1. Packers (No. 1; 11-0):? Any sounds you hear coming from South Florida won?t be coming from a cork leaving a bottle of champagne.
2. Ravens (No. 6; 8-3):? Given their history of stumbling against bad teams, the next four ?easy? games could be the hardest on the schedule.
3. Steelers (No. 3; 8-3):? The Steelers nearly experienced ?choke-like symptoms? on Sunday night.
4. Patriots (No. 4; 8-3):? The Pats are playing just well enough to fail to fulfill the expectations they?ll create in December.
5.? Saints (No. 5; 8-3):? They?ll be fine until they have to play on the road in the postseason.
6.? 49ers (No. 2; 9-2):? Unless and until the 49ers lose in January, Jim Harbaugh likely won?t be rooting for his brother in the playoffs
7. Texans (No. 9; 8-3):? Wins in the playoffs could be hard to come by without a quarterback who has some playoff experience.
8. Cowboys (No. 11; 7-4):? If the Cowboys keep it up, Tony Romo will have a chance to commit another game-altering turnover in January.
9. Raiders (No. 12; 7-4):? Forget Carson Palmer and Darren McFadden; Shane Lechler and Sebastian Janikowski could be the keys to a deep postseason run for the Raiders.
10. Bears (No. 7; 7-4):? Caleb Hanie?s hiney soon will be back on the bench.
11. Falcons (No. 13; 7-4):? They need to develop a killer instinct if they want to make it back to the playoffs.
12. Lions (No. 8; 7-4):? In fairness to Suh, no one ever specifically told him that stomping was frowned upon.
13. Bengals (No. 14; 7-4):? In the first NFL season since 1997 without T.O. and Randy Moss, the Bengals have a wideout who could be better than both of them.
14. Broncos (No. 15; 6-5):? Tebowmania will be very dangerous in a single-elimination tournament.
15. Jets (No. 16; 6-5):? Beating the Bills was, ultimately, the equivalent of delaying the inevitable.
16. Titans (No. 17; 6-5):? If Chris Johnson without his burst can rush for 190 yards, he could go for 400 yards once he can explode again.
17. Giants (No. 10; 6-5):? Bill Cowher?s plans are about to change.
18. Eagles (No. 18; 4-7):? DeSean Jackson dropped that pass because he prematurely launched into his ?hide under the bed? touchdown celebration.
19. Seahawks (No. 19; 4-7):? The 12th man apparently took a day off.
20. Buccaneers (No. 20; 4-7):? The ?toughest . . . schedule . . . ever? excuse went out the window in Nashville.
21. Bills (No. 21; 5-6):? So if Stevie Johnson had scored a touchdown against the Eagles, would he have gotten on all fours and barked like a dog?
22. Cardinals (No. 26; 4-7):? This team may not be as far away from contending as it appears.
23. Chiefs (No. 22; 4-7):? This team may not be as far away from contending as it appears.
24. Chargers (No. 23; 4-7):? This team may not be as far away from contending as it appears.
25. Dolphins (No. 24; 3-8):? This team may not be as far away from contending as it appears.
26. Browns (No. 25; 4-7):? And the streak ends at four.
27. Panthers (No. 29; 3-8):? Cam Newton had flashbacks to the national title game, given that his opponents in Indy were roughly as good as the 2010 Oregon team.
28. Redskins (No. 30; 4-7):? Back-to-back home games against the Jets and Patriots could make or break Mike Shanahan for 2012.
29. Jaguars (No. 27; 3-8):? Though it?s not clear who the next coach will be, it?s safe to say the next coach will have no offers to coach other NFL teams.
30. Vikings (No. 28; 2-9):? So if the Vikings have another 3-13 season, does Bud Grant come back again?
31. Rams (No. 31; 2-9):? Is it possible for the offensive rookie of the year to become a bust?
32. Colts (No. 32; 0-11):? ?If we fire the defensive coordinator, maybe people won?t think we?re trying to get the first pick in the draft.?
Salads you can trust -- safe farm practices get major testPublic release date: 1-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
UMD-led research funded with $9 million from USDA, industry
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Ever since 2006, when a deadly batch of spinach killed three people and sickened hundreds, U.S. farm producers, packers and others along the distribution line have argued over how best to protect consumers and assure them that leafy greens and tomatoes are safe.
Now, a major, national initiative, led by University of Maryland researchers, may help settle the fight, increase safety and deliver more trustworthy salad fixings. It promises to be one of the most comprehensive studies of fresh produce safety ever conducted.
"Leafy greens and tomatoes remain the produce items most frequently responsible for outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, yet we still don't know what specific safety guidelines are justified scientifically," says principal investigator Robert Buchanan, the University of Maryland professor and director of its Center for Food Safety and Security Systems, who is heading the research initiative.
"Guidelines, standards and regulations need to be based on solid science or we'll end up with legal wrangling rather than safer salads," Buchanan adds.
The research will create the scientific basis for detailed safe, hygienic practices in farming, packing, transporting and storing fresh produce. The idea is to prevent water, air or ground sources of pathogen contamination by setting standards or benchmarks that can be applied in a variety of growing regions and countries.
For example, how far apart do you need to keep a lettuce patch from pigs or other farm animals to prevent bacterial contamination? What kinds of barriers are needed to prevent contaminated water from reaching crops? What kinds of animal-based fertilizers are safe to use?
To get hard, scientific answers, Buchanan has secured a $5.4 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with substantial industry funding - roughly $9 million in all - for an extensive research project spanning at least three years. The project will involve extensive testing and data collection by industry, supplemented with field experiments involving eight other university and federal laboratories around the country.
"The research team assembled represents a significant portion of the produce safety experts in the United States, and includes expertise in the multiple disciplines needed to address this highly complex problem," Buchanan notes.
The University of Maryland's research partners are Ohio State University; Rutgers University; University of California, Davis; University of Florida; University of Delaware; University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; USDA; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION TO WITHSTAND TRADE CHALLENGES
Continuing outbreaks of illnesses from eating fresh and fresh-cut produce has prompted widespread calls for objective, good-practice standards and benchmarks to ensure that growers, processors and shippers all take adequate safety and hygienic precautions, Buchanan says.
These calls have come from various agricultural production groups, grocers, regulatory agencies, international trading partners and consumer organizations. Additionally, the FDA is required by the Food Safety Modernization Act to develop produce safety standards.
Some agricultural industry groups - including large lettuce and tomato growers - have attempted to enforce their own standards through state and regional regulatory channels, setting off what Buchanan calls a "firestorm of criticism and complaints" challenging the appropriateness and costs associated with these practices.
"No group's protocol will be approved and enforced without scientific validation," Buchanan says. "The science must be solid enough to withstand domestic legal challenges and international trading disputes. Producers, processors and consumers must be assured that the good practice standards apply to their region - that what works on a big farm in California, makes sense on a couple dozen acres on the East Coast," he adds.
RESEARCH TARGETS
The research team says it will give regulators, farmers, packers and others along the supply chain the scientific and technological knowledge needed to develop and defend produce safety protocols, or 'metrics' as the industry calls them.
At the production stage, the research will focus on air, water and other environmental factors related to potential contamination by pathogens; risks during harvesting, packing, and processing; as well as temperature and other handling concerns as produce moves to market.
"This is a massive undertaking because there are hundreds of variations and factors we have to take into account," Buchanan says. "Appropriate practices may vary from one season to another, even in one location. There' no way we could do this without the massive data collection effort the industry has committed to."
INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION
The initiative's industry partners - representing more than 90 percent of the leafy greens and tomato production in the United States - will conduct about 200,000 separate tests during the project to measure the presence of pathogens.
Already, the agriculture producers are testing for pathogens in produce just before and after harvesting. Also, they making environmental tests - for example, in irrigation waters, in fertilizers and other soil amendments - and sanitary conditions in transport and processing facilities. The researchers will then analyze all this data.
The researchers will conduct a series of controlled experiments to see how various agricultural and hygienic practices affect levels of pathogens. By conducting these tests around the country, the team will be able to gauge any variations in the effectiveness of safety practices from region to region.
RAPID SAFETY UPDATES
Industry and government advisory panels will monitor the progress of the research, and this will aid the rapid deployment of updated safety information. "If we find out along the way that an industry practice is particularly risky or beneficial, we'll flash word through our network so that important safety information gets out quickly," Buchanan says.
###
FUNDING
The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funding the project through its Specialty Crop Research Initiative. The three-year grant totals $5.4 million. The industry partners are matching the grant with nearly $4 million in in-kind support.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Robert Buchanan, Director
UMD Center for Food Safety and Security Systems (CF3)
301-405-1174
rbuchana@umd.edu
Neil Tickner
UMD Public Affairs
301-405-4622
ntickner@umd.edu
UMD CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY SYSTEMS
CFS3 assembles and coordinates the University of Maryland's extensive research, education, and outreach capabilities in order to make meaningful improvements in food protection, regionally, nationally and internationally. Solutions to food safety and security issues can only be achieved by combining the expertise, capabilities, and experiences of academia, industry and government, and CFS3's unique location gives it the capability to work cooperatively with each, allowing for access to an array of scientific partners in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as embassies, industrial groups and the federal government.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Salads you can trust -- safe farm practices get major testPublic release date: 1-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
UMD-led research funded with $9 million from USDA, industry
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Ever since 2006, when a deadly batch of spinach killed three people and sickened hundreds, U.S. farm producers, packers and others along the distribution line have argued over how best to protect consumers and assure them that leafy greens and tomatoes are safe.
Now, a major, national initiative, led by University of Maryland researchers, may help settle the fight, increase safety and deliver more trustworthy salad fixings. It promises to be one of the most comprehensive studies of fresh produce safety ever conducted.
"Leafy greens and tomatoes remain the produce items most frequently responsible for outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, yet we still don't know what specific safety guidelines are justified scientifically," says principal investigator Robert Buchanan, the University of Maryland professor and director of its Center for Food Safety and Security Systems, who is heading the research initiative.
"Guidelines, standards and regulations need to be based on solid science or we'll end up with legal wrangling rather than safer salads," Buchanan adds.
The research will create the scientific basis for detailed safe, hygienic practices in farming, packing, transporting and storing fresh produce. The idea is to prevent water, air or ground sources of pathogen contamination by setting standards or benchmarks that can be applied in a variety of growing regions and countries.
For example, how far apart do you need to keep a lettuce patch from pigs or other farm animals to prevent bacterial contamination? What kinds of barriers are needed to prevent contaminated water from reaching crops? What kinds of animal-based fertilizers are safe to use?
To get hard, scientific answers, Buchanan has secured a $5.4 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with substantial industry funding - roughly $9 million in all - for an extensive research project spanning at least three years. The project will involve extensive testing and data collection by industry, supplemented with field experiments involving eight other university and federal laboratories around the country.
"The research team assembled represents a significant portion of the produce safety experts in the United States, and includes expertise in the multiple disciplines needed to address this highly complex problem," Buchanan notes.
The University of Maryland's research partners are Ohio State University; Rutgers University; University of California, Davis; University of Florida; University of Delaware; University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; USDA; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION TO WITHSTAND TRADE CHALLENGES
Continuing outbreaks of illnesses from eating fresh and fresh-cut produce has prompted widespread calls for objective, good-practice standards and benchmarks to ensure that growers, processors and shippers all take adequate safety and hygienic precautions, Buchanan says.
These calls have come from various agricultural production groups, grocers, regulatory agencies, international trading partners and consumer organizations. Additionally, the FDA is required by the Food Safety Modernization Act to develop produce safety standards.
Some agricultural industry groups - including large lettuce and tomato growers - have attempted to enforce their own standards through state and regional regulatory channels, setting off what Buchanan calls a "firestorm of criticism and complaints" challenging the appropriateness and costs associated with these practices.
"No group's protocol will be approved and enforced without scientific validation," Buchanan says. "The science must be solid enough to withstand domestic legal challenges and international trading disputes. Producers, processors and consumers must be assured that the good practice standards apply to their region - that what works on a big farm in California, makes sense on a couple dozen acres on the East Coast," he adds.
RESEARCH TARGETS
The research team says it will give regulators, farmers, packers and others along the supply chain the scientific and technological knowledge needed to develop and defend produce safety protocols, or 'metrics' as the industry calls them.
At the production stage, the research will focus on air, water and other environmental factors related to potential contamination by pathogens; risks during harvesting, packing, and processing; as well as temperature and other handling concerns as produce moves to market.
"This is a massive undertaking because there are hundreds of variations and factors we have to take into account," Buchanan says. "Appropriate practices may vary from one season to another, even in one location. There' no way we could do this without the massive data collection effort the industry has committed to."
INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION
The initiative's industry partners - representing more than 90 percent of the leafy greens and tomato production in the United States - will conduct about 200,000 separate tests during the project to measure the presence of pathogens.
Already, the agriculture producers are testing for pathogens in produce just before and after harvesting. Also, they making environmental tests - for example, in irrigation waters, in fertilizers and other soil amendments - and sanitary conditions in transport and processing facilities. The researchers will then analyze all this data.
The researchers will conduct a series of controlled experiments to see how various agricultural and hygienic practices affect levels of pathogens. By conducting these tests around the country, the team will be able to gauge any variations in the effectiveness of safety practices from region to region.
RAPID SAFETY UPDATES
Industry and government advisory panels will monitor the progress of the research, and this will aid the rapid deployment of updated safety information. "If we find out along the way that an industry practice is particularly risky or beneficial, we'll flash word through our network so that important safety information gets out quickly," Buchanan says.
###
FUNDING
The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funding the project through its Specialty Crop Research Initiative. The three-year grant totals $5.4 million. The industry partners are matching the grant with nearly $4 million in in-kind support.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Robert Buchanan, Director
UMD Center for Food Safety and Security Systems (CF3)
301-405-1174
rbuchana@umd.edu
Neil Tickner
UMD Public Affairs
301-405-4622
ntickner@umd.edu
UMD CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY SYSTEMS
CFS3 assembles and coordinates the University of Maryland's extensive research, education, and outreach capabilities in order to make meaningful improvements in food protection, regionally, nationally and internationally. Solutions to food safety and security issues can only be achieved by combining the expertise, capabilities, and experiences of academia, industry and government, and CFS3's unique location gives it the capability to work cooperatively with each, allowing for access to an array of scientific partners in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as embassies, industrial groups and the federal government.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Genetic sequencing could help match patients with biomarker-driven cancer trials, treatmentsPublic release date: 30-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ian Demsky idemsky@umich.edu 735-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
U-M pilot study examined systematic genetic screening for patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. As cancer researchers continue to identify genetic mutations driving different cancer subtypes, they are also creating a catalog of possible targets for new treatments.
The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP) recently completed a pilot study aimed at solving the practical challenges involved in quickly and systematically sequencing genetic material from patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancer in order to match them with existing clinical trials based on the biomarkers identified.
"We're talking about more than just examining a few genes where mutations are known to occur, or even about a hundred genes," says co-lead investigator Dan Robinson, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at MCTP. "We're talking about the ability to sequence more than 20,000 genes and look not just for individual genetic mutations, but at combinations of mutations."
The exploratory study, known as the Michigan Oncology Sequencing Project (MI-ONCOSEQ), found that identifying a patient's "mutational landscape" provides a promising approach for identifying which trials may best help a patient, the researchers say. Their findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.
"High-throughput sequencing harnesses the latest technological advances to process millions of pieces of genetic information, allowing us to map a cancer's genetic aberrations," says co-lead investigator Sameek Roychowdhury, M.D., Ph.D., a clinical lecturer in hematology and oncology at the U-M Medical School. "Using this technique to identify biomarker-driven treatment options really opens the door for personalized oncology, but it also presents a number of logistical challenges, chief among them making the results available cost-effectively and in a clinically relevant timeframe."
"A decade or two ago, this type of sequencing would have cost many millions or even billions of dollars, but the technology is advancing so rapidly, we're now talking in terms of thousands which makes widespread use a real possibility," he adds.
Cancer can arise from a variety of genetic alterations including rearrangements, additions, deletions and substitutions within the genetic code.
"Different sequencing processes are required to find different types of alterations," Roychowdhury says. "But to be cost-effective, there must be a balancing act between a broad analysis and a deep analysis."
The study began by testing the researchers' sequencing strategy on prostate cancer tumors that had been grown in mice. Later, two patients were enrolled in a clinical pilot: one with colorectal cancer and one with melanoma. Potential clinical trials were identified for both patients.
However, the researchers caution, not all patients will match an existing study. Some patients with a given mutation may be excluded because they have, for example, prostate cancer, but a trial is only enrolling breast cancer patients. The researchers believe that this approach also provides an opportunity to approach clinical trials in a new way, moving from a tissue-specific focus toward genetic aberrations shared across cancer types.
Still, enrolling in a trial does not guarantee a patient will benefit from the treatment, the researchers caution.
Hurdles to widespread implementation include the need for a multidisciplinary Sequencing Tumor Board to interpret the complex sequencing results, management of the necessary computational resources, and a process for dealing with incidental genetic findings revealed by the sequencing such as a risk for hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes the body to absorb too much iron.
Achieving a four-week turnaround time for results is important because that's how long patients are usually required to wait for unsuccessful treatments to leave their systems before starting a clinical trial.
"Once some of the practical and technological hurdles are cleared, we envision an array of mutation and pathway-based trials for available targeted therapies, with eligibility based on molecular assessment," says senior investigator Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of MCTP, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology at the U-M Medical School. "Moreover, if patients are treated with matching targeted therapies and develop secondary resistance, it could also help reveal the mechanisms of resistance and inform future trials for combination therapies."
Chinnaiyan says the work was made possible only by collaboration and teamwork. U-M physicians Moshe Talpaz, M.D., Stephen Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., and Kenneth Pienta, M.D. played key roles in the clinical implementation of this exploratory protocol, he notes.
Researchers hope this type of sequencing will become more widely available over the next 5 to 10 years. Cancer patients are encouraged to speak to their doctors about clinical trial opportunities.
###
Additional authors: Matthew K. Iyer, Robert J. Lonigro, Yi?Mi Wu, Xuhong Cao, Shanker Kalyana?Sundaram, Lee Sam, Alejandro Balbin, Michael J. Quist, Terrence Barrette, Jessica Everett, Javed Siddiqui, Lakshmi P. Kunju, Jeffrey W. Innis, David C. Smith, Christopher D. Lao, Scott Y. Kim, J. Scott Roberts, Stephen B. Gruber, Kenneth J. Pienta, Moshe Talpaz, all of U-M.
Nora Navone, John C. Araujo, Patricia Troncoso, Christopher J. Logothetis, all of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Disclosures: Chinnaiyan is cofounder and stockholder of Compendia Biosciences and consultant to Gen-Probe, Ventana/Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. None of these companies funded or had an influence on this study. Gruber has severed as a paid, external advisor to Myriad Genetics. There was no role for germline genetic testing from Myriad or any other commercial lab in this study.
Funding: The research was supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Early Detection Research Network, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Functional Genomics and the National Institutes of Health.
Citation: "Personalized Oncology Through Integrative High-Throughput Sequencing: A Pilot Study," Science Translational Medicine, Nov. 30.
About the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center:
The U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only 40 U.S. centers to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive" designation by meeting strict guidelines for: Extensive, interactive and innovative clinical and laboratory research; participation in NCI testing of new therapies; significant cancer prevention and control research; provision of patient education, community service and outreach as well as training for health professionals.
The Cancer Center is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a consortium of 21 premiere cancer centers formed to develop national guidelines to ensure consistent, high-quality and cost-effective cancer care.
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
Clinical trials at U-M, www.UMClinicalStudies.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Genetic sequencing could help match patients with biomarker-driven cancer trials, treatmentsPublic release date: 30-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ian Demsky idemsky@umich.edu 735-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
U-M pilot study examined systematic genetic screening for patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. As cancer researchers continue to identify genetic mutations driving different cancer subtypes, they are also creating a catalog of possible targets for new treatments.
The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP) recently completed a pilot study aimed at solving the practical challenges involved in quickly and systematically sequencing genetic material from patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancer in order to match them with existing clinical trials based on the biomarkers identified.
"We're talking about more than just examining a few genes where mutations are known to occur, or even about a hundred genes," says co-lead investigator Dan Robinson, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at MCTP. "We're talking about the ability to sequence more than 20,000 genes and look not just for individual genetic mutations, but at combinations of mutations."
The exploratory study, known as the Michigan Oncology Sequencing Project (MI-ONCOSEQ), found that identifying a patient's "mutational landscape" provides a promising approach for identifying which trials may best help a patient, the researchers say. Their findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.
"High-throughput sequencing harnesses the latest technological advances to process millions of pieces of genetic information, allowing us to map a cancer's genetic aberrations," says co-lead investigator Sameek Roychowdhury, M.D., Ph.D., a clinical lecturer in hematology and oncology at the U-M Medical School. "Using this technique to identify biomarker-driven treatment options really opens the door for personalized oncology, but it also presents a number of logistical challenges, chief among them making the results available cost-effectively and in a clinically relevant timeframe."
"A decade or two ago, this type of sequencing would have cost many millions or even billions of dollars, but the technology is advancing so rapidly, we're now talking in terms of thousands which makes widespread use a real possibility," he adds.
Cancer can arise from a variety of genetic alterations including rearrangements, additions, deletions and substitutions within the genetic code.
"Different sequencing processes are required to find different types of alterations," Roychowdhury says. "But to be cost-effective, there must be a balancing act between a broad analysis and a deep analysis."
The study began by testing the researchers' sequencing strategy on prostate cancer tumors that had been grown in mice. Later, two patients were enrolled in a clinical pilot: one with colorectal cancer and one with melanoma. Potential clinical trials were identified for both patients.
However, the researchers caution, not all patients will match an existing study. Some patients with a given mutation may be excluded because they have, for example, prostate cancer, but a trial is only enrolling breast cancer patients. The researchers believe that this approach also provides an opportunity to approach clinical trials in a new way, moving from a tissue-specific focus toward genetic aberrations shared across cancer types.
Still, enrolling in a trial does not guarantee a patient will benefit from the treatment, the researchers caution.
Hurdles to widespread implementation include the need for a multidisciplinary Sequencing Tumor Board to interpret the complex sequencing results, management of the necessary computational resources, and a process for dealing with incidental genetic findings revealed by the sequencing such as a risk for hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes the body to absorb too much iron.
Achieving a four-week turnaround time for results is important because that's how long patients are usually required to wait for unsuccessful treatments to leave their systems before starting a clinical trial.
"Once some of the practical and technological hurdles are cleared, we envision an array of mutation and pathway-based trials for available targeted therapies, with eligibility based on molecular assessment," says senior investigator Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of MCTP, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology at the U-M Medical School. "Moreover, if patients are treated with matching targeted therapies and develop secondary resistance, it could also help reveal the mechanisms of resistance and inform future trials for combination therapies."
Chinnaiyan says the work was made possible only by collaboration and teamwork. U-M physicians Moshe Talpaz, M.D., Stephen Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., and Kenneth Pienta, M.D. played key roles in the clinical implementation of this exploratory protocol, he notes.
Researchers hope this type of sequencing will become more widely available over the next 5 to 10 years. Cancer patients are encouraged to speak to their doctors about clinical trial opportunities.
###
Additional authors: Matthew K. Iyer, Robert J. Lonigro, Yi?Mi Wu, Xuhong Cao, Shanker Kalyana?Sundaram, Lee Sam, Alejandro Balbin, Michael J. Quist, Terrence Barrette, Jessica Everett, Javed Siddiqui, Lakshmi P. Kunju, Jeffrey W. Innis, David C. Smith, Christopher D. Lao, Scott Y. Kim, J. Scott Roberts, Stephen B. Gruber, Kenneth J. Pienta, Moshe Talpaz, all of U-M.
Nora Navone, John C. Araujo, Patricia Troncoso, Christopher J. Logothetis, all of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Disclosures: Chinnaiyan is cofounder and stockholder of Compendia Biosciences and consultant to Gen-Probe, Ventana/Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. None of these companies funded or had an influence on this study. Gruber has severed as a paid, external advisor to Myriad Genetics. There was no role for germline genetic testing from Myriad or any other commercial lab in this study.
Funding: The research was supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Early Detection Research Network, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Functional Genomics and the National Institutes of Health.
Citation: "Personalized Oncology Through Integrative High-Throughput Sequencing: A Pilot Study," Science Translational Medicine, Nov. 30.
About the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center:
The U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only 40 U.S. centers to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive" designation by meeting strict guidelines for: Extensive, interactive and innovative clinical and laboratory research; participation in NCI testing of new therapies; significant cancer prevention and control research; provision of patient education, community service and outreach as well as training for health professionals.
The Cancer Center is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a consortium of 21 premiere cancer centers formed to develop national guidelines to ensure consistent, high-quality and cost-effective cancer care.
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
Clinical trials at U-M, www.UMClinicalStudies.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
SHANGHAI ? U.S. battery maker Johnson Controls is at odds with Shanghai's environmental regulator over the credibility of tests the company says show it was not responsible for severe lead poisoning cases in children discovered earlier this year.
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company said Wednesday that an investigation by the China Electric Equipment Industry Association found its battery factory in Shanghai's eastern suburbs was not the cause of elevated blood-lead levels among children in a nearby community. Instead, it pinned blame on a recycling facility in the area.
But Shanghai Environment Bureau official Ju Chunfang, who participated in testing the Johnson Control plant, said the association's investigation is not independent because the company commissioned and paid for it.
He said the bureau began another investigation of its own last week and insisted that Johnson Controls has agreed it is the largest source of lead emissions in the area.
Local officials believe that the plant, which is much larger than other battery factories in the area, had to be the cause of the poisoning cases. In an interview, Ju cited several instances of periodically high emissions tests and prevailing wind patterns as the reason for that allegation.
Xia Qing, the scientist who led the probe cited by Johnson Controls, said it was commissioned by the Electric Equipment Industry Association, and was not paid for by the battery maker.
The tests showed abnormally high lead levels at a waste recycling facility near the community whose children were poisoned, with lead levels three times the current national standard and 10 times a pending stricter national standard. Zinc levels were 15 times national standards.
"I have three conclusions. First, trust the Chinese environmental protection laws. Second, the lead poisonings were not caused by Johnson Controls. And third, pay more attention to the recycling stations and companies," said Xia, an engineer with the China Research Academy of Environmental Science.
The Johnson Controls factory was shut down in September after it reached its annual quota for lead use. The plant has sought repeatedly to get permission to expand production, but local environmental officials say such requests will not be approved due to concerns over lead emissions.
Johnson Controls says it intends to resume production in January as usual.
"We believe this is a comprehensive investigation based on facts," said Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions. "The results corroborate our own data and prove that emissions from our battery plant could not be the cause of elevated blood-lead levels found in the community."
Johnson Controls had insisted all along that its plant's emission controls and equipment would have prevented any significant contamination.
Production at a second, but smaller battery plant in the area had also been stopped.
Soaring use of cars and electric scooters is driving strong demand for lead acid batteries, and their production and recycling are a key source of lead contamination.
The lead emissions problem drew attention after families living in Kanghua New Village, a small block of apartment buildings erected 15 years ago to house farm families moved to make way for the city's Kangqiao Industrial Zone, said checks showed many of their children had abnormally high blood lead levels.
The village, a small gated community of low-rise apartments, is located just north of the zone and close to chemical, battery and electronics equipment factories.
Johnson Controls earlier said its factory has lead emissions at about one-seventh the Chinese national standard and employees are regularly tested to ensure their blood lead levels remain low enough.
The company is a major supplier to the automotive industry, with 50 manufacturing, recycling and distribution centers supplying more than a third of the world's lead-acid vehicle batteries.
The company is expanding in China, planning a new $100 million plant to make start-stop batteries for vehicles. Such batteries cut fuel use and emissions by automatically shutting off a standard gas-powered engine when it idles and restarting it when the driver engages the clutch or releases the brake.
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Researcher Fu Ting contributed to this report.
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Follow Elaine Kurtenbach on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ekurtenbachsh
LONDON?? British singer George Michael's health is improving, doctors treating him in Vienna for pneumonia said in a statement Wednesday.
The 48-year-old former Wham! frontman was hospitalized in the Austrian capital and diagnosed with severe pneumonia, forcing him to cancel the remainder of his European tour.
Story: George Michael has pneumonia, cancels shows
"The latest development in Mr. Michael's case ? which has evolved from a severe pneumococcal infection ? necessitated intensive care due to its severity and extension," said professors Gottfried Locker and Christoph Zielinski.
"We are happy to announce that Mr. Michael is improving steadily with an impressive regression of pneumonic symptoms and follows a steady rate of improvement as hoped.
"As we said previously, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory."
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The doctors also appeared to address speculation in the British tabloid press that Michael was suffering further, potentially serious health complications and that he was receiving state-of-the-art treatment during his stay at the Vienna General Hospital.
Story: Pop ladies of the '80s have still got the beat
"There are no other health issues with regards to the patient other than the underlying pneumonic disorder, and no further measures had to be taken," they said.
"Michael is receiving precisely the same treatment as any ordinary patient in Austria would receive at the hospital for this disease."
The Grammy award-winning singer found fame in the 1980s with Wham! before going on to pursue a successful solo career. He has sold an estimated 100 million records and has a personal fortune estimated at 90 million pounds ($140 million).
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
WASHINGTON ? Don't diss Long Island ? you'll hear about it in a New York minute.
Republican Sen. John McCain was trying to make a point during debate on a defense bill Wednesday when he said Long Island "sometimes regrettably" was part of the United States. That drew a swift rebuke from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who took to Twitter to demand an apology.
"All of America saw how heroic Long Islanders were on 9/11. Long Island deserves an apology," Schumer said.
McCain then stood on the Senate floor to explain it was a joke and referred to "wonderful Long Island." He also apologized to Schumer ? sort of.
"I'm sorry there's at least one of my colleagues that can't take a joke and so I apologize if I offended him and hope that someday he will have a sense of humor," McCain said.
That got Schumer tweeting more.
"NYers can take a joke. But if Sen. John McCain wants to mock parts of America, stick to Arizona."
Schumer later said of McCain: "I don't think he meant it to be malicious, but I didn't want to let it go unanswered."
Windows users have a ton of system tweakers to choose from, but we love the Ultimate Windows Tweaker the most. It has a ton of different tweaks you can perform, it's portable, super lightweight, and completely free.
Customize the look and usability of Windows Explorer, the Start menu, and the taskbar appearance
Tweak the welcome screen's behavior and change User Account Control settings
Change how long unresponsive applications will wait before Windows kills them
Disable advanced features like the Registry editor, Command Prompt, Task Manager, and more (useful for businesses or schools)
Change network settings, hide your computer from the network, and optimize bandwidth usage
Tweak Internet Explorer's appearance and behavior
Much, much more
The Ultimate Windows Tweaker has more options than you can shake a stick at. You can change everything from how Windows looks and acts to other hidden settings like changing how long applications wait before Windows kills them. What really separates the Ultimate Windows Tweaker from other tweaking apps, though, is its size, portability, and resource usage. It's a very small app, clocking in at only 385kb, is super lightweight, and doesn't require any kind of installation. Just run it, enable your tweaks, and throw it away if you want to. It's perfect for those little tweaks that just make Windows better.
We don't see very many downsides with the Ultimate Windows Tweaker. It could potentially be overwhelming for newer users (who might prefer something with fewer options), but other than that, it's just about perfect. Its interface is simple and pain-free to navigate, which is more than many other tweaking apps can say. Some might also note that it doesn't have any maintenance abilities, which other tweaking apps do?however, we don't really see that as a downside since we already have our favorite maintenance apps for that. When it comes to tweaking, we like an app specifically designed for tweaking.
If you're looking for something with fewer options (perhaps so it's a little less overwhelming), try XdN Tweaker. It's a bit less feature-filled, but it's very simple to use.
There are a ton of other alternatives out there, but most cost money. If you're willing to drop some cash, you might like Windows 7 Manager, which lets you tweak even more settings like boot routines, as well as perform actions like retrieving software keys, deleting duplicate files, and so on. Win7Zilla and Tweak7 also offer a ton of other features, but you can usually perform the same actions with a careful combination of free software (and again, we don't mind using other software for doing non "tweak"-related things like finding duplicate files).
For example, you can tweak just about anything with the Windows Registry. It won't lay it out for you in a way that you can understand, but by searching the net, you can usually find a registry tweak that'll do what you want it to. Check out our top 10 favorite registry tweaks to get started.
Lastly, while it won't give you options you didn't already have, God Mode is a pretty easy way to get quick access to every configuration option available in the Control Panel. Again, unlike the above tweakers, it can only show you options you already have?but laid out in that way, you might catch a few options you would have otherwise missed (since the Control Panel is a disorganized cluster-you-know-what).
Again, there are a ton of tweakers out there, and we couldn't possibly feature them all, but you should be able to do just about anything with the above options. Got a favorite we didn't mention? Share it in the comments.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page. ?
Reuters
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Public release date: 1-Dec-2011
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Windows users have a ton of system tweakers to choose from, but we love the Ultimate Windows Tweaker the most. It has a ton of different tweaks you can perform, it's portable, super lightweight, and completely free. 
