Stem cells cure sickle cell in mice
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have developed a new stem cell technique that successfully treats sickle cell anemia in mice.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., used induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which uses skin cells and does not require embryos, UAB said Friday in a release.
The findings, published in Science Express Online, are the first to use the iPS technique to treat disease in an animal model, the university said.
"The UAB/Whitehead teams took skin cells from mouse models genetically engineered to have sickle cell disease and reprogrammed them into iPS cells by adding four genes to each cell," said senior author Tim M. Townes of UAB. "The new genes remodeled the chromosomes that instruct a skin cell to be a skin cell, so that the cells revert to stem cells."
Townes and co-senior author Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute said it is the first example of creating iPS cells derived from a disease model and using these cells to correct a genetic mutation and treat a disease.
Tuberculosis found in ancient Homo erectus
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A Texas researcher says new findings have revealed evidence of tuberculosis in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey.
Anthropologist John Kappelman of The University of Texas at Austin said the fossil supports the theory that dark-skinned people who migrate northward from low, tropical latitudes produce less vitamin D, which can adversely affect the immune system as well as the skeleton, the university said Friday in a release.
The findings were published in the Dec. 7 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The Homo erectus found in western Turkey has a series of small lesions etched into the bone of the cranium that are characteristic of Leptomeningitis tuberculosa.
Researchers said higher rates of the infection have been found among Gujarati Indians who live in London, and Senegalese conscripts who served with the French army during World War I.
"Skin color represents one of biology's most elegant adaptations," Kappelman said. "The production of vitamin D in the skin serves as one of the body's first lines of defenses against a whole host of infections and diseases. Vitamin D deficiencies are implicated in hypertension, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer."
Group calls for child-sized meds
LONDON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization kicked off a campaign in London calling for more medicines tailored to children's needs.
"The gap between the availability and the need for child-appropriate medicines touches wealthy as well as poor countries," WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said Thursday. "As we strive for equitable access to scientific progress in health, children must be one of our top priorities."
The campaign targets medicines such as antibiotics and asthma and pain medication. It calls for further research and development of combination pills for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
WHO released an international List of Essential Medicines for Children containing 206 medicines that are deemed safe for children and address priority conditions. WHO medicine policy director Hans Hogerzeil said more than half of children in industrialized societies are prescribed medicines dosed for adults and not authorized for use in children.
In developing countries, the problem is compounded by lower access to medicines, the agency said in a release.
Six million young children die each year of treatable conditions and could be saved if the medicines they need were readily available, safe, effective and affordable, WHO said.
Report: Better bird flu warning needed
DAVIS, Calif., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says international scientists need to do a better job of tracking avian influenza viruses.
Walter Boyce, co-director for the Center for Rapid Influenza Surveillance and Research, said current efforts are piecemeal and risk missing important virus sources or subtypes, the University of California, Davis, said Friday in a release.
In a commentary published in the journal Nature, the UC Davis professor said surveillance has focused too heavily on Europe and North America, where few wild birds are infected. He said more surveillance should be done in places where the virus is endemic, such as China, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Boyce is also concerned that a reluctance to share data and samples hampers health officials' ability to track and respond to potential pandemic viruses. Boyce recommends that the scientific community set a standard of releasing data no more than 45 days after it is generated.
