Monday, March 22, 2010

“Indiana researchers study how logging affects owls (Louisville Courier-Journal)” plus 3 more

“Indiana researchers study how logging affects owls (Louisville Courier-Journal)” plus 3 more

Indiana researchers study how logging affects owls (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 01:38 PM PDT

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nearly 20 volunteers joined ecologists in trudging through forests of southern and central Indiana during winter nights, listening for owls as part of a study on the effects of logging on the birds' habitat.

The owl survey was conducted from December through early March in the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood state forests, along with parts of the Hoosier National Forest and Brown County State Park.

The Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood forests were surveyed to learn about how logging management is affecting the birds, said Jeff Riegel, field technician supervisor for the project. The other sites were picked since logging isn't being done there.

"Managing forests does not mean just managing the trees in the forest," Riegel said. "We need to know the effects of forest management techniques on the other organisms within the ecosystem if we are going to manage the entire forest resource."

Four times during December and January, researchers listened for barred owls at 95 sites. Twice in February and March, they listened for eastern screech owls at 100 locations.

The barred owl survey will be repeated in May and June, when tallies will be made of singing Chuck-will's-widows, whippoorwills and American woodcocks — also nighttime singers.

Those taking part in the winter survey were seven professional ecologists from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Purdue University and 19 volunteers.

"There are a tremendous number of birders in this area," Riegel said. "Many of these folks are just as curious as we are about the workings of a forest ecosystem."

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Methodist Hospital Research Institute Receives $5 Million Donation To Study Neurodegenerative Diseases, Alzheimer's (Medical News Today)

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 07:14 AM PDT


Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Article Date: 22 Mar 2010 - 4:00 PDT

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Dr. Stephen Wong has received a $5 million gift from the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation to study progressive neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's Disease. The gift will support The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences (BRAIN) at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect one in five Americans. According to a 2010 study by the Alzheimer's Organization, 5.3 million people have Alzheimer's at a cost of approximately $172 billion per year. With a rapidly aging baby boomer population, the organization believes Alzheimer's will continue to impact more lives. From 2000 to 2006, Alzheimer's Disease deaths increased 46.1 percent.

"Our brains have about 100 billion neurons that connect at 100 trillion points. When these connections, or synapses, malfunction, the memories that make up a whole human experience simply and tragically evaporate," said Wong, who was named director of the Chao BRAIN Center.

"In the past, the time it would take to analyze the trillions of synapses was prohibitive. We plan to greatly speed that process using advanced computational analysis and high throughput imaging to make sense of this disease and find ways to slow or stop its progression. The generous support from the Chao family will help make this a reality."

As part of the gift a $3 million fund will be established to identify new strategies for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. A $2 million endowed fund will support a chair or research projects undertaken by the Center over the long term.

Wong holds the John S. Dunn Distinguished Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute. He also serves as the director of the Center for Bioengineering and Informatics at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and chief of medical physics and vice chair of radiology for The Methodist Hospital. His research focuses on multi-scale imaging techniques and bioinformatics methods to develop quantitative biomarkers and therapeutics, and to decipher complex disease mechanisms in neurodegeneration, oncology and other related disorders.

He is the former director of the Center for Bioinformatics at the Harvard Center of Neurodegeneration and Repair and the Functional and Molecular Imaging Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of Harvard's partner hospitals. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and holds six patents in biomedical technology. He also serves regularly on National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) review panels.

Source
Methodist Hospital, Houston

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Male Infertility Significantly Increases Risk of Prostate Cancer According to a New Study (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 12:02 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Infertile men are at nearly three times greater risk for developing clinically significant prostate cancer than the average man according to a new study published in the journal, Cancer.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, under the direction of Paul Turek, MD, a pioneer in men's reproductive health. Dr. Turek now heads his own practice, The Turek Clinic, in San Francisco.

"Known risk factors for prostate cancer include age, family history and race. Now, these findings provide evidence that male infertility also plays a significant role in determining risk," said Dr. Turek.

The retrospective study looked at more than 22,000 men who were evaluated for infertility from 1967 to 1998 from 15 California infertility centers and linked to the California Cancer Registry. The risk of prostate cancer was compared to the incidence in the general population, matched by age and geography.

The analysis identified 168 post-infertility prostate cancers; men with male factor infertility were 2.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer.

The study also identified abnormal semen parameters 10 years before cancers were diagnosed, suggesting that early prostate cancer screening is warranted in men with male factor infertility.

"This study confirms our earlier published work with testis cancer and suggests that male infertility may be an early marker for later disease in men," according to Dr. Turek.

Male infertility, sometimes called male factor infertility, affects about five to 10 percent of reproductive age men. In about 40 percent of all infertile couples, the cause is due to male "factors."

About The Turek Clinic

The Turek Clinic, founded in 2008, is a men's reproductive health practice specializing in male infertility, vasectomy, vasectomy reversal, varicocele repair and other minimally invasive procedures using innovative and cutting-edge techniques. For more information, visit www.TheTurekClinic.com or Dr. Turek's blog at http://www.TurekOnMensHealth.com/.

A complete biography of Dr. Turek is available on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Turek.

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OU doctor leads treatment study for ovarian cancer (The Oklahoma Daily)

Posted: 21 Mar 2010 10:08 PM PDT

A doctor at the OU Health Sciences Center and OU Cancer Institute is directing a nationwide clinical trial to study treatments for ovarian cancer.

Dr. Joan Walker, gynecologic oncologist, is leading the trial for the Gynecological Oncology Group. The trial tests three different treatments for effectiveness in fighting ovarian cancer, which has one of the highest mortality rates of gynecological cancers, according to a press release.

One part of the trial tests the use of chemotherapy delivered through the stomach cavity, where tumors are most often located, Walker said. The trial also looks at the same drug delivered through the veins, the current method. The final part is a study of a drug given in small weekly doses, rather than the usual large, monthly doses.

"We will be comparing these different regiments in women with later stages of ovarian cancer to see if we can improve outcomes," Walker said in a press release. "We are hopeful that we can both reduce side effects and complications by our advances, as well as improve survival beyond five years."

Walker said current survival rates are difficult to say because they vary in different countries. U.S. survival rates are usually very low, but patients who participate in research trials such as this one usually have longer rates. Rates are often poor because doctors do not detect the cancer early enough.

"There is a failure to come in to the doctor," Walker said. "Also, the physician might not recognize the symptoms and confuse it with something else. It may take three months if the physician gets confused. That conflicts with treatment."

Besides improving survival rates, Walker said the trial will also improve the quality of life for patients receiving chemotherapy. Doctors will survey patients undergoing the different treatments and post results about which ones patients liked most, as well as which ones were most effective.

Currently, 200 patients are enrolled nationally, Walker said. The trial needs 1,200 people total.

Walker recently finished another study on surgery techniques for uterine cancers, she said. According to a press release, the study lasted a decade.

In this trial, Walker said doctors found that using laparoscopic surgery reduced the amount of time patients had to spend in the hospital after a surgery by half, improving their quality of life. It also decreased the number of complications during and after surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery involves making a small incision and using a camera.

"It is quite astounding as a physician to go to see your patient the next morning and find that she is sitting up, ready to go home," Walker said in a press release. "This is quite different than the traditional open surgery, where patients cannot go home for four days."

Walker presented these findings last week at the Gynecologic Oncologists' annual meeting in San Francisco.

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