Month: February 2014

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory will open its gates to the community on Saturday, August 29, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for a day of discovery and fun for the whole family. The event is free and open to the public.

“The open house will be great fun for everyone,” said Eric Isaacs, director of Argonne National Laboratory. “We love welcoming the community and having an opportunity to show off some of the great work we are doing to benefit our nation while inspiring public interest in science, engineering and technology.”

This rare opportunity will allow visitors to see how Argonne, the nation’s first national laboratory, is helping to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges in energy, environment and national security and learn more about science and technology.

Argonne conducts basic scientific research to better understand the world we live in, develops and evaluates advanced energy sources, promotes environmental stewardship and helps protect our nation and its economic competiveness. Argonne also operates world-class user facilities to help advance America’s scientific leadership, including one of the world’s fastest and most energy efficient supercomputers.

The laboratory’s last open house, held in 2006, attracted approximately 20,000 people. Information about this year’s open house is available online or on the Argonne National Laboratory Facebook page.

The educational event will feature interactive exhibits, hands-on demonstrations, engaging presentations and tours of Argonne’s unique facilities.

Let your imagination soar as you learn about the wonders of science, explore technology innovation and experience Argonne’s research firsthand with experiences like:
Strap on special 3-D glasses to explore the outer edges of the universe

Race the robot in a molecular biology speed challenge

Test your sense of smell against an electronic nose

View a chain reaction

Calculate your environmental footprint

Have fun with extreme cold and cryogenics

Witness how ice slurry can save lives

Turn matter into energy

See how science is helping to restore sight to the blind

Find out how Sudoku, science and supercomputers work together in solving logic puzzles

Learn about the science of toys

Walk through an accelerator

Glimpse nanoparticles changing colors

Battle model cars powered by fuel cells to see which is fastest

Watch a master scientific glassblower demonstrate his craft

Monitor climate change with live data feeds from around the world

Ride an energy bike to generate electricity

Identify proteins and learn how they can clean up the environment and produce energy

Explore the mysteries of magnets by building one of your own

Visualize local, national and international environmental projects with interactive 3-D maps

Tours will include the Advanced Photon Source, the Western Hemisphere’s most brilliant source of X-rays for research; the Center for Nanoscale Materials, a leading nanotechnology research facility; ATLAS, the Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System; and the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator.

The event will be held rain or shine. Free shuttle service will be provided and food and drink will be available for purchase. Advance reservations are not required, and visitors are welcome to take photos and videos of the event.

Argonne is located at 9700 South Cass Avenue, just south of Interstate 55 near Darien and Lemont, with entrances from Cass Avenue and Lemont Road.

Argonne is dedicated to your safety. Alcohol, firearms and weapons are not permitted on the Argonne campus. Visitors must adhere to all Illinois traffic laws. Helmets are required on site if you are riding a motorcycle, bicycle or using any wheeled sporting equipment. Cell phones cannot be used while driving on the Argonne site.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America ‘s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Source:
Eleanor Taylor

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

The conference room in the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute will be named for an IU School of Medicine ophthalmologist and his wife. Daniel Spitzberg, M.D., and his wife, Alana, are supporting the nearly 100-seat conference room on the first floor of the eye institute, scheduled for completion this spring.

“As I have traveled the country, I have had the opportunity to visit many eye institutes,” Dr. Spitzberg said. “Now that the Glicks have provided the lead gift for us, I thought it would be a great idea to support the conference room – it’s a place where everybody will gather to discuss ophthalmology.”

Dr. Spitzberg said the opportunity to honor his alma mater while providing a space to foster education and the exchange of ideas appealed to him and his wife and prompted the support. Always excited by teaching, Dr. Spitzberg said he enjoys the opportunity to teach residents while providing care to his patients. Support for the conference room was a natural way of recognizing the importance of continuing education in a subject he loves, he said.

“Hopefully some great things can come from this,” said Mrs. Spitzberg. “So many great ideas will be passed among one another in this room. And the Glicks inspired us to support this and give back to the university.”

Dr. Spitzberg is a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology in the Department of Ophthalmology. His bachelor’s degree, medical degree and residency all were completed at IU, along with a uveitis fellowship. Dr. Spitzberg maintained a private practice for many years, returning to the university in 2008. He currently sees patients in clinics at University Hospital, Spring Mill Medical Building and in Mooresville.

“When we started talking about this gift, he had just gone back to work at IU,” said Mrs. Spitzberg. “He was just so happy. And one of the great things in life is to be able to spend it doing something you love, something that excites and stimulates you, and to be able to enjoy it. He truly enjoys his patients and the opportunity to teach.”

Louis B. Cantor, M.D., chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, said the department is grateful for the Spitzbergs’ support of the new eye institute.

“This conference room space is something we will use on a daily basis, as we provide educational opportunities for medical students, residents and fellows, and for our faculty. We are looking forward to moving to the Glick Eye Institute this summer, and having this classroom space will benefit our department for many years to come,” Dr. Cantor said.

The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute is currently under construction on Michigan Street on the IU School of Medicine campus. The $20 million structure will feature two floors of lab space, allowing department researchers to work in a collaborative environment. The first floor will feature an ophthalmology clinic and an optometry shop. Additional space in the four-story building includes a mock surgery center, a library and offices and meeting rooms for faculty and staff.

The eye institute, designed by RATIO Architects, has been designed to attain silver LEED status (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council. It will be the first building on the IUPUI campus to have that environmental status.

The building is scheduled for completion this spring; the official IU dedication will be Aug. 19, 2011.

Source:

IU School of Medicine

This month’s Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, reports on the conclusions from a population-based study of risk factors related to progression or regression of diabetic retinopathy over a 25 year period in people with Type 1 diabetes, and on the associations found between night vision symptoms and progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a cohort study within the Complications of Age-related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT), a multi-center randomized clinical trial.

Risk Factors for Retinopathy in Persons with Type 1 Diabetes

Many people who have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes develop retinopathy, a serious disorder that damages the eye’s retina, the area of the back of the eye where images are focused and relayed to the brain’s visual cortex. Ophthalmologists (Eye M.D.s) monitor their diabetic patients for signs of retinopathy and use lifestyle recommendations, medications, and surgical approaches as appropriate to reduce the risk that diabetic retinopathy (DR) will progress to the proliferative stage (PDR), in which abnormal blood vessel growth leads to visual impairment. In recent years the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of DR and PDR have improved markedly.

The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR) is a large, long-term study that confirmed and expanded on results of other significant DR studies such as the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial. Ronald Klein, MD, and colleagues evaluated factors associated with the progression or regression of retinopathy over a 25 year period in people who had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes before the age of 30 years. The key finding was that glycemic control–assessed via blood levels of glycosylated hemoglobin A1, a reliable measure of average blood sugar–at the time of the baseline exam and throughout the study was strongly related to whether a patient’s DR worsened or improved. This confirmed findings of a number of earlier large studies. Better glycemic control was associated with significant reduction in DR progression and increased improvement in DR independent of how long the patient had had Type 1 diabetes and the level of DR at the baseline exam. Other risk factors found by the WESDR to be associated with progression to PDR included male gender, higher blood pressure level, presence of protein in urine (a manifestation of diabetic kidney disease) and a greater body mass index as measured at baseline.

WESDR participants were 955 insulin-taking Type 1 diabetics who received baseline exams between 1980 and 1982 and were either evaluated again four years later or died before the four-year follow up. Additional follow up exams were done at 10, 14 and 25 years post-baseline, and 520 of the original participants completed the 25-year follow-up.

Based on WESDR findings, the researchers estimate that over a 25-year period, 185,000 to 466,000 Americans with Type 1 diabetes will develop PDR. Dr. Klein adds the caution that these numbers may be an overestimation, because PDR incidence has declined in people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in recent years, possibly due to proactive and improved treatment of glycemia and blood pressure.

What Might Declining Night Vision Mean for AMD Patients?

The Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT) Research Group assessed night vision in a cohort of 1,052 CAPT patients. The main purpose of CAPT, a National Eye Institute-sponsored multicenter randomized clinical trial conducted from 1999 to 2005, was to investigate whether low-intensity laser treatment could prevent vision loss in patients with early stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In advanced stages, AMD destroys the macula in the eye’s retina, the area that normally provides the detailed, central vision we rely on for reading, driving and other daily tasks. The CAPT results did not show that the laser treatment prevented vision loss, but data from the CAPT cohort did identify a new way to predict AMD progression.

Earlier studies had shown that loss of photoreceptor (light sensitive) cells, particularly “rod” cells involved in night vision, occurs before the disease progresses to advanced AMD in the retina, which indicated that assessing night vision might be a good way to track AMD progression. In the CAPT, patients with signs of early AMD, defined as 10 or more large deposits known as drusen on the retina and vision 20/40 or better, initially completed a 10-item night vision self-assessment questionnaire that rated difficulties with night driving and problems with vision deficits during low-light activities like reading or watching movies. The patients were followed-up annually up to five or six years. Data analyses led by Gui-shuang Ying, PhD, showed that those who had the worst night vision at baseline were the most likely to develop geographic atrophy (GA), or choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and to experience reduced visual acuity. GA is also known as advanced “dry” AMD, and CNV as “wet” AMD.

Since the association of night vision symptoms and AMD progression is clear and the 10-item questionnaire is simple and inexpensive to administer, Dr. Ying concludes that this could be a useful way for ophthalmologists to identify patients at high risk and intervene early to prevent vision loss and the progression to advanced AMD.

About the American Academy of Ophthalmology

AAO is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons-Eye M.D.s-with more than 27,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three “O’s” – opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases and injuries, and perform eye surgery. To find an Eye M.D. in your area, visit the Academy’s Web site at aao.

Source
Christina Curas, Media Relations
American Academy of Ophthalmology

Arf gene prevents excessive growth of blood vessels in the developing eye by blocking signals that trigger accumulation of cells that nurture these vessels, according to St. Jude researchers
A gene better known for its role in preventing cancer also plays a key role in the developing embryo, where the gene prevents excessive growth of blood vessels, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The gene, called Arf, prevents the accumulation of certain cells, called pericytes, that nurture the growth of blood vessels in the eye during embryonic development, the researchers said. This observation is of interest because Arf also works with a gene called p53 to trigger apoptosis–programmed suicide–in cells that have become cancerous. In the eye, however, Arf works through a second mechanism, independent of p53. The current discovery that Arf also restricts blood vessel growth in the eye of the embryo was a surprising finding because it was not linked to its known role in suppressing cancer, the researchers said.

A report on this discovery appears in the online issue of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) journal.

St. Jude investigators showed that the protein made by the Arf gene normally blocks signals that trigger the growth of pericytes. This blockage causes the network of blood vessels these cells nurture to degenerate. In the early embryo, this network, called the hyaloid vascular system, grows into the clear, jelly-like area of the eye called the vitreous, between the lens of the eye in front and the retina at the back of the eye. The network grows during the early part of eye development, after which the blood vessels die and the network disappears. When this network persists–as it does in the absence of Arf–it disrupts the ability of the developing eye to grow to its normal size–a disease called persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous. Children with this condition usually have abnormally small eyes and poor vision.

“The Arf gene is well known for its ability to sense when a cell is being overly stimulated to grow,” said Stephen X. Skapek, M.D., an assistant member of the Department of Hematology-Oncology at St. Jude. “Arf then helps to trigger a series of signals to block cell proliferation. In the developing eye, we’ve demonstrated that Arf also blocks signals that would otherwise cause pericytes to reproduce and support the continued growth of blood vessels in the developing eye.”

This new insight into the role of Arf was made possible by a laboratory model previously developed at St. Jude by a team led by Charles Sherr, M.D., Ph.D., and Martine Roussel, Ph.D., of the Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology Department (Zindy, F. et al., [2003] Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100: 15930-15935).

“This model allowed us to observe the role of Arf in its natural environment and to determine its function by studying the consequence on the developing eye of both the presence and absence of this gene,” said Ricardo Silva, Ph.D., first author of the EMBO paper and the postdoctoral student in Skapek’s laboratory who did much of the work on the current project. “The results of our study might help guide the development of therapies for persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous.”

The discovery of the role of Arf in curtailing growth of blood vessels in the developing eye might also contribute to development of new anticancer drugs. “If we can figure out how to re-activate the Arf gene in human cancers in which this gene is repressed, we might be able to prevent the accumulation of perivascular cells that support the blood vessels that feed a tumor,” Skapek said. “A drug that lets us starve those solid cancers would be a powerful new weapon against cancer.”

The researchers showed that the Arf gene in the pericytes disrupts the hyaloid vascular system in the embryonic eye by blocking the cell’s ability to respond to a signaling molecule called platelet-derived growth factor ([Pdgf]-B). Pdgf-B triggers this signal by binding to a receptor called Pdgf-beta on the surface of the pericyte.

Other authors of the paper include J. Derek Thornton, Amy C. Martin, Jerold E. Rehg, David Bertwistle and Frederique Zindy. This work was supported in part by the American Cancer Society, the National Eye Institute and ALSAC.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fund-raising organization. For more information, please visit stjude.

In our dynamic 3D world, we can encounter a familiar face from any angle and still recognize that face with ease, even if the person has, for example, changed his hair style. This is because our brain has used the 2D snapshots perceived by our eyes (like a camera) to build and store a 3D mental representation of the face, which is resilient to such changes. This is an automatic process that most of us are not consciously aware of, and which appears to be a challenge for people with a particular type of face-blindness, as reported in the September 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex.

Prosopagnosia is a condition in which the ability to recognize faces is impaired; it can arise from damage to the brain or can also be present from early childhood, without any discernible brain damage. The latter is known as Developmental Prosopagnosia (DP) and in many cases it runs in families.

To investigate familial prosopagnosia, Drs. Yunjo Lee and Hugh Wilson at York University in Canada, together with colleagues from University College London and Harvard University, extensively assessed the face-processing abilities of three cases of DP within a single family. The participants, a father and two daughters, all have trouble recognizing faces, despite having otherwise normal visual sensory and intellectual abilities. All three are highly educated and socially well integrated; they know what a face looks like and can read facial expressions, attractiveness and gender from the face. One of the daughters is in fact a visual artist who frequently portrays faces with great detail in her sculptures, demonstrating her ability to process generic faces. However, the study showed that changes in lighting conditions and viewing angles affected their ability to recognize faces. For example, one of the daughters was able to detect subtle differences between two faces when looking at them from the same angle, but not when viewed from different angles.

The findings of this study suggest that some cases of familial DP result from an inability to form a robust mental representation of a face that can cope with changes in viewpoint or other conditions.

Sources: Elsevier, AlphaGalileo Foundation.

Parents and children don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to vision correction, according to a survey of parents of vision-corrected children 8-17 years old conducted by Fairfield Research among members of the Good Housekeeping Reader Advisory Panel on behalf of ACUVUE((R)) Brand Contact Lenses.

While more than half (56 percent) of parents of vision corrected children who do not wear contact lenses say that their child is interested in wearing contacts, nearly one-third of these parents (31%) say they have never considered contact lenses for their child, and another 27 percent say they have not given the matter serious consideration.

Parents of a child who currently wears glasses say that their child dislikes wearing glasses (42%), does not always wear them when he/she should (41%), and sometimes feels self-conscious when wearing them (40%). Half (50 percent) say that their child would rather be wearing contact lenses.

So, why are some parents reluctant to let their children wear contacts?

Four-in-ten (40 percent) parents responding to the survey say that they are not comfortable with contact lenses for children. Two contributing factors to parents’ unwillingness to consider contacts – 77 percent think that glasses are easier to keep clean and take care of than contacts and half (54 percent) are concerned about their child’s ability to take care of their contact lenses. Forty-two percent of respondents, however, say they have no real worries about their child wearing contacts.

“The growing body of research in children’s vision correction continues to demonstrate that contact lenses provide collateral benefits to children beyond simply correcting their vision, and that concerns about contact lens problems in these age groups are largely unfounded,” explains Mary Lou French, O.D., F.A.A.O., M.Ed. “Studies demonstrate that children who need refractive error correction are capable of wearing and caring for soft contact lenses and should be presented with the option of contact lens wear when vision correction is required,” says Dr. French, who has been taking care of children’s eyes for 32 years in her Illinois-based practice.

Two-thirds (66 percent) of survey respondents report that whatever their eye doctor recommends is the right choice for their child’s vision correction. However, a large majority of these parents (62 percent) believe that the choice for vision correction should correspond with what the child wants. “Doctors will typically evaluate a child’s maturity and level of parental support in deciding whether the child is ready for contact lenses,” adds Dr. French.

Among parents surveyed, the average starting age for contact lens wear is 13 years old. However, parents believe that girls are ready to start wearing contact lenses at an earlier age than boys. About one-in-five (18 percent) of survey respondents with female children who currently wear glasses say that their child is extremely interested in contacts, compared to only eight percent of respondents with male children. “Research shows that for girls, in particular, a switch from glasses to contact lenses, may result in improvement in self-perception,” says Dr. French.

More than half of parents surveyed (54 percent) agree that glasses and contact lenses complement each other for part time wear. Overall, 41 percent of parents believe that contact lenses are a good occasional alternative to glasses for certain activities, with 75 percent of respondents stating that contacts are a better choice than glasses for playing sports. One-fourth of respondents (24 percent) say that their child currently wears both glasses and contacts.

Other findings from the survey, which assessed attitudes and perceptions of parents as they relate to their children’s vision care options, included the following:

— Top areas in which survey respondents believe that vision correction provides improvement for their child include academic performance (78 percent), confidence (58 percent) and self-esteem (51 percent).

— The majority of parents surveyed (85%) say they are at least “somewhat satisfied’ with their child’s vision correction at school. However, only 63 percent are satisfied with their child’s current vision correction for sports.

— About nine in ten (88%) parents whose children wear contact lenses say that their child wears soft lenses. About half (48%) say that their child wears lenses that are worn daily and are replaced every one to two weeks. Another 40% say that their child wears lenses that are worn daily and replaced monthly. Additionally, 10% say their child wears single-use contact lenses that are worn once and then thrown away at the end of the day. Only 2% say their child wears hard/gas permeable contact lenses.

The survey was conducted by Fairfield Research among members of the Good Housekeeping Reader Advisory Panel on behalf of ACUVUE((R)) Brand Contact Lenses. The purpose of the survey was to gauge the attitudes and perceptions of parents as they relate to their children’s vision care options among a nationally representative population of parents with vision-corrected kids ages 8-17. Survey responses are based on a pool of 564 responses from parents who have at least one child age 8-17 who requires vision correction.

ACUVUE((R)) is a trademark of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.

Source: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc

The human brain is capable of detecting the slightest visual and auditory changes. Whether it is the flash of a student’s hand into the air or the faintest miscue of a flutist, the brain instantaneously and effortlessly perceives changes in our environment. Several studies have indicated, however, that even a small span of time in between pre- and post-change images can disturb the brain’s ability to detect visual discrepancies.

“The pre-change scene must be memorized in some way,” explained psychologists Laurent Demany, Wiebke Trost, Maja Serman and Catherine Semal from the University of Bordeaux and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). “In the visual domain, numerous experiments have shown that even a very short gap of less than 100ms can dramatically disrupt our ability to detect a local change in complex images. Following such a gap, local changes can be detected only in very simple images.” This phenomenon is known as ‘change blindness.’

In a recent study, the aforementioned psychologists assessed the effect of time gaps on change detection in audition. Their goal was to determine if the brain uses similar mechanisms to perceive auditory changes as it does with vision. Participants had to detect a pitch change in one tone presented together with other tones. The complexity of the pre-change sound was varied, as well as the duration of the silent interval between the pre- and post-change sounds.

The experimenters reasoned that if auditory change detection is similar to the visual process, a complex sound (including many tones) should be remembered less well than a simple sound (including few tones).

The psychologists discovered, however, that this was not the case. The participants were able to remember even the most complex sounds – reaching up to 12 tones – despite the time delays.

The results of the study, which appear in the January 2008 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, indicate that the brain uses more efficient mechanisms in auditory memory than in visual memory. To that extent, the human brain appears to be a keener detective of auditory change than visual change.

Author Contact: Laurent Demany

Psychological Science is ranked among the top 10 general psychology journals for impact by the Institute for Scientific Information. The article is entitled “Auditory Change Detection: Simple sounds are not memorized better than complex sounds.”

Source: Katie Kline

Association for Psychological Science

A gene therapy approach using a protein called CD59, or protectin, shows promise in slowing the signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new in vivo study by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine. Led by senior author Rajendra Kumar-Singh, PhD, the researchers demonstrated for the first time that CD59 delivered by a gene therapy approach significantly reduced the uncontrolled blood vessel growth and cell death typical of AMD, the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. The study was published on April 28 in PLoS ONE.

Activation of the complement system, a part of the immune system, is responsible for slowly killing cells in the back of the eye, leading to AMD. Activation of this system leads to the generation of pores or holes known as ‘membrane attack complex’ or MAC in cell membranes. CD59 is known to block the formation of MAC.

“CD59 is unstable and hence previous studies using CD59 have had limited success. The gene therapy approach that we developed continuously produces CD59 in the eye and overcomes these barriers, giving us renewed hope that it can be used to fight the progression of AMD and potentially other diseases,” said Kumar-Singh.

Kumar-Singh is associate professor in the department of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and member of the genetics; neuroscience; and cell, molecular, and developmental biology program faculties at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts.

Kumar-Singh and colleagues delivered CD59 to the eye using a deactivated virus similar to one previously shown to be safe in humans. Using an established mouse model of age-related macular degeneration, they found that eyes treated with CD59 had 62 percent less uncontrolled blood vessel growth and 52 percent less MAC than controls.

“Treatment was effective when administered at a very specific location beneath the retina, but importantly, also when it was administered to the center of the eye. This finding is especially encouraging because it would allow for a safer and more convenient route of administration of treatment,” said co-first author Siobhan Cashman, PhD, assistant professor in the department of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and member of Kumar-Singh’s lab.

The current standard treatment for some forms of AMD requires an injection directly into the eye approximately every four weeks. According to Kumar-Singh, gene therapy approaches to treat AMD are especially attractive because they will allow patients to be treated less frequently, reducing patient discomfort and lowering chances of infection and other side effects associated with frequent injections into the eye.

The researchers, including co-first author Kasmir Ramo, BS, research technician, believe that while CD59 has significant potential as a treatment for AMD, the gene therapy approach lends itself for application also in other eye and systemic disorders where low-level activation of complement has been implicated.

“Prior to initiating human clinical trials, we will need to perform extensive preclinical toxicology studies. In order to advance this study to Phase I clinical trials, we have formed a partnership with Hemera Biosciences Inc. to raise private venture capital,” said Kumar-Singh.

AMD, which results in a loss of sharp, central vision, is the number one cause of visual impairment among Americans age 60 and older. While treatments are available for wet AMD, they do not prevent the progression of dry AMD, the form that affects 90 percent of AMD patients. Kumar-Singh noted, however, that the current study in combination with a previously published study from his laboratory suggests that CD59 may be useful for the treatment of both the dry and wet forms of AMD.

This study was supported by grants from The Ellison Foundation; the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health; the Virginia B. Smith Trust and grants to the department of ophthalmology at TUSM from the Lions Eye Foundation and Research to Prevent Blindness.

Cashman SM, Ramo K, Kumar-Singh R. PLoS ONE. “A Non Membrane-Targeted Human Soluble CD59 Attenuates Choroidal Neovascularization in a Model of Age Related Macular Degeneration.” Published online April 28, 2011, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019078

Source:

Tufts University School of Medicine

Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have conducted a study that failed to show a difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The study, which appears currently on-line in Eye, is believed to be the first study to describe one-year outcomes of a prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial directly comparing bevacizumab to ranibizuamab. Last October, these same researchers published early, six month outcomes of the same study, which also failed to show a difference in efficacy between these two drugs for treating AMD.

AMD is the leading cause of blindness over the age of 50 in developed Western countries. It presents in two forms, exudative (wet) or nonexudative (dry). Wet AMD is often more visually devastating with a higher risk of blindness. The gold standard of treatment for wet AMD is ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech Inc.), which was FDA approved as an eye injection in 2006. Bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech Inc.) was FDA approved for the treatment of colorectal cancer in 2004, but has also been used worldwide in an off-label fashion as an eye injection for the treatment of wet AMD. Lucenitis costs approximately $2000.00 per injection, while Avastin costs approximately $50.00 per injection. While both drugs have shown independently to be effective in treating wet AMD, it was uncertain if both drugs were equally efficacious or if either one was better.

In this study, patients were enrolled by a 2:1 ratio to receive either the Avastin or Lucentis. Patients were given eye injections of Avastin or Lucentis every month for the first three months, followed by monthly examination and testing. They received further injections on an as needed basis for one year.

Fifteen patients received Avastin and seven patients received Lucentis. There was no significant difference in visual acuity and anatomic outcomes between the two groups. Both groups had an average improvement in vision of 1.5 lines on the vision testing chart, and only one patient (who was in the Lucentis group) lost a significant amount of vision (three lines or more). In addition, patients in the Avastin group underwent an average of eight injections over one year, while patients in the Lucentis group underwent an average of four injections.

“With the exception that total injections given to subjects over one year were significantly different between the two treatment arms, visual and anatomic outcomes at one year failed to show a significant difference between both groups,” said lead author and Principal Investigator Manju Subramanian, MD, an assistant professor in Ophthalmology at BUSM. According to the authors, further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.

This study is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Jamaica Plain, Mass., USA. The VA Boston funded the cost of medications for this study.

Source:
Gina DiGravio
Boston University Medical Center

View drug information on Avastin; Lucentis.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology believes that Genentech’s decision to stop sales of Avastin® (bevacizumab) to compounding pharmacies could have a significant impact on the care of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

“Our main concern is for our patients with macular degeneration, who have come to rely on Avastin in their fight against potential vision loss,” said Charles “Pat” Wilkinson, MD, president of the Academy. “Together with the retinal community, the Academy is evaluating how this decision will affect patient care.”

Both Avastin and the FDA-approved Lucentis® (ranibizumab injection), another drug sold by Genentech, share a similar method of action by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). However, Lucentis was designed and tested specifically for treatment of wet AMD, while Avastin has only been FDA-approved for oncology indications. Prior to Lucentis’ approval, many ophthalmologists had been using Avastin to treat wet AMD, and many doctors continue to use it, citing good clinical results for patients. The National Institute of Health is sponsoring a head-to-head trial between the two drugs starting this year.

“The primary concern of ophthalmologists is preserving the sight of our patients. Because Avastin has also been used off-label to treat diabetic retinopathy, macular edema and various other sight-threatening disorders, Genentech’s decision to restrict availability of the drug has much wider implications than just for AMD patients,” said H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD, executive vice president of the Academy.

The Academy is seeking information from the FDA and Genentech to determine an appropriate and safe solution for patients and their doctors.

According to Genentech, Avastin will continue to be made available directly to physicians and hospital pharmacies through authorized wholesale distributors. However, ophthalmologists need compounding pharmacies to divide vials of Avastin into smaller doses for the treatment of AMD and other eye disorders.

About Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is the deterioration or breakdown of the central portion of the macula or retina, which destroys central vision, making reading, driving and recognizing faces difficult. There are two general types of macular degeneration: dry and wet. Dry AMD is more common, but wet AMD progresses more quickly and accounts for about 90 percent of the severe vision loss associated with this disease.

Dry AMD occurs when the layer of cells beneath the retina begins to deteriorate, which affects the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells of the central retina. Wet AMD occurs when abnormal blood vessels begin to grow under the macula. These new blood vessels leak fluid or blood, causing central vision to blur or be lost. There is no cure for AMD.

Currently more than 1.75 million people in the United States have AMD and 7 million more people have earlier stages of the disease.

The Academy urges all patients, particularly those over the age of 50, to get regular eye exams by an ophthalmologist to screen for AMD and other eye disorders. For more information on AMD, visit aao.

About the American Academy of Ophthalmology

AAO is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons – Eye M.D.s – with more than 27,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three “O’s” – opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases and injuries, and perform eye surgery. To find an Eye M.D. in your area, visit the Academy’s Web site at aao.

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