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Denver Post Examines Efforts To Establish Needle-Exchange Programs In Colorado
The Denver Post on Friday examined efforts to establish needle-exchange programs in Colorado to reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitis C among injection drug users. According to the Post, 185 cities in Colorado have needle-exchange programs, but legislation that would have legalized needle exchanges statewide did not advance in the Legislature this year. "The issue is more complex than it perhaps first appears," Evan Dreyer, a spokesperson for Gov. Bill Ritter (D), said, adding that "law enforcement and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment both expressed serious reservations" about a proposal that would have legalized needle-exchanges statewide. A coalition of public health officials, treatment providers and advocates are increasing efforts to establish a needle-exchange program in Denver, the Post reports. The Denver Drug Strategy Commission in February recommended that Mayor John Hickenlooper consider a pilot needle-exchange program, DDSC Director Karla Maraccini said. The commission is looking at different programs to develop a model following Hickenlooper"s request for additional research. However, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has concerns that a local needle-exchange program would violate state law, according to Morrissey"s spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough. Eric Brown, a spokesperson for Hickenlooper, added, "Anything in contradiction to city or state law would have to be carefully considered." Proponents of needle-exchange programs say they prevent HIV and hepatitis C, but opponents say they condone injection drug use. Mark Thrun, director of HIV prevention for Denver Public Health, said, adding that needle-exchange programs prevent IDUs from "getting these chronic, potentially fatal diseases" and give public health workers "an opportunity to link them into treatment; and it lessens the economic burden on the already overburdened health care system." Thrun noted that several studies have found that needle-exchange programs do not encourage or prolong injection drug use and make IDUs more likely to seek treatment. In addition, a 2005 CDC study found that 86% of exchange programs make treatment referrals and that more than 80% offer counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.Nancy Steinfurth, executive director of the Hep C Connection, noted that an estimated 10% of HIV cases and 70% of hepatitis C cases are transmitted through needles (Auge, Denver Post, 5/15).
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Novel Peripheral IV Catheter: Telesso Technologies Wins Popular Science Invention Award
Telesso Technologies Limited (ASX: TEO), a global healthcare company, has announced the FDA-approved guide wire-assisted peripheral IV catheter it is developing with Vascular Pathways, Inc., has been honored with the Popular Science Invention Award.
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Working Memory May Be Improved By Short Stressful Events
Experiencing chronic stress day after day can produce wear and tear on the body physically and mentally, and can have a detrimental effect on learning and emotion. However, acute stress -- a short stressful incident -- may enhance learning and memory.
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RNA Snippet Suppresses Spread Of Aggressive Breast Cancer

A low cellular level of a tiny fragment of RNA appears to increase the spread of breast cancer in mouse models of the disease, according to researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Measuring levels of this so-called microRNA, which is also associated with metastatic breast cancer in humans, may more accurately predict the likelihood of metastasis (which accounts for 90% of cancer-related deaths) and ultimately help determine patient prognoses. In the study, whose results are reported in the June 12 issue of Cell, Scott Valastyan, a graduate student in Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg"s laboratory, screened patient breast cancer samples for microRNAs with potential roles in metastasis. MicroRNAs are single strands of RNA about 21-23 nucleotides long. Within a cell, a single microRNA can fine-tune the expression of dozens of genes simultaneously. This capability could be particularly important in metastasis, a multi-step process that could be influenced by a single microRNA at several points. The screened samples were classified as either metastatic cancer or non-metastatic cancer. After analysis, the microRNA miR-31 stood out because of its inverse correlation with metastasis. In samples where a patient"s original tumor had not metastasized, the cancer cells retained high levels of the microRNA. But where the tumor had metastasized, the cancer cells came to possess lower levels of miR-31. The functional role of miR-31 in metastasis regulation was then confirmed in mice. When Valastyan removed miR-31 from normally non-aggressive breast cancer cells and implanted those cells into mice, the cells formed highly aggressive tumors. Mice injected with the cancer cells lacking miR-31 had 6 to 10 times more cancer cells that metastasized to their lungs than did their counterparts implanted with unmodified cancer cells. To see how increasing miR-31 levels could affect metastasis, Valastyan introduced miR-31 into breast cancer cells that readily metastasize. After injecting these altered cells into mice, the mice had four to 40 times fewer metastases than mice injected with the unaltered cells. Valastyan says that quantifying miR-31 levels in a patient"s cancer cells could one day support a more accurate prognosis. Currently, breast cancers are divided into three major categories, two of which are typically associated with poor prognoses. "This microRNA seems to be quite unique, in that it seems to provide some prognostic utility across these existing subclassifications [of cancers]," says Valastyan. A better-defined prognosis could help patients determine whether they might benefit from poorly tolerated cancer therapies. In addition, miR-31 could be a useful target for cancer therapy. Weinberg, who is also a professor of biology at MIT, is cautiously optimistic. "At present, it"s quite difficult to inhibit the action or promote the actions of a microRNA in a whole organism," he says, "but in the future, microRNAs like this one might prove to be very important in altering the clinical progression of a tumor or causing it to revert to a more benign state." This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), MIT Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Harvard Breast Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE), and a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Idea Award. Robert Weinberg"s primary affiliation is with Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted. He is also a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Citation: "A Pleiotropically Acting microRNA, miR-31, Inhibits Breast Cancer Metastasis" Cell, June 12, 2009 Scott Valastyan (1,2), Ferenc Reinhardt (1), Nathan Benaich (1,3), Diana Calogrias (4), Attila M. Szç¡sz (4), Zhigang C. Wang (5,6), Jane E. Brock (4), Andrea L. Richardson (4), and Robert A. Weinberg (1,2,7). References 1.Whitehead Institute, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA 2. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 3. Department of Biology, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA 4. Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women"s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA 5. Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women"s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA 6. Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA 7. MIT Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research


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