Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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Detecting Lung Cancer at a Higher Rate

The findings from a recent study show the risk of dying from lung cancer could be reduced by 20 percent by use of a low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) scan.  With 160,000 deaths each year related to cigarette smoking, this type of screening could save up to 32,000 lives each year.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) launched the multicenter National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) in 2002,  led at Emory by radiologist and researcher Dr. Kay Vydareny.  This trial compared two ways of detecting lung cancer: low-dose helical (spiral) computed tomography (CT) and standard chest X-ray, for their effects on lung cancer death rates in a high-risk population.

Both chest X-rays and helical CT scans have been used as a means to find lung cancer early, but the effects of these screening techniques on lung cancer mortality rates had not been determined. Over a 20-month period, more than 53,000 current or former heavy smokers ages 55 to 74 joined NLST at 33 study sites across the United States. In November 2010, the initial findings from NLST were released. Participants who received low-dose helical CT scans had a 20 percent lower risk of dying from lung cancer than participants who received standard chest X-rays.

Read more

Posted on November 18, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Scientists still searching for HIV’s lethal ways

Guido Silvestri, MD

It’s a knotty, complex question, and one that’s nearly 30 years old: how does HIV cause AIDS? That is, how does the virus slowly destroy the immune system?

Emory immunologist and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Guido Silvestri, MD, and his colleagues are using a method called comparative AIDS research to try and answer that question. In other words, the scientists compare humans infected with HIV who develop AIDS and nonhuman primates from Africa who are infected with SIV, or simian immunodeficiency virus.

Silvestri is chief of the Division of Microbiology and Immunology at Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

Although SIV is very similar to HIV in terms of genetic and molecular structure, once infected with this virus, the Old World Monkey, the sooty mangabey, does not get sick.

“It’s a major mystery in AIDS research because these animals have virus replication that remains active in their body as long as they’re alive,” says Silvestri. “So, it’s not just the infection and the virus replicating that kills people. There’s something more that happens.”

Silvestri describes this research in Emory University’s Sound Science.

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin in Immunology Leave a comment

Internationally Recognized Violinist Raises Money for Alzheimer’s Research

Virtuoso Robert McDuffie Performs at the Schwartz Center November 19

On November 19, world famous virtuoso Robert McDuffie will dedicate the Atlanta premiere performance of Philip Glass’ “The American Four Seasons” to the Emory Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) and to his late father-in-law, Mack Taylor, who was a talented musician and business leader in the Atlanta community.

The event,  “A Family Affair” Dinner and Concert at Emory University, will honor Dr. Allan Levey, Director of the Emory ADRC and chair of the Neurology Department, and Dr. Stuart Zola, Associate Director of the ADRC and director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Dinner guests will gather at the Carlos Museum and proceed to the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts for the concert featuring McDuffie.

The Taylor family, including Gretchen and Andrew Taylor, Camille and Robert McDuffie and Mary Rose Taylor, are serving as chairs of this inaugural event to acknowledge Alzheimer’s toll on the entire family.

Honorary Chairs Stuart Zola and Allan Levey, Directors of Emory ADRC

“I’m incredibly honored to dedicate my performance to Dr. Levey and his team of scientists at Emory’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center,” says McDuffie. “For 15 years, they took great care of my wonderful father-in-law Mack Taylor, who suffered from this dreadful disease.”

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia among older adults, affects parts of the brain that control thinking, remembering and making decisions.

The incidence of Alzheimer’s is growing at an alarming rate. According to the CDC, it recently surpassed diabetes as the 6th leading cause of death among American adults. Funds raised will go toward education and collaboration so that others may learn and benefit from the work of Emory’s ADRC.

“Since millions of baby boomers are entering late adulthood, we expect the number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease to increase drastically over the next several decades,” says Levey. “We have an opportunity to build on the momentum of much exciting research progress in early identification of disease and development of many new treatment strategies that offer promise to slow its progression and lead to prevention.”

Emory’s ADRC is a National Institute on Aging funded center focused on clinical trials and research for Alzheimer’s disease. The only comprehensive program in Georgia and one of only 32 nationwide, the Emory ADRC is seeking cures through basic laboratory research, bringing new diagnostic methods and treatments into the clinic, and providing patients and their families with state-of-the-art care and access to cutting-edge advances.

The $150 tickets ($100 is tax deductible) are available at www.alumni.emory.edu/ADRC-AFamilyAffair or by calling 404-727-5713.

Posted on November 12, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

When veterans face emotional trauma

Emory researcher Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emory School of Medicine, and director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program, has been treating military personnel with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for more than a decade, helping them to learn how to deal with troubling memories. Through therapy, the service members are taught that by re-living the traumatic event, they can begin to learn how to control the effect those memories have when they surface.

Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, demonstrating virtual reality exposure therapy used to help veterans with PTSD.

PTSD is treatable and treatments vary from exposure therapy to medication to meditation techniques. Symptoms include reliving the event; avoiding situations that stir up memories of the event; discomfort expressing feelings; being constantly on the lookout for danger; irritability; drinking or drug problems; and employment, social and relationship problems.

Many times it’s the family members, friends or co-workers who are first to identify a change in the veteran or service member. Symptoms can arise abruptly and begin to interfere with every day activities. When those symptoms last for more than four weeks, it is likely that individual has posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Rothbaum emphasizes that treatment for PTSD is very effective. She encourages active duty military personnel, veterans and others who have been exposed to trauma to seek diagnosis and treatment for problems that persist. Symptoms can worsen with time, or cause social and employment problems that complicate recovery, but treatment can help.

More information on PTSD is available from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A clinical trial taking place at Emory uses virtual reality therapy for military personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been diagnosed with PTSD. To learn more about telemedicine consultations, visit the website.

Emory PTSD research by Dr. Rothbaum and her colleagues is featured on GE’s Healthymagination website.

Posted on November 11, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Secrets of the elite: Effective immune control of HIV

A small minority of individuals infected with HIV — about one in 300 – are naturally able to suppress viral replication with their immune systems, and can keep HIV levels extremely low for years. Doctors have named these individuals “elite controllers.”

“These individuals have naturally achieved the outcome sought by HIV vaccine researchers worldwide.  Studying them will ultimately inform the design of a more effective HIV vaccine,” says Vincent Marconi, a physician-scientist at Grady Health System’s Infectious Disease Clinic on Ponce de Leon and an associate professor in the Emory School of Medicine.

Vincent Marconi, MD

Marconi is a co-author (along with investigators at over 200 institutions) on a genomics study of elite controllers published Thursday in Science Express. Led by Bruce Walker at Massachusetts General Hospital and Paul de Bakker at the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the team of researchers scanned through the genomes of close to 1,000 elite controllers and 2,600 people with progressive HIV infection. They identified several sites linked with immune control of HIV, all in a region encoding HLA proteins.

HLA proteins play key roles in activating T cell immunity, and are also necessary for the development of T cells. They grab onto segments of proteins, called peptides, inside the cell and carry them to the cell membrane. In the right context, certain viral peptides can mark infected cells for destruction by “killer” T cells.

Previously, MGH/MIT researchers theorized that people with certain forms of their HLA genes develop T cells with a restricted repertoire, yet broader activity. Their T cells would be more likely to still recognize HIV when the virus mutates. A drawback is that these individuals may have a higher risk for developing autoimmune diseases. The theory is described in more detail in this Nature News article.

Marconi is continuing his part of this research into what makes elite controllers’ immune systems special, which he began at the Department of Defense Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, in collaboration with Eric Hunter, co-director of Emory’s Center for AIDS Research, and research associate Ling Yue at Emory Vaccine Center. The research is supported by the Center for AIDS Research and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment

Cholera in the time of disaster

Alex Larsen couldn’t make it to the 2010 International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) annual meeting. That’s because Larsen, Haiti’s minister of health, was attending to an outbreak of cholera in this impoverished republic.

Vibrio cholerae bacteria

Larsen was scheduled to speak on NPHIs’ role in disaster preparedness and response. Instead, Scott Dowell, director of the CDC’s division of global disease detection and emergency response, updated attendees about goings-on in Haiti since the massive January 12 earthquake and the recent outbreak of cholera.

The first two weeks after the tremblor and its immediate aftershocks, human and monetary resources were spent on search and rescue, including emergency trauma care, orthopedic surgery and amputations, says Dowell.

The number killed now stands at 200,000. The number displaced: 1.3 million. In addition to an initial lack of safe drinking water, hunger and poor sanitation, anecdotal accounts of diphtheria and tetanus outbreaks circulated. The headquarters housing the ministry of public health was itself devastated when it collapsed, killing most of the minister’s staff who had remained inside.

Since the earthquake, Dowell says the water supply has slowly improved with long-term sources coming on line. Efforts to better separate sewage and water are coming to fruition, too.

As far as the cholera outbreak is concerned, this chapter of Haiti’s public health challenges is just beginning thanks in part to Haiti having never before experienced a known cholera epidemic, says Dowell. That is, its population is most likely immunologically naïve to cholera, making people vulnerable to the bacteria’s devastating ways: severe diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain culminating in overwhelming dehydration and even death.

Despite its troubles, Dowell says there’s long-term hope for Haiti. As found in other countries affected by cholera, an aggressive program to provide clean water and keep sewage and water separate, can eventually squelch the bacteria’s rampage—and in the meantime prevent other diseases from taking hold.

Posted on November 4, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Linking science and action through national public health institutes

As public health leaders from nearly 50 countries gathered this week at the Emory Conference Center, they had a common goal: strengthening individual public health institutes and establishing partnerships to significantly reduce death and disease globally.

The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) held its fifth annual meeting – and the first in the United States – in Atlanta, jointly hosted by IANPHI, located in the Emory Global Health Institute, and by the CDC. IANPHI is not a typical organization, pointed out IANPHI President Jeff Koplan. It’s a partnership of more than 80 members who are directors of CDC-like institutes around the world, and it exists for the partners to build relationships and actively support each other. IANPHI is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, president of IANPHI

As the world “shrinks” due to easier and more frequent air travel and migration, the effects on public health can be both positive and negative. On the negative side, communicable diseases and lifestyles that contribute to non-communicable diseases are transmitted much more rapidly around the world. But on the positive side, nations can work together much more efficiently to address public health challenges as committed partners.

Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, emphasized the importance of a national focus in each country on public health problems, and linking national efforts with local programs. Having adequate resources for public health will be essential in successful monitoring and disease response as well as driving down healthcare costs around the world, he said.

A major theme of the IANPHI conference was non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in addition to communicable diseases (CDs), which traditionally have been the focus of global public health efforts.  NCDs now kill far more people than CDs throughout the world, Frieden pointed out.  Significant progress can be made against NCDs with the right approach. Frieden gave the example of Uruguay, where 1 in 4 smokers quit smoking after a major public health effort.

Kevin DeCock, director of the CDC’s new Center for Global Health, pointed out the fundamental changes in public health that have come about because of new technologies, such as cell phones and computers as well as new public health networks that allow much quicker responses. Only a few decades ago, information about disease outbreaks in less developed countries was communicated only after the disease had already peaked. Now that information can be sent almost instantaneously.

Public health leaders from four countries – Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, and Ethiopia – gave examples of successful IANPHI-funded projects. Despite extremely limited resources in many countries, Koplan pointed out, these countries have made extraordinary and concrete progress in improving public health infrastructure and in decreasing disease and death from challenging public health problems.

Posted on November 3, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Number of diabetic Americans could triple by 2050

As many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050, federal officials recently announced.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 1 in 10 have diabetes now – approximately 24 million Americans – but that number could grow to 1 in 5 or even 1 in 3 by mid-century if current trends continue.

The report was published in the Oct. 22 issue of Population Health Metrics. Edward Gregg, Emory adjunct professor of global health, and David Williamson, Emory visiting professor of global health, were co-authors.

The CDC’s projections have been a work in progress. The last revision put the number at 39 million in 2050. The new estimate takes it to the range of 76 million to 100 million.

The growth in U.S. diabetes cases has been closely tied to escalating obesity rates. A corresponding rise in diabetes has even prompted researchers to coin a new hybrid term: diabesity.

“There is an epidemic going on that, if left unchecked, will have a huge effect on the U.S. population and on health care costs,” says K. M. Venkat Narayan, MD, MSc, MBA, professor of global health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, who came to Emory from the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation. “The numbers are very worrying.”

K. M. Venkat Narayan, MD, MSc, MBA

Narayan also heads the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, which aims to find solutions to the growing global diabetes epidemic. The Center serves as the research leader and hub for population-based research and large intervention trials throughout South Asia and globally.

“Whatever we do, the fruits of our research have to be available to people everywhere,” says Narayan.

Read more about Dr. Narayan’s global efforts and diabetes research underway at Emory.

Hear Dr. Narayan talk about the Global Diabetes Research Center.

Posted on October 29, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Anticipating approval from a renowned scholar

Charles Raison, MD, with the Dalai Lama

When Charles Raison hosted a fundraising dinner for Jestun Pema, the sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama some years ago as a faculty member at the University of California at Los Angeles, little did he know his future would become intertwined with His Holiness.

Raison, who is a psychiatrist and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, began his career at Emory in 1999. Since that time, he has emerged as one of the leaders in Emory’s remarkable relationship with the Dalai Lama through the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI) and his research on the potential health benefits of compassion meditation.

The Dalai Lama recently visited Emory in his role as Emory Presidential Distinguished Professor and presided over a series of conferences related to ETSI.  Raison made a presentation to His Holiness during the Compassion Meditation Conference.

Read more

Posted on October 26, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

New Emory center expands diabetes prevention

According to the CDC, an estimated 23.6 million Americans live with diabetes. The Diabetes Training and Technical Assistance Center (DTTAC), based at the Rollins School of Public Health, aims to reduce the burden of the disease.

Established with a $2 million grant from the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, DTTAC is modeled after the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium. Both programs provide training, expertise, and materials to state public health departments to strengthen leadership, organizational capacity, and partnerships in prevention and control. DTTAC also works with the National Diabetes Prevention Program, the framework for community-based lifestyle intervention to prevent type-2 diabetes among those at high risk of the disease.

“We need to act with urgency to reach individuals and their families early if we are to prevent and reduce suffering from diabetes,” says Linelle Blais, DTTAC director and associate research professor at Rollins. “By developing services that build capacity, our goal is to better equip local, state, and national partners to deliver evidence-based community interventions and effective diabetes programs.”

Linelle Blais, DTTAC director

DTTAC is helping spearhead the national rollout of a lifestyle intervention program modeled on research from the NIH’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) clinical trial. The program seeks to prevent diabetes by helping participants adopt healthy lifestyle habits such as being physically active at least 150 minutes per week and losing 7 percent of their body weight. In the DPP clinical trial, participants who made these changes saw their diabetes risk drop by 58 percent.

The success of diabetes prevention programs at Indiana University, the University of Pittsburgh, and YMCAs around the country will also shape DTTAC training. Experts regard these examples as cost-effective models.

Read more about DTTAC in the fall 2010 issue of Public Health magazine.

Posted on October 19, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment
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