AVI BioPharma has presented initial efficacy data from the ongoing phase 1b/2 clinical trial of AVI-4658 for the systemic treatment of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Patients in the first four (of six) cohorts completing 12 weeks of treatment with different doses of AVI-4658 (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0 mg/kg), have had their muscles biopsied.

The company claims that analysis of the post treatment biopsies found that patients in the 2 and 4mg/kg drug-treatment cohorts (3 of 3 in total) showed correctly spliced mRNA for dystrophin. One of these patients, in the 2mg/kg cohort, showed robust expression of dystrophin protein by western blot and immunofluorescent analysis.

No RNA or protein expression signal was detected in patients from the 0.5mg/kg or 1.0mg/kg cohorts after completing treatment. Restoration of functional dystrophin expression is considered critical for successful treatment of DMD.

Treatment with AVI-4658 in the three patients in the 2.0 and 4.0mg/kg cohorts led to accurate skipping of exon 51, which is believed to be necessary to restore the mRNA reading frame for functional dystrophin expression in patients with this class of mutations.

Francesco Muntoni, professor of Pediatric Neurology and head of the Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre and the lead investigator of trial, said: “I am encouraged by the evidence of accurate skipping of exon 51 in three treated patients. These results suggest that we are on the right path towards developing a drug that could play a role in the treatment of DMD.

“The fact that one patient at the 2mg/kg dose showed significant expression of dystrophin protein leads us to expect greater levels of dystrophin expression following treatment with the higher doses of 10.0 mg/kg and 20.0 mg/kg of AVI-4658, which are currently underway in the trial.”

Al enkele jaren wordt in Nederland de Duchenne Heroes mountainbike sponsortocht georganiseerd. De bedragen die de sportieve deelnemers, gedragen door een volledig vrijwillige organisatie, verzamelen (1.015.000 € in 2009) gaan naar diverse onderzoeken naar behandelingen van de Duchenne spierziekte die ook onze oudste zoon heeft.

In 2010 (12-18 september) wordt ook een Belgische variant georganiseerd met de geweldige steun en inzet van de immer beminnelijke Filip Meirhaeghe:

Neem een kijkje. Neem deel. Of sponsor een team of deelnemer. Word partner. Ga helpen. Denk aan onze kinderen met Duchenne.

after dominating the charts for weeks pitbull goes all the way to the top, beating out all competitors hitting #1 this week! To see that chart in full check out BDS and mediabase sites.

DMD brings your artists to the top by providing:

• full service commercial radio promotion.publicity and marketing house
• online promotion
• client service management
• all your needs in one compact company

Van een collega-ouder kreeg ik een boeiend artikel over de Exon Skipping therapie voor Duchenne, de spieraandoening van onze oudste zoon. Auteur is de Duitse wetenschapper dr. Günter Scheuerbrandt. Het artikel staat ook als download op de Duchenne Information website.

Wij hebben als ouders van een kind met Down en een kind met Duchenne nooit onze uitdrukkelijke wil, goesting en ambitie om te genieten willen opgeven. Voorbij het wetenschappelijke discours werd ik in dit artikel dan ook in de eerste plaats getroffen door de afsluitende paragraaf, met als veelzeggende titel “Why must my son have this terrible disease?“.

(omdat de essentie ervan aansluit bij onze persoonlijke visie)

Duchenne is geen nieuwe ziekte. Het is teruggevonden en bestaat bij vele diersoorten met spieren. Er kan aangenomen worden dat het al langer bestaat dan de mens als biologisch wezen en dat het uiteindelijk een mutatiefout is in de evolutie. Maar mutaties op zich zijn noodzakelijk voor genetische diversiteit, en dus succes en voortbestaan van een soort.

De mutatie die Duchenne veroorzaakt is géén straf, niet voor het kind en niet voor de eventuele moeder-draagster. Mutaties gebeuren en zijn vaak gewoon terug te brengen tot fouten bij de celdeling. Niet meer, niet minder. De natuur heeft hierin geen persoonsgerichte motieven.

En gelukkig genoeg heeft het systeem van mutaties ook geleid tot het meest complexe orgaan ooit -onze hersenen- waardoor we kunnen zoeken naar een herstelling van de fout die Duchenne veroorzaakt!

By sheer happenstance, I scrolled through the monthly WAR newsletter and saw a piece that said “Allies of WAR: Dark Age of Camelot.” Intrigued, I scrolled down.

The word? 10 days of free play time for old players who want to check out the new server merge and game updates.

The hook: I’m technically an old player, since after my first free trial, I forgot to cancel the sub and ended up with a month of game time. Sadly I only realized it the last part of the month of game time and so I didn’t take advantage of it. But the good news is, I qualify for the 10 days.

So looks like I’ll be burning hard to try to make DAoC work for me. And if it doesn’t? Sony…you’ll be hearing from me.

I have it.   And as usual, its a chain reaction.  I’ve been swamped at work, with some major things going down, that probably won’t be resolved fully for another month or so.

Artwork by Dale Wicks, visit his site and see his other awesome prints!

And once I get hit at work, it pushes my game time.  In part because I have less time to play, and in part because by the time I get home, get family stuff done, and hit my usual playing time, I can’t bring myself to do much more than stare at the computer screen.  I’m either so stressed or so exhausted that its hard to get over that hump.  It helps having a good corp in EVE that I can just log on and chat with.  Even if I decline to do much of anything with them, they understand, presumably because they’ve been there before too.  (The two month long long marathon to Cruiser V/Med. Turret V/Weapon Upgrades V/Hull Upgrades V doesn’t help either, esp. coming after the corp required two week long starbase gunner training.)

So the best way to break malaise is with something new and exciting and shiny right?  I’m sure the two weeks of Conan will pass pleasently, but unless I stumble into a good guild, I don’t think I’ll be resubbing there at the moment.  Honestly, I’ve contemplated two paths.

There's no giant yellow question marks or red dots - how do I know which way to go?!

One is Everquest II.  Its still by far the only fantasy MMO that has “the complete package.”  Fun crafting, solo and group adventuring, housing, and tradition behind it (I get goosebumps and flashbacks when I hear the main theme redux on the loading screen).  And I have a waiting guild invite.  It would mean either transferring my character or starting fresh (tempting here is the new box version at Best Buy – start a new account, with two months free, and all expansions, and 500 Station Cash, for $20).   I could also go the Access Pass route, tempting because this is my favorite time of the year to play Vanguard (Randolph the Free Flying Mount!), which still has my favorite class to play out of any game out there.  Plus, Pirates.  On the flip side – if I start a new account for EQ2 , it won’t be linked with my Station Pass sadly.  And none of it is really new – so will it help my malaise?

The other option is a pretty oddball one, but it might just work.  I missed the glory days of DAoC.  And I still kick myself for it.  WAR is really nothing more than a stripped down kiddy version of DAoC.  I asked around on the forums and it seems there might be a few guilds left kicking over there that would be willing to take a complete noob in and help him level and show him the ropes.  The downside is that population is down, and so finding friends to just go explore and grind with might be difficult.  As one responder said to me “Most people PvE to powerlevel. Almost no one does it for the content anymore because everyone has done it.”  So there is the inherent frustration – what will be new to me will be ho hum to all others.  I don’t suppose I could convince some one out there to go in with me to make for a better experience for us both eh?  Normally I’d drag my brother in, but between EVE and FE and WoW he’s got his hands full already…

So there’s my dilemma in a nutshell.  And what good is having a blog if you can’t share your dilemma’s and find aid for your DMD (decision making disorder)?  Even if you don’t respond, if you’ve made it this far, I feel better just knowing that through transference I might have a chance at another saving throw to overcome this Paralyze status ftw.  ::wink wink::

The University of Southern Nevada (USN) announced today plans to expand its College of Dental Medicine by starting a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) program at the university’s campus located at 10920 South River Front Parkway in South Jordan, Utah. The university expects to admit its first class in Fall 2011.

“Currently no pre-doctoral dental program exists in Utah,” said USN President Dr. Harry Rosenberg, Pharm.D., Ph.D., “The university is fully committed to filling the void by establishing a Doctor of Dental Medicine program to provide an unparalleled learning experience while also offering excellent and affordable, high-quality dental care to citizens of the Salt Lake area, including the underserved population.”

According to Dr. Rosenberg, USN will continue its mission to transform health care education by developing an innovative DMD program with a unique curriculum based on the university’s student-centered educational philosophies of mastery learning and outcomes-based education. This is accomplished with the application of the block system, a pioneering method of curricular delivery with proven success in USN’s existing health education programs, including the Doctor of Pharmacy, Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Advanced Education in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics residency program.

“Rather than multiple courses and clinical experiences spread out through semesters or quarters, the curriculum is organized into blocks that allow students to focus on one subject at a time,” said Dr. Rosenberg. “Additionally, utilization of the block system allows for the students to be taught by some of the world’s most renowned experts in respective areas of dentistry, another unique aspect of the educational experience at USN College of Dental Medicine.”

The University is currently recruiting a dean for the College of Dental Medicine who will help lead the development and implementation of the program, including approval by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, says Dr. Rosenberg.

The USN College of Dental Medicine was established in 2007 at the university’s Henderson, Nev. campus. The college’s first post-doctoral dental residency program, Advanced Education in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics/Master of Business Administration, admitted its first residents in July 2008. The residency program is the first in the United States to require an MBA to develop residents’ legal, ethical and financial competency, all of which are essential in operating a successful practice in today’s complex health care business environment.

USN’s South Jordan campus was established in 2006 and initially offered a Doctor of Pharmacy through the university’s College of Pharmacy. The university’s College of Nursing recently announced it will admit its first class of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at the campus in January 2010.

View news release on Businesswire.

There are 5 general categories that patients fall into which prompts them come to the office to attain the most fabulous smile.  Our patients can have any combination of these contributing factors that may need to be improved:        

1. Discolored teeth:

-Patients can have extrinsic stains like stains from food such as wine or coffee.

                        -In this case whitening may be the treatment of choice.

-Patients can have intrinsic stains like stains caused from antibiotics during development, calcifications or hypo-calcifications.

                  – In this case the treatment can consist of bonding, veneers or a combination of both.

1. Misaligned teeth:

-         Patients can have small arch discrepancies.

-         Twisted or rotated teeth.

-         Crowded teeth or have spaces.

                   -         In this case invisalign may be a treatment option as well as bonding and veneers to correct these malalignments.

1. Chipped or missing teeth:

-         Small chips can be repaired with bonding or veneers.

-         Larger chips can be repaired with veneers or crowns.

-         Missing teeth can be replaced with bridges or implants.

1. Narrow arches:

-         Some patients present with narrow smiles giving the appearance of a small or short smile.

                  -In this case veneers, bonding, invisalign or any combination of these procedures can be used to create a more full beautiful smile.

1. Unhealthy or inflamed gums:

                   -         In this case periodontal therapy or a deep cleaning is needed to get the gums back to health.

-         The gums are the foundation to  healthy smile.  healthy gums are necessary to ensure  healthy  beautiful teeth for the long haul.

www.DrSellinger.com

Toen voor onze zoon de diagnose van Duchenne werd meegedeeld, vond ik het surrealistisch dat hij iets heeft dat lijkt op spieren maar geen spieren zijn. De arts vond vooral mijn beeldspraak surrealistisch…

Maar toch. Bij mensen met de Duchenne spieraandoening ontbreekt het eiwit Dystrofine. Dat eiwit is cruciaal voor de structuur van de spieren, maar wordt niet aangemaakt door een fout in de genen.

In Nederland werkt ProSensa al geruime tijd aan de Exon Skipping therapie. Men tracht de fouten in de genetische codedelen (exonen) zo af te plakken (met RNA) dat de code terug gedeeltelijk leesbaar wordt. Hierdoor zou de aandoening afgezwakt worden, met meer stabiliteit en lichte aanmaak van dystrofine tot gevolg.

Het onderzoek evolueert voorzichtig positief. En vandaag werd bekend gemaakt dat GlaxoSmithKline substantieel zal investeren met het oog op exclusiviteit op het resultaat.

Let wel! De eerste resultaten dateren al van begin deze eeuw. Het huidige onderzoek richt zich op exonen 51 en 44 (en daar zit bij onze zoon niet de fout). Men zoekt nog naar manieren om het middel in het ganse lichaam verspreid te krijgen. En zo nog wat kanttekeningen.

‘Ongeneeslijk’ zal het ook blijven, maar dit beetje perspectief kan er al mee door! Er is altijd een toch.

Sensitivity is sometimes a result of either in-office or at-home whitening systems. The sensitivity ranges from no sensitivity at all, to very sensitive.  Typically sensitivity does not last longer than 24 to 48 hours.  If sensitivity persists past that time there could have been underlying conditions that may have been triggered and it is recommended that you see your dentist promptly.

            The best remedy is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Advil or Alieve.  Typically our patients are given an NSAID before they leave and are instructed to take it before bed time.  If symptoms do occur they typically do not occur directly after the procedure.  Rather they occur multiple hours after the procedure.  Taking the NSAID ahead of time may prevent the sensitivity from surfacing.  Additionally desensitizing pastes administered by your dentist can be used to help alleviate the symptoms.

www.DrSellinger.com

            After whitening treatments specifically in-office treatments the teeth are more susceptible to taking on stain within 48 hours after the procedure. During this time, it is recommended that patients do not eat or drink anything that may stain a white t-shirt.  As far as maintenance goes whitening trays which can be used to touch up you teeth after the procedure work great but the proper concentration of material is critical here. With any of the procedures, at-home or professional, it is very important to be supervised by a dentist, there is a point of saturation in which teeth will no longer whiten and your dentist can determine if you are at that point.

depends on the starting shade of the tooth, since some shades are more difficult to whiten.   For difficult shades, the tray and gel system fabricated by the dentist is highly effective.   The tray and gel systems use carbamide peroxide.  This system should be monitored careful by the patient and dentist and if sensitivity arises a shortened cycle may be necessary.

depends on the starting shade of the tooth, since some shades are more difficult to whiten.   For difficult shades, the tray and gel system fabricated by the dentist is highly effective.   The tray and gel systems use carbamide peroxide.  This system should be monitored careful by the patient and dentist and if sensitivity arises a shortened cycle may be necessary.

This depends on the starting shade of the teeth, since some shades are more difficult to whiten.   For difficult shades, the tray and gel system fabricated by the dentist is highly effective.   The tray and gel systems uses carbamide peroxide.  This system should be monitored careful by the patient and dentist and if sensitivity arises a shortened cycle may be necessary.

The most important difference and advantage of in-office or professional whitening is the ability to have your dentist determine if in fact you are a good candidate for the procedure.  In addition it is important that the teeth and gums are healthy, free from tooth decay and the teeth are clean.  In office procedures can be monitored by the dentist, gum tissue and lips can be isolated and the proper concentration and length of treatment can be determined.  Typically the concentration of peroxide is great when administered by the dentist.  

www.drsellinger.com

Invisalign is a series of aligners that incrementally moves teeth as prescribed by the dentist based on the required results of the patient and dentist.

The aligners are replaced every two weeks.  Each aligner moves the teeth a little more towards the goal of straightening the teeth.

            Once all the information is gathered patients can view the final results of their alignment on the computer imaging program before committing to treatment.

 www.drsellinger.com

One wonderful characteristic about porcelain veneers is their resistance to staining. However they are not completely impervious to stain.  We often see staining with patients who frequent coffee, red whines, or food with high chromatic value.

            Daily maintenance should include brushing with a soft bristle tooth brush and non-abrasive toothpaste (ie. Non-whitening) and flossing. 

            If the staining progresses and cannot be handled with daily maintenance, in-office whitening can be used to help eliminate some stain.

            In some cases recession occurs around the veneer and may appear as stain.  In this case the veneers can be replaced or a gum tissue graft can be done to cover the recession.

            Lastly if the staining is more than whitening can handle the veneers can be replaced in the same manner they were placed the first time.

www.drsellinger

Mouthwash or specifically antibacterial mouthwash helps to reduce the amount of bacteria in the mouth.  This is important because these bacteria produce sulfur compounds which are the actual cause of bad breath or halitosis. 

Other mouth washes contain fluoride which helps to harden the outer surface of tooth structure and prevent bacteria build up and tooth decay.

www.drsellinger.com

Horizontal grayish lines are often from antibiotic use while your teeth were developing and as such are what is referred to as internal or inherent stains. Other nternal staining may be a result of anomalies or illness during the development of teeth. These stains ofter present a challenge for any of the whitening products. However you may see some results with in office whitening products such as zoom whitening or GC Ion followed by an in home regiment with at home whitening products such as Night White. If you are unable to acquire the results you desire from in office whitening, veneers will certainly get you the results you are looking for. Veneers are thin beautifully shaped ceramic shells that are placed over teeth and will mask the horizontal lines or any other internal stains. As an added benefit the shape of your teeth can be enhanced giving you that dazzling smile you are looking for.

www.drsellinger.com

The placement of veneers should not me painful. During the procedure, typically the patient is anesthetized and in some cases patients may request nitrous oxide. While the teeth are being prepared for veneers there should be no pain or discomfort at all. Shortly after the procedure patients are given a non-steroid anti-inflammatory (NSAID) such as Advil. This is all that should be needed to prevent the breakthrough of any pain associated with the preparation of veneers. The next part of the procedure involves the cementation of the veneers. Again the patient is anesthetized. Anesthetic is need here because the temporaries are removed and the teeth may be sensitive due to the exposure of the teeth after the removal of the temporaries. After the veneers have been cemented teeth are sometimes sensitive due to the procedure. Again Advil or another NSAID is used to prevent the breakthrough of pain. Plenty of water is needed to keep teeth cool. Teeth need to be properly disinfected to ensure longevity and health of the restorations. Veneers will enable you to Smile Smile Smile…

www.drsellinger.com

Met de vzw Spinnaker werkt onze Duchenne-man tweewekelijks een half uurtje aan zijn zwemkunsten in het zwembad van St. Jozef. Deze zomer zagen we de vooruitgang al (o.a. zijn springvermogen).

Fotografe Elisabeth Verwaest kwam recent, voor ‘t Stad, foto’s maken. En zoonlief werd een prachtig slachtoffer van haar kunsten.

Een deelgebied van onze (verleden) worstelingen met motoriek en voortbeweging van onze Duchenne-man was fietsen.

Het traditionele traject is: duwfietsje, kleine driewieler, eerste ‘echte’ fiets met zijwieltjes, daarna zonder zijwieltjes maar met valpartijen, enz.

Bij ons ging ook dat een beetje anders. Vele pogingen tot fietsen, trappen, recht blijven, enz. Diverse modellen en hoogtes geprobeerd (en soms gekocht). Maar met beperkt resultaat. Tot met de diagnose van Duchenne blijkt waarom: spierkracht (of het gebrek eraan).

Toen kwam de piste van een driewieler. Altijd evenwicht en minder stigmatiserend dan blijven rondhotsen met zijwieltjes. En bij het testen bleek (plotsklaps, heldere hemel): HIJ FIETST! Juicht, vrienden, juicht.

En via de nodige voorschriften leverde het CTO onze (zijn) eigen fiets:

Cool model. Fascinatie bij vriendjes, lekker meedoen met de fietsdagen op school, te hard racen door de wijk.

ps. beetje grote auto is wel handig om hem te kunnen vervoeren…