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Contact: Jeremy Moore
Jeremy.Moore@aacr.org
267-646-0557
American Association for Cancer Research

PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia have identified a key mechanism of metastasis that could lead to blocking tumor growth if their findings are confirmed.

In a recent issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, lead researcher David Waisman, Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Pathology, and Canada Research Chair in Cancer Research at Dalhousie University, detailed the key role the macrophage cell surface protein S100A10 plays in allowing macrophages to move to the site of tumor growth a process that is essential to tumor development.

Waisman said the findings are an example of the complicated biology of cancer.

"We used to think that the only cells that mattered in a tumor were the cancer cells, and that's it, but now we are beginning to see that other cells must collaborate with cancer cells to drive tumor growth and permit an evolution of the cancer cells into metastatic cells. This change is what causes poor prognosis and ultimately what kills the patient," he said.

Waisman and colleagues discovered that tumors will not grow without macrophage assistance. These macrophages must come from the blood or from other locations in the tissues. How they are able to move through the tissues or from the blood supply into the tumor had always been a mystery.

These macrophages need to chew their way through the tissue that forms a barrier around the growing tumor in order to move into the tumor site and combine with the cancer cells. The researchers found on the outside surface of the macrophage is a protein called S100A10, which enables the macrophage to remove the tissue barriers retarding migration to the tumor site.

Theoretically, blocking either the macrophages or S100A10 chemically could slow, or even stop, tumor growth.

"We found that the protein, S100A10, acts like a pair of scissors on the outside of the macrophages that empowers the macrophages with the ability to chew their way through tissues and enter the tumor site where they release substances that stimulate cancer cell growth and metastatic evolution," said Waisman.

He said the next step is to figure out exactly how S100A10 functions as a molecular scissor and also to identify pharmaceutical agents that can block the action of S100A10, thereby preventing the movement of macrophages to the tumor site. By understanding exactly how S100A10 works at the molecular level, it may even be possible to design agents which block its activity.

###

The study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr

Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 33,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards to young investigators, and it also funds cutting-edge research projects conducted by senior researchers.

The AACR has numerous fruitful collaborations with organizations and foundations in the U.S. and abroad, and functions as the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, a charitable initiative that supports groundbreaking research aimed at getting new cancer treatments to patients in an accelerated time frame. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care, and Educational Workshops are held for the training of young cancer investigators. The AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Discovery; Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Prevention Research. In 2010, AACR journals received 20 percent of the total number of citations given to oncology journals. The AACR also publishes Cancer Today, a magazine for cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers, which provides practical knowledge and new hope for cancer survivors.

A major goal of the AACR is to educate the general public and policymakers about the value of cancer research in improving public health, the vital importance of increases in sustained funding for cancer research and biomedical science, and the need for national policies that foster innovation and the acceleration of progress against the 200 diseases we call cancer.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 31-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jeremy Moore
Jeremy.Moore@aacr.org
267-646-0557
American Association for Cancer Research

PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia have identified a key mechanism of metastasis that could lead to blocking tumor growth if their findings are confirmed.

In a recent issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, lead researcher David Waisman, Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Pathology, and Canada Research Chair in Cancer Research at Dalhousie University, detailed the key role the macrophage cell surface protein S100A10 plays in allowing macrophages to move to the site of tumor growth a process that is essential to tumor development.

Waisman said the findings are an example of the complicated biology of cancer.

"We used to think that the only cells that mattered in a tumor were the cancer cells, and that's it, but now we are beginning to see that other cells must collaborate with cancer cells to drive tumor growth and permit an evolution of the cancer cells into metastatic cells. This change is what causes poor prognosis and ultimately what kills the patient," he said.

Waisman and colleagues discovered that tumors will not grow without macrophage assistance. These macrophages must come from the blood or from other locations in the tissues. How they are able to move through the tissues or from the blood supply into the tumor had always been a mystery.

These macrophages need to chew their way through the tissue that forms a barrier around the growing tumor in order to move into the tumor site and combine with the cancer cells. The researchers found on the outside surface of the macrophage is a protein called S100A10, which enables the macrophage to remove the tissue barriers retarding migration to the tumor site.

Theoretically, blocking either the macrophages or S100A10 chemically could slow, or even stop, tumor growth.

"We found that the protein, S100A10, acts like a pair of scissors on the outside of the macrophages that empowers the macrophages with the ability to chew their way through tissues and enter the tumor site where they release substances that stimulate cancer cell growth and metastatic evolution," said Waisman.

He said the next step is to figure out exactly how S100A10 functions as a molecular scissor and also to identify pharmaceutical agents that can block the action of S100A10, thereby preventing the movement of macrophages to the tumor site. By understanding exactly how S100A10 works at the molecular level, it may even be possible to design agents which block its activity.

###

The study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr

Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 33,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards to young investigators, and it also funds cutting-edge research projects conducted by senior researchers.

The AACR has numerous fruitful collaborations with organizations and foundations in the U.S. and abroad, and functions as the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, a charitable initiative that supports groundbreaking research aimed at getting new cancer treatments to patients in an accelerated time frame. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care, and Educational Workshops are held for the training of young cancer investigators. The AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Discovery; Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Prevention Research. In 2010, AACR journals received 20 percent of the total number of citations given to oncology journals. The AACR also publishes Cancer Today, a magazine for cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers, which provides practical knowledge and new hope for cancer survivors.

A major goal of the AACR is to educate the general public and policymakers about the value of cancer research in improving public health, the vital importance of increases in sustained funding for cancer research and biomedical science, and the need for national policies that foster innovation and the acceleration of progress against the 200 diseases we call cancer.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/aafc-kdo102411.php

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Expert resumes testifying for Jackson doctor (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? An anesthesia expert testifying for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death on Friday challenged some of the prosecution's theories about the events leading up to the singer's death.

But Dr. Paul White has yet to address the crux of the defense's case ? its theory that the pop superstar gave himself a lethal dose of a powerful anesthetic.

Instead, White spent much of his early testimony challenging a prosecution expert's estimation of how much of the sedative lorazepam Jackson received.

The drug, along with another sedative, was cited as a contributing factor in Jackson's June 2009 death, which was blamed on propofol intoxication. White is an expert in the anesthetic propofol and is expected to be the final defense witness.

Dr. Conrad Murray has acknowledged he was giving the singer propofol as a sleep aid.

White showed jurors a model he helped create that contends Jackson took some oral lorazepam in addition to an injection of the medication that Murray acknowledged giving the singer. In opening statements, Murray's attorneys claimed Jackson may have taken several lorazepam pills without his doctor's knowledge.

White's testimony disputes a theory presented by prosecution expert Dr. Steven Shafer that Jackson would have had to receive several injections of the sedative to reach the level of lorazepam found in his blood after his death.

White has not yet challenged Shafer's theory that Murray must have given Jackson more propofol than he acknowledged in an interview with police two days after the singer's death.

White's testimony will likely be vigorously challenged by prosecutors, who spent four weeks laying out their case that Murray is a greedy, inept and reckless doctor who was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid in the singer's bedroom.

The anesthetic is not intended as a sleep aid and, medical groups say, should be administered only in a hospital or surgical setting with advanced monitoring equipment.

Cross-examination of White will be delayed until Monday to give prosecutors more time to review a new analysis prepared by the defense based on recently conducted tests of samples taken during Jackson's autopsy.

The judge hearing the case, which ends its fifth week Friday, reluctantly agreed to delay the cross examination and said he is concerned about losing jurors. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, however, noted the panel has remained rapt throughout the trial.

"Every single member of that jury and all the alternates are paying extraordinary attention to every witness," Pastor said.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

White will likely challenge Shafer's theory that the only scenario he believes explains Jackson's death is that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip and left the room after he thought the singer was sleeping peacefully.

Murray told police he left Jackson's bedside but claims he gave the singer only a small dose of propofol the morning of Jackson's death. He said he left the room and returned after two minutes to find the pop superstar unresponsive.

Murray's defense attorneys have repeatedly claimed that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose, but it will be up to White to explain how that would be possible.

White is a retired researcher and professor who performed clinical studies of propofol for years before it was approved for usage by the Food and Drug Administration in 1989. He said he was initially reluctant to become involved in the case, but after reading through more than a dozen expert reports, he couldn't figure out how others came to the conclusion that Murray would have had to leave Jackson on a propofol IV drip for the singer to have died with the anesthetic still coursing through his body.

He said the others' theories didn't make sense based on Murray's statement to police.

"I thought that there were questions if in fact Murray had administered the drugs that he described in his conversations with the police department in the doses he described, I would not have expected Michael Jackson to have died," White said.

___

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

___

McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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Dragonflies Are Literally Scared to Death of Fish (LiveScience.com)

Just the mere presence of a predator can stress out dragonfly larvae enough to kill them ? even if the dragonflies are out of the predator's reach and completely safe, a new study shows.

Biologists at the University of Toronto placed juvenile dragonfly (Leucorrhinia intacta) larvae and their predatory fish together in aquarium tanks. The two were separated so that although the dragonflies could see and smell their predators, the fish could not actually reach or eat the dragonflies.

"What we found was unexpected ? more of the dragonflies died when predators shared their habitat," study researcher Locke Rowe, chairman of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the university, said in a statement.

The dragonfly larvae that were exposed to predatory fish or aquatic insects whose presence may have also caused the larvae stress had survival rates 2.5 to 4.3 times lower than those that had not been exposed to either stressor.

Rowe and colleagues then conducted another experiment to determine whether stressful conditions influence dragonfly metamorphosis. "We allowed the juvenile dragonflies to go through metamorphosis to become adult dragonflies, and found those that had grown up around predators were more likely to fail to complete metamorphosis successfully, more often dying in the process," Rowe said.

The results showed that 11 percent of the larvae that were exposed to fish died before reaching adulthood, compared with only 2 percent of larvae that went through metamorphosis in a predator-free environment.

"As we learn more about how animals respond to stressful conditions ? whether it's the presence of predators or stresses from other natural or human-caused disruptions ? we increasingly find that stress brings a greater risk of death, presumably from things such as infections that normally wouldn't kill them," Rowe said.

The findings can be used as a model for future studies on the harmful and potentially lethal effects of stress on living organisms, the researchers suggested.

The study was recently published in the journal Ecology and is highlighted in the journal Nature this week.

You can follow LiveScience writer Remy Melina on Twitter @remymelina. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience? and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111028/sc_livescience/dragonfliesareliterallyscaredtodeathoffish

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ToyotaEquipment: RT @deepgreendesign: World Clock is #fun! http://t.co/C6QROesz Clock of #energy, #population, #food, #US Crime & More! #Science #Statist ...

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22 wounded Libyan rebel fighters arrive in Mass.

A wounded Libyan fighter is helped off of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan fighter is helped off of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan fighter is taken of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan is assisted as he prepares to board a U.S. military aircraft along with more than 20 others bound for the US for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

A wounded Libyan lies on a stretcher as he is readied to be loaded onto a U.S. military aircraft along with more than 20 others bound for the US for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Kretz makes remarks in front of a U.S. military aircraft bound for the United States to transport more then 20 wounded Libyans for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

BOSTON (AP) ? Nearly two dozen former Libyan rebel fighters were carried in stretchers or limped and hobbled out of a U.S. Air Force medical evacuation jet in Massachusetts on Saturday at the end of a 13-hour flight for treatment of wounds sustained in the war that ousted slain longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The envoy of Libya's National Transitional Council said the 22 fighters are the first of an estimated 200 combatants who will be flown to the United States for treatment. But Mark Ward, senior adviser on Arab transitions for the U.S. Department of State, later said several European nations have offered to treat some fighters, and the number of those who could come to this country has not been determined.

The fighters were brought to the country following a request to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to the Libyan capital of Tripoli last week, Ward said shortly before their flight landed at Boston's Logan International Airport in the midst of a wintry storm.

"The United States was very proud to help the Libyan people in eight months of struggle against Gadhafi and his regime," Ward said. "We know the struggle will now continue as they rebuild their country and, in particular, we wanted to help with some of the war wounded, some of those brave, young men that fought the regime's forces and brought it to its knees."

"Libya's new freedom has come at a price in human life and suffering. Just as the United States and the international community stood with the Libyan people during the revolution, we continue to work with them now to address urgent needs," Ward said.

The wounded fighters will be treated at the Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass., a long-term care facility.

An internationally established fund used by Libya's transitional government says it will pay the fighters' hospital bills.

The fighters were met at the airport by Ward and Ali Aujali, Libya's ambassador to the U.S. The combatants did not speak to reporters. Firefighters stationed at the airport, Massachusetts state troopers and Emergency Medical Services technicians immediately helped them get into ambulances that were waiting on the tarmac in the freezing rain.

Still, Ward said the former rebel fighters had mixed reaction on arrival in the United States.

"We were just on the plane with them ... they look very excited, but also a little bit apprehensive," Ward said. "Many of them have never been on an airplane before, this is a new country, it's very cold for them. ... Tripoli was warm when they left 13 hours ago, so this is going to be quite an experience for them, but also for the wonderful staff at Spaulding Hospital."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-29-Wounded%20Libyans-Boston/id-664b969da07f4c6a9f15ea2bc3e84655

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Mobb Deep Up For Jay-Z Collabo, Despite Past Beef

'It's just hip-hop, man,' Prodigy tells MTV News' 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Havoc and Prodigy of Mobb Deep
Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News

Time heals all wounds. After Jay-Z and Mobb Deep squared off lyrically in 2001, it was hard to imagine that the rap titans would ever get to a place where they would even consider a collaboration.

Nothing is in the works, but after working with Roc Nation's Jay Electronica, Mobb Deep told MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway that they'd be open to the idea of working with Hov.

"Tell [Jay-Z] to get in the studio," Prodigy said when he and his partner Havoc appeared on Wednesday's "RapFix Live." "He gotta come to Infamous Studios in Queens, though."

Though the two acts threw quite a few barbs at each other, most notably on Jay-Z's "Takeover" and Mobb Deep's "Crawlin' " 10 years ago, Prodigy was recently featured on a track with Hov's signee Jay Electronica on his "Call of Duty" track.

On the song's hook, Prodigy even spits, "Put your diamonds in the sky, wave 'em side to side/ Get juxed for your shine," a double-sided lyric that evokes the spirit of a robbery and makes a play on Jay's diamond-shaped hand gesture that he throws up at all his shows.

Mobb Deep even recorded the song at Jigga's Roc Da Mic studios in Manhattan; they clearly harbor no ill will. After Electronica attempted to reach Prodigy on Twitter, the Queens MC got the word that the Hov protégé wanted to work alongside him. "I just got mad phone calls. I woke up late that morning, and everybody was blowin' me up like, 'Yo, Jay Electronica is trying to get in the studio right now,' " Prodigy recalled. "So we just went and knocked it out."

Mobb Deep also plan to get together with J. Cole, another Jay-Z signee. "I was on the phone with J. Cole like the next day, congratulating him on his album and all that," Prodigy said of his conversation with the Cole World MC. "We're supposed to be doing some work together too."

For Mobb Deep, it isn't about beef; instead, the duo are at a place in their careers where all they want to do is make quality tunes. "It's just hip-hop, man, making good songs. Everything else is irrelevant, man," Prodigy stated. "All the feelings and dudes wanna act feminine, put that to the side, man."

Do you hope Mobb Deep and Jay-Z team up? Let us know in the comments!

Related Videos

• Mobb Deep On 'RapFix Live'

Related Artists

• Mobb Deep
• Jay-Z

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673283/mobb-deep-jay-z-collabo-potential.jhtml

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Moffitt Cancer Center researchers find more clues to causes of breast cancer

Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
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Contact: Ferdie De Vega
Ferdinand.DeVega@moffitt.org
813-745-7858
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Hyperactivation of Akt and overexpression of IKBKE observed in 50 percent of human cancers: inhibitors needed

TAMPA, Fla. -- Publishing in the current issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 286, No 43), researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have discovered additional mechanisms of "Akt" activation and suggest a component of that activation mechanism inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit epsilon (IKBKE) could be targeted as a therapeutic intervention for treating cancer.

Akt, also known as protein kinase B, is one of about 500 protein kinases in the human genome. Kinases are known to regulate the majority of cellular pathways. Akt modifies other proteins chemically and regulates cell proliferation.

"Recent evidence suggests that IKBKE is an oncogenic kinase that participates in malignant transformation and tumor development," said Moffitt senior researcher and lead author Jin Q. Cheng, Ph.D., M.D. "Our study identified Akt as a bona fide substrate of IKBKE and IKBKE direct activation of Akt independent PI3K and revealed a functional link between IKBKE and Akt activation in breast cancer."

Cheng's lab studies a variety of genetic alterations and their molecular mechanisms in both ovarian and breast cancer, particularly on their effect on the molecules that are regulated by Akt and the small molecule inhibitors of Akt.

"We found that inhibition of Akt suppresses IKBKE's oncogenic transformation," said Cheng. "This is significant because overexpression of IKBKE and activation of Akt has been observed in more than 50 percent of human cancers. Akt inhibitors targeting PH domain do not have inhibitory effect on IKBKE-induced Akt."

The researchers experimented with a variety of inhibitors currently being used in clinical trials.

The laboratory study utilized breast cancer cell lines from received from patient donors at Moffitt and cell lines received from Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University. The work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant and a grant from the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program.

###

About Moffitt Cancer Center
Follow Moffitt on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MoffittCancerCenter
Follow Moffitt on Twitter: @MoffittNews
Follow Moffitt on YouTube: MoffittNews

Located in Tampa, Moffitt Cancer Center is Florida's only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, a designation that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 14 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Pennsylvania and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. Moffitt marks a very important anniversary in 2011 - 25 years committed to one mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ferdie De Vega
Ferdinand.DeVega@moffitt.org
813-745-7858
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Hyperactivation of Akt and overexpression of IKBKE observed in 50 percent of human cancers: inhibitors needed

TAMPA, Fla. -- Publishing in the current issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 286, No 43), researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have discovered additional mechanisms of "Akt" activation and suggest a component of that activation mechanism inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit epsilon (IKBKE) could be targeted as a therapeutic intervention for treating cancer.

Akt, also known as protein kinase B, is one of about 500 protein kinases in the human genome. Kinases are known to regulate the majority of cellular pathways. Akt modifies other proteins chemically and regulates cell proliferation.

"Recent evidence suggests that IKBKE is an oncogenic kinase that participates in malignant transformation and tumor development," said Moffitt senior researcher and lead author Jin Q. Cheng, Ph.D., M.D. "Our study identified Akt as a bona fide substrate of IKBKE and IKBKE direct activation of Akt independent PI3K and revealed a functional link between IKBKE and Akt activation in breast cancer."

Cheng's lab studies a variety of genetic alterations and their molecular mechanisms in both ovarian and breast cancer, particularly on their effect on the molecules that are regulated by Akt and the small molecule inhibitors of Akt.

"We found that inhibition of Akt suppresses IKBKE's oncogenic transformation," said Cheng. "This is significant because overexpression of IKBKE and activation of Akt has been observed in more than 50 percent of human cancers. Akt inhibitors targeting PH domain do not have inhibitory effect on IKBKE-induced Akt."

The researchers experimented with a variety of inhibitors currently being used in clinical trials.

The laboratory study utilized breast cancer cell lines from received from patient donors at Moffitt and cell lines received from Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University. The work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant and a grant from the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program.

###

About Moffitt Cancer Center
Follow Moffitt on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MoffittCancerCenter
Follow Moffitt on Twitter: @MoffittNews
Follow Moffitt on YouTube: MoffittNews

Located in Tampa, Moffitt Cancer Center is Florida's only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, a designation that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 14 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Pennsylvania and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. Moffitt marks a very important anniversary in 2011 - 25 years committed to one mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

---

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/hlmc-mcc102711.php

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New aircraft for research

Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
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Contact: Folke Mehrtens
medien@awi.de
0049-047-148-312-007
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Polar 6 ready for first assignment in Antarctica

Bremerhaven -- Today the new polar research aircraft Polar 6 will be presented in Bremerhaven, Germany, at the beginning of next week the Basler BT-67 will take off to the Antarctic. Its first job there will be to carry out measurements of the ice crust, which is up to several kilometres thick. The measurement flights will contribute to answering one of the major open questions in climate research: To what degree is the sea level rising due to changes in the ice cover in Antarctica? "The polar regions play a key role in the worldwide development of the climate. Research there thus has high priority for us. We provide modern and reliable research equipment that scientists need for their important work," states Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research. The ministry is funding the purchase and equipping of the Polar 6 with a total of 9.78 million euros.

"Aircraft of the Basler BT-67 type have proven to be outstanding for assignments in the polar regions," says Prof. Dr. Heinrich Miller, deputy director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, who has frequently travelled in the Antarctic on polar aircraft. "We are extremely delighted that with the Polar 6 we now have a second aircraft of this type at our disposal, giving us greater capacity to handle the enormous demand for research flights in polar regions." It is now possible, he adds, to carry out important investigations in the Arctic in spring without having to shorten the Antarctic season at the same time.

The sister plane Polar 5 has been in operation for the Alfred Wegener Institute since 2007 and has supplied a large volume of valuable data since then. For instance, researchers have developed a system for towing an electromagnetic sensor (EM bird) below the aircraft to measure the thickness of sea ice. Before this was only possible with helicopters and use of the plane will also increase the range several times over. In this way scientists can determine the thickness of sea ice in regions that could not be reached in the past. These data are entered in coupled climate models and thus improve our understanding of the interactions between ocean, ice and atmosphere.

Among others, geophysicists of the Alfred Wegener Institute employ polar aircraft in the Antarctic to determine the structure of the ice and the Earth's crust below it. This has enabled them to discover previously unknown lakes under ice that reaches a thickness of several kilometres in some cases. Of particular interest to the researchers, however, is how the ice formed, relocated and moved in the course of the Earth's history. For this purpose deep ice cores will be obtained at selected sites, thus permitting conclusions to be drawn about climate history in the course of the alternation between ice ages and interglacials. The best places for taking such cores will be specified beforehand, e.g. on the basis of aircraft measurements. And to make the picture even more complete, the ice structures between the specific drilling sites will be determined by means of geoscientific measurement flights.

The new research aircraft Polar 6 was modified and approved for operation in polar regions in the USA and Canada. Now technicians and scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute are equipping the plane with modern measuring instruments in Bremerhaven jointly with technicians and pilots of the operator Kenn Borek Air Ltd. (Calgary, Canada), FIELAX (Bremerhaven), OPTIMARE (Bremerhaven), Werum (Lneburg) and S. E. A. Datentechnik GmbH (Cologne). Openings in the roof and on the floor of the aircraft make it possible to install various sensors according to the respective scientific focus. Besides a configuration for geophysical measurements, the plane can also be specially fitted for atmospheric measurements, for example.

At the beginning of next week Polar 6 will take off for Antarctica where several geophysical measurement programmes are planned. With a radar altimeter researchers will determine the topography of the Antarctic ice sheet in areas where the satellite CryoSat-2 operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as research groups from the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) on the ground also collect data on the topography of the ice sheet. Among other things, CryoSat-2 is used to determine changes in the surface elevations of the Antarctic to within a centimetre by means of repeated measurements. The measurements with Polar 6 serve to check the CryoSat-2 data products regarding their accuracy and constitute an important element of ESA's CryoSat validation programme. After that the scientists will combine several geophysical measuring instruments to map the structure of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is several kilometres thick, and record geological structures of the continent under the ice as well as the underground topography.

After additional measurement flights and logistics operations, such as to Germany's Antarctic Neumayer Station III, Polar 6 will be serviced in Canada in spring and prepared for assignments during the first Arctic campaign in 2012.

Technical data:

Polar 6 (call sign C-G HGF); type: Basler BT-67
Overall length: 20 m
Overall height: 5.2 m
Wingspan: 29 m
Empty weight: 7680 kg (with ski landing gear 8340 kg)
Max. cruising speed: 400 km/h
Min. cruising speed: 156 km/h
Range (excluding payload): 3900 km
Range (1000 kg payload): 3530 km

###

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Folke Mehrtens
medien@awi.de
0049-047-148-312-007
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Polar 6 ready for first assignment in Antarctica

Bremerhaven -- Today the new polar research aircraft Polar 6 will be presented in Bremerhaven, Germany, at the beginning of next week the Basler BT-67 will take off to the Antarctic. Its first job there will be to carry out measurements of the ice crust, which is up to several kilometres thick. The measurement flights will contribute to answering one of the major open questions in climate research: To what degree is the sea level rising due to changes in the ice cover in Antarctica? "The polar regions play a key role in the worldwide development of the climate. Research there thus has high priority for us. We provide modern and reliable research equipment that scientists need for their important work," states Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research. The ministry is funding the purchase and equipping of the Polar 6 with a total of 9.78 million euros.

"Aircraft of the Basler BT-67 type have proven to be outstanding for assignments in the polar regions," says Prof. Dr. Heinrich Miller, deputy director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, who has frequently travelled in the Antarctic on polar aircraft. "We are extremely delighted that with the Polar 6 we now have a second aircraft of this type at our disposal, giving us greater capacity to handle the enormous demand for research flights in polar regions." It is now possible, he adds, to carry out important investigations in the Arctic in spring without having to shorten the Antarctic season at the same time.

The sister plane Polar 5 has been in operation for the Alfred Wegener Institute since 2007 and has supplied a large volume of valuable data since then. For instance, researchers have developed a system for towing an electromagnetic sensor (EM bird) below the aircraft to measure the thickness of sea ice. Before this was only possible with helicopters and use of the plane will also increase the range several times over. In this way scientists can determine the thickness of sea ice in regions that could not be reached in the past. These data are entered in coupled climate models and thus improve our understanding of the interactions between ocean, ice and atmosphere.

Among others, geophysicists of the Alfred Wegener Institute employ polar aircraft in the Antarctic to determine the structure of the ice and the Earth's crust below it. This has enabled them to discover previously unknown lakes under ice that reaches a thickness of several kilometres in some cases. Of particular interest to the researchers, however, is how the ice formed, relocated and moved in the course of the Earth's history. For this purpose deep ice cores will be obtained at selected sites, thus permitting conclusions to be drawn about climate history in the course of the alternation between ice ages and interglacials. The best places for taking such cores will be specified beforehand, e.g. on the basis of aircraft measurements. And to make the picture even more complete, the ice structures between the specific drilling sites will be determined by means of geoscientific measurement flights.

The new research aircraft Polar 6 was modified and approved for operation in polar regions in the USA and Canada. Now technicians and scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute are equipping the plane with modern measuring instruments in Bremerhaven jointly with technicians and pilots of the operator Kenn Borek Air Ltd. (Calgary, Canada), FIELAX (Bremerhaven), OPTIMARE (Bremerhaven), Werum (Lneburg) and S. E. A. Datentechnik GmbH (Cologne). Openings in the roof and on the floor of the aircraft make it possible to install various sensors according to the respective scientific focus. Besides a configuration for geophysical measurements, the plane can also be specially fitted for atmospheric measurements, for example.

At the beginning of next week Polar 6 will take off for Antarctica where several geophysical measurement programmes are planned. With a radar altimeter researchers will determine the topography of the Antarctic ice sheet in areas where the satellite CryoSat-2 operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as research groups from the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) on the ground also collect data on the topography of the ice sheet. Among other things, CryoSat-2 is used to determine changes in the surface elevations of the Antarctic to within a centimetre by means of repeated measurements. The measurements with Polar 6 serve to check the CryoSat-2 data products regarding their accuracy and constitute an important element of ESA's CryoSat validation programme. After that the scientists will combine several geophysical measuring instruments to map the structure of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is several kilometres thick, and record geological structures of the continent under the ice as well as the underground topography.

After additional measurement flights and logistics operations, such as to Germany's Antarctic Neumayer Station III, Polar 6 will be serviced in Canada in spring and prepared for assignments during the first Arctic campaign in 2012.

Technical data:

Polar 6 (call sign C-G HGF); type: Basler BT-67
Overall length: 20 m
Overall height: 5.2 m
Wingspan: 29 m
Empty weight: 7680 kg (with ski landing gear 8340 kg)
Max. cruising speed: 400 km/h
Min. cruising speed: 156 km/h
Range (excluding payload): 3900 km
Range (1000 kg payload): 3530 km

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/haog-naf102811.php

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Analysis: Buybacks potentially distort U.S. earnings picture (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Stock buybacks among large U.S. multinationals are poised to reach their highest level since the recession once third-quarter results are done, as companies step up repurchases to take advantage of lower stock prices.

The increase, however, raises several questions for investors because buybacks can make earnings look more robust than they really are, and because more money spent on shares means less invested in the business.

Even institutional investors may not fully appreciate the effect buybacks have on earnings, said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor's.

Companies are "going to spend what they need to do to protect earnings." he said.

Buybacks among S&P 500 companies slumped from 2007 to 2008, when the United States entered a recession, and bottomed in the second quarter of 2009. They have risen steadily since then, notching up eight consecutive quarters of sequential gains, according to S&P, which says the third-quarter total may top the second-quarter's $109 billion.

In the second quarter, the most recent for which S&P provided data, buybacks accounted for just under 1 percent of the S&P 500's total market capitalization. At their decade peak, in third quarter 2007, buybacks accounted for 1.3 percent of the S&P 500's market cap.

The majority of U.S. companies that have reported third-quarter results so far have beaten Wall Street forecasts, many by just a penny or two per share. Pressure to make the number is no less intense when the economy is lousy.

Buying back stock when prices are low can be smart, but the scale of recent buybacks raises questions about the quality of earnings beats, analysts and investors said. Buying stock may foster shorter-term thinking in the management suite as executives use cash, or raise debt, to buy equity when the business may need additional investment.

Investors are not sensitive enough to know easily how a company can tack on a couple of cents to their earnings-per-share by lowering the share count, said Kevin Beech, manager of equity analysis at Behind the Numbers, a research provider.

"If management has done a deep dive and feels it's the best use of funds, that's one thing," Beech said. "But companies from time to time use, not chicanery necessarily, but accounting help and Band-Aids, to hit their numbers."

Through the third quarter, U.S. companies authorized more than $400 billion in stock repurchases, up by nearly half over 2010's year-to-date total, according to Birinyi Associates.

They include Lowe's (LOW.N), Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), Coca-Cola (KO.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), DuPont (DD.N) and Navistar (NAV.N). IBM (IBM.N) and Intel (INTC.O) and 3M Co (MMM.N) are committing billions.

Buybacks rose steadily in August then flattened, but last week reached a 13-week high of $16.4 billion, averaging $3.3 billion a day. Some jumped too soon as weekly buybacks peaked in late April, when the S&P 500 index (.SPX) was near highs for the year.

For a graphic, see http://link.reuters.com/wuz64s

APPETITE FOR STOCK

In 2004 and 2005, investors rewarded companies that reduced share count, so buybacks soared, but by 2008 nervous companies reduced or stopped such programs, Silverblatt said. These days, companies are negating stock options or shares used for acquisitions, but are not yet broadly reducing share counts.

"Companies are not making that leap yet," he said. "The question is, is the trend starting? Is Occupy Buyback starting up again? If we get more certainty and less uncertainty, yes."

Some buybacks are more effective than others. Netflix (NFLX.O) bought back shares at an average price above $200 in the third quarter. Its stock fell below $80 this week.

If the current pace continues, EPS could get a sizable boost next earnings season, said Trim Tabs, which analyzes stock market liquidity.

Some companies may be playing a quarter-by-quarter earnings game, but that is hard to prove, said Leon Mirochnik, research analyst and associate portfolio manager at Trim Tabs.

"Long-term, I don't think it's in their interest," he said. "It's not a sustainable measure of earnings power."

The recent increase in buybacks reflects a lack of confidence in the economy, so companies' own shares look like a better bet than other investments, Mirochnik said.

"At the moment, I think they're doing the right thing from a capital structure perspective," he said.

Mirochnik added, however, that corporate insiders are selling more than they are buying, even as their companies spend big. When executives and companies are both buying, that combination is a strong predictor of future stock gains, but that is not happening now.

PRESSURE TO MAKE THE NUMBERS

Buybacks can substantially lift reported results.

Praxair Inc's (PX.N) third-quarter profit rose 14 percent, EPS by 16 percent, as the industrial gas supplier bought back 2 percent of its stock. Praxair acknowledged buybacks lifted results and said it plans more.

"Earnings per share grew faster than net income due to share repurchases," Chief Financial Officer James Sawyer said.

Rival Airgas Inc's (ARG.N) net income rose 17 percent, but EPS jumped 29 percent. At least one analyst cited the buyback as a reason for Airgas's 1-cent earnings beat.

Motorola Solutions (MSI.N) bought back $744 million in the quarter. Asked whether that was to boost EPS, Chief Executive Greg Brown said, "Smart investors see right through that."

When Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N) reported results on Wednesday, it had 218 million shares outstanding, down 22 million from a year ago. Credit Suisse analyst Carlos Laboy said earnings got a 2-cent boost from that lower share count, which helped the company beat expectations by 1 cent.

Illinois Tool Works (ITW.N), whose profit beat by 2 cents, spent $1 billion this year buying back shares that at one point were down by a third from their 52-week peak.

That discount "made it pretty attractive for them to do that, and it also highlights potentially some challenges in the market to meet their guidance," said Jeff Windau, industrials analyst at Edward Jones.

(Additional reporting by Martinne Geller, Krishna Das, Lewis Krauskopf, David Gaffen, Ernest Scheyder and Sinead Carew in New York, John Stoll in Detroit, Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/bs_nm/us_usa_companies_buybacks

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Mother accused of abusing, abandoning disabled son (Reuters)

DENVER (Reuters) ? A Colorado mother is accused of locking her 14-year-old developmentally disabled son inside a squalid trailer, feeding him just four meals a week, then abandoning him to take a trip with her boyfriend, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Amanda Jolliff, 36, is charged with false imprisonment, child abuse, and at-risk neglect of her son, discovered to be living in a rodent-infested mobile home in Erie, Colorado, northwest of Denver, according to a statement from the Weld County District Attorney's Office.

Her live-in boyfriend, Richard Smith, 31, also was charged, it said. They were jailed on $20,000 bond each.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, police were called to the mobile home park last month after a neighbor found the boy, who was not identified, hiding underneath his porch with his mother nowhere to be seen.

The neighbor said Jolliff and Smith had taken a bus to New York two weeks earlier, and others who lived at the home had moved away, leaving the boy to fend for himself.

When police searched the home, they found mice scurrying throughout the residence and "detected an overpowering odor of animal urine and feces," according to the affidavit.

Inside the home were two dogs, a macaw, two cockatiels, a cockatoo, two ducks and four toads, police said.

The boy told police his mother would lock him inside his room, letting him out just to clean up after the ducks. He said that since 2008 he was fed spaghetti or macaroni just four times a week.

Police said the boy's bedroom window was boarded up, and there was an outside lock on his bedroom door. Inside the pantry, police said they found bags of spaghetti noodles that had been chewed open by mice and contaminated with droppings.

The boy said he was supposed to be home-schooled but that he had not received any education since his mother removed him from public school three years ago.

When Jolliff was located by police and questioned, she admitted to locking up the boy because he would run away and "used to irritate me really bad," the affidavit said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Jerry Norton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/us_nm/us_childabuse_abandon

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FINRA ordered by SEC to improve documents policies (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The brokerage industry's self-policing organization has been ordered to improve its document procedures after allegedly providing altered records to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an inspection in 2008.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's Kansas City office altered the documents, the SEC said Thursday in announcing the order.

Known as FINRA, the 4,500-member organization agreed to hire an independent consultant to review its policies for handling documents. The SEC said the 2008 incident was the third time in eight years that FINRA employees had given the SEC doctored or misleading documents.

FINRA didn't admit or deny the allegations. The organization has been criticized for failing to uncover Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme and the alleged fraud by R. Allen Stanford.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_finra_documents

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Murata Manufacturing shows off self-balancing electric walking aid

Walking assistants of the future come in all shapes and sizes -- from exoskeletons to high-tech walkers -- and you can now also this electric walking aid from Murata Manufacturing to the list of possibilities. It's inspired by some of the standalone robots that the company has built and, much like the Segway, it's able to maintain its balance and stand upright on its own (with an extra set of wheels for some added security). Unlike traditional walkers, however, it requires virtually no effort to push, with built-in sensors able to detect how much the person's body is tilted, and how fast or slow it should move to keep up with them -- it's also apparently powerful to carry a person's luggage or groceries. As you might have suspected, however, it's still just a prototype, and the company isn't ready to say when it might become an actual product. Head on past the break for the company's recent demonstration at CEATEC.

Continue reading Murata Manufacturing shows off self-balancing electric walking aid

Murata Manufacturing shows off self-balancing electric walking aid originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bat Die-Offs Affect Human Health and Economics

60-Second Science | More Science

Biologist Jeffrey Foster at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16 discussed the implications to humans of the bat die-off resulting from the fungal disease called white nose syndrome. Steve Mirsky reports.

October 24, 2011?|

More 60-Second Science

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?With the loss of these one, two, maybe 10 million bat individuals in these populations, what are the implications??

Bats in the US are being plagued by a fungal condition called white nose syndrome. Northern Arizona University biologist Jeffrey Foster talked at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16th about what the loss of large numbers of bats would mean.

?And certainly, implications for ecosystem for ecosystem function, particularly for forest health, since these bats feed primarily on insects, and the insects are a major part of these forests. Human health implications, particularly with the vectors of particular diseases that we have out there. And then finally, economic implications for agriculture?so there?s a recent estimate by Boyles et al of the economic impact of bats at nearly $23 billion. Clearly bats are very, very important to agriculture in the United States.?

?Steve Mirsky

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=15270acbe93321ad57949e5840df9e3a

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Sanatoriums could battle drug-resistant TB boom

Tuberculosis resistant to antibiotics is booming in Europe. In Minsk, Belarus, 35 per cent of new cases of TB are already multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) when the patient is infected, new research reveals. The finding suggests there may be far more MDR TB worldwide than estimated by the World Health Organization.

There is little robust data on how many TB cases worldwide are MDR. Resistant bacteria emerge when patients do not take their TB antibiotics properly, and can then spread to healthy people. Of the 5.7 million new or recurrent cases of TB in 2010, the WHO estimates that only 5 per cent were MDR.

But the Minsk data suggest percentages are far higher in eastern Europe ? and they are thought to be increasing in parts of Asia and Africa as well. "Once again there are large numbers of patients for whom there are no effective anti-TB drugs," say Giovanni Migliori, head of the WHO collaborating centre for TB at Tradate, Italy, and Keetan Dheda of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Extreme scenario

A few antibiotics are kept exclusively to treat MDR, but they are toxic and expensive. If patients stop taking them prematurely, resistance to even those drugs can develop, resulting in virtually untreatable, extremely drug-resistant (XDR) TB.

Some 15 per cent of the MDR cases in Minsk were also XDR. "The findings of this survey are alarming," conclude the investigators, Alena Skrahena and colleagues from the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Pulmonology and Tuberculosis in Minsk. They "represent the highest proportions of MDR TB ever recorded in the world".

In South Africa, another TB hotspot, people with XDR TB are often simply released into vulnerable communities. In rich countries they are isolated in hospitals, but this is expensive. Migliori says that work soon to be published shows even western European hospitals do not fully protect healthcare workers from infection.

"Specialised, voluntary sanatoria would protect the community, and treat patients correctly, even if it's only palliative care for the dying," says Migliori. Modern, cure-oriented medical systems are not built around isolating patients, or palliative care, he says. It is not clear whether current plans to build new treatment centres for the epidemic of TB ravaging South Africa, for example, will include such facilities.

Journal references: Skrahena et al.'s Minsk TB study; European Respiratory Journal, DOI: 10.1183/09031936.00145411; Migliori and Dheda's call for new sanatoriums: The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61062-3

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