FOCUS Award Recognizes A Legacy Promoting Work/Family Balance

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Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.

I composed this original article based on an interview with the award recipient.

Excerpt:

Although he was surprised to receive this recognition, Dr. Durbin was pleased in that it gave some recognition and validation to the work he has tried to accomplish through the establishment of a memorial fund in honor of his late wife, Joanne Decker, MD.

The couple met during their pediatrics residencies at CHOP and later again worked together in CHOP’s Division of Emergency Medicine for several years. During the final days of Dr. Decker’s life, they planned to establish a fund for a worthy cause in her memory that would support young physicians, principally women, navigating the work-life integration pathway early in their careers.

“As is very common for many young families in academic medicine like ours, we had spent a lot of effort thinking about various ways we were going to launch our careers and launch our family at the same time,” Dr. Durbin said. “Joanne was very intentional about it. At one time she made the decision to work part-time because she wanted to spend more time raising our kids. She received a lot of mentoring from senior colleagues, mostly other women, as she was making those decisions along the way. When she became a more established physician, she served that mentoring role for younger women in our division trying to manage that work-life integration.”

The Joanne Decker Memorial Fund was initially established in 2007 with gifts from many friends and family members. A few years later, the Department of Pediatrics at CHOP made a significant contribution to endow the fund, ensuring the longevity of its programs.

Going Back to the Future of Obesity and Osteoporosis

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Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.

Excerpt:

In medicine, prevention costs a lot less than a time machine. Fifty to 60 years in the future, many of today’s healthy children and teens will develop later-onset chronic conditions including heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. But some of the factors that put them at risk are already beginning now. Prevention of these chronic diseases during childhood may be far more effective than treating them later in adulthood, particularly if we can predict today who will benefit most from these preventive efforts in the future.

This childhood prevention of adult disease is the pursuit of Jonathan Mitchell, PhD, an instructor of Pediatrics in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Mitchell was recently awarded a training grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health for a study of connections between sleep and obesity risk in teenagers as they transition from middle school to high school. Obese teens tend to become obese adults who face increased risk for heart disease and cancers, so there could be a major long-term public health benefit in understanding how sleep patterns, physical activity-related factors, and genetic factors influence obesity in early adolescence.

“I want to address the question of whether or not short sleep duration leads to the development of adolescent obesity, but we know that other factors, such as physical activity and genetics are also important,” Dr. Mitchell said.

Possible ‘Central Hub’ Proteins Found in Cancer Cell Growth

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Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.

Excerpt:

A study from researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia may add new lines to the textbook description of how cancer cells divide uncontrollably and develop into tumors. Their study, published in Nature Communications, identifies and describes an epigenetic mechanism in cancer cells that amplifies the expression of many genes and could be a central hub in cancer cell growth. Unlike most molecular cancer discoveries that advance knowledge of the disease by dividing it into narrower subtypes, this finding could directly apply to multiple cancer types.

“We know the signaling pathway known as the Rb pathway is altered in pretty much every single tumor that you can find in clinical settings,” said Patrick Viatour, PharmD, PhD, the study’s senior author, an investigator at CHOP and assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Viatour’s research focuses on a family of proteins in the Rb pathway, called E2f transcription factors, that are an important part of the process of cell division — the cell cycle of reproduction that is carefully controlled in healthy cells but proceeds out of control when cancer cells proliferate. Transcription factors, including the E2f family of proteins, bind to specific target regions of DNA and help to either activate or deactivate expression of certain genes.

As a result of Rb pathway alteration, E2f factors are steadily turned on in cancer. In the study primarily using a mouse model of liver cancer, Dr. Viatour and his team found that E2f1 progressively accumulates as cancer progresses.

Medicine’s Version of Santa’s Workshop: A Laboratory Medicine Q&A

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Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.

I conducted, transcribed, and edited this interview, and wrote the introduction.

Excerpt:

Laboratory medicine specialists in pediatrics have a lot in common with Santa’s elves. They are less visible and receive far less of children’s attention than the ones who directly deliver gifts or bedside care, but their behind-the-scenes contributions are essential for the whole enterprise to function correctly. Just think how often you and your family members of any age need to have blood drawn and wait for lab test results to receive the doctor’s diagnosis or a treatment decision.

Michael J. Bennett, PhD, FRCPath, FACB, chief of laboratory medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is at the forefront of the professional group representing these essential experts in analyzing blood, tissue, chemicals, and cells. Dr. Bennett will serve on the board of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) beginning in January 2016 as president-elect, then in 2017 as AACC president.

On the occasion of this new leadership role, Cornerstone sat down with Dr. Bennett, who is director of the Michael J. Palmieri Metabolic Laboratory at CHOP and a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss his insights from 40 years of experience in clinical chemistry in pediatrics.

Latest Findings Add Insight Into Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy

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Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.

I composed this original article based on the presentation abstracts for the highlighted scientific presentation, followed by email contact with the investigators.

Excerpt:

Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reported their latest results from their studies of an investigational personalized cell therapy for a highly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP, the therapy is made from patients’ own immune T cells, which are extracted and bioengineered into CTL019 cells that potentially seek and destroy leukemia cells.

Among the findings, the team reported that 93 percent of pediatric patients reached remission after receiving the therapy for relapsed/refractory ALL. ALL is the most common childhood cancer, with limited effective treatment options for the approximately 10 to15 percent of patients who relapse after standard therapies.

The research team presented these results and more at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in Orlando. They reflect the CHOP-Penn team’s continued process of discovery about the investigational therapy, which is now part of clinical trials active at 15 sites globally, including CHOP.

Drugs May Be What’s the Matter With White Matter in HIV

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Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigators.

Excerpt:

Some of the neurological and psychiatric complications associated with HIV may be side effects of the medications that control the virus, and not caused by the virus itself, according to a new study from researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Their pre-clinical findings were published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.

Certain antiretroviral drugs were associated with problems in developing myelin proteins in cell models and animal models, and the drugs were associated with reductions in white matter in autopsy brain samples from a cohort of individuals with HIV, reported the research team led by co-senior authors Judith Grinspan, PhD, research professor of Neurology at CHOP, and Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, PhD, chair and professor of Pathology at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine.

Both senior researchers emphasized that individuals with HIV should continue taking lifesaving antiretroviral drugs as prescribed. They hope their current and future findings can help researchers refine drug designs to reduce side effects, and help clinicians pursue prescribing practices that are risk-informed and tailored to the patient’s age and stage of brain development. These future changes could be particularly important for children with HIV whose brains are still developing.

Educational Intervention Decreases Mean Girls’ Relational Aggression

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Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication

I edited this article based in part on a CHOP press release and in part on a blog post published by the investigator.

Excerpt:

The “Mean Girls” phenomenon is not just the subject of fiction. Relational aggression, such as using gossip and social exclusion to harm others, is all too common among preadolescent and adolescent girls. A new study from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia suggests that educational interventions including problem-solving skills and leadership opportunities can help, with lasting effects.

“As a psychologist and researcher with a particular interest in bullying, I am always interested in digging deeper into the ‘why,’” wrote Stephen Leff, PhD, in a blog post about the study, which he led. “Why is relational aggression — which involves the manipulation of social standing or reputations through gossip and social exclusion — so predominant among girls? Why is it associated with detrimental long-term outcomes for victims such as high levels of anxiety and depression? And, beyond the ‘why,’ how can we develop and test interventions that can combat this pervasive type of school violence, before it has a chance to become entrenched?”

The study, published in the journal Psychology of Violence, provides a partial answer to that last question.

New CHOP Study to Understand Risk of Hospital Readmission

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Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.

Excerpt:

One in 20 infants is admitted to the hospital during the first year of life. As frightening as it may be for families to have a child whose health condition requires hospitalization, in too many cases the experience gets worse when a relapse or problem managing the condition after discharge means their child must be re-admitted later. Babies born prematurely are among the groups of children are at highest risk of hospital readmission.

With a new grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are working to reduce the need for pediatric readmissions by taking a population-level look at clinical factors, and an up-close look at familial and social factors, that send high-risk groups of children back to the hospital.

“The long-term goal is to take this information and develop real-time predictions,” said study leader Scott Lorch, MD, MSCE, director of the Center for Perinatal and Pediatric Health Disparities Research at CHOP and associate professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “We are looking for things that can be fed back to the clinical team to say, based on these factors, this patient has a higher than usual risk of readmission.”

Stroke Rehabilitation Research Connects Brain to Gait

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Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.

Excerpt:

If you have ever hit your stride on a moving walkway, the type commonly found in airports, consider how it felt when you stepped back onto solid ground. You may have felt a sudden but brief discombobulation while your brain worked to correct its temporary mismatch with your body’s sense of movement. Laura Prosser, PhD, PT, is trying to induce a similar reaction to rehabilitate children after stroke.

As a research scientist in the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Prosser’s work is focused on how the brain and its connection to the body change after damage and during rehabilitation. Her focus on children addresses an under-researched area in rehabilitation.

“Understanding how rehabilitation can impact neuroplasticity is the most exciting aspect of this research to me,” Dr. Prosser said. “Not much of this work has been done in children. At CHOP we are in a unique position to understand how the brains of children respond differently to rehabilitation than the brains of adults who have had an injury.”

Dr. Prosser is now conducting a small pilot study testing physical therapy outcomes after pediatric stroke using high-tech tools including a split-belt treadmill and brain-stimulating technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). She aims to learn which approaches seem most promising to pursue in future larger trials.

Studying the Brain’s Fundamental Drum Beat to Understand Autism

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Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication

I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.

Excerpt:

A drum beat coordinating brain activity and thus organizing the music of life emerges from deep inside the human brain. This electromagnetic neural pulse —eight to 12 beats per second — is known as the resting-state alpha rhythm.

“Alpha rhythms may be the most fundamental brain rhythm, involved in coordinating brain processes from those as simple as hearing tones and those as complex as consciousness,” said  J. Christopher Edgar, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist and brain imaging researcher in the Department of Radiology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Researchers have known for some time that electromagnetic (neural) brain activity is different in individuals on the autism spectrum. In a series of recent studies, Dr. Edgar and colleagues have shown that the resting-state alpha rhythm is stronger among individuals on the autism spectrum, and that stronger alpha rhythms are associated with more severe clinical symptoms.

With a new grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Edgar will use state-of-the-art noninvasive brain imaging called magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanning to measure brain activities, including alpha rhythms, and magnetic resonance imaging to obtain structural brain measures in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He aims to find out why that metaphorical drum beat, setting the pace for the activities of other players or different parts of the brain, sounds different in children on the autism spectrum.