Biomarker Bulletin: June 20, 2011

June 20, 2011 | by

Biomarker Bulletin is an occasionally recurring update of news focused on biomarkers aggregated at BiomarkerCommons.org. Biomarkers are physical, functional or biochemical indicators of normal physiological or disease processes. The individualization of disease management — personalized medicine — is dependent on developing biomarkers that promote specific clinical domains, including early detection, risk, diagnosis, prognosis and predicted response to therapy.

Biomarker Commons

  • Results of Highly Cited Biomarker-disease Associations Often Overestimated

    Although new biomarkers are regularly proposed to serve as potential determinants of disease risk, prognosis or response to treatment, many markers only get evaluated in one or a small number of studies. A review in the June 1st edition of JAMA reports that the results of highly cited biomarker-disease associations that appear in major journals are often substantially overestimated, with effect sizes exceeding those found when the association is evaluated in larger studies.

  • Roche, UCLA Announce Biomarker Research Collaboration

    Roche said last week that it will provide UCLA scientists with a range of genomics tools as part of a research collaboration to study stem cells and cancer, and for the development of new predictive biomarkers for future therapeutics and diagnostics for a host of diseases.

  • Stemina Biomarker Discovery, Children’s Hospital of Orange County Sign Agreement to Study Autism

    Stemina Biomarker Discovery announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) to conduct a study of neural cells from autistic patients using Stemina’s proprietary biomarker discovery platform.

  • Indiana CTSI, GVK Biosciences Partner to Provide National Access to Biomarkers Database

    The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), a statewide collaboration of Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, as well as public and private partnerships, which facilitates the translation of scientific discoveries in the lab into clinical trials and new patient treatments in Indiana and beyond, announced on Friday that they have partnered with GVK Biosciences. GVK Biosciences will provide researchers across the United States access to their clinical biomarker database.

  • Biomarker Briefs: June 13, 2011

    Biomarker Briefs is an occasionally recurring series highlighting particularly interesting articles on biomarkers and/or personalized medicine. This edition includes articles on personalized medicine, a new online tool for analyzing personal genome data, a blood test for depression, and a kidney injury biomarker initiative.

Grey Weather, Grey Mood: Cortisol Levels May Underlie Seasonal Affective Disorder

February 14, 2011 | by

The relationship between season and psychological health in terms of mood has been greatly researched. A recent study shows the cortisol function differs over season in people reporting “Seasonal Affective Disorder” or SAD [1]. This may finally help us to understand any biological mechanism underlying of SAD.

Seasonal affective disorder

National Survey Tracks Rates of Common Mental Disorders Among American Youth

December 14, 2009 | by

Only about half of American children and teenagers who have certain mental disorders receive professional services, according to a nationally representative survey funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The survey also provides a comprehensive look at the prevalence of common mental disorders.

The results are part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a collaboration between NIMH and the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey conducted from 2001 to 2004 had 3,042 participants. These most recent results include data from children and adolescents ages 8 to 15, and were published online ahead of print December 14, 2009, in the journal Pediatrics [1].

Encephalon #58 – Decision Making

November 10, 2008 | by

Welcome to the 58th edition of Encephalon, where we highlight some of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts from around the blogosphere. This edition includes 20 articles on a variety of interesting topics, including intelligence, belief, neurodegeneration, multi-tasking, memory, grief and consciousness.

There’s a revolution occurring on the Web: those “authoritative” articles written on traditional, static websites are being replaced with blogs, wikis and online social networks. In the sphere of health, medicine and information technology, this “real-time Web” consists of many who are professionals in the field; their posts are listed below.
In the digital age, these are the characteristics of new media: recent, relevant, reachable and reliable.

This edition of Encephalon coincides with the historic 44th U.S. Presidential election. As with every election, voters had to decide which candidate for whom to cast their ballot. Although a recent brain-imaging study found that voting decisions are more associated with the brain’s response to negative aspects of a politician’s appearance than to positive ones [1], many other sources of information come into play when we make important and complex decisions. Indeed, studies have shown that decision making is largely an unconscious process [2], in which a set of attributes, including needs, preferences, values and emotions, shape our response to sensory input.

Will there be engaging and thought-provoking articles below? Will each of us learn something new as we read through the posts? Will this edition of Encephalon be successful?

Let’s move through each of the attributes and shape our response to these questions.

Gene Genie #32 – Googling the Genie

May 25, 2008 | by

Welcome to the 32nd edition of Gene Genie, a blog carnival devoted to genes and genetic conditions. This edition includes some excellent articles on genes and gene-related diseases, genetics, genomics and personalized genetics.

Google Health launched publicly this week and to recognize the event, the last section of the carnival is devoted to articles specifically about the service. Google, financial backer of 23andMe, also funds the Personal Genome Project, which plans to unlock the secrets of common diseases by decoding the DNA of 100,000 people in the world’s biggest gene sequencing project [1]. With the vast number of genetic data points collected for each genome sequenced, a digital system for the movement and storage of personal health information is critical for the widespread use of individualized healthcare. Google’s entrance into the online personal health records market may thus help to accelerate the era of personalized medicine.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s get to this month’s edition of the Genie.