Study Shows a Link Between Schizophrenia & Genetic Mutations

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jul 20,2009

A link between schizophrenia and ultra-rare variants in microRNA genes on the X-chromosome has been identified. Mutations in a subset of these regulatory RNA genes may strongly predispose to schizophrenia. The recently published study in PLoS ONE by the laboratories of Steve S. Sommer, MD, PhD and John J. Rossi, PhD reports the first association of microRNA dysfunction with schizophrenia. This breakthrough may have preventive or therapeutic implications.

Schizophrenia is a common and devastating brain disease, often presenting in the teens or twenties and affecting about 1% of the population. As affected individuals are typically handicapped for many decades, it is one of the costliest of diseases, roughly comparable with the aggregate cost of a serious cancer. Schizophrenia affects people of all races, ethnic groups, and socioeconomic status, including the economics professor with mild schizophrenia described in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”. Some of the homeless population are affected with schizophrenia, as illustrated by the recent movie “The Soloist”.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a large family of small, non-coding RNAs that down-regulate the expression of a variety of genes and are scattered over the genome. Components required for miRNA processing and/or function have been implicated in X-linked mental retardation, neurological diseases and cancer, suggesting wide ranging involvement of miRNAs in disease.

In this study, the sequences of 59 miRNA genes on the X-chromosome were determined in 193 men with schizophrenia and 191 without the disease. Men were chosen because they are much more commonly affected by mutations in genes on the X-chromosome. Eight ultra-rare variants in eight distinct miRNA genes were detected in 4% of the men with schizophrenia while none were detected in normal men. While 4% may seem to be a small percentage, it is actually a very substantial and significant finding since schizophrenia is believed to be associated with a variety of causes and a particular cause that may be responsible for 4% of the disease would be quite significant. Biochemical tests of the ultra-rare variants demonstrated alterations in miRNA function or expression levels.

The overwhelming majority of the miRNAs are NOT on the X-chromosome, so it is possible that mutations in the miRNA genes can predispose to 20% or more of all schizophrenia.

“While confirmation is required”, says Dr Sommer, “this study suggests that microRNA gene mutations can contribute to schizophrenia. If correct, it offers early diagnosis with the promise of subsequent therapy to delay or perhaps even prevent schizophrenia in the subset of patients with miRNA deficiencies”.

Says Dr. Rossi, “I am excited by the prospect of using micro RNAs as diagnostic markers for mental illness. It may be feasible to treat schizophrenia by restoring expression of normal microRNAs in the central nervous system with current technologies”.

Source: MEDomics


Gamers Engage Memory, Attention, Processing Skills

The MS Technology Collaborative has created a new way for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) to exercise their brain power. The Collaborative, an alliance of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Microsoft, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, announced the launch of MyBrainGames, a free suite of online cognitive games for the MS community.

Approximately 50 percent of people living with MS develop cognitive challenges, often in the areas of processing speed, working memory and complex attention. These challenges can involve difficulty in learning and remembering information; focusing, maintaining and shifting attention; and organizing, planning and problem-solving.(i)

MyBrainGames, available for free at MyMSMyWay.com, are the first online games designed specifically for people with MS under the direction of a team of leading healthcare professionals specializing in MS and cognition, as well as members of the MS community. The new resource provides a series of fun and interactive cognitive games for the MS community.

“Many times our patients are doing well physically but they may still struggle with cognitive ability,” said Dr. Stephen Kirzinger, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program at the University of Louisville and one of the healthcare professionals who oversaw development of the game. “This game presents the first step in assessing whether games can help counter the cognitive challenges of MS.”

The games challenge the player’s processing speed, working memory, attention, and task switching ability. Each game is available at varying levels of difficulty and players can even create customized levels to best suit their individual abilities. All scores can be saved, allowing users to track their performance over time.

Because people with MS experience a range of physical limitations in addition to cognitive challenges, MyBrainGames was also developed with technical modifications to ensure that the games are accessible to the MS community. The game’s “Accessibility Toolbar” offers the option for color inversion, changes in contrast, and bold and enlarged game text. To account for individuals with limited dexterity, minimal mouse and keyboard movement is required, with most of the game played using only two keyboard keys.

MyBrainGames is the latest deliverable of the Collaborative’s nearly three-year partnership, which began with their 2007 survey, “Staying Connected: An Investigative Survey of How Technology Affects People Living with MS.” Results from this survey indicated that people living with MS were not only highly reliant upon computers and the internet, but also frequent gamers, with 36% of respondents reporting the use of online games.

In response to the survey results, the Collaborative launched www.MyMSMyWay.com, an online portal that features information and resources on technology, including the Snapshot tool, an interactive quiz that provides customized technology solutions based on each individual’s particular needs and challenges. The site is now also home to the Collaborative’s latest addition, MyBrainGames.

“We have seen through our work over the past few years the tremendous impact that technology can have on a person’s journey with MS,” said Dr. Nicholas LaRocca, Vice President of health care delivery and policy research at the National MS Society. “With the launch of MyBrainGames, we’re pleased to be able to present a unique piece of technology that we hope will have a similar impact.”

The Collaborative is currently working with leading healthcare professionals and game developers to secure a research grant to evaluate the impact of MyBrainGames on cognitive function.

To access MyBrainGames and the multitude of resources offered by the Collaborative, please visit www.MyMSMyWay.com.

(i) “Cognitive Function.” The National Multiple Sclerosis Society. http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/symptoms/cognitive-f unction/index.aspx. Accessed on April 24, 2009.

Source: MS Technology Collaborative


Discovery of New Transmission Patterns May Help Prevent Rotavirus Epidemics

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jul 18,2009

New Vaccines Shift the Course of Childhood Diarrhea-Causing Disease and Could

Have Big Global Impact

New vaccines have the potential to prevent or temper epidemics of the childhood diarrhea-causing disease rotavirus, protect the unvaccinated and raise the age at which the infection first appears in children, federal researchers reported in a study today.

The findings were based on changing patterns of rotavirus transmission in the United States, where the disease is rarely fatal, and they have implications for combating epidemics in other countries where the death toll is much higher.

The research, published in the July 17 issue of the journal Science, is based on mathematical modeling that takes into account regional birth rates and predicted vaccination levels and effectiveness. The model suggests that when 80 percent or more of children in a given population are vaccinated, annual epidemics may occur on a less regular basis and more unvaccinated children will be protected. Data from 2007-2008, when vaccination first reached appreciable coverage levels in the United States, validate the model’s predictions.

“Rotavirus vaccines have rapidly and dramatically reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits for gastroenteritis in American children,” said investigator Umesh D. Parashar, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “This research not only explains the effects of the U.S. rotavirus vaccination program, but also lays the foundation for understanding the tremendous life-saving benefits of vaccination in the developing world, where more than half a million children die from rotavirus each year.”

The study showed for the first time that the timing of rotavirus epidemics is dependent on the birth rate in the population because they are driven by infants who have never been infected before. In the United States, winter outbreaks would typically occur sooner in the higher birth rate states of the Southwest and later in the Northeast, where birth rates tend to be lower.

But with the introduction of two vaccines, the first in 2006, rotavirus outbreaks may become less frequent and less pronounced. They also may make their first appearance in children when they are older than the previous norm of less than 5 years of age, according to the research.

In older children, later onset would likely mean fewer cases and less severity of diarrhea.

The modeling and analysis were done by a team of researchers from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University and the George Washington University.

“When you can observe the immediate effects of vaccination and compare them to what the model predicted, you have a head start on stopping this preventable disease in countries where rotavirus unnecessarily kills hundreds of thousands of children,” said Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D., one of the study authors and director of the Fogarty Center.

Lead author Virginia Pitzer, Sc.D., of Penn State and the Fogarty Center, said, “Each population is going to have a different demographic makeup, and there may be conditions we cannot predict with certainty, but we believe introducing vaccination in the developing world will decrease the terrible burden of rotavirus.”

The Fogarty International Center, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. For more information, visit www.fic.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

The CDC is the nation’s disease prevention and wellness promotion agency, protecting people’s health and safety, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and improving health through strong partnerships. The agency includes 18 institutes, centers and offices, with approximately 14,000, full time, part-time and contract employees. CDC is headquartered in Atlanta and has experts located throughout the United States and in 54 countries. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov.

For more information about rotavirus, visit www.cdc.gov/rotavirus/about_rotavirus.htm.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


How To Reduce Cost Without Sacrificing Your Health Coverage

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jul 18,2009

HRA Offers Cost Containment Plans to Increase Health Coverage for Employees

With health care premiums increasing across the board, many companies are looking for alternative options to decrease spending without losing employee coverage. Now employers have the option to maintain the quality of coverage for their employees and lower their costs by as much as 25% by taking preventive measures through Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA).

An HRA is a government-based program created to encourage small businesses to provide benefits to their employees. HRA’s are usually offered as part of a consumer-directed health plan, which provides employees with important new benefit options while raising consumer awareness of cost; which then empowers consumers with greater decision-making control over their health spending.

To contain the cost of insurance premiums, The Benefits Group focuses on creative plan design, switching to high deductible health plans (without lowering benefits to employees), which greatly lowers premiums. Due to a climate change in the health insurance industry and a double-digit increase in premiums, many companies have been forced to reduce benefits, shift more costs to employees or drop coverage entirely. “The consumer market has created a demand for affordability and plan options. The popularity of HRA plans are making this possible,” says David Bommarito, President of The Benefits Group.

HRA’s are open to employees employed by companies of all sizes, unlike some plans. The HRA contributions are an unfunded liability and are only paid if claims rise above a set point and are capped to a known liability and are free from state, federal and FICA taxes.

For example, Net Results Group, Inc., located in Southfield, Michigan, increased their deductible by $1,500. “The premium savings allows the company to fund the increase in deductibles on behalf of their employees without reducing their benefits and still save 18% on their health care budget,” says Bommarito. With dental, we are typically able to save about 40% with comparable benefits.

Source: The Benefits Group


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