Online Medicine

HOUSTON -- (June 30, 2008) -- Eleven years ago, Dr. Mary Estes of Baylor College of Medicine and her colleagues discovered the first viral enterotoxin, rotavirus NSP4, a toxic protein that affects the intestines, causing diarrhea.

The next step was to find the cellular receptor on intestinal cells through which the enterotoxin interacts to cause diarrhea.

"We knew that identifying the receptor might not be straightforward," said the professor of molecular virology and microbiology at BCM. In a report online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Estes and her colleagues describe two receptors for the enterotoxin, both of them integrins.

The two, integrin alpha1 beta1 and integrin alpha2 beta1, are members of a class of molecules that are involved in attaching cells to other cells and to the extracellular matrix (a part of tissue that is not part of any cell). Integrins also are involved in transforming or translating cell signals.

In looking for the receptor, Estes and her colleagues also learned more about the enterotoxin itself.

"It's a new ligand for binding to integrins," she said. "It begins to give us an understanding of how the enterotoxin works in the intestine. Two different domains of the enterotoxin are involved in this interaction. One domain is for binding and the other domain is for signaling through the receptor."

She said she hopes to study the signaling aspect of the enterotoxin more closely because it could hold the clue to the mechanism of induction of diarrheal disease.

"There may be ways to block the interaction between the enterotoxin and the receptor to treat diarrheal disease," said Estes, who is also director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center.

Rotavirus is one of the most common causes of diarrhea, resulting in approximately 3 million cases of diarrhea and 55,000 hospitalizations for diarrhea and dehydration in children under the age of 5 each year in the United States alone. Worldwide, it causes nearly half a million deaths each year. Finding out how rotavirus causes diarrhea and looking for ways to block it is a major aim of Estes' research.

Others who took part in this work include Carl Q.-Y. Zeng, Joseph M. Hyser, Budi Utama and Sue E. Crawford of BCM, Neung-Seon Seo, Kate J. Kim and Magnus Hőők of Texas A&M University Health Science Center at Houston.

Funding for this work came from the National Institutes of Health, including a grant that funds the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center.

The paper is available at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0803934105v1.

Prenatal yoga has many benefits including an increase in body awareness.  Body awareness means you’ll be conscious of what feels right in your body.  As your belly grows you will be able to do different movements.  Some of the postures you did in your first trimester will no longer be comfortable in your third trimester.  However, you can enjoy a deeper connection with your baby as your awareness grows to the ever increasing size of your baby in your belly.  Try this simple exercise below to connect with your baby and experience body awareness.

Body and Baby Awareness Exercise
*Sit comfortably with your spine tall and straight. 
*Close your eyes and inhale through your nose
*Exhale out through your mouth
*Imagine that there is a cord running from your pubic bone all the way to the top of your head
*As you breath notice the sensations in your body
*Is your baby quietly sleeping or active?
*Imagine that with each breath you are comforting your baby
*Notice if the movement changes
*Repeat the breath as long as desired

HOUSTON -- (June 26, 2008) -- Lack of both the fragile X syndrome gene and one that is related could account for sleep problems associated with the disorder, which is the common cause of inherited mental impairment, said a consortium of researchers led by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Their findings appear in a report in the current issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Mice deficient in the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1) and a similar gene called fragile X-related gene 2 (FXR2) have no rhythm to their wake and sleep pattern, said Dr. David Nelson, professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM and co-director of the Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology.

Normal mice have a sleep-wake cycle of just under 12 hours awake and 12 hours asleep. Exposed to light and dark, they are awake in the dark and asleep during the light because they are nocturnal animals. If they are kept in the dark, their cycle reduces by about 10 minutes per sleep-wake period but remains fairly normal. When mice do not have either FMR1 or FXR2, they have a slightly shorter cycle but the difference is not dramatic.

"However, the double-mutants (those without both genes) have no rhythm at all," said Nelson. "This has never been seen in a mouse before." The animals, usually kept in a cage with a wheel on which they run when awake, sleep a little, run a little, sleep a little – but there is no rhythm to it.

The finding is important because parents whose children have autism or fragile X report problems getting their children to go to sleep and stay asleep. Fragile X is the most common known cause of autism. While there are few studies on the topic, said Nelson, "the impression I have is that many fragile X patients have a period of time that's like an extended infancy when they don't settle into a typical sleep–wake period."

Understanding how the gene associated with fragile X affect the circadian clock or the sleep-wake cycle could help explain some of the symptoms experienced by patients, he said.

After ruling out the possibility that the animals without the two genes could not perceive light, Nelson collaborated with a group in The Netherlands to test whether the cell's "central clock" called the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the animals was normal. They concluded that the clock was normal but that somehow the expression of genes that govern it is altered in these mice.

"These genes (FMR1 and FXR2) are new players in the control of circadian (daily) rhythms," said Nelson. Currently, the genes are thought to have a role in translating RNAs (ribonucleic acids) – particularly at the receiving side of the connections between neurons called dendrites. Dendrites are characterized by the fine branches that reach out into tissue. Scientists theorize that FMR1 and FXR2 may be involved in transporting the RNAs to the areas of those branches where the synapse is present.

Others who took part in this work include Jing Zhang and Zhe Fang of BCM, Corinne Jud and Urs Albrecht of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, Mariska J. Van Steensel and Johanna H. Meijer of Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, Krista Kaasik and Cheng Chi Lee of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Ben A. Oostra of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Funding for this work came from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the BCM Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability Research Center, the Fragile X Research (FRAXA) Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and EUCLOCK, a project on the circadian clock sponsored by the European Commission.

The article is available at http://www.ajhg.org/.

I’m often asked which is better to do, cardio or weights.  My answer both!  If you’re short on time and you want to lose weight I say do a combo of cardio and weights (note: your own body weight is just as effective.  You may replace weights with push ups and or tricep dips.)  See how below!

A 20 minute total body workout: I
1. Start with 5 min. of powerwalking followed by
2. 2 min. of pilee squats
3. 2 min. of shoulder work (or pushups)
4.  5 powerwaking or light jog
5. 2 min. of lunges
6. 2 min. of upper back work (or pushups or tricep dips)
7. 2 min. of powerwalking
8. Cool down and stretch

NEW DELHI: In a bid to revamp the national immunisation programme, the Government will soon introduce new vaccines to protect children from diseases like bacterial pneumonia and meningitis.

The new vaccines for Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and Pneumoccocal vaccine will be introduced on a pilot basis, sources in the health ministry said.

Officials also plan to accelerate measles control activities simultaneously.

The decision of revamping the immunisation programme was taken at a meeting of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on June 16.

The Hib vaccine will be introduced in the form of a combination pentavalent vaccine along with DPT and Hepatitis B which will provide all five antigens in one injection, thereby decreasing the discomfort of multiple injections and ensuring greater injection safety to children.

In addition, the NTAGI has recommended introduction of Penumococcal vaccine which also protects children against certain pneumonias and meningitis.

This vaccine will be introduced as a pilot in one state which has a high mortality and adequate cold chain capacity, sources said.

The NTAGI has also endorsed an expert group's recommendation to accelerate measles control activities in the country as measles is another major killer with an estimated 1.5 lakh children dying due to the disease in India every year.