The Los Angeles Times on Thursday, in the third installment of a three-part series on the U.S. health insurance system, examined how physicians and "hospital executives say collecting payments from insurers has become an expensive headache that is driving up the nation's health care costs." According to the Times, "Billing disputes and protracted payment delays are one consequence of a massive consolidation among health insurers that has created de facto monopolies in much of the country." Four insurance companies cover nearly half of all privately insured U.S. residents, leaving doctors and hospitals "little negotiating power and few options when an insurer rejects a bill," the Times reports. As a result, some physicians have dropped out of insurance networks, turned away new patients, created cash-only practices or left the business entirely.
According to the Times, "Arcane and ever-changing coverage rules are a leading cause of fee disputes," and medical professionals and staff are "spending more and more time haggling with insures over claims or obtaining advance approval for treatments." Patients are "often dragged into the financial tug of war" when doctors try to recover unpaid balances from them after insurers reject or reduce claims, the Times reports. Thousand of physicians across the U.S. are involved in class-action lawsuits alleging that the nation's largest insurers are involved in a "conspiracy ... to deny, delay and diminish payments to health care providers."
Patients' rights groups and some state regulators also are pushing to overhaul the system insurers use to set out-of-network payment rates. The insurance industry has invested billions of dollars to develop claims processing software that can identify inflated charges, errors or inconsistencies. According to the Times, "Because most physicians use paper billing records, many say that challenging the insurers is like going into a gunfight with a butter knife." The Times reports, "To even the odds, some doctors, clinics and hospitals are investing in software of their own or outsourcing their billing to national companies that aim to pool enough providers to match the insurance industry's muscle" (Costello et al., Los Angeles Times, 10/23).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.В All rights reserved.
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понедельник, 12 сентября 2011 г.
A Molecular Search For Happier Skin
Leeds scientists are using the most sophisticated techniques to tackle a question almost as old as mankind itself - what makes skin feel good, and why?
The research is coordinated at the University of Leeds by Professor Peter Olmsted of the School of Physics and Astronomy, who is bringing atomic force microscopy, computer simulation and theoretical physics to bear on the problem, within a larger collaborative project led by Dr Massimo Noro at Unilever R&D Port Sunlight. The aim is to design better skin products that appeal to consumers by working well - and making them feel good too.
Prof Olmsted, whose research expertise is in soft condensed matter such as polymers and liquid crystals, will examine the properties of the lipid bilayers that are found in the stratum corneum membrane, the outermost layer of skin which is just 50-100 microns thick - about a tenth of the thickness of a sheet of paper.
"Essentially our work is an attempt to understand in scientific terms what 'feeling good' means," says Professor Peter Olmsted.
The Leeds team, which also includes Dr Simon Connell, will concentrate on understanding how the extremely complex composite structure of skin gives it its unique properties of strength and elasticity. Scientists will be able to construct a profile of the skin lipids that is accurate up to a millionth of a millimetre.
The team will use this information to carry out experiments and make theoretical calculations that model how skin behaves at a molecular level to the ingredients of personal care products, from simple water molecules to complex oils.
"In examining the science of these membranes we hope to come up with design rules for products that work better and are more appealing to the person who is using them," adds Professor Olmsted.
"It's about caring for the natural barrier which is the skin surface. We will be testing the various ingredients used in these products to see what effects they have. We wish to link these effects to the science of the mechanics and permeability of complex membranes."
As skin grows from the inside of the body towards the outside, cells are pushed to the surface layers of the skin. They over-express certain proteins that form mechanical "bricks", held together by a "mortar" made of special lipid molecules called ceramides, in a form that only exists in skin. The research group is interested in how the special features of these molecules contribute to the elastic, strong, and supple object that is skin.
"In examining the science of these membranes we hope to come up with design rules for products that work better and are more appealing to the person who is using them," says Professor Olmsted.
And Prof Olmsted is philosophical about why this has not been the focus of research in the past: " A lot of work has been done but there is an awful lot further to go, because this is a very complicated system to understand and, from my own personal point of view, contains a host of scientifically interesting questions."
The project is funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Unilever R&D. A further award of ВЈ2 million has recently been made which also involves the University of Bradford and the University of Hull.
Source:
Clare Ryan
University of Leeds
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The research is coordinated at the University of Leeds by Professor Peter Olmsted of the School of Physics and Astronomy, who is bringing atomic force microscopy, computer simulation and theoretical physics to bear on the problem, within a larger collaborative project led by Dr Massimo Noro at Unilever R&D Port Sunlight. The aim is to design better skin products that appeal to consumers by working well - and making them feel good too.
Prof Olmsted, whose research expertise is in soft condensed matter such as polymers and liquid crystals, will examine the properties of the lipid bilayers that are found in the stratum corneum membrane, the outermost layer of skin which is just 50-100 microns thick - about a tenth of the thickness of a sheet of paper.
"Essentially our work is an attempt to understand in scientific terms what 'feeling good' means," says Professor Peter Olmsted.
The Leeds team, which also includes Dr Simon Connell, will concentrate on understanding how the extremely complex composite structure of skin gives it its unique properties of strength and elasticity. Scientists will be able to construct a profile of the skin lipids that is accurate up to a millionth of a millimetre.
The team will use this information to carry out experiments and make theoretical calculations that model how skin behaves at a molecular level to the ingredients of personal care products, from simple water molecules to complex oils.
"In examining the science of these membranes we hope to come up with design rules for products that work better and are more appealing to the person who is using them," adds Professor Olmsted.
"It's about caring for the natural barrier which is the skin surface. We will be testing the various ingredients used in these products to see what effects they have. We wish to link these effects to the science of the mechanics and permeability of complex membranes."
As skin grows from the inside of the body towards the outside, cells are pushed to the surface layers of the skin. They over-express certain proteins that form mechanical "bricks", held together by a "mortar" made of special lipid molecules called ceramides, in a form that only exists in skin. The research group is interested in how the special features of these molecules contribute to the elastic, strong, and supple object that is skin.
"In examining the science of these membranes we hope to come up with design rules for products that work better and are more appealing to the person who is using them," says Professor Olmsted.
And Prof Olmsted is philosophical about why this has not been the focus of research in the past: " A lot of work has been done but there is an awful lot further to go, because this is a very complicated system to understand and, from my own personal point of view, contains a host of scientifically interesting questions."
The project is funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Unilever R&D. A further award of ВЈ2 million has recently been made which also involves the University of Bradford and the University of Hull.
Source:
Clare Ryan
University of Leeds
Buy Triamcinolone Without Prescription
Nationwide Medical/Surgical Announces They Will Carry Flu Vaccine
Nationwide Medical/Surgical has recently announced they will carry the Flu Vaccine for the 2009-2010 flu season. They will carry flu vaccines made by several manufacturers in several different formats including 10-dose vials and pre-filled syringes. The 2007-2008 flu season was allegedly the worst year of the last four for adult deaths by flu and pneumonia. In an effort to prevent more deaths, Nationwide Medical/Surgical will participate in supplying the flu vaccine to the medical community.
The flu shot is made up of inactive flu virus (that has already been killed) and is administered through the arm. The CDC determines what strains are included the new vaccine. Certain flu vaccines are approved for children 6 months old to 36 months old while other vaccines may be administered to children 4 years old and adults. Nationwide Medical/Surgical typically begins to ship out the flu vaccine to customers in the middle of August and the vaccine is available for purchase through December and beyond. Nationwide Medical/Surgical offers competitive pricing and exemplary service.
To find out more about how to order the vaccines, visit nationwidemedical/ . Not only can you find information about how to order the flu vaccine, but you can also access their vast inventory of other medications and medical supplies.
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The flu shot is made up of inactive flu virus (that has already been killed) and is administered through the arm. The CDC determines what strains are included the new vaccine. Certain flu vaccines are approved for children 6 months old to 36 months old while other vaccines may be administered to children 4 years old and adults. Nationwide Medical/Surgical typically begins to ship out the flu vaccine to customers in the middle of August and the vaccine is available for purchase through December and beyond. Nationwide Medical/Surgical offers competitive pricing and exemplary service.
To find out more about how to order the vaccines, visit nationwidemedical/ . Not only can you find information about how to order the flu vaccine, but you can also access their vast inventory of other medications and medical supplies.
Nationwide Medical/Surgical
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Report Examines Effects Of Linking Amount Of Health Ins. Federal Subsidy To Federal Poverty Level; GAO Analyzes Challenges Of Financing Health Care
"Effect of Tying Eligibility for Health Insurance Subsidies to the Federal Poverty Level," Kaiser Family Foundation: The brief, which is part of Kaiser Family Foundation's Snapshots: Health Care Costs online series, examined the effects of determining eligibility for health insurance subsidies by comparing an individual's income with the federal poverty level. The report notes that as health care costs and premiums rise faster than the poverty level -- which they have historically done -- tying eligibility to the poverty level might not provide a consistent level of protection against rising costs (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 2/15).
"Health Care Spending: Public Payers Face Burden of Entitlement Program Growth, While All Payers Face Rising Prices and Increasing Use of Services," Government Accountability Office: The testimony examined how spending on public health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid affects the federal budget. It discusses the long-term outlook of federal solvency, federal health care spending increases and causes, and challenges policymakers face in curbing health care spending growth (Government Accountability Office, "Health Care Spending: Public Payers Face Burden of Entitlement Program Growth, While All Payers Face Rising Prices and Increasing Use of Services," 2/15).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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"Health Care Spending: Public Payers Face Burden of Entitlement Program Growth, While All Payers Face Rising Prices and Increasing Use of Services," Government Accountability Office: The testimony examined how spending on public health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid affects the federal budget. It discusses the long-term outlook of federal solvency, federal health care spending increases and causes, and challenges policymakers face in curbing health care spending growth (Government Accountability Office, "Health Care Spending: Public Payers Face Burden of Entitlement Program Growth, While All Payers Face Rising Prices and Increasing Use of Services," 2/15).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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Independent Analysis of Malpractice Debate Calls Clash Between Doctors and Lawyers a Red Herring, USA
Study Faults US Malpractice System for Skyrocketing Malpractice Costs -
Tired of the war mongering between doctors and lawyers groups accusing each other of being responsible for rapidly rising
malpractice costs, the independent nonprofit group CodeBlueNow! today issued a Malpractice Fact Sheet that describes the
current debate over medical malpractice and damage caps. According to CodeBlueNow!'s analysis, the real malpractice "crisis"
is about fundamental flaws in the American malpractice system.
The CodeBlueNow! Malpractice Fact Sheet can be found online at codebluenow/pdf/malpractice-facts.
"The problem with the current debate is that neither the doctors nor the lawyers in the current debate speak for the citizen
consumer," says Kathleen O'Connor, Founder and CEO of CodeBlueNow!. "When consumers become victims of unavoidable or
avoidable medical error, they need to be compensated for medical expenses, wage loss and other direct damages in a fair,
efficient and timely manner. It's our malpractice system and its reliance on fault that are responsible for increasing damage
awards and costly defensive medicine on the part of physicians."
The American malpractice system relies on fault. It requires the injured victim and their attorney to allege fault and to
accuse the medical provider of substandard medicine. The system requires the medical provider and their attorney to defend
against these charges -- which, in turn, motivates the provider to conceal rather than document mistakes -- and to practice
defensive medicine. Having providers conceal their errors is antithetical to quality improvement programs, which require the
diligent identification of individual and system errors to establish proper corrective actions. The provider's practice of
defensive medicine is not only costly; it exposes patients to medically unnecessary treatment.
Troyen Brennan, professor of Medicine, Law and Public Health at Harvard, and others who have studied the performance of the
medical malpractice system with respect to these consumer objectives, have found the American malpractice system to be
woefully inadequate. The majority of malpractice system dollars do not go to victims of medical error, but to plaintiff and
defense attorneys, insurers, expert witnesses, and so forth. Brennan's studies also show that the vast majority of medical
error victims do not file medical malpractice suits. Finally, the small minority that do sue and receive compensation are
likely to be victims of actual medical error, although the system does sometimes reward individuals who are not in fact
victims.
"There is no evidence that the American fault-based system motivates healthcare providers to practice better medicine. A
no-fault based medical injury compensation system modeled after the American workers compensation system or New Zealand's
governmental medical injury compensation program seems to require greater attention in the current debate. They are far more
advantageous to citizen consumers who become medical injury victims. These individuals are not looking for someone to blame
following suffering of medical injury, they are simply looking for appropriate compensation," O'Connor stresses.
The Malpractice Fact Sheet is the second in a series. The first was on the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. Coming next is
Medicaid. All Fact Sheets are available for downloading from the CodeBlueNow! website: codebluenow/news.html#factsheets
About CodeBlueNow!
CodeBlueNow! is a non-partisan, national 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is mobilizing grassroots efforts to transform
the financing, delivery and management of the American health care system, by assuring that the public has a voice in shaping
health care policy. The organization has grown from 30 people in October 2003 to having thousands of supporters in 46 states
and an online radio show. More information is online at: codebluenow.
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Tired of the war mongering between doctors and lawyers groups accusing each other of being responsible for rapidly rising
malpractice costs, the independent nonprofit group CodeBlueNow! today issued a Malpractice Fact Sheet that describes the
current debate over medical malpractice and damage caps. According to CodeBlueNow!'s analysis, the real malpractice "crisis"
is about fundamental flaws in the American malpractice system.
The CodeBlueNow! Malpractice Fact Sheet can be found online at codebluenow/pdf/malpractice-facts.
"The problem with the current debate is that neither the doctors nor the lawyers in the current debate speak for the citizen
consumer," says Kathleen O'Connor, Founder and CEO of CodeBlueNow!. "When consumers become victims of unavoidable or
avoidable medical error, they need to be compensated for medical expenses, wage loss and other direct damages in a fair,
efficient and timely manner. It's our malpractice system and its reliance on fault that are responsible for increasing damage
awards and costly defensive medicine on the part of physicians."
The American malpractice system relies on fault. It requires the injured victim and their attorney to allege fault and to
accuse the medical provider of substandard medicine. The system requires the medical provider and their attorney to defend
against these charges -- which, in turn, motivates the provider to conceal rather than document mistakes -- and to practice
defensive medicine. Having providers conceal their errors is antithetical to quality improvement programs, which require the
diligent identification of individual and system errors to establish proper corrective actions. The provider's practice of
defensive medicine is not only costly; it exposes patients to medically unnecessary treatment.
Troyen Brennan, professor of Medicine, Law and Public Health at Harvard, and others who have studied the performance of the
medical malpractice system with respect to these consumer objectives, have found the American malpractice system to be
woefully inadequate. The majority of malpractice system dollars do not go to victims of medical error, but to plaintiff and
defense attorneys, insurers, expert witnesses, and so forth. Brennan's studies also show that the vast majority of medical
error victims do not file medical malpractice suits. Finally, the small minority that do sue and receive compensation are
likely to be victims of actual medical error, although the system does sometimes reward individuals who are not in fact
victims.
"There is no evidence that the American fault-based system motivates healthcare providers to practice better medicine. A
no-fault based medical injury compensation system modeled after the American workers compensation system or New Zealand's
governmental medical injury compensation program seems to require greater attention in the current debate. They are far more
advantageous to citizen consumers who become medical injury victims. These individuals are not looking for someone to blame
following suffering of medical injury, they are simply looking for appropriate compensation," O'Connor stresses.
The Malpractice Fact Sheet is the second in a series. The first was on the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. Coming next is
Medicaid. All Fact Sheets are available for downloading from the CodeBlueNow! website: codebluenow/news.html#factsheets
About CodeBlueNow!
CodeBlueNow! is a non-partisan, national 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is mobilizing grassroots efforts to transform
the financing, delivery and management of the American health care system, by assuring that the public has a voice in shaping
health care policy. The organization has grown from 30 people in October 2003 to having thousands of supporters in 46 states
and an online radio show. More information is online at: codebluenow.
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Autism Research: For Measuring And Analyzing Child Behavior, NSF Awards $10M To Develop Computing Techniques
A team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology has received a $10 million "Expeditions in Computing" award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop novel computing techniques for measuring and analyzing the behavior of children.
These technologies will be used to enable new approaches for identifying children at risk for autism and other developmental delays. In addition, these methods may potentially improve the delivery and evaluation of treatment.
The award -- one of only 10 given out by the NSF since 2008 -- provides up to $2 million in funding each year for five years and is designed to push boundaries in computer science. This project will push the limits by catalyzing a new scientific discipline called computational behavioral science, which will draw equally from computer science and psychology to transform the study of human behavior.
"There is a great deal of creativity in the computer science research community today," said Deborah Crawford, acting assistant director of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at NSF. "Our intentions with the Expeditions in Computing program are to stimulate and use that creativity to expand the horizons of computing. For example, several of the projects will be exploring new computational approaches to some of the most vexing problems we face in the science and engineering enterprise as well as in the larger society."
Autism affects one of every 110 children in the United States and the long-term outcomes for a child who is at risk for autism can be significantly improved if the child is treated at an early age. As a result, it is widely accepted that all children should be screened for developmental delays as early in life as possible.
"Direct observation of a child by highly trained specialists is an important step in assessing risk for developmental disorders, but such an approach cannot be easily scaled to the large number of individuals needing evaluation and treatment," said the project's lead principal investigator James Rehg, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing.
For this project, the researchers will design vision, speech and wearable sensor technologies to analyze child behavior. Data will be collected from interactions between caregivers and children, children playing and socializing in a daycare environment, and clinicians interacting with children during individual therapy sessions. Multiple sensing technologies are necessary to obtain a comprehensive and integrated portrait of expressed behavior.
"People use eye gaze, hand gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey engagement and regulate social interactions," said co-principal investigator Gregory Abowd, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. "In addition, physiological responses, such as increased heart rate, can impact the expression of these behaviors."
Cameras and microphones will provide an inexpensive and noninvasive way to measure eye gaze and facial and body expressions, along with speech and non-speech utterances. Wearable sensors will measure physiological variables such as heart rate and skin conductivity, which contain important clues about levels of internal stress and arousal that are linked to behavior.
The research team will also develop capabilities for synchronizing the signals from the microphones, cameras and on-body sensors. By developing and using models of social interactions, the researchers will analyze the sensor data to quantify engagement.
As part of this award, the researchers will use a behavioral screening instrument called Rapid-ABC, which is currently under development by Abowd, Emory University School of Medicine assistant professor of psychiatry Opal Ousley, and Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing senior research scientist Rosa Arriaga. The researchers intend to utilize the information gathered from the microphones, cameras and on-body sensors to automate some of the scoring for the Rapid-ABC test.
"We hope that by incorporating this screening protocol into well-child doctor visits for children less than two years old, we can reduce the average age of autism diagnosis, which is currently about four years old," explained Arriaga.
In the future, the researchers hope to expand their work beyond autism to other developmental disorders and the general study of child behavior.
"While autism is our focus right now, this project addresses general social, communicative and repetitive behaviors, so the technologies we develop will have applicability to other childhood disorders, such as Down syndrome or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," added Rehg.
In addition to Georgia Tech, this project includes investigators and collaborators at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, the Emory Autism Center, the Marcus Autism Center -- an affiliate of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Southern California. Outreach activities include collaborations with the Atlanta Autism Consortium and major autism research centers in Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Urbana Champaign and Los Angeles.
Other Georgia Tech participants include co-principal investigators Mark Clements, a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Agata Rozga, a research scientist in the School of Interactive Computing; as well as School of Interactive Computing postdoctoral fellow Mario Romero.
Source:
Abby Vogel Robinson
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
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These technologies will be used to enable new approaches for identifying children at risk for autism and other developmental delays. In addition, these methods may potentially improve the delivery and evaluation of treatment.
The award -- one of only 10 given out by the NSF since 2008 -- provides up to $2 million in funding each year for five years and is designed to push boundaries in computer science. This project will push the limits by catalyzing a new scientific discipline called computational behavioral science, which will draw equally from computer science and psychology to transform the study of human behavior.
"There is a great deal of creativity in the computer science research community today," said Deborah Crawford, acting assistant director of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at NSF. "Our intentions with the Expeditions in Computing program are to stimulate and use that creativity to expand the horizons of computing. For example, several of the projects will be exploring new computational approaches to some of the most vexing problems we face in the science and engineering enterprise as well as in the larger society."
Autism affects one of every 110 children in the United States and the long-term outcomes for a child who is at risk for autism can be significantly improved if the child is treated at an early age. As a result, it is widely accepted that all children should be screened for developmental delays as early in life as possible.
"Direct observation of a child by highly trained specialists is an important step in assessing risk for developmental disorders, but such an approach cannot be easily scaled to the large number of individuals needing evaluation and treatment," said the project's lead principal investigator James Rehg, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing.
For this project, the researchers will design vision, speech and wearable sensor technologies to analyze child behavior. Data will be collected from interactions between caregivers and children, children playing and socializing in a daycare environment, and clinicians interacting with children during individual therapy sessions. Multiple sensing technologies are necessary to obtain a comprehensive and integrated portrait of expressed behavior.
"People use eye gaze, hand gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey engagement and regulate social interactions," said co-principal investigator Gregory Abowd, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. "In addition, physiological responses, such as increased heart rate, can impact the expression of these behaviors."
Cameras and microphones will provide an inexpensive and noninvasive way to measure eye gaze and facial and body expressions, along with speech and non-speech utterances. Wearable sensors will measure physiological variables such as heart rate and skin conductivity, which contain important clues about levels of internal stress and arousal that are linked to behavior.
The research team will also develop capabilities for synchronizing the signals from the microphones, cameras and on-body sensors. By developing and using models of social interactions, the researchers will analyze the sensor data to quantify engagement.
As part of this award, the researchers will use a behavioral screening instrument called Rapid-ABC, which is currently under development by Abowd, Emory University School of Medicine assistant professor of psychiatry Opal Ousley, and Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing senior research scientist Rosa Arriaga. The researchers intend to utilize the information gathered from the microphones, cameras and on-body sensors to automate some of the scoring for the Rapid-ABC test.
"We hope that by incorporating this screening protocol into well-child doctor visits for children less than two years old, we can reduce the average age of autism diagnosis, which is currently about four years old," explained Arriaga.
In the future, the researchers hope to expand their work beyond autism to other developmental disorders and the general study of child behavior.
"While autism is our focus right now, this project addresses general social, communicative and repetitive behaviors, so the technologies we develop will have applicability to other childhood disorders, such as Down syndrome or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," added Rehg.
In addition to Georgia Tech, this project includes investigators and collaborators at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, the Emory Autism Center, the Marcus Autism Center -- an affiliate of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Southern California. Outreach activities include collaborations with the Atlanta Autism Consortium and major autism research centers in Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Urbana Champaign and Los Angeles.
Other Georgia Tech participants include co-principal investigators Mark Clements, a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Agata Rozga, a research scientist in the School of Interactive Computing; as well as School of Interactive Computing postdoctoral fellow Mario Romero.
Source:
Abby Vogel Robinson
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
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Current Thinking Regarding AIDS Challenged By Researchers At Tulane National Primate Research Center
A sudden loss of T cells -- white blood cells crucial to the immune system -- is not the trigger for the onset of AIDS, according to a study published in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Immunology by a team of researchers at Tulane National Primate Research Center.
The study, "Acute Loss of Intestinal CD4+ T Cells is Not Predictive of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Virulence," challenges current thinking regarding AIDS, namely that a sudden, acute loss of T cells is considered to be sufficient to predict progression to the disease's last stages -- final collapse of the immune system and death. The team, led by Ivona V. Pandrea and Cristian Apetrei of Tulane University, states that although a severe acute depletion of T cells (white blood cells that provide continuing immunity to infection) was previously considered to trigger progression to full-blown AIDS in humans, some non-human primates infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) do not develop AIDS after such a depletion. African green monkeys infected with SIV, for example, were found to recover even after a period of severe T cell depletion.
Two companion papers in the Journal of Immunology by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Southwestern University of Dallas came to the same conclusions in their studies of sooty mangabeys.
Another major question raised by the study is why monkeys with SIV, unlike HIV-positive humans, are generally resistant to progression to AIDS after infection with the virus. The answer, the authors propose, is that thousands of years of host/virus co-adaptation has enabled monkeys, the natural hosts of SIV, to effectively limit T cell immune activation and apoptosis, a mechanism that leads to progression of the disease. By contrast, humans, who were introduced to the virus relatively recently, have not had the opportunity to develop such protective adaptations.
The authors also suggested that approaches to control immune system activation and resultant cell death should be considered for use in addition to currently available therapies to slow progression of the disease in HIV-infected individuals.
Source: Arthur Nead
Tulane University
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The study, "Acute Loss of Intestinal CD4+ T Cells is Not Predictive of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Virulence," challenges current thinking regarding AIDS, namely that a sudden, acute loss of T cells is considered to be sufficient to predict progression to the disease's last stages -- final collapse of the immune system and death. The team, led by Ivona V. Pandrea and Cristian Apetrei of Tulane University, states that although a severe acute depletion of T cells (white blood cells that provide continuing immunity to infection) was previously considered to trigger progression to full-blown AIDS in humans, some non-human primates infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) do not develop AIDS after such a depletion. African green monkeys infected with SIV, for example, were found to recover even after a period of severe T cell depletion.
Two companion papers in the Journal of Immunology by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Southwestern University of Dallas came to the same conclusions in their studies of sooty mangabeys.
Another major question raised by the study is why monkeys with SIV, unlike HIV-positive humans, are generally resistant to progression to AIDS after infection with the virus. The answer, the authors propose, is that thousands of years of host/virus co-adaptation has enabled monkeys, the natural hosts of SIV, to effectively limit T cell immune activation and apoptosis, a mechanism that leads to progression of the disease. By contrast, humans, who were introduced to the virus relatively recently, have not had the opportunity to develop such protective adaptations.
The authors also suggested that approaches to control immune system activation and resultant cell death should be considered for use in addition to currently available therapies to slow progression of the disease in HIV-infected individuals.
Source: Arthur Nead
Tulane University
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