PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Shorter biological marker length in aplastic anemia patients linked to higher relapse, death rates

2010-09-22
(Press-News.org) Among patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy for severe aplastic anemia (a condition in which the bone marrow is unable to produce blood cells), the length of telomeres (chromosome markers of biological aging) was not related to the response to treatment but was associated with a higher rate of relapse (return to low blood cell counts) and lower overall survival, according to a study in the September 22/29 issue of JAMA.

Severe aplastic anemia is characterized by life-threatening cytopenias (blood cell count below normal), but this condition can be treated by bone marrow transplantation or immunosuppressive drugs. In older patients, and when an appropriate matched sibling donor is not available, immunosuppression can be effective, although relapse and clonal evolution (the appearance of chromosome abnormalities in bone marrow cells that accompany hematologic malignancy) can occur in many patients, according to background information in the article. Recently, target cell abnormalities have been identified as risk factors in bone marrow failure. "Mutations in telomerase complex genes resulting in extremely short telomeres have been described in some patients with apparently acquired severe aplastic anemia," the authors write. Telomeres, a structure at the end of a chromosome that shortens with each cell division, function as protective caps to prevent erosion of genomic DNA during cell division. Genetic factors and environmental stressors can shorten the length of the telomere.

Phillip Scheinberg, M.D., of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues conducted a study to determine the effect of telomere attrition in acquired severe aplastic anemia by measuring telomere length prior to immunosuppressive therapy. The study included 183 patients with severe aplastic anemia who were treated from 2000 to 2008. The pretreatment leukocyte (white blood cells involved in defending the body against infectious disease) age-adjusted telomere length of patients with severe aplastic anemia enrolled in immunosuppression protocols was analyzed for correlation with clinical outcomes.

One hundred and four patients (57 percent) responded to immunosuppressive therapy. The researchers found that there was no correlation between telomere length (measured pretreatment) and the probability of response to the therapy. The response rate for patients in the first quartile (shortest telomere lengths) was 56.5 percent; in the second quartile, 54.3 percent; in the third quartile, 60 percent; and in the fourth quartile, 56.5 percent. Additional analysis demonstrated that telomere length was associated with relapse, clonal evolution, and mortality. Telomere length was inversely correlated with the probability of disease relapse. The probability of clonal evolution was higher in patients in the first quartile (24.5 percent) than in quartiles 2 through 4 (8.4 percent).

"Survival between these 2 groups differed, with 66 percent surviving 6 years in the first quartile compared with 83.8 percent in quartiles 2 through 4," the researchers write.

"In conclusion, our data show that in a cohort of patients with severe aplastic anemia receiving immunosuppressive therapy, telomere length was not associated with response but was associated with risk of relapse, clonal evolution, and overall survival."

INFORMATION: (JAMA. 2010;304[12]:1358-1364. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Risk of infection after ultrasound-guided procedures is low, study suggests

2010-09-22
The incidence of serious infection after common ultrasound-guided procedures, such as biopsy, fine-needle aspiration (a form of biopsy) and thoracentesis (procedure involving needle drainage of the chest cavity) is low, according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (www.ajronline.org). Ultrasound imaging, also called ultrasound scanning or sonography, involves exposing part of the body to high-frequency sound waves to produce pictures of the inside of the body. "Ultrasound-guided procedures are safe, effective and accurate in that ...

Adverse cardiac events are rare after a negative cardiac CTA exam, study suggests

2010-09-22
Adverse cardiac events are rare one year after patients are admitted to the emergency room with low-to-moderate risk chest pain and are discharged due to a negative cardiac computed tomography angiogram (CTA), according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (www.ajronline.org). Cardiac CTA is a noninvasive heart-imaging test that determines whether fatty deposits or calcium deposits have built up in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. Earlier discharge of patients with low-to-moderate risk chest pain after ...

Rethinking how hospitals react when a patient's health deteriorates

2010-09-22
The growing use of rapid response teams dispatched by hospitals to evaluate patients whose conditions have suddenly deteriorated may be masking systemic problems in how hospitals care for their sickest patients, says a prominent Johns Hopkins patient safety expert. In a commentary published in the Sept. 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and co-author Eugene Litvak, Ph.D., president of the Institute for Healthcare ...

Ecologists find new clues on climate change in 150-year-old pressed plants

Ecologists find new clues on climate change in 150-year-old pressed plants
2010-09-22
Plants picked up to 150 years ago by Victorian collectors and held by the million in herbarium collections across the world could become a powerful – and much needed – new source of data for studying climate change, according to research published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Ecology. The scarcity of reliable long-term data on phenology – the study of natural climate-driven events such as the timing of trees coming into leaf or plants flowering each spring – has hindered scientists' understanding of how species respond to climate change. But ...

Ultrashort laser ablation enables novel metal films

2010-09-22
Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2010) -- Laser ablation is well known in medical applications like dermatology and dentistry, and for more than a decade it has been used to vaporize materials that are difficult to evaporate for high-tech applications like deposition of superconductors. Now researchers in the Journal of Applied Physics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics have studied the properties of femtosecond laser ablation plumes to better understand how to apply them to specialized films. Salvatore Amoruso at University of Naples, Italy and ...

Certain doped-oxide ceramics resist Ohm's Law

2010-09-22
Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2010) -- For months, Anthony West could hardly believe what he and his colleagues were seeing in the lab -- or the only explanation for the unexpected phenomena that seemed to make sense. Several of the slightly doped high-purity barium titanate (BT) ceramics his research group was investigating were not following the venerable Ohm's Law, which relates electrical voltage to current and resistance. Applying or removing a voltage caused a gradual change in the materials' electrical resistance. The new effect was seen consistently regardless ...

Progress toward terabit-rate high-density recording

2010-09-22
Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2010) -- Research is closing in on the next-generation of ultra-high-density magneto-optical storage devices that could store more than 6,000 Terabits (6 petabits) of data, more than 70 times the contents of the entire U.S. Library of Congress, on a single 5-inch disc. Yet the vast storage amount is limited by the ability to write data quickly enough to the device. In the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University in China have demonstrated a way to record on ferromagnetic films using a laser-assisted ultrafast magnetization ...

Watching electrons move in real time

2010-09-22
Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2010) -- At its most basic level, understanding chemistry means understanding what electrons are doing. Research published in The Journal of Chemical Physics not only maps the movement of electrons in real time but also observes a concerted electron and proton transfer that is quite different from any previously known phase transitions in the model crystal, ammonium sulfate. By extending X-ray powder diffraction into the femtosecond realm, the researchers were able to map the relocation of charges in the ammonium sulfate crystal after they ...

Stress before cancer therapy could help deadly cells survive treatment, lead to disease recurrence

2010-09-22
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Patients who experience physical or psychological stress – including rigorous exercise – one or two days before a cancer treatment might be unknowingly sabotaging their therapy, new research suggests. Stress in the body – even physical stress caused by intense exercise – activates a stress-sensitive protein that can spark a series of events that allow cancer cells to survive such treatments as chemotherapy and radiation, according to the research. Though the study involved a series of experiments in breast cancer cell cultures, the researchers say ...

Complex brain landscape controls speech

2010-09-22
Broca's region is classically regarded as the motor centre for speech. Our ability to form phonemes and words is controlled here. According to the maps of the cerebral cortex developed by Korbinian Brodmann, which are still in use today, Broca's region is composed of two areas. Over the last few years, however, researchers have begun to question this subdivision as a result of experience gained in clinical studies and the findings of magnetic resonance imaging analyses. "Lesions in Broca's region could result in a dozen different language problems," says Professor Katrin ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Stroke rates increasing in individuals living with SCD despite treatment guidelines

Synergistic promotion of dielectric and thermomechanical properties of porous Si3N4 ceramics by a dual-solvent template method

Korean research team proposes AI-powered approach to establishing a 'carbon-neutral energy city’

AI is learning to read your emotions, and here’s why that can be a good thing

Antidepressant shows promise for treating brain tumors

European Green Deal: a double-edged sword for global emissions

Walking in lockstep

New blood test could be an early warning for child diabetes

Oceanic life found to be thriving thanks to Saharan dust blown from thousands of kilometers away

Analysis sheds light on COVID-19-associated disease in Japan

Cooler heads prevail: New research reveals best way to prevent dogs from overheating

UC Riverside medical school develops new curriculum to address substance use crisis

Food fussiness a largely genetic trait from toddlerhood to adolescence

Celebrating a century of scholarship: Isis examines the HSS at 100

Key biomarkers identified for predicting disability progression in multiple sclerosis

Study: AI could lead to inconsistent outcomes in home surveillance

Study: Networks of Beliefs theory integrates internal & external dynamics

Vegans’ intake of protein and essential amino acids is adequate but ultra-processed products are also needed

Major $21 million Australian philanthropic investment to bring future science into disease diagnosis

Innovating alloy production: A single step from ores to sustainable metals

New combination treatment brings hope to patients with advanced bladder cancer

Grants for $3.5M from TARCC fund new Alzheimer’s disease research at UTHealth Houston

UTIA researchers win grant for automation technology for nursery industry

Can captive tigers be part of the effort to save wild populations?

The Ocean Corporation collaborates with UTHealth Houston on Space Medicine Fellowship program

Mysteries of the bizarre ‘pseudogap’ in quantum physics finally untangled

Study: Proteins in tooth enamel offer window into human wellness

New cancer cachexia treatment boosts weight gain and patient activity

Rensselaer researcher receives $3 million grant to explore gut health

Elam named as a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society

[Press-News.org] Shorter biological marker length in aplastic anemia patients linked to higher relapse, death rates