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Highlights Of Pain Research
Musculoskeletal problems are among the complaints most frequently reported in health interview surveys. Typically around 50 percent of the population report having had musculoskeletal pain in one or more areas for at least one week during the past month. Musculoskeletal disorders are also the most common work-related health problems in the EU: 25 percent of European workers complain of backache and 23 percent of muscular pains. The trend will become even more acute as demographic changes lead to an ageing society.
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Alastair Campbell Gets Majority Vote! Mind Champion Of The Year 2009
Alastair Campbell has won Mind"s Champion of the Year Award for his significant contribution to raising awareness of mental health. He beat fellow nominee and chat show host Paul O"Grady, among other mental health campaigners, to the prestigious award announced yesterday evening.
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Study Shows Teen Contraception Use Declining, Level Of Sexual Activity Unchanged
After years of declining teenage pregnancy rates and improved teen contraception use during the 1990s and early 2000s, the trends appeared to have flattened or even reversed among some groups of teens in recent years, according to a study from Columbia University"s Mailman School of Public Health and the Guttmacher Institute, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Researchers found that from 2003 to 2007, teens" contraceptive use declined by 10%, while their level of sexual activity did not change. The decrease in contraceptive use was particularly prevalent among black teens. The figures take into account the rate of contraception use as well as the types of contraceptives used, as methods vary in effectiveness. Teen condom use leveled off and in some cases declined, according to the study. The study also reported that the teen birth rate increased by 5% from 2005 to 2007. According to the study"s authors, the findings suggest a link between declining teen contraception use and the rise in abstinence-only education during former President George W. Bush"s administration. President Obama"s fiscal year 2010 budget proposal calls for redirecting some abstinence-only funds toward increased comprehensive sex education, the Monitor reports. In addition to the effects of abstinence-only sex education, the decline in condom use also could be tied to lessening concern about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. A shift in the teen population to include a higher number of Hispanics -- who have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth -- also could contribute to the findings. Laura Lindberg, one of the study"s authors and a senior research associate at Guttmacher, said, "In the end, this story is really about the loss of momentum." She added that although the statistical changes are small, "they raise concern about what the next few years will bring in this country." Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, noted that the proportion of births to unmarried women, particularly among women ages 20 to 24, also is on the upswing (Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor, 6/18).
Oncology

Key Molecular Pathway To Replicate Insulin-Producing Beta Cells Identified By Pitt Researchers

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are trailblazing the molecular pathway that regulates replication of pancreatic beta cells, the insulin-producing cells that are lacking in people who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Building on findings from earlier this year, a research team led by Andrew F. Stewart, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has now shown in mouse experiments that knocking out two cell cycle proteins leads to robust beta cell replication. The results were presented in New Orleans at the 69th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, and in an accompanying paper published online in the ADA"s journal Diabetes. Abstract Number 343-OR. "These proteins act like brakes to prevent regeneration of beta cells," Dr. Stewart explained. "It"s a redundant system, though, so removing just one of the proteins isn"t sufficient to make beta cells replicate." In earlier studies, Rupangi Vasavada Ph.D., an assistant professor in Pitt"s endocrinology division working with Dr. Stewart, assessed mice that lacked a key regulator of cell division called retinoblastoma protein (pRB), so named because mutations in it can lead to the childhood eye cancer. But the loss of pRB alone did not make beta cells regenerate. In the current study, lead author George Harb, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Pitt"s endocrinology division, engineered mice to lack the gene for another cell cycle protein that is very similar to pRB called p130. Again, there was no impact on beta cell production. The similarity of pRB and p130 hinted that they serve the same purpose, and so his next step was to engineer mice deficient in both proteins. The result was a marked increase in beta cell replication. "The cell cycle has yet another protein, called p107, that is much like pRB and p130," Dr. Stewart noted. "Now we want to see what happens to beta cell numbers if we knock out any two of the three or all three." In an online publication in Diabetes in January, another of his research teams demonstrated for the first time that human beta cells could be induced to replicate by boosting levels of cell cycle proteins cdk-6 and cyclin D1 using gene therapy techniques. When study co-author Nathalie Fiaschi-Taesch, Ph.D., assistant professor in Pitt"s endocrinology division, transplanted those engineered cells into diabetic mice, blood sugar levels normalized. She gave a symposium at the ADA meeting describing that work. The Pitt researchers also plan to examine the effects of gain or loss of other cell cycle proteins in an ongoing effort to better understand the regulatory pathway of beta cell replication and to identify targets that might make it possible one day to treat diabetes by giving patients more insulin-producing cells, perhaps by expanding cadaveric donor cells in the lab. "It"s now clear that both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are beta cell deficiency diseases," Dr. Stewart said. "And while we work on making more beta cells, our colleagues are trying to tackle the autoimmunity problems that cause a reduction in their number. Ultimately, both issues have to be addressed to develop a cure for diabetes." The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and the Don and Arleen Wagner and the Pam and Scott Kroh family foundations. Dr. Harb also is supported by a JDRF fellowship award. Anita Srikameswaran University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences


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