Direct link established between stimulus-response learning and substance abuse
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Marie france Coutu marie-france.coutu@douglas.mcgill.ca 514-835-3236 Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Findings from Douglas Institute neuroscientist
Vronique Bohbot, PhD, neuroscientist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, found that the region of the brain involved in stimulus-response learning is directly linked to the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. More specifically, she discovered that people who resorted to stimulus-response learning smoked more, had double the consumption of alcohol and were more likely to use cannabis. Her findings have been published in the most recent issue of Hippocampus.
We rely on one of two strategies to navigate through our surroundings. One is called the spatial strategy, where we use visual cues and landmarks to develop cognitive maps that enable us to know where we are and how to get where we want to go. This process occurs in the hippocampus. The other is the stimulus-response strategy, which is a kind of auto-pilot: after travelling along the same route on a regular basis, we end up taking it out of habit. This process occurs in the striatum.
People who resort to stimulus-response learning have a more developed striatum and would consume more alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Factors such as routine, stress and reward-seeking behaviour also contribute to stimulating the striatum, at the expense of the hippocampus. "The literature indicates that children engage in stimulus-response strategies from a very young age," Vronique Bohbot explains. "Reward-seeking behavior in childhood, especially for immediate rewards like candy or playing action video games, stimulates the striatum and encourages stimulus-response strategies during navigation. This would predispose the child to drug seeking behaviour."
Previous studies have shown that an atrophied hippocampus increases the risk of developing a mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or Alzheimer's disease.
Vronique Bohbot will present her research results on November 13 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, where she will talk about the importance of improving spatial navigation skills to maintain a balance and increase chances of a healthy cognition.
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Link to Dr. Bohbot's published study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hipo.22187/abstract
Vido: http://www.douglas.qc.ca/videos/243
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Direct link established between stimulus-response learning and substance abuse
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Marie france Coutu marie-france.coutu@douglas.mcgill.ca 514-835-3236 Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Findings from Douglas Institute neuroscientist
Vronique Bohbot, PhD, neuroscientist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, found that the region of the brain involved in stimulus-response learning is directly linked to the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. More specifically, she discovered that people who resorted to stimulus-response learning smoked more, had double the consumption of alcohol and were more likely to use cannabis. Her findings have been published in the most recent issue of Hippocampus.
We rely on one of two strategies to navigate through our surroundings. One is called the spatial strategy, where we use visual cues and landmarks to develop cognitive maps that enable us to know where we are and how to get where we want to go. This process occurs in the hippocampus. The other is the stimulus-response strategy, which is a kind of auto-pilot: after travelling along the same route on a regular basis, we end up taking it out of habit. This process occurs in the striatum.
People who resort to stimulus-response learning have a more developed striatum and would consume more alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Factors such as routine, stress and reward-seeking behaviour also contribute to stimulating the striatum, at the expense of the hippocampus. "The literature indicates that children engage in stimulus-response strategies from a very young age," Vronique Bohbot explains. "Reward-seeking behavior in childhood, especially for immediate rewards like candy or playing action video games, stimulates the striatum and encourages stimulus-response strategies during navigation. This would predispose the child to drug seeking behaviour."
Previous studies have shown that an atrophied hippocampus increases the risk of developing a mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or Alzheimer's disease.
Vronique Bohbot will present her research results on November 13 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, where she will talk about the importance of improving spatial navigation skills to maintain a balance and increase chances of a healthy cognition.
###
Link to Dr. Bohbot's published study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hipo.22187/abstract
Vido: http://www.douglas.qc.ca/videos/243
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, famed for her texting skills, could be sending a message at any moment. How does reading her texts help the president, though?
Photo by John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
BERLIN—It was early evening in a restaurant east of what used to be the Wall, and we were debating the only issue of interest to anyone in this city right now: If you were tapping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, what would you learn?
Not much, argued one of the Germans present. Merkel, who adores her phone, famously does not use it to speak. Instead, she texts. She is reportedly so adept at texting that she has been known to send messages surreptitiously to colleagues on the other side of a room, while apparently talking about something else. But those messages are short and cryptic, the German argued, and out of context they couldn’t possibly make sense to whoever has been following and, presumably, translating them since 2002.
One of the Americans disagreed with this assessment. It doesn’t matter if you understand her messages, he argued. If you simply know who receives them, then you know who among her entourage has real influence. During the debate that ensued, it emerged that several of those present had a pretty good idea who gets Merkel’s texts. Which left us with an even more nonsensical conclusion: Yes, a second secretary at the U.S. embassy might be fascinated to learn whom Merkel pings most often, even if a lot of other people already have this information. But none of us could work out why this would be even remotely of interest to the U.S. president or, indeed, anyone at a senior level in German-American relations.
Now we know untold sums get spent trying to interpret what the German chancellor meant when she typed the word “nein” into her BlackBerry.
Surrounding this story are swirling layers of hypocrisy and emotion, not all of which are rational. The German press has worked itself into a state of self-righteous hysteria; the German foreign minister is talking about severing alliances and suspending trade discussions. There is an element of post-Gestapo, post-Stasi historical memory at work in Berlin, as well as joy in the revival of anti-American rhetoric that hasn’t been heard in this city in years. It’s not as if the German secret service never bugged anyone’s phone. Nor is it the case that the National Security Agency never collaborates with Europeans. And diplomats and politicians have always striven to predict the actions of foreign leaders. I suggested to a German friend that Bismarck would gladly have tapped the phones of his rivals and allies. He reluctantly agreed.
But Bismarck couldn’t tap phones. We can. And that, as far as I can tell, explains why we were doing it. White House spokesman Jay Carney has just declared that the president is anxious to ensure “that we are not just collecting information because we can but because we should.” Yet almost everything publicly known about the NSA to date indicates the opposite: The United States collects information because it can, whether or not it is moral to do so, violates the trust of allies, or is a monumental waste of time and money.
And we’re talking about more than the NSA: After the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government threw time and money at “security” without thinking. As I wrote in 2005, and then again in 2010: Billions and billions of taxpayers’ dollars get spent every year on buying more biochemical suits for Grand Forks County, N.D., than the town has police officers to wear. And—now we know—untold sums also get spent trying to interpret what the German chancellor meant when she typed the word “nein” into her BlackBerry.
In the wake of this particular story, it’s also become clear that new information technology—metadata databases, cellphones, cyberwarfare—has finally, definitively outrun our ability to control or police it. Even in the 1980s, a phone tap was a laborious thing to set up and of dubious value, as it was only useful if a particular person was speaking in a particular room. Cellphones—carried by everybody, everywhere—have changed that. The massive volumes of information now collected about everyone and everything have also changed what it meant when we talk about a “background search.”
We can’t rely on Google to safeguard our data: Private companies have far more incentive to exploit users’ personal information—controlling what their search engines find, for example, or influencing what they buy—than do governments. But we can start talking seriously—with our big companies, but also with our major allies—about creating new international norms. The United States has been throwing money thoughtlessly at security for far too long. But NATO has also been pretending for far too long that “security” means tank warfare. We failed to update our alliance when the Cold War ended, and we failed again after 9/11. This scandal, the worst crisis in German-American relations in decades, is one of the results.
Akron researcher awarded NIH grant for advancing 3-D tumor models for anticancer drug testing
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Denise Henry henryd@uakron.edu 330-972-6477 University of Akron
The National Institutes of Health is supporting the work of a University of Akron researcher who may hold the key to improving the effectiveness of cancer treatments. The agency has awarded UA's Hossein Tavana a two-year, $511,000 grant to fund his ongoing efforts to improve the testing and effectiveness of anticancer drugs.
Tavana, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering, has developed a method to generate 3-D cultures of cancer cells (spheroids) that better model tumors in the body. These improved models have the potential to dramatically improve the screening and discovery of effective chemotherapeutics, Tavana says.
In support of this novel and promising technology, the NIH awarded Tavana its R21 grant, which is defined by the NIH as a developmental research grant intended to support "exploratory, novel studies that break new ground or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications."
Drug testing on 2-D cultures of cancer cells, in which thin layers of cells are treated on a flat dish, does not adequately predict how the drugs will behave in the 3-D environment of the body, Tavana says.
Three-dimensional cultures, on the other hand, in which cancer cells aggregate into spherical clusters, better mimic tumors, allowing for more efficient and cost-effective drug screening and discovery, he adds.
This in turn allows researchers to determine which drugs will best treat particular forms of cancer, eliminating the need to treat patients with a battery of drugs in the hope of finding something that works, Tavana explains.
"Rather than throwing a bunch of different drugs into a patient's body, we can say, 'This particular patient, based on this test, will most likely benefit from this chemo drug.'"
Whereas other labs are generating 3-D cancer cell spheroids, or aggregates, one at a time, Hossein's unique method allows him to generate 384 spheroids "robotically and in a single step," drastically expediting drug testing.
The robot, equipped with rows of pipettes, dispenses cancer cells into 384 small wells, or miniature test tubes, each of which contains a liquid that provides nutrients to the immersed cells, allowing them to aggregate as they would in the body, resulting in 384 physiologic tumor models.
Tavana and his research team are currently testing cell lines cells that have been made immortal so they can be reused over and over of triple negative breast cancer cells and skin cancer. Next year they plan to use primary, patient-derived cells, which will allow them to test drugs under more realistic conditions.
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Akron researcher awarded NIH grant for advancing 3-D tumor models for anticancer drug testing
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Denise Henry henryd@uakron.edu 330-972-6477 University of Akron
The National Institutes of Health is supporting the work of a University of Akron researcher who may hold the key to improving the effectiveness of cancer treatments. The agency has awarded UA's Hossein Tavana a two-year, $511,000 grant to fund his ongoing efforts to improve the testing and effectiveness of anticancer drugs.
Tavana, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering, has developed a method to generate 3-D cultures of cancer cells (spheroids) that better model tumors in the body. These improved models have the potential to dramatically improve the screening and discovery of effective chemotherapeutics, Tavana says.
In support of this novel and promising technology, the NIH awarded Tavana its R21 grant, which is defined by the NIH as a developmental research grant intended to support "exploratory, novel studies that break new ground or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications."
Drug testing on 2-D cultures of cancer cells, in which thin layers of cells are treated on a flat dish, does not adequately predict how the drugs will behave in the 3-D environment of the body, Tavana says.
Three-dimensional cultures, on the other hand, in which cancer cells aggregate into spherical clusters, better mimic tumors, allowing for more efficient and cost-effective drug screening and discovery, he adds.
This in turn allows researchers to determine which drugs will best treat particular forms of cancer, eliminating the need to treat patients with a battery of drugs in the hope of finding something that works, Tavana explains.
"Rather than throwing a bunch of different drugs into a patient's body, we can say, 'This particular patient, based on this test, will most likely benefit from this chemo drug.'"
Whereas other labs are generating 3-D cancer cell spheroids, or aggregates, one at a time, Hossein's unique method allows him to generate 384 spheroids "robotically and in a single step," drastically expediting drug testing.
The robot, equipped with rows of pipettes, dispenses cancer cells into 384 small wells, or miniature test tubes, each of which contains a liquid that provides nutrients to the immersed cells, allowing them to aggregate as they would in the body, resulting in 384 physiologic tumor models.
Tavana and his research team are currently testing cell lines cells that have been made immortal so they can be reused over and over of triple negative breast cancer cells and skin cancer. Next year they plan to use primary, patient-derived cells, which will allow them to test drugs under more realistic conditions.
###
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Bachmann-Strauss Foundation awards $1.2 million to establish Centers of Excellence around US
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: cpepi@bsdpf.org cpepi@bsdpf.org 212-682-9900 The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation
(New York, N.Y. October 31, 2013) The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in matching grants to establish Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Centers of Excellence at three major U.S. medical centers: the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of Florida (UF) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The new centers will join the existing Center of Excellence at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic (designated September 17th);
the University of Florida Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (designated September 26th); and
the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center (opening November 5th).
"Proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care have long been missing for people with dystonia and Parkinson's disease," said Bonnie Strauss, president and founder of The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation. "As someone who lives with dystonia and struggled for years to find the right diagnosis, the opening of our new Centers of Excellence is a dream come true."
The Bachmann-Strauss centers will strengthen each university's clinical and research infrastructure, while providing a mechanism through which they can share knowledge and collaborate on new initiatives. The new centers are expected to be catalysts for breakthroughs in understanding and treating dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Matching grants will ensure that the centers are self-sustaining.
Additionally, the grants will ensure that patients with dystonia and Parkinson's disease have access to proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care all coordinated seamlessly in one space. The patients will benefit from an integrated and coordinated approach to multi-disciplinary care that will include ease of access to movement disorder specialists, as well as physical, occupational and speech therapy. Services will also include diverse treatments including neurosurgery and genetic counseling.
Dystonia, which affects as many as 500,000 people in North America, is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The involuntary muscle contractions force the body into repetitive, often twisting movements and awkward, irregular postures. It can affect the hands, feet, neck or other parts of the body. It may be genetic in origin or appear spontaneously, and dozens of diseases and conditions include dystonia as a major symptom.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder whose symptoms include tremor, stiffness, difficulty moving, and problems with walking and balance. According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects about 500,000 people in the United States although many believe the numbers are higher. (The Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates that as many as 1 million people are affected). Approximately 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most cases begin between the ages of 50 and 65, although younger people are affected, too. Currently available pharmacological and surgical treatments provide relief from some motor symptoms, but do not halt the ultimate progression of the disease.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic has the only program for movement disorders in Alabama and serves dystonia and Parkinson's patients from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and a matching gift from the family of Mrs. Joel E. Johnson, Jr.
The program at UAB will enhance the access of patients to clinical trials in dystonia and Parkinson disease, and enable conduct of trials, which will advance the fields. The program will also facilitate the interactions between clinicians, basic scientists, and members of the community, and promote cross-culture efforts to translate new discoveries while training the next generation of dystonia and Parkinson disease clinicians and scientists through support of clinical and basic/translational fellowships.
"Dystonia has several forms and may be hereditary or caused by factors such as physical trauma, infection or reaction to a pharmaceutical, however most cases have no known cause," said David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of Neurology. "Treatment is difficult and has been limited to minimizing the symptoms. At present, there is no cure."
The is a leader in movement disorders and neurorestoration, and patients travel from all over the globe for personalized treatment. The center provides much needed multidisciplinary care to dystonia and Parkinson's patients, bringing together neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, genetic counselors, physical therapists and other experts. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and with support from Tyler's Hope for a Dystonia Cure.
Michael S. Okun, M.D., the Adelaide Lackner professor of neurology and the center's co-director said "This funding will galvanize drug discovery, imaging and translational neuroscience and will train the scientists who will make this difference for the patients suffering from these diseases."
The Surgical Movement Disorders Center at UCSF provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients with movement disorders. The medical staff includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, radiologists and nurses who have specialized training in movement disorders. It offers a variety of services that include comprehensive neurological evaluations, medication treatment and disease management, botulinum toxin injections, neurosurgical procedures including deep brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation programming for conditions such as dystonia, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, spasticity and chorea.
Jill L. Ostrem, M.D., professor of neurology and medical director of the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center said, "UCSF is very excited to be recognized as a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence. This Center will provide critical support for our busy clinical services and growing research efforts as they relate to dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Optimal results from surgery for Parkinson's disease and dystonia require close integration of neurosurgery, neurology, and nursing care; the new Bachmann-Strauss Center allows us to combine our neurological expertise and the skill Of UCSF's acclaimed Department of Neurological Surgery under Dr. Philip Starr in an impactful and revolutionary way."
I congratulate Drs. Standaert, Okun and Ostrem and their teams for all they have accomplished, and I look forward to working with them in the years to come," Strauss said. "Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in dystonia and Parkinson's disease under one roof will help to ensure that patients receive the best possible care."
###
About the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation
The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that was established in 1995 by Louis Bachmann (1916-2000) and Bonnie Strauss in order to find better treatments and cures for the movement disorders dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and to provide medical and patient information. Key among its efforts, the Foundation funds scientific and clinical research and helps raise awareness of dystonia and Parkinson's disease among the general public and the medical community.
Since its 1995 founding by Bonnie Strauss, The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has given $14 million to seed 225 research projects. The scientists involved were able to leverage that funding to secure an additional $60 million from the National Institutes of Health. For more information please go to: http://www.dystonia-parkinsons.org.
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Bachmann-Strauss Foundation awards $1.2 million to establish Centers of Excellence around US
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: cpepi@bsdpf.org cpepi@bsdpf.org 212-682-9900 The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation
(New York, N.Y. October 31, 2013) The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in matching grants to establish Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Centers of Excellence at three major U.S. medical centers: the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of Florida (UF) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The new centers will join the existing Center of Excellence at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic (designated September 17th);
the University of Florida Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (designated September 26th); and
the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center (opening November 5th).
"Proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care have long been missing for people with dystonia and Parkinson's disease," said Bonnie Strauss, president and founder of The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation. "As someone who lives with dystonia and struggled for years to find the right diagnosis, the opening of our new Centers of Excellence is a dream come true."
The Bachmann-Strauss centers will strengthen each university's clinical and research infrastructure, while providing a mechanism through which they can share knowledge and collaborate on new initiatives. The new centers are expected to be catalysts for breakthroughs in understanding and treating dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Matching grants will ensure that the centers are self-sustaining.
Additionally, the grants will ensure that patients with dystonia and Parkinson's disease have access to proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care all coordinated seamlessly in one space. The patients will benefit from an integrated and coordinated approach to multi-disciplinary care that will include ease of access to movement disorder specialists, as well as physical, occupational and speech therapy. Services will also include diverse treatments including neurosurgery and genetic counseling.
Dystonia, which affects as many as 500,000 people in North America, is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The involuntary muscle contractions force the body into repetitive, often twisting movements and awkward, irregular postures. It can affect the hands, feet, neck or other parts of the body. It may be genetic in origin or appear spontaneously, and dozens of diseases and conditions include dystonia as a major symptom.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder whose symptoms include tremor, stiffness, difficulty moving, and problems with walking and balance. According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects about 500,000 people in the United States although many believe the numbers are higher. (The Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates that as many as 1 million people are affected). Approximately 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most cases begin between the ages of 50 and 65, although younger people are affected, too. Currently available pharmacological and surgical treatments provide relief from some motor symptoms, but do not halt the ultimate progression of the disease.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic has the only program for movement disorders in Alabama and serves dystonia and Parkinson's patients from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and a matching gift from the family of Mrs. Joel E. Johnson, Jr.
The program at UAB will enhance the access of patients to clinical trials in dystonia and Parkinson disease, and enable conduct of trials, which will advance the fields. The program will also facilitate the interactions between clinicians, basic scientists, and members of the community, and promote cross-culture efforts to translate new discoveries while training the next generation of dystonia and Parkinson disease clinicians and scientists through support of clinical and basic/translational fellowships.
"Dystonia has several forms and may be hereditary or caused by factors such as physical trauma, infection or reaction to a pharmaceutical, however most cases have no known cause," said David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of Neurology. "Treatment is difficult and has been limited to minimizing the symptoms. At present, there is no cure."
The is a leader in movement disorders and neurorestoration, and patients travel from all over the globe for personalized treatment. The center provides much needed multidisciplinary care to dystonia and Parkinson's patients, bringing together neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, genetic counselors, physical therapists and other experts. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and with support from Tyler's Hope for a Dystonia Cure.
Michael S. Okun, M.D., the Adelaide Lackner professor of neurology and the center's co-director said "This funding will galvanize drug discovery, imaging and translational neuroscience and will train the scientists who will make this difference for the patients suffering from these diseases."
The Surgical Movement Disorders Center at UCSF provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients with movement disorders. The medical staff includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, radiologists and nurses who have specialized training in movement disorders. It offers a variety of services that include comprehensive neurological evaluations, medication treatment and disease management, botulinum toxin injections, neurosurgical procedures including deep brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation programming for conditions such as dystonia, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, spasticity and chorea.
Jill L. Ostrem, M.D., professor of neurology and medical director of the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center said, "UCSF is very excited to be recognized as a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence. This Center will provide critical support for our busy clinical services and growing research efforts as they relate to dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Optimal results from surgery for Parkinson's disease and dystonia require close integration of neurosurgery, neurology, and nursing care; the new Bachmann-Strauss Center allows us to combine our neurological expertise and the skill Of UCSF's acclaimed Department of Neurological Surgery under Dr. Philip Starr in an impactful and revolutionary way."
I congratulate Drs. Standaert, Okun and Ostrem and their teams for all they have accomplished, and I look forward to working with them in the years to come," Strauss said. "Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in dystonia and Parkinson's disease under one roof will help to ensure that patients receive the best possible care."
###
About the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation
The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that was established in 1995 by Louis Bachmann (1916-2000) and Bonnie Strauss in order to find better treatments and cures for the movement disorders dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and to provide medical and patient information. Key among its efforts, the Foundation funds scientific and clinical research and helps raise awareness of dystonia and Parkinson's disease among the general public and the medical community.
Since its 1995 founding by Bonnie Strauss, The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has given $14 million to seed 225 research projects. The scientists involved were able to leverage that funding to secure an additional $60 million from the National Institutes of Health. For more information please go to: http://www.dystonia-parkinsons.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Doom may be averted for the Smith Cloud, a gigantic streamer of hydrogen gas that is on a collision course with the Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomers have discovered a magnetic field deep in the cloud’s interior, which may protect it during its meteoric plunge into the disk of our Galaxy.Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131031153459.htm Related Topics: Revolt TVSweetest DaystenographerMiriam Careyluke bryan
Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary moleary@cell.com 617-397-2802 Cell Press
The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.
"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."
Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.
Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.
"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."
The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.
"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.
###
Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."
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Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary moleary@cell.com 617-397-2802 Cell Press
The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.
"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."
Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.
Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.
"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."
The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.
"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.
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Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."
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