two groups (median change of 2.2 percent/year).

PSA is a substance produced in the prostate gland. Normally, a small amount of PSA enters the bloodstream. A higher amount of PSA or an abrupt rise in PSA levels can indicate a problem, possibly cancer.

"The question we're trying to answer is, if we see a man with a rising PSA level, could this change in PSA be explained by a proportional increase in prostate size?" says Dr. Breau. "Our data indicate that men with or without prostate cancer have similar rates of prostate growth. If a man's PSA is quickly rising, he likely deserves a prostate biopsy to determine if he has prostate cancer. Assessment of change in prostate size should not influence the decision to biopsy."

Gleason Grading Of Prostate Cancer A Contemporary Approach

In light of World Toilet Day Thursday, several news outlets examine the impact of poor sanitation on health.

• Reuters examines the challenges of poor sanitation in Mumbai, India, "where more than half its 18 million residents live in slums and where the average ratio of people to toilets is 81:1." The article includes comments by Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, the organization behind World Toilet Day, who theorizes on why the public is resistant to talk about hygiene (Chandran, 11/17).
• Hindustan Times examines Sim's view that the privatization of toilets in India may help improve sanitation. "Toilets have to catch up with the growing standards of living in India, hence the need to privatise them - fast," Sim said, adding, "Instead of letting just civic agencies have a monopoly, the forces of demand and supply need to be ushered in" (Anand, 11/19).
• Figures released by the international aid group WaterAid Australia ahead of World Toilet Day show an estimated 1,000 children living in the Timore-Leste die annually from diseases caused by poor sanitation, ABC News reports. WaterAid Chief Executive Adam Laidlaw, "says diarrhoea rates can be cut by more than a third when there is better hygiene. 'Over 2.5 billion people around the world ... don't have a safe place to go to the toilet, and one of the outcomes of that, particularly in countries like Timor Leste, is that we have a significant number of child deaths each year due to diarrhoea'" (Coady, 11/18).
• "People held in jails and other detention centres around the world frequently have no access to clean toilets; a violation of their basic human rights, three United Nations investigators said Wednesday," Reuters reports in a second story. Marking World Toilet Day, the U.N. investigators appealed for governments to ensure access to safe sanitation to all prisoners (11/18).

Symptoms of high cholesterol (hypercholesterolaemia)

• Narrowed coronary arteries in the heart (angina)


• Leg pain when exercising - this is because the arteries that supply the legs have narrowed.


• Blood clots and ruptured blood vessels - these can cause a stroke or TIA (mini-stroke).


• Ruptured plaques - this can lead to coronary thrombosis (a clot forming in one of the arteries that delivers blood to the heart). If this causes significant damage to heart muscle it could cause heart failure.


• Xanthomas - thick yellow patches on the skin, especially around the eyes. They are, in fact, deposits of cholesterol. This is commonly seen among people who have inherited high cholesterol susceptibility (familial or inherited hypercholesterolaemia).

What causes high cholesterol?

• Nutrition - although some foods contain cholesterol, such as eggs, kidneys, eggs and some seafoods, dietary cholesterol does not have much of an impact in human blood cholesterol levels. However, saturated fats do! Foods high in saturated fats include red meat, some pies, sausages, hard cheese, lard, pastry, cakes, most biscuits, and cream (there are many more).


• Sedentary lifestyle - people who do not exercise and spend most of their time sitting/lying down have significantly higher levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and lower levels of HDL (good cholesterol).


• Bodyweight - people who are overweight/obese are much more likely to have higher LDL levels and lower HDL levels, compared to people who are of normal weight.


• Smoking - this can have quite a considerable effect on LDL levels.


• Alcohol - people who consume too much alcohol regularly, generally have much higher levels of LDL and much lower levels of HDL, compared to people who abstain or those who drink in moderation.

• Diabetes
  
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• High levels of triglycerides
• Kidney diseases
• Liver diseases
• Under-active thyroid gland

• Your genes 1 - people with close family members who have had either a coronary heart disease or a stroke, have a greater risk of high blood cholesterol levels. The link has been identified if your father/brother was under 55, and/or your mother/sister was under 65 when they had coronary heart disease or a stroke.


• Your genes 2 - if you have/had a brother, sister, or parent with hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) or hyperlipidemia (high blood lipids), your chances of having high cholesterol levels are greater.


• Your sex - men have a greater chance of having high blood cholesterol levels than women.


• Your age - as you get older your chances of developing atherosclerosis increase.


• Early menopause - women whose menopause occurs early are more susceptible to higher cholesterol levels, compared to other women.


• Certain ethnic groups - people from the Indian sub-continent (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka) are more susceptible to having higher cholesterol levels, compared to other people.

How is high cholesterol diagnosed?