Harrisons Principle Of Internal Medicine

HOUSTON -- (August 7, 2009) -- Experts at Baylor College of Medicine are recruiting volunteers for a study that will help to explain why asthma affects Latino ethnic groups differently than other populations.

"Asthma burdens more Puerto Ricans, fewer Dominicans, and even fewer Mexicans and Central Americans. We hope to learn why this is the case and what it tells us about the genetic and environmental factors that lead to asthma," said Dr. Harold Farber, associate professor of pediatrics – pulmonary at BCM.

To qualify for the study, participants must:

• Be between the ages of 8 and 21 years old
• Not have other severe health problems
• Be of Latino heritage

Those selected for the study will:

• Be given a free lung function test
• Be tested for common allergies
• Give a blood sample
• Complete a questionnaire
• Be asked to return for other tests

The study is recruiting volunteers with and without asthma. Participants will also be compensated for their time. For more information on this study funded by the National Institutes of Health, call Blanca Lopez at 832-822-4252.

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HOUSTON -- (August 6, 2009) -- A Baylor College of Medicine expert offers up the skinny on lettuce – eat lots of it, but try to choose the most nutritious variety and watch what you put on it.

"Salad is a wonderful way to fill up without consuming a lot of calories," said Dr. Rebecca Reeves, assistant professor of medicine at BCM and a registered dietitian. "It's a good idea to eat a salad before your meal because the fiber helps fill you up and that can modify how hungry you are."

In some ways, all lettuce is much the same. Iceberg, romaine, loose leaf and butter lettuce all contain a lot of water and a comparable amount of calories – about 5 calories per half-cup shredded lettuce. But when preparing a salad, it's best to select darker lettuce because it contains more nutrients.

Dark green lettuce is a good source of vitamin A as well as some antioxidants. Incorporating plenty of fruits and veggies, including lettuce, that are darker yellow, orange and green in color is an important part of the diet, Reeves said.

An even better choice for salads is spinach. It's higher in fiber and also contains iron, potassium and vitamins A and C.

"Spinach is more nutritionally adequate than dark green lettuce," Reeves said. "If you want to eat something even a little better for you than green leafy lettuce, go for spinach or combine them – just throw some in your salad."

The easiest way to ruin the benefits of lettuce though is to load it up with high-calorie additions. Topping salad with creamy salad dressing, nuts, avocado, cheese and croutons will neutralize that caloric advantage of lettuce and spinach, Reeves said.

She advises:

• Using a low-fat or fat-free dressing or a small amount of oil plus vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• Ordering dressing on the side
• Dipping a biteful of salad into dressing rather than pouring it over the top
• Avoiding high-calorie toppings
• Using fresh squeezed lemon juice rather than dressing

"Be especially careful about what you add to a salad. Load up on bell peppers, onions, carrots and other vegetables that are low-calorie," Reeves said. "If you can do that, then I say eat salad, and eat a lot of it."

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HOUSTON -- (August 5, 2009) -- An update on Down syndrome care and research will be discussed in a public forum Aug. 17 at The Children's Museum of Houston.

The forum will feature Dr. Carlos Bacino, associate professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Genetics Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital; Dr. Nirupama Madduri, assistant professor of pediatrics - developmental at BCM and director of the Down Syndrome Clinic at Texas Children's; and Rosa Rocha, president of the Down Syndrome Association of Houston.

Sponsored by BCM and Texas Children's, the event is part of the monthly "Evening with Genetics" lecture series organized by BCM's Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. The series offers current information regarding care, education and research about genetic disorders.

The lecture series was recently awarded funding from the Texas Department of State Health Services to continue the public health education forums.

Down syndrome is caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome (strands of DNA on which genes are found). It is the most frequently occurring chromosome disorder and causes delays in growth and intellectual development.

The program is free and open to the public. It will be held at 7 p.m. at The Children's Museum of Houston, 1500 Binz. For more information, contact Susan Fernbach at 832-822-4182 or fernbach@bcm.edu.

Additional information can be found on upcoming seminars at http://www.bcm.edu/eveninggenetics/.

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HOUSTON -- (August 5, 2009) -- Following a study that showed that a new once-a-day injectable type 2 diabetes drug resulted in significant reductions in blood sugar and weight over two years, Baylor College of Medicine is recruiting volunteers to participate in a study to test the effectiveness of taking a drug once a week.

"The once-a-day version of this drug produced superior blood sugar control compared to conventional oral agents with stable weight loss and relative freedom from low blood sugar reactions for a minimum of two years. We are seeking to examine similar once weekly versions of this same agent for their success in these arenas. A once-a-week injectable drug is surely easier on someone suffering from type 2 diabetes than is a once- or twice-a-day drug," said Dr. Alan Garber, principal investigator of this study and professor of medicine at BCM.

To qualify for the study, participants must be:

• 18 years of age or older
• Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
• Having trouble controlling blood sugar levels

Qualified participants will receive study treatments as well as study-related medical evaluations and tests at no cost.

For more information or to volunteer for the study, call 713-798-0158.

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HOUSTON -- (August 4, 2009) -- A subset of tumor cells that remain after a woman with breast cancer undergoes treatment with either anti-cancer or anti-hormone therapy shows a "gene signature" that could be used to define targets for developing new drugs against the disease, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine. The report appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We have found that gene expression patterns in a subset of these resistant cancer cells differ from those associated with the bulk of the epithelial cells in the tumor. These patterns resemble expression patterns more closely associated with cells with a mesenchymal (a form of connective tissue) phenotype (or appearance)," said Dr. Jenny Chang, medical director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at BCM and a professor of medicine. Chang is a senior author of the paper along with Drs. Michael Lewis and Jeffrey M. Rosen, both of BCM and the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center as well as the Breast Center.

Subpopulation of cells

In a previous paper, the authors showed that after patients received conventional chemotherapy, the remaining tumor contained a higher percentage of tumor-initiating cells, also known as breast cancer stem cells. These remaining tumor-initiating cells were therefore largely resistant to conventional treatments.

They found that gene expression patterns in these chemoresistant cells represented a tumor-initiating gene signature, which was not only more easily detectable in a newly-defined breast cancer subtype called "claudin-low", but also enriched in human breast tumors after they had been treated with anti-cancer drugs that target the signals of hormones, said Chang. They also found that genes associated with the mesenchymal cell phenotype were increased in breast tumors after hormone treatment.

"This study supports a growing body of evidence that there is a particular subpopulation of cells in breast cancer that may be responsible for disease recurrence, resistance to treatment, and perhaps metastasis (cancer spread)," said Chang.

Hope to eradicate all cell populations

In the future, she said, the group will be looking at ways to use the gene signature they have identified to develop drugs that can combine with conventional therapy to eradicate all populations of cells within tumors.

Others who took part in this research include Chad J. Creighton, Xiaoxian Li, Melissa Landis, Helen Wong, Angel Rodriguez, Jason I. Herschkowitz, Xiamoei Zhang, Anne Pavlick, M. Carolina Gutierrez, and Susan G. Hilsenbeck, all of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM; J. Michael Dixon, Lorna Renshaw, Alexey A. Larionov and Dana Faratian of Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, UK; Veronique M. Neumeister, Ashley Sjohund, David L. Rimm and Xiaping He, all of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT; Cheng Fan and Charles M. Perou, both of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Funding for this study came from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Helis Foundation, the National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Special Program of Research Excellence, the National Cancer Institute, the Breakthrough Research Unit in Edinburgh, Cancer Research UK, the National Institutes of Health, GlaxoSmithKline and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

For more information on basic science research at Baylor College of Medicine, please go to www.bcm.edu/fromthelab or www.bcm.edu/news.

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