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CDC Introduces New Website To Help Employers Combat Obesity And Reduce Health-Related Costs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today unveiled LEANWorks!, a Website designed to help businesses address obesity. LEAN stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition. The new Website was announced at a National Business Group on Health meeting in Washington, D.C.

Washington Post Examines Lack Of Information About Stillbirths, Bill To Expand Data Collection
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that stillbirth occurs in about one in every 160 pregnancies in the U.S., but physicians rarely warn pregnant women or their partners about the possibility, Washington Post staff writer Alan Goldenbach writes in an article discussing his experience when his wife"s pregnancy ended in stillbirth. In the U.S., the clinical definition for stillbirth is the death of a fetus after 20 weeks" gestation or weighing 350 grams if the age is unknown.There are about 26,000 stillbirths annually in the U.S., according to CDC. Goldenbach writes that this is "10 times the number of deaths attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, which has been identified as a key public health issue, and four times the incidence rate of Down syndrome, for which prenatal testing has become almost ritual." He continues that many doctors told him and his wife "that they don"t see any point in discussing stillbirth, that it"s a catch-all term for an event, and one that is frequently unexplained." Doctors contend that if they knew the causes or signs of stillbirth, they would warn patients or take preventive action, he adds. Noting that awareness of SIDS spurred research into preventive measures, Goldenbach writes that "[w]e can"t know if improved technology or more stringent standards of monitoring can lower stillbirth rates unless we do the research."Ruth Fretts, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and chair of the scientific committee for the International Stillbirth Alliance, said, "It"s a trade-off -- you are going to frighten a lot of people" by discussing stillbirths. According to Fretts" research, the leading cause of fetal death after 28 weeks" gestation is an unexplained . Goldenbach writes, "Several doctors told us privately that many ob-gyns fear charges of malpractice following a stillbirth, leading them to avoid citing a cause of death."Stillbirth Legislation in Development Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is drafting legislation similar to a stillbirth prevention bill that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced in June 2008. According to s familiar with the bill, it will be brought to the Senate floor before the August recess. The legislation will expand stillbirth registries already in operation in Iowa and metropolitan Atlanta. The bill"s supporters hope to have as many as 12 states participating in the registry and installing a standard protocol for data collection after each stillbirth. Another provision would create a campaign to increase public awareness and strengthen grief support services, Goldenbach writes (Goldenbach, Washington Post, 7/6).
News of the day
Mid-Missouri Group Sees Increase In People Seeking HIV/AIDS Services, Patients Testing Positive For HIV
Mid-Missouri Group Sees Increase In People Seeking HIV/AIDS Services, Patients Testing Positive For HIV
Public Health

Researchers Identify Gene That Regulates Tumors In Neuroblastoma

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified a gene that may play a key role in regulating tumor progression in neuroblastoma, a form of cancer usually found in young children. Scientists hope the finding could lead to an effective therapy to inhibit the expression of this gene. According to Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., who is the first incumbent of the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair in Cancer Research with the VCU Massey Cancer Center, and Seok-Geun Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, co-lead investigators of the study, the team has shown that astrocyte elevated gene-1, AEG-1, a cancer promoting gene, is frequently activated in neuroblastoma. In the study published online in the May issue of the journal Oncogene, Fisher, Lee and their team found that the elevated expression of AEG-1 makes cancer cells highly aggressive and resistant to factors that may influence cell suicide, and that loss of AEG-1 reduces the tumor-causing properties of highly aggressive neuroblastoma cells. Additionally, the expression of AEG-1 was significantly elevated in six of 10 neuroblastoma patient-derived samples compared to normal peripheral nerve tissues. Furthermore, they have shown the potential correlation between AEG-1 and MYCN in neuroblastoma. MYCN is a known genetic determinant of neuroblastoma and elevated levels have been observed in one third of neuroblastoma patients. MYCN is linked to aggressive tumor formation and poor clinical outcome. "We believe that activation of AEG-1 in addition to MYCN is critical to the development and progression of neuroblastoma. This works shows that AEG-1 plays a crucial role in the development and progression of neuroblastoma through activating important signaling pathway and induction of MYCN," said Fisher, who also is professor and chair of the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, and director of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine. "In addition, we have shown that AEG-1 could be a potential prognostic marker for neuroblastoma and a potential target for novel therapeutic strategies for neuroblastoma patients," he said. The team has already begun analyzing the expression of AEG-1 and its relationship with MYCN status in neuroblastoma patient samples. Through collaboration with John Maris, M.D., chair of neuroblastoma research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the team will acquire data from approximately 2,000 neuroblastoma patient tissues. They will also test if inactivation of AEG-1 using small interfering RNA could be a therapeutic intervention for neuroblastoma through second collaborative effort with Bill Weiss, M.D., associate professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, the Dana Foundation, and the Goldhirsh Foundation. Fisher worked with a team that included VCU School of Medicine researchers Zaozhong Su, Ph.D., associate professor in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; Devanand Sarkar, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., assistant professor and Harrison Endowed Scholar in Cancer Research at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine and the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; H-Y Jeon, J.E. Richards, and N. Vozhilla, D.V.M., with the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; and T Van Maerken, M.D., with the Center for Medical Genetics at the Ghent University Hospital in Ghent, Belgium. Sathya Achia Abraham Virginia Commonwealth University


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