CRISPR/Cas technique allows precise modification of genome

Exclusive: 'Jaw-dropping' breakthrough hailed as landmark in fight against hereditary diseases as Crispr technique heralds genetic revolution - Science - News - The Independent

• David Adams, a DNA scientist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, said that the technique has the potential to transform the way scientists are able to manipulate the genes of all living organisms, especially patients with inherited diseases, cancer or lifelong HIV infection.
  
  “This is the first time we’ve been able to edit the genome efficiently and precisely and at a scale that means individual patient mutations can be corrected,” Dr Adams said.

Research shows how medicine for the brain can be absorbed through the nose

Research shows how medicine for the brain can be absorbed through the nose
-University of Southern Denmark. "Research shows how medicine for the brain can be absorbed through the nose." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 27 Sep. 2013. Web. 27 Sep. 2013.

Editor's notes:
There may be a wonderful use for nasal administration in the treatment of medically resistant pituitary prolactinomas.  These are commonly treated medically by oral administration of the dopamine agonists cabergoline (CAB) or bromocriptine (BRO).  But in some patients normalization of PRL (prolactin) levels is not achieved with even unusually high doses of CAB or BRO. If CAB or BRO can be delivered effectively to the brain via nasal administration, it may be possible to produce higher therapeutic levels of the drug at the pituitary tumor while avoiding the undesired increased exposure to other systems which may be affected: such as the kidneys, pancreas, and immune system.

Cref: Dopamine -Wikipedia

Mechanical ventilation can cause brain damage through dopamine induced apoptosis in hippocampus

Triggers Hippocampal Apoptosis by Vagal and Dopaminergic Pathways
-Adrián González-López, Inés López-Alonso, et al.
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Volume 188, Issue 6, 15 September 2013.
Researchers find why ICU ventilation can cause brain damage
-Medical News Today, 26 September 2013.

Excerpts:

• Patients who have been mechanically ventilated in intensive care units have long been known to suffer some form of mental impairment as a result. Now, researchers have uncovered a molecular mechanism that may explain why this happens.
• In comparison with the control mice, the mice on ventilation showed evidence of neuronal cell death in the hippocampus as a result of apoptosis - the process of programmed cell death. The research team discovered that the apoptosis process was caused by dopamine-induced suppression of Akt - a molecule that usually prevents neuronal apoptosis.
• The research team discovered that the apoptosis process was caused by dopamine-induced suppression of Akt - a molecule that usually prevents neuronal apoptosis.

Post-surgical follow-up of primary hyperparathyroidism associated with MEN1

Post-surgical follow-up of primary hyperparathyroidism associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1

-Flavia L. Coutinho, Delmar M. Lourenco, Jr.,I Rodrigo A. Toledo, Fabio L. M. Montenegro, and Sergio P. A. Toledo
Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2012 April; 67(Suppl 1): 169–172.
doi: 10.6061/clinics/2012(Sup01)28. PMCID: PMC3328812

• In patients with hyperparathyroidism and MEN1, parathyroidectomy in most cases "was able to restore normal calcium/parathyroid hormone levels and ultimately lead to discontinuation of calcium and calcitriol supplementation."
  

Diagnosis of MEN1 in a patient with back pain

Diagnosis Of Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 In A Patient With Back Pain; Case Report And Review Of Literature
-G Cristina, L Cesar A, L Robert, M Vinuta. Diagnosis Of Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 In A Patient With Back Pain; Case Report And Review Of Literature. The Internet Journal of Internal Medicine. 2008 Volume 8 Number 1.

• "Usually MEN1 patients are first diagnosed when they present with hypercalcemia. Our patient’s diagnosis was made only after he presented with back and flank pain, and imaging of his abdomen incidentally noted multiple abdominal tumors."
  

Gut reaction: Mice survive lethal doses of chemotherapy

Gut reaction: Mice survive lethal doses of chemotherapy
-University of Michigan News Service

The study, "Induction of intestinal stem cells by R-spondin 1 and Slit2 augments chemoradioprotection," was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, and is to be published in Nature.

ref: Slit Robo Signaling and Induction of Intestinal Stem Cells for Colorectal Cancer Therapy

Selective parathyroidectomy: a conservative surgical option for MEN1–primary hyperparathyroidism

Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy provides a conservative surgical option for multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1–primary hyperparathyroidism -Mark Versnick, et al.
Surgery, Volume 154, Issue 1 , Pages 101-105, July 2013

• MIP (minimally invasive hyperparathyroidectomy) "provides an acceptable outcome for patients with MEN1."
  
• "It is accepted that recurrent disease is inevitable in these patients; however, such recurrence may take decades to occur and may be able to be dealt with by a further focused procedure."