Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- How Can Identical Twins Be Genetically Different?
- Chemgenex cancer drug rises on rival’s misfortune
- Duravest Signs Two New Medical Advisory Board Members
- Identifying Medical Proxy Should Be Part of Routine Medical Care
- Stem Cells, Life, and The President’s First Veto
- July 26: UM scientists find new genes linked to rheumatoid arthritis…
- Fight Intensifies Over Who Acts for Children

How Can Identical Twins Be Genetically Different?
Science Daily - Science Daily (press release) - Jul 26, 2006
Identical twins represent the best experimental system to address this question," says Joseph Holoshitz, M. , an associate professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School and co-author of the study. The advantage of studying twins is that they start out with the exact same genetic information. Therefore, differences in gene expression are attributable to different environmental factors rather than genetics. Such factors could cause a random genetic mutation or affects how DNA is packaged. "There’s a lot of variability in the severity of the disease, symptoms, and the response a patient will have to treatment… There are many other categories of genes where expression varies between twins. We are just beginning to understand how RA is able to affect people in different ways. The newly discovered genes provide important insights into the nature of the disease and facilitate the design of novel treatment strategies for RA," says Holoshitz. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Arthritis Foundation, and the Office of Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs. The lead authors were Christian S.

Chemgenex cancer drug rises on rival’s misfortune
The Age - Jul 26, 2006
However, Chemgenex chief executive GregCollier believes that Ceflatonin, which is undergoing the finalstages of clinical testing, could eventually be used as analternative to Gleevec in patients susceptible to heart problems orin combination with the approved drug. Industry analysts have supported the claim. This week the scientific journal Nature Medicine reportedthat a small study had revealed that some patients had developedsevere congestive heart failure while taking Gleevec. The magazine’s scientists recommended that patients taking thedrug be monitored for symptoms of heart failure and that furthertrials be carried out to ascertain the risk. Novartis, which makes $US2. 9 billion) a year fromthe drug, released a statement claiming that incidences of heartfailure were rare.

Duravest Signs Two New Medical Advisory Board Members
Genetic Engineering News - Jul 26, 2006
The involvement of the MAB in facilitating andaccelerating the development of Duravest’s subsidiaries is ofcritical importance to the company. Their expertise in clinicaltrial development, outcomes research, physician adoption dynamics andother areas are crucial to the optimal and rapid development of nextgeneration medical technologies. The Duravest MAB is also comprised of broad thinkers, an essentialelement to the fundamentally interdisciplinary nature of convergentand combination medical technologies. The MAB (along with theDuravest Scientific Advisory Board and other company advisors) isinvolved in the sourcing, evaluation and development of oursubsidiary companies. Through their strong connections to theacademic and scientific community, they are well-placed to bringoutstanding scientific ideas to the attention of the Duravest team. The MAB is also involved in the evaluation of these opportunities aspart of Duravest’s comprehensive due-diligence program. “Duravest is fortunate to be able to draw upon the expertise of itshighly regarded Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards for the benefitof the continued growth of its subsidiaries and, of course, to thebenefit of the physicians and patients whom our innovative companiesserve,” noted Dr… I am glad to be apart of the Duravest team and to be able to assist in the developmentand growth of both Duravest and its subsidiaries. Marko Bodor is a leading rehabilitation medicine (physiatry)physician and is a recognized expert in the fields of physicalmedicine and rehabilitation, electrodiagnostic medicine, and sportsmedicine. He is widely published in a number of journals in thefield, and is a fellow at the American Academy of American Academy ofPhysical Medicine, th.

Identifying Medical Proxy Should Be Part of Routine Medical Care
Newswise - Newswise (press release) - Jul 26, 2006
Lipkin is assistant professor of clinical preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The finding that 33 percent of the married patients in the study did not choose their spouse as surrogate is noteworthy, because physicians regularly look to spouses as informal surrogates. Additionally, over a quarter of survey participants chose someone other than the person identified as an emergency contact to act as proxy in medical decision-making. “When patients choose a surrogate who is not the person doctors would usually consult or who would not become empowered as a substitute decision-maker under state laws, physicians are alerted to engage these patients in an advance care planning process that ensures the formal appointment of their desired health care agent,” Lipkin said. “Emphasis on end-of-life care, terminal illness and the use or discontinuation of life-sustaining medical treatment [as in the Terri Schiavo case] has obscured the need for advance planning in the regular care of all competent adult patients,” Lipkin said… Lipkin regards the routine identification of a proxy for health care as a door-opening first step for ongoing conversations between doctors, patients and families – conversations that emphasize the important relationships and values of patients and their loved ones. “Advance care planning is not about documents — it is about persons and their relationships,” Lipkin said. Participants for this study were patients at the General Eye Clinic of the University of Chicago, where Lipkin had been a faculty member of the Pritzker School of Medicine. © 2008 Newswise. All Rights Reserved.

Stem Cells, Life, and The President’s First Veto
FindLaw - Jul 26, 2006
Distinguishing the research from induced abortion, pro-life proponents claim that an abortion ends a life that would otherwise (if the woman had decided to carry the pregnancy to term) have likely survived into its post-birth phase of existence. The choice in terminating a pregnancy is consequently one that pits life against death, a contest that the stem cell bill effectively avoids. Where Do These Embryos Come From? The debate about embryonic stem cells arises from the method by which doctors in the United States perform fertility medicine. Live human embryos - outside of a woman’s uterus - do not spontaneously occur in nature. They must be harvested as unfertilized eggs and then combined with sperm in a test-tube. Egg harvesting, in turn, occurs as part of the process of fertility medicine. In this fertility treatment, “in vitro fertilization,” a doctor ordinarily uses hormone injections to stimulate hyper-ovulation in the woman and then harvests her eggs and fertilizes them with sperm to create zygotes… The choice in terminating a pregnancy is consequently one that pits life against death, a contest that the stem cell bill effectively avoids. Where Do These Embryos Come From? The debate about embryonic stem cells arises from the method by which doctors in the United States perform fertility medicine. Live human embryos - outside of a woman’s uterus - do not spontaneously occur in nature. They must be harvested as unfertilized eggs and then combined with sperm in a test-tube. Egg harvesting, in turn, occurs as part of the process of fertility medicine. In this fertility treatment, “in vitro fertilization,” a doctor ordinarily uses hormone injections to stimulate hyper-ovulation in the woman and then harvests her eggs and fertilizes them with sperm to create zygotes. After cells in the new embryo have divided for a set number of days, the doctor implants the embryos inside the woman’s uterus with the goal of achieving a pregnancy.

July 26: UM scientists find new genes linked to rheumatoid arthritis…
Hindu - Jul 26, 2006
Identical twins represent the best experimental system to address this question,” says Joseph Holoshitz, M. , an associate professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School and co-author of the study. The advantage of studying twins is that they start out with the exact same genetic information. Therefore, differences in gene expression are attributable to different environmental factors rather than genetics. Such factors could cause a random genetic mutation or affects how DNA is packaged. “There’s a lot of variability in the severity of the disease, symptoms, and the response a patient will have to treatment… There are many other categories of genes where expression varies between twins. We are just beginning to understand how RA is able to affect people in different ways. The newly discovered genes provide important insights into the nature of the disease and facilitate the design of novel treatment strategies for RA,” says Holoshitz.

Fight Intensifies Over Who Acts for Children
Washington Post - Jul 26, 2006
If this were a younger child I may feel differently, but his argument is sound, and having watched my sister struggle with cancer, and the cancer treatments themselves I can understand the desire to find a different form of treatment. With that said I would hope that they looked at the success rate of both treatments and are making an informed decision based on facts and not the salemanship of someone in a clinic in Mexico. BTW just because they have a Degree in medicine doesnt mean that doctors know everything, it wasnt to long ago that the medical community would have suggested blood letting to get rid of the cancer. She was not able to communicte her wishes, and was at the mercy, or lack there of of her husband. This young man is 16 years old, in a few years he can decide to join the military buy a car get married. Oh in some states he could already make the decision top get married… The doctors see only $$$ and to some degree have a concern about the patent. There are other alternatives to chemo and radiation treatment. If we look at all of the medicines in the world you will find that their origins come from nature. If the alternative treatments that the family is pursuing helps their son without all of the side-effects that chemo radiation brings including killing good tissue they should be allowed to pursue it. It basically all comes down to the mighty dollar. We should be allowed to use what the Creator put on this earth for our well being.