Melbourne researchers to test bionic eye prototype for human trials
http://blog.invest.vic.gov.au/2012/04/24/melbourne-researchers-to-test-bionic-eye...
2012 April 24 | by Randall Straw

Australian researchers developing a bionic eye implant for the clinically blind will begin testing its first full system prototype this month.

A team of 50 Melbourne researchers with Monash Vision Group (MVG) is on track to have a direct-to-brain bionic eye implant ready for human trials next year.

Many people who are clinically blind or vision impaired have damaged optical nerves, which prevent signals reaching the brain. MVG aims to restore a sense of sight by transmitting wireless signals directly to an implant in the brain.

The MVG brain implant could bring sight to up to 85% of clinically blind people, including those affected by Australia’s three most common untreatable causes of blindness: Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration, as well as people with acquired retinal, optic nerve or ocular disease.

MVG general manager Jeanette Pritchard said: ‘‘Until now, we have been developing each component, doing tests on each component and making sure that they all work properly. But this is integration of all of the components together.’’

In 2009, the federal government committed A$50 million over four years to develop the bionic eye in Australia. While Bionic Vision Australia secured the lion’s share to develop an implant in the retina, MVG received A$8 million to work on an implant which will stimulate the visual cortex within the brain, bypassing the eye and optic nerve.

MVG’s key partners include Monash University, Grey Innovation, Alfred Health and Mini-Fab. Melbourne is renowned for a strong culture of collaboration. Victoria’s medical research community has achieved significant breakthroughs in the development of bionic technology

Looking forward to your vacation? Thieves are too

Aviva Canada data shows burglary increases in summer months and value of stolen items is on the rise

Toronto, May 31, 2012 /CNW/ - As spring turns into summer, more and more Canadians start taking advantage of the warmer weather by spending a greater amount of time outdoors. Aviva Canada Inc., one of the country's leading providers of home, auto, leisure and business insurance, is reminding all Canadians to take precautions when away from the home as thieves take advantage of summer too.

Aviva insurance claims data shows that residential burglaries spike in summer months with a 13 percent, 22 percent and 32 percent higher frequency in June, July and August respectively, than February, which shows the lowest occurrence of residential theft claims.

"Canadians just provide more opportunity for theft to occur in the warmer months," said Wayne Ross, Vice President of National Property Claims at Aviva Canada. "The longer residents spend away from their homes, without taking the proper precautions, the greater chance that thieves will strike."

One of the key precautions is a monitored security system. An Aviva-led customer survey indicates that while some Canadians take precautions against theft, only 33% surveyed have a security system.

Friday is a favourite for thieves, value of stolen items on the rise
Aviva insurance claims data also indicates that break-ins are more common at the start of the weekend, with Friday showing the greatest incidence at 25% higher than Sunday, the day with the lowest incidence of break-ins. The good news for Canadians is that burglaries overall are on the decline, with Aviva data showing an almost 50 percent decline in burglary claims between 2003 and 2011. National data from Statistics Canada also shows a 6 percent decline in break and enters between 2009 and 2010.

While the frequency of burglary is on the decline in Canada, the value of property being stolen is on the rise. Since 2003, the average dollar value of the articles stolen from burglaries has increased 51 per cent from $4,574 to $6,912 in 2011 - attributable to the popularity of easy-to-grab valuable items such as tablet and laptop computers, cell phones, video cameras and gaming consoles.

Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia trend higher than rest of Canada
Based on 2005 to 2011 Aviva Canada data, Quebec homeowners have the highest frequency of break-ins at almost two times that of the national average. At just over one third of the national average, the Atlantic Provinces have the lowest frequency of burglary claims.

"Intruders usually enter your home in one of three ways; the basement, forcing entry through a window or door, or simply opening an unlocked door or window," said Ross. "With this in mind, homeowners can take simple precautions to prevent an intruder from entering their property."

Aviva Canada suggests these precautions:

• Consider upgrading the locking systems on your doors and windows. Ask yourself if you could easily force entry;

• Ensure all windows and doors are locked when out of the home or overnight, and when moving into a new property have the locks changed;

• Make a home look occupied when you're away. Park a car in the driveway, leave some household lights and a radio on, ask a neighbour to collect mail and newspapers and mow your lawn;

• Install a security device with a loud alarm or flashing lights. Some alarms contact authorities directly when they have been activated;

• Do a home inventory with your video camera, it will take minutes, but will save you the stress and heartache of listing all of your possession. The Aviva customer survey also indicates only half of respondents have some form of home inventory.

If you return home to find you've been the victim of a burglary, contact your insurance broker as soon as possible after alerting the authorities. Aviva also offers a single point of contact to begin the claims process quickly and efficiently. The toll-free claims line is 1-866-MY AVIVA, and it's open 24/7 so customers can talk to an Aviva Claims Care Advisor immediately.

About Aviva Canada
Aviva Canada is one of the leading Property and Casualty insurance groups in Canada providing home, automobile, recreational vehicle, group and business insurance to more than three million customers. A wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Aviva plc, the world's sixth-largest insurance group, the company has more than 3,000 employees, 25 locations and 1,700 independent broker partners. Aviva Canada and its employees invest in positive change including through the Aviva Community Fund and Eva's Initiatives, its partner in Aviva's global Street to School program to help homeless and other at-risk youth reach their potential.

*Burglary claim counts in NB, NF, NS, PE, SK, NT, NU and YK were combined due to low frequency. 

Scientists identify mechanisms in aspirin that help protect against cancer
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-scientists-mechanisms-aspirin-cancer.html
June 1, 2012 in Cancer

Scientists identify mechanisms in aspirin that help protect against cancer
 
Until now, the processes that underpin these protective effects were unclear but researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Sheffield have now identified how long-term use and low doses of NSAIDs may help to stave off cancer.

Using translucent zebrafish larvae the researchers were able to visualise how white blood cells interact with the early cancer cell formation as they arise in tissues. Previous studies have shown that cancer cells are less likely to divide if the white blood cells can be prevented from contacting the precursor cancer cells, suggesting that white blood cells – the immune cells – have the ability to promote disease by providing some kind of growth signal.

Lead author, Dr Yi Feng from Bristol's School of Biochemistry, found that these white blood cells, whose normal role is to fight off infections, supply the cancer cells with essential survival factors and identified one of these key factors as prostaglandin – PGE2. If the immune cells are genetically deleted then the cancer cells cannot grow but they begin growing again if the researchers feed them PGE2.

The results show that at least in part, taking drugs like aspirin, which are generally taken for cardiovascular problems, prevent the development of cancer by starving the cancer cells of this source of white blood cell early-growth support.

Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Bristol’s Schools of Biochemistry and Physiology and Pharmacology and senior author of this study, said: “These findings are important as they help explain the underlying cellular processes at work which could be used to develop potential new therapies for eliminating early-stage cancer in humans.”

For advanced prostate cancer, new drug slows disease
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-advanced-prostate-cancer-drug-disease.html
June 2, 2012 in Cancer
 
A new medication proved effective in slowing the spread of metastatic prostate cancer, while helping to maintain the quality of life, in patients with advanced disease. The phase 3 study was unblinded midway, allowing patients receiving the placebo to instead take the drug because of the favorable results.

The study is the first randomized clinical trial to document expanded benefits among a particular group of prostate cancer patients in whom the disease had spread. The medication, abiraterone acetate -- marketed as Zytiga – also delayed the development of pain and deterioration of the patients' overall condition.

The researchers say the medication could provide new treatment options..

"This drug extended lives and gave patients more time when they weren't experiencing significant pain from the disease,'' said the principal investigator of the international trial, Charles J. Ryan, MD, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"This is an interim analysis, the final analysis should be available in 2014," he said. "But it appears that this medication may lay a foundation for the use of this drug at an earlier stage of prostate cancer, and its benefits may be able to be delivered to a much wider population of patients as a result.''

Ryan will present the data on June 2 at the 48th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer in men, with some 30,000 people annually dying from the disease. Approximately one-third of patients require no treatment, because their disease does not metastasize, or spread, while another third are treated and cured. But for the remaining patients, the cancer will recur following treatment or spread to the bones, lymph nodes or other parts of the body. Prostate cancer can turn lethal when it spreads and when it resists standard hormonal therapy.

"These results are the culmination of years of research, and will truly transform the way we take care of patients with advanced prostate cancer,'' said Eric J. Small, MD, a UCSF professor and chief of hematology and oncology at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He and Ryan have collaborated on the research of this class of medication for about 9 years.