Category Archives: Transhuman News

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 16, 2014To treat the debilitating anemia associated with reduced erythropoietin (EPO) production by the kidneys in chronic renal disease, patients are often given recombinant human EPO to increase hemoglobin levels. But that treatment has risks. A new approach that uses a small interfering RNA (siRNA) drug to stimulate natural EPO production by the liver has shown promising results in nonhuman primates, as reported in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers. The article is available free on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website until November 16, 2014.

Marc T. Abrams and colleagues, Merck Research Laboratories (West Point, PA and Boston, MA), designed a siRNA drug that targets and inhibits expression of the EGLN1 gene, thereby blocking production of a protein called prolyl-4-hydrolase 2 (PHD2). The liver normally makes only small amounts of EPO in adult primates and humans, but one dose of the siRNA drug led to increased levels of EPO and hemoglobin in the blood of the primates. The siRNA effect was dose-dependent and was sustained for at least two months, report the authors in the article "A Single Dose of EGLN1 siRNA Yields Increased Erythropoiesis in Nonhuman Primates."

"The translational relevance of this paper is that it successfully advances the in vivo therapeutic investigation of PHD inhibitors from previous mouse-based work to achieve increased serum EPO and hemoglobin in a primate model, " says Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD, The Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.

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About the Journal

Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is an authoritative, peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that focuses on cutting-edge basic research, therapeutic applications, and drug development using nucleic acids or related compounds to alter gene expression. The Journal is under the editorial leadership of Co-Editors-in-Chief Bruce A. Sullenger, PhD, Duke Translational Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, and C.A. Stein, MD, PhD, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA; and Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD. Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is the official journal of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website.

About the Society

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Novel RNAi-based therapy for anemia stimulates liver to produce EPO

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 15, 2014Palliative care provided in the hospital offers known clinical benefits, and a new study shows that inpatient palliative care can also significantly lower the cost of hospitalization and the rate of readmissions. Further, the study shows the hospital can get the expertise it needs through a collaborative relationship with a community hospice. The results of a comparative study are published in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Palliative Medicine website until November 15, 2014.

In the article "A Hospice-Hospital Partnership: Reducing Hospitalization Costs and 30-Day Readmissions among Seriously Ill Adults (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jpm.2013.0612)," John Tangeman, MD, Christopher Kerr, MD, PhD, and Pei Grant, PhD, Center for Hospice and Palliative Care (Cheektowaga, NY), and Carole Rudra, PhD, MPH, Rudra Research (Buffalo, NY), compared cost per hospital admission and readmission rates among patients who received inpatient palliative care to those who did not at two hospitals in western New York.

"Palliative care has been proven to deliver on the value equation," says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine and Clinical Professor of Medicine, Ohio University. "To be successful, every health system will want to maximize its investment in palliative care to deliver the highest quality of care at the lowest cost."

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Journal of Palliative Medicine is the official journal of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and an official journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association

About the Journal

Journal of Palliative Medicine, published monthly in print and online, is an interdisciplinary journal that reports on the clinical, educational, legal, and ethical aspects of care for seriously ill and dying patients. The Journal includes coverage of the latest developments in drug and non-drug treatments for patients with life-threatening diseases including cancer, AIDS, cardiac disease, pulmonary, neurological, and respiratory conditions, and other diseases. The Journal reports on the development of palliative care programs around the United States and the world and on innovations in palliative care education. Tables of content and a sample issue can be viewed on the Journal of Palliative Medicine website.

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Study shows inpatient palliative care reduces hospital costs and readmissions