Researchers in France have hit on a novel method to help kidney stone sufferers ensure they receive the correct and most effective treatment possible.
Kidney stones represent a major medical problem in the western and developing world. If left untreated, apart from being particularly painful, they can lead to renal failure and other complications. In many patients treated successfully, stone recurrence is also a major problem. Clearly a more effective pathological approach to diagnosis and treatment needs to be identified to ensure successful eradication of stones.
Worldwide approximately 1:7000 births are affected by cystinuria, the most frequent cause of stone formation among genetic diseases. Whilst stones are treatable many therapies exist with varying results depending on the type of stone and severity of the incidence.
Cystine stones, of which there are two forms, are composed of tiny micrometre-size crystallites, which are made up of a collection of nanocrystals. Both forms of cystine stone behave in a particular way under different chemical conditions induced by the drug or drugs administered.
By crystallographic techniques Dominique Bazin, Director of Research at Universit

Improving diagnosis and treatment for individuals with autism has been the focus of a growing body of research. New information from these studies led the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to revise key parameters for evaluating and treating autism. Researchers led by Yale Child Study Center director Dr. Fred Volkmar have published the new practice parameters.
‘Early diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorders means treatments will be introduced that lead to more positive outcomes for children,’ said Volkmar the Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology at the Yale School of Medicine.
According to the parameters, clinicians should routinely look for symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in young children undergoing developmental assessments, and in all psychiatric evaluations. If significant symptoms are detected, clinicians should then co-ordinate a careful medical, psychological, and communication evaluation. These evaluations should differentiate between autism and a variety of developmental and other disorders, as well as intellectual and behavioural disabilities.
‘Our goal was advocacy for individuals with autism and their families, and to ensure that services are co-ordinated across clinical care,’ said Volkmar. ‘Our field is changing rapidly, and these parameters are meant to promote effective care and move professional medical methods closer to current practices.’
Volkmar and his co-authors reviewed abstracts from 9,481 research articles on autism that were published between 1991 and 2013. They then fully studied 186 of those articles based on their quality and ability to be applied more generally.
‘Treatment should involve a team approach,’ said Volkmar, who notes that under these treatment parameters, psychiatrists will closely co-ordinate diagnosis and treatment with teachers, behavioural psychologists, and speech and language pathologists, and look for commonly occurring conditions.
A key addition to the new parameters is a focus on how clinicians should address the use of non-traditional therapies, like chelation and secretin. Clinicians are urged to ask families if they are using alternative/complementary treatments and to discuss the therapies

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have identified a small molecule that prevents bacteria from forming into biofilms, a frequent cause of infections. The anti-biofilm peptide works on a range of bacteria including many that cannot be treated by antibiotics.

‘Currently there is a severe problem with antibiotic-resistant organisms,’ says Bob Hancock, a professor in UBC

By discovering a new mechanism that allows blood to enter the brain immediately after a stroke, researchers at UC Irvine and the Salk Institute have opened the door to new therapies that may limit or prevent stroke-induced brain damage.

A complex and devastating neurological condition, stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death and primary reason for disability in the U.S. The blood-brain barrier is severely damaged in a stroke and lets blood-borne material into the brain, causing the permanent deficits in movement and cognition seen in stroke patients.

Dritan Agalliu, assistant professor of developmental & cell biology at UC Irvine, and Axel Nimmerjahn of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies developed a novel transgenic mouse strain in which they use a fluorescent tag to see the tight, barrier-forming junctions between the cells that make up blood vessels in the central nervous system. This allows them to perceive dynamic changes in the barrier during and after strokes in living animals.

While observing that barrier function is rapidly impaired after a stroke (within six hours), they unexpectedly found that this early barrier failure is not due to the breakdown of tight junctions between blood vessel cells, as had previously been suspected. In fact, junction deterioration did not occur until two days after the event.

Instead, the scientists reported dramatic increases in carrier proteins called serum albumin flowing directly into brain tissue. These proteins travel through the cells composing blood vessels